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.