I just realised today that I would never had met Mrs Seal if I hadn't approached another woman on a bus.

The woman was sitting across from me and I decided to strike up a conversation. I've done that maybe one other time in my life. She, on my suggestion, joined a club that I was a part of in college, and we went on a couple of dates with no success. As usual we remained friends afterwards.

Years later she's having an end of semester party at her flat, and her flatmate is Mrs Seal. If I hadn't made a move on that bus, I probably wouldn't have been at that party.

Weirdly enough my best man met Mrs Seal before I did. They had a couple of classes together in High School, but he hadn't seen her since until he turned up to that flat party with me.

This post was brought on by the woman's brother, who posted something eye roll worthy in my facebook feed, leaving me wondering how he'd made it there in the first place.

Anyone else got a story?

Just IMO though.

Well...if I didn't have such a close relationship with my cousins (who are more like my brothers), there is a possibility that I wouldn't have met my hubby until high school. We became friends because I used to hang with my cousins all the time. We had a 10 year (on and off) friendship before it grew into something more. And, I thank GOD for having cousins who only lived one street over.

"We don't make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents" - Bob Ross

"I'm wearing a MSU Tshirt because I went to MSU, you are wearing a UM Tshirt because you went to Walmart!" -unknown.

http://bjsquirrelchronicles.blogspot.com

I've ever been a part of.

My friend and I have literally been hanging out at the same places either at the same time or extremely close without ever noticing the other until we finally met at the tattoo shop we both work just cuz her boyfriend's been a friend/client with one of the other guys there.

But if it hadn't been for me getting dumped after three years and finally not having anything to do on Wednesdays we finally started hanging tough.

Depending on the individuals involved, people's origin stories can have weird links.


"i wanna hug all u idiotic bastards & then set you all on fire" -Bin

www.twitter.com/bedstuybetty
http://bedstuybetty.tumblr.com/
DROkayplayer: Giving you good puff since May '05

I had broken up with my ex like 4 months previous. I made a vow to just focus on me & my 2 kids. My dead end job was slowly coming to a close. Ie I'm emotionally closed off, broke and totally not looking for anything romantic, sexual...anything.

A friend was getting married. Kind enough to invite me to his lil rehearsal dinner. I didn't really think I'd come...I wasnt like...mentally in that "yay! Marriage!" mental space and would have brought the mood down...and there was also the money spent for a sitter..drinks I didn't have.

And this long time internet person I never met, hadn't had much of any interaction with...was like hi, I'm coming to town for the wedding! Come drink with us!

And for some reason, I thought this person was someone else totally. They had like the same login names or whatever and the person I thought she was...wasnt my type. At all. So like I'm surly, broke and getting inbox hollered by internet booger wolf chicks. 9 out 10 times I blow that whole scenario off and keep my ass at the house.

But I got a bonus at my job that week.
And it was the first kinda warm Friday in months
And my kids mom popped up and took em off my hands on some "surprise!" shit

And the internet chick was blowing me up.

Like 3 pm. "Hi! Were drinking already! Come thru!"

5 pm "helllllo! Where are you? We are at this other bar."

7 pm "someone thru up. We had to go to this other bar. Where are you? If you dont come out I'm going to kick your ass"

9 pm...baby's mother shows finally...I head out.

I'm thinking if its lame...I'll bail, hit the strip club.

I walk in...gang of drunks at a round table and the only seat open is next to this brown natural hair having chick...drunk off her ass and giggling.

No booger wolf in sight. Interesting.

I was like oh hi internet person!

And she looked at my shoes and cackled.

They had been drinking since 3 and the wedding was the next day so everyone was actually abt to wrap it up...I had no plan whatsoever but was like hey...uh...I have a in at this other place...why dont you stay?

Despite her girls like "NO! We are leaving!"

She went to another spot...with a internet stranger dude.

