« August 2008 | Main | October 2008 »
But I'm in law school
September 30, 2008So, in case you forgot, I'M IN LAW SCHOOL. And, as if I needed to say it, LAW SCHOOL is my priority now.
And so, yes, I'm not as good at returning phone calls as I once was. Or e-mails. And every single birthday card I send out will probably be late.
And so I REALLY don't appreciate it when you, my friends and readers, harass me because I'm not as attentive as I used to be, back when I was a journalist and had TONS of free time.
Take this e-mail I just got from one friend. He'd e-mailed me to find out how I was doing. I said I was fine, a bit overwhelmed, but that I thought things were going well.
And he e-mails me back: "Apparently you just kind skipped the second sentence in my email." (FYI: The second sentence asked me how I was doing, to which I issued a quick, but curt reply. I'm in law school, after all. I'll catch up with folks at Christmas when I'm not studying.)
My friend's e-mail continued: "Try again and tell me what you're doing, how classes are going, how's the apartment, have you been able to settle in, what your neighbors are like, have you made any friends, are you still drinking $7-a-bottle beer, what's it like going back to college, etc., etc., etc."
So, instead of sending every one of my friends the same e-mail, I just thought I'd post my response.
I'M IN LAW SCHOOL. Get used to it! BUT, it'll be over in three years and your friend Lara will return.
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I (allergic) malt liquor
Like most things I fall in love with, my passion for malt liquor was fleeting. Of course, that's because it turns out I'm allergic.
I had spent WAAAAYYYY too much money on my new-found love, and so maybe it was the gods simply saying, "Lara, go buy some Bud Light." But I had drank malt liquor for about three days straight when I noticed a rash forming on my arm. By the next day, it'd moved to my stomach and legs. By the end of that day, it had moved to my scalp and face.
I called my sister who's in Med School to ask her to diagnose my rash over the phone. She said it sounded like an allergic reaction, probably something I'd ingested judging from the fact that it had spread systematically all across my body.
Had I changed my eating habits lately, she asked. And I told her I"d only added one new thing: malt liquor.
I stopped drinking, and the rash disappeared. Just to make sure it was, in fact, the malt liquor that I was allergic to, I drank another bottle this weekend. LIke clockwork, my skin started to itch soon after.
And so, farewell my sweet malt liquor. Now I've got to find something new to replace it.
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Watching Ike
September 13, 2008I just can't seem to get enough of hurricane coverage. I've never been a big time weather watcher, but ever since my own evacuation from New Orleans because of Hurricane Gustav last week, I'm glued to the television.
I've been to Galveston numerous times throughout my life, and the newscasters are already saying this is the worst storm to hit the town since the big one in 1900.
I called one of my little sisters who lives in Houston last night and she said she wasn't evacuating. She lives in part of the city that doesn't flood and she lives on the third floor of an apartment complex, so she thought she'd be safe. But does she have power? Water?
Judging from the path of the storm, it looks like North Texas will be getting a huge chunk of rain from Ike as well. Is hurricane season EVER going to end?
Posted by Lara Richards at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I (heart) malt liquor
September 9, 2008What goes good with hurricanes? Well, malt liquor, of course.
I wrote a few days ago about my frustration with trying to shop for groceries post-evacuation from Gustav here in New Orleans. Things are still crazy. I was in one grocery store Sunday afternoon when several of the checkout workers were about to go on strike.
This one proclaimed to everyone in sight that she was N-O-T coming to work on Monday. She'd been working three straight days and the traffic in the store had been unbelievably tense and steady.
I went to Winn-Dixie Monday afternoon to get bacon bits and ice cream. (No lectures, please. I'm still coming off my carb-heavy evacuation diet, and I'm trying to slowly ease back in to a life of slightly more healthy fare. I haven't had grits in four days, so things are looking up.)
Anyway, the grocery store was still half-shelved with goods, and the entire ice cream section was cleaned out. Apparently, ice cream and hurricanes go together well.
Which brings me to my new-found appreciation for malt liquor. And I'm not talking Colt-45. I'm talking an expensive, it's all the way from freakin' Belgium, malt beverage.
After I left Winn-Dixie Monday, I swung by the fancy-schmancy grocery store down the block from me called Whole Foods (or as us poor folk like to call it, Whole Paycheck.) Anyway, I went in looking for ice cream, and of course, everything there was like all natural, no dairy, no taste stuff. Where's my Blue Bell? (Whole Foods is known for offering all natural/organic products. Whatever.)
