There's something in the air. Its an effort. Its a community movement. Its a shared hope. I'm talking of course about football season.
The Saints home opener is tomorrow and its become a pretty big deal.
Admittedly, i'm excited even if i won't be at the dome.

I love the hope that a new season brings. Its different now, of course.
In years past, it was always "wait til next year." And at that moment before the season started, anything was possible. We could become superbowl champs. Silly, right?
For four decades, hope was all we had. And then something changed.

Its a nice inspiration.
I'm still temping. I'd interviewed for a job last week but it didn't pan out. And i was working on a big real estate deal that fell through. These were both pretty dishartening but i've gotta believe i did everything i could and so they must have just not been meant to be.
And i'm looking for a new roommate. With the job prospects not going how i'd like, i need to find someone else to live with me and give me money.
I put an ad on craigslist which is a bit worrisome but i figure people find roomates that way all the time, it should be okay.

Ever want to just press fast forward and see how things are going to work out?
I watch soap operas and sometimes i'll read the spoiler sights to see what happens. I don't want to know how or when, just what.
Then i tune in to see the how and when they get to the what i'm expecting.

Too bad life doesn't have a spoiler site.
Oh wait- i'm pretty sure we all die! Hmm....that's not quite as uplifting as i would have hoped.

Wednesday i started temping with a company at Magazine and Poydras. I was all excited for an assignment downtown. Go just ten miles outside of my River Ridge apartment and you find sophistocation, class, movers and shakers.
Instead i was greeted by a sleeping homeless man on the front stoop of the building.

My office is on the first floor and as the acting receptionist, my desk in the lobby has three big windows that face the street. I was glad for the view but wished it was something besides a bum.
After a bit, i did start to feel bad for the guy. Not like the bum at St Charles and Calliope-- that guy seriously makes me cry everytime i pass him! But i still took comfort in seeing this guy breath because he was lying perfectly still curled up in the fetal position.

I felt sort of like a sociologist conducting an experiment though. People would walk by and most would ignore him, some would take an extra hard look and then keep on their way but a few did stop. I guess they at least wanted to make sure he wasn't dead.

Finally a cop showed up. The bum did not seem to want to be disturbed and took a while to awake. When he did, he began protesting, "I don't want to go to jail. Don't take me to jail!" The cop insisted he wasn't locking him up.
It was then the cop noticed and brought to my attention (i'm still spying out the window, mind you) that there are cuts and bruises all over the guys face.
He'd evidently been in some sort of fight so the cop called EMS and they came and got him.
Hope he's okay.

Since then i've been pretty much "minding the store."
I'm here just to answer phones and sign for packages while the employees are out "in the field."
In three days, i've signed for two packages and answered the phone maybe eight times.
I still think its crazy that companies hire temps to answer phones anyway. On what planet do i know anymore than the caller?
So i've been playing a lot of solitaire and have made it through most of season 2 of Charles in Charge on Netflix instant.

One of my co-workers was here yesterday morning... very hot but very unfriendly guy. He left around 1 and gave me his keys. Said i should lock up when i leave and let myself in in the morning.
I'm a temp and i'd been here for half a day and was given keys to the building! Score!

I sorta like being here alone..gives me time to do other things.
And the building is cool. More warehouse district art gallery than corporate high rise... exposed beams and brick, track lighting.
Not sure how long this assignment's for but it has definite advantages.
And i'm around the corner from Mother's so i've had super good roastbeef sandwiches for lunch two days in a row.

What's ironic is that i'm a realtor and i'm terrible with using keys!
The last client i was working with had to open the doors to the houses we looked at more than once.
And here at this temp company, i had the worst time trying to unlock and lock the stupid door!
Today i fought with it for ten minutes and gave up. Maybe its my suburban mentaility but is it really that big a deal to leave a door unlocked?
I need to take a lock class or something.

