epilogue

so its been a year since the 'caine, and my road trip out to california. as i read over the entries, i realize, wow, a lot more happened than what i wrote and i wasn't able to post up the pictures, and it just kinda ended.

well, after the p-nix stay, i did make my way to california. i visited my best friend in san diego, and met her new baybay, Nico. so cute, so wierd that my friend has a baby. all those feelings of the crazy single girlfirend suddenly hit me. i'm in my 30's and the single friend. how wierd. but i guess thats my fate. i knew it all along. its just wierd when fate catches up with you.

then i drove up to the OC and reunited with my long lost cousin. amazing. she looks just like she did the last time i saw her, like 10 years ago. it was awesome to see her. and my other baby cousin, all grown up. last time i saw her, we were babies. well, she was. she's 23 and hot now.

then i went over to my new whole foods. everyone was so great and welcomed me with open arms. the store was small, and there was a family vibe like at good old ABS. so that was promising.

my california stay is best summed up with working, working working. a trip to IKEA that showed me all this cheap furniture that would have saved my last relationship, nordstrom rack goodies (woot blue cults!) and yum. Red Robin cheeseburgers with guac.

i had many a california moment. my favorite was some customer asking about what shampoo "tested best" meaning some guru of hers tested poos? ridiculosity. then she turned around, saw a friend, and was all "have you taken your wheat grass shot yet?!" definitely my first california moment that i didn't think really happened. wheatgrass? really? ok.

and there was all the crazy conspiracy theories about the hurricane that i got from customers: government controlling the weather, new orleans is such a den of distruction that it was god's plan, that somehow, the hurricane was racial. all kinds of good stuff. people are so wierd. and insensitive.

had a good awkward moment, one of the guys asked me if i had in and out yet, and of course, i'm all "TAKE ME TO IT" actually, the question was prefaced with "do you eat meat?" double the fun- sooo WF and soo california to have to always ask if one eats meat first. so we go, and i figure he's younger than me, talking about being in school and all, but when he asks "when did you graduate?" meaning....HIGH SCHOOL. holy crap. when he finds out my age, he says "wow. i'm young" so now i have to know. how old is this kid? "20" TWEN-TY nice. i can't even take him drinking. what am i to do with him? well, he is nice and well mannered. not a bad way to get some in and out. BURGERS. we are talking burgers here.
so that is when i fell out of love with the awkward moment. but he is a cool kid. we went out again, and i met him out at benihana, and i said,"meet you at the bar...or not. ha."

when i wasn't working, i was sitting in traffic. and hating every minute of it. it all finally hit home all those sayings of "you spend [insert percentage here] of your life in traffic" and all i could think of was how i could be doing anything else other than sitting in traffic. after missing a much needed hair appointment due to the hellacious traffic, and also an incident when the traffic made me so pissed/sleepy/tired/mad that i had to decompress at nordstrom rack, i knew i'd be a raging beiatch by the time i got anywhere, i decided that california, or at least the OC was NOT for me.

then it was my visit home to assess the situtation and to see family, friends and unfortunately, go to a funeral of a wonderful wonderful person. the minute i saw my friends, and went to the bar, i knew i would come back home for good. or at least till new orleans sinks. it was so good to see everyone, even though the city was unbelievable. the run, the floodlines on houses that are way way way above my head, the massive amount of flooded cars abandoned everywhere. little things, like on the drive in from alabama, all of a sudden, alll the trees were bent the same way. seeing all the blue tarps on rooftops from the interstate. the layer of flood grime all over everything. fences, walls, windows gone. abandoned, duct-taped up refrigerators out on every corner, codes spray painted on houses, "LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT" spray painted on houses, buildings, storefronts. luckily, i missed the stench. the city was quiet. so quiet.

then we roll up to my 'hood, and i see my house for the first time. the awning is gone, the roof is practically gone, debris everywhere, and the water cover gone from the sidewalk. inside, the house is musty, you can tell no one has been in the house in months. no refrigerator, D has kicked that to the curb too. so for the days i'm here, i've got a cooler for drinks. (alcohol, mostly). and hardly any food joints are open. there is a 2am curfew. national guard is everywhere. somehow i find it comforting. better than the NOPD.

but despite all this, my little neighborhood is flourishing. determined to come back. there is all this post-katrina love between everyone. people on the street greet each other in ways that they never used to. i think that due to the diaspora, people are extra friendly, b/c their groups have disbanded, relocated, etc, and everyone is reaching out to create new bonds and friendships. Oddly enough, it seems like there are many many more good looking people post-K than before the storm. lt's like only the cute survive. Darwinism at its best.

