After church, I thought I'd get an educational experience and go see the Gay Pride Day parade. There were tons of gay and heterosexuals at the parade. I never saw so many weird people in my life. The men were muscular and wore leather outfits which were hilarious. There were tons of drag queens waving this rainbow colored flag. There were alot of floats sponsored by gay bars with gay men and women dancing on them. It was funny watching them throw out condoms instead of candy at a parade. I watched it for 2 hours and decided to leave. It truly was educational to see this, as you never would have seen this back in Muskegon.
It was so hard to sleep last night as I was so excited about going to the Jimmy Buffet concert. Shawn Young and I wore our Hawaiian shirts. We rented a car and drove out to Aurora to Naperville to one of Wayne's friends house for a pre-Buffet party. Greg lived on Eagle Street near Washington St (Jewel Osco) in Naperville. Greg's house had a pool so we put our feet in the water to cool off. It was 95 degrees today. Wayne's friend, Lisa, was at the party. I had met her at the Halloween party in 1997. She said it would be fun to live in the city, but hard to not have a car there. She was working at Amoco, but that temporary job had finished, so she was looking for a new job. Shawn and I jumped in the pool with our clothes on. Then, we went to Jewel Osco to fill up the coolers with beer and ice. The bus met us there. There were 30 of us that went to the concert.
The Jimmy Buffet concert was at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park. There were about 100 buses there and 20,000 people. I tried my first and my last cigarette experience there. Shawn was laughing so hard at me, as I had no idea how to puff it right.
I got on Wayne's shoulders so I could see more. I tried 3 more cigarettes. Wayne looked at me and smiled saying 'Gonyo is smoking'. I had so much fun singing and dancing. Shawn and I held onto Wayne's shirt so we wouldn't get lost from him. We got back on the bus and got back to Naperville around 1:30 a.m. Had to sit on Greg's lap on the car ride home. He seemed to enjoy that, but then again, he was drunk, too. Got back into the city around 2:30 a.m.
Met Shawn Young, Brandie Darr, Chris Gordon, and Natsumi at Jerry's Barr on Lincoln. There was a festival this weekend. It was very hot outside, so it was nice to be indoors with air conditioning. We saw a guy walking around with a snake around his neck. You see some weird people at the festivals. Natsumi worked at a Korean bank downtown. It was fun to get together with my friends from Western Michigan University.
My mom was at home to greet me which was nice. We went to the Lands End outlet and Pier 1 Imports on Clybourn. Then, we walked to Leona's Italian Restaurant at Belmont/Sheffield. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful mother to hang out with.
On Saturday, I made my mom this breakfast casserole and banana bread. She liked my chocolate no-bake cookies, too.
We walked over to the Old Town Art Fair. Then, I got my hair cut at Hair Cuttery on Diversey/Clark. It only cost me $10. Then, we went to the Wells St. art fair and had lunch at Johnny Rockets.
Went shopping at Water Tower Place.
We went to Navy Pier and rode on the ferris wheel. Of course, we got popcorn from the famous Garrett's popcorn and then went to the movie, '6 Days, 7 Nights' starring Anne Heche and Harrison Ford. My bible study leader, Nancy Heche, was able to go to the premier, with her daughter, Anne Heche.
On Sunday, we went to Park Community Church. My mom finally got to meet Nancy Heche.
In the afternoon, we took Metra out to Hinsdale. My mom's friend, Mary Lou, had driven my mom to Chicago on Friday and then went out to Hinsdale to visit a friend for the weekend. So, we were meeting Mary Lou in Hinsdale so my mom could ride back to Michigan with her.
I had four glorious hours of fun at the Planet Hollywood in Chicago. I got in line at 11 a.m. in order to see 4 soap stars. Shemar Moore (played Malcom on the Young and the Restless), Ian Buchanan (played James Warrick), Kelly Ripa, and Mark Consuelos (All My Children). Shemar was so funny and down-to-earth. I got my picture taken with all 4 of them.
This was my weekend to monitor the system at work. The timeshares hadn't run yet. Found out the system may crash tomorrow. There were so many jobs in the queue.
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