Transformation

This weekend has turned out much better than expected. In the midst of depression I never remember that leaving the house and hanging out with B and the TG’s does wonders for my mood.

Saturday, after much debating I forced myself to go down to the AMC. (stopped at the post office on the way to pick up these rings.) Julie and Adele were in sessions by the time I got there, so I sat at the TG table alone for a while. After about an hour of cranky text messages to B and half-heartedly talking to people that stopped to find out what TG was about, Adele came out and sat with me. She’s the type of person that cares enough to ask questions and I’m unable to tell her I’m ok and everything is fine when it’s not. So it was helpful to get some of that crankyness out of my system.

The last set of sessions started and we stopped in for a panel on the Jena 6 and New Jersey 4. The discussion centered around the media coverage of each and why the Jena 6 was publicized much more, while the New Jersey 4 was essentially ignored by mainstream media. The discussion was intense and the panelists brought up things like: why women of color (woc) stories and LGBTI stories receive little or no attention from the media, victim blaming, police brutality centered around race and gender, questioning the idea of getting big media attention – is it needed?

I also had the privledge of meeting BrownFemiPower – she is an absolute genius woc blogger. Add her to your reader NOW! I also met Jessica Hoffman from Make/Shift and Debbie Rasmussen from Bitch Magazine. (Watch for A Bitch Project to come to your town)

Listening to those people speak pulled me out of my own mind for a while, so went I left I was energized and in a good mood for the first time in days.

I drove over to B’s house where he had dinner all set up – my man is not only incredibly sweet, he’s a damn good cook. We ate dessert while lying on the couch watching TV – best part of my whole weekend.

Around 10 we headed to Skip’s going away party – I was wearing knee-length shorts and a tshirt (which B called my skater girl outfit) and the party was outside so I was freezing. I ended up wearing B’s sweatshirt, which was two sizes too big on him, so it looked like a cape on me. Two beers later we drove to Ferndale to meet people at a bar. I got good and drunk on a jack and coke, which left the rest of the night a little blurry. (and a little x-rated, so we’ll skip forward to today)

Raced home at 10 to meet Jenn and head back to the AMC. We got down there by 1 and manned the TG table while making plans for Warped Tour. We’re thinking of having a safe sex/body image theme to our booth this year.

Around two we all eagerly piled into the auditorium for the closing session where Grace Lee Boggs was the speaker. She is my hero! (and probably everyone else’s that was there too) She is an author, anti-racist activist and feminist. She founded Detroit Summer, a multicultural intergenerational youth program and…she just turned 93! Every word that comes out of that woman’s mouth is gold. And you could tell we all knew it by the number of people with pen in hand when we sat down in the auditorium. (I want to write a little about that Grace spoke about, but I might save that for another post.)

We ended the conference with everyone singing happy bday to Grace and Jenny Lee (one of the organizers). Then Jenn and I went back to the table and while I packed up, she hawked chocolate vaginas. The drive home was nice, windows down, music off, talking about work and dudes and life.

Now I’m back at home, hoping the wind will die down and the sun will come back out so I can try out my new bikini, but it looks like that might have to wait for next weekend since my feet are getting hit by a pretty cold breeze. Dinner with the fam in a couple hours and then I think B and I are going to see ‘Get Smart’.

I think I need a nap!

Step 1: We can have lots of fun

Last night I went to 17th Street to help Lindsey celebrate her 23rd b-day. She was already quite drunk when I got there and yelled at me for not bringing my Emmy. Linz is absolutely the sweetest girl I’ve ever met. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body and I wish I could be more like her, but that wouldn’t make for a very interesting blog, would it?

After a couple drinks it was time for karaoke. At 17th there are lots of regulars, some that can actually sing. So when seven drunken girls ran on stage and proceeded to scream along with NKOTB’s “Step By Step” they didn’t look too pleased. At least we knew the words…the other group of drunken girls that got up to sing couldn’t even read the prompter.

I saw the most pathetic pick-up ever. There was a guy, probably around 22, sitting with his parents for most of the night. The dad comes over to a girl at our table, takes her over and introduces her to his son. They talk for a minute, come and sit at our table, and then mom and dad hand the kid car keys and a cell phone and leave. He looked so happy to have matched up his son, I really thought the dad was going to come back and give him and hand full of condoms.

The girl didn’t look to creeped out, but I would have been. If a dude doesn’t have the balls to come say hi and instead has his dad do it for him I would have been outta there in seconds. (See, not nice like Linz…she would have at least humored him)

3rd Monday

Yesterday I scooted out of work early to meet up with the TG’s for a meeting. Everyone was into my speakers bureau idea. I want to form a collection of successful women available to talk to students about how they got from high school to their chosen career. Something like 60 percent (don’t quote me on that) of parents in Detroit don’t think their kids need more than a high school education to get a good job and support a family. While that may have been true when they graduated, with the state of the auto industry, it’s no where near enough to survive on now.

