Sunday, August 06, 2006

Lil Baobab, and Fairweather Friends


Man I’m so tired today. I seriously want to just go have a nap, but I don’t honestly think I could sleep. I think maybe I’ve been up drinking too much these past two days. My friends and I have been doing this Friday Night Drinks thing now for the past two months or so. Its pretty fun, but can get a bit much especially if, like this weekend, we all had another party to go to on Saturday.

It seemed like on Friday it was all about the really artsy clubs, very urban, very cosmopolitan. We went to this gallery/bar and although I most of the art was student art and not that great, it was at least nice to be in an open space drinking, with interesting, at the least, things to look around at on the walls. I do like young art quite a lot also, pop art appeals to me quite a lot. But anyone who knows me would probably have alre4ady picked that up.

The last place we ended up on Friday though was this cool little hole in the wall called the Lil Baobab. It’s a pretty funky little place that reminded me a lot of my time in Africa. It was pretty much like what the local bars in Gambia were like, or at least what they wished they were like. But this one was pretty packed, and had obviously far more white people than in Africa :) The design and the music actually were as much African as a hybrid between African and Caribbean Or at least that’s how it seemed to me. It seems to me that the Sub Saharan American Africans (or maybe I mean Africanized Americans) community and the darker, more African island peoples of the Caribbean ocean (Haitian, Bahaman, Dominican etc) have really bridged their cultural differences in America for the most part. I don’t want to use the word homogenized, but they do all come from the same root African culture and they (the cultures) do seem to work pretty well together here. At least from my impression from my limited exposure to them Stateside. But it makes sense to me, and I felt like I was really seeing this fantastic fusion of traditional African dance beats and Caribbean reggae style at the club. The people were pretty darn interesting too. If I was out looking to find a good looking respectable young black guy this would be the place, or if I wanted a earthy culturally aware white girl this would also be a good place. Not that the Lil Baobab was a meat market or anything but it was definitely an interesting place to be. I’m not sure that kind of scene is really what I’m normally looking for on a Friday night,. But it was nice for a change.

Man, I think I have to stop here. I wanted to tell you about Saturday, cause I had a pretty interesting time out at my friend Daniel’s B-day party but I think I have to stop. I’m not in the best writing space right now and, if I continue much longer I might just go crazy. I will say quickly though that the Birthday bash was a pool party at his very ex-girlfriend’s house, which is another story and not one I intend to tell. Also, While at the party I met up with a couple who I know from… I don’t know how to explain without going well into it, but just a couple that Erica and I used to be friends with (or at least were trying to be friends with) who had completely flaked out on the relationship, and we haven’t seen for the past 6 months or so… It was good and bad to see them, but now I’m in a spot where, although I’m not sure I care enough to try, I could try to respark a friendship with these people and I'm not sure I should. Erica is basically saying she doesn’t care one way or another if we hang out with them or not, and I’m not sure I’m done being pissed with them for flaking out on like ever returning calls/emails, or ever wanting to going out in the first place. I mean relationships shouldn’t be that hard, especially super casual ones which is all I was going for in the first place. I tried to talk to the girl (of this other couple) about it, how I wasn’t to thrilled with their being such lousy friends before, but it really didn’t get through to her. She even pulled the ‘well I was the last one to try to get you to come out’. Which is really totally complete bullshit. So I don’t really know what to do…

Ah, I’m over thinking things again. I guess I’ll probably try one more time with them, but I’ve got a pretty short patience for any more flaky crap. I know I probably made absolutely no sense to you readers. Sorry, if you’re particularly interested, I’ll explain it in detail but for now, I really am just going to go. I had a lot of fun at the pool party regardless of the minor dramas And I even played a great drunken game of in the pool basketball, which I’ll try to get a pic of and post. I’m off for now though. Have a good Sunday, and don’t forget to watch Big Brother tonight. Danielle is gonna kick serious ass tonight!

2 comments:

Laura said...

dude apparently today was nap central. i literally woke up from a nap like an hour ago, ay caramba. where did you live in gambia? i want to find a reason to move to africa after i graduate, not that a reason is necessary.

Geoff said...

Well Gambia is a pretty tiny county, you basically live in the city area (there's only one really), or in the 'provinces' up-river. I was in the cityish area in the Kanifing neiborhood. I was working for YMCA International teaching computers and doing indie film stuff for a year and a half. If you're interested in reading some you can check my very first blog: HERE.

But dont say I didn't warn you, it gets pretty sordid...