The Life and Times of Taryn Vinet are officially on hiatus.
Last summer when i got sick, i basically went on a four month "life break."
Have decided this is good to do once in a while.
My last day at UPS was this past Friday. It was bittersweet and very reminiscent of a the last episode of a tv show.
Saturday was my last performance of Lower Depths. That, too, was bittersweet. Cast turned out to be mostly really cool; something i honestly was concerned with a bit. And then last night was Magnum Night. Overall it was a success and i think it went smoothly and everyone had a good time.
We got 4 magnums this year! Then again we had about 40 people so it was all easily drunk.
Lots of people that i hadn't seen in a while.
Kinda glad its all over though- theatre awards season, magnum events with the muggles, being in a show, everything. I need a break from the crowds, from the socializing, from being "out there."
Time to re-charge the batteries, as they were. I would love to just "become a hermit" but that's not entirely possible.
I'm still working on real estate projects and looking for new clients, i'm searching for a new officey type job as well... i'm stage managing a show later this summer and continuing to go to the theatre just about every weekend but otherwise i think i'm gonna take it easy.
Summertime in nola is hot as all get out and i'm looking forward to indoor projects, organizing my apartment, thinning my netflix queue, etc. I endevor to be the most boring person i know.
Here's to goals! :)

I have a problem with flakes.
I'm sure that everyone has a problem with flakes but i am consciously aware of my problem with flakes. That's not to say that i never flake myself but i feel super guilty if and when i do. Hence why i'm generally good about not doing it often.

Last night i had plans- Rivertown was doing Singin in the Rain and i was scheduled to go see it with Stacy and Tommy.
And then something "suddenly came up."
Colleen and ET have these friends who i referred to as the "really nice couple" before i learned their names. They're just very welcoming and friendly people and they own a shop down in the Quarter. Apparently one of their clients is Sederick Ellis (third year defensive lineman for the Saints) and they've also befriended him.
He invited them (and a few of their friends) to a pool party at his house!
Party started at 6, i didn't have to meet Tommy til 7:30, i figured i could swing by for an hour...no big deal.
We arrive and his house is nice- not spectacular but its nice. We go straight to the backyard and there's this beautiful swimming pool with a rock waterfall and Pierre Thomas!!!
Everyone's real nice but we can't tell who's "somebody" on who "isn't"- there were lots of young, athletic looking black guys. There were also several girls there.... a few of which looked normal and one or two who looked like they just walked off the set of Jersey Shore.
A smiley guy introduces himself to us...."hi, i'm malcom" (he was malcom jenkins!) And then another guy in long braids, "Hey, Usama, nice to meet you" (usama young!) He was actually really cool... Colleen and i chatted with him for a few minutes.

We went inside and there were other people we didn't know... strangely, not Sederick Ellis who's house it was.
And in no time, an hour had past.
Colleen and Becca tried bribing me with drinks to get me to stay. "Party at the private home of superbowl champion Saints players" OR "go see a 50 year old musical"
At once point Becca even asked one of the guys if he thought i should stay and hang out or leave to go see a play... what do you think he said?

I shook my empty cup at Colleen- international symbol that i'm going to get a refill.
Then i walked back outside, told ET i was sneaking out (before Becca and Colleen reminded me of how dumb i was) and got into my car.
I drove home, met Tommy, we drove to Rivertown to meet Stacy and i spent the rest of the evening at the theatre in Kenner.

This is good karma, right?
I mean i'm glad i saw my friends and the play was good so its not as if this was a chore by any means-- its just the alternative wasn't something that happens every day.

Who knows, though? Maybe it will happen again. Maybe next time Drew Brees will be there :)

May sweeps!!

Is it weird (or delusional) that i think of my life as a tv show? An hour long program that's sort of a dramedy...
A season finale is near-- i can feel it; and it just so happens to coincide with actual tv season finales.
I have four more weeks with UPS. My last day will be the Friday before "The Lower Depths" closes and Magnum Night happens (plus my friend Jeff's wedding.) There's a lot of stuff, "on the verge."
I'm just waiting to see what will blow up and how it will resolve or if it'll end in some major cliffhanger!
Stay tuned for scenes from next week's episode...

*Yup, definitely weird- and delusional!
Eh, i don't really care*

Last night was the annual Big Easy entertainment awards. As they have a few times in the past, the theatre and music awards were combined but this year was at a new venue- the SugarMill on Convention Center Blvd.
This was my first show as i joined the committee right after the awards last year and i was very excited.
I realize Mondays are traditionally "dark" theatre days and so that's why we have them on that night but its really hard to get all gussied up at 5:30 on a Monday. I did my best but was less than impressed with how my outfit turned out. Luckily no one there was looking at me- they were looking at the performers and presenters and nominees... most of whom looked really great.

