Hey Everyone!
I'm sure you've been wondering how the move has been going. I was pretty worried since I didn't know a single person who lived in or around the area, but thus far it hasn't been nearly as bad as I had feared.
Things I have loved so far:
I walk everywhere here. The grocery store, the drugstore, drinks, clothes shopping... you name it, I've walked to it. On weekdays my walk/run total miles tends to land at about 7 MILES, with my weekend totals somewhere between 12 and 15 MILES. My legs are tired but look awesome, and my clothes are fitting rather loosely but that isn't even the real benefit. The real benefit is that I feel much "closer" to the city than I did 2 weeks into Houston. I've always been a tactile learner, so I think being able to explore on foot has given me a greater confidence that I know how to find my way to different places.
People are all really friendly/ are more laid back. The number of meaningful and pleasant casual interactions I've had with the people around me has really increased. I think that part of this is that having a doorperson and the car valet to interact with on a daily basis has made me better and interacting with service people (they are usually more than happy to have a nice conversation and aren't resentful about service work under most interactions with people who are pleasant to deal with). But more than that, I think people are less rushed and just more inclined to be friendly.
- THE SHOPPING. OHHH EMMM GEEEE.
THE MUSIC. Today, after a run with my dog I got a takeout salad from a corner market and walked over to a park to eat, knowing there would be live music and that it would be awesome. And there was, and it was awesome.
THE DANCING. In Houston, the options were two-stepping, which while fun was not accompanied by music I want to listen to all the time and was accompanied by the sort of people who are quite likely to call you "missy" or worse "lil' missy" sometime during the evening, and ridiculous crotchgrinding nonsense, for which at the tender age of 25 I am about a decade too old. I've been swing dancing three times here already, none of which took place at a YMCA or an event specially organized for the purpose, but which instead occured at normal places where one goes to hear live music.
R2 LOVES THE MISSISSPPI RIVER! We've been running along the riverwalk, and there is a staircase to the river at one location. R2 keeps getting overheated, so usually she takes a dip in the river when we get there. Initially, I wasn't quite sure about this.... it isn't the most sanitary looking thing. But, she loves it and hasn't gotten sick yet so... it is probably fine??? (Obviously you should let me babysit your kids, because this is my attitude about the same kind of thing with children as well.)
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| Now that's a hot dog! |
Things which are not so great:
- My commute to work. It is long and boring.
Increased hobo density. Not density of the actual individual hobos you understand, just more within the same size area.
Increased drunk person density. As mentioned, I live about 2 blocks from Canal Street, and maybe three blocks from Bourbon Street, so even under normal circumstances that would be a lot of drunk people to deal with even during the day. BUT there are no open container laws (they just don't allow people to walk around with glass bottles) which means that most restaurants and bars serve alcohol in "to-go cups" so I'm within the wandering radius of people who have been drinking for a while and are still drinking.
Things which are neither good nor bad but instead just interesting:
The number of times I've been called "Baby" in my life has been multiplied at least 10-fold. Part of this is due to the aforementioned swing dancing. It is too loud to actually talk to anyone, but apparently one must at times say things to a dance partner, so I have been "babied" a lot. Also, if you ask someone for directions, or whether they take credit cards, or your dog licks someone's leg, the someone is going to tack a "baby" on the end of their reply or remark. Example: "That's a very pretty dog you've got there, baby." I'm not at all a fan of being called "baby" in a relationship, because of gender politics, but I've come to be able to deal with it in normal interactions. Also, both men and women are called "baby" in normal interactions with the same and the opposite gender. Its rarer in male-male interactions ("man" is the usual for these, rather than "bro" thank goodness), but I have heard it go down between two seemingly heterosexual males.
Last week I drove through a town called "Westwego" which was apparently named that because it used to be a big hub for cargo trains. People riding on the trains would write "West We Go" in chalk on the outside of west-bound trains in order to help their compadres. Pretty much all the trains were marked "West We Go" headed out of New Orleans, so the train riders and then the rest of the population eventually came to refer to the surrounding town as "Westwego" which is pronounced "West-WEE-go" with the emphasis on the "we." I can't stop chuckling about this for some reason.
That's all for now!
Pricer