3 yrs almost later we still together - ceefus & reecie

>I had broken up with my ex like 4 months previous. I made a
>vow to just focus on me & my 2 kids. My dead end job was
>slowly coming to a close. Ie I'm emotionally closed off, broke
>and totally not looking for anything romantic,
>sexual...anything.
>
>A friend was getting married. Kind enough to invite me to his
>lil rehearsal dinner. I didn't really think I'd come...I wasnt
>like...mentally in that "yay! Marriage!" mental space and
>would have brought the mood down...and there was also the
>money spent for a sitter..drinks I didn't have.
>
>And this long time internet person I never met, hadn't had
>much of any interaction with...was like hi, I'm coming to town
>for the wedding! Come drink with us!
>
>And for some reason, I thought this person was someone else
>totally. They had like the same login names or whatever and
>the person I thought she was...wasnt my type. At all. So like
>I'm surly, broke and getting inbox hollered by internet booger
>wolf chicks. 9 out 10 times I blow that whole scenario off and
>keep my ass at the house.
>
>But I got a bonus at my job that week.
>And it was the first kinda warm Friday in months
>And my kids mom popped up and took em off my hands on some
>"surprise!" shit
>
>And the internet chick was blowing me up.
>
>Like 3 pm. "Hi! Were drinking already! Come thru!"
>
>5 pm "helllllo! Where are you? We are at this other bar."
>
>7 pm "someone thru up. We had to go to this other bar. Where
>are you? If you dont come out I'm going to kick your ass"
>
>9 pm...baby's mother shows finally...I head out.
>
>I'm thinking if its lame...I'll bail, hit the strip club.
>
>I walk in...gang of drunks at a round table and the only seat
>open is next to this brown natural hair having chick...drunk
>off her ass and giggling.
>
>No booger wolf in sight. Interesting.
>
>I was like oh hi internet person!
>
>And she looked at my shoes and cackled.
>
>They had been drinking since 3 and the wedding was the next
>day so everyone was actually abt to wrap it up...I had no plan
>whatsoever but was like hey...uh...I have a in at this other
>place...why dont you stay?
>
>Despite her girls like "NO! We are leaving!"
>
>She went to another spot...with a internet stranger dude.
>
>3 yrs almost later we still together - ceefus & reecie
>
>

All those obstacles and it still comes off. She perservered hard too. Obviously knew she was on to a good thing.

Just IMO though.

~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~

>I had broken up with my ex like 4 months previous. I made a
>vow to just focus on me & my 2 kids. My dead end job was
>slowly coming to a close. Ie I'm emotionally closed off, broke
>and totally not looking for anything romantic,
>sexual...anything.
>
>A friend was getting married. Kind enough to invite me to his
>lil rehearsal dinner. I didn't really think I'd come...I wasnt
>like...mentally in that "yay! Marriage!" mental space and
>would have brought the mood down...and there was also the
>money spent for a sitter..drinks I didn't have.
>
>And this long time internet person I never met, hadn't had
>much of any interaction with...was like hi, I'm coming to town
>for the wedding! Come drink with us!
>
>And for some reason, I thought this person was someone else
>totally. They had like the same login names or whatever and
>the person I thought she was...wasnt my type. At all. So like
>I'm surly, broke and getting inbox hollered by internet booger
>wolf chicks. 9 out 10 times I blow that whole scenario off and
>keep my ass at the house.
>
>But I got a bonus at my job that week.
>And it was the first kinda warm Friday in months
>And my kids mom popped up and took em off my hands on some
>"surprise!" shit
>
>And the internet chick was blowing me up.
>
>Like 3 pm. "Hi! Were drinking already! Come thru!"
>
>5 pm "helllllo! Where are you? We are at this other bar."
>
>7 pm "someone thru up. We had to go to this other bar. Where
>are you? If you dont come out I'm going to kick your ass"
>
>9 pm...baby's mother shows finally...I head out.
>
>I'm thinking if its lame...I'll bail, hit the strip club.
>
>I walk in...gang of drunks at a round table and the only seat
>open is next to this brown natural hair having chick...drunk
>off her ass and giggling.
>
>No booger wolf in sight. Interesting.
>
>I was like oh hi internet person!
>
>And she looked at my shoes and cackled.
>
>They had been drinking since 3 and the wedding was the next
>day so everyone was actually abt to wrap it up...I had no plan
>whatsoever but was like hey...uh...I have a in at this other
>place...why dont you stay?
>
>Despite her girls like "NO! We are leaving!"
>
>She went to another spot...with a internet stranger dude.
>
>3 yrs almost later we still together - ceefus & reecie
>
>


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

I've told this story a million times here, so here's the short version.

