i pissed off a big black guy on MLK day

it's true. this is what happened:

i was walking around lake eola after having lunch with jen at panera's. we met to talk about her wedding, which i'm djing. as i was strolling past the giant swans, i came across a couple sitting together on a bench. a big black guy and his girl. just as i walked past, the guy tried opening a bottle of sprite, only to have it explode on him, covering his arm and shirt with fizz (and a little may have gotten on his face too, now that i think about it.)

what else was there to do at this point but crack up laughing? it was hilarious! he glared at me though, clearly oblivious of the beautiful moment of slapstick comedy he'd just created. "you think that's funny!?!" he asked, all serious and shit. "oh, c'mon, you just have to laugh at it!" i retorted, smiling and happy. i thought he'd immediately soften up, but no. "you think that's funny!?" he repeated, this time more pissed than before.

at that point, i was thinking, "shit...he's really mad". meanwhile, his girl laughed right along with me. "oh c'mon, it WAS funny!" she said. now, thinking i'm about to get my ass kicked, i just slowly looked straight ahead, and kept walking. i never broke stride. i had my ipod on, so i couldn't hear what she was saying to him, but i hoped she was calming him down. i was bracing to be clocked from behind, but it never happened.

so, that was the most interesting thing that happened to me today, on MLK day no less, a holiday to celebrate the great life and contributions of martin luther king, jr. a day, really, when one should be conscious of how one can play his part to help race relations.

i'm glad i could help...

NP: Natural Born Killers soundtract. cool shit. everything from patsy cline to nine inch nails.

g'ville

i went to gainesville on wednesday to visit j. her and i have known each other almost 11 years now. we met in college while in gainesville, as we both lived in the same apartment building. the first time we ever hung out was on january 9th, 1995. how do i remember the exact date? the dolphins lost a playoff game to the chargers, and i was pissed. marino played great, but the fricken defense choked (wasn't that always what happened?). it ended with the dolphins missing a field goal to win the game, as the clock expired. i was pissed, so i left my apartment to go for a walk, and there was j. i was like' "hey, wanna go play pool with me?", and she was like, "okay". it's kinda cool it happened that way, cause i can just look up the date of that playoff game to know what the date of our first time hanging out was.

so, 11 years later, through all kinds of shit, we're still friends. right now, she's having relationship issues. she's not happy with her current girlfriend. i wouldn't be totally shocked if they part ways soon, to be fair.

my visit was short, but cool. we biked the hawthorne trail. afterwards, she made me an awesome breakfast and then we went to hyde and zyke. h&z are phasing out their CDs, cause they don't sell. i mean, who buys a CD anymore? what's cool is they're stocking all vinyl, cause that DOES sell, which makes me very happy. their collection of records is huge. j and i must have been in there for well over an hour. it was fun, digging thru all the old records.

RAM

i spent part of the afternoon today in the mac store at the mall. i need more RAM for my iBook, having just installed final cut pro. of course, the RAM at the mac store is double the price of RAM i found online. so i'll go that route and save some money, but it means i probably won't get it til later in the week.

i'm doing this so i can complete my first freelance producing project. a local artist i know has asked me to edit a 5 minute video of his art for him. he's gonna pay me $200, which will cover the cost of the RAM. barely, but it will. so it's all a wash. ideally, though, this won't be my last freelance gig, so it's a good investment.

biking around downtown today, i stumbled upon a girl i used to hang out with, a beautiful, free-spirit, hippie/yoga loving girl named amy. she moved to chicago a couple years ago, but before that, we hung out a bit. i actually think she liked me and wanted to mess around. but the first night she was over at my apartment, we smoked pot and i got kinda paranoid and was afriad of trying anything. looking back, i think i kinda blew that one. she would've been a lot of fun.

she's in town for the week. apparently, she's bored during the daytime, so she just goes for bike rides. which is what i do everyday, too. she doesn't own a cell (so annoying....how do people survive that way?). so, i HAD to give her my number. it would be fun to hang out with her again and i could take her to some cool spots i've found on my recent bike rides.

of course, i may never hear from her. but hey, no loss in trying...

2006

i hate new year's eve. i usually always feel lonely inside. it makes me aware of how many really good friends i have. which isn't many. anyway, this year i set out to have no expectations and not make too much out of it.

i walked downtown with my neighbor tarin and her boyfriend mike, and another couple they're friends with. when we got to orange ave, they all went to a bar called lizzies, and i went across the street to independent bar. catherine kept calling me, which was good, cause i had an excuse to leave them and go to i-bar, where she was going. i guess i should mention that catherine is a girl i've slept with and messed around with, but we've never dated. we just hang out every now and then.

it was about 11:30 when i entered i-bar. i walked around and couldn't find her or a couple other friends that were supposed to be there. so i left. i was gonna just walk around, look at all the freaks downtown, and then head over to the lake and go home, but at the last moment i decided to go back to i-bar. when i got there, i found catherine as well as ronnie and cory. i've know ronnie for years, seeing him at the clubs. also, he's dating cory, who works in the cafe at b&n. their both cool as shit. anyway, i got a drink and relaxed a bit and had a decent time, i guess. i still felt like shit at midnight, though, with no one to kiss. catherine was being pestered by this guy she didn't like who was hoping to sleep with her. that part was fine. it was amusing to watch, to be fair. my first bad break came later when she lit up a cigar, though at the time it seemed so innocuous.

after the annoying guy finally left, catherine was like, "is it cool if i get drunk and crash at your place?". duh!

but before leaving the club, my hopes for possible sex seemed to take a hit. catherine started getting all sad, cause last year she was with her ex and she had the "best new years ever". so when we get to my place, she's like "maybe i'll just go home", you know, all mopey and shit. she's become a complete sad clown, by this point. still, i got her to come in, and was hoping to shift her space from her being all down and depressed. i put some music on, and then i went for it. i was standing behind her in the kitchen, and started kissing and biting her neck. then i started biting really hard, cause she really gets off on that. and then there it was...that brief flicker of a moment when i nearly had her...only to have her say, "i really need to go home, so i can have my toothbrush and get this cigar taste out of my mouth."

damn cigar!!

we made out for a few minutes, and then she left.

hey, i tried. i was close, she was getting turned on. oh well.

another new year's eve in the books....