End of the Week

Pretty neat weekend. Good times.

Saturday I went to a shower for my friends Jason and Mariflor's upcoming wedding. I'm really happy for them and this is gonna sound cliche, but this great thing couldn't have happened to a better couple of kids. Awesome people. Anyway, they registered for gifts at Bed Bath and Beyond. I headed over there, last minute, like I do, to get them a gift. The registry is almost all taken. There was some crazy bed linen stuff that I wasn't about to get involved in and then a shower radio/CD player. I scooped it, wrapped it, got a card and scribbled out a pretty dumb, decidedly inappropriate line or two. I wrote, "Heres something to set the mood when you're 'grooving' in the shower." or something like that. So, I go to the party and have a swell time. Later they're opening gifts and it's a pretty fun, wild group. Jason and Mar after opening my gift said they were really hoping someone would get the radio thing, then he looks at the card and laughs hysterically, then looks at me. I laugh too, and I thought that'd be the end of it. He then reads the card to a buncha other people and tells 'em it's from me. Well, the blurb got mostly laughs, but I DID get a couple stern looks. I guess I'm just . . . not smart sometimes. Very fun though. I don't really care. *shrugs*

So, the next day, Sunday, I decided to drop in on some friends at the Pemberton hall. They had a great public talk. The speaker was this old dude who looks and sounds like Harry Dean Stanton http://imdb.com/name/nm0001765/ He had this story about how he was fishing in Japan and an octopus climbed up his line and down his pole toward him and he was frozen with fear. Somehow he worked it into a GREAT illustration. Mannn, SO funny. Anyway, afterward a buncha people got together and played KICKBALL! It was such a strange blast from the past. It was so exciting to run up to a rolling ball and punt the crap out of it and take off around the bases. The kids had a blast. So did I.

Aterward I got a last minute invite to hang out in Philly with some Brazilian folks visiting from Florida and some other non-Brazilians from Boston, 8 outta 10 were girls. We met them on South street, where they ended up after exploring Philly all day. Lots of Portugese was being spoken so, I was like, "ohhh, boyyy, this should be fun." Turned out almost of them spoke English pretty well, so it was all good. We went to get some coffee and we all chatted and acquainted ourselves, one of the girls even taped lil personal interviews with all of us. They were extremely sweet, beautiful people. Almost unbelievably so. I was just so impressed with them.

Afterward, we went to meet them at the place where they were staying. We were chatting and listening to music, but all of the girls went into the room and closed the door. So, me and my pal joked, "wow, guess we weren't a hit." then one of them comes out and says they're going to do some dances for us. Indian belly kinda dances and stuff and Cape Verdean dances. I was like, "BRING 'EM OUT!" Well, not really, but that's what I was thinking. So, they came out and in FULL COSTUMES! Saris and jangly jewelry on their wrists and ankles, make up -- the whole nine. They did a scene from a Bollywood movie where it's all melodramatic and theres singing and stuff. They played parts and danced and jangled their jewelry. They danced so beautifully I couldn't take my eyes off them for one second. I had the weirdest goose bumps. Can't even explain it. Then they did another dance that was reminiscent of Shakira type stuff, and that was unreal. I'm still reeling. Even now.

After they finished they grabbed me and my friend and basically gave us dance lessons til 2am. The other two indigenous guys danced really good, awesome guys. Super light on their feet, but not in the gay way at all. Total players. I was a little hesitant at first because my dance moves are few, but they danced with us til we got the moves down and they really weren't too hard. It got to the point where I did what they taught me and they danced and improvised and looked just . . . amazing. I learned it's basically the guys job to do pretty basic stuff and move the girl around and make HER look good. I think I was starting to do that well. It was possibly the most fun I had this YEAR so far. We called it the White Boy Brazilian Dance Clinic. Again, still reeling.

Now, I know this is getting long and I may have lost a few people by now, but here's an observation I've decided to share:

Ok, why are girls from other countries so amazingly beautiful, sweet, sincere, humble and funny -- with so few hang ups and mental problems!!! I'm here just shaking my head, because some girls in America and even Americanized foreign girls, haven't a tenth of the personality and flavor AND not a hundredth of the beauty, yet they walk around like they are owed the world and everything in it. I blame it on TV and magazines that teach girls to look for the wrong things, to want the wrong things, to crave superficial and inevitably temporary things that in the end aren't important. We've all known this forever, but it's jolted me again. Completely shocking. I probably shouldn't complain because I've never had an issue attracting girls, but other really nice dudes are having real problems with this. Sucks.

Girls of Ezabel, do not become defensive. I think you are all juicy peaches and precious gems.

Thanks for reading, folks.

BV