Mardi Gras? from megan hargroder on Vimeo.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Celebrating July 1st
Evidently New Orleans parades are not merely limited to special occasions such as Mardi Gras (unless today is some sort of holiday that I'm unaware of). This video footage was captured around 4:30p.m. on July 1st in my neighborhood.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
New Orleans so far: Revisited
Note: this post has been revised/replaced by my column that DID NOT end up running in AntiGravity. Therefore I'm putting it on my own blog.
*clears throat*
I just moved to New Orleans thinking I would be like Mary Tyler Moore. You know, "making it" and all. The thing is, it hasn't happened that way. Not yet, anyway, and there are quite a few things here that I just don't get...
There are trees planted in front of stop signs. I’m busy trying to navigate - I can’t watch the street corners constantly wondering if a stop sign is going to pop up right after the giant tree or shrubbery. I also think it’s excellent how many people bike everywhere for two main reasons: It’s great for the environment and that makes less people I have to compete with for parking spots. However, I just can’t IMAGINE biking around here without literally DYING. This is New Orleans -it’s fucking hot outside! Note: If you are reading this and you ride a bike everywhere, I'm perfectly aware that your response is probably "yeah, well you're just a giant pussy." You don't have to tweet it to me.
Additionally, I’m never really that sure how many lanes there are on a given road. Sometimes the road is three lanes except when cars are parked in the third and sometimes there are two lanes but you can’t really tell because there are no lines on the road and some people just drive smack dab in the middle anyway.
The major lesson I’ve learned about driving here, however, is that green doesn’t necessarily mean go and red doesn’t necessarily mean stop. There evidently aren’t enough officers of the law to regulate driving, but boy will you get a parking ticket in a heartbeat. The “Pay to Park” meters threw me off at first - we don’t have such fancy technology back home in Lafayette (we do have sensors on our traffic lights, though - something New Orleans should look into).
WTF is with the street cars? Do they follow the traffic signals or not? Is everyone supposed to act like the President has suddenly decided to drive down the center of St. Charles and just give automatic right of way? I NEED to understand this trolley etiquette. They didn't teach that in Lafayette driver's education.
And as far as live music goes, I know that there are a lot of awesome shows in New Orleans, and yes, I did sign up with noladiy.com - which is all fine and dandy if you actually have heard of any of these bands. I need something more obvious - like a human pandora TELLING me which shows I should go to. I have been to one show at the Howlin' Wolf since I've been here, but it was actually to see my friends' band: We Landed on the Moon. A native NOLA band opened, though, called blackbelt something or another. I only sort of kinda enjoyed it. The percussion was PHENOMENAL. Best I've seen live - no question. The sound guy was probably on crack and went way overboard with that echo effect shit, and the singer...Let me explain what I think happened prior to the show. The singer didn't show up and the rest of the band still wanted to play. After all, they probably already unloaded all of their heavy equipment, had a few drinks and were officially in crunk mode. So they found some random drunk guy standing (more like wobbling) against the bar and asked if he could sing for them.
"Naahhh dude I can't sing," mumbled the drunk. He then hiccuped.
"Perfect. Get on stage and grab a guitar," they replied.
Or at least that's what it sounded like happened.
I've always considered myself a social butterfly and something of a local D-list celebrity back home, and couldn't wait to make tons of new friends in New Orleans. I've come to realize, though, that you need to have friends to make friends. Think about it. Sure, you can strike up a conversation with some stranger in a coffee shop or bar or whatever, but asking a stranger to hang out with you is just creepy no matter which way you slice it. I know this first hand because it resulted in total awkwardness with one particular girl. I have even spent many afternoons sitting alone at Rue de Course (which I have identified as the place that the cool "indie" kids on magazine hang out) armed with a "smart" book and an iced tea, thinking that surely someone will make the first move. SOMEONE will think I look interesting or perhaps lost and want to talk to me. Nope.
Luckily, there's twitter. It allows me to get to know people (via e-stalking) and then decide if I want to be their friend and then make a judgment on the best way to "hone in" without them realizing how elaborately planned that "hey you like Mates of State? Me too!" would be. Facebook is a thing of the past. I can't properly stalk people if they have to accept my friend request first.
*clears throat*
I just moved to New Orleans thinking I would be like Mary Tyler Moore. You know, "making it" and all. The thing is, it hasn't happened that way. Not yet, anyway, and there are quite a few things here that I just don't get...
