I have been debating whether or not I wanted to write this particular blog post or nor for awhile. Once I get it down, I am sure I will post it. I know a lot of people don't read this, so it is more of a way for me to just get this down, off my chest, and potentially to move on. So if you feel like reading, continue on. If not, then don't.

There's more... "State of Mind" »

What I talked about yesterday? Nevermind. It became moot pretty much about the time I published that last post. Which isn't surprising. Just normal for my life. I am ready for the week to be over with. I spent 3 hours last night trying to work on something, actually fix something my cat had messed up and it didn't go very well. It was almost the straw that broke my back. I am ready for something to go right. I am tired of things going crummy for long stretches and then good for about a week. I feel I deserve better. It will get better at some point, maybe when I am 50.

This morning started out just "grand" as there was an accident on the streetcar line. It didn't look to be like a HUGE accident, but it did delay us by a half hour. The girl in the coffee shop must have taken pity on me, they are giving away free tall coffee today to honor the Veterans. She gave me a grande for free. Also for the first time in my working career. I have business cards. So I will take the small victories.

I can't think of things to blog about. Okay that is a lie. I can but don't have the energy. So here you go.

-still sick. sometimes I feel better, sometimes I feel really lousy. I just want to sleep. It is difficult right now however. Not because I can't, because of well I just can't. This morning I was awake at 5:30 a full hour before I needed to be up. I cried.

-Remember how I spent last Christmas here in NOLA by myself? Not this year. Got a ticket today to go AZ to spend it with my parents, sister, BIL and Aubrey. (oh yeah and the other little one that is still cooking)

-is still stewing about something that was said to me a few weeks ago. It brings up a lot of frustrations, and today it is bugging me even more.

-However, it is 11 AM CST which means my most favorite 3 hours on WWOZ has started...and yup there is the theme song. Always makes me smile. A little Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

-got a few people celebrating their Birthday's today. I wish them the best!!

-Holy crap it is November.

Once again, I don't do politics here. However I am happy with the outcome of most things. What really really scared me this morning? Was the multitude of gray hairs that I found on my head this morning. I am only 33, what the hell is up with the gray hairs??? I noramally color my hair because well, dull brown bores me. So in the past year it has been black, brown with red highlights, brown with an ugly orangy-red color, and lately I have been going back to a more basic brown. Still colored of course. Whatever I used last time is NOT working in the hair....because I noticed a few gray hairs almost days after the coloring (I do it myself) Here we are almost 6 weeks later and holy hell the gray is taking OVER!! I know my dad started going gray early and let me tell you how NOT pleased I got that gene. I do think my sister is the same. Needless to say, it looks like a new color is going in very soon! I so don't need to see gray hairs right now. I feel old enough as it is, and I ain't that old!!

So if you see me today and I am mumbling something about out out damn spot...it is the gray. ;)

Ya'll. I am having a hard time today. Getting up? No problem (YAY time change) But the whole showering, getting dressed, walking to the streetcar? I am lost. I felt like I haven't been here in weeks. It was just Friday. As in two days ago. A normal weekend. It could be the tylenol PM I finally took last night. It could because of all the coughing. But I don't feel like myself and I kinda hate it. I really wish I could go to the doctor however with no health insurance, I can't afford to. Yes my new job doesn't offer health insurance and if I had taken on Cobra when leaving the last job? Well my paychecks would be going towards that. I do like to eat food and have a life. So I suffer. My new job would LOVE to offer healthcare, however because they are new and small they can't afford it. Hence, again I suffer. I am going to try the neti pot when I go home. It can't hurt right?

So far this month is much much calmer and quieter than last month, so that should help in my recovery. So far all this week is the roomies birthday, including a lovely homecooked indian meal. Since her mom comes to town, we are going to dinner Friday. Other than that? Not much. Going to get Harry Connick Jrs. new CD tomorrow when it comes out. May have to break my no Christmas music before Thanksgiving rule because of it....and of course voting tomorrow. Hopefully everyone votes no matter which way you go...voting is important!!

It is a Sunday people. SUNDAY. I should be asleep. However the pain in my head and the coughing say otherwise. It has all moved to my sinuses so my head in a laying down position causes some pain. I have gone through two bags of Ricola in a week. I need to venture out of the house today to get some more kleenex, some OJ, more Ricola and water. Yesterday I never stepped a foot outside. Okay maybe one when the food was delivered. Other than that? I was in my room all day. Granted because of the festivities the night before, I didn't get home until about 5 AM. My roomie was up and moving at 9. It makes sleeping hard then. It is a small house. So I slept in spurts all day long, in between coughing bouts.

Speaking of the festivities of Halloween, I was going to mention how they started the show. As viewed yesterday Mark had a persona that went along with his costume. I believe they told me his name was Walter. When Mark first walked into the backstage room, I had been talking with Sherwood Collins (my favorite DJ on WWOZ, Thursdays from 11-2) we both pretty much fell over when we saw Mark. It took my brain almost a full minute to realize it was in fact Mark. The room was in fits of laughter for the next 5 minutes. Not only was it a great costume, but he was bumbling all over the room, tripping over things and being a total total nerd. It was classic.

The club itself had a DJ going in between bands. A few of the guys were trying to get his attention to tell him they were about to go on and just couldn't get him to stop spinning. Finally Mark just walked up on the stage....was kinda eying the trombones, poking at his, finally picking it up and making a few sounds with it. All in the persona of Walter. I coulda died. The rest of the guys followed him up on stage and away they all went. We even got a new song!! So without further ado....I give you more pictures from Friday night:

Yeah it is the Funk Fairy, there were two other girls with this costume on. Greg totally looked better.

Danny and I. At the beginning of the night I was the Goddess of Bonerama..by the end just the Goddess of Bone. Danny, well he was just Danny.

Craig, I am Batman!

Matt was sporting the best porn 'stach of the night. Greg tried and it was close...but Matt took the prize on that one.

Debbie and I got to hang out!! At a bar!!! and her husband was there!! That must mean someone else watched the kids. It was awesome!

There's more... "Awake" »

I am still fighting the nasties. I replied to an email earlier today and about five minutes later couldn't remember if I had replied or not. At lunch, I crossed the street without looking to see if cars were coming. They were. I am in a state of exhuastion that I have never been in before. It may be I have never really been working on a cold when a fest has come around. This time month has been non stop. It's not because I am getting old. It is isn't!! Tonight, the plan is to leave work, go straight home, pop two tylenol pm and crawl into bed. Tomorrow night...well tomorrow night it is Halloween. I have a new costume. Bonerama is playing. Which leads me to Saturday and Sunday in which I don't plan on leaving my house at all. I need to get back to feeling like myself. Because the reality is, the holidays are coming. Down here that means Mardi Gras is around the corner, my new niece will be here around that time, then it is FQF and JF. So I must rest. Until I have my brain fully screwed back on (or to the point it has been on previously) Here are a few of my favorite shots from Voo Doo. If you wish to see all the pictures I have taken thus far in October.
http://boneramafreak.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php?page=1
There is the link. There are over 200 pictures and some are out of order. :)

Saturday also starts Nation Blog Posting Month...one post a day...so get ready!

Alex McMurray

Blind Boys of Alabama with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Glenn David Andrews

Paul Sanchez

Shamarr Allen

Will and Bryan Bringing in the Bonerama gear

Bonerama Horns

It was bound to happen. I was hoping for later rather than sooner. Say in about two weeks. Yet I have had two days of down time after work, something I haven't had much of and my body went into shut down mode. I woke up at about 1 this morning with a sore throat. And then again about 3 and it was a bit more sore. When I finally got up at 6, it was still there. My head aches and my body is starting to ache. I am going to give it a few more here at work I think then head home and get some much needed sleep and a healthy dose of some cold medicine. Try to really kick this thing in the ass before it really turns nasty. Voo Doo Fest is this weekend and I am going to be busy. Not only are both bands playing in the evenings (Saturday night is going to be insanely fun both at two different venues luckily will be at both) but I do believe I am helping out at one of the stages. I will hopefully get that full confirmation sometime today or tomrrow. Man I hate being sick.

I have been going and going and going lately. Not everything is work, some things are fun and I shouldn't complain. But I haven't had more than 10 minutes at my house that doesn't involve sleep. Actually that isn't all that true because I have been house sitting for over 2 weeks and I haven't been at my house much to even sleep. And when I do sleep? I get at the most 2 hours of straight sleep. I don't sleep well when I am not at my own house.

