***Weekend Words***

We had contractors out (again) on Saturday. I ran errands and wrote while R. worked on, well, work-related stuff. After the contractors had left, we drove up Saturday to attend L.A. Pride.

We immediately noted how fewer booths stood in comparison to last year. But unlike Long Beach’s festival, more of them were community services rather than outright businesses. We did see, however, three remodeling companies but didn’t stop after seeing their wears.

Because R. had one choir tickets at Long Beach, we checked out all booths that had games of chance. The first one offered $75k towards a new car. We signed up for (possible) vacations at may others. After bumping (finally) into our friends GAC and CS, R. spun for lesser prizes like a bead necklace.

We were, of course, inundated with bags of free mags and even DVDs.

We bumped into other friends and acquaintances during our six hour tour, a sharp contrast to (again) Long Beach Pride, with all from our (former) association with A/PC years ago. To me, it was amazing how many of these folks hadn’t changed: they were still active within our community or (with one) still looking for cheap thrills.

I had made reservations at a local restaurant. So, after feeding the parking meter one more time, we lunched over our favorite meals. We later walked about to check out the stores, most of which we were familiar. I admitted, though, that a few had changed beyond recognition. Later in the week, GAC and CS would tell me more changes of familiar landmarks of our youth.

We re-entered the festival later in the evening. There was a dramatic change: the number of people had significantly increased and many booths had closed. And many of the staff for the open ones were less friendly; they weren’t unpleasant, just less enthusiastic. But the biggest disappointment was the stage show: none of the local bands played during our two hour visit. We finally called it a night and returned home.

Sunday we both spent working. Later I would work on my novel.