Sunday afternoon, I just spent the morning at the mall running errands and I planned a quick coffee break with Tracie to debrief her party that I missed the night before. We played around in North Park, drinking coffee and checking out beauty supply items for my much needed old school hair dryer. As I was dropping her off she mentioned in passing that today would have been a perfect day to drive up to LA. (Now mind you, I sent her a text note 24 hours before asking her if there was anyway we could sneak in a day trip since I still had the rental car to which I was promptly turned down) now all of a sudden she is down! I tried to beg off because I was headed to the San Diego Natural Hair meet up and I was really excited about getting some references for my hair- but then again- how often do we have a rental at our disposal and a full tank of gas?
A few minutes and phone calls later it is me, Tracie and her girlfriend Kim headed to LA!
I love when a plan comes together- it was so last minute and random but totally fun. The drive wasn't bad- but I kept thinking it would be an hour or so, but it was really a solid 2 hours- parts were really regular and other areas were spectacular! Beverly Hills of course was every bit as posh and luxurious as I had imagined- great stores, snazzy restaurants (Hey Crustaceans- I am coming back for you!!) and ritzy cars. The best part was actually seeing the Santa Monica Pier- it looks like so much fun! We are now planning for a 3 day girls trip in the off season so we can really get out and explore (code for shop)...loving Southern California more and more!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Maybe Love is a Battlefield....
So tonight, in an effort to be more adventurous and continue my "year of yes" I accepted an invite from 3 new women I met this past week at my favorite cafe, Influx. The irony is I pondered over their invitation even though I sought them out initially. I was looking for parking near my house, saw 3 nappy queens in my usual lily white neighborhood cafe and ventured in to introduce myself. I vacillated slightly about accepting their invite out for Sat night when I realized they were all AA lesbians- not because I don' t love my lesbos- but just because...well damn it I want to hang out with some black men! Thanks to Tracie I have met the mexicans, the gays, the holy rollers and all the biracial girls my little memory can stand but I am really trying to make room in my new circle for some cool artsy brothers.
Well anyway, at the urging of Candy earlier in the week insisting that i try something new each weekend, my cousin today who was adamant that lesbian community well connected - and nasty gram texts from Lette reminding me not to fake (my usual steelo) I headed out at about 10:30 for 9pm date of bowling and karaoke. Of course I got lost, but strangely enough- I never mind getting turned around when I am driving in San Diego- it is just another opportunity for me to soak in the beauty that is the west coast. I finally find KM Bowling alley closer to 11pm- walk in to find that I missed all the bowling- which is fine because it is karaoke time!!
Am I the only person who has never done it before? I used to think it was lame- but there was so much love in the room for the good singers, bad crooners and the ones in between that I felt it was a safe space. I told Melitta I was going to give it a try because no one knew me here in San Diego- but just to be on the safe side I used my middle name/alias - but it was a moot point because the dj later introduced me as Blake :(
Can I just say that the music choices were excellent? I started to right down a few songs I could envision myself singing- next thing you know I have 4 pages of song titles and numbers back to back "love shack" by b52s, "get into the groove" by madonna, "every rose has it's thorn" by poison and "stand back" by my girl stevie. I decided to go with my heart- "love is a battlefield" by pat benatar- cant we all see the smoky club with her black punk hair and the hard shoulders dancing in a face off with her broke down man? When the song started i was HYPED- but then the words started to appear on the screen at a pace and I didnt remember and i just froze- then i laughed- and then i laughed more when i heard the audience singing for me...i think i was overly confident when i first got up there and a lady from the audience complimented my sweater- who would have thought a little love from the audience would have made me ruin my favorite punk/single woman anthem? i had no idea singing from a huge monitor with the words highlighted for you could be so difficult! another issue was my voice- it is BAD! like high and random- even in song the microphone only emphasized the issue more (i thought my voice was pretty great until tonight) in the confines of my car i sound like angie and jill and ebadu all rolled into one- in the middle of kerna mesa bowling alley i sound like a strained cat....
