Atlanta Weekend Traffic Gridlock...Oh My!!!

I heard something bizarre on several local news telecasts on Friday night...

Something to the effect of "Whatever you do, don't get on on I-285. Find an alternate route!"

Never heard that before...

As a matter of fact, the newscasters were screaming about staying off of all the interstates- I-75, I-85, I-20, and I-285- entirely. Turns out that the DOT was going to try and make up for all the construction they're behind on. It's been raining cats and dogs all summer, you see.

Needles to say, I just heard all of this and thought... "Hmm..."

Then I turned the channel to something a little more interesting.

Well, I needed to go to Decatur on Saturday to investigate a book club that I'm interested in. Problem is, I needed to get on I-285 to get there. I remembered the warning on the news that I should find another route.

Well I tried that. But lo and behold, I got stuck downtown on I-75/I-85. And it was much worse than weekday rush hour traffic. No one mentioned that the Atlanta Braves were in town. Everybody and their mama was trying to get to Turner Field. So I had to find a back way to Decatur. I took the scenic route through at least ten Atlanta neighborhoods to reach my destination.

Needless to say, I was late for the meeting. This grates my nerves because I pride myself on being punctual. What should have been a twenty-five minute drive turned into an hour drive. Luckily the meeeting hadn't even started yet.

This ought not to have been so... Especially on a weekend!

My solution?? The DOT should work in the rain!!!! Deal with it!

Henry and Chayse

My friend Henry and his baby girl Chayse...

Awwww... How cute!!!

She did look like Henry for a minute there...
...but she's starting to look more like her mama, Ol' mean ass Cynthia, now!!!

Gas... How high will it go???

I paid $25.00 to fill up my Mazda the other day. $25.00 damn dollars. And I'm scooting along in a little Protege! I would be living under a bridge right now if I was driving an SUV !!

Gas prices in Atlanta are averaging $2.59/gallon for regular unleaded, and $2.89/gallon for premium brands. But it could be worse ya'll. According to Liberty Post, gas prices are skyrocketing all over. Here are just a few prices around the world:

Netherlands $6.48/gallon
Moscow $2.19/gallon
London $5.79/gallon
Tokyo $4.24/gallon
Cuba $3.03/gallon


But that's not the worst of it. I was listening to the Classic Soul 102.5 Si-man (Baby!) show, and he mentioned some to the lowest gas prices...

Saudi Arabia $ 0.91/gallon
Kuwait $0.78/gallon
Iran $0.38/gallon

And here's the real kick in the head....Iraq $0.05/gallon

5 cents per gallon in Iraq...
Hmm...
What the heck is going on?? Now what is that all about???

Double-Dutch Bus Madness

This morning I heard a song on the Tom Joyner Morning Show that made me laugh out loud: Double Dutch Bus by Frankie Smith and his crew. I swear, that has to be one of the most useless songs I've ever heard.

But this song came out when I was in elementary school (1981 I believe). Back then, we thought it was the best song in the world! Whenever it came on the radio, I would damn near break my neck trying to get to the radio and turn it up. I remember walking down the street with my friends, arm in arm, singing it word for word at the top of our lungs. Frankie Smith sung it on Soul Train one Saturday morning and that was all we talked about that Monday at school.

Certain lyrics of the song were um... how should I say this..."special"

"Illzay mizzou? Illzay milzay kilzay milzay pillzay mizzou!
Asama sa? A Milzay missou milzay.
Milza, milza, mizzou?
Asama sa? Milzay izzay killsou flesh.
Izza mizzou... Izza mizza baby!"

Now what the heck were Frankie and those kids saying? What language was this? For all we know, we could have been singing murder, murder, kill, kill, murder, murder (LOL)...

"Rebecca, Lolita, Veshawn and Dawn
Everytime you do the Double Dutch you really turn it on
'Bilzarbra, Mitzery, Milzetty, Kilsan,
Titzommy, Kitzerrance, Kilzommy that's my man"

What's up with some of these names? Kilzommy, Mitzery? Some of us had some ghettofabulous names back then, but this was a whole 'nother level of names. This was some ol' foreign space age craziness!

I've decided not to try and figure this song out. All I know, back then? We didn't question it. We just didn't care!

I think that I'll look at this song and accept it as something truly special...

like the bus Frankie Smith and the crew were riding on.

**!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAY !!**

Today August 17, 2005, is my little sister's birthday! She was born on August 17, 1981. So that makes her 24 years old today.

I remember the day you were born, girl. It was a Monday morning. I remember Ma coming into my room at 5:00 a.m. and calmly saying that her water broke, and I should get up and get dressed.

Then she did something that I thought, even at the age of eleven, was the dumbest thing in the world. She went and took a bath. And then she straightened and combed her hair.

I sat there and watched the hot comb do wonders on her nappy hair. I remember the sizzle and smoke from the pressing oil and straightening comb. And I remember looking at her and thinking, "Umm, shouldn't we be getting out of here?"

We were waiting for your daddy Ronnie (my stepfather) to come home from his job as a forklift driver. He finally got in around six-thirty and started running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off...

Ma remained calm.

We got in the Thunderbird, got on I-85, heading northbound towards Crawford Long Hospital in Midtown. Ma and Ronnie forgot about one thing...

Rush hour traffic.

So somewhere near the Langford Parkway/166 exit, Ma started screaming like someone was trying to kill her or something. And I thought silently to myself...

"If only we woulda just left... You just had to go straigthen your hair and take a bath. Now you gonna have this baby in this Thunderbird. And that is just nasty." I thought such words quietly to myself. Saying them aloud would have gotten me slapped on the spot.

Ronnie drove like crazy, weaving in an out of traffic. I didn't know if Ma was screaming because she was in labor or if she was becoming like me, scared that we were going to have a wreck!

Anyway, we finally got to the hospital. You were born around 9:15 a.m. I remember calling Grandma, Auntie, and Uncle Olin and 'em on the payphone and saying that Mommie had just had a baby, a girl.

And when I saw Ma, she looked like I thought she would: like a wild woman, hair all sweated out into a lopsided afro. So much for straigthening her hair!

You stayed in the hospital for an extra week because you had the jaundice. My first sight of you was you laying there under the lights with a white blindfold on, crying and grabbing at the air. This disturbed me so bad that I went home and sat in the bathroom with Keesie (you remember our mutt Keesie, don'c cha?) and cried for awhile.

Thought I would tell you these things, because I've never told you before.

Fast-forward to almost a quarter-century later. Now you're grown, graduated from college, got a job, got a car...

Got a man... (LOL!)

A true diva of the world... Yes indeed!!

Happy 24th Birthday, Kay!!!!!

Love,
Ladylee.