Summer Theme Stuff

Found this today and I had to post! Loooove Lucy Pearl.

 

Travel To Cali Stuff

In my previous post, I talked about my time in California with my sister Lynda. Now I’ll talk about my trip there and back.

The Atlanta Airport is pwned by Delta Airlines and AirTran. Certain discount airlines don’t fly to ATL, so some of the internet specials available to many aren’t available to Atlantans.

Cheap-jali refused to be foiled by these evil corporate entities in my quest to save money so I devised a plan. I decided to book a round trip flight that fell within the terms I dictated (meaning really cheap tickets).

Before making my decision, I checked a few travel sites and found that the fares from Atlanta on the days I wanted to fly to Oakland were waaaaay beyond my means. Priceline wouldn’t accept any of my offers. Expedia needed more flexibility. Orbit couldn’t help me.

Ah, Southwest. I checked the dates on their website and found an internet special that I was happy with. I was excited and I entered my acceptance of their nonrefundable tickets. I was “on my way” to California!

Oh, yeah. Southwest doesn’t fly to Atlanta so my flight left and returned from and to Birmingham, Alabama.

I’ve been to Birmingham, and the ride isn’t that long so I thought that one or the other of my friends here would be able to drop me off there when the time came, or that I would be able to take a shuttle, airport to airport. No big deal.

(Sound of record scratch to a halt). BIG deal.

Big, big deal.

I watched the cost of gasoline soar in the weeks following my purchase. Having a friend drop me off as a favor wouldn’t be feasible. I checked for shuttle service between airports and found that there is a very limited and very expensive service available. I sent an email message to the company and heard nothing at all in reply.

Scary.

Airline tickets with no way to get to the airport. Cheap-jali has done it again!

Ooooh. Inspiration! Trailways!

I clicked to their website, expecting a few simple steps in booking bus tickets to Birmingham. I clicked and found myself on the Trailways Charter page. Not good – not helpful. I clicked my back button to try again. No matter what I tried, the system wouldn’t allow me to buy tickets, see schedules or see prices. I think I was sweating by this time – frustration, annoyance and my old stand by: menopause, all joined forces to make me feel…um… “not so fresh”.

Finally I remembered that I wanted Greyhound NOT Trailways (not my fault that I couldn’t remember – I’m old as shit!) and I was able to navigate the Greyhound site easily and buy my nonrefundable (seems like I never learn) tickets right away. I allowed ample time between bus and train travel to guarantee that I’d make each leg of my trip comfortably without having to stress while on vacation. ( cue maniacal laughter in the background).

Have any of you ridden a bus lately?

 

coming up next: Part Deux.

Cali Stuff

I’ve been to California to visit my sister Lynda (does this sound like the old, ‘my dog ate my homework” line to you guys?).

Lynnie lives in a small town, Livermore http://www.ci.livermore.ca.us/ , which sort of reminds me of the town in the movie Doc Hollywood, but with much higher property values and a more diverse population.

Livermore is in a canyon and from her backyard bridge (her husband Mark is a good builder, one of his many talents) I watched unbelievable sunsets over the distant mountains. I didn’t capture the view with my camera (duh) so I’ll have to ask her to send my some photos so that I can post them.

Lynnie and Mark have 2 children, the lovely Lorraine (named after the writer Hansbury) and Mark, Jr., who showed me cool-Cali teen mode for most of my visit. Rainie is outspoken and straightforward but also very sweet and funny. Mark, Jr. doesn’t break character too often but once and a while he drops the cool and he’s a sweetheart too.

Mark’s mother Christine lives with the family and she and I hit it off immediately. We share the love of coffee and ciggies first thing in the morning so it became our routine for the week I was there. It’s great to make a new friend!

My sister and I look alike (so we’ve been told) and we love each other, but we are very different. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years and wasn’t sure how a whole week together would work out.

Lynnie is settled and mature and plans things. I’m immature and spontaneous. Lynda has been married once and is determined to make it last forever and she’s very happy. I’ve been divorced twice so far, lived with others, and dated a few more and I’m very happy. She goes to Bible study – I go to Open Mic nights. She goes to church every Sunday – I roller skate religiously. 

We both love to read and Lynda told me that she’s joined a writers group at her church so there are things we have in common. We also share memories of our family vacations and family arguments. We spent quite a bit of time saying, “…remember the time Grandma said…” or “…remember the time you snuck out and got busted…” and laughing or crying at those memories. We pulled out her VOLUMES (maybe 8 or 9) of photos and sat together laughing and crying again, reliving days that touched us both.

We are orphans now  (we both say this). My dad died in 1982 and my mom in 2000. Our elder sister, Jackie has been gone since 2003. We are all that are left of our immediate family and I’m glad that, despite our differences, we were able to enjoy each other for a whole week.

I’ll tell you about my travel next – being a cheapskate is tough on the bootie!

Explanation Stuff

Okay folks, here’s the deal -I’m again full o’ shit and haven’t posted for over a week or visited any of your pages. You guys were real cool and accepted my explanation last week. You guys were real cool and accepted my lame excuse a couple of weeks before that. I’ve really been doing stuff which is a GOOD thing – I just haven’t taken the time to log in and post, and I apologize.

My massage therapist, Leo asked me to hang out with him a little while back – the plan was to use me as bait for the chair massages he was offering, and since I’m massage crazy (and greedy) I agreed to get up very very early on a Sunday morning to meet him and hang out for the day. (Here’s a quote from the post from my first massage with Leo with the magical fingers: “I treated myself to a massage. Young cutie pie. It’s been too long – my reaction to his hands on me was entirely inappropriate – I’m going back next week.”)

I met one of Leo’s partners at the address he gave me, 660 Irwin Street in the Inman Park section of Atlanta. The Irwin Street Market (unbelieveably funky little spot – ya gots to get over there!).

Leo’s partner is a BEAUTIFUL Sistah named Jacqueline who owns one of markets within this market place. Her business name is 3 Piece, and I hung out with her (between massages) and got the opportunity to really look at her products. Jackie is an artist who creates hand poured soy and beeswax candles and sells them to a long list of clients.

I watched her store for a bit that day while she was doing other things and now I’m her newest part- time employee. I worked for her this past Saturday and Sunday and I had a ball.

I’m used to my regular 5 day schedule for work. It’s when I do a bit more that I don’t have the time or inclination to even check my email – much less visit my ‘roll or post something new. I hung out with my favorite people (The Green Apple , poetry hosted by Seria Mills ) on Wednesday night until about 2. I did a couple of poems on Saturday night after work at the Afrocentric Teaching Museum. An outstanding poet and actor, JuanLove came to the Green Apple to invite us to join him for a benefit that his non-profit group, Esoteric was holding  there and quite a few of us decided to join him. I didn’t perform as well as I had hoped to, but the other performers I heard were amazing! I had to leave mid show in order to make it to the last bus going to my neighborhood.

If I were still driving, I suppose it might be different, but Rapid Transit in the Atlanta Metro Area pretty much sucks, so I waste a lot of time waiting for trains and busses these days.

Accept my explanation and apology? Please?

(If you called me or sent a text and I haven’t answered, you know how I get grouchy and don’t feel like it sometimes – sorry, I’ll call or text you back soon)