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March 24 cruzan greetingsI'm on my third Ting of the day and feeling pretty great after a day in the sun with my man and some chores around the house with the fam. We've got less than 24 hours to go in St. Croix, I'm already feeling a bit sad about leaving the island lifestyle. Why does vegging out on a beach make the time pass so quickly?!? I thought I'd take the time to reflect on some of my favorite things about this island.
Beaches: Today Rog and I spent the day at our favorite beach, Sandy Point. It is a lovely beach on the West End of the island. Best swimming beach in STX by far. It is a wildlife refuge and only open on the weekends to the public. It is a turtle nesting beach and you can clearly see where the nests are. It is not a snorkel beach (no reef) but it is by far the best swimming on island...like Nature's own swimming pool. Damn tourists are not supposed to be putting up their umbrella's to protect their delicate white skin, but of course they do, not knowing that they could be potentially harming little turtle eggies. My dad is buddies with the park ranger (um, actually my dad seems to be 'buddies' with a lot of people on island) and so Mike the ranger does a great job of patrolling for illegal activity, keeping poachers away, and keepin' the tourists in line.
Local cuisine: After a morning in the sun we stopped at La Reine Chicken Shack for a whole spit fired chicken and some Johnny Cakes. We've been driving by the chicken shack all week and decided it was time to patronize this side-of-the-road establishment. So tasty. Why didn't we go here sooner? We also went to Kim's Restaurant in Christiansted earlier this week, where Roger said he got the best stewed goat he's ever eaten. I love Johnny Cakes. Slightly sweet, they taste kind of like flat donuts. I am so going to start making them when we return to Seattle. My only regret is that the Pate Hut is closed and I have not been able to find a pate while on island (kind of like a meat turnover).
The good life: My dad and stepmom lead a good life. They are not quite moved into the new house, nor is the house quite finished ( a lot of small details to complete), but we've helped out a little bit while we've been here and have been spending the night at the new house. The new house is gorgeous, magnificent, a total dream home. They have put every ounce of effort and money into fixing up this house for the past 3 years and it is going to be amazing once it is all finished. Photos to come. Seriously, this house is the shit. It is located adjacent to Salt River National Park and Ecological Preserve. Dad's got a 180 degree view of the water and knows that no one will ever develop across the street from him because the land is a national park. The house is just up a hill from where Columbus landed when he arrived on St. Croix in 1492. Crazy. The beach is about a 3 minute walk away (almost equivalent walking distance between the Kurtz house and Lake Washington). We've been swimming at the local beach a couple of days this week to take a break from waiting for the electrician, waiting for some construction worker, etc. We've been waiting around the house for construction crews a lot this week. Not like just sitting on dad's deck, basking in the sun is not magnificent. Yesterday I went with Cathy to a nursery and we started to pick out plants for their landscaping. Geez, the plants that grow here are glorious. All the house plants I have around the house in Seattle grow into full-on bushes and trees in the tropics. Nice. We picked out some nice palms, hibiscus, climbing vines, and other tropical plants. I can't wait to come back and see the house fully fixed and the landscaping established. I can only hope that one day roger and I will have a similar vacation home in the tropics, cause this is the good life and I want a part of this action.
The music: Nothing beats driving around the island and listening to island riddims with the sun beating down on you and your hair blowin' in the breeze. Just discovered that the VI reggae station is also streaming live. You know I'll be listening to this back in Seatown.
Cars with names: Why do I find vehicles with names so amusing? Inna Rush. You Go Girl. Gold Rush. These are just a sampling of the many island jalopies with names scrawled on the windows. Love it. Rog and I exclaim the names with glee anytime we see one. Even the local taxis have names.
We leave tomorrow evening to make the trek back to Seattle. It was a good visit to St. Croix. Tonight we dine on my dad's tasty terriyaki and Cathy's kickin' potato salad. This is one of my favorite meals they make. It is always a special request when we visit. I"m sad to leave the island life, but all good things must come to an end. It was great visiting the 'rents and I'll know we'll be back soon. Looking forward to picking up the Roostie and getting busy on my own yard projects. See ya'll soon!
March 15 "Front of your crib soundin' like Chinese New Year"We went to a fucking HOT hip hop show on Tuesday night. We saw the Clipse at Chop Suey. Despite the fact that they didn't get on stage until midnight, it was an amazing show-- energetic, rough, grimey, and LIVE. Malice and Pusha T brought it. I mean, every single song was full on. They gave 110%. They were just dripping sweat. You could tell they were going to be energetic because right before they came on stage some assistant walked onto the stage with an armful of towels. They used a number of these towels throughout the show. This Clipse show ranks as one of the Top 5 Rap/Hip Hop shows I have ever been to. The Re-Up Gang was there, but that did not mean a stage full of hangers-ons like typical hip hop shows. It was just 5 guys total and they absolutely rocked the Chop. Honestly, though I feel lukewarm about Chop Suey as a venue (crappy promotion, stupid philosophy of making people stand in line outside even when it is empty outside), I thought it was probably the best place to see them. Very intimate.
