Thursday, August 28, 2014

Daniel

My new roommate, Carly and I stayed up and talked all night. We must have gone to bed around 1am. We talked, we laughed, she cried. It was all good. Not the crying, but the getting to know each other. Talking with her was like being back home and talking to my niece, who is my best friend.

She had work the following morning. I can't remember if I did too. I probably did. When she found out what I did for a living, she wanted to join in too. This kid has a full time job and is about to go to school full time, she is also a part time model, how is she going to find time to do what I do as well? That's when people start getting it twisted, when the want to live your life and forget about theirs. #sidetracked I gave her the names of a big agency in LA. They have modeling gigs.

When I told my friends about my new roommate, they gave me more modeling agency contact details. It's Hollywood;  everyone is a model, photographer, actor, musician, the works. Everyone! At least, they didn't mind sharing. They probably could tell I was posing no threat in the modeling sphere haha. She wrote down all the contacts I gave her and watched Desperate housewives on Netflix. She loves her Desperate Housewives. I ain't mad at her though. I have DHW pin my hard drive, I watched all seasons while in Georgia and lots more. What do you do when you're in a country where no one speaks English? Watch sht loads of TV shows on your PC.

Cut back to a month prior. Before Carly, after Jon. When I lived alone:
I got an email from Daniel. Remember him? The Italian from San Diego. The one who was promising, that I was looking forward to get to know but he just disappeared. Well, he got back to me! I messaged him back. He asked for my number, I gave it to him. He called one evening. I picked up. He responded in a very enthusiastic, high pitched voice that sounded almost like a machine. I was so confused, is this a woman? a machine? What's going on? We talked for about an hour. The conversation flowed pretty smoothly. It usually does. That's a nice thing, but it doesn't mean anything really. He told me  I could save his number and call him whenever I wished. That was a nice sign but I told him I would rather he called me. I wasn't going to save his number. I'm not gonna call a guy I don't even know and catch him at a wrong time and get all self conscious if he doesn't answer, cuts the call short or hangs up. What do you do next? Do you call him again, or do you hope that he gets that he has to make the next call? I can't. I'd rather he be responsible for all that.

He's older (as usual), single, never been married (red flag?), doesn't have any kids, (is open to having them or not. aka he doesn't want them. I should know), The longest relationship he has ever been in was three years long and that was the only long one. I didn't know this man but I felt like I knew him very well so I went ahead and put my foot in it and told him that I wonder if the fact that he has never really been in a long term relationship and never been married was a sign that, maybe, he was a perfectionist and nobody was ever good enough. He laughed and said, I didn't know him well enough to say that. I told him, I did. I told him he will be surprised how much i knew him.  I was talking through my ass, obviously. Just yanking his chain. No pun intended.

We must have talked one more time and then he told me that his friends were visiting from Italy. Daniel didn't know how long the friends intended to stay here for. They were there for like two weeks or so. He emailed me twice or so while the friends were there. Really long emails. The conversations with D were really nice and long and great. He is pretty open minded. He turned out to be more laid back than I assumed he'd be. What do I know, I don't know really rich people like him. Dude used to be a radio show host and own the entire radio station for ten years in Italy. He now owns his own company. A serious company that manufactures or whatevers whatever whatever. It's a full on thing. They have conventions every year and stuff like that. He's a top dog. I guess that kinda intimidated me about him, even though I didn't want to admit it. Or did I? Daniel has a personal trainer. Like someone who goes to his house and trains him. I don't know people who have personal trainers! Do I look like I know anything about personal trainers?

Daniel told me that he would come see me as soon as his friends left. It was about time, I had been talking to him for a month. I was talking to a number of other people who aren't that significant. I went out every Sunday with a different guy for five weeks. That was a record even for a serial dater like me. It better be after the miserable Valentine's I had, shoot!

His friends finally left, Daniel called, we talked, he told me he was going to come visit that Sunday. He told me to pick a nice restaurant for us. I got soooooo nervous. I don't get nervous. I just don't. So what? It's just another date, right? D doesn't text, he will not read nor reply to your text if your text him. Call or email him and he will always respond. I was so looking forward to seeing him, I imagined him wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. So I did what any normal person does, and asked him to send me a picture of himself in a white shirt, which he did that very evening when he got home. He asked why the white shirt. Like I was going to reveal my craziness to him. I just said, oh, nothing, I was just curious. He looked nothing like he did in any of the pictures he had sent me. That kinda threw me off.

I looked online for a nice restaurant, I don't know any nice restaurants. I have been to a few but none NICE. I don't know what his idea of nice was but I wasn't about to take any chances. I Yelped 'Nice Restaurants' in Hollywood. I found a few. My two top faves are Seafood and Indian Food. If I could find one that is not a buffet that serves both, even better. I found a nice one! Gordon Ramsay's The London. you may remember him from TV, he does just about all the restaurant/chef shows on tv. Hell's Kitchen too. I was like, this sounds nice to me! I called to make a reservation. I felt so fancy making restaurant reservations. I've never done that before. When Daniel called, I gave him details, he looked it up, just so he knew how to get us there. It's by the 5 Star, The London hotel in West Hollywood. F-A-N-C-Y Five star baby!

He called that morning just to touch base. Or did I call him? Actually, I think I called him. I was like omg I'm so nervous. I told him that I never get nervous. I had already give him my address. I live in a ginormous apartment block, I just gave him the apartment address. I told him not to be surprised if I didn't come out haha. He was like you would never do that to me. I was like, probably not, but let's see. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise us both.

I had this feeling inside me to do something nice for him. This guy was about to drive three hours one way to come see me and three hours or more back, depending on traffic. That was a big deal. I wanted him to know  I appreciated it. Unlike the douche bag who had insisted I took public transportation to go see him in San Diego. Phuck you a** hole. I looked around my apt for something to give Daniel. It had to be something I valued. He had told me that his favorite color is blue. Dark blue. I decided to give him my special Dr Phil Cup. I hand wrote him a note as to how I got the cup, how much it meant to me etc. It's dark blue. So that was a plus. I put that in a gift bag and hid it in my handbag. If the date was a disaster, I obviously wasn't going to give it to him. I knew it was going to be great, I had a good feeling about it. That feeling is very rarely wrong.

