I rode my bike to C and A’s and had a scrumptous and fun filled day with brooklyn friends old and new. Movie, drinks, a collage of food traditions- breads, casseroles, puddings, turkey, pie, cake, candy galore and a white elephant gift exchange. 

Riding my bike home full of love for chosen family and grateful to have a perfect day of friends and food.

I spent my day baking.  My favorite receipe of the year: spicy lentil squash with goat cheese and mint leaves was the first checked off my culinary completion list; lowfat pumpkin pie; fresh rosemary crackers I already made the previous night,  I wonder if I have photos somewhere? 

 Tara left to enjoy the spa at Bryant park during my baking extravaganza.  I met her when she was about done, walking up the stairs taking in the scene where I had just been the night before.  It feels different though. An extra day off from work, the night before christmas, many people seem lighter in energy. I realize a bunch of people are gawking at a car in the street as I start to dial my roommate.  Santa in what can only be termed a Christmas car, is driving past the park. I don’t even have time to hang up and get my camera on my phone, so I just enjoy the moment of witness. That happens a lot here.  Those are the pieces I wanna write about weekly, the little odd New York moments of joy and uniqueness- 

Funny. Tara and I decided to eat at Celcius, the temporary restaurant in Bryant Park, it just seemed like the right first Christmas in New York thing to do.  Blue tree in the background another, though this time gigantic, glass building with outdoor plush leather couches for sipping hot alcoholic drinks and a perfect view for watching the ice skaters on the constructed pond.  T and I had decent dinners then hurried off to our movie, always a hard compromise, Burlesque, was the chosen flick. Afterwards we were gonna try the pb hot chocolate but shake shack was closed.  The few moments in my time here where you can count the people in the streets. My one wish was that we would have gone to see the window treatments we kept hearing about. Next year. And the Rockefeller tree too.

My best friend from work, Angela and I are infamous for actually doing what we say in cityventures. Organizing kickball games, going on food outings, beer pong and just having good intentional time.  She started physical therapy school which leaves me without my work bestie.  Fortuantely she is on break and we are kickstarting our adventures again with the onset of winter.

After work we went to Chelsea Papaya to grab veggie burgers for 3.50$ to be satiated enough to make it through the evening. We arrived at the Bryant Park Holiday Extravaganza ready to get our craft fix and check out the skating rink.  Tall glass enclosed huts decorated with crafts: photos, ceramic hearts, salty carmel corn, hot cider, unique leather journals with a fireplace in the lil room, jewelry galore, wood watches, toys, art, delicious food and the highlight of the evening in which I spotted a well in one of the vendors expanded see through shack. 

By the time we got to the spa building, A and I had frozen fingers and were getting ready to find a warm refuge. I just thought the well was a sweet decoration when A and I beelined to it and a lady asked if we wanted to try their sea salt scrub.  This place had the right idea for a winter holiday pitch. We chose our scent, lavendar, scrubbed away at our hands and were treated to a perfectly warm water rinse into the well releasing the cold from the tips of our fingers enough to feel comfortable for the rest of the evening, and a bonus of soft hands for hours.  Lovely. 

Both of us are sugar connoisseurs- hot chocolate, ice cream, donuts, cupcakes yum. . .  Handily in the latest Time Out magazine, they just reviewed the best hot chocolate spots in the city.  A and I headed to the shake shack, where earlier this year she introduced me to delicious custard ice cream and fried portebella mushrooms stuffed with cheese-burger, and topped our night with peanut butter hot chocolate, so rich, even we were a little naseauous when we saw the bottom of our cups.

Tonight I had the honor of attending SRLP, ALP, QEJ, and FIERCE!’s:  From then til Now: Trans and GNC movements that my friend BW did most of the coordinating for.  Humbling and inspiring to hear the words of an elder, a stonewall veteran and a powerful down to earth person who can definitely  motivate movements. Honestly, I didn’t know Miss. Major until this evening, I am so grateful to have heard a sliver of her stories and experiences tonight.

From ALP’s announcement:

Miss Major is a black, formerly incarcerated, male-to-female transgender elder. She has been an activist and advocate in her community for over forty years, mentoring and empowering many of today’s transgender leaders from coast to coast. Miss Major was at the Stonewall uprisings in ’69, and became politicized in the aftermath at Attica. Currently, Miss Major is the Executive Director of the TGI Justice Project in San Francisco, CA  (http://tgijp.org).

