Sunday, May 21, 2006

So, not having heard from Elvis & Tracy yesterday, Mark & I made some plans to get groceries (which was very important! lol), and he was gonna go run some errands while I got ready. We were then going to go to Kroger and stop at Hollywood so Mark could rent movies, and we were going to take some pictures. I found a message on my voicemail from an hour previous, from Elvis asking me to call her back. My phone didn't ring because it was recharging, while I watched "Star Trek: Insurrection"; a movie I hated in theaters, but has since grown on me. I was watching that because the new Trek book I'm reading references it over & over. Anyways, I called Elvis back and left her a message (less than an hour after she left her message on my phone), and then after we didn't hear back from her, Mark left to run his errands.

Now, just after Mark left with the car, and I started preparing to shave, Elvis called me back, and she was with Tracy, in Ann Arbor, at Ashley's and they wanted me to join them. I told her that Mark had the car, and they said they could come here, so I told them to let me shave & shower and then I'd call them back. I did. I cleaned up the condo a bit too, which didn't take much effort. When they arrived it was so AMAZING. Tracy #4, as we called her, or Hip Hop Tracy, is actually a beautiful woman who's name is Tracy Elzy; she was one of the nicest people I knew, but I haven't seen her in a little over 10 years!!!! And she's still just so amazing, and bright, and she's even hotter now! People say she looks like Halle Berry, but I'd say she looks like Halle Berry, only Tracy has a personality - which Tracy appreciated when I told her that. lol Seeing Elvis again was fabulous! I saw her about 3 or 4 years ago, for a show on my birthday at the Elbow Room, but it was kind of strained. This wasn't. This was like, the old days, only with less drama. We're all a decade older, and everything just so much fun to talk about and enjoy; even the bad stuff was fun now.

Mark returned and I had my picture taken with my women. We went to Borders to see if Kelli Parker was working (another old member of our crew), and she was, but she looked like she was going to have a heart attack, seeing us all together again. She said she was getting off work at 11pm, and if we could all hang out that would be cool.

Tracy said she could, and we were all in, but Tracy had an incident with her phone and needed to go get a new one, before meeting her birth mother and uncle. She's been in Michigan for a few days I guess; her father just got some huge lifetime achievement award in music in Detroit, where he worked at a radio station. And Tracy mentioned her Nieces, so she must have at least one sibling. I always liked Tracy, and she was always friendly with me, and looking out for me, but we really didn't know each other that well (but many of us didn't back then because it was DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA all the time, both with each other and with ourselves). I always thought she went to UofM but she went to Eastern, which makes sense. I also thought she was younger than me, but she's only a month younger; and only a few days younger than Paul. Elvis shares that birthday month as well, though she's a year younger than us. I also learned the origin of the Tracy#4 name, as there were no Tracys#1-3. There was some confusion over which Tracy people were talking about (there were 2 of them), and Paul started referring to the other Tracy as Tracy #1, and this Tracy as Tracy#2 - Tracy Elzy eventually said something like "I was here first, why aren't I tracy#1?" and then Paul said that she could be Tracy#4, and the other Tracy would be Tracy#5. And all these years I've wondered who the other 3 Tracy's were, only there weren't any!!!!

So while they were phone shopping, and visiting with family, Mark & I went grocery shopping. I talked to Paul on the phone and told him I'd call him later so he could talk to everyone and he asked me to use his housephone instead of his cell, but when I did it wasn't their current number, so I tried his cell, and he never returned my call. Shopping went by painlessly, and I was all glowing from seeing my friends. I had to take some midrin though because all the smiling and laughing was giving me a headache, which is just so fucked up in so many ways!!! Laughing and smiling should NOT make you suffer!!! Am I right? That's just wrong! And while it scares me that it's getting worse, it's also making me really angry, which feels good.

