Note: Originally posted on my myspace blog
I came back to my apartment earlier after helping the homie Eman move his stuff down to the U-Haul and what was playing but Mariah Carey’s debut single "Vision of Love". Now truth be told, that song by all rights should be a 5 star song on my five star list, but I begrudgeonly upgraded it from 3 stars not to long ago to 4 star range. I’m playing my "My Top Rated" list lately so songs I rarely hear are getting some play, and "Vision of Love" is one of those. Man the memories started rushing back so take a trip back if you will.
The year was 1990. I was in 6th grade. Middle school was hell for me, and hell was just beginning. One of the reasons that middle school was hell was because I played the violin. So I had to lug this big ass violin case back and forth to and from school. My orchestra teacher Mr. Kim was somewhat of a dictator. He demanded that we keep our nails short and filed and that we practice for at least two hours a day and such so that we could keep our perfect record of getting 1’s at the annual "Festival". I guess it was a big deal.
Meanwhile I took a bus from Camp Creek Middle School to my mom’s school, A. P. Randolph Elementary every day. The bus only made one other stop, unfortunately for me at the time, that stop was to the Boat Rock Housing Project. Now let me pause for a second and say that I personally have nothing against Boat Rock or ANY other housing project, but even folks who LIVE there will tell you that there are some crazy muthafuckas who live there, and crazy muthafuckas LOVE to pick on nerds with glasses and violins. I fit the bill.
The craziest day happened one day when the bus filled up. Usually I’d sit with my boy Garry P. But for whatever reason Garry wasn’t on the bus that day or was sitting with someone else or whatever. So I tried the ole, put the violin case on the seat move, and it ALMOST worked until this crazy, ugly, jheri curled eighth grade chick came and moved it for me and sat down next to me.
At first things are all good, but I was as nervous as a hooker in church and I think crazy chick started to pick up on those vibes and man did she hone in on them! This chick looks at me and starts saying, "you are a cute lil boy," and starts SINGING "Vision of Love" to me! This crazy chick was serenading me something serious, and COMPLETELY OFF KEY at that. So it doesn’t take long before the whole bus takes notice.
In the meanwhile I enter what the homie Nile refers to as "survival mode". I pick up my case and start to swing it at her. I’m not trying to knock her out or anything, but like she was inching closer to me and invading my space, and well, I only liked one girl at the time (hi Staci!). She didn’t back off much though, she made it through the whole song, which in hindsight is rather impressive, considering it was a new song, but man, for those few moments it was AGONIZING. I was never happier to see those yellow buildings of Boat Rock as I was that day.
When she got off of the bus, this dude Torrey and his brother (who both looked like the dude who played the young Omar Epps character in The Wood, down to the haircuts!) were laughing UNCONTROLLABLY at me. They were talking about how I was "scared of girls", I tried to explain that I was scared of "that girl", but maybe they were right. I still am not right to this day! I don’t do well with aggressive unattractive chicks, that’s why I tend to go off on them when they tell me I look like Kanye West.
