Slacking February 23, 2007

I know this is going to be hard to believe (for the one person who reads this, anyways) but I do not have enough information to blog about American Idol.  I know tonight was the first kick off show of the season but it is also the night The Office comes on and I have to say, The Office is winning out over Idol.  I did take a few notes and hope to be able to blog about this week and next week’s Idol next week.  That is, if I am near a computer.  The next two weeks are looking to be jam packed with mayhem and foolishness (I got that expression from Niecy Nash-one of my new favorite personalities).  I am going to be burning up the roads if all goes as planned.  We will see.  At any rate, I am hoping it will be a good time to reflect on some old news and make some new! 

In regards to my last post I would like to extend a warm thank you to all of you who got me something really good for Valentine’s Day (and some of you did!) or just forgot about me altogether (which means you did not get me something bad like a Tweety Bird pencil case).  It was a lovely day that was filled with lots of sweet love and of course, the everpresent drama that comes with living and working on a college campus.  There is no way I could be in charge of this many residents and not ever run into some drama.  It is good for me, though, and sure keeps things interesting.  We recently had a holiday-one of the many joys of living in the Port City-and of course, had the day off for it.  We celebrate President’s Day on campus buIt the rest of the Gulf Coast celebrates Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.  I decided to spend the day in New Orleans (I came to that decision with the help of Brandie J.).  It was well worth my time and going without sleep for about 36 hours.  It was one of the craziest experiences of my life and I would encourage you to visit the city during Mardi Gras and catch a few beads at a Fat Tuesday parade.  It was definitely a cultural experience.  And, as usual, quite an adventure for me and the crazy people with whom I spent the day.  As some of you know, my only other experience with Mardi Gras was about 5 years ago when I went to a parade in downtown Mobile.  I have a real problem with food products that are not on plates or going into someone’s mouth so you can imagine the horror I felt when my foot (clad in a flip flop) stepped on a hamburger.  In that moment, I vowed never to attend another Mardi Gras parade in Mobile.  Now some of you may think that is silly but if you know me at all, that makes perfect sense.  I must admit that when I found out that I would be attending parades in the Crescent City, I was on high alert considering that most  everytime (ok, all the time) I have ever been in the city the streets are littered with various food products and unidentifiable liquids and such and it always smells like hot garbage and urine.  This time was no different, in fact, it was hot garbage times a thousand with all the people who were celebrating around the clock.  We arrived in New Orleans around midnight and surprised some friends who live there and some who had flown back in for the celebration.  It was such a good surprise!!!! They literally fell down!  We got ready for bed since we knew we had to get up so early the next morning.  After everyone was in their bed or on their air mattress, Jaclyn spoke up and said that she was hungry.  We all agreed and decided that maybe we should just get up and get ready and stay up until the parades were over.  We needed to be down on St Charles at an early hour to get a good spot and there was no since in sleeping for 2 hours and getting up.  We got ready and headed out into the Nation’s Murder Capital.  I would like to say that the streets were full of danger and that we were so scared but it was quite the opposite.  Everyone -minus us four-were drunk as a skunk and consumed with having a good time.  No one that we saw was looking to murder anyone.  We rode around looking for a 24 hour food establishment (which are few and far between thanks to Trina).  We were directed to a dive in Metarie known as the Tic Toc Cafe.  My, oh my!  Was this ever a dive!  It was evident that Trina had not even thought about knocking on the door of this establishment.  It was brown and dark and dirty and great!  We were all really hungry so we were contemplating what to get when we our first friend of the evening.  To say he was under the influence would be an understatement (although the waitress later told us that he comes in all the time and was not drunk).  He was talking some crazy mess for the whole time he was in there and trying to get us to go up and sit at the counter with him.  We eventually did that, after he left, of course, and it was a good thing that we did.  There was one waitress working the whole place.  She definitely had her hands full.  When we weren’t ordering or people watching, they had the direct tv set on USA so that we could watch Bring it On Again.  I can safely say that I have never been to a resturaunt as varied as this one (except for, maybe, Mama Misatonos up on Sand Mountain-An Italian Restaurant that is also a shooting range housed in a double wide trailer right outside of Boaz, AL).  There is so much I could say about this place and maybe I will one day.  It is too late to hit all the details. I will just say that if I know what it is like to be on the set of a movie because there was no way this place was real.  After our meal we went to the Quarter and walked around.  Not our best idea but it is a must see if you are in town, especially during Mardi Gras.  It is one of the saddest, most bizarre, loud, smelly, hopeless, colorful, dramatic, places on the face of the planet.  It is not for the faint of heart.  We took in the scene and decided to head uptown since it was almost 4 Am.  On the way out, we stopped by to see if New Orleans’ newest famous residents were home but all the lights were out.  Maybe next time we are in town, Bradgelina will want to hang out with us.  We got to a parking lot around 5 Am and slept for a while in the car.  I was so excited that I did not sleep at all.  I just kind of sat and looked at all the craziness going on around our car.  We decided to head on to St Charles on foot around 5:45 AM so that we could get a good spot.  We got a great place right on the parade routes for Zulu and Rex.  There is not enough time nor could I ever give you all the details of what we saw from our spot on St Charles.  It was a feast for the senses-BBQ chicken on the grill, a brass band, drunk Tulane students living in a tent city on the street car rails, a cool breeze…….all before 6 AM on a Tuesday morning!  There is so much I could tell you and maybe later, but like I said before it is late and I don’t even know how I am still typing right now!  We caught many a strand of beads and several coconuts from the Zulu folks.  After it was all over there was a late lunch and a short nap and then back to Mobile.  I guess I was somewhat punished for going because I was definitely sick the next day.  It was all worth it though and I would highly recommend taking in at least one Mardi Gras in your lifetime.  Maybe I can provide you with more details when I can hold my eyes open. For now-Peace out!