I got ready, wore my most forgiving dress, if you know what I mean ;) I wasn't gonna be walking around with my sausages revealed in front of a man who works out with a personal trainer four times a week! He called as he got off the freeway onto Santa Monica Boulevard. That's my street. Sht, he's close! He called again and said he was downstairs. My apartment was right next to a club called Gold Diggers. He joked about that during the call. Like, do you have anything to do with this club? Haha, yeah totally, I came up with the name. I had my matching jewelery on, the dress, and cute heels. He had told me he's 6'1, so  I can wear as high heels as I wanted but I wasn't going to. I like to be comfortable. Right? Who wants to be tripping and falling on a first date? When I got downstairs from the fourth floor, I realized that the rock fell of my ring. I had to run back up the stairs. I couldn't take the elevator, I must have dropped it on the stairway. I guess I could have taken the elevator up and walked back but I didn't think about it, only now lol;  five months later. Good going, Brook!

I found my thing, ran back down. By the time I got there, I was sweating, awesome! Just what I need. In a wool dress. I walked out and looked for a car, oops, there he was. Right by the entrance. He was standing right next to the main entrance of my apt. I was like, omg you're so tall! He looked taller than I expected, and I expected him to be tall! I gave him a hug, he gives good hugs too. Nice and strong. He kinda chiropractors you. It feels good. I am always in a mood for that or a massage. That's probably why I went to school for massage. You know what they say, the one who needs it the most, is the one who goes to school for it, like Psychologists etc. Don't shoot the messenger.

There were police officers across the street from my apartment. We had to walk all the way to the light (robot), otherwise we could get in trouble for Jay Walking (crossing in the middle of the street, not by the street light or stop sign). As we were crossing the street, I was quickly scouring the street, trying to figure out which are was his. All the cars were kinda old out there. i was like where is your car? We were already by the car. It was a 1980's Golf. I had to quickly improv act not surprised. I wondered if the guy really did have money, was he going to be able to afford the restaurant I had reserved for us. Oh my goodness. I thought to myself, if push comes to shove, I'l just have to pay. At least for my food. We drove toward West Hollywood. It was just before six when we drove into The London. Fancy as hell! There are ushers, valet, everything. We got off the car, he handed the keys to the Valet guy, we walked in, The place looks amazing! Look it up if you will. It's gold and white and black in some areas. Really posh. Daniel's jaw dropped. He was like, you did a good job picking this one, this is a nice place. I was like, ah ehm, thanks! I'm thinking, I hope this is a sign, he's going to be able to pay for it. If not, I'm keeping my Dr. Phil Cup.

The hostess welcomed us in, asked if we were celebrating anything. I wanted to say, yeah, our first date. He said no haha. We found a table in the corner, the place is nice and open. It wasn't busy yet, people were walking in one by one, it was dinner time after all. The cheapest thing on the menu is like $30. We both had seafood. Daniel is vegetarian but eats fish. I didn't know that until then. He asked them some fancy question about how the fish was raised or something. I didn't know what in the world he was talking about. Fortunately, the over-enthusiastic waiter did. The food was absolutely divine! I had desert, he didn't because he is too health conscious. he doesn't eat sweets. Well, I'm not not gonna eat Gordon Ramsay's desert. Before we went out, while doing my research, I asked one of my sisters, the cooking one. She is a big fan of Gordon's, she has a ton of his books. I asked her to recommend something. She recommended desert, so of course I was gonna have some desert. Plus, you know how they dish at these fancy restaurants, tiny little servings, all decorated and everything. It's more like sampling than anything else.

We sat and talked and ate and talked and talked and talked. It was nice, conversation was flowing as usual. Daniel is the best date. He is just the best person, period. Later on, like three hours into the date, he rubbed my back, hhhhaaaaa, I can still feel it :) Amazeballs! He did it for a good number of minutes too. Thanks Dee! We had a nice view of West Hollywood, we got to see a bit of sunset. We literally stayed until they closed shop. We were the last people to leave at 10pm. He took me home. Nice drive, West Hollywood at night, lights, lights, lights. We got to my place, parked, got out of the car. I gave him the cup. He was like, aaawww, thank you, that was so thoughtful of you, you're so sweet!  He said he was going to read the note at home. We made out for like ever. Mhhhhhhhhhh. People were like honking and yelling, get a room. Please, it wasn't that bad. Hashtag Jealous.
































1

Monday, August 25, 2014

Zen

After Jon's abrupt move, I got to enjoy the comfort of living alone for the rest of February. I walked around in the nude all the time for the heck of it. It was great. He pretty much walked around naked when he was still there, he would only put a towel in his groin area. 

I took a break the following month from roommates, did tv shows and a few other random gigs in between and by the grace of the good Lord made enough to pay rent for the month without a roommate. Thank Goodness! Almost two months roommateless. Freedoom! halfway through March, I had to start scouting for a roommate though. Least favorite thing to do ever! I posted an ad on Craig's list, pretty much the same one as before and just change dates. I had only a few people come by that time. I think I mentioned that I was looking for a female roommate for a change. I interviewed a few of the ladies and one stuck out. We'll call her Carly. She's 21, a tall, dark skinned African girl. She's a model, bright eyed, girl with great vibe. I hoped she would want to stay with me as much as I did. I don't mind the age difference, never did. I get along with people of all age groups. Some people make a big deal about age difference though, so.