Rebecca went with me and when we walked in, it sort of looked like one of the fancy proms you see on tv-- i don't mean this in a bad way... it wasn't tacky or anything; that's just what it reminded me of.
There were stars hanging from the ceiling and round white tables all around (no dance floor of course.) And to the sides there were a few different bar stations with a buffet on stage right.
The bars incidentally were really cool. Each had a speciality drink- i particurily enjoyed the vodka strawberry lemonade and the whisky mint tea.

There were a lot of people there. It didn't feel crowded but i was definitely overwhelmed by it all. I think i might have a mild social anxiety disorder. I'm actually fine in a room full of strangers but the thing about this was there were a fair amount of people i knew pretty well, lots of people i didn't know at all and then a whole lot of people as well that i only "kinda sorta" know.
That's the worst! I am very bad at making aquaintences into friends.... much like how i mentioned in my last post that i can't make friends into aquaintences.
People are who they are for me and an upgrade or downgrade (in our level of friendship) is tough for me.
I was happy to see people that i don't get to see often and tell them hello and ask how they're doing but then... then. That's the problem! What do you do after that?
What happens AFTER, "Hi! How are you? Great to see you!"
And i don't say that last phrase to be insincere. I am not a smoozer- couldn't be if i wanted to. But maybe that's the problem.... searching for genuine connections in a time of small talk.
Tragic, right? Geez i'm self-analytical!!!

Anyway-- actual awards ceremony was nice. They did a round of theatre alternated with a round of music. It wasn't as chaotic as i was warned it might be. And it stayed very well on schedule-- the performances and everything seemed to go very smoothly.
I'm very proud to be on the theatre committee. I think its a really cool honor- i don't like to publisize it all the time because i feel like i'm pretentious and bragging but i really do enjoy it.
I do wish that the committee as a whole had more broad tastes in theatre.
There was one particular show- which was very well done, i don't mean anything ill toward it- but it SWEEPED the awards. Seriously it won everything it was nominated for...and it was nominated for practically everything.
It was a good play and there were very talented people involved in it. BUT it was not the only play produced last year. It was not the only good show produced last year. I know.... i saw others!
I wish we could have spread the love around and awarded a few other productions/individuals that would have been equally deserving. This made us look biased and like we only saw one play in 2009. But maybe that's a naieve mind-set. No one else seemed bothered by this so i guess that's just how it is.

Hi-lights of the evening:
Imagination Movers performing "get it ready, get it ready, get it ready ready"
HYSTERICAL! Then Becca tried to teach it to my friend Nina from writing group who happened to be there. Nina isn't from nola so didn't know the song and Becca was showing her all the hand motions. They would have looked silly except there was a gaggle of diverse people doing the same thing!
And I got to meet Bryan Batt! Its funny because i didn't even know who he was a few months ago.... i think i'd heard of him but i didn't really know much about him. Then i started netflixing Mad Men and suddenly he's everywhere! He was at the Wicked caberet show i went to and a few other places but i'd never met him.
Last night i made it my mission. I annoyed the crap out of Rebecca and six other people too i'm sure but i was bound and determined to be introduced to him.
And then completely out of the blue... my friend Carlos taps me on the shoulder and i turn around in my chair... he says, "i have someone i'd like you to meet..." Carlos gestures to Bryan who's standing right next to him! Bryan outstretches his hand and says "Hi, I'm Bryan, nice to meet you" :)
I then do my best impersonation of someone who doesn't sound like an idiot and tell him that i really like Mad Men... he says "thanks, i do too"
And i tell him i'm on the Big Easy committee-- the one time i've used that phrase hoping to impress someone... not that anything I could say would impress this major Broadway/Hollywood actor but ...
Anyway, he was really cool. We didn't talk long but i am eternally grateful to Carlos Gonzales!

John Goodman was there too but i didn't meet him- or have the overwhelming desire too.

All in all it was a good evening. I was really glad i was able to go and i'm looking forward to next year :)

There are two types of friends: those you catch up with on your life and those you live your life with.
I've always had trouble transitioning friendships from the latter to the former.
My friends have always been very important to me and as a result i spend far too much time i'm sure analyzing them. But i've always been very fortunate to have a few close friends in my life at any given time, i just wish the players didn't have to change. But c'est la vie, right?