I heard all of the songs I wanted off of "Lord Willin' "and "Hell Hath No Fury" with the exception of "New World" and "Nightmares" which I love personally. They even played a couple of songs off their mixtapes release. From memory I recall they did the following (not exhaustive and not in order...I'm forgetting some tracks):
--Momma I'm So Sorry (started off the show with this song)
--Keys Open Doors
--We Got it For Cheap
--Ain't Cha
--Young Boy
--Mr. Me Too
--Ma, I Don't Love Her
--Cot Damn
--What Happened to That Boy
--Wamp Wamp (gotta love the steel pan in this song)
--Chinese New Year (awesome live)
--Virginia (a personal fave)
--Grindin' (the crowd got rowdy at this one)
Rog and I were literally less than 10 ft from the stage and I was practically blinded by their blingin' chains. The crowd was really into it. It was quite the diverse crowd, and probably more African Americans at a concert than I have ever seen before in whitey Seattle. When I go to live shows, it is all about strategery for me... I have to watch out for #1 and plot, connive, etc to put myself in a position to see what is going on. Cause, if I'm gonna be at the show, I gotsta see what is going on. This is a challenge for a petite, 5' 3" chick. It is all about positioning-watching the crowd for opportuniites and making your move. It helps to have a big 6'4" man to help me stand some ground.
Some typical rules of thumb for short women who want to get up close and personal at hip hop shows:
1) Avoid lerpy, uncordinated white dudes who try to push their way up front. They usually have no rhythm and will invade your space. Be especially aware if they reek of booze...cause they will start bopping around in an uncoordinated fashion and bump into you. I can't stand that. If you find yourself near a lerpy white dude (inevitable as they will try to wheedle their way up eventually ) you need to own your space. This means you have to stand with your legs spread wide and 'bows out. I'm not averse to elbowing aforementioned lerpy white dude in the gut or ribs if it helps me to own my space. I'm also not averse to leaning into the dude to make some more space for myself. Again, having Roger to my side or rear is a big, big win for me.
2) Try to stand slightly behind and between two larger African American dudes. They don't normally bop, they tend to bob their head instead and do not normally stand too close to one another (so you are sure to get a view window through their bodies). These dudes also don't seem to invade your space as much. This of course is a generalization, but holds true for most shows. Lerpy white dudes do not try to go through these guys, but tend to try and take advantage of ladies to move on up. This is a safe place at a hip hop show.
3) If there is a crew of cute girls up near the front, you can usually wheddle your way toward them and stand behind them. They don't invade your space, but you do have to watch out for men on the prowl who will try to come up and dance with them. Also, of note, they do not konw how to stand their ground and so they are often the target for lerpy white dudes who will move on up and take over their space.
This was one of the first shows where I could see everything, completely unadultered the entire show! Big win for Gina. Awesome show. Worth the totally crappy Wednesday I had due to lack of sleep and stress on the job front. March 08 "Don't you Wish Your Girlfriend was a Tranny Like Me"Has anyone else had the inexplicable desire to watch "The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the New Doll?" I tried to deny the urge when I saw the previews, but of course we were watching TV on Tuesday night and it just happened to be on. Once I caught a few minutes, I was hooked and had to watch until the end. God, it was awful (Worse than The Starlet or PopStars featuring Nicole Sherzinger of the pussycat dolls)...but you know I am going to keep watching it. I'm liking Sisely "she's so unique!" and Melissa R. "that girl is funky and can dance" but damn it anyway if Anastacia made it to the finals (can you say neanderthal?). What a total waste of time this show is. I'm already hooked and have had the Pussycat Dolls songs lodged in my head now for two days. Skank hos are so much fun to watch. March 05 When in LA...This weekend was an enjoyable visit to see the fam. We did our usual xmas in March with the family. Since we don't usually actually go down at Christmastime to LA, we exchange gifts in March when we come down to visit. We usually time a LA trip so that we get out of Seattle right when I am feeling the most fed up with cold, wet weather. It was a great weekend for a visit complete with quality time with my family and sunny, warm weather.
