Another Botched Road Trip

Gee... what's going on now?





Why is that police car driving the wrong direction...





A mobile home fell onto the Beltway?? For real??





More detours... sigh...

And we're going out again this weekend, the same exact route, with the husband in the car.

Too tired to write tonight, but I did take pictures...

Road to Nowhere...

I hardly ever go anywhere, especially during rush hour traffic. I'm usually pretty lucky when I do, though, I'm normally going against traffic, and I know the back streets to take, I drove downtown and back daily for years, no problem. I can go all over town in a couple of hours normally. I had some errands to run today, the first of which was to pick up our taxes from our accountant on the far west side of Houston. Being me, they closed at 5 pm so I left the house around 3:30 (that's early for me).

My list was to make a swing past several places that close earlier than I'm usually out - check on a new box of contacts I ordered almost two weeks ago, make a bank deposit, pick up some steaks for us and my parents at Omaha Steaks, get some more shampoo and some hard to find facial moisturizer (I'm after more of the Clinique CX stuff), I had my list and I was off...

First stop was at the optometrist because it was on the way to the freeway. I'm on my last pair of my normal strength contacts, which makes me nervous, so I ordered a new box when I put in the new ones, but for some reason they hadn't arrived when I checked at the end of last week, they had to be in by now. First freak bad luck of the day - no, they were part of an order that had gotten lost and had been reordered, they might come in later this afternoon. Crap, I don't want to go another weekend with no backup contacts and mine are almost at the two week limit, so I left my cell phone number in case they came in with today's shipment.

So I drove around to the back of Meyerland mall and made a deposit at the ATM, and then jumped on the 610 loop heading north to run across town and pick up our taxes (at i-10 and Dairy Ashford for anyone that knows the city). According to Mapquest it's a little over 19 miles from my house and/or 25 minutes (at 3 in the morning I guess). I was going along nicely till I noticed one of the flashing signs that read 'freeway closed at Memorial Dr.', which was two exits before where I needed to to turn off onto I-10. A few seconds after I read that I came up over the overpass just before the Galleria and.. everyone was stopped. So I did what some of the other idiots were doing (I was in the right lane, though) and just got off at Westheimer, I'd go ahead and get my steaks, there was a store on the corner of Westheimer (and one in the area I was going to in West Houston), so maybe traffic would be cleared up in a few minutes (ha!).

So one successful errand marked off the list, with three boxes of steaks in the freezer bag in my trunk, I headed north again. And everything was just stopped. Not the normal afternoon rush hour(s) traffic jam, something really bad. OK, I went up the feeder to the next intersection, and there were cars stopped on the next entrance ramp too. So I decided to make a u-turn and head down one of the westbound streets and bypass the whole two freeway interchange. Happily for me I had grabbed a new CD I'd just gotten in the mail from Amazon on the way out the door (the original Nena self-titled German CD, I always had the English version), so I'd get to listen to it while I waited in traffic. And waited. and waited.

After about half a dozen light cycles, I made it under the freeway. People were backing up on the feeder, stopping in the middle of the intersection, preventing us from crossing. That should have been my first clue something was really, really bad in the Galleria. And then I sat, and sat, and there was nowhere to turn off but residential streets and into business parks and I am not at all familiar with the back streets on San Felipe, I inched along with everyone else, surrounded by construction, concrete barriers, passing overheated cars and just thinking 'Oh my God, what the fuck is going on??" alternating with, "my husband is never going to believe the traffic was this bad".

But he called (I was afraid to pick up right away, this was just too crazy), and left a message that there was some sort of huge mess on 610 and he 'hoped I had avoided that area'. Good, at least it wasn't just me. So after the fourth playing of my Nena CD, and inching along about three miles I gave up and called him back and told him I'd try again tomorrow, and headed south down Voss. At least I got my damned steaks.

The news reported there was a fiery crash on the West Loop earlier in the afternoon involving an 18-wheeler and four other cars. Don't I have the best timing? But at least I was alone in the car. I would have rather have my cat in the car with me (bouncing off the walls and yowling, she hates riding in the car) than my husband, he would have just gone bananas. I spent years sitting in traffic, and I know sometimes it's bad for no apparent reason but I don't think I'll be going to the Galleria area for a while... And yet another reason I love shopping online.

I have to make another attempt to drive out and pick up the taxes tomorrow. I'll be heading out the opposite direction, straight west to Beltway 8, hope nothing happens that direction. And I'll be leaving a few hours earlier, just in case. And bringing a different CD to listen to. I really like 99 Luftballons but I think I'll be having nightmares in German tonight.

my rear view mirror... and this was on the way home in the good traffic...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Beautiful People

I went commando grocery shopping last night and hit four different places and got four very different slices of life. I actually brought my new little mini camera with me and I wished I could have snapped actual pictures of some of the scenes that registered in my brain, but I didn't want to be arrested. I'm a shy photographer, unfortunately, unless I'm at an event where photography is expected. At my local Sam's Club, though, besides looking like a bit of a pervert, there is also the concern that my brand new little candy apple red camera might be stolen also.

I hate grocery shopping, I used to actually order food online back when we had a service that would do that and it was wonderful. I don't really mind getting the little things, but hauling cartons of soda, gallons of water and 12 packs of toilet paper gets old really fast. And it fills up my cart and my car.

