I tried to enroll in a party to vote in the primaries but I got this letter from my County Board of Elections:
Dear Voter
Your present enrollment is Blank - No Party and must remain the same, according to New York State Law, until after the 2008 General Election.
Your new enrollment will be changed after the 2008 General Election, which is November 04, 2008
Thats some shit cause if I wasn't registered at all I could have filed by January 11th and voted today.
For real: yesterday the sidestreet my house is on was real icy.
I forgot about how icy it was until I tried parking behind someone and slid right into their bumper.
What a pisser, it was a new car and everything.
Even though it was a tiny bump on the bumper (what else is that for, if not for bumping?) I knew I had to at least say something about it. Its only right eh?
However, in the two minutes it took me to go inside and write a note on an envelope the person or persons unknown drove off.
For real: I still have the envelope in my coat pocket:
I ran into your b ack bumper (the street was icy) Please call me at XXX-YYYY & I can pay for the repair
Also for real is the fact I never wrote more about New Orleans. I tried a few times but the post was too long and maybe even rambling. Ask me about it ( at a party or something)
Instead, here are a few pictures. I didn't take that many.
Fig 1: Looking down Marais St
Fig 2: Garage across the street.
Fig 3: In the backyard; you can see the Claiborne Ave Bridge in the distance.
Fig 4: The back step. My favorite spot at the house.
I've been putting off writing this for a few days now.
Instead of writing a super-post I'm just going to break it up into a few nuggets. That will be easier for me to write and probably easier to read.
To recap: A group of Presbyterian Churches including @drew's took a trip last week to the New Orleans area to help in the recovery effort. I went along with them.
We stayed at a little village of "Pods" in the backyard of a church in Lulie, LA. The Pods were little corrugated plastic huts and there was a tent set up for a dining area.
FIG 1: a group of Pods. Drew & I stayed in Alligator 5.
FIG 2: a Pod from inside. Notice the heat hole. This was connected to a kerosene heater.
The group of 50+ was mostly Presbyterian but included Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, and then me. There were old timers on down to college kids.
In terms of a yearly retrospective: The way I lived 2007 was, although technically competent, only about 2 alarms in the chili competition that is life.
Allow me to make a comparison to a burrito. I think the best way to eat one is to make it as hot as you can possibly stand for the entire duration of the burrito. You can't necessarily go for the hottest sauce/pepper, because if you overtemp you can't finish. You have to find the proper combination for heat and time.
And thats all that changes or moves anthing, heat and time.
Four days this week and I just might make it.
I used to think I could do this job standing on my head but lately a lot of its been sitting on my ass.
We haven't had a solid busy week in our area in a while and I think its starting to wear on everyone.
Its probably only wearing on my and now I'm starting to climb the walls.
For a while I was on a big "Your Mom" trip and after a Hall-of-Fame career of impeccably timed material I feel I'm through with the art form. But lately I've had to reap what was sown (sowned, sowed, fuck) and everyone else at work is trying their hand at your mom.
(Goddamn, I can't stop.)
Anyways this was a forced journal, I'm not really feeling it as I sit here in soggy socks & pants from digging my truck out. I was out there for at least an hour and it would have been longer if it wasn't for the kindness of passersby.
The only thing I'm enthusiastic about is the prospect of busting balls at work and spreading some pseudo-misery.