New Orleans Sunday

The last post ended kind of abruptly I know. I realized it was taking me a while to get the post done (I started Wednesday now its Friday) so I thought I would break up my stories about the weekend. Our trip to New Orleans was fun but a little disappointing. We only went to the French Quarter because it hit CornyT and I that we didn't really want to be tourists to some one else's disaster so in order to be respectful we stayed in the traditional touristy areas. These areas were not that visibly hit by the disaster and it was a little hard to tell what damage was caused by the storm and what was just normal wear and tear. The disapointing part came when we realized the FQ is just really not that interesting during the day, it truly does come alive at night but is a little sleepy and smelly in the day. We planned to have lunch at a famous Bourbon street upscale restaurant but discovered they were closed on Mondays and wanted to check out Jazz at the Preservation Hall which is also closed on Mondays. So we wondered around in the heat, ate an over-priced buffet, and I got a little crabby. After a calming hour or two in some air conditioning with snacks and stuff, we decided to drive around the Garden District and then head back to Baton Rouge for dinner and yet again another movie. The Garden District was beautiful and very confusing. Street signs were messed up (taken down or put in the wrong area) in places and quickly got lost and stuck in a less than great part of town. I did see some evidence of the storm, boarded up houses, the famous spray painted Xs and messages from survivors to workers- we are still here 9/30/05. A little chilling and I just feel so sad that those people had to go through that. It is still so hard to believe that just 9 hours away we were all leading such normal, comfortable lives when there people's homes and livelihoods were being destroyed.
But enough of the sad stuff. That evening we had a really yummy Middle Eastern dinner and watched the over-hyped, camp film Snakes on a Plane. Mamie was more eager to see it than us and I think we ended up liking it better than her. Well, I have to say I liked it better, I think CornyT was pretty disgusted with it too. Don't get me wrong it is a TERRIBLE movie but firmly in the category of so bad I you have to laugh movie. Despite the campy enjoyment I got out of it I am SO glad I only had to see it once. Some folks here in Austin were not so lucky. In an effort to be performance artsy and garner some attention to get on the "SOAP" DVD, a local theatre and theatre group sponsored "Snakes On a Day" where people volunteered to watch the movie 24 hours straight. This blog documents the insanity that ensued during that day. We are a little weird in Austin and that is why I like this town so much.
Well I better get back to work. I will catch up on more blog entries this week.