sat Tuesday

I spent the morning at the café, uploading photos and journal entries and downloading the first two episodes of Lost season four. Liz stopped by to hang out a little on her way to class. For lunch, I found a Japanese restaurant a stone’s throw from my apartment. They have an offer for unlimited sushi for 10 Euro. Let’s see how many visits it takes before they ban me. Then I spent a few hours catching up with Lost.

Henk came home in the afternoon with market bags and announced he had invited the girls to dinner. His plan: Pasta and osso bucco. He graciously let me take over the osso bucco half of dinner, so I scoured our pantry for ingredients and did my first spontaneous cooking in a long time. It came with black pepper, fresh rosemary and fresh thyme. So all I had to do was salt it and dredge it with flour. Into the pot to brown. Then garlic, onions, and eventually mushrooms. Red wine to deglaze since our household doesn’t really stock white. Then just some water because we didn’t have broth. Osso bucco back in and simmer for a few hours. When the girls got here – some missing for late classes and a community service meeting – it was just a matter of plating and topping with chopped parsley, green cipollini, and lemon zest.

It turned out better than my expectations, which honestly were pretty low. Henk’s pasta was a slight variation on the one he made the other night, which translates into it being fantastic. Everyone seemed to enjoy both. Some of us hung out for a while, and when everyone else went to some bar to see a Beatles cover band (sounds awesome, but not walk-able), I went downstairs and just hung out with Liz for a while.

last week 4/29 - 5/6

Sunday

Sunday was the TCC crawfish boil. Crawfish are good. So are red beans and rice. Yeah, that's about it. Justin made cookies that afternoon apparently, so he made a special delivery. I know there were two kinds, and they involved some combination of butterscotch chips, peanut butter, white chocolate, and something else. I don't know. Heaven.

Monday

Monday was my last psych class ever. The topic of the day was Health Stress & Coping, so the professor managed to get one last jab in:

"That's my picture of marijuana. I got it from Andrew."

And then:

"We're from the same hometown, so we have the same dealer."

I'm going to miss that course.

Calculus was a sort-of review. Not really. Say your prayers for my final exam.

American Popular Music was... the usual mayhem. Not to be outdone, the professor not only gave us a lecture about how "when you're partying or getting laid, music is in the background, but in this class, [he] want[s] it to be in the foreground!" And then told us an anecdote of how he had to go to court and testify against Juvenile for plagiarizing the lyrics "you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up." I might miss that course too.

I went to Stephen's final review and then went to Kyoto for dinner with him and a few other architects. Japanese beer and wine both made appearances. I got a Stella Roll (a spicy scallop roll enveloped in tuna tataki) and a Hotbox (a rainbow box with eel, avocado, and pepper sauces).

Tuesday

Former Vice President Al Gore delivered his famous "An Inconvenient Truth" lecture. David had the hook-up and provided a few of us with reserved VIP seating, which is especially great because I honestly wouldn't have gone otherwise. But I'm glad I did. Gore was hilarious in-person (and would've surely won the election if his personality was more in attendance back then) and does the world's best impersonation of Bill Clinton. (Figures.) He also went on record to say that he is never running again.

Tara and I skipped lunch because of the lecture and because she forgot her phone, and Ben and I had an early dinner (last one, sob) and caught up on each other's apparently-very-interesting weekends.

God, this was a busy Tuesday. I went to the last 1718 for the year, a gathering which always coincides with Columns Happy Hour. Andrei Codrescu did the author reading and was hilarious. I was sad to find out he was reading from a yet-unpublished book, so I bought his tribute to New Orleans, which spans 20 years. And I relate wholeheartedly to this excerpt from it:

"How did you fall in love with New Orleans? At once, madly. ... Looking back, sometimes I think it was predestined."

As always, the bartenders are great for conversation. We were talking about old age, so one (a woman who shall remain unnamed) asked me how old I was, and then told me "You're not old! I'm over 40!!!" and (the guy, also left anonymous) asked me what my plans were. When I said they were unsure, he suggested "Travel, get drun, have as much sex as possible, and don't be afraid to forget it all." Apparently it's what he did after college. God, I love that bar.

