Bringing the Drama

After Deke and Bobby went back inside to broadcast on the radio, they announced anyone wanting to enter the Best Dressed or Hairy Legs contest, please come to the right of the stage. I had to fight my way over to the right of the stage. It was still ridiculously packed. I got to the stairs and had the lady see me so she’d pick me out of this throng of guys in dresses.
Once I got on stage, everything seemed a little disorganized. There were about 20 other guys on stage with me, but they didn’t really divide us between the two contests. I pulled my socks down so people would see why I should win. They had people go to the front of the stage because I think they were judging by crowd reaction. One of the ladies in charge looked at me and my legs and told me I’d be a finalist. Guys would go to the front of the stage, then step back. Slowly but surely they were eliminated. They hadn’t asked me to go to the front yet, so I thought the hairy legs competition would be coming up. I was going to stay up there until they asked me to leave.

Finally I got motioned to go to the front to show off my wares. I did, and my friends in the crowd had summoned help from people around them to cheer for me. Unfortunately, I did not make the finals of the Best Dressed, but I was still staying up there until they told me to leave. One of the ladies came up to me and told me she had something inside for me, and to stay up there. They announced the winner of Best Dressed, and the lady came up to me again, and said “follow me inside, we’re going to put you on the radio.” I motioned out to my friends about the greatness that was happening.

The lady told me to grab her hand and stay close. It was still crazy packed. We made our way through the crowd, and since I was with the radio lady, I got past the security guard. They had me wait near the table that was being used for the broadcast. I thought they would eventually give us microphones or something, and ask us a couple of questions.

I was going to thank my dad for the hairy legs. Sadly though, I never got the chance. They took my name, and the name of the guy who won Best Dressed, and said them over the air, so that was cool. My parents heard it. When they said my name, I turned and waved to the people in the restaurant. It was all kinds of awesome. The lady gave me a bag full of stuff from one of the local Saints shops. I wanted the plaque that the other guy got, it even had Hairy Legs on it. I think they only got one plaque though, and it did say Best In Show, so he got that.

We left the restaurant and got a picture at the Andrew Jackson statue to add to my collection. Then we made our way to Fleurty Girl, where I met THE Fleurty Girl. She asked to get a picture with me, and then she tweeted it! She’s like a real celebrity with all the local and national interviews from the cease and desist selling WHO DAT shirts thing. (or so I have learned this week) My sister was able to buy a shirt she’s been wanting. Afterward we went and ate at this BBQ place called Squeal where they had the most amazing corn grits I’ve ever had.

I have told this story over and over since Sunday. I keep thinking how incredible it all was. I was expecting a lot of guys to show up and march and all, but the amount that did blew my mind. The amount of people who turned up to watch was just awesome. The crowd was so happy. Everyone was having such a great time. I’m so glad I did it. I can’t wait till Sunday. WHO DAT!

(I divided the story into 2 parts, both parts will be posted today. Part II later this afternoon)

Last week, Bobby Hebert announced that there would actually be a Dress Parade to honor the late Buddy D and celebrate the Saints going to the Super Bowl. Later on in the week, I called my friend Jacob, who’s probably one of the only friends I have on the same level with the Saints. I asked him if he wanted to do the parade. I thought it’d be fun. We agreed. He called me Saturday, and we nailed down more plans and particulars. It was on.

Saturday night, I went to the local Goodwill to get a dress. I went through the entire rack of dresses and found two black dresses. They were pretty much the same style, so I was just going to try them both on and go with the one that fit the best. The tags were ripped off, so I had no idea what size the dresses were. It was obvious one fit better than the other, so I bought it. When I went up to the counter, the lady said “you must be going to a party”, to which I said “no, I’m going to be in the Dress Parade tomorrow.” The people around the counter laughed and encouraged me to have a good time. The dress was $5.43 total, not bad. I stopped off at the store and got a 12 pack of High Life cans, because I knew we’d need beer and I thought we’d get in trouble for having bottles. I was going to use a couple of the reusable shopping bags to split the beer between me and Jacob.

The next morning I went to early church and listened to another boring sermon. On my way home I stopped off at Academy and got some black soccer socks. I got home and threw on my dress. Since it was going to be cold, I put on my long sleeve compression shirt that I wear for running, and some compression shorts. Then I put on a long underwear shirt on and some boxers. I did not want to have to wear a coat or anything, I wanted to show off the dress!