Something else i realized (if i'm in a pensive sort of mood today).... i hope for good things to happen, especially for other people but for myself too. And when i tell people i'm "crossing fingers for them!" i genuinely want things to work out.
Yet if/when it actually does, i continue to keep my fingers crossed because i live in constant fear of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even when things seem to be working how i (or someone i care about) plans, i prepare myself for it to inevitably deteriorate.
Case in point: a good friend of mine got cast in a film he auditioned for. As he shared his news with friends, they all congratualated him. I said, "that's awesome! i'll keep my fingers crossed for you" ... as if i somehow expect the deal to fall through.
I don't mean to be so pessimistic; nor do i feel my wishing good luck actually does any good but i still feel the need to extend my ironic optimism beyond the point its needed.
I wonder if other people do that?

Last year was a busy year for me- some good, some not so good but even after the first quarter many things had begun to happen.
2010 feels very uneventful. Nothing has really happened and there is little promise of things yet to come. This isn't bringing on a cynicism but its not encouraging positive thinking either.
I believe in chain reactions. Once one good thing happens, many good things can happen. But there has to be a start.
And i know that one shouldn't stand around "waiting" for things to happen...they should "make" them happen.
Well to the person who came up with that one.... any tips??

Arena Rawk!

Last night i went to see Journey in concert and it was... fantastic.
I'd heard they were coming to town (with Night Ranger, the one-hit-wonder of Sister Christian opening) a while back and Becca and I talked about getting tickets but just figured they were too expensive or whatever.
Thursday morning i get a text from a friend of mine reading, "what are you doing saturday? i have an extra ticket to journey."
I was stoked!
So i picked him up last night (the least i could do was drive!!) and headed downtown. We parked at the dome and walked over to will call at the arena where he handed me my ticket- floor, 6th row!!
The arena was sparkling as we walked in- Night Ranger had just started and everything was dark except for the flashing lights that looked like a starry sky. We took our seats next to a couple in their early 40s from Jackson, Ms. The chick was a perfect mix of my friends Megan Stabb and Pauline Boudreaux- she was sweet but super enthusiastic (and possibly drunk.) She kept trying to get me to go up to the very front with her. Eventually she just went on her own and spent most of the concert up there- abandoning her husband. The husband, who reminded me of my friend Garett Bagwell, seemed to be in awe of Journey's new singer- the youtube find from the Philapeans. He kept saying things like, "look how high that Chinaman jumps" or "that Chinaman sure has a high voice..." It was pretty funny.
My date was really sweet and the concert was really good. Night Ranger seemed very excited to be performing and especially in New Orleans. Journey played everything i hoped they play (plus a few things that i really thought were by the Eagles...)
All in all, very good time. It was strange because i'd heard all these Journey songs played live before but i was used to the Mollys or Contraflow, was weird that this was the real deal (well sorta... Steve Perry is the voice on the radio...)
Journey is such a widely appealing band. My dad really likes them and went to their concerts back in the 70s and stuff. There were also people in their early 20s at this concert last night. Its just good classic rock- anyway you want it. Because that's the way you need it. :)

Motivation.
I always seem to get it at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
At 3pm, as i'm ready to leave work, i get all these ideas for things i should/could do. By 6:30 the following morning, I've lost all interest.
At writing group, i feel the inspiration to go home and write. I'm not going to do this at 9pm though, and by the next day the inspiration is goine.
And then there's real estate... I'll go to a training class or meet with my broker or something and come up with all sorts of marketing ideas and what not. By the time i have the chance to impliment them, though, i've either forgotten my idea or given up on the action.
Same thing with scanning, organizing my apt...everything.
The idea of something is always so drastically different from the reality of it.