A bunch of us moved on to The Delachaise for wine and food. I don't remember what I got, just that it was the red that paired well with the "beefy bruschetta" I ordered, which is basically bruschetta with grilled flank steak. David met up with me, and we picked up Tara and Alison to go to Balcony Bar for more drinks and more food. I was all about the beef apparently because I got a "balcony burger," which is a half-pounder with tomato, grilled onion, green peppers, mushrooms, bacon, and jalapenos."

Wednesday

Adrian finally had free time to go to the "birthday lunch" my Mom gave us in April. We went to Pascal's Manale. I got the stuffed eggplant for an appetizer, while he opted for a dozen raw oysters. I got their signature Barbeque Shrimp, which are huge and delicious. He got crawfish ettouffee. We topped it all off with bread pudding and pecan pie, respectively.

That night was also interesting. LOST and a trailer party. Then a bunch of us went out to Bruno's and then TJ Quills for a little bit, but the bar crawl ended there... for most of us. Lauren called me about half an hour later wanting to go back out, so we met up at The Rat and then went to The Boot, The Palms, and Snake & Jake's. There was a guy there proving the rule that if you get shot at or get naked at the bar, you drink for free. I'll let you guess which.

Thursday

I think I bummed around all day? Whatever. Shannon, David, and I went to Rock-n-Sake for dinner. Their clear soup is easily the best I've ever had at any Japanese restaurant, and I know that's a strange thing to remember, but it was awesome. We got a portabello tempura appetizer, which was awesome. I got an omakase (chef's choice) plate of sushi, sashimi, and crunchy rolls. Then we met up with more people and went to Spider-Man 3, which wasn't as good as the first two, but every fan should still see it anyway. The main problems with it are it's perhaps too comic-book-y (everything is more extreme; the evil, the jokes, the romance). But I still enjoyed it.

Friday

Storming and flooding. Calc final. Sleep. Dinner with Whitney and Tully at Sake Cafe. TNT. which is tuna stacked with rice, various roes, and a quail egg. And an Uptown Roll, which is a mix of fish, roe, and avocado. We stopped by Creole Creamery after, where I got an I Scream Fudge Sundae. (It's a chocolate overload. A hot fudge coated glass with two scoops of I Scream Fudge, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, whipped cream, and a chocolate covered cherry.) I can now say I've had every delicacy I've ever wanted there.

After that, Tully left and David met up with us. Monkey Hill. Drinks. Shots. St. Joe's Bar. Blueberry mojitos. Storyville. Ms. Mae's/The Club. More drinks. Stephanie's. Hookah. Waiting. Wine. Awesome night.

Saturday

I finished my adolescent psych final in fifteen minutes. I don't remember what I did all afternoon, so I probably wasted it somehow. Shannon and I went to Whole Foods and bought dinner there. Those Xochitl chips we love, guacamole, a surprisingly/insanely spicy mango and pineapple salsa, salads (mine was basically a Cobb), and a "California Club" (a huge sandwich on foccacia with turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, and a sun-dried tomato aioli).

David, Nate, and I went out and met up with Whitney, Matt and Paul for Cinco De Mayo. Lots of Corona. Tequila shots. My roommates and I decided to do more bonding by going to Camelia Grill(!) which was as incredible as I remember. I love breakfast at three in the morning. WORD. I got eggs over easy with bacon and fries. And a chocolate cherry freeze. I let it get to my brain.

Now that I'm all caught up, I will do my best to update this reasonably on-time. Besides, what else will I do since there's no more class?

last week 4/23 - 4/28

I realize I'm behind on the updates. My apologies. Time seems to be flying by more swiftly than ever.

Monday

I don't even remember. Sorry.

Tuesday

Lunch with Tara. The Pussycat Dolls found their new Doll, and I'm never watching The CW again. At least until next season. "Why is it every time I come home to you actually watching TV, there's some half naked chick dancing on screen?" I don't know, Nate. I don't know.

Wednesday

Wednesday night Shannon and I went to the best idea she ever had. "So Sinfully Sweet" at Morton's Steakhouse downtown. Blue Frog Chocolates decided to a chocolate tasting (with a different wine accompanying each), had Morton's serve hors d'ouevres (chicken tenders, bruschetta, mushroom caps stuffed with lump crabmeat, chicken tenders, and steak tenderloin sandwiches), and had masseuses from Aveda giving rubdowns. It was quite possibly the best two hours of my life. And I got drunk because there was a different wine for each of the five chocolates and Shannon would take one sip and insist I finish the rest for her, besides my own. Watching LOST drunk really isn't as hard as one would think.