Did I mention the song went on forever???? Like 4 verses- with lengthy rifs in between, I was so busy trying to recover from my poor singing/off key performance at the top of the song that I didn't engage the crowd much- so at the end I tried to excuse my behavior by saying I was a karaoke virgin- that helped because one girl shouted "good job virgin"- which pleased me immensely...when was the last time I heard those words?
Turns out- the group wasnt predominately lesbian, 3 sisters (one jammed on the "midnight train to georgia" which promptly won her quite a lot of admirers) came out, 1 brought her boyfriend and the other 2 ladies i didnt realize were a couple when i met them. Even though they were super affectionate and loved up- i didnt mind the same sex loving part so much as much as the public affection- i love it when couples hold hands- but am i ready for them to hug and caress in a karoke bar when i know i am going home alone? maybe not...
Overall though- I am super super glad I went, fun times were had by all- I will totally go back again for an encore, but after I brush up on my dancing skills & the words to "la isla bonita" so i can do my madonna fave justice...
Well anyway, at the urging of Candy earlier in the week insisting that i try something new each weekend, my cousin today who was adamant that lesbian community well connected - and nasty gram texts from Lette reminding me not to fake (my usual steelo) I headed out at about 10:30 for 9pm date of bowling and karaoke. Of course I got lost, but strangely enough- I never mind getting turned around when I am driving in San Diego- it is just another opportunity for me to soak in the beauty that is the west coast. I finally find KM Bowling alley closer to 11pm- walk in to find that I missed all the bowling- which is fine because it is karaoke time!!
Am I the only person who has never done it before? I used to think it was lame- but there was so much love in the room for the good singers, bad crooners and the ones in between that I felt it was a safe space. I told Melitta I was going to give it a try because no one knew me here in San Diego- but just to be on the safe side I used my middle name/alias - but it was a moot point because the dj later introduced me as Blake :(
Can I just say that the music choices were excellent? I started to right down a few songs I could envision myself singing- next thing you know I have 4 pages of song titles and numbers back to back "love shack" by b52s, "get into the groove" by madonna, "every rose has it's thorn" by poison and "stand back" by my girl stevie. I decided to go with my heart- "love is a battlefield" by pat benatar- cant we all see the smoky club with her black punk hair and the hard shoulders dancing in a face off with her broke down man? When the song started i was HYPED- but then the words started to appear on the screen at a pace and I didnt remember and i just froze- then i laughed- and then i laughed more when i heard the audience singing for me...i think i was overly confident when i first got up there and a lady from the audience complimented my sweater- who would have thought a little love from the audience would have made me ruin my favorite punk/single woman anthem? i had no idea singing from a huge monitor with the words highlighted for you could be so difficult! another issue was my voice- it is BAD! like high and random- even in song the microphone only emphasized the issue more (i thought my voice was pretty great until tonight) in the confines of my car i sound like angie and jill and ebadu all rolled into one- in the middle of kerna mesa bowling alley i sound like a strained cat....
Did I mention the song went on forever???? Like 4 verses- with lengthy rifs in between, I was so busy trying to recover from my poor singing/off key performance at the top of the song that I didn't engage the crowd much- so at the end I tried to excuse my behavior by saying I was a karaoke virgin- that helped because one girl shouted "good job virgin"- which pleased me immensely...when was the last time I heard those words?
Turns out- the group wasnt predominately lesbian, 3 sisters (one jammed on the "midnight train to georgia" which promptly won her quite a lot of admirers) came out, 1 brought her boyfriend and the other 2 ladies i didnt realize were a couple when i met them. Even though they were super affectionate and loved up- i didnt mind the same sex loving part so much as much as the public affection- i love it when couples hold hands- but am i ready for them to hug and caress in a karoke bar when i know i am going home alone? maybe not...
Overall though- I am super super glad I went, fun times were had by all- I will totally go back again for an encore, but after I brush up on my dancing skills & the words to "la isla bonita" so i can do my madonna fave justice...
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