2004

Apr192004

FQF Last Day – Streetcars Back on Canal St.

After church, my dad and I went to the French Quarter Festival again. It was a lot easier to enjoy myself without any whiny baggage. The crowds today were even thicker than yesterday. During the day I can't recall us stopping too long for any one act. We say a couple of brass bands, including the Dukes of Dixieland in Jackson Square. Some time after that we saw Timothea on the riverfront. I ran into Ashley Murray before that, a former classmate I had not seen in some time. I had a fried catfish po-boy for dinner. I should have eaten it as a platter that happened to include French bread; I would have saved myself a lot of hassle. After dinner we went back to the riverfront and saw Papa Grows Funk for a good while. We went home following his set. Overall, the French Quarter Festival was quite enjoyable, and a good primer to Jazz Fest that starts next week. After returning I 'talked' to Ami on the phone for a while, damaged my camera winder, typed this up, and went to bed.

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Apr182004

French Quarter Festival

The family and I attended the French Quarter Festival this afternoon. We parked downtown a little before three and walked down to Bourbon St. The first act we say was Tim Laughlin, a formidable clarinet player that I saw last year at Jazz Fest. We walked around a good bit, saw some of the other stages, and made our way to Jackson Square because my parent's wanted to see Charmaine Neville. During the act I took a little walk around to the riverfront and back, I saw Andrey along the way. Later after Neville's performance we went to Cafe Du Monde, and eventually made our way home. This was my first visit to the FQF, it's my understanding that this is perhaps the biggest crowd they've had yet. The high volume of people did make it look like the event has outgrown the venue. I watched “Monster's Ball” late in the evening.

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Apr162004

Thursday

Nothing of circumstance to speak of, I was home today. I updated the gallery to reflect new posters on my wall and took a couple pictures of my camera with the winder.

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Apr152004

Finally, Something to Do.

Monday and Tuesday passed without incident. I was at home both days. It rained pretty good. I went to work with Dad this morning. I picked up the pictures I took last Saturday. It was my first roll on my 'new' camera, and they came out pretty decent. They can be seen here. Some filing and cleaning needed to be done at the Mid-City office. I got this filing and computer work done around noon. At about one, I met Ann from the bookstore for lunch at the usual place. She brought Sharon with her, a mild surprise. The fried catfish was better than last time; I think they switch the batter ingredients on a whim. She called last Saturday, seemingly pretty happy. I thought they fired Renee or something but things aren't so peachy over there, as Ann is always very through in describing. After lunch I caught the bus back up Tulane Ave. and back to work. I cleaned the floors and cleared out the hallway and a closet, and that was pretty much it.

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Apr102004

Friends in Town

I was expecting a rather dull day at home, but it turned out alright. Bianca and Toni are in town for Easter. Bianca didn't feel like sitting home all day either, so her, Toni and I decided to walk around the quarter for a while. The weather was nice, a bit warm, exacerbated by the dark clothing I was wearing. I didn't have clean light colors. I brought my 'new' camera with me to try out. After taking the ferry we parked next to the Jax Brewery and walked over to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets. Having satisfied the need for the best doughnuts in the world, we walked back towards the Riverwalk. Bianca wanted to get a 'mardi gras doll' for a cousin or something. We walked through the mall for a while, stopping in stores and such. Bianca got her doll. Toni had a leather bracelet made with her name engraved. I saw the laziest of my former bookstore co-workers, Catasha, and said hi. Having walked through the rest of the mall, we ended up at the food court. I got some ice cream and a Coke, the girls got Chinese. Shockingly enough, neither of them came close to finishing their food. We then proceeded out of the mall towards Jackson Square as Bianca wanted to check out a couple of little shops. After wandering around some more we went back to the car to go home. Shani called us as while we were waiting at the ferry landing and ended up making arrangements for an evening movie with all of us. On the way home I dropped off the roll of film that I had just exposed. I think there might be at least one good shot on it. Khadijah called me during the hour or so while I was at home and we spoke briefly. I wasn't expecting to hear from her as she is currently visiting family in Texas. Shani soon picked me up and we went to the theater. I regret to admit having went to see “The Prince and Me,” a dull and predictable chick flick and lousy rip-off of “The Princess Diaries,” another ridiculous movie. Sorry-excuse-for-a-film notwithstanding, it was nice to see some friends again. It was quite nice to be out of the house given the events previous in the week.

