The New Year, New Orleans, and a Meme
Well, my resolutions this year are the same ones I have every year. I never really fulfill them, but get closer each year. Here they are:
1. Exercise a lot, regularly. In other words, do it up right.
2. Stop cursing.
Last night I get sentimental and went to nola.com and watched the bourbocam for a little while. Most of the revelers this year were older folks. A great many were Red Cross volunteers who had been in NO for a few months and had grown fond of the place--how can you not, even when it's covered in slime and death? Although the crowd was very very different than usual, it made me happy. New Orleans will rise up out of the muck again, and I think it will be very different than it was before, yet weirdly the same, too.
Last night in the 9th Ward (where they are still finding bodies, btw) they hauled in some generators and high powered spotlight beams for the new year. They pointed them into the sky to indicate that the 9th Ward will recover. If you don't know anything about that area of the city (except for the fact that they talked about it a lot during the disaster), it used to be a slum about 30 years ago. It was full of dirt-poor people and crime. That's why it doesn't even have a name. I don't know if other states do that, but in this state, the dirt-poor areas of cities often don't get names and are just called the Whatever Ward or Wardville.
But that area matured into a district of educated people who pulled their families out of poverty and renovated those crappy old houses and worked to drive crime out of the district. Not to sound like a fairytale or anything--cause nothing ever is--but it's especially sad that these residents who had only so recently pulled themselves from squalor were reduced to it again. Sad, sad.
There was also a jazz funeral in New Orleans yesterday to pay honor to the hurricane victims. It wound through the quarter, though, and so it was just a feel-good thing. Had it been a true honor, it would have wound through the DEVASTATED parts of the city, not the one part that was left unscathed. Eh, oh well.
At about 11:45 last night, I got a call from my dear Sarabelle, who was standing in the middle of some fun party in Brooklyn, feeling tear-y about New Orleans. We reminisced until midnight.
And now, a meme!
Four Jobs You’ve Had in Your Life:
Zoo Tour Guide, Waitress at Enormous Seafood Restaurant, College Radio DJ, Hospice Primary Relief Caregiver
Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
Urban Cowboy (the most accurate portrayal of hick texans ever), Practical Magic (corny and sweet), Showgirls (Nomi's got heat), The Burbs (funniest movie of all time, ever)
Four Places You’ve Lived:
Instead of listing cities, I will list environments.
1--A house with two guy roommates, one of their girlfriends, her baby (but not his baby), a girl who slept on the couch every night for 6 months, a dog, and two cats.
2--An unairconditioned dorm room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
3--Liz's couch for two months when I was temporarily homeless.
4--With a big, farty, white dog in an apartment that routinely flooded out of the downstairs toilet or washing machine, next-door to Limon and Mrs. Jibbly.
Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:
Lost, House (Shelley, I didn't know you were a fan, too! I love-love that show), CSI, Bones (it's good and David Boreanez gets to beat someone up now and then, a la Angel)
Four Places You’ve Been on Vacation:
All over the Bay Area, San Fran; Disney World; SanDestin; Minneapolis
Four Websites You Visit Daily:
i only visit two daily. ONTD and CPMCoG.
Four of Your Favorite Foods:
Strawberry Shortcakes from Dairy Queen, Pud Thai with Tofu, my husband's homemade pizzas, M&Ms.
Four Places You’d Rather Be:
There is nowhere I'd rather be. Four places I wish I could teleport to? The Salt Lake area, the NYC area, the OKC area, the Baton Rouge area. Liz, I love you but you are the only person I know in Santa Cruz. You can teleport to me!
Four Albums You Can’t Live Without:
I have no idea. I have grown away from good music in the past few years, and instead listen to and enjoy the crap on the radio. I will say that I couldn't live without the radio. Oh, and the Dixie Chicks' first album. And Rockell's dance music, all of it.
1. Exercise a lot, regularly. In other words, do it up right.
2. Stop cursing.
Last night I get sentimental and went to nola.com and watched the bourbocam for a little while. Most of the revelers this year were older folks. A great many were Red Cross volunteers who had been in NO for a few months and had grown fond of the place--how can you not, even when it's covered in slime and death? Although the crowd was very very different than usual, it made me happy. New Orleans will rise up out of the muck again, and I think it will be very different than it was before, yet weirdly the same, too.
Last night in the 9th Ward (where they are still finding bodies, btw) they hauled in some generators and high powered spotlight beams for the new year. They pointed them into the sky to indicate that the 9th Ward will recover. If you don't know anything about that area of the city (except for the fact that they talked about it a lot during the disaster), it used to be a slum about 30 years ago. It was full of dirt-poor people and crime. That's why it doesn't even have a name. I don't know if other states do that, but in this state, the dirt-poor areas of cities often don't get names and are just called the Whatever Ward or Wardville.
But that area matured into a district of educated people who pulled their families out of poverty and renovated those crappy old houses and worked to drive crime out of the district. Not to sound like a fairytale or anything--cause nothing ever is--but it's especially sad that these residents who had only so recently pulled themselves from squalor were reduced to it again. Sad, sad.
There was also a jazz funeral in New Orleans yesterday to pay honor to the hurricane victims. It wound through the quarter, though, and so it was just a feel-good thing. Had it been a true honor, it would have wound through the DEVASTATED parts of the city, not the one part that was left unscathed. Eh, oh well.
At about 11:45 last night, I got a call from my dear Sarabelle, who was standing in the middle of some fun party in Brooklyn, feeling tear-y about New Orleans. We reminisced until midnight.
And now, a meme!
Four Jobs You’ve Had in Your Life:
Zoo Tour Guide, Waitress at Enormous Seafood Restaurant, College Radio DJ, Hospice Primary Relief Caregiver
Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
Urban Cowboy (the most accurate portrayal of hick texans ever), Practical Magic (corny and sweet), Showgirls (Nomi's got heat), The Burbs (funniest movie of all time, ever)
Four Places You’ve Lived:
Instead of listing cities, I will list environments.
1--A house with two guy roommates, one of their girlfriends, her baby (but not his baby), a girl who slept on the couch every night for 6 months, a dog, and two cats.
2--An unairconditioned dorm room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
3--Liz's couch for two months when I was temporarily homeless.
4--With a big, farty, white dog in an apartment that routinely flooded out of the downstairs toilet or washing machine, next-door to Limon and Mrs. Jibbly.
Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:
Lost, House (Shelley, I didn't know you were a fan, too! I love-love that show), CSI, Bones (it's good and David Boreanez gets to beat someone up now and then, a la Angel)
Four Places You’ve Been on Vacation:
All over the Bay Area, San Fran; Disney World; SanDestin; Minneapolis
Four Websites You Visit Daily:
i only visit two daily. ONTD and CPMCoG.
Four of Your Favorite Foods:
Strawberry Shortcakes from Dairy Queen, Pud Thai with Tofu, my husband's homemade pizzas, M&Ms.
Four Places You’d Rather Be:
There is nowhere I'd rather be. Four places I wish I could teleport to? The Salt Lake area, the NYC area, the OKC area, the Baton Rouge area. Liz, I love you but you are the only person I know in Santa Cruz. You can teleport to me!
Four Albums You Can’t Live Without:
I have no idea. I have grown away from good music in the past few years, and instead listen to and enjoy the crap on the radio. I will say that I couldn't live without the radio. Oh, and the Dixie Chicks' first album. And Rockell's dance music, all of it.
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