Dangermond.org

K came by on her way to CCs – she’s 5 months pregnant and lives around the corner. I gave her a quick tour of the house. She said she had been in the Can before as well. She’s due Mardi Gras day. She said there are kids all over the neighborhood now. As I took her on a tour, I said the guest bedroom was either going to be for guests or for a permanent resident if I adopt. She said her friends had just gotten their teeny tiny Russian baby girl and were overjoyed. I said well I need to get through this house remodel before I can be overjoyed.

L was walking the dogs as I was in front getting the trash and I asked her what went down last night at Pal’s – she huffed and said she hadn’t slept for two hours – then said it was a domestic dispute – the girl (hostage) was in the bathroom when the guy cleared the bar out, and he didn’t even know she was in there, and she managed to sneak out. He got talked off the ledge and finally everyone went home at some ungodly hour in the morning.

The Gambit – our alternate paper here in New Orleans – is holding its 40 under 40 contest and in true nolafugee.com spirit a mock 40 Under the Influence is being held simultaneously. N and I voted to get J in it and today when he came to help me do a couple of dump runs at the LaLa and showed up still drunk from the night before, we knew he was a perfect nominee. At first he wouldn’t let Nanc take a picture but then said he would if I was in it – as his occupation, he said to put down hustler.

While he laid on the ramp, I filled the truck and garbage bags with the debris. He said he liked watching me work but wished I was wearing black tights. In the mind of men lies some alternate universe.

Someone posted a flyer in the neighborhood – two to a pole – that says Noodles, a black cat, is missing. On the bottom of the flyer is a black square and under it it says “have you seen this cat?” – either a bad photo or bad copying but Nanc got a couple of yucks out of it.

We went to eat at Asian Cajun – well we started there and then went to Jacquimo’s but it was 45 mins so back to Asian Cajun and the food was not that great even though we had a recommendation to go there – they were nice enough – but still – then we went to this bar called 1088 that L had been to before – it was nice but also not happening so then we saw that Delbert McClinton was playing at the House of Blues so we rushed there and went upstairs first to the Foundation Room and then actually saw the last couple of songs and then went to MiMi’s – while there we got a text from N saying that a gunman had entered Pal’s – then the next text said hostage sitiuation – and next thing you know we find out while at MiMi’s that a regular entered Pal’s, with an automatic weapon, cleared everyone out and is trying to commit suicide. The police have blocked every road to Pals. We were at MiMi’s that almost went into lockdown. So far, the guy is trying to commit suicide but nothing has happened yet.

Welcome to Post Traumatic Stress.

At the Parkview with the gang and Manny walks by and J, of course, recognizes him having interviewed him for nolafugeees.com and M comes over and N tells me his mayoral running slogan in 2002 was “a troubled man for troubled times” – and now post-Katrina it is “more trouble than before” – anyway he got a lot of votes and plans to keep running.

A reporter writes that his wife received an email yesterday that said Happy Yom Kippur – really? – to know a Jew is to know that most major holidays are about suffering – and fasting from sundown to sundown is not a joyous occasion – particularly when you are doing it because you believe that on this day God opens the Book of Life and decides who will live and who will die, who will be happy and who will be sad, who will suffer and who will rejoice, and on and on. The purpose of the fast is to atone for your sins from the previous year and win yourself into the good graces of that Book of Life. Happy Yom Kippur, not!

I’ve reinvented the day to be a day of renewal and introspection. I fast, and think about the year that went before and the year ahead, and I kind of decide if I have been good or bad, and what I want the new year to bring. Like other Jews, I ask the cosmos for forgiveness from those I have wronged and I forgive myself for my bad. Jews believe you cannot start the new year without forgiveness – so you make sure if you owe apologies, you offer them.

The reporter said he himself received a better missive that said – “may God accept your pleas for forgiveness and wipe your slate clean. L’Shana Tovah [Hebrew for happy new year].”

I find myself fortunate enough to have been given one of the richest heritages on earth, but still I prefer to usher in the new year in a different manner than praying all day in a synagogue full of people with bad breath because they haven’t eaten in 24 hours. Not to mention that I still flinch when the men read: “thank you god for not making me a woman.” I do miss – the shofar being blown – there is nothing like the sound of a ram’s horn to wake you up inside.

Thursday, late afternoon the Bean went in and it was determined she has airborn allergies and needs to be on steroids to get it under control. Dr. Ghere said it makes her itch on the inside – an itch all the scratching in the world can’t satisfy and it makes her tear her hair out. I thought, oh my, I know that feeling.

Last night, met L for dinner at Lola’s, our MidCity Spanish restaurant that specializes in paella and we got caught up on all the goings on. Ended at Pal’s for a couple of nightcaps and N text that she was trapped like a rat in the Quarter and couldn’t come meet us. Message from S when I got home on his way to Costa Rica with his dad.

Tonight, dinner with L, man of mystery – his blood run was unsuccessful but he’s coming home with another BMW.

Saturday night dinner with N&B at Clancy’s to thank them for the Bean watching while I travel.

Sunday brunch taking mom to reopening of Commanders for brunch. It had become our ritual when I came to New Orleans to take her there for lunch and so I told her she can’t say no and she said, indeed, she wouldn’t say no to Commanders.

Then Yom Kippur, which I have taken to observing in my own way for the last 15 years – a complete shutdown of communication and a day spent on introspection and setting goals for the year ahead.

And then, on Tuesday, I hope, it appears, the LaLa starts humming – glass arrives, gets put into new metal frames, Van’s crew insulates and rocks addition, C can then put tiles down there, another crew comes to do the siding for addition, closet doors hung in main house, priming, painting………………………..let the work begin!

Foam polyurethane insulation in the ceiling of the addition – should I spend the money to do it in the attic of the main house? Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. No one knows.

Sand blast the bathroom windows to make them opaque but why didn’t K finish the marine based primer on the inner sashes – do it now, or regular primer. Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. Maybe.

Mahogany windows that No Design made have only tung oil and polycoat, have them refinish similarly, or have Bud refinish with a more lasting polyurethane. Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. Nobody knows.

Mahogany columns had a polyurethane – the water trapped in the bubble wrap ate into it – the tung oil we have been putting on is not penetrating anything – need to be resanded and then refinished. Bud will do. When? Don’t know. Can’t know.

The baseboards in Carrara not included in the price of the floor. The ceiling of the shower not included in the price. Lipstick caulking rather than white for the Mondrian red glass tiles. Head spinning. Don’t surprise me C is all I say.

Yesterday morning, the J-man was twirling around the house like his pants were on fire because I came early before he left for school to watch Abby so her mom could have an hour to herself. As Abby slept in my arms and the J-man rode his bike and licked his waffle, I watched the harried look on M and L and later sent them a note saying, from the inside it may look overwhelming, but from the outside you are lucky to have such beautiful children and they are lucky to have both of you because you are loving yet relaxed in parenting.

L was more interested in learning about my current events because she said mine were way more entertaining.