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Apr092004

Finally Got the Frames

Today being Good Friday, both my parents were off of work. My cousin Arien visited at the house today. It felt like Saturday with some housework going on and such. I was rather tired most of the day and I spent the afternoon lying in bed listening to Rush on the radio. Later in the evening my mom, brothers, and I went to the store for groceries, among other things. I bought some film so I could finally start using my new camera, as well as some batteries for the winder that's on the way. I also wanted some poster frames as they've been sitting unused since I got them. They didn't have what I wanted at Wal-Mart so I had to get the frames from Walgreen's on the way home. So after getting home I spent the rest of the evening cutting the poster frames to size, they were six inches to long. I've done this before and I had a good x-acto knife this time so it was alot easier. I suppose I'll take new pictures of my room before long to reflect those additions.

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Apr082004

Today Sucked

Entry typed Sept 24, 2005: I think this was the day Jessica came by my house with Shani. Jessica was very distraut as her sister Ashley spilled the beans about our relationship and her parents were forbidding her from seeing me ever again. We visited for a few hours and she left, neither of us sure we'd see each other again.

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Apr082004

A Wednesday Without Warrant

There isn't much to speak of today. I was at home again. Star Trek Deep Space Nine has been running in marathon on Spike TV and a series of episodes held my attention in the afternoon. Making dinner was a little difficult as there hasn't been much shopping done, but we had some white beans in the fridge and I managed to get by.

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Apr072004

Plumbing Fixed

Uncle Larry came by the house today to look at the same problem as last week, this time it was fixed. There was a rotted pipe under the sink that was repaied after some loud noises.

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Apr052004

Church… Twice

After church I sat around the house, and on the computer. I got around to mowing the lawn in the afternoon. This evening my family went to my grandmother's for dinner and I went to a church service with a friend. She, and some others with whom I'm acquainted are Jehova's Witnesses. This particular service was basically their version of an Easter service, 'visitors' are uniquely invited to this particular service. The service seemed to be catered to us 'visitors' as the presentation was an explanation of their beliefs regarding Jesus's death and eternal salvation, they vary considerably from mine.

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Apr012004

April Fools Day

I was at home again for the usual routine. I found some amusment in the April Fools pranks taking place on many websites. I watched “Lost in Translation” this evening, a nice little movie. The camera manual and brochure I ordered arrived today. I always find it fascinating reading old advertisments. Product literature back them must have been much more thorough.

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Apr012004

Nothing More Facinating than the Weather

I was at home Monday and Tuesday doing nothing of circumstance. Today I went to work with my dad. He needed a new computer set up for the west bank office so I tagged along. Before going to the mid-city office we stopped by the new west bank office to pick up some paper work for the occupational license. It was my first time seeing that office, it seems nice enough. After that we stopped by Gretna City Hall, a quaint little building. While walking towards the building a bird crapped on my arm and watch. It certainly wasn't a pleasant experience, but I quickly realized it could have been worse as it could have landed on my head. It was no trouble rinsing off my arm. Anyway we turned the paperwork without too much trouble, although it would generate some drama later in the day, none of which I was involved in. I spend the afternoon at the Mid-City office. I did get the computer set up, but that wasn't much trouble. I spent more time listening to music. After returning home I went to bed for a quick nap but didn't wake until 8:30 PM. I guess I was more than a little tired. I wandered around a bit and then went back to my room. I fooled around on the computer a bit and watched “The Mission.”

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Mar282004

Voodoo vs. Cobras

I did some chores in the morning. Uncle Larry, an accomplished handyman, came by the house today to fix an apparent water leak in the kitchen. Water was pooling in the corner of our dining room. My cousin Arien came by the house this afternoon to spend some time with the family. My dad grilled some hamburgers for lunch and we ate the outside. The weather was quite pleasant today. This evening Dad, Andrew, Arien, and I went to see the New Orleans Voodoo play the Carolina Cobras. This was my first arena football game, and I wasn't disappointed. Our seats were 3 rows from the field, on side an end zone. The smaller field and proximity to the action make the close-quarters experience pretty fun. The Voodoo won 48-31 in a typically high scoring game. I was taking pictures throughout the game. I got a few good pictures but it's hard to hold the camera still to get a usable shot, especially when the zoom is tightened. The shutter lag on the Sony DSC-P8 was also bothersome. Problems like this justify my affection for my manual film camera. After the game there was an autograph session where the fans can mingle with the players and cheerleaders and get autographs. After leaving that we drove to Gentilly to drop off my cousin and then went home. I won an aution for another 50mm f1.4 lens.

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Mar272004

At Work on Friday

I went to the Mid-City office with my dad but didn't have much to do today. My brother came home for the weekend again, but he's just here for his SAT test.

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2004

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