Katrina 10 year anniversary - so where you at now?

-draft-

When Katrina hit, I lived in the City of Orange, CA.  

My best friend William was visiting me at the time, and I stayed up all night, more than once (don't ask me how.  no...seriously...don't ask me that...), watching the news coverage showing the horrendous situation that was going on at the Convention Center and environs after the flooding. I sat with my jaw open, heartbroken, unbelieving that this could actually be happening in a major US city, which I had yet to come to know and love.  I was not surprised at the fact that the city was practically destroyed by flooding after an almost direct hit by a very large hurricane (I mean....come on...I grew up in Charleston, SC.. so just look where both Charleston and New Orleans are located on a map....is that really all that surprising??).

No....what I couldn't believe was how the survivors of the storm were being treated...or more accurately...were NOT being treated.  Days upon days after the storm, and people continued to die waiting for help, for water, for food, to be treated as humans, to be saved.  I mean, FUCK!  WHY IS THIS HAPPENING???  WHY IS THERE STILL NO HELP FOR THESE PEOPLE??? Things kept running around my mind...."This is what they should be doing..then this...then this should happen..." A po-dunk woman on her sofa watching TV kept

The failure of the floodwalls  (not 'levees'..as everyone wants to say, levees require a much larger footprint due the wide base tapering up to the top...as to why floodwalls were used as flood protection inside the city instead of levees which the Corps actually wanted to build...one guess as to why they weren't allowed to?....REAL ESTATE) see bottom of page 95 in "Catastrophe in the Making - the Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow" - should be required reading!

-blah blah - ....more words and stuff here-

While watching George 'Doublya' Bush speak in an abandoned Jackson Square....a majestic landmark in one of the world's great cities....with floodlights powered by fucking generators...I became enraged.  I remember SCREAMING at the TV...at him speaking on the TV... watching him speak, reminded of the 'mission accomplished' banner, words saying nothing, meaning nothing.  So I took photos of the TV, adjusted them, distorted his face, and wrote what I felt at the time on each photo. (attempt to add text to orig photos in Lightroom and replace photos, below)

'House of Cards' review by a South Carolinian

I do like this series, I do.  But....a few things annoy.  First of all, a DEMOCRATIC Congressman from South Carolina?  please.  I suppose they exist but so does the white rhino, but believable?

And that accent? or.....what accent?  Depends which scene you're talking about I suppose, as it comes and goes willy-nilly.  I was just thinking about accents recently...wondering if it's just southerners that can tell how bad the accent is when a non-southern acTOR tries one on.  How unbelievably annoying it is, how it ruins everything.  Every scene is an endurance.  I'm over half way through the series at this point, so it is good, it does entertain, but when the accent appears it's hard to stay focused.

When the accent disappears during filming, does the director just not notice? Do the other actors just not notice?  Or do they just defer to the great acTOR and his judgement?  Or is it just so bad that they're secretly happy when its no longer used?  It seems to have dissipated as the series goes on, so I thought that might have been an actual decision....but nope...it rears up now and again and not just in the 'Gaffney' episode.

Why tell Russo to not put up a fight for the shipyards?  What was the point of that? If it was a done deal, what difference would at least letting him present a face-saving argument in front of the committee made?  The no-argument would have been known to piss off his base, which could have lost him the next election, which would have made him useless.  Don't get it, not yet at least.

Where has the addressing the camera gone?  That's also disappearing like the accent, not sure why. I like it when it's not ridiculously heavy-handed.  And seeing Spacey as a wolf devouring a young girl isn't so believable anymore.  Too much innuendo surrounds him.  Kind of the opposite of what a 'Jennifer Anniston' does, as her personal life overshadows every role and doesn't let her inhabit any of them.  His lack of presentation of any kind of a personal life makes him not so much of a chameleon, but a liar by omission. And that holds him, and us, back.

And speaking about innuendo, that conversation about past indiscretions at a military college between two men would not have happened by Francis.  The conversation, that is.  He would not have thought of it fondly, he would have been trying, and succeeded to forget it.  

That's it for now, besides a few recovery program inconsistencies, but no need to dwell on those at this point.  There'll be more.

.....long time since I rock and roll, hmmmm.....

I damn near almost missed the Bayou Bogaloo this year, drove by late on Sunday and caught a band playing the tail end of the 'Treme' show soundtrack.  Hopped out and got a piece of the action briefly before the end of the day....could things be picking up a bit?

New Orleans Healing Center grand opening - SECOND LINE!

embedding, what a concept!

Tuesday 1.11.11 (!!!)

Well...wouldn't you know it the first time I post in the new year and I don't have the computer with my NYE trip to the Indian Mounds on there!  Oh well, I'll pick another photo.

Ahhhhh.......better already.  Grandmommy and me in front of Marilyn's barn, years ago.   I can pinpoint my downward trajectory to shortly after her death.  But that's another story.

