back to the big easy

Thursday I was off to New Orleans. I literally grabbed one of my two bags from Italy and brought it with me. Adrian picked me up and we went to lunch at Oki Nago, which was maybe the best idea he ever had. We just chilled at his house for the afternoon and then went to Buddha Belly with Rachel to play pool. I almost forgot to tip the bartender (by way of reverse culture shock!) but remembered to for the second round. Rachel and I picked up Tara, and I took her to dinner at Stella! (The exclamation mark is part of the name.) She treated me to a delicious lunch at Commander’s Palace when I left New Orleans, so I made her promise me she’d let me take her to dinner when I returned. After that, she and I went to the quarter to meet up with Ben for drinks.

Friday, I woke up pretty early. (Combination of multiple jet lags and adrenaline. I hadn’t really slept since the week before leaving Florence. But all the fun was worth it.) Second best idea Adrian ever had: Breakfast at Camellia Grill. Between that and lunch at Bluebird Café with Ben and Katie, I had a nice long phone call with Mikey and got to catch up with him finally. That afternoon, I went with a bunch of my friends to Columns happy hour. Stephanie, Sylvia, Jack, Josh, Nicole, Jody, Taylor, Tara. The names go on and on. It was so great to see everyone and some surprises I realized hadn’t left town yet. Stephanie, Tara, and I went to dinner with Girl-Kory and some of her friends at Five Happiness. After that, I met up with Ben, Katy, Mike, and some of their friends downtown in the quarter. After a little barhopping and a little separation (MiKat and I hurricane-ing at Pat O’Brien’s) we had a little episode outside of Gold Mine:

Ben and Katy had bought lucky dogs, so we couldn’t enter until they finished. Some sketchy looking white-trash-hick guy walked up wearing both a do-rag and a baseball cap. I had no voice by this point, so Ben tried to dismiss him as usual by speaking German and pretending not to speak English. I’m pretty sure our new friend misunderstood the word “Deutsch” (German for “German”) as “Douche.” He decked Ben in the face and then ran off with his two friends. Ben was prone on the ground, so as Mike and I helped him up and made sure he was okay, I just heard Katy screaming “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” and throwing her hot dog at him. Ben didn’t have a concussion but was pretty shook up… and was looking for his hot dog. Of course, the cops never showed up and we never called an ambulance. But ah, sweet New Orleans. The bouncers from Gold Mine brought over a bag of ice and a bunch of local complete strangers (even to each other) went chasing after the hooligans. For us, despite multiple text messages telling us otherwise, the night was over. Ben and I took a cab back to his place and Adrian’s.

Saturday morning, Emerald and I were supposed to meet for coffee and tea but ended up getting iced versions because of the heat. Adrian and I went to Jazmine Leaf for lunch with our cousins from Baton Rouge and spent the day hanging out with them. Coc, Ryan, Antonia, and we did a grand driving and walking tour of New Orleans: Uptown Cool for Blue Bell ice cream, the levee/fly, Community Coffee, Magazine, Decatur, Frenchman, Royal. We had dinner at Café Amelie and then dessert at Café du Monde. Josh and I met up and took the streetcar to meet up with Jody, Taylor, Lizzie, and The Choy Sisters for wine before heading to Madigan’s for a round of beer.

Sunday, Jody and I met up at the Tulane chapel for mass. We had some coffee and fresh bread at The Catholic Center with Miss Molly and some of the other faithful. Then we grabbed brunch at Saucy’s Café Freret. The afternoon was spent on Magazine doing some shopping and gelato-snacking with Sylvia… for old time’s sake. She took me back to her new apartment for a tour and introduction to her dog Stella. She, Jack, and I took the once-poodle to the dog park to drink iced tea, chat with their friends, and watch her frolic with other dogs. After grabbing a bite to eat at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, we went to Bacchanal to meet up with Rachel and Tara for a few bottles of wine. They all went home after, but I hit up DBA with Stephen and Blue Nile for a bit to meet up with my friend Jenn. (I ran into another familiar face, Chad’s friend Alex, on Frenchman. Small world.)

