A: Rightly So. I was break dance fighting on the eve of Hurricane Gustav.

I am cracking up so much, I can barely write this. Let me just say that I am being as honest as possible about everything that I am going to say--it was just a crazy night in New Orleans last night.

Tensions were risen to high hell and the middle aged men danced like those in the Beach Comber on Beaver Island. I was going to a bar in Algier's Point with my 3 roomates, 2 gals and one guy. It was a short walk away. Algier's is on the other side of the mississippi from New Orleans, but still technically N.O., it's just it doesn't get a lot of tourist traffic. Anyway we get there and after the usual social pleasantries desist, I glance to my side to see a 3 piece band setting up on stage. Hell yea, I think.

There were dogs hanging out in the bars while their masters killed the anxiety of the coming storm. What evacuation means is that some people will leave permanently, thinking New Orleans is a, God forbid, lost cause. I hate that phrase. Lost cause. Half hour ago I was cooking an amalgamation of all our vegetables and seasonings into a stir fry dish and replied to Leo, my roommate when he asked me if we should add his ground beef to the mix, "No. I don't much want to have stir fry without BBQ sauce or Teriyaki sauce. Better not waste your beef. I think it's a lost cause." Don't like that phrase.

The history channel was on, and a football game. We were all kind of dumb strucken, but later that night the weather channel came on and Drinks were dirt cheap, I found out when I ordered Julain's drink (rum and coke) and it cost me 3 bucks. The people were cutting loose and as soon as the band, Johnny J. and the Hitmen, got kickn' so did a few couples of dancers. Some crazy guy in his 40's was going nuts with all the moves of the last century, grabbin ladies 1.5 times his age and swinging them around. He even danced with one of my roomates, doing the underwater dance *bubble bubble*, if you can imagine. I was laughing my head off.

The music simply rocked. It was a soulful classic rock that reminded me of somewhere between Johnny Cash and CCR, but spruced up with bluesy guitar solo's and even some funked up bass, at times.

A pirate walked into the bar, or a man in pirates clothes. He went straight to the bathroom-- barhopping, my logic said. I put in a word with him, "Pirate, where you comin' from?" He told me the French Quarter, with is on the other side of the river. He then went on for about 4 minutes on his evacuation plans. Damn. Look how real this is, I thought. I told him I was volunteering to help with evacuation. Although this seems like a heroic thing, I am now getting nervous because I got to be up at 4 am tomorrow to get to work and get people safely in buses and trains. Then evacuate myself to Dallas to stay with Leo and his family.

By the time this exchange with the pirate happens, i've danced to only one song. Johnny asks the audience, "You don't mind if we freak out a little bit?" I perk up. They play one like the intro song to Pulp Fiction! Then they cover the Pulp Fiction song. By the end of the first song I am on my feet and dancing like wild. Sometime after the second song, a shorter, older gentleman with short greyish hair enters the floor and he and I make a kind of gesture to one another in our dances. I know now, it's on. The dance battle was a melee of guile, endurance, and decisiveness. I wasn't intimidated at all by this guy and gave him hell. When it was over, a middle aged woman came up to me and said that it was amazing and I gave her a high five, slapping her hand probably a little too hard, being in the fury of the moment. He was so amazed and the stuff I did that he just hugged me, shook my hand repeatedly, and gave me props for what seemed like too long. Another woman saw the wavy hand thing that Dan taught me and said she was blown away. I tried to teach her the basics and said I'd see her again. My roomate told me later that that woman was really lost and didn't know what was going to happen in her life, but that dance made this night a big relief.

After the band took their second break it had already reached 1am, so we left the bar and walked home. I made sure to shake Johnny J's hand and tell him what an amazing job he did.

I went home, talked to Allison on skype, and crashed.

I want to let everyone know I am doing fine, despite being a part of the general anxiety that surrounds the city because of Gustav. Algiers is going to be hit hard, they predict. I am going to be in New Orleans proper tomorrow, and work starts at 5:15am. I am working until they give us the go ahead that we should evac, then I am riding out in a car of 3 other people and I am going to Dallas, Texas. Gustav isn't set to make landfall til monday or tuesday, I think. I promise to be safe and smart, and I am kind of glad, in a meloncholy way, to be a part of all this. I really hope, as we all do, that I don't have to gut houses once I go back to my normal job here in New Orleans.

Q: Tony you realize there is a CAT 5 hurricane on the warpath, right?

What news Tony?

The word on the Internets is you have a CAT 5, very dangerous storm headed for New Orleans. I hope you have heard this already. Be safe!

Lincoln Park Zoo

Last Sunday Matt, Tom, Mom, Dad, and I went to Lincoln Park Zoo. I thought everyone had a really good time. Later Tom and I watched The Prestige. That movie started Tom in on an obsession with movies that only come full-circle at the end. Yesterday him and I watched Minority Report.

Anyways... I'm not much in the typing mood, so I'll leave you with pictures from the zoo...

