Happy Mardi Gras!!

The famous day!

We kicked it off with a house party overlooking the street! It was pretty intense – I was dressed as Rainbow Brite (Minka’s costume, we are the same size more or less), but it was pretty hot out, so I started overheating. I met Minka’s parents and grandparents, but a bunch of us needed stuff at the house so we made a trip back.





Minka was dressed as her dog with full face paint… Paul was a “server” carrying cups on a server thing for a computer and I had anime crimpy pigtails, a purple and white boa, and my two hula hoops. There were some wicked costumes, but it made me crave my costumes back home. I wanted my petticoats SO BAD! There were all sorts of poofy skirts I wasn’t wearing :(



Okay so after going back home we dropped by Flanigans (wow typing this really makes me realize just how often we are there!) to visit people, and I ran into Corey – I recognized him from his Couchsurfing profile lol. I had my sign I had made for him on me too, so I showed him and it was grand.

From there we went to R bar. Lots of people on the streets everywhere, but this area is less touristy, more people in costumes. I went up to another house, looked over the balcony, and then hula hooped outside of the bar with another lady. This was the first girl that had approached me that was super talented!! We rocked it out!!
Some guy gave us both 5 dollars, so that was officially my first time being given money for hooping. Yay I am finally that good oooooh yeah!

We were stoked! It was becoming evening though (light jacket time) and Minka was very drunk so we got back home briefly. Somehow the group had turned into Mitch from SF, Paul, Minka, some other guy (I forget his name – Minka’s friend) and moi.

We all got Gyros.

Minka had to work, so we went back home to let her nap... Paul had to work early the next day too so he was not planning on staying out late. Mitch and the other guy got distracted by things like Bourbon street... so we went out to Frenchman street to entertain me. I saw Saleem (surprised? not I!) so I chilled with him while Paul went home.

Frenchman street was chaos! Fire performers, costumes everywhere, decorated bikes, live music, full on street party!!! We met up with his Couchsurfer from Australia, and the three of us partied it up! I saw a couple other hoops which was exciting... there was actually a giant eight foot diameter hoop being tried out on the street, so of course I gave it a shot! I rocked it, got an applause, but tried tandem for my first time and failed miserably... but it was fun and now I can say I've tried it.

The three of us continued exploring and found some people that wanted to see the hoops. It was a chill scene, a few people sitting on a stoop playing music. They were rad people so the Aussie and I ended up sitting talking to them for a while! Saleem disappeared for a while, came back (he texted he was at Aunt Tiki's) and they decided to call a cab to go back across the river. I texted Steve from the Yukon, whom I had been casually typing back and forth with all night, and we managed to meet up within five minutes of Saleem and Kay leaving!

By this time I was kinda sick of Frenchman... so we walked down Decatur looking at dive bars. I bet you can guess where we ended up.... Flanagan's! Hahaha well we had a few drinks, ran into a few people, then Minka and Joey showed up as well and then there was a group of us rockin' out! It was the ideal end to the night :)

We all decided to order Quartermaster to Flanagan's hahaha. After that Steve took off to get back to the hostel (it was a bit of a walk) then after some more good times I went back home to crash out.

Ash Wednesday was very chill. I read for hours before really moving, then eventually went to the dog park with Minka. Minka, Paul, and I then went to the store and made some dinner... Went for a walk by the river and saw an old guy playing crystal goblets full of water. He was running his finger around the edges and making songs. The candles and the crystal combo was really pretty, so I tipped and we moved along.

I ended up continuing with the reading and eventually fell asleep...

which brings me to today!!

hoorah!!

caught up!!!

ok.

so today I went to the post office, and organized my beads for hours.



After that I got freshened up and went to Walgreens then Envie (a coffee shop) with my computer, just for a change in scenery since I spent a lot of time yesterday at the house. I typed for a while, read for a short time, and enjoyed being on a chill outing! Now I am back, just eaten Mexican food, and contemplating uploading a few photos :)

luv luv luv!

Happy Lundi Gras!

Monday was the Couchsurfing Crawfish Boil and Potluck! I'd never had crawfish before, so this was exciting! I bought 12 beer as my contribution and headed down with my hoops!

Crawfish is kinda stinky, and there is a method to eating it that I had to get used to. They look like tiny lobsters, so you pull it's head off and hold the tail to suck out the tail part. It's tasty, but I couldn't bring myself to suck out the head part too.

The turnout was decent too, at least 30+ people to talk to and meet! One of my hosts, Joey, was already there hackey sacking. The courtyard was very pretty, and I got to hula hoop, meet more Couchsurfing people, eat yummy food, drink beer, bask in the sun, and enjoy the wonderful afternoon! I was very pleased! There were a lot of fellow Canadians there, although all of them were from Ontario or Quebec...

Joey and I went home, met up with Minka and Paul, and we all headed down to meet up with more people/watch Orpheus. I could not get any beads at the back, so I managed my way up front and got some more beads. I was happy!

