at what point does an evacuee become a refugee?

lootings, lawlessness, and the lake

In a time when people are hoping to live to see another day.....and sadness seems to be an ever apparent emotion in this lovely lakehouse in arkansas....my sadness is almost overcome by the actions of local new orleanians...dont get me wrong, i know its survival of the fittest in that city right now...there are things that we as humans need to exist on a day to day basis....power, water, food...all of these necessities were stripped from these people...how is one expected to go from one day to the next? But, robbing, and stealing from your fellow neighbor...is that really what we've been reduced to? Call me nieve...but, arent there always other options? There just have to be, i mean, carjackings? really...come on...i see these people clinging to their rooftops, praying that safety will come...and these jackasses are raiding the walgreens to steal beer? These are the people that break the spirit of americans....i know it will take months and months to restore order to the city i so fell in love with...but how long, if ever will it take for these people to recover? I mean, an entire city, and all its peoples lives have been destroyed...i feel utterly helpless...i feel there is something i should be doing to help these people...yet i dont even know when ill be allowed back into the city....i drove out here with my friend marcia...she drove...i let my boss martha take my car, so she and her boyfriend, and their pets could get out of town... i dont know when ill see the green machine again, but im proud she was able to help people to safety..i have 4 friends that for some reason i still dont get decided to stay in new orleans and wait out the storm...i have not heard from any of them..im not able to call them on their cell phones...i was told earlier this afternoon they were ok, but that was before the latest floods, so im now waiting to find out the latest..my prayers are with all these people in their time of need and may they, against all odds find a faith that keeps them going and keeps them safe....oh, and a small side note, we went out on the lake today and, yeah, i dropped my cell phone in the lake, good to see no matter what life throws at me, im still the same old janice!!!

I hate Katrina!!!

its monday morning....im in hot springs arkansas(wherever that is!!). We left new orleans at 7am sunday morning, drove for 13 hours, and ended up at a lakehouse here in hot springs...its beautiful....the sun is shining...we're right on lake hamilton...however, my house is, probably underwater, the levee in the french quarter has broke....i guess im kinda in shock..i have a few friends that didnt make it out of the city...im very worried about them...just thought id throw an update up here....ill write more up here later on today...god bless

the sky is falling!! the sky is falling!!!

So....a hurricane is coming....i have to leave....i dont know where im going...what im taking with me...i mean, its like, all thats important, not to sound too conceited...is me...although, i will definitely be taking a suitcase, with all the important clothing...and my tivo, you know, the stuff i simply cant live without!!! so, im going home to pack, board up the house, put everything im not taking in the shower(jason says its the safest place in the house!!), have a bottle of wine, and head out early in the am(4ish). The storm is projected to hit here in the early morning on monday.....this shit is scary...i mean, im really not good at handling situations that are out of my control...this one pretty much takes the cake... the projected path keeps changing from hour to hour, at this point, new orleans is pretty much gonna get slammed by this category 4(thats 4 out of 5) hurricane. I dont know how to handle this, on so many levels...what do i do to my house(jason's house)? How much do i take with me? I mean, it really is just stuff..but, still, i love my stuff... im pretty much freakin out....so...i guess i'll update tomorrow when i get wherever im going!! Pray for the best!!! Much love!!

trapped in minneapolis

So, tuesday morning i flew in to minneapolis on northwest airlines....this week so far has been awesome...among other reasons, a lovely escape from the humidity of n.o., a chance to visit with one of my closest high school friends(who is 6 months pregnant with her second child...the first is almost three)..a definite form of birth control..morgan is her name, and though the kid is smart and sweet as can be...she's definitely two!! Temper tantrums galore!!! Potty training(failed attempts anyway!!) provides plenty of humor!! Its been about two years since my last visit...downtown minneapolis has all the makings of a real big city downtown...plenty of bars and cute boys...plenty of quality shopping, ya know all the good stuff!!! So, im supposed to go home on tuesday morning...instead im stuck in limbo.....not that i have anything major to go home two...considering i pretty much quit both jobs before departing last week....we went to teppenyaki last night(wayyyy overpriced, it was like 30 bucks per person, nothing like japanese kitchen, back home!!!)the chef was doing his tricks when he grabbed an onion, attempting to do a trick with it, when it flew right down my shirt!! Luckily, id consumed enough sake that my face was already flushed, so my embarassment was masked by my drunkeness(i knew there was a reason i drank the way i do!!) Today the two year old wonder amused me to tears yet again!!!! I was commenting on the lovely day we were having, and suggested we do something outside i said"outdoorsy" she thought i said outdoors eat, her reply"doors dont eat janice..they just open and close!!" ok..the kids two...it was hilarious!!! Im now a fan of mn. and could possibly, maybe, be spending some time here this winter...maybe!! Well, ill write more when/if i get back to nawlins!! Peace!!!

