San Francisco Pride Parade 2015 1

So I was at the San Francisco Pride Parade this year (2015) – I definitely marched, but not as much as I would’ve liked! But first thing’s first: Outfit selection:

I’d initially planned to go with a short red-dress. I tried it on that morning, and it was, uh, a little bit *too* short. I think I could’ve made it work in heels, but I DEFINITELY WASN’T GOING TO WEAR HEELS if we were walking a few miles slowly up Market street.

I think I went through six different outfits (and put together some nice ones too – but for a different occasion) before I settled on the above. I’ve had those shorts for about a year, and hadn’t really found an opportunity to wear them. Also, they’re pretty, uh, short, and I felt weird (previously, at least) showing so much leg in public. As it turns out, not that big of a deal! I suppose sometimes you have to push your limits a bit to figure out the periphery of your comfort zone :)

Anyway, with all of my outfit changes, I ended up being late. Or, should I say “late” – our contingent was due to start marching at noon… but we didn’t. There ended up being a lot of time just standing around…

…and taking selfies…

…and more selfies.

I should mention at this point that we didn’t actually start marching for four hours. When I said we had a lot of time standing around, I wasn’t kidding. After the first hour or so, a whole load of us decided to go get something to eat. And when we got back to our marching point, we still waited another two hours! That said, that left a lot more time for pics :)

I’ve said this a lot about lots of different photos of me, but… this one might be my favourite :D (apart from my neck which looks HUGE, lol)

Same pose, but this time I’m with a friend! ALTHOUGH I DON’T LOOK AS GOOD AS I DID IN THE LAST PIC, BUT THAT’S FINE.

It can be hard sometimes being out in a place where you don’t have total control of the photos that might get published. There are definitely some awful ones out there of me that I’m not super happy about because I look weird/the lighting is weird/my pose wasn’t good/etc but I have no control over, and that can be hard to deal with. But no one came up to me and said anything like “God, you look awful”.

Someone in our contingent who I’ve never met before came up to me and said I looked beautiful – which was a super nice compliment :D Obviously the reason she came over was because she saw me trying my best and wanted to be encouraging. And you know what – that’s awesome. Even though I didn’t pass, and even though someone notice, the fact that they came over and said “You’re doing great” made me feel super happy.

I should’ve hugged her.

Someone gave me a whistle at some point. This may have been a bad idea.

I generally don’t like candids because AHHH WHAT IF THEY CAPTURE A FACE THAT I DON’T LIKE (seriously, you should see some of the pics I didn’t post :S)

…But the one above and the one below… Well, I guess that’s just me :)