Chris Rose really just can get down everything that you experience in the city right now. Its worth a read, this Sunday's article. Its about the Desire bus route. You know the one that "Streetcar Named Desire" was named after? Check it out.

The house we worked on yesterday had to be the 2nd hardest house for me. I know part of it was the fact I had 3 hours of sleep before going. Another part of it was the maggots, the abundance of maggots, the heat, the smell. Oh the smells were the some of the worst. The owners were there the whole time which is a blessing and also a curse. It was so nice to hear the stories of the neighborhood and their family. 4 generations had lived in this house.....the curse? Trying to clean out everything when one member of the household wanted to save everything. At one point in one of the rooms I was cleaning out, I was told to look out for the cremation remains of one of their dogs. One of two. Amazingly I did find it. I took it outside to give to the family, when I was informed the 2nd one was sitting on the bed. Which I had already cleaned off and thrown out. There were a tense few minutes while one of the owners and a Arabi Wrecking Krewe member went through the pile of debris outside and while I looked inside. Since I had been looking for one of the two remains to began with, I didn't understand how I could have thrown it out. Finally they did find out that one of their daughters had taken one of the two dogs earlier in the morning. So they did have both of the dogs back. I can't explain the feeling I experienced thinking I had thrown one of their dogs out. I reached a wall yesterday that I couldn't just go on. It was around 2 in the afternoon. Maybe it was 3. Some of the members wanted to finish just one more room. That was jammed pack, the owners had just cleaned out the attic right before the storm and its entire contents were in this room. I was so tired and just had enough. I sat across the street in the park with one of the owners and talked for the rest of the afternoon. Other members working slowly losed their energy as well. I give major kudos to the two that kept on working. They got the room done. We ended the afternoon at Parkway Bakery where I had my most favorite roast beef sandwich. I slept all night, until now. Next week its a new house and a new family.

My damn car has been tagged for sitting in one spot for more than 3 days. I just talked to a state trooper that says it needs to be moved within 72 hours. He isn't sure if I just rolled it back, so it was still in front of the house, but moved if it would be okay. He suggested parking in the driveway. Which is shared by 5 people. *sigh* I am gonna have to go and ask the people downstairs if they mind me parking there for a long period of time. It can't go under the carport right now as well, there is one of those huge inflatible pools right there for their son. They usually park in the driveway. Its just a huge pain in the ass. The lawyer told me it should all be resolved soon. I think I know what the problem is, but once again don't want to put a ton o money in the car if I don't get the title and they come and take it away......I asked for either the title or my money back, and for them to come and get the car. This dealership sucks ass for not getting my title. Its been 8 months now. *sigh* plus they will start charging for the bus soon. I am sure plenty of my friends are tired of me bumming rides off them. It will be over soon right?

We need aqua, rain, something!! It has been dark most of the afternoon, and there have been a few rain storms. But not like we need. yesterday it teased us, one side of the house was all dark, there was lighting and thunder, on the other side of the house? Sunny. The weather here just rocks my world. Its so cool. Obviously it can get really really bad (see weather on Aug 29th 2005) but most of the time its pretty damn awesome.
Speaking of awesome....okay not so awesome, but its much needed. National Guard is coming back to New Orleans. Just for the record I got a ride to the gig last Friday, and Russell was sweet enough to give me a ride home. I am still not going to marry him however. Drummers are off the list for now. ;)

I need the car fixed and I need the damn title. I was out at the bus stop this morning at my normal time...6:45 AM and the bus didn't show up until 7:20. I am to be at work at 7:30. Sucks. The GM said he could come and pick me up on his way in...I said "you get there too early!!" He is GETTING to work around 6:45. Maybe that isn't so bad. I could make more overtime that way.
We are a day away from the start of summer, which also means 2 months exactly until my birthday. Shopping should have started. ;) OKAY...I don't expect anything from my sister since her present from last year is still sitting in my room....not finished. I swear I will work on it really really soon. Really.

Could be old news to some....but Zach Braff's website is up and running finally. It's pretty cool and has a montage from his new movie!!! He is so adorable!!

I am trying this bad boy out finally....hope to have the site all pretty one day. ch-ch-changes what am i not getting??