Monday, my surrogate big brother Steven took me to lunch at Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro. We caught up with each other’s lives and, as per tradition, ate way too much. I love that guy. He drove the hour in from Baton Rouge to hang out with me for an hour before driving the hour back to go back to work. That afternoon I spent with Sylvia, Jack, and their med school friends I’d met at the dog park. They had a Memorial Day barbeque. Lots of good food but my definite favorite was what Jack prepared: Cream cheese and jalapenos wrapped in venison tenderloin wrapped in bacon. Basically deliciousness wrapped in amazing-ness. That was my last night in NOLA, so I spent it at Madigan’s so people could come and go as they pleased. Sylvia, Maureen, Stephanie AND FAMILY, Ben, Josh, Curry, and Jake all stopped by. I love NOLA, I love the people there, even the ones who aren't my friends. I can't wait to go back again.

a foggy day in Friesing

I did not type a dyslexic misspelling of “Firenze.” Freising is a beautiful town near Munich where fewer people speak English. This worked out really well for someone like me whose knowledge of the local language is things like “Hi, my name is,” “God bless you,” and uselessly “Do you speak German?” Thanks to Sylvia and Ben – and their phonetic pronunciations – I did learn two options for the word “brewery.”

I’d never been to Germany (airports aside) before, and Freising was a nice first impression. It’s built between around two hills. Atop one hill is elegant St. Georg Cathedral; incidentally Freising is the current pope’s hometown. Like a good catholic boy, I stopped in to briefly admire it, but atop the other hill was the goal of my real pilgrimage: What claims to be the world’s oldest brewery.

Hence the importance of the words “brewhaus” (Sylvia) and “brawerie” (Ben).

Hofbrauhaus Freising was officially established in 1160 but first started brewing over a millennia ago. The church was an easy find to me (belltower!) but the brewery took a little discussion with the locals. Sadly I did not get a tour because it was nine in the morning on a Wednesday, but I did go to the biergarten next door. They only open at ten, but the staff was kind enough to let me sit there and drink beer for an hour when they realized I did not want directions to a coffeehouse. Practice, in this case a millenium’s worth, does make perfect. The beer was spectacular. They enjoyed my singing the American songs on their radio and seemed to adore that I knew the words to “Du Bist Nicht Allein” when it came on. Music aside, we chatted in broken English and even more broken German. Around ten, they served me a hearty breakfast of wienerschnitzel while the regulars walked in for their morning brews (not coffee). I would have gladly stayed late into the afternoon, but I had a plane to catch.

So without knowing the German language, I sped through Freising, visited the two prominent sites, and made my international flight. I would dominate The Amazing Race if it involved drinking.

aaand, I'm off!

Alright, everyone. My next entry will most likely be in and from the beautiful city of Firenze, Italia. Thank you for the phone calls and messages. I will miss you all but do my best to keep everyone up to date with all things Andrew. I usually say take care of New Orleans for me, but in this case, take care of... the United States? Ciao.

P.S. Congratulations on your engagement, Jenna and Jerry! Belated congratulations, Kara and The Dooleys' Cousin!

P.P.S. Adding those two engagements to Gisela's, that makes three wedding trips in the next one and a half years. Way to be a trendsetter, Jacque.

04.16.07

Monday (my actual birthday)

9:38 AM / 10:38 AM EST

Me: "Graaant, thanks for the birthday wishes. How are ya?"
Grant: "Definitely, man. [Pause] We are in the middle of another gunman running around."
Me: "Oh God. Seriously?"
Grant: "Yeah, one dead and another has been shot. As far as they know."
Me: "That's so nuts. Is it near your campus or back home?"
Grant: "It’s the dorm right next to mine."
Me: "Oh man. Be safe and careful. I would cry a river if you even got hurt, let alone more."
Grant: "Yeah, I’m stayin’ in my room."
Me: “Yeah, probably best. If you need random entertainment at any point today, just call me."
Grant: "Okay, I might."
Me: "I'm retarded. It's a little sad."
Grant: "No, that’s awesome. I’m gonna start drinking."
Me: "I'm contemplating goin' to class 'cause it'd be funny."
Grant: "Drunk class is always fun."
Me: "Oh yes. Okay bud, I’m off. Talk to you later."
Grant: "Seeya."

Grant goes to Tech, for those of you haven't figured it out yet. I honestly was still a little drunk but went to class anyway because I thought it was funny. I saw Ryanne, and she was impressed(?) by my ability to... I don’t know... stand?

Josh and I went to O'Henry’s for our free birthday steaks and a huge appetizer sampler. He was wearing the same thing as he wore the night before too, so I felt vindicated. At O’Henry’s, they had CNN on, and that was the first time I realized the magnitude of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The count was 30 people higher than the two from the morning. Adrian called me a few seconds later to ask if I had heard from Grant lately. I almost lost it, but apparently Adrian was no more updated than I was. [Grant and the other dozen friends I have at Tech are fine. Thank God.]

