"What are you up to, honey britches?"

So Rachel called me soon after my last post and was all "Do you want to get snowballs at Hansen's now? Like RIGHT NOW?" So we went. I'd never been before. The line/wait was half an hour long but completely worth it. Real apple cider over a (collectible) cup of snow churned by the machine Old Man Hansen made and patented. Delicious. Too bad the place closes today until next summer. They might open for Thanksgiving, but I won't be here.

I got back here and went to the Catholic Center's 485^th Annual (Root Beer) Kegger, where there were a lot of new faces and even some familiar ones. Craig and Stina (with child!!!) are back in town, which was a doubly pleasant surprise. I hung around an extra hour because I heard Maureen (whose non-move-away this summer was an even better surprise) would show up after girlifying.

girlify [gurl-uh-fay] verb: to make presentable and feminine in appearance by use of shower/bath, clothing, hairstyling, and/or make-up [Origin: Maureen McDonough]

For those of you not aware, my end of lagniappe "seeya" to Mo was a possibly preemptive one in case she moved away. She didn't. Yay.

When we got back here, it seemed practically everyone (Lauren, Ryanne, Steve, Peter, David, Becca, Matt, Lizzie, Stephanie, and her freshmen girls) except Syyylvia was up for going downtown to Southern Decadence.

Southern Decadence: Gay Mardi Gras; a week-long, predominantly gay-male event marked by widespread public nudity, parades, bead tossing and street parties, held in The French Quarter; the first weekend sans parents after freshman orientation when all the wide-eyed, innocents go to the quarter and are scarred for life.

So we all went and armed ourselves with hand grenades. There were a few flattering-yet-displeasing incidents of flirtation/hitting on/molestation. ("Why hello, naked man in the Tropical Isle bathroom!") But generally a good time was had by all. Many Tulanians (girls dressed like hookers and their significant others shirtless to match the crowd) converged on Bourbon and St. Ann Sts, the infamous crossroads of homosexuality. No one wanted to pay the $20 cover to get into the gay bars though.

Back uptown around 2:30 in the morning Ben and I went out to New Bruno's, Old Bruno's, and The Palms. (How ironic is it that this weekend I was downtown and he was uptown all night?) We got the mandatory Big Easy chicken tenders we've been since munching on since freshman year and thought maybe we need a new late night order. Maybe.