This weekend proved be busy with fun things. Friday night was dinner at some friends house. We drank, talked politics, music and played yahtzee. It was really a great evening. Saturday consisted of some cleaning where I am house sitting. Then I went to see Rent at La Petite Theatre. For the first "local" production that I have seen of Rent I was pretty darn impressed. Almost everyone in the cast had a solid performance (okay there was one person that was off) the sets and the lighting were perfect. Too bad the bad audience members nearly ruined a good show. La Petite has general admission which we didn't realize until we got there. Luckily we were able to find two seats in the balcony. They were pretty good seats, only one part of the set was blocked at that wasn't used too much. Well...at least for me the stage wasn't blocked. This "gentleman" in came and sat in front of Kristen with a rather large cowboyish hat on. That he didn't remove at all. Granted she could have asked him to remove it, I offered to ask him for her, but the reality is...you don't wear hats like that inside, especially in a theatre. It is poor etiquitte. Really really rude to the people sitting behind you. The people behind us ended up moving around because of it as well. During the second act Kristen had to really lean because he decided to snuggle up with his girlfriend, thus blocking even MORE of the stage from her. So rude. What else was rude? People TALKING during the show. Just shut up and watch the show!! It is bad at a movie theatre but when someone is in the moment during a scene of a live show and they get dragged out it by your loud whispers??? So not cool. Oh on that note? Just because you know every song of the show (like myself) does NOT mean SING ALONG. Rent is so not an audience particiaption show. If you wanted the chance to sing the songs in the theatre...you should have auditioned....unless you did and didn't get cast. There really is no wonder why I prefer working on the shows than an audience member.

After we left the Quarter, we headed to the Maple Leaf for the first time in over a month. It was nice to be back in the orange glow of that bar. Great to see some wonderful people as well. I spent a tad too much time there, in fact I didn't get to home until 6:30 yesterday morning. Which okay yeah...that is late. Or early rather...but I was going to sleep in my own bed!! Sleep fantastic sleep. Except when your house mate returns from her boyfriends house at 9:00 (I had fallen asleep around 7) and decided to start cleaning the house....LOUDLY. *sigh* so back to the two hours of sleep. I couldn't watch all of the Saints game because well we all know how that turned out. I went down to Frenchmen street and hung out with some cool friends. We all caught Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road show....it was a lovely afternoon. Just perfect.

Errands were run, and I could barely keep my eyes open for Charm School...in fact I fell asleep before the end so I don't know who got kicked off yet....too bad that sleep didn't last! Now we are on to a new week. Tuesday and Wednesday are my only free days!!!

Life has been insanely busy. I haven't had time to read blogs, to keep up with others and I am hope to get the chance to read some and get caught up soon. This coming week is shaping up to be crazy once again.

As mentioned in my last post, we had a loss in our family that came as quite shock to us all. Then on Tuesday night my dad called to tell me that his oldest brother is in the hospital and isn't doing to well. He will hopefully be having a surgery, I believe tomorrow. I do need to find out how he is doing. However we had an scare in our immediate family. On Friday afternoon I got a call from my mom saying "I don't want you to freak out". I hope I never have to hear those words again. I felt my heart stop. My dad was in the hospital. He had some chest pains, dizzy, numbness while driving on the freeway. Luckily he was able to pull over without hurting himself or anyone else. His blood pressure was high which could have caused the dizziness. The pains could have been caused by a muscular tear. (he was moving large printers on his own) and of course the stress of everything that has been going on. All the tests came back positive. His heart and lungs look well. I can't tell you the big sigh of relief that came yesterday when I finally got the call that the stress test came back good and he was being released from the hospital.

On top of all of this, I was house sitting for two different households once again. Which is running from house to house. I also babysat pretty much all weekend as well. Friday night for a few hours and then yesterday afternoon until this morning. It was trying, yet fun at the same time. My friend Johnna was here as well and got to see her a bit as well. I have been co-producing shows for WWOZ. (Tuesday is my last one for the membership drive). Work has been picking up and will be picking up even more so next week (if the emails from my boss this weekend are any indication) I know there were more things that has been going on. Yet I have been running on almost empty and being an emotional stress ball hasn't helped my memory very much.

Tonight has been the longest stretch I have had at home since Tuesday. I will be getting to sleep in my own bed (for at least a few hours) then like I said, we are off and rolling again tomorrow!!

This weekend was long. It was good. It was bad. So let's start at the beginning.

Friday morning started off with good news. My sister had found out the sex of the new baby!! It will be another girl. Aubrey will be a good big sister I am sure.

Friday night we went to Covington to the Green Room. It was a fun little place. The stage set up was interesting. I think Greg said he played the whole night to Danny and Will in the sound booth. You walked in the door, the sound booth was to your right, the stage right on the right. I forgot my camera, so sorry no visuals. Found a fairly good spot to sell merch, Which was almost behind the band and next to the bar. Did a decent amount of sales. At one point I noticed that one of the guys that used to work full time at the Leaf, now only occasionally was there!! It was great to see him. The crowd seemed to love the band, both new and old fans. Then it was time for the drive back across the lake. My job was too keep my ride home awake. I think I did a good job.

Saturday after only a few hours of sleep I was on the streetcar heading to my friend's house who I was house sitting for. Took care of all the cats, sat down in the chair for a minute and woke up at noon. Guess I needed sleep. I got myself back to the streetcar and home where I attempted to watch SATC, the movie for the second time in which I fell asleep again. After it was over, and I was fully awake I made sure to do my duty and voted. That being done it was time to leave again. Headed on down to Fulton Street to the Seafood Festival. Got there a bit earlier than needed as Paul Sanchez was playing before PBS. While Paul was onstage I kept getting phone calls from my dad. I couldn't hear him and told him so on one call and I would call him back soon. Ten minutes later he called again, so I found a semi quiet area. My former uncle and his girlfriend were killed in a head on collison on Friday night.

Dave had been married to my Aunt for a long time, they had two kids, Jessica and Sean. At some point they ended up getting a divorce, I don't remember how old I was. I don't think it registered to much for me since Dave was always at our family events even after the divorce. He was still a part of the family. Even when he remarried, we saw him and his new wife all the time. That marriage didn't work either, but again we still saw Julie everywhere (they had a daughter Melissa) Jan came into his life and has been there for a long time. I last saw Dave and Jan at my grandpa's funereal (Julie was there as well) in fact Dave and Jan were the last people to leave my grandma's house after the funereal. My mom and I sat there talking to them for several hours after everyone left. They were driving to see Jan's daughter in Billings, this was the first time Dave had gone with her and a twenty five year old kid crossed the lanes, hit them head on. He is in serious condition. Alchol may have played a part. And not on Dave or Jan's side. It was kinda rough to hear. My cousin Jessy is leaving my parents house today to go to Montana to deal with funereal arrangements. It is up to her, Sean and Melissa to take care of everything. I can't imagine having to make these decisions. So if you could keep them in your prayers, thoughts or whatever, they are going to need them.

I did sell merch for PBS that night and went to see Bonerama (no merch sales this night) but my heart really wasn't into it.

Yesterday I got the chance to talk to my cousin Jessy and she was sounding okay. I don't think it had fully hit her yet. We spent the afternoon once again with the boys of Bonerama....this time I was able to enjoy a bit better since I had gotten to talk to my cousin and know she was doing "okay" I mean as good as one would expect.

So the weekend definetly had some highs to counteract with those lows.

In other news...I will be on WWOZ tonight for the fund drive. www.wwoz.org from 7-10 CST.

Bullets, that is the way we roll today.
• The weekend was for the most part good. Lots of football/Olympics viewings. Good times with some friends. Some sleep, some laundry, some movies viewed. (crap forgot the Netflix movies at home!!)
• Spent some time in the ER yesterday. Nothing too serious, but it was beyond tolerable anymore. The closest urgent care that took my insurance was in Kenner and their number was disconnected. I tried looking for a few others but the numbers didn’t work either. So off to the Touro ER I went. I can now hear out of my ear, the pressure is almost all gone and so is the pain. The ringing in my ear is gone as well. There is a slight sinus infection which seems to be doing better.
• Which is good because it is the start of my Birthday week. Right now there is nothing too big planned for the week. Most likely resting until the big day. I know that night my roomie is planning a dinner party with some friends of ours. I knew she was taking me to dinner, but I didn’t know that she had invited a bunch of our friends until one of them let it slip last night. OOOPS. It should be fun! I did get one birthday drink already as one friend will be out of town that day. Later this weekend there is a road trip in the works to go and see the boys play in Oxford!!!
• Work is going good. So far a lot of figuring out a new filing system and a few other things here and there. It is a totally different atmosphere from what I had been in. Much more relaxed in some ways. I am enjoying it immensely.