Class. I called G-Money again to ask how he was doing. Apparently that morning we spoke in the interim between shootings, so at that point he had no idea what was going on either. My thoughts and prayers have been with Tech since that day.

Whitney and I took Puja "shopping" on Magazine in the afternoon. I use the quotation marks because Whitney hates shopping and we happened to get there right as all the stores were closing. We wound up at La Divina Gelateria, which is basically the Whole Foods / Baja Fresh of gelato stores. They make everything from fresh and organic ingredients. Whitney treated me for my birthday to a three flavor sundae. Cioccolato scuro (dark chocolate), cocco (organic Philippine coconut), and tiramisu.

We went to dinner with Peter, Lauren, David, Lizzie, Sylvia, Nicole, Becca, and Matt. Mat & Addie’s was the best restaurant I’d never heard of. I think, because they were so many of us, we tried everything on the menu. Everything I had was wonderful:

• three-onion, smoked salmon and goat cheese pissaladière (thick crust French pizza topped with house-smoked salmon, goat cheese, caramelized shallots, green and red onions, and capers)
• fried oyster salad (on arugula with green onion rémoulade topped with apple smoked bacon, pickled fennel, and onion)
• crispy duck leg confit and 17th ward blood orange Lousiana yams with Nueske’s bacon-braised collard greens and sauce Rouennaise
• nectar float (homemade vanilla ice cream floated with a local nectar soda)

here's the kick-off

Sunday

The festivities began Sunday night at Madigan's. Stephanie and I were the first ones there, so we played the world’s greatest game of pool. We're sharks. Watch out. Josh, Rachael, and Brian soon showed up. After impressing them with the last few minutes of our mad pool skills, we did a quick round then went to Walgreens. Rachael bought Josh a beard clipper as a birthday present, and we looked at birthday cards for a while. Then we went to Baskin Robbins, but only a few of us actually bought ice cream. The rest saved room in our stomachs.

We moved on to Uptown Cajun, where the majority of people showed up. Lauren, Lizzie, Becca, Nicole, Leah, Courteney, Whitney, Puja, Ben, Katy, and last but certainly not least Adrian and Monica. My parents called around eleven and then again at midnight. Good times. I think it was also around this time that people started marking the drinks they bought me off on my arm and writing signatures and birthday messages on it.

We also stopped by Bruno's, both old and new, where one of the bartenders jokingly asked Adrian and me if we were twins. I think it was here that I saw Laura and Helen. Sylvia(!) and Lizzie showed up too. Moira was there maybe? Or maybe I'm just so used to seeing her there that I just imagine her when she’s not. A bunch of Adrian’s friends were there too. Rachael and Josh played an amazing game of pool, which he totally remembers, but before that I had the honor of buying him his first legal drink first drink ever. We called G.Ho a few times. She didn't answer.

We went to The Rat, where we ran into even more people, for food and beer. I vaguely remember buying ice cream from the vending machines. And then we called it a night.

bringin' freshman back

Terrorism and lunch with Tara. Typical Thursday.

Very atypical Thursday night! Ryanne had the bright idea of us going to Vera Cruz for margaritas and TJQuills for drinks after to relive the fun of freshman year... even though we're now old seniors. I surprised her with a special present: Kathleen "MIA" Fanone. (It would have been a present to Sylvia too, but she didn't come.) She, David and I even dressed up in old freshman year clothing to recreate "the look."

We went with Whitney, David, and Tully to Vera Cruz. Several flavors of margarita pitcher. Sauza shots on me. I knew NONE of the servers at Vera Cruz, which is probably in it's hundredth revision... just to show how long it's been since I've been there.

Kathleen had an emergency and left, but Stephanie, her sister Samantha, their Pinay friend Jeanine, Becca, Matt, and Paul joined us at T.J. Quills. Pretty awesome. I finally got my Choy sandwich to balance out the Marin one Steph got last year when Adrian visited.

Quills was fun. There was popcorn. Ry and I got appletinis to commemorate freshman year. (R.I.P. Kara "Whorkus" Wagner.) My favorite Quills bartender was there and was all "never thought I'd see you again!" My reply: "Old habits die hard." He gave me free shots.

