RIP Review

My Life as a White Trash Zombie 

by Diana Rowland

Drug addict and "loser" Angel Crawford wakes up in a hospital room with some vague memories of a car crash that the nurse tells her could not have happened because there were no injuries on her anywhere.  Angel tries to figure out the truth as she begins to experience confusing and unsettling new cravings.  In the midst of some new discoveries, she also must deal with a slacker boyfriend and alcoholic father.

I promise that I did not read this just because it was set in my place of birth Louisiana, however, that might have been one small reason.  The book is pretty short, easy to read, and at times laugh out loud funny.  I wouldn't really say it is horrifying in any way though there are a couple of stomach turning scenes to be expected in a book about zombies.  The plot was a bit of a let-down. The mysterious communications via notes left on her car at the beginning had more potential to go somewhere interesting.  Also I found the ending to be over-the-top ridiculous. The last scene literally made me roll my eyes.  On the plus side, I thought the relationships in the book were well-scripted, the dialogue was believable, and Angel was an entertaining protagonist.

If you really like zombie novels, then sure pick this one up.  If you are looking for something in the horror category, I'd go elsewhere. I'll give it 3 stars out of 5 as it was decent, but not anything I'd ever want to reread.

Vacationing: Weddings, Babies, and Stuff

My sister got married! Her and her husband are a super adorable couple.  The wedding was perfect - it was beautiful, it was small, and it was relatively short (for the sake of my feet at least b/c I totally picked the wrong shoes to wear).  The wedding party as a whole had a great sense of humor which we all managed to reign in for the actual ceremony -- for the rehearsal not so much.  The pastor literally said "I really worry about all of you getting through this tomorrow."  She was just a bit too serious, but really nice and she did a good job.  The wedding photographer has a whole series of hilarious pictures that I can't wait to see!

Two of my oldest friends had babies over the summer so I got visit with all of them for a few days, which was really nice especially since I don't know when I'll see them again.  Both of the babies are boys and both are adorable.  N. is about 3 months old and has a precious smile.  J. is soo tiny I was afraid to hold him at first, but he makes the funniest faces - I have a feeling he is going to be a hilarious child.  

Also while at home I had my annual sno-ball.  This time it was mango w/condensed milk.  Actually its good I wasn't down there longer b/c I might have gained 10 pounds from eating those things.  I enjoyed lots of fresh vegetables as my dad decided to do a garden this year.  He used to do one every year, but hadn't been recently.  I ate probably a cucumber a day and way too much creamed corn.  

In other news, I still have to pack. I am very bad at this obviously.  Today I sorted through my books and I'm determined to get rid of half of them, but that still leaves me w/over 200!  Oh and I found out that I will be going to Ukraine in December. Hurray!! I might actually finish this graduate program. 

New Louisiana Laws

I just have to say something about this.

Gun restrictions will loosen, allowing concealed weapons in some churches and near most schoolyards and permitting firearms at state parks and historic sites.

BUT A ban on texting while driving will get tougher.

AND Grand Isle residents will no longer have to pay a toll to cross the bridge to their home.

Starting backwards, why the hell did Grand Isle residents ever have to pay a toll to get home. That is just stupid. Glad someone figured that out.

More importantly:

Go ahead and bring your gun to church grandma, but for god's sake don't text!


I do get that texting while driving is dangerous. I am not against that law, but the irony kills me. You are apparently worried about people injuring others while texting in the car, but you loosen gun restrictions!! Near schools and churches and parks! My mind is blown. And by the way, what does "some" churches mean?

Where are people's priorities?

Random Pictures

Went to a famous local restaurant that supposedly has the best mufalettas, Liuzza's. The above drink was called a BushWhacker that consists of a "stealthy" concoction of alcohols. Three out of three of us agreed that it was basically a White Russian with some sort of coconut rum, probably Malibu. It was superb.

The above photo is the sandwich. Actually not a traditional mufaletta b/c it is made on French bread - thus, a frenchaletta. It was HUGE. But amazingly warm and delicious, and I think I gained about 10 pounds eating it in conjuction with that drink and some savory onion rings.

The demon cat Hermione.

Waiting for food. I love this picture.

Random tree outside of my mom's work place.

The Piney Woods.