So much better than spam.

Oops. I deleted Dan's invite to this blog, thinking it was spam. Pete set me straight today. This is a fantastic idea, thanks so much for including us! It's great to hear what all of you are up to.

We're doing well over here in Meadows. No major life changes like some of you, but we're enjoying the last bit of summer. We had a great time yesterday at a White Sox game with my sister. The Sox lost, but the weather was beautiful. Best of all, it was Elvis night! Lots of Elvis impersonators were in the stands, and singing the national anthem, and doing a concert after the game.

A team of three parachuting Elvises (Elvi?) dropped onto the field before and after the game. These guys were impressive. They had a lot of wind to contend with as they spiraled around from 5,000 feet and landed precisely on the field. During the post-game drop, little bursts of fireworks shot off of their costumes every now and then as they fell. The fireworks propelled the Elvi, as if they were wearing some kind of jet packs along with the parachutes. Wow.

There was also a family sitting in front of us with a hilarious baby. If you looked at him with your eyes and mouth opened as wide as possible, he'd make the same face and get really, really happy. Every single time. I felt kind of bad for his parents, since they were running around after him and his sisters too much to enjoy the game, but we were entertained.

Now to go back and make some late comments on the rest of your posts...

Leaving soon...

Hey everyone, this is my first post here. I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and I'll be out in Las Vegas until Wednesday next week for my company's conference. I'll hopefully see everyone later.

Pete

Being Active

For what it is worth, here are some thoughts on "being" from Erich Fromm. It is from his book "To have or to be?"

--
The mode of being has as its prerequisties independence, freedom, and the presence of critical reason. Its fundamental characteristic is that of being active, not in the sense of outward activity, of busyness, but of inner activity, the productive use of our human powers.
To be active means to give expression to ones faculties, talents, to the wealth of human
gifts with which-- though in varying degrees--every human being is endowed.

It means to renew oneself, to grow, to flow out, to love, to transcend the prison of one's isolated ego, to be interested, to "list", to give.

---

ok-- I'm off to pick up a truck.

Have a peaceful day,

Jim

Hi

I'm depressed as heck right now. I'll head out to 1800 tonight and try to cheer up with some friendly faces.

Rebuilding Together

I did some real work today, but only for about 3-4 hours. It was, to quote Dad, "hotter than hell down here". My Sears Hardware experience gives me a good head start on all the other guys here. I used a miter saw (or chop saw) for the first time today. At sears, I've sold prob. nearly a dozen of them and just now did I get a chance to use one.

Our organization is called Rebuilding Together (New Orleans). I can't stress enough how sweet this place is! We're extremely eco friendly. Our company does things like salvage wood from houses that were about to be demolished, then restores it and uses it again on rebuilding stuff. We're all about using "green" materials, etc. Monday I visited the offices of the people running this program, and I must say: it was like walking onto the bridge of the Enterprise D. These people are my heroes and I can't believe I am on the road to becoming one. One more thing, then I am done hyping, I feel very lucky to be in this (extremely cultured, vibrant) place and be surrounded by people who personal rewards for this work, not money. I am surrounded by idealists, even if not everyone is doing this for selfless reasons. People just have a fire behind their actions, their demeanor, that is just truly encouraging.

That all being said, I can't wait to come back for Either/Or/Both Thanksgiving and Christmas and go to family events and plug my new organization all over the place, saying donate, volunteer, and support.

I miss you guys.
With love,
Tony

I look a little bit older, I look a little bit colder

Sometimes I can't wait to leave the house. Not because I can't stand it... or anything like that, but because I feel like a lot of the things I'm cynical about now I'll be able to appreciate from a distance. A four hundred mile distance, no less. Anyways, I'm up early. I was supposed to be taking care of Bobby today, but I got the day off at the last minute. Since this is the first Monday I haven't had to spend babysitting I really want to go to Ridgemoor. I always want to go there on Mondays. That tradition faded all too quickly. Hopefully, that will happen.

I also didn't sleep well last night. There's a lot on my mind. Yesterday felt like a very climactic day and I had a lot of thoughts to sift through before my head was unclouded enough to get some rest. The brunch, or picnic as little Timmok likes to call it, was wonderful. I drank a mimosa. I'm not sure why I chose to share that out of everything that took place yesterday morning/early afternoon. I suppose I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not an alcoholic, but I really like mimosas! Aside from my substance abuse, I was generously piled down with college gear from all of the relatives. Isa and Lucy, similarly, made me going away cards and notes. It was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. Grandma and Grandpa were glowing as always. It's crazy to think about sixty-two years. That's insurmountable. That's wonderful. Uncle Tom was even there, which proved a nice surprise. I can't recall the last time I saw him.

