Kandi in The Land

April 11, 2025, was a day that offered me some time flexibility and a few ways to spread my wings a bit. I won’t lie, after CIFF I fell down the girl rabbit hole. This day, I had a basket full of clothing to sell or donate, so I did a microwaved version of Kandi. This is the only photo I will share with you all here. I only did this because I know the people that work at the store, and it was a simple there and back. No other stops. Yes, I look horrid, but I did it. This is me after a quick electric shave, very light makeup and the rat’s nest that is my actual hair.

Many of the outfits you recently saw me wear at Keystone and CIFF are now hanging in a resale shop in Cleveland Heights. Go shop the Kandi collection!

I had this event on my radar. But it starts late (for me) and my wife would be home. I generally prefer going out when she is working, at least getting ready when she is working. It is a complete nonissue doing what I ended up doing, but I still like to keep some guardrails on my Kandi life, if for no other reason than my own sanity.

I have a dress that I could only really wear to something like this. I know the woman who owns the venue as well as the DJ, both amazing women. The stars aligned, so off I went, on another solo flight. I knew no one other than those ladies walking in the door.

I’ll let the outfit speak for itself. Let’s just say, a very welcoming crowd noticed and was kind with their compliments. The event started at 8:00, so of course, I got there at 7:50 and basically wondered around aimlessly by myself for about 45 minutes. People started filing in, mostly girls, but a few gentlemen were there. I chatted with a few here and there, did a few photo shoots at the photo booth and started thinking I probably should scoot. I figured I would hang until about 9:15 then take off. While ordering a cocktail, a gentleman excused himself and told me I was beautiful. As an aside, that is rare and was not him hitting on me. He was just being kind to an apparently lonely girl.

A minute or so later, he waived me over to his group, him and two ladies. I was the junior member of the group (and that’s saying something). We chatted a bit, he is gay and lived about four blocks from the venue. Let’s just say this girl completely danced her behind off for about an hour. It was wonderful! I am no dancer, mostly the victim of being a white male as well as inhibitions I cannot seem to overcome. The human mind is indeed strange. I won’t allow myself to dance but would easily walk out the door looking like this. By the way, the outfit was my spin on a girl pop star.

I left at about 10:30, having dropped those inhibitions, being a such a girl! And I do mean that. There were these neon light sabers and various disco balls all around, so of course, I used the props on the dance floor.

Here is some of my time in the photo booth.

Good Lord, that was fun! Again, rewarded for taking a chance.