What a World

EVACUATION

There have been a few pressure changes in the Gulf. If one of these develops into a tropical storm, it could turn into a hurricane. As a nice man in the Coast Guard told me, "once they start turning they don't stop until the run into something". This is a nice thought. If we have a hurricane (and based on what I have heard about the abnormally early hurricane season, I think that we might) we have to evacuate. For people in the military, the evac site is Ft. Worth, TX. They go there and continue doing military things. Camp Adventure, however, would go wherever we feel like going and literally wait for the storm to blow over and then come back to New Orleans. To me, this scenario sounds like a surprise vacation only there is potential that nothing would be left standing when we would return.

WEEKEND PLANS

With my birthday coming up on Tuesday, my co-workers and I decided we'd celebrate by going downtown for the night. We got a $50 hotel room a few blocks from Bourbon Street and used it as our base of operations. We got there Saturday morning and left Sunday morning. The one bed/couch combo served as more of a staging area than anything else.


US-GHANA

I dropped my things off at the hotel and power-walked to Bourbon Street to find a bar to watch the game. Fortunately, every bar was showing it. Unfortunately, it was 1:30 in the afternoon so there weren't many people to watch the games with. I found a seat at the Tropical Isle and ordered a shrimp Po Boy. It was $9.50. I felt disgusting not only after eating the sandwich but also during the act of eating knowing that I had just been had by the devious coalition of bar owners of the French Quarter. The game was intense. We looked good for the most part, I thought and we never gave up but it wasn't enough. After a comeback goal and 120 minutes of soccer, we lost and our World cup run was over. I walked back dejected and took a 2 hour nap.


TROLLEY

In a daze, I woke up to a phone call from the co-workers. They were on the way back from the mall and wanted to take a trolley ride. I met them downstairs and we climbed aboard the next available streetcar. It was the perfect (and cheapest) tour of the city I could've hoped to find. It consisted of a grouchy streetcar operator shouting at me to get on and pay, sitting in a rickety bench seat, being deafened by the groaning, clanging and rattling of the streetcar, periodically getting slapped by stray branches reaching through the windows and marveling at the size of the houses in the Garden District. For what seemed like ten miles or so, I looked out at house after house each looking distinctly southern but also entirely unique from all the others. The architecture of each was completely original and I could tell this was intentional to prevent any conformity in the "keeping up with the Joneses" neighborhood.


SARAH MARY

Sarah Mary is one of my best friends. She used to go to USD but transfered to LSU after freshman year. She lives in Lafayette, LA which is about 2 hours from where I am. This weekend we met up and had a great time catching up, sharing meals and having a generally good time. She was one of the five people to share the hotel room we got and was great company as we roamed Bourbon Street. Neither of us had any intention of getting into anything illicit in any of the dozens of bars so we just walked. It was a relaxing night and Wayne and Kenyetta (co-workers) joined us. Some of the best entertainment (after the live music which we - being 20 years old - weren't allowed into the bars to hear) was people watching. I took a picture of one of the more excellent examples: homeboy dressed to kill but passed out in a pile of garbage bags.

This morning, the two of us went to the Checkered Parrot to watch the England-Germany game. We got there at halftime and snagged some of the breakfast buffet. The guy we sat next to was from London. I was wearing a Germany jersey. He spoke to Sarah Mary but not to me. Germany spanked England 4-1 and we wrapped up our meal. I really enjoyed it all. Even after spending the entire evening together the night before, Sarah Mary and I still had catching up to do. We met the rest of the group and walked to the French Market so Liz's friend Paige could see it. Cafe du Monde and it's world famous beniegts (sp?) were calling our names so we stopped in. Sadly, the place was busy like you wouldn't believe so we said forget it and wandered instead. Sarah Mary and I went with her cousin back to the Garden District where Sarah Mary's car was parked and then went back to the hotel and the French Market to retrieve luggage and travel buddies, respectively.

After dropping everyone off at base, Sarah Mary and I went to mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help where I have been going every week. It was a special mass meaning it was packed meaning we had to stand in the back. For two hours. There must have been 20 priests there plus the archbishop of the diocese. They was even a Skype link to Ireland so people there could see Father Billy's 25th anniversary mass. It was quite the production to say the least but I was glad Sarah Mary could join me for church. Back at USD, that was one of the only times during the week that we could both be certain that we'd see each other. In the midst of a crazy college schedule, something like that was pretty rare.


PLANS

Next weekend is July 4th. Mom is coming into town and the coworkers and I have made plans to go on a trip. Friday and Saturday will be spent with mom seeing New Orleans and Sunday and Monday will be spent out of the state. The original plan was to go to Destin, FL but apparently, those beaches are closed now due to the oil spill. Maybe we'll go to Houston. Who knows. I miss Longview and San Diego. I picture someday having an event like Father Billy's anniversary mass that would bring my friends from each city together. Sarah Mary and I spoke about something like this. This time in life is formative but there is no stability unless you make that your top priority. I think about all the things I want to do in the next few years and I realize that each piece of the puzzle adds up to life in a half-dozen different cities. I want to spend time with the people important to me but I also want to do these things around the world. I can't have both.