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What a great week this has been! I just woke up from a much needed 2-hour nap. I was exhausted but in a good way.

I didn’t do a whole lot of Pride-related events during the week. I had 2 PDX Gaymer game nights. I didn’t participate in any work events because I was busy trying to make a deadline. I don’t think there were many work events. We did most of our celebrating at work last month.

On Friday, I went to a going away party for 2 friends who are moving out of country. After that, I went to my first Gaylabration with 2 friends I know through PDX Gaymers, Matt and Neil. It’s the guys I’ve been going to Blow Pony with. There were sooo many people there. And I knew so many people there. I’ve been living in Portland a long time and I’ve met a lot of people. The only complaint I have is the music was pretty bad. I’m glad to say that I’ve gone to Gaylabration at least once.

On Saturday, I went to the underU4men block party to visit my friends Aaron and Josh. Aaron was modeling. We re-started our tradition of getting a pic together that started years ago when this store would have a booth at the festival on the waterfront. I spent over $100 on underwear that I’ll probably never wear. Later that day, I hosted the annual PDX Gaymers Pride Party. We all had fun. The rental space got really hot though and the A/C didn’t help much.

On Sunday, I went to CCs the watch the parade. I met up with Matt and a slew of others I’ve known for much longer, many of whom were at the going away party Friday night. Neil was in the parade. I hated not marching in the parade this year, ending a streak (not counting lockdown years). My physical condition wouldn’t allow me to do it.

There were so many things I planned to do, but never had a chance to. One being going to the festival. Everything was pretty tentative anyway.

The only negative was the Lyft driver who took me to the Pride parade. I just wanted her to get me close to CCs and I would walk the rest of the way. She was really frustrated about street closures and wouldn’t listen to my directions on alternative routes. She made some comments that came off as homophobic to me about “the gay people” and how “they want to celebrate but don’t want us to celebrate” regarding the street closures for the parade.

Anyway, I had a great time this year as always. I’m looking forward to next time.

What a great weekend this past weekend was! It was great to do Pride in person again for the first time in 3 years. Portland was ready. I don’t know if this one was bigger than 2019, but my Uber driver yesterday said she had never seen so many people in one place.

On Friday night I skipped the event I was supposed to go to because the line was too long. I found out later the line was basically nonexistent about 15-30 minutes later. Oh well. I went to a new bar (opened last November) called The Queen’s Head, which is owned by the guy that used to coach the rugby team I played for a few years ago. They were having a party there. I had a great time.

On Saturday, I went to a local underwear store’s block party. I spent a lot on sexy underwear that I’ll probably never wear. Next I went to Crush and met up with some friends who were bar crawling. I knew a few friends were going to be there, but I didn’t know how large the group would be. They all screamed my name when I walked through the door. Soon after that we went 3 doors down to a new bar called Sissy Bar that had just opened about 3 days before. So many new gay and lesbian bars have opened in Portland recently and more are coming soon. Anyway, this place smelled new. We had so much fun. Around this time the sun came out. It was pouring when I first went out. I was tired so I left the group and went home to rest. That night I went to the Stag for a while. I was thinking about going to either Gaylabration or Blow Pony, but I was so tired from being on my feet all day that I went home. Besides, I needed to be up somewhat early the next day.

On Sunday I got up to march in the pride parade for the 1st time with Nike (there’s an announcement I forgot to make here). A while back I mentioned my issues with how much I can move around. I was nervous about the parade because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it to end. I almost decided not to march, even that morning. I’m glad I didn’t change my mind. As usual I saw so many people I know along the route watching the parade, some of whom I met in the past year. Nike required us to wear masks, which made it even more difficult for me. By the end, I was huffing and puffing pretty bad. There were 2 or 3 times were I did take my mask off for a second just to get more air. I’m glad the parade does stop every so often for a few seconds. Once a train stopped us for a while. If it wasn’t for those breaks, I might not have made it. I don’t know how I feel about the new route this year. I went to the festival after I finished marching, which was basically a mud pit after all the rain we have received recently. Afterwards, I was supposed to meet up with some friends, but I was sweaty and exhausted. I wanted to get in a little rest before it was time for the PDX Gaymers Pride Game Night I was hosting later. I say game night, but it was 5-9pm and the sun was still out as we were leaving. Usually our Pride Game Night is on a Saturday, but I was having trouble finding a venue for Saturday night and I decided I wanted to enjoy myself on Saturday this year. I didn’t get much rest before I had to leave, but Game Night was a blast though. We had a great turnout. More proof that people are eager to be social.

