Katrina Recollections: Who I Am.

A little less than six years ago, I returned to my "place of residence" only to discover it had been flooded with about 8 inches of water. In the grand scheme of things, this wasn't much. I recognize(d) that. While I lost countless material possessions (and certainly a good number of sentimental possessions) I did not lose a house and 20/30/40+ years of memories. And I've always been grateful for that.

While collecting from my apartment what I could of my non-ruined things, I also collected the non-ruined things of my roommate at the time. Her name was Katie. She's from Colorado. She had come to New Orleans to live with her sister, and then when her sister moved away, she had stayed. She had connected with a part of New Orleans that left her unready to leave just yet. Our situations kept both of us there. Our jobs, our relationships, our interests. So we stayed. And then a storm came, and told us to go. Katie evacuated with me to Texas, to my parents' house. And that first day my parents left $100 for each of us out on the kitchen table, so we could enjoy ourselves in that foreign city, while our humble abode was subtlety filled with a yet unknown amount of water. We went to the mall. We went bowling. We ate Mexican food and asked for "to-go" cups for our margaritas--only to remember that's not allowed in most states (God bless Louisiana liquor laws). We momentarily ignored reality so as to avoid what all that entailed: starting over, practically from scratch.

Katie never returned to New Orleans. She drove her car straight up from Houston to her hometown of Greeley, Colorado. Which is why I mention that I collected her things. She wasn't there to do so herself. So whatever wasn't wet I stuffed into my mother's minivan. That ruled out most furniture, and anything on a bottom shelf, but left a variety of hanging clothes, shelved shoes, and anything that wasn't yet overcome by multiple feet of mold (arguably, not much). I boxed it, but Katie wasn't even home to receive the box. She was already living and working in Steamboat Springs. And she never expected much to be salvaged anyway, but I sent her the biggest box that I could. Anything and everything I could rescue of hers. Her sister opened the box and gave her a run down over the phone. Thanks to her low expectations, my box displayed like Christmas morning. And my box included a burned CD (this was 2005, people).

If you're unfamiliar, let me introduce you to Marc Broussard. He's from Louisiana, from the city of Carencro, outside of Lafayette. He has a decent following, but I guess isn't a superstar. But the album I burned, appropriately titled "Carencro" has a song, also appropriately titled, called "Home".

Fast forward, to any number of years after Katrina, and you will find me spending at least a long weekend in Colorado, visiting Katie (and another friend of ours, Brandee). It's a state I've been visiting since I was 5, but once my family graduated from their yearly ski trips, I took it upon myself to return, not only for that much needed ski trip, but to visit the amazing people I had since met.

Back to Marc Broussard. During one of my Colorado visits, I found myself in the extended cab of a pickup truck, with Katie, her boyfriend (now fiance), and a number of fabulous people who had joined in our "Sportcoat Sunday" event at Quincy's (they serve cheap/delicious drinks and cheap/delicious steak, you should go). Katie was driving because somehow she'd avoided getting as hammered on doubles as the rest of us. I guess that also granted her access to the cd player. And Marc Broussard's "Home" came on. And somehow, to my complete bewilderment, everybody knew the words. I was in fucking Colorado, a thousand miles from home, with my pre-Katrina roommate and a bunch of her friends, on an icy Sunday night, driving a snowy Colorado back road, tummy full of meat and vodka, and random people were singing along to a song by a beloved (by me) Louisiana artist? WTF?

I cannot even describe to you the chills I experienced.

To this day the song still gives me chills. Not necessarily because of that experience, but more a combination of that, the fact that it's a pretty great song, and that the concept of "home" (not to over-pun) really hits home with me now. Chicago is not where I'm from. I can't even say it's where I belong. But it's where I am now, and I plan to make the most of it. I identify more with Louisiana than I really ever have before. Most of my life I was just "there", I didn't have to "belong". But now that I'm removed, I realize there's too many precious things about it for me to let go of. Sure I hate the heat, and I can't say the job market or politics are really winning any bonus points with me. But the people. And the food. OMG THE FOOD. And the people. Plenty of Americans identify with their ancestors in the form of a (singular) foreign country, but the Louisiana I know is such a melting pot that that would be impossible. My technical breakdown would be English-Irish-French-Cajun-Spanish-Italian-American. Try saying that five times fast. I don't even know what it means to be any one of those things.

But I know exactly what it means to be all of those things. I know what it means to be me. And I know what the chills feel like. And I hope they never go away.

TRAPZE CLASS

I've missed updating you on tons of stuff. But this is pretty fun to share.

Summer is almost over

I apologize for not updating this more regularly. There's a possibility I might start doing so in the near future. But there's still the possibility I might not.

