Boobies and vomit and the smell of urine…
Ahhh, Mardi Gras. What an amazingly fun time for a person who doesn’t drink. I have just returned from a whirlwind three day tour of New Orleans, hence the looooong absence from the journal (okay,okay I had to work some long hours too.) But the good news is, you get to hear about debauchery and nudity. New ORleans was fun. You can wander the French Quarter for hours and not get lost. How? Landmarks. Landmarks like the pinkish pale of stomach chunks in the Subway entrance. Or the street that smells like the men’s room at Yankee Stadium on Free beer night. Mmmm. Not even the odor of Funnel Cakes could overpower it. In fact, I may never be able to eat funnel cakes again, lest my mind awake a sense memory of bile/urine freshness. But aside from that, here are some fun things I saw: Boobies. Old boobies, small boobies, fat boobies, fake boobies, athletic boobies, possibly underage boobies, male boobies, and artificial souvenir plastic boobies. Don’t say I didn’t take anything away from this trip. There were crazy costumes, crazy people, really good food, and more. We wandered out of the rain into a restaurant called … well, something, I forget. They were understaffed due to exhaustion, so they only had four people working. But the service was still great and the food was amazing. Turns out it was a four star fancy-pants restaurant in the midst of a casual run during Mardi Gras. They will be highly recommended here, as soon as I remember the name. Aleks, help me. We also saw the oldest cemetary, and a voodoo queen’s grave, and a slightly rambling ceremony from a voodoo priestess, and we saw Armstrong Park, the hotel overcharged, and we ate a king cake that was missing the king. Or perhaps one of us ate a tiny plastic baby Jesus, which is somehow poetically symbolic of the entire idea of Mardi GRas. From the Tutu wearing “French Special Forces” who roamed Bourbon street surrendering to the couple wearing strategically placed construction safety tape, it was a time I will always treasure. Plus, I got monkey beads. I am still a bit travel lagged from the whole thing, but I plan to fill in the foggy details as they come back.
In other news, I have sent some plays off to contests, and am getting the Totem ready for another run at publishers and contests. Cross your fingers for me.
The writing group has begun, and we are off to a slightly wobbly start, myself included, but I am sure everyone who promised to write will write, and those who promised to respond will respond.
Speaking of, I must go now to respnd and send out the next assignment…
Stay tuned y’all…