I started out my evening expedition with Sam's Club first because I had four prescriptions to pick up and their pharmacy closes at 7 pm, and I didn't leave the house till 6:40. (Yes, I hate people like me also, but at least they were called in way ahead of time) The Sam's Club we use is the one across the street from the Astrodome, which is also probably the busiest and most ethnically & economically diverse one in Houston. There are several others that are only a few miles further, in nicer, safer neighborhoods, but I like the Dome one. I can drive 2 or 3 miles and jump on the freeway against rush hour traffic and I'm there. And I get to drive past the Dome. I used to get to see Astroworld also, but it's being dismantled to build high-rise condos, and all I can see of it after dark are some beams jutting over the fence that are the remains of the big roller coaster and an occasional bulldozer. So much for childhood memories, memories are all you're allowed to have growing up in Houston, nothing lasts more than 20 or 30 years max.

So I arrive just in the nick of time, so close I didn't even dare stop to pick up a shopping cart on the way in, I just ran straight across the store to the pharmacy to grab a place in line before they turned the lights out. There was only one person on doing double-duty as pharmacist and cashier, poor thing, but she moved as efficiently as possible and I managed to get my $140 worth of prescriptions (I don't have any insurance) and then I had to trek back across the store to retrieve a shopping cart for the half other dozen things I also needed, several of which were frozen. I can't hold anything cold, my hands go numb in about 30 seconds. A man of what looked like Middle Eastern descent sat at one of the picnic tables, scarfing a pizza down with a palette parked beside him stacked above my head with canned drinks and pre-packaged foods. A grinning little Hispanic girl dangled upside down from the handle of a shopping cart like it was a jungle gym, her long black hair streaming out beneath her.

I found an abandoned cart near the check out lanes and started off back across the store to get my packing tape and frozen items. Sam's is not a place to go when you're in a hurry, or if you have difficulty walking as I do, but where else can you buy six pound bags of meatballs? I'm usually one of those people who is in a hurry, though, and navigating the clumps of families stopped to admire the giant bags of potato chips and cases of green beans without hitting anyone with my cart is always a challenge, but I have many years of experience from working in retail environments so I'm actually very good at it.

I got my meatballs, frozen hamburger patties, my box of little deli spirals hors d'oeuvres that I've been snacking on lately, a six-pack of mailing tape for my Ebay packages, a party sized box of croissants, and a box of Prilosec in a huge plastic package, and packed all the cold stuff in my little thermal storage bag in my trunk and headed off to my next stop.

But first I had to get to the other side of the freeway, which doesn't sound difficult, but we have a new Metro light rail train that runs through the intersection I have to cross coming and going. After about five trains came through, (which is one of the reasons I brought my camera, see below) I finally made it through the left turn light and shot onto the freeway.

I actually planned my errands in a sort of a circle, but the exit ramp I needed was closed for construction, so around the loop I went back north towards the Galleria, exiting at Bellaire Blvd., where some sort of major police activity was taking place because half of the Bellaire PD had turned out with lights flashing on the other side of the intersection, but I was turning so I didn't get to rubberneck.

My next stop was Whole Foods in the middle of the very yuppie, very nice upper class Bellaire/West University part of town, which are actually little incorporated cities within Houston. In Whole Foods all is peaceful and polite, voices are kept low and no one races through in a hurry. Not everyone is wealthy, most of the employees and many of the customers are working class, even the expensive cars in the parking lot usually have at least one bumper sticker (John Kerry for President is the most common), there is even an occasional homeless person hanging out in their eating area, but you feel very safe shopping there. The sheriff's officers that guard the store are very alert.

My shopping list for this store consisted of two items - a dozen bottles of Tazo Iced Green Tea and a new bottle of Bach Elm Flower Essence (helps you when you feel overwhelmed by responsibilities). It's very easy to get distracted in Whole Foods, so I headed straight for the tea aisle. I buy a dozen bottles at a time to get the big 10% case discount and also because they're hard to find in stock. Some sadistic stocker had moved them to the very top shelf, though, so an employee (who was as petite as I was) had to hand them down to me from a stool.

Then over to the vitamin section to get my Flower Essence. I am one of those people that actually uses homeopathic remedies (in additional to my 'real' pharmaceuticals) and they seem to help. At least they make me feel like I'm doing something positive, who knows. I decided to get two different ones, I already had a full bottle of Rescue Remedy and of Olive (helps you when you feel utterly tired both mentally and physically), so I stood there for like ten minutes reading the descriptions on all of the bottles. I would have bought several, but they're $13 a bottle. I only had to fend off two helpful salespeople, they are accustomed to people standing and staring at their shelves with a glazed look. I settled on Mustard, which helps you when you get depressed without any reason, I actually have reasons to be depressed but figured what the hell.

Knowing I had two more stops, I purposely avoided the bakery and their wonderful (cold & perishable) desserts, and went straight to the checkout, where I was actually called over by a clerk who could take me right away, and had a sacker that packed all of my bottles in little individual bags.

Then it was back to my neighborhood for the last two stops. Our two major neighborhood grocery stores, Kroger's and Randall's, sit facing each other across a freeway. They used to be pretty much the same in style and patronage, then Randall's upgraded their furnishings, flooring, became a little more gourmet, dimmed the lighting, added a Starbuck's, a bigger Kosher section and put themselves in the slightly nicer category. The prices are about the same, but you feel a little classier walking through Randall's. The crime stats seem to be about the same for both stores, though. I've been at Kroger's when a woman was robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot, and arrived at Randall's just after an elderly woman who refused to let go of her purse was dragged to death behind a van.