We went to Phillips next. Danielle, my favorite lab partner ever, was bartending! I thought she left after graduation. She gave me more free shots. Good times. So was Jason "press menswear" Warrington. That brings the count of people-Sylvia-loves-with-me-tonight to TWO.

Whit, Tull, and I went to The Palms next to close out the night. It was packed. I LOVE it around that two in the morning time. I missed Chad Michael like whoa though. Dalia&Co were there too. Awesome.

We closed out the night at The Rat splittin' a turkey sub with "everything," a bacon cheddar burger, and a chicken tender combo. Then Whitney and I got ice cream for dessert.

Lundi Gras

My day began with wakeup by Peter and a phone call with Ben. All our newly awakened, hoarse-from-too-much-partying-and-drinking, Tara Reid voices sounded exactly the same. A shower fixed that.

Lauren, her friend Evian, Stephanie, and I went to Mother's Restaurant downtown for lunch. It was amazing. Evian doesn't eat red meat or seafood so she got a chicken poboy, but the rest of us formulated a plan of attack that would get us what I consider the best stuff Mother's Menu has to offer: Ferdi's Po-Boy, a dressed po-boy of roast beef, ham, debris, and cheese; the combination plate (Jerry's Jambalaya, crawfish ettoufee, red beans and rice); a fried oyster plate; and an absolute overload of potato salad. Then we split some delicious peach bread pudding for dessert.

After that we walked down bourbon so Evian could see it, showed her Pat O'Brien's, bought drinks. and had a sang the afternoon away at their Piano Bar before walking to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and by the river.

We went back uptown to Ben's place for Proteus and Orpheus where David and OMG Sylvia(!!!), with Jack in tow, joined us. We went out to dinner at Nacho Mama's after and pretty much dove headfirst into some guac. I highly recommend the shrimp and bacon quesadilla.

We left dinner at eleven to finalized plans for our last Mardi Gras.

Tornado Tuesday Two

Today was like the epitome of New Orleans weather rapidly shifting from gross to gorgeous. Apparently the tornado scared all the clouds away because the rest of today was sunny and in the 70s.

I went and got my haircut this morning, and, had Aidan Gill's fine barbershop not been packed and busy, would have gotten their "perfect shave." (I've never considered it before, but since this morning I could shower, brush my teeth, floss, mouthwash, and even put in my contacts but still NOT shave, it seemed it like a good time to consider it.) Luckily for my wallet, neither I nor the place had the time considering I hadn't made an appointment in advance.

I was almost late to my terrorism class, but then it was canceled along with the classes for the rest of the day. Awesome. Becca and I (and others) finally made good on our sushi date plans and then went to Creole Creamery for ice cream after. Then she and I went to the levee (which was more packed than I've ever seen it) and then to the park to enjoy the sunlight.

That worked out well considering that my regular lunch with Tara and regular dinner with Ben were both rain-checked due to scheduling conflicts. (Unrelated but picture uploads have also been rain-checked due to the lack of electricity and internet.)

When I got back here, finding the power restored, I did laundry and studied until going to the mall with Sylvia for a little bit. Good times.

I don't want to go back to class tomorrow.

I need a dream analyst.

Or at least I need a dream dictionary? This may be the most bizarre dream I've ever had that I remember.

Let me stress that this is a dream lest anyone who's skimming this entry mistake it for reality:

ONCE UPON A TIME... some of my friends and I are going to attend a wedding, which I know is NOT in Chicago or in Illinois. The reason I know the non-location is because David, Gisela, and Mike are all with me, and they all have homes in Chicago but not in this new mystery city. But apparently I have a new apartment there. Let's just refer to it as Marinopolis from now on. For kicks.

The aforementioned three, Stephanie, and Wes all arrive at my apartment with bags. So we now know that Marinopolis is not in Baltimore or West Virginia. Since I seem to have no fucking clue the way the city is laid out... It's certainly not New Orleans or DC. (Why I moved to a city I know nothing about is beyond me.) Shannon also shows up, but she has her car? So maybe Shannon lives near here.