I just had the best conversation. Probably one of the nicest i've had with a man in a really long time.
He's 77 years old and i met him at PJs Coffee.
I have a canvas bag which reads, "wherever i am is centerstage" and this man commented on it as i was sitting down at a table near him. He asked if i was an actor and we started talking about theatre and about opera- how american musicals are just as much operas as the traditional French and Italian ones but don't get the same credit. He mentioned Mozart and Germans lacking credibility as well. Then he told me about his time in the war- apparently he was some kind of military police inteligence officer or something but he also performed with a group with the USO. He was stationed in Japan and other places and taught American as a Second Language. He and his wife were married in the mid-50s and lived around Bayou St John. He told me about all the anti-bellum houses over there and about the Creoles. He talked about Marc Morial's father working for Sears-Robuck before people of color were alowed to do so and how he rode in the front of the streetcar but no one told him anything.
My friend once pulled a gun on a man who was abusing his wife and commanded off-duty Marines to apprehend another man beating up his wife at a Wal-Mart.
He toldme the history of Zydeco (something about greenbeans- haricot- without salt) and how he's had both knees replaced by a doctor who works for the Saints. When he told me that its been almost a year since his wife "went home to wait for me" i almost started crying right there. My maw-maw passed away in January and i kept picturing my paw-paw at the funeral. I should visit him more.
I love my paw-paw and wouldn't trade him for anything but i wish he had more stories.
The man i met today was full of all sorts of interesting tales to tell. He'd been all over the world and was obviously well-read. My paw-paw isn't quite as entertaining- then again, he's had 28 years to tell me the stories that this man (who's name i didn't catch) had only an hour to do.
Other people in the coffee shop would periodically look over at me- wondering if they should rescue me from what was obviously a stranger babbling on.
I was glad that no one interviened though.
As he left, he thanked me for our chat. He said that he'd just come from making arrangements that morning for the one year anniversary of his wife's passing and was feeling sort of blue. He said he enjoyed the conversation we'd had.
Fighting back tears again (old people always make me cry!) i realized i really enjoyed it too.

After seeing "Julie and Julia" last week, i've been inspired to take up blogging again. For a while i was posting blogs on my myspace account but i stopped for some reason and then (like everybody else) pretty much stopped using myspace anyway.

Well below is the first couple paragraphs of something i've written about my experiences earlier this summer:

There are two types of people: pill people and booze people. I am not a pill person.

That isn’t to say that I’m an alcoholic, either. I am quite simply, a New Orleanian.

What is a booze person to do then when liquor is no longer their friend and pills are not optional?

Turn a vice into a virtue.

It all started in the beginning of May 2009. I was 27 years old and living a content life balanced with work and social activities. And then I started to not feel like myself. I was tired and nauseated all the time and had become somewhat irritable. A friend of mine commented that my skin was beginning to look off color and the whites of my eyes had turned yellow. The following day at work, a co-worker concurred that I appeared jaundice.

I was sent to see a doctor who assigned me the unnerving task of peeing in a cup. Forty-five minutes and eight “ma’am, are you okay?”s later, I was still unable to produce the requested urine sample. The nurse informed me she’d simply draw some blood. At this point, I regressed a full twenty years and broke down in the doctor’s office. The temper tantrum I threw in that office did not seem to distract the nurse as she insisted on drawing my blood between my sobbing and convulsing. In an attempt to calm myself down, I sung as loudly as I could to the song playing on the radio. Sadly, even the world’s most committed, albeit bad, version of a Bon Jovi song wasn’t enough to prevent an eggplant colored bruise from almost immediately appearing on my arm.

Assaulted by a sharp object and traumatized, I was then informed they would still need my urine sample. Twenty minutes later, I managed to produce.

Thinking my humiliation was over, I finally steadied myself. Then the doctor informed me she would like to order more tests. I was sent across town to an outpatient clinic and had an ultrasound done on my stomach area. Insisting I wasn’t pregnant, the technician advised she was looking at my liver and pancreas. The ultrasound wasn’t pleasant but it could have been worse. After it was over, I was allowed to go home. I’d suffered enough for one day.

Myspace. Myspace. Myspace.
k, so i don't think i'll be posting on blogger anymore. Its not a bad site but i find myspace much easier.
So if you haven't already, please find me there. www.myspace.com/taryn0628 I think thats the link. Let me know if it doesn't work or something though..
:)

Coming full circle.
The day i left with my parents for the hurricane evacuation i was supposed to go antique shopping for one of those French parlor phones...needless to say, that didn't happen.
Well today, for Christmas, i got the phone. Things are as back to as 'normal' as i guess they can be. I am totally and completely content. Contentment is not necessarily a good thing though. When one is content, there is not drive to move. If one were happy, there would be no problem. Even if one were misreable, at least there would be a reason to make a change. Being content is dangerous because a person could theoretically stay that way forever.
Theatre in New Orleans is practically non-exsistant-- i had an audition for "I Love You, You're Perfect. Now Change" a few weeks ago but that didn't pan out. I'm supposed to be moving to the HR dept at work but i don't see that happening anytime soon. Things are just sort of stagnant.
At any rate, things could be MUCH worse so i'm at least grateful for that.
I saw "The Chronicles of Narnia" the other night-- highly recomend!

