garbage roulette II March 16, 2006
Today, I heard the unmistakeable sounds of a garbage truck coming down my street. I ran outside and, sure enough, they were picking up everyone’s garbage that’s been out since this weekend.
“Hi. Thank you for picking up the garbage.”
“You’re welcome, ma’am.”
“Is Thursday going to be the day now?”
“I don’t know. They got us all running backwards.”
“You guys work for the city, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You don’t know what day we should put it out?”
“No, ma’am, I’m sorry.”
“Well, thank you very much for picking it up today.”
“You have a good day, ma’am.”
So, it’s back to garbage roulette. The day you don’t put it out will have a 1-6 chance of being garbage day. The mystery continues.
arigato, arigato
Dinner and good conversation last night with a very interesting new friend, Will. I find it amazing and maybe a little bit refreshing that we are all being so honest with each other these days. “So, how bad has your life been fucked up?” has replaced the usual small talk and trying to impress each other. For Will, it was pretty bad because it included the loss of everything in his Lakeview home except a suitcase full of clothes. Like so many people who live in New Orleans, Will had been a collector. In his case, it was Civil War books. He had also lost his job, but I got the feeling the job was more easily replaced than the books. He evacuated with his cat, Mary Chestnut, who I suppose sounds just like Julie Harris when she talks. It was interesting to talk to a guy who is into Civil War history, but is a liberal. Very Louisiana.
Will is an attorney, and I surprised myself by talking in lawyer lingo with him. I guess the transformation is actually taking place. I feel like I have learned absolutely nothing about practicing law, but it appears I have gained more of a grasp of the fundamentals than I thought. Something must have penetrated the Martini-haze in Houston, imperceptibly to me. I certainly didn’t feel all lawyerly last summer. Who knows, maybe I was just thinking about myself all the time then, and now I am seeing what’s happening to other people and thinking about the recourse available to them. I find that my level of interest has increased, so that’s good.
This morning, Katherine cracked me up with her tale of the reopening dinner she attended with Jason at Stella last night. Scott Boswell, the owner, has trained under the Iron Chef, and the Iron Chef of France was the guest chef for the dinner. Katherine acted out the scene with the Iron Chef theme song swelling, the lights dimming, and the Iron Chef’s entrance, “Arigato, Arigato.” There was a huge Japanese film crew, and she belatedly realized that one guy had been zooming in on her decolletage all night. The twins are going to be famous in Tokyo, Katie! My photo of Katherine on Mardi Gras has received over 80 views on my Flickr page. Even if half of them are Jason, that’s still a lot of people.
Katherine also said that Scott gave a very emotional opening toast, thanking his staff and saying how proud he was to be reopening his restaurant in New Orleans. She said there was not a dry eye in the house, and I can imagine. Boswell is now on dangerblond’s good list, along with John Harris of Lilette and others who have been getting a lot of publicity, for making nightlife and fine dining in New Orleans the excellent experience that it is. Arigato! Arigato!
