Adventure in Friday Evening Bus Riding

ADVENTURE IN FRIDAY EVEVING BUS RIDING

Or

THE CRAP YOU HAVE TO PUT UP WITH IF YOU DON’T DRIVE

I’m all decked out in vampire slayer black on one of the hottest February days in New Orleans, and of course the sun is bearing down on me while I stand at the bus stop. It’s 4:35 and the bus is scheduled to arrive at 4:40. The sun I can deal with. The old geezers ogling me while I stand at the bus stop, no!

There is always a group of people congregating on this corner. Every now and then I see a female, but most of the time its men. Some of them I suspect are retired and have nothing better to do, but the rest are unemployed, disabled or just lazy. This afternoon all of them are drinking beer and the youngest in the group must be about 40. A couple of them have walked past me once or twice, smile and then go back and sit down on the seat on the side of the building where I’m standing. And even though I’m wearing dark sunglass I’m not blind so I do see one peeping at me from around the corner. Needless to say I want to bus to arrive on time. Yippee here comes the bus.

Its parade season here in New Orleans and it’s a Friday evening which means there are probably three or four parades scheduled to roll. This also means I’m going to catch hell trying to make it home from the east bank of the Mississippi River where I work to the west bank where I live. I have to ride two buses. So we make it to Canal Street and I get off the first bus and walk a block to the second bus stop. First of all they are filming a movie on this street and they have turned off the traffic lights and they are blanking red in four directions. I have to get across this street without getting hit. Luckily they have stopped the traffic coming from the left. So I make it across the street and hope the second bus will be able to get through. There are a lot of people milling about and police directing traffic. It would be much easier to just close off the streets and re-direct the rush hour traffic, but no, they want to do things the hard way.

The bus arrives and we board. The police have stopped the bus until after a scene is shot. Well, that’s good for the director and the actors but I am ready to go home. After holding us for about fifteen minutes they finally move one of the police cars and the bus turns the corner. Of course I look out the window to see if I recognize any of the actors. No, they are all dressed in black trench coats and it looks like either it’s a gangster movie or a vampire flick. In my head I’m wishing that the sun is burning up their behinds like it did me since we were all foolish enough to wear sun-absorbing black today.

So now we finally get on our way and I pull out my reading glasses and my book, but actually I’m concentrating on the two guys who are probably going to be staring in my next book. Let me set the scene, or introduce the characters. I have been riding the bus with this one guy for a couple of weeks now and have actually had a conversation with him. Even though it seems that I’m reading I am totally aware of what’s going on around me on the bus. He always manages to sit on the same side of the bus I do, maybe a seat or two away. And every now and then he sits across the aisle from me. Occasionally I catch him staring at me. Maybe it could be my imagination. He’s not exactly the kind of man I’m usually interested in. He’s tall, blond, has green eyes and has an average size build. He’s not hero handsome but he has an okay face. I guess his age to be in his later 30s or early 40s.

Character number two – I’ve also been noticing this young guy every evening. His blond, thin to the point of anorexia, but not a bum or a street urchin. He’s usually dressed like he works in an office, and he can’t be any older than 20. I would say 18 but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. The first thing I think when I saw him was that he’s would be a perfect semi character (Semi is the more feminine male character in a manga), because of his lithe build. I never noticed him on the bus with us before, but two days ago he gets on with the other blond and of course my imagination just went wild. They sit next to each other and then I begin to wonder if they are gay. The two of them get off the bus together and I think if they’re not gay they could possibly be related because of their hair color, but my instincts tell me that this is not the case. Yesterday morning the older one gets on the bus, but I don’t see the thin one (at first). Then I see him crossing the street and walking back in the other direction like he walked the older one to the bus stop to see him off to work. So if he’s gay, then why is he staring at me, I wonder. Maybe bi-curious?

So today, I notice a third blond. This one is in his twenties too, but more stockier and attractive than the other two. He’s carrying backpack and he’s sitting next to the other two on the bus. A possible ménage? Maybe! Or maybe he’s just a friend who lives in the neighborhood.

A young black woman walks past them to get off the bus and I notice that the older one is checking her out. A young Hispanic woman gets up and walks past him and he doesn’t give her the time of day. Hum, gay, bi-curious and he has jungle fever. Okay, I can work with this.

