Choose Your Own Adventure: NOLA or Vegas?

I am of the mindset that there are two types of people in the world.  Those who prefer New Orleans or those who prefer Las Vegas.  Both cities offer a sprinkle of debauchery, a smattering of throwing caution to the wolves along with maybe a bit of your dignity, which you may have lost in an alleyway somewhere.  Only a few days is needed in both cities of course to get the wild out of your system before you regroup, try to forget the things that might have been said or done.  You smooth down your work attire once you've left, plaster a sticky smile onto your worn face and reenter normal society with hopefully no regrets. The stories will linger and you will love to recount them once the sting of your embarrassing antics fades away. 

I prefer New Orleans; it may be the grittiness of the city.  How everything smells a bit like if urine and trash had a love child.  Or it may be the fact that there’s music around every corner, some performed by children who I always worry should be in school instead of on a street corner beating on upside down white buckets.  You at times feel like you're in a whole other country; one that is ancient and haunted by ghosts who are eager to greet you with their slender skeletal fingers, which makes a kind of sense being that New Orleans is one of the oldest cities in the United States. It was founded by the French in 1718.  (If you were wondering, the oldest city in the U.S. is St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded by the Spanish in 1565, and if you were not wondering such a thing I’m saddened by your lack of curiosity.)  So yes, there is a lot of history, and I haven’t even begun to talk about the food.  I think we had oysters for lunch every single day.

Our favorite place to taste such a delicacy, and we have tasted our way through NOLA's oysters, is Gallier's Restaurant. We have found the oysters to be larger, the servers to be the friendliest, most interesting (and that's saying a lot for NOLAs), and if you make it to the happy hour, best deal in town.

And I have to always order a bloody mary.

We finish the evenings with Brother’s Fried Chicken.  If you don't already know it’s this chicken place located in a small convenient store and I don’t think I want chicken if it’s not located in such a place ever again.

The first full day we met some friends who have moved to Biloxi for part of the year.  They were kind enough to make the 90 minute drive to spend the day with us.  The day started out with oysters of course and a shrimp po boy the size of my head.

Afterwards we went for a much needed walk and I found a bookstore along the way.  Faulkner House Books.  It felt like I was walking into someone’s home and perusing their collection instead of an actual store.   The collection of new books features some strange titles and some mainstream ones and of course I had to purchase two, you know, to support the local business.  When I was paying I told the clerk, who I could only assume was the owner, that  I could have gotten lost in her shelves with such wonderful titles to keep me company, but I had friends waiting for me outside, which she replied, without skipping a beat I might add,  “Next time you need to ditch those friends and stay a bit longer.”  Of course I would never do that, I thought.  I actually was trying to hurry so that they would not have to wait too long for me, but on second thought…aren’t books my friends too?  And aren’t I essentially ditching them?

We then found another store I fell in love with.  It was properly called Road Kill.  It had a bit of a gothic vibe with victorian clothing and shoes hanging in the window front.  I found an owl purse, yes I said owl purse, which I bought with pride and a belt.

Have you ever heard a voice telling you to buy something and you know if you ignore said voice you will regret not buying said thing.  I don’t get that voice very often, which is probably a good thing, but on this day I did and on this day I obeyed.

I’ve never done a ghost tour before and our amazing friends wanted me to have the experience, even though they have already been through one.  We had a great time of course until I became aware of something, an annoying something, a something that would make me have to draw attention to myself, which is one thing that gives me the hives, hurts my heart from the inside out.  

I was pickpocketed.  No, this isn't the 1800s where you may find Oliver Twist's bedeviling smile as you turn you head slighly to the left or right as he skips away with your life savings held securely in his back pocket.

Two credit cards.  Gone.  Driver’s License. Gone.  Cute Frida Kahlo coin purse. Gone.  Lots and lots of self loathing?  Very much present. 

I don’t know exactly when it happened.  Sometime after I purchased the owl purse and before we began the ghost tour.  I don’t remember anyone bumping into me or my attention being diverted in any kind of way. But I remember wearing my crossbody purse with the purse part behind my back at some point.  I know, I know, rookie mistake.

You live and learn of course.  A purchase was made of 600 dollars to a grocery store.  Great, I thought, at least I’m providing a good Thanksgiving meal.  Then, they spent 120 dollars at a bar.  Ok, I thought, all of that pickpocketing stress probably got to them and a drink or a plethora of them was definitely needed. Then there was a slew of random Disney, Hulu, Uber type purchases and I thought enough is enough although it does sound like a good day filled with great food, great drinks and some entertainment, even if it was all done in my name.

We did get to finish the ghost tour if you were wondering and I did enjoy the whole thing, even with the cloud of my own stupidity hanging like a wet blanket over my head.  I was not deterred from having a good time, even though it happened on the first full day of our trip.

I still managed to eat my weight in oysters and fried chicken, drink my weight in all the alcohol, and listen to my weight in music.  I still prefer New Orleans over Vegas, even after this small inconvenience, and I will be going back you will be happy to note. My New Orleans bad ass character must have shifted out of place for a moment and I did feel the shift. Self doubt was clouding my judgment at some point in the day, knocking my character out of place. The pickpocket could feel it as well and struck at just the right moment.  There’s a lesson to be learned in that.  What you say to yourself, even if it is just to yourself is expressed in how you walk, talk, and just are as a person and other people, criminal people, will and can pick up on that, hone in on your weaknesses and use it to their advantage and that’s what happened to me.  My aura was beige when it should have shown bright reds, yellows, and purples.  Please, never be beige, dear reader, always be bright, always lively, and always bad ass so the pick pockets will most assuredly leave you alone.