Long after the festivities I went to Gordana's house to say goodbye. It was my first "college farewell" and I felt somewhat unprepared. I had written her a note and printed out some pictures of us from this summer. We ended up talking for a few hours, which, of course, was not the plan. When I finally decided to leave for real, we just said "see you later" as planned. It seemed much more fitting. We've been best friends since third grade, just around ten years now, and I truly doubt college will cause any amount of harm to that friendship. Everything is happening very quickly now and I'm worried that I'm not holding on tight enough.

Timmok Has Entered The Realm

An aura of Devotion, Sanctity and of the crusade is felt. A force of the light who wields the Holy Thunderforce is near. The blinding light engulfs the surroundings. Timmok has entered the realm.

Hey guys I've never done a blog before and i did not get an initial invite from Dan. So i am here and i look forward to checking this blog daily. Today we went to a picnic type of thing, i saw everyone, aunts uncles and such and had a real good time. Did not talk much and Uncle Tom noticed and told me not to think to hard or i would hurt myself, teehee. I heard some fun stories from him about the parties at his house were there would be bottles all over the neighborhood. So i heard that @ 1800 you guys get a keg on the porch, sounds like fun. Ive been wanting to ask Dan if he has any spare parts from Tina's computer that still work and if i could get my own Computer going. Most exiting thing going around here atm is this blog and World of Warcraft goodies. Not to mention the news of starcraft II and Diablo III its going to be a good next couple of years. I have been introduced into this cool thing called a "Blizzcast" Its a pod cast that you can download which has interviews about upcoming blizzard titles. I got my Epic flying mount yesturday, as i know people cant really appreciate what that means i know dan can in his own way but ill explain. An epic flying mount costs just about as much as paying off student loans, it takes forever and it seems like you get further away from it if you brush it off. I mean i never had student loans so i dont know if im acting like a fool but thats what it takes to get this. I am not soaring the skys and speeds unmatched. Im using Tina's labtop (is that the correct spelling?) and im exited to get my own computer, even if its not good i want it to be able to run WoW, SCII DIII and i will be very very pleased. I hope you all are having a good day. Good luck Tony! Keep it up Dan, Jim and others! Can't wait to see how this blog turns out!
-Signing Out Tom(Timmok)

The aura begins to dissipate and the light dims... Timmok has left the realm.

Going is good in the Big Easy

As usual for me there is too damn much to share and not enough time! I just finished a nice long siesta in my bran-new apartment. I really needed the break from the first hectic two days of my journey out here.

See, traffic was real bad getting to the train station and Allison and I arrived there with almost no time to spare. We got there at 7pm and the train was leaving at 8pm. I felt like a Darjeeling brother (Whitman) because I had a total of about 5 suitcases and a bike that I was taking with me to New Orleans. Checking luggage in was insane because I had 3 bags and the bike. Long story short, I had to disassemble parts of the bike so that I could get it into a bike box. We arrived at the gate as they were yelling out "New Orleans! Train 59! New Orleans!" It was a storybook finish.

The train ride was long and boring. In coach seats it began to get uncomfortable. That night I just felt like sleeping. In the morning I was informed that the train was about 2 hours behind schedule. I did some reading of this Warcraft book to feed my WoW addiction, and that helped pass the time. The train ride was just about 21 hours.
I got here at 5 pm yesterday, and was picked up by one of my roomates, a girl that (to my surprise) was in the graduating class of '08 at Knox. We got all the 5 bags of luggage into her Prius (hybrid) and I saved the bike for later.

There was a BBQ that night which some Americorps members were hosting, so I loaded all my bags inside the door of my 4 person apartment and turned right around. The high tech/sorcery of the Prius' GPS got us kind of lost, but we arrived around 6 and just as the party was starting.

The air is humid and hot down here, but it's not hard to get use to. Last night after the BBQ I worked on tweaking my bike back to working shape. It was frustrating because I taking apart the bike undid some parts which I could only guess as to how to put back together. But I asked for a blessing from Allison via text and lo! I fixed it. Sleep at 11:30, I was out.

This morning got up at 7:00am and was doing fine. Still had that newness adrenaline. Me and all three of my housemates biked 10 minutes to a ferry that takes us across the Mississippi

On Fridays I research...

Spending the day reading a book for Library Journal; then writing a review, which I envision as a kind of poetry writing exercise (that makes relevant comparisons to other books); and I'll be taking time out from this to hang with the Minneapolis Mafia at Za's. I do this pretty much every Friday.

Author Invitations Sent

Okay. Pete, Kris, Jim, Matt, Ton, Tina, and Mom have been sent invitations to author this blog, let me know if it works, and if it does punch me in the face the next time you see me.

Hahn Blog Now In Real Time

Hello.

This is going to be the blog (maybe, probably?) where we can go and check to see what everyone is up to. I'm going to try to give all brothers, sister, mom and dad administrative rights so that anybody can make a new post. Coca will get standard user rights. Tom will begin with administrative rights, should he prove that he cannot control himself (which is what usually happens) said rights shall be revoked.


I'll keep you all updated with the progress of this blog.

Dan @ 1800