We went to Hollywood video after shopping so Mark could rent some movies, and DJ, Heidi, Andrea & Bill were all working. I gave DJ a big hug & a wet kiss on the cheek, because Mollie had asked me too on Friday but I had forgotten; he thought that was really funny. I was still glowing from the reunion experience, and I had my picture taken with Heidi. DJ & I talked about seeing X3 & playing Buffy. DJ also told me that I got a 20 cent raise, which was the maximum available because our store didn't do as good as last year. I got a big hug from Andrea, and Mark picked up the new Final Fantasy movie, and Aeon Flux. That whole visit was fantastic also, except that I referenced Heidi's leaving to her before we left, which really didn't have anything to do with what was going on, and it was just me being selfish, and wanting her to stay, when she doesn't want to leave the good Hollywood stuff, she wants to leave the bitchy customers, because they really get to her and make her life harder than it needs to be. This little reference I made, it wasn't discussed like this, but I think I'll e-mail her about it or something, because I realzied the selfishness of it after we left, and it was my one big blunder of the day!

When we got home I thought I might try to sleep. It was around 7pm, and that's when I've been going to bed. But the phone rang around 8pm; Tracy & Elvis were now at the Aut Bar, and were inviting Mark & I to join them, which we did. Except after I had a drink I went home and changed because we were sitting in the shade, and the day was cooling down, and it was just a bit too chilly. I brought some photo albums with me to share. And it was fun to see their reactions to my beat up binders and pictures; Tracy even thanked me for taking all those pictures back then because she doesn't have any from back then. She later realized that she couldn't stay later, and had to leave. There were more pictures taken, and hugs exchanged, and I could tell Elvis was getting emotional (they used to date, but Elvis fucked it up - we were all so young back then)... I got her address and phone#. I told her I'd send her one of my spoken word cds, and I think I'll send her copies of some relevant pictures. I think she'd like that. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, which she says is really super GAY, and she lives with her girlfriend Jen, who sounds amazing, but couldn't make it out here with her because she got this job where she made a disturbing amount of money in just a few days. We're supposed to hang out again sometime, this summer hopefully. And she extended an invitation to visit her in Columbus, so hopefully we will see each other again.

Elvis was crying after Tracy left, saying she still loved Tracy, and that she never should have fucked things up the way she did back in the day, but we were all so very young then, and none of us even knew ourselves very well, that it's very unlikely that it would have lasted, which Elvis knows. We were all very tired, because Mark goes to bed around 10 or 11, and I usually go to bed around 7pm, and Elvis had a very long day, and long drive back to Brooklyn (Michigan), but we all kind of stuck with it because we didn't want to disappoint Kelli, who is going through some mental shit (some things never change), and she & her longtime girlfriend Polly are going through a rough patch. Elvis & Mark picked up Kelli, while I fell asleep in my room (I was kind of fuzzy because of the Midrin), and when they got back we visited for about an hour (with another picture taken of us) and then Elvis drove Kelli home. We're all hoping to hang out within the next couple of weeks.

It took me about 40 minutes to get to sleep. I was just so buzzed from seeing so many people I loved in one day; it was like concentrated bliss. And we talked about so many people that I haven't seen in ages, and others that I see all the time, but love just the same, and it was all so GOOD. The phone rang about a quarter after 2am, but I ignored it and tried to get back to sleep, but it rang again. I picked up my phone, wondering who would be trying to wake me up instead of just leaving a message, and it was Mollie. I answered right away, knowing that something horrible must be happening or she wouldn't call this way...half getting out of bed because I expected to hear she needed my help, or something, and she told me that our friend Karen's mother had just died, and that Karen was with her brother right now, but that we should try to visit her within the next few days. We all knew Karen's mom. She was friendly but could get under your skin, like any mother I suppose. She loved Buffy & Angel, so she was cool. She had a "mild stroke" and then a "mild heart attack" not long ago, but I think Mollie said it was her heart again...and now she's gone. She lived with Karen & her brother, so that must be even worse for Karen because all her mom's stuff is there, and she's used to having her mom around all the time, and now she's not. I used to think it was horrible that her mom moved in with her, but maybe it was good, because they got to spend so much time together in the last few years... I went back to sleep. But it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up. Karen's mom is dead. How can I help? I'm not certain, but I think just being there for her will help...but I'm not sure when I should call. I don't want to disturb them if they're resting. I'll call Mollie later and see what's going on.

   posted by Bald Jason at 07:55 AM
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