I'm at a film festival downtown, and going in I see a familiar face. She was the geeky and gangly little sister of a girl I was friend's with in high school. I remember her as a freshman when her sister and I were seniors. It's now 15 years later, and she is smoking hot, but she's too far away from me to get her attention.

After the festival, I see her about a half block ahead of me, headed to the parking lot. By the time I catch up to her, some dude has stopped her and they are talking. I think to myself "oh well...fuck it," and excuse my way past them on my way to the car.

Just as I'm about to get in my car, I hear, "Excuse me, excuse me... didn't you go to Towers?" We chat a second or two, mostly about how her sister is doing and how long it's been since we've been back to the old hood...etc." It seems that that's all the convo is going to turn into...when suddenly something blows through the parking lot and into her leg. We're both startled and when we look to see what it was, it turns out that it's an injured bat, sprawled out in the parking lot.

I make sure she wasn't bitten. She wasn't. I seize the opportunity to ask her if she wants to follow me in her car to this little Italian spot I know, that's close, and grab a bite. She agrees and the rest is history...16years of marriage and a kid.

.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

That was really smooth.

Just IMO though.

Basically, the conversation was dwindling. I wasn't getting a vibe that she was interested in anything more than letting me know how her sister was doing and finding out if I still ran with the old crew.

After the bat incident, the conversation got into my paralyzing fear of bats and how I was trying to keep my cool. Some old boho dude came over and told us about how great bats are for the environment and he's building a bat house...gtfoh. We just started really kicking it, and I asked if she wanted to continue the conversation over dinner.

Somebody threw up the bat signal!

I came ahead of my time like destiny gave me a lap dance

this story was great.

---------------------------------------
blog: www.wonderfullyhorrible.blogspot.com
instagram: Fishgrease
twitter: wooly_caesar
Podcast www.soundcloud.com/circlegang

my junior year in college after refusing to get involved with anyone on campus ever
an underclassman thought he was up to the challenge and wouldn't let up
i was all the way broke down, so in love, and after we got together he didn't want to be together and i'm not sure i did either because i was just like ok whatever but i was still so in love with this dude that it killed my senior year

so when someone at the uni offered the chance to go abroad an extra year on my scholarship to finish my 2nd degree i said why not - i didn't even want to be in the same country as this boy

i had two choices business school in paris or humanities in toulouse. and i just didn't want to be in toulouse so i sucked it up for a year of business school. i show up, luggage lost, just the few things i had packed with me. first day, the other americans all of us with this little old french lady our chaperone in an elevator and this really TALL guy gets in. and he looks at us like who the fuck are you people, mumbles hello and walks out.

the next week in french language class 15 minutes in - the tall guy peeps his head into the classroom. he apologizes in french for being late and said it was because he was waiting for the plumber to arrive. and i thought: that is biggest bullshit excuse i've ever heard in my life but i was thoroughly impressed that he knew the word for plumber. we all had to give presentations in french - he picked the origin of techno music (this was business school) and ended by saying he was living on a boat on the river, a bit further down from concert boats and that he was going to the technoparade the next weekend (rather than some school sponsored drunk fest down in the south of france).

i went to the technoparade by myself - i was sick that weekend and just wanted some fresh air. he'd gone too so we talked about the next week and then ended up doing this french assignment where we had to do summaries together of something in the newspaper. and we picked shit like the weather report.

a few months later we were at a party. he'd brought his guitar, his friend offended me, but we had so much fun (there's a pic of us cracking up together at that party that makes me smile) and he said he knew that the next day - sunday - there would be an organ concert at notre dame. it was really already sunday morning. he had no phone because he lived on a boat. i was just going to have to trust he would show up in a couple of hours in front of notre dame. i realized this when i got home and was like wtf he is not going to show.

not only did we make it to notre dame, but he had gotten to a phone to call me before hand. but there was no concert. some angry french lady pointed to a sign that said no more concerts. still don't know why. we ended up walking around in the rain and talking for hours. and that was that... he later told me that first day he knew we were all americans because we all had on sneakers...