I forget about them for a minute and the bus turns on Poydras where we run into obstacle number 2. There are police officers and food vendors everywhere, setting up for the six o’clock parade. Oh gawd, let me get across the river before all this stuff start rolling. Traffic comes to a halt. Fifteen minutes later we turn on Convention Center and I’m praying that they are not moving the floats out of the barn and blocking up the streets. Fortunately, this does not happen and we make it to the bridge. We run into obstacle number 3, the same scenario on the west bank side of the river…another parade. We only sit in traffic about five minutes while they block off the entrance to the interstate ramp.

My suspicions are confirmed. The three blonds get off at the same stop and walk away together.

Now there are some other things going on aboard the bus. It is crowded with Hispanic and Haitian women who work in the Central Business District. And believe it or not, I can hear them talking rapidly and loudly while I’m trying to read and trying to listen to my MP3 player. I have the volume up so loud that it’s hurting my right ear, but I don’t lower the volume because JYJ is singing, “Be the One,” and the song is too good to turn down.

I must note here that I haven’t seen stinky cutie in a couple of days. Maybe he’s given up bus riding or he has his car fixed. I still can’t believe I’m still looking for him every day. Maybe I have a death wish. For those of you who don’t know who this is, he’s this really cute Korean guy that I noticed about a week ago, but he had B.O. which is a total turn off for me. I mentioned him in my blog last week so if you want to learn more you have to check out that blog entry (Every Man is not a Hero).

It is about 6:30 when I finally get off the bus, walk the three or four blocks to my front door. I open the door and hear “Maw Maw,” above the MP3 player song I’m listening to. Its number one grandson and his baby girl from hell sister (Loving known as Adrian and Autumn). I haven’t seen them in a couple days and they are there with their father who is putting together the new television stand and television. Autumn is entertaining me with tales of McDonald’s chicken nuggets she just ate and hadn’t saved for me. She makes up by giving me a plastic muffin from her tea set. In return I got the honor of giving her a Popsicle.

The mini monsters start arguing over the desk top computer. He wants to play games on Nicholodean and she wants to see the Willow Smith’s video on YouTube. Finally their father takes them home fifteen minutes later. I jump into the shower, fix myself something to eat and sit down to Twitter.

A new Korean girl group, Bella is rocking EnVogue’s, “Don’t Let Go.” I don’t usually listen to the girl groups, but I can give mad props to them for this song, and for the fact that they are balancing themselves on some stellar high spiked shoes and boots. And then finally Super Junior M, has a new mini-album. Well, looks like I’ll be investing some of my hard earned cash in two new CDs. Now it’s time for me to write.

Chat with you later.

Imari Jade

Not Every Man's a Hero

Not Every Man’s a Hero

By

Imari Jade

It’s no secret that I have this thing for pretty Asian guys and my chance of finding one in Marrero (or so I thought) was slim to none. Even though we have a Korean church in walking distance from my home, I’ve never seen one. But two days ago this gorgeous Korean guy boarded the bus when I was on my way to work and my eyes automatically moved from the passage I was reading in the novel to him. Hmmm, he’s slim, but he’s not tall and he doesn’t have a butt. But his jeans were riding low on his hips and the shoulder-length black hair and bangs was a plus in his favor so I thought I could forgive the fact that he’s not six feet tall and have a bodacious booty. Not perfect, my devious little mind calculated but workable.

He didn’t sit next to me but instead chose a seat across the aisle and a row behind, but I could see him move out of the corner of my eye. So I settled back into my seat and got back to reading while we crossed the Mississippi River Bridge into New Orleans. The guy gets off the bus on Poydras Avenue, which is the central business district which means he’s either about to transfer to another bus, working in the area or going to court. By the way he’s dressed in jeans and a short sleeved shirt I’m thinking he’s probably a laborer, not that that’s a bad thing. But I am looking for someone to wine and dine me now and not the other way around.

Later that evening I look for him on the way home. If he works an eight hour job he should board the same bus I do to go home, since it’s the last bus going over the river. But he didn’t get on.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I got on the bus and a lady in front of me smelt like she took a bath in cologne. And not the good stuff…the old lady stuff that automatically sets off my allergies and I cough until I dug a cough drop out of my book bag. So I got as comfortable as I could get and the bus pulls off and we head toward Harvey where the guy got on yesterday. Alas, he didn’t get on at his stop so I figured his riding was just a one ride fluke. Maybe his car broke down and that’s why he had to ride the bus.

