American Booty: Monday September 25

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Nessy woke me up when she rang, I told her I’d ring her later on while I went back to sleep. 2 and a half hours later and I probably rang up and by jove, it was 11.30am! What a big boozy weekend! I decided I wouldn’t check out Fort Lauderdale yet but instead I decided I would go on my morning walk north along A1A.

I’ve got Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby ringing through my head, especially the lyric, ‘A1A - BEACH FRONT AVENUE!’ I didn’t see Vanilla Ice here, nor do I feel ice cold at all. The humidity here had me feeling like it was a lot hotter than it should feel. I am sweating buckets and I am only 5 blocks away from where the hostel is. Not only was it getting later in the day but I really didn’t have any clue as to where I was in relation to the city itself. I bought a map at a gas station and briefly had a look at it at a really nice pizza shop that I got a ‘slice’ from - the slice was as big as a 7-inch pizza! So yummy after the weekend! As I made my way back to the hostel, not only was my shirt sweaty but also the front was coated in sauce from the pizza!

With my dirty shirt, I realised I had a lot of dirty laundry to tend to. I also got out my trusty sewing kit and repaired my backpack - it had been two weeks since I gave it the first touch up. Nessy txt’d me to ask what I’d be doing tonight - it seems we were going to check out her boyfriend Ishmael at an open mic night tonight, so before she came I did half my laundry and the rest when I’d get back. Ishmael performs here every Monday night but in case you can’t get down there, there are a few of his songs at his MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/kingofharmony).

At the open mic session there were musicians, stand up comedians, bands and groups plus an activist trying to muster people for a political rally. He took particular exception to the stand up comedians that had his routine full of jokes about Negroes and Jews. It got a lot of people laughing but Ishmael wasn’t one of them. Because we got there late, Ishmael was right down the list when it came to performers. But once her got on he impressed a fellow musician who was trying to set up a network of like-minded musicians. I’m not sure if Ishmael did hook up with this guy but it sure sounded like an opportunity.

I asked Ishmael if racism was still prevalent and he said it was so the case. “It’s not as obvious as it was tonight, but anywhere I go, I can tell they don’t want me there…”

I’m back at the hostel by 11pm and there are people still up and out. The guys pulled out a huge rear projection TV for Monday Night Football. New Orleans played tonight and totally demolished the other team in their first game back at the New Orleans Superdome. I indulged in late night American TV well past midnight, while waiting for the rest of my laundry to finish. There was a Latin style Jerry Springer TV chat show on; except the violence on this show was totally condoned by the host and the security guards actually held down the victims. A man had cheated on his wife and got the beat down from the wife, the girl he cheated on and the kids as well. Some random jumped out from the crowd and joined on the festivities. Around 2am my clothes were done and my cell phone had fully charged up. Off to bed!!!

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