02.15.99
Mardi Gras in New Orleans!
Yes, I broke down and decided to get out of town today. As anyone who knows me, knows darn good and well that that's a difficult task for me to accomplish. I did it, but ended up being rushed and had to make a friend of mine "wait" on me. The drive down there is 2 hours and I had a pretty good trip out. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, but the crowds were just as alive today. I've never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, always stayed in the city where I'm from for it. That had always satisfied whatever cravings I had to watch parades or just hang out and have fun. New Orleans is a tad bit different considering the crowds and the many different tourists that go out that way. They come from all walks of life. Fat Tuesday on Bourbon Street. Until you've been there, it's hard to grasp the concept of it all.
We had finally found a place to park after about an hour's search. I've never seen so many dense people in my life. Not caring about their driving or who may be harmed. Even the pedestrian's didn't seem to care if they'd get hit by oncoming cars. They would just walk right in the street expecting traffic to stop in a split second. I was expecting to meet up with my fantasy man while I was down there. He was out there for Mardi Gras, too. Then the strangest thing happened.
"Oh, now that's an awesome bike", my friend told me as we walked by this beautiful red BMW.
I took a double take and said, "My friend that's supposed to be out here this weekend from New York has a motorcycle just like that one."
Well, our first stop was at Pat O'Brien's for our first Hurricanes of the day. We're standing out back in the patio when someone taps me on the shoulder and asks, "Are you from New York?"
I'm sure I looked a little puzzled.
"Your jacket -- I thought maybe you were from New York", he explained. "I'm from New York."
"Oh, my jacket. No, I'm just a big Yankees fan", I replied with a little pride.
My friend jumps in and asks him, "You wouldn't happen to drive a red BMW, would you?"
This man giggled and said, "No."
And before anything else could be said about that, I looked at my buddy and said, "No, it's not him."
He just smiled at me.
It was kind of weird though because we were in that same place about the same time, I later found out. Not only were we in the same pub, but we were also walking the same street as he was all day long. It was disappointing. I was so looking forward to meeting him and hanging out with him in New Orleans. I lost that chance.
My friend and I spent the afternoon out there. We had a really good time. We checked out a few bars (crowded!), strip clubs (gorgeous men!), and I finally got to get some long overdue dancing in at one of the dance clubs (great music!), had a few Hurricanes (woohoo!), bought a few T-shirts (3/$10.00!), saw a little too much female flesh on the streets (ugh!), but hey, what else would anyone expect at this time of year in New Orleans?
I had a horrible trip back home. I felt like my head was cracked in half and was oozing with excruciating pain. Then the migraine set in. Two hours on the road back home with a migraine. Not a fun time. I came right inside my house and went straight to bed. Awoke an hour or so later. The pain was even worse. I got up and took medication then made a quick dash to the restroom sick as a dog. Anyone who's had migraines knows exactly what I'm talking about. It was awful. But, I must say, I had a wonderful time even though it caught up with me. I made damn sure to have a good time since I played hooky from work ... and I did :)