One of the girls was like, OMG I love you, you'rel so cool. You're gonna be my new best friend blah blah blah. First, on email, she had told me about how she just moved to LA from New York. She is spiritual and a vegetarian, she is on the path blah blah blah, you know the spiritual type. I have nothing against that. I just hoped that if I ended up with her, she wouldn't drive me up the wall with her righteous path. When she came over, she was a totally different person, talking about if you've got it flaunt it. That's what she does with her ass, apparently it's her best asset. No pun intended lol. She was telling me about dating white guys, she's African American; blah blah blah. When I walked her to the bus stop, we were talking and she all of a sudden flipped. She was jumping up and down, omg did you see the guy in that car? If the light was red, I totally would've gone over there and talked to him. I was so confused, whatever happened to the path, lady? I just played along though. I am all for crazy, heck, I'm as crazy as the best of them. My thing is, don't try to be holier than thou art one minute, the next be, well, like me. Be yourself. Nobody likes a fake person.

Two days or so later, I got a text from the 21 year old; Carly. She told me she was taking the place. Day after that, she sent me a text, asking if I could help her move. I had told her that I didn't mind her moving in a few days early. I wasn't going to charge her that. That was my way of ensuring that I had a roommate by the beginning of the month. Short of asking her to pay before moving in, which no one is going to do. She had told me that she had a part time job as a waitress, her dad was going to pay rent for her. She had moved to LA a month prior to pursue modeling and to go to school. She had told me that she only had a few luggage pieces with clothes, no furniture, which would work out great as I didn't have room for furniture. She had said she would hire a car to move with. I asked why a car if she only had a few suitcases. She said that the suitcases were very large, she wouldn't be able to take them on the bus. I got confused when she asked me to help her move. Did she want me to help put her suitcases in and out the car? How often does someone you don't even know ask you to help them move? That never happens. I asked her what the plan was, she told me she was waiting for her friend to help her move, she had promised to move her. Friend has a car. I was relieved. I wasn't about to drag around a strangers suitcases all the way from Santa Monica to Hollywood. Who helps me move?

Two days passed, she was still waiting for the friend to move her. I wondered if she had changed her mind about moving in. I didn't want to be pushy and ask, in case she was stressed about the move and the friend situation. I could only hope for the best at that point. Finally, the following day, she told me that she would move in that morning. Then in the morning, she said around noon. Around noon, still nothing. Good thing, it was the weekend and I had no plans.That afternoon, she called and asked me to open the main door for her. She was outside. Whew! I went downstairs, looked around for her. There she was, still walking down the street. My street happened to be Santa Monica Boulevard. It takes you straight to Santa Monica, the beach etc. I love Santa Monica, it's beautiful over there. Parts of it are pretty artsy. I'm into that. It's an expensive neighborhood though. Right by the beach. Carly had sh*t loads of stuff, my neighbor was also helping them carry stuff and that was not even it. I was like, omg I hope we are gonna have enough room for all these clothes. I didn't mind if she didn't. It's just stuff, as long as we get along, I'll be happy.

She pushed some of the suitcases into the closet and some under the bed. There were lots of them. She told me that wasn't even all her clothes. Such a girl. She had cute clothes too. All her clothes are cute and trendy. The joys of being a model. She told her friend to leave her there, she was going to spend the night that night then leave for work from there the following day. Her friend is Latina (Hispanic). She gave us a ride to the 99cents store. We both wanted to do grocery shopping. On the way, she wouldn't stop telling us about how dangerous the neighborhood next to the one next to mine was. I was just like, seriously, stop. What's the deal with this girl. What does she want me to do? Fix Los Angeles? I just sat quietly in the back seat and bit my tongue. What am I gonna say? I don't know these people and I don't own Los Angeles. It is what it is and it ain't what it ain't. The friend even mentioned that growing up, she was molested a few different time in one of the neighborhoods. I was like seriously, this girl. She sounded ridiculous, not that I don't believe that people can get molested over and over again but who tells a random stranger that. It just seemed like she was being an attention seeker to me. I wasn't interested.

Friend dropped us off. We took the bus back. Carly had never been to the 99 cents store. She didn't even know about it. She was so excited. Her mom called while we were there. She told her about the store and how everything was only 99 cents. I think at first she thought we were going to share everything. I am not crazy about that idea. I remember whenever I showed her something she might need, she would be like but we already have that in the apartment. I thought oh heck no. If you found it in the apartment, it doesn't mean it comes with the apartment, it means I paid for it. Therefore you have to buy yours. She caught on fast though. Even though she didn't buy everything the first day, I didn't mind letting her use some of mine like cleaning supplies. She would then buy them when we ran out, which was cool. She also didn't mind splitting up to buy things. I felt bad making her pay for some things that I didn't mind buying but I had seen enough with Jon. I didn't want to go through the experience again. I even asked her, please let me know beforehand if you want to move, don't just sneak out with my laptop. It's the only one I have. That became our standing joke.










Sunday, July 27, 2014

The End

My friend, who I had told about the ad I posted online and didn't get a response never got back to me. She and I used to talk about everyday or so. I wondered if she was on. She is homeless, lives in her car, (apparently) because she loves the beach and must go there everyday, so she parks her car by the beach front comes bedtime. Who am I to get between someone and the beach? A couple of weeks passed without a word from her, I would call and text, nothing! I got concerned. We don't really know anyone in common, the only way to hear about her was going to have to be from her. After two weeks, I was waiting to use the restroom at the Judge Judy courtroom. I was first in line, out comes this lady who looks like she just woke up from a coma. Her hair was a mess, he pants were halfway up. This woman wasn't ready to get out of the restroom! She walked right past me towards the sink to wash her hands. It was my friend! What in the world! I was like, Spice (we'll call her that. Why not, right?) OMG, hi, are you ok? She said, I'm fine! She kept it moving. I was gobsmacked. I felt like she looked. I think she messed her hair up intentionally to cover her face up cos you can see outside and vice versa  in those toilets. She must have seen. She probably saw me in the courtroom already because I sat in front, we do the whole Catholic church thing of Sitting down and standing up. I was utterly confused as to why my good friend was acting that way. I had no idea what was going on.

