Who Do I Choose?
I want to go out on the town and so far, all I’ve met (in person) are men. Every man wants to take me out but since I don’t know any of them it’s all a shot in the dark.
Who Do I Choose to introduce me to Houston nightlife?
The Contenders
A) Mr. MySpace- While playing around on MySpace I get a note from a randon guy who claims to be the good friend of Ms. Everlasting herself, Ms. SueZette. He’s in town for 2 weeks and doesn’t know anyone, he claims. I’ve been in town for less than two weeks and I still don’t have anyone to kick it with so we’re in the same boat. We can hang out and do whatever you want, he writes. Hmmm??? I’ll text Suezette and see if she approves of you, I write to him.
B) Hip Hop- I met him at the barber shop. He was tall, dark and wearing two full grills. He tells me he’s 23 and a college student at Texas Southern University but he’s from Tampa, Florida and he’d like to show me a good time in Houston. Hmmm.. I bet… I get good vibes from him though and when I ask the barber if he’s a good guy the barber says, “I’ve known him for a while and he’s a good kid.”
C) Rally- I met him at the Car Wash. He’s a grad student here, from California. He speaks with a stutter and for some reason I really liked that. He doesn’t look like the type of guy who could handle being with someone like me but I really liked that about him. I like to have control sometimes, well, most of the time. He has a nice ride too…I’d love to drive his car. He says he wants to go for drinks.
I call JB and sorta tell him about my invitations to party. He encourages me to have fun and that he’s on his way out to hang with his friends.
Who do I choose?
I choose B. But I keep A on the backburner.
I call Hip Hop because he’s from Florida so I kinda know what kind of person he is. I feel comfortable in that and I could hear the smile in his voice when he answers. “What’s up Lil Mama.”
“Where are we headed tonight?”
“There’s a spot downtown called THE OFFICE. We can hit that up. I’m bringing my boys with me. Call me when you’re dressed.”
Tonight I am going out with men I don’t know and I don’t want to cause any more attention to myself than I usually get so I choose a pair of black pants that are NOT form fitting, a black sweater and my red leather loafers that match my purse. I’m completely covered up and that’s the way I like it.
I meet up with him in the parking lot at Denny’s and I follow him downtown. He’s kinda goofy, but I like that about him. He seems to be patient too as I lose him and we have to meet up again because..well..I drive slow.
Once we hit downtown I smile. Wow. I’m finally seeing Black people! They’re everywhere! I meet his two friend, Jay and 3 Leg Greg. The entire time we’re walking these 3 are CLOWNIN! Stopping every woman they see and tryin to holla…Making announcements to strangers passing by like; “He has Herpes. Have you seen his medicine?”
I felt like I was back in highschool! The best part was; none of them were trying to hit on me so I felt comfortable and like I was one of the crew. What a relief! We walk down the street to the spot. Since Hip Hop is wearing J’s, we can’t get in so we decide to hit up this other spot called The Shadow Bar.
We walk in and my eyes grow wide.
It’s a beautiful club! And I bite my lip as I eye all of the tasty ass BLACK MEN! Ain’t nuttin like’em! Damn! I can’t wait for my girls to come visit!
I’m walking through the crowd and I’m so captivated by all of the Black people. When I visited the Sky Bar I was not impressed by the women I saw there but this place gave a different vibe. The crowd is younger, mid 20’s I believe. The women are more style concious and I couldn’t find a thick girl in the place. These women were really pretty, well dressed and sexy as hell. My eyes couldn’t decide whether I wanted to ogle the men or the women. The women won out in the end.
I had one drink, compliments of Jay and I danced a little with Hip Hop but…I felt like a Grandma because I’m not a clubber. After an hour Hip Hop and I left and I met up with Mr. Myspace in the parking lot.
He was tall and light skinned which means he was the OPPOSITE of the type of men I like to look at but he was cool. We kicked it for a bit, I drove him back to his hotel and then I struggled through the rain trying to find my way home.
I found it! I’m so proud of me!
I climbed into bed and woke up just in time to hear The Professor knocking on my wall asking me, “Are you getting ready?”
He invited me to spend the afternoon with him.
He took me to a french restaurant in the Rice Village for lunch. We chatted about whatever as we ate and sipped ice tea. Then we went over to Reliant Park for the Houston Auto Show. We had a great time looking at all of the 2007 cars from each car maker. The only one that made me go OOh was the 2007 Mercedes Coupe. I don’t like the new Jaguars. They look too retro. I remember seeing one on the road and thinking, “Why does he think he looks good in that old ass car?!”
