sofiaviolet | Entries tagged with new orleans

I had a wonderful time in New Orleans. The post-Katrina buses are quite nice (although they're apparently the "push rear doors to open" type and not the "driver opens rear doors" type I'm used to) and I got to see the really really old work car near Lee Circle on the St. Charles line. The conference was excellent. And I am now the proud owner of this tank top and some water meter coasters.

Since my return, I've been busy with work, my internship, and my D&D and Shadowrun groups. (No class until Monday because spring break.)

I also got a new phone. It has internet! Mostly this is so I can check whether it's faster to walk from Simmons to Ruggles or if there'll be a bus along soonish, and so I stop having to call my parents and say, "I'm lost, please read me turn-by-turn directions over the phone." It's already demonstrating how very convenient it shall be.

I had a great time in New Orleans. :)

Ellen and Greg arrived shortly after Christmas (they're moving in with my parents for part of the year). Cory was also around for a few days (he is actually planning to use the Hello Kitty dice bag). We went to the French Quarter twice (once with Ellen and Greg and Cory, once without), ate at our favorite restaurants, etc.

I did manage to get lunch with

pinesandmaples,

rooibos, and their roommate Sid right before leaving for the airport. Ellie and I had a very nice, very empty flight that got in early and good luck with everything once we landed except for the Orange Line, for which we had to wait because we'd just missed a train.

Since getting back last night, I haven't done much of anything, but Ellie has been on a "clean all the things!" binge today, mainly focusing on the kitchen and bathroom. We also got groceries and she's making chicken noodle soup for us and the one or more of her friends who are coming over for dinner.

( I seem to have gained some weight, for once. )

rydra_wong is hosting another Giant Community Rec-O-Matic!

Dreamwidth account creation is open through the end of 2011 - no code or payment required.

I've been in New Orleans since Sunday. We arrived an hour late because our plane took its sweet time showing up at Logan. Not sure why. But we had a reasonably nice flight and arrived in time for dinner.

Apparently when I'm in New Orleans I wake up by 8:00. IDEK. Probably has to do with going to bed fairly early, since my parents (especially Mom) tend to go to bed (or doze off on the couch) by 22:00.

On Monday, Mom took Ellie and I to Magazine Street and bought me some new clothes, including a nice cardigan and some black jeans. Yesterday, we got groceries. Today is Mom's last day of work before Christmas (so it's my last day of having to kill time in the mornings by watching HGTV); I've re-purpled my hair yet again and am now waiting for her to get home so we can figure out our afternoon plans.

pinesandmaples: Resist temptation

Hurricane Katrina is not an opening line. It is never an appropriate way to start a conversation with a New Orleanean.

To update, belatedly, about Irene: I am really kind of shocked we didn't lose power. Very uneventful hurricane here in JP.

Conclusion: Doctor Who is not my new fandom. It is my new entertainment candy. (Conclusion drawn after noticing my total lack of interest in reading other people's reaction posts.)

That said, I think this leaves me adrift, fannishly. Actually I think at this point fandom is my fandom.

I've been kind of hiding out for a few weeks. Minor depressive downswing, I guess - I'm not sure I would even have noticed it (or, you know, experienced it) except that I've been so bad about taking my meds lately. Only really seems to have affected my social - I haven't been updating as much, have skipped loads of munches, etc. And it doesn't help that my semi-guaranteed social time (Battletech) hasn't happened for a few weeks because our GM burnt out.

Pleased to report that the Mirena seems to have finally stopped the bleeding portion of my period. I am still experiencing the early-warning cramps (which I only developed this past year-ish) but as those seem to be decreasing in severity I can hope they'll cease, too.

This leaves me with an unopened DivaCup, size 1 (won in the Muskrat Jamboree raffle back in April). Anybody want it?

erika asked: did Katrina change NOLA totally, or is it still basically the same city? What major changes have there been / took place because of Katrina?

New Orleans mostly feels recovered to me, but A) I only visit and B) I think a lot of the remaining damage has become the new normal. I mean, my parents still don't have kitchen cabinets or counters and it's just, like, whatever.

( kinda disjointed )

I have no info on how the surrounding areas are doing; I expect the city itself is one of the most highly-recovered areas.

It doesn't feel the same, but it doesn't feel wrong or broken or irreparably damaged.

Welcome to the post where you get to ask questions about New Orleans! Inspired by assorted other FONSFAQ projects, originating with

dingsi, who is maintaining a masterlist.

