i hella [hearted] oakland tonight.

And by "Heart" I don't mean the smooth 'don't worry baby this won't hurt' kind. I mean i hearted the SHIT out of oakland tonight. What that really means, I don't know, I leave it to your imagination.
It was really random. I was at my friend's place thinking I was just having a low key dinner night. She kept mentioning this Best of the East Bay event going on at the California Museum in Downtown Oakland, I thought it was just an art event, so I said "sure why not"

and next thing we know we're crossing the bay bridge.

It was AMAZING. We drove past looking for parking, and there was a band outside. I thought, "Oh wow, I didn't know it was going to be a big enough event for a band"
So after finding parking, we walk past the band and into the event area. The girl letting people in recognized berna and I from a certain social networking site, and I was surprised at first since I don't always assume that someone knows me (I assume someone should know me, but I don't assume that they ACTUALLY know me, I'm humble).

So anyway, we walk in, go down this quiet little hallway thinking "oh well this isn't that much but it's cute--"
Thought interrupted by the bass.

Me:"What the"
Berna: "Holy shit"

I turn to my left, to the source of the majestic bass sound. Techno is funneling through the little turn.

Purple. Blue. Red. Purp Purp Purp Red Red Blue.
Lights coloring the end of the hallway, beckoning me and berna to come and see.

We walk through, and it opens up into this massive museum garden.

The first thing I thought was that it was like Pride but without the massive crowds and at night in Oakland...meaning it wasn't hot like a day fair and not freezing like SF is now.

It was awesome. A DJ was spinning along with these great light mixes.
I turn to my right, a girl drops quickly 100 feet fromt he sky, stopped only by red fabric that she's twirled between her legs. Young circus acts.

Vendors, Live Graffiti artists, painted newspaper boxes, live tshirt printing alley..it was amazing.

AND i got to say I did the following things tonight:

1. Danced to techno in the open air without a hoodie. Noone else really knew how to dance to it. I had to show them. Reminded me of the old skul Hawai'i Raves.
2. Skanked to a SKA BAND. Yes people, you read right, I skanked. I skanked for an outdoor concert. It has to be at least 10 years since the last time I did that. Noone else knew how to do that, I also had to show them that.
3. Watched a triple female rap act, that included one filipina rapper. She did a whole song in Tagalog. She called for all the filipinos to come on stage, I almost did. It's a good thing I was too far back and lazy. I would have had to show them how that was done too.
4. Got to watch a legendary punk band by the name of Flipper totally lose their cool on stage. The singer freaked out and left a song early. The best part was that the Original Bassist from Nirvana was also the bassist for this band..so he closed the night by playing some Nirvana riffs. I GOT TO SEE THE NIRVANA BASSIST PLAY LIVE FOR FREE.

That in itself was awesome...but the entire night was awesome. And it was for free.

I love you, God.