Scary power of people in large groups

At first we didn't believe it. We laughed at him. That such a person like Hitler... that people would stay behind him. Promises, promises. They believed it.

- Paragraph 175

Ring any bells? Red flags?

Go on!

Yay, Voodoo back in New Orleans!!

Voodoo Music Experience is holding a one-day concert in N.O. on the 29th of October, free for rescue workers and open to ticket-holders who bought their tickets before Sept 22. Meaning, Moi! Oct. 29 at Riverview Park behind Audubon Zoo - here I come!

Originally scheduled for Halloween Weekend in New Orleans’ City Park, VOODOO MUSIC EXPERIENCE was displaced by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. While plans were in full swing to move forward with relocation to Memphis, community leaders in New Orleans approached festival producers about the opportunity to move the event back home for one of its two days, as a tribute event for relief workers. Festival organizers and Memphis representatives alike agreed this was an amazing opportunity to increase the scope of the event.

MOOD: even in a splint, my life may be worth living again!
SOUNDS: Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, the New York Dolls, the Secret Machines and DJ Tiesto, plus a dozen local favorites, ranging from trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, the Rebirth and New Birth brass bands, trombone collective Bonerama and keyboardist Jon Cleary to rockers World Leader Pretend, Cowboy Mouth and Supagroup.

Go on!

So right on!

Your Inner Child Is Naughty

Like a child, you tend to discount social rules. It's just too much fun to break the rules! You love trouble - and it seems that trouble loves you. And no matter what, you refuse to grow up!

How Is Your Inner Child?

In other news, I am currently looking for a word to replace "awesome" in my vocabulary. I say it entirely too often, and even though, when I use it, it aptly describes the passion I feel - totally awesome! - it's so 80s and I am not digging that. I am thinking something 70s would be better, like groovy or jive or super-fly! Help me by giving suggestions!


Go on!

Hilary Swank

I saw her today in person. As in Academy Award winner for Best Actress (twice), girl from the trailer park, Brandon Teena, Hilary Swank. I wish I would ever remember to start bringing my camera with me on a daily basis - WHEREVER I GO - because Fuck if I don't miss tons of things I'd like to have a picture of. Anyway, she's totally gorgeous. Not gawdy and fake and blonde and horrible. She's soft and natural and beautiful.


Go on!

Recent Report

Now that people have more money, they're not any happier. Sure, not having money is a problem, and you're not likelier to be happier with no money. But getting the money isn't what makes you happier. Our cultural consumerism is making us less happy in fact. The pursuit of money and things takes us away, far away from the thing that really does make us happy - fulfilling personal relationships.


Go on!

Dandy

Your Seduction Style: The Dandy

You're a non-traditionalist, not limited by gender roles or expectations. Your sexuality is more fluid than that - and you defy labels or categories. It's hard to pin you down, and that's what's fascinating about you. You have the psychology of both a male and a female, and you can relate to anyone.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Go on!

MOOD: whatever
SOUNDS: actual chilly wind through my windows

3000 in one fell swoop

I'm really upset to hear that New Orleans' Mayor has announced that they're going to have to layoff 3000 employees of the city. This right after hearing that St. Bernard Parish had enough money to pay its workers only one more month then nothing. How can this be happening?

Are these preventative measures meant to kick the federal government's ass in gear to get the money to the states that Congress has allocated? Louisiana also has a hiring and spending freeze. frankly, I kind of wonder if our jobs might not also be in jeopardy. I don't give a shit if I lose my job, it would be a blessing almost and I'm headed out the door anyway

More importantly though, for me, is "Can New Orleans survive?" I mean, I really didn't think this was a question that actually needed to be asked.

I theorized that, and this isn't in some fantasy land,....
in reality, New Orleans would be up and running in two months tops. By that time, I would've send in my graduate application, most likely been accepted because they would be so desperate for students who aren't returning, and I'd be ready to move there in January when UNO claims it will start school on campus again. On top of it, they would probably even need lots of tenants for the other people who aren't moving back. There's tons of businesses open but no employees to do the work .

For real, I know moving down there so soon won't be Shangri-La and that some things would be tough, but this is what I feel all I want to do to help New Orleans come back, rebuild, in be at some point down the road better than it ever was before. I know I can tough it out. I want to be a part of that, and I I've want to go back as soon as possible.

I wonder if they are imagining that New Orleans will just be much much smaller now, in terms of people. That could account for a smaller work force in the city's employees. However, the neighboring parish cannot be devoid of police officers! It just won't work that way.

