Friday, September 23, 2005

Just a little update

Ok I know it has been a while since I posted, I am very sorry.

Not much has happened, I finally found a job. Go me! My butt-burn has turned into a tasty tan. Pooh is most pleased. Speedy the turtle made another of his great escapes along with Pooh Jr. The snake got away but Speedy was left eating his dust. Speedy is now giving me the go to hell stare from his aquarium. Pooh has threatened to turn him into a rattle, but Speedy knows he is a pussy and would never.

I have begun work on a novella. It is going well actually or would if Pooh would leave me alone for FIVE MINUTES. He has been pestering the crap out of me. I wish he would find a girlfriend to take up his time. I resorted to telling him I was totally blocked and could not write squat, this seemed to satisfy him as he is acting normally again.

Not that he does not have his sweet moments, he sat with me in the backyard last night, and took me to dinner tonight. Pooh is a lovely and wonderfully alpha male; v. sesy , and everyone knows that alpha males come with a huge pile of BS one has to deal with.

Moving on, Winding city is very successful, thanks to my girls who seem to have fallen as in love with the Memeverse (as Nee calls it) as I have. Muah to you all and you know who you all are.

Things have also been going well with my mom and dad, I have been spending one day a week with them, it is very nice as I missed them terribly. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for my brother.

I also started Weight Watchers I have lost 10 lbs so far. Go me again! I am woefully out of shape though, but much like my writing I keep plodding along.

Well that is all for now. As always keep the victims of Katrina in mind, remember the divine loves a cheerful giver and let us all hope that Rita will not be a repeat of that shameful incident.
Meme

Monday, September 05, 2005

Yes I am still up on my soapbox

And I shall remain there until such a time as these states have recovered. So often with these sorts of disasters people flood charities with generosity then, as the media moves on to something else they do as well.

Not this time. I will do my part to make sure people know that those people will need our help for months to come.

Today I read an article about NOLA that made me smile. There is a reason why so many people fall in love with this city.

French Quarter forges on with stubborn hearts

'We're not helpless,' says cleanup crowd
By Bruce NolanStaff writer

Sunday, the sixth day after the apocalypse of wind, fire and flood visited New Orleans, Nancy Hirst stepped out of Johnny White's Sports Bar and Grill in the French Quarter and trilled, "There's buses leaving from Harrah's in a little while, if anybody's interested."None among the small crowd gathered outside in the empty street stirred.

Not bare-chested John Lambert, carrying a sign that read "Life goes on?"Not a woman in black fishnet stockings who called herself Jelly Sandwich ("'cause Jam don't shake like that"). And not Diana Straydog, an Apache Indian in flip-flops smoking an 8-inch Monte Cristo cigar.

Overhead, the whine and thump of heavy military helicopters reverberated through the nearly empty streets of the French Quarter. They circled on distant missions or streamed low overhead. Once a fleet of seven streamed over the triple spires of St. Louis Cathedral in a deafening roar.Armed police and sheriff's deputies from distant states patrolled Canal Street and walked through the French Quarter with sidearms and M-16 rifles. But the Quarter remained a determined flicker of its old self.

Although largely depopulated, it was not empty. And what filled it up was what people have always filled it with, which is what is in their hearts.At noon, the great bells of St. Louis Cathedral remained silent instead of tolling the hour as usual. The only sound filling the empty Place John Paul was the swish of Ty Watford's broom.Watford, his companion, Ashley McCoy, and a few friends swept leaves and branches accumulated from Hurricane Katrina and dumped them in city trash barrels.

The place looked parade-ground perfect."It's our neighborhood. We're not helpless," Watford said. "We can fix it ourselves. We don't have to wait for anybody."Watford and McCoy rode out the hurricane two blocks away on Dumaine Street, and three days ago they began sweeping there, out of pride and a desire to kill the boredom."You should see where we live," Watford said. "Our street looks like nothing ever happened."

On Saturday, they swept St. Anne and St. Peters streets flanking Jackson Square; Sunday was for the Place John Paul.

While reports abounded of anarchy outside the Quarter, Watford said he and McCoy never felt unsafe. "Every time somebody passes by, they ask if we need something. The French Quarter is as safe now as it's ever been."It was safe - even convivial - outside Johnny White's on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans, perhaps the only place in the Quarter serving, even if it was warm.

Ordinarily, during the Southern Decadence weekend, the Quarter would be packed with gay men and lesbians socializing in their annual celebration of gay culture.But after Katrina, this would have to do: Lambert, with his son; Straydog with her cigar; and Jelly Sandwich, who said her "Central Business District name" is Jill Sandars.

