The parade was okay. The three-hour delay in start time from when we're told to arrive in the staging area and when we actually start walking is getting old. By the time we got to the end of the route, most of the interns I was walking with just wanted to go home. Myself included. I forced myself to walk around the Pridefest for a half an hour, but I didn't last long. Instead I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some sushi and summer beer. Now I'm lying in bed waiting for my feet to stop aching. 

Click the pics to embiggen [edit: or not. figuring it out]

Bee Tee Dubs - I've been playing with some new plugins for comments. You should be able to comment the old fashion way, but you should also be able to "connect" with FB and twitter to login when commenting. If you have trouble, email me so I know to fix/scrap this stuff.

The first time this happened, I wasn’t living there. But I was waiting on pins and needles, dialing into conference calls, surfing the web. I was a journalist and even though we only published biweekly, there was urgency to finding out as soon as it happened, even if it was on the other side of the country. When the news finally broke, we crouched around computers to read all about it, we huddled in the common spaces, stopped working to speculate about what this would mean for the rest of the country, how soon the weddings would begin. We laughed with a sort of nervous pride. In the weeks and months we would come to learn so much more about archaic laws and states borders and the scope of DOMA and civil disobedience by progressive governors and Constitutional amendments… but back then we had barely begun to dream about the possibilities.

Then there was California. I was working for the LGBT nonprofit organization in San Francisco. For some reason the building was unusually warm that day, which I remember because we left half the overhead lights off that day. When we heard the ruling would be out, I started refreshing the court’s website. A pdf appeared from the California Supreme Court. It was over 100 pages long. I frantically began skimming through it, trying to make sense of legal language I was, at the time, unfamiliar with. Someone turned on CNN. I read aloud to my coworkers passages I thought sounded important, or good. CNN said “no” as I reached the part where the court said “yes.” Someone brought in a cake. We took a break and celebrated. Afterward, I heard about the dancing in the streets at the Castro, but I just went home. Drained. Spent. I had things to do the next morning.

This time, it was a slow build. I remember last year, sitting in the cafeteria of the Law School watching the live stream as the first Republican “swing” voted no. Then the second. Then a democrat. Then twitter was declaring it a loss. Fast forward to the last few weeks. The calls to my senator, the emails. The calls to other senate leaders. At my internship I was asked to look into the legal impact proposed religious exception language would have. I have some small sense that somehow my analysis reached the ears of people who needed to know, to decide, to negotiate and politic.

This week, the live streaming video in an open tab on my browser. Listening to that chamber music all day as I researched other projects at work. The day the debated the definition of “sippy cup.” Sweet corn became the state vegetable. Waiting. Watching the twitter stream for updates. Refreshing blogs. Day after day of “maybe today” and “maybe tonight.”

Tonight we had a rooftop party in Brooklyn, we interns from the ACLU. It was foggy and misty, but we could see the City, the river, the dim outline of Lady Liberty, the building where we worked. We laughed and talked of other things, or pop stars and law school woes. I checked my phone for updates. Sunset. Checked my phone. “Guys, they’re voting now!” Cheers. Pizza arrived. Checked my phone. “They’re voting on the amendment – and it sounds like they have a 32nd vote.” “They passed the amendment” Cheers. High-fives. Someone urged emotional caution, not counting chickens or something. “I wish I had my computer, it sounds like someone just bitchslapped Diaz back to the Bronx.” “Wow, sounds like we just picked up another Republican vote.” Checked my phone – there were the numbers. 33-29. The exclamation points. I flipped on my phone and held it out to my co-intern at the LGBT Project. “Chris, look.” He was talking to someone. “Chris, look. They did it.” Someone I didn’t know, a student from our host’s school, tapped me on the shoulder – did you just say they passed it?. Now I had their attention. “33-29. Everyone find yourself a same-sex partner, because New York just made it legal for us to get married!”

Cheers. People congratulating each other. High-fives. The lights of the city looked blurry through the mist and fog, from our rooftop in Brooklyn.

I hear they’re dancing at Christopher Street. But I’m in Brooklyn. I just go home. I have things to do tomorrow morning. But Sunday I will be marching. And even though I’m not engaged, have no special someone with whom I have waited and waited for this day, I will still be especially proud as I walk the streets of Manhattan.

This heat map represents the places I go/check-in the most in New York. I wonder what’s in those parts of the island I never go to. And what’s in Brooklyn? Created with http://www.wheredoyougo.net/

Then I realized that I had no idea when I started thinking of myself as a New Yorker and started to think of this place a bit as home. Probably sometime after I moved into my current place in Harlem. But the subways no longer intimidate me, I’m mispronouncing fewer place names, I feel relatively comfortable giving tourists directions… yesterday I was told that I’m losing my Nevada/Utah accent.

Anyway, I wouldn’t go so far as to claim I’m a “true New Yorker” yet – I think one has to spend a little more time outside Manhattan than I have – but I’m certainly starting to settle in.

The upper west side skyline near Fordham Law School during the spring.

So, I’ve got one week left at Lambda. I’ve really enjoyed working there this summer and hope I get to work with them again in the future. I’m definitely planning to stay in touch with the staff I’ve worked with.

I got offered a fall semester internship working with the EEOC in Newark. I accepted the position and look forward to figuring out how to make all the pieces of my fall semester schedule work together. That’s four classes, a journal, a competition team, an internship, a board position for a networking group, and a handful of volunteer commitments. I’m already looking forward to the winter holiday. I’d been talking about putting some volunteer time in on one of the political campaigns this season (you may have heard that my congressman has been in the news this week, guy by the name of Charlie Rangel), but I think that’s not going to happen now.