It was one of the first visits where our weekend was not jam packed with events, things to go to, etc. We purposefully kept it mellow and it was indeed a relaxing trip. Friday night we went to the SFS swap meet. I"d never been to the swap meet at night and it was fun! The site was well lit and the crowd was definitely different than the daytime crowd. The evening crowd consists of more couples out on dates, young families, and folks out to drink and listen to the music. There were very few viejas. Not all of the vendors are open on Friday night, but I got my fill of the swap meet including a 2 disc mix CD, a hip Virgin Guadalupe bracelet, and some new undies.
Saturday morning we woke up early and the rest of the house was asleep or resting in their rooms. As we laid in bed we noticed that it was super sunny and bright outside (at 7:15 a.m.). I suggested to Roger, "let's go get some legit donuts, none of that Safeway bullshit." ( LA is the land of burgers and donuts. You can't drive a mile along a major arterial without encountering one or the other). Roger countered, "Let's go walk to get some donuts". Holy cow! This blew my mind. I have never walked to get donuts from my family's house. The local donut shop is 3 blocks away (LA sized blocks which = mega blocks in comparison to Seattle) but for some reason I couldn't think of a single time I had walked for donuts. As a kid I had biked down to this strip mall, or rode my skateboard, but I don't recall ever walking there. I was very excited by this prospect, and so by 8 a.m. we left the house and strolled in the nice sun to get some sugar and coffee. We checked out people's yards on our walk, but the funniest part was that every single person that drove by us that morning slowed down, checked us out, and mad dogged us. You could tell they were looking at us, like "what are those people doing walking on this block, what are they up to? I don't know them and they up to no good". That is how we felt at least. Here was this short Mexican girl strolling with a white dude 1 foot taller than her at 8 a.m. along a quiet residential street. Of course we were up to no good! :) After we got a dozen donuts, the LA Times, and our coffee, we decided to sit in a mini park right next to a freeway on-ramp and maximize our sun time...only to discover the mini park did not contain any benches. Roger's comment "I could have designed a better park space than this" rang true. We found ourselves sitting on the equivalent of a bus stop bench, facing the park but not exactly within the park. We ate our donuts, drank our coffee and read the paper in the sun (including this crazy story that seriously outraged me-nobody could get away with this in Seattle). It was a good time. A lot of fun. It made me realize how easily we fall back into patterns. Here I am a City Planner, an advocate for pedestrian improvements, pedestrian safety, and usable public spaces and yet I had not even considered walking to get donuts from my family home! If we had a donut shop the same distance from our Seattle house we would walk there all the time! I guess the expression "When in Rome" really holds true, especially when in LA. When in LA, you do not walk, unless you 1) don't have a car, 2) are too young to drive, or 3) don't have a friend or family member to drive you. This is a generalization, of course, but mostly true.
The rest of the weekend trip was equally enjoyable to our donut excursion. We had dim sum with the fam, a bbq at my mom's, opened gifts, played with the kids, had mexican breakfast at Grandma's on Sunday, sat in the front yard and absorbed the sun, and just spanned some time with the family. All in all, it was a great trip. I am always sad to leave my family after such a nice visit, but we'll be back down there in a few months, no doubt. March 01 in desperate need of warmthI need to blow this pop stand. I'm tired of wet, cold, semi-cold, and gray. I feel pasty and constantly need to wear a jacket or use a blanket to keep warm. Just when I think I can't stand it anymore, we've got a month full of sunny trips to rejuvenate us. Soon, soon! Just need to be patient a few more days. Ah, just thinking about the warm rays on my skin puts a smile on my face.
We're heading to LA this weekend where I am happy to report the forecast is sunny and low 70's! That is Seattle summer weather right there. I'm gonna wear flip flops or remain barefoot. I'm definitely wearing shorts and I am going to love it. Besides the requisite family time, my personal agenda revolves around eating and shopping--we're definitely going to the SFS outdoor swap meet (I'm gonna get me some cheap socks, wife beats, and a mix CD). Also on the list--Carl's Jr. Mmm, western bacon cheeseburger. If we do those two things I will be happy.
We'll return to Seattle for a brief time before heading to the Caribbean to visit my dad, in exactly two weeks. I'm just itching to go. I already started a little pile of things to take to St. Croix. It has been way too long...3 years. :) I can't wait for some tropical fun and sun, cause I am tired of winter and I need some sand between my toes and a swim in the salty ocean. Looking forward to checking out dad's newly remodeled house. Gonna hit up all the best beach spots, eat some johnny cakes, take drives around the island, etc. The usual. I am picturing myself on a lounge chair, staring at the ocean and listening to the gentle lapping sound of waves, with a trashy novel in one hand and a cool beverage in the other. Oh dag, I love St. Croix. |
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