An interesting thing is that although the parade and Fathers Day are usually on the same day, this year Juneteeth was the same day. Since it’s a new federal holiday, I don’t know if that’s common. Before the parade, one guy stopped to wish me a Happy Juneteeth. Very nice of him.

This was a very good weekend. I love how happy and proud and excited everyone gets. I love spending time with friends. I love the random run-ins with friends, some of whom I only see at Pride every year. I’m glad to live in a city that’s so accepting of everyone. I made a great decision moving here.

Two weekends ago was Pride Weekend here in Portland. Pride has become one of my favorite times of the year. The positivity and excitement is infectious.

The Out in Tech group that I participate with had a kickoff event the Wednesday before Pride Weekend. They had a makeshift “photo booth” and I used my camera to take pictures. It was fun.

On Friday night I went to Crush to hang out with friends and have drinks. I have a core group of friends that I have become close to this past year or so. I spend a lot of time with them. They’re great people and there’s so much positivity and love between us all.

Saturday night my PDX Gaymers group had its 2nd annual Pride Game Night. We had a great turnout. Probably bigger than last year. My only regret is that I didn’t play games with new people who I hadn’t met before that night. Game Night was early enough so that people could still go to parties afterward. I went to Blow Pony. Blow Pony is a monthly dance party that I’ve been hearing about probably since I first moved here in 2012. I keep saying I’m going to go one of these months but it had never happened until now. It was awkward going by myself, but I did run into some people I knew.

Sunday was the parade. I marched with Intel for the 3rd year in a row. A lot of people don’t like the idea of corporations being involved in Pride, but my corporation does a lot for it’s LGBT employees. My manager actually marched in the parade with his wife who works for another company, but he did stop by the Intel float to say hi. Two of my other teammates marched to show their support, one bringing his wife and daughter and the other’s girlfriend was somewhere in the crowd. Once again, I was amazed by how excited the crowd was to see us. I didn’t see as many people along the parade route that I know as I did last year, but I know that some people saw me.

After this I went on the Big Gay Boat Ride with some friends. It’s an annual event that I had heard about, but never thought much about going on myself. At this point I was exhausted and at the end of my energy. I still had fun though. There were drinks, food, and a drag show. Two contestants from Rupaul’s Drag Race were there, but they weren’t two that I recognized.

Pride month ends today. The suburb of Hillsboro had it’s first Pride celebration and Beaverton had its first Pride parade this month. It’s so exhausting, but enjoyable and fulfilling.

Last weekend was Portland Pride weekend, which ended a great pride week here in in Portland. Pride has become one of my favorite times of the year.

I actually didn’t do anything during the week, but I did live vicariously through people who were out doing stuff.

On Friday night, PDX Gaymers hosted a Pride weekend event at Guardian Games.  I put this together at the last minute. I’ve been in touch with the leader of Seattle Gaymers lately and he asked if we were planning anything for Pride.  I had never thought to do anything for Pride, probably because there are so many other things going on and I assume people would be more interested in that than gaming.  I rented a private room at Guardian.  I advertised the event as a stop before going to a party or just a quiet alternative to going to a party. We had a good turnout.  Everybody that came stayed until the end.  The room was cramped with that many people, but we made it work.  I think everyone had a good time.

On Saturday, Xander, our friend David W, and I went out to the festival and walked around the waterfront area. It was Xander’s first Pride. I like going to the festival every year, but there’s really not much to it and I don’t think they were into it as much as me.  We left soon afterwards and got some drinks at a bar and later got some ice cream.

