The day started out on my balcony… birds were chirping, cool air had blanketed itself around me as I crawled out from my sleeping-bag bed. It would’ve been so easy to sleep forever in those conditions. Sooooo comfy! It’s like camping out on a field of burbur :p. I woke up before my alarm clock actually. When I have something important to do, I always wake easy… today it was my 1st drive to the airport, and there was no way in hell that I was going to keep my mother waiting on me. That’s not a “Oh god, she’ll beat me!” I have amazing, very kind, very smart, very loving parents… it’s a respect thing! I bought a new home, and my mom bought tickets with very little notice to come just for the day! I showed them the same photos I showed you, but as good as my photography is, reality is cooler.
The visit was great… I drove back from the airport… we had no luggage or anything. I drove through Atlanta, and mom got to see all the amazing architecture. She mentioned that her father would’ve loved to see something like this when he was alive. He was an architect. Her parents have both passed on. They were the sweetest, kindest people, and both were holocaust survivors.
We stopped at a Starbucks, got our respective coffees, and split an egg-salad sandwich. It was cool because that Starbucks was near a lot of shops. I got to show mom all the great stores that are nearby (not that the stores are exciting.. it’s just that I have access to everything within a 5-10 minute drive), and I even showed her 2 of the neighborhoods I was originally looking to buy at… until I found my amazing place. Mom was gasping with awe at the beauty of just the drive to get to my place…. tons of trees, lots of incredible mansions, etc… Our next stop was not my place, but rather that park I found when I got lost jogging. I parked, and we walked 2 miles (each way) to that ultra-scenic view of the Chattahoochee River. There were tons of joggers, walkers, and dog-walkers sharing the path with us. Many of these joggers were beautiful young women, bouncing all over the place. Hard to keep a conversation with mom while checking that out. It was great though… so scenic, relaxing, and we got to talk about everything from how the Bush administration blew up the World Trade Center (I made a good argument), to what strollers they used when I was a kid, and how they customized it.
Next stop? My place! Mom loved it. It’s just as I said- spacious, scenic, clean (My little brother called them on my closing and said “It’s probably the last time it’s going to be that clean!” :p — brat! but probably right). She was already in love with the place before I even showed her my condo… just the area was amazing… once we were inside and she got to see how much closet space I had, the granite in the kitchen/bathrooms, the new appliances, the balcony I keep talking about, the pool being 15 feet from my front door, the fitness center (which I am supposed to be at right now, but I wanted to blog about yesterday 1st… *sigh* this takes time, you know!), and of course, “My back yard.”
Then it was time to go to lunch…. we went to Ted’s Montana Grill… they have the best Bison Burgers there- I’m very glad that Chris, my realtor, showed me this place. In the past (except for one time), the food has been excellent (and that one time, it was only over-cooked french fries), but the service was just ok. This time, the service was unbelievable. Our waiter was one of the chefs, and he offered to give me extra soup for free, he kept checking up on us, and he even threw in desert because in his opinion he took too long to get our order in. His name was Jay, in case any of you go to Ted’s off of Johnson Ferry road.
We had a long chat during lunch, about everything. I told mom about the guitar I bought, but I told her not to tell Dad or Barak (older brother), as I have the respective surprises I want to show them. Now… you might be saying, “Ori… you’re a dumbass! Why would you say that it’s a surprise, and then write about it in your blog? They can read about it!” Yeah… they can… but they won’t My family doesn’t have time to read my blog. The chances of them reading this are very slim. Dad- he used to play in a band in highschool, and after… and still pulls it out at parties (the guitar!) and him and his friends sing Israeli folk songs. He tried to teach me a few times when I was a kid, and I never had the persistence for it. I also took piano lessons for a year, and was a slacker with that. Based on that, I figured mom was going to roll her eyes, about “Oh yeah… great… more money you wasted on something you won’t use” - but she didn’t. Especially when I mentioned (the truth) that I’ve been practicing every day. The surprise I have for Barak? Well… I can’t say, just in case… he doesn’t have the time to read this, but might… just might look at my site, and search for his name, and then see it… so… since it’s that monumental, I’ll save it a secret. Dad, I’ll just send a video of me playing something fancy. He loves Jazz music, and lately I’ve been impressed with every style- flamenco, jazz, blues, finger-picking, bluegrass, pop, etc..

