Air and light and time and space
Thank you so much to everybody who wished me a Happy Birthday last week. I had a fabulous day and reading all those sweet comments was really the cherry on top. Y'all are awesome !
For my Birthday I spent the majority of the day with friends and family. It was most important to me to spend some time with the ppl I love, I often miss holidays and birthdays due to my job, and I made sure to go collect kisses from those near and dear to me.
In the late afternoon I had some down time and decided to go see some things that I have been wanting to do for a while. I went downtown and saw the
GA Aquarium ,
The Aquarium was very crowded, but very cool. I have had an annual pass since Christmas and only now made it out to see it, I plan to definitely go back whenever I get the chance. If you live in GA and havent gone, GO! It was quite an experience.
There was a couple of times the chef in me got excited,
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
When I saw this grouper I instantly thought how awesome it would be to have that big boy laid out on 2 cutting boards, gutted and ready to be broken down. I especially enjoy butchery, and miss getting to work with high quality seafood and game. The largest fish I have ever broken down was a 60# Halibut, this grouper looked to be at least 80 pounds. Yeah, "come on wit ur come on" ;-)
These were creepy kewl and huge. My first though was "I wonder how much those cost a pound?"
I guess it true what Gerry told me when I left Aria, you can take the chef out of the kitchen, but you can never take the chef out of the person. I really miss Primo and even Omar, hopefully I will make the time to go pick up my paycheck and see those guys this week. I need to sharpen my knives anyways, although I have avoided going back for the past month, my heart hurts a little at all the changes.
I dont know how many ppl. have seen that movie, Duece Bigalow:Male Gigolo, there is a scene in the movie where the gigolo taps the glass of the fishtank and says "ey fishy, fishy, fishy!", it has been a running joke bt/wn Di and I for the past few years. We mock this little interaction often, hell every time I feed my fish I tap the glass and say it. It was especially interesting because at the aquarium I kept seeing ppl point to the tank or tap the glass, and of course in my mind I am going "ey fishy, fishy, fishy!"
This was really cool
After the Aquarium I walked through Centennial Park.. They were hosting a free jazz concert. I laid down on the grass and relaxed for about an hour. I also drank a beer and watched as ppl streamed into the park for the shows. I left after the second band, I wanted to go to the Gardens before meeting up for drinks with my friends. (They had all gone to the Braves Game, I begged off, I would rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than sit for 5 hours at a ball park drinking beer. Seriously, it can be fun, but after you have done it a zillion times, it gets old.) I walked back to my car and headed uptown to the Botanical Gardens , this is one of my fav. places in the City, I saw the sculptures of Niki de St. Phalle.
I also had a quiet moment with one of Chihulys glass sculptures.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
His work is so wonderful. This picture doesnt even begin to convey the beauty of his work, it was just a cool moment the way the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the room, making the luminosity of the glass that much more intense. I hope I make it back out to Oklahoma one day to see his permanent collection at the museum out there, besides I need a new Rt. 66 mug, my old one broke ;-) I also read that Chihuly will be hosting a new exhibit here in Atl. next month, SUWEE, this city needs more art and culture fir sure.
After the Gardens I went onto 10th Street and bellied up to the bar at Zocolos for a glass of Sangria and ppl watching. I was a lil tipsy and started to get really hungry, it was almost 10 p.m. and the Braves game was in overtime. I went next door to Nickimotos for more champagne and some Hamachi Kama, while waiting for my friends.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)Guaranteed as soon as I ordered some champagne, I get a text message from my friend Jules what you doing Springbok? Drinking bubbles yet?, long and short Jules came out to hang out with me for a bit. When Jules got there I was deeply engrossed in a conversation with a young female writer. She is getting ready to publish a book called White Girl and she started a conversation with me on how white upper class women (doesnt she mean girls?) define their self identity. The argument was that most looked to economic resources before lineage, social perception before education, etc. whereas in other cultures the women define themselves through family, religion, etc. Jules first words to this young lady were basically to warn her that I was absolutely the last person in the world she should be speaking to, I instantly gave him the shut the hell up look. I enjoy getting to hear other ppls points of view. It expands the mind. Although I will say, you best be armed to the teeth and ready to defend your stance, I will argue something just to make sure you know what you are talking about, even if I dont. It is too easy to catch ppl in contradictions, and I dont mean solely semantical errors. Our conversation abrubtly ended when I asked her to clarify some bullshit statement she had made about the govts attempt to limit the rights of the upperclass white girl, her response was that she was not privy to divulge that classified information, puh-lease!!
Jules and I shifted to a table after that, I was a little riled up to hear somebody landed a supposed book deal that appealed to 200 million women in the US of A and it was aimed at a demographic of older educated and white women, and yet it is called White Girl and FFS, there are less than 300 million ppl in the US, so she was saying there is less than 100 mil. Men in this country. And 200 million upperclass educated white girls Hahaha, I am getting fiesty about it even after the fact. Although I corresponded with her via e-mail over the weekend, she apologized for being shit faced and unable to convey her ideas properly, I responded that it was all good, I just didnt feel like dealing with conflict on my birthday, she understood and everything is kosher, she wants me to read her manuscript. It is about expanding the mind right?
After Nickimotos Jules and I headed out to meet my other friends at this lil dive bar called Mr Cs, it is on the West side and truly a shit hole. Secretly I love little bars like that, where status is unimportant, everybody is more human in a shit hole than they ever were dressed up in a classy joint. The air reeks of cigarettes and stale beer, not pretensions and expectations. I had a couple of shots and hung out with friends, and got the Birthday Paddle from the Rommus the bartender, I swear my ass is still bruised!
All in all it was a wonderful birthday. Thank you again to everybody for your kind comments and well wishes.
Peace,
D.
P.S. I got my first accounting test back today, I got a high A, studying is paying off ;-)
That aquarium looks really beautiful.
Happy belated birthday hon <3