Casual nudity on a Sunday morning

Well. This was another basically perfect weekend. I started off Friday after work with a phone call from Allie that she had two tickets to classic rock group, Moody Blues, with two of our friends. Although I am almost always up for a free concert, in this case I was really excited because The Moody Blues were playing at Ravinia. Located just North of Chicago in Highland Park, Ravinia is one of America's most famous music venues. I had been wanting to see the venue ever since I moved here. Ravinia is an outdoor amphitheater with one main shell and then a large field with cute little trees and flowers. It's not the kind of place to see a Green Day or Dr. Dre, but a great place to bring a picnic, a bottle of wine, a blanket, and hang out with friends. Allie had been there before to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play John Williams' hits. Nimit said that several times in the summer, Ravinia will bring a large movie screen and play famous movies like Wizard of Oz or Indiana Jones but the orchestra will play all the music live. Allie and I ended the evening by a nice summer drive with the windows down followed by talking and enjoying the Chicago skyline from my roof.

After sleeping in on Saturday, Allie and I wandered over to the nearby Farmer's market, picked up some lunch, and then joined Nimit to watch the World Cup game. It was a tough loss but I still had fun watching them. Side note - my new favorite team is Ghana. Their coach is the coolest looking coach I have ever seen. He looks kind of like Albert Einstein dressed as a homeless man. On Saturday night I went out for pizza with some of my co-workers.

I worked Sunday morning but got off just in time for the Chicago Pride Parade. This was one of the craziest things I have experienced in my life. Imagine really hot weather, lots of alcohol, and tens of thousands of young people in a small four to six block radius. Complete, and utter, chaos. I saw lots of amazing costumes, lots of dancing, lots of drinking, and lots of music. Oh yeah, there was also more than a little nudity.

In a way I am unsure if the Parade is still as important as it was thirty years ago. It seems all the "normal" gays stay home and the "character" gays come out to play. While thirty years ago the point of the march was about gaining acceptance in the community, in 2010, the parade is primarily a drunk orgy. I was happy I got to experience it once but I don't know if I will go back next year. My favorite part of the parade was actually seeing the radical Christian protesters, heavily guarded by about two dozen police officers, in verbal sparring matches with many of the militant gay rights protesters. I absolutely support the rights of all Americans (gay, straight, or ?) but I strongly question if the way to gain more legal rights and acceptance in the mainstream is to wear a thong and write "slut" on your chest. Either way I understand that I can only look at the parade through the lens of a heterosexual male who has not had to deal with years of judgment about my lifestyle. I guess if once a year they want to throw all inhibitions out in the wind and party with their friends, who am I to judge.

On Sunday afternoon, after a long nap, Allie and I concluded the weekend by going sunglasses shopping (success), bowling (I struggled), and capped the evening by watching Vicky Christina Barcelona. A+ weekend.