My dear friend Dale from Galveston made a surprise trip to New Orleans today and treated me to dinner at Antoine's, where a kind waiter helped us find this on the wall:


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I was perfectly OK until I looked at the calendar. Then I got a tremor in my hands and my legs felt decidedly noodle-ish.

But, you know, it's good to be able to forget about a terrible anniversary until you look at the calendar. It's good to be six years out and, though changed forever, moving on. I'm going to spend today running ordinary, boring ( Read more... )

I'm having trouble reading my friends list because so many of you are in the path of this terrible storm and it brings back all the memories. And I'm feeling like a shitheel because if you are actually going through it, I should damn well be capable of reading about it. My thoughts, prayers, and slack are with you all ( Read more... )

So after not crying, I went back to bed and slept for most of the day. When I woke up, I found that I no longer gave a shit about the thing that had hurt me, and pretty much felt fine. This is also unlike me, as I've always been a world-class brooder and dweller-upon. Or I should say Poppy was a world-class brooder and dweller-upon -- maybe Billy ( Read more... )

I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner. I no longer have the vocabulary to talk about the hideous disasters happening in New Zealand, Japan, and elsewhere, not to mention the ongoing struggle in places whose disasters are already yesterday's news, and there doesn't seem to be anything else worth talking about. I get very agitated reading the newspaper ( Read more... )

I've decided my "well-meaning" commenter from yesterday was actually Elton John. He didn't get the reaction he wanted from his "tough love" for Billy Joel in Rolling Stone, so he decided to bug me instead. With a sense of entitlement befitting a diva, he continued to comment and even promised me an e-mail after being politely told to go away, so ( Read more... )

I went out by myself today. Bank and post office and drugstore. Not very challenging destinations, but this was the first time I'd left the house alone in ... mmm ... at least 10 days. And it went OK. I didn't have any wrecks, and I'm pretty sure I only said one semi-nonsensical thing to the bank clerk. (That's part of what scares me about going ( Read more... )

I hope yesterday's entry didn't come off wrong. I meant to imply I was afraid I would inadvertently bring further destruction and mayhem to Amsterdam, not that the loss of this beloved, historic old tree was merely an inauspicious augur for my trip. Of course, either one is magical thinking, which probably stems from a massive ego. I'm sorry ( Read more... )

Things were getting a little excessive around here. There are only so many nights in a row you can drink beer and watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas without strange things happening to you. Instead I've spent the last several days being quiet and calm, sleeping a lot, reading, watching no movies, accessing no Internet. Both of these phases have ( Read more... )

Two things, at least tangentially related. Last night I had a couple of beers, decided "Fuck August 29, fuck the federal levee failure, and fuck hurricane season," and made reservations to spend nine days in Amsterdam in late August/early September. Chris can't go, but I'll be able to bring him back a good birthday present. I can in no way afford ( Read more... )