P.S. trois more Mardi Gras pictures

All of these photos are courtesy of Evian White via Lauren Mitchell.

with Evian, Lauren, and Peter at Bruno's on Sunday Gras

Lundi Gras: waitin' line at Cafe du Monde

Steph's not actually lonely, and we're not actually judging her.

Mardi Gras '07: part three

Krewe of Thoth float and riders

this Bacchus float looks delicious.

this was prompted by my "I like girls that like girls" t-shirt.

bead balcony on Bourbon

Trojan horse float in the Proteus parade

tippin' the flambeaux man

Krewe of Orpheus' locomotive

with Ben after parades on Lundi Gras

some guy decorating the tree outside our apartment at 4a.m.

H.R.M. King Zulu '07

at the end of a fantastic, last, Mardi Gras morning

Mardi Gras '07: part two

liftin' Lindsay to get more beads

with Ben between parades

with Carter and boas

piano man at Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar

apparently it'll be a huge party. see y'all there!

H.R.M. King Okeanos '07

Stephanie, Peter, and their sunglasses

Mardi Gras '07: part one

H.R.M. Queen of Oshun '07

big-ass unicorn float at Pygmalion

decidedly my new favorite picture of Whitney and me

Maids of Sparta

H.R.M. King Pegasus '07

Miss Molly and me at New Bruno's

Esteban and his bull's-eye

roommates - and everyone over our shoulders

Nicole, Mike, and the gold people at One Eyed Jacks

Hermes float and riders

other people's pictures

Krewe du Vieux with Shan - photo courtesy of Gabriela Molina Schleusz

Miss Molly's after-party for Sparta and Pegasus - photo courtesy of Katie Austin

girls on shoulders get more stuff - photo courtesy of Brooke Hansen

with a perhaps (yet unlikely) sober Lizzie - photo courtesy of Meredith Robinson

Peter, Cosmin, and I lookin' tough - photo courtesy of Paul Murphy

Carter's departure - photo courtesy of Will Southerland

5:48 a.m. on Mardi Gras - photo courtesy of Reshelle Smith

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

I'm sure it'll be no surprise that actual Mardi Gras itself was anticlimactic. Well, it always is for me at least because everyone is intoxicated and exhausted. And at that point I don't even care anymore. I don't even call for beads or Zulu coconuts, let alone catch them. I just kind of bat the flying objects away from my face, so I don't get bruised by eager throwers. (It's happened to others.)

On that topic, the best beads I got this year were not the ones that were signature to each parade, not the Christmas ornament size ones, or not even the must-catch clay medallions. My favorite were the fiber-optic Muses beads that light up and changes colors.

Anyway, despite being drained and drunk, Mardi Gras was tons of fun.

After Nacho Mama's, we hit up "The Daiq Shack." They had a special on large daiquiris, so we got those.

At Stephanie's apartment, we hung out with Sarah and watched The Butterfly Effect (which was on TV) and Mean Girls (from my DVD collection). I was able to find a drinking game for the former and had long ago concocted one for the latter, so we played both.

After those, we got ready and headed out to "Tequila Sunrise" at The Boot. (I'll just say at this point that almost everyone local went to Zulu, so I won't even bother dropping names.) We saw two awesome guys standing outside. The first was wearing a nice blazer but eating french fries out the trash can, and the second was making out with two different girls next to the porta-potties. Some of us stopped by The Palms for a bit. I guess they got tired of being classy, so they replaced their pool table with a stripper pole? Then a handful of us went to Jackson & St. Charles early to stake out our spot.

Stephanie and David had found a great little market next to Igor's (where we get Bloody Marys) where we could get hot breakfast. It was beyond awesome to have eggs, bacon, sausage links and patties, hash browns, grits, and biscuits all fresh and ready to eat. Zulu was fun. A few of us left before Rex. Sarah, sober sister/hero of the day, was nice enough to pick us up.