Kroger's does have one thing that Randall's doesn't, pre-popped popcorn in bags (my husband's nightly snack), so I went there first. I also had hoped their customer service would still be open because my car plates expire in a few days, but no luck. I'm more familiar with the layout of Kroger's, so I got my popcorn, some Ritz sour cream & onion chips for me, Starbuck's latte, then filled up the cart with bottled water, 12 packs of toilet paper, boxes of kleenex, cereal, and all the bulky things I usually can't buy in multiples. They had no Diet Mountain Dew for Sparky, though, that stuff goes fast for some reason. Then I grabbed a few small things, just in case Randall's didn't have them - a bag of cat treats, a bottle of contact drops, and on a whim, a tube of Preparation H, which I've never bought before, but I've been having some problems lately so it seemed like a good thing to have around.

The shoppers were mostly very typical of the neighborhood. The store sits on the edge of several older, established neighborhoods, and is bordered by some rather dangerous low-income apartments. There several women pretty much like me - middle class, 30 to 40-ish, with ponytails, jeans and sweatpants. There were a few men the same age, shopping alone, wearing yarmulke's. An older man moved out of my way as I came around the corner, but he didn't move far enough and I had to actually say excuse me to avoid bumping him because he was standing between two carts and apparently had bad depth perception.

Usually I grocery shop a little later in the evening when the more raucous groups are shopping, but tonight it was very quiet. My little slice of Southwest Houston (from South Main up to the Westpark Tollway) got a big chunk of Katrina evacuees from New Orleans (around 23,000 people), and I've noticed they tend to be more nocturnal than most Houstonians, grocery shopping late into the night, and hanging out at the 24 hour Walmart across the street like it was a social club after everything else has closed down for the night. But that's one of the things I love about New Orleans, is all of the night people like myself.

There were actually two checkout lanes open, later in the evening there is usually only one, and I got in line behind a couple of cute little teenaged girls who were buying their two or three items. They had no sense of grocery store etiquette and one of them stood in front of me ogling the magazines instead of moving forward as her items went up the belt, so I just started unloading my bulging cart right in front of her. She didn't move. Toilet paper, kleenex, popcorn, water, Starbucks's, crackers, cat treats, contact drops... oh hell. Come 'on, girl, move forward. Oh good (quickly stuffing the hemorrhoid cream in the middle of the bags of popcorn).

Somehow I managed to put everything neatly into the cart, but the sacker just could't put it back together again, he's stood there looking at it like it was a Rubik's cube, trying to balance heavy things on top of light things, and then finally gave up trying to sack the last few items. Whatever, it's all going straight into the trunk, just give it to me...

Then the final dash back under the freeway to Randall's to get the fresh foods. They have a better bakery and, for some reason, much healthier looking produce. The store was virtually empty, I got a parking spot right in front of the Starbuck's entrance (closed for the evening, though). I browsed through their little gourmet foods section near the entrance, then onto the bakery where I bought way too many carbohydrates. And for some reason every time I go to Randall's I feel like I have to buy a slice of their German Chocolate cake. It's some sort of masochistic thing because I really don't like it that much, just the top layer with the coconut, because it's usually filled with that oily brown icing, but I have to get one and I'm disappointed if they don't have any. On through to the produce to get salad stuff and hamburger fixings, and down the aisle to the canned goods looking for mushrooms in a jar.

At the end of the aisle stands a male model - tall, dark and handsome, just a little too well dressed, looking over the display of imported olives. And as I reach the end and am trying to make the corner, I'm blocked by his girlfriend - even more overdressed in her acid washed jeans, expensive heels, leather jacket and carrying a very large, very tacky handbag with the word Prada emblazoned across the front in huge letters. Well, at least he's not gay. I'm wondering what these very spoiled, screaming wealthy, beautiful people are doing in this neighborhood. Maybe they need olives for their martinis, the man has a little hand basket with nothing in it. The woman looks like someone dressed her and carefully blew her hair straight for a society event, very casual chic. The guy looks like he gets regular manicures. Neither of them even looked up at me as I almost ran over here with my cart trying to take the corner without knocking over any of the floor displays. She didn't even move as I scraped the wheels of the cart sideways, just stood there smack in the middle of the aisle.

Normally I would have given her an excuse me, but I was afraid I'd laugh out loud. No, I don't hate you because you're beautiful, maybe because you're extremely high maintenance, but I do dislike you because you're so obviously not in touch with reality or anything that is happening around you. We have a lot of beautiful people in Houston, but you don't run into them in grocery stores very often, especially in my neighborhood at 9 pm.

I got my soda, and went to the far end of the store for the dairy section, where I stood searching for 2% milk among lots of unfamiliar labels (I usually get my dairy stuff at Kroger's), and our of the corner of my eye I see a hand reach out past me and grab a carton of milk off the shelf, then holler across the store 'I got the milk'. I turned to see a young teenage boy with long greasy hair, his arms pulled out of his oversized shirt, wearing it like a poncho, go skipping back across the store. Yikes, I must be tired, I didn't even hear him coming.

He and a gaggle of other odd looking teenagers, and what looked like their adult guardian were buzzing around the checkout like bees when I got up to the front, laughing and shouting and bouncing around with way too much energy. None of the checkout lane lights were on, so I pulled up behind them only to have the checkout person shout out 'I'm closed' as he waved me on to the next lane, where two cartons of ice cream sat on the end, just off the belt. Should I move them? No, I just started unloading my cart around them. About half way through, a young black woman wandered over and plopped a couple of items next to the cartons of ice cream. Whatever, I already had a bunch of stuff unloaded, she lost her place by wandering off. About that time I was up, and handed the checker my discount card and said loudly 'paper please' to the sacker, and hurriedely finished placing the rest of my items on the belt.

