IT'S SO FUNNY HOW WE DON'T TALK ANY MORE

So yeah, I'm still here. Is anyone still out there? Do people even still blog any more, or has Facebook killed everyone else's blog too? I guess if no one's looking, the pressure is kind of off, right? So here are a couple of things that have happened since I last actually, you know, wrote something here:

I went to New York and met Joe.My.God. I mean, I didn't go to New York to meet Joe.My.God., I went to New York and we just kind of happened to be in the same place at the same time and I happened to be with a friend who kind of knew him. And, OMG, when I met him he actually said something like "Hey, don't you have a blog about tugboats or something?" Squeeeeeal! I know, it was kind of like meeting Mick Jagger and having him mention that he'd seen my shitty 70s cover band play once at a wedding in Metairie.

Oh, also—I have a niece now. Baby Leah. Short for Leonora, which was my grandmother's name. Born April 15. Yeah, she's cute.

REASON TO LOVE NEW ORLEANS #4,777

The first ever Hell's Fairies of New Orleans scooter ride.

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This used to be a pay phone across the street from a nursing home. Now it's a shrine of some kind in which someone is apparently collecting donations. It's been there for months. Neither vandals, the city or the phone company have disturbed it.

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Our vibrant local music scene.

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The second annual Wacky Wagon Race, a fund raiser for the Louisiana State Gay Rodeo Association.

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I think I found the missing chicken.

MARDI GRAS 2009 PHOTOS: NUMBER ONE

So of the 200+ pictures I took yesterday, this is my favorite. I don't know who this is. I don't know what he (or she) is doing. But I do know this will totally be the front cover of either my first album or my first novel, whichever comes first.

REASON TO LOVE NEW ORLEANS NUMBER ONE

It's Mardi Gras, bitches.

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Girls in cupcake bras and their friends setting up bars on the sidewalk and handing out free shots to passersby.

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The old lady who lives next door has kept her living room decorated for Christmas for the last 20 years. And I mean decorated.

REASON TO LOVE NEW ORLEANS #4,762Despite everything, we love the USA. And great big crazy drunk ladies.

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It's infested with gargoyles.

REASON TO LOVE NEW ORLEANS #4,757I don't know what the fuck this is, but I love it.

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Mardi Gras is coming! Mardi Gras is coming! MARDI GRAS!!!

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Big tall giant circus bikes.

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You can even find good drag names in the trash.

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Suggestive hors d'oeuvres.