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"A party ain't a party
til I walk in it
Lime green flap match
the fitted and the linen
Gucci shades are on my
face and my lens kinda tinted
Cause my eyes real low
and my head just started spinnin’…
My partner on a pill,
my other partner drunk,
Rollin a lot I'm trying to get f@#$ed up
It's a party It's a
party It's a party
It's a party It's a
party It's a party"
~ Grove Street
Party - Waka Flocka Flame
Just when I thought I’d had as much fun as one person could
ever have on vacation…I was introduced to CIAA. Wifey and friends have been inviting me to go
to CIAA for years. I always wondered, “What the hell IS CIAA?” Now I know. I
had a freakin’ BLAST. It’s almost indescribable. I agreed to go so I could spend
some time with my bff since I hadn’t seen her in months. I had no idea what
CIAA really was but I knew I’d get to hang out with my friends. With everything
that has been going on, I NEEDED a real hug from HER. Chloee hugs me always but
that doesn’t count.
I remembered looking at the CIAA website and figuring out it
had something to do with college basketball. In my mind, I figured it would be
a bunch of children out acting stupid. Wrong. I did see young people but I know
a few people I saw in the parties were at least 70. HBCU Alumni from all over
and different years were representing! They even had a booth in the hotel lobby
selling Black Fraternity and Sorority groups. The hotel lobby was packed all
day every day. It was cool to see so many Black people come together, have a
good time and not act stupid and embarrass our race (…like they did at NBA All
Star weekend a couple weeks before).
Thursday night, I was introduced to Fuel Pizza. I thought pizza
is pizza, that’s cool if we get pizza. Wrong again! That pizza was so damn good
I’ve thought about it EVERY day since I left and am trying to figure out how I
can franchise one here lol! It was that good. We went back to our room w/ our
yummy delicious pizza and had an old fashioned slumber party like we used to do
when we lived in the same place. I hadn’t seen Wifey in over six months and who
knows how long before that but it felt as if no time had ever passed. I needed
that. I was content. If we did nothing else all weekend, I was happy to be
laughing and actin a fool w/ my girl.
Friday afternoon, we went to a day party. I don’t think I’d
ever been to a day party. One of our crew was friends w/ the people promoting
the party and we ended up in VIP with bottle service..free. Good times! We go
back to the hotel to change and get ready for the night party. One in the crew
bartends at a spot during CIAA so we were going there. Wifey left the room to
go downstairs and handle some business. When she left, I don’t think she locked
the door but put the hinge thingy in the door so we could go in and out. Wifey
is in the hall and I’m in the room and we are holding conversation…loudly. I
hear a knock at the door, assume she came back to get something and was asking ,
loudly, why she didn’t just come in. Wrong.
It was our across the hall neighbor. And wow! Nice. He was inviting me (or us)
to go eat but due to time constraints, I declined. This sweet, nice, thoughtful
and considerate stranger brought both of us food even though we didn’t go. And the food was
good. I’m a sucker for some delectable candied yams!!
Friday night we go to the spot our girl is bartending at.
Music was great and drinks just kept showing up in my hand. I didn’t even have
to walk to the bar. Ended up on a couch again chillin, chattin, and consuming
libations. I thought I would be too tired to have a good time. Again…wrong. I
believe we shut it down. I stayed on the couch and Wifey was all over the
place. She would just pop up w/ a drink or say something random. She told me
Ronnie DeVoe from New Edition bought her a drink. I’m thinking ..uhh huh. Sure
he did! Then I noticed, they were playing a lot of New Edition songs and BBD
music. Wifey came back to convince me. Said she was standing at the bar being
ignored by the waitress, DeVoe was able to get the waitresses attention and got
my girl a drink. She said she was talking crazy to him, being herself and didn’t
realize who he was. She asked him where he was from and telling him she was
trying to figure out why he looked familiar. LMAO! He looked familiar because
he was part of every young Black girls' dream before boy bands even became hot. When she
broke the story down and Bartender co-signed I finally believed it.