The trip to the LA Indian Mounds, most significantly Povery Point, was lovely.  Me and the critters, in a no-tell-mo-tell for NYE in ViDALia Louisiana (even though they didn't allow dogs, they let me stay after some cajoling).  See..THAT's the kind of hospitality I'm talking about!  'Well, how big are they?' 'Well...we really don't allow them. It's just you?  Well....ok, but it'll be an extra ten dollars." uh - OK!  Tornado warning flashes below Ryan Seacrest, cloudy sky's so no good 'sunrise' pics, really.  Then a little jaunt by myself to see some more of the mound-age in the area before picking up the pooches to continue north to Monroe.  Some mismatched couches in a circle, Kuntry accents galore, the remnants of an ancient civilization, then back home through the Kisatchie.  Mahvelous.

it's TUESDAY, dang it!

All DAY I've thought it was Wednesday, for some reason.  Then, after being completely surprised at seeing my friend at the bottom of the stairs.....she says the same thing, that she's thought it was Wed all day too!  Isn't that odd...or does it just seem odd to me?

Dr. Gabor Mate!  A WONderful find....was able to share that with SS tonight. 

After a bit of a pity-party, during that difficult day, a better day the following w AP and her boys who were having a blast.

Gratuitous,,,

....shot of hunky football player Lance Moore!

It's Christmas!

Holidays at The Roosevelt Hotel

Wow...these days just fly on by, don't they??  Another'good' day that even overshadowed some nastiness au travail.  The glimpse into what an 8 to 5 COULD be made me all the more angry and resentful, methinks, as surely just an email couldn't set me off like that, no? (ask SS who helped me out a bit by phone that afternoon....) Believe I figured out that some anger comes from resentment of things (I would not have expected).....like the GOOD day allowed me to contact friends to tell some of them....thanks...just for being my, you know?  The lack of responses kind of got to me...I mean....how hard is that?  But then....did you send it for the responses?  No.  I didn't think so.  You sent it just to send it, so be happy with that.

Made a commitment to do the Friday at GH.  Having that responsibility will help out, have lots of ideas, just need to slow down and take it as it comes, not forcing anything, not my place.  1/2 and 1/2 and satsumas....good, innocuous start.

Weeks of tapering off any dealings with powder keg have helped, branching out a little.  Am realizing the 'temporary' needs to be just that, lots of h/h flashes, back and forth, changing of minds.  And here I am, same thoughts, same ideas, less bother.  Me like-y.

Saturday 12.4.10

Lots of bike riding today, hurt hurt hurt hurt.  Very outer hips, upper back of thigh.  Won't quit....until I get on the bike, then it gets better as long as I'm pedaling. Getting more and more pissed at the bucaru. Starting to see who 'the crew' is, Sat 7 pm, small group. Some knife sticking by someone who shouldn't.  No room. SS earlier, resentments, anger, forgiveness, goods and bads and your part, on paper. 

Earlier ride included the park and, ENFIN, the City Park Sculpture garden.  Major Kitchen on the lookout.  IT guy and family too.

The evening ride included a trip to a few DesCours installations, such a lovely event that enables you to peek behind the curtain into a world that few experience on a daily basis.

And finally, after crossing Bourbon Street and before hearing the Santa Parade, saw this lovely site. 

Friday 12.3.10

Yes, I didn't quite make it.  But that's ok.  Some realizations today - completion and continuation can be a goal in and of itself.  It isn't necessarily the result that is the only goal.  The work, could also be the goal.  Moving forward, effort, attempts.  For instance, leaving laundry at the laundromat (hate that word) for 2 days because you were in too much of a funk to go back and pick it up....this perpetuates the same results.  Now, coming home from work and immediately hopping on the bicycle for a long ride around City Park, in the dark, was GOOD!  No doubt.  The amount of pain that brought me to that place, as the bike is the one place where I don't feel any right now, is not good.  But...this is a start.  It's a late start, true, but remember.....I have those 2 months of muscle memory from earlier this year.  It will come back a lot sooner that way, it will decrease, and it shouldn't take that long.

Interesting at 8, question on when does one's will end and yours begin? Along with 37 years of separation from all family, another reason to eschew 'religion'.  Similarities in certain things, but again, another realization. In questioning why someone would keep in touch with a relative solely based on the fact that they're relatives, and not based on actually liking that person, or wanting to be around them.  Actually, I think it was more pointed than that.  That they were 'bad'.  That was the intent, if not the actual words.  But...remember....we are not all one, or the other.  There is very little that is only one way, or only the other way.  A big one, really.  These 2, I'm proud of.

Friday 11.26.10

I think it's now Saturday, but, not really.  NOLA decided to get chilly and rainy today.  Down by Harrah's I had lunch with a friend and coworker from my telecom days out west.  How much more DDA can we get Mister? Except ....here comes another little dda on their way in to town. Doh!  And they're already putting up Xmas on Fulton Street, except they use bubbles for snow here! (it ain't DAT cold, you know).  'Rusty' Bush is what they called him. Crawfish in the bag, what? 

Nona in the evening, lots of good info, but not sure if I really get the concept.  You know...really GET the concept? The secrets, the sneakiness, that means something's not right.  That's not clear yet, I take it.

