Last night…

EDIT: Re: Blogger Meet Up

Ok, so here's the deal.

Baltimore seems like it would be a good location for most. It's pretty much in the center of the eastern seaboard and flights into and out of BWI are pretty cheap and easy. Getting from the airport to downtown via rail is really easy, too.

If people are really interested in getting this going, then I don't mind hosting and taking the lead in preparing for your arrival. I'm a logistics guy by day, so this would be a breeze. Just know that I get pretty anal with stuff like this i.e. putting together and mailing out welcome/travel packets before you all arrive, etc.

I'd rather not host at my home, but I don't at all mind absorbing the cost of getting a suite (with a full kitchen and all) at a nearby downtown hotel. I know a Residence Inn and a Springhill Suites just opened in Baltimore's financial district, so I'm sure they have full kitchens. Plus, if you all want your own room at a hotel, then you can choose from a plethora in the immediate area.

With that said, if you're even remotely interested in participating, then email me your contact information at amerikas.muse@gmail.com. We can continue using this post as a communication center of sorts until I get everyone's email address and telephone numbers.

When I get everyone's info, I'll get a listserv going so we can discuss dates and stuff via email.

All I ask is that you all not waste anyone's time here. If we're doing this, then we're doing it. Let's not get everyone all wet over a meet-up if people aren't really interested or just plain won't do it. I'll be none too happy if I pay for a suite and you bitches don't show.

Let's make this happen!

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I met Yet Another Black Guy for the first time last night. It was fun.

The evening, well, night started a little later than both of us anticipated, but, you know, what are you gonna do, right? I left Baltimore at 7:30 and with the help of that damn inconsistent and erratic ass Garmin, I got to his hotel in Alexandria (well...he was in Crystal City, really) just before 9. I called him to let him know I was in the lobby and he says he’ll be right down.

So ya’ll know I was nervous, right? Well, nervous is a bad word. I was anxious. I’m really not sure why I was stressing it though. I mean, we talk and text multiple times a day…every day. We’re already really good friends so it’s not like I don’t know the guy; I’ve just never met the guy. I guess anytime you meet a man for the first time you get a little…anxious.

Anyway, so I’m standing there in lobby, right. I see Royce approaching from the opposite direction and he was accompanied by what at first glance appeared to be a giraffe. Turns out that was TJ -- the annoying twink YABG referenced in one of his posts awhile back.

Royce and I greet each other. He introduces me to T.J. who in turn played the shit out of himself in 1.5 minutes. That has to be a record. He starts telling me about how he’s ‘pimping all over the world’ and that he's ‘pimpalicious’. Yikes!

This kid is a mess. First of all, he’s like a billion feet tall with these ridiculously long and lanky arms and legs. You should’ve seen him and those twin towers he calls legs bopping across the damn hotel lobby like a injured gazelle. Secondly, who says they're 'pimpalicious' when they meet somebody for the first time anyway?

Meanwhile, I peep Royce in my periphery sizing me up. I mean really taking me in (yeah, I peeped it, Royce.) Little did he know I had already finished my own evaluation minutes earlier. And I know you all of are wondering...yes, I approved.

He was just as cute as he is in his pictures and trust me when I say he doesn’t look a day over 27 or 28. I’m not one to say things just to say them, so please know I’m not just blowing smoke.

**Realizes I need to speed this story up**

We ditch T.J., go back to his room so he can shower. We leave and head across the river to D.C. He had never been to a gay, black bar so I took him to this spot in Dupont Circle. He really enjoyed himself and even got hit on by the bouncer. He quickly quelled that nonsense though. He shut him down so quickly.

We left that bar and head to Georgetown to grab something eat and get more to drink. Nothing was open at that hour, so we went back to Virginia and had more vodka gimlets and the restaurant in his hotel.

We took in the atmosphere and each other for about an hour and were really enjoying ourselves until this cooning ass yuppie – a (barely) black guy with the belligerent group of drunk PwC employees – set the black race behind by about 20 years by giving his co-workers Soulja Boy dance lessons and screaming: PEACE UP, A-TOWN DOWN…or something like that. He was the very definition of a hot mess.

His (white) co-workers were eating it up, too. One girl even tried to recruit me and Royce. “He’s the only one, uhhh…black guy with us,” she said. “Why don’t you go [to the middle of the floor] and help him? Come on. Go up.”

Bitch, please. I’m nobody’s jigaboo. You got me fucked up, hon.

That pissed me off, so we went up to his room and took some pictures. I’ll approve and post the acceptable one when he sends them to me. I was a mess in some of them. I’m honest.

Anyway I headed home around 1:30 or so. I made it to work on time, but I’m a tired mess.

All in all, it was a fun night. Royce is genuinely a great guy. He doesn’t misrepresent himself one bit. What you see here is what you get.

We're doing it again for a week in Miami next month. I can't wait. Now, let's hope I don’t fall asleep in this damn cube of mine.
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