On Sunday, I marched in the parade again with Intel.  We had a much smaller group than last year, but we were a lot closer to the front of the parade, so there wasn’t as much waiting around.  It was fun marching again.  It was touching to see how many people were genuinely happy to see us. I saw quite a few people I knew along the parade route, including someone I met at the game night on Friday night.  Some people shouted my name.  A couple of people came into the street to hug me.

That night, Xander and I went to see Kathy Griffin perform. I had never seen one of her shows in person, but Xander had.  Several of my friends were there, including some I saw along the parade route earlier.  Portland is a small city. Kathy was great.  She was on stage for a little under 3.5 hours.  The time flew by and we were laughing all the way through.  The show was mostly about her ordeal with Trump with other stories mixed in.

This was my favorite Pride yet. It’s great seeing the community come together and celebrate. Next year I want to do even more!

This past week was Pride Week here in Portland. As usual I didn’t do anything during the week. I did all of my celebrating on the weekend. Well, one thing I did do during the week was pick up one of the rainbow badges that I see so many LGBT employees and allies wearing at Intel.

I drove past the Pride Festival on Saturday, but I figured I would wait until Sunday to go.

On Sunday, I marched in the parade for the first time. I was happy to be marching with Intel. Like I said on Facebook, I know a lot of people are cynical about corporations getting involved with Pride. Some think that corporations just throw money at it for good PR. From what I’ve seen, I believe that companies like Intel see the value in employees feeling comfortable being themselves at work. We had large group marching with our float. Apparently a lot larger than normal. It was so much fun walking along the route and being cheered on by the crowd. Everyone was nice, including the drag queens doing commentary at a couple of the bars along the route. People seemed genuinely excited to see us. I saw some friends in the crowd and I was later told by friends that they saw me. The only negative was that the speakers in our float that were playing music lost power early on even though they were supposed to have a 4-hour charge. Oh well.

After we got to the end of the route, I went to the festival. I didn’t stop at as many booths as I normally do because I was tired and had stuff to do at home. I got food samples for Reese, bought a Nike Pride shirt, and took a picture with underwear models like I do each year.

As I was leaving the festival to go back to my car, a homeless guy called me the f word because I didn’t have any change to give him. I was still flying high from my experience that day, so it didn’t bother me at all. That guy is going through some stuff I can’t relate to. Since my car was along the parade route, I decided to watch more of the parade. Yes, it’s a LONG parade. It turns out that the parade was almost over at this point. Intel’s float was #33. The last float was #164.

I had a great time at Pride this year. Even though I was exhausted Monday, I hope to try to fit more activities in my schedule next year.

Two weeks ago from this past weekend was Pride Northwest. Last year was my first time attending Pride. Last year, I only went to the festival with the booths and food and music, but this year I did more.

On Friday night, I participated in the Pride Glow Run. It’s basically a nighttime 5K where you’re decorated with glow sticks. There were some people dressed up in outfits. It took place near the Waterfront and it was pretty cold outside. When I wasn’t running, I was freezing. I didn’t know anybody there, though I did recognize someone who I had seen at Intel a few times. Once the race was over, I left. I know I must have looked weird when I walked in the 7-Eleven on the way home.

On Saturday, I was sick, probably from being out in the cold the night before, so I stayed at home.

On Sunday, I went to the Pride parade with my friend Alston, who is straight. I had a blast. It was great to see so many companies large and small represented. I saw several people I knew in the parade, both gay and straight. Maybe next year I’ll be in it. It was a LONG parade, so we didn’t see the end. I took Alston home and came back for the festival. I got lots of free stuff and got Nike #BETRUE shirt like last year. I went home after that.

Pride was a lot of fun. I’m glad to live in a city where this is possible. Next year, I hope to have time to participate in more events leading up to that final weekend and during the final weekend.

I found out that over this past weekend, Mississippi had a Pride event and a Comic Con. I wish they had those things when I was there, but I’m glad for folks in Mississippi. Progress.