When I got up after the most glorious pass-out ever (no fire alarms like last year's Mardi Gras pass-out), I went to dinner with Lauren, Evian, and Stephanie. Apparently Mardi Gras coincides with National Pancake Day this year, so we went to IHOP for dinner/breakfast.

I've been putting the Gras in Mardi Gras all break as any avid reader would know by now. So I had the chicken fried steak dinner, which came with corn, onion rings, garlic bread, and a side salad. And of course I took advantage of the free pancakes for NPD.

I'm going to justify all those carbs with the fact that carbs soak up alcohol, and it was the end of Mardi Gras. Do the math.

My mom asked if I had "a picture or two" I could show her from this Mardi Gras season. It's more like "a hundred or two hundred." They'll be up eventually. Here's the very last one. We're laughing because Lauren had just shoved David to the side and said "I'm the girl. I get to be in the middle!"

HAPPY MARDI GRAS
AND HAPPY ASH WEDNESDAY TOO

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.

Sundi Gras

Sunday started off with a trip to Popeyes, so it was a good day by default. David and I picked up the chicken he bought for the day long camp out on the neutral ground that our group of friends planned for the Krewes of Okeanos, Thoth, Mid-City, and Bacchus. It was amazingly successful. I'd say about fifty people were there at one point. Besides the Popeyes (and requisite biscuits and sides), we had king cakes, chips, crawfish, burgers, hot/corn dogs, random food items people bought from nearby places all day, and gallons of beer and liquor. (There was a creation of a controversial new drink called "The Peter," which is cranberry juice, vodka, and champagne.)

I got kicked in the stomach! Looking back, it was pretty hilarious. I'll be nice and not say who the culprit was. I was upstairs with some other people in the apartment of our friend Brooks, who was nice enough to let us use his bathroom. I went back down the stairs to head out to St. Charles when I saw a girl coming in, looking madder than a wet hen and soaking wet. I said "____, what happened to you???" And I admit I was chuckling a bit because it was a funny sight. "I HATE YOU. DON'T TALK TO ME OR TAKE A PICTURE. I'LLFUCKINGKILLYOU!" Then she kicked me in the gut and ran away.

Explanation? Apparently Drunk Cosmin, who was watching the parade from a window upstairs spilled his beer... and it landed on poor _____. She thought I had decided to throw alcohol on her then run downstairs to laugh at her. Pretty funny. Well, maybe not to her.

At the end of the parades, ______ and I rode back with another fun Drunk Girl and got caught in traffic. _____ took a nap on me, and we cuddled and she said "we should sleep together more often." At the end of the ride - luckily Sober Peter was driving - she told me it was the best nap she ever had and napping on me was "like sleeping on a cloud!" I guess that kick softened me up?

Carter&Co, Nicole, and I went out to dinner but wound up at New Bruno's because everywhere else was already closed or extremely busy. Everyone else got the usual cheese fries and sandwiches, but Will and I decided to accompany our Black 'N Bleus Burgers (dressed 1/2 pounders with bacon and blue cheese) with Debris Fries, which are amazing waffle fries topped generously with roast beef debris, green onion, and a little horseradish sauce.

After a pitcher of beer, we walked back to Nicole's place for the travelers to crash and for me to say seeya to 'em. And somewhere in that ten minutes, the world fell apart.

When I got back to Bruno's, Car Ride Drunk Girl had apparently left due to a personal crisis of sorts. And members of the baseball team that had been bickering in Bruno's had been exiled to the street where they were openly brawling now. Bouncers from both of the Bruno's had to pull them apart and eventually N.O.P.D. showed up. At the end of this, I was about to walk back in and some bitch tried to shove me out of the way. Then I realized the bitch was Kicking-Cloud Drunk _____. She said she was so happy to see me, and then she hugged me and went to stand in the corner and looked upset. She called me over, and I asked what was wrong and if I'd seen Someone, and I told her I hadn't, and she told me to leave her alone. Emphasis added for irony's sake. Then Lauren came rushing out to save the day.