On my way back to the courtroom, I saw her fixing herself up and asked if everything was ok, I was worried about her, I had been trying to reach her for weeks. She told me that everything is fine, she was taking some time off from people. After the last text I sent her where I told her I posted an ad online looking for a man FOR HER she though I must have lost my mind. She thought I went Hollywood on her. I was like WHAAATTTTTTTTT? What are you talking about I posted an ad on your behalf? Why on earth would I do that when I am painfully single myself? She told me she didn't know but that's what I told her. After that I called to tell her about my roommate, she said she kept asking about the ad, and I kept ignoring the subject. Listen! I'm a nice enough person that I would try to hook a friend up but I didn't do what she said I did. Like all out conversations, she misunderstood the text. Who misunderstands a text? Like there's no accent in a text, if you don't understand it, you can ask someone else to read it and tell you what they think it means, and someone else and and and.

Who died and made you God, that you are going to break our friendship, that is based on me feeling sorry for your homeless ass, and listening to your long ass stories when we do meet up because you're a sixty year old woman who lives in her car because of her unrequited love for the beach, who has no one to talk to or at least to listen to you but me? Give me a mutha fcking break! This was a one sided friendship anyway but I was doing my part because I have a good heart (own horn tooted) and was doing my part for charity. Literally in this case. Don't come here and tell me you needed a break and you decided to take it. You don't qualify for a break? Please! Especially after misunderstanding my text. Friends don't do that. You're the one who's going all Hollywood on me! What the fck is this? Walking out of a bathroom a mess, trying to disguise to avoid me. Who does that? Most of all in their golden years? I was like, lady, you misunderstood my text, nobody is trying to hook you up! Any normal person would have either texted back or called for an explanation. But it's ok, you can have your break. I almost felt bad that I wasted so my time worrying about this person. I was shocked that SHE of all people thought she was in a position to 'take a break' from a friendship with ME or anyone else for that matter. Everyone feels sorry for her. Btch pls, to the back! Have a seat!

Second week of February, after Jon's sudden moving out and drama, I was busy chatting with everyone I had met through my gazillion ads, including Lenny. Lenny and I talked the most. More than once a day. He wanted me to spend Valentine's weekend with him. I told him I wasn't ready to spend the weekend with anyone I had never met. We could meet somewhere and take it slow like any other relationship. He told me I would have to make the drive to San Diego. He didn't even hint about helping me with gas or anything. Not that if I had a car, I wouldn't afford gas but the sense of entitlement was overwhelming! It was going to be a long as hell train ride to San Diego, somewhere around 5 hours in total. I told him that was just too long. He told me I could make it a one way trip and just move in. Perry and I were still talking. Remember him, the guy I kinda lived with for five minutes in San Diego? Lenny didn't seem to live far from Perry, for a second, I toyed with the idea of making a trip of it; going to see Lenny and then staying at Perry's. Perry and I were talking about meeting up. Not as a couple or anything. That ship has so sailed. Hell, it hasn't only sailed, it sailed and sunk. Never to be heard of again.


I just wanted to get away from the whole Jon drama, that's why I considered Lenny's ridiculous idea of me going all the way to SD to visit him. I was overwhelmed. I wanted to have a nice time and just forget about it all. I told him that I would do it. He was so happy, he told me that I wouldn't regret it blah blah blah.

One of the guys who responded to my ads was another San Diegan or should I say Man Diego, they say that's where all the single guys are at. We'll Call him Daniel. He sent me a nice and long email and a number of pictures. Nice picture, but they seemed like they were taken decades apart. Maybe it was something with the lighting? He never told me his age, he's single, never been married, Italian, no kids, he's lived in the US for more than two decades now but is originally from Italy. I love getting long emails, to me that shows a certain level of seriousness. I responded with a semi-long email and a number of pictures. For some reason my yahoo was nuts, the message with all those pictures went to some dude with a mustache and a potbelly standing next to a tractor. He was so happy, I hadn't even seen his first message, I just saw this uber enthusiastic response, I'm like WTF. Turns out that was the recipient of the pictures. I resent them to Daniel and didn't hear back from him. I was kinda bummed about that. I'd been looking forward to hear back to him.

My Georgian friend in Hollywood, texted me one night and told me that someone was looking for extras for a movie for the following morning. I emailed the guys my pictures etc, and booked the part. Yay! Good looking out, friend! The shoot was first thing in the morning. I had to be there by seven. I didn't know if Jon had made himself copies of my keys before he moved out. I couldn't trust that he wasn't going to come back for more stuff. I was still shaken by what had happened. I called James and asked if I could leave my stuff in his apartment. It was a very valid reason to get a chance to see James. We love James. He agreed. I woke him up so early the following morning, like around 5 and dropped my valuables there before heading for the bus stop. He's so sweet, he offered to drop me off. I couldn't accept that offer. I got there just in time, met some nice people. The film is based in biblical times, we had some interesting outfits on, everybody looked amazing. They have a black Jesus and a guy who looks just like the white Jesus is one of the disciples. That guy is hot.He took pictures with out. Turns out James had auditioned for that part and lost to that Jesus. When I saw that Jesus, I did think about James. James has that Jesus thing too lol. Anyway, it was a ten to twelve hour day, they fed us, we had lots of breaks, of course we weren't in all scenes, so lots of down time to chill with other extras. One of them friends with my Georgian friend, he was the one to tell her about the gig. Apparently Kelly Rowland and Chaka Khan are in that movie, they just weren't in the scenes we shot that day. Dang it, so close to meeting them!

At the end of the day, we changed and headed for the train. I walked there with Georgian's friend. He's from Ghana if I'm not mistaken. He didn't pay to get on the train, We got on the train nicely, next thing I know, I turn around, he's nowhere to be found, I look ahead of me, there's the train security checking tickets. AAAhhhhhh, that's why. But where is he? I didn't have his number, so I texted Georgian and asked her to check if he's fine. Apparently, he had gotten right back off as soon as he saw security, bought a ticket and boarded the next train.
______________
_______

The night before my trip to San Diego, I got a call from Lenny. He wanted to apologise profusely for he wasn't going to be available that weekend after all. I was like, I BEG YOUR PARDON! This was your idea! You're not going to have a couple of hours to do lunch or dinner? He said, nope! I have a hearing next Thursday that I have to get ready for. He was telling me that on a Thursday. What, are you a prosecutor? Why do you need an entire week to prepare for a case? He told me it was a half a million worth law suit, blah blah blah. I guess he also wanted to emphasise that those are the amounts that he's dealing with. Who gives a hoot?