in a bar, i run into a co-worker of mine, who says that my WF is opening up in January. it gives me great excitement and i get in touch with my supervisors to let them know that whenever they are ready to open the store, to get in touch with me so that i can come back home to work.

so i go back to california with a new sense of knowing where home is. and no one is more surprised to learn that it is new orleans than i.

my time in california was not long enough for me to reconnect with all my old friends, but i made great new friends that i know i will keep in touch with and i hope will remember me as their crazy refugee. i think i definitely made my mark at the california store x-mas party, at least. and my store team leader did want me back when they open their new huge store. so i think i made a good impression.

my last night in california, my co-workers took me out and we had a great time. its always a shame when it takes the fact that i'm leaving to get everyone together to go out. the goings out is so much different out there. well, i guess everywhere is different than going out in new orleans. everyone goes out earlier, and 2am shut down. and a looong drive home.

my last day in california was sad, of course. leaving my cousins, my best friend from college, my new crew, who desperately wanted me to stay stay stay.

getting OUT of california was a fucking nightmare, of course. got a late start, missed an exit, got lost and CAUGHT IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC. holy fuck. my biggest fear was what if i had to pee!!?!?!?! there was no end in sight. finally i got out of there and on the road. free. free free.

the drive home was uneventful. no breakdowns, and i was just bookin it to get home in time for xmas.

well, there was one event. finally a good time in Albuquerqueeueueueueue. the only thing i can say is we left our mark there. [broken king sized bed, mmmhm]

i finally got home, got my new sexxy refrigerator (stainless steel, yo!) new bed, cleaned up and got back to work. seeing everyone from before the storm was amazing. and sad to know that a lot of people did not come back. but we got a new crew and it's special. the opening day of the store was exciting. customers were literally crying they were so happy the store opened. and i admit, i was excited too. that post-k love, and all that.
aaaand what happened the day after opening? power outage. quite the bummer. but up again the next day. so that was good. many people saw the reopening of the WF as the sign that uptown was back. and i can agree on that.

so now, a year later, the city is kind of coming back, nowhere near 100%, population is not what it used to be and there is a shift in population. the talk of the "latinization of new orleans" yes, most of my neighbors have been replaced with hispanic workers (i'm really tired of them whistling and staring at me). we now have a spanish channel on tv. all signs in lowe's and home depots are now bi-lingual. exotic dancers are making a ton of cash. yes. i thought about it. hell, i need funds for a new roof and to pay off the sexy fridge and new mattress.

mardi gras was awesome. so much fun. one of my co-workers from california popped up in town. i took him and his brother out and went to parades. whee! it was SO awesome to see him. yay Mike from dairy! and mardi gras day was so much fun. everyone was very very excited to have it, even though it was compressed into a week instead of the usual month.

so even though so cal wasn't for me, for the most part, i had a great time, and was incredibly glad i went. making the cross country drive was incredibly empowering, and i know a few things about myself now. best of all, i lost almost 30 lbs out there. food just isn't as good as it is here.
so home is home, and even though i'm now in my fat jeanses, i'm happy to be back.

till next hurricane season and new adventures! cheers.

grand canyon

grand canyon
Originally uploaded by lizvetica.

...and more grand canyon

grand canyon II

grand canyon II
Originally uploaded by lizvetica.

more grand canyon

grand canyon

grand canyon
Originally uploaded by lizvetica.

pic of the grand canyon. i know i should have spent more time there but you can't just pop through like i thought. i was running late.
it really is freaking huge and awe inspiring.

homecoming

so. tomorrow i go home. home for the first time in weeks. months even. when did the hurricane happen? August? jeez. its already freaking november? its been a long time since i've been in NOLA. its wierd. now that i've had to evacuate, i am very concious of being here vs. being there.

like, when i arrived in alabama for the funeral for D's mother. i was driving around all "holy crap. this morning i was in california. 5 hours later, i'm across the country in alafreakingbama." people are totally diffrent. my southern accent is kickin in automatically, ugh the weather sucks. and i'm not even in armpit nola yet.

and i never EVER thoght that i'd say this, but the food in alabama is better than the food in California. i'm totally eating my way through this place. cornbread stuffing! real gravy! SALT! food is SALTED here. crazy. i'm actually missing the 4$ calzones that i was getting every other day in Auburn.

