JUST SAYING STUFF

SEPTEMBER 8, 2002

 

What up people? It's been a while since I've given a personal account of how it's been going with me, so I decided to do it today since I have nothing else to do. It is very often that I have nothing else to do. Sad, isn't it? It's just a typical, uneventful weekend for me. I've done nothing but watch television and use the computer among other things. Fun, right? Last weekend wasn't the case. It was Labor Day weekend, and I was out on an annual Family Reunion event. It wasn't that bad. I'm surprised I went. It was a last minute decision to go. Before, I was dead set against it ever since the idea was presented to me back in May. The reason was because of last year's event. It was the worst. I had virtually NO fun at all. I didn't want to go through another one like that. However, during the second week of school, I decided to think about actually going. I didn't have anything else planned, so on the particular Friday (August 30), I decided to head on out. My mom was happy that I was going. I travelled by bus (with my grandmother, aunt, and three little cousins) all the way to Detroit, Michigan. I met up with them in Nashville since they came from Memphis. Meanwhile, my mom and sister travelled by plane. For some reason, the bus ride signaled to me that I would have some kind of fun this year. I was kinda happy during the bus ride. Maybe it was because I was already laughing at stuff. Maybe it was because I was enjoying the outside scenery. I don't know. I got there early Saturday morning, and I met up with my mom and sister. If there was one person I didn't want to deal with, it was my sister. I didn't want to see her dusty face. We stayed in the Red Roof Inn...not too shabby. By late Saturday afternoon/early Saturday evening, the weekend was off to a great start. We went to this big mall in the city. Great Lakes Crossing was its name. It was HUGE. It definitely had some stuff there. I did a little shopping with my two female companions and then just browsed around the mall. There were two places there that stood out for me. The first one was the Gags and Gifts shop. They had all sorts of gadgets, toys, collectables, whatever. The sight of all that stuff had me all giddy. It was pretty cool. The other place was the Rainforest Cafe. My little cousins showed me this. At the front of the place was like a decorative rainforest with this fake alligator in a swamp and this talking tree named "Tracy Tree" that gives rainforest facts. There were little toys, accessories, and other stuff to buy there as well. I don't know what the full restaurant is like since I didn't go into it. From what I've seen, though, it would have been a hoot. So, that was basically my fun for that Saturday. At night, all the really grown folks went to the casino, and I basically stayed at the hotel by myself. I did a little walking outside away from the hotel just to fulfill my weekend walking activity.

 

On Sunday, my sister gave me the opportunity to go back to the mall with her, but I declined since I was catching up on my sleep. I wish I didn't decline, though. Oh well. Sunday was the day of the family dinner that always happens at the Family Reunion. This time, it was a little different because of an added twist...a talent show. Well, actually I found out later on that it wasn't just a mere talent show, but a contest. Just the thought of the idea was hilarious. I remember when my mom told me about that back in May. Here's what she said. "You can get up there and do Michael Jackson!" I'm like, "Yeah, right!" although I don't remember if I said it or just thinking it. Well, the talent show was so rinky-dink. First off, it was more of a karaoke show. One of my distant family members allowed us a karaoke CD set so we could pick what we wanted to sing. Once again, the idea for me to do something was brought up. Two Michael Jackson songs were on the list: "Bad" and "Beat It". She was like, "You can get up there and do something." I laughed it off. Nearly everyone that was sitting with me at the table was trying to persuade me to perform as the talent show went on. I was just trying to enjoy, or laugh at, the other people that went up there. My mom went up there at the beginning with some of the other family members. Very funny. She know she had no business being up there...lol. I got to give her some props though. I didn't think she would do it. She didn't exactly sing (Thank goodness), but she was trying to dance along with the other old timers. My sister and I knew what to expect so we were waiting for this moment to end as quick as possible. One little girl sang "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys. She was pretty good. This one little dude was trying to rap Mystikal's portion of "Move B****" by Ludacris without the music (The only reason I edited the title is because he was singing the edited version, of course). He was aight, I guess.

 

Soon, one of my cousins proposed the idea that I could perform "Scream" by Michael and Janet Jackson. He said that I could be Mike and my sister could be Janet. I shot that idea down. To have my sister get up there at all would be a travesty. Then, to have her up there with me would be the worst. So, I shot that idea down for this simple reason. "Uh, no. She can't dance," I said. Everyone was like "Oooooooh!" That was a nice little moment to make her look bad. I succeeded. However, as I thought that moment was over in my favor, the tables have turned. She got me back in the worst way. She shouted as loud as she could..."Derrian would like to do Michael Jackson!" She kept pointing at me making sure that the attention would be all on me. "Michael Jackson, over here!" she continued. Damn, she wasn't right. I couldn't escape. Females at this table behind us was chanting, "Derrian! Derrian! Derrian!" I thought that I might as well satisfy them. I had quite a few MJ CD's with me since my cousins and I were listening to them on my portable CD player. I brought Disc 1 of the "HIStory: Past, Present, and Future - Book 1" set with me for this guy to put into the CD player. I already knew which song I was going to perform. I wasn't just about to stand up there and sing. Besides, they had no cordless microphone, so I didn't use one. I got into MJ's famous beginning pose to start of his most famous performance. The song starts, and everyone knew what was up. "Billie Jean" was the song. I really got into it, especially when it came time to do the moonwalk. I didn't think I could do it with the shoes I was wearing, but I pulled it off. Everyone was impressed. When the performance was over, there was a huge applause and a standing ovation from a few people. I guess I did my thing. My mom was especially impressed. She knew I could imitate Mike, but she didn't think I could do a full performance like that. My aunt and grandmother felt the same way. My cousins felt like I lost it at that moment. They were into it as well. We were trying to make them do something at the talent show. They were scared. If I got up there, they could have done something too. Then, they said that they would get up there if I went with them. They wanted to perform "Thriller" so that they could be the monsters in the background. Another idea shot down for these reasons. First, I already did my thing. Second, I cannot teach them that intricate choreography in some minutes. Anyway, a few other people went before and after me in the show.