Eventually Lauren came back, and life was fun again. Lots of other people were there too. Sometime after as-yet-unmentioned Drunk Girls had made out (apparently prompted by my t-shirt) another new Drunk Girl grinded with Jordan to Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love To You." They were grinding in front of the dartboards to the chagrin of all the players. I wouldn't want to piss off people holding darts but whatever. Last Drunk Girl of the Evening decided to throw up in her drink, set it back down on the table, and pick up a new one. (That's when Lauren and I decided it was time to leave.)

On the way out, those two tried to convince me that New Orleans is "pretty tame" and that Gainesville is the party capital of the country. They asked what time our bars closed. Ours don't! Shut up, bitches.

I like [drunk] girls that like [drunk] girls.

Satur(ated )day

So I woke up around four in the afternoon, I think. I returned a few phone calls and considered having the remainder of Marney's chocolate chip cookies for breakfast when Carter called. He came over to pick me up and apologize for the night before. (And I'm cool with everyone now even though I went to bed cursing everyone who was part of my night from 3AM to 9AM.) We went to "brunch" (really dinner) at Port of Call. Huge burgers, extremely loaded baked potatoes, and their signature "monsoon" drinks.

We watched Endymion from downtown. Some 13 year old girl with a mother nowhere in sight had taken off her shirt and was jumping up and down demanding beads from all the floats. She lots of them and lots of disapproving looks from riders and passersby alike. After the parade we hit up Handsome Willy's in the Central Business District. It's undoubtedly the coolest bar in the CBD because they had a television set dedicated to a SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM. So we played Mortal Kombat 3 and Mario Kart. (I forgot how much the 90s liked spelling C-words with Ks.) Good times.

After that, we showed Alex the craziness of Bourbon and got him the signature drinks. Pat O'Brien's hurricane, Tropical Isle hand grenade, etc. The crazy Christians told us we were all going to hell, but I met my new hero... a sane Christian holding up a huge sign saying "I'm sorry" to apologize for all the nut jobs who misrepresent us.

We left Carter and Will to Napoleon's Itch and went to the dance club next to Napoleon's Itch, where some girl offered to give me head for the huge beads I had on and I was sure it wasn't worth it 'cause she was gross. We then started heading back to Esplanade and Bourbon where we parked. (We had fantastic luck with parking spots this weekend, even better than Ryanne Clarke's.) Carter and Will went to Cafe Lafitte in Exile (gay bar) while Alex and I hit up Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar (oldest bar in the quarter).

We finished off the night in the piano bar of Lafitte's before heading home to crash so we could get up on Sunday for the big camp out!

F-ed Up Friday

It was... in both the good way and the bad way.

First class: Canceled after we turned in our discussion topics. Second class: Short. Third class: First exam. SERIOUSLY WHO GIVES AN EXAM THAT'S NOT ON THE SYLLABUS AT THE START OF THE YEAR ON THE LAST FRIDAY BEFORE MARDI GRAS SAYING THE ONLY OTHER DAY WE COULD HAVE HAD IT IS THE FIRST DAY AFTER MARDI GRAS AND DOESN'T OFFER MAKE-UPS? Joyce. That's who.

After that, I checked mail and found I'd gotten a package of homemade chocolate chip cookies from Marney, mother of my brother's best friend, lovely woman that she is. Makes me wonder what she send Adrian or her own actual son. That was a nice pick-me-up after the exam

Carter & Co came over to meet up with Peter and me, and we went to happy hour at the boot for a quick round before some shopping on Magazine St. (Apparently Carter missed certain stores and me as a "shopping buddy.") We picked up some new duds at the style lab and found exact replacements of ruined clothing at buffalo exchange.