my freakout continues. i'm not loving california. what if i don't like coming back to nola? where the heck will i end up?
i'll just transfer from WF to WF until i find a place that i like? will i be blackballed at WF as someone who transferres too much? gah.

i don't know what to expect when i go back home. i don't know how i'll feel when i walk into my house again, when i try to go out with friends, try to go out to eat, shop for a refrigerator, there's a curfew now. no more partying till all hours of the night. which is what i want to do since there is no partying in the OC. every bar is like in some town 45 minutes away. i'm used to 8 blocks away. hell, i'm used to across the street from work and my house.

but it's Soul Sista's birthday the week i'm home and i'm SURE we'll find something to do and somewhere to go out to. i'm very excited to see her and to be with her for her bday. she didn't think anyone was going to be around for it. yay me.

i also think that Pixel needs a dog. she does so well with other dogs that are totally bigger than her,and she loves the interaction. i'm a bit obsessed with getting her a corgi. i actually want a mini corgi. i don't think they exist, but that would be so cool. but i don't think i can afford another pup right now. not to mention that i'm sharing a 600 sq foot apt, so there's no room for another dog. even a mini dog.

D's mother's funeral was lovely. sad but beautiful. i'm so sorry that she is gone. she was so good for the family. but i think that D is doing well. he is up and down, as to be expected. its going to be a long time before he is ok. and who can blame him. i'm glad to be there for him.

costuming

so i have a costume party to go to this weekend, and my friend is going all out, and since i don't want to be the asshole w/o a costume, i had to go shopping for one on my only day off. ugh. i went to a huge costume shop and tried on all kinds of horrible cheapy cheapass "sexy this" costumes. if you thought bikini shopping was soul crushing, trying on a costume that was supposedly able to fit anyone from a size 2 to 14 and makes you look like the bee girl from the cover of the blind melon album cover, when it's supposed to be a cute witch costume is worse than trying on bikini's after a winter of homemade mac n cheese. 

 

so these are my costumes of defeat options:

wet t-shirt and go as a hurricane survivor.

get a cop uniform and carry around a walmart bag full of stuff and go as a NOLA looter cop.

duct tape myself up and go as a NOLA refrigerator. 

 

i'm leaning towards the nola looter cop, but people probably won't get it out here. and of course, since i'm a girl, and it's halloween, i'd ahve to go as SEXY nola looter cop.

 

By the Time i get to Arizona

Ah. the drive to AZ was really awesome. i really do like the western landscape. the huge mountains, the big sky, the rocks.
i really enjoyed this leg. there were a ton of hilarious little shops. one sign said "we have REDNECK FIGURINES!" i had to stop and pick out some little things for people.

the roadside attractions were getting better. Dinosaur museums. i hoped i'd pass the big dinosaurs that Pee Wee Herman did in that movie where he had to find his bike. i don't think i did, but there was a long stretch of road that did have big sculptures of dinosaurs by the side of the highway. they started out rather tame, but by the fourth or fifth one, it was pretty scary...big velocoraptor style dinosaurs taking down some kind of dino-prey and all bloody. i wish i could have taken pics of them.

So i'm on my way into Flagstaff, and i'm told that i can't not go to the grand canyon, since i'm right there and i've never been to it before. ok, i'm making decent time, so i tell my friends in P-nix, that i'll call them when i get to the GC and i'll see them later on that evening.

holy crap. how long does it take to get to the Grand Canyon? on the map, it looks like its *right there* crap. i'm feeling like a mix of Pee We herman (Again) all "wheres the Grand Canyon?" and like one of those stupid twats in a british chick lit novel, all "on the map, it looks like its so close to Flagstaff!"  5 hours later, and 8000 feet higher, i find the grand canyon. i have to go through a quaint little town, looks very ski resort and lodgey. 20$ to get in, and i just pull into the first lookout point that i come to. its already 4pm and the sun was kinda setting and it was getting late. so i take a few pics, mostly on my phone b/c my digicam's battery was dying. taking pics was hard b/c the sun was RIGHT in my face. i look very stressed out in the photos.

i have to admit, its pretty breathaking. and the weather was awesome. all cool and mountainey.

then i have to HAUL ASS to pheonix. i was impressed how my car did. i was running down mountains in pitch dark at like 90mph. i scared myself a bit b/c i was going so fast and it was so dark. AZ has laws against too many lights b/c they have so many observatories. finally i made it to my friends house.

that day was a good 12 hours of driving. 12 hours. i now know that feeling of "just drive! just drive!!!!"

