Holy flippin’ shit. The San Francisco Pride Parade was one of the best things I have ever experienced. Between hi-fiving and screaming at parade attendees and jamming to "Danza Kuduro" on the Twitter float, I don’t even think I had a particular favorite moment.
And here’s how my day went:
I got up, put on my wacky rainbow high-knee socks (which 96% of girls wore too), adorned myself in only 1% of my collection of bracelets, realized I started my period, and set off on my morning routine. Then, I went to the kitchen to make my friend, Julian, a toasted bagel. Because that’s proper etiquette, right? If someone offers to drive you, you offer them food and basically eternal love.
I got up, put on my wacky rainbow high-knee socks (which 96% of girls wore too), adorned myself in only 1% of my collection of bracelets, realized I started my period, and set off on my morning routine. Then, I went to the kitchen to make my friend, Julian, a toasted bagel. Because that’s proper etiquette, right? If someone offers to drive you, you offer them food and basically eternal love.
And with that said, I’ll reveal one of the most important life lessons from Cooking 101 with Kim: NEVER trust the timer mark on the toaster oven. These things don’t give you the golden crunch, they give you 3.5” of Crispy Hell, as you may notice in my Snapchat picture.
But that’s ok because I made a second one, and it was beautifully golden, like the perfect Enrique Iglesias. (I make horribly uncomfortable analogies sometimes, though it makes complete sense in my mind.)
Julian and I head over to San Jose Diridon around 8:30 to ride the CalTrain to San Francisco. (Currently laughing because I just remembered how we missed the 9 am train by 3 minutes and had to wait until 10 to go, oops.) It was my first train ride ever, so that was pretty wicked. Thank God we started in San Jose because the train got packed by the second train stop. People were standing on top and bottom layers, mushed on the stairs, and even resorted to laying down on the carry-on area. Although Julian and I were lucky enough to grab seats, we were close enough to other passengers to be blinded by butt-cheeks and armpit hair.
By the time we reached San Francisco, it had been a little over an hour and a half. This means: pit stop! The restrooms were PACKED--especially the girls'! Admirably, a few other girls and I braced ourselves to go to the men’s room. It reeked of piss and body odor, but the line was 10 times faster. The stall I was in had pee drops all over the floor, with the toilet seat up, and had not been flushed. But as I will remind you, the line was 10 times faster. I crouched down to assume position and immediately got stage fright. It took a good 2 minutes to calm myself down before I could relieve myself and wash up to catch back with Julian.
We walked across the street to grab some (very necessary) caffeine and carbs, aka Starbucks coffee frap and refresher and Kettle Brand Jalapeño Chips. After purchasing our food and drinks, we then made our way towards the pride parade!
“Do you know where we’re going?” “Just follow the crowd!” “I see tutus!”-- this basically sums up the uselessness of Google Maps on days like these. I loved people-watching on the way over to the parade. People were decked out in rainbow tattoos and face-paint, tie-dye crop tops, and neon booty shorts. It was almost like a G-rated rave (or at least that’s what I thought until we actually arrived to the parade). People wore colorful wigs, bright eyeshadow, and those fluffy leg-warmers you'd see at EDC. I think that's the beauty of San Francisco. Nobody cares; you are who you are, and nobody gives a flying f*ck. Today is the day the entire community can come together to share this moment and embrace this victory. |
My uncle, who works at Twitter, asked us if we wanted to march with the Twitter float -- uh, yeah! Being in the parade > watching the parade. For my first time at the Pride Parade, this opportunity seemed pretty fantastic, and although I don’t have anything to compare it to, I know that marching with my family with Twitter gave the parade +100 fun points.
At the time, we were on Market Street and had to navigate onto Howard and Maine, so we had a good four or five blocks of sight-seeing. On the way, we ran into Ted!
And some 99.7 photographers… but not Fernando and Greg unfortunately…
...And Uber’s float! Ok, as an avid Uber rider, it made me extremely happy to see that they were promoting equality at the parade.
We also saw the Netflix float! It featured “Orange is the New Black”, “Unbreakable”, and two other titles I couldn’t catch a glimpse of. Seeing the Titus poser (from Unbreakable) hitting some of Beyonce’s high notes got me laughing my butt off.
Some boobie views and a gallon of sweat later, we made it to the Twitter float! And let me tell you, their pride was real, haha. Bubbles were everywhere, Twitter balloons filled the trolley more than bodies did, and the music outdid all the other floats’. My uncle hooked Julian and I up with awesome Twitter pride tanks and fab-ified us with Mardi Gras necklaces and mini rainbow flags. The brief wardrobe makeover definitely boosted our esteems--we finally fit in with the crowd!
By 1 pm, the Twitter float began moving--the party was only beginning! My other uncle and aunt caught up with the float, and we went wild. I'm telling you, once the DJ blasted some Gwen Stefani, it was like a sweet escape because we ain't no hollaback crowd. Get it?
About 30 minutes in, my uncle tapped me, saying "You missed it!" What? "The taping!". Sure enough, when I got home, I definitely did not make it onto the Pride Parade's Live Video Stream. Damn. Maybe I can point at a blurb and say that's me?
About 30 minutes in, my uncle tapped me, saying "You missed it!" What? "The taping!". Sure enough, when I got home, I definitely did not make it onto the Pride Parade's Live Video Stream. Damn. Maybe I can point at a blurb and say that's me?
We continued walking for another 20-30 minutes (I really don't know because my phone totally died somewhere between this time), when my uncle suggested that Julian and I just go to the festival.
We escaped through the rail and started walking towards City Hall, where multiple booths were propped up. This excited me because booths = free button pins. And I love button pins.
To my surprise, I got more condoms than I did button pins. It was a very fortunate surprise. You should've seen me; it was like letting a child loose in a candy shop. I didn't know there were so many types of condoms! What even... Dotted, XL, Sheer, Assorted Colors, man... So I loaded up on all of them.
We escaped through the rail and started walking towards City Hall, where multiple booths were propped up. This excited me because booths = free button pins. And I love button pins.
To my surprise, I got more condoms than I did button pins. It was a very fortunate surprise. You should've seen me; it was like letting a child loose in a candy shop. I didn't know there were so many types of condoms! What even... Dotted, XL, Sheer, Assorted Colors, man... So I loaded up on all of them.
Oh, in case I didn't mention, these booths were promoting safe sex to prevent the spread of HIV. Yup, that was the important message.
Besides the pins and the condoms, we also saw a lot of...
Besides the pins and the condoms, we also saw a lot of...
Trust me, there was much more, but I didn’t take photos, since they were way too explicit.
The day summed up to be an amazing event and, surely, one of my greatest experiences. I am proud to live in a country in which its citizens have the liberty to express themselves and love whomever they desire. I have supported equal rights since I was a fetus, and with the victorious Supreme Court decision, I am thrilled to have be part of this time in American history. Once again, #lovewins.
The day summed up to be an amazing event and, surely, one of my greatest experiences. I am proud to live in a country in which its citizens have the liberty to express themselves and love whomever they desire. I have supported equal rights since I was a fetus, and with the victorious Supreme Court decision, I am thrilled to have be part of this time in American history. Once again, #lovewins.