Satisfied, we split up and were to meet later at r bar. I was hungry so Paul and I went to Angeli’s, ate pizza, and ran into Saleem yet again. He is everywhere lol. We got to the Noise Parade (another marching one) which was departing from r bar, and ended up doubling back on their route back to across the street from Angeli’s (Mojo’s) visited people at Mojo’s, and surprise surprise ended up at Flanigans. The parade went on from here, but we did not. Minka showed up at the pub, and I am not really remembering what happened after that. I think most of us tried to go to bed early to get up early for Mardi Gras (Zulu parade started at 9 or 10am or something like that).

I slept in of course. But I had the whole afternoon of Mardi Gras!

The Return to Frenchman aka Sunday

Sunday started off with Quartermaster. That is, ordering delivery while still laying on a couch. Eating right away, I was able to feel normal extremely quickly. I updated this blog I believe, although I am still a few days behind on my recap. Joey and Minka went to work, and eventually Paul and I decided let’s get out of the house and go see a couple parades!

We went to watch some of Bacchus which had already started. I didn’t catch too much since I was in a really bad spot for throws. It was annoying me slightly, but instead of wanting to leave I wanted to wait till it was done in case I could get a little more. I never would have imagined trying to catch beads could be addicting, but it is. Paul wanted to go to the goth parade, so he took off and I would meet him after this big parade.



I left to meet him and ran into Giles from the hostel walking down the street looking confused. I invited him along for the hunt for Paul! He came with me to Flanigans, where Paul had apparently found a parade. Turns out he accidentally followed the wrong one, and these looked more like circus/Victorian folk. It was amazing, we had to go right through the middle of it.

To explain what this is a little more, there are the big float/marching band parades that usually come from uptown down to canal, then there are marching parades (sometimes without a permit type of thing – anyone can create a renegade group of people in costumes and march around ;) mostly around the French Quarter and the Mariny. These are still Krewes, but they are less formal (ie. Krewe de Poo, Krewe de Doom), don’t really do the bead thing, and it’s more locally organized. Closest thing to this in van is the Parade of Lost Souls, but it’s still different than that.

Anyhow, we find Paul and go in for a beer at the pub. Giles and I end up talking a lot and drink our whole beer there, missing when the parade left. I didn’t know where it was going, but we decided to walk down the street it was on before (Chartres) towards Frenchman. Once again I end up on Frenchman. Ran into the same people from the night before… Saw Saleem around, Ben, etc.

I ended up at a burrito stand then at 13, but again the food makes me sleepy. So that was the end of that night.

Fried Chicken and Drunken Parades

Alrighty, so Mardi Gras has passed and I am extremely behind in typing!

I also have not uploaded any photos; hoping to do that tomorrow :)



Soooooo I will pick up where I left off, which is Friday.

One thing that had started to become a hindrance here in New Orleans was my lack of phone. It had been fine when it stopped working in Phoenix because I hadn't met anyone, but now I have been going to bars and meeting people and potentially wanting to meet up with said people again...

Also I do not have a key into the house and if roommates are not home I have no way of talking to them to find out where they are and such. Not so good. I talked to Minka about where to get a little pay as you go thing just for a month, and she actually gave me her old phone to use that had been stuffed in a drawer for ages :) It was with att&t, so I biked out to find the store...

In addition, this was the day I was supposed to start sleeping at the hostel, however everyone offered that I could continue to stay here if I wanted! Yay! After some thought, I decided that it would be best to stay for one night at India House... and just cancel the rest; that way the hostel is still getting more than just my deposit and I can maybe meet some travelers additionally.

I do love hostels and the vibe they bring after all. It's like communal living with rad young people from all over the world.

But this place is also extremely rad, plus totally unique (I will be staying in tons of other hostels - but not this excellent house with excellent people that live here, you know?)

Anyhow since I didn't have to pack up ALL my stuff that day I had time...

I got to the phone place and they gave me a new sim card. I bought unlimited text messaging for 20.00 for the month, so my new number for the month FOR TEXTING is: 504 256 1782. I will not pick up if you call because it is way expensive. I have some money on it if I have to use it, but I am trying to stick to texts cause it's free :)

I left all excited! My next errand was to get something else fairly essential: an actual map. I've been using google since everything is so small/close, but there was the odd time where I would be slightly confused and I like having maps as souvenirs too. Off to Walgreens.

Following that was the park, to wallow in my purchases, and do some hooping. I set up my phone to a degree, cut out the part of map I wanted, put together my impulse-buy-laser pointer/pen/flashlight... and then put together the hoops.




Paul visited me post mass texting with my new number, so he watched me show off for a bit, until food was essential. We walked to Decatur and got some Mexican food... a band was playing (there always is actually lol) and the french market was full on! He left for home, but I stayed and hooped a little more behind the band :)

I visited Michele on the way back (a very recurring role eh) we chatted had a beer etc. until I decided it was time to get my ass to the hostel before the streetcar stopped running.

You see, there were parades tonight (they were every night now until Tuesday) which run down the street that the streetcar operates on. The hostel was far enough away that this was the best way to get there. I was lucky cause the thing was still running, it just started further up he street where the parade was not near.

Streetcars are fun - Wish Vancouver didn't get rid of theirs.