We shut the party down and ended up at **clearing my throat**,
a gentleman’s club for their breakfast buffet. I thought there was no way the
food could be that damn but where Wifey goes I go. Wrong…again! That breakfast
was sooooooo damn good. We were seated upstairs and I don’t even recall seeing
any …”dancers” but maybe that was because I was so focused on my plate. We get
back to the room shower, put on PJs and somehow ended up having our own party
on our floor. Hot fun mess! Good times!! I think I probably wore my Texas
Longhorn pajama pants more than I wore anything else, which is always a plus
for me.
Saturday, BRIGHT and early in the morning, neighbor called
or knocked to see if I wanted to go eat breakfast. I said I’d pass because we
were both KNOCKED out, not dressed and didn’t want to get dressed. Then he said
those two magical words: Waffle House. I told him he couldn’t mess around w/
words like that. Waffle House is serious business. Told him I couldn’t even
repeat what he said aloud that would ignite a fire under Wifey he’d better be
prepared to put out. Wifey is in her bed and overheard our conversation. I finally
said Waffle House out loud. It’s as if you could hear a record scratch. Wifey
rolled over and said, “WAFFLE HOUSE?!?!?! When?” Hahaha! After getting full
(again) the plan was to go back to the room and take a nap before going to
Saturday’s day party. I don’t think Wifey or I really wanted to go out. We were
tired and those beds felt magnificent. Somehow, we’d made friends w/ a bunch of folks on
different floors, ended up hanging out and no naps were ever taken. We get a call from
Bartender saying she would pick us up downstairs in 10 minutes. Of course, I’m back in my Longhorn pants and
mad I had to get dressed.
We pushed through, got dressed and rolled to the party. It
was pretty empty when we got there and there was some static about our prepaid
tickets that took entirely too long to work out and I was ready to go. I
thought it was about to suck and I’d wish I took a nap instead…wrong! Bartender
is friends w/ the promoters putting on the party and we ended up in VIP w/
bottle service…again…w/o paying for it. Had a blast! DJ was jamming, we ate
good and we drank good. I cannot illustrate or convey how much freakin’ fun we
had allllll weekend. We shut down the day party, crawl back to the room to try
the nap thing again. I get back in my Longhorn britches, in the bed and we get
a call Bartender will be there to pick us up in 15 min. Again! Nobody wanted to
get up or get dressed. Bartender even came up to the room to wait and fell
asleep bawled up in a chair. We finally get everyone in clothes, on their feet and
out the door.
Saturday night, we were supposed to go to a party being
promoted by the day party we attended earlier that day. We were put on the list
and all we had to do was show up. Nobody wanted to walk to the car or drive
through the traffic to get there so we ended up in the cigar bar in our hotel
lobby and then a bar across the street from the hotel. Of course we shut it
down…like always. Even after the party is over, we are all sitting outside on
some bar tables and chairs having deep, philosophical discussion (which always
seems to happen when we drink). When past time to leave, everyone was trying to
figure out where to go eat or attend an afterhours party. At this point, my battery
finally died. I told them I was going back to the room. I thought I was gonna
get a leg up on sleep and chill in silence for a couple more hours. Ok, so I
was wrong about everything!!
As soon as showered and put my longhorn pants back on, Wifey
was back w/ some of the folks we were hanging out with earlier and Neighbor from
across the hall. I don’t know exactly when we went to sleep but the last time I
looked at a clock before taking a nap it was 5:30 and I HAD to be up by 8:30
and ready to go by 9:30 for a 10:50 flight. We had such a damn good time, I wasn’t
even tired.
CIAA was an enjoyable, whirlwind experience. Good clean fun…well
mostly clean LOL. We just keep outdoing ourselves! It is so true that it’s not
about where you go, rather who you’re with that determines your depth of delight.
Of course this is merely a highly edited account of our CIAA
activites. What happens at CIAA stays at CIAA. Aside from seeing my lobster’s
face in person, my next favorite part of CIAA was Fluffy ;o)!!!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82utG7Q3G_k
YAS!!!!!
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