Oh man. I

Oh man. I just got done with the 3 S's, and I feel so much better. That's the first time I was able to do that in about 4 days.

So, Monday I tried to wake up really late in preparation for the long day ahead of me, but I failed miserably. I guess I can only sleep in when I don't really need or want to. I woke up at around 10:30 and just sort of laid there with my eyes closed for a couple of hours before giving up and getting up.

Alan and I did a bit of planning and preparation, and we picked up Fuller and Mullens around 7 and started the long drive to New Orleans.

We got there at around 7 in the morning, making the drive just over 12 hours, which was shorter than any of us expected. We didn't eat or sleep on the drive down, so when we got there we had some McDonald's breakfast bicuits and tried to not fall asleep while eating them. After watching the crappy Mardi Gras parade (horrible, boring parade), we went back to the car to get some shut eye since none of us had slept a whole lot in the past 24 hours.

After maybe an hour of sleep we got up and started drinking a bit. We got good and buzzed very quickly and headed off to Bourbon Street at around 3. Our group got split up relatively early in the night (we were there for about 20 minutes maybe before we lost track of each other), so me and Fuller went one way and Alan and Mullens went another.

We walked around the street talking to strange people and having odd conversations with people there. There were these God lover types who walked around with big signs about how we're all going to hell and God told them to be there and save our souls. Homeless people were everywhere getting their alcohol from us. Fuller dropped his pants for beads. I just waved to many of the girls in the balconies who threw their beads down to me. I even got Harry Anderson's (from Night Court) beads, which is a long story I don't feel like typing.

By about 10, we had enough and headed back to the car and called Mullens' cell phone to come let is in so we could get some sleep. By this point I had been up somewhere in the neighboorhood of 40 hours on about an hour of sleep. Once you add alcohol into the equation, you really have a hard time walking, keeping your eyes open, and saying things that make any sense. So they met us there at about 10:30, and Mullens decided he could start driving us some. We all passed out very, very quickly. When I woke up, the car was stopped and I was freezing cold. I looked outside and noticed we were in a gas station parking lot. I laid there for a while feeling like crap before I decided to just get out and puke to make myself feel better. So that's exactly what I did, then went back to get some sleep. We slept until about 6am, then drove back.

None of us had showered or shaved or even changed clothes since Monday, so we all smelled and felt like crap. We took turns sleeping in the back while 2 people stayed awake and drove.

So that was my Mardi Gras weekend. I will definitely be going back someday, and when I do I'll plan a bit better. Even get a hotel room and a full night's sleep before the event. That will be better I think.

Iona called me today. I thought they were going to give me work, but really they wanted my advice on how to handle difficulties going from a computer to video. If I go in and tell them what's what they'll pay me a consultation fee, but otherwise I'm still poor. Woe is me.