Summer camp with condoms and gas masks

We were musing the other day what this place feels like, and we realized it's like summer camp with condoms. LOL They have huge bags of condoms in the bathrooms here which is kind of funny. Smacks of when I used to live on Church and Isabella in Toronto. LOL

So last night, I let Julia make me up (video to follow!) and we all dressed up and went downtown for (Conventional) New Year's Eve. There is a fellow here named Jack who offered to be the sober shuttle service for the evening. He had a minivan that had the middle seat taken out. So basically, four people could fit on the back seat and then whoever on the floor in the cabin space. When he took us, there were SEVENTEEN people in the van. My foot was crushed and my face was smooshed up against the front seat. It was insanity. I seriously thought the axle was going to break.

We wound up at a place called "The Dragon's Den" near Frenchman Street. They had a freaking KLEZMER BAND and yeah, I was hanging with the Stein sisters (Melissa and Jaymie) so it was surreal. We danced to this whacked out jazzed up Jewish folk music (clarinet player, guitar, drums...) and laughed and laughed. I drank about three or four amaretto and oranges, and then promptly got all teary eyed (I thought only whiskey did that to me?) and had to leave. I hate how the sauce gets me all emotional like that. It's quite embarrassing. I serenipitously bumped into Jack right in front of the Den and he was so kind to me. I was crying mascara and telling him how much I was going to miss the Hobokeners and the kind people from CG and then I went and sat on the curb, which was right beside a big pile of garbage and still water in the gutter. It was kind of funny. I'm sure I looked like something off a Courtney Love album jacket.

Jack and I walked over to the Mississippi river and the fresh air did me a world of good. We watched the fireworks and rang in the new year on the banks of the Mississippi, overlooking the New Orleans city skyline and a barge in the water and a wharf to my left. It was SUCH a beautiful scene. The pictures didn't come out, but it was amazing.

***