So. Job good. Pictures on computer. Can't bring self to write blogs about pictures. Since Sunday my ear has been bugging me. I can barely hear out of it right now. This morning it seemed better....by the afternoon it was crappy again. I want the ringing to stop. I want the dizziness to stop. I want the headaches gone. I want to feel normal again. Going to sleep now....and hope when I wake, the ringing will be gone...........

So here we are. Last day at work. For this company anyway. I started this job when I got back to the city after being blown away. I started as a temp and within the year was hired on full time. While it hasn't been the most favorite of jobs I will be grateful for having it especially post-K.

I am leaving this job because they are moving out of the city and out to St. Rose. Quite a trek with out a car. I doubt I would have gone even with a car seeing how much gas prices are these days. That and I did the long commute when I lived in Seattle and it was beyond frustrating.

Today is not only my last day but the last day of the GM who is moving up to the NE. He is a bit more sad about leaving, but they made him an offer that he can't refuse. There will be a lunch thing today with the whole company, food provided by Voo Doo BBQ. I love me some Voo Doo BBQ.

The only downfall coming up is I didn't take any time off between jobs. I start the new one on Monday. I have the weekend to totally switch gears in my brain and get it back into ship shape. This new job, like I said in the past is an amazing opportunity and I am really happy that I got it. It is going to be a lot of work, it is going to be hard, exciting and educating. I know I can do everything that they need me to do, but there is that little worry-some bug in my head. I am sure by next week at this time it will be gone.

This morning Aubrey, Lisa and Scott left to go back to Phoenix. I think they all had fun while they were here. I know I did. I was grateful to get to spend some time with my niece since I don't get that much time with her. I do have pictures galore to share, however my AC adapter went kaput early last week. I sent it back with Lisa to give to my dad since he is the position to get me a new one. However he didn't like how I was explaining it to him. So it was easier to just send back with them. I should hopefully have a new one in the next week and then I can post some of the pics. Life is good when you can watch a baby discover new things. I love how Aubrey growls, she would crawl on over to me and point to my lion tattoo and growl. I did get head butted a few times when we were playing, she has a strong head. I can't wait to see them all again.

Yesterday as I was holding Aubrey while Lisa tried on some clothes, I got a call from my dad. It looks like my grandpa only has a few more days. I haven't seen him in a really long time and there are no excuses as to why I haven't. I just got busy and then moved further away. It makes getting back to Montana a whole lot harder. I have just been looking at flights and it isn't cheap to get up there in the next several days. Flying straight to Missoula would cost me close to $900. Flying into Spokane, WA is a bit cheaper but not by much. I did check the possibility of flying to Phoenix and then driving up with my mom and sister and that is a bit more reasonable, however there is no guarantee that they will drive. At this point we will just sit and wait. Like my sister said, my grandpa has nine lives like a cat and might not have really hit that 9th one yet. If that is the case I need to get up there and see him and the rest of my family. It is quite possible that they forgot I existed.

As I was driving the family to the airport this morning I did say that I really hoped I would hear about the job today. They had told me that they hoped to know in the next few days, that was on Monday. I had a voice mail on my phone after I said my goodbyes. I called back and was offered the position. I will be starting on August 11th. It is going to be a great opportunity and I am really looking forward to it. This is one of the first jobs that I have been really excited for. Which of course puts me in a really weird state of mind, hence the title. I am experiencing a roller coaster of emotions today. Sadness at having to say goodbye to my sister, Aubrey and Scott. Happy about having job, sad about the possibility of my grandfather's death. I wish there was a way to release all these emotions. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

*I have an interview today. I am hoping that salary is livable, that the job is workable, that it is something I want to do. I know it is something I want to do, maybe I mean somewhere I want to work. Yeah that is it. I was/am getting worried, as this job ends in two and a half weeks. I would like means to survive. That isn't asking for much is it?

*I hope I don't yawn during the interview. This lack of sleep is starting to grate on my nerves already. One full night of sleep. PLEASE! (especially when having a good dream and you want to continue dreaming that dream and for some reason your body wakes up!! grrr)

*Housemate will make it home on Saturday, so at least the running back and forth from my house to the place I am watching will stop for a little bit. That should help. I hope! Relive some of the stress. By the time she leaves again I will either be done house sitting or just about done. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again.

*For some strange inane reason I thought today was the day that my sister, Aubrey and Scott were coming. Yeah. No. It is TOMORROW! She told me the 18th, I saw the 18th in the email, it registered. I just thought for some reason the 18th was on Thursday. Today. It wasn't until today when my alarm was going off and I looked at my phone and I saw that today was the 17th did it click that they weren't coming today. I mean I even took half a day off tomorrow so I could spend more time with them. You would think it would have hit me then. Nope. So now I get to go and switch so I have half a day off Monday and Tuesday. Going to blame it on the sleep deprivation.

*Did I mention that I have to do an interview today? Going to load up on the caffeine and hope for the best!

I have mentioned before that I don't have a car anymore. I don't know how many people rememeber the saga of my vehicle after the storm. So here is a quick rundown. When I moved here, I didn't have a car. I got by with the public transportation, cabs, and friends. It was fine. Then this thing called Katrina happened and I realized after a short visit back home, I was going to need a vehicle to get around if I wanted to return to the city. So I purchased a car at the end of October. It died on me by January. I didn't even receive the title for it until March. (that was a saga itself). One day I came home from work, and it was gone. My old landlord swears up and down that he had nothing to do with it, but I know he had it towed. No matter, I was back to riding the bus, an occasional cab and of course friends.

Right now I am frustrated to no end. I know so many people are happy to see the streetcar back and running. It truly is a sign of things getting back on track. (yeah I went there) However, I really and truly do no believe they were ready. Why do I think this? Maybe it is because they don't have enough drivers. Maybe it is because the cars are prone to breaking down. All I know is I use public transportation as my main source of getting from one place to another and it is becoming increasingly difficult. For one thing, the streetcar is slow. If I want to get from my house to downtown? I know that if the streetcar is there when I arrive at the stop? It will take at least 45 mins to get downtown. Which is fine, that is what it was before. However chances of the streetcar being there are pretty damn slim. Not to mention that the streetcar is still not running down to Carrollton. So I either wait for the bus, which seems to have its own schedule, or I walk the 6 blocks down to the stop. More and more I don't wait for the bus because I can walk it in that amount of time.

Let me use yesterday as a prime example of my frustrations. I had an eye appointment at 1. I knew that I had to leave no later than 12:15 from work. I got to the streetcar stop a tad later than I wanted, at 12:25. There was no streetcar down the street, meaning I didn't miss it. One should be rolling by at any minute, because the streetcar is scheduled for every 10 mins. I would just make it to my appointment. By 12:38 I called the doctor's office to tell them I would be late. I didn't get on the streetcar until 12:55. By the time it got to the end? It was 1:20. I then had to decide if I wanted to wait for the bus or walk. I walked. I got to my appointment half an hour late. Then I had to wait for an hour, because of that. Did I mention that I had to be back downtown at 4? yeah....so when my appointment was over at 3:10, I called a cab. Which didn't show up until 3:50. So I was late to WWOZ. This is a constant. Everytime I have had to be somewhere, I leave in ample time to get there. Two weeks ago? I had a dental appointment just off of Canal. The streetcar ride should be 10 mins tops. If it had even showed up. I pretty much had to run from Lee Circle to almost Canal to make it it my appointment, which I was 10 mins late for. That entire time of my power walk/run? (15 mins total) plus the time I had waited for the streetcar (15 mins) and one never passed me. I then walked up to Canal to catch the streetcar to go home. Let me just say that in that day? I spent 1-1/2 waiting for streetcars or a bus. This is NOT including the actual ride. This is the waiting. It is becoming more and more of a problem. Some of the streetcars come by so packed, there is no point in getting on them, so you have to wait for the next one. Which is most likely about 3 blocks behind that one and totally empty. I don't even think that RTA realizes how many people depend on the streetcar as their transportation. It isn't just a tourist attraction. It is getting beyond frustrating. I know, go get a car. Well I can't afford one. Not with with the price of gas, insurance and well I can't afford payments right now. I am pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Damn it. I am sick again. I am going to blame Lisa since she has been fighting it for the past few days and well...she must have spread it through the computer. I woke up at 1:30 this morning with the chills, aches, fever and later the sweats. I didn't get back to sleep until after 3 and the alarm goes off at 5. So....I am one tired puppy today. I am at work....I do feel a bit better, but I am damn tired of being sick. I have been taking vitamins, having acupuncture done, eating better, getting more sleep and it still came back to get me. Oh well, I have my things ready for this evening and Dr. Jack Daniels is on standby.

