Day 3
The Stare
At 6:30 am I got up and hit the road to beat the heat for five miles. It was not fun. One thing I had time to think about though is the way people here look at you before they say hello. There’s the long, hard stare followed by “hello.” Maybe a nod or a smile comes along with the hello. Seems my bro-in-law comes by this tick honestly.
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Television
The best thing about a vacation is the accessibility of television. Not having one of my own, anytime I visit someone or find myself in a hotel, I make sure to find out what makes the rest of the country tick. Seems we’re a country of useless silicone implants. It’s been bad nearly every step of the way (not that I plan on turning the TV off), but this morning was particularly egregious. Jonathan Fracas on some SciFi channel show. Format: five vignettes, you decide which is “real.” I recently thought I would take any writing job in the entertainment industry. It seems I was mistaken.
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Breakfast
Cafe du Monde was packed with an obnoxious tourist crowd. I left after my cappucino and went to a cafe closer to the hotel. I got rained in there for an hour and a half, but I had a lot of fun watching the locals. One guy came in, asked for a bag, and sat at a table near the door. He spent the next five or ten minutes counting and recounting approximately $3000 worth of $100 and $20 bills out. He then placed them in the bag. A lady behind me was talking to a friend when the rain started. She was facing the window, so she must have seen it. About 10 minutes later another of her friends came over. She said, “Isn’t that your dog?” The first lady screamed and ran outside. She untied the dog, brought it across the street under the eave, retied it, and came back in soaked to the bone.
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Lunch
A restaurant on Decatur. Asian-Cajun cuisine. Huh?
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Music
Did a walkabout. Nothing of interest, so I went into the Virgin store. It had a selection quite different for that found in other cities the last time I was here, and the same was true this time. Their top 10 was Zydeco, Cajun and jazz that I’d never heard before. I did a quick listen, but I moved on to more standard fare relatively quickly. The new NIN is great. Nothing new, but it a style of music he practically invented, so he still sounds the best doing it. Finally listened to the newest Mariah Carey album. Not by choice. I was looking at the cover as I listened to Trent. A guy who had been there when I first walked up, returned and put the headphones on again. He said something I couldn’t understand. I took off my headphones so I could hear him. He put the Mariah headphones on my head. “She busts out on this one,” he says. I nod. He is as enthusiastic as a 6 year old. He dances in place along to Mariah. He leaves. I decide to give the album a listen. It’s OK. I think she under-uses her voice, but what do I know? I went over to listen to the new Jack Johnson (pretty good), and as soon as I moved, another guy came over to listen to Mariah (he was followed by two more). I had to take a look outside to make sure that I hadn’t accidentally been teleported to Chelsea. I guess the thing that reassured me–kinda–was that these guys where clearly not on the Chelsea team. I moved on to the Killers, Soel, and Louis Devito. After Soel, I ran into a guy who was at the bar yesterday–the dart player. He was deadly accurate, cleaning everyone’s clock. I walked by as he was rocking out to the Killers complete with air guitar. He waved. I waved. I left.
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The Sidewalk
Two guys painted silver where just sitting on paint buckets. There seemed to be nothing special about them except that they were painted silver. They weren’t doing or not doing anything. People stared and moved on. Their buddies stood around talking to the silver guys.
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Mules?
Mules or donkeys? How come they don’t use horses to pull the tourist carriages? It took me a while to figure it out, but once I got a look at the drivers, it became clear. No self-respecting horse would be seen with anyone dressed so badly. One guy wore a white, short-sleeved shirt; primary red shorts; black, pointy-toes dress shoes; sheer, bright-red, knee-high socks; and a straw hat with a purple and white bandana. I crossed to the other side of the street. One never knows which diseases are communicable
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Mesostic
Just got a call from Chris C. I was supposed to meet him in New Orleans, but I figured that I was running so far behind schedule (10 days) that there was no chance. Seems he’s running 12 days behind schedule. I may have to extend this party.
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Beer Blast
Starlight for the Wednesday special. Very busy. The regulars were there (including dart player guy, who I finally realized looks like the young version of my grandfather). They were quite a bit more conversational.