Winter Break

In case you were curious, what have I been up to? Oh, nothing. I watch tv all day, especially Criminal Minds, which I have become addicted to. In May, when I was here last, it was NCIS, and before that it was Stargate. Clearly, I have a problem. But whatever, I don't have tv back up north, I get distracted enough by Netflix.

I managed to read one book. I didn't like it, and I haven't been doing anything productive (like reading or preparing for prelims), but one book is better than nothing I guess. Anyway it was The Nun by Diderot. My brother threw it at me (literally) when I asked for "light" reading. It isn't really, at least not in my opinion. The book is about some girl whose parents hate her and send her to some convent where she is miserable and tries to leave and is tortured by all these Mother Superiors. (yes, that was a runon sentence). Whatever was sort of my attitude upon finishing it. Oh, and I just recalled that I read another book whilst stranded in the airport for 15 hours on Christmas Eve, but I cannot find it right now and I don't remember the title. It was good (better than The Nun), except for the ending, which sort of ruined my entire experience with it. Yes, I know annoying that I am talking about a nameless book so that you have absolutely no reference point for my comments. Sorry.

My sister just said the best thing ever, "It is like there is nothing to do except go to sleep!" I actually totally agree except that Criminal Minds comes on for 2 hours pretty soon. It is the only thing that keeps me going (totally just kidding I promise).

Hm...what else? Well, I went to see Sherlock Holmes, it is now officially on my very short list of favorite movies. I enjoyed every second of it; Robert and Jude were perfect, their ridiculous bickering and sarcastic comments were endlessly entertaining to me :) For at least this once, I wouldn't mind a sequel (and I really really hate useless inferior sequels to amazing movies - i.e Pirates of the Caribbean). Tomorrow, ooohh, tomorrow Daybreakers comes out. It is another vampire movie to add to the, at this point, annoying vampire craze, but at least it isn't a pre-teen romance movie about bloodsuckers. Luckily I have my sister and mother to go see it with me. I think I have used all of my horror movie passes up with my friends in the tundra. After forcing various people to see 30 Days of Night, A Haunting in Connecticut, and Fourth Kind they might refuse to go see any movie with me ever again. Which means that I will not get to see Paranormal State (which is still playing in random theaters), Antichrist, or Legion. So sad.

And folks, I think that is about all that has been happening here. Went shopping, met up with some friends, celebrated a few holidays...yep, that is everything. Hope everyone else's breaks were restful and/or entertaining.

A Soldiers' Pay

"Faulkner wrote Soldiers’ Pay while living in New Orleans in 1925, but much of the inspiration for the novel dates back to the time of the war. When the United States entered the war, Faulkner eagerly tried to join the U.S. Army as a pilot, but he was turned down because of his small size. Dismayed but undeterred, he adopted a British persona and joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet in Canada, but before he could finish flight training, the war ended, thus robbing Faulkner of the chance to achieve a hero’s status in the skies over Europe." http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/n-sp.html

Later on on this website, it says that Faulkner was published in the Times-Picayune; the newspaper in S. La. Having read that paper my whole life, I find it really really hard to associate William Faulkner with it, but whatever....

This was just a note to say that I actually am serious in my challenge to myself to read 9 books by him. And yes, I am every so slowly working my way through this first one.

Floodwalls and Levees

A little while ago, water began pouring over the floodwall at the Industrial Street Canal. Did I mention that Gustav was a Cat. 2 hurricane. Oh, I didn't, well then.

Hurricane Gustav is a Category 2 hurricane. These shiny new reinforced supposedly better floodwalls I believe are supposed to withstand a Cat. 3 hurricane, which Gustave was right before it made landfall, and which they originally predicated would be a 4 or 5 at landfall. But why dont' you see what FEMA had to say about the levee situation. I really truly thought that the plan was to build them high enough and strong enough (though breakage of the levee is not an issue right now, someone reported on the channel 6 website that she thought there was water coming under one of the floodgates) to withstand a Cat. 3. I can't get over this, seriously.

As the reporter is watching the water coming over "like a waterfall" they ask one of their "experts" what he thinks about the situation. Basically his response (not an exact quote) "They weren't built high enough. They must be about 15 feet, and they should be around 18 -20." But he was estimating, so I'm not saying that the levees are not high enough I don't know enough about how that works - what I am saying is that whatever they did they managed to still screw up the the wall somehow b/c Gustav is only a 2.

