Adventure #2-- Cuban Food and South African Music

Last night I went to the ATL with David. We were going to see the South African rap-rave group, Die Antwoord. I don't know how famous Die Antwoord is in South Africa, but they sold out in Atlanta. This is my favorite of their songs:

Before the concert, we went to dinner. There are lots of food options in Chattanooga, but nothing like the amazing ethnic options there are in Atlanta. We ended up going to this awesome Cuban restaurant  called Papi's. It was founded by a Cuban family that escaped Cuba in 1990. Just like many of the best restaurants I've been to, it looked a little dodgy from the outside. I got this insanely good cubed pork thing that came with a giant pile of extremely flavorful black beans and rice, and plantain cakes.  I'm not a big plantain fan, but apparently there are two kinds of plantains-- sweet and non-sweet. I've only ever had the sweet kind, that taste kinda like bananas. Not a fan. But the plantain cakes last night were made out of non-sweet plantains. They taste a lot like potatoes, and if you know me, you know I've never met a potato I didn't like (except au gratin. Those are an abomination). We got mojitos to go along with dinner, and those were also really good. At so many places, when you order something involving lime, it tastes like some nasty syrup that came out of a plastic bucket somewhere. The mojitos at Papi's were really good though. They were not stingy with the rum, and the lime juice tasted freshly squeezed.

Die Antwoord were awesome too. Their shows are pretty short, and we missed the first couple of songs, but what we heard was amazing. There was such a high level of energy in the room, and I got to hear them perform Baby's on Fire, so I was happy.

Adventure #1-- The Duck Boat

On Saturday, I did some local tourism. I've always loved the idea of local tourism. It is so neat to see what there is to do nearby. I got three groupons for the duck boat this past summer. My mom and sister were in town, and I was trying to think of fun things to do. Unfortunately, the week they were here it was hotter than the hinge of hell-- over 100º the whole week. And my sister was 7 months pregnant, and in no mood to be traipsing around in the boiling hot sun. So, I didn't use the duck boat groupons. But then, this weekend, merely 4 days before expiring, the duck boat groupons lived out their purpose.

Sunny's man-friend was in town, so we decided to ride the duck boat. 

"What is the duck boat?" you might be wondering. It's an amphibious vehicle used in WWII. So we drove to the Tennessee river, then launched into the river (at high speed). It was so freaking fun. The tour guide was hilarious, and I learned all kinds of interesting trivia about Chattanooga, the riverfront, the bridges, the little island in the river, etc. 

For instance:

• The market st. bridge opens in the middle. It was paid for in equal thirds by Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi, because this MS congressman thought that the south would rise again, and he wanted a bridge that could open to permit the giant confederate battle ships through. (This was not in 1882 or something. No, no, this was in the 1920s.)
• The fountain next to the aquarium has seven jets of water representing seven indian tribes.
• The waterfall fountain next to the aquarium is a trail of tears memorial
• The broken down nasty looking situation across from the aquarium used to be a floating restaurant. But the guy who owned it tied the ropes between it and the land too tight, so when the river flooded, the restaurant kinda sank a little. 
• A duckboat can head down a steep ramp into the river really fast.
• The number markings on the bridge supports are boat clearance markings, not water depth markings.
• The island in the river used to be a dairy farm. That all ended when a flood carried off all the cows. It was made into a dairy farm in the first place because the stuck up old rich lady who lived on the bluff hated listening to the kids who would go out to the island to engage in scandalous activities such as drinking, smooching, and skinny dipping. 
• Chattanooga was a crime filled cesspool until the aquarium was opened in 1992 and started bringing in tourism. Now only certain parts of the city are crime filled cesspools. Work in progress.
• The delta queen has a good bar on it. We should go as our next act of local tourism.
• I don't remember anything else, but I know I learned a lot more. 

Here are some fun pictures (taken by Chris and Sunny) from the duck boat:

Like two duck boats that pass in the night.
This was a duck boat we passed on our way back.

The Market St. Bridge. Whole new appreciation.
Can you imagine what it'd look like open?

Right after launch. We were really excited.

Before we boarded. No idea of the joy to come.

Overall adventure rating: 5 stars. Usually tickets cost $20, which I personally think is really steep. I'm also ridiculously cheap. Groupon tickets were $10 each, and for an hour and a half of pure awesome fun, they were so worth it. 

A bloggy statement of purpose

I have pretty much always blogged, since blogging was a thing. First there was xanga, where I just talked about what was going on in my life. Then three successive blogspot blogs-- one where I complained about things that pissed me off, one about ways I was trying to improve my life, and one about working on passing the CPA exam. 

I came across this quote somewhere in the middle (I hope!) of my CPA exam journey, and it really spoke to me:

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way." - Alfred d'Souza

With my last two blogs I have been so focused on the future. What can I do in the future, how will my future look, what am I doing today to make the future better, how can I overcome [obstacle du jour] so that I can [goal du jour], blah blah blah. 

With this blog, I want to focus on today, because today is real life, even more than tomorrow is.