Did I mention that Bonerama will be on David Letterman???? Yeah? Okay.

I am sitting here at my desk. At work. On Christmas Eve. When I should be in Phoenix, enjoying my family. There had been a small chance that I was going to get to go home, however my boss decided that someone had to be here and he already has taken today off. So there you go. Instead of seeing my niece enjoy her first Christmas this evening I will sit here and count the times the phone has rang ( 2 times in the last hour ) and stare at the empty IN box. Who knows...maybe it will pick up....maybe they will let us leave early. Oh and to top off all this joy? I have a cold. Spent all day yesterday with a sore throat, fever and aches. Today throat isn't as bad, but the aches are still there, no fever.

As for the weekend it ended up being quiet. Bonerama played Friday night and it was nice to see a decent size crowd come out for that. We got a sneak peek, rather listen to how the boys will be playing the National Anthem at the Sugar Bowl. They proceeded to rock everyone's socks off. It was a nice night that hasn't happened that often. It is kinda sad how few times they have played in NOLA this year. Someone even asked me if they were from Florida as they play there a lot. Nope, they are NOLA boys.

Saturday I spent doing laundry and the rest of my shopping. That evening I had Christmas with Kristen and her man. We had planned on going out that night, but I was starting to feel nasty and Kristen's flight was early yesterday morning.

After getting Kristen to the airport I spent the day cleaning and watching the Saints game. I am having fun trying to coordinate getting over to my friend's house to make sure Dart gets his pill (he was put on another weeks worth on Friday) and staying at my house to feed the cats. Kristen's cat is on a diet so you can't just leave a bowl full of food for him out. Made for an exeptionally early morning today. Oh well...it has to be done. :_)

I just got off the phone with USPS customer service and they are going to report the problem of no mail delivery. This isn't the first occurence either. I know there have been some things that have been sent to me that I have never seen. I don't know what the PO is doing. I have mail forwarding in effect from when we moved just a few months ago, however I have changed all my addresses and still nothing. When you are waiting for something important and it should have been to you on Saturday and it is now a Tuesday, it tends to make things not so good. However at this point all I can do is wait. If there is no mail delivered at my house today? I don't know what I can do. Any suggestions? Other than go postal on the post office?

This weekend was a big weekend for some. For the first time since the thing, the streetcar has started running with passengers, from Canal to Napoleon. I know a lot of people are happy about this. A piece of the city coming back. I am not among those people. And neither are the people who depend on the streetcar/busses as our only transportation. Don't get me wrong, I am estatic that the streetcar is back. I love the sound of it coming down the road, the pops and the hisses. The swaying back and forth. I just don't think they should have opened it back up until they were 100% ready. They weren't ready for yesterday. This is posted on the NOLA RTA website even this morning.

Advisories
Service on the St. Charles Streetcar Line to Napoleon Avenue Scheduled to Begin November 11The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is pleased to announce that beginning Sunday, November 11, 2007, before the sun rises, the historic Perley Thomas streetcars will once again proudly traverse St. Charles Avenue, from the Central Business District, through the picturesque Garden District to Napoleon Avenue.New Orleanians, as well as visitors, have waited over two years for the return of the St. Charles Streetcar to the uptown area. The renewed excitement and anticipation has been visible on the smiling faces of motorists and pedestrians as they glimpsed test runs of the streetcars along the Avenue during the weeks of October. An opening ceremony for the heralded route is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, November 10 at 2:00 p.m. Passengers will ride free from the end of the ceremony until 5:00 p.m. RTA has been providing bus service to the St. Charles route in its entirety since a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent floodwaters that devastated most of the City. Four surviving buses were assigned to the St. Charles route on Sunday, October 2, 2005 when RTA returned to the streets of New Orleans. Eight buses operated on the route on weekdays, until part of the St. Charles streetcar line reopened for service on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 at noon. With the opening of the St. Charles/ Lee Circle Streetcar Loop to Howard Avenue, seven buses have provided service to residents and visitors alike. Four buses will remain on the line after the opening. Five streetcars are assigned to the route with additional ones available if needed.The first streetcar will leave St. Charles and Common at 5:27 a.m. After the Lee Circle/Howard Avenue stop, car stops along the line are located on the neutral ground and are all labeled.

The part that is highlighted up there, "Four buses will remain on the line after the opening" is misleading. Those busses will only pick up up at Napoleon. They do NOT run the full line (even though the schedule up still has them doing just that) There was only FOUR streetcars running yesterday. Let me explain a bit about my evening commute home. I left work early to finally go to the doctors. I left at 1:30. It is a 5 min walk to the bus/streetcar stop. The streetcar did not show until 2:15. I waited just over a half hour for the streetcar. It wasn't running on time, how do I know this for sure? Because a second car was right behind the first. Yeah, they don't run like that. The steetcar was PACKED with tourists and commuters alike. I mean PACKED. For someone not feeling well, it is not ideal. I finally make it to the doctors, am in her office for no more than 15 mins. Sent on my way with a prescription for antibotics. I wait another 40 mins at the streetcar stop on Louisiana. I finally give up and start walking to Napoleon so I can at least catch the bus the rest of the way home. When I am two blocks from Napoleon, the streetcar finally comes chugging by. I then end up waiting for the bus for over 10 more minutes. I finally got to my house after 4:30. Normally when I leave work? Waiting for the bus and the ride home? It is 40 minutes. I waited an hour and 10 minutes for the transportation to even SHOW up. I really feel that they should have waited until the entire streetcar line was ready to run before starting up. I think that they should now have MORE streetcars running than what they do, or in fact have that bus run all the way so the commuters can take that for awhile. Anything. A few people at the bus stop had miss the Kenner local because of all the waiting going on. That bus runs every 45 mins or so...so if you just miss it? You have a long wait ahead. It is just disorganized and a huge cluster. I will now be having to take the bus/streetcar to work as well for the next week or so. I will be having to leave on the first bus, around 5 or so, just so I can make sure I am at work by 6:30.

For the past year I have had, shall we call issues with my computer. I have documented this in the past. The lastest, my co-worker reinstalled my operating system. It lasted a day. I have talked to several people including someone whose 2nd job is computer repair. I need a new hard drive. I had been talking to Dell since I had a 2 year warranty. (yes this computer is just over 2 years old and I have had a problem with it pretty much since I had it) Everytime I would talk to someone at Dell, I would get different answers, different people. They would send me the wrong discs that they would swear would "fix it" Thus wasting more time. They kept sending things to the address the computer was orginally sent to (pre katrina) even THOUGH I would tell them not to, and would give them the correct address. Again wasting more time. Guess what? My warranty ran out....and the computer is not fixed. I emailed their customer service to tell them how sucky their customer service was. Someone emailed me back and I fell for their "I am so sorry, I will take full ownership of this, please let me know what the computer is doing we will fix this" I have since heard from TWO different people (not the person taking full ownership) and they are telling me "sorry but you're not under warranty any more" I have never been so furious with a major corporation, I can't believe that they have their heads up their asses. Once again, please don't come here and preach about Apple and how much better Macs are. I have had problems with them in the past as well.

The weekend flew by in a flash. Between music, football and running around there didn't seem to be any spare minutes. On Sunday evening I finally sat down with my computer and was able to add on some of the applications my co-worker didn't put on for me. He mainly go the operations systems back up and running. All looked good.

Last night, I sat down and cruised around a bit on the internet nothing beyond the ordinary. I was getting ready to upload my pictures from my camera. A message kept popping up saying there was new windows updates and my computer needed to restart. I ignored it for awhile, finally before starting the pictures I restarted my computer. I got up to do a few things in my room, came back to the message "Error loading operating system" Yet again, the computer has died. This time it didn't last a week. Seriously am I destined to never own a computer that actually works?? What is the deal??? Don't suggest Macs, because I am the only person in the world who can and has crashed Macs as well. They work no better for me. So I don't want to hear that crap.

