To say I've had a great week would be a gross understatement....

The following post is rated L, for wicked hella long.

So it's been a little over a week since I turned 21, and it's been such an awesome time for me so far. Let's start with the big day itself:

Thursday was the day I had been waiting so long for, though I have to say, it felt like just another day. I didn't feel any different, and I wasn' quite as excited as I thought I would be. It was more like a "Alright, im 21! It's about time...I'm hungry, I wonder what's in the fridge" sort of feeling. Probably because I had a test in my class that day. Speaking of that test, it didn't even happen, because the professor didn't show up. He was "running late" and had to postpone the test until that Monday. That was a waste of time. I wasn't too upset, it was my birthday, and I had the whole day ahead of me. I wen't with my mother to the store to pick out my birthday cake, it was a hard choice between cheesecake and carrot cake, but I stuck to my favorite, the cheesecake. Mom, grandma, Rodney (my big brother who we picked up from the airport the day before, greeting him with an embarassingly sincere welcome home involving party favors and lots of yelling) and I enjoyed some pizza before getting ready for the night ahead.

That night we headed to Chelsea Piers to catch a ride on the Spirit of New York for a nice three hours on the waters surrounding Manhattan. Getting there was a bitch, though. My mother knew how to get there, but getting into the pier's parking lot was a big hassle, added to the fact that we were caught in the middle of a torrential downpour. So it's hard to see, there's traffic out the ying yang, and time's flying by before the boat sets sail. Fortunately we found a parking lot to use and we could walk to the pier. The downside was that it was raining so hard that it using an umbrella was pretty much worthless. I was kinda upset because I had fixed my hair so nicely and it was pretty much ruined, or so I thought. We finally get to the boat, shake my hair out, and it looks exactly as I fixed it, only with a bit of a wet shine to it.

I got a nice surprise when I got to the pier, when I saw two of my cousins, Ilene and Ronnie, there waiting for us. They decided to tag along for the trip. It was a nice surprise for me. It took a little bit of getting used to being on the ship because I kept feeling woozy, but I got used to it after a little while. The whole ride was relaxing, albeit a little cold for a while since we all were sitting close to an air vent. There were three performers that sang at various times during the night, they were amazing. the highlight of the night was when two of the performers asked my brother and I to join them in one of the upcoming songs as The Temptations. Before either of us could say anything, my mother said "Of course they do!" So we put on the outfits and we performed as The Temptations. It was a lot of fun, we had to follow the lead of the performers, I did the best I could, Rodney did his own thing, but we both had a lot of fun doing it. Overall the cruise was lots of fun, good food, good entertainment, lots of fun memories, and the weather had cleared up before the ship left. I got a bunch of calls from friends and family during the night, which made me feel really good. It was a great night with the family, one that I'll never forget.

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Monday, I took the test that was supposed to be on Thursday. I didn't study for it at all that weekend. I finished it in about a half hour and hoped for the best. As I was walking home, I passed by my old junior high school, like I always do when I walk home from that class, but today was different. I noticed a man putting up some flyers outside the school. He had his back to me so I couldn't get a good look at him, but he looked very familiar, so I took a shot in the dark and called him. "Mr. Habib?" He quickly turns around to see who was calling him, he faintly recognizes me, so I give him a few hints to see if he'll remember my name, eventually the light bulb goes off in his head, "Calvin!!" We shake hands and we start talking for a little while and catch up. BTW, Mr. Habib was my math teacher in 7th and 8th grade, he was probably one of the best teachers I've ever had. After a little while he invites me to come in, the city is sponsoring free school lunches for the summer. I resist at first, then I give in since i have a hard time saying no to free food, even if it's shitty school lunch. I enjoy my free meal, which was not bad at all, they seem to be improving on the school food.Mr. Habib was telling me how some of my old teachers were doing. They all seem to have gone on to bigger and better things, which is awesome because they all deserve it. Mr. Habib asks if I want to talk to two of my old teachers, Ms. Guercin and Ms. Donovan, who were my 6th and 7th grade teachers. Of course I wanted to talk to them, i haven't seen or heard from them in the better part of a decade. Ms. Donovan wasn't home, so I left her a message, and I was expecting Ms. Guercin not to be home, and I was thinking of a message to leave her, but then she picks up and I'm kinda thrown off, so I scramble to say something. All I mainly did was tell her my name and she immediately remembered me. I spent maybe a good 20 miniutes talking and catching up. She's an assistant principal at a school in Long Island. It sounds like she's doing very good for herself. I let her know where I was working, and since she's familiar with the area, I may get a visit from her as well as a few others one of these days. I hope she drops by and visits, I'd love to see her. I had a lot of animosity towards her in the past, but that was during my angry and confused period in my life, mainly caused by that school, but that's a story for another day. I'll be visiting Mr. Habib at the school every once in a while to see how he's doing, and enjoy a nice school lunch.

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Wednesday, I got back the results of my test and all of my homeworks. all my homeworks, A. The test, out of a possible 105, I got a 97. So basically I pwn3d balls in that class, and I didn't have to take the final exam, so W007 to me. I stopped by the school and hung out with Mr. Habib for a bit, enjoyed some school food, and headed home. While surfing on the internet, I saw that guitarist Kaki King was performing in Manhattan that night, so I decided to check that out. It was a 21+ show, so this would be the first time I could check out a 21+ show legally, and it felt pretty damn good. I whipped out my brand spanking new NY state ID that I got in the mail two days after my birthday (The DMV was really up on it!) and got in with no problems. As I waited for Kaki King to start her show, I enjoyed the act that was playing before her, The Scott Sharrard Band. They were a trio that did Funk mixed with Soul and Jazz. They were great, especially when Scott Sharrard started tapping into some George Benson. I decided to sign up for the mailing list and buy his album. Right after they finished their set, Kaki King and her band came up and started their set. I had seen her on Last Call with Carson Daly a while back and was instantly intrigued by her playing style, fingerpicking in very odd tunings ala Ani Defranco. Seeing her on tv is one thing, seeing her live is something out of this world. The soundscapes that she and her band churned out had me almost in a trance. I was sitting next to this couple, Mike and Tasha, and Mike had seen Kaki King live before, and he was blown away by her. He went to check her out again. The first two songs she played wasn't like her previous songs, so Mike was literally in his seat pouting about it. Then the next song she played was in normal Kaki King fashion, so he became more upbeat and got into it more. It was a great set, and I enjoyed it. So much so that I'm going to go again this coming Wednesday to see her again.After her set ended, I talked to Kaki King for a few seconds, then headed off to the exit. As I was leaving, I noticed Eric Krasno, the guitarist from Soulive, just hanging out, mingling with his friend. Now Eric Krasno is one of my guitar heroes, so I'm standing there completely starstruck, plus I'm really surprised at how tall he is, about 6'2" - 6'3". So I just go for it, I walk up to him and introduce myself, and we start talking for about 5 minutes, maybe more, I lost track of the time while I was talking to him. He told me about a lot of things pertaining to himself musically, including new Soulive album details, his solo project, who he's going to be collaborating with, etc. It was awesome. I was really pleased by how down to earth he is, not a speck of snob in him. He's just a regular guy, only with incredible guitar skills that people admire. Best of all, I got a picture with him.I don't think I've ever cheesed that hard in any picture I've ever been in, but hey, you'd be cheesin' like that if you met one of your heroes!So in summary, being 21 really whips the llama's ass. I hope this can be anywhere near this awesome in the future.