Change of scenery

It's nice being back in New Orleans.  Things are reassuringly the same.  Same beautiful houses, same daily gun violence that never fails to blow my mind when I think about how few people live here and how many die each year.  The beignets are the same, the French Quarter hasn't changed.  Our football team will still give you heart failure down to the very last play of the game.  The streets are the same.  The city is the same.  The government is still hopelessly broken, and we still have the best musicians the country has to offer.

The only thing I found that was different was the Mississippi river.  I can't remember the last time I saw it so low.  A couple of months back it looked like this:

              


It's always been my favorite place to sit.  Of course it was one of my first stops when I got here Thursday.  Right now it looks like this:

                



Really trying to remember the last time I saw it like that.  Not quite sure what to make of it.  I kind of like it though.

WHO DAT!!

I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the fact that my (Superbowl champions) New Orleans Saints are squaring off tonight against the San Francisco 49ers, the city I formerly (and often begrudgingly) called home.  I had to laugh at the people who actually asked who I would be rooting for.  Seriously?  Is that even a question?

Oh, I forgot to tell you what happened at last week's game!  Jenelle and I decided to forgo Bar None, as it was disgustingly crowded three hours before the game and was only going to get worse.  We decided to go to dba in Brooklyn, another Saints outpost in NYC.  My friend James (also from New Orleans) met us down there as well.  We get there and I notice a guy running around who looks really familiar.  It took a little while, but I finally realized, holy shit, that's Jack.  He used to come into a bar I worked at ten fucking years ago.  I made a mental note to say hello when I got a minute.

Next thing I know, James is next to me saying, "Hey, wanderlust, have you met Jack?"

And I said, "As a matter of fact, I have.  I used to get Jack drunk ten years ago.  Shot of Jim Beam and a Budweiser, right Jack?"

The look on his face was priceless.

Of course he remembered me and of course we had lots of catching up to do.  Turns out he moved to San Francisco for a while and hated it too!  (OK, I'm being dramatic.  I didn't HATE living in SF.  Not all the time, anyway.  I just complained a lot)  He's much happier in NY, as am I.

That's the thing about New Orleans.  Once you've lived there a little while, it doesn't matter where you go.  If there's any sort of gathering involving New Orleans in any way, be it a Saints game, a crawfish boil, or oil-spill fundraiser, you WILL run into someone you know.  You just will.  Like it or not.  I once ran into a guy I used to HATE at the Black Magic Voodoo Lounge in San Francisco.  Fortunately for all involved, he was way too drunk to remember who I was.

But it's a beautiful thing, and I love it.  Anyway, I've got to go.  I have a date with James and Jack and the rest of the Who Dat nation.  Bar None has no idea what it's in for.

GEAUX SAINTS!!

My neighborhood

New Orleans, Louisiana

I love my neighborhood because there are colorful houses everywhere and Bacchanal is right down the street.  I love it because most of my family and friends live within a five block radius of where I live.  I love it because of stuff like this.  I love it because whenever you're running late you have a built-in excuse.  "Sorry.  The train was passing, I was stuck on the other side."  Those of you who live here know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

I love the random and bizarre coffee shops, I love the fact that Elizabeth's, where I once had the most incredible paneed rabbit my taste buds have ever experienced, is only six blocks away.  I love riding my bike behind the floodwall down by the river, hoping not to get harassed by the harbor police.  I love the fact that my two favorite street names in the city of New Orleans, Piety and Desire, run parallel, and a block apart.  One right after the next.

Which makes perfect sense, when you think about it...

Randomness

New Orleans, Louisiana

One of the things I love the most about my neighborhood is that sometimes you'll just be sitting in your car at a stop sign minding your own business and some random shit like this walks by...

              

The best part is that it doesn't even faze you.  You just snap a few pictures and think, "Hmm.  He's probably headed to Jackson Square.  Maybe Frenchmen."

Things I love about New Orleans

Getting off work and riding my bike down to Audubon Park, stopping at Big Fisherman on the way to pick up a sack of crawfish.

              

Things I love about New Orleans

Getting picked up at the airport by your best friend and going home to share a bottle of wine.  Then leaving the house to begin a night out at one-thirty in the morning, because that's when the party is really getting started.  Going from bar to bar on Frenchmen, each band better than the last.  Running into friends everywhere.  Drinking, dancing, living, loving.  Flirting.  Feeling more alive than I could possibly feel anywhere else on the planet.

No city in the world can compare.  Last night confirmed it.  For better or for worse, there's just no fucking place like home...