Thursday

I had lunch with Tara and then went over to my professor's house for our final class (since she cancelled the Tuesday one). I presented my screenplay. It seemed to go over well. We all brought beer since she said "no hard liquor" after "certain behavior" last time we all drank together at Juan's Flying Burrito. She made us dinner (soft tacos, pico, guac, beans, rice). Good times.

Friday

Last Friday of classes. Ever. Shannon and I decided to turn our last Friday class ever into a drinking game. (We're good at this sort of drinking-in-what-may-seem-an-unlikely-situation. Just like the end of lagniappe's Bruff Happy Hour.) That was fun. TGIOver. A little more happy hour. We went to dinner at 5 Happiness, which was sort-of-good Chinese food. Asian Cajun still reigns supreme even though it's not traditionally Chinese.

Nicole and I met up to go to Erin's Cocktail Party, which was one of the best parties I've ever been to. Almost all the guys had shirts and ties on and the girls wore cocktail (duh) dresses. She had two bars (with bartenders), all the liquors, mixers, extras (cherries, lemons, limes, olives), one could want. And kegs. And the backyard was lit up with paper lanterns. Gorgeous. I was telling Nicole that if it weren't for the ice luges and beer pong table, I could have mistaken it for, like, a "grown-up" party. Tons of fun.

When we got there, we jumped immediately into the Cupid Shuffle. Nicole has a little trouble when the directions aren't given, but it was fun. A few hours later, after splitting up and mingling with different friends, we did another Cupid Shuffle. This time Nicole had trouble even with directions. "No, Nicole. Left. Left. Your other left!"

And then we left to go to another party at the "Calhoun Castle of Craziness." Nicole doesn't remember anything past this point, but I distinctly recall her verbally abusing two drunk boys walking near us. (Not as bad as Eileen in the Mardi Gras flashback though.) When we got to the house, she went to the bathroom, and I talked to Jose, whom I'd just met. By the time she came back out, I had realized we were at the completely wrong party. It was a Latin one. And the ladies of the castle are six white chicks. so we left.

When we finally made it to the correct party a block or so further, we saw more beer pong and nurses walking around giving people "shots" to cure senioritis. Good times.
We ended up at Dillon's house in his kitchen. The two of them had what may have been the most circular of drunk debates ever. But I was amused.

Saturday

Saturday was full of delicious food. Lizzie, Wes, and I went to Domilise's for po-boys. (Another restaurant crossed off the list.) We took them to the levee and had a little picnic with them and Abita. I got the Wednesday/Saturday special of barbecued beef. Awesome. The best part of the levee layout was when the ice cream truck pulled up, and all the half-naked college kids ran for it like a bunch of children. I was part of the bunch. It was worth it. We had a potluck that night that was pie themed. Pizza pie, chicken pot pie, spinach and mushroom pie, quiche, chocolate cream pie. Awesome. I was going to make Emeril's banana cream pie with caramel and chocolate drizzles (all from scratch like at the restaurant, but seeing how the grocery was out of ripe bananas... that didn't work. I brought apple instead. Then Lizzie convinced me out to Madigan's because Maureen (among others) were there. Adrian and his new Sig Ep brothers stumbled in soon after, so that was a pleasant surprise.

the past two days

Monday. Again. Classes. Bank.

Digression: Last Friday I went to the Whitney trailer, and there were two men outside talking about the deck. Why??? Don't you guys have jobs or something better to do? When I entered, I saw Alex and the other bankers all Casual Friday and packing stuff away.

Digression x2: In January I asked Alex when they'd move into the UC, and he replied "March supposedly, but I'll believe it when it happens."

Digression: So I figured out that they were finally moving, even though it's technically April now, and the guys outside must be the ones in charge of dismantling the trailer. Later on when I went to the ATM, I saw all the Whitney people inside with empty pizza boxes and setting up stuff.

More classes.

Because I was too busy/tired to cook, not sure how to cook Kosher, and not Jewish, I missed Lizzie and Rachel's potluck Passover seder.

Becca, Lauren, and I went to Cane's instead. Delicious.

Not sure what I did Monday night so it couldn't have been that exciting.