The hostel was extremely cool looking. Minus the location, they were settttt uuuuup. They had their pool, courtyard, funky decorations, huge communal kitchen, tons of fridges, a fridge just for booze, a band playing in a covered stage thing, lots of seating outside and in, two cats, friendly staff people... yep.

I met two girls from Vancouver which was cool! There were people from 17 different countries staying there that night :) I met a couple brits on their way to the liquor store so I went with them and ended up chatting outside for quite a while with them.

One in particular was a real head trip. His lady was sick from food poisoning (poor thing ate bad rice at the airport upon arriving) and he was talking about how we would get along. Then we started talking about hostels and I recommended the Pacific Tradewinds if he was in San Fran... he looked at me weird then said

"wait... do you know the manager there?"

I said yeah I've known him for about a year now or so, so He replied,

"that's my girlfriend's ex. Do you know Sara?"

I didn't but that was really weird. Holy small world batman. Of all the people I ended up talking to there... I mean seriously wtf.

He went to go tend to her, and I went inside and talked to a girl from Toronto. I wanted to go out still even though it was kinda late (I had been drinking outside) so we started walking down canal waiting to spot a streetcar. One did not go by.

We got to the Central Business District and I suggested we go to the Ohm lounge where Josh worked. He had told me he could get me in there and get me drinks, and he is rad and I wanted to visit anyhow (for those who forget he is the one I went to the gay bar with after r bar). He did indeed get us in and get us drinks. A girl spilt a little of my beer and gave me a gross shot of Absynthe as compensation (it was not made properly I have had good stuff ughhhhh).

It was a gloriously cheesy house club thing, so we of course did not fit in but it was still fun :) Josh was super busy bartending but still visited, but after our drinks it was getting too cheesy, so we hopped out and headed for Frenchman Street.

As always, it was a good time. We met some random people, there were special balloons of the type I had not seen in three years or something (if you don't know you don't want to) costumes, a fire dancer, lots of funky blues playing... etc. we ended up hanging out with this particular group of people for ages, just talking on the streets (everyone was out on the streets btw) :) Such a friendly place! Nicole and I decided to get food, but once we ate the tiredness set in.

Getting back to Canal was fine, but trying to catch a cab on Canal at 430am was not fine. The area was still full of people, and all the cabs were full or not stopping. We were walking to the hostel for a while but Nicole's foot was starting to act up. Finally this old black dude pulled over and offered a ride. He was a cab driver normally but his car was broken. Nicole was a little hesitant, but whatever. Yay! He was the nicest old guy ever. He even took us through a drive through that took forever (for Nicole not me) talking about New Orleans before and after the storm, how he had been a cabbie for 29 years, still loves it, never had a person throw up in his cab lol... super authentic stuff! It could not have been a better cab driver.

I know the idea of getting into a stranger's van may be scary to some (obviously), but every time I have technically hitch hiked (I'm always with at least one other person of course don't worry - and always only one driver) it has ended up being the best experience possible, and has both times now made my whole night!!!! I realize this may concern some back home so I want to mention that I am not totally naive about things, but passing up opportunities out of fear can be extremely limiting at the same time.

We didn't get home until 530ish because of all the walking and the drive thru, so we gave the guy some cash for gas and needless to say, slept in the next day.

I still checked out an hour early (checkout was one) to get it over with,but hung out in the hostel for a while still. I had slept in my clothes and was feeling pretty dirty since I had sweated during the night (the room was so hot!) so Trevor from Chicago and I walked down canal to the Quarter.

Saturday had one of the biggest parades: Endymion. This one was one of the only ones I know about that actually went on in Midcity (where the hostel is conveniently located - yes i did this on purpose) so ALL of Canal st the whole way down was full of families and people. The street was blocked off, so we could walk down the middle of the road and look at all the barbeques and lawn chairs set up along the whole route. One other thing that I liked was that there were no blockades. There has to be over in the main part of canal st, but here it was locals and families set up to see things :)

We got back and I freshened up, grabbed a hoop, and grabbed the bike so I could bike back to the Quarter after Endymion.

There was a lot of room on the street, so I though it would be fun and good practice to hula hoop up canal while walking. Trevor agreed and walked the bike while I proceeded to walk and hoop at the same time. It's easy enough for me, but it definitely is not something normal, so I had people taking my picture, videotaping me, kids were yelling and pointing, I'd get people cheering (which was nice - I felt like I was raising moral I suppose) and if a kid wanted to try I'd come over and let 'em go for it. At times I would get called over enough that we were making a zig zag pattern up the street.. waving back to people... then talking to some (doing the odd trick while stopped)

Both of us eventually REALLY needed food though, so at one point I was trying to tell this father and daughter that I had to find food before she could play, so they offered us fried chicken!

I was happy, and after she tried I ended up continuing walking up this time eating fried chicken hooping and walking at the same time. I found this extremely amusing and I could tell some others did too lol.

I got back and made a sign for someone from couchsurfing whom was supposed to be riding on one of the floats! I took this sign and went with the other hostel friends to the streets. I had started my first beer on the way down and had one on the way back too I think, so by the time Endymion started I realized that I was already pretty tipsy and I only had one piece of fried chicken for dinner. Uh Oh.



