Mardi Gras Post Dearth Broken!

Sometimes you get distracted. In my case (this week) it has been because internet costs a bundle in the Big Easy, plus I've been a little distracted by the city, the conference I'm at and all the pretty beads! Some weird things about the city so far while I wait for my friends in the lobby:

• On the shuttle to the hotel an Orange county woman leaned over and whispered loudly "There's an awful lot of black people here"... which is true but the situation was embarassing at best since we were the only white people on the bus... sitting in the front row... *facepalm*
• EVERYONE talks to you here. Everyone. Tourists, shop owners, random people who are just out for the night, homeless people, socialites in gowns (My favorite so far was a self-described 92-year-old broad wearing fur who I gave a set of beads to.
• Everyone calls you fun names... like Sweetie, Honey, Darlin, M'lady, and Bo Derek & Roquel
• They clean the streets with hoses that spray something that smells like oranges
• Cafe du Monde is world-famous for a reason
• I'm not sure if this is just because of the festival season, but there are tons of people handing out those "God loves you, except if you're a sinner" books today. Who knew?
• You don't have to show any skin to get beads, you just have to be loud and fast.
• Liquor stores are everywhere. All the signs for them look like they might as well have expletives in them. There are also drive-thru daqueri bars (as a local girl told me "It's only open container if you stick the straw in)
• They sell margarita jello shots and phillys in a stand inside our hotel's drop-off area... and its a pretty ritzy hotel.

Anyway, time to go do some sightseeing.