"i fear no fate" e.e. cummings
"No girl. No fried chicken. I'm going back to get some sleep." - Haruki Murakami

Good thing Toulouse held no appeal. 17 years. Amazing.

Just IMO though.

and end up starting at a community college. I dont end up moving to Atlanta, transferring to Morehouse, meeting a friend who went to Spelman who ended up introducing me to my wife who doesnt even go to Spelman.

If you go back far enough you start thinking about how my parents had to meet, move to the US, etc

and how my wife's family had to come to Guyana. Its an amazingly beautiful rabbit hole--life.

Its crazy all the little shit in our lives that need to happen for all events to occur. Small decisions, missed connections, etc.

Some would argue that if things were meant to happen, they eventually would anyway.

---
"though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought

Used have folk come over and watch the games at my apartment. I also had a growing collection of NFL shot glasses. Already had the Steelers jawn, but my boy is a Pats fan, so I have to go like...15-20 miles to the spot where I got my shot glasses from to get the Pats one. Didnt have a cell phone then, but had a 2-way pager (lmao!). The chic I was foolin with at the time holla'd at me, so I got to the mall and called her back on the payphone. Talked to her for about 20 minutes, hung up, bought the shot glass and left.

The Mecca of record stores is not that far from the mall, and I was rarely on that side of town, so I decide stop in and see what there. I look over in the Used CD section and got hit by the thunder bolt. I make my way over there, and theres this dude standing beside her, so I wait to see whats up. Dude walked to another aisle and didnt say anthing to her, so I slid over. Used R&B, P...

"umm-umm-umm...thats a durn shame aint it? They got a triple ablum by Prince...used...for $5.99"


13 years later, he we still are.

If not for that phone call, I wouldve missed her...








We covered by the Blood which never loose it's power



http://soundcloud.com/rayandersonjr

i ran into what was my best friend on my birthday this year

hadnt seen him since his 37th bday
and before that my 30th bday

while we do live in the neighborhood
(more neighboring)
its interesting how this has been happening on our birthdays
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

There was this young lady who worked there too. He, being the office mayor, knew everybody. They became really cool. Layoffs occur! The day the layoffs began my boy and I headed to grab some food. The young lady and another coworker just happened to be walking outta the office at the same time. We do lunch together. She sat across from me. And I ain't say shit cuz I was just blown by how gorgeous and cool she was. "She didn't even know I existed" as said in many cliched movie scenes. Plus, I was in a relationship at the time.

3 years go by. I've since relocated to Atl. She is now in the process of doing the same. My boy calls me up to say that he gave her my number because I could be a resource for her in a foreign land. I was blown cuz I'd had a crush on the young lady for years but had not seen her since I left that old gig back in '02.

Five minutes after he and I talked, she called. I set it up to be the tourguide cuz I was in no way, shape, or form ready to entertain aything else since my marriage had ended 8 months prior. Took her on a tour, through some parts of the city, on a cool Sunday evening in January '06. After that, we walked into a pool hall / karaoke bar on Peachtree.

On the way out the door, which I'd held open for her, that woman walked past me and I knew that it was her. I watched her take 10 to 15 steps. Her poie. Her smile. Her conversation. Fast forward to now, we doin' it and we doin' it together. Had it not been for my boy, a failed CLEC, our relocations to Atlanta, and our subseqent return trips to the city where I first laid eyes on her, we wouldn't be taking this trip together 9 years later.

John Legend's "So High" was being sung in that karaoke bar that night...