We got downtown about 11:35 or so, and parked across the street from the Holiday Inn. We were having to wait for Jacob, and I had to go to the bathroom, so we walked across the street to the hotel. I walked into the waiting room type area, and walked past three guys who were just wearing long skirts over pants. LOSERS! That’s when I knew I had done the right thing, and the apprehension I was feeling disappeared. They saw me with everything on and I could tell from the look on their faces that they wished they had gone all out like I had. Yeah, I was working it. My sister nicknamed me Sassy Sally.

We walked over to the Dome to meet up with Jacob. There were so many guys out there, and more impressive was the number of people who came to watch.

We walked down the street doing the Who Dat! Chant, chanting Buddy D, Black and Gold Super Bowl, etc. It was amazing. The first block or so I must have said “this is awesome” 20 times. Everyone was laughing and yelling and waving. There were tons of people on both sides of the street taking video and/or pictures. It was crazy. Some of the guys took the dress wearing a little too far IMO. One guy readily admitted he was wearing a thong underneath. One guy took our picture, and then tells me “if you’d have shaved this morning, I’d be turned on”. I told him “I’m glad I didn’t!” The guys in makeup were also kind of weird.

When we made the turn onto Carondelet, there were still tons of people. It was almost as if the amount of people increased. I high fived a girl for wearing a Scott Fujita jersey. This one guy was filming and says “this is going on youtube”, so I got in the camera shot and yelled “What up! Youtube! Who Dat!” I have no idea if it’s actually anywhere yet, but I’m in a video somewhere for sure.

When we got to the Quarter, it almost became single file because of all the people on the sidewalks. These guys in front of us were just walking in jerseys and jeans, and I spoke loudly that they shouldn’t be in the parade. I don’t think they heard me. But really, we’re in dresses and you’re not, get out of our parade! Most importantly, we made it to the stage at the end of the parade and we had not run out of beer. Also, I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going, all I knew was we were following Bobby Hebert.

I knew there was going to be a hairy legs contest, so I didn’t wear stockings. I wanted to be able to enter the contest. The stage was set up in the street, and it was packed. We were in front of the stage, but it was just wall to wall people. I kept yelling for Bobby Hebert to come out, because he was our leader for the day, and I wanted to see him. I had not seen him all day. I booed a guy who was dancing on stage with a Mic Ultra. Finally, Bobby came out, and he appeared to feel very good. He said some pro Saints stuff, about how awesome it was that we all came out, that the Saints were going to the SB, life is awesome, whatever. Deke, his radio co-hort, was also there, but he didn’t have a dress. In fact, he was wearing a Bobby Hebert jersey. I think Deke’s an idiot, and his costume was just stupid. Fine, maybe you’re not man enough to wear a dress, but for crying out loud, do you have to wear the jersey of your radio partner like that? LAME!

(the exciting conclusion in part II)

I started growing my beard out again the week of the HALF MARATHON. It started out innocently enough, I was just going to do a No Shave November, but then I remembered how I wanted to grow it out for the final two months or so of 2007 and couldn’t. So I was going to grow it out through the end of the year and then shave it. Then I started getting compliments about it. “that beard is epic” “your beard looks good” “it’s so thick!” People liked it, I kept getting unsolicited comments. So then I thought “okay, I can let it go a little while longer.”

I was talking to my friend Brandon at work last week, and told him I was leaning towards shaving it off. He told me I should wait, and I told him that now it’s gotten to the point where if I shave it off, it’s a little over two months’ work gone. Gladly, the beard is not tied to anything sports related, so I didn’t feel compelled to shave because of the Saints or Hornets. I had the beard in Nashville while watching the Cowboys game. [photo credit: Brandi]

Thursday I went to the gym to run since it has been too cold to run outside. I passed CGG as I was leaving, but looked away plus I had my beard and glasses on, and avoided eye contact. Friday I went back to work out, and he noticed me and called me by name. The beard lost it’s disguise factor. Also, I found out CGG is part of the cleaning crew, which makes me think he’s not really related to the owner. That’s another story.

Saturday night my friend Jacob and I were finally going to hang out after two postponements. I shaved my beard down to a mustache. I had just gotten tired of the beard, plus with the disguise factor going away and other factors, it had to go. I had gotten the mustache idea from when Jacob had done it a couple of years ago….to go out with a mustache. I ended up being late because the beard took so long to shave off. I thought the mustache came out pretty well.

Sunday before meeting up with family to go down to the WWII Museum, I shaved the mustache off. I’m clean shaven for the first time since late October. It’s a brave new world.