Somehow I had managed to collect another basket full of grocery sacks, and pulled my cart out into the parking lot, dodging the speed bump and opened all my doors and trunk to awkwardly stuff the new backs in with the other three store's worth of items. I pushed the cart behind the car next to me, and then when I'd gotten in and closed my door, I noticed the car when I went to grab my seatbelt. It was very sleek, very new & shiny, well maintained and I recognized it as an obviously imported German Mercedes two seater. A lot of the execs at the department store I used to work at would display their expensive trophy cars on the ground floor of the parking garage in the reserved spaces created just for them.

I guess the male model would actually have to touch a shopping cart to get his car out. I didn't put it there on purpose, I was just too tired to push it all the way back to the ramp and onto the sidewalk. But it did make me laugh out loud again as I backed my car out and headed home.

Sony DSC-V3 Test Photos

walking around the house, snapping things before i've actually read through the manual...

In Camera Heaven... Two New Sony Cyber-shots

Since I had some money from Christmas & my birthday, I broke down and replaced my digital camera, I'm preparing the old one to sell on Ebay. I'd wanted a faster camera with higher resolution for awhile now, and had actually picked one out but when I went to check it out on Sony's website this week, it was already gone and had been replaced by a really bulky looking camera with only 5.1 mp as opposed to the 7.2 mp camera I had already picked out. (And an even bulkier 10.3 mp mega-camera that looks more like a camcorder for twice the price) The improvements were supposed to be a 'Super Steady Shot' image stabalizer and a 12x zoom.

Not wanting to buy old technology, I read through all the reviews and specs I could find for both cameras and decided I wanted my original pick instead of the 'new, improved' version. Then I went price-hunting and found that I could actually get two cameras for the price I had estimated for one, and ended up getting two of last year's models because I've always wanted a little camera to carry with me in my purse, and my cellphone camera sucks big time.

So, off to Amazon.com to spend my birthday money. Since I make my living taking photos of things to sell on Ebay, I felt I could justify buying a new camera, and it's a tax write off also. I picked a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V3 for my all-purpose work camera, and got a little Cyber-Shot DSC-P200 (in red!) as my travel camera. My last camera (a Cyber-Shot DSC-S85) has been a fabulous camera, I love my Sony cameras, and they keep getting better each time. The menus and controls on all three cameras are pretty much the same (thank you Sony!), so I could actually pick up both of the new ones and play with them right out of the box. (Some test photos with the V3 are in the next entry) And both are a whopping 7.2 mb, though the zooms are only 4x and 3x.

All three cameras take the same memory sticks, and the two new cameras use the same battery. But most of my old accessories won't work with the new ones, so I'm going to have a really nice package of accessories to sell with the DSC-S85, batteries & charger, 3 closeup filters and more. With the new cameras I also bought - an extra battery, two more memory sticks (1 gb and 512 mb), a new memory stick reader for the heck of it, and new cases for each of them. When I received everything, though, I decided to use my old big leather case for the DSC-V3, the new case I bought for it was too cramped, though it fits my old camera perfectly so it's going with it. (Love the case for the smaller camera, though)

And when I got both cameras, I realized that neither came with a battery charger (just the AC adaptor), so I had to buy one of those also. Warning, the V3 didn't come with a memory stick, though the P200 came with a tiny one. After playing with the macro on the V3, I decided to get a closeup filter and adapter for photographing jewelry and tiny things. The DSC-S85 had a slightly better zoom than the newer ones. But they're both faster and both have the nice plus of having built-in lens covers. My cat will be disappointed, she had some sort of vendetta against my old lens cap and would bat it off my desk whenever I wasn't looking.

I've been reading over the manual for the V3 tonight, trying to tame the auto-focus for closeup pictures. It has infrared, holograms and all sorts of fancy things. Another reason I thought it was ultra-cool was it has a night mode for focusing in the dark and even taking photos in the dark (look ma, no flash!). The greenish picture of my cat in the test photos was in the night mode, she hates the flash so it should be fun to play with.

Now I have to go through the book for the small camera. No night mode but it's smaller than my cellphone, yippee!

French Quarter Shower - NOLA Friend Closer to Returning Home

A normal day in the French Quarter...

I spoke with my poor gypsy friend today, she only had a cell phone to communicate with and last time I spoke with her she was trying to conserve power because they had no electricity so I haven't called her in a few days. Turns out they were only out of power for like half a day, and Rita didn't damage her grandmother's house, which is where she, her husband, her baby, three cats, two cousins and now her brother and grandmother are all currently staying. Her mom and her aunt and uncle are still holed up in Shreveport with no word on whether their Beaumont home survived the storm or not. She's hearing that it may be possible for them to return to New Orleans soon, another brother of her's is actually going to fly in from Germany to help repair her mother's flooded house, he's an all around handyman guy also, which will be much needed because getting a contractor to do anything in New Orleans in 'normal' times is difficult enough.

On a good note, her baby is getting used to being driven all over the state and sleeping in different places constantly, so she apparently has her mommy's adaptability genes. For some reason my dad always marveled over how "adaptable" I was as a child when things went differently than expected, but I think I was just the peacemaker and hated to see anyone argue. I'm not at all adaptable compared to my friend Mary, she has so much stamina and has that Creole "life goes on" trait to the max, I really admire her for it. She's been learning to be a mom while having to travel with a newborn across two states. She and her husband are great travelers, though, Sparky and I are not. There are a lot of places I want to see... but the comfort of my home is very hard to leave. We both love our home, just give us our electricity, cable TV/internet, AC and running water and it's hard to find a reason to leave.

