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.

              

Seriously though...

Things I miss about San Francisco

Wandering down to the Red Vic to watch a movie then going for cocktails at Alembic.

                

I really liked Alembic, great food and cocktails.  Even though some of the bartenders were total douchebags with shitty attitudes, and once when I was in there alone and looking at the drink list some other douchebag sitting next to me, in a misguided attempt to hit on me, asked if I "needed help with that."  What?  What exactly are you implying dude?  That I can't fucking read?  Something similar happened to me in NOPA once, another neighborhood joint I used to wander down to once in a while.  I don't miss the fucking men in that town, that's for damn sure...

Treme

I'm hugely excited about this television show.

          

  

Those who don't know me very well probably aren't surprised to hear that.  Even those who don't know me very well know how much I love New Orleans.  Those who do know me pretty well are probably shocked to hear how excited I am about this television show.  My firm anti-televison stance is well known among my friends and family.  I don't even own a television.  TV is the devil.  It's true.  If less people were watching American Idol, maybe more people would pay attention to things that are going on in this country, and maybe more people would actually give a fuck about those things and try to change them.

I'm not going to turn this into a "kill your television" rant, or even a "this is what's wrong with this fucking country" rant.  I'll keep my soap-box handy for a later date.  To be honest, TV isn't one-hundred percent evil.  There's some good shit out there, I can't lie, and every once in a while, something brilliant.  Of course, no matter what, my love of New Orleans always overrules my distaste for television.  I'll give anything related to New Orleans a chance.  That's why I'm looking forward to Treme.

I can't call it brilliant yet, because I haven't seen it yet.  But I can say this, of all the TV shows and movies that try to capture what we've got going on down here and get it disastrously wrong, this show looks like it might actually be as close to getting it right as anyone is going to get.  The third trailer was the one that got me hooked in.  It still hits me emotionally, no matter how much I watch it:

          


It's the same feeling I got the first time I read Confederacy of Dunces in 1997, and the second time I read it, and especially the third time I read it in 2006.  I thought to myself, "I know those people.  Those are my people.  I've worked with those people.  I've seen those people around town, on the streetcar, at the grocery, in the local bars.  Those people are my neighbors, my best friends and lovers.  Those people are my family..."

I think this is going to be a really good fucking TV show.

Eye Candy

Palm Beach, Florida

In my world, Hawaii still reigns supreme when it comes to beautiful surfer boys to gaze upon, at least so far.  In California they're still athletic and fun to watch, but the water is so cold that they're always covered up in wetsuits, so you don't get the whole tanned, muscular body viewing experience.  South Florida doesn't have as much serious wave action, but they still had a few cutie pies down there...

            

Shadow Shot Sunday

Central Park, New York

              

      

  http://www.heyharriet.blogspot.com/

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...

Flowers from Christopher

We met because he called my mother a whore.

Actually, "cheap hooker" were his exact words.  The short and sweet version of the story is that when my mother died, I sent out an email to contacts I found in her address book to spread the word.  Christopher didn't recognize the email address, assumed I was some sort of sinister spam artist, and replied by saying that, and I quote, my mother was "a cheap hooker, but never would have sent out spam."

This, obviously, makes Christopher totally awesome.  I mean, seriously, even at the time I was able to step outside of the situation, realize what had happened, and also realize that if I actually had been a spammer, that shit was a clever enough response.

That didn't, however, prevent my emotions from taking control of me and sending a pretty vicious reply myself, something alluding to Mr. Christopher being a sick fuck who I wished would die quickly and painfully.  Hey, my fucking mother had just died.  I wasn't exactly myself at the time...

Anyway, he eventually realized I wasn't fucking around, and felt like the biggest jackass in the world.  Sent me a beautifully written and extremely sincere apology.  Which I of course accepted, immediately.

Turns out Christopher's office is two and a half blocks from my mother's apartment.  Of course we had to meet for lunch while I was in New York this week.

I'm happy to say that I have a new friend in New York, who works just down the street from where I'm going to live.  The flowers were beautiful, and made my stay a hundred times brighter.  I had to leave this afternoon, and they were still so fresh and lovely.  I couldn't bring myself to just toss them in the trash.  I hung them to dry in the hallway, right in front of the door, where they will remain to welcome me home when I return in May...

          

Chihuly ceiling

Norton Museum of Art
West Palm Beach, Florida

                       


My host took me to the Norton Museum of Art while I was in Palm Beach.  We had a beautiful, wonderful day.  This room was my ultimate favorite.  They even had comfortable benches, so you could lie down and drink in the beauty.  Perfection.  

Eye Candy

Palm Beach, Florida