monkey-stacking in the bewilderness May 10, 2008
I went camping last night with B and the kids. We were at Fountainbleau State Park, which B’s daughter called “the bewilderness.” I’m not much of a camper, but, as B said, it was only “sorta camping.” For instance, we had wireless internet. I’m more of an indoorsy type, so I was like “too many bugs, not enough room service.”
I do like sleeping outdoors, though. I have vicarious nostalgia for the days when we had sleeping porches in the south. We were snuggled down in our tent with a nice breeze blowing through when we were awakened in the middle of the night by car headlights and the cops yelling at the next people down.
They were a group of teenagers. I heard a policeman yell, “put your hands behind your back and lean over the car!” The four of us quietly peered outside but we couldn’t see what was going on because of the headlights shining in.
This morning, we found out that the group had just graduated from high school and they were celebrating by camping out and committing the terrible crime of drinking beer. There were two eighteen-year-olds in the group and they were both arrested. One of the moms brought the teenagers back this morning to get their cars.
B and I really didn’t think a little beer-drinking ought to provoke such a display by the cops. They were yelling at the kids like they were dogs. I thought it was pretty responsible of them to park themselves at a campground and drink rather than to drive around in cars doing it, like when I was a kid. I guess I should be happy that no one was tasered.
Speaking of the cute things five-year-olds say, B’s daughter overheard him use the term “multi-tasking.” She asked, “what’s monkey-stacking?” So, henceforward, the word “multi-tasking” is hereby replaced by the much more apt term “monkey-stacking.”
my parole powers May 8, 2008
At tonight’s OPDEC meeting, Sheriff Marlin Gusman came and explained to us about our parole powers. Apparently, all elected officials in Orleans parish, including yours truly, can get people out of jail. Not for everything, just municipal offenses, and nothing involving violence. But, hey, get caught piss-ass drunk on the street on Mardi Gras, and I’m your girl.
Gusman was pretty funny when running down the list of offenses for which we cannot get you released from jail, such as murder, domestic abuse, etc. “Basically, stuff you do not want to touch with a 50-foot pole.”
He said they are tearing down the old jail and building a new one, because everyone figured out that you don’t want the utilities to come into the jail from underground. You want them to come in from above. Well, no kidding. The jail is in one of the lowest parts of the city.
At tonight’s meeting, I also found out who our super delegates are to the Democratic convention. Without further ado, they are: Patsy Arceneaux, Elsie Burkhalter, Don Cazayoux, Ben Jeffers, Dollar Bill Jefferson, Mary Landrieu, Buddy Leach, Charlie Melancon, Sugar Ray Nagin, Renee “Dodge Durango” Gill Pratt and Chris Whittington. All are unpledged except for Renee Gill Pratt and Patsy Arceneaux (Clinton) and Ben Jeffers (Obama).
I also have a lot of names and e-mails for Democratic party organizers, so if anyone wants to get involved, e-mail me. I believe they are hiring field organizers, and they are looking for neighborhood volunteers. I think it’s worth it to organize, just to get people to register to vote. We have other elections coming besides this one. I also have a large stack of voter registration cards, if anyone needs them.
‘08 fest notes May 4, 2008
I don’t know what got into me yesterday, but I went to Jazz Fest without sunscreen. I guess I just assumed it was going to rain all day, since that seemed to be this year’s theme. Twenty minutes into Henry Butler’s set, I was beet red. We went to the Foundation’s hospitality room to recover and a nice woman there took pity and rubbed suncreen all over me.
I sat with B and Sophmom on the balcony overlooking the Allison Miner stage and heard a very pleasant performance by Spencer Bohren. Unfortunately, a helicopter kept buzzing the area and drowned him out at times.
I think my favorite thing about Jazz Fest, after Crawfish Strudel, is the craft booths. When they first moved the contemporary crafts out of the infield and onto the paved area, I didn’t like it because it always seemed so hot out there and the sun was blinding. This year, the weather was much cooler than it usually is because of all the rain. The contemporary crafts area was mostly dry and completely free of mud. I realized that as you make your way down the rows of booths, you can clearly hear what’s going on in the Gospel tent, then you can clearly hear the Blues tent at the other end.
I went on a bit of a shopping binge that included a couple of beautiful dresses from Kate Beck and another aluminum cut-out bracelet from Go-Go.
At the end of the day, B and I went to Viv’s, where we had the most delicious dinner in a lovely setting in Vivian’s beautiful garden. A friend of theirs had single-handedly cooked crawfish etouffee, grits and grillades, bar-b-qued whole beef filet, eggplant parmesian and I don’t know what-all for 30 people. A beautiful meal to top off a beautiful day. Most of the group was from out of town, here just for Jazz Fest. It’s always interesting to meet people who have come to town visiting. One interesting thing about last night was that the visitors asked us about Mardi Gras, the Neville Brothers, etc., but no one even mentioned the hurricane. It seems like for such a long time now, people who don’t know you would always ask if your house got flooded.