And so, I found myself on the beer aisle. If I couldn't have ice cream, beer it was. But there were only fancy beers left. Up in the corner, though, an oddly shaped container, a cross between a beer bottle and a wine bottle caught my eye. I recognized the label instantly - it's what one of my Boston friends used to drink all the time. (How fancy is it, you ask? It has both a non-screw-off bottle top AND a cork.)
It's technically called a lambic. It's made by Lindemans in Belgium, which has made this kind of brew since 1811, according to the label. It tastes, in layman's terms, like you mixed wine and beer, but in a really good way, and then threw some fruit in. The malt beverages come in a variety of flavors - peach, black cherry, raspberry and green apple.
According to the label of the cherry malt liquor I drank Monday night, it is "a lambic made from local barley, unmalted wheat and wild yeast. After spontaneous fermentation, black cherries are added, creating a secondary fermentation and yielding a beer of exceptional flavor and complexity."
Translation: Yummy-D.
The only problem with getting hooked on this swanky version of malt liquor is the price tag. I can hardly even type the number, but a 12-ounce bottle is $7. ( I think I only used to pay $2 for a "forty" of Colt-45 from the bootlegger in high school.)
Yep, I'm big city now, baby. I'm drinking fancy beer. Who knows where my post-evacuation life will lead me next? Tofu? Wheat grass shakes? Soy milk?
Posted by Lara Richards at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Staying put
Well, it looks like Hurricane Ike is headed for either Texas or Mexico, which means I'm safe in New Orleans.
For now.
Would it be tempting fate to start unpacking my boxes from my Gustav evacuation? I may wait just a few days more.
Posted by Lara Richards at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Reservations
September 7, 2008So, I thought I'd be pro-active this time in dealing with the impending hurricane. Even though Ike hasn't even reached the Gulf of Mexico yet (at which time, everyone in the coast will have a better idea of where he's headed), I thought I'd go ahead and get a hotel reservation early.
This time, I'd be able to stay closer, like in Meridian or Vicksburg or Jackson, MIssissippi. I didn't want to have to drive all the way to Chattanooga again, especially with all that horrid traffic.
I just checked online and the Motel 6's across Mississippi are already booked for this
weekend. Argh!!! I haven't checked other cheap hotels, but I'm assuming the same is true.
Are there any hurricanes in North Texas right now? I might just come home to see my cows and kittens for a bit.
Posted by Lara Richards at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Expenses mount
I've done a rough tally in my head and I spent around $500 for my eight day evacuation. And that was doing it cheap, sharing rooms with other students, staying in less-than-desirable hotels and trying to save as much as possible on meals. (I ate at Waffle House twice, for instance.)
I can't imagine how the families I ran into at hotels and gas stations made it through. I remember one family of six that had bought a little grill and turned the parking lot of the Motel 6 into their own backyard, of sorts. Even then, they said, the costs were mounting.
What if we have to leave again? When - and most importantly, if - we get to apply for aid from FEMA, how long will it take us to get our money? How much will they reimburse us? How? What? When?
The questions are mounting, as fast as the expenses. And this wasn't even a major hurricane, I keep telling myself. I can't imagine how people dealt with Katrina, when I can barely make it through eight days on evacuation road.
Posted by Lara Richards at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The diet of chaos
For the past 10 days, I've eaten nothing healthy, just a diet of what, I guess, could be termed comfort food. Lots of eating out. Lots of beef and sugar and starch. Lots and lots of quantity.
For the four days I was staying in Chattanooga, Tenn., during my evacuation, I had baked beans at least once a day, if not twice. Ice cream several times. Breakfast was usually at Waffle House, which isn't known for its light fare.
The hotel I stayed at in Florida had a free continental breakfast, and I had grits every morning, usually with a side of donut or pancake.
But it's not just quantities of food I've consumed. I remember over a week ago when I looked strangely at all the locals buying tons of beer and booze at the grocery store. (Are they getting ready to throw a hurricane party, I remember thinking.) Now, I know the answer. They were just trying to get through the chaos of the hurricane.
I'm not what you'd call a regular drinker, more of just on social occasions, and even then, MAYBE, just once a month, if that. And yet, this past week, almost like clockwork, I've reached for the Jack or the wine or a few beers each night.
I know I'm not alone. It's not that these few drinks make the hurricane more bearable or go away. It's just that the Jack and the wine and the few beers are there every night, like clockwork, and the weather is unpredictable.
School starts Monday. And hopefully Ike will drift off to sea. Otherwise, I've gotta hit the liquor store again.