Needless to say after the next one I was very inebriated, but it aided in my yelling ability and I managed to get some good throws! This was by far the funnest parade I had gone to (and still is!) so I was super pumped afterwards. It was not even nine pm though, and I was already hammered. I needed food.

I went to get food with another fellow Canadian from the Yukon named Steve! We also got more beer and went back to the hostel. The two girls from Vancouver (Liz and Maria) and Steve wanted to go out to the French Quarter, but trying to arrange a bunch of drunk people to all go out when there is already a band playing and a party in the backyard is difficult.

I decided to meet them there because I didn't want to bike back too late, and I was beginning to doubt anyone would make it out of there. It took maybe ten minutes, but it was awkward carrying all my beads etc back strapped to me with my hoops, beer, and purse thing as well. Ah well.

As stated, I got back speedily (which would not have been the case had I waited and walked the bike with everyone) and ended up meeting up with Paul, Paul's brother, and his brother's friend. We met at Flanigans (of course). Mitch from San Francisco also met us there. We then proceeded to another place on Decatur. Here someone ran up to me while I was talking to a woman named Bacon...

claiming he recognized my tattoo from my couchsurfing profile lol. He knew Paul from couchsurfing.com (so it was not totally crazy that he ran up to me), being a host as well, and I realized that all five of us would never have met if it wasn't for this site. Crazy. I ended up there till 530am somehow, I really think this bars-never-closing thing is feeding my nocturnal side.

I think this brings me toooo Sunday. I'll make a separate post now to break it up :)

Bling and Booze

Wednesday was a day of running around. Joey and I went out to a place called Angeli's for lunch, which was excellent :) I have not come across many places that did not serve good food yet!

On the way back we walked by Michelle's jewelery stand; I keep ending up there! I wanted to hula hoop and find bigger spirals for my ears to gauge them up a bit. Joey recommended a place on Frenchman (I think), which was right next to a park. Perfect! Hopped on my bike. When I got to the park there were people playing soccer or something, so it did not look like an ideal place to hoop.... plus the one guy I'd met that knew how to hula randomly was not at the park (supposedly it was likely I would run into him there) so I talked to a girl on the side of the road instead.

She told me of a free show going on that night, she was going to visit her friend painting a mural down the street at the moment.

She walked me to the tattoo shop, and I found some wood spirals :) They are in right now and they are extremely comfy. My body seems to respond extremely well to organic/natural jewelery. Metal can irritate my ears.

I left the tattoo shop and talked to a person standing outside the store. I was unlocking my bike and he told me of another show that night at a place called r bar.

I saw the guy panting the mural so I went over and asked about the free show (a band called Dark Dark Dark), but he didn't know where it was, but he said there would be a flyer at a coffee shop down the street.

Soooo I biked down to this coffee shop to investigate. It was cute, reminded me of Commercial Drive. I stayed for a tea and read for a little while. I tried playing piano, then talked to a guy that ran a kitchen a block down. I found out from a couple people inside where and when the show was... It was at an art gallery in the Marigny.

It was starting to get colder, so I biked back. I talked to Minka, who was getting ready to go out to a mardi gras ball. She explained what the ball was about, and explained a lot of background tradition behind the parades and krewes. It was definitely enlightening.

Paul and I went to get some food at Flanigans while Minka and Joey got ready for their ball. The people out there told me of yet another show! This one would have cover though. I had to decide on something, so after sitting for a while trying to think, I just took out the bike and decided I could drop by almost everything anyways.

The show I'd heard about at Flanigans was going to cost 10 dollars. I missed Frenchman street, so I kept going until I got to the free show in Marigny. I caught almost the whole show! I ran into a girl from the coffee shop there; she was from Toronto. A few people were going to Cowpokes (the bar I was at with the juggler) so I biked over there. There was cover, and I couldn't remember the juggler's name. It looked really full of hipsters/scenesters (the free show was too, but there was the odd hippie there too) and overly young people, so I decided naaaahh.

I found the r bar easily after this. I sat at the bar and immediately started talking to a guy dressed up in an old school suit with an old school moustache. It was two people's birthdays, so I got a cupcake :)

A familiar person came up to me and I realized he was the tattoo artist from the shop I was in earlier today!

We chatted, he complimented my back piece (the small part that was able to be shown), then the dude that told me about this event thing showed up. To explain, it did not seem like an event at all; it was more like a typical local dive bar with someone trying to dj but was really just pressing play.

Anyhow he is also a tattoo artist, and we all end up talking. I started chatting with the people beside me at the bar too cause I was starting to get tipsy. These people were really wicked, so we took some pictures, and laughed at them. Eventually two of the three people out of this group were going to take off. I was mostly talking to the one guy Josh who was not leaving, and he asked me if I wanted to go to a gay bar on Bourbon! I was so pleased! I had not been to a gay bar in ages! Since Vancouver!





Soooo we hop over there and have a couple more drinks. Paula Abdul, Britney, and Christina, and Janet Jackson all played on the TV lol. It was excellent.