He went on and on about how sorry he was that he inconvenienced me blah. I was like, let's scratch this one off the list. I'm glad he didn't let me go all the way there only to stand me up. That would have been worse. The following day, Valentine's day, I got a call from Lenny, we talked a little bit, he just wanted to say good morning. He called again that afternoon, stayed on the phone for a while. I thought to myself, this guy sure has time for someone who has a case next Thursday. Before I knew it, guy was like, so, you wanna come over? I'm like, you mean to San Diego?
Lenny: Yeah, I've caught up on my case, I have the rest of the weekend clear
Me: So you want me to come to your house?
Lenny: Of course, where else do you want to go?
Me: To meet up in public as I have mentioned to you before
Lenny:  We can spend the whole weekend in bed making llluuuuurrrrrrvvvvvvveeee

The f*!k!

Me: So you don't have an hour to meet up in public but you have an entire weekend to spend in bed making love?
Lenny: It will be the first weekend of the rest of our lives.
Me: What I am not trying to do is to buy a train ticket, sit on the train for five to six hours taking myself to a man I never met for him to have his way with me -


He wouldn't even let me go on, he hung up. I got so pissed, I called him to give him a piece of my mind, he didn't pick up. He called me that evening and wanted to play nicey nice. I played along for a second and hung up on his ass.

THE END.

















Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Oh Well!

When Rancho went away and gave me the silent treatment, I got the message. I posted a personal ad online. This time, I was more determined than before. I posted an ad in different counties; LA county, San Diego, Orange county etc, probably four or five in total. I remember I texted my friend, and told her what I had done, she didn't reply. I didn't have time to wonder why because emails were flooding in in response to my ads, I was too busy to care. The first day is the busiest then after that, it quietens down, in fact in a matter of hours, it slows down, and you're left with the few people who are more serious. 

A lot of the emails I got this time around were more promising than ever before. I was hopeful that I might just find someone through that process. There was a guy by the name of Josh. Josh was in his late twenties, he was tall - 6'2, and seemed like a nice and quiet guy. We emailed, texted, then talked over the phone. He told me he lives in a motel, he rents a one bedroom apartment type space from them and has two roommates who are a couple. They sleep in the bedroom while he sleeps in uhm, how do I put this in a believable manner? Ok, I'll just say it like it is.. Josh sleeps in a closet. Like, I am the type of person who is going to believe that the apartment is yours, your friends sleep in the main bedroom and you sleep in a small walk in closet full of clothes. Oh and he doesn't have a bed. Well, first of all, a bed wouldn't fit in there, so. Mind you this guy is 6'2 (1.88metres). I couldn't believe that that guy was living that way. I asked him to go on skype and actually show me his space. He took the laptop in there and I saw this small chair like thing that he had made himself and was using as a bed. I had expected to see something that looked like a bed at least. No, it was more like a chair, dude sleeps sitting down. Every single night, he sleeps like that. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for freedom of choice and all that. People should by all means do whatever helps them sleep at night. No pun intended, but this was pretty out there, wouldn't you say? One of the people who replied to my ad was Lenny. He is an older man who told me to move in with him immediately. I was like, slow down, tiger! He said, come on, you know what you want, I know what I want, what's the problem here? We talked back and forth for days. Conversations were nice, it was general stuff, you know when you're getting to know someone? Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary. Lenny said he at least wanted to see me. Apparently, he is an important person, because of his career. More important than, you know, average folks like you and I. He had that vibe about him. He's in real estate. Apparently he has been doing that for the past five years, before that he was whatever, can't remember. Something important. To him. 
_______________
________

After my argument with Jon, I headed to work. I tried not to think about it. I did get a call from my friend. I told her what was going on but I don't think she got a word of what  I said. She was either not listening or having another conversation on the side with someone else. It's the story of my life; nobody either listens or understand what I say. I turned off my phone and headed to the studio. I didn't have time. I had someone new to get pissed about; the friend who zoned out what I was pouring my heart onto her. Sometimes that's what you need, someone to derail your anger.

I went straight home after the show. It was very late.  The following morning, I had a show in the morning. Don't get me wrong about these shows, I wasn't the star of the shows or anything. I was doing background work. I got up, got ready and headed out, leaving Jon asleep. Just before I left, something said I should check to see if my new laptop from the Queen Latifah show was still there. I had it in a pouch in a shelf right next to my bed. I planned to hide all my valuables when I got home. It was just a feeling I had. After the show, everyone was like why don't we go standby for another show? I am not a fan of standing by. For some reason, I hardly ever get in when I standby. On my way, my agent was like, hey Brook, do you wanna come along and see if they need you at the other show? I thought, why not? I'm getting  a free ride and maybe I will have a better chance of getting in seeing as I am with her.

I waited over there for about an hour before they told us they didn't need us. I headed home. When I got home, my apartment was clean, John had moved out. He left his key on the stand next to my bed, or in between our beds. First thing that came to mind was, MY NEW LAPTOP! The one I use was on the stand, I didn't have to worry about that. I looked where I keep the other laptop and it was gone! He stole it! I looked around the apartment like a fool in case he misplaced it. Like, why would he misplace something that he is not supposed to even use? It was shock! I was blown away that he left the way he did and stole from me. I also checked to see if there was anything else missing. By then, my heart was about to jump right out of my own chest. I could literally cough it out, I was so shocked. The silverware drawer was almost empty, all the spoons and teaspoons were gone and a few other not so valuable things. 

I ran downstairs to the office and told them what happened. There were two ladies in the office when I went to report, the manager and her assistant. The assistant continued to read a book, the manager looked at me, in a lights-on-nobody's-home kind of way. When I was done telling them what happened, crickets! Literally! They had nothing to say! How the fck do you not have anything to say when someone come to you for mercy at a time like that? I was shocked out of my mind, my eyes must have looked like they were about to pop out! Did they care? Meh!