 

Katrina should have hit Albuquerque

So i've never had a good relationship with Albuquerque, NM. my first 6 weeks of my hellish job sent me there, to the worst account my old company had. and i vowed never to set foot there ever again.

but i had to stay a night there on my way out to CA. it sucked. i roll up to the hotel, and it seems like things are going to be ok. the manager says that since i'm from NOLA, the Red Cross will pay for my room. coo. so he checks me all in, gives me my password to get on their wireless network, and i go. but ugh. my room is way in the back of the place, and all the rooms are open to the street. there's no indoor corridors. eep. AND i see a few cops searching the next door trailer park for something. a body? will my body be next? eeks.
not a good feeling.

so i decide to get some food and then lock myself into my room, and hole up. but fock. no wireless signal in my room. suck. suck suck. and the outlet by the bed is so bajiggety that the plug to my laptop keeps falling out, so i plug it into the outlet across the wall from the bed to charge up my laptop battery.
i eat my Sonic and watch Starsky and Hutch on cable. and by the way, there's hardly any tv channels. more suckage.

When i get up the next morning to roll out extra early, b/c i can't stand to be in ABQ one more minute longer, in my dazed state, i trip over the cord that is attached to my computer and my laptop falls off the bed and bounces around. OMG. fuck. my laptop. my lifeline to the internet. since i can't even get a good signal, i can't tell if i broke it. gah.

then i walk out to pack up my car and i see that it had rained last night. and i had left the windows of my car cracked open. so my seats were all wet. yay. i lay down shop towels and new little potty pads of pixel's on the seats so my ass isn't soaking wet during the drive. i know. classy.

so i go to check out and the night manger who said my room would be paid for by red cross wasn't there like he said he would be. there was some little old dude that had no idea how to do that. he said that they just keep a copy of my driver's liceense and i wouldn't be charged for the room. ok. then i head out to the little restaraunt attached to the hotel to get some ice for my travel mug, b/c i didn't get ice from the ice machine b/c it was waaaaaaaaaay far from my room. and i wanted out. so i go into the restaraunt and i just ask if i could please have some ice for my cup. She looks at me and is all "are you a guest of the hotel?" i say yes, i stayed here last night. She asks me for my free breakfast voucher. i said that i don't want breakfast. i just want some ice so that i can get on the road, and all that crap is in my car. b/c i want to get the hell out of this shitty ass place. she looks at me with suspicion and reluctantly gets me some ice.
for pete's sake. its just some ice. do i need to give them my voucher for that? ugh. i could not belive that shit. Finally, i roll out and leave that hellish hellish place behind. of course only here would i have so much shitty shit happen. i've never left for on the road in such a bad mood.

Good fucking riddance, ABQ. no. i don't want your fucking red. or green sauce.

yee haw

chillin in Amarillo, TX. i took a later start today b/c the drive wasn't too too far, and i didn't want to drive in the high heat of the day. but awesomely, there was great weather in OKC and all the way to Amarillo. the best thing about hurricanes is that the weather before and after is the best. cool and breezy and clear. i didn't even have to use my a/c for the drive.

unfortunately, i do have a seatbelt tan across my chest. yeah. i know. its hot. all the boys will want to get with me b/c of the big white diagonal stripe across my chest.

downtown OKC was nice. i found a coffeeshop where i could get some food that wasn't junk fast food. theres lots of large corporate art in downtown OKC. its very clean.

at the Love's Truck stop where i stopped to pick up a travel pillow for Pixel, and some shopaholic series book on cd [it is very scary how much i relate to this dang shopaholic girl] i got stopped by some old guy and his buddy b/c he pet Pixel and made some small talk. the guy is a contractor and is eventually going to go to NOLA to help rebuild.

At the next Love's i stopped at to get gas, the old guy and his buddy stopped too. they were also going down to Amarillo, and invited me to have a steak dinner at some crazy steakhouse that gives you the steak free if you eat the huge one. like 96oz? whatever. all i couuld think of was that movie "the great outdoors" with john candy and some random cute  boy actor i had a crush on and the only reason i watched it.

i was a little "um, i'm a vegitarian, so steak dinner is out, but thanks" while thinking of the bag of pork rinds i can't wait to break into in my car. but i'm not going to dinner with random truck stop old men. i mean, i still have to go pick up that charming hitchhiker outside of the indian reservation.

an aside: Love's Truck stops have good cheap gas, cheap cigs, and clean clean bathrooms, but they all have Subway's in them and they all fucking reek of the stank that is subway. its really gross. i hate that subway smell.

