weird science.

now this is neat.  so much for making fun of nerds in high school, huh?  or will that be the next big thing?  ha, ha, your mom made water move uphill...um, right.  work is frying my brain.

snappity snap snap

make levees not war.

that was the best quote the entire time.  it was on a tshirt.

 

I am also fond of "pop this" on the back of a guy's collar.

 

Or "Otto, it would take ten people to hug that tree!" said by yours truly at Oak Alley.

 

I am also amazed at the number of times people assumed/asked when/wondered if Otto and I were married.  I think it is in the neighborhood of ten.  Four of whom were total strangers. Hmm.

 

I'll post pictures later, gaters.

 

Oh, and I think I've come to a nice little conclusion.  I'm tired of trying to impress people, or at least caring so much what they think.  I mean, sure, you want to impress your boss or your S.O.'s parents or that committee who's deciding whether to give you an award/job/scholarship/freebie on your speeding ticket.  But I'm tired of trying to impress other people.  I like the ones who like me for me.  :) 

 

See, I used to think I needed to get my PhD or whatever to prove that I could.  That I was capable of doing so.  Show I am competent.  But you know what?  If I wanted to, I could be a dentist.  Or a surgeon.  Or a librarian.  Or a teacher.  Or a therapist.  Or a chemist.  Or an accountant.  Or a lawyer.  Or a professional thumb-wrestler. Anything that you can do by virtue of determination and schooling.  And I know that you can't, for instance, teach someone how to have the heart for creating incredible art or the ear to play the harp or the skillz to dunk the basketball.  But you can tell them the basics.  And I would guess that about 90% of vocations have a lot more to do with skill sets and stick-to-it-ive-ness than innate abilities.  But I digress.

 

Anyhow, I'm now thinking about getting my MBA.  Or doing something else entirely.  I admit I like the "wows" and "really"-s and "ooh!"-s I get when I tell people I'm a Chemical Engineer.  But you know what?  I'm not liking it right now.  Not at all.  My favorite subject in the universe has now become my worst enemy (undergrad thermo v. grad thermo), and I don't want to venture into the most lucrative aspect of ChE (petrol) and I don't like the caste systems that seem to be in place.  And I don't give a damn if I don't get the wow-really-ooh-s anymore.  I'll just tell them to myself.  :) Right, anyhow, <insert distracting and cheering-up prestidigitation here>, back to happier thoughts.

 

Like the pink hurricanes, oak trees, mint julips, wedding gowns, jambalaya, high heels, spanish moss, funny little 4 inch circles on the New Orleans streets due to a termite investigation some years ago, cafe du monde beignets and cafe au laits, boutiques on chartres street, fancy dresses, double-windors and four-in-hands, stretch navigators, ariel's mimi and big daddy (with mimi in her vintage and incredibly stylish vintage dresses with high heels and a real valentino purse with pink crystals), flocking to the outside heaters in Pat O's courtyard, open bars with heavy-handed tenders, discussing the subtle-yet-important differences between the pronunciation of carrie and kerry, per the australian named damien, debates about bombay v. tanqueray ten (with tonic and lime), the death-at-a-wedding-banquet picture by our table at the wedding dinner, swing dancing with otto, audrey graciously laughing off having champange punch spilled down her back, being seated at table eleven (on purpose!), shopping with the girls, taking pictures, not having to decide what to wear since it was all planned out, shrimp cocktail, the huppa and saying mazel tov, spilling my own drink four times because i'm clumsy as all get out, fleur de lis, jackson square, pirate's alley, mini beef wellingtons, calling them chriel instead of chris and ariel, the bellmen's outfits at the royal sonesta, their incredible wedding vows and jewish marriage contract, pralines, ring pops and nawlins music, which is kicking, if I do say so myself.

 

it was nice to have so many people thank us for coming and bringing our business to new orleans.  it's a vacation you can feel good about!

 

more to come. only bummers of the weekend, really, were sore feet and that my face soap exploded in my suitcase on the way there.

disco stu

should have taken a disco nap!

instead of sleeping for two hours...riiiight. that's what plane rides are for!

I'll be in New Orleans until Sunday! WOO HOOOOO! The wedding will be spectacular and beautiful and the booze will be a'flowin'!

later, gators!

st patty's day

you know, it's just not *celebrating* st patty's day if you don't play pool against a random dude with a mohawk. his name was eric. a friend-of-a-friend-of-otto's/mine was my teammate--craig. it was quite fun. I made mohawk-guy and his girlfriend amanda move like seventeen times while I was playing against craig and his wife (and my teammate, brian was suuuper drunk and kept grabbing my ass, which is still bruised by the way). So, one of the time I made them move I asked if they wanted to play the next game. PS, this is post-shot when I was watching it go in! :)

we had oodles of fun. craig and I won two of the three games, and lost one of them because he put in the eight ball by mistake. i've found i'm either very confident or very hesitant on shots. but it was fun to tell people that i'd been playing pool on and off since i was eight. yay for my granddad!

we also ordered mini-cheeseburgers around 1am.

and then dan, johnny, otto and i went to penny lane. cute hat, huh? yeah, otto found htat on the bar or got it from the bartender or something.

we came home and otto and dan passed out on the couch. cory and i were pretty much sober, but those two were out like a light.

and these are some pretty pics i took in dan and cory's front yard. it's their daffodils and bradford pears. soooo pretty!

ooh, and I met the most hardcore infant ever. her name was maggie, and her mom took her out to the street fair in downtown richmond on saturday. maggie is just barely a month old, but she was having a great time napping with the background noise of half-drunk people, a band 500 ft away and lots of talking. her stroller closed over her, but when we'd peek in she looked like she was blissfully sleeping. and sooooo cute and tiny.

there was one bummer though. no green beer. an. knee. where. we were sad.