rebecca_in_blue: (dozing off)
Can you believe Rebecca went to two Mardi Gras parades this weekend? I hadn't been to one since 2007! I actually almost went to three, but I got the time wrong on the dog parade on Saturday and most of it was over when I arrived. The atmosphere there was kinda crazy, and I also made the huge mistake of driving instead of biking, and parking was a nightmare. After that, I headed over to CJ & Company's and just crocheted the night away. They had good food and a ton of plastic bags for me to crochet with -- what more could you want?

Today, I woke up early (UGH) to visit Aunt Carla, and this afternoon, Briana and I hit the two parades. It rained (pretty darn hard at times, too!) during most of the first one, and we got drenched, but we both genuinely had fun. It made me feel like a kid again -- remember stepping off the curb and looking down to see what was coming next, and dashing into the street between floats to grab candy before it got smooshed? Briana made a haul: two stuffed animals, two plastic cups, and more candy and beads than she could hold! I never in my life caught that much at a parade. But I did end up with a few beads, some candy, and the cutest little plush dog, so I was happy.

After that, there was a lighted boat parade on the lake. Neither of us had been to a boat parade before, and it was pretty cool. The boats and their reflections on the water was so pretty. It was a fun day that made me glad I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters, but it was also long, very exhausting, and kinda stressful. Briana was excited and wanted to do/see so much, and while it was GREAT to see her enthusiastic instead of bored, by the end of the day, my energy was flagging and she was still on the go. I was thinking about taking her to the last big blow-out parade on Tuesday evening, but after today, I think I might stay at home, rest, write fanfiction, and listen to the parade from here.

Geez, where did that weekend go?
rebecca_in_blue: (pursed lips)


More under here! )
rebecca_in_blue: (subtle sigh)
I had a very quiet weekend here. On Sunday, I went over to JC & Co's and copied some songs from their iTunes library. Mine is now back up to 172 songs, down from the about 600 I had before the virus hit. I did not participate in any of the Mardi Gras festivities. I've never been a big fan of that holiday, but today the weather was so nice and warm that I went on a bike ride and took photos of some of the Mardi Gras decorations (which you can see here). Mardi Gras is so unique to southern Louisiana. There are quite a lot of decorations in my neighborhood, and many of them have been up since right after Christmas. There were two Mardi Gras parades today, and I live pretty near the parade route, but I didn't go. The noise, crowds, traffic, and litter were too much for me from here!

I also did not do any Jew stuff, which is unusual for me on the weekend. There was no Torah study with the rabbi or Hebrew school with the kids. I know I always complain about waking up early when I have Jew stuff, but I sure was bored without it. Even though NCIS's 200th episode had some badly executed "what-if" scenarios, it made me wonder about what-ifs in my own life. Like, what if I had never converted to Judaism? Maybe no one else would notice the difference, but I sure would. Looking forward to our Purim session in Hebrew school next weekend!

And speaking of NCIS, there was a new episode tonight! I think [livejournal.com profile] jelenamichel said it best in her review: "It wasn't bad, exactly. It was just really, really boring. And that's saying something when you’ve got Jamie Lee Curtis working for you."


Notes on episode 9x16 "Psych Out" )

I NEED to get my hair cut this week. I've been putting it off for too long now. But in the meantime, I've been trying the sock bun. The woman in the video makes it look so darn easy.
rebecca_in_blue: (stiff shoulders)

Mardi Gras isn't a holiday that Sara and I are big fans of. We both work on the parade route, so we have problems with traffic and unruly parade-goers wanting to use the restrooms. Fortunately we were both off for Fat Tuesday yesterday, so we skipped the insanity, stayed inside, and ordered pizza. It literally rained on the parade here, but I could still hear it from our apartment.

This was our Mardi Gras weather:

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me, no
I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'

rebecca_in_blue: (pursed lips)

Today is the last Friday before Mardi Gras, but while driving down the main street this afternoon en route to the bank, I still wondered why all the stores and businesses were putting barriers up in their parking lots. It didn't click until I was sitting in temple, and the lay leader announced that we would have an abbreviated service (Yeah right. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve were supposed to be abbreviated services, too. I'm beginning to suspect there is no such thing at that temple.) so we could get out before the parade started. As Enzo says in The Art of Racing in the Rain -- a book I just finished, told from the point-of-view of a dog about as old and decrepit as Sable -- "The light switch! It's either on or it's off."