I came out pretty drunk and found someone had beaded my decorated bike!!!! I was very enthusiastic about this :)

The next morning was not so great though. I was hungover for the first time since before my trip... it wasn't a terrible one, but it was enough that I didn't want to go out during the day really.

So we went out at night. I saw my first parades :)

Minka was in the last of the three, so she threw me a bag! I also caught a coveted hand decorated shoe! It was awesome! I got loads of beads even though the old lady in front of me was a complete bead psycho.



I met two people that worked as massage therapists down here, that was cool too.

Hoop Performances and Bicycles.

I woke myself up the next day refreshed and ready to take on the city. I decided on three missions to accomplish. The first one was walk around the French Quarter and find a place that had a map for me. Google is not with me all the time! The second was to hula hoop in a park for a bit. I hadn't done that for a little while. The third was to show up at a show called plan b and get a bicycle as my transportation. It was ladies only day, and they were open 2-6. So with all this in mind, I strapped my hula to my back, purse on, belt on, and hopped out the door.

I made it two very short blocks or so to the grocery store where there was a circus band playing. They had juggling, hat tricks, singing, and a good vibe! I took my hoop out of the nylons i am using as a quill-like device, and was a little too nervous to just go up and ask to hoop. One of the guys saw my hoop in pieces though and knew what it was. He asked if I wanted to hoop with them. I said sure, but I was nervous and hadn't hooped for a crowd before! I've had people stop and stare after starting, but there was already a bunch of people watching the show plus they introduced me and everything.



I dropped it a few times, and felt a bit shaky. I got compliments on it afterward, but I really could have done a lot better. My trick with taking one leg out and back in while it's around my knees failed both times I tried... that one usually goes over really well. It was still fun though! It made me want to warm up and do it some more!

I walked down to historic Jackson Square. There were another group of musicians playing, so this time instead of being in front of them and on concrete/asphalt I hooped in the fenced and raised grass/park area behind the band. This way I was not in the limelight as much, and I could be a little more relaxed.

This session was the best I think. The leg trick was working well, I was having fun, lots of old people were staring while sitting on benches. I noticed at least one person taking photos of me doing my thing.

I was much more in my groove after this session, so I crossed the park and went across the street to the Mississippi side of things, beside Cafe Du Monde. There was a grungy looking dude playing some amazing music with buckets, pot lids, and pots. It sounded like drum and bass sometimes! I watched, tipped (this guy really was crazy good) then asked if I could hoop to a song for him. He was traveling from LA and was constantly asking for tips, so I assumed this was how he might be surviving out here. I offered and he said sure. This was a very visible area. almost like a stage, plus there was traffic and all the tour horse carriages park on the opposite side of the street. So this was a very visible show. I have kinda learned now that it is much easier to just pretend that it isn't, and not act like you are putting on a show. Who cares if they think it is boring; I would rather have it not fall off me then try to do tricks too fast and then have it fall down.

So I hooped, and wished the dude well. Since I was right next to Cafe Du Monde, it seemed perfect that I do the tourist thing and have my Cafe Au Lait and Beignets. They were yummy :)
I was wearing the backless shirt too so between the tattoo and the hula hoop I was frequently being approached and talked to, which was nice :) One guy asked me if I spoke English after I told him I was from Canada (in English haha).

I kept walking down decatur street on my way to the bike place, although I had half an hour to get there. There was a girl selling tribal type jewelery on the side of the road, and some of them were feather earrings. I stopped to chat, and ended up there for probably an hour. She asked me to come back after getting the bike, so I took off and found plan b in Marigny.

The way plan b works is simple. They want to teach you to build a bike, not make one for you. It's a community bikes joint - it's all about teaching people. If you want something fixed on your already existing bike, they will teach/tell you how to do it (they provide tools and grease and stuff), but they won't just repair it. If you want a cheap bike then, you come in and pick the frame, find parts, etc, then learn how to put it together. On the website it said it would cost 35-75 for a bike. Nice and cheap.

I really lucked out. All the frames looked like junk at first, plus the girl working admitted that they had a really horrible selection right now. She also said it was going to take a really long time (as in a week) to get most of them workable. Craigslist might have been a better option.

There were two biked that looked intact, and I asked what was wrong with them. One had iffy brakes, but one there was seemingly nothing wrong with it except that it was really ugly. I took it for a test spin, and it rode fine, good brakes, had the suspension things on the front tires... the girl said it was actually 25 for bikes too, so I put oil on the chain and it was good to go!

I did want to learn to make a bike, but it would have taken so long I was super relieved to find one already made amongst the crappy frames. She sold me the bike and a U lock for 30 bucks. I was STOKED! U locks themselves normally cost 30! New bike!

I rode it back to the jewelery stand and showed it off. We talked for a bit (oh yeah this girl is named Michelle) then I took off for a spin!



I rode all over the French Quarter, up Canal Street quite a ways, back down, along the Mississippi, back into the Marigny, then French Quarter, and stopped back at Michelle's stand. This punk guy kept walking by that looked really familiar. By the third time he passed the stand I recognized him. He was the passed out dude from the day before.