There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.
Last Friday night i went out after work with a couple of girls from the office and we had Mexican Martinis (instead of vodka or gin, its tequilla)... then i got the metaphorical ruby slippers.
Saturday i drove home. It has been so great to be back. The last week have just been amazing for no apparent reason...
No exciting stories, no pop culture to comment on. Just hanging with friends, seeing my grandparents, my apt. Seeing a couple of cool movies and visiting some of my favorite places in the city and going back to the old office building. Somehow seemed important to just put that into words...

Life is a journey not a destination...
The end is near.
I am going home in a week! I finally got my transfer and i only have to survive 5 more work days in this place. Its weird being here now. Ginny left. Kimber left. All i'm left with are Austin people- for what its worth, they all seem nice but i miss "my friends."
I got to see some of them this weekend though. I drove to San Antonio to Kat's and we went to Lake Charles to meet Steph and Robin for the Northwestern/McNeese game. We lost by 5 points! It sucked. It was nice seeing them though, we went to dinner and to the casino and met up with my friend Chassidy at this red neck country/cajun/rock bar that looked strangely like a VFW hall. But we made fools of ourselves trying to dance so its all good.
Today i went to a flea market in Winnie, Tx. with Steph and her family. Its funny, the day we evacuated for the hurricane i was supposed to go to a flea market. I had it in my head that i wanted to get one of those antique phones and i really wanted to spend that Saturday shopping for one and then my parents made me go to Houston with them. Now here i am 2 and a half months later and i still don't have a nice phone but somehow that seems ....unimportant.
So i'm very bored at work. My boss quit right after we got to Austin. The only other remaining manager who worked in the same dept as me has quit/got fired (long story) and so now i am basically running the entire residential call management dept (which is what i do, incidently). That being said, i'm ready to give it all up. Last week i had my one year anniversary with the company (how scary!) and i'm the only one left in my dept that is still there- i have these random new people working for me here. And its just so different than it was before and i don't feel like i have anything left to learn or do or whatever. So... i decided i want to do HR. The company i work for is small and i dunno, weird. And i think i'm be good at doing human resources. Either that or work on a train line-- i miss traveling but i've already done the airplane thing, which sucks because all you do is go from point a to point b and you don't see anything along the way. A train is the exact opposite, its not about where you started or even where you'll end up, just the experiences you have along the way...

Ma Vie en Austin.
So the last couple of weeks have been much better than they were the first few weeks i was in that god-forsaken place.
My friend Kat that lives in San Antonio came up two weekends ago with a friend from college and the three of us went to 6th street. 6th st is supposed to be Austin's version of Bourbon but it's more like Bealle St (i think i mis spelled that) in Memphis or there's a street in Louisville or even Pleasure Island at Disney World. It was nice-- much cleaner than Bourbon but its all UT people.
The next day we went with my current roomate Ginny to a cave. It was pretty cool. There's this place called Inner Space Cavern (just like the one i went to a year and a half ago with Stephanie in Kentucky) but its still really cool. I recomend anyone go check out a real live cave if you get the chance.
Last weekend Ginny and i went with some people from work out to Lake Travis. We rented a boat and went crusing along. Would have been a lot of fun except..... After about two hours out there of just riding and drinking wine coolers, we all had to pee. So we pulled over and figured we could just go in the bushes. Well there was a tube we were pulling because a couple of them went tubing, and we were using that as a bridge to get to land. Two of the other girls stepped on it and then to the shore just fine......Taryn has NO balance though and as soon as i stepped onto the tube, i fell in the lake! I spent the rest of the day soaking wet and freezing. It was worth it to get to pee though.
This Thursday i took off half a day to go down to San Antonio. Work is driving me insane with all the newbies and everything so i was very ready for a mini-break. Tommy was in S.A. on buisness so i got to spend the afternoon with him and then Kat came and met up with us that night. So nice to see MY friends and not have to hang out with the subsitute friends i've made.
Yesterday i drove to Baton Rouge to see Mickey. Saw a couple of other people in BR and then Becca came up for the Mollys. It had been almost three months since we'd seen them play-- was starting to have definate withdrawls.
They of course were amazing but the atmosphere sucked.
I've come to the conclusion that i am a major snob and that i really don't care. There are things i love and things i hate. Texas, for instance, while being a nice place for many people, is not my thing. Something else though that many people seem to really like that i am just NOT a fan-- LSU.
The concert was at the Varsity, this bar in BR. And 98% of the crowd was lsu people. What's crazy is that i felt just as out of place there as i did with the UT people on 6th street. Maybe i should have went to a bigger college...
At any rate..... i am currently 'home'. I feel like i'm in Back to the Future part 2 though. Its home but its like this alternate universe type place. Where's a flux capasitor when you need it??
Everything is so crowded and there's signs for stuff everywhere posting what's open and what's not, etc. Its just sorta crazy.
I'm going later today to get a "new" car. My 94 Cavilier that i've had for the last two years or so since i flipped my Camry in the ditch, is pretty much on its deathbed. So my dad found me another Camry. Its a 98 and it belongs to my aunt's neighbor. I've never seen it but i've agreed to buy it. Not smart. Hope it doesn't suck.
Going back to icky texas on sunday. Hopefully only for a few weeks though. I have every intention of being outta there by thanksgiving. Not sure where i'm gonna go though. My roomate (becca)'s mom has been subleting our apt plus i'd still have to pay rent at the place with ginny in austin. Troubles of two places to live will be over soon, though. Both leases are up in Decemeber. Back to square one then. I really don't know what i'm going to do.
But i'll figure something out.... i always do.

