in four parts... (with pics!)

part i

new gig

i have to get this out of the way. the job is aight. the people are cool enough. tho one lady said to me today in defense of a coworker "oh she's a christian woman, but...". t'was funny. the work so far has been semi-challenging. and trust that it's been a while since i've actually "worked" entire 8 hour days. i hate my seating arrangement though. any ounce of my privacy is in the negative. the other negative is that they block all kinds of websites. even webmail, not to mention blogs!

part ii

london

i had fun in london. but it wasn't so much because of london. it was because of my peeps. london, to me, is overrated. and i only say this because, as you can tell from my previous posting, it's ridiculously fucking expensive! if i curse a lot during this entry, please forgive me. but to pay double for everything from a bottle of water to a taxi ride to a train ride to a postcard to a bus fare to... i mean damn! you get the picture, right? it irked me. a lot. but my therapist says i need to get past it.

so we arrived in london and checked into our teeny tiny hotel room. can i just say that "big" things in america just have me spoiled rotten? everything, and i say everything in london is tiny. from the rooms to the size of our bathroom sink to the narrow streets... eh. they must not have many claustrophobes in london.

later that night, i got to see my dear old friends!!! that was just amazing! we had dinner at a little noodle cafe called... get this: waga mama. or wag yo mama. the food was good, the company was grand, lisa got to meet my bengali crew (some of whom i went to elementary and/or high school with)! also making an appearance was miss nubian soul herself, the ever-gracious tour guide!

several drinks at a pub later, having ditched all the straight girls (haha) and running into several places that were closed (on a thursday night??? what kind of town is this?) we landed up at the end. yep, the end. that's what it was called. it was probably a really happening place, but i was so exhausted that day that watching the energy in all those kids just made me even more tired! but it was cool. decent music for the most part.

so of course the following night we saw meshell at the jazz cafe which really, truly was a great show. but we ended up on a very high traffic stairwell which fucked with my view of the show, not to mention my concentration. grrr.

but i cannot sit here and truthfully describe to you how great the london show was because i am absolutely biased now, having experienced the amsterdam show. i mean, never mind the stairwell distractions, the music was damn good. i was literally glad to have gone all the way to london to hear the new band, her new project. meshell ndegeocello has never disappointed me as a musician. it was a great show. i looked forward to seeing it again the next day in amsterdam. all was good.

cuisines consumed in london: good ass indian food near paddington station; asian food at wag yo mama in covent garden; a free continental breakfast at our hotel in hyde park; savory (not sweet) crepes near bond street; tapas in camden and finally (because we just had to) fish n' chips which weren't really that great.

part iii

amsterdam

(pics courtesy of lisa)



















did i mention that i love amsterdam? say it, sing it, live it!

no... really.

i'm sorry that i still don't have pics (i'm just a lazy motherfucker, kids). i can't make any promises. i don't have a digital camera. i actually have to go to a walgreens and have it developed like in the old days. it's just too much work. eventually i'll get to it.

but, so back to my story. amsterdam is a romantic ass city. i mean, the brick laid (is that what they're called?) streets, the architecture, the cute little row houses over looking the numerous canals (i need to get those pics), it was all so beautiful! i fell in love with the city. granted i was hardly sober during the entire trip but just walking around the city with its castles and quaint shops, and church bells ringing in the back ground... it just felt like the europe i had always imagined. minus of course, the round four-stall open men's urinals spotted every so often around the city.

oh, and the bikes! ooh... the bikes! everyone and their mother rides a bike in amsterdam. some places are just full of bikes, like parking lots and there are literally hundreds of them lined up in a row. the kicker is that they all really truly look the same! they're all old school, rusty black bikes and for the life of me i've no clue how anyone knows which one is theirs! and we won't talk about the bike that fell down on its own with lisa standing two feet away from it during a photo op.



the lesbian bars we went to were less than stellar though. not much of a crowd anywhere, really. as it always happens, the one lesbian bar that was actually fun (and featured a gorgeous dutch/moroccan sister behind the bar with whom i chatted quite a bit) was found the very night before we were leaving. go figure. she later directed us toward the gay sunday night party in town, which was full of mostly gay white men who were really, very tall. now you may be thinking, well shit deshi, a lot of people are tall compared to you, but just ask lisa who herself is pretty damn tall.

i bought a painting at a sunday market and paid a lot of money for it even after the artist knocked down the price by €160 (almost $250)!! but it was worth it. i now officially own way more artwork than i know what to do with. could you all come by my house sometime and help me paint so i can finally put the shit up on my walls though? please?

speaking of spending lots of money... i bought a pair of shoes in amsterdam that just make me moist whenever i wear them.



so anyway, i promise to put up pics asap. you'll have to ask lisa to put one up of the fabulous bathroom we had at the hotel in amsterdam.

the concert at the paradiso was just outstanding. i couldn't even articulate how wonderful it was. you'll have to read lisa's entry to get a fair idea of how absolutely fucking breathtaking the show was. as i said before. it was the best live music i've ever witnessed and i've been to almost 100 shows in my life.

cuisines consumed in amsterdam: mediterranean food (falafel & chicken shashlik which was really damn good!); good ass indonesian food; the best garlic chicken sandwich on a brown oat bun which sounds so fucking simple yet was so fucking good. i'm missing something though, because surely we didn't just have 3 meals in 2 days.

part iv

spring

it's spring in chicago (finally). and i'm sprung. man oh man am i sprung.