Well, it’s Monday after Pride weekend. This should be a day when I’m nursing a massive hangover, feeling event drop, and possibly not at work because I can’t even. Yet here I am- just like any other Monday.
Because this was a Pride weekend basically wasn’t.
As we know, all Pride events were basically cancelled months ago. The parade. The beer dabbler. The bar/block parties. The concerts. The BBQ’s. The pool parties. All of it gone.
The official start of my summer— cancelled.
Oh, they tried to do some virtual stuff and the bars tried their best to be open at 1/2 capacity… but everything basically went tits up. there was a successful BLM “Take Back Pride” March they happened, so that was good. But that’s about it.
On Friday, my friend Hank said we should do the Eagle patio after work— because Pride. Duh. And because we hadn’t done any gay bar drinking in months. I readily agreed. Not only would it be a good excuse to drink with a friend, it would be a chance to be in a gay establishment and perhaps see folks I hadn’t seen in awhile.
The place was dead.
Granted Hank and I got there pretty early, there was basically nobody there. Maaaaybe 4 tables of people. We also stayed there until close to 9 and the place was never at max capacity.
I did get a chance to see a few folks I hadn’t seen in awhile, which was nice. But other than that, it was just kind of sad. And it makes me worry about the future of the bar. ALL gay bars really. They are going to have trouble staying open with so little patronage.
The rest of the weekend? Was not eventful at all. I went for a long bike ride in Saturday. I did laundry. I cleaned. I sold two bikes (more in that tomorrow). I read. I grocery shopped.
On Sunday I woke up antsy and anxious. I couldn’t sit still. I went for another bike ride just to get out of my place and see people. I was emotional all day. Depressed. I started to think of all that I’m missing out on: chorus concerts, band concerts, the gym, Pride events, happy hours, the GALA chorus festival, fireworks, BBQ’s, travel for my birthday….
The list was overwhelming.
I posted in Facebook that I was a bit depressed. A chorus friend (Bret) contacted me and we ended up having dinner at my place. We had some craft cocktails and pizza. And watched a movie. And ice cream. And we caught up on life stuff.
The company was nice and helped get me out of my funk. But I still have low-level depression about it all. Covid and social distancing really hit this introvert hard this weekend, and I know it’s not going to get better until we can get a cure of vaccine.
So, cheers everyone. Happy Pride. And chins up y’all.
Mangina Monologues 