Mardi Gras 2005

Well, today is the day where most new Orleans residents take to the street for some annual debauchery, otherwise known as Mardi Gras. Seeing as how that other important holiday, Robbie Gras, fell so close to Fat Tuesday this year, my friends and I did our celebrating for both last night.

For those of you not from New Orleans, Lundi Gras, (the holiday formally known as the Monday before Mardi Gras) Is in many ways just as fun as the big day. More so even, as the party doesn't stop at midnight. The crowds are not quite as extreme, (as everyone is resting for the parades on the big day) and people are still having a great time without being entirely too drunk. Beads are flying every which way, Liquor is flowing, people are smiling, nobody has to work the next day, and a good time is being had by all. This of course was the perfect night to get my friends together to celebrate my 35th trip around the sun.

We started out in my favorite watering hole, the Dry Dock Cafe in Algiers Point, which is only a five minute ferry ride from the French Quarter, where all the Mardi Action was going on that night. My close personal friend, Dyno-man, had appointed himself master of ceremonies for the evening, and set up a camera scavenger hunt for the evening, complete with what he referred to as "barter bags". They included the requisite Mardi gras beads, some swag from the Mr.T collection, (I pity the fool what wears them outta Mardi Gras) and some chocolates. Knowing that the last boat back to the Westbank was at midnight, we knew we only had a few hours to complete that hunt, and return to tell war stories. We split up into two teams of four.

On team Kahunah: Myself, Java FooFoo, Fratnip, and Lyric.
On team Dynoman: Dynoman, Ringo, RedWolf, and Biscuit.

Our victory all but assured, we trusted the Chocolates on our team to Java FooFoo, which as anyone who knows FooFoo knows, means we were not real likely to ever get them back, and in fact, it would be the last we saw of them that evening. On the ferry, I went over the list with Dynoman to make sure we understood it, and to make any amendments. Among the things on the list:

Get a t-shirt signed by as many female well wishers as possible, (5 points per signature)
Get a photo of a team member with five women (100 points)
Get a photo of team member getting a lap dance from a complete stranger (100 points)
Team member serenading a woman or women (100 points)
an undergarment of a complete stranger (100 points)

Well, you get the idea. I added to the list finding another random member of our little circle of friends that had not shown up at the dry dock in the mass of people on bourbon street (to be worth 1000 points). Dynoman agreed, and that would prove to be his teams undoing. We ran into both Renffeh and Crack Monkey on Bourbon later that evening, for a total of 2000 points.

When we first crossed paths with team Dynoman early in the evening, I confess I was worried. They had a whole lotta female signatures on their t-shirt, most extoling my bedroom prowess. My fears were alayed when Fratnip pointed out that while it was a lot of signatures, we already had a team member get a lap dance, and I had already serenaded a woman, so we were still ahead by at least 100 points.

There are of course many stories to be told from that night, but I think I will leave that to others. Suffice it to say, that FooFoo summed it up when she drunkenly told me at one point, "You know, Maybe it's just that it's your birthday celebration, or maybe it's the company, but I don't think I've ever had this much fun at Mardi Gras."

Neither have I. I have the best group of friends in the world.