MY STRANGE WORLD...Part XXVII (04.08.04)

I also want to say thank you to a very dedicated reader of mine, Brettina, who always encourages me and has the nicest things to say with an e-mail every once in a while; I apologize I haven't been able to return your message because either the mail server is down or something's wrong with this particular computer I've been working on, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that I got it if you reading this, which you should be ! Saturday was cool as well and I got a few surprises during our performance that night when sitting right beside me, just as I had walked in to set up, was my first girlfriend from college and her cousin, a classmate of mine. If you're reading, you still lookin' as fly as ever...it was good seeing you again after all this time, and welcome back to the ATL! Oddly enough, I was contacted by yet another former girlfriend, last month, who looked me up and came across this website. 

I know you're married and all, but you're still "the beautiful one" in my book...stay up and give me a shout whenever you decide to visit here on the warmer side of the East Coast--LOL! Come to think of it, I've been in contact, in one way or another, with every one of my former girlfriends in the past 6 months who either contacted me to say "hi" and see how I was, or we just happened to bump into each other. I could feel that to be kinda weird or simply enjoy the fact that I have been blessed and honored to have been in the company of such extraordinary women--and we're all still cool (i.e. monogamy is a good habit to have, men)! Anyway, Sunday was an interesting way to finish off a very good weekend, overall. I attended the 68th Annual Dogwood Festival at Piedmont Park (my first time, and thank you to Tara Murphy of www.360media.net for inviting ATLANTAHAPPS.COM). Dogs wouldn't be my first preference if I had a pet but I like animals nonetheless, and I really enjoyed watching people with their pets.  I especially enjoyed the Disc Dog competition (a frisbee, an owner, an owner's dog, and a football-like gridiron field setup).  It pretty much resembled a quarterback throwing to a wide-receiver during a practice drill, except the wide receiver caught with its mouth. Some dogs were REALLY good and obviously had been well-trained--some of the leaping catches were spectacular--and some dogs (and owners) were not too talented, or that bright, for the matter! The food vendors were making my stomach growl (it was like a county fair with all types of homemade styles as well as the funnel cakes)! The art vendors had some of the best pieces I've seen in a while at an outdoor function. 

Radio stations were also scattered around doing their promotional thing, but hearing Ludacris' "Stand Up" contrasting with the image of predominantly white families (although any ethnicity would contrast) passing by with children in strollers didn't seem to click. The music performances were pretty good although I wasn't familiar with any of the acts (except for my friend Trina from 3-5 Human) at the various performance stages (but I did recognize many of the cover songs they performed). Speaking of songs, let me segue to the strangely-interesting or interestingly-strange part that I mentioned earlier. They had this Karaoke (I hope I'm spelling that right) tent and some people with some of the most hideous voices actually had the nerve to perform--although they were competing for prizes like Braves tickets! 

I felt like it was American Idol all over again and was half-expecting to see a picture of Idol-reject turned "star", William "She Bangs" Hung as a spokesmodel for this event--did you even know dude has a record deal AND website with even more hideous samples of him singing online??? Please pardon my computer profanity but...what the @#^%??!! Go to: www.williamhung.net if you need a good laugh! Anyway, after hearing this one guy TORTURE then MURDER the classic, "Always and Forever", I was going to leave when a very beautiful young lady signed up, so naturally I waited to watch and see if she really had skills or was trying to get by on looks alone.  She chose "I'm Every Woman" and actually gave a performance worthy of the standing ovation she received.  As a musician, I HAD to approach and find out more and learned that she was actually classically trained (I'm talkin' singing operatic arias, and stuff like dat, in like 5 different languages, man).  She had only recently moved here so she wasn't fully aware of the entertainment scene but wanted to network some more and wanted to work with more musicians (CHA-CHING!). 

I didn't see a ring or any dude with her so I stayed a little longer and talked some more, and before you know it we're hangin' out at Little 5 as I'm showing her around and we also stop in all these clothing stores as she tries on some dresses--"oh my God" and "dayum" is all I could say (in my head, of course)! I kept thinking...has it been three hours or three months yet? You know how you just feel very comfortable around someone very quickly? That's pretty much the only explanation. Anyway, we ended our impromptu outting and exchanged numbers and ended up conversing later that night--she is VERY smart/intellectual...I was highly impressed!  On a whim, I called her the next day asking if she wanted to go grocery shopping with me at Whole Foods but she had company as her parents had come up to visit her for the week..............................how the hell did I end up having dinner with her and her mother that night?!!  Either way, I had fun and her mother was very silly, I had her laughing all night, so I was definitely in my element while the daughter was looking a little embarrased at both of us! We finally parted ways as I went to an event and they went to see a relative of theirs. Okay...go ahead and say it...that was FAST wasn't it?! Hang out with the woman the first day you meet her and meet her mother the next night?! Oh...and her mother also sings and her father is also a musician so me telling them about Apache's open mike on Wednesdays might mean that I may run into Poppa as well--I ain't even went out on a real date with this woman yet!!!