Some friend of ours in North Houston lost their power for four days, and got a lot of tree damage from the winds, they live in a heavily wooded area. They said it got so hot in their home that five of their fish died. We had actually anticipated losing our power at the very least, possibly the water also, but our neighborhood was virtually unscathed. There are rolling blackouts around the Houston area, which combined with an abnormal heat wave, is making life hell for a lot of people here.

I ventured out of the house tonight to drive to the ATM and make a deposit and took a quick tour of our area to see what was open. It looked like most businesses had opened back up, but I know a lot of them are still very understocked and understaffed. My dad is buddies with the manager of our local Kroger's and he told him that they tried opening up on Sunday for part of the day but had to close the store early because they were basically mobbed and ran out of food. I'm very glad I managed to get at least the basics (which thankfully didn't spoil from a power outage) so we still have milk, eggs, bread and way too many cocktail croissants (from Sam's Club). I noticed people were still driving semi-hysterically, and there were a lot of people walking (people won't walk here) so that was a little weird.

But we're already making our list of things to still get for the next storm, and there is a brand spanking new one brewing already. Can this one please go somewhere else, maybe to Mexico? Just give us a chance to pick up a little, get everyone back home and drain New Orleans again?

A disturbing theory about the New Orleans levee break had been rattling around my head, nothing is too strange to be true these days, and I did a Google search and apparently I'm not the only one who this grotesque idea occurred to.

After listening to the horsie man testify today, I'm about ready to believe anything about these evil bastards.
And I also heard tonight that for some strange reason that even though Governor Blanco asked for emergency assistance for the entire state, that Orleans and Jefferson Parishes (i.e. New Orleans proper) were not included on the President's emergency declaration, curiouser and curiouser...

One more note, FEMA ran a Hurricane exercise (Hurricane Pam) last summer anticipating a storm surge topping the New Orleans levees and their own report says they would have the situation all under control.

Royal Street Shop - Rational Thought Not the Answer

Comment on yesterday's post:

Eek -- that article about the Pope chilled me to the bone. I'm sure it's because the idea of it is in itself a revelation, so to speak; it rings so true, makes so much sense -- despite all rational thought to the contrary.

The time has come, perhaps, to abandon all rational thought.

That's what we have come to... this is one of those situations that the emotional and illogical James T. Kirk must solve... Spock's logic is obviously not working. Maybe there is a great vampiric monster that feeds off of chaos and despair, just sucking up the emotions of the world. But so many in this world, especially in America, have just become emotionally dead instead of panicked and paranoid. Your mind and body can't stay on high alert forever, eventually you just go numb. I didn't use to be a conspiracy theorist but I've even wondered if maybe they put something in the Viagra, or the Prozac to numb us all, muddle our thinking and keep us quiet while they raped and looted the world right in front of us, and told us not to believe our own eyes and ears. That everything they're doing is "for our own good" and is necessary.

I'm a very literal, logical person.. I'm a Capricorn. I've always been that way. I'm not comfortable with high emotions, they fray my nerves and drain my energy. When someone does something seemingly irrational, I can almost always think of some motivation to explain "why" from their warped perspective. A lot of violence is motivated by anger, which often comes from fear. One of many reasons I thought I'd be good at law enforcement was because I could view things very objectively - dissect the emotions from the action and see past the immediate distractions. My Aquarian husband sees things through his emotions first, and always from his own point of view. He takes everything personally, and thinks other people react the way he does. Not a lot of grey in between. His perspective is actually the norm for most people, and is usually not the best way to deal with problems. I've spent my life seeking out the grey areas, but now I'm beginning to focus on the black and white ends of the spectrum, it's the only way I think I'm going to remain sane.

Sorry... I'm rambling. But the more I analyze the world of today, the more I'm realizing that the mess we're in right now really is a matter of black and white. And not skin color, but just basically good and bad. And the bad is going to destroy the white and all of the shades of grey if we don't do something to stop it. And it's so obvious what is going on. We need to believe our eyes and hearts and shut off the nagging voice in our heads that says "no one would let people starve... let people die... kill people... just for money and power". Yes, apparently they would.

The German people thought "no one would commit genocide in these modern times", but they did. As long as we keep believing "they wouldn't really do that" they'll keep doing it. As long as we let them. What have they got to lose? We need to refind our sense of righteous indignation and self-worth and learn to just say NO, you can't do that. And ignore all the distractions they are throwing at us to confuse and disorient us, just focus on the elephant behind the curtain.

And stop believing just because someone on TV says something is right, it must be (they must be smarter than us - they're on TV), when we KNOW it's wrong. We need to stand up for ourselves and not just nod and say nothing when we disagree. We still know what is right and what is wrong, and if we keep saying nothing and "going along" it won't make it better, it will just keep getting worse.

Voodoo Shop - or Is He Just the Antichrist?

Mural on the front of a voodoo shop, I believe this is Island of Salvation Botanica

OK,, if they're not evil cyborgs, the only theory that makes sense is...

... George Bush really is the Antichrist and is here to bring on the end of the world.

Apparently he's competant at something. I mean, really, he's got all the money, all the power, what else can he possibly want?

Hmmm, if he can control the weather, maybe that means Texas will be safe...

Wow, even the Pope suspected...

Childhood Memories Royal St - Cyborgs from Mars?

I've spent the night editing the scans I did the other night of my extra New Orleans postcards, I have over 50 of them... this one brings back memories of visiting with my parents, looking at it fullscreen just made me want to cry...

And the only logical theory I can think of to explain the insanity that's going on in our country is...

...the Neocons are actually evil cyborgs from Mars that are here to take over the planet.

