Oh, my god, the fucking mall, and the fucking people in New Orleans who cannot drive (ALL OF THEM).

Off to the hospital to visit my grandmother. My mom just said for the first time "It's probably the last time you'll see her."

(Despite those complaints, I haven't been having a bad trip.)

my org is changing from bi monthly paychecks to biweekly. Is there a reason why my first paycheck of 2012 will be one week of pay, instead of two?

Ugh, that's a pain! I mean, I kind of like it for myself, with the "extra" paycheck twice a year, but if you've been counting on a certain amount of money a month it's awful!

Oh, Dana. Much ~ma.

Gar, I'm sorry. I haven't watched the Ref yet either...I have the DVD so I can.

Oh, my god, the fucking mall, and the fucking people in New Orleans who cannot drive (ALL OF THEM).

I'm a little worried about driving in NC, as I've adapted to NOLA driving somewhat. OMG, it's going to be weird to be somewhere with roads instead of washboards. OH HAI LEFT TURNS I MISSED YOU.

meara, I've been on that system before, I just wish I'd had more notice to prepare for a gap week, and I don't get why there is one.

Shir, how is your mom?

An adorable toddler wearing a Batman shirt just walked up to me and repeatedly banged into my leg, which apparently is his way of hugging. Then he zoned out, drooling on my jeans. The father was horrified and apologetic, I was more worried about him mouthing my dirty jeans. It sounds annoying, but I was tickled. I like it when kids and dogs and cats like me.

About to take off!! Carolina, here I come, right back where I started from.

Carolina, here I come, right back where I started from.

Man, I watched those AV clips of Chrismukkah the other day (I think someone here linked to them) and was all "Aww! The OC!!"

Shir, how is your mom?

Still deaf in one ear. She did some hearing tests this week, and they all showed she's losing the little bit of hearing she was left with. On the bright side, she got back to work this week, and she's doing fine. Some days are worse, with the sickness, but all in all - back to 80% of her normal schedule.

MRI on Thursday, and then 7-10 days waiting for the results.

Oh, my god, the fucking mall, and the fucking people in New Orleans who cannot drive (ALL OF THEM).

Yeah. We had to drive in outskirts of the Quarter (Tom needed to pick up a prescription at the Walgreens on Canal) and down Magazine and both were a total zoo.

In weird morning news, after I dropped smonster off at the airport, I went to not one but two car wash places to get the truly EPIC amount of bird crap off my car. We were parked under a tree last night in the CBD and apparently it is the poop stop of New Orleans, I don't even know.

Anyway, the first carwash sucked so I went to another one down South Carrollton, which rocked. I came out and this dude was like, OMG YOUR RIGHT FILANGI IS GOING TO EXPLODE YOUR CAR! Which, I was pretty sure that... wasn't a thing. (he did not say filangi, but something else I didn't understand or ever hear of before). He went under the car and poked his hand up my front right wheel well, and I was pretty sure I was being flimflammed, but you know, it's Christmas, so I gave him $30.

Them I was still in the parking lot trying to wipe off the residual bird crap with a tissue and another dude came over and said, "why don't you let me take care of that (he had a bucket, cleaner, rags, etc.) and that way I can get myself a burger." He went to town on my car, and I gave him $20.

Adding that to the $18 I had spent on the two carwash services, that was the most expensive car wash I ever had.

It's totally fine though. Merry Christmas, flimflam artists, grifters and squeegee guys! We all need a little something extra this time of year. I don't think Mr. Exploding Filangi did anything to the car that would actually harm it, so it's all good.

OK, off to the NOLA Brewing tour!

"why don't you let me take care of that (he had a bucket, cleaner, rags, etc.) and that way I can get myself a burger."

A straightforward proposition, you didn't have to do it, and he got fed. There are worse economic arrangements.