There are trees planted in front of stop signs. I’m busy trying to navigate - I can’t watch the street corners constantly wondering if a stop sign is going to pop up right after the giant tree or shrubbery. I also think it’s excellent how many people bike everywhere for two main reasons: It’s great for the environment and that makes less people I have to compete with for parking spots. However, I just can’t IMAGINE biking around here without literally DYING. This is New Orleans -it’s fucking hot outside! Note: If you are reading this and you ride a bike everywhere, I'm perfectly aware that your response is probably "yeah, well you're just a giant pussy." You don't have to tweet it to me.
Additionally, I’m never really that sure how many lanes there are on a given road. Sometimes the road is three lanes except when cars are parked in the third and sometimes there are two lanes but you can’t really tell because there are no lines on the road and some people just drive smack dab in the middle anyway.
The major lesson I’ve learned about driving here, however, is that green doesn’t necessarily mean go and red doesn’t necessarily mean stop. There evidently aren’t enough officers of the law to regulate driving, but boy will you get a parking ticket in a heartbeat. The “Pay to Park” meters threw me off at first - we don’t have such fancy technology back home in Lafayette (we do have sensors on our traffic lights, though - something New Orleans should look into).
WTF is with the street cars? Do they follow the traffic signals or not? Is everyone supposed to act like the President has suddenly decided to drive down the center of St. Charles and just give automatic right of way? I NEED to understand this trolley etiquette. They didn't teach that in Lafayette driver's education.
And as far as live music goes, I know that there are a lot of awesome shows in New Orleans, and yes, I did sign up with noladiy.com - which is all fine and dandy if you actually have heard of any of these bands. I need something more obvious - like a human pandora TELLING me which shows I should go to. I have been to one show at the Howlin' Wolf since I've been here, but it was actually to see my friends' band: We Landed on the Moon. A native NOLA band opened, though, called blackbelt something or another. I only sort of kinda enjoyed it. The percussion was PHENOMENAL. Best I've seen live - no question. The sound guy was probably on crack and went way overboard with that echo effect shit, and the singer...Let me explain what I think happened prior to the show. The singer didn't show up and the rest of the band still wanted to play. After all, they probably already unloaded all of their heavy equipment, had a few drinks and were officially in crunk mode. So they found some random drunk guy standing (more like wobbling) against the bar and asked if he could sing for them.
"Naahhh dude I can't sing," mumbled the drunk. He then hiccuped.
"Perfect. Get on stage and grab a guitar," they replied.
Or at least that's what it sounded like happened.
I've always considered myself a social butterfly and something of a local D-list celebrity back home, and couldn't wait to make tons of new friends in New Orleans. I've come to realize, though, that you need to have friends to make friends. Think about it. Sure, you can strike up a conversation with some stranger in a coffee shop or bar or whatever, but asking a stranger to hang out with you is just creepy no matter which way you slice it. I know this first hand because it resulted in total awkwardness with one particular girl. I have even spent many afternoons sitting alone at Rue de Course (which I have identified as the place that the cool "indie" kids on magazine hang out) armed with a "smart" book and an iced tea, thinking that surely someone will make the first move. SOMEONE will think I look interesting or perhaps lost and want to talk to me. Nope.
Luckily, there's twitter. It allows me to get to know people (via e-stalking) and then decide if I want to be their friend and then make a judgment on the best way to "hone in" without them realizing how elaborately planned that "hey you like Mates of State? Me too!" would be. Facebook is a thing of the past. I can't properly stalk people if they have to accept my friend request first.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
I'm going to blow this Popsicle stand once and for all
1. I have officially been out of college for an entire year. That said, I'm completely embarrassed to report that I have NOT finished reading "The Making of Americans" by Gertrude Stein. I know.
2. After I have officially (totally unofficially) received the title of "Gay Princess of Lafayette," I am a little sad to say that I will be leaving.
3. Actually, I'm not really at all sad to be leaving this one horse town. I'm going where the long arm of the law doesn't reach, (New Orleans).There are plenty of people that I will miss, but with digital communication these days, they will be at my fingertips anyway.
4. Soon, I will be posting video of me tap dancing on Bourbon Street just to scrape up enough money to buy a sandwich and a bloody mary.
2. After I have officially (totally unofficially) received the title of "Gay Princess of Lafayette," I am a little sad to say that I will be leaving.
3. Actually, I'm not really at all sad to be leaving this one horse town. I'm going where the long arm of the law doesn't reach, (New Orleans).There are plenty of people that I will miss, but with digital communication these days, they will be at my fingertips anyway.
4. Soon, I will be posting video of me tap dancing on Bourbon Street just to scrape up enough money to buy a sandwich and a bloody mary.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Letterhead
I have a new office mate at work and her name is Laura and we've been getting to know each other through conversations like this one:
Laura: Hey, where is the letterhead?