So we arrive at the terminal several minutes later and a lot of other people boarded. A guy sits next to me but I don’t see his face because mine is buried in a book. Then something catches my attention. Out of the corner of my right eye I see this long jet black hair. It’s him. I try not to seem too excited and just go on reading and listening to my MP3 player. The bus moves from the terminal and into traffic and then it hits me…a smell. Him. He stinks. Oh my gawd. He smells like he hasn’t had a bath and like he’s been drinking all night. Why me? He gets on his cell phone and I can smell his bad breath. Okay so now I really can’t breathe between him and the lady with the cologne. I try to discretely cover my nose, but that doesn’t work, so I try to shift my body to the left and pretend everything is okay. But there’s nothing I can do because there isn’t another empty seat and we’re about to cross the Mississippi River Bridge again. So I just had to bear it. Lucky for me he gets off at Poydras again.

When I get to work I tell my co-worker Tracee about my experience and she just laughs. I have to agree it was hilarious. At lunch I talked it over with another friend of mine and he says that not all countries have the same standards of bathing as we do in the United States. True, but ass is not in the another country, he’s in the US and sitting next to me on the bus. I have to admit, I set my standards way high when it comes to men, and let’s face it no one is going to come close to those three gorgeous Koreans I have lost my heart to (JYJ), but why put such a temptation in front of me? Believe it or not, I look for him on the way home but he doesn’t get on the bus.

I tried to find a rationale for my fascination with this guy and try to find excuses for his deplorable shape. I think maybe he works at night and he was just getting in and hadn’t have time to change. Or maybe he could be homeless, and I think it cost $2.00 to ride that bus and I’d seen him twice and if I was homeless I wouldn’t be wasting money on a bus.

The cougar in me still thought he was cute beneath all that stank. Maybe I could take him home and scrub him up, I reasoned. That’s what one of my heroines would do in a story. No, even I have my limits and I don’t pick up stray men or dogs on the street and I’m not about to start just because all that black silky hair has caught my attention. I’d probably have to delouse him too just to get to that hair. He has leading man potential, but I’m not willing to work that hard to uncover that diamond in the rough.

Funny thing happened last night. There was an article on the Internet about Micky and his younger brother. Someone asked the younger brother to talk about Micky’s bad points, and the first thing he said was that Micky liked to clean and would fuss at him for leaving a cup on the table. He said his brother was more feminine than he was and was interested in fashion. I started to laugh. Believe me little brother, it could be worse, he could not take a bath. I’d gladly swap stinky cutie, as I named the guy on the bus for his big brother, who by the way I still feel is husband material and the object of many of my dreams at night. If I’m going cast a hero, it would be him.

Imari Jade

Chilling

Flower Lady Song

Chilling

By

Imari Jade

I spent a splendidly wonderful day writing even though I’m suffering from a bad back ache and a wicked foot wound caused by an over-zealous young woman giving me a pedicure. Running on about three hours of sleep my eyes opened at seven and refused to close. “But its Sunday,” I protested.

“Get your lazy butt out of bed and get creative,” was their response.

So I rubbed down with Aspercreme, took two Tylenol and got dressed.

The first thing I did was turn on my computer. It struggled to life, which meant there was a problem but a few minutes later I was able to access Twitter. Micky Yoochun was chatting today, but it is Korean. Pooh. English baby. Mama needs English. Oh, well, I surfed, catching up on my J&K Pop friends and then meandered my way over to Facebook and friended a couple of folks and wished a few others Happy Birthday. Nothing exciting happening there, so I decided to do some editing on the five manuscripts I’m juggling at the moment. Then the computer froze.

After cursing it out for freezing right in the middle of something I was typing (and I hadn’t saved), I got myself out of the program and shut down the computer. It restarted slowly. The computer expert in me told me that it was a virus. Bingo, I found the little bugger once I ran the virus scan. I logged back in and had to retype what I was previously working on.

Somewhere after breakfast I decided to take out my CD player and my Pandigital Reader. Lately I’ve been overrun by electronics. My kids gave me the CD player two Christmases ago and this was the first time I took it out of the box. Normally I played my CDs in my DVD payer but lately it’s been acting up, probably because I shouldn’t be playing CDs in it. So after figuring out how to work it I slipped in my Beyonce CD and got empowered. Then I went back to work for a couple of hours.