Posted by Lara Richards at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Home sweet home?
I returned home to New Orleans about 6 p.m. Saturday night to a vastly different city.
Repair trucks lined the roads. In my neighborhood, fallen limbs and leaves are piled up high in front of every house. I went to the grocery store to get some food for dinner, since I'd thrown away everything in my fridge prior to leaving because I expected the power to go out sometime during Gustav's rein. The cupboard was literally bare at the store. In the bread aisle, there were only six containers of English muffins (five, after I grabbed one).
There was no lettuce or onions. Only two sad looking containers of strawberries. I left the store with two cans of soup, two green bell peppers, the English muffins and a can of beans.
Since that didn't sound much like the homecoming feast I'd intended, I decided to grab some fast food. Wendy's was closed and McDonald's was only taking cash, which I didn't have. So, I came home and ate beans and corn, straight from the can.
I realize things could be much worse. Although Hurricane Gustav spared a lot of New Orleans, many neighborhoods are still without power. Baton Rouge - about 80 miles west of here on Interstate 10 - could be without power for another few weeks.
And the fun isn't over yet. All Saturday morning, I watched the Weather Channel. Tropical Storm Hanna is battering the east coast as we speak, and Hurricane Ike is on the way soon. I unloaded my car Saturday night, but I haven't dared to unpack. I want to make it as easy as possible to reload in a few days if I need to evacuate. Again.
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Evacuation, Part 2?
September 6, 2008I was looking forward to packing up, leaving the hotel and getting back to my apartment in New Orleans. I couldn't wait to get my life back together and get back to law school.
That was until I turned on the news this morning. Ike has strengthened, but more importantly, he's turned. He's now headed for the Gulf and what could be New Orleans.
Ike is not supposed to hit until next weekend, so I've already decided that I"m not unpacking at all when I get back to NOLA. I'm simply going to live out of a suitcase for a week until I know that Ike has safely passed.
If I have to evacuate again, where will I end up this time? Now that I know HOW to evacuate, I could try to get reservations early at a closer town -- maybe Jackson or Meridian in Mississippi -- but then I think about all the fun I've had exploring Chattanooga and Destin, towns that were foreign to me until Hurricane Gustav sent me packing.
I don't know how people on the coast live with this. Of course, I"m assuming that's what people on the coast would say if they lived in North Texas during the spring and had to deal with endless tornado watches and warnings.
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
FEMA funds
September 5, 2008Every time I stopped along the road at a gas station or restaurant during my evacuation from New Orleans, I'd always end up talking with other evacuees. Everyone always reminded me to keep every single receipt so that I could submit everything to FEMA when I got back.
But now I'm reading conflicting reports in newspapers about just what will be covered and what won't. One story said that you have to return to New Orleans, find your home unliveable and THEN go stay in a FEMA-approved hotel before they'll pay your expenses.
I just don't see how the government can't give us something, considering we were under mandatory evacuation to leave. But I also understand that there was some FEMA abuse after Hurricane Katrina -- especially when the agency handed out those $2,000 gift cards. I'm hoping that everything will get straightened out soon. While I obviously don't expect the federal government to pick up my tab for my little vacation here in Destin, Fla., right now, I'd be very pleased if the feds would at least pay for my gas to and from Chattanooga and my hotel.
I know from having covered the big 2007 flood in Wichita Falls, though, that applying for FEMA aid is a long, tedious process, something I"m not looking forward to experiencing firsthand. But, if it means I'll get a little money back, then I'm all for it.
Posted by Lara Richards at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Days in Destin
Needless to say, when I evacuated to Chattanooga, Tenn., last Saturday, I didn't see the need to pack a bathing suit. But once I arrived in bright and sunny Destin, Fla., Wednesday, I realized that I needed to go buy one.
As any woman knows all too well, the buying of the bathing suit is not a fun excursion. More like a root canal mixed with a horrible first date with a dash of Poison Oak. It didn't help that I hadn't exercised in about a month and that I spent about 5 days in Tennessee eating as much barbecue and baked beans as possible. (New Orleans is known for its amazing food, but barbecue and Mexican food aren't at the top of the list.)
And so, under dire circumstances -- buy a bathing suit or you can't go to the beach -- I made a purchase. Then I squeezed by barbecue loving behind into it.
Posted by Lara Richards at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Destin-ation
September 4, 2008You might say that it was Destin-y that the hurricane avoided New Orleans, leaving me with a week to kill before classes resume on Monday.
