Dearest internet, we meet again.
So Friday, as I mentioned, I did Habitat for Humanity in this large section of North Minneapolis that’s being rebuilt. Not only did I get to use a regular hammer, I also got to use the air hammer and power stapler. We did framing at one location before lunch, and then trim work in another after lunch. I spent most of the day with a group of male Catholic highschoolers, who were very nice and all, but I have this thing where when I know I have to control my crudeness and attitude, I live in constant fear of a tourette’s-like outburst that renders everyone horrified and ashamed. But I survived, and so did everyone else, despite the fact they entrusted me with power tools and Catholics. Knowing I probably wasn’t going to have a lot of gym-time over the weekend, I walked the 4.8 miles around my lake (in 1.2 hours, which is a pretty decent pace), then did half an hour on the crosstrainer at the gym. My thighs have gotten crazy-strong since I’ve been leg-pressing a ton (not literally), so I feel like I can go forever. I’m gonna look awesome when I have Mr-Universe thighs on my regular body. I’ll probably tan and mineral-oil them just for effect. You’ve been warned. Afterwards, Cindi and I went to the Sexpo at the convention center, because we had no doubt it would be hilarious. We spent a long time examining and evaluating sex toys (her favorite find was the stripper pole for $80, with free feather boa!), we talked to people about anything-goes vacations (not because we were interested, but because it was so damn funny), we took turns riding the giant dong from Sexworld, we had drinks, we ogled shirtless men, we saw my poi instructor spinning fire on stage in a really hypnotic and uncomfortably burning-man-sort-of-way, we saw strippers on motorcycles, and then we walked out laughing with a bag full of lube samples and toy catalogs, right past the ladies there for the quilters’ convention. At the convention center, when they check your IDs to make sure you’re 21, you get a wristband WITH YOUR NAME ON IT. We decided to keep our wristbands on all night, lest we somehow during the course of the evening’s events managed to forget our names. It was entirely possible. We dined on the roof at Joe’s Garage, spending time before and after with the most helpful bartender on earth. Cindi was trying to ascertain the location of the ‘cop bar’ in Minneapolis; I have no clue WHY I’d want to go to a bar where off-duty cops hang out, but it seemed like a really funny idea. While we were awaiting this information, we learned from Dodgeball that Bill and Katie were at Grumpy’s up in the same general vicinity, so we decided to join them instead. We seriously love Dodgeball. We found them there with some friends, some paintings of meat and naked chicks with misaligned nipples (they were having some kind of Art-a-Whirl kickoff party), some free pizzas from Luce, and most importantly, Luce temporary tattoos. We all put them on, and the party really began. Now, one of my concerns about the fact we’ll be spending much time in the middle of nowhere (i.e. Denali) in July is that I’ve only peed outdoors once in my life, and I wasn’t very good at it. This is really a major worry, so I have informed several of my female friends (Ok, well, more like everyone within earshot) about this fact, and many of them have promised to teach me. This always seems like a great idea after a couple hours at the bar. Therefore, Cindi and Katie and I headed out into the neighborhood surrounding Grumpy’s that night, and at least one dude wandering by happened to catch a glimpse of three girls squatting in the grass with their pants around their ankles, and one of them was yelling, I CAN’T DO THIS! That one was me. Afterwards, we went to Lyle’s, during one of the rare non-happy-hours (which was good, because it meant we could find a red glitter booth), did some more trannyspotting, assigned each other many, many boyfriends, and then it was time to go home. Saturday, Kaye and I went to Art-a-Whirl; we visited the California building, where we saw a fascinating demonstration on glass beadmaking, and I found art I needed to buy, of course. We then went to the Northrup King building and saw a bunch more artists, including Sean Tubridy, whose work I should probably just buy an ongoing subscription to. I love it. After that, it was time for one of the most-fun things to happen to Minneapolis this spring: Pillow Fight Club. We pulled up at Logan Park and saw a small group of people standing there, clutching pillows. As we climbed up the hill, we noticed even more people standing on the far side of the park, holding video and regular cameras. We were outnumbered by media. But not for long! Other pillowbearers showed up, and we stood around wondering if someone was going to tell us to begin. Someone said it was already five after two, so I whomped Kaye with my pillow, and we were off a-fightin’. I cannot express the sheer joy