The Pandigital E-reader was a different story. It has been in my possession a little over a week and so far it has not performed up to my expectation. Basically it’s a piece of garbage and it’s going back to Best Buy in a couple of days. It took four days to charge and it took two days for it to accept my Barnes and Noble password and login. And I still haven’t been able to download the Nook Book I ordered from Barnes and Noble earlier today. It is history if it doesn’t work tomorrow.

So right now I got DBSK blasting in the room while I’m waiting for the Grammys. It better be good this year or I might stop watching. I already know my boys JYJ won’t be there. They’re still in Korea probably freezing. They should be there accepting all the awards for their fabulous album. It would make my night to finally see them perform on television. Lately I’ve been going blind watching their performances on YouTube and other computer shows. It just doesn’t do my six-feet babies justice. Okay, I’m through salivating. I’m just waiting for the CD to end. Then it’s into the shower and I need to eat dinner before I relax for the evening. But first I need to check my email.

Someone joined me to their writers group and it’s been blowing up my mailbox all morning. I think I have then turned off of Facebook before Yahoo takes away my account, which will be bad since I’m waiting to hear from some publishers.

Just a friendly reminder, “Someone to be Thankful for” is being released tomorrow on audio book from Total Ebound.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1136

It’s a very good story and I’m not just saying it because I wrote it.

Ooh, DBSK is singing “Flower Lady.” I just love that song. Boy I can’t wait until they stop this silly dispute and get back together again. I hope they do it before I visit Korea. This would make the trip totally worth it. Well, surviving the twenty-five hour ride will also make it totally worth it. More later.

Imari Jade

What to Do on a Cold Rainy Day

What to Do on a Cold Rainy Day

By

Imari Jade

I’m sitting here waiting to call into work. It’s not something I normally do. I debated for quite a while as I lay in bed listening to the rain fall about five this morning. It’s really cold in New Orleans today and the weather is expected to get colder and rainier with sleet.

First of all, I don’t drive. This means I have to ride the bus to work…two buses to be exact. This usually takes about two hours so I have to get up with the roosters. I don’t mind the ride, it’s the walk to the bus stop when it’s pitch black outside that’s spooky. I put my life in the Lord’s hands most mornings and hope he’ll get me to work and home safely. He hasn’t failed me yet. Yesterday evening I stood in 30 degree temperatures and the bus was twenty minutes late because of heavy traffic. I can accept this but it still pissed me off. This morning I’m reaping the rewards, my back is hurting and I’m walking around like Quasimodo. So I decided to not be stupid and try to go outside on the icy cold sidewalks where I might slip.

People who know me know that my mind is trying to talk me out of staying home. I don’t know why I feel like I have to go to work every day. It’s not like the world is going to end if I don’t go in. My mind is just programmed to just get dressed and go in. I’ve gone to work so sick I can barely walk or breathe. This year I promised myself this was not going to happen because that job will be there even if I’m dead and gone.

So how did I start the day? How else? On Yahoo. I just need to clean out my email boxes a couple of times a day. This morning a publisher confirmed that she received my manuscript, and I found two new promo opportunities. I’m also watching the news and weather. It might be cold here, but luckily we’re not buried under snow.

Next I visited Twitter and Facebook. Not much going on there. So I pulled out my scissors and coupons. It’s time to clean out all the January coupons that have expired and cut out the new ones. This is the best time to do it since the grandchildren are not here trying to help me. That is an experience a couponer does not want to go through. Usually they have coupons flying everywhere and they argue over the baby scissors.

Okay, so I made the phone call. My back is still hurting so I think it’s time to fix breakfast so I can take arthritis medicine.

Justin Bieber is supposed to be on Regis and Kelly this morning. Finally I’m going to see what the fuss is all about.

Breakfast is finally ready. I’ve taken my arthritis medicine, my allergy medicine and my high blood pressure medicine. While I was waiting for breakfast I finished up with the coupons, put last night’s wash away and tossed towels into the washer. Why are I doing this since I’m obviously in pain? Well, if the back goes out completely I won’t be able to do anything including lift my legs so it’s best to get things out of the way. I just walked back into my bedroom and there’s a kid on the news who has been volunteering at the local SPCA. He has a snake with him. Time to turn the channel. Imari does not do snakes.