I asked if he remembered being at a dog park the day before, and he vaguely did. He had no idea what happened to him. Apparently he woke up from the blackout in the ambulance. He was walking by because he wanted to get his friend's dog for him, cause now some other dudes across the street (I didn't recognize them from the park at all - diff punks) were getting arrested.

Apparently if you are arrested with a pet, they hold it for a little while, and charge you to get it out, so if you cant afford to get it out or you are in jail for too long... they put your pet down. Crappy, but it makes sense, the police cant take care of dogs forever. They got the dog thankfully, so everyone left (also thankfully, punks are bad for business).

This place is kinda small town. You run into the same people everywhere.

A friend of Michelle's stopped by on a tall bike. She was a juggler, part of the circus scene. We all talked and then decided to get some food. I hopped home first to drop off the hoop and get a better coat. I also managed to decorate the bike from Minka's fabric shelf! I put white furry stuff on the seat, purple silky stuff on the frame, and blue and white striped fabric on the handles. I will take a photo. It's not ugly anymore yay!

I sped to Frenchmen Street. Food was good, then there was a show at the place the juggler bartends at. We biked down there and watched. It was an excellent show - I learned that the singer, Merry go Round, held the record for most hula hoops hooped at one time! Crazy! I was feeling shy at first here, but I warmed up after a couple people talked to me, so that was relieving.

good times!

I Love New Orleans!

I arrived in New Orleans with my piece of paper with phone numbers and the Couchsurfing address I was supposed to get to. Finding the airport shuttle was easy, and as it sped along the driver told us how crazy it was going to be.

He told us of bars that didn't close, people drinking on the streets (you are allowed to have/drink alcohol anywhere in New Orleans, in public, as long as it's not in glass), music until the wee hours, and to prepare for craziness.

He dropped me off first, turns out I am staying one block from Bourbon Street literally right next to the party! I found the house no problem, but I knocked to no avail. My phone doesn't work now, so I walked in the direction of music and yelling to borrow a phone. There were people on balconies throwing beads, people walking around in boas and beads carrying plastic cups of booze, live music in bars (and there are a LOT of them), horses (police ones chilling out apparently), and the road was blocked off from traffic too. I still had my backpack on as I wandered. I put my hands up and yelled and I got some beads!

So I obtained a strand within five minutes of me being in the city. Awesome.

I found a couple phones eventually (people are friendly) and there were roomates home, they were just asleep.

I got in and met Paul and Joey, two of my three hosts!. Oh yes and the dog Guy Fawkes too. He is obscenely friendly.

Minka (the host I had first talked to via Couchsurfing) was training for her first night at a new job. The three of us (Paul Joey and I) ordered delivery, and at about midnight ish we went out to an industrial/electro night a few "blocks" away. Now I say that in quotations because it was actually several streets away, but the blocks are sooo small here it is not far at all.

They pointed stuff out to me as I went, and I was blown away at how beautiful everything is! All the architecture here is almost surreal. It really did blow me away.

Anyway we hung out at this red-lit little-ish space. Turns out you are also allowed to smoke in any bars as well, so this is something to be aware of. We had a few drinks, I met some of their friends, and danced. Everyone at the bar got to smash a Pinata of a heart for someone's birthday! I ate some candy and birthday cake, drank some more, and then we decided to go visit Minka at her brand new work.

On our way we stopped at the house's local hangout bar - a 24 hour one - Flannigans. It is an Irish type dive bar only with pool (right up my alley). We grabbed a beer to drink on the way to Minka's work lol.

Minka was training to work at a strip joint. She is not overly stoked on the job, but she bartends, stays in the background, and it's a job. She was wearing a long sleeved turtleneck there for her training, and that made me really happy :)

One girl was just insane with the pole tricks, but it didn't make up for the expensiveness of the drinks. We stayed for one drink each, and everyone agreed to head back to Flannigans (Minka would be there soon).

Some of the people from the original Industrial night were at the dive bar! It's a friendly community scene: people into computers, politics, art, etc. I think I got back around 630am or so (really 530am in the time zone I was in before) but it was already almost completely light out on the walk back. It's been a while since I'd walked back from anything in the light.

Thank goodness for that sleep mask and earplugs - The door is glass so I was sleeping in the light the whole time. I probably will be sleeping in the light again mwahahaha.

I woke up at two today (yay eight hours of sleep and no hangover). Three of us (Minka, Paul, and I) had breakfast together at four or so.

Minka makes really yummy biscuits!

Joey went to work (hey Dave - he is an EMT!) and the rest of us went to take the dog to the dog park. There were some punks there so I offered candy and talked a bit. One of their friends was passed out on a lawn chair drunk lol.

As the punks left they had to wake the guy up, and he yelled and they got him by the ear... as they walked away Minka noticed that he had pissed himself.

I found this extremely amusing because it was obvious they did not own a washer (I could smell that they didn't when I talked to them) so he was going to have to deal with it for a long time.

He didn't make it out the gate, so his friends left him leaning face first against a brick pillar thing. Again I wondered what was going to happen. Probably going to fall asleep in the dog park.

Some dudes approached him and tried to kick him out. I heard yelling, then we saw him get up off the ground with his pants down... and then the cops were there shortly. All in all an entertaining show.