My one year "Chicagoversary" was last Monday. Things were pretty awesome for 11 out of those 12 months. As someone else said, a 91.6% isn't bad. As I said, an A- is still an A.

Today is Hurricane Katrinaversary. I said it best last year.

I feel a little bit like I'm at square one again with moving here. On the cusp of a permanent position with work, need to find new hobbies, meet new people, consider being nice to my body for the sake of its well-being, and buy more plane tickets to visit friends. Basically just need to pursue the awesomeness that I know I'm capable of and that I know I deserve. Getting a little tired of being kicked when I'm down. Time to kick back.

April Showers bring May

Chicago is pretty pissed about the weather. We were still getting snow a month ago. We're halfway through May and the low was 41 yesterday (looks like we're headed for 50s-70s though). But I understand a little better now. Chicago has an amazing summer, and so they look forward to it. But unlike the sauna-like South Louisiana summers I'm used to (and do NOT look forward to), Chicago's summer weather doesn't last for 6-9 months. More like 3. If they're lucky. During which every restaurant spills out on to the sidewalk, every window gets opened, and everyone goes outside every chance they get. It freaks me out a little. But I'm looking forward to being outside and not sweating while standing still, in the shade. God bless low humidity*.

I'm nearing the end of my extended contract with work and hoping for something full-time. If not an offer from here, then hopefully from somewhere. Resumes are still going out, connections are still being made. Outlook is still good.

I attended a German Wine Dinner at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. They poured a lot of Rieslings, as well as poured fire all over my dessert.


That bake sale I was a part of was a huge success! Here's a link to a gallery of photos I took: CLICK ME

Chicago is obsessed with tulips. I assume this because every planter in downtown is filled with them. Yellow, red, purple, pink. It's a tulip party.


Speaking of parties, I had one for Cinco de Mayo. It was pretty fun up until the point my boyfriend got hit in the head with a cantaloupe and got a concussion. But once the headache passed, and the CAT scan came back fine, we all agreed it makes for a great story.


On Cinco de Ses I brought my leftover margarita bucket to work. Because I am classy, and they are lenient.


*downside to low humidity: I have to use lotion now.

A real update? Maybe, maybe not.

I am 30. I celebrated with crawfish.


My boyfriend bought wrapping paper just so he could wrap my gift. He picked out silver because he thought I'd like it, and only realized later that it was wedding themed paper, scrawled with matrimonial quotes. It would have been awkward if it hadn't been hilarious. Oh, and the gift was a new lens for my camera. He's a smart cookie.


Frog is still awesome. I guess I'll keep her.


Meh.

Where Have I Been?

In Chicago mostly. Doing stuff. Which keeps me from doing other stuff, like updating this blog.

I did go down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras though, so that was fun. Watched some parades, and my parents and I rode in Morpheus on Friday night. Ate a lot of good food too. Wish I could have seen more people, but I saw who I could.

Here's some Mardi Gras highlights from the Flickr set.

Watching Muses from St.Charles






A little Bourbon Street


View from my float in Morpheus




Chargrilled oysters


Boiled crawfish and crabs




I'll be back.

I'm still doing stuff

Wow, despite being an active blogger for the last 8 years, I am not doing such a great job at keeping up with this one.

I was home for the holidays. It was great to see family and friends, I wish there had been time to see more people and do more things (i.e. eat more places). But I returned to Chicago a little richer, in terms of joy, love, money, and meat.

New Years was quiet. Had a nice dinner, and then watched some of the national celebrations on TV. Started the New Year right by having bacon for breakfast, and eggs fried in the bacon grease.


Big plans for 2011 include continuing to rock at life. I hope to get in shape again (signed up for a boot camp!) as well as work on cleaning and organizing my home. Almost 5 months and we're still not fully unpacked, it's a little ridiculous. We can't have extravagant dinner parties in a pig sty, and I want to have extravagant dinner parties dammit.

Frog continues to be super awesome.


Future travel plans include returns to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in March (riding on a float in Morpheus Friday night!), and a friend's wedding in May. Should a full time job appear and my travel budget increase, I will make a point of visiting more people. Should your travel budget allow, you should consider visiting me. My cousin Jimmy and his wife Lan Lan will be here in February, on a long awaited visit from China!

Chicago has been having a pretty mild winter so far, which has been somewhat of a disappointment. People warned me I'd be miserable by February, but February is almost here and I am not the least bit tired of the cold. This past week was really the first time it got uncomfortably frigid, but it's nothing you can't handle if you're prepared for it. I've got a purple coat, purple boots, purple gloves, and plenty of hot chocolate.


I also am attempting the 365 project again. That's where you take a picture every day. I take plenty of pictures overall, but it actually requires some effort to get one everyday. I'm posting those pictures here if you'd like to take a look.