 

Then it was time for the three judges to announce the winner. I was first place. It was nice, I suppose. I didn't do it for contest purposes, though. I only did it just to do it. When it was over, one little guy came up to me and was like "Who taught you to move like that?" That moment was kinda weird because the same thing happened to Michael after his famous performance of Billie Jean at the "Motown 25" anniversary special back in 1983 (Michael described that experience back in an interview in 1993). Then, as I was about to leave, this other little guy (he was fluffy) was like, "Hey Michael Jackson! How did you learn those smooth moves?" or something like that. It was during this time when I received my prize. My prize was...$25. Wow! More money in my pocket. There was just one problem. My sister snatched five of those dollars away from me. She felt like were it not for her calling me out at the show, I wouldn't have done anything. Maybe so, but still...lol. Yet, at the same time, she felt like I wanted to do it all along. I have no comment on that accusation. Well, that was the major event on Sunday. Some other people were trying to think of stuff to do, but at the end decided to just forget about it. I played two games of "Old Maid" with my sister while watching the Cartoon Network. Then later on, I just went outside by myself to just walk around once more.

 

Monday was the final day. I woke up and was watching TV. I was shuffling between Clifford the Big Red Dog, Rolie Polie Olie, Dragon Tales, NiNi's Treehouse, the Steve Harvey Show, Tom & Jerry, some medical program, and some other mess. My mom, sister, and I had breakfast, and we packed up to check out of the hotel. After every family member that was in the hotel checked out, we decided to go to the park for the Labor Day picnic. It was nice. We went to this park that I don't know the name of, but it was cool. We went here back in 1998 when the family visited Detroit for the first time. They had an aquarium, a garden, a zoo, and other stuff there. The major attraction was this big yellow slide that immediately stands out. My little cousins and I broke away from the rest of the family and did our own thing. One cousin that I didn't know about before tagged along with us too. He was cool. He's closer to my age then my little cousins, but I don't really know how old he is. The first thing we did was go to that big slide. We bought tickets to ride, then we had to take a dusty mat so that we can effectively ride the thing (it's the major equipment). It takes a while to climb the stairs to reach the top. It's fun to slide down the thing because it gets fast in a matter of seconds. I slid down that thing many times. Later, I along with my little companions went to the other side of the park where there is a lake that separates this park and the country of Canada. I really wanted to go to Canada for some reason just like I wanted to when we first came here four years ago. It looked like a cool place to go. We couldn't do that though, so the next good thing to do was to hang out by the lake. We were attempting to skip rocks. We watched many seagulls fly, and the little fools tried to hit them with small rocks. They're so evil. The most hilarious part is when everyone got splashed by the waves of the lake whenever boats rushed by. I wanted to ride one, but that was not possible. They actually wanted to get splashed, and they were soaked. I was splashed the least because...I wasn't that stupid. It was fun hanging out there. Then we went back to where the family was at the park. Soon, many of them went to the slide. I figured I might as well go again too. I still had tickets, and they couldn't go to waste. Fun stuff. After a while, the day was over, and everyone was retreating. Labor Day was a fun day, and the weekend was quite nice. I sort of didn't want everything to be over, but it had to be. I went to the bus station. I said goodbye to my mom and sister as they were off to the airport. My cousins, aunt, grandmother, and I got on the bus for another long ride. This time it wasn't as great. I was trying to catch up on my sleep at that time. We all arrived in Nashville on Tuesday morning, and that's when I would separate from the rest of them as they were going back to Memphis. Then, I headed back up to Murfreesboro to go back to that dreaded place called college.

 

Now see, I must have been really bored to have told you about that whole trip. I typed so much mess, and to think I even left out some stuff. Well, I'm sick of typing now so I'll stop soon. I go back to just browsing the internet and listening to radio jingles. I'm obsessed with those things for some reason. I have no clue as to why. I've been doing that all weekend. The ones I'm listening to now are some that I discovered a week and some days ago, not quite two weeks. Then, I've heard some new ones. They're interesting to listen to. If you think that's weird, then I won't dispute that. It is a unique little obsession of mine, I suppose. Pretty soon, I'm about to get off the computer and watch a little television. So, this moment of reflection now comes to a close. I'm out. Peace.