I wander up to the park trying my hardest to not walk so fast as I have doubled my walking speed since moving here.  I realize for me its usually A) I’m running late, or B) I think that if I get to the train station and I just missed the train, it could have been prevented if I would have walked as fast as I could to get there.  Makes me wonder what other New Yorkers reasons are for walking at triple time.  It must have worked cause a bike renter guy asked if I wanted to rent a bike and then asked me in French if I spoke French, “un peu?” he inquired as he followed me, “oui, un peu,” I say without making my usual eye contact.  I turned on my newly New Yorker legs until a espresso stand came into site.  Hot chocolate!! My mouth said excitedly- I have not had hot chocolate wow, for many months.  I got myself a hot chocolate with skim milk cause there was no soy, from a place claiming to be the first espresso stand in the US. 1898 I believe.  Wonder if its true. 

Me and my hot chocolate slow down and after glancing at a map (hey I have been lost in Central Park see Round I), we wander down the main roadway enjoying watching people looking at the sky, the trees, the stunning architechture of the tops of buildings you can still see peeking into the acreage of nature.  I am blissed.  These are the moments I want to make sure to keep having, why I chose and wanted to move here.  Occasional firey trees pop up, still not the fall foilage I have been waiting to see, I seem to keep missing it.  My goal is to make it to the Mall and hoping that there I will find the trees ablaze.  Not the case but I am happy nonetheless. Feeling quite zenlike in my mind feeling completely at ease, I’m happy to be alone. Thinking of all sorts of things. A man sitting on a bench asks me for a light and I decline stating how I don’t smoke. I am so grateful I do not smoke daily anymore. I wonder if he is there hoping to run into a person of his dreams. I think because the Mall is such a romanticized space in Central Park.  I continue and I do see one stunning tree, I can’t even describe the colors the yellow to red and still some green but the yellow looks so soft, feathery really. I take a picture of the tree and it captures so little of my   feeling I don’t really want to show you but I will.

I keep wandering. Past the famous ice skating rink (it opened almost a month ago!) I hope to go there with peeps.  At 12$ for skate rental, I really want to find a used pair in Seattle and ship them here!  I spent some time in strawberry fields, yes Yoko and John had some part of this place, a place of peace and quiet. I did a couple loops around in my silence and wandered up through the woods to find my way to my meeting spot.

I wound up exactly where i was to meet my friend, at 77th and Central Park West. After enjoying relaxing on a bench for a few, my friend arrives and we saunter towards this wonderful diner called http://bignicksnyc.com.  They have everything!  Veggie stuff, no sugar, low carb etc squished into this tiny place with lots of seats and open 23hours. . . Its wonderful.   Have to go back to try the pb and choc pie!  Yum-

 The Stonewall rebellion was definitely not the begining when our elders faught back.  They had been fighting for a long time.  Bar raids, dress codes, beatings, harassment all of it had been happening for years. This time though is when it was big enough and violent enough to be written for history.  The people creating the vertebrae in the backbone of our movment usually are not written about, even in queer history. The majority being drag queens, trans or gender variant folks of color. The same people who were taken away by the police during raids while most of the white gay men stood aside and looked on.

 It was they who fought first to bring this day from undercover into celebration- Remember-

 We of course, celebrate now with marches, parades, some with little clothing, leather, glitter, and always with music that you can’t help but dance to-

The weekend started with the Trans Day of Action. A bunch of us volunteered to be security- My first time. I was a little nervous. I know at times I look tough on the outside, but really, i’ve always been pretty much an emo marshmellow and can be quite shy.

 One of the things I am working on is feeling more comfortable speaking in large groups.  This job seemed a good push for me.  We got information on providing pep, direction and protection.  Our path literaly, was a large circle, u-turn and all.  Chanting and clapping we marched. If you were there you heard:  ”Hey hey, ho ho, trans-pho-bia has got to go!” As security, we keep the energy up by ensuring people are yelling at the top of their lungs- Energy still high and a few incidents later, we completed our loop.  The biggest complaint being that you couldn’t hear any speakers during any of the rally’s.  Felt good to be connected to a larger community again- We all went home after, savin up our partying mode for the next two nights-

Sat is the pride run, Harlem pride and the dyke march.  N and B ran proud- We stayed for a bit, sippin on the free drinks and treats provided by the run, to hear who won the big raffled off trip to I don’t even remember where.

B and I went shoppin in the afternoon and then met our crew at the dyke march- Wow-  I can not believe how many people come out for this march!

 Sporatic protesters claim to be speaking god’s words when preaching hate. Wish they would see a block ahead where peace showers us from a church, the front obscured with a rainbow flag and a choir singing, giving out water to the marchers. Beautiful balance.