Any topic is fair game, as long as it relates to New Orleans. I personally am qualified to say stuff about:

schools (I went to a Catholic school, a non-religious private school, and a public school)

history (especially free women of color before the Civil War, considering I just wrote 30 pages about that topic)

culture

food (although you may be getting my typescript of my mom or sister's answer)

And, as that last parenthetical aside suggests, I am willing to consult with my sister (another born-and-raised New Orleanian now living elsewhere) and my parents (who both live there now).

harpers_child has also volunteered to answer questions. Other people can volunteer, too! Volunteering can be as minimal as answering one question and you don't need to pre-register or anything. This post is happening in my journal because it needs to happen in somebody's journal; this is not my pet project that I am all possessive about. Feel free to link as widely as you desire and contribute however works best for you.

To ask a question: leave a top-level comment with PROMPT in the subject. One question per comment, please.

To provide an answer: post your answer to your own journal. Then reply to the question-comment with a link.

You may post questions starting now; I would encourage you to post answers during the

three_weeks_for_dw period of April 25th through May 15th.

Turbo developed chronic kidney disease; Mom and Dad brought him in yesterday. He always loved going to the vet, especially when we were going on vacation so he got to stay there for a few days and have lots of social interaction. He got to hang out with one of his favorite vet techs yesterday. He was big for a Jack Russell - we thought he'd be smaller because we saw him alongside a bunch of Golden Retriever puppies - and he was never very healthy (allergic to people, other dogs, and out pre-Katrina lawn). But my mother still has three or so feral cats to look after, so that's something.

I've also realized that I am experiencing some twitchiness about my relationship, and engaging in some (logical but still not healthy) sabotaging behaviors. Not ready to blog about it, I don't think.

I'll be back in New Orleans in less than a month. I'm supposed to be working on my extended bibliography because I'm meeting with my advisor again on Wednesday, but today is just not the day for getting anything done. I made myself a sandwich and I sorted my stuff from the clean laundry and put it away. The rest of my day has been playing a silly little puzzle game over and over, and leaving a chat window open with Cory on the other end. It's comforting.

Quizzical Pussy: Legacy

I’m still a beaten girlfriend somewhere deep down.

I’m realizing who profoundly affected I really am by it all, to this day. My self-esteem was never great to begin with, but staying in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship for years trained even that scant confidence out of me. And while, believe it or not, I’ve scraped a fair amount back for myself, if we’re making comparisons, I can’t escape the learned worthlessness that was my liturgy for so long.

Shakesville: My Point, Here It Is

When I ask a person not to engage in rape apologia in this space, because it is my space and I have not only not consented to host rape apologia here, but have also explicitly and repeatedly deemed it off-limits, and that person continues to engage in rape apologia nonetheless, without regard for my boundaries or personal autonomy, that's not exactly someone who's demonstrating a commitment to the notions of consent, autonomy, and respect.

That's someone who's leveraging the values of a rape culture to violate my boundaries.

That's someone who's acting like a fucking rapist.

Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Blog: Community Conversations

Rape is different than other types of violent crime. In my mind, rape is a lot like a hate crime, targeted at a particular group in order to scare and intimidate them. The reason we punish hate crimes differently than other crimes is because they affect the behavior of more than one person. An assault is always bad; we don't, as a society, condone assault (at least I hope we don't). But an assault perpetrated against a member of a particular community, let's say, or against a person of a particular ethnic background and infused with the intent to intimidate and scare everyone else who shares that background causes a lot more ripples than an assault that doesn't have that motivation. I can be scared of crime when I leave my house, but I'm not afraid that someone will specifically target me because of my gender or race. I don't have to worry that someone, seeking to work out their own misogyny or racism will choose to do violence on my body to satisfy their own issues. If I did, you'd better bet that it would change my behavior. I'd be a whole hell of a lot more careful about what I said, where I went, and how I acted.

thingswithwings: how to defend against accusations of hating queers

Anyway, this is just a rambling list of examples, but I guess I'm listing them just because it frustrates me so much, the way these creators are all huge fucking cowards who aren't brave enough to write a queer character into their children's book, their tv show, their novel; huge fucking cowards who blame the episode running long or the whims of the story itself (the story just never went there! it's like novels are magical creatures with self-determined lives of their own and not texts written by people!) for the fact that queerness is reduced to subtextual or extratextual appearances; huge fucking cowards who will use this not-quite-queer not-quite-not-queer kind of character to simultaneously protect themselves from criticism (if Dumbledore's not gay in the actual book, then his unrequited love for a monster isn't problematic) and protect themselves from the accusation that they fail to include queers. It's a giant pile of bullshit.

It is really cold in Boston today. And the entire MBTA died. (Well, the bus system seemed to be in good working order. It got me to campus, at any rate.)