The dogs were also fun to watch of course.

We were able to stop for a latte at my request, and looked in a junk art/antique shop. It's cool that we could take the dog (a shepherd lab cross) into the antique store and the coffee shop no problem. No one cared.

Things are different here.

My Last day in El Mirage (aka More Stuff I Typed on the Plane

On my last day, we all went on the most amazing drive: It’s called the Apache Trail. It’s way on the other side of the city, but if you go to Phoenix do it (although I would recommend a 4 wheel drive vehicle not a Jetta). We got ice cream, and we stopped at a little museum thing to buy a postcard for Grandma (I forgot to in SF arg). Then the real trail started.

And I mean trail: as in non-paved roads, one way bridges, and winding up mountainsides and partially flooded areas.

We went by Superstition Mountain…

AND I REALIZED MY MEMORY CARD WAS NOT IN MY CAMERA IT WAS STILL IN MY COMPUTER.

So for the most beautiful sights I saw in Arizona, I will have to rely on other people’s pictures. Sorry ‘bout that. It was so interesting though: TONS of Cacti, red rocks, mountainous areas, canyons, desert plants everywhere. Just gorgeous! It really made my last day awesome!





We kind of took the wrong way back thanks to TomTom, but we still got there… just later. We had a nice Valentine’s dinner at the house, and I got a hold of my first Couchsurfing host! Yay! Excitement!

Annie and I went on a last minute trip to the store to get flip flops and extra large cheap black nylons to hold my hula hoop pieces together while on the side of my backpack. The flip flops were not something I was planning on buying so soon (ie before Montreal) until she made a very good point. I probably don’t want to be in bare feet while using shared/public showers at lots of potentially dirty hostels. I would not have thought of this!

So now I am packed and actually on plane #2! For some reason this cheap flight had a layover in Salt Lake City, so I had dinner there.

SLC Airport is the first one I have been in with a natural fibers/fair trade/organic store plus giant recycling bins next to the garbage bins. I was impressed. Go airport go.

Things I Typed on the Plane

Post-hoop sesh:

We came home in the evening, and stopped by Boston Market for my first time. I am surprised that I liked it despite being slightly fast food. It’s like a fast food and home cooking hybrid of sorts.

Somehow we ended up watching Rambo one and two, then Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze (wtf).

I ended up staying up late enough (past 4:30am) reading my book that Josh woke up to go to a class before I had gone to bed. Whoops. I am full on addicted to this book by Neil Gaiman!

Thursday was relatively uneventful… I hooped in the yard a little bit teaching Annie. We went to the grocery store again. We were going to go out for the night, but she kept changing her mind six times over. Finally several hours after we had planned on leaving, Annie and I ended up going back to Tempe. I wasn’t drinking since I was driving, and Annie for some reason told Josh that she wasn’t going to drink either (which I didn’t know until after I left), so when we got there we ended up walking around for a while getting chilly… at least it was a nice drive. Once again I ended up awake till 4:30am, but this time it was my little computer!

Friday I woke up late and was determined to catch up on writing this blog! It had been almost a week, and it was VERY difficult to remember what happened which day. I tried to write stuff that I’d remembered down in Notepad (which I still used up till now) and that helped.

That evening we were all supposed to go out together because it was Josh’s last day of class. We found a Japanese place where they chop and cook your food in front of you while you all sit around the table. They threw their utensils around, and I caught a shrimp in my mouth! I had a really good time :)

Next up was a quick stop at home before heading to a rock/metal/biker type place close by (we had looked it up online). At least that was the plan. The next thing I knew they were fighting about something, so it ended up being just Josh and I going to the bar.

The place itself was very clean surprisingly, and there was a live band and balloons (someone’s birthday?) virtual bowling, and pool tables. We played virtual bowling once and then started on pool. I am an extreme novice, but I can usually convince people to show me where to hit the ball :) and I still have tons of fun! We played until Annie was calm enough to come out, so we went to get her. We got one more round of pool in I believe, but then they started arguing again. There was some miscommunication, and at one point I thought they had left me behind! I was drunk so I got super mad for the five minutes they were not around for (they came back fast when they realized neither of them was with me). After that we went home and I tried to write a note in Teriyaki Sauce and climbed their tree in the backyard lol. I also bought my ticket to New Orleans.

Comparing train to flight again, turns out the flight was cheaper AND it was 6 hours instead of 39. As much as I loved the train down (minus my stomach being nervous) I was starting to get really excited about NOLA, and wanted the two days spent there not on a train going through Texas.

I can see Texas anytime, but Mardi Gras is once a year!

Booze Slushee Machines and Mountain Hoop Sessions

Yes, slushee machines with alcohol. Annie discovered this online on Tuesday. We decided we should check this out despite it being in Tempe, which is a 40 minute drive across town, in the University district.

Everything is very spread out here. It's annoying.

I hooped in the back yard for a while, read in the sun, and ate dinner while watching UFC. We got ready and Josh drove us out to the slushee place, named Fat Tuesday.

