This morning started with the customary chatting and cackling, Nay doing hair (curling Neesh's hair and Jess's weave), and everyone collectively screaming (singing) and dancing to Silento's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae), T Wayne's "Nasty", and other ratchet hits and crunk classics while I looked on in amusement.
Once again we spent too much time lolligagging and mulling over plans (whatdoyouwannado? Idunnowhatevery'allwannado) to have enough time to go to the aquarium or to the movies before Nay had to go pick her dad up from work, so we ended up not really going anywhere or doing anything. Scenarios like these that boil down to poor planning and wasting time are one of my pet peeves, but I wasn't as annoyed as I'm wont to get since I'd known going into this trip that this would happen. My cousins, much like my mom, take their time doing things and cannot, will not, be rushed. They're "we'll get there when we get there" kinds of people. And rather than spending the days happily checking to-dos and to-sees off of a varied itinerary like I would've done if it were just me (or me and Ma), I knew that for this go-round, I would just be along for the ride for whatever my cousins got around to deciding. And that's alright.
We left the house around 3pm and went shopping much like yesterday, but this time our destination was the shopping center at Atlantic Station. All I ended up purchasing was a pair of earrings at Old Navy. From there we passed the Millennium Gate Museum arch and through Midtown to Chris's job. He took over the wheel of his car, and I was glad to have a break because mannn... after two days of driving behind my cousin Nay around this city, my nerves are shot! That girl knows I ain't never been here before but still insists on flying down roads and switching lanes like it's a game of highway hopscotch! But she also knows her way around and hasn't gotten us lost (and I haven't gotten my crew in any accidents), so it's working out.
Chris took us on an impromptu mini driving tour through downtown Atlanta on the way back to the house, where he barbecued dinner for us. Then we sat around the living room watching Love & Hip-Hop while I finished one of the two books that I brought with me.
Around 10pm we got ourselves together and headed to UBar, a ratchet club that tries to perpetrate as a sports bar. My cousins spent a few minutes "pre-gaming" in Taco Bell parking lot (because not only does UBar misrepresent itself as a sports bar, but they also do not have the ample free parking that
they egregiously oversell on their radio ads). We were all looking forward to going into this club, but then we walked over and were told by security that our cars would be towed if we left them at Taco Bell, and that UBar's age limit is 21 and up. (Admittedly, the latter was our bad, since we could've looked into it or called ahead before even changing our clothes to leave the house.) Since three of us are underage, UBar was out.
With no alternatives, we ended up coming to the house to munch on late-night snacks (wings and slushified Smirnoff Ice Screwdriver for me) and watch Brick Mansions. They made the mistake of asking me to pick the next movie at 2:30 in the morning, and since Netflix doesn't have The Lion King, I excitedly chose my secondary childhood favorite Hercules, which I fell asleep to.
Hmm... a wasted day, and my cousin Trish seems to share my frustration. Maybe tomorrow we can start planting seeds in our cousins' heads. Light a little fire under their them, you know?
More photos from the trip: