i need to get writing.
it's a good time for it. i haven't been dedicated to writing lately. it's been other things, children mostly. not so much time to think about me and what i want to accomplish. gawsh, did i write that?
right now i'm sitting here in bed thinking about the past few weeks. i just got back from new orleans. spent christmas and new years there, of course. i do this every year, and nigel and asia have become accustomed to it as well. i need to be close to my family during these times; there is just no way around it. i must be near them during these times to do the things we do best as a family. i just love my family at this time of year, my mother's birthday falls on december 20 and my father's is december 31, to make this a season of all kinds of celebration. there's birthday cakes and family outings and music and drinking... yea, i drink with my parents. (it's so cool to be drunk with my mom!) anyway, anyone who visits will be sure to get the best of my mom's cooking: file gumbo, red beans, butter beans, pork chops, oyster dressing, baked macaroni, stewed chicken, rump roast, german chocolate cake, heavenly hash cake, biscuits, bacon, grits, waffles, pancakes... coffee in the morning...ahh, yes. whoever would come could find something yummy to eat and good company too. this year, we didn't see so many people come through the house though. ever since katrina disbanded out neighborhood, it's been difficult for the academy park bunch to get together. we all resided in the same little community of brick houses adjacent to st. mary's academy, just a few houses apart in academy park and we were very close. the blouins, winchesters, reines, mckissicks, millauds, are only a few of the many neighbors that we knew intimately and were torn apart from since that bitch hurricane katrina came through. we were a close group of neighbors and somehow we still manage to be close, though we are not within walking distance anymore.
this christmastime was different because we didn't see everybody, everybody being all scattered about the country. My sister and her family are the only ones still in the same house they lived in before the bitch. the millauds are living in a trailer parked in front of their house on lafon. they are the only ones that went back there. Uncle Trevor still live close by in his old house on touro street. sondra still lives in the city, on xaviers campus in a trailer that she calls the taj mahal. but the mccluskeys and the mckissicks have moved to baton rouge. and so has uncle brother. gena and auntie jeannie are now in texas. some of us had already left home long before the bitch, including myself, shelly, richard, yvette, sue, lil al, eric, but christmas season always brought us home and to my parent's house on christmas. and often to the winchesters' for a rocking new year's eve party. that party didn't happen this year either. ***sigh*** these days, it takes a concerted effort, not just happenstance or convenience, to bring us together. instead of a walk down the block, or around the corner, we would have to arrange a Celebrity Cruise (maybe we could all get shipwrecked together...haha... that'd be fun!) for sustained togetherness...
this year, of the winchesters, richard didn't come with his kids. we didn't see sue either, but todd and eric and his wife came for a quick visit. even though i didn't see any of the reines this year, they were present in our home at all times, the reines and the mccluskeys sans mr. reine and his wife, in the form of a family christmas photo. the mckissicks didn't drop by either for their customary warm egg nog, but my parents did find time to drive to their house near baton rouge for a visit. this is good because those four love being together.
but yes, i can say that even though i missed that particular part of christmas, this year did not lack in joy or excitement. in fact, it is the best christmas season i've had in a long long time, possibly ever! what made it so? if i had to boil it down to one element, it would have to be my relationship with dylan, spending time with him, getting to know him more intimately. being with him made me so relaxed that i was able to enjoy the entirety of my vacation. together we had so much fun and created lots of beautiful hot sexy sweaty exhausting warm cuddly snuggly smoochy memories. i spent most of my nights with him, happily driving back to hyman place to be there before the kids realized that i had spent the whole night with him. after a while i stopped pretending, and everybody, including nigel and asia, knew where i was all night. it's best that way because this relationship doesn't need to be a secret.
and what a great time we had. gawsh, i'll have to write a few entries about our times together. like the night we went to the hob to see dr. john, like new year's eve on the levee, like the shopping trip to walmart, and the sex the sex the sex. yes, i'm smitten too. such a good feeling. saving the details til later.
another reason why this vacation was a success is stephanie. what a gem! she came along and saved me from the fire of uncertainty! i was about to leave all my worldly posessions in the clutches of miriam, once again, when i decided to be brave and ask someone else to house sit. she did it successfully and competently. (thank you again, how can i repay?) knowing that i could enjoy myself in new orleans without worrying about my house exploding was a godsend, and yet another reason that the vacation was a success.
now, it would only be fair to mention the other notable occurrances of the season. the most notable being the success of gift giving and receiving this year. i was very nervous and reticent about my choice of giving a digital photo album for my family, and the fact that my brother tried to fuck everything up by suggesting that we not be required to give each other gifts this year, so i thought long and hard about the best possible thing i could give that would say something special. so, i returned the digital photo albums and bought webcams for everyone. now we all can communicate with each other using yahoo or skype, with full-on video and audio connections. very cool, you know. also, i gave nigel and asia what they wanted for christmas. they gave me good gifts too this year. i'm so glad that i decided to tell them what i want. sometimes you gotta do that. otherwise, asia would have given me a life-like, dead-looking, "breathing" cat curled up on a sheepskin blanket, and nigel would have given me nothing. so it turned out that asia gave me a case for my ipod AND a life-like, dead-looking, "breathing" cat curled up on a sheepskin blanket, and nigel gave me ramekins. yes, i asked him for ramekins. i call that success.
also, i must mention that i ran into lenny kravitz while i was there, and i boldly re-introduced myself to him. you see, he was a close friend of jeff's who he kept in touch with on occasion. as a matter of fact, jeff spent his last new year's eve with lenny in 1998 while i was in new orleans with my family. i didn't mention that little factoid to lenny because it seemed to be news to him that jeff was dead. when i introduced myself to him, he asked, "where is crazy jeff? damn, it's been too long!"
"well," i said, "i'm surprised that you don't know."
actually, i'm not surprised. but i wonder if it occurred to him that he hadn't heard from jeff in 9 years? anyway, it was crazy running into him and his daughter zoe in the french quarter. asia was with me and he was amazed at how asia could be beautiful and look like jeff, all at the same time (lol). asia had no idea who he was. i introduced him to her as mr. kravitz, and he told her to call him lenny. haha. he asked for my phone number so he can invite me to his los angeles show, soon he says it will be. i hope he doesn't forget. he always made sure to invite jeff, or should i say that his publicist always made sure. well see, but i'll not hold my breath.
later for this...
right now i'm sitting here in bed thinking about the past few weeks. i just got back from new orleans. spent christmas and new years there, of course. i do this every year, and nigel and asia have become accustomed to it as well. i need to be close to my family during these times; there is just no way around it. i must be near them during these times to do the things we do best as a family. i just love my family at this time of year, my mother's birthday falls on december 20 and my father's is december 31, to make this a season of all kinds of celebration. there's birthday cakes and family outings and music and drinking... yea, i drink with my parents. (it's so cool to be drunk with my mom!) anyway, anyone who visits will be sure to get the best of my mom's cooking: file gumbo, red beans, butter beans, pork chops, oyster dressing, baked macaroni, stewed chicken, rump roast, german chocolate cake, heavenly hash cake, biscuits, bacon, grits, waffles, pancakes... coffee in the morning...ahh, yes. whoever would come could find something yummy to eat and good company too. this year, we didn't see so many people come through the house though. ever since katrina disbanded out neighborhood, it's been difficult for the academy park bunch to get together. we all resided in the same little community of brick houses adjacent to st. mary's academy, just a few houses apart in academy park and we were very close. the blouins, winchesters, reines, mckissicks, millauds, are only a few of the many neighbors that we knew intimately and were torn apart from since that bitch hurricane katrina came through. we were a close group of neighbors and somehow we still manage to be close, though we are not within walking distance anymore.
this christmastime was different because we didn't see everybody, everybody being all scattered about the country. My sister and her family are the only ones still in the same house they lived in before the bitch. the millauds are living in a trailer parked in front of their house on lafon. they are the only ones that went back there. Uncle Trevor still live close by in his old house on touro street. sondra still lives in the city, on xaviers campus in a trailer that she calls the taj mahal. but the mccluskeys and the mckissicks have moved to baton rouge. and so has uncle brother. gena and auntie jeannie are now in texas. some of us had already left home long before the bitch, including myself, shelly, richard, yvette, sue, lil al, eric, but christmas season always brought us home and to my parent's house on christmas. and often to the winchesters' for a rocking new year's eve party. that party didn't happen this year either. ***sigh*** these days, it takes a concerted effort, not just happenstance or convenience, to bring us together. instead of a walk down the block, or around the corner, we would have to arrange a Celebrity Cruise (maybe we could all get shipwrecked together...haha... that'd be fun!) for sustained togetherness...
this year, of the winchesters, richard didn't come with his kids. we didn't see sue either, but todd and eric and his wife came for a quick visit. even though i didn't see any of the reines this year, they were present in our home at all times, the reines and the mccluskeys sans mr. reine and his wife, in the form of a family christmas photo. the mckissicks didn't drop by either for their customary warm egg nog, but my parents did find time to drive to their house near baton rouge for a visit. this is good because those four love being together.
but yes, i can say that even though i missed that particular part of christmas, this year did not lack in joy or excitement. in fact, it is the best christmas season i've had in a long long time, possibly ever! what made it so? if i had to boil it down to one element, it would have to be my relationship with dylan, spending time with him, getting to know him more intimately. being with him made me so relaxed that i was able to enjoy the entirety of my vacation. together we had so much fun and created lots of beautiful hot sexy sweaty exhausting warm cuddly snuggly smoochy memories. i spent most of my nights with him, happily driving back to hyman place to be there before the kids realized that i had spent the whole night with him. after a while i stopped pretending, and everybody, including nigel and asia, knew where i was all night. it's best that way because this relationship doesn't need to be a secret.
and what a great time we had. gawsh, i'll have to write a few entries about our times together. like the night we went to the hob to see dr. john, like new year's eve on the levee, like the shopping trip to walmart, and the sex the sex the sex. yes, i'm smitten too. such a good feeling. saving the details til later.
another reason why this vacation was a success is stephanie. what a gem! she came along and saved me from the fire of uncertainty! i was about to leave all my worldly posessions in the clutches of miriam, once again, when i decided to be brave and ask someone else to house sit. she did it successfully and competently. (thank you again, how can i repay?) knowing that i could enjoy myself in new orleans without worrying about my house exploding was a godsend, and yet another reason that the vacation was a success.
now, it would only be fair to mention the other notable occurrances of the season. the most notable being the success of gift giving and receiving this year. i was very nervous and reticent about my choice of giving a digital photo album for my family, and the fact that my brother tried to fuck everything up by suggesting that we not be required to give each other gifts this year, so i thought long and hard about the best possible thing i could give that would say something special. so, i returned the digital photo albums and bought webcams for everyone. now we all can communicate with each other using yahoo or skype, with full-on video and audio connections. very cool, you know. also, i gave nigel and asia what they wanted for christmas. they gave me good gifts too this year. i'm so glad that i decided to tell them what i want. sometimes you gotta do that. otherwise, asia would have given me a life-like, dead-looking, "breathing" cat curled up on a sheepskin blanket, and nigel would have given me nothing. so it turned out that asia gave me a case for my ipod AND a life-like, dead-looking, "breathing" cat curled up on a sheepskin blanket, and nigel gave me ramekins. yes, i asked him for ramekins. i call that success.
also, i must mention that i ran into lenny kravitz while i was there, and i boldly re-introduced myself to him. you see, he was a close friend of jeff's who he kept in touch with on occasion. as a matter of fact, jeff spent his last new year's eve with lenny in 1998 while i was in new orleans with my family. i didn't mention that little factoid to lenny because it seemed to be news to him that jeff was dead. when i introduced myself to him, he asked, "where is crazy jeff? damn, it's been too long!"
"well," i said, "i'm surprised that you don't know."
actually, i'm not surprised. but i wonder if it occurred to him that he hadn't heard from jeff in 9 years? anyway, it was crazy running into him and his daughter zoe in the french quarter. asia was with me and he was amazed at how asia could be beautiful and look like jeff, all at the same time (lol). asia had no idea who he was. i introduced him to her as mr. kravitz, and he told her to call him lenny. haha. he asked for my phone number so he can invite me to his los angeles show, soon he says it will be. i hope he doesn't forget. he always made sure to invite jeff, or should i say that his publicist always made sure. well see, but i'll not hold my breath.
later for this...