I left Chattanooga Wednesday afternoon and found myself in Destin, Fla., a little town in the Florida Panhandle down the coast from Pensacola. Today, I spent all afternoon either on the beach or by the pool, my mind a million miles away from hurricanes and Torts/Criminal Law/Civil Procedure/Contracts. (That's my class line-up for this fall at law school. And yes, it's as dense as it sounds.)
Don't worry, Mom and Pop. I'm still studying, in between trips to the sun. But I just felt like I needed to get my mind off all the chaos of the past week so that I could regroup and get my mind fre-ocused on the task at hand -- getting a good tan. (No, darn it. I mean doing well at law school.)
I'm headed back to NOLA on Saturday, provided the roads are clear. And then back to that other life I had, the one before Gustav.
Posted by Lara Richards at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Hurri-cation
By Wednesday morning, camping out at the Motel 6 in Chattanooga had lost its luster.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he didn't want residents to return home until at least Thursday so the city would have time to work on clean-up. (He ended up opening the gates to the city anyway, and people started streaming back in Wednesday afternoon.)
But the thought of getting back to my apartment -- which may or may not have power/utilities/water -- and trying to make do in a city that might not have everything turned back on yet just didn't seem attractive. Add to that the fact that it'd probably take me as long -- or maybe even longer -- to drive back into the city with horrendous evacuation return traffic, and I just wanted to put off getting home a little while longer.
I remembered what one of my new law school buddies who's from southern Louisiana told me about evacuations. Most of the time, he explained, they didn't end up being much. He said, he and his friends always tried to make the best of the evacuation saga.
"We make them hurri-cations," he told me.
And so, I figured -- as the saying goes -- when life hands you lemons, you make a Lynchburg lemonade. When life hands you a hurricane, you make a hurri-cation.
My law school buddy that I evacuated to Tennessee with immediately began looking for our next destination.
Posted by Lara Richards at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sightseeing
September 2, 2008Now that the chaos of Gustav has died down a bit, I was finally able to relax today. I drank some coffee, studied quite a bit and enjoyed some Memphis-style barbecue.
Plus, I did a little sightseeing, which included -- OF COURSE!!! -- the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Yes, there is such a thing, not just a song. Apparently, it was a train route that went from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Chattanooga. It was the first, according to the little placard in front of the one of the trains, to connect the north to the south.
Many years ago, Holiday Inn turned the old train station into a hotel. Guests can even rent one of the train cars that have been turned into guest suites.
But that wasn't all of my Chattanooga site-seeing and information gathering. For instance, guess where they make Moon Pies? Yep, Chattanooga. And this one sign on an old building downtown said that Chattanooga was the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling plant.
The best tour I took today, though, was of the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum. It was dedicated tow trucks -- the first of which was designed and built right here in Chatty -- as well as the men and women who drive them.
Surprisingly, it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. When the guy running the museum asked me where I was from, and I told him New Orleans, he commented that he'd had a good handful of folks from down there who've been through the facility in the last few days.
Apprently, evacuees like a good towing museum.
(In case you don't believe me, I actually purchased a T-shirt at the museum. I'll take a picture and post it, as soon as I can locate my camera. It reads: "My grandma is tow-riffic" which a picture of a tow truck, of course.)
Posted by Lara Richards at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Cost of evacuating
One of the reasons many people might be reluctant to evacuate is the fact that it costs a lot of money.
I've got a cheap hotel room, have a fuel-efficient car and have been careful to eat at cheap places, but as of now, I'm going to spend at least $300.
One of my neighbors said that many New Orleanians, in addition to their regular checking and savings accounts, simply set up what they call their "evacuation fund." They put money in their regularly to cover the costs of leaving town.
But what if you're living paycheck to paycheck, barely able to pay your bills already? How can you afford to evacuate? One of the main reasons people refuse to evacuate, in my opinion, is simply that they don't have the money for gas, food and lodging, especially when you don't know when you leave town if it'll be for one day, five days or two months.
Posted by Lara Richards at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Parking ticket
Well, my evacuation just gets even better. I just got a parking ticket in downtown Chattanooga.
I'm camped out at this little coffee shop, studying law, of all things (Yes, the irony that I break the law while studying law isn't lost on me.) The parking meter only runs for an hour and I SWEAR that I was watching the clock carefully.
But, apparently, I didn't, and I get over to my car about 10 minutes late to find a yellow ticket. If I pay the ticket in the next week, it'll only cost $11. If I don't, the fine jumps up to $41.
So, I guess I need to add an additional $11 to the cost of my evacuation.