One of them said, call the police! Then...crickets. I was like, (tail in between legs) thanks. Ok then and walked away. That made me wanna break down and cry more than what had just happened in my apartment. I went back to my apartment, got a call from Lenny. I told him what had just happened. He was like, well, call the police! In a more, what are you telling me this for? You want me to buy you a new laptop? B!tch I ain't even met you yet, call the cops, way! I called the police, they were there in no time. They took details, asked if I called Jon. As if this is the more normal thing ever, all I had to do was to call him and he would bring the stuff he stole back. In the words of my ex roommate, Laura (who spent all her time in the closet), ARE YOU JOKING ME! I called Jon, just so I could say, I did. He didn't pick up. The police told me not to worry, they would call him, threaten him and would get the laptop back to me. Piece of cake! I called Julie, she was so shocked and so pissed that that a** hole did that to me, she took his number and called him. That was nice of her. That's what you expect from a friend. To get as pissed as you are when sht like that happens, not someone who zones out. Jon never picked up when Julie called.

I had been expecting the last of my gifts from the Queen Latifah show from last year's Christmas show. this was February already. Lo and behold, I got a knock on the door. It was the delivery man. My parcel had arrived. It was a huge box with a whole lot of snacks, from boxes of chocolate, to popcorn (I know more popcorn), fruit, salmon (Random), Nuts, all kind of nuts, love me some nuts. All this on my most stressful day of the year thus far. What am I going to do about them other than lock myself up in my apartment and stuff my face silly? I couldn't tell you how any of them tasted, I was just chewing and swallowing, chewing and swallowing. Mind you, I had just started with the weight loss program? Oh well!














Tuesday, July 01, 2014

There is a God!

I was very hopeful after my nice date with Rancho. Looks like there might just be a God after all!

Rancho and I continued to stay in contact 24/7, text when he was at work then he wold call me on his way home and we would talk until it was time for him to go to bed. He asked to see me again. He wanted to take me to the movies. I was down! 

I must have seen James one more time after meeting Rancho. Whenever I see him, he tells me he wants to take me out for coffee or something or just a drive around Los Angeles, but that has yet to happen. It's always nice hanging out though. Who would say no to that beauty? Rancho seemed to have an issue with the fact that I had a male roommate. He told me any man would have a problem with that. Even though I told him the guy was gay, he told me that's just me saying that. I would have told him to come over and meet my roommate but, first Jon wasn't going to go for that, he, for some reason wasn't liking Rancho very much; secondly, I wasn't ready to have Rancho come over to my place. If I am telling you my roommate is gay, he's gay. Even if he were straight, that doesn't mean we are doing each other. Why would I put myself out there looking for a man if I had one at home. Jon is a good looking man, nice body, blue eyes, dark hair, just like I like em. He's 6' tall and he dresses well. If he were my man, there is no way, I would be looking for someone else. HE IS GAY therefore I am not his type. 

The following week, Rancho cancelled out date, he had to work, he was working twelve hour shifts, he sometimes drive around all over the place working on computers in their different branches. Between his work and his family, I tell ya, good luck in getting  a minute to meet up with him! One evening, he called as usual on his way home. We talked until he got home. He had just bought a new Blue Ray DVD of something or other. He told me he was about to watch it. He asked if I wanted to join him. I was like I don't know about being in an enclosed space with you like that! He promised it was just about the movie. I was like, sure, why not! I guess I will take my movie date anyway I can get it. 

He picked me up in Hollywood in his late wife's car. Nice SUV.Awkward as heck! I literally could feel his late wife's spirit in that car. He has a nice house too, double storey and all. We went upstairs to the guest bedroom where there are two twin size beds to lay down and watch the movie. I was like, why do we have to go to the bedroom? Apparently, that's where the tv is.  The sofas in the living room, downstairs were covered up in white sheets. I bet you it had been that way since the wife died. He presence was very much still in that house. He told me that he doesn't bring girls to the house. I was the first girl there since the wife. Whatever! That's still not gonna get you into my pants though, boo. It will take much more work than that!

We watched a little bit of the movie and may or may not have fooled around a bit. Nothing hectic happened though, trust me. I'm a nice person but not that nice! After the movie, he took me home. he didn't want to have to drive me to my place in traffic in the morning before driving himself to work in traffic. I got it. He sleep drove all the way to LA, it wasn't cute. I felt bad for him. Especially the fact that he still had to drive himself home asleep. 

He told me he was going to be fine once he got himself a soda. After dropping me off, he went and got himself a soda, then called me on the way home. We talked on the phone until he got home, to ensure he stayed awake. Bluetooth, don't worry, nobody was talking on the phone and driving. It was nice to spend some quality time with him and to see his cute house. I felt like him and I were headed in the right direction. We got along well.

His grandson was about to have a first birthday. He told me he was going to head out of state to celebrate. I hadn't seen him in more than a week, he had been working back to back. I asked him to see me before he left for Texas. He worked non stop until a few days before his trip. We were talking on the phone,  he told me that he had just got home and there was no power. Apparently, they left them notes that afternoon informing them that there would be a power outage than night until early the following morning. He told me that he wasn't a big fan of the dark so he was going to spend the night in a hotel. He asked if I wanted to join him. Ok, the story is a bit far fetched for my liking. You are going to be asleep, first thing the following morning, you will head for work, why do you care if the lights are out? You won't be home that long? Maybe I don't get the fear of the dark. Maybe it was a big deal that he was going to be alone in the house in the dark having lost his wife a year ago. Who knows, maybe she still visits him. What do I know?

I agreed to go to the hotel with him on condition, there was going to be no hanky panky. He agreed. I got him on tape. Haha, just kidding. My phone doesn't have that feature. haha. I took a change of clothes just in case I got booked for a gig the following day. We drove around Hollywood looking for accommodation. We found somewhere not to far from my place. We checked in, rushed to our room. Hung out, watched some telly, talked, made out and went to sleep. He told me that it was going to be the first time without lights without his wife. I felt bad for him. Not THAT bad though. If you know what I mean. Men will use any excuse to get in your pants. Sorry guys, You know I love you but I gotta tell it like it is. I am just not the girl who offers pity sex. Not my style. 