I haven't really touched the laptop since I got it back yesterday. I put on the internet security, and then work consumed the rest of the day. After the Wednesday in the Square gig, I collapsed. I won't be able to really get into the nitty gritty until most likely Saturday. I don't have plans until that evening so I will be able to just get everything organized and get that some pics up finally!! :)

People. This is important. HUGELY important. My co-worker thinks he has my laptop working. He said this time it was that the operating system was corrupt. He doesn't think that I need a new hard drive. So....keep your fingers and toes crossed, do the voodoo that you do, pray to the computer gods (did you know there was a saint for the internet???) whatever....that it actually holds out longer than a month this time. A few years would actually be good!!! You know what this means now??? That I can get some pictures up online!! I haven't uploaded any since August!! I have been taking them....WHEEE!!! Will have some more tonight to add to the collection. Bonerama is playing Wednesday at the Park!!! Beatin Path opens up. They start at 5, Bonerama hits the stage at 6. Come on down!!!

Who out there remembers the saga of the water/sewage board? Well those frickin bastards are at it again. First it was a $3000 water bill. Like one house hold can use $3000 of water in a month. They then said it was for a year's worth because they had been estimating all year. Still it is really hard for a household to use $3000 worth of water in a year. They had been reading the wrong meter...blah blah blah. We get it all taken care of, paying $500 for the year. (remember that total) We then get another bill right after that for like $300 for the month. Um really? That sounds so right. $500 for the year and now $300 for a month? Yeah that is TOTALLY doable. We get that figured all out (again) and are now in our new place. I get home one day and the WATER IS OFF. The water board says "oops we turned off the wrong meter. it will be fixed sometime tomorrow" you know how hard it is to be without water. I mean not being able to flush the toilet is bad enough!! They did turn it on the next day....I swear a shower never felt so good.

Which brings us to yesterday. The bill arrives. Anyone want to take a shot at what the amount for the latest bill is?? Anyone? This was for a 30 day period. Yeah...it is over $600. They are saying we used over 1000k or what ever their terms are when the month before? we used like 89k. How is that even remotely frickin possible??? Unless there is a leak in a pipe (there isn't we have gone through all that) it isn't possible. They just like to mess big time with us. And whenever Kristen goes in to the water board (it is in her name so she has to go) they won't let her talk to a supervisor. They don't do that there. WHAT??? someone is obviously messing up on their job and they need to be dealt with. ugh. So frustrating.

I am comin at ya bullet style.

So much is going on I don't know where to start. My brain is in a big pile of mush.
We didn't get to move this past weekend. We got the key on Friday night, so we spent the evening measuring rooms and deciding which furniture we were taking and what was going to be donated. I didn't even go to the Maple Leaf. Unbelievable I know.
Saturday was spent packing and moving some of the furniture out that a housemate had left. I don't know why we got stuck doing it, but we did. It sucked, it's out, it's over.
At least Saturday night I did go out. We went down to Carrolloton Station and saw Paul Sanchez and co. Craig came and sat in, so it was nice to see him. I sold merchandise for Paul, he has more things now. It was a good relaxing night.
Sunday I took part in a silent march for musicians. Ya'll the musicians down here are getting the shaft. The city is touting the city on the music industry, however the musicians that provide the soundtrack? They are getting bubkas. They need help.
The official move date is tomorrow (Wed) and Thursday. We have a day/evening to clean. However in a rare twist....apparently our lease is one of those that requires you to give 60 days notice, not 30. If you don't give your notice by 60 days? The lease automatically renews for 2 more months. We gave 30 days notice. Guess who may be paying rent on 2 places? Guess who can't afford to do that? However the landlord changed the lease to month to month and didn't give us 60 days notice either. So maybe it will be okay. I am not holding my breath however cuz he is a giant jackass.
Work is insanely busy and I should be working rather than typing this....I needed to decompose my brain for a minute and hopefully this will help.

I don't remember what I really wrote last week...if I wrote last week. It is crazy for the following reasons:

Work is INSANE. Friday the 3rd I received a promotion/raise. I am now a Purchasing Agent. I still answer the phones, but I have a title. My boss has been out for almost a week, and well it is crazy. Right now I am the only one purchasing. And attempting to learn the new system we got up and running last Friday. I don't have time for any playing on the internet right now and that is just okay with me.
Computer is still dead at home. No one at Dell wants to deal with me I guess, and the warranty ends like, this week.
Still searching for apartments. If I am not at work, it is apartment searching. We had to switch from looking at 3 bedrooms to 2 bedrooms as one of the housemates decided last Wed to get her own place. Right now with the students coming back? 2 bedroom apartments are scarce. We are looking at one more this afternoon that I have wanted for awhile and then the decision will be made. Keep your fingers crossed that one comes through and is decent. I need something to go my way!!

The past week has been crazy. Not insane crazy, just crazy. Some things good, some things bad. For once it seems to have a nice balance. If you want to call it that.

The bad? Well I am not going to go into all of it here. Some things are better left off the internet and just between the people involved. We are still looking for a place to live. We have it narrowed down to 2 places and well it isn't easy. Two of us want one place, but could go to either place. One of us doesn't really seem to like either, and the one they really want isn't even an option. It hasn't been a lot of fun at all. Once again my computer died. I kid you not. When I have two seconds at home when I don't fall asleep I will call and make them take it back. They need to physically do something. I need to do it fast. The 2 year warranty is about to be up.

The good? Well I had a nice time with the Mulvey's. A lot of food and drink were consumed. Other wonderful friend's coming into town for the day. Life seems okay when Gayle and Hank visit. Two very wonderful people. I received my per capita money this weekend. And instead of saving it for the move, and other various needs, I got another tattoo. It wasn't my whole per capita money but a chunk of it. I had been wanting to get a grizzly paw for some time, and I also knew that I wanted a dream catcher eventually. Well I found a design at Electric Lady Land that incorporated the two. I now have it on my ankle. Left, on the outside. It turned out really nice. Lisa has a picture of it on her flikr page. If you are anxious to see it, you can look there. If and when I get my computer fixed I will post a picture of it here. She also has a picture of me getting the tattoo....I think it is a cool looking shot. Of course you can see her newest tattoo there as well. Satchmo Fest was also this weekend. I only went for a couple sets. They were for ones that Leroy and Katja played at. They had me selling CDs for them, and sells went pretty darn good if I say so myself. It was really hot this weekend and the thought of dancing to music in the heat just wasn't there. I did however meet a very nice guy who has seen me out and about either selling merch or just enjoying the music. We had a nice lunch yesterday and well who knows...we will see. :)

This past Sunday also marked my 3 year anniversary here in New Orleans. It is amazing to think that I have been here for that long. So much has happened. There are many more things that will continue to happen both good and bad. You just have to keep on going.

It happened it was fine. It wasn't as totally relaxing as I had hoped. After the week I had just had, was kinda hoping for a stress free weekend. I guess for the most part it was. Friday night we of course went to the Maple Leaf...heard Papa Grows Funk. Saturday I watched movies and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunetly there was a craft fair going on across the street in the park, and they had an entertainer for the children. Who sounded like he was standing below my window. Later that night we had a great dinner with some friends who had been overseas for gigs. It is always nice seeing them. Yesterday we went to see Hairspray the movie. The movie was cute just like the Broadway show. (still lacking something from the original moview but overall it was good) I think I would have enjoyed it just a bit more however if the following incidents hadn't happened before. The bus driver drove 5 mph down St. Charles turning a 20-30 min (depending on lights) bus ride into about 45 mins. The door on the bus wasn't working properly and it would slam open with a bang....everystop. for 45 minutes. I had a pounding headache....the rain started on the way there. I was glad I remembered my umbrella. except it wasn't in my purse. yeah...it was still sitting on my bed. I had picked it up to put in my bag, in fact I think it was in my bag, but I took it out to look for change for the bus, then forgot to put it back in. It was pouring by the time we got to Canal Street. The walk to Canal Place was not pleasant. Slip slidding in flip flops. We were soaked by the time we got to the theatre. Of course on the way home we go the same bus, with the slamming door. At least it wasn't the same driver, cuz I swear the other one was drunk!! It was just a bunch of little aggravations that has continued on to this morning. Like my bra strap breaking. At least I was still at home when that happened. :) And at least the Mulveys will be in town at some point today. :)

So the low down, nitty-gritty, the 411 on the week thus far. The plumber showed up on Tuesday afternoon and discovered that our gas had been turned off. This was interesting for several reasons. The first being that Entergy had said everything was fine on their end, and that our service was fine. Second, how did someone get it turned off? The meter is located in the basement, and you can't turn it off unless you are in the basement. You can read it from the outside, just not do anything. So how did someone get in to turn it off?? The plumber turned it on and went on his merry way. We have hot water! We can dry clothes! We can cook!!