Posted by Lara Richards at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thinking of you
Now that I've had to catch my breath, get a few good nights' sleep and shower, I'm able to reflect on all the concern that so many of my friends, co-workers and family had had for me these past few days.
Obviously, I've been on the phone continuously with my family back in Texas, but I've also had constant e-mails from current and past TRN writers and even so old high school classmates.
I particularly appreciated some comments posted to my blog my some fellow hurricane evacuees/survivors.
Maurel Merette, a writer and current editor of Fronteras at TRN, has experienced many a hurricane. He wrote me that staying to watch a hurricane happen was overrated. (Mainly, I think he was just telling me to get out!)
And then there was Michael Wright, former TRN sportswriter who now covers the Jacksonville Jaguars for the paper in Florida. He had just survived Tropical Storm Fay when he e-mailed me, so he told me just stick it out and gave me good tips on how to prepare. But by the next day -- when Gustav had risen to a Category 4 -- he told me to bolt.
It's good to know that you've got people thinking about you out there.
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Y'all running?
September 1, 2008I had stopped at this little general store/gas station in middle-of-nowhere Alabama early Sunday. I went to the bathroom, grabbed a diet Pepsi and went to the counter.
I hadn't showered in a day and I had been driving for 15 hours straight. My eyes were glazed over with no sleep and too much caffeine. The guy at the register looked at me and did the math.
"You running?" he said. I nodded that I was.
It wasn't the first or the last time someone asked me if I was running over the past few days. That the way us evacuees have been labeled -- as runners.
News is pouring in that Gustav has spared New Orleans so far and I'm trying to be optimistic. I'm also trying to formulate a return plan. Class has been pushed back until next Monday, provided they get power restored to campus and everything cleaned up.
So, I've got a week to kill. It's not enough time to drive all the way back home to Texas, so maybe I'll just keep hanging in Chattanooga.
Maybe I'll go for a run tomorrow.
Posted by Lara Richards at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Live from Chattanooga
I come to you live from the Panera Bread in downtown Chattanooga (which has free wi-fi, which is why I'm here.)
So far, everything in New Orleans looks like a best case scenario. The mayor just announced that -- if things continue to go well -- he could start allowing people back into the city in the next 24-36 hours. Of course, I've heard the return to NOLA after an evacuation is just as horrid a trip as the drive outward, so I'm going to rest up for another 17 hours trip, if it comes to that.
For those of you have never been to Chatty before, I highly recommend. They're downtown is truly amazing. It very clean, spacious and safe, judging from the number of families and kids walking around. There's bars, restaurants, shopping and even several entertainment venues.
Tonight, I'm probably going to take in a minor league baseball game with the local team, the Lookouts. (Named after the big Lookout Mountain that casts its shadow across the city.)
Then, tomorrow, will I be headed home to New Orleans? We'll see.
Posted by Lara Richards at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Evacuation
The news is reporting that around 2 million people fled the coast for high land inward.
I believe it. Saturday night and Sunday traveling from New Orleans to Chattanooga, I've never seen that much traffic. Ever. Even at 4 a.m. when I was just on the outskirts of Hattiesburg, Miss., it was still bumper to bumper. As I drove through upper Alabama, traffic was still extremely steady.
Every time I stopped for gas, the stations were packed. All the license plates read Louisiana or other southern states. I was lucky to find a hotel in Chattanooga, apparently. When I arrived at the hotel, there were several groups of people in the lobby, hoping that someone would call in to cancel their reservations.
Where did these people sleep if they didn't get a room here? I don't know. Where did they head? On to Nashville, maybe even Kentucky or Virginia? Is there room for 2 million coastal people to flee? Hopefully everyone found a safe, dry place to sleep.
Posted by Lara Richards at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Glued to the TV
Like every other evacuee, I've been glued to the TV this morning. I awoke to find that Gustav had downgraded to a Category 2, but there's still worry about the storm surge.
There will still be flooding. No one doubts that. But even all of the officials have said that this IS NOT another Katrina, which couldn't be better news for the hundreds of thousands of us that left the city the past few days.
But there's still many things to be concerned about. The news stations are saying right now that there's a barge -- or maybe 3, depending on which station I'm tuned to -- loose in the industrial canal. The concern is that one of these a large barges crashes into this canal levee, which would create a rush of flooding in the 9th ward again.
I want to be hopeful. School's supposed to start back Thursday provided there's no major damage in town and all the students are able to safely get back to town. So, I guess I'll start studying? I can't keep watching TV, because it just makes me too nervous.
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