Its just pizza

So....its been a week....lets see...last week was pretty cool...on tuesday night i met two cool foreigners...one from belgium, and one from jolly old england....we hung out late night tuesday and made plans to catch a live show wednesday night....after nursing my hangover for much of wednesday, and catching my new fave shows(in no particular order); "so, you think you can dance" my main attraction to this show is my own personal failure as a dancer.....i think its fair to say i had definite potential....then i became a teenager, and all the social distractions of this time in my life, seemed much more alluring than having to work and sweat my ass off everyday for hours on end....(had i stuck with it...i couldve been on this show, ok, maybe not, at the very least, i could be teaching, like my best friend....as far as money to be made in that industry....lets just say, shes never"struggling" in the financial dept.). the next two shows are both on the fx channel....rescue me(who knew dennis leary could be so freakin sexy?), and starved( a new comedy about a group of friends who all suffer from different eating disorders) we headed out to le bons temp roule to catch the soul rebels brass band. I had been to see them play at this bar only a couple times before....i will now try to attend more frequently....the most kick ass part of the show is the extremely intimate setting. i mean you're basically elbow to elbow with everyone, but still manage to get your dance on, and feel the music...after quite the long couple weeks of partying i decided to take the weekend off. I stayed home thursday through last night(after coming home from work) caught up on my tivoed shows(god bless tivo!!)and started packing for my trip to minneapolis...i leave tomorrow morning....i'll be there til next tuesday...when i get home i will, hopefully, be starting a new job....im so over both the g. clove, and nyp(on my last shift at nyp, a woman, over the phone, went ballistic on me, yelling at me because she said i was the most unpleasant person she'd ever spoken to. My reply? "lady, its just pizza!!!"). Well, i'll try not to have too much fun in the midwest...

me and my girl gretchen!!!
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a night out in nawlins!!
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the big city
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me and crazy gabe
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back in the dirty dirty!!!!

so...the modem on my computer shit on me...so, i have to use my wireless card...it doesnt work at my house....this is not an excuse for my lack of postage as of late...it is simply a tidbit of info anted to share....so, lets see...my last post was from b-e-a-u-tiful san fran. I had mucho fun times there with my aunt and two cousins....we were all over that place!!! I went to pleasant hill and hung out with my crazy ass friend gabe!! We went out in walnut creek, his crazy ass girlfriend got super drunk and got pissed off at him and took off!! Girlfriends!!! I called (cant believe i actually gave you a second chance, for you to turn around and blow me off again!!!)nate...and, surprise, surprise...he didnt return my call!! So, i guess the lesson to be learned from all his bullshit is....boys suck!!!! Not that i didnt already know that...he just pretty much confirmed it for me(for about the 50th time!!). So, i drove home sunday from san fran..but not before making the standard stop at the pro mac store....its frightening how easy it is to spend 200 on makeup!! I drove in to fresno for one last night with the homeys, then it was off to sac town monday to catch my flight tuesday....i left my new car in sacto. partly because i can only imagine how quickly itd get stolen or dinged up parked in the french q. and partly cuz i still gots the green machine here(she hasnt quit on me yet!!). I met a cool cat on the plane ride thats from new orleans...we had a couple hour layover in phoenix...so we just grabbed some brewskis and got to know each other...he's a bartender as well...it was cool to meet someone who could potentially be a new friend...i know what you're thinkin..but he has a girlfriend..and he's like 5'6, so that'd never work!!! Anyway, got home late tuesday....met up with my friend tim at igors...i didnt want to go home because the power got shut off....yeah, so...i stayed at tims...turned the power back on...and ended up going to visit my new friend at his work with my friend gretchen...we went out later that night...i ended up crashing at her house...and woke up tuesday morning realizing i had parked my car on a street cleaning street..yeah, i got my shit towed!!! On the second night home!!! Im a JACKASS!! Dont even ask how many times that makes it!! You dont want to know!!! No, seriously you dont!!! So, yeah, thursday was pretty much a recovery day....friday i worked at the g. clove...after work we all went next door to igors...i met a guy...we'll see what happens....not gonna get too excited...gotta set the bar low.....saturday my friend chris drove in from lafayette....he brought a couple of his friends....my friend gretchen came over with a couple of her friends, we all went out!! It was a kick ass time!!! Yesterday i went out to a free summer festival they have every year in honor of the great louis armstrong....it was sooo freakin hot and humid...but the music was awesome, so, although there wasnt a monetary fee...you could say you paid by totally wreaking at the end of the day....it was definitely worth it!!! Today ive just been hangin i dont work until thursday....im going to a couple new restaurants tomorrow..we'll see what becomes of that....oh, i just found out about this festival halloween weekend in vegas...the lineup looks pretty legit!! im definitely considering it!! check it out http://vegoose.com. Alrighty....hope all is well with the rest of y'all!!!