Updated to Add: I might have overreacted a little bit, as of right now the water is no longer pouring over the wall, so I guess it is ok. But I stand by the fact that the scene of that water coming over made me really nervous, and I was completely justified in being upset about it :)

On a more personal note, can't call anyone. My mom swore she'd call me this morning well before the hurricane hit. She isn't is La, rather MS. and the weather was still fairly bad there, but nothing like where my father and brother are. Last I heard 35,000 people are without power in St. Tammany parish. This is to be expected. I'm sure their power is out, and cell phone coverage might be interupted for a bit, but also I think there is just an overload of people calling. I couldn't get in touch with my sister in Northern La., probably b/c of this last reason. She is too far from the storm for it to be due to power/cell outages.

One last thing, my friend who lives in St. Landry parish stayed. This makes me SUPER nervous b/c the eye of the storm was headed more in that western direction, around Lafayette. As of about an hour or maybe two ago only 50 people were w/o power in that parish, but I think that was more due to the fact that the storm hadn't quite made it there yet. Honestly of all the people down there that I know, I am most worried about her. She lives very near the Atchafalaya River and her parents live right across the levee over there.

More on Gustav

"On Saturday, Gustav stretched 900 miles across and it continued to grow. In contrast, the footprint of Katrina was about 400 miles in diameter when it hit."

That is the scariest thing I have heard all day. It is huge!! So even if it does make a sudden turn further west it still is going to affect all of Louisiana.

My mom and grandma are leaving, my sister is up in Northern La. My brother and father are staying with the animals. Lots of my friends are staying. I was pretty ok, until I listened to Nagin's speech, and while I do feel he exaggerated a lot, he kind of made me panicky.

It is now expected to hit tomorrow, rather than Tuesday. They were saying that even though there are other weather systems in the gulf that could affect the direction of the hurricane, the thing is so big that it is unlikely. But still, I shouldn't start freaking now, since there is the potential that nothing super terrible will happen.

Hurricane

I wasn't worried too much about this one, I mean slightly, but nothing to panic about. Well, now the damn thing, Gustav, which was a mere Tropical Storm though nearly a Category 1 Hurricane, is a Category 3!! (For those of you who don't know 5 is the highest, and while Katrina started out as a 4 or 5, when it made landfall it was a 3). I am personally no where near the storm, being on the opposite side of the country, but my family is there.

According to the weather channel the storm hit a patch of very warm water near Cuba, and went through a period of rapid intensification - i.e. the pressure drops, it gets more organized, and the wind speed goes up. All in the last 24 hrs. Right now, they don't think that New Orleans will be in the direct path, but these storms are so hard to predict, and besides even if N.O doesn't get a direct hit, all the rain and tornadoes spawned by hurricanes can still cause damage to the city and surrounding areas.

Incidentally, yesterday was the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. People are so nervy though. Ray Nagin, the mayor of N.O., has already ordered all the tourists out of the city by noon. When I talked to my parents last week, they said people were already buying up all the water, canned goods, and generators. This was before Gustave was even a serious threat.

The city is definitely on the ball though. No mass shelters in the city (remember the Super Dome), and they are trying to bus as many people out as posssible, although really the public transportation down there sucks. Also, the evacuation of special needs patients started this morning, along with some other people who would have no other way out. Right now it is not a mandatory evacuation, but that will go into effect probably tomorrow. However, in St. Charles Parish and St. Bernard, very near Orleans Parish, a mandatory evacuation will go into effect this afternoon.

updated to add: that now its a Category 4 hurricane. Over the past 3 hours the pressure has dropped by 20 mb, and the wind speed is 145mph. It is expected to increase after passing over (and no doubt destroying) Cuba. Once it hits the Gulf the meteorologists expect it will slow down, to make landfall around Tuesday. Currently they are still expecting it to go more West of New Orleans, but that still puts the city (and my family) on the bad side of the storm - the side with the most rain, and the highest possibility of tornadoes. Talked to my family, they are not evacuating, and have no intentions of doing so, but do report that the major highways are nearly impassable right now b/c of the number of people that have decided to leave the area.