Ben was nice enough to put us on the guest list for watching the Krewes of Hermes, D'Etat, and Morpehus at his St. Charles condo, so we stopped by The A&P to pick up some ice, Jim Beam, and a bottle of Grey Goose as a present for our gracious host. (We later found out that during the parades I ended up drinking half the bottle of Beam by myself; no mixers for it and no one else wanted it straight up.)

After the parades, we went to Sake Cafe and had a sushi feast and then went to Bruno's for a few rounds. Ben and Peter went their separate ways, but I went to Frenchmen Street with Carter & Co. Cafe Negril had an amazing live reggae band playing, and James Gandolfini was hanging out there too. We made eye contact and I mouthed "Tony Soprano." He responded with a smile and handshake and told me Happy Mardi Gras. Awesome

The rest of the night (or morning since it was 3AM at that point) went downhill from there. We should have followed Tony Soprano's lead and gone home and crashed, but we didn't.

A few highlights of the short version are:

• loud, sloppy Bourbon St
• tired and drunk and annoyed at the bar
• Carter&Co, aka my ride home, wanted to stay
• quest for a cab with Ben
• We became the drunk guys with dead cell phones and no rides.
• minor bitchfest with Ben
• almost fist fight with cab driver
• loud altercation at my front door with Carter

The story ends with me going to bed at 9AM.

Thirsty Thursday

Lord, this weekend needs to chill as soon as possible. It's off to a fantastic start even though last night there was kind of a bump in the road... or more like a huge f-ing pothole. But it's all good.

Thursday I got up after lunch with Tara, I hung around my room and waited for Carter, Will, and their friend Alex to arrive. (The collective trio will hereafter be referred to as Carter&Co or C&C if I feel really lazy.) So they arrived and met my non-Peter roommates. We mixed a few beverages to go and off we went to the parades to meet up with a bunch of other people. We were going to watch outside Fat Harry's-ish but moved a block down St. Charles to outside Cannon's since there was more space there.

The Krewes of Babylon, Chaos, and Muses all rolled and were lots of fun. In between parades, we went to Cannon's for more drinks.

After the parades, some of us piled into Carter's car and went to Reginelli's for pizza and beer. In the interest of being respectful, I'm not going to say which guy passed out at Reginelli's or which girl said this quote after she fell down a few times:

"I don't know where the fuck I am, but I fell and broke my knee or something. I should probably go to Tulane Memorial Hospital, but those bitches don't take greenbucks!"

Nicole and I split a Parthenon Pizza, which is garlic herb sauce, mozzarella, feta, artichokes, roma tomatoes, onions, mushrooms. It was delicious. and we all nursed a pitcher or two of Abita.

After we dropped a few drunks people off and picked a few up, and the rest of us went down to 80s Night. Unfortunately a lot of the regulars weren't around, but I did gather another "welcome back" from Strict-Bouncer-Guy. Dancing. High life. Dancing.

We came back uptown, and I showed Carter and Alex the new Bruno's. We crashed (relatively) early at about two in the morning since we figured we needed our strength for the next few days. We were right.

I still have an entire album's worth of photos, but don't expect any soon. They might not get loaded until after Mardi Gras itself.

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!

All's well that ends well.

And this weekend definitely did.

I started post-Bruno's today by showing Steven and Katie around the new UC. They recognize a lot of it. When we left, a pair of drunk girls stumbled up the stairs. (Katie's sorority memories came flooding back. Chi O, for those of you who care.)

The two girls were like "Are you prospies??? You should totally come to Tulane!" (I guess they were still observant enough to notice that I was, in a way, giving a tour.)

And I told them that they were actually graduates, and I was a senior.

"Really. Come to Tulane!"

Whatever.

As we were walking out, another pair of drunk girls (perhaps the same) stumbled out after us.
They were yelling, so we could hear them get into a fight about which had the other's cell phone and who loved the other more, culmating in one calling the other a "smelly butt-whore."

Next time I get shitfaced, I know what I'm going to call someone.