It was New Orleans themed (perfect) with beads on the walls, 2 dollar tasty slushees, and really bad karaoke (it really is everywhere haha). The bartender gave us jello shots for free, and Annie made me try a maraschino cherry soaked in 170 proof liquor. It was nasty!!

We ended up taking off (mostly due to people trying to karaoke rap songs) and walked by a "dueling pianos" bar! I remembered Rebbecca mentioning how much she loved these in Calgary, so I insisted on going in... it was indeed awesome :)

they played good songs, I sang and yelled along and Annie had fun warding guys off by claiming we were lesbians. It works.

After the piano place, we went to some other bar where a random guy's friends were playing. They were playing Sublime when we walked in, a good sign. I drunkenly took a book on Islam from the side of the road and alienated people inside with it. The bartender still gave us free drinks though, and we still pretended to be lesbians to ward off males :). I also found a stripper pole in this bar, near the back. Annie danced, I tried to lol.


Josh picked us up from here, and drove our drunk asses home. I ended up chatting on facebook till late drinking water and eating greasy leftover chinese food to ward off any chance of a hangover...

It worked! I don't know why I am so much better at this on the road, I haven't woken up sick once.

Wednesday I even woke up before noon, and went in the backyard. I really wanted to go see a park or the desert or something. The sun sets so fast right now though it makes it hard to get out on time.

Annie and I tried going to a park in the city named Papago Park. It was easy enough to find, but Arizona has an interesting definition of park.

Considering houses don't even have lawns most of the time (they're gravel - uglyyyyy) the park was... well... desert. So we sorta killed two birds with one stone lol. There was also a big rock with holes in it you can climb. Apparently Ancient Natives used to use this rock to mark solstices depending on where the light shone through one of the holes. Now I have hula hooped on it. Papago park itself also used to be a German POW camp during WWII.

I had brought my hoops because it's a park - perfect place for it - and it ended up turning into a really cool photo shoot. We took over 35 photos, so there are too many to show directly on here, but voila! A FEW photos from the park, but I would recommend just looking at them on Flickr, play around on there... here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leannefairweather/sets/72157613700284281/

You can click "all sizes" to see bigger versions, have fun!








I think this was one of my favourite things I've done so far. I felt bad because of Annie's ankle (she was doing really well though) but I am realizing how much I want to be exploring Arizona's nature not it's city.

Saturday Continued

Ok so it is Thursday, technically 4am Friday awake as usual, and I suppose I should tell you what happened the rest of that day.

After I had my little photoshoot of the shopping carts at their checkpoint, We went to the next one and couldn't find parking. We drove around "downtown" Phoenix, and accidentally drove by the Heard Museum. This is the one Museum I had heard good things about, PLUS there happened to be the World Hoop Dance Championships on for ten dollars that weekend. Now, I know what you're thinking... hoop dance... this is not HULA HOOP DANCE. I had looked it up online, and it was Native American Hoopdance (if you don't know what that looks like look it up on Youtube). Still extremely cool. So we sat on the grass (it was outdoor - its warm here) and watched performances. We walked around the museum, and watched some more performances. We were entranced. I tried to zoom the camera and took a crappy blurry photo of a dancer:





We found a Thai place after harassing a photographer who had taken a photo of us for a college newspaper. We ate Thai, went home, and then Annie and I went out to try and find somewhere fun to dance. I was Skyping back home, when Annie had come in acting drunkish... I started drinking and took a cab to this awful place that the cabbie had recommended. It was packed and clean, don't get me wrong, but it was NOT our crowd. We danced to one song and went to a mediocre Irish pub down the street, after Josh showed up. Unfortunately when leaving Annie fell down off a hidden five foot drop and sprained her ankle medially (very rare and hard to do!). She freaked because she doesn't have insurance down here, and was scared she had broken her ankle. This could be potentially VERY expensive. It wasn't broken (yay medical knowledge) so we carried her to the back seat and got her home.

Crazy night.

The next day Josh got her a bandage and I wrapped her up (again yay medical knowledge - so useful!). She had a small bruise where her deltoid ligament was injured, and a little smelling, but it was looking good! She wanted to hunt for Smooth Away, a hair removal thingy from TV. It was difficult to find. We didn't want to walk around too much, so we kept it pretty chill.

On Monday it rained (weird), so we took it easy again. We found the Smooth Away at Sally's for ten dollars. She also bought the same soft leopard print hair curlers as me :)

My arms are smooth now lol.

It sort of works. Annie's legs were smooth also, but there is a slight burning sensation afterward (more on her than me), and you can feel slight stubble the next day. Sooooo I am not overly amazed.

We ordered Chinese food and played scrabble.

yup! ok this one is long enough.

Phoenix Redeems Itself!!!!!!!!!! IDIOTAROD 2009

YAY! On Saturday Annie and I went to Arizona's Idiotarod 2009. If you don't know what it is, CLICK THE LINK! Their site is HILARIOUS! It was funny. Snazzed up shopping carts, Burners (of course), drinking on the streets and bars (I was driving so I could not partake in this)... Here are the photos... BUT there was a themed shopping cart with some graphic content so I have WARNED YOU. It's not a real vagina.




















Whew. I have more pictures from that same day but I will try to break it up a bit...