The big thing I need to accomplish today is to retype a novella. The reason I have to retype it is because my son borrowed my precious red flash drive and for some reason everything on it is now missing. I thought I had most of it backed up on an external drive but I haven’t been able to find most of the stuff. Luckily I always print out a copy of everything. Speaking of which, I need to order a new external drive today. Now if I can only remember where I put the folder with the manuscript. It was in my file cabinet but I took it out the other day and I think it’s on my desk. It’s a known fact if it goes on my desk it gets lost. Found it. It was inside the desk file. Okay the boy with the snake is gone and I can resume watching the morning news. Before I begin typing this monster I’m going to check all of my flashes and drives just to make sure. No such luck. I love my son like a play step cousin but it he touches my flash drives again I might have to punish him. Wait. Good thing my brain is still functioning. I found the manuscript in my sent file. Good I don’t have to retype it.

Justin Bieber just finished on Regis and Kelly. I hope I'm spelling his name right. Hmmm, no sweaty palms, no palpating heart, no wet panties. Nope, not cougar material. He’s cute but I’ll leave him for the tweens. JYJ’s position is still number one in my heart.

Oh gawd my stomach is dying. Why do doctors prescribe stuff that make you feel worse than the original ailment? So I’m lying flat on my back typing to work on the proposal.

I snuck over to Total E-Bound. Just found out that “Something to be Thankful for” is going to be released on audio tape on Valentine’s Day and the book is going to be released on February 28, 2011. More on that in a future blog.

Just submitted new M/M novel to publisher. Boy, that was easy.

I have three things I know I have to work on for March submission …2 short stories and 1 novel. I have one of the short stories outlined (and then I deleted it because it sucked, so I started on another one), the second short story I need to think about and the novel, well, I have all the ingredients, I just need to get my butt in gear because submission date is just three weeks away.

Did I mention that one of my sons brought me a Nook for Christmas? It’s still sitting in a box. I did order a cover because my Nook is naked. It should be arriving Monday. Okay, the Nook is on my bed now and I think I need to open the box and at least charge it up. Okay, Nook is in the charger. Needs to charge for 4 hours. Number three son is up. He doesn’t look surprised to see me home. Next task.

My MP3 player is on the fritz. It just saying Initializing. It was doing this yesterday but the screen won’t clear. Might as well add a new MP3 player to the list. Found the external drive and MP3 player. Took the external drive out of my cart after reading reviews. (Remember: Just because it’s on sale or has a coupon doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. Always read the reviews). Just ordered the MP3 player. I had a $25.00 store credit because they lost the television I ordered at Christmas time. (Don’t ask). I’m buying a new television tomorrow.

Got some promotions done. Now I have to see if I have a book to submit for the Stroke of Midnight Contest. Got the story but too lazy to write the synopsis. So I tossed it aside and started working on the short story. Midway in between writing I decided to watch episodes 24-26 of Ouran High School Host Club. Damn, things were just getting good and it ended. I still have part three of Vampire Knights to watch, but I wanted to watch parts one and two again since it’s been nearly two years since I saw them.

Towels have washed dried and been put up. Dinner is finished and it’s four-thirty in the evening. One of my sons and his wife stopped by and brought me some tennis shoes. I’ve been complaining and limping on a callous for several years now. I won’t go away and I’ve having the hardest time walking in shoes. So hopefully the tennis will make a difference. It’s time for me to check in on Twitter and Facebook. Jaejoong has tweeted pictures of his dog and two birds. Cute. I would like to see more pictures of him.

Came up with another premise for a historical novel. I think I’ll work on this one and forget about the call for submission novel for March. See how quickly I can change my mind. People often wonder where writers get their ideas. Mine just pop into my head. After today I figured out that I could possibly work as a fulltime writer. I don’t know if I could make enough money to pay my house note, but at least I know if I get furloughed or fired from my job I do have something to fall back on.

There’s nothing exciting on Twitter at the moment but some ass tried to hack my Facebook account. People get a life. I need to take out the garbage. It is so cold outside and I have to go to work in that tomorrow. So this is how I spent my day. Back to work tomorrow. That is, if I can stand up.