Rednecks and Mexicans.
I spent this weekend down in San Antonio visiting with Stephanie and Kat. Hanging out with them was nice because i don't get to see them often, the activities however were somewhat of a culture shock.
Saturday i went to Six Flags- Fiesta Texas (Steph works there). Kat came and met up with me when she could and it was pretty fun. So far, so good. Later that night though, the three of us along with a few of Stephanie's friends from work went to a bar called Midnight Rodeo. Yeah. The name pretty much says it. Hicktown-USA. It was incredible. It was a pretty big place with this oval shaped dance floor in the middle and people were dancing around it like it was a skating rink. I of course vowed not to 'two-step' but somehow got suckered into it. First with one of Steph's guy friends- that poor guy! I kept stepping on his feet and then i kept losing my shoes (note to self, sandles are not good country dancing shoes) so he was tripping on them. Well i finally after a few spins around mastered the one-two-three rhythm (i think its the waltz) albeit, moving my lips as i counted the whole time. A little while later though i'm sitting at the bar nursing my tequilla sunrise when a one armed cowboy asks me to dance (he had two arms but one of them was in a sling- i didn't ask him how come.) I tried telling him i was bad at it- to date, the thing i was most bad at in the world was laser tag... i think if possible, i might be worse at country dancing. The one armed cowboy insisted i dance with him, though. I was so worried i'd hit his bum arm that i kept knocking his hat off (very strange dancing with a guy with a wide brimmed hat). Other than that though, it was easier dancing with him than guys with both arms. I was more free. I kind of just did whatever i wanted because he wasn't doing a very good job of leading. I think that's my new thing now. I'm going to start looking for guys with only one arm- that way i can feel like i'm a good dancer.
Yesterday Steph had to work again so Kat and i went downtown. We ended up at a Mexican flea market. It was very colorful. There was lots of music (that i didn't understand) and crafts and food and people. There were a lot of people down there. I was definatley the minority of those people, though. Kat speaks Spanish and so when she ordered something it cost her $2. I ordered the exact same thing and they charged me $3. I did get a cool necklace though.
All in all, crazy weekend. Luckily though both places had the same wonderful thing in common- $2 margaritas! :)