The main reason why I've been wanting to move back to New Orleans is because of the people. Because of the ideals, the state of mind, the general Liberation I feel when I'm in that place around those people. And I don't think that's gonna change. Unfortunately another thing I can see coming down the road is that the suburb of Metairie will probably be huge in comparison, if for no other reason than they really didn't have much damage in the storm. They depended on New Orleans, but I think they can be self-sufficient as a city on its own. Living in the suburb again is not my idea of the ideal situation but I still think it would be better than where I am now.

MOOD: don't ask
SOUNDS: shut up

Introspective Blogging

I don't really feel like tagging anyone, so do at your own risk.

The rules are:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.5. Tag five other people to do the same.


This is mine: "Love should not be about petty political differences"

No shit.

So jazzed!

Robert Alberti and his dog Rover, both survivors of hurricane Katrina, are reunited at The Missouri Humane Society of St. Louis office Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. Alberti and Rover were rescued from a rooftop in New Orleans but were later separated. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

I made it out to volunteering today at the emergency animal shelter in Gonzales. This is where pets who won have actually been rescued from New Orleans are being cared for. What was so awesome is the fact that I met people from all over the country who were doing the what I've come to term as "Vigilante volunteerism" which is also what I consider myself to be doing. I met people who had come to Louisiana to do search and rescue operations, feeding and care of animals, etc. in New Orleans itself. And I worked with people, mostly women, from San Antonio, San Francisco, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C. just today! I was also invited to go on a search and rescue mission to New Orleans tomorrow. Unfortunately, I am chained to my job and have to work tomorrow. After I had to turn down an opportunity to volunteer on a medical mission in New Orleans three weeks ago because of work, this seems to be a running theme with me. Sigh.

Anyway, so awesome!

My day ended when one of the cats I was working with scratched me and I went to the First Aid tent to get it cleaned up. I spoke to a public health officer while he cleaned my finger, and I asked him move to talk kinds of questions about the U.S. Public Health Commission Corps which I later found out it was called. They also commission mental-health officers so I was interested to hear that and I think this is something that I would like to look into in the future. They also work in the Indian Health Service, among various other public agencies. Very interesting! If not, I am definitely going to try to get want a permanent volunteer Disaster Team with the Red Cross. I really enjoyed working in this whole crisis environment and I think I'd like to work in it again.

Oh, and LET ME NOT FORGET! I saw the CUTEST woman ever there! I think I smiled at her like 8 times today. How could I forget? I did forget until I saw her bright blue eyes and black hair embrazened on the inside of my eyeballs just now.

EDIT: Actually, let me elaborate on this. The girl I saw. So infrequently do I see a woman who stirs anything in me. And, I won't lie. She had the same features as the last woman I dated. Except, that girl was more like Bettie Page in that she had long black hair, bright blue eyes, and these AWESOME smart-girl-looking glasses. Anyway, cute girl today. This girl/woman - whatever, I never know what to call females these days now that I'm over 30 - she was totally gorgeous. But, not at all in the way that she looked like some runway model. No, I like feminine women, but I do NOT like girly-girls who acts like it's everybody's job to take care of them. No way. Even if it's a contrived stance, to me it's just too weak and passive and I don't find it attractive at all. I also don't like girls who use their feminitity to act like they can get anything, no matter how unfair, it is. Anyway, that was a little tangent. The last woman I dated - and, trust me, honey, she was totally a woman - was entirely self-sufficient and had been from a very young age. This chick I saw today was.... hmmm, she was striking, and you could tell that she probably didn't see anything special about herself. But she was fucking beautiful! I guess the uncommon is what draws me to someone. Plus, she was pushing a broom - a fucking shop broom and cleaning the aisles between the rows of animal cages. I saw her later pushing that broom down the other aisles and I asked them if they were going to sweep the entire city, since it took them about an hour to sweep one aisle. She had a tattoo that I spied when her shirt rose up as she pushed that broom. I kept smiling at her. And, the chick had muscles, too! You would not have known that she had toned arms unless she was pushing a shop broom and had a cut-off sleeveless shirt on but, ... oowwww! Awesome. And, it was so adorable that she was all into it, and her brow was all furrowed with hard work. And, I just wanted to throw her down in one of the stalls and get wood chips and dirt all over our sweat-covered bodies. This was my instantaneous fantasy when I saw her. And, it was hot.

Pictures - Hurricane Rita

Better late than never?

Bad Vibes

That devil Tom DeLay has screwed up my template.

Don't ask me how I know. I just know!