This one's about the Big Easy.

     I just got back from New Orleans.  We made a family trip to watch the Pirates play the Ragin' Cajuns in the New Orleans Bowl.  I don't feel too bad about the loss because the Cajuns earned it, and I don't really care that much about baseball anyway.  I can't say that out loud, however, because the woman and child were crushed by the loss--they are both rabid ECU fans--and would keelhaul me for my lack of emotional commitment.  Hopefully they don't read my blog.  Anyway, I thought I'd write a little about the town.  I've been there before and I have enjoyed every visit.

     If you ask for a Bloody Mary you will get pickled green beans in it, which actually works with the drink quite well.  A lot of places will also leave the heads on your shrimp but that doesn't even slow me down, since I grew up in Wanchese and can pop heads with the best of them.  The evidence of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is sill obvious everywhere you look.  Despite the ongoing struggle to rebuild, or more likely because of it, the people of New Orleans are extremely kind and welcoming, eager to share their hospitality.  They were also gracious in victory.  Not a single person was rude or obnoxious on the two mile or so walk (straight down Poydras Street) from the Superdome to our hotel.  The Cafe Du Monde still serves the best beignets on the planet.  I did not have the cafe au lait with mine because real men drink hot chocolate (that is Rule #23, in case anyone is counting).  'To go' cups of whatever booze you happen to be drinking is the rule when walking around the city, they don't mind as long as it isn't glass.  Despite this New Orleans (they pronounce it "Nawlins") has a lot less litter than any other large U.S. city I have been to.  You can hire a horse-drawn carriage for a pleasant tour of the French Quarter, only they use mules instead of horses because horses can't stands the humidity of those Gulf Coast summers.  You can get all over the place by walking if you are the depraved sort that likes that kind of thing, but the public transportation system is extensive, reliable, and, especially in the case of the trolleys, quite pleasant.  And you really should use the IRT, driving in the Big Easy is like driving in New York or L.A. or Chicago--sort of like NASCAR, with less safety equipment.  Or, to put it another way, not quite as bad as Italy.  Crap, I forgot to talk about the music.  The city is inhabited by it.  No matter where you go it winds though the city, just like the Mississippi River.  What I like best about New Orleans (after the music and food) is that every time you turn a corner you bump into a piece of history.  There are parks and monuments and beautiful old buildings that each have their own interesting story to tell.  There is never enough time in one visit (probably not in a lifetime, either) to get your fill of the place.  That's why I always love going back.

     I could go on, but I expect y'all get the idea by now.  It was a pleasant trip and we all had a great time.  U.S. Airlines screwed up our return tickets and booked me on a separate flight from the woman and the child so I had to sit in the airport for a few hours.  The airline had overbooked every flight they had, apparently.  I met a great many disgruntled folks who had been bumped in this fashion.  I can only imagine it will be worse today and for the next while.  What is it about the holidays that  causes a sort of mild brain damage in airline booking agents?  I changed planes in Charlotte both ways.  I have been on choppers that were bigger than those planes.  I suppose I should just be happy they didn't make me help wind the rubber bands. 
     
     Next time I go, I think I'll see if I can go by boat.

     I just got my membership badge and key (as well as a couple of guest passes) to the PCWC (Pitt County Wildlife Club).  It's a lot more than a gun club and I'm very happy to become a member.  I really like the Club, it is a nonprofit organization and it, or more properly, the folks that constitute it, do a lot to promote firearm safety and education.  I'm also a huge fan of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, as I think everyone should be, since it's the one that makes sure we get to keep all the rest.  Of course, nobody has to have guns if they don't want them.  You don't have to like them, either.  Just don't mess with my right to cuddle and fondle them as much as I want.

      (You can find out more about the PCWC at http://www.pittcountywildlifeclub.org/)

     Which is where we often tend get off the trail of democracy in America, I think.  It seems like a bunch of folks out their think that their 1st Amendment right isn't s much the right to free speech as it is the right to tell other people what to do.  That is not what the framers of the constitution had in mind when they wrote that document.  It is the opposite, in fact.  Instead of using their right to vote as it was intended--casting their ballot in whatever political direction is in their own best interests, so that if their best interests are in the majority, they get those interests seen to--many people seem to have gotten the idea that their vote is a tool to be used to decide what is good for everyone else, so that if they can get enough intolerant people on their side they can oppress whoever or whatever they disapprove of.

     The vote to ban gay marriage here in North Carolina (in May of 2012, if memory serves) is a shining example of this.  What goes on between consenting adults in their bedrooms is no business of mine, and certainly not the government's.  If two people want to get married, their gender has absolutely zero impact on my life or the lives of my family members.  I can't see a negative for two people in love being allowed to formalize their bond.  If anything, the world would be a slightly better place, since two people just got happier.

     Guns get that kind of treatment, too.  Every day someone is killed by a drunk driver--but nobody tries to outlaw cars or booze.  Well, outlawing booze was tried once (if you don't know how Prohibition went, Google it).

     I have a suggestion: let's all try a little less self-righteousness and a little more minding our own business.  Our nation was founded in a revolution because the people didn't like being told what to do.  That is what we are, at our core.  Or at least were.

     When did we forget that and become what we fought so hard to be free of?

I have my fingers crossed.

     This happened a few years ago, but I figured I'd mention it today.   Two guys in the U.K.--Kelvin Borbidge and his friend Daniel Knox-Hewson--decided to change their names.  They are now known legally as Emperor Spiderman Gandalf Wolverine Skywalker Optimus Prime Goku Sonic Xavier Ryu Cloud Superman HeMan Batman Thrash and Baron Venom Balrog Sabretooth Vader Megatron Vegeta Robotnik Magneto Bison Sephiroth Lex Luthor Skeletor Joker Grind, respectively.
     They say that there is someone out there for everyone.  Maybe Princess Leia Rainbow Brite She-Ra Powerpuff Barbie Wonder Woman Smurfette Batgirl Raggedy Anne is right around the corner, waiting for them with her friend Supergirl Strawberry Shortcake Snow White Pocahontas Betty Boop Sleeping Beauty Cinderella.
     If so, I hope that the Mayans were right.