BLOG BELLA

I have a beautiful mix of different and diverse friends.  Perhaps because I don’t really fit in anywhere myself.  As a kid growing up in Brazil I was always called “The American” because my dad’s American.  But what did I know of America?  That everyone was beautiful and rich.  The magazines made that perfectly clear.  Then I moved to America and was called the “Brazilian.”  Yes, the Brazilian daughter of a Brit and an American who grew up learning about Jesus, playing outside in the dirt with my dozens of little brothers and sisters and watching Full House and Punky Brewster, the TV shows Brazil borrowed from the US, always lagging a few years behind in airing.

So I’m the open minded or perhaps foolhardy friend who’s up for anything.  Including Drag Queen Bingo which I was dragged to last night.  My friend Kelsa thought taking me out for my Birthday to Drag Queen Bingo would be a great idea, and boy was she right.  Hamburger Mary’s on Santa Monica Blvd in We Ho was bustling with good cheer and good food, befitting their “Eat drink and be Mary!” slogan.  I had a pink Livin Longtini along with a veggie wrap and fries which was both delicious, filling and at $7 and $8 priced surprisingly low.  Since I rarely drink I had an instant buzz.

The $20 cover charge for the Bingo cards Kelsa and I shared went to benefit Shakespeare at Play.  Sharing the cards worked out better as I was able to run to the restroom while Kelsa covered our pulse-pounding competitive game.  The place was packed with same sex couples, groups of friends, and opposite sex couples.  The prizes included tickets to local events, mojito travel kids,  bottles of wine.  “BINGO!” everyone kept shouting except for us.  “BINGO!”  After each game we losers were told by our host to throw our scrunched up loser cards at the winner who was required to run by each table to receive her shower of balled up Bingo cards.  When a player shouted a false Bingo, he was given a paddling by our tall, animated drag queen host with her beautiful long, spider-like lashes.  We cheered on, as the paddle moved up and down on his butt, happy that although we weren’t Bingo winners, at least we weren’t being paddled in public even if it was by a crush-worthy drag queen.