Blessed Be This Ferry

We set out around noon on Sunday. Parked by the ferry, boarded and embarked. Leaving the landing, a man began playing bongos and another strummed the guitar. They began singing Amazing Grace and all the middle-aged men with them sang along. Methinks they were going across the river to preach the gospel. Whatever the cause, their hymns made for a very spiritual jaunt across the river and, after all, it was Sunday morning.

My neighbor across the street Josh was riding in Thoth and had given us the code: 2NT1.

We met up with friends, family and neighbors and mostly hung around the 600, 700 and 800 blocks of Tchoup. We watched a few of the first parades roll by, maged to grab several bags of REAL GLASS BEADS and sip on a few cocktails. This was to be a long night so I made a “one drink an hour” rule which was broken in the first hour.

After an incredibly long wait (the highlights of which was this fantastic machine and my meeting Clevon from Idiocracy) five-hour wait, Thoth finally began to roll buy. Unfortunately, because of our back end position, the throws were lean.

Then the neighbor rolled by and started showering throws upon us. I even got me a spear and a lil rose.

Romy was getting hungry so we decided to head over to Drago’s in the Hilton. We wanted some Ersters but there was a sign out from that said they were only doing a buffet that night. No ala carte. We were pretty hungry so we decided to pay the inflated price. Then once we ordered we saw that that there were people ordering the ersters ala carte. So it goes. We should really try them at the other location anyway. The buffet was only okay. I’ve never known Carnival to be much about eating out.

I was watching the game at the bar TV between buffet runs, marveling out how much uglier Tom Petty has become. He was never cute and age hasn’t helped. I love him to death though. He’s a Florida boy.

We left the Hilton and hung out with the neighbors at their hotel and watched the game. I got nervous about missing the start of the parade so we went downstairs before the end. Luckily there were several TVs in bars and restaurants showing it. Thing was, the set I chose to watch it on was about 3 seconds behind the huge projection Lucy’s had going on the side of their building. So when Tyree made that incredible catch, I heard the whole street go crazy before Eli had even busted out of the sack attempt. Anyway, the finish to the game had everyone loving each other. High fives abound.

Then Bacchus came rolling by. I wore my “Hulkamania” shirt just to get noticed by Hogan when he rolled by. Well, I chased that steroid-freak for four blocks, running into little old ladies and everything, and I couldn’t get him to look my way. I truly felt like a peon.

In Hogan’s defense though. I do have to say he made for a pretty good King. Reason being, he is a performer. Actors and athletes are performers too but, not in the same way. A wrestler has to communicate with his audience in a very simple, very flamboyant and over-the-top way. So Hogan went through all his moves, his flexing of the muscles, his pointing and cupping his ear, all the real crowd-pleasing stuff. The people ate it up.

He just didn’t notice ME.

We finished up the parade and saw our fair share of Mardi Gras amatures, including a little brunette girl in a “French Quarter Princess” shirt who felt every throw tossed in her general area was hers by birthright. She argued with me over one then after I didn’t see things my way, snatched the rose I received earlier from off my belt loop. I guess there’s a douche in every crowd. My location probably has a lot to do with it but, WTF, I gots to stick by the ferry.

Bacchus finished up and we caught the last boat over. By this time, the fog had settled in and I was really surprised they were even running it.

Out on the river it was causeway type situation. We couldn’t see where we were going and we couldn’t see where we were from. The GNO looked like some mystical palace. I gave the river a strand of beads and asked Romy what would happen if we crossed into some other dimension out here in the fog.

It was a rhetorical question.