Tuesday. Terrorism. Lunch with Tara. Screenwriting. Dinner with Ben. And Steph, and Lauren, and David. I took a copy of Expose (last week's LOST episode that focused on "Nina and Pablo") over to Dalia since she missed it. Quick gym trip. Studying with Stephen but we ended up drinking Negro Modelo.

Now only one exam stands in between me and another break!

spring break part 1: NOLA

Two thirds of my break were spent here in my beloved New Orleans.

SATURDAY

Saturday I missed ALL the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is quite different from last year. I thought I slept through the first two, but I was wrong since they ran so late. Tully drove Whitney, her friend Brittany (heretoafter referred to as "The -Ittaney's") to Babylon for dinner. Chicken tecka. Yum.

Adrian came over to use the kitchen to flex his culinary muscles. Whit, Keenan, and I went down to The Quarter to close out St. Patty's. We went to Pat O'Brien's, where we celebrated with carbombs, hurricanes, and Bailey's. Whitney and I danced to Flashdance's "What A Feeling," which I guess is "our song" now. When that died down, we went to The Palms, which was dead. Whtiney passed out, but I woke her up with the smell of sirloin steak quesadillas. Adrian and Monica were very finished with dinner by then, so I went with them to The Boot for a little bit.

SUNDAY

Tully, The -Ittaneys, and I took a Sunday Drive around the city, which may have lasted a little longer than we planned. We showed her uptown, the quarter, the marigny, and some of the destruction in mid-city. We grabbed a late lunch (mmm, chirashi sushi, salmon, yellowtail, tuna, crab, shrimp, mackerel, octopus, etc) at Mikimoto. We stopped by Blockbuster to pick up DVDs for break. I borrowed three that I forgot about and almost didn't watch.

Later that night, I went with Shannon to pick up her friend Ihita, visiting from Maryland, from the airport. Those two will be hereafter referred to as "Shanita." We met up at Port O Call with The -Ittaneys and Tony for monsoons and burgers.

Shanita was tired and frustrated with the loss of luggage, so they went home. The -Ittaneys and I went to The Pub, which rocks on "Sing-A-Long Sunday" because they play old music video, particularly from the '90s. We bought several rounds and David (my favorite bartender in the world because even though I'm never there he always remembers) gave us free shots. One was an Absolut Pear Kamikaze, which Whitney loved because its main ingredient is her favorite liquor. Then she and I chased whiskey with beer 'cause Garth said so.

After that, we went to Harrah's to play slots and Blackjack. Chad and I texted a bit. He would've been proud since it was an economically productive night.

MONDAY

Monday began with the Harrah's breakfast buffet. (bacon, andouille, smoked salmon, eggs/omelets made to order, fresh fruit, etc) We all ate too much.

After a nap, I went with Shanita to The Daiq Shack to get daiqiris (Starbucks Mudslide to wake me up) and Hana to get lunch (seaweed salad and spicy tuna, crawfish, and California rolls). We took our drinks and food to The Levy for a picnic.

The -Ittaneys and Tully met up with us, armed with daiquiris, and we played Circle-of-Death/Kings until the sun went down.

Shanita and I picked up Wes and Steve and then met up with Sam at Saltwater Grill. I love that place, but be prepared to WAIT if you order oysters. But we felt Ihita needed to try them raw. She approved. The owner gave us a baker's dozen to make up for the wait.

We met up with Josh, The -Ittaneys, and Tully and went to both old and new Bruno's for more drinks and C-o-D/K. I forgot my waterproof cards, but the bartender lent us some. Good times.

TUESDAY

Tuesday I mostly recuperated before a French Quarter afternoon with Shanita. We got dinner at Arnaud's Remoulade, which doesn't serve the largest portions, but they're tasty and filling. I recommend a Taste of Nola: Seafood gumbo, stuffed crab, and red beans and rice.

We got our palms read by Jerrik and tarot done by his daughter. He was amazing. I really do think palmistry can reveal a lot about a person. Her predictions were good to; the forecast is cloudy, with an occasional storm, but beautiful real soon.

We walked down to Frenchmen, which was chill, to grab a few rounds at DBA, and we gave part of the Brangelina Tour by showing Ihita their street, Whirling Dervish, and Angeli.

