201 son what!?

Day 8 Friday 1/15/10

I was in the mood for chicken and waffles. I asked if there was a spot like Roscoe’s and my homey suggested the Merrit Restaurant & Bakery. The only difference between Roscoe’s and Merrit is, Merrit serves belgian waffles and Roscoe’s serves a regular waffle. Both have good chicken so I recommend trying it if you are in Oakland. Later that night we went to the Heights Lounge on Van Ess Ave. I walked in and gave a $20 bill at the door thinking it couldn’t be more than $10 to get in. I was mistaken, the cover was $20 and as I had my hand out waiting for my change, they took my wrist turned it and stamped it. I was taken by surprised by the amount, but it was all good and what could I really do about it? The club wasn't too crowded but it was still popping. The music was just ok if you like hyphy and west coast hip-hop. They did play a few more other tracks but I was too drunk to remember. Now, I’ve noticed that outside the tri-state area people are a lot nicer and more relax. I was chilling by the bar with my drink when someone bumped me trying to pass through. I politely pardoned myself thinking I might have been in his way, but the dude was sorrier than I was. He went out of his way to even shake my hand and apologize. I was like, damn, really, it is like that out here. People outside the tri-state seem to be more polite and civil. Maybe it's because there is a lot of sunshine over there. Back home, Jersey aka the swamp, people are more aggressive, defensive, and have a chip on their shoulder. If this were NYC club that person probably would of been rude enough to bump me and then keep it moving like I wasn't even there. Now being that I was with people from back home, it didn't take long for that aggressiveness to come out. We were all on the dance floor in our dance circle, which is like a soul train line but in a circle. Since you really can't just dance with strangers like that, I was told that the dance circle allows you to dance freely with anyone within it. All of a sudden this drunken guy comes shimming his way over trying to dance with one of the ladies. The drunk guy stumbles over my friend while my friend was dancing and the Jersey attitude came out with the quickness. Instead of excusing himself and squashing it, he instinctively pushes the guy away. The drunken guy gave him a confused look, he probably was expecting the handshake of peace like I got earlier but instead he got shoved and ice grilled. The bouncers quickly broke it up and we all continued to party like nothing even happened. My friend was in Cali mode, to Jersey mode, back to Cali mode in a matter of seconds. That night really demonstrated how different people really are outside the tri-state area, thanks for the reminder LOL....