Okay. Well... Shannon might move to Texas or Arizona, but Marinopolis can't be there because it's currently freezing. (I guess this dream is taking place one year in the future?) So it's certainly not in those states. I would guess that it's Jacque and Jason's wedding since they don't make an appearance, but it's way too F-ing cold to be Miami. Also their wedding is set for August, so it would have taken place by now probably. And if it took place in Michigan, Tara and Rachel would have shown up. So... David, Gisela, and Shannon are with me. So hopefully it's not any of their weddings? It's not Lauren and Sonny's wedding because their relationship ended with that whole "I want a vodka and soda, I really have no clue what that means" episode the other weekend. It's also not Becca and Matt's because Becca would never allow a wedding in this climate.

At this point, I can only think of one more possibility. Maybe it's Jenna and Jerry's wedding? No. They moved to the middle of nowhere, certainly not a city like Marinopolis. And again this place is way too cold to be in Tennessee or Louisiana. I give up.

So everyone's loving my new apartment, which as we walk through turns out to be a loft. And it's large, and modern, and beautiful, and well-furnished, and spacious. David muses that this would have come in really handy for "last Mardi Gras." And I muse that it wouldn't have since we're NOT IN NEW ORLEANS.

So we all hang around. Stephanie for some reason has Lauren's camera? We look through the pictures, and they're all of Sylvia and Kosmin in ridiculous poses... sadly no pose that's ridiculous/sexual enough to be compromising. So we all have a good laugh, and suddenly we're running late. For some reason, we think it's a great idea to just pack our clothes for the wedding into backpacks and just change when we get there.

(At this point in time, Shannon and Gisela, who are really nothing alike, become interchangeable even though they were separate entities before. I just remember every now and then the singular girl who was driving Shannon's car was sometimes Gisela, and everytime I was ready to call her Gisela, she was Shannon again. Whatever.)

So we stuff all these backpacks into the trunk, and then all seven of us pile into Shazela's car somehow. I guess at this point Gisela's the one in charge of driving because Shannon would never allow that many people into her car. And off we go.

We get caught in traffic. (Marinopolis is freezing with heavy traffic. Why the fuck did I move here? Those are like the two things I'd hate the most about a city. Oh yeah, I have that loft. Nevermind.)

So we pull off the interstate and stop at some random residence where Mike convinces the home owner to let us change. So we all rush into the house. Everyone changes. It turns out Wes' bag was the last one into the trunk, but he wasn't the one who closed the trunk. So his fell off? We worry and think about asking the home owner if Wes can borrow clothes. David calls his mom, who's apparently at the wedding, to see if everyone there is really dressed up. (So maybe it is David's wedding? But I hope not because we're so late that V will be more pissed than if we brought her to that Naked Sushi Joint.) Mrs. Lipps says yes, everyone is dressed up... and that we should just stop by Nordstrom and get Wes new clothes. Turns out I have an extra tux in my bag, which makes no sense because I'm a light packer and I don't even own a single tux. Whatever. We all get dressed up.

So we drive off again, and we pass by the airport because Shazela thinks it's a shortcut? I don't know. We're driving by the arrivals area, and then for some reason she loses control of the car. I'm sitting in shotgun which is beyond me because with this many people someone would have called it, and I never do. So we careen through a divider wall into the arrival pick-up lane with oncoming traffic in the opposite direction. Shazela manages to turn her miraculously undamaged car 180 degrees, and we're about to drive off and not get hit when her phone rings. She assumes it's her boyfriend Adam, or Alberto, or Adarlto. Whoever. She ANSWERS it and doesn't drive. It's a telemarketer asking her opinion on Mona's? BANG, a car rear ends us.

So now airport security is all over the place. Everyone's getting out. There's some woman in a Mona's uniform (Mona's doesn't have uniforms) with a cell phone asking if we're all right, and Shazela yells that this is all Mona's fault. Stephanie is trying to sweet-talk the officers because for some reason her elegant dress has morphed into a naughty girl scout uniform. I don't know. I give up trying to make sense of anything at this point.

The rest of us all wander over to a window looking into the airport's restaurant. Shazela sees a girl she went to high school with and HATED who is waitressing. The girl scowls at Shazela and laughs at her car. At this point, Shazela must be Shannon again because the waitress is from Maryland. Then the waitress is suddenly outside, and she looks through the window and goes "Oh my God, is that Nick Hamisevicz?!" I actually do know Nick Hamisevicz, he played soccer and graduated Gonzaga a few years before I did. But I was never good friends with him or with his brother Victor who played baseball and graduated the same year I did. In fact I haven't seen either for almost four years (five if you're counting this dream's fictional year). But surely enough, the entire Hamisevicz family is sitting down to a meal at this airport restaurant. They all wave. THE END.