Me: Oh, it's stored on the wiki as well as the admin drive but I can just e-mail you the template now...
Laura: No, like PHYSICAL letterhead.
Me: Like on paper?
Laura: Yes.
Me: What?
Laura: You know, like NOT electronic....
Me: Why would you ever need that?
Laura: to send letters...
Me: That's what e-mail is for.
Laura: Yeah, but don't you ever physically mail anything - like thank you notes?
Me: No.
Laura: Hey, where is the letterhead?
Me: Oh, it's stored on the wiki as well as the admin drive but I can just e-mail you the template now...
Laura: No, like PHYSICAL letterhead.
Me: Like on paper?
Laura: Yes.
Me: What?
Laura: You know, like NOT electronic....
Me: Why would you ever need that?
Laura: to send letters...
Me: That's what e-mail is for.
Laura: Yeah, but don't you ever physically mail anything - like thank you notes?
Me: No.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Craigslist = scamorama
In addition to being a great tool for prostitution, craigslist is also home of the infamous paypal scammers - trying to sell you something or buy something from you by way of putting money into paypal(which is usually not actually paypal, but a private account with a paypal interface) or some other sketchy account.
And they don't even realize when they are busted. This is an e-mail dialogue that happened shortly after I listed my MacBook on craigslist:
"Ric Mills:" Hi Do you still have it for sale
Me: Yes, do you have any questions?
"Ric Mills:" am very glad to hear from you, am puchasing the item for my needs, i will pay you via paypal and i will add you $140 USD FOR THE SHIPPING, so get back to me with your paypal account for the transaction but if you dont have paypal account you can also set up your paypal account through www.paypal.com. Hope to hear that from you ASAP
Me: Where are you located???
A few minutes later, I received two emails from "paypal" saying that money was being held to be transferred to my account once the item had shipped. Kudos to them for making the address even look like Service@paypal.com...
"Rick Mills:" HI MATE THE PAYMENT IS NOW MADE SO GET THE ITEM SHIP TO THIS ADDRESS GET BACK TO ME ASAP
Mr Abayomi Adekunle
9, amororo st sokori, ,
Ogun state
Sagamu
Nigeria
121101
Me: Sorry.
I'm only selling locally.
and I don't have a paypal account so how on earth did you "put" money in it?
"Rick Mills:" hi mate the payment is made so you need to send the item
Me: No, payment has not been made.
I did not agree to sell you this item, I only told you it was still available.
I will not sell to you.
Go away.
"Rick Mills:" but paypal sned you an email so you need to mail paypal @ asha@account.com
Me: I'm reporting you.
Hope that's not your real address, because if so, you're in trouble.
"Rick Mills:" you wont me to call fbi
Me: "Wont?" You mean "want?"
Yes I do.
Tell them about how you are currently being investigated by PayPal.
They're not pleased about your fake e-mails - I just got off the phone with them.
P.S. you don't know shit about the FBI.
And they don't even realize when they are busted. This is an e-mail dialogue that happened shortly after I listed my MacBook on craigslist:
"Ric Mills:" Hi Do you still have it for sale
Me: Yes, do you have any questions?
"Ric Mills:" am very glad to hear from you, am puchasing the item for my needs, i will pay you via paypal and i will add you $140 USD FOR THE SHIPPING, so get back to me with your paypal account for the transaction but if you dont have paypal account you can also set up your paypal account through www.paypal.com. Hope to hear that from you ASAP
Me: Where are you located???
A few minutes later, I received two emails from "paypal" saying that money was being held to be transferred to my account once the item had shipped. Kudos to them for making the address even look like Service@paypal.com...
"Rick Mills:" HI MATE THE PAYMENT IS NOW MADE SO GET THE ITEM SHIP TO THIS ADDRESS GET BACK TO ME ASAP
Mr Abayomi Adekunle
9, amororo st sokori, ,
Ogun state
Sagamu
Nigeria
121101
Me: Sorry.
I'm only selling locally.
and I don't have a paypal account so how on earth did you "put" money in it?
"Rick Mills:" hi mate the payment is made so you need to send the item
Me: No, payment has not been made.
I did not agree to sell you this item, I only told you it was still available.
I will not sell to you.
Go away.
"Rick Mills:" but paypal sned you an email so you need to mail paypal @ asha@account.com
Me: I'm reporting you.
Hope that's not your real address, because if so, you're in trouble.
"Rick Mills:" you wont me to call fbi
Me: "Wont?" You mean "want?"
Yes I do.
Tell them about how you are currently being investigated by PayPal.
They're not pleased about your fake e-mails - I just got off the phone with them.
P.S. you don't know shit about the FBI.
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