On my way home on Tuesday to meet with the plumber there was an odd site in front of the house. My car (remember the car saga??) was gone. Yes, gone. Either the city towed it thinking it was an abandoned car or someone stole it. If they stole it then have fun. It didn't run anyway.

There was another incident yesterday morning that will go unsaid, but I was freaked out for most of the morning. There are some issues at my employment that are not making me happy. You know the good stuff that life throws at you. And it's all okay. Shit happens, you deal and you move on.

As for the mystery on the gas....it turns out Entergy did turn it off. They were replacing the meter and forgot to turn it back on. Still doesn't explain how they got in the basement to make the changes.

On Friday afternoon I was sitting on the bus, glad to be heading home. I received a phone call from Kristen who said she was having issues with the oven. She had turned it on to cook some things, and after 20 minutes in the oven, it was still cold. So she tried the stovetop. It wouldn't light. So when I got home I tried it. Flames leapt up right away. She swore it wasnt working. Later in the evening, she went to cook again. It would light, but then blow out right away. We knew the bill for Entergy was paid, was all up to date (latest bill was due yesterday) and they can't turn it off without some sort of notification. Then we start with the cold showers. So we know something is going on with the gas. Sunday I started doing laundry as I don't was anything in hot water and don't need it. I put a load in the dryer and a load in the washer....leave for a few hours for the showing of the house. Get home, go down to the basement and find all the clothes in the dryer are still wet. I think that in my rush to get everything done before leaving the house, that I forgot to turn on the dryer. To save time and to get another load washed, I combined two loads in the dryer. Start another one in the washer. An hour later, I go downstairs.....and yup you guessed it, the clothes are still wet. Turns out the dryer is connected to the gas as well. So now half my clothes are in a mildwey pile, we can't cook anything unless it is microwavable, and we are taking cold showers. It is almost like the early days of returning home after Katrina. We checked with Entergy yesterday when we dropped off the check for this month and they said everything is and has been fine on their end....that the landlords need to look into it. They got a call at 1 yesterday saying they would check into it and get back to to me. I am still waiting. No one came out yesterday...nothing. Not a happy person right now.

One month after my laptop at home died, it is finally semi-functional. Once again everything was lost, however this time I had saved most everything. With the exception of the photos from French Quarter Fest and all the songs on itunes. At least I hadn't finished putting all my cds on the computer yet.....it is pretty stripped to the basics. Some of the programs I had like word perfect, are not being offered anymore. Apparently there is a google word that is pretty good, I am going to check that out in a bit. I just can't get the computer to connect to my internet. Actually it connects to our wireless router but can't actually connect from there, I will have a strong signal and everything, but it will say "limited to no connectivity" I have reset the router twice, and still can't get it to connect. I thought maybe it was the storm we had last night, so I will give it another go tonight. Otherwise I am at a loss and will have to call in one of my two computer guru friends.....

On a totally other note, I just got back from my eye doctor....the one I see to check on the ole retinas. I saw him last 6 or 7 months ago, this time he wants to see me in a year. Which means all the laser is working and keeping the holes in the retinas closed, there are no new ones and the surgery I had to reattach the retina in my left eye is still doing good!!! WHOO HOO!!

One of the things I love about New Orleans, is the music. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of music at any one time, either coming from the clubs to festivals. This weekend there will be both the Creole Tomato Festival and the Seafood Festival, in the Quarter, with I believe 4 stages. You can see club listings for every night of the week (my favorites to look at are wwoz and offbeat) There is always some good music happening somewhere in town. For example my weekend fun begins tonight. I will catch Paul Sanchez out at d.b.a for an early set. Tomorrow night I will be at the Maple Leaf for Morning 40 Federation. Saturday out at Club 300 for Rick's cd release party (amazing cd). And quite possibly a stop back out at the Maple Leaf.

In today's weekly email from Offbeat, it seems that another place has had to stop with live music. Parkway Bakery and Tavern. It wasn't anywhere I went to hear music, just to have an amazing roast beef po'boy. However, the fact remains that the city is once again cracking down on some venues/resturants/bars that have live music something about having permits. However this was not an issue before Katrina. It seems that one of the main reasons is that the neighbors are complaining. Are they complaining about the noise? The crowds? The fact that people are having fun and they are not? I have no idea. Actually, I do have a theory. I think it may be some of the newer people moving into the area. I really hope that I am wrong on that. Because really if you move into an area, knowing there is a place near by that provides live entertainment, your ass better be able to deal with it. A big part of NOLA is the music. So many of us have worked our butts off to get NOLA music back home, only to have them treated harshly in more ways than one. Other than writing to the city council, I don't know what else can be done. Don't they have better things to do with their time? I think they do.

So our neighbors put in an offer yesterday. Within an hour our landlord had turned it down. He thinks he can get the asking price. Which maybe he can, however the reason they went low on it was the previous lead issues we had. When they asked him about it, he totally downplayed it, saying something like the kid and dog drug it in. Well, yes that is true, the dog actually died and the State told the people living downstairs that if they stayed at the house one more night, the State would be taking their son from them. It IS/WAS a big deal. Apparently the final reports haven't come back in yet. Makes me wonder if the house should even be on the market at this point, and how some unsuspecting soul will not know about the lead issues. Also makes me wonder if our landlord was even remotely honest about our lease being safe.

On a totally random side note, how is that it has been raining cats and dogs, yet my allergies are flaring up to no end? I am achy, sore throat, head achy, eyes itching, worn out feeling, sneezing. I thought with the rain it would curb some of the pollutants. *sigh*

Why is it that the short weeks tend to go by at a snail's pace, then the weekend just flies by? Friday night I got home to find that the house was actually put on the market. It was suppose to be this week. I was also informed by our neighbors that according to the realtor's website? There is an open house on Wed. We still haven't been told this from the Landlord's office. The house being on the market was the topic of conversation at the gathering all the neighbors had in the park. That was actually really fun, we got to meet a lot of the neighbors. Later we caught a set of Grayson Capps at d.b.a. We of course ended the night at the Maple Leaf. Saturday we spent part of the day out at the Freret Street Festival. Saw a lot of people I knew, some playing in various bands, some not. It was a nice HOT afternoon. Later Melissa and I went out to, yup you guessed it, the Maple Leaf. We rang in Melissa's birthday there. Yesterday was spent cleaning the house top to bottom. There was a showing of the house yesterday evening, luckily it was our next door neighbors and they are seriously considering buying the house. They would want us to stay.

Computer woes are still going on full force. I talked to the 3rd person at Dell a few weeks ago, and they were going to be sending me the operating cds to reinstall on my computer. It was going to take 5-7 business days to get to me. The 7th business day went by and no cds. I get a call from Dell asking if I had received them yet. I said "no" so the person does a tracking on the cds and finds out that they didn't even bother to send the cds out until the 7th business day. I would be getting the cds on Tuesday because of the holiday. Fine. Tuesday comes and goes...no cds. Wednesday I get a call from my old job, the job I had BK (before Katrina) seems they had a package for me. Seems I remember telling the idiot at Dell specifically NOT to send it to that address as I no longer worked there and to send it to my home address. I finally get the cds, and of course everytime Dell calls (a different person each time) I am not at home in front of my computer. Yesterday I arrange for them to call me at 4:30 cst, I would be home in front of my computer. 4:30 comes and goes. I leave a message for the last person I talk with at 5. 45 mins later I called back. I finally talked to a person, who informed me that they SENT ME THE WRONG FRICKIN CDS. I should have the right ones, at my home on Monday. At 7:30 my phone rang. Guess who it was?? Dell....wanting to know if I wanted to install the cds.....it was the idiot who was suppose to call me at 4:30, correction, it was the person who was handed the call from the person who was suppose to call me at 4:30. OH OH and the best part about all of this????? I got the blue screen of death twice yesterday at work. If I can get through today without ripping someone's head off? Life will be good.

