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The proverbial shit hit the equally proverbial fan almost three years ago. It was the first time Dr. A and I and had ever evacuated and, like a dumbass, I’d set our house alarm so early in the morning on 8/29/05, my cell phone rang. The operator said our alarm had gone off and they couldn’t reach the police.
“There’s a hurricane,” I said a bit exasperated.
“Really? We’ll try again later.”
“No need. The cops have their hands full.”
I assume that the operator eventually heard of our little problem and stopped calling NOLA 911. It was down for quite some time for some obscure reason…
We were lucky and all that had happened was that a tree limb grazed the roof of our house, which set off the alarm. We were even luckier in the long run since we live in the sliver by the river. It didn’t matter much to us as we watched the water race into the rest of the city: we were pissed and took it very personally.
Three years on, some things have gotten better and others have stagnated. Most of our elected officials are still dolts, fools and poltroons but there’s been a groundswell of activism from the citizenry that have given us a few rays of hope. Of course, y’all know that already since you read Humid City; the megaphone for a man who doesn’t need a microphone, Loki.
The best thing that happened to me post-K started in late December of 2005 when I began blogging. Initially, I had about 44 readers all of whom had known me for years or were part of my rather untidy extended family. Then a funny thing happened, I discovered during Mardi Gras that there was a group of NOLA bloggers who started leaving comments on my posts so I began reading them.
The first blogger I got to know well was the late, great Ashley Morris. We traded comments, jokes, insults and emails. Ashley was also the first NOLA blogger I met in person. It was primary election day 2006 in Orleans Parish and Ashley invited me to stop by to drink beer and gossip about music and politics two of our shared passions. I did and it was love at first sight. Maybe not love but a close friendship was formed until he left us last spring. Nah, it *was* love, I still miss him. He was a great guy and an even better mime albeit a self-loathing mime. I’ll always owe him for inducting me both into the NOLA blogger cult and the Cult of Lafcadio aka the Krewe of PAN.
Shortly thereafter, I met Dangerblond who stopped by my shop and was disappointed that I wasn’t a tough talking Greek sailor with tattoos up the wazoo. Frack you too, Blondie. My wazoo is very delicate…
I met Oyster and Maitri at what was a proto-Geek dinner at Shane and Becky Landry’s house. Ash and Kim were there as well and Oyster was upset that I didn’t insult him enough. I think I’ve made up for lost time since then although I’ve never told him that he reminds me of teevee’s Lurch…
I first met the Joseph Smith founder of Humid City at the inaugural Geek Dinner. He was racing about like a crazy monkey; talking a mile a minute, smoking cancer sticks like a fiend and trying to cook Jambalaya at Alan Guiterrez’s sweat lodge in the Quarter. That was the night that I was able to put names to some of the faces of the NOLA bloggers and formed friendships with the more tolerant among them: Mr. Wet, Bart, Ray, Lisa, Schroeder and the gentlewoman from Georgia, Sophmom, to name but a few. I also met my arch nemesis, the Malaka from Nebraska, Michael Homan but you gotta take the bitter with the sweet,. I had no idea what an odd little man he would turn out to be but his wife and kids rule as well as rock…
The geek dinners and odd meet-ups spawned the Rising Tide conferences. It’s always a chaotic process to help organize the event but it somehow turns out well. It’s like being a teenager or something: you gotta have zits before you grow up. Shameless plug time: RT III is around the corner. Not only will you hear the original Rising Tider, John Barry, but you’ll get a chance to see Lee Zurik’s eyebrows in person and ask Gambit’s Kevin Allman the pressing question: which brother do you prefer, Duane or Greg? My money is on the dead rock star. Register and/or donate early and often.
When Loki asked me to guest post at Humid City, I insulted him and then accepted. It’s the way our friendship works. I’ve always enjoyed reading the eclectic folks who post here, to paraphrase The Wizard Of Oz: pirates, Lokis and bears, oh my. Loki is part jester, part carnival barker and all energy. Just thinking of his schedule wears me out so I’ll close by thanking Loki for the guest post shot and go back to my usual stand.
I lied. I gotta repeat my new mantra one more time: pirates, Lokis and bears, oh my…
Posted by Adrastos: http://adrastos.blog-city.com/
(For a complete and updated list of all Blog Carnival Posts visit this page.)
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l) n. - collective noun used to describe a group or gathering of bloggers. Usually accompanied by libation, conversation, and strange paranormal events.