the southern draw(l)
so, what day is it today? i'm all discombobulated, having spent the better part of the week not exactly at work. i went to New Orleans (herein referred to as 'Nawlins') on Friday night to cheer on my karate fools out in the Big Easy. Only the city could be called that, as my trip itself was not so much. A total of 5 hours in delays and layovers added on to my round-trip, but at least i can say that i am now intimately acquainted with Houston Internat'l AND Minn/St. Paul airports. YES.

i was lucky enough to have a personal tour guide (a friend from work) on Friday night brave enough to escort me through the very core Bourbon St. He was out there for a bidness trip, and we happened to cross schedules for just that one night. Saturday was spent at the tournament, watching the kids get robbed of their rights to beat up on others, etc., followed by some of the best food, dancing, drinks, and general debauchery i think i've ever had. Sunday was back to the tournament to witness some straight up corruptedness (bitter, d'ya think?) and was super low-key as i wandered around the French Quarter and wound up at Preservation Hall for an awesome jazz session. Sadly, my karate fools had to leave on Monday, which meant i had to work: (( personal rah-rah: mad shouts to fiona for setting up this trip (and moving my hotel to some swanky digs in the heart of the action!) and letting me go under the guise of work-related importance. )) i found my way to Kenner (home of the ONLY starbucks i could find in Louisiana) and pitched in at the petco we have there. What a great learning experience, though there was only so much i could take of the creepy manager whose eyes didn't get above chest-level once. ((shudder))

So what did i learn? i learned that i want to compete in karate even less after what i witnessed. i learned that poncho is a pretty pretty princess when it comes to food (oh wait, i knew that already : ) i learned a little voodoo. i learned that people in LA are much friendlier than people in L.A. and even when the people i knew left, i had friends around. By the way, there's a blue-eyed blonde southern boy named Lance who thinks he's coming out here... to marry me. i apparently am quite the catch outside of Cali state lines.