The Professor is looking to buy a new car at the end of this year and while I was encouraging him to get a sports car, the retired Vietnam veteran told me, “I’ve been through that phase. I used to drive a Corvette. I’m not buying any car that I can’t buy cash.”
We leisurely strolled through row after row, making comments and touching cars that we knew we would never buy. I thought the new Bentley’s were ugly. The Convertible Bentley’s were cute though.
After the Auto Show we went for Icecream at Marble Slab. I had chocolate swiss with a big fat brownie in it and he has vanilla with pecans. We talked about so many things that I can’t even give an example. He is very easy to talk to and even when we don’t talk, it’s still cool. On the way back to his house I sang in the car and he laughed at me.
When we got back I sat in my car and called my kids.
“Mama! We’re going to the carnival!” My Boo Boo told me excitedly.
“For real? The Youth Fair?”
“No, the one you took us to last year. The one by your old house.”
“In Miami Shores?”
“Yeah Mama. That one! We had so much fun didn’t we? Daddy is taking us there!”
“Your Daddy always takes ya’ll to do so many fun things. I wish I could come.”
“I wish you could too Mama.”
“Alright baby well…have fun. I miss you.”
“I miss you too Mama. Talk to you tomorrow.”
Before I could start crying and asking myself, “What are you doing in Houston?” My phone rings and it’s JB. He makes me laugh and I feel better.
When I go back inside I take a sleepless rest and then go upstairs to see what the Professor is doing.
“Hey Professor!” I call out. He’s nestled in his favorite lounge chair in front of his lap top the way he always is. “Can you teach me how to hypnotize tonight?”
“You want to do that tonight?” he asks.
“Yep.”
“Ok, give me 10 minutes and let me wrap this up.”
The Professor was a CIA agent or FBI agent or something. He has plaques and all kinds of degrees all over his walls. He told me about going to Miami to catch Columbians. His specialty is to try to get the bad guy to admit to doing wrong. He also knows how to hypnotize suspects and get them to reveal the truth.
“So you have a conniving mind?” I ask him.
He laughs, “Well, if you want to catch the bad guy you have to know how they think.”
“Well, make me admit something…” I egg him on.
“I don’t want to embarrass you.”
I laugh. He has no idea. I have no shame.
“Well, if you want me to teach you how to hypnotize then you have to let me hypnotize you.”
“Hell naw…You might invite some demons or some crazy stuff into my spirit. No thanks.”
We decide to watch a movie. We flip through all of the movie channels but nothing is on. We turn to the pay per view channels and decide to watch:
ATL
Yes, the movie about Atlanta based rapper T.I. At first I was not feeling T.I. but after watching that movie, he could get it. I think he did a great job as an actor. And the Professor thought T.I.’s love interest was pretty. LOL!
After the movie the Professor went to bed and I went out to my car to call a few friends and then I went to bed, thinking about how I first went away to colleg and how torturous the frist 2 weeks were when I didn’t know anyone.
I’m hoping things get better. Monday will make it official. I’ve been here for two weeks now and still- no friends, no job, no…progress it seems.
But you guys have no idea how friendly the people in Houston are. It’s much different from the “My Mama raised me to open doors” kind of Southern Hospitality that you would find in Georgia. It’s a genuine helpfulness that I can’t say I’ve seen anywhere.
The readers that I have in Houston have REALLY gone out of their way to give me information, connect me with people in my field and send encouraging words and I am loving that!
As much as I want to say, “THis is wack, I’m gone.” There’s something about this city. Something about the people here that makes me want to stay and see what happens.
Perfect example: As I was researching publications to send out my samples I was having a rough time. As soon as I found a few I received an email from a Houston reader with a LONG LIST of publications in Houston!
Another example: I called the restaurant to follow up on my interview because I had not heard back from them. While the manager was a bit elusive in answering, “We haven’t decided yet,” she told me. Dude. It’s a WAITRESS position. How much thought do you need to give it? ~shrugs~
I shrugged it off and asked her, “Well, since you don’t really know about that, can you point me in the direction of a good barber?”
“Oh.. Ra Ra who works here has a short cut and I’ll get her for you.”
The receiver exchanges hands and some chick I have never seen greets me cheerfully. “Hi, you’re looking for a barber? Well, girl, all you have to do is…..And then ask for B. Tell him I sent you and here’s my cell phone number in case you get lost. Call me anytime!”
I hang up looking confused.
Damn these people are friendly….
Weird..but I kinda like it.
Let’s see what week 3 in Houston brings.