Scooter Daze

The past week I was the stunned and (emotionally) touched recipient of a scooter! And not some slim, small, Vespa. No, yours truly received a giganticBaccio runner!

Pretty sweet, huh? Well, the first lesson was almost my last. I got so nervous before I even rode on it (I mean, there's no doors! And cars are everywhere! Waiting to run over me!!) that I almost threw up. In the almost-empty parking lot we were practicing on. Yeah. Luckily, Juliet was there to guide me through it, and understood my need to not jump on and start zooming around. Then, ABZ came and guided me through more. Then I just let him ride it.

The next lesson was a scant ten minutes before work; I just spun around our parking lot a few times.But now, I am proud to say I have ridden the scooter to work TWICE; and ridden it a whole THREE BLOCKS to and from Jules’ house. That’s right; yours truly can actually MAKE TURNS, go OVER ten miles an hour, and ride up hills without panicking, slowing down, and then riding comically backwards until crushed by a semi.

And Sunday, when ABZ got off of work, we took this great ride down to Oakhurst, only a few minutes from EAV, and had the BEST wings ever at Steinbeck’s; at least, the best in Atlanta. I highly recommend these.Smoked for three to four hours, then basted with some butter sauce thing, and served with sides of hot sauce and blue cheese, these were devoured within minutes and made us wish we had multiple stomachs-or the stomachs of marathon eaters-so we could have had more.

After a walk around the area, we went to the Universal Joint, just catty-cornered from Steinbeck’s, and treated ourselves to Guinness and Strongbow while eating hummus. Sure, they might sound like odd pairings, but like I say “Any time is a good time for Guinness.”I also took my first night ride on the scooter. No, I didn’t drive, but riding on the back was exhilarating. I love being able to look around at all the houses. Oakhurst is a beautiful neighborhood, like many Atlanta neighborhoods outside the downtown area, and the houses all have a distinct identity.

With the warm weather coming out, I am looking forward to many more rides. However, I may still make ABZ do all the grocery runs. Moreland is a very scary road, car, scooter, or bus, and I’m not quite ready to hit it without a full suit of armor.

Only One Week...

Till the new Gossip Girl! I know everyone is on the edge of their seats as I am!!

CW shows aside, though, I hope everyone has been keeping up with the doings in Atlanta. The Icehouse has opened, and from what I've seen, has had a full house every night and bands almost every night. With an eclectic menu and entertainment lineups as I've seen, Murphy and crew should be in clover for quite a bit.

My workplace, The Midway Pub, has been having a lot of promotional fun lately. If you were wondering who I am there, the girl downing a Pacifico after eating half a jalepneo might be a clue; but keep in mind there were many girls eating many hot peppers and forced to down beers. Check out their Myspace for further promos. We do have a cornhole (beanbag for those not familiar with the vernacular) tournament this Thursday, so get your drink and tossing arm on then!

Two other of my favorite hangouts, The Glenwood (in EAV) and El Tesoro (in Decatur) got favorable reviews in Atlanta's Dining Out magazine. Tesoro has a great Spanish wine selection and a dessert that is touted as the Mexican version of creme brulee, and believe me it deserves all accolades.

The boys from Mastodon are off their tour, back in town and celebrating. However, I say, it's not a party unless you have a price to pay. Sometimes it's a bad hangover, and sometimes, it's taking one shot too many. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime Mastodon are welcome back home with muchas smooches and it's sad we only have one week before they go back out on the road.

Congrats to Jonathan from Midway on his nuptials. His fiance livesin Sardinia, and he and friends got to celebrate his wedding there! No hatred there, but maybe a slight touch of envy mixed in with the well-wishes.

Local filmmaker J is on her way back from Utah this week. J has finished the finishing touches on her documentary, Hoot in the Hole, which was shown in the raw about a year ago at the Earl. J will be working on another documentary as well as about a million other projects--you can't keep this girl still!

No links this week, as some can be found in the last post and, well, I'm feeling a bit lazy. This weekend was crazy and I have some more work to do in the am (not restaurant, but indie-which can be way harder), so you'll have to wait for my next post to get all the links and dirty details. And you will.

Till then, later days for you my friends. Be safe, always have a sober buddy, and never do anything I wouldn't do...unless it sounds really fun.

In the words of my beloved narrator,

"you know you love me,

xoxo"