Then we hit up Tropical Isle and Pat O'Brien's so she could try hand grenades and hurricanes. She prefers the grenades. I (stupidly) combined hand grenade leftovers with hurricane leftovers and chugged it. We were all drunk, so we barhopped some more. We stopped by The Pub, where it was apparently lesbian night, so that was kind of funny, and then went to Cat's Meow. I was supposed to sing "Get Ready" with Shannon on back-up vocals, but they played "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" instead. All the drunk people told me I was "the best," but consider the source. Ihitia bought a little pizza (8 inches in diameter?), and we drove home.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday we took Shannon's RAV4 to the Toyota dealership to get it checked out. We cruised the mall, like teenagers. Ihita and I hiked over (gasp) grass, her nemesis, to the Aveda Institute. She got a facial and, since it was the first day of spring, I chopped my hair off.

We went to Vietnamese lunch at Tastea Caffé. We all got bubble tea and beef. Grilled, vermicelli, and pho.

We stopped by the quarter again so Ihita could get some souvenirs.

We met up with Sam at Dick and Jenny's for dinner. I had an "escargot-boy" (a garlicky snail po-boy with creamy mushroom sauce) for an appetizer and a sampler entree (pain perdue, fried oysters, and crawfish alligator sausage cheesecake). We split a Nolamisu (tiramisu with local ingredients, Mom) and creme brulee for dessert. It's really good, but it's similarities to Jacques-Imo's invite comparison. My heart (aka stomach) still belongs to Jacques.

Back here, I went over to Whitney's to watch LOST and Saw 3, which we'd borrowed from blockbuster.

my week so far

MONDAY

My parents were still in town, so between classes, Adrian and I went to lunch with them at Hana. I ordered a Hana Special Roll to share and the combo lunch (tempura, katsu, and shumai) for myself. I had my long calc midterm and after that we went (Adrian-less) to The Columns for happy hour again before hitting up Saltwater Grill for the aforementioned (in the Friday part) 25¢ oysters and red beans and rice with grilled andouille. We hung out at the hotel for a while before grabbing a very late dinner at K-Paul's.

Mom and I both started off with a cup of champagne cream of shiitake soup with sundried tomatoes. We all split a plate of fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade. My entree was a plate of duck tenders and shrimp in creole pork sauce over basmati rice. So good. K-Paul's makes their creme brulee with buried sugar pecans. Nice crunch and texture.

Then I took my parents to Harrah's since neither of them had been there yet. Mom doubled her money - at Money To Burn, Chad! - and we called it a night.

TUESDAY

No terrorism, no lunch with Tara, no screenwriting, no dinner with ben. (Canceled by Dad, canceled by her, canceled by professor, canceled by him.)

My father asked me to skip class in favor of family lunch at Felix's Uptown. Fried alligator. Sampler of red beans, jambalaya, and crawfish ettouffee.

Ben un-canceled dinner because he stopped caring about his midterm (at least for an hour), so we had dinner and caught up on each other's weekends before saying "have a good break." Just in case we don't meet up again before he leaves for Spain on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY

Adolescent Psych. Debate. No paper due, luckily. I actually took up Dining Services on their "Take-A-Professor-To-Lunch" program. So after lunch Cunningham and I went to Bruff, for free. It was fried chicken day. Awesome.

Calc. Music. Blah. Phone Calls. Fun. Nap. Great.

Lauren, David, and I went to get cannolis at Spumone in Mid-City. It was probably her best idea ever. We got cannolis, half chocolate, dusted with powdered sugar and crushed pistachios. I also sampled two flavors of gelato. (Both were so good, I couldn't pick just one.) "St. Joseph's Chocolate Almond," which was the daily special and tastes exactly like it sounds (minus the holiness), and Baci (which some of you know is Italian for "kiss"), which must be made of pure Nutella. They probably changed the name so they wouldn't get sued.

Lauren and I had dessert and then dinner. Kind of backwards. While on this Italian kick, we asked Whitney to pick us up a foot-long when she went to Subway. She was sooo nice about it, even checking exactly what we wanted. Parmesan-oregano bread, provolone or mozzarella bread. She asked if we wanted vegetables, and I replied "Are you kidding? It's LAUREN. No vegetables."

I've decided my favorite new show is "The Search For The Next Pussycat Doll." It's like America's Next Top Model but with singing, dancing, and non-clothing. I guess they want a seventh girl so that Nicole can stand in the middle.

At least it was what I watched while waiting for LOST with Whitney.

