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The Fifth of July
2006-07-05 9:40 p.m.

We went to the annual 4th parade in Montclair yesterday to see Thomas' piping band play, 'cause that's what friends do. Of course, we are who we are, so we had to turn it into an all-day event by starting the day with brekkie at Nicole's, drinks at Tierney's after the parade (and to escape the heat, bleh!), and then a bbq at the home of Danielle and Todd, our new bff's.

The parade was fun, though Tom's group was the only piping band there...and let's be honest, what else makes a parade fun besides tons of bagpipers? The mimes? The Latin-Dancer floats? Waves from Miss Teen NJ? I think not. "We're behind the gays," Thomas said, at Nicole's brunch party, before he and bandmate George had to split to get to their start point on time. "You can't miss us." Indeed, it's a small city and a teeny street - we were able to see him just fine and my mom took pictures, much to his dismay, and the confusion of Montclair PFLAG chapter who were, indeed, preceding the pipe band.

Don't know if that's good for a laugh - a pipe band from Kearny following a gay rights group - but this is: the Montclair Alternative Energy Association being followed by a large Hummer carrying some other, unrelated person who owned a local business and was throwing out lollies. No kidding - we booed the Hummer. And when I say "we", I don't mean Steve, Nicole, my mom and my brother, but the whole block. Partly, that's just liberal Montclair, but also: We had to! Was that line up someone's idea of a joke?

My bro Dave was particularly enthused about booing, since he blames Hummers and other grotesquely large and consumptive vehicles on the road for his recent bought of shopping troubles. He bought an old pick-up truck a few years ago after he bought a house (apparently a pick up truck makes house-repair stuff much easier), and he found out a few months ago that it can run on ethanol. Only trouble is, the closest place to him in Essex co, NJ that actually sells ethanol is in Bucks co., PA or something. So at the parade, Dave booed the Hummer too ("thanks to you, no one will sell ethanol!"), and yelled at NJ Congressman Bill Pascrell as he rode past, waving ("Sir! Sir! Why don't we sell ethanol in this state? Sir? Sir?") I love my brother so much. He's totally shameless - always has been, always will be. Whether he's air guitar-ing in the middle of the dance floor at the loop lounge because his favorite Bowie song is on or he's yelling at a politician who refuses to acknowledge him (even though he could obviously hear), he just doesn't give a crap that people are staring. Gotta admire that kind of confidence. What's your family like?

Speaking of mild, humorous sorts of dysfunction, Steve and I have been trudging through Rockaway, Ringwood, West Milford and Butler, NJ, looking at houses. Our real estate agent is NUTS nuts nuts and very aggressive. Some of the houses we looked at were such dumps - and not because of structural conditions, but because of the cat puke all over the floor and the dirty socks stuck into holes in window screens (to keep out bugs?)- that he kept saying "for god's sake, don't touch anything kids" in a few homes. As if I was going to, blech. You think your house is messy...

Anyway, most of what he was saying to us, or in particular me, just the other day ended with "I'm not judging you, I'm just telling it like it is." I don't know if it's even worth going into what he said that he was modifying with that statement, but it ran the gamut of child-rearing ("who are your kids gonna play with?", if there weren't too many other houses around) to where Steve might be working in 10 years ("you could be come a carpenter! We don't know! Who knows? We don't!"). But he's great, and I think he can find us something great in our price range that's located centrally between my work and Steve's, and poised just between "enough land" and "civilization". Around here, too much civilization means your neighbor sneezes and you hear it - but the alternative, "way-out Jersey", where there is more land, sometimes means you're cut off from your friends and fun stuff (like Montclair's Alternative Energy Association and PFLAG chapters) and immersed in a world of gun racks and republicans. Yes, we have them here too.

Over drinks, when I was telling my friends that we really really really liked a place in West Milford, Nicole made a sad face because it sounded far away to her. It's really not that far, I told her - just over the border of a town that she knows well - so we moved on. But a sad face, particularly her sad face, made me sad too, but happy - I'd miss your proximity and the ease with which I can see you so much, it said to me. Yes, it said all that. We talk with our eyes, ok? Nice to have loving friends.

Ugh, I have ONE DAY of summer session left. Tomorrow, since the entire state of NJ is still in budget dispute and therefore shut down, Thomas does not have to work (he's an accountant for the state; man cannot live on piping alone) and so has asked Steve to go hiking at the Delaware Water Gap. I heard them on the phone and wailed that I wanted to go, but I have to give two final exams tomorrow. Poopy school. Almost done.

xoxo