speaking of indian reservations. i saw a billboard for some car dealer or lawyer or some such vermin and the dude's last name was howe, and the billboard was his name all huge, and him standing infront of a huuuge statue of an indian with it's arm raised up. as in "how. me indian" wow. thats effed up.

just for my girl, the Noo - i TOTALLY passed a cornfield maze!! i saw the CORN MACABRE! i tried to take a phone cam pic, but i would have died trying to take a pic and drive.

then i came across something scary. a HUGE white cross rising up from some field. i mean HUGE. it made me think of that random steve martin movie where he was a hack preacher guy. the huge ass cross really freaked me out. i don't even think it was for a church.

for my bacon lovers...you know who you are. i passed one of the big names of bacon's bacon making plant! it was very exciting. i think it was bar-s? the one that comes in the red package. and the billboard before it said "BRING HOME THE BACON" aww yeah. i REALLY wish i had been able to take a pic. but again, i would have died trying to drive and pic, and couldn't frame the shot as i was speeding past. i really did try for this one. if there was an exit for it, i would have gone and tried to take a tour. or get a paper hat.

so actually, this drive was interesting. well. more interesting than previous drives.

i roll into Amarillo, and i see the monstrosity that is the massive steak steakhouse. its like a casino. and its on my hotel room key. maybe i'll keep this one. and no. i didn't go and meet up with old dudes. i settled for pizza delivered to my room.

i do love how the city of Amarillo spells the name with a little pair of cowboy boots for the "L's"  dammit. i do wish that i was able to get my awesome Dan Post boots with me. they are quite possibly the sweetest pair of shoes i own (wonderful gift from D) they rock so hard i feel that i may not be worthy of wearing them. well, thats not true, i got the Chip N Pepper jeans that i rock with them. aw yeah.

and what up with putting the ethernet plug behind the tv? my cord is long, but it doesn't reach all the way up to the back of the bed so i can lie in bed and soak up the internet. so i moved the couch from the wall to right in front of the tv and i'v been on it since about 6pm when i rolled in. the last hotel i stayed at rocked, b/c it had wireless. well, it didn't rock so much b/c it wasn't a suite like this one, but whatever. i had wireless and i laid in bed and got my internet on.

travel tip- find the longest ethernet cord they sell and take it. moving around a hotel couch isn't fun. and they don't vacuum underneath these bitches.

tomorrow? Albuquerqueueueueue new mexico! i fucking hate that city b/c the name just keeps going on and on and i don't really know or care to spell it right, and i was also stuck there for 6mos for my first IT assignment. they gave me the most fuuuuhhcked up account for my first assignment. and i was damn tired of hearing nothing but "red or green?" every time i ordered food. do i REALLY have to have chile sauce on my food? even if its just toast?  i mean its good and all but on *everything* meh. oooh but i can't wait to get some sopapillas. i'm getting hungry. mabye ABQ won't be too bad after all.

ugh the next two legs of my drive are the tough ones. i need good luck to make it though.
but i'll leave later in the day so i'm not driving in crazy heat, and i get to sleep in. rahoo for 1pm checkout!

treading water

Anxiety sets in.
Still in Dallas, hurricanes seem to be following me, as there is a big hurricane coming at Texas. it's definitely not coming up here, but everyone is evacuating far in advance, due to the clusterfuck that was katrina in NOLA. so traffic is insane, even up here and the alarmist gas reports are making people crazy and gas stations are running out of gas.

it looks like i'll have to stay here till the hurricane is over with, and hopefully, people won't be evacuees up in oklahoma, b/c thats where i gotta go next, and it is right in the path of where it will end up, so i have to wait more, since i don't want to be driving in crazy thunderstorms.

today, i woke up really afraid to drive through the desert. i know that i've fixed just about every major thing on my car, but i just am gripped with fear of breaking down in the desert. i can't stop though. i have to go on and whatever happens, i'll make it work. i've done it so far, and i can do it again. i'm not taking the huge drive on I-10, i'm going I-40 up through OK, NM and AZ. and each jog is about 6 hours each. so its not so bad, but there is one stretch of hwy between Amarillo, TX  and NM that even on my triptik says "no gas or services for 165 miles" WHY THE FUCK NOT!?! argh.

i think today the anxiety of this enormous situation is finally getting to me. feeling nomadic, and non-centered. its not a great feeling.
my funds are beginning to run a little low, due to the car repairs, and i've got to get to working and get established in california. Can't someone just teleport me out there?