Closer to midnight, Lauren and I decided to go out. We didn't want to have to drive, so we walked to - unbelievable - TJ Quills for swiller night. We were the oldest people there. All freshmen. We saw one junior (Teddy) and one sophomore (Shivani)we knew. We played a great game of "I Never..." which is really hard when you play with someone you know well, and I managed to screw it up.

We decided to go somewhere more appropriate and wound up at Uptown Cajun. We enjoyed the Flogging Molly playlist and pitcher special for Abita. We decided to call Ted (H) since we missed him. Speaking of whom, here's my new favorite music video for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, the "group project" from last Wednesday.

happy 22nd, Ben!

Hmmm, since my last update: Classes, LOST, sleep, classes, lunch with Tara but this time on the sunny beautiful quad, errands, and laundry. Then Shannon and I went to a screening of Amazing Grace, which was pretty good for a PG movie. She and I were most excited, respectively, about the chick from Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Mr. Fantastic playing the romantic leads.

Ioan Gruffudd and Romola Garai pre-Amazing Grace

After that I went out with Ben and Katy&Co for his birthday and spent the moments we were not drinking trying to cheer him and convince him that 22 is not that old. (Especially considering that I'll be the same age in less than two weeks.). Pub, free champagne, expensive champagne, Clover Grill for special club sandwiches and french fries.

from last Friday but pretendin' it's from yesterday

Valentine's (VVednes)day

Happy VD, everyone.

A cell phone went off during adolescent psych today spawned this:

"Oh, someone's drug dealer is calling. Or someone's calling to wish you Happy Thanksgiving. or Valentine's Day. See what I associate today with? Eating." - Professor Cunningham

That is exactly why I'm inviting him to the "Take a Professor to Lunch" program even though Lizzie and I have had a long-standing arrangement to take Norbert to it.

Classes. "Breakfast"/Lunch. Review session. UC. Mail.

Mail Room Worker Frustrated By 50 Package-Delay:
"I need some Tylenol and at least two shots of everclear."

As I walked home, I saw United Parcel Service and Federal Express trucks going head-to-head for the spot in the mail room driveway.

UPS and Fed-Ex

This evening I just studied, made dinner, and watched LOST with Dalia. All the other regular cast members couldn't make it apparently.

Desmond David Hume and Penny Ellen Pompeo

Mardi Gras Update: Due to weather conditions (Chicago's not New Orleans') 'Sela and Mikey both aren't coming down, but the former will be here for graduation and the latter for another upcoming weekend. But Carty just called, and he's about to get on the road to drive down!

the week so far

"I saw you at Krewe de Vieux the other night, Andrew. Not going to say what you were doing but I saw you there!" - Professor Cunningham

Sunday:
Harrah's
Cafe Brazil
Krewe de Vieux
DBA
port of call
Bubba Gump

Lauren hates when anyone grabs her boob(s).

Monday:
classes
gym
Adrian time

Tuesday:
terrorism classs
Tara time
screenwriting class
Ben time
Martinique Bistro
Pitt St. Pretties time
Lauren time

"dress up fancy" ... just a little

Wednesday:
class
Rachel time
classes
nap
LOST
studying

in preparation for Wednesday

Two LOST spoofs. Somehow both official???

an inside look at the writing process:


screening of the series finale:

what a glorious day

I registered for my classes for my final (say a prayer) semester at Tulane, Britney Spears has finally sent off a long overdue Fed-Ex shipment, and LOST aired its mini-season finale!

My afternoon was pretty laidback. Shannon and I went to Whole Foods, Café Luna to visit JigglyJuggs and get some cold beverages, and Blue Frog Chocolates. I like Shannon for several reasons among which are the facts that she likes dark chocolate probably as much as I do and that she hates the taste of coffee. (Those who know me well know I don’t like coffee, I just enjoy the tastes that cover it up like caramel and, today, mint chocolate.)

After that I came back here and shaved and got presentable, and Lauren and I went to The Melting Pot and caught up over a bottle of wine and cheese and chocolate fondues. Granted, we got drunk and missed the first quarter of LOST. Of course we'll see it as soon as possible, but the food was worth it.

I feel bad because in our tardy absence we missed Whitney and Wes, but I'll make it up to them... somehow.