If anyone has an interpretation of that (or has an Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for that matter) let me know...

weekend antics

So last night I went to dinner with Shannon "Who Wants Me? Everybody." Will and some of her friends. We went to Byblos because we'd both never been before. While waiting for her friends, I tried a bowl of the crab and corn bisque while she opted for some of what I call Shan-Nectar (Malibu and pineapple juice). Delicious. The two of us split a lightly fried crab and eggplant cake topped with parmesan sauce and lump crab meat for an appetizer and then for entrees the Byblos Pasta and a plate of baba ghanoush, lebna, mujadarah, and maybe the best moussaka I've ever had.

(Someone complained about lack of food detail in previous entries?)

Also kind of funny was I saw Katie (who lived on Butler 3 freshman year and whom I hadn't seen in ages) at Byblos and then saw her boyfriend RJ (Butler 2 and also hadn't seen in ages) at the party later. RJ told me a funny story. Ask about it if you want.

David, the six chicks, and what seemed like a thousand familiar faces, most of them drunk, went to the Tulane Ornithological Society's "Bird Flu Party" to get our "vaccinations." Good times. This following photo is courtesy of Lauren Mitchell:

Lauren, Whitney, David, and I were literally the last to leave. We stopped by The Boot for pizza, where we Adrian and company and where Whit apparently gave herself third-degree burns from eating too-hot pizza too-fast?

Today was pretty laidback. I studied for a bit, and Lizzie and I motivated each other to go to the gym. (I met a Gonzaga '01 grad named Chris who's here for med school. Recognition by athletic shorts.) Tonight we finally watched Showgirls for the half of us who haven't seen it and the other half who wanted to subject others to the experience. This following photo is courtesy of The Artist Formerly Known As Jesse Spano and was a moment we found controversial:

December?

I suppose it's time for an update.

The rest of Thanksgiving break I spent with my mom since my dad left on a well-planned trip the day after Thanksgiving and Adrian was seeing all his friends back from college for the first time. We shopped, cooked, played with our dog, saw The Prestige, saw The Departed (again), and ate a lot.

Since coming back here it's been the usual weekly stuff... grocery shopping, visiting Tara at Cafe Luna, going with Lauren to Cooter Brown's, having Bubble lunches with Rachel, going to classes, and studying. Ugh. But the semester's almost over anyway. And I saw Casino Royale, and, very minor nitpicking aside, it was awesome.

The Phi Sigma Pi "pick your poison" party was this past weekend, and the lovely Lizzie asked me to be her date. She was a Bahama Mama, I was an Irish Car Bomb, and everyone else was costumed as another alcoholic beverage. After the party at Grits officially ended some of us wound up at F&M's and then utilized Tulane's wonderful Safe Ride back to The Big Easy for late night food.

Mixed Drinks: Screwdriver, White Russian, Long Island
Iced Tea, Irish Car Bomb, Dirty Girl Scout, and Muff Diver

Last night Becca made chili and of course served it with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. AND she made brownies with frosting. Dinner was awesome, and the lucky group she served sat around watching (critiquing) Wife Swap and Supernanny... mostly because I think everyone was too busy talking to get up and change the channel.

Phillin' is the new swillin'

So now that my roommates and I have cupboards overflowing with free bulldog pint glasses, I think it's time to return attention to Phillips $5 pizza and pasta buffet, $3 martinis, and happy hour prices until midnight.

That's exactly what I did after project runway with two guys, a girl, and Skye at her place.

Rachel initiated tonight, and Alifun showed up and even almost went out more afterwards. There were lots of familiar faces there. Conrad went to swiller night, so I walked back together with him and some of his friends only to run into Adrian & Company headin' out just in time for boot o'clock.

Syyylvia will be glad to know that Jason, former owner of Press Menswear, is not only alive and well but is now the general manager of Phillips.

Apparently I'm the only (non-comm, non-polisci) student at Tulane who's not scavenging for a ticket to All The King's Men this Saturday. For those of you not in-the-know, the movie (filmed two years ago here) is having its world premiere right here on Tulane's campus. McAlister Auditorium, red carpet, celebrities, media circus, afterparty tent, etc. To drop a few names: Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Patricia Clarkson. No Anthony Hopkins. (Otherwise I'd be way more excited.) So... does anyone want to go drinking on Saturday night instead?

I doubt she'll wear this outfit to the premiere. Too bad.

"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.