I've mostly been going to class, decluttering, and being ill. Sinus infection. Which would have been fine if I had been sick and then got over it, but noooo. At least at this point I can breathe through my nose again.

( Here are some links that are kind of old, since I fell off the face of the earth between compiling them and updating my freaking journal )

And finally, the subject line... when Ellie and I were getting groceries on Saturday, I decided I would bring my lunch two days this week (Monday, when I have a break between classes, and Wednesday, when I have a break between work and class), and I decided I would bring ham and cheese sandwiches and salad. So we got bread and ham and I insisted (correctly) that we still had an unopened, unexpired package of Swiss cheese at home.

We were so desperately hungry when we got home that we tore into the lunch supplies. But there was still ham and cheese enough to make one more sandwich, which I could then eat on Monday, after which I would take myself to the store and replenish the supplies.

But she ate my sandwich! :( I slept really late yesterday, and when I woke up, she had forgotten that the whole reason we had the ham and bread in the first place was so I could have lunches, and she had eaten my sandwich.

So I'm so hungry my stomach is trying to digest itself and there's still ten minutes before the fast food joints in the student center open for lunch.

I am finally completely confirmed for my capstone, with mini-deadlines set up and everything. First a proposal, then a really detailed bibliography, then my research trip. (Amount of research that needs to happen still uncertain, but I will still have time to hang out with Cameryn, who's going to New Orleans for other reasons at the same time. Unfortunately, Cory probably won't be able to meet me there, because he's too broke for plane tickets.)

I continue to have a job! Unfortunately this iteration of my archives employment requires that I answer the phone.

Urban Social Problems looks really cool, but I am going to drop it because it's too much. One of my seminars is on classical music, performers and performance thereof. Interesting but ultimately not really my thing, but I actually need this one for my honors requirements.

But the other seminar is going to kill me with awesome. It is all about social networks. Wheeee!

A good time was had with the family; I'm sorry I didn't make it outside that bubble to hang out with friends.

Made it out of The Bead Shop for under $100 for the first time since discovering it. Mom was shocked. We also managed to get

elliesaur some new clothes, which is actually a pretty major accomplishment. (Also, flannel shirts: why so hard to find?)

Celebration in the Oaks was nice, even if they do need to improve their event management. (The usual parking lot was closed, the new parking lot was a zoo, and the line was less organized and self-aware than any concert line I've stood in.) After stopping for dinner and spending forever looking for parking, we actually walked away the first night - we looked at the length of the line we were standing in and decided there was no way we would get inside City Park and get to do anything before they shut down for the night. We tried again the next night with pre-purchased tickets and showing up before they even opened, which worked perfectly. One train ride, one roller coaster ride, a walk through the botanical gardens, and then we got dinner.

The weather was great. I can't believe I used to complain about how cold I was during the winter. (Although I guess New Orleans was the coldest weather I'd ever known...)

( linkspam, special Katrina anniversary edition )
( everything else )

Links

( 10 links )

Plans

Scissor Sisters concert with Ellie.

Notes

Not dead! Back in Boston since Saturday, and already caught up on things!

Recently

Just finished eating half the curry I made tonight; the other half is in the fridge. I am going to bring it to work tomorrow. Leftovers for lunch - it's almost like I'm a real grown-up!

Ellie and I went to the mall yesterday. We were supposed to get clothes for her. Instead, we got clothes for me. /o\ On the other hand, Hello Kitty rain boots in grown-up sizes, fuck yes.

I continue to experiment with purple hair. Attempt 3 (dark purple over failed single-process bleach-and-purple) is the best yet but still not quite right.

Grand Forks

( Spent nearly every waking moment with C., got to see my family, consumed much media. Was not really online. )

Relationship Stuff

( :D! )

We're planning more visits, and I convinced C. to install Skype. But I think my journal will stop being All About My Boyfriend now; he'll show up from time to time along with other important people in my life.

Memery

From Ask Me Anything:

Looking back, are you comfortable with the way you reacted when your sister came out to you?

Not really. :( I could have done more. I am especially disappointed with how little help I was to her in 2006/2007, her last year of high school, while she was trying to figure things out. True, I didn't have nearly as much knowledge of gender and trans* issues then, but I probably still could have been more supportive than I actually was.

But as far as her actual coming-out? I think I did okay then, although I didn't adjust to name-and-pronouns as fast as I would have liked, even if there is a specific reason for it (trying not to out her to Mom and Dad before she had the chance to tell them herself).

Links

( 10 links )

Plans

Figure out Netflix. Buy more $5 vermouth for cooking.

OH GOD FINALLY I AM CAUGHT UP. I only had to go to skip=620 to do it.

