| May 19, 2003 - Back from 'Lanta |
| Dear Friends, I'm back now from my fantabulous trip to Hotlanta where, as you recall, I was visiting my sister Cordelia. They have the weirdest weather in Atlanta. Every day that I was there, there was a tornado watch. Cordelia told me that when they upgrade it to a tornado warning, then sirens start going off and everyone is supposed to take cover. When she first moved there, she, her husband, and son were all enjoying a nice little meal on the patio of a Mexican restaurant when the sirens went off. Since they were new to the area, they had no idea what was going on until a waiter came and told them everyone had to move inside. Everyone brought in their plates of food, that they had to then leave on tables as they all took refuge at the back of the restaurant near the bar. I told Cordelia it would be really exciting to have that happen during my stay so that I could tell all of you, Dear Readers, about it. Alas, no sirens went off although there were a few tremendous rain storms. On Saturday we went to a Greek festival where we ate gyros and I had a glass of retsina. Retsina is a wine that has been flavored with pine resin. It smells strong, but I really like it; I think it's kind of an acquired taste. We saw an award winning dance troupe perform various Greek dances and we listened to a band. The guy who introduced the band had on one of those froo-froo Greek soldier outfits with the curly shoes and he had a very strong Southern accent. Somehow you just don't picture people named "Papadopolous" having a Southern accent. Then just right after we left, the heavens opened up. I felt sorry for all those Greek revellers caught in the rain, particularly those standing near all the electrical equipment. I hope everything was OK. That night my sister wanted to go out with a close friend, Fern, who is moving away. Fern said she thought it would be hysterical to go to a drag show. Fern asked another friend, Ashley, to go with us all. As luck would have it, the first bar we went to was hosting the Miss Gay Cobb County drag show. It was a hoot! They all took it as seriously as contestants for Miss America would. They even had an evening gown competition where they also had to try to answer a question intelligently. The first contestant was asked what planet other than Earth would she want to be (if she could be a planet) and why. Someone in the audience yelled out, "Uranus" (pronouncing it "Your Anus") at which point the mistress of ceremonies, who was big as a planet herself, reprimanded everyone and reminded them that this was a very important part of the whole pageant and that the contestants shouldn't be coached. Whatever! Well it just threw the contestant off, and in a very masculine voice she answered that she'd like to be Mars. Her reasoning had to do with Mars being life-affirming since life once existed on it. I would think it would be the other way around; if all life on Mars has been extinguished, I'd hardly call it life-affirming. Then she went on about how Mars is the sister planet to Earth and she supports her sisters. Huh? Now, this guy came up to me and asked me who Ashley was. When I told him her name he said, "She has a nice, round belly. I like that. Is she married?" I answered "yes" and offered to introduce him anyway, all the while sucking in my own belly lest he should suddenly be interested in mine. Anyway, I introduced them, but walked away so I have no idea what the conversation was like. The next day Cordelia and I went to a video bar and just watched videos. I saw the video to a song that I like that I've heard on the Belgian radio station I listen to; I gave all of you a link to it in another entry somewhere. So I talked briefly with the bartender, who told me that that particular bar gets videos often in advance of MTV and VH1. There was one video called "I'd Do Madonna" where all these people look like famous singers such as Christina Aguilerra and Pink. But the lead singer throws them all over in favor of Madonna, who's played by a fat man in drag. It was funny, because he was wearing a lot of the same outfits from many of Madonna's music videos, such as "Material Girl". The bar had free hamburgers, chips, etc. so JOHNNYLEEN stuffed his gut with food and beer, beer and food. I better be careful or someone might start liking my nice, round belly! Next entry Previous entry Go to diary entries Go back home |