CEOLA

What’s been going on with my life? Well…between a drag queen pageant, scratching ‘surviving 25 years on this wretched earth’ off my fictional bucket list, starting a new job (praise Jesus) and watching a man fall 120,000 feet to earth…and live…not too much.

Yeah, things have been wild, but fun and by far the biggest change has been the job. Everyone who knows me – and I’m sure some people who don’t know me but follow me on Twitter – knows how I felt about my last job (and I use the word job very loosely). There’s not much I can go into detail with on that but let me give you a summary: I fucking hated it. Unproductive is not the word. Uninspiring is not the word. Creative blackhole and the place souls go to die…comes kinda close but nah…still doesn’t cover it. I’ve been told I can be a tad dramatic but I swear unless you experience it yourself there is no way you can argue this with me and win.

25 years…big deal right? I’d have liked to avoid it entirely but secretly I hoped (as I do every year) for some kind of surprise shindig to commemorate the aging process. Well this year, my wish came true. The Boy managed to surprise ME, ME of all people, with a dinner with some of my closest friends at More Vino (my fave restaurant). I also got this bitchin’ jumpsuit made for me by the fabulous Janelle Forde of J. Angelique Designs.

That part wasn’t a surprise, I commissioned it as a present to myself, but still, it was one of the highlights of my day: slipping on that gorgeous Pieris jumpsuit from her Caribbean Butterfly collection. I’d strongly recommend her to anyone who’s looking for feminine and flattering clothing, she’s very hands on with great attention to detail and I can see why my mom always preferred getting her clothing made rather than purchasing retail.

The weekend prior to that I had the most sensational night at the Queen of Queens Pageant. What is the Queen of Queens Pageant you ask? Well, according to my girl Sarah, who messaged me at 7 to ask me to be her ‘fiercely dressed guest’ at the show, it’s the ‘superbowl of drag queen pageants’. How on earth was I supposed to turn that down? So the plans for the night got usurped by lots of boys in drag and to say the night was entertaining just doesn’t cover it. I’m incredibly proud that I live in a country where these kinds of events can take place by the way. Had I been in Jamaica I’d probably have been waiting on the Molotov cocktails to come flying through the door. No…no incidents, no unpleasantries, just lots of lip-syncing, bad weaves and gowns that looked like sequins and satin got together and made babies.

I think I’d like to get involved in coordinating this pageant; it has tremendous potential. Even though it was relatively empty when we arrived at 9:30pm, by 11:00pm or so (when the pageant actually began by the way :/) there was standing room only and by the time I left at 2:00am (the pageant was still going on by the way :/) the crowd had spilled outside. I love drag queens, they’re so fabulous in a kitsch way. Some of these queens had fantastic shape on them too, like I know women who’d kill for some of those curves. Anyway, had it been a bit shorter with less performances I think it would have been a wholly enjoyable experience. The time factor was really the only downside. I’m adding Queen of Queens to my social calendar and you should too.