Yesterday’s pool party and the house of Puntabulous was a lot of fun. I got to meet some people in the flesh for the first time, catch up with other friends, and generally spend a relaxing day out on Long Island. I took exactly 0 pictures because everyone else had their cameras going all the time, so I imagine the documentation will arrive soon.

Today I’m on my way back to school for training in how the Journal will function this year.

Unfortunately, the pictures I took didn’t turn out great – and you should never try to edit photos on your phone while intoxicated – but I like how this one of me came out:

Anyway, keeping busy otherwise. I start training for my TA/mentoring end-of-summer job this week. I accepted a position on the staff of the Fordham Urban Law Journal. I have my flight and hotel booked for Lavender Law, so I have 6 weeks to get down to my birth weight for Miami Beach (I also need a new swimsuit, my current one is about 6 years out of style). It’s also, apparently, time to start updating my resume and beginning the job hunt for next summer.

I’ve found that most cities I’ve lived in, I tend to find a bar I’m relatively comfortable at and return there often, at least for for a while. In New York, that bar appears to be The Ritz. My friends and I have been there on various nights of the week and always seem to have a decent time. While the drinks aren’t the most (or least) expensive you’ll find, we typically pregame somewhere else before heading out, because the point of The Ritz isn’t drinking, it’s dancing.

In the middle of the summer, the dance floor is a sweaty, humid, uncomfortable, crowded mess. I love it. I was out dancing until around 3am last night and even ran in to Garrett, my buddy from San Francisco. I flirted with a guy named Juan for while out on the front porch area, and generally had a great time.

Anyway, I’m not really writing this blog to advertize for the Ritz, I wanted to point to one more example of how I’ve given up on any notions of privacy in the internet age. I signed up for foursquare a few weeks ago and I’m having fun with it. For those who don’t know, foursquare is a social media platform that allows you to “check in” to various venues using your phone’s GPS. It’s basically a way of telling your friends where you’re at, as well as meeting new people who are in the neighborhood.

So, if you want/need to find me, check out my foursquare profile. Better yet, sign up yourself and friend me so that I can more easily stalk you, too.

P. to the S.: A propos of nothing, new Scissor Sisters album, Night Work, is pure joy and “Whole New Way” is my pick for song of the summer. I’m totally willing to fight you over that.

Anyway, got to see a bunch of friends, meet new people, and generally have a great time. The photos and video clips have been uploaded to Flickr.

After Pride I fell into a K-hole all week (and by “K-hole” I’m referring to watching gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings), but I have a long weekend starting tomorrow. If I had money for it, I’d totally head off to Fire Island or whatever people do. Instead, I’ll probably watch television in my room for several days and end up at the bar with my friends.

Still, a good time was had in the sun, money was raised for a good cause, and I spent a morning pretending I didn’t have to study for Torts. The video is 5 minutes of footage I shot on my fancy new camcorder, but to get the best HD use out of the camera, I discovered I’ll need to buy some better video editing software soon.

In other news, today is my first no-smoke-iversary. Technically, I think it might be tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter, it’s been a full year since I quit smoking. I celebrated by pushing myself for a really fast run in the park this morning. I was on track to do 5 miles in under 40 minutes, but about halfway through I ran headlong into about 5000 marathoners going in the opposite direction and I was forced to take a break and figure out how to get around them.

I also looked at some apartments today. There’s one in Harlem that I really, really like, although the guy who is moving out just said this morning that he doesn’t plan to leave until June 1 and I have to be out of the dorm May 28 at the very latest, so it might be impossible.

I started reading Changeless by Gail Carriger yesterday. It’s the second book in the series after Soulless, which I read over Spring Break. A few lines had me laughing out loud in Sheep’s Meadow this afternoon.

I also took myself to see Clash of the Titans last night. I was a great date, but I did get a little handsy later. Anyway, I thought the movie was fine summer popcorn fare. They did exactly what they promised to do – update the original film with modern special effects. Same plot. Same characters. Same opportunities for respectable actors to chew the scenery as mythical gods and monsters and warriors.

Otherwise, school is school. It’s not as stressful as last semester, but it’s not as new and exciting, either. We had a rather intense Constitutional Law week, covering 3 weeks of material in 3 days. Even though it was interesting material (14th Amendment Equal Protection stuff), it was rough. Interestingly, we had more classroom resistance to heightened scrutiny of gender-based laws than we did to applying a higher standard of review for laws that negatively impact gays, lesbians and bisexuals (again, not an especially trans-aware discussion). Whatever, I mostly keep my mouth shut in class these days and listen, especially on issues where I feel passionate.

Anyway, I’m soaking up some sun and having some fun because once school starts up again, it’s all downhill to finals, then the writing competition for law review and journals, then summer interning, then registering for classes… aside from Memorial Day (when I will likely be settling into a new apartment), I don’t anticipate a long weekend again until the 4th of July.

Anyway, the definite highlight of the week was the Scissor Sisters concert. The last time I saw them in concert they were still mostly unknown and it was a much more intimate concert space. Five years later, at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan rather than a Park City nightclub during Sundance, they’re still making music that just fills me with joy and makes me want to dance (new album apparently coming out in July).

Prior to the concert, I did some shopping. Nothing special, I just needed to pick up a black t-shirt for Follies and ended up browsing through a couple stores. I found a really nice white v-neck that is super comfortable and looks good. I wore it jogging this morning and got a couple flirty glances. I may have to go back to pick up a few more.

The weather in Manhattan has been utterly lovely. I’ve spent hours in the park reading (yes, Soulless was as good as Rob said it would be) or walking dogs or jogging or simply soaking up the sun. Once Follies tech week is over, I’ll have to plan frequent outdoor study breaks if it stays like this through finals.

Congrats to Jennifer and Jacob, who finally got hitched this morning. Wish I could have been there.