We also talked about holding a feminist mixer (part of my 101 things to do in 1001 days!) to bring together all the activist groups working on women’s issues in metro-Detroit. We had a woman that’s working with Detroit NOW and Planned Parenthood join us and she seemed really receptive to the idea. She also brought up doing some sort of Take Back The Night parade with V-Day, which we would love to do.

There’s something about being surrounded by intelligent, creative women that really gets my brain buzzing and puts a fire under my ass to get stuff organized.

After the meeting Jenn and I went to the WAB for dinner. Dunner was just getting off work so he sat with us while we scarfed down a giant salad. The size of the bowls they serve it in is just ridiculous…I should have taken a picture. Then we walked down the street to The Post and it was teaming with white hats because of the Wings game. Mondays and Thursdays are usually safe nights to go because it’s taken over by punk rock/indie/metal kids, but not last night.

We didn’t stay for long, the vibe in that place was too weird and the Wings went into overtime. Took the chance to drive home and watched the rest of the game from bed.

Let’s get the Wrecking Crew together

Spent last night at Mr B’s watching the Wings and Pistons games with the Wrecking Crew. (Haven’t been called that in years, but it’s much easier than writing everyone’s names out – and Brian…I know you’re gonna make fun of me for that!) Our server appeared to be in training and had a hard time remembering what everyone ordered, which was only beer and dessert. By the end of the night he had disappeared and the woman that had been keeping an eye on him brought our last round. There was lots of gossiping and almost an impromptu trip to Drahner Rd to scare the shit out of ourselves at the monastery. (Legend has it that the monks will chase after anyone that drives up there and throw potatoes at them) Jeff managed to smell everyone and correctly identify their perfume/cologne, except me….Betsey Johnson.

Now I’m at work and Seth has noticed that everyone seems to be in a post-Memorial Day slump. I definitely don’t feel like getting anything done and am still sleepy after staying in bed until 1 for the past three days.

Back to work

B was home for a couple of days, so I’ve been away from the computer. Monday morning I picked him up from the hotel and we took his parents out to lunch at CPK. His dad is hilarious and kept swearing when we couldn’t get his seat belt on. After lunch we hung out at his house for a bit and then went to meet the band at the mall, which they were already walking to. B picked up half of them and then I found the other two walking along the side of the road and picked them up as well. The mall was quite boring and B only bought a prezzie for Justin. He wanted to buy me something…anything, but I never let him buy me stuff.

After the mall there was lots of driving back and forth and picking up various band members and a trip to the office supply store. Then we piled into mine and B’s cars and went to dinner at Ronin…almost forgetting Pavan on the way. The whole way there I kept thinking ‘don’t crash…you can’t kill the band!’ We ate a massive amount of sushi and there was a sweet argyle cake to celebrate Justin being sober for one year.

Then it was back to the bus before a group of us headed to the WAB for a few drinks. I didn’t drink and got super cranky. We went to the Post and I hung out with Klair the rest of the night. Lots of drama…people shouldn’t be such liars.

Tuesday I went to work for a webchat and station meeting and then headed downtown to meet B around 3. There was a Tiger’s game and The Color Purple all right near the venue so parking was horrible, but a nice homeless man found me a space to park for free, all the while eying the change in my car, which I gave to him. I sat in the bus for a while watching GSN while B worked. Then he, Jesse, and I went to Slows and stuffed our selves with veggie BBQ. Being downtown makes me a crazy driver and I highly doubt Jesse will ever get in my car again. B probably wouldn’t either, but he doesn’t have much choice!

Back on the bus I watch more game shows with the band and then went inside to watch MCS’s set. Lots of screaming girls…always entertaining. Met up with Jenn and Lindsey before Panic and got hit on by an old man. He asked if he could sit next to me and I told him I didn’t mind but my boyfriend would and Jenn screamed across the table for him to leave her girlfriend alone. The lesbian angle always works.

Met up with B and had a drink with a bunch of his friends that had come out for the show. Tried to watch the Pistons game, but there was something wrong with the tv and it was all blurry. B decided he wanted to go home and sleep. He dropped me off at my car and I made it about 30 seconds after he pulled away before I burst into tears. I know he’ll be back tomorrow on their day off, but I still cry every time.

Now I’m at work and I don’t feel like doing anything, but my boss just gave me a huge redesign to work on, which is going to be a giant pain in the ass. I’d much rather be in bed with B watching movies…maybe tomorrow.