Friday Freestyles

It's Friday!

It's Payday!

BOOYAH!!

And I have a three day weekend coming up! Columbus day is Monday!

GLORY!!!!

I might as well have stayed home today. We ran some experiments overnight, and the instrumentation portion didn't work at all. I coulda stayed home. It's been a SLOW day.

So... This is Gay Pride weekend this weekend in the ATL. Not sure that's all over the world, but it is here. Black Gay Pride was back on labor day weekend. So much has been said on the news about this, most notably about the crosswalks of a popular intersection being painted.

A coworker and I walked the mile down to the intersection before it got too busy. I took plenty of pictures.

Oh my! That is colorful. And all the businesses are decorated up in that area too. There's a big parade tomorrow.

All I know is that I work in this area, and uh... I'm dipping out of this camp early. Bump all this traffic. I'm not even going my usual way through the hotel district. No way. Going straight home by one of my many alternate routes. I hate traffic!!!

I got caught up in Pride traffic one time, some 10 years ago. NEVER again. It is worse than baseball game traffic. NO!! 

Should be an interesting weekend indeed. I plan on staying in the house with Sister Callie Jo and Mitchell Lamar.

That's them looking out the window at me. And I will be standing next to them.

Although I have a writing group meeting on Saturday. It's suppose to rain bad on Saturday morning. So I will gauge that in the morning. I'm not all that interested in making a hard 40 mile drive to the far east side in the pouring rain. No sir. No ma'am.

We will see.

Song of The Week. Some Kendrick Lamar! His song "Momma"



And it's sampled from a Lalah Hathaway song: "On your own"



The Lalah Hathaway song is far better! In my opinion, anyway. 

That's it for me! I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend.

On purpose...

You do the same!

Sister Abroad Update #1

So, my sister Kentucky is faring quite well... Here's a pic of her with other teachers there.

That is her in the black and white striped shirt.

They ALL look happy and excited to be there. So that makes me happy!

She was assigned to Al Ain, some 80 or 90 miles east of the capital Abu Dhabi

So of course you know I went and read about the city.

It seems to be rocky desert land...

...containing a plethora of oasis.

That's quite nice.

She arrived there this morning (yesterday our time), and sent a picture from her hotel balcony:

 
How beautiful and lush is that?!

She is teaching kindergarten and she starts on Sunday. And she gets her apartment next week some time. Hopefully she doesn't have to buy a car, but I am sure she'll find something she likes if she does have to. She's been there for a week, and she's getting accustomed to the place. We've talked a couple of times a day, even on Skype. So that is great.

I still miss her, though. And that's alright.

I am MORE happy that she's seeing  new places and doing great things.

A Special 10 Year Anniversary

On October 5th, I celebrated a very special anniversary. On  that date, 10 years ago, I purchased my first home.

This blog is 10 years old, so it is amazing to go back and read about my feelings so long ago. I was only 35 years old, practically the age my sister is right now, when I purchased  it. It was an interesting time. I'd lived in that particular area of downtown ATL in my early 20s, and it was the best place I'd ever lived. I was a couple of blocks from the ATL zoo, and it took me only 45 minutes to walk to school (17 minute walk to catch the school shuttle at the Braves Stadium). I had an old '73 Chevy Nova, but I didn't drive much. And living in downtown atlanta enclaves put me approximately 20 minutes from all sides of town.

I couldn't afford a house in that neighborhood back in 2005, but I bought a house nearby. There are 4 neighborhoods around there, and I caught a good deal on one. Here's an old picture:

Wait... here's the earliest picture I have:

Look how small the bushes were way back then!

And here's the current picture of my house.

As you can see, the color was lighter earlier on. I recently had it painted. People think it's yellow, but it's peach in color. (Man, you would NOT believe the number of people who argue me down over the color of my house. And they get really O_o when I try to explain the scientific genetic particulars behind why some see it as yellow and some see it as peach).