I was a little late to services this evening. We usually start when we hear the cathedral bells tolling six, and I arrived after the bells rang. We happened to be working off programs instead of the siddur, and this was the exchange when I walked in:

Karen: Sees me walking in. "Michael, we have a guest. Give her a program."
Michael: Looks around, sees me, is confused. "What guest?"
Someone: "Rebecca."
Michael: "Rebecca is not a guest."
Me: Crushed :(
Michael: "She is family. Paul!"
Paul: Jumps a little.
Michael: "Scoot over so Rebecca can sit down!"
Me: Well, aww :)


The temple gates. I walk through these every Friday to put my bike in the back. I'm still working on getting that background blurry.

rebecca_in_blue: (red riding hood)
A Mardi Gras parade rolled right by where I work on Friday, but there wasn't a big crowd out for it, which gives you an idea of how cold the weather has been here. (When people in Louisiana don't show up for a Mardi Gras parade, that's cold.) And when I walked Sable after I got off work, steam rose up from his pee! I spent that evening at Grandma's, where she was having an open house for various relatives and serving shrimp gumbo, chicken and rice, potato salad, green beans, and brownies and Boston creme pie for dessert. We all ate and talked and watched the Opening Ceremony and Parade of Nations for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Am I the only one who thought the Olympics opening ceremony was a tad unimpressive? I could look past the inclusion of the fantastically cheesy song "Ordinary Miracle" (which was written for Dakota Fanning's Charlotte's Web and is now being used in CVS commercials) because it was somewhat inspirational and fitting. But "Hallelujah"? It's a great song, but it's angsty and depressing and already way too overused. I know it was written by Leonard Cohen, but there has to be some other Canadian-written song -- any other Canadian-written song -- that would have been more appropriate.

Yesterday I went over to Mom's house, ate pizza, and watched Zombieland with Adam. That role was such an unusual choice for Abigail: She spends most of her time shooting zombies! And does almost no crying at all! I didn't find the movie as funny as people have said, but I enjoyed it, and of course Abigail was very good in it.

rebecca_in_blue: (bemused shrug)

We kept the pilot light in our heater on all winter (my uncle had to show me how to light it three times before I finally got the hang of it), and a few days ago, I blew it out, thinking the cold weather was over for good. Of course that very night, the temperature suddenly dropped, and the next morning our apartment was chilly and I had to turn the pilot light back on. Anyway...

Shit That Went Well Today:

I was the employee of the month for February, which means I got a bonus of $75 in my paycheck today! I'm working on a list of things to spend it on, so I won't end up blowing it on boring stuff. I've also gotten very good at getting sign-ups. On Tuesday I set a new personal best with eleven, and today I got seven -- both are a lot, since we're supposed to make an overall daily total of ten. It only slightly bust my bubble when my manager told me that yesterday I'd made a big (but honest) mistake that cost us a lot of time and money. She was nice about it, and nobody made a big deal over it, but it still made me feel pretty crappy.

Grandma made spaghetti today, so I went to her house on my lunch break. She also had a devil's food cake hot out of the oven, but it wasn't until I got home from work tonight that I found out why she had made it (Sara asked her later). Grandma: "It's your dad's birthday today." I still don't know whether to find that funny or crazy or sad. It's certainly a very Grandma thing to do. She's the only one who would bake a birthday cake for a man who's been dead +4 years. And then just for overkill, she gave me a candy bar, just like she's done every year on Dad's birthday and death day (or, as the people at Find-a-Grave ridiculously call it, "angel day"). Which is nice, I guess, but how long is she going to keep that up? Until she dies? Until old-age senility sinks in and she forgets who Dad was? We'll see.

A
big Mardi Gras parade rolled right by where I work this evening. It was noisy, but at least we didn't get any drunk people wandering in and acting crazy, which is what my manager said happened last year. It was a geeky, comforting feeling to be inside working and straightening things, while the revelry carried on right outside. It's weird that when I was a kid, I looked forward to Mardi Gras, but now, it's lost most of its appeal to me. They don't throw nearly as much candy at parades now, and after years of keeping a basketful of Mardi Gras beads in my closet, I realize what pointless, worthless things they really are.

And HOORAY for me being OFF all this weekend! Tomorrow I'm attending a program at the geneology library that I've been looking forward to, and Sunday is the Oscars!

rebecca_in_blue: (Default)
Well, Rebecca is spending Mardi Gras in France this year, and she celebrated it by doing... nothing. I did a lesson on it with my students about it, but for some reason, the students I had today (who are usually very good) were rather apathetic and uninterested – probably because this is the last week before the February vacation. I'm hoping to travel somewhere during that time, but I don't know if I actually will. I realized just now this is the first time I've ever had to go to school/work on Mardi Gras. But I did enjoy the day. I spent the evening watching The Fellowship of the Ring with Heather and Marlene, and we had a nice discussion about how the movies are a metaphor for the Industrial Revolution. Almost every teacher at my Catholic high school claimed that it was a metaphor for Catholicism, which I don't see at all.

The lycée is looking so festive right now. This Thursday is Chinese New Year, which is super important in Chinese culture – so important that Sarah spent all last weekend cutting the Chinese character for happiness out of construction paper and taping one on almost every single door in the the entire
lycée! Then, yesterday, for no apparent reason, Mariana taught her students how to make Mexican piñatas out of paper mâché and hung the results up in the commons area. They don't clash with the Chinese New Year decorations as horribly as Mariana was afraid they would. She said she would teach me how to make a piñata sometime.

And I finally got tired of looking at icons of myself, so I set my icon of Sable and me as my default and uploaded five new ones. I decided to go with the theme of child actresses with dogs. Here they are...

  
All made by me.

The actresses are, from left to right, Hatty Jones (as Madeline, with Genevieve), Shirley Temple, Dakota Fanning, Natalie Portman, and Alicia Morton (as Little Orphan Annie, with Sandy).

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