New Orleans notes

I'm in the New Orleans airport, after a four-day vacation with my father and a three-day business conference. Dad and I took two bus tours, ate and many wonderful restaurants.  I was continually haunted by the thought, "Vaiva would have loved this." She loved to travel, she was so expert in ferreting out the unusual and interesting things to see. And she would have loved the cajun cuisine.

Lokys and I have watched a few episodes of the United States of Tara.  Its about a woman who suffers from a multiple personality disorder.  The primary creative force behind the show is Diablo Cody, who came to fame with Juno.

To some extent I identify with Tara because I feel like I have more than one personality also. Hers are involuntary, while mine are voluntary.  To the question, "how are you doing?" I reverted, during the conference, to my longstanding "so far, so good."  Cautious optimism.  An absolute lie.

Normally I go with "about the same," the phrase I started using about a year ago so as to not be alarmist without being dishonest.


The true answer to "how are you doing?" has not changed since December 14, 2008.  The true answer is "I'll give you $100 and a gun if you will promise to shoot me."