After a week from hell (at least that is what it seemed like) I was ready for the long weekend. Working an hour late every day for a week is killer. Friday after work I went straight to the movie theater where I saw the new Pirates movie. LOVED it of course. Then it was home for a few minutes before heading out to the Maple Leaf. I hung out there for awhile, Kristen was selling merch for the Radiators. I actually didn't stay late that evening....I just wasn't into it. Saturday we went out the Greek Festival and ate greek food and pastries and listened to Greek music and watched the dancers. We went back to the leaf that night for night two of the Radiators. We had way more fun this night. I was helping out at the door and with the merch, and just hanging out having a good time. It was a late night, a much needed night of fun. Sunday really didn't do much but sleep and watch movies. We went out to Tipitinas for the benefit that was going on, of course Bonerama played. Also the Indigo Girls (who LOVED the boys by the way), one of the dudes from OK Go (Bonerama backed him up) Matt Nathanson and a few others. It was an incredible night of music. The Bones brought it hard that night....even though they were incredibly exhuasted. Yesterday was spent in bed because at some point Sunday night I hurt my back. It felt tight all of Sunday evening and maybe the little bit of dancing I did killed it....I don't know. Yesterday, I could barely walk. Today is better, still sore as hell, but at least I can walk. I didn't take pics at the benefit because I can't find my camera. It was in my purse, and now its not. :( Hopefully it will turn up. I am still awaiting for my computer to be fixed, I am so ready for this month to be over. Other than my niece being born and the end of Jazz Fest this month has sucked major donkey balls.

I was informed not a few hours ago that the house I currently live in will be going on the market next week. The landlord is sure our lease is safe (goes through the end of August) and that who ever buys the house will live downstairs and continue to rent upstairs to us. Oh the joys. We can hope and pray that does happen and that whoever buys the house doesn't raise our rent even more. I need a drink.

I am trying to figure out what I did wrong in a past life. That is the only thing I can think of that would cause all this bad karma. I spent Friday at home waiting for the plumbers to show up. They had called Thursday afternoon saying they would be there that evening (hahahahahahaha) or first thing in the morning. I was the one to stay home, Kristen is trying to get her bonus at work for not missing a day of work in the school year. (school is done Thursday) and our new housemate just started her new job. Therefore I got to stay home. It wasn't a vacation day, or a sick day (one in the same at my job) so there for I lost 8 hours of work. The plumber's idea of first thing in the morning was 10:30. At that point my work day would have been half over, as I work 6:30-3:00. By the time they left it was 1:00. Really no point in going to work then, by the time I caught the bus and got there it would have been 2. At least there is no more carbon monoxide (or however you spell it) leaking into the house, and we have hot water back. Saturday seemed okay until the racist old man harrassed us as we left the Bonerama gig that night. Once again Sunday was okay. Monday I walked into work to find my work laptop gone. It turns out that our office was broken into at some point after Sunday at 12:00 PM and 2:30 AM. They trashed the place and took a few computers and the petty cash. Somehow when they left, they dropped my computer and it ended up in one of the machine wells. It is working for the most part. It is covered in finger printing dust and oil that I can't seem to get off all the way, and as I am typing it will jump all over the place, some letters don't work very well sometimes. It is taking me longer to do everything because I am constantly having to go back and correct things. Once again I am ready for the shitness to be gone from my life. Apparently things aren't meant to ever go my way.

I will have to post more on Jazz Fest later. I am too frustrated to concentrate right now.

Smelled gas when we left the house yesterday, called Entergy and landlords. After calling Entergy a 2nd time and finally someone showing up after 5 (I called at 7 AM the first time) we found out that it was from a gas spill at Murphy Oil. Which isn't by us. However we did find out that hot water heater pipe is so rusted and has holes all over it and is seeping carbon monoxide into the basement. We now have no hot water until this is fixed.
Water and Sewage board is trying to screw us yet again. We now have a water bill for $400 for two months. Um...we just paid $400+ for 7 months (down from the $3000 they tried to squeeze out of us.) Assholes.
The "customer service" agent at Dell, the 3rd one I have talked to about my computer which is failing to boot up. I can't even restore it to the factory settings. They want ME to take out the hard drive and put it back in. Um...yeah okay. Why don't you guys actually do something about repairing my computer rather than have me run all the same stuff that the previous 2 people had me do? morons.
I am so tired of all this stupid shit happening all at once. I would love for a month to go by without something like this happening. Apparently that is asking too much.

It has been awhile since my last post. I have been insanely busy at work trying to get all caught up from not only a month of Friday’s off, but we had been holding a bunch of stuff, trying to get a new system up and running, and now? It’s not. So we are back to the old system for now. My laptop at home has died. It will not even boot up. I haven’t had the time to get it sent in before the warranty runs out. That is a goal to get done today. Also a goal is to hopefully do a recap of Jazz Fest. We will see. J

My niece is a week old. She is still beautiful

Hold the presses. Stop what you are doing. Grab a seat and hold on. You are never going to belive this. Guess what is finally in my hands? That is right. The title to my car. Sweet jesus can you believe it? I can't. Any want to buy a car that doesn't run? ;) I would be out celebrating if I wasn't in a permant state of euphoria right now thanks to some percocet. The wisdom teeth came out yesterday. They gave me a scare around 4 yesterday when the bleeding seemed to increase. It was disgusting and nasty....today it is just painful and swollen. Its all good

Who is going to be shocked by this? I STILL have not received my title to the car. They sent it certified mail. My address has been verified with the TX legal aid several times. They are the only people that I can not get mail from. Does anyone else have that going on? Mail service has been pretty good here as of late....
Our water/entergy issues are pretty much resolved. We went from the $3000.00 water bill to a $400 and the entergy is around $500.
With the above mentioned bills, and my wisdom teeth coming out on Friday and that costing a fortune guess who will be eating ramen and peanut butter for the rest of their natural life?
I am going to have a call going out to anyone who reads this in NOLA. Someone is putting together a great thing, and needs help. Once I get my thoughts organized on that, I will put out the call, I know Lisa will be as well. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
French Quarter Fest finally put up their schedule and I am finally happy. It is going to be another great fest!!

Today has been like a Monday. It is all the little things piling up to make it a crummy day. I just want to walk outside, go enjoy the weather and not come back here for a few days. In about 4.5 hours I can. It has been an extremely busy week for me. Monday feels like it happened 2 weeks ago. After work it has been non stop on the going, or so it feels like. I don't see it stopping until late Sunday. Most of it has been fun things however. Except for my dentist appointment. That is never fun, and if you haven't gone in a few years? It really isn't fun at all. Don't wait, just go and do it. I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled. I have a consultation set for next Friday. Let me tell you how thrilled I am about this. Some people are telling me to have 2 done, then the other 2. I am going to ask and hope that they do all 4 at once, get it done and over with please. I am having a few other doctors appointments in the next few weeks as well. Get them done and over with.

If you are in the NOLA area, come on out the Big Top on Clio St tomorrow night at 7. My friend Matt Perrine (who is in Bonerama) is releasing a solo album. The cd release party is tomorrow night. I have heard a few of the songs, and it is AMAZING! He has like 30 local musicians on it, has a really nice sound to it. He will of course be selling the CDs tomorrow night, I guess technically I will be selling them, with the help of a friend. We are going to tag team selling the CDs so we can each have lots of fun. Although I really do have fun selling merch. You get to talk to so many different people, talk about the mutual love of the music, how could that NOT be fun??

You will never believe in a million years what happened yesterday. It all started sometime mid morning. I realized I didn't have my cell phone with me. It wasn't in any of my pockets, nor in my purse, nor in my co-workers car. I didn't panic to much as I figured it was on my bed. Next to where I had my purse in the morning and in my rush I didn't grab it. I felt a little lost, naked and somewhat bewildered at certain points during the day. Seriously how did I survive before a cell phone? I wasn't really expecting any calls yesterday so imagine my surprise when there was 3 missed calls, 3 voicemails and a text message. 2 of the calls were from the same place. The "holy shit" place. I never thought this was going to happen, in fact I had given up all hope. It was a hopeless cause. It was a call from TX legal aid. Over a year and a half later, they finally have the title to my car. The car I bought with my FEMA money so I could come home. The car that has been sitting in the driveway for almost a year because of mechanical problems. The car that has become the bane of my exsistance. As it sits there and taunts me "you can't drive me...you can't drive me" I have a feeling that will only get worse as soon as I actually have the title in my hands (should be the end of this week) I have to gather $$ to pay to get the title transfered. To get plates. To get it re-insured. To get it running. As soon as I get all that to happen? The utility pole outside the house will finally fall over (it is leaning so bad now after the tornado) and crush the car. Just you watch. ;) Hopefully it will be after I get insurance. But holy shit....I will really have the title.

