I make blog posts everywhere I go.
1. I survived the flight to New Orleans. It was pretty turbulent at times, and I had sweaty palms, but it was otherwise alright. At some point, I started to feel oddly at peace about the prospect of dying with a bunch of random people aboard an aircraft. I decided to think Buddhist thoughts and live in the moment. "For now, you're sitting in the back of an airplane listening to a good episode of TAL. For now, you're drifting above clouds. Who knows what will happen in a minute? For now, it's okay." That really helped. The clouds helped, as well. Once, I looked out over some puffy whiteness, and the clouds looked like a line of bleached buildings along the shore. It looked like a celestial Santorini. As we got closer to New Orleans, we went lower, and I could lean over and see boats, birds, weird unidentified objects, and other things that float in the gulf. We flew over the outlying parts of the city, and I could see all of these canals snaking through patches of swampy land. We flew over the city, and I could see houses covered in blue tarps, expensive houses without tarps, and crushed patches of trees. We flew over downtown, and I could see the Super Dome and the other places with which we all became so familiar after Katrina. It was interesting, and I forgot to be afraid for a while.
2. Last night, we went down town for the craziness of New Year's Eve in New Orleans. It was an experience. I've never been to any massive New Year's celebration before. As it got later, the crowd got thicker. Thousands of people were out there, and most of them were at least a little tipsy. Jason wanted to keep walking down Bourbon Street all night, but it got a little too crowded for me. I learned that LSU students are very spirited and slightly insane. They were all wearing purple and yellow, dancing to their fight song, chanting about tigers, and high fiving and screaming at each other at random. I think they won a football game yesterday or something, and that had them seriously riled up. Overall, there were about a fabillion frat boy-esque college kids out there getting wasted and screaming. Some of them were angry and thought it was cool to push people over at random. The homeless people looked pissed that all their benches were taken and their peace and quiet destroyed by screaming and loud music. Close to midnight, we were walking around Jackson Square, and I decided to follow the crowd. This was a very bad idea, on my part, and it led to me getting smashed (quite literally-- no alcohol involved). We got stuck in this giant wad of people trying to push through to who knows what. Apparently, they had some sort of ball drop, but Jason refuses to believe me, and we certainly didn't see it. For a moment, I was ready to freak out because I was just stuck in this massive crowd of drunkards who wouldn't move and didn't seem to be going anywhere. The little college girls around me were panicking about getting mauled to death, and I started to think they were right. Eventually, we made it past the insanity, and we watched from a safe distance as the clock finally struck midnight. Having traveled back in time to the Central Time Zone, I was pretty much ready for bed by then. I've never seen a group of people so excited by fireworks. They were pretty awesome fireworks, though. Everyone cheered at the grand finale. It was good times. Then we scurried back to the car as quickly as possible while the crowd began stampeding toward us. I think we missed the actual party;)
3. Today, Jason showed me the places that are still damaged. It's a sobering sight, indeed. Entire sections of the town are completely abandoned: strip malls, houses, and businesses all destroyed, some completely missing. Heaps of trash line the streets. In some neighborhoods, you can see a distinct line between the Haves and Have Nots. The nicer, larger houses are mostly intact, and many of them stand right beside older and less ritzy houses that are completely destroyed. Markings on the houses show the date on which a rescue team came searching for people, as well as the number of people found. One house made me really sad: it had a date and "no cat found" spray painted on the side. I can't imagine what it would be like to have experienced the storm here or to live here now, but it's certainly a pertinent reminder for New Year's Day. Things could be a lot worse. Things are a lot worse. Things are also a lot better, though. Material well being and social constructs are fleeting. I suppose I should continue thinking Buddhist thoughts. Life is a dangerous thing.