generated by a crowd of twenty-or-so strangers beating each other with pillows in a park. I was laughing so hard, I started choking on the feathers I inhaled. The cameramen were circling us, filming, and wanting to interview us when we took breaks. It was the most fun ever. If you ever get a chance to get in on pillow fight club, you’d be really stupid not to. It’s awesome. I ran home and dropped my clothes in a pile of feathers on the floor, then hurried out to Wendy’s to set up for the Booby-Q. We were holding it in the party room at her apartment complex. We hauled boxes of stuff over there, much of it left over from past fundraisers, and Jane supplied all manner of tacky luau-related decor. She was in a halter top and sarong; I was in my ultratacky (and therefore glorious) Hawaiian skirt that is slit so far up the sides I cannot sit down in a totally unselfconscious fashion, or the whole world gets to see way more than I want them to. We had leis for all the partygoers as well. Our newest team member, April, showed up with her husband, Joe, and they helped us out. April is great, and I’m really excited to have her on the team. Joe manned the grill for the first half of the night, keeping everybody in brats and hot dogs and hamburgers. We had potato and fruit salad, nachos, various other chips, brownies, apple pie, rice krispie bars, donuts (they were donated!), and all manner of beverages, including Wendy’s very-strong Jello shots. [Also, a note: we now have this little Flickr site set up for Team Boobylicious news, and hopefully will manage to update regularly.] More people showed up than we expected, and everybody seemed to have a great time. My mom got drunk on Jello shots and beer, and I’m pretty sure I need therapy for that. Thankfully, they didn’t stay too late. We basically just hung out and ate, which is a hell of an awesome fundraiser, if you ask me. On one of my trips to the grill, I saw some people standing on their patio, so I yelled, “hey, want a hamburger?” The girl said no thanks, and the guy looked at her like she was crazy, saying, “wait, I want a hamburger! I never turn down free food!” So they came down and hung out for a while as well, even offering to let us stop by and use their bathroom, since the men’s room was locked. They asked what the party was about, and ended up both buying pink wristbands before they left. SO CUTE. Later on, we stood around outside tossing a donut at each other and failing to keep our very-festive sparklers lit in the wind. Oh, and I managed to pee outside. With Katie, behind the pool house. Laughing hysterically the whole time. Please don’t tell my mom. This morning, I went to brunch with Kaye, Wendy, Stephanie, Mollie, and Kathryn at French Meadow, from which we proceeded to the park-and-ride at Lake Street, from which we proceeded to the AIDSWalk at Minnehaha Falls. We got there pretty early, so we did our usual wandering-around, got our team photo (our team name was AWESOME, of course), and hung out watching the festivities on stage, which involved the Gay Men’s Chorus, features from La Cage, the Gophers dance line (side note: Kaye and I spotted a total of four furries there, including Goldie and Crunch; we’re pretty sure they hold an orgy down by the falls while the rest of us are out walking), a drum line, a moment of silence during which we try not to cry, and then the best part: the WARMUP. Aerobics with The Firm. Mollie and Kathryn and I wholeheartedly participated, Stephanie jumped around, and Kaye and Wendy looked at us funny. The walk was really good, even if it was a little cold outside. They had 10,000 participants, which kind of puts the 3,000 for the 3day this year in perspective (when I did it in 2004, it was fewer than 2,000). After the walk, we took the train downtown to Luce and had a very late lunch. When we arrived back at the station, the train was sitting there waiting, so I ran for it (it’s the end of the line, so it sits there for an undetermined amount of time). Kaye and I grabbed our tickets and hopped on; Stephanie and Wendy got theirs, and Wendy pushed the button to open the doors right as the train pulled away. OH MY GOD, WE WERE TRAIN-SEPARATED. The rest of this evening, I’ve only done things like download photos and go grocery shopping and hang out in my I HEART MY TRACTOR pants, so today has clearly ruled. I’m really worn out for some reason, and I think it has to do with getting too much sun Friday and today. At any rate, it’s very nice to stay home for a night. Since I don’t have plans for tomorrow night (uh, yet), I think I will try to rock that again as well. Ohhhhkay, I am very sleepy, and therefore I’m off to bed. Good night, y’all.Jenni P.S. Due to some recent creepiness, I have decided to not talk about dating-and-boy things on here anymore. I’ve been made sort of uncomfortable by it all, and therefore I will keep it to the protection of livejournal. And, fuck, I hate self-editing a lot. But it happens.