Today I went against karma and challenged fate. I went over to watch the Saints game at a friend’s house. I have watched every regular season game except the Giants game by myself for one reason or another. I was invited over after plans to hang out Friday fell through, and I made the fate challenging clear when the plans were reconfigured for today. Jacob agreed that we were flying in the face of superstition.

Yesterday I had gotten a text from his wife about today that I didn’t know I had until my phone had hit the floor. It had vibrated itself right off the counter in the kitchen. When I went to reply, I realized buttons were not working. When the damage was fully realized, the 3, 7, and 9 were out of commission. I had to make phone calls instead of texting. OMG! Then after my 2nd phone call, magically everything was back to normal. AMAZING PHONE LIVES ON!

So back to the game, I wore my Fujita jersey and brought over some left over High Life from Halloween. The camo cans are hard to pass up. We watched the game together and everything went fine. The Saints are 10-0 for the first time in their history. Things are looking good to watch games together later in the season. It’s a good thing the challenging of fate was when they were playing the 1-8 Bucs and not next week against the Patriots. Next week I’ll be watching alone, just like I watched the last MNF game.

Incidentally, the games I’ve worn my Fujita jersey for earlier in the season where I’d watch by myself, I felt like I was in an NFL commercial. Who wears a jersey at their house when they’re watching a game by themselves? Apparently me.

The whole ‘post every day of the month’ was in trouble tonight. I couldn’t come up with anything during the day, then I went to see the Hornets actually play with effort and toughness and upset the Suns. My favorite player, Peja, had a HUGE night. He had one 3 (of his SEVEN) that initially hit the rim, bounced straight up, and then went in. Awesome. I have not figured this team out, but I definitely think the coaching change has helped. I got home about 10:45.

So I mentioned that after the Pete Yorn show was over, Jacob and I got a picture with the tambourine player/merch guy/stage dancer guy after. The picture is below, Jacob used it on his Whiskerino page. This was the ‘casual’ pose, which mostly for me means “stare off into space as if something is going on off camera”. I call it ‘Beard Trifecta’.

And maybe he doesn’t look like David Bazan as much as we thought, but it was dark in there.

So last night I met up with my mom to go to the Hornets game, and then right after that, Jacob to go see Pete Yorn. I ended up being able to go as Jacob’s +1 (ie FREE) since our other friend Jacob had to bail. After the game, which the Hornets WON, I made my way down to Republic. I hadn’t been there since seeing Death Cab 3 years ago. I was able to find a parking spot a block away, it was a snap. I walked up about 9:45 and didn’t see Jacob. I did see the tour bus and stood on the sidewalk with the smokers. Some people really should look in the mirror when they smoke to make sure they don’t look completely awkward. This one guy looked very awkward with a cig in his mouth. Not only is he slowly killing himself but he looks like a dumbass doing it.

As I was standing there waiting for Jacob, Pete Yorn got off his tour bus and was talking to a couple of people. I texted Jacob to coax him to hurry up, and luckily we met up a few minutes before PY started. We obviously had missed the opener, who happened to be GIVING AWAY his EP at the merch table. If you’re giving away your EP, it probably sucks. The fact that they were being given away played a factor later in the evening.

The way Republic is set up now, is they have couches near the back, about ¾ of the way back between the stage and the merch table area. People had been sitting in them, so when the show started they stood up. Of course people stood up right in front of where we were standing, so we booed them. One of the guys turned around and Jacob then noticed the guy’s friend had an Iggy Pop shirt, and said we were just kidding, which we were, for the most part. The dude in the Iggy Pop shirt apparently is dating a rather tall girl, so of course she came over to stand with him. Then they started dancing and making out, which was weird. They were standing in front of the couches though, so it wasn’t a big deal view wise. PY must have this crazy dancing/PDA vibe, because there were a few people doing this. Later on in the show all of those people were standing in front of the couch, with Jacob and I standing behind it. During a song a few minutes later, the guy in the black shirt who had turned around, reaches over to his friend in the IP shirt, who is dancing with his chick, and tickles his underarm. Jacob and I looked at each other and telepathically exclaimed WTF? We laughed at what had just happened. I would never tickle a male friend’s underarm and don’t understand the logic behind doing it in a public setting.

We weren’t really paying attention to the songs that were not on musicforthemorningafter, so when PY was playing a new song, we went in search for High Life. There were plenty of people drinking it, and as connoisseurs of the HL, we figured there must be a special. There was a special, it was $2, but when we went to the bar they were out! OUT OF HIGH LIFE! I wanted to give the bartender $3 for a HL and they were out. It was a complete travesty, esp when we were offered Bud Light instead for $4 (not including tip). We declined and went back to standing behind the couch. Then I realized that the other bar on the other side of the room may still have HL. We walked over, because PY was playing another new song, and the other bar did have HL. We toasted on our way back to our spot. The night was going so well!

