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ATL Pride: Part I
September 1, 2005
I am at the airport and so far I haven't freaked out. Anxiety attacks are real and I wish people wouldn't make light of them.
Anyway, I see black men here and there. One guy was in front of me at the check-in line. He was cute in an "average" sort of way. I like average boys. Handsome but not really model-worthy. (Cuz hell, I'm not, either.)
As I got to my terminal, I saw other black guys. It's fun to guess which ones are going to Pride. Part of me wants to to scream if you're going to ATL Pride make some noise! Yeah, if I did that, I would be quietly escorted to the bathroom and beat up.
There's this one guy: red sleeveless shirt, nice arms -- very nice arms -- shorts, black socks, and Timbs. Typical DC boy. He also has on a bag like mine. Yeah, like a laptop bag. He's with a chubby dude who is also wearing DC drag: white tee shirt and gray sweatpants. Both have big old badunkadunks, so they must be DC boys.
Anyway, I just KNOW they're gay and I haven't even heard them talk. There's something about the overtly masculine ways they are dressed.
Or, I could just be horny and red shirt looks really fucking hot to me.
I'm at a Sam Adams Brewery sipping on orange juice. This is the only place with seating where I can be away from the windows. Don't like the high windows. Makes me anxious.
Two other dudes -- GOTS to be gay -- are sitting at the bar. They at first were sitting near me, so I whipped out a copy of LAZARUS and laid it on the table. They moved, though.
Callis [not his real name] is my traveling buddy. He'll be here shortly.
I'll be meeting a lot of authors for the first time in ATL. Excited about that.
My handwriting is really fucking sloppy. It didn't used to be this way. I frequently end up misspelling or shortening words or contracting words. Cursive, that is. I wonder why they call it cursive. Is it cursed? lol
I will be so glad to take out these itchy fucking cornrows. Ugh! I left them in so I could take them out in Atlanta and have nice wavy locks going on. Although this would be tacky, I might do this on the plane to occupy my time. If I can find the strength to move, lol.
[Yes, I took the cornlocks out on the plane and yes, it helped me feel occupied and less panicky. In fact, I was a soldier on the plane, lol.]
September 2, 2005
Well, clearly I mafe it to Atlanta safely. The flight wasn't bad at all. No panic attacks or anything.
We arrived at the airport (which is really fucking huge!) and waited about 20-25 minutes just for our luggage. THEN the shoulder strap had the nerve to be missing on my Pepsi bag!
Side story -- this "Pepsi Bag" is a really nice duffel bag that I use when I travel. When I was in junior high (I think) Pepsi had this promotion where you could collect Pepsi Points and redeem them for cool stuff. Well, me and my mom were buying and drinking Pepsis like crazy until we had enough for the Pepsi bag. It was great! It has a detachable part that you can use as a little bag if you want. Very durable. Good shit.
So you can imagine I was like "Oh hayle no!" when I saw that the shoulder strap was missing. Well, the sassy luggage area attendant told me to look inside the bag, because they take it off so it won't get hung up on the equipment. And there it was. She was a nice, sassy lady, lol. Why black women always gotta be sassy! tee hee....but on the real, it was a great welcome to Atlanta because it was all in love.
The cab ride. I asked the cab driver to turn on the radio SO I COULD HEAR ATLANTA MUSIC. I stress that because I specifically wanted to hear how different urban radio might be in the south.
Why this nigga turn on the talk radio station? LOL
So Callis was like "Yeah....I wonder what the black radio stations are like....."
Cab driver does nothing. So we laugh it off and get psyced when we see the So So Def billboard by the highway.
Midtown Atlanta reminds me of DuPont Circle on steroids. In fact, all of Atlanta is on seroids. Why is this shit so fucking big???? DAMN! Okay, granted DC is not a big city -- no more than ten miles to get from one point to another. But I guess I'm just not used to highways in the middle of a city. I need streets.
We are staying at the host hotel for Atlanta Pride, which is the Sheraton Midtown at Colony Square. Or the Sheraton Colony Square Hotel at Midtown. Or some shit. It's decent. Not as elegant as I expected it to be. But still very very nice. The hotel is attached to some shops. Not a real mall, but one of those office building malls with a bunch of eateries and a convenience store or two. Me and Callis had Chic-Fil-A (sp?) for lunch. Yum! I had a fruit salad and chicken strips that were piping hot.
The PLAN was to take a nap, right? Well, I laid down for fifteen minutes and then No4Real called. He said he wanted to see me and I said I would come down to the lobby. Long story short, THIS nigga was at the Sheraton BUCKHEAD thinking it was the host hotel, looking for me by some fountain that didn't exist at the hotel where I was staying. Womp womp WOMP. So my naptime was shot to hell.
It took a lot longer than I expected to get ready for the Meet & Greet, mostly because I had to iron and I HATE ironing. In the meantime, Fred joined me and Callis as we got ready. Fred is so handsome...he looks exactly like his pictures.
We caught a cab to the Red Chair Restaurant and Video Lounge -- it was fairly close, maybe two miles? It was a very nice ride through a very nice neighborhood.
When we arrived, my old friend from college was there -- Tricia! That was hot, as I hadn't seen her in four years! I will most likely see her again for reunion in 2006. And she's had a boyfriend for the past three years. I was like....excuse you? LOL. But yeah, Tricia looks good. Glad she's not stressed out by life, and if she is, she's not showing it.
Red Chair is nive. If I were to open up my own venue, there's not too much I would change about Red Chair. See, this is where I suck at description, so just check out their website.
We were joined by a few folks throughout the evening, but I just want to shour out the faithful few that were there on time and stayed the whole time: Callis, Fred, and Tricia. It was an intimate gathering and I was quite prepared if nobody else showed up.
But then No4Real, Derrick Briggs, Maurice Jamal, and Alphonso Morgan showed up, along with four undergrads from Morehouse. That was cool. The Morehouse dudes were really nice and down to earth. I, of course, appreciated the appearance by No4Real, DB, MJ, and AM.
Two of my other friends also showed up, Cerrice (who is my APO brother) and Eugene (not his real name) my Alpha brother. I wasn't expecting Cerrice to make it since she was having a bad day, but she made it! I love that girl -- she's always so fun. And Eugene really surprised me! I hadn't gotten any return emails from him, so I didn't think he would make it, but he did!
And last, but not least, in a cameo appearance, was malik williams! AND HE CUT HIS LOCKS!!!!!! I was like "Hmmm, wonder who this is?" But it was malik! DUDE....he is so fucking hot! I was like melting and shit, lol. His hair looks so soft...I didn't get to touch it, though. It's very curly, too.
Eugene gave Cerrice, Fred, Callis and I rides back to the hotel and the Marta (for Cerrice). I didn't see him for the rest of the weekend, but I am so glad I got to see him at all.
Back at the hotel, we had pineapple cake martinis that were SO GOOD! I had never had a martini before. They were fun.
In the lobby, why did I see a Lesbian who looked JUST like him? I was like what the feezie??? But it wasn't him, it was a her, and she was a touch lighter than he.
***
And that was just Thursday....stay tuned for Part II.
Posted by Rashid on September 5, 2005 9:05 PM
Comments
Yo Rashid. Your diary is great for recording the happening in ATL. Between your words and my photos, everybody who didn't get there can feel the excitement and the love (well maybe not THE LOVE - lol). Looking forward to your next installment. Shem hotep!
Commented by Fratman1906 on September 6, 2005 1:55 PM