In time, they would head a few blocks away and start the traditional Sunday decadence parade. As usual, the rules were bent.Lambert, for one, spoke of having a girlfriend. "I guess you could say it's an excuse for people to come out and be whoever they are or whoever they want to be," he said. "There are so many dedicated people here, and they're not going to give up. You hear so many people outside saying they're not coming back."There's got to be at least as many who will."

Saturday, September 03, 2005

What gives me the red ass…

No, it is not my sunburn, which is turning into a lovely tan TYVM. A friend of mine emailed this to us this morning. It was posted on one of the loops she belongs to.

I am printing is as it came to me.

lizzy baker
Date: Sat Sep 3, 2005 10:51 am
Subject: shadowsgurl88@yahoo.com Send Email

New orleans needs to be hit with another hurricain in my opinion. And did any ofyou know that the people on the bridge were there to begin with and they all had two days warning to get the hwll out. Its stupid cause they were all alcoholics and crack user thats why they were jumping. Its was cause of withdraw simptoms.Adn new orleans was a guetto and beside a few historical monuments it was trash I know cause i have been there. And did ya know there so nasty they Raped andmurdered and shot 6 people in the own st6adium then set it on fire. there abunch of welfare, drug doing people that need to be hit by katrina again.


My goodness,
What a lot you have to say Ms. Baker. Obviously you have given this a lot of thought, and I can well see how you would feel this way.

Obviously you are far above the rest of us common mortals. I guess the rest of us should feel privileged that we get to see the glorious light that shines out of your ass as you bend over and show it to the world with this post. I mean it is not every day one gets to meet a perfect person.

Wow, in fact I cannot believe the rest of America does not fall in line with your oh so brilliant pronouncements. It must be very easy to sit up there on your pedestal and ignore the suffering of small children, the elderly and the animal life that is amongst the - and I quote- welfare, drug doing people that need to be hit by katrina again.

I don’t know what faith you are, Ms. Baker or if you even believe that there may be a power higher than you and your big uninformed mouth, but I would surely love to be a fly on the wall when you get your chance to meet that deity. Just to see if your explanation for this drivel is as poorly worded and inane as your posting was.

I also hope you remember the phrase what goes around comes around. So that when something truly awful and devastating happens to you (and it will, it always does.) There won’t be any confusion or poor-me’s about it.

Also perhaps you should write a strongly worded letter to all the dictionary publishers out there and make them aware that they have been misspelling most of the words in the English language. as you are so wise and all knowing. I counted at least 9 words that they should fix post haste.

From a person who has several friends from New Orleans, has visited the city a lot more than you and seen the beauty in the place and people.

Meme

Friday, September 02, 2005

All the help is lovely, but please remember-

-the little towns in the area that were not hit by Katrina but are now being overwhelmed by refugees.

My friend Jenn lives in one such town this link will lead you to her blog. http://justjennstuff.blogspot.com/

In addition to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army here are a couple more organizations that people can donate to.

http://www.braf.org/ Baton Rouge Area Foundation
http://www.convoyofhope.org/ Convoy of Hope

When you make your donation remember to earmark it for Hurricane Katrina Relief. Put in in your check/money order line, or tell the representative.

This is going to be a long haul folks, please done let your generosity move on when the media's attention does. These people will need us and the aid we can give them for years to come.

Watching and seeing things getting worse

Yes it is just awful, Pooh may be driving a truck of supplies down Friday, I know it is mean-spirited but I hope they don't need him as I will worry. I have volunteered my time as well, and will continue to for as long as it is needed.

Our friends in the area have gone to Canton MS and are staying in a hotel. It is hard as the place is 80.00 a night and their men have stayed behind because of the looting. It is wearying for them, even our favorite coonass is loosing his happy-go-lucky attitude.

They are thinking of relocating up by another friend, near Madison, which would be nice as we would all be near each other when Pooh and I move there.

I have been volunteering at the senior center for the last month, it is fun, They all bring an item and play bingo before lunch and I get to call it. Sometimes I do paperwork, I find it very relaxing, and it gets my mind off this mess.

I also managed to get a sunburn on my bottom, How you ask? I went outside in my gown and accidental fell asleep in the shade. Did you know the sun moves? I myself found this a very surprising fact; especially as when woke up my bottom half was really very overly warm. So now I look like a candy cane, white and red stripes.

Being a sensible female I blamed my butt-burn on Pooh as everything is his fault anyway. What was Pooh's comment you ask. "Don't blame me, I didn't ask for a rump roast."

Rump Roast? Leave it to my Pooh to equate my rear end with food.