Upon returning to our spot, some idiot decided he wanted to get a better view of the stage, so he’s standing on the back of the couch, above everyone. I think he was intrigued with the drummer doing something in front of the drum kit. Problem was, he kept standing on the back of the couch and blocking our view. We yelled at him to get off, but he probably didn’t hear us. The next thing I know one of the opener’s free EP’s hits the dude in the back, causing him to turn around, and get off the couch. He looked around as if he didn’t know who threw it, and seemed to ask his friend “what just hit me?” Jacob and I laughed as we judged them, and clinked our bottles of High Life.

The show itself was alright, but like the time I saw PY in 2003, it just wasn’t GREAT. I mean, he comes out and plays his songs, but they’re not that much different than the album really, and he doesn’t talk a lot. The band was good though, and there was a guy whose job it was to only play tambourine. He had a majestic beard, and we both thought he reminded us of David Bazan. When the band came out for the encore, I yelled for Burrito. It got a reaction from some of the people in the crowd, and a group behind me got really excited, but they didn’t yell Burrito too. I yelled it again but then PY started Crystal Village or something. It’s a fine song, but not Burrito. PY did play my favorite song, On Your Side, and played seven songs off musicforthemorningafter, which was fine by Jacob and I.

At the end of the night, we got a picture with the DB look-a-like. I’ll post the picture when I get it emailed to me. We stayed around to try to get a picture with Pete Yorn, but after 15 or 20 minutes, it didn’t seem worth it anymore with it being almost midnight on a Tuesday, so we left. I got home about 12:35. It was surely a late night, but a great night. Word.

In the 2nd half of my college experience, back when I was young and naive, I bought cds like they were going out of style. I probably spent half of my intern money on cds after my first intern semester. I sometimes would drive up to Greenville, SC just to go to the record shop when I was working in Greenwood, SC. Not every visit netted something important, but I did happen to score a vinyl copy of the Pearl Jam live album, which apparently is out of print and worth more than the $12 I paid for it. My 5th year when I had an on-campus job, I probably still spent way too much on cds.

The year I was living in Clemson being a bum, (aka believing a headhunter really did have an ‘in’ for a job for me and was just working things out) I went to the local music store a lot. The owner gave me the inside scoop on new bands, and I was always a sucker for albums that were $6.99 and $7.99, no matter who they were. If someone recommended them, I’d buy them. I found John Mayer this way before ‘No Such Thing’ broke. Yeah, I am that cool. I also found this guy, Pete Yorn. His first album is still one of my favorites. My friend Marika and I called him the mimbo. It used to be ’smoldering mimbo’, but now I think it’s just mimbo. I may be the only person still using the nickname. Anyway, he had a song on his 2nd album called ‘Burrito’ that Marika and I would laugh about. I saw him live in 2003, and he played Burrito that night. It was one of the highlights of the show.

I had seen Pete Yorn listed for a NOLA tour stop a couple of weeks ago, but seeing how it was on a Tuesday was going to make it difficult to find a concert friend. With friends being married and maybe with kids now, they somehow don’t have time anymore for weeknight concerts. Anyway, so I was talking to my friend Jacob last week and he asked me if I wanted to go see Pete Yorn. We’re going Tuesday, and we’ll both have beards because Jacob’s in Whiskerino again and I’m growing mine out again. If time permits, I’ll get a picture. Word.

I’ve been hoping U2 would play in the Superdome for their 360 Tour, but thus far nothing has been scheduled. I guess they feel they played the South on their first leg of the tour this year. The new dates for next summer were nowhere really close. There were a couple of weekend shows though, so when the dates came out I had mentioned them to my friend Jacob. Denver and Miami were both on weekends, so the possibility of going to those shows was higher, as opposed to the shows on the first leg this year that were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

This morning I went on U2’s page wondering if any other shows had been scheduled, and saw the Denver show was going on sale today. In fact, I realized it was going on sale 5 minutes from the time I saw the listing. Intrigued, I thought I’d see if I could pull field tickets, and if I got them, then I’d worry about buying them later. I really doubted I’d get them though, because they are always sold out when I’ve put in for them for every show. Of course, I’d never tried right when the tickets went on sale, but still, I did not hold out much hope at all. There are multiple levels of the fan club and they all have their own presale.

