'twas the night before Thursday

1989 ... 2004 ... 2008
The years of my lifetime when the New Orleans area received a blanket of snowfall.
This photo is from my near-the-New-Orleans-Airport office window today, December 11, 2008.
Whether it's the large per-capita voodoo priestesses or our ne're-do-well Saints curse, we're a pretty superstituous people. And seeing as how Christmas Day 2004 - which preceeded the Big Storm of 2005 - was a snow-filled celebratory event, many are wary of what the 09 hurricane season will bring.
Though the boyfriend and I have a Move-To-Paris Emergency Plan should the city flood again, I would rather dwell on those highlights of 2005.
Dirty Coast T-shirts, for one. And the rising popularity of ligers due to 2004's Napoleon Dynamite release. At that time we only thought the economy was nosediving; we too thought $2.90/gallon gas prices were outrageously high. Also responsible civic duty, months without murders, arrest of the BTK, neighborly acts of kindness, SDT Waste & Debris, renovated houses, renovated public school systems, the truth about the Iraq War beginnings, Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine.
So maybe 2009 brings unexpected joy, peace and goodwill toward men; you can't enjoy the great moments if you don't know how bad it can be.
Or maybe next year I'll be blogging from Paris.

the pull of your change pocket

I'm stuck. Stuck between the amount of money I want (read: need) to bring home and what I'd like to do for a living.

So I've begun the perennial search for any New one of the following-

1) job/office

2) degree

3) income source

4) winning lotto number(s)

There's a raging mental tug-of-war between my ears to MAKE LOTS OF MONEY and FOLLOW YOUR HEART and while I believe both are doable, there's nothing tugging on me in the short-term.

Because I can't focus on one ... digging in and setting up shop on whatever path I choose ... I'm conflicted by the options of them all. Too many decisions to make that one isn't made at all.

I have no children and no one else whose life or credit I would damage by going out on a limb. My mortgage looms large but - in this world of bailouts and concessions to multi-million dollar industries - who is going to hold it against me?

What to do ... ?

"As Seen On"

After reading this paragraph this morning on Gambit Weekly's BestofNewOrleans.com, I scanned over it again. Not for understaing, but for awe. It's the most well-written, concise paragraph I've seen in a while ...

"Since 1976, Sonoma State University has released an annual survey of the top 25 stories the mainstream media failed to report or reported poorly. Culled from worldwide alternative news sources, vetted by students and faculty and ranked by judges, the stories were not necessarily overtly censored. But their controversial subjects, challenges to the status quo, or general under-the-radar subject matter may have kept them from the front pages. Project Censored recounts them, accompanied by media analysis, in a book of the same name published annually by Seven Stories Press."

Here's to hoping this blog develops my skill to that degree.

birth ordered?

The story goes that first children are the most successful, most well-adjusted and, often, most independent of their sibling counterparts. I can't say I don't agree.
Last Wednesday evening, I was invited for the First Annual Schrenk Brothers Thanksgiving Eve Meal (boyfriend's brothers). My first-born self cohabitates and loves the baby of the Schrenk family, so I was there as the "youngest" couple. I didn't come to any ground-breaking new-to-the-world revelation that night, but I've been thinking about it since.
Always as the oldest, you are the "example" for your siblings. Typically this applies to positive, morally-challenging attitudes and actions: sharing with others, respect for the elderly, kindness, honesty, forgiveness, etc., but they watch much more than that. And they remember.
Matthew recalled a wassail incident where middle brother Jeb downed enough for a cross-eyed showing at a Christmas church event; Jeb recalled it vaguely at best. His anecdote tells me there are probably tons of little stories my sisters hold, and those probably outnumber the ones I could tell about them.
As the first, you are not only told you are the "most" of many things, but you get your parents' attention first and singularly at the prime of learning and confidence building. We are also probably - of the birth order - the most self-absorbed. It seems we do most things first ... go to high school, graduate from high school, live on our own, get jobs, graduate from college, learn to budget, drive a car ... the list is endless. So we're used to getting that family-first attention.
But last year my middle sister got hitched; in May of 2009, she'll have the first baby. Just this past Saturday night, my baby sister's boyfriend asked my father for her hand in marriage.
And while I'm very happy in my own life right now, as well as happy to pass the buck of pioneering my parents through these firsts, some emotion pulls at me when I realize I won't be the first for the last of these first-time family events.
I'll watch and I'll remember those details. I'll field the questions (and hear the whispers). I'll be humbled. And I'll always be happy for them.
After all, they did get to learn from my mistakes.