Apologies for my epic failure at updating; I don't like to post when I'm behind on my reading. And speaking of my dreamroll... I am having to cut down on my subscriptions because I am overwhelmed. Bleh full-time job. I love my work, but I also love my internets. It is a sad time for me.

Important things:

Every year, shadesong does Blogathon for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. Her fundraising includes a charity auction; I have three pieces in the mix this year: Chains and Crippling Shoes, We Met in February, and The Awful Feeling of Knowing You Don't Remember No. Plus lots of other really lovely things that you should go and bid on!
I am going to Grand Forks! I'll be staying with C. and will also take the opportunity to hang out with Ellen and Greg, since I missed them in New Orleans this year. I am not sure what that will do to my internet time: on the one hand, C. and I will probably be very occupied with each other, but on the other hand, I can easily see us just chilling together with our laptops for a little while every day. At any rate, I will be out of Boston from August 14th to August 21st.
Speaking of C., we are now officially in a relationship! We put it on Facebook and everything. Current relationship status is "open" although there's an unspoken expectation that we'll be functionally monogamous at least until we can talk about it in person. There will be a more *ahem* detailed update later - hooray for filters.

( links )

Another good day of research. Tomorrow is haircuts for Mom and I - I desperately need one; it's been about a year. (My hair has a rapid growth cycle, so the ends get very thin if I forgo trims, which makes them even more prone to tangling.) And I'll probably do at least one more day of research before I head home, but even if I don't manage that, I'm satisfied with the materials I have.

I'm getting caught up on my dreamroll. I had to use the ?date=YYYY-MM-DD argument to view the older posts, but I have finally caught up to the point where ?skip=NNN works. Links from the past two weeks forthcoming; I foresee a heavier dose of fic recs than usual, because of

kink_bingo and

bandombigbang.

Productive morning of research, despite my bout of Academic Impostor Syndrome (resulting partly from the fact that I don't have the college credit aspect of this paper nailed down very well). Then Mom and I grabbed lunch and I went to the dermatologist. I have had this little red dot on the tip of my nose for years, and today I got it fixed with some kind of electronic zap via needle.

More research tomorrow.

I haven't been updating because I've been too busy and I haven't been keeping up with my reading page because I've been too tired. (I will catch up on everything, I promise!)

New Orleans is treating me well. We've hit so many restaurants and other types of eateries (Camellia Grill, Five Happiness, Squeal, Taqueria Corona, Plum Street Snoball...), and for some reason I'm hungry most of the time. IDK.

Mom and I hit Magazine Street on Friday. We spent kind of a lot of time in The Bead Shop and I am going to try to get her to bring me back next weekend.

And once I post this, French Quarter!

Who wants an obnoxiously touristy postcard from New Orleans?

[Comments are screened.]

Hello from New Orleans!

( catching you up on me )

***

azurejay: a lot of things get broken (bandom, Pete/Patrick, ageplay, SFW) and if you do whip her from time to time (bandom, Pete/Ashlee with Patrick, multiple kinks, NSFW)

toft: oh, boccaccio, wtf

femslash_kink (Second Annual Femslash Kink Meme)

azurelunatic: An Open Letter to Jackasses Wasting My Time on Twitter

theleaveswant for

kink_bingo: Pervertible World: Essay and Picspam

Going to New Orleans, whee!! I leave Sunday morning and get back to Boston on June 16th.

(And then I leave for

con_txt on the 17th.)

Am I packed? Oh, no, of course not. And I have to work all day tomorrow, will probably go in on Friday to finish things up, and will be out of the house Friday and Saturday nights. I am probably going straight from Cameryn's party to the airport, to be honest, because who the fuck needs sleep. /o\

*flails*

(Plus, I don't want to get too behind on my dreamroll or tumblr or link roundups, and I have two draft posts I need to get done. And I'm working on a mix I want to post sometime soon.)

In lieu of actual content, have a video of

cleverthylacine's cat playing with

jamoche's iPad.

Thank you, and I'm going to go back to swearing at my closet.

April 2014

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Page Summary

txtbx

Not nice, but friendly.

picked a handful of violets in my name

right between the scapulae, back of the heart

Entries tagged with new orleans

Navigation

Back in Boston.

Back in Boston.

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FONSFAQ New Orleans: Katrina

frequently (or not so frequently) asked questions: NEW ORLEANS

Too down for a real post.

You ate my sandwich!

Catching you up on me: school

Catching you up on me: New Orleans

links

just links today

Links

Plans

Long post is really fucking long.

Notes

Recently

Grand Forks

Relationship Stuff

Memery

Links

Plans

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Important things:

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Look, I continue to update!

still not dead

postcards!

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busybusy

April 2014

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