When the tickets went on sale, I put in for 2 field tickets and hit ‘submit’. The page loaded, and loaded, and loaded, then it loaded. FIELD TICKETS FOR U2! What was I supposed to do now? I called Jacob and told him what was happening, he told me to buy the tickets, and we’d figure things like a flight and all that later. I just needed the encouragement I guess, because that’s what I was thinking of doing anyway. Sometimes I just need someone confirming what I’m already thinking to put me over the edge to make a decision. After I cleared the YES I WANT THESE TICKETS page, it came to the billing stuff. I was wondering before I finalized the purchase, if the field seating for the show had different levels. There were two options for GA tickets for Denver. So I called the biggest U2 fan I know, Adriene, to ask her. She told me (this may not be an exact quote) “I’m not sure, but Susan bought me and Brandy GA tickets for Denver.” WHAT? THEY ARE GOING TOO? I told her “whoa, I am buying GA tickets for Denver! OMG! Okay, let me fill this billing stuff out!” I filled out the rest of the page and finished the purchase. I JUST BOUGHT FIELD TICKETS FOR U2!

I realized after buying them, life could be completely upside down in June. I could be living somewhere totally different, working a totally different job (I HOPE), Jacob may not even be the person going with me. Things could be altered massively from what they are right now. I will have Bono in Denver though, and for me next summer, that is enough.

I’m going up to Clemson in the morning to go to my first home game since 2006. I sent a couple of FB messages to friends who still live up there to ask about parking, etc. It got me thinking about the old times, when things were simpler. I liked when my biggest decisions revolved around how many times during the week I’d eat Easy Mac.

Also getting me thinking about stuff that happened a while back, was listening to the new David Crowder Band album at work today. Listening to that got me thinking of the night my sister and I went and saw them two months after Katrina. That night pulled us through a lot of angst we had been feeling about the world and each other. I’ll never forget it. I really love the new album, I was getting stuck on a couple of songs today, and hearing a couple of them made me tear up a bit. I’ve been going through a lot of church stuff lately. A small church plant that started off really awesome has now become frustrating. It seems the group just lost focus on what we were there for, building life together as a group. My small group that was so important to me unofficially ended a few months ago, but now there are flickers we might bring it back, only different. I’ve felt lost the past few months with wanting to become part of a church body and being let down. Working with the youth group was awesome, until the youth group fractured and some kids stopped coming. Between work and school and YG being canceled a lot over the summer, I haven’t been back in a while. When I heard about the drama a couple of months ago, it hurt to hear about how adults unintentionally (i hope!) messed up the YG. Can’t anyone just focus on what’s important? Back to the DCB, hearing “oh how He loves us” over and over again, it was like I was Will Hunting and Sean was saying it wasn’t my fault. I know I knew all of that before today, but things lately just have made it hard to see.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Remember how I said it was inevitable I would join Twitter? Well, I did, at the beginning of the month. It was bad for a while, but I think I’ve gotten into a groove and not felt the need to CHECK ALL THE TIME. I posted a bunch of pictures on Saturday while I was in Baton Rouge for the LSU game. It’s cool, and I’ve already had an argument with an accomplished writer through Twitter. Of course, he went with the direct messaging so people couldn’t see his statements, and maybe that’s company policy. Now to get a reply to someone famous who I actually like!

Lots has actually been going on. I’ve been keeping track on my good things for September post, and I’ll probably elaborate on some of that later. However, I just got home from the store restocking on yogurt. I have been addicted to yogurt the past couple of weeks. It first got into my head at work when I saw a friend eating some one afternoon. Then when I was in Dallas for Macca, the hotel had yogurt as part of the continental breakfast. I tried some, and it was not as bad as I remember. I remember one time thinking vanilla yogurt would taste like the stuff from TCBY. Since that day, I really didn’t want any part of yogurt. After Dallas though, I was at the store and grabbed a few things of yogurt in a bunch of different flavors. It’s delicious, and now when I go to the store it’s like a kid in a candy store. There are so many flavors to choose from! I can’t get enough.

In other news, I’m going to my first NOLA Eat Club tomorrow night. It’s going to be a kind of double date thing, and I’m stoked. My friend Chet and I have talked about the Eat Clubs, but they’re usually pricey places in NOLA. We spied a place on the northshore for $45 a person all inclusive, and pounced. I cannot wait, I might even get to namedrop my friend Alton. (BTW, I have not gotten his book yet, but if you have, let me know what you think)