Mermaid Parade

Today we went to the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. Wow...that was an experience. To start off our day, we had breakfast this morning just down the street past our apartment. The sun was no where to be seen, there were numerous clouds in the sky which lead to little hope of clearing up. Thank goodness for umbrellas and my need to have one with me when the sky is dark and clouded...because there was light rain and it gradually became a constant down fall of water droplets. Becky and Glenn had made this deal to exchange books, which each one of them had chosen for the other. We thought he had completely blown us off until after we had sat down with our breakfast bagels he strolled through the doorway. All three of us chatted, let me re-phrase that, Becky and Glenn chatted for most of the time, and I sat there and looked pretty. After the book exchange Becky and I headed back to our apartment to make sure the parade was still scheduled. We also met up with Becky's friend Julia. Once we figured out that the parade was still a "go" and Julia had arrived we headed out for our adventure.

Julia, Becky, and I all conversed on which train would be the best one to take, to get us to the Q line. And we had decided that going to the WTC would be the best bet. Before getting on the Q train, but after switching a few times before, we stopped at a news stand to get a couple necessities for the ride through Brooklyn...a fruit drink and some reading material. Taking the train through Brooklyn feels like an eternity but at least we were traveling aove ground, instead of below it. We got off at the platform in Coney Island right by the amusement park. The parade didn't start on time , at 2pm. So we waited and listened to an obnoxious man with a speaker system talk about random junk until the parade did start.

We were also located at the very end of the parade route. To rewind a bit, when we got off of the train, there was a balding man with a stroller and a purple sequined knee length dress. I thought to myself, "WOW...that would only happen in NY." I took numerous photos of people walking around in their best Mermaid parade costumes. Once the parade started, there were things I've never seen before in a parade. For instance women were allowed to flaunt their torsos wearing not a stitch of clothing to cover up. It's called the Coney Island Mermaid Parade for a reason...like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. the costumes included: mermaids, pirates, pirate-wenches, sailors, zombies dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller, , Elvis, peopel in plastic wrap, lots of fish net, "sea men", crabs, shrimps, origami, jelly fish, and the list can go on for miles.

When I saw Elvis in the parade, I got a picture of him, and some how he thought he should come over and sing to us (Becky, Julia, and myself). He was wearing a red Elvis suit with his hair slicked back with some type of greasy product, and he had a small boom box wiht speakers attached to his hips. I tried to get a picture with Becky and Elvis, but Becky's had more experience with getting away from creepy guys. She acted as though she was shy and timid and backed away from him. then I some how, got caught in the middle...and as I tried to step back I had lots of people behind me so I couldn't get away from him...and he kissed my cheek. YUCK!!!! I still get "the creeps" whenever I think about that moment...it almost makes me want to eat soap or scrub my face with bleach. And of course, Becky isn't much help, she gets a kick when I flinch and then as though she were a jute box, she stars singing the lyrics to every Elvis song she knows...she's like a human karaoke machine. Becky and I had of course planned incorrectly about the weather. When it wasn't raining it was very sticky and humid in Jersey City and while the parade was in route. while walking on the board walk between the amusement park and beach, we stopped into a t-shirt shop to each purchase a jacket. We both managed to choose the exact same jacket. As we left the beach and got back onto the subway, Becky really wanted to play off the fact that we were wearing almost the same attire; jean skirts, hooded zip up jackets, white purses, and then braided her own hair into pigtails. We headed home after a very strenuous day of standing in the rain.