Rancho dropped me off the following morning, then he drove to work. Turned out his workplace isn't that far from where we were staying nor my place. I told him to rent out the house and be my roommate in my studio haha. That's totally feasible. Himself, the dog, the cat and I. Hashtag Perfect family.

He left for Texas a few days late and never called while he was there. He called as soon as he got back. In fact, he texted. Hey, I'm back, what are you up to. BTCh! What! Just kidding. I was like you know you could have kept in touch while you were away too. It's totally normal to do that. Don't act like you didn't leave someone like me behind, and then all of a sudden, hey, I'm back me! Stay in mutha fckn touch, ya hear me? lol I didn't put it that way though. We love Rancho, we don't talk to him that way.

February 2014
Jon, the roommate were still living together in holy matrimony. He paid his rent for February like on the fifth. Granted, he had moved in on January fifth. Even though he committed to taking the place way before that. I didn't ask for the rent. I waited until the fifth, lo and behold, he paid it then. 

One morning, on his way to the dumpster, Jon saw a vacant apartment. Much bigger than ours. He called and told me about it, saying we should move there. First of all, at that point, I was ready to give him notice, to have him out by the end of February. It wasn't working out between him and I. I wasn't trying to move with him to yet another apartment. My apartment was a tad bit smaller than the one he saw. All the apartments in the block were studios, they had Small, Medium (mine) and Large. I was lucky to have signed my lease a week before I moved in, I got to pay last year's rate. Rent went up the following week. Because I went out of my way to buy the bed, new linen and everything for my roommate, I charged him  $50 extra per month for all that. It's nothing compared to what I paid for the stuff but I gathered over time, I will get my money back. Jon didn't have a bed, he has a ton of pillows, maybe a blanket here and there but that's it. 

Before I returned his text about moving to the bigger apartment, he had already gone to the office to get some information about us moving there. They didn't know him, were not aware he was my roommate. I made no secret of it, I didn't didn't go out of my way to introduce him to the people in the office. I didn't see why I would have to. On my way out that afternoon, I got called into the office. They looked me dead in the eye and said, 'we know about the man!' What man? What's going on? 'The man that you have living with you upstairs? You know you have to pay extra for that!' I DO? NOBODY TOLD ME THAT WHEN I MOVED IN!?!?!?!? I specifically asked the manager what the deal was if I were to have someone move in with me, when I signed the lease. She told me, they would just have to sign on the lease, there is an extra part here for an extra person. They never told me I have to pay extra for that. What if I had moved in with my boyfriend, my husband, child, mother, whatever? What would the deal have been then? I didn't get it. I wasn't opposed to paying if I have to, I just wasn't crazy about the fact that they are going to tell me out of the blue like that. Most of all, they act like I was trying to hide Jon. Jon, who has his own keys, he walks in and out as he wishes, HE EVEN HAS A BICYCLE! He walks in, right past the office with his bicycle in hand, parks it in the back, and walks back to the stairs. What are they talking about, we know about the man? Btch pls! 

Jon called again about the move. I told him I was on my way out, we would have to talk about it later. I wish he hadn't been that forward to go to the office himself unless he wanted to move in there by himself. He has bad credit, nobody will rent to him, he will forever be someone's roommate until the day he dies. So why are you going to the office when you are not a tenant here? You are my tenant, I told you I would talk to the guys in the office when you told me this the first time. You couldn't wait? As If you have the credit to get approved for an apartment! Seriously, I was just not in the mood! 

That night, I told him that they want me to pay an extra $50 for double occupancy, therefore him and I were going to split it. Inasmuch as I didn't know about it when I had him move it, it never would have been a problem if he hadn't been forwards, so either you pay it yourself, or we split it up. He had been there for two months, so we had to pay $100. I told him I would pay for one of the two months. He was livid. He went on about how he knows that I am duping him. How much am I paying? Why is he paying more than me. BECAUSE BTCH, I TOLD YOU HOW MUCH I WANTED FOR RENT, AND YOU AGREED. YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN IT OR LEFT IT. Nobody held a gun to your head. The fck? The btch in him came out, the guy went on and on and on and on. I was on my way out to another job. I told him, I was done with that conversation. Unlike him who had told me he had a job but is always in that dog on apartment, I actually had somewhere to be. He was like, BROOK! BROOK! BROOOOOKKKKKKKKK! I am still talking to you! Where are you going? Brooookkkkk. I told him  I wasn't going to stick around and be yelled at by him in my own apartment. Him and I could talk about that later on when he had calmed down. Or not at all, I could care less. I walked away furious. I was just so overwhelmed. He called me all kinds of names, telling me I am a crook, what was he expecting from someone from Nigeria. People did warn him about Nigerians...








Monday, June 16, 2014

From Hell to Heaven

James and I spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing at his place. Later on, I went home to my darling Jon. He was always at home. Clearly, he never saw the part on my ad for roommate that said please have a job or school and a life. We didn't have internet. I paid extra to use my phone as a hotspot. That was just for me though because it is not the fastest. I would let him log on if he had something important to do on the net. Far as I'm concerned, it's not important enough if you're not going to pay for your own internet to do it but ok, have your sense of entitlement!

He would wait for me to get home and as soon as I got home, he would log on or if I didn't enable the hotspot thingy on my phone, he would walk around with a long face and be like, CAN YOU PLLLEEEEEESSEEE DO THE INTERNET THINGY, i NEED TO GO ONLINE! It's like what the heck, dude, you just wanna sext random men on that gay hookup site, who cares? I thought you said you had a job, why are you always home? Dang! 

I didn't see or hear from James again for a while. He has a life. That's the guy who should have roomed with me. Ugh! 

As time went on, the loneliness crept in again. I subscribed on the dating site. I got an email from a guy who lives about an hour away from LA. He seemed legit, in his early to mid forties, widowed, looking for a long term relationship. We emailed back and forth for a bit then he asked for my number. 