No actual human being could behave like this during a time of such crisis, even accidentally.

Lime Green Shotguns

Royal & Esplanade Photo - There's a Rock in my Stomach

Royal at Esplanade Street -- click image for larger view

OK, I think the digestive problems I had the other day were not caused by food poisoning but by an accumulation of nerves and stress. I have a hiatal hernia and my entire upper abdomen has been swollen, painful and feels like there is a large rock in there, especially when I am moving around. I haven't had problems much in that area lately and I'm trying to remember what the hell to take for it. I used to take a generic anti-spasmodic called Hyoscyamine (sp?) but I think when I went to the doctor for my physical last I got a version with Belladonna in it, which I took once and had head to toe hives afterward so I dunno... It's been hurting for three days now, I might call my stranded friend and see if her husband can call me the old prescription in... I hate to bug him for something silly like that, but he's helped me out with antibiotics and things before.

Speaking of, I haven't talked to my friend Mary today. We tend to be late night chatters and I hate to think I'm going to wake up her baby, husband, and other relatives by calling too late. She's been mostly using her cellphone, but since her former household is all in one room now I think I'll let her call me.

I made a grocery store run tonight, we were starting to run out of "important" things like Sparky's Diet Mountain Dew and popcorn. And I was down to one minibag of Watermelon Jelly Bellies, my current sugar addiction. I actually like the Buttered Popcorn flavored ones better, but the little kiosk in my grocery store has only had Watermelon, Cinnamon and now Licorice (and several little multiflavor bags, I may have to get one of the Tropical Asst. next). I've falled off the sugar and candy wagon again... I'd like to start drinking again but I've been having too many bladder related problems and really don't want to deal with that right now.

I went to the store after dinner because I had to get some DVDs up on Ebay if I want to have any money at all this weekend (my commission people need to be paid), and I didn't get hardly anything done this past week. The store was full of unfamiliar faces, and a few yuppies trying to get their stuff and get out as fast as possible. I have to admit to one actual moment of being a little worried when a group of black teenagers got a little too excited in the back of the store, which I was headed to. They didn't sound violent, just way too excited to be in a grocery store at 10 pm on a Monday night. There were lots of young people shopping tonight, not at all the normal clientele. And some of the young men who worked there were discussing an episode of someone being robbed for flashing too much money, nice...

Last week's shopping trip was actually much more dangerous, and that was several days before the storm even hit. A young woman was robbed at gunpoint while I was in the store shopping, and because the way the place is laid out (it's a huge maze after a recent remodel, bad idea guys), all I could hear was someone screaming and cursing and them a lot of banging around. When I got back up towards the front of the store, I saw a young black female bodybuilder that I had passed earlier (she was beautiful, you had to notice her), pacing back and forth at the front of the store, screaming into her cellphone, and there were some displays of bicycles and things laying on their sides in her wake, which would explain the crashing sound. I had to sideline one of the sackers to escort me out to get the story of what actually happened.

I got an escort out tonight too. Besides feeling like crap (I had to load and unload all of the groceries once already), Sparky had heard some stories from the convenience store in our neighborhood that they were going to such extremes as not selling money orders after 4:00 pm for the safety of their customers and themselves, because there were a lot more people than normal walking around the area. So as my sacker is helping me out the door, and I'm trying to balance the cart (I stuff as much as possible into it each time, I hate to grocery shop) three police cars with lights and sirens fly down the street, in a huge fricking hurry. When I was a few blocks from my turn-in, I saw where they all were... right at the end of my street, great. There must have been eight police cars, two ambulances and I'm sure some wreckers in the melee, I turned in a few blocks early because it appeared the street was blocked in both directions. They were all out there for about an hour, so it was probably an auto accident.

There's just too much drama, I hate drama. I could live the rest of my life without any more drama, but there's just no way to avoid it. I think I'm going to channel some of my energy into ransacking my wardrobe and looking for things to give to charity. It looks like there are a few clothing donation centers that aren't too far away that I can give clothing to the hurricane victims, Star of Hope and Goodwill. I used to give to the Houston Women's Center a lot, but they stopped accepting donations directly. Purging with a cause makes me feel better, and I still have a lot more clothes than I wear working at home. I've given several cash donations to the Red Cross, Noah's Wish, the Houston Humane Society, and the Houston Humane Society (which I give to fairly regularly anyway), every little bit helps.

NOLA Gallery - Old House & Quarters

Too braindead to write tonight, I also just realized I have about 60 New Orleans postcards that I need to scan and put up on Ebay... another "haven't gotten around to it" project. Someone bought one from me tonight and my brain said, oh yeah, they've suddenly gone from dirt cheap to valuable. And now I've started looking at NOLA postcards for me again because so many are being thrown out there (I have a huge collection already), it's a vicious cycle...

NOLA Gallery - Royal Street at Night B.K.

Royal Street at night.. click on the image to see the larger photo in a new window


I have lots of photos of New Orleans (B.K.) that I've taken over the last few years that I've been meaning to put up on the New Orleans page of my main website, so I'm going to post some here just to give myself something positive to do. I've also been meaning to change the focus of the page away from Anne Rice and more towards New Orleans in general. I haven't read an Anne Rice book in years (nothing personal, too busy), and the annual parties are (were) mostly very small private affairs that I did not attend. And Ms. Rice has finally moved away from her beloved NOLA (did she know something we didn't?).

People write me occasionally to ask me what to do, where to go in New Orleans, and want details on the disbanded fan club, but alas, I don't live there, I'm just one of the many people who worship the city. I grew up going on vacations there with my family, went there many times as an adult to visit, attended quite a few of the ARVLFC balls, and my best friend (who grew up in the area) moved back there at the turn of the century.

