i almost stayed home last night. And if I had, I would have missed so many things. Pitch-perfect karaoke... An elderly African American in a rose velvet suit sang Marvin Gaye so perfectly that I thought he was lip-syncing to the album; A 200-pound biker and a rail-thin young goth nailed Sonny and Cher's 'I Got You Babe'. My friend was recounting stories about watching Sonny and Cher's reality show in the 70s, and I blew her mind by telling her that Sonny became a congressman (and then died in a skiing accident)

And later, we biked across the bridge to a party in someone's backyard, outside on the grass on the edge of the levees. We could see the tops of the tugboats and barges as they glided up and down the Mississippi. The DJs were amazing. Really really good reggae. And I met up with friends, and danced, and thought of all the places I've danced to reggae outside. As we left, the fog was rising and swirling around the legs of all the dancers silhouetted along the levees on the banks the river, 10 feet above us.

On our way home, the drawbridge was up, so we went up to the edge and watched the boats go by. Then as soon as the bridge came back down, we biked as fast as we could to get ahead of the cars and the three of us took the lane so we could fly down the bridge in the warm spring night.

9:53 a.m. - 2013-04-07