More New-Blogger Things and the GLBTQ(QIPSA) Pride Parade

First order of business: If anyone knows how to do cool blog things like layouts and links to other blogs and suchlike, do poke me about it, because I know nothing and would love a mentor in the technical aspects of blogging. For Example: How does one indent paragraphs here on blogspot? I can't seem to manage it for some reason...

Second order of business: I made a promise to myself when I started blogging (oh, two days ago) that I would update twice a week on some schedule and more often than that if something awesome happens that I can blog about. I'm putting this in writing in a public place so my readers (if I have any) can hold me to it.

Third of order of business: The Blogging Itself.

We've been repainting the house this weekend so it's been kind of hectic. By we, I mean the people we hired to do the painting for us, but let me tell you, this does not mean idleness on the part of the family. We emptied, we scrubbed, we moved, we lugged, we loaded, we pattered, we did any amount of verbs that would make the actual business of shoving stuff aside and painting the walls that much easier for the workers we hired. And we succeeded. The painting was finished yesterday while I was at Pride (which I will talk and squee about later in this post), but the house is not back to normal yet.

For example, I am typing this post up on my father's laptop rather than on my desktop computer because my computer is sort of lying there on my desk, wires a-tangled, CPU and monitor listlessly unattached, and the keyboard... somewhere. I actually haven't seen my keyboard at all. My bed is in the middle of my room with stuff on top of it--stuff including two boxes of books from my shelves and whatever else is on there that I haven't catalogued. The rest of my books have been shoved into a little closet-like desk-thing and aren't that much worse for the wear. I'll have a blast reorganizing them when I get home tonight.

More importantly than all that, however, I went to Pride yesterday for the first time in my life. Not only did I go to Pride, I marched in the actual parade. I was marching with the PolyamorousNYC contingent (which may or may not have outed me to a lot of people as poly. I'm still unsure about the headcount of people who know). At first, I was simply marching with the PolyNYC people, but then one of the girls walking in front had to go, so I was switched in for her.

It also rained like crazy during this time. So there we were, with our lovely handmade cardboard signs, walking along as tiny fissures began to run through the paper. There were three lovely ladies (not sure about the spellings of their names, so I'm gonna leave it alone) walking up front and the one in the center was holding a sign that said

I'm with Her --->
AND
<---- Her

She bravely held the sign in her hands as it slowly fell apart. Actually one of the ladies had to leave halfway through, so I took over for her walking in the front which was unbelievably fun! Eventually Leon (one of our marshals; the lady in the center was the other martial) bought us new styrofoam poster board on which they made not one, but two signs. The first was exactly the same as the one above and the second one said:

I'm with her---->
and...
<--- I'm with him

So it was from left to right (facing the same direction we were): me, Erica (I think that's the spelling?), Brigitta (I think that's the spelling?), and Leon. We danced, cheered, waved, shouted, blew kisses, and got very, very wet. I had to hide my hat in a plastic bag every time it began to rain again, but I put it back on every chance I got. Someone got the bright idea to "Pass the Kiss" or what Nell (another girl who was marching with us) described as a "Kiss Wave" where I would kiss Erica, Erica would kiss Brigitta, Brigitta would kiss Leon and then back it went. As we got closer to Christopher Street and got more comfortable with each other, this progressed to "Let's Switch Partners" and other such enjoyable things.

I recall being a little worried about how it would look to people. After all, we're polyamorous not promiscuous. At the after party for the Poly people (it was held at this poly family's house. A lovely couple and their two children and dog played host to us while we ate their food and took advantage of their company. It was beautiful), Justen (who is a long-time member of PolyNYC and all kinds of sweet) said that what we four were doing up front was the nature of polyamory. At that point I realized that the Pride Parade isn't about sending a sober message. It sends a message, yes, but the message isn't, "Look, we're not as bad as you think we are." The message is, "Oh baby, isn't it fun to be us?"

And you know something?

It really is.

Introduction Post

Hullo.

This is the post where I'm supposed to act awkward and not quite know what to do because I'm a new blogger. So if anyone is reading this and I'm not shouting into the proverbial abyss, my darling readers might be wondering, "Why on earth is Penny (for Penny is my nickname) writing a blog instead of doing something more substantial or less time-sucking?"

The answer is that Greta Christina, whom I respect and admire (and even idolize a little) very much, exhorted writers to blog, using the argument that a 21st century writer who does not blog is like a 20th century musician who does not allow his/her music to be played on radio. As an aside, the gender pronoun thing has really gotten out of hand. We need a nice single-person gender-neutral pronoun and stop worrying about it. Until I figure it out I will use he, she, and they alternately, all meaning non-specific-single-person-gender-neutral pronoun.

Aside aside, that's why I'm here. I am a writer (poetry, prose, what-have-you) and I want publicity because writing is, after all, what I want to do with my life. Also, as Greta Christina said, blogging means a) practicing a lot and therefore becoming better through sheer perseverance and b) opening yourself up to criticism which also helps you improve. So there. I'm open to criticism and perseverance. If you see anything at all that you think needs arguing or correcting, do argue and correct it. That's what I'm here for.

If I were Japanese and in-person with you all, I would now bow and say, "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." As I am not in-person, you'll just have to take my word for it that the sentiment is there. Truly.