It's always been my dream to live there, I figured I'd probably move there when I was older and my family in Houston no longer needed me. I even considered joining the police department back during a solo 1989 trip, but the salary was so low it wasn't really a practical option.

To those of us who grew up on the Gulf Coast, this is our 9/11. Except imagine the buildings burning for days on end, instead of hours. People stood in the gaping, broken windows for five days, pleading and screaming for help... At least they have finally cleared the Superdome and Convention Center, that was just too heartbreaking to watch. Especially when celebrities and news crews didn't seem to have any problems getting in, but the government seemed to be completely baffled, as if they had never seen water before.

I've been listening to Cassandra Wilson's Belly of the Sun on repeat this evening, Songs like "You Gotta Move", "Darkness on the Delta" and "Shelter From the Storm" are even more poignant and moving than usual.

And an added note, before Sparky went to bed he was flipping channels and we saw Celine Dion's hysterical outburst on Larry King (I think she was also one of the few that spoke off script in the 9/11 concert, I'm not a fan, but I admire her heart), and Kanye West's complete comments from the Friday night Hurricane Concert. (Poor Mike Myers) But I must disagree, Dubya doesn't just hate black people, he hates all Americans (except the very elite, and those in the Federalist Society I suppose).

Christmas Eve Snow in Houston

Wow, it rarely snows here in Houston, but all day we've been getting little flurries that seem to finally be sticking to the ground a bit now that it's back down to freezing again. It's very pretty but I'm glad we're staying in tonight, ice on the ground is one of my least favorite things.

Here's a couple of pics I managed to snap in the dark tonight as it came down. As you can see, the kitty is fascinated, she's never seen snow before. And to all a good night...

Maxima Photos!

Pretty new car on a blazing hot day... and I got to keep my custom plate frame :-)

Thunder & lightning

Lots of rain, hail and lightning today, and the power actually stayed on!

Fearless Phoebe enjoys watching the storm rage in nice, dry air-conditioned comfort.

Red Hair!

Well, I finally got around to going back to get my hair cut and the color redone (it only took me 4 1/2 months, that's actually pretty good for me, last time it was like five years). I knew I wanted some red in it and I knew I wanted it shorter for the summer. I haven't had it cut above shoulder level since I was in elementary school (first grade?) and got sort of a pixie cut, which was actually one of my favorite haircuts of all time.

I've made it all sorts of different colors before, usually on my own (except for my purple cellophane phase, a pro had to do that). I showed my stylist a picture of a girl who (to me at least) looked like she had really dark auburn hair, and he went and mixed the color and then let it set, but I could see in the mirror it was looking really red. Which wouldn't be a problem, but I wanted a dark red because the bottom half of my head is still pretty much black. So he rinsed it off, and I ran to the bathroom before returning to the station, and saw in the mirror it was REALLY red, my natural color had just soaked it up (gulp).

When I sat back down, I told him I was afraid it was a little too punky (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but the dark bottoms and lighter roots made my fine hair look too thin. He cut it some, dried it, we went and walked around with a mirror outside, and yep, it was too bright and too light.

So he trots out more color, semi-perm this time, a dark brown with a bit of red, and I sit under the dryer while it penetrates and second try, much darker. Then I let him go to town on trimming, my hair grows fast so by August I know it will be back where I started again, and he trimmed it almost into a long shag. I wasn't allowed to look while he styled it, he sprayed a styling aid on it to straighten it first and then he went to work with the straightening iron (I actually happen to own one myself, yea me!) and when he finished it was super straight and shiny.

I was naughty and made him trim it back from my face some, even though it looked really pretty all feathered, I wish I could have taken a photo before he trimmed it back but I knew it would have bugged me. It's so hot here in the summer I really wanted to get as much hair away from my face as possible.

Then I spent more money shopping in their candy store full of hair products, got the spray he used, and another bottle of my favorite MOP conditioner (really good for fine hair), and a heavy duty weekly-type conditioner just because I think I need one. I've been using their MOP products since my last haircut in January and he said my hair looked like it was in really good condition today, last time the stylist told me it was very dry, so apparently organic really is better than my normal Pantene stuff ;-) I have a basket full of hair care products under my sink, probably because I'm never happy with it. I really like the last two cuts I've gotten from Pope Hair, though, which is amazing because I've spent up to $75 for a cut at some of the trendy salons here in town (with pictures of the local new people up on the wall even, ooh...) and been disappointed (especially after I washed all the gunk they put in it out). If you can't get a decent cut for that much money it's kind of depressing. I'm not big on styling products, I don't like hairspray and gel (and I wash my hair at night), all I want in life is a decent cut to tame my poor fine, frizzy hair. I am trying to make myself use something to keep the frizz down on a regular basis because I live in windy humid town.

So here are the new pics, for some reason Sparky can't take a picture of me that doesn't look like a police lineup shot, which is partly my fault for having no makeup on, but I really do like the all red pic of me and Phoebe (he had his thumb over the flash).

Happy Anniversary to my Parents!

56 years ago today my parents got married and have managed to make it through raising two less than perfect kids and putting up with each other's quirks. I'm not sure if Sparky and I will make it that long, but it's a nice thought. The photo above is from their wedding day and the more complimentary one below is soon afterwards. Handsome couple, don't you think?

Halloween Kitty Pics

Some photos of Phoebe taken at Halloween...

Halloween & RHPS!!

