Starting Fresh

I know it's been a little while since my last post but I've been pretty busy over the past few weeks. I'll start where I left off last time. For the New Year’s weekend, we were given a four-day weekend which was a nice little break for me. On New Year’s Eve, a friend of mine had a party at his house. It was a lot of fun because a lot of people that I work with were there and a lot of them are people I don't really see too much outside of work. Around 11:00, we walked from my friend's house to this park in the part of New Orleans called Mid-City. As part of the tradition for New Years, there is a Christmas tree-burning, where everyone brings their Christmas trees to the park and there's a huge fire where people gather and hang out and bring in the New Years. On our walk there, people everywhere were lighting off fireworks which lit up the sky. The bonfire was probably around 12 feet high and I was able to take some great pictures. I'd say that there were definitely over one thousand people there and it was a great way to bring in the New Year. After the fire was over, we went down to the French Quarter and Bourbon Street was packed with people. If New Years Eve is any indication of how crazy things get in the French Quarter, Mardi Gras is going to be pretty insane. I took it easy the next couple of days and tried to recover from NYE and get ready to get back to work.

I've been working on the same house pretty much for the past couple of months and it's getting pretty close to being finished. The first week after New Years, I had some volunteers at the house and we put in the kitchen countertop, upper kitchen cabinets, and did some touch up work around the rest of the house. My Mom and Dad came to visit on that Thursday and they came to volunteer at the house on Friday. I gave them the task of putting finishing on the kitchen cabinets which required them to use a Circular Saw. Given how handy my father is, I thought he'd be able to handle it. But unfortunately he was unable to make straight cuts and not chipping the finishing. So I had my parents’ just do some touch up painting. It was nice having them at the worksite so that they can see what I do on an everyday basis. It was fun telling them what to do for a change. I'm sure my Dad loved it.

When my parents got here on Thursday, I took them around to see some of the houses that I've been working on and gave them a little tour of the city. We went out for Japanese food Thursday night which was delicious since it's been so long since I've had any. On Friday, they volunteered during the day and at night the three of us went out to dinner with three of my friends: Pat, Jon, and Jordan. I had a good time at dinner and I think everyone else did too. My friends really appreciated the good meal and enjoyed meeting my parents (or so they said). It was nice to be able to have my parents meet some of the people I'm closest with down here and get a better sense of my life in New Orleans. After dinner, I met up with friends at a bar. On the walk home, I noticed that my right foot started bothering me but didn't think too much of it. On Saturday morning, I met my parents at their hotel around 10 (which is pretty early for me to be out on a Saturday) and we walked near the pier along the Mississippi River for the bus tour we were going to take. Before we even left for the tour, the guide spent a half hour on the bus talking. Throughout the tour, the woman never took a breath to stop talking. She literally was going on and on for three hours. It was nice to see the city and get its history, but I had such a headache by the time it was over and I still hear that woman's voice in my head (just awful). After the tour, for some reason, my Dad wanted to go to the Civil War Museum (I didn't even know he was interested in that stuff). We trekked over there and by the time we got there, my foot was really starting to bother me but I just kept going. The Museum was pretty small and I guess my Dad saw what he wanted to see (I don't really know). That night we went out for dinner again (I swear, all I did was eat that weekend) and then my Dad and I went to the casino for awhile. By the time we left the casino, I was hobbling down the street back to the parking garage where I left my car. But it had gotten pretty cold, so my Dad starts power walking down the street and there I am, on one foot, trying to keep up. I was glad to see that my Dad was so concerned. My parents left on Sunday and I just spent most of the day staying off and soaking my foot.

It wasn't feeling any better Monday or Tuesday, and of course at work I was lugging around cabinets and moving things all over the place. By Tuesday, I realized that I needed to get it checked out. I went to the walk-in clinic and they took a couple of x-rays and told me that I actually had a small stress fracture in my foot. I really have no idea how it happened. The doctor gave me some medicine and the swelling in my foot has gone down considerably and is feeling much better. I took the day off on Wednesday to rest it and by Thursday, I was feeling a lot better.

My friends Pat and Darren have a friend from high school that is in a Tulane Graduate program and lives down here. She had a party Thursday night that the three of us went to. It was fun to play a little beer pong and re-live some of my college days. Everyone there was real nice, and it was good for me to meet some new people for a change. I usually don't stay out too late on Thursday nights because of work the next day but we were having fun and ended up staying out till around 1. I was pretty exhausted at work the next day but I pushed through.

On Friday night, a bunch of us went to happy hour at Phillips Bar. It's usually pretty packed for happy hour. So we had a few drinks and shot some pool for a little. Jon started talking to this guy who is friends with the person who lives in the Belfort Mansion (which was the house for the MTV Real World New Orleans cast). The guy took us over there because he said his friend was having some people over. The house was absolutely amazing. It was enormous and was probably one of the most beautiful houses I've ever been to. This house had a pool, guest house, balconies surrounding the entire house, and a prime location on St. Charles Avenue. We got to the house and it turned out that the owner of the house lived their with his partner and they had a bunch of gay guys over. I've become better around being around gay people down here but this was just a little too much for me (ha). We stayed there for a little while and then moved on to another bar. It was cool to see the house and they invited us over for their Mardi Gras party but I don't think I'll be attending.

It has been a busy few weeks and it doesn't look like things will be settling down much anytime soon (which is a good thing I guess). Mardi Gras is right around the corner and from everything I hear, is absolutely amazing. I'll definitely write another post before Mardi Gras but if it takes a little time after that, I'm sorry. Besides my parents, I officially have my first two visitors coming down here for Mardi Gras. So now that they've gotten things started, I expect to hear more from people who want to come down here. There are so many things I want to show everyone so I hope as many people can make it here as possible. Talk to y'all soon.