Quick KDV notes

• I decided at the last minute not to bring my camera. It's a bit cumbersome to lug around while you're trying to dance and drink and watch the parade. Plus my nighttime photos always come out really crappy.



• Besides, there will always be better photos somewhere.



• I stupidly decided to drive this year. Started at 6:45. Didn't park until 8:30. It was a trying experience. ON THE OTHER HAND this meant that we watched the parade on N Rampart St just before it crossed Elysian Fields where the crowd is thin and mostly devoid of tourists. And when the parade passes, you can second line with it to the ball. PLUS we left the ball just as the parking restrictions on Royal Street were lifting so we ended up with a great spot in the Quarter. I don't know if all this is worth the two hours of sitting in traffic, but it worked out well.



• During the parking hunt debacle, the Tercel was assaulted by a drunken dirty Marigny hipster who thought it would be funny to perform an ollie off of my trunk. Dirty hippies tend to make things miserable on Frenchmen Street in surprisingly similar ways to which the tourists do on Bourbon Street and the frat boys do on St. Charles. They're all just variations on the same self-satisfied asshole. As he lay on the ground and giggled to himself for an aggressively long period of time, I contemplated the exact amount of force I would require to bust his skull with his skateboard... which I was holding as I stood over him. Lucky for all of us Menckles picked up on that line of thinking as it crossed my face and called me back into the car. I felt better after I got a few drinks in me... but this morning I still sort of regret not meting out a little street justice.



• We debuted a new Carnival tool this year. It is visible below in the grasp of the douchebag on the left
  
  
  Photo by Dr. A
  
  It's sort of the wine enthusiast's corollary to the Pink Thing allowing us to carry a nice Rioja out to the parade route along with the PT's requisite load of Miller Lite. However I am loathe to call it something so stupid as "The Beige Thing" We need to come up with something before the parade season begins in earnest this weekend.