I saw an ad online where they were looking for people to participate in some kind of a weight loss research. I applied. We were going to get paid for participating. Score! This came about not long after my new friend, the one we went to the Queen Latifah show with, when we won tons of gifts? She gave me weightloss pills, it really bothered her that 'I am so beautiful, but so fat'. So I went along and took the pills. They made me really energetic, My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my eyes, I think I was high or something. Maybe my pupils were dilated, who knows? I was bouncing off the walls, it was interesting.

I got accepted at the research thingy. Yay! They called me in for a physical check up and a ton of paperwork. I did all that, they weighed me and told me to get off the diet pills for two weeks and go back thereafter for another 'initial' weigh in. They told me that I would be disqualified if I gained more than 2lbs per week. That's less than 1kg! I knew I was going to watch what I eat and be careful in general, I wasn't going to let that opportunity pass me by. What I wasn't crazy about was that because that was research, they were going to put half the subjects on a placebo, half on the real weightloss pill and see who lost weight. I didn't wanna be on a placebo. I had real weight loss pills at home that were working just fine, dilated pupils at all. they got a pass cos they were going to pay me more than $3 000 after the six month period.


On my way home from the first appointment, I got a call from the guy I had been talking to online. We'll call him Rancho. He sounded better than he looked. I'm not saying he looked bad but he looked kinda nerdy, he sounded normal. We talked for an hour on the phone, it was nice. We seemed to have a few things in common. He told me he goes to Vegas quite often, I hadn't been to Vegas yet. He told me that he would take me. He also goes to San Francisco twice a year to shop. I was like oh no, that's in my list of to go places. He told me he would take me but first he needed to see if I liked him. I'm easy, I can like anyone, you should see the guys I've dated, sht, be nice to me, and I'm down. Be an asshole and I'm out, I won't even leave you a note goodbye. It's that simple.

We planned to meet the following day. He didn't care where we would go, I had to decide what we were going to do. I told him let's do lunch in Hollywood that way I wouldn't have to be in the car with him. I had learnt my lesson from being in a car with Persian Persuasion I still can't believe that man tried to rape me with his finger. You should have seen him trying to stick it in, trying to aim as much as possible. There I was ducking and diving and someone has a hang under my dress, trying to stick his finger in my private parts. Who does that? Rancho was ok with my idea. I told him we could go to the beach to chill after lunch. He was like, if the date goes well, I will take you to the beach, if not, I will take you home. Deal!  

I was excited to meet him. It's not everyday someone age appropriate wants to date me. We talked a little bit further and I was like screw it, let him pick me up, I'm not dressing up cute and taking the bus or worse, walking to the restaurant in the dusty streets of Hollywood. He came to pick me up that afternoon. I remember, I was on skype with my sister. I got ready while we were still chatting. He called to say he was going to be there in 40 mins, then he told me when he arrived. I was so nervous. I didn't know which wig to wear, if at all. Oh my goodness! My sister and I agreed on outfit. She logged off as I was about to walk out the apartment.

He told me he was driving a white car, he was out front. I rushed over there. No white car! He had driven around the block, there was no parking in front of our block, he told me to wait for him. I did, ever so nervous. He came around, man! I'm not materialistic but, NICE CAR! He looks so much cuter in person. I got even more nervous. I thought the guy was a geeky nerdy person who works on computers and x-boxes 24/7.  I got in the car. He wouldn't look me in the eye. I thought, great, he is not interested. Awesome, we're gonna have a short date, then he will dump me back here. Oh well, at least I tried. I was even thinking of being like, you know what? Er, I gotta go back. See ya later! Bye! I put my big girl panties on and rolled with it! He took me to Red lobster far away. I couldn't tell ya where that place is. 

He seemed nervous too as we went along, the drive to the restaurant was about 30  minutes. I ordered a mixed platter with shrimp, calamari and some veggies. Everything was deep fried, including the veggies. Have you ever seen broccoli drenched in oil? Well... He ordered steamed shrimp and I can't remember what else. He offered me some of his food. That was nice cos mine was inedible. We talked about general stuff. Very platonic. Nothing date like. I could tell he wasn't into me like that. He was just trying to kill time. 

He was married for 13 years or so. His wife died last year. They never had kids, he has a daughter with an ex girlfriend. Daughter has her own family now, she lives in a different state. Rancho's mom doesn't live that far from him. He had an IT job offer in Japan but forwent it to be close to his elderly mom. He is very close to his family. He also has a sister. Older. He was going to go for dinner with his mom that very evening. After lunch, I used the restroom and got ready for the long drive home. We walked to the car. He opened the door for me, we had what could be mistaken for a moment there for a second but we had spent enough time together that I could tell, we were not that couple. As we were driving off the parking lot, he asked me which beach I wanted to go to. I couldn't believe it! OMG! He likes me! He really, really likes me! (in that Sally Field voice). 

I didn't care which beach we went to, I was happy to have been wrong about him and I. I knew he was interested when he put his hand on my knee on our way to the beach. We arrived at seal beach. He didn't want me to walk on the sand and bring it into his car cos he had washed it that morning. I was like why did you bring me here then? smdh. We sat in the car and watched the sun set and talked. It was nice. After that, he was like, ok, come on, let's go. We went for a short walk towards the beach and watched more sunset. It got dark quickly. Not creepy dark, it was just after sunset after all. He came closer, gave me a nice hug and may or may not have rest his head on my chest. It was a nice moment though, not creepy. Trust me, I know creepy, I've been through creepy, I recognise her when I see her. 

We walked back to the car. We talked for a second, he hugged me and stole a kiss. Nothing more than a peck on the lips aka baby kiss. It was all a welcome surprise as I didn't think any of that was going to be happening that evening. It was a nice change to the last date I had been on where I left flying barefoot smdh. 

Rancho dropped me off, he was rushing to meet up with his mother at 8pm. He called me on his way home. We talked until he got home. His mom was too tired from church, she cancelled. We talked on the phone the entire night until we went to bed around 2 the following morning.