#42-Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley. I picked this book up because of the cover. It is of the famous picture of the flag raising in Iwo Jima. What a lot of people do not realize is that that picture is of the SECOND flag raising. The first had occurred several hours before. My Great Uncle Louis Charlo was part of the first patrol up Mt. Suribachi, he was part of the first flag raising. Soon after the flag was hoisted they came under attack. They quickly ended that attack. Another flag was brought up so the orginal flag could stay with that group. I wanted to know if this book mentioned my Great Uncle. (he like so many other young boys died on Iwo Jima) To my amazement it did. The book is written by the son of one of the six flag raisers in the famous picture. You learn all about these six boys from the time they were born to their deaths. I really enjoyed this book. There were times when the Author repeated himself. Not twice...but at least three times. I kept having to ask myself...am I re-reading a portion?? No, it was almost as if he had forgotten he had mentioned something about a hundred pages back. Besides that, the book really should be read. A movie directed by Clint Eastwood based on the book will be out in the fall. One of my favorite actors, Adam Beach is in it.

It was kinda funny, kinda sad….on Saturday as we ate our po’boys from Arabi Food Store we were discussing the tropical depression, now Tropical Storm Alberto. Last year at that same exact time none of us gave a thought to a tropical storm, much less a depression! Now here we are, one year. We all knew where it was, where it was likely to go, all the intricate details that one of these storms have. I guess when you are shoveling out 3-4” of hard mud from someone’s house, you tend to be more aware of what had caused this. This was probably the nastiest house that I have worked on. The stench that came from the house, the mud, the heat of the day, the pile of rubble, the thought of finding the lost cat (we had a small scare, turned out to be a stuffed animal). We were a small krewe, but we managed to get a lot done. I think even Megan and I got a lot done even if we did take lots of breaks. I know I didn’t want to pass out from exhaustion! We are 12 days into the hurricane season…and I had told several people that by mid June we would have our first storm. I really wish this was a time when I was wrong. We could use some rain here. You would think that a city that a year ago just went through major flooding wouldn’t care to see rain. But its been so dry here. I am wishing for rain.

Fridays are my 21 hour days. I get up at 6 AM and I am getting to bed around 3:30-4 AM. These are only on gig nights. Two more Fridays to go, its a damn good thing that I enjoy PBS....its a good time always. I got up at 8:30 yesterday morning, and we wrecked all day. Okay so Megan and I quit around 3, and got lunch and some drinks. I got home, showered and was in bed by 6:30. I didn't get up until 8:30 this morning. I am still tired.....oh well good times.

Tony's are on right now.....so nervous

In two months and two weeks (give or take a few days) it will be my birthday. I will be 31. Last year I was really looking forward to my 30th, mainly because I knew my friends would be visiting and we were gonna have a good time. This year? I am dreading it. It may be a combination of a week after my birthday, that bitch roared through the gulf. Not soon after one of my friends passed away. Then I found out my grandpa wasn't doing so well. However, lately things have been going pretty good. So why dread a birthday? Its just a number right? Part of it may have to do with I am now feeling pretty settled here in New Orleans. For the first time in a long time, if not ever, I feel like I am where I need to be. Things seem to be going in a good direction. Do ya'll know where this is going yet? Everyonce in awhile, more often lately, I get that panicky feeling. The one that almost every woman has. Will I spend the rest of my life alone? I know I will always have my family and my friends. But I do start to wonder if I will ever get married and have kids. I really want to have kids. That number 31 scares me from time to time. What if I can't? What if I run out of time? Every once in awhile I look at it like this. Say I finally met the person I am going to spend the rest of my life with at the age of 31. Lets say we date for awhile....then engaged...finally married....then try for kids. I could be 35 before that happens. If I am lucky. I may not met anyone till I am 35....see this is my thought process. And it panicks me. I am not going to do something stupid like a person I knew back in college. It was on her birthday, she was turning 22 or 23 something like that and she said "this year I am going to meet someone and by this time next year I will be engaged." She wasn't dating anyone at the time. By the time her birthday rolled around the next year she was married. They had kids right away. They are now divorced. I have since lost contact with her, for all I know she is remarried. That is not something I want to do at all. I am definetly not beating any suitors away right now, which on most days? Its fine. I am a pretty independant person, but on other days? Holy cow. Watch out. I know there are other single people out there that feel the same way. I hope mom and dad don't mind a popsicle grandchild. ;)

Its June 1st, 2006. That date didn't really mean a whole lot to me last year. I am sure it didn't mean a lot to anyone. But here we are, a year later, and everyone in the gulf coast has been waiting for this day. Its offically here! Hurricane season has begun. Now they are saying that we really won't see any storms until August or September. That is when it gets really heavy. Obviously that was the case last year. Will that hold true this year? Nagin says we have to leave the city if its a Cat 2. That is a lot of running. I think. I said earlier this year....mid-June will be when we see the first depression and possible tropical storm. I hope I am wrong.