Turkey Day in Grammercy

Ms. AP and 3 of her 4 boys.

It was a nice day, upper 70's, and very clear in small town Louisiana today.  Had a REALLY good meal (pork w amazing gravy that eventually got all over AP and TP, fried turkey, 2 kinds of potatoes, rice caserole, oreo pie, cookies, apple and pecan pie, etc etc etc!!) as soon as arriving and some more right before leaving.

Another pretty darn good day, really.  Besides not wanting to get out of bed, and feeling a bit bad (at first)that I arrived later than planned, it was mostly a hoot!  With an AWEsome Dallas/Saints game to boot!  17-0 Saints after the first quarter, then the Cowboys at the end were WINNING until the Jenkins 'snatched-that-ball-right-outta-his-hands' and they took it all the way downfield with less than 5 minutes to go.  Bradshaw picked Dallas, the traitor.  Can't beLIEVE 'dat.

Really don't know how this gal does it....she's pulled every which way and still wears a constant smile.

Then there's the Crazy 'Ditch-Baby', huh Declan?

 With Dashiell's target practice, below.

And finally her in-law's 'Room o' Lounge' with a jacuzzi andTV with surround sound all with a stellar view of the sugarcane fields out back! (recently harvested)

Is this crazy or what??!?

I just don't know how she does it - and one of them is missing from these photos, The Namesake was playing the new Black Ops most of the day today in the back bedroom.  I only had about 6 hrs worth and they done wore my ass OUT!

Thursday 11.25.10

My hips been tellin' me rain is coming but it isn't here yet, so I'm just not sure no mo'.

Potluck and J last night, gumbo, tater salad, mac and cheese, and orange drank!  Baby Ariel, born in San Diego!  Go Grandma!!  (hee hee)  Get to see Ms. Amy today and her goat-totin' boys, will be fun!

E

Tuesday 11.23.10

Sonji's gonna be an AUNT very very soon!  Now she's leaving at 6 am the day before Thanksgiving (ugh) to fly to San Diego to be with her sister, super exciting! 

I'm just Not done yet, can you believe it!  Yes?  Well....you must be familiar with my work.  About to start back up right after this.

Slipping at the blvd, by the end of the day it's hard to do much of anything with these hips/back at present.  Poor PKs a bit better but not hungry at all, new food for allergies.  Maybe it's that....

Well, on to the 'plan' for the year - I never would have thunk it, had you told me even 2 months ago I'd be doing that.

Monday, well....Tuesday 11.23.10

City Park, view from NOMA towards Esplanade.

I guess I'm slipping a bit, it's a little after midnight now. The last few days have been very nice, 70's light wind, but with a lot of hip pain.  Thinking that meant rain...but it hasn't arrived yet.  PK had another horrible ear infection, had to run her to the vet for sedation before cleaning bc she now knows what a muzzle is and ain't having none of that!  She was in such bad shape when I came to pick her up that I had to leave her there for another hour (ended up being 2 bc they didn't answer my calls/knocks) to rest and climb out of her wormhole.  Poor baby.  Another chunk of money flys away...bye bye!  Did not stop on my way to the office to check if the tire was flat, it sure was so had to check on that before going to the vet. Another spray with the bottle without taking it off....I just don't know how they can examine it adequately that-a-way! No 545 bc of the vet, dentist in the am, then finishing what I needed to have finished a few weeks ago, really.

Birds Fly Away

Ms. Theresa Anderson, LIVE, will getcha going today!

Sunday 11.21.10

Fountainbleu State Park on the north shore.

It went better than expected, which was nice.  A little defensiveness at first, but that's to be expected when someone brings it out of left field i.e. she didn't realize.  2 rational adults coming at things from different places, you know? About 2.5 hours of 'working on it', a headache the entire time which threatened to become a migraine so went to sleep early which feels good.

Friday night at BH, T along for the ride, was Holidays, which is o so apropos with Thanksgiving next week. 3rd time through, in her 20's, which takes an awful lot of courage and insight, if you ask me.

Pain's ramping, stone-cold-lampin' up. More bike rides, stretching, exercises needed.  Goals, on the Big Sheets.

Here we go

Let's see what happens.

Indian Mind

An Indian came to a medicine man and told him, “In my mind there are two dogs fighting all the time; one is beautiful and one is ugly. ”

“The beautiful one will win, ” answered the shaman.

“Why is that? ” asked the brave.

“Because you will feed the beautiful one. ”

Thursday 11.18.10

I feel ya', babe.

Very tired today, but can't believe it's Thursday night already.  Have been staying up late on the computer, for no good reason, truthfully.  Big Whig here, invite to mid Dec repast.  Microphones?  WHAT?!  Invite to Destin for Thanksgiving weekend to see A&L. Tengo cuidado.  Fringe this weekend, remember that small button and bizarre performance in someone's backyard last year?  During Day was harder, another column added to the sheet, damn it.

Remember the goal, chairing, the occasional lead. Three things - less pain all over, energy to cook, patience to walk the bear back and forth.  Over and over.  damn it.