2 inches of rain expected...

what a day.

today was our last day with the rental car. guy is taking it back to the airport right now. it's pouring here in nola. when it pours like this in The City, people stand under overhangs and stare in wonder, which is maybe only once a year. our hotel courtyard is so deep in water, that stepping in it covers my entire foot, fortunately clad in snow boots (yeah, snow, mom bought them for me, not sure why). i'm sitting in the laundry room doing laundry that couldn't wait as it reeks so terribly from bio-dad's house. he never stops smoking with all the windows closed and no air flow. p-u. BIG TIME P-U!!!

guy and i visited the Merigny Fourbourg (sp?) district this morning after reading that it's the truly coolest place in town. turns out that is only for nighttime activities. no breakfast to be found. we finally found a place that wasn't a bar and were faced with a menu that we, a left-coaster and a right-coaster, could barely understand. "Hot Shrimp Salad" "Beans and Rice" "Chitlins" etc. i ordered a $10 ham sandwich, guy got the hot shrimp salad which turned out to be iceberg lettuce with fried shrimp on top. turned out to be delicious. my sandwich had REAL ham on it, nothing processed and his tiny shrimp were far more tasty than anything we could dream of on the west coast. total bill: $25 when all we wanted was coffee and a croissant.

a little while ago, he dropped me off at the hotel and took off for the airport. i had a simple plan to grab the laptop, as there is only WIFI in the courtyard adjacent to the laundry room, grab the laundry, grab a bottle of wine and my smokes, but it couldn't have been more complicated. it went something like this:

1. must get laundry detergent. walk two blocks in pouring rain so bad that my pants and raincoat are soaked clear through and soak my clothes underneath as well.
2. run back to hotel with detergent.
3. grab computer, wrapped in three layers of plastic, backpack with wine, a glass, cigarettes.
3. go to laundry room, realize i have not brought the right key for the room and am locked out and have no change for laundry.
4. put laundry in machine and race to front lobby to get new key. front lobby filled with people checking in. takes 15 minutes to get new key and that is with me cutting in front of some people.
5. run back up to room to get in with new key and grab change.
6. run down to laundry room to put in detergent and get laundry rolling.
7. sit down with computer and attempt to pop cork, doesn't work. cork will not come out. hotel employee runs by, i call out to him, he pops it after much much effort. i offer him some as a thank you, he accepts after finding a cup. sweet, little toothless guy who probably stayed here throughout katrina.
8. pour wine, get back on computer, ready myself for a desperately needed cigarette and glass of wine. NOPE! lighter doesn't work, it's soaked.
9. pack up computer in layers of plastic and put inside backpack and run to bar to get matches. no matches there. no one in the bar has extra matches. at this point i'm BEYOND coping. i'm in survival mode.
10. run back up to room, to grab another lighter, new door key doesn't work. i am now resigned to not getting a cigarette.

finally after only 10 minutes in laundry room, nice lady from kentucky arrives to dry her sneakers. she is a smoker and i'm in luck. finally, my simple wine-cigarettes-writing-laundrying idea kicks into full action.

all of this would actually be kinda fun if guy and i hadn't gotten in a fight after seeing the wreckage of the ninth ward which sent two inches of rain flooding out of my face.