My friend Beth has a quote up on her blog from "Garden State" (awesome movie incidently) that i really took heart to when i read it recently: "Maybe that's all a family is, a group of people who miss the same imaginary place."
We went into the office today (ironically my first day back was on Labor Day) and there were 12 of us. We met in the confrence room of this rental space they have and we talked 'game strategy'. They're talking about staying here for 6 months! I'd have to get an apartment and actually live here. I don't know why that's such a big deal to me- i've lived other places before but besides for the fact that i just absolutely hate Texas, this seems different. Its not a controlled experience, not really anyway. When i went away to college, i knew i'd be in Natchitoches for 8 semsters. The semester with Disney had me in Orlando for a set period of time as did my summer in Maine at the camp. Even all my stuff with the airline was on time limits and i could fly into New Orleans as often as i wanted. Here i have no control. I don't have my car, i don't know my way around...i feel lost. Its' okay, i mean i'm not all depressed and all. I'm lucky actually compared to most Katrina victims but it just doesn't feel right being here- even if there are friends of mine from work here. Maybe it will turn out good, though. We all went out to lunch today at this barbeque place called Ruby's, it was very good. And i haven't been downtown yet, i'm sure there's lots of theatres and stuff down there. Besides, i don't exactly have a choice.
My life in New Orleans was predictable. I went to work every day from 9-6 plus three nights a week i was delivering pizza. Most of my free time was spent with Becca and Tommy and lately Matt and Nick- which was fine but predictable. I was like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, resentful of the boring life i was living, unable to appreciate how lucky i was. And here i am, live and in technicolor (sans the yellow brick road and annoying little dog) and while i'm all about enjoying to adventure that lies ahead, i sure hope there's a pair of ruby slippers waiting for me at the end...

The lost city of New Orleans....
I guess i now know what it must have been like to have been part of the underwater world of Atlantis. I don't feel homeless. Homeless people can rome the streets of a house they once had. They are not 'homeless' just 'houseless'. I am the exact opposite because i have a perfectly good house (well maybe) i just can't get to it.
My family left my cousin's yesterday to drive up to Dallas to stay with my great aunt Betty and my dad's cousin Rick. I stayed at my cousin BJs an extra day though because Barrister called... My cousin's hot roomate took me to the Houston airport today to fly out to Austin for work. Evidently the austin office is semi-functional and they're trying to get the company up and running so they wanted me here. Kimber (the former bridezilla) is here with her now husband who works for barrister as is a few other people from work. They have us staying in an extended stay inn for now and as soon as they can get the server up and running, they're going to put us to work. Its kinda crazy. The company i work for wasn't the most organized before so i'm very interested to see how all this will play out. I don't know if they plan on going back to N.O. ever but they at least want to stick it out here 3 or 4 weeks. I just wish i could go back to check on my apt, get some of my stuff, get my car, etc. but i don't i'll be able. A couple of the guys from work managed to make it back into Harahan to get some of the equipment and they said they got pulled over multiple times, each by cops with guns in their faces. They said its horrible- dead bodies on the sides of the road and everything.... .ewwwwww
All i know is that i better get a serious raise if they expect me to stay here. Because it would take a lot for me to stay in Texas of all places....

Getting the hell out of Dodge.....
So here i am stuck in Texas of all places.... Houston- my cousin lives here and his gf works for one of the hotels out by the airport. My whole family practically is here, its kinda nuts. Hurricane Katrina wasn't THE BIG ONE that it could have been- a cat 5 hitting N.O. directly would have leveled it completely but looking at CNN, it still looks pretty bad.
As far as i know, all of my family and friends are alright and from what i understand my apartment should be in decent shape because that part of the city was relatively spared. We're not sure when we can go home, though. New Orleans is under martial law and they're not letting anyone in yet because of all the flooding, etc. I'd imagine the water and debris will be cleaned up in the next couple of days, the next problem though is the lack of power. They're saying it could be weeks before the electricity comes back on. We have extended family up in Dallas so we might drive up there if we have to...
This whole thing was so last minute though. Friday night i went to the Saints game after work and when i went Saturday afternoon to my parents' house to do laundry i was surprised to find them packing to leave. They talked me into going with them of course but as someone who doesn't pay much attention to the news really, i didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal. I have like three outfits with me and that's about it. Everyone has been very generous though. Stephanie and Kat offered for me and whoever to come stay with them in San Antonio, as did Robin in Shreveport and a few others.... i think i'm stuck with the fam, though. I may go insane.
Anyway.... my cell can't receive calls but i can get text messages and i have periodic access to the internet.
If anyone actually still reads this little blog of mine..... if you are from n.o., i hope you are okay. if not, good.
Ohh.... and i ended up getting a stage managing position with the Actor's Theatre of New Orleans..... hope the theatre is still there....