Immediately after the episode ended, I received irate phone calls from Whit and my mommy. Whitney had a problem with not enough happening in the episode, and a very medicated (antibiotics!) mommy was upset about the break in the season. I bitched about the break already months ago. As an alumni of the school of I-hate-reruns, I completely prefer six-new-episodes-straight and eighteen-straight even if it means some waiting in between.

So in honor of the good day, I'm posting one of my favorite pictures ever from Esquire magazine. To me it is a symbol - Notice the Mardi Gras beads! - of New Orleans and Britney in 2005 before the catastrophes of Katrina and K-Fed. New Orleans is on its way back, now let us hope Britney is too.

And in honor of the also smoking hot Evangeline Lilly, here is what I think should be Kates next flashback on LOST:

back by popular demand

Once upon a time in October 2006, Andrew never actually updated his journal, which has happened before but not during school, so he wrote an entry after the month ended detailing in run-on sentence that his high school English teachers would detest exactly what he did during that month: With Stephanie free of the LSAT, her birthday was finally celebrated and involved a good amount of Harrah's, drinking on the patio, drunk people at the piano bar, and Pat O'Brien,s Tara turned 21 about a week later, and she and Andrew celebrated by making a spectacle of themselves with a spectacular pub crawl that semi-began with margaritas at dinner at Taqueria Corona and pre-gaming at home but really began with Abita Amber at Cooter Brown's, then bypassed the closed Daiq-Shack, and into Madigan's, then Uptown Cajun, then TJ Quills, then past an early-closed Vera Cruz in favor of both Bruno's, and after Phillips was sadly closed as well went to The Palms, and then The Boot, and then The Palms again for a long timg, dancing and drinking and dancing and drinking and then doing five shots each to hit the 21 mark before going to Big Easy to get laughed at by the workers and then taking a picture with the Tulane sign before the sun came up, there were more birthdays and parties (kegs for Curry, Chris' graduation celebration, and the noise-violatin' gettin' shut down Freaky Friday the 13th all come to mind) that were fun as well, and lots of barhopping and picture-taking, some of which the subjects don't remember, but that's okay, and Cowboy Mouth played a show for homecoming (which Tulane won against Army), and Andrew couldn't refuse to go since Curry was in charge of it and it was his birthday and personally invited and recommended that people go, and it was loud but the band basically forced people to have fun and brought Matt on stage because he didn't look like he was having fun, and as a finale brought literally everyone on stage to sing their last song, and Lauren got into med school, so that was celebrated with brownies and champagne after anticipating the victory a few nights earlier by going to Phillips after David and Andrew went to AEPi's Original Sin and Zeta Psi's Bayou Bash and tried to remember how they went to several of these parties freshman year and didn't get tired of them then, went with David and Peter to go see The Departed which was violent but amazing, and everyone should see it, and watching the new mini-season of Lost which will be over sooner than it should be, and random nights of hanging out with Adrian or running into him and/or his friends at various nightlife locations here in uptown (funny that Adrian and Andrew both went to the Jazmine Café on separate occasions without hearing from each other and really liked it and thought it was cheaper yet better Viet food than at home), Halloween was suddenly here and began a couple nights early, naturally, and there were lots of parties, and people madly hunting for costumes last-minute, and most of the girls dressed like sluts because that's what the holiday celebrates, and there were lots of Quail-Men (Nickelodeon's Doug, anyone?) but they were all cool, and there were at least five of them throughout the “long” weekend even though the best costume this year I think was the Two-Face walking around Frenchmen with half a head of make-up, half a wig(?) or half a dye job, a suit half in animal-print and “matching” shirt, tie, and probably hands and shoes even though they weren't seen, and Stephanie and Andrew went to The Rocky Horror Picture show which was disturbing/entertaining as ever and got hooked up with VIP passes (thanks David) and sat in the front and experienced rice, water, the actors, the candy, and all such antics even though Stephanie thought the walk to McAlister was really long because they were dressed funny, and Ted suddenly decided to tell us that he was leaving for Texas but with much less notice and fanfare than last time and apparently this time for real, and conversely Jacque was back in town, so that was fun and it was like old times except with legal drinking and going to the levee with her and Tara and talking about how no one - not even Jacque surprisingly – knows what they're doing with their life, what the Pitt St. Pretties are doing with their Thursday is going to Vaughan's Lounge to see Kermit Ruffins and drink with professors and eat late night red beans and rice, which is fun and they've taught Andrew to go (he goes to Café Luna, their workplace, a lot to visit also), Tara is really into the red wine and split a bottle of it with him and Alifun even though Alifun only really drinks a glass, but it was the thought that counts because red wine is medicinal for tragedy, and then St. Joe's and Monkey Hill and other places twenty-one year olds can go, and pictures that people don't remember. The end.

