a couple distractions

» shmoop shmoop shmoop-a-doop
» house gymnastics (thanks to jdr)
» barcode yourself (go on, label yerself)
» see all the pictures from mardi gras
includes all krewes and lots of shots of the crowd — maybe you're in there!

mardi gras


marianne leading the krewe down the street

it was raining. it had been raining for a few days straight. the forecast was for more rain. and on the day of the parade? the weatherman promised buckets of rain. (insert forrest gump voice over: sideways rain...). our costumes were feathers. big, beautiful, bright crazy all over the place feathers. las vegas show girl feathers.

feathers and rain, not a great mix.


before the parade we traveled to the staging area on the float in our plastic parkas

but the parade was scheduled to go on, rain or shine. so we bought plastic parkas ($1 at the dollar store) and minimized the feathers, jumped on the huge float, drove it downtown and braved our staging area for more than an hour (with sprints to firestone's for much needed tequila shots) with the constant drizzle and occasional shower.

we were the last entry and the royal krewe.


queen amanda at the top of the float

i can tell you everything about waiting for the parade, but when the parade started... the adrenelin kicked in, the raincoats came off and it became a loud, cheering, shouting, shaking-our-groove-things blur (except i do remember getting flashed a breast by a former co-worker who didn't realize who i was until after the flash; i threw her two beads). our music blared, but the crowd was louder. big screaming crowd. i loved them.


jeff on stilts

i loved the krewe more. an hour of dancing, shouting, throwing, shimmying, hooting, hollering. shimmy shimmy shimmy, gimme gimme gimme. who wants my beads?! it was awesome and loud and can't-stop-smiling.


that's me (without my tail or headpiece, due to rain)

and the rain? it stopped the minute it was our turn to head down the parade route and didn't start again until we threw our last beads. amazing serendipity. god loves mardi gras.


throwing beads from the float


gabi and margie in the crowd

god does not love rioters. saturday night, the day before the parade, there was a riot in slo town. for what? for why? i don't know how it started. i don't know how it escalated. all i know is that there are a demograph of college kids, mostly guys, who will ruin things for everybody because they are stupid and drunk, unimaginative and obnoxious, and full of themselves. what losers. it's sad that guys get suckered into thinking stupidity — harrassing people, not respecting the rights of others, drinking to oblivion and hassling cops — is what equals a good time. i just shake my head. could they get a clue or some type of creative thought in their head? it's so boring and predictable. it's just boring and predictable.