This weekend seemed to zoom by. Friday night we hung out the Maple Leaf, something we hadn't done in a few weeks. Talked to one of the other "regulars" for awhile...that was fun. The music was good, and I took some fun pics that I will share later. Saturday I slept late, then we headed down to LMF where they had live music and a HUGE sale, it was their 15 anniversary!! It was a lot of fun, saw alot of people that I see out and about at live music events. After that there was some babysitting, then a race to Rock-n-Bowl for Bonerama! We got there just as the boys were about to start. I set the merch down on the counter and they started. It was good to see some of the boys families out enjoying the music and bowling! It was a fun night. Yesterday was nice and relaxing. Watching movies, catching up on Tivo and grocery shopping. It was a whole hell of a lot colder than I thought it was going to be (Saturday I wore a skirt and short sleeve shirt yesterday I was bundled in layers) I spent most of the evening coaxing my cat to stay on my lap to keep me warm. There is a lot going on this coming weekend and I am very much looking foward to it.

As for a long waited Water/Entergy bill update, our water bill is still in dispute, we got another bill for that amount in Feb. When Kristen went down to the water board to ask about what was going on, one of the ladies that worked there said there was no way we could have used that much water. Ya think?? There was an article in the TP this past week about how everyone's water bills would be going up....ours can't go up much more. Entergy finally came with the gas adjusted finally (remember the painters over the summer had painted over the meter??) Yeah...that was a nice hefty bill that will have to be paid later this month. It really kinda sucks..one day I will actually have some sort of savings.....maybe.

Oh and apparently on Saturday someone from FEMA came by our house...our area was declared a natural disaster area (again) after the tornado. We aren't signing up for anything....gonna let the landlord deal with that.

Sometime around 3 AM Tuesday morning, I was jerked from my peaceful slumber to the loudest noise. I really think it was just the shutter slamming into the window next to my bed and the glass shattering. It could have been partially the tornado. I laid there for a minute trying to figure out what was going on. I glanced out the window and saw the shattered glass, flashing lightning. I am so very lucky that I have storm windows in my room. It saved me from having the glass blown all over me. It did pop out part way, and there was glass all over my floor. I got up to see what was going on and it wasn't for a good 5 minutes did we realize what had happened. Kristen and I wandered to the front of the house, closing some of the windows that had blown open. We went to go see how the furniture on the balcony had weathered. At first I thought it had all blown away. Somethings had. The rest was pushed up to the other end of the balcony. I looked up and noticed that the gutter was gone. The gutter had partially pulled away from the roof during Katrina. I even made the comment that our landlord was going to have to fix that now. It was then that I realized that the roof to the balcony was GONE. The big pillars that hold it up? GONE. I can't explain the feeling that swept through me. It was fear and confusion and dread. We eventually ventured outside. All the neighbors were slowly emerging from their homes. There were oak tree limbs from the trees in the park all over the road, just two houses up, in the middle of the street lay one of the said trees. Our neighbors new car was smashed. He actually saw the tornado coming up the street. He as going out to move his car when he saw/heard the transformers popping all the way down the block, one after another. He said he saw these amazing colors, blues, purples, greens and yellows. He ran back inside just in time. Parts of our roof are in the neighbors roof. A house shifted. We were right down the street where the roof blew off one house and landed on the FEMA trailer. Everyone walked around in a daze, rather like zombies. A neighbor and I pulled tree limbs out from the middle of Claiborne since some cars were barrelling down the street just barely slowing down when they saw the branches. It started to rain again so we made our way inside. Once it got light enough everyone ventured out again to access the damage in the light. We all started cleaning up. Within minutes the city had the people out there cleaning out the street. By 4 PM Tuesday, the street was completly clear. Mayor Ray Nagin stopped by the house to see how we were doing. He spent a majority of the afternoon in our 10 block radius going to houses talking to people and accessing the damage. The response by everyone, the emergency workers and relief workers was amazing. Our power was restored yesterday at about noon. We will have to throw out all the contents in the fridge. Considering how bad it could have been, we all consider ourselves so very lucky. Mother Nature isn't happy right now.

This seems to have been one of the suckiest starts to the year. More things have happened in the past day...things that don't need to be talked about here...let's just say I am ready to kick January so far out the door that it will never want to come back. I am hoping and praying that things will get better because it seems like lately it has been a rough patch. Pretty much since Sept. Sure there are some things that have been great and fantastic....but then there are those things that almost null and void those. I know I don't have it as bad off as some people, but I am done. I want some good things to happen for once. Is that so much to ask for??

In no order of importance:

Harry's two new cds come out today. That should be a good thing right? It will be...when I can afford to get the cds. With the water situation I need to count my pennies right now and cds aren't that important. It still makes me sad.
I had my lunch all ready to go. Left over soup and some crackers. Perfect for a cold day. If only it wasn't still in the fridge. I have $3.00 on me. Joy.
My shower was freezing this morning. I have no idea as to why the hot water takes so long to get to my shower. In my haste to get out as soon as possible I kept dropping/knocking over things in the shower.
My pants split. Seriously. Not because they were too small...just worn out. I was able to sew them before I left (could be the cause also of forgotten lunch)
We discovered last night that the water meter was sodded over. We don't know who did that...the water board or the gardners that the landlord hired. We don't know which water meter goes with which apartment. It is possible now that some how we were paying for downstairs as well. We are in the process of trying to get a hold of the people that used to live there so we can figure that out. Also we make too much for legal aid to be able to help us. Seriously....I don't make enough for a lawyer....yet make too much for legal aid.

The water/sewage board is claiming we use something like 640 Gallons a MONTH!!! not a year...not in two years...but a MONTH. Seriously now....does that seem possible to everyone? I don't think we could go through that amount if we ran the dishwasher/washing machine/all the faucets and constantly sat there and flushed the toilet 24/7. Kristen went through all the bills since Katrina this weekend. They actually did a reading 7 months ago. Not 17 months ago. So somehow in the past 7 months we have dramatically gone up. We are trying to locate our water meter. It is a very good possiblity that it underground. I am pretty sure I know where it is located...and it I also seem to recall that there was two covers in that general area...so it is quite possible that one of the covers? was sodded over.....It is all very fishy to me. Also in that location? Kristen rememebers some guys from the Water and Sewage board doing some repairs either Christmas 2005 or this past summer, she is trying to remember when. They told us that the water would be turned off at our place for about an hour....there was a huge fountian of water out there when they were working....I don't really recall this myself but I do remember the yellow tape around the area for a long time afterwards until the new sod was laid down....It is all a big huge pain in the ass

I got a letter from Entergy saying that THEY haven't been able to read our gas meter for the past 7 months and that they have been estimating our gas use. I go out this morning to see what this "obstruction" is because there isn't anything in front of the either meter (one is on one side of the house for upstairs, on the other side of the house for the downstairs apartment) Our neighbors is totally fine.....ours? Yeah our meter has been PAINTED OVER!!!! The house was painted this summer (remember the issues with the lead? came from this as well) The painters who did a half assed job to begin with, then took the money and ran, didn't finish the job, must have decided that it would be fun to paint over our gas meter. So on top of the massive water bill, we are most likely going to have a massive gas bill as well. 2007 is just off to a grand start.

Once something good happens something, something bad happens. It almost wipes out all the good. Yesterday we got a water and sewage board for almost $3000. Yes, $3000. That is not a typo. They have been screwing us over for awhile. Water and Sewage is in one of my roomies names. We pay her $$ and she sends it in. For the past few months each bill says we are behind a month. Which we aren't....in fact they have cashed the previous months check. Their computer system just has to be messed up or something. Yesterday we found out that since Katrina, they haven't bothered to come out ONCE to do a meter reading. So for 17 months they have been estimating our water usage. SEVENTEEN MONTHS. They just now finally came and did a reading and now we get to pay for what they haven't charged us for the past 17 months. Now I may be off base but it really isn't our problem if they couldn't get anyone out to read our meter for the past 17 months. I could understand maybe 6 months. But 17???? I am sorry cut your losses, it is your own problem water and sewage board if you cant get your people out to read the meters!! Don't come back later and screw us over royally!!!