One more postdated entry

Every Halloween for 12 years now we've held a huge party at our house, which is fun, but stressful since I do 99% of the planning, I'm not cut out to be a hostess. But all went well as usual, there were no messes or accidents, everyone had fun and the costumes were inventive as usual. It's sad when the guests have better costumes than the hosts, though I did actually have a real character costume this year and wasn't just the "spooky pale girl in black who might or might not have fangs". I'd been wanting to do Magenta from Rocky Horror for years and had been too lazy to do it, but this year I actually did it. It's really an easy costume for me because I did her for years at the RHPS weekly midnight shows and I sort of look like her (maybe it's because we're both Irish).

Years ago I actually handsewed really elaborate custom outfits for Magenta and Columbia, but eventually sold them at garage sales when it became clear I probably would never be tiny enough to fit into them again. I had a black satin and lace dress, a sequined Columbia outfit, and a gold lame and black vinyl Magenta "space" costume. In my usual last minute costume rush I went out a few days before the party and ran through Walmart looking for lace and remnants to sew white collars and cuffs, to put straps on the apron I had that I had used 20 years ago, and to get some dark blood red lipstick. I went to Sally Beauty & Walgreen's and bought some super strong hairspray, shampoo to make my hair curl even more than usual, some spray on red haircolor, fake eyelashes and a new thing of Almay Mascara.

I never buy makeup at drug stores because I'm really picky and like to test everything and have super sensitive skin (and expensive tastes in the few cosmetics I do wear). So of course, the lipstick was all wrong. It looked great in the tube, but when I tested it, it was a hideous pink-purple color. So, the night before the party I decided to go to the mall and get some proper lipstick and look to see if I could find a better shirt skirt combo than the one I was planning on wearing, maybe with a white collar on it already. I was going to drive to Memorial City Foley's because they have the best selection of makeup and I wanted to look at MAC, but it was getting late, traffic was bad, and so I thought I'd be brave and try the new Galleria Foley's. I managed to find it, and park in a decent spot, but alas they had a lame selection of cosmetic brands compared to MC so I ended up with Prescriptives Plum, which is really a fabulous dark blue-red, almost Vamp dark but sheerer.

I did my usual speed shopping and ended up finding several tops with white collars, snatched them up, and then found a hideous black dress on the clearance rack that looked interesting. All the tops looked too flimsy, but the dress was near perfect. It buttoned up the front, had short sheeves, was the right length and made of a heavy cotton befitting a domestic. It was a little tight buttoned up, but since I was doing Magenta, I wouldn't be buttoning it but about halfway so then it was find.

Ran home, then we went to Sam's and the grocery store to pick up food for the party (pre-cooked food, yea!), and stayed up all night finishing arranging and recording the music for the party. The next day I got up and basically sewed the collar and lace onto the costume till about half an hour before the party was supposed to start, then spent the rest of the time on my makeup and hair. I washed my hair earlier and let i mostly air dry, so it was properly frizzy and curly. I found out that spray on haircolor is really difficult to use (kept getting round red spots which wasn't what I wanted). But it all came together nicely, and people actually knew who I was supposed to be, which was fun for a change.

Here's some pics:

Kitty Photos!

Finally the promised kitty photos, including her pretty pink nail caps!

Posted by Morticia at 03:07

Bizarro Shopping

Photos from our travels around town this Saturday, the Art Car Museum, and creepy carnival & religious antiques.

Posted by Morticia at 00:35

Goddesses In lieu of verbal creativity this chilly evening, I'm putting up more photos. Two colorized in Photoshop, a plaque in my kitchen and a 50's TV lamp, and a lovely maquette figure of Wonder Woman who oversees my desk.

Scary things

Beginning of the new photojournal, just some scary things from around the house. These will open in new windows, haven't figured out how to make them chromeless yet within the confines of a weblog... too much script.... head hurts...

Update! By jove, I think I've got the chromeless thing figured out, what I actually wanted was just a pop-up window to display the images. Don't know if it will work in Netscape, or with older browsers. Check out Kali's Web Shoppe to play with this, it's a lot leaner scrigt than my GoLive generated. I'm still in awe, there must be a catch I'm not seeing, it can't be that easy.

Alice Cooper & Super Furry Animals

Warning, I have really diverse tastes in music. About the genres I won't listen to are country and rap. In an effort to drown out the soundtrack to Barbarella (playing in my husband's room), I'm listening to these tonight:

Super Furry Animals Rings Around the World. This is the third album of their's I've bought (one is all in Welsh, haven't been able to get into it yet), but they are one of the hardest to describe bands I've listened to and are really in a weird class by themself.

Saint Etienne So Tough, a very early album of theirs. A British retro eclectic type band who has inspired me to check out other bands that have been labeled as "similar" by music reviewers including the wacky Japanese band Pizzicato Five (more on them later ;-)

The French equivalent of SE is Autour De Lucie, I'm listening to Faux Movement tonight. Really excellent French retro type pop band.

Garbage's Beautiful Garbage is in the mix just for fun. All of their albums are incredible, great driving music I discovered on a recent seven hour drive to New Orleans.

And because I was discussing Alice Cooper with my best friend on the phone earlier tonight, Welcome To My Nightmare, which I can listen to just about any time. I've been debating doing Alice's makeup for our Halloween party this year, I could be his younger sister. I have long dark wavy hair, a long Roman nose and deep set eyes. It really scares the hell out of my husband, who claims he doesn't really want to be married to Alice ;-)

(scary pic of me in the dark, with no makeup at all... even scarier)

I think I can pull it off, don't you? At least I won't have to wear heels during the party. I was Elvira last year, the heels are a pain on hardwood floors.