Mardi Gras Update . . . especially for Sonya, Cameron, and Drew

Just a quick update, because I seem to have forgotten a few things about Mardi Gras . . .

So my first parade of the week was really on Thursday with Heather, Michelle, Daesy, and Jessica. That night I met up with Drew and Rob at cafe du monde after they saw a concert at House of Blues.

Friday, we met up with DREW, and SONYA, and CAMERON. Drew moved to Fort Lauderdale over the summer; Sonya was in Paris for the fall semester then deserted Tulane and transferred to Texas (it's ok Sonya, we forgive you for that); and Cameron moved to D.C. a while ago. Anyways, it was great to see them all. The same stuff happened Friday night . . .

Saturday after the parades and before the cookout at Todd's (Justin's cousin I mentioned in the 1st blog), Sonya (Justin's cousin I'm mentioning in the 2nd blog) showed up with her friend in the same clothes she was wearing the day before. (I told you that would have to come up Sonya). Blah, blah, blah. Drew hit on some girl and got her to come to the table by chanting "We want yellow! We want yellow" with his new best friend of the weekend, Erich. Blah, blah, blah. We saw Jason and Brandy at the Rebirth show at Howlin' Wolf . They'd been there since 9pm thinking the show would start at 9pm and more importantly, on time. (It started about 1am.)

Sunday and Monday are the same. More time spent with Erich, McCann, Justin, Drew, Cameron, and others.

The Crotch Watching Society convened on Tuesday and Mark was there with Heather.

Did I leave anyone out?

P.S. Thank you so much for the bathroom-that was key for such a successful Mardi Gras.

wait, what?

So, I mentioned that I got into grad school, but there's a whole slew of details I left out. Here is the exact conversation that I've had with pretty much everyone who asks about . . .

-Sarah, where are you going? I'll be at Ole Miss starting in the fall.

-So are you just following McCann and Justin? Exactly-I missed them too much that I just had to go to Ole Miss. Actually, I'm going to Ole Miss to get my masters in southern studies, and it's the only school with the program.

-Huh, southern studies? What's that? You remember how I majored in American studies in college (no? well, i did)? It's like that but now focused more on the South. According to Heather, I'll be majoring in Mobile (that's the city in Alabama people, not the thing you put over a baby's crib). Trust me, I will not focus any of my work on Mobile.

-I still don't get it; what are you doing? Ok, ok, I'll explain more. I'll be doing history, english, music, etc., that happened or was made or focuses on the South. You know, those states in the southeastern quadrant of the U.S.

-So, uh, what are you gonna do with that? The same thing anyone with a masters in history or english will do. Duh. I do have more of an idea than that, but I'd rather not divulge considering everything changes anyway.

So that's the plan. I'd also like to take the time to tell people to write a blog. It makes your page cooler, because you're one of the few people to write one AND you can entertain your friends while they're bored at work.

Flowers and kisses

've got big boobs - let's just get that out there before I go any further.

With Mardi Gras over, we needed another reason to have some parades, and wouldn't you know, it's time to celebrate St. Patrick's day. Not as ready for Round 2 of parades quite yet, I begrudgedly put on my game face and headed out for day 1 of weekend 1 to catch a parade. I got lots of flowers and lots of kisses - like I said, my chest isn't exactly what most would consider small. Anyways, a cabbage almost broke my finger (don't all floats across the country throw out cabbages, carrots, potatoes, and onions during St. Patrick's day parades?) but an hour later my finger still worked, so no harm done.

Day 2 of weekend 1 dragged on a little more. I'm definitely paraded out - there hasn't been enough time since Mardi Gras to be truly ready for more parades. Anyways, this time there were more kisses, more flowers, ramen noodles (that's right, I said ramen), and a pair of green panties I was obliged to then wear on the outside of my pants. After a forever long parade, we headed back to devour crabs and crawfish - yum!

Oh yeah, Saturday night I got a little cultured. Went to a burlesque show - it was definitely entertaining. Not that watching girls take their clothes off is usually on my list of things to do, but it was lots of fun.

Oh yeah, Mardi Gras . . .

So before I fell into my sullen state, I had a blast during Mardi Gras.

The festivities began Friday afternoon with McCann and Justin getting into town. We headed out to the parades and found a perfect street corner. You gotta love a city where it's acceptable to stand on a street corner at 5pm with a beer in your hand across the street from a group of cops all wishing they could be in your shoes instead of working. Parades, bars, parades, etc. Oh yeah, and we had a bathroom at a friends house across the street.

Saturday morning I picked up Erich at the airport, dropped his stuff at the house, and headed straight to the parades again. Saw my boss drunk on her float and got lots of cool stuff from her. Met up with Justin's cousin and went to a cookout at his house just off St. Charles. Little bar hop, jump to Michelle's, and then Papa Grows Funk and Rebirth Brass Band at Howlin' Wolf until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday, headed out for a long day. Finally got in touch with Nikki after calling her for hours. Went to the Bacchus Ball - lots of fun: touched Batman, ok, ok it was really Michael Keaton; got lots of stuff when the parade came into the convention center; got my picture taken with Sean Astin - you know Rudy, one of the kids from the Goonies, and also a hobbit.

Monday hung out on a balcony at the Bourbon Orleans. It's amazing the things people will do for a strand of plastic beads. The girls definitely got more guys to drop their pants than the boys got girls to flash. Don't worry, I was only a tease, not a flasher.

Tuesday, up at the crack of dawn for Crotch Watching Society festivities at Rex. Passed out for the rest of the day and Wednesday.

Phew . . . it took a lot out of me just writing that. You know you wish you could've been there.

. . .

Sometimes it comes true, that irrational fear that you just can't shake. Everyone says, "Oh, don't worry. That's not going to happen. You're gonna get it." And then you don't. It comes as an unexplainable shock, and you don't know what to do. Is it the end of the world? Rationally, you say no, but your irrationality proved true the first time.

So what now? Pick yourself up and move on. Of course, but it's a hell of a lot more difficult than what anyone says. I don't know what to do, and everyone has a suggestion but I'm stubborn. I need to figure it out for me. Where do I want to go; who do I want to be; what does it take to change?

It's not fun anymore.