would you like a bullet with your red beans and rice?

So I had dinner with the mafia last night. More specifically, I had dinner with a piano man named Snake and his lovely wife Leann, who is directly related to the Gambino crime family. Allegedly. Having fled Las Vegas unexpectedly, they ended up here in New Orleans where you can find Snake playing at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, the oldest bar in the US. Tomorrow he's teaching me the basics of jazz piano, a futile exercise given my poor improvisational skills, to be sure.

Anyhow, I'm liking New Orleans more than I thought I would. I mean, this is a city where you can order drinks to go. As in: there are drive-thru daiquiri stands and one can walk around. outside. with a cocktail. There's also no last call. best/worst idea EVAR.
A typical day:
-I roll out of bed around noon. perhaps awakened by the vegetable man singing out from his truck, "i got some watermelon, eatin' pears..."
-look out the window, see mule-drawn carriages and my neighbor walking her pet goat. yes goat.
-Head to Tulane and root around the archives for a few hours.
-Go back home and take a nap--the heat makes me sleepy, apparently.
-fend off bug bites. seriously, the bugs here can totally eat small children.
-Prepare for a night out mingling with the denizens of the French Quarter, we head out with our "go" cups filled with our poison of choice in hand.
-night after night of fabulous food and fantastic music and crazies. speaking of yummy foods, tater nachos. yes, nachos with cheese, black beans, salsa, and sour cream but with tater tots instead of chips. brilliant.

My lovely roommate Rebecca has kindly compiled a list of things for me to do while i'm here. research? what research?
-beignets at Cafe Du Monde
-haunted house tour through the French Quarter, cheesy, yes.
-drive through the lower ninth
-Barrataria preserve and hang with the alligators
-plantation tour
-Spend a couple days in Breaux Bridge, catch a zydeco brunch and tour the swamps with norbert and his moonshine (he makes moonshine!)
-pictures and updates from the convent forthcoming.

odds and ends: how much do I love this video? dancing eggs (pictures at an exhibition?), angry sandwiches, and the bugsy berkeley-esque dancing trees.