Some of Viv’s guests were from New Iberia, so she had Remy on display with some of his shriveled flowers still clinging to him. His Spanish moss beard still looked great.
I woke up still pretty sunburned, so I decided not to go festing today and just hang around the compound. B and Sophmom didn’t want to go either, so we gave our tickets and our hospitality room passes to Hana Morris, her mother and her kids. Hana said that she wants her kids to be real New Orleanians, so she wants to start them off going to Jazz Fest. It seems a lot harder to do that nowadays. When my kids were little, you could still set up canopies at the back of the audience area. We used to sit under the canopy shade with the kids all day while the menfolks brought us beer and food, the way God intended it.
stove up April 30, 2008
I’ve come down with a bad cold. I’m sure that being out in the rain all weekend didn’t help. I imagine that the pharmacy shelves all over town have been emptied of cold and sinus medicine by all the people who braved the weather at Jazz Fest.
Luckily Sophmom, like all mothers, is an amateur physician. She read the ingredients on my over-the-counter medicine stash and determined they were child’s play. She pulled out her own stash and started handing me pills. I meekly took them as she called out the chemical names, which mean nothing to me. All I know is that we could make methamphetamine if we had a Bunsen burner.
in which i roll April 29, 2008
I had to get Eddie to take the Exploder in and replace the front bumper. He gave me a car to drive until Friday, and it’s a very nice Volvo. I noticed yesterday that the Volvo symbol on the steering wheel is a circle with an arrow pointing out at 2:00. It’s the well-known symbol for the male gender. It’s also the symbol for the planet Mars in astrology, and it’s the symbol for iron in alchemy lore. “Volvo” also means “I roll” in Latin. Well, I don’t know what it all means, I’m just sayin’.
weather geek report April 26, 2008
Sophmom is a big weather geek. She knows what the weather is going to do before the weather knows. Her verdict: today is not going to be too bad, but it’s going to rain all day tomorrow. Bummer. It’s unusually cool for Jazz Fest this year. We’re hitting the Fairgrounds today because there might not be a tomorrow!
such a beautiful day, such a beautiful day, i think i’ll wear my brand new negligee April 25, 2008
Actually, the day was mostly filled with work, including a round trip across the river to Gretna, but what can one do? I didn’t get to go to Jazz Fest, but I’ll catch up tomorrow. The weather was extra pleasant.
I met Sophmom and some of her friends at Ralph’s on the Park. I could hear Sheryl Crow playing as I walked up to the restaurant. There was a really handsome man in the group who was giving me the eye, so, naturally I spilled red wine on my shirt. Later, we went to R&O’s and I ordered boiled shrimp. I proceeded to squirt shrimp juice on top of the wine stain. This display of klutziness only endeared me to him further. Who can explain men?
insurance, sophmom, and two cute guys April 23, 2008
I got a letter from the insurance company saying that my homeowners insurance on the house in Hammond expired on April 9 for non-payment of the premium. Huh? I called over there and the mortgage company had indeed paid it. I guess it was just a joke. A little pre-hurricane-season unfunny insurance company humor.
I accidentally deleted the post a wrote a few days ago about my job. I was going to try to reconstruct it, but nah. Bottom line, I’m working for a family lawyer. It’s quite different from anything I’ve done before. It’ll help me on the bar exam when I have to take Code I again. I’m enjoying the office being 100% women, also a new thing. It’s close to my house, which is nice since it now costs $50.00 to fill up the Exploder. I don’t feel comfortable at all writing much about it because the issues are very personal. It’s interesting and I am learing a lot.
Sophmom, world’s greatest house guest, is staying here with me for the duration. This is her first Jazz Fest. The other night, we went to Vega Tapas with Patrick and B, and it was excellent. Tonight, we are cocooning and watching Top Chef. Georgina loves having Sophmom around, she calls her “Aunt Sophmom.”
a politician for whatever
Here is a funny website about John Kennedy, our senatorial candidate who believes in whatever. Check out the exclusive A-list blog roll.
from my cold, dead hands
So, my boss and B are in favor of the cellphone-while-driving ban. What is the matter with people? Do you really want a law that allows the police to pull you over for talking on a cell phone while driving?
On the way home from work yesterday, I was driving along, talking on the phone with my son. I needed to make a right turn, so I pulled into the turning lane. Suddenly, an old white guy in a banged up pick-up truck came over into my lane and cut me off. He did not even see me. He had no cell phone, he was just driving around oblivious to other people on the road.
I’m with Jeff Arnold and J.P. Morrell on this one. This bill does nothing but allow police another reason to pull people over and search their cars. It will not make driving any safer for the average person. There are many more things that distract people while driving. The worst distraction in a car is kids, followed by fooling with the radio.
We already have laws against running into people and failing to change lanes properly. Why don’t we just wait and punish cell phone users after they have committed those violations?
I guess I’ll have to dig out that little earphone thingy that came with my phone and learn how to use it when I’m in the car. I hope I don’t run into anyone.
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