So if you really want to kill some time, wrestle your way through that. It'll be like reading James Joyce but without the intellect and deftness in the writing or Victor's chapter in The Rules of Attraction without the sex and drugs.

There will be pictures as soon as Microsoft PictureIt repairs itself.

lost weekend / found food

This was a ridiculously amazing weekend. I sat a lot and ate even more. Don't read this on an empty stomach. It might make you hungry. It's all about food.

So early Friday morning (e.g. 2:00 a.m.) while at Big Easy Cafe with Whitney and Tully, I found out that Whit-Walk has a penchant for LOST much like some of my other friends. And she hadn't seen the second season at all because she was in Australia. So we got all excited and talked about it.

Friday for lunch David had the brilliant idea of going to New-Dunbar's on Loyola's campus. Delicious. Fried chicken and jambalaya and seafood gumbo. For dinner I went with the girls to La Crepe Nanou. Pate and cheese plate, French onion soup, and a ridiculous amount of leg of lamb.

Then we went to the Daiq-Shack (the daiquiri place on riverbend) and bought a gallon of "push-up" and watched Clue.

Saturday I went with Rachel to her friend Adam's Mexican independence day party. I didn't stargaze at the premiere. Instead I was eating chips with unfinishable amounts of pico de gallo and guacamole along with grilled pork and jalapeno poppers. (All of this made from scratch, mind you.) Then downing it all with Dos Equis and Negro Modelo beers .

Then for dinner, Whitney and I ordered chicken and sausage gumbo, house salad, and grilled shrimp po-boys from Uptown Cajun.

Sunday Whitney, Tully, and I tried to go to Kyoto. (It's the only uptown Japanese restaurant I haven't frequented.) But it was closed, so we went to Hana instead. Oshi zushi box and Hana special roll.

Then for dinner I went with Whitney and the Brittanys to her family's for dinner. Roasted turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, vegetables, mushroom rice, lots of wine and beer, and a huge red velvet cake and ice cream in honor of her 21st birthday which I think by now has lasted longer than both Becca's and mine combined.

No going out or eating out for a while... with a few exceptions I already have in mind.

Oh, and Whitney and I watched the entire second season of LOST in one weekend... in between meals... while drinking daiquiris and beer.

So yeah, I think this is the first "best" weekend of senior year and in the running for one of the best weekends I've ever had.

blah blah, whatever whatever

Sometimes celebrities do things for publicity to coincide with a new release. (Jessica Simpson is dating John Mayer? Whatever.) Sometimes they don't. LOST's Adewale "Mr. Eko" Akinnuoye-Agbaje was arrested on the Hawaiian road this weekend. (This clearly has nothing to do with the season two dvd release today.) At least he wasn't drunk like Cynthia "Libby" Watros and Michelle "Could probably kick my ass" Rodriguez. Stop getting arrested! I want to watch LOST with you on it! Hell, even I can drive in Hawaii. USA Today

But he should be fine. I never watched Oz on HBO, but it's my understanding that Adewale's character on it made just about everyone his bitch. I wouldn't start shit with him if I was a cellmate.

But I digress from my life.

Last night I went out with Ted and some of his friends for his birthday. Curry was kind enough to let me hitchhike down to the quarter with him and back again. Flaming fountain, sing-alongs, and a Ted roast with everyone's favorite "warm and fuzzy" (or possibly embarassing) memories. Good times. Oh yeah, and lots of hand grenades hurricanes.

Never let me get drunk and order "a hand grenade" at Pat O'Brien's again, but always allow Curry to get drunk and threaten Kunal with the words "Stop talking. I will kill you. I will throw you into the volcano."

"The Volcano" or fountain, whichever you prefer

Maybe I should start calling Pat O'Brien's my favorite bar since I think I've been there more times since turning 21 than any other bar... except Bruno's.

Speaking of Bruno's... People don't like The New Bruno's or The New Facebook so let's hope The New Rat puts an end to this "Which New Thing Can Suck The Most?" Contest... by not sucking.