My bushes are a little higher than the porch because locals know they be trying to look all in my windows as they walk down the street.

Humph.

I like the paint job. It is amazing how the house looks practically new. It had faded badly.

I know when buying a house, I was concerned about the upkeep of it. There are always things to be do. But little by little, I get it done. I know I've spent at least $10,000 over the past 10 years on upkeep. And that is fine. It's a lot when looking at the amount in one big chunk like that, but that's alright. It all goes with having a house.

I also think about all the things I wanted to do over the years. Sometimes I imagine that if I only had an apartment all this time, I could've traveled the world. Shoulda woulda coulda. But I know if  I lived in an apartment all these years, then I would be thinking the total opposite: If only I had a house. 

But I've managed to travel over the years. I have been able to save and be a blessing to others also.  That makes me happy.

And over the past few months, I've meditated on how God has blessed me to take care of myself  and my home. No, it's not Better Homes and Garden laid out. I don't have the first inkling or notion about decorating anything. But it's mine. And I have maintained. And that's great.

So here's to 10 years in a happy home...

May it continue to be a happy home...

Before and After: Crock Pot Green Beans

Before...

After...

Friday Freestyles... The "She's There Safely" Edition.

Well... I successfully got my sister packed up and out of here.

I knew it was real when she sent me a picture of the logo of an airline she was flying to Abu Dhabi.

Man... I saw that Arabic writing and I started wailing all over again.

I haven't posted all week because she and I have been O_O all week. It's not the big stuff one has to do, it's all that little stuff that has to get done. And when folks found out the exact day she was leaving, they came out of the woodworks, wanting to spend time with her. She doesn't know how to say no, she was trying to accomodate people. So she was a little behind. She had a 5:00 am flight and neither of us didn't get any sleep. I told her not to worry about cleaning up her room and bathroom and that I would get that. She needed to just make sure that she packed EVERYTHING she needs.

(She left a pair of flip flops here. They are under the coffee table in the living room. I know because Sister Callie Jo was laying on them. Sister Callie Jo misses her already).

Her flight from Atlanta to Chicago was at 5:00 am. We got to the airport at 2:00 am, and the gate for check-in didn't open until 3:30 am. We hijacked one of the baggage handler's carts (she had 3 suitcases, a duffle bag and a backpack. We rolled that down a ways until we found seats where people weren't asleep, and we sat and talked. All of a sudden we saw folks crowding in like roaches, so we got in line. My sister only had to pay $125 for extra luggage, whereas, as she found out later, others paid $300-$400 for extra luggage. So that worked out well.

I got teary eyed when she went through security. I wanted to follow her.

I was all choked up on the short 10 minute drive home. "I feel so deflated. My heart is so deflated," I wailed.

I got home around 4:20 am, and laid down. She sent a pic of that airline logo a little later... and I got choked up all over again. LadyTee called and we talked and I felt better.

I lingered around the house all day. There were several times where I went to holler if she wanted something to eat... then I realized she wasn't there.

SIGH.

Her flight to Abu Dhabi was 13 hours. There was a whole crew of them going, even people from New Zealand, Africa, etc., and they were all on that flight. Someone was even posting on their teacher facebook page during the flight, so it was cool to know before I went to bed that they were in the air and on their way. I woke up to a text message from my sister saying that she landed.

And can you believe that I have talked to her on the phone TWICE today, for a total of an hour.

She has interesting stories, including almost getting into it with a cab driver. She was counting that foreign money to slow and he went off on her.

I TOLD her not to venture out alone. Go with a buddy. And she better understand that we can't just up and go get her. She ain't in Alabama. She half a world away.

Hopefully she will get it.

So that made me feel better, that talking to her. And it sounds like she's in the next room!

So the week is over. This has been a major change for her.

And for me.

(And for the good Sister Callie Jo).

So safe travels and safe adventures, little sister.

Come back and tell us all about it!