Thanksgiving

First off, sorry I've been M.I.A. for awhile. I've been meaning to update for some time, and it just keeps not happening. For instance, posting this has been on my to-do list all day, or all yesterday to be accurate because it's currently 22 minutes into tomorrow, but there was all this tv to watch so it has taken me some time to get to it. For a guy without a job, I'm a terribly busy person. However, in an effort to get some semblance of structure back in my life, I'm making a resolution to post everyday, at least until I get all caught up with the stuff I'm planning on putting here, and if I don't, feel free to send digitally bitch-slap me. Clearly, I just need a little discipline.

Anyway, recently I had to work up a depressingly extensive list of everything that I had lost to the flood for the insurance company, and I was planning on posting it here as well to record it for posterity or something like that. On the other hand, we just passed Thanksgiving, so in the spirit of that holiday and for the sake of naming every new post after a holiday, I've instead decided to post a list of things that either didn't get lost to the flood or I was able to salvage, so here it is folks -

Dale's Official List of Things He's Thankful Didn't Get Lost to the Flood

My motorcycle boots. I know I mentioned them earlier, but you just can't appreciate a good pair of boots enough, especially when you spend a fair amount of time wading through muck, mud, and trash.

The bass, of course. Where else could I get an '80s Def Leppard black Ibanez with custom spray paint and stickers, a buzzy A string, a blown pick-up and a cord jack in desperate need of replacement? Nowhere, man, nowhere.

Four original works of art. I have two paintings by my friend Laura (hi Laura!) that lived with me in the French Quarter. When she left, I begged to keep her paintings she had hung on our wall and she let me! I've had them ever since and they didn't go to the house and are fine, and the same goes for the paintings Drew and Kristin gave me.

All my wine and liquor glasses, especially the brand new martini set from Brooke and the hand-painted wine glasses from Kate. I honestly don't remember if the boxes they were packed in got left behind somehow, or if they were on top of the pile and I grabbed them and moved them back, but for the five weeks of evacuation I assumed they were lost and yet when I got back to my unflooded apartment, there were the still taped-up and perfectly fine boxes. Should I be concerned that among my prized possessions are the glasses I drink booze out of? Perhaps, but that's a worry for another day.

Speaking of booze - my old Soviet Union flask with the symbol of the Russian equivalent of the National Guard on it and a bust of Lenin on the cap. I wouldn't drink out of it, 'cause there ain't no cleaning that I would trust after it floated in toxic flood water for three weeks, but I did clean it off and it makes a good mantel knick-knack.

Boxes of pictures. For some reason when I was moving everything from the apartment closet to the house, I didn't move the boxes of pictures. Why I do not know, but while I did lose some pictures, most of them are perfectly fine.

My computer. Oh, sweet sweet laptop, how I love thee. I just threw it in a bag and brought it with me, so all my writing survived. I know writers who lost more stuff than I want to think about, including one who was always so sure to back everything up, but it doesn't matter how many hard drives and disks and cds you have stuff on if it all ends up under water, and he lost a whole novel. I get nauseous just thinking about that.

Albus, the super kitty. Well, actually he's a full-blown cat by now, but he evacuated with me and only just got back. I didn't bring him with me when I first returned because I didn't know what shape things would be in and it's one thing to return home myself, and another to subject an innocent, unsuspecting cat to who knows what kind of flooded-out, zombie-ridden disaster.

New Orleans. Seriously, I am so thankful I had the opportunity to live in this most glorious city before the flood. So many little unique things about the city survived (though just as many were lost) and I'm thankful for each and every one of them, which will all hopefully get dutifully recorded here as the weeks and months go by. Now I get the chance to rebuild this wonderful, magic place and make it stronger, faster, better, and for that I am truly, deeply thankful.

Okay, so there you go, things I'm thankful for. For the next post, I promise we will return to our regularly scheduled anger and bitterness. Until then, try not to eat too much leftover turkey.