NOW FOR THE PART THE TOPIC WAS ABOUT…. I dropped mom off at the airport, and drove back… exhausted. All that food! I came home, and took a nap. I woke up to a beep from my phone, as Lizzy had sent me the address for the Red Light. I caulked a piece of my bath tub that needed it- again, not having any tools! My finger / hands were covered in silicone, and I had used my teeth and trashed one of my triple-shaving razor blades to get the nozzle for the caulk cut open. I ended up ditching the nozzle. Oh well. I arrived at the Red Light around 7:50 - I wanted to be there by 7, but that obviously didn’t happen. I was actually searching for my keys for a good chunk of time. Lizzy was eating, and I was thrilled to see all these people keep walking in with acoustic guitars. It was open mic night, and the show was amazing! I have now discovered that I like this! Variety of people singing, reciting, playing…. a lot better than going to clubs, drinking and dancing. I have so much respect for other artists, whatever their craft… I could picture myself with a beret (one of those silly french hats), with fat-rimmed glasses, and a cigarette on one of those thingies… you know… the generic coffee-house art crowd. The talent that was here was amazing! Lizzy and Alex did their duet, him playing the guitar, and her singing. She sang some Evanessence songs, and then Under The Bridge by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I got some shots, and had her brother in law operate my video camera. She’s got quite a voice, and Alex can jam… but the guys with the original stuff blew my mind. Lizzy had said to Alex that they need to get on their original stuff, ASAP. These guys played all sorts of styles that I never - previously - pictured myself wanting to do… but seeing it in action, and how you can use that blues music, or that finger-picking country style to tell a story, sing a funny song…. that is still in my head… “I want to die, at a hundred and five… getting shot by a jealous husband….” and this awesome song “I’m calling in rich!” Oh man… what a wonderful tune. I wish I had videotaped all of them… I had wanted to make sure that I had Lizzy’s portion videotaped, as I promised her that, so I didn’t video anything until she went on… after that, it was fair game.
Lizzy told me they had good food, so I ordered the Burrito, and a coke. I had no interest in beer tonight. Lizzy also had the Burrito, as did her brother in law. I came up with the caption “3 Bad Burritos” — since there’s a group of DJ’s here called 3 Bad Brothers. The reason Lizzy is so fun to be around - other than the fact she’s so gorgeous, she’ll take your breath away - is because she’s always smiling, loves to laugh, and is so talented and diverse. She and her crew took off at around 10:30pm, and I stayed around for a little bit. One guy started doing really long songs that sort of bored me, and Skizzy had texted me that he’s already at Side Lounge - which is extremely early for him, but he was going to Opera to see Ferry Corsten (some famous DJ). He offered to try and get me on the list to see Ferry, but I said that I was much more interested in going home and practicing my guitar! After seeing all those guys play / sing, I was so inspired! Just you wait! I’ll be singing songs about couch-surfing in no time!
I went to Side-Lounge, but had a chat with one of the guitarists 1st, as I had promised I’d show up. It was apparently the last Wednesday that Side was going to be done in the style it is. I ran across Skizzy and Suzy (who was smelling so good, and of course looking so good, and of course has that thick accent.. .I think she’s German. Maybe South African… can’t remember right now), so I hung out with them in the parking lot for a few. Then I went towards the lounge and ran across Saira and her hottie Model friend… I think her name is Amy… I just met her quickly at the Rio Grande the other day, and she added me on Myspace, and apparently has a great sense of humor. It was fun getting all these hugs from them. I’ll admit, I’m happy when people are happy to see me. I had plenty of that this evening at Side Lounge, which is why I stayed till 1, despite wanting to leave earlier. A lot of people were surprised to see me in town…. the whole Armada crowd… So Fain, Rockstar, and Max, DJ Joshua Casper… This girl Amy was there, and we danced a bit, Kristin Bella used my leg as a chair, since I was seated on the couch arm-rest, and there was no more room on the couch. Derek had introduced me to this girl he’s seeing, and her unbelivably hot roommate. I know I’m mentioning girls’ hotness a lot more recently.. maybe I’m just noticing it a lot more, or getting lonely… who knows… but I am definitely noticing it more — probably since my 1st guest got naked in front of me while changing on Monday. Either way, Julia is this girl’s name, and she’s a model (surprise), and a ballroom dancer… we danced a little bit, I told a few jokes… when she went away, and I was left dancing solo, I started dancing the robot. Everyone else is dancing to the hip-hop, and I am shamelessly doing the robot. I got a few laughs, so it was worth it. The rest of the evening consisted of telling jokes, dancing, smoking the Hookah, and eventually getting my camera out of the car… they were making me take photos using Derek’s camera… no offense D, but I like my camera a lot more! A few photos later, it was time to go.. but then Casper played a tune or 2 I liked, so I stayed longer, and finally had to “Make like a fetus and head out.”

I got home, and was tired…. but there was no way that I was going to sleep before playing the guitar. I noticed that I was a lot better already than I was the day before, and the day before that, etc… The chords sounded great, and I had a lot more control over the strumming. Here’s a neat site: Video-Tabs. It has a lot of little lessons. I watched a lot of the intros. Intro to Spanish-style guitar had caught my attention. I finally got tired, and … yup.. you guessed it, went out and slept on my Balcony. When I finally move here, I’ll probably do that more than sleep in my bedroom… I need a hammock!

Oh well.. I’ve now been blogging for more than an hour… this entry, and the last… so… Off to do an hour of cardio.

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