More Colliding Bloggers: The Pile Up

Let me preface this post by saying this isn't the first time I've been in a multi-blogger collision. There was the event at Terry's, to mark his first appearance on BET, where I got to hang out with Maurice Jamal, No4Real4Real, Nathan "Seven" Scott, Daniel Freeman and Kevin Barnes, the architect; the event following (No4Real4Real's birthday gathering), where I collided with Shawn, Omar and others from the extended blogger family; the Thanksgiving at Maurice's spot in East Flatbush, where I met Seven's mom (visiting from Silver Spring, MD), Stone and a few other folks, but this past weekend marked my very first and very literal blogger pile-up.



Let me recap.


The weekend actually began on Thursday when Marz came over to dine on my world-class meat loaf and watch the Thursday night line-up. The meat loaf recipe is actually a modification of one that appears on a box of onion soup mix. One of my hags from Jersey just sent me a new recipe that I can't wait to try, but that's another post.


Friday morning I woke up at 5 a.m. to catch the Chinatown bus to DC. Anthony, whom I'd met while I was living in Maryland (also my editor), graciously offered to help transport some of my things in storage to Brooklyn.


We loaded up his SUV and got on the road at about 11, running our mouths as he floored it up the interstate. We were so engrossed in conversation that we failed to bear right in Delaware and instead of New Jersey, ended up in Pennsylvania, which might have shaken a less-experienced traveler. Yet knowing how way leads on to way (quoting Robert Frost), I maneuvered us across Jersey and through the Holland Tunnel in the wee, small hours of the morning, which is a beautiful song, by the way.


Yes, the tunnel goes into Manhattan and I live in Brooklyn, but Anthony wanted to meet up with folks he would be interviewing for the magazine later that day. They were sitting in a booth at a midtown eatery and since I was in the mood for a fat girl snack, we parked the packed vehicle near the corner of 44th Street and 9th Avenue and slid into a booth with DJ Baker and Adam Benjamin Irby. It turned out to be perhaps the best time I've had, without the benefit of medication, since I've been in New York.


Adam writes a wonderfully personal blog that is honest and insightful and DJ serves up a great podcast, Da Doo-Dirty Show, where he blazes the best in Hip-Hop and R&B on the daily. It was a marvelous meeting of minds. It's always great to sit down and talk with people who speak, not specifically for the purpose of hearing themselves, but to share their experiences in the hope that someone else might benefit. It was tight in the booth, but that's not where the actual pile-up occurred.


The overnight trains in New York City run something akin to the Pony Express. From midnight to 6 a.m. you might stand on a platform awaiting your coach anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Adam lives in Harlem and DJ lives in Westchester and, honestly, I'm not even sure how you get there on public transportation. Anthony, being who he is offered to spirit everyone home, which was tricky. In order to get a lot of stuff into the car we folded down the back seat so there was only legally and logically room for only two passengers. African American ingenuity prevailed and I somehow maneuvered myself into the back amongst my possessions, while Adam and DJ shared the passenger seat. What a ride!


Thankfully, everyone made it safely to their destinations and I wasn't too sure about us getting back to Brooklyn. Once I leave Manhattan, I'm lost, but my sense of direction has never failed me, except in Prospect Park. That place was definitely designed to trap runaway slaves. I swear I stumbled across Harriet Tubman's lost party, but that too is another post.


A few hours later, after unloading and grabbing a quick snooze, we headed back to Manhattan so that Anthony could do the interviews. After that we collapsed. Somehow I did manage to bake a pound cake, but I can do that with my eyes closed. I plan to close my eyes and do another one in a few. Wish me luck and make a great weekend!