Friday, June 25, 2004

I like my life.
(part 1 of ?)

I live in an active community with personality and vibrance. We have a neighborhood with plenty of pedestrian traffic and no lack of characters. My dry cleaner waves at me and smiles from the sidewalk when I drive, walk or run past, the people at the local shops and restaurants are energetic and friendly. People here call you “sweetie” because they don’t know you enough to know better, but recognize the untapped potential. Except in my case where they’re flat out wrong.

Now the characters I eluded to previously aren’t of the cartoon variety, but are most certainly worth mentioning. Let me preface by saying I’ll attempt to snap some shots of these two for posting at a later date.

The first gentleman is one I see often on the corner of Ponce and Highland when I’m running through the Highlands a few times a week (cough cough). At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing was real and not a practical joke being played on society or that there wasn’t some jackass in the bushes with a camera capturing reactions. I continue to anticipate the latter and look forward to laying the smack down on some creepy pimple faced black t-shirt wearing fuck with a camera. Wow.

Hell, I wasn’t even sure anyone else noticed him though after my description you’ll likely wonder how I could have thought that.

So here he is, a black man that’s probably around 6′ 2″, wearing a tank top, some biker-ish shorts and white tennies. Fine. It’s Atlanta in the summer time, you walk out of the house and you’re damp with perspiration that the environment just laid on you without consideration of hair, make-up, socio-economic background.

This guy is a little different though. So much so that you will quite literally find yourself on the verge of self-inflicted whiplash doing a double take. Mark my words. This guy has some sort of…elephantitis.

At first I thought he had a rolled up newspaper shoved in his pants. I thought “hey, he doesn’t have a book bag. Maybe he needed his hands for something”. Nope. No sirree. And if he did? It was the Sunday edition. Then I thought, maybe it’s a bunch of unfortounate tumors like this lady has.

Either way, the man is a mutant. He probably could be a cartoon character. Gigantor maybe? Fa-ree-keey deeky baby.

Tune in next week for character #2: Mr. Beaver Pelt (as so eloquently articulated by P-Diddy).