 Got some fabulous margarittas, good mexican food and laughed our way to Gingers but were detoured and split up by the absurd cover charge- some peeps went home- Ir, S and I went to stake out ‘ Thats my Jam’ to get in early, spending the least amount of cash.  You can pretty much be guarenteed a good time during pride anywhere- if you bring peeps you love, drink enough alcohol and at least have a few good songs to get you going.  Even when there is a performance in the middle of your ‘jam’-

Sunday is the pride parade for all. Of course like seattle, someone in nyc decided it was a good idea to make all the queers get outta bed before 12p even though we are out until 4am the night before. I caught an hour of the 3 hour long extravaganza- C and I met up with J and his crew and S and Ir followed- We moved along after the parade to Cowgirl to continue on the prior evenings margaritta track (remember these are 90 degree sunny days. . .) then onto Cubbyhole. Which was my pride bliss.

The ac broken forced people onto the streets, fruity concotions in hand. Cops not caring as long as we were on the sidewalk. Being drunk and hot waiting in the bathroom line meant inspiration for me to dig into the ice machine to give out ice to all the  peeps in line.  A little Peter Pan action, which was ceased by a cute bartender informing me that my dirty lil hands can mean the bar gets shut down. Poing taken.  Met amazing peeps though with my stunt- G.J. and E who are in a band together had just come from Stillettos and were not so keen on the scene. Our crew were all thinkin of going there next, but not if it wasn’t fabulous!  I insisted they come meet my friends and tell them directly.  We all bonded immediately (see dancing formula from previous night).  I bought G.J. a beer and because I wouldn’t take her cash, she sang a song for us.  Wow.  And what a song.  I mentioned how essential music is for pride earlier, remember?  The one thing missing from this beautiful free for all in the streets, was music.  And here G.J. comes along and belts out  ”Amazing Grace.” Everyone on the block hushed to listen. G.J. continued to sing as the night progressed. Chatting, hanging, taking pictures, handstands (well okay, that was just me), laughing loveliness. We all got antsy to change the scene up and our ways finally parted. S had to go to work, Ir went home.   J and I accompanied G.J. and E to “Shotgun,” which was allright. Some good music, some dancing.  Home by 12.

Can I say perfect?

After popping up from my long train run, I see tail end of my bus go by. Still a block away from my stop, cursing, i shake my head.  I trudge forward mini umbrella lasting about a minute before it is bent all outta shape and giving my hands something to do refiguring out a new path for the skeleton tangles.  I cuddle up to a building seeking shelter from the terror of the wind watching at least three 67′s , two 41′s and a handful of other buses pass me by, while spying on the faces of all the peeps trying to coax their bumbershoots to face the attack, determined to make it another block; for 10 minutes before my cursed at 45 meanders into site. 

I now sit warm with a bowl full of potato-asparagus-chicken sausage soup in my belly 2 sweaters and a friend on my ear.   Better.

I cleaned up and nervously went onto my mission of the day- the day i’ve been waiting for since I heard about it many months ago- The handstand-a-thon at LAVA. I showed up shy and curious and was invited in by a sweet one named L, who told me about the free tacos, root beer on tap and to find a person with a timer when I was ready. I watched in wonder at people in circusy costumes upside down in one place for  excruciating amounts of time- I have found a community of my people!  I also have a new goal of being able to be on my hands with my feet in the sky without moving, for an extended length of time- Next year. . .  My new friend z was there, she timed me and held my legs when i wobbled- My wrists gave out at 2min 7sec.  Multiply that by the 25cents from the secret donor for first timers= $31.75 raised for neighborhood kids to have free acrobatic, handstand or trapeeze classes.

I didn’t realize that you can do as many timed handstands as you want which raises more money.  I, in my nervous newness went in time  to do only one.

Came back to the house and planted our lavendar, rosemary and thyme in our new window boxes- memories of seattle.  Missing the ability to walk out and clip flowers from my yard to fill little vases. Put rosemary in roasted potatoes. Make thyme crackers for the holidays.  Concrete pathways aren’t real condusive for growing.

I didn’t do too much today. Read, learned how to log into the computer systems. Got a work cell phone. Met people. I did get to shadow s.m. in the office, and c. in the field. Which, when we walked out of our client’s house, it started to pour. Not just drops of water rain, but drenching pant wringing out pouring rain. So we walked to the new office for Patient Navigators on Broadway/25th street- I have a desk! and a laptop! 

 I poked around on the computer a little more, and it was time to go.  I had to head back over to the other office cause I left some stuff there and walked past a homemade ice cream truck. I backed up and decided to treat myself to an Earl Grey ice cream cone. It was delicious. . . 

I got my stuff and trained it back home. Had leftovers and got obsessed with trying to find the vampire d. shows online to watch.  T.w. came home then and brought me some flowers- Sweet-