After a couple of hours of sleep, I met up with Steven and Katie again for lunch. I also got to meet Steven's brother Matt for the first time, so now I can proudly say I've met the entire Brooksher family.

Fiesta Bistro, for those of who haven't been, is a restaurant on Carrolton that serves Spanish tapas (for appetizers or to combine into a meal) and Mexican entrees. They also have $2 mimosas all-day on Sunday. We got patatas bravas, manchego flambe, taco salads, and steak quesadillas.

As I was coming back to my room, I saw Ryanne, Steve, and Tully. They invited me to go see Krewe of Barkus (the dog parade) in the French Quarter. So I went.

As we were walking to the route after parking, we came across a peculiar creature... a mix of a poodle and a dalmation. Use your imagination. I christened it a "poomation," which sounds like something disgusting used for winter holiday television programming. Ryanne came up with a better title, "dalmadoodle."

Two other choice conversation excerpts were:

Steve: "Balls aren't funny, but blue balls are."
Ryanne: "Blue balls are funny? I'll have to remind you that next time."

Ryanne: "And when it's $5 per box..."
Tully: "Oh, is that what you regularly charge?"

After Barkus, we stopped by The Creole Creamery on the way home.

Shannon and I went to Target to get a few things, grabbed some Chinese food for dinner (some kind of chicken each and white rice) and then saw Pan's Labyrinth, which was awesome. A beautifully macabre fairytale. After watching, I took issue with something, but after thinking about it, the issue disappeared. Just be aware if you don't understand Spanish, you'll have to do some subtitle reading.

It should win at least half of its six Oscar nominations.

"Stop getting drunk..."

"...and let me finish my damn story! Pardon my French."

That's just one of the choice quotes from Miss Molly this fine evening.

So my friends and I planned to watch the evening parades (Sparta and Pegasus) from The Columns again, but we overshot and drove too far. (I knew Stephanie and I couldn't have both been wrong about where to turn.) So we wound up at McDonald's.

After the parades I went to Miss Molly's Mardi Gras Party, where there was a MAS(A) reunion. I've missed Grandma and Gramps, aka Maureen and Steven. (Adrianne unfortunately wasn't in attendance). Good times.

Then the few people left who closed out the party went over to Bruno's. Guess who knew more people at Bruno's than Steven and I (i) combined? MISS MOLLY.

We got there and half a dozen girls (former students) immediately pulled her to sit with them, and when we went over to play darts, another girl leaned over to me and said "Oh my God, is that Mrs. Kenan? I love her!"

Ditto.

quickie Friday entry

I had my first exam, classes, went to the grocery with Shannon and Shivani, and then met up the gang for our annual Oshun and Pygmalion happy hour at The Columns. (We always go this Friday since the Friday right before Mardi Gras is always too busy.) Drinks. Beads. After that, we grabbed some dinner at Superior Grill, where the waitress carded everyone even though only Stephanie ordered a margarita. It was pretty funny. Some of us went out to Bruno's after for beer and darts. Good times.

Steph and Peter in any pose resembling this exemplifies Mardi Gras!

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

goin' to the Mardi Gras

The past few days have been more catchin' up with friends while goin' out to eat, but I received some riveting news this morning. Carter is officially comin' down for Mardi Gras. In the unlikely event you don't remember him (or even more unlikely event you don't know Peter and me) he's the pirate on the right. So excited I just can't hide it!

The reunion of the brothers of Alpha Pi Chi is not far away.

AND if that's not thrilling enough, an hour later I found out that not only have the lovely Gisela "No Longer A Ho If She Comes To Mardi Gras" Lopez and Mikey, Mr. "I'm Just Having Fun," himself hung out since I introduced them in Chicago... but they are also both comin' down for Mardi Gras! It will be like this but less chill and more Patron.

Photo courtesy of Mike Kunen

Less than a month until Fat Tuesday. Be there or be sober.

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: