A quiet night, a stack of books, a tuna melt on rye

This weekend was the New Orleans St. Patrick's Day parade, which is like a mini-Mardi Gras where they throw produce in addition to the general beads and other trinkets.  It's kind of funny, in that you can tell this is a parade attended mostly by local people because they are all "Throw me a cabbage, a cabbage, no. not the beads I already have more of them than I could ever use.  I want a cabbage."  For some reason, this year, cabbage seemed to be the only vegetable they were throwing out, which is unfortunate because I really wanted some carrots.  By the end of the parade you are supposed to have all the makings of stew (well, except your meat of choice since that would be supper icky to throw.) apparently this year you are only allowed to have cabbage in your stew. 

Anyway, the first half of the parade consists of men dressed in tuxes or dress kilts who hand out fake flowers for a kiss.  Now for the most part this involves a kiss on the cheek and a wishing of "Happy St. Pats," occasionally the drunker or more exhibitionist members of the crowd will go further to get more.  So, we were close to the end of the parade route, and most of these men had been drinking since the pre-parade mass let out, so by the time they got to us they were rather smashed.  We had one such Drunky McDrunkerson make his way down the side of the street where my friends and I were standing.  He had long ago either given out or lost all of his flowers.  The first time I noticed him, he was nearly pulling a little girl (probably 7 or so) off the ladder she was standing on to give her a kiss on the cheek.  Her parents didn't seem to mind, and they had a bunch of people coming up to them all through the parade, so I have to believe that they were in someway involved with the organization.  Next, he kissed Jenae and glowwormtu each on the cheek.  Finally he comes at me straight on with his tongue hanging out.  Let me tell you how I was not drunk enough to make out with random drunk guy on the street in the middle of the afternoon -- I don't think there exists a level of drunk that would make me okay with that.  glowwormtu said she had never seen anyone reach that shade of red before (I think I recently shared my propensity for blushing) and Amanda, who was standing behind me, latter told me she could tell the look horror on my face just from the way the back of my head moved. 

After that people were much more pleasant.  There was some dancing with a man old enough to be my grandfather from behind a police barricade.  One guy spent his time near us bragging about his kissing ability and then insisted that cheek kissing was not the way to go.  And one guy decided that the Pipe &Drums corp was not moving fast enough so he elected himself drum major with his flower based baton. 

Last night glowwormtu invited me to a whine tasting at a new foodie shop that opened around the corner.  We spent much of our time discussing how grown up it felt -- and really I need to stop doing that.  Presumably when you stop discussing how grown up something is, it becomes actually grown up.  Anyway, I greatly enjoyed both of the whites.  I tried the first red -- didn't enjoy it, but I never enjoy reds -- and decided not to put myself through the last two.  I ended up purchasing a small bottle of Nut Chocolate (which from now on will be called Not Chocolate because that is what everyone thought the bottle said) liquor.  I may have to go back latter for the second bottle of wine. 

Afterward, our little group of four people went for dinner at Crepe Nanou.  I'm so excited to have people who will eat mussels with me.  Since I was three, and asking waitresses who didn't believe me for plates of mussels they've been one of my favorite foods, but I always seem to associate with the non-seafood eaters.  Boo. It turns out that a shared plate of mussels and an individual bowl of french onion soup for everyone is a pretty much perfect meal. 

I also had to write my first crew reviews yesterday at work which was weird.  I feel like my personal starting point for any review is this person furfill their job description and here are some problems which probably makes everyone seem worse than they actually are.  I feel bad about that.  Really archaeology is a hard thing to excel at.  There are people who dig faster than others, but if you dig too fast I assume you are not screening or digging your holes fully -- mostly because every time I've been able to check on a speed demon that has been the case.  Otherwise, the way to excel is pretty much willingness to take on responsibility, which I'm hesitant to use as a be all marker, since it makes many people look bad when they are just shy.  The people like me who would welcome the chance to help out more, but who would never directly ask. 

Well I'm back to work not, and have been for four days, so I guess the "Wow! I've been rather busy over vacation-type days round-up post" is sadly over due. But, I am nothing if not sadly over due.  So here we go:

• Pennsylvania snowed for me.  Twice.  And it managed to do it the day before I came home and two days before I went back so that none of my planes were canceled.  Yay!  I really meant to go sledding at some point, but somehow I never got around to it.  Much like I never got around to seeing Sherlock Holmes with my father. 
• The luminarias went so much faster this year than any previous year.  Apparently assembly lines where my brother and I take jobs without speaking to each other work better than any other kind.  Also, possibly the only leaving a certain amount of time by going to a movie that only gets out about two hours before Christmas eve services. 
• We succeeded in convincing my mother to go to the 5:30 service -- the one with all the little kids being cute and performing.  Now, if we could just convince her to go to the 3:00  for the unrehearsed Christmas Padget, where you can wear whatever costume you want.  Ryan and I want to be first and second lobster. 
• I got to school my family in Rock Band Christmas evening!  Yay! being the singer.  I even got told by my youngest cousin "you have to play on medium or hard, if you play a lot"  He didn't believe that it was my first time playing.  All those years of sight singing in choir paid off for something. 
• After never having participated in a Fandom Secret Santa, I volunteered myself for two.  It didn't turn out too badly.  I got a lovely Guy/Marian fic from ladyoneill and a bunch of Glee icons from setentpet.  Plus the people I made graphics and one fan-mix for seemed to enjoy them.  
• On the 27th Toenails (or the British ex-pat's Indian food eating club of which my parents are members despite not being ex-pats) came for the People's Light and Theater panto and yummy dinner at the Himalayan.  The lady who sat next to me at dinner seemed to think she had to walk me through Indian cuisine despite the fact that I had chosen all the food that she was eating.  It was weird.   The panto was great as usual -- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  This year they strayed further than usual from the fairy tale. Making the show about making a movie of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which I'm not sure I liked as much -- but still really, really funny. 
• Went down to see glowwormtu in DC for three days.  We acted like the 1776 geeks that we are while viewing the Declaration of Independence.  The docent told everyone which case it was in by referencing Richard Henry Lee in a picture, so we had a bit of a "Lee's of Old Virginia" squee.  Then there were pretty gems, forensic anthropology, and Ruby slippers at the various Smithsonians.  All-in-all a good day. 

I was so not ready to come back to work on Monday.  And judging by the shear amount of mistakes I've made this week (today I surveyed a segment east-to-west instead of from west-to-east simply because I never noticed that I was walking in the wrong direction.  I didn't realize until I got back to the hotel and the property lines looked different on the Trimble than they did on the map.  Thank God for the rain. 

This weekend I went to Art for Art's Sake the night that all the galleries along Magazine hold late hours and offer wine, cheese, and other delectables to the public.  This was my third time going and I now have a couple of questions:

1. Is it really possible to get all the way from Nashville(ish) down to Julia in the time frame provided.  I'm inclined to say no, but then maybe it is possible for other people.  
2. Where did the shop with the really good punch move to.  I was disappointed with the lack of punch this year. 
3. Do you ever really reach the point where going to art galleries no longer feels like you are playing at being sophisticated and is instead fun in and of itself. 

It occurs to me that the point may just be a failing of mine.  I've always been much more of a performance art person than a visual art person.  For instance, going to the theater has never struck me as OMG culture, but as "I want to see this show" or "I love watching people on stage."  But when looking at art I always have "this is supposed to be educational" playing in the back of my mind. 

Also, I need to remember to check out Blue Frog more often (even if there was no barbershop quartet this year) because yum.

Today I did the ritual watching of the Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar movies in honor of Good Friday.   This was the old 70s version of Superstar not the newer version that I didn't even know existed until today, but which I now need to rent in order to compare "wussy, baptist-Jesus" to "wonky-eyed-Jesus".  What? It's not at all unreasonable to spend a movie discussing the main actor's wonky eye and parental obsessions with odd songs.  Apparently Arynne's father is all about Simon the Zealot, while my mother cracks up every time the "then when we retire/We can write the Gospels/So they'll all talk about us when we die" bit. 

I did not sit outside and wait for the sky to get dark as a fiend's mom made me do as a teenager.   I'm not sure whether there was supposed to be a wave of darkness that descended as each time zone reached noon or if my friends mother just forgot to take into account the time difference between Jerusalem and West Chester, but the sky never did turn dark. 

I also managed to find these shoes at the Buffalo Exchange for $15, which made me ridiculously happy.  There was even an Easter Egg hidden nearby, so I got a piece of gum. 

Finally, for work this week I get to fly to Nashville on Tuesday.  Kat and I wii do some previous investigation research, take a look at a parking lot, and then fly back Wednesday.  Quite possibly this will be the most pointless project I've ever been on, but It will add another entry to the list of states I've worked in. 

Some random things from the past week or so in bullet point form:

• I had a lesson in "be careful what you wish for..."  For a while I've been saying how I wished they would go back to rotating field people into the lab periodically to help out with lab work.  Partly I'm selfish and I like doing lab work and living in my own apartment for more than four days in a row.  I also think it helps the field staff remember how (and understand why it's important) to correctly fill out our paperwork and artifact bags.  I looks like this will be happening.  Unfortunately, it will be happening at the expense of my favorite labbies job.  Something I obviously never would have wished for.  
• I love crawfish season.  I always forget how good crawfish is when its out of season, but there really are few things more fun than sitting out in the courtyard of The Bulldog drinking beer and eating crawfish.  It's also amusing the reactions that you get from other people.  I actually had a tourist ask my friend and me if she could watch us eat.  Presumably she just wanted to see the technique but hearing the words "Do you mind if I watch you eat?" is rather disconcerting. 
• Yesterday, I went to a Lenten/Easter concert that a couple of friends were putting on.  Now, I have a rocky relationship with the composer Samuel Barber.  He grew up in the same town I did (although much earlier than I did as he died the year before I was born).   I've spent alot of time in choirs (especially at church) singing his music because we had to celebrate out local artist -- also he wrote my high school Alma Matter.  Unfortunately, I don't like most of his music, but surprisingly yesterday I thought his "The Crucifixion" was the best piece done in the concert.  I also find it funny that his piece on the Crucifixion is beautiful and soaring while his piece for Easter morning is extremely dissident and I think depressing.  It's like he got confused which one is the celebration. 
• Today on the way to Perry, Florida I stopped at two exits in a row where the Shell station (the one I had a gas card for) was closed before I broke down and just payed for the field vehicle gas myself.  I really wish they would give me a company credit card so I could more easily do the job I'm supposed to be doing. 

Last night was our first ever wine scavenger hunt around the city of New Orleans.  Apparently Kat did a similar scavenger hunt during her field school.  Each of us was responsible for getting a bottle of wine and hiding it somewhere within the pre-arranged boundaries.  You then had to write a clue and bring it along to the start off point.  I hid mine in the side parking lot of the Borders on Louisiana and St. Charles Ave.   I was thanked afterward for hiding it someplace with a bathroom.  My Clue:

Hey There Intrepid Adventurers!
It's no secret that I like books. I love the way they present a land without boarders.  Everyone's experience is your own.  Toward that end, I would like to introduce you to my favorite Louisianian author Mr. St. John Charles.  Hopefully you now know where I am trying to send you, so I will leave you with one parting warning. Watch Out for the ghosts.  I hear they like to hang out around old funeral homes.

Happy Hunting,
Allison

P.S.  I always find it easiest to park in the side lot. 

My team of six got five clues.  All but one were pretty easy to figure out.  The one that wasn't was based on knowing where the guy to made it lived which we didn't.  Another involved "the house where Benjamin Button grew young" so I'm glad that someone had actually seen the movie.  It was out side that house that we had a cop car drive past twice while we were drinking out bottle.  I love that pretty much only in New Orleans can you be drinking a bottle of wine while sitting on the curb in a random neighborhood and the passing cop just waves.  We did have one team get in trouble because the hider didn't account for shift changes when he informed the bar that he was hiding a bottle of wine in their outdoor fountain.  The new bartender got rather upset that people were wading in the fountain.  Anyway, I had lots of fun. 

Playing Life: the Indiana Jones version with a bunch of archaeologists is rather amusing.  Leading to conversations like:

Player one: (reading card) A research institution gives you a grant take $100,000.
Player two:  I wish I could get a grant that easily.

P1 (again reading card):  One of the the professors in your department likes your work and gives you an artifact.  Take a life tile.
P2: How come none of my professors every gave me priceless artifacts.
P3: I never got any either.

P2:  (can you see where this is going) You steal a bi-plane and find a priceless artifact in the cockpit. 
P3:  Clearly this job should be much easier.  Artifacts are just hiding everywhere.  Steal something, get a prize.  Get up in the morning, another prize.  Oh look, an antique shop bet there's another artifact inside. 

By the end we came to the conclusion that artifacts are extremely common, archaeologists are very glamorous, and that we should be traveling to much more exotic locals than Clearview, Florida.  Also, I win at life (particularly when I get two relics and four companions - go me).

Louisiana likes to think it is famous for the number of festivals it holds each year: more than 365.  Somehow, I don't think that fact is well known enough outside of Louisiana to really make them famous.  Either way, I went to two of those festivals this weekend.

First on Saturday there was the was the French Quarter Fest.

Then Sunday brought the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival.
And if that wasn't enough, my parents are coming down in two weekends to attend Jazz Fest. 

Today was a surprisingly good day.  After the storm last night, the news was calling for on-and-off showers all morning.  The kind that we have to work through because they're not hard or long enough to ruin the paperwork or allow us time to get back to the car before they stop again.  The showers never came.  And because of the storm, both the humidity and the temperature were lower making it much more pleasant to work outside than it has been the last couple of days. 

Then we had the vegetation.  For the last couple of days we've either had extremely dense vegetation, the kind where it takes an hour to walk 100m, or we've had inundated areas where the water was over our wellies.  Today, neither.  In the one small area of inundation the water was only a couple of inches deep.  The woods were fairly open and we even had a couple of cow pastures and an ag. field.  At the end of the day we surveyed 550m in an hour. 

To round out these other pleasantries, we found a small site including a point and a bi-face.  The two landowners we came in contact with, already knew we were going to be there and just came out because they were curious about what we do.  The one who owned the land with the site, told us all about the "arrowheads" he used to find when he used to plow the land.  Plus he had three cute, friendly dogs who sat with us while we ate lunch. 

Finally, because we don't have to work tomorrow, the crew is going out bowling tonight.  Really the only thing that would have made today better is if I had gotten enough sleep last night, instead of lying awake trying to figure out who needed to turn down the base on whatever music system they were using.