My Tampa Trip 06/09

My story takes place in the magical land of Tampa. The drive from Atlanta to Tampa is a piece of cake and I lived in St. Pete for seven years as adolescent so I know certain areas like the back of my hand. A lot of people ask me, “What do you do during the day?” The simple answer is “what ever I want”, but the unabridged answer is what follows…With 7 weeks until Expo in Vegas (the biggest event in the industry, where I am also nominated Club Favorite) a good part of my days are filled with music editing, working out and costume design (do these shoes match my boobs?).
But on my second day…oh the second day! I decide to go to the vegan restaurant Leafy Greens Café in St. Petersburg. Why, you ask? One reason is that I am pretty much a veg-head, and that I thought with traveling so much I would do vegetarian restaurant reviews. Well, that is going to have to wait for another story because what happens next needs its own space. When I try to park at the eatery, I realize that the space is actually occupied, not by a compact car or motorcycle, but by a 4-foot leather camel on wheels. Guess I will park up the street! As soon as I get out of my van, a homeless fellow comes up to me mumbling some thing about 37 cents and geese…I pick up the pace and so does he. I turn and give him a dirty look. He returned the stank eye and moved faster. Three things went through my head. My elementary school teacher preaching the buddy system, how I hate being wrong, and that I could take him.
I get to the café and learn there are no seats inside only patio, and he was out side sticking his tongue out at me. I explain my predicament to the hostess when I hear a boisterous punk rock lesbian couple say, “Honey, you can sit with us, we’re not scared!” To which I reply “me neither!” Bet they weren’t expecting that one! I sit and we talk. I start explaining what I do for a living, from featuring to Playboy to my start at a fetish club. This is the point where the pink mohawked gal announces she is also a fetish model and pushes away from the table to reveal she is in a wheelchair. She tells me that she models latex clothing and has a prothstetic leg, which that alone is fethized by many!
I immediately think about the odd series of event has just happened in such a short time frame and can’t what to write about them, how much my bill will be (whoa!) and how freak’n radical my new friends are.
After Lunch I’m off to St. Pete Beach, where the water reminds me of green sea glass, the sand is like baby powder. This is exactly what I need. I wear my thing bikini, which I love but instantly regret when I see the large amount of small children on the beach. I receive a few scowls but a lot of smiles, mostly from the gentlemen. I’m sure it was because these large, hairy men in Speedos felt a comradery of too small bikini-ness. Or it could just be because they saw my butt. After such a rollercoaster of a day, I can’t wait to see what the next booking holds. Over the next month I will criss-cross the United states from Wisconsin to Alaska. Tampa (again, this time for a fetish event) to North Carolina. With that being said, I’m sure I will eat, meet, see and do some interesting stuff!