“voodoo” has six letters, so…

as promised, a sixer about my NOLA trip…

…originally written during it, supposed to post during it, but didn’t thanks to wireless issues that kept up until moments ago (thanks again, e) and so now i can finish and polish and present:

six lil’ bits about my lil’ trip to NOLA

1. the trip itself – made the eight hour drive in eight hours and twenty minutes, which considering that included a sit-down dinner, two gas stops, and two just for shits and giggles stops (sue me – when i drive alone i get lonely and stop more often at first, than with less regularity once i realize it’s costing me time). the trip was much longer back, again due to TWO sit down meals, several attempts at souvenir shopping, and several long stretches of massive highway construction around louisiana – surprisingly houston traffic around 4pm on a monday posed little to no issue. who’d a thunk it?

2. the joint – i’m not using this adjective just ’cause bret & leo are gay, but there house really is fabulous. if i could buy a mid-century modern in orleans parish i’d do it in heartbeat, especially if i had the money to re-do it right like leo’s brother did. pics speak for themselves:


the grand room (first room you see when you walk in)


the backyard


the guest room (they were going for a “hotel vibe” and i feel really achieved it – helps that they bolted down the tv!)

(just to piss shane off, the liquor cabinet that, if you look closely, has some fifty year old johnny blue off on the right of the pic)

3. the quarter – it’s not sensory-overload twenty-four seven, actually. you go there around 9am for a croissant from a french bakery, for example, it’s not bad. of course within an hour of that i was drunk before 10am ’cause…well…that’s what you do. it was off some frozen sludge called “the jester” made from 190 proof grain alcohol and 191 proof rum and is touted as “new orlean’s strongest drink”. after trying to recreate the buzz with hand grenades due to cost and availability on halloween night and it didn’t work i guess i kind of agree. halloween was fun, but no way in hell i woulda tried that without the guidance of a local like bret and a local lifer like leo. picture sixth street exponentially upped by about sixteen.

4. midway mini-bit bit – it used to be a celebrity’s career hit bottoms when they did vegas. i firmly believe it’s a tier or two lower to do casinos in lake charles. souvenir i really regret not getting for a certain someone was a tank top that said “voo doo doll – stick me, poke me, make me do bad things”. most ironic billboard term (more so thank “jumbo shrimp” in my opinion) was “world class rv park”. really? “world class”? what world are you from where such a thing exists? scary shit…

5. and on sunday, there was voodoo – i only KINDA regret not getting a three day pass. economically, it would have been the better call on ticket pricing. the food is fabulous, filling, and cheap compared to other festivals i’ve worked. but i had fun with the guys, and there was so many breaks in the schedule it woulda kinda sucked to have those holes of time to fill with the quarter so far from the park. overall, i’m happy with the way i did it this year – maybe next year i’ll make more of a “thing” of it…

6. back to life, back to reality – after ten hours and some change on the road (and a fading tequila buzz) i had to trek most of the last mile to my house at five miles per hour due to trick or treaters, than get home to copper having an accident in her crate, my mortgage payment going later than i wanted (who knew the cut-off was 8pm on the last day of the month?), the utility company threatening to cut me off, and broken wireless on the notebook and dvr on the cable (all of this has been fixed, i should add). talk about zero to sixty on the reality scale at above lamborghini rates…now if i can make decent dough at the shop this weekend all might be okay.