Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The bandwagon

So, after about two weeks of Internet Explorer not allowing me to access my blog (for absolutely no obvious reason) I've switched back to Firefox. Firefox still doesn't allow me to use the scroll function on my mouse, the original reason I stopped using it. What can I say, I'm kind of lazy. But, after the blogger issue and learning more about how Firefox is safer, I'm sold. I will learn to live without scrolling.

Speaking of bandwagons, today is Fat Tuesday here in Mobile. What that means is, "you partied all weekend, now party some more. You've got all of Lent to get your body to forgive you." Yes, please. I'm not really a big "partier" in the sense of injesting lots of intoxicating substances. I am, however, a big fan of excuses to eat funnel cakes and candy and catch chinese junk being thrown at me from passing parade floats. Every time I go to a parade I can't get over what a fun idea it is. It's a wonderfully over-stimulating experience complete with garish costumes, semi-robotic parade floats and high school bands that dance in sink while playing their instruments. Most of this is entertaining; some of it is shocking. (My high school's band never humped their sousaphones while marching, and the majorettes never wore hot pants.) In addition to all this fun, you get the added sport of trying to catch as much stuff as possible from the maskers. In New Orleans, I hear the standard throw is beads, although I hear the Zulus also throw coconuts. Ouch. Here in Mobile, one is always surprised and has a chance of catching all manner or ridiculous items including Moon Pies, peanuts, stuffed animals, any cheap plastic toy you can think of (my favorite is my new pink plastic whistle), ice cream sandwiches, Dublunes, streamers, beef jerky, entire boxes of oatmeal creme pies, and the list goes on. This weekend, friends came down from all over and, as a team, we faired quite well, subsequently filling my dining room table with a massive mound of junk food and beads.

Our favorite spot to watch the parades is in an area where the crowd is mostly lower to middle income families with children. I was struck by what fun all these free toys and candy must be when you are young and not already spoiled. Amazingly, however, a childlike greed for what are essentially useless items seems to extend to every age group. We were shocked by one old lady who continually demanded of passing band members that they grab "those beads over there" which she was unable to reach because of the parade barricades. I couldn't imagine what she was going to do with all of them. Despite this, I much prefer this crowd to the mostly well-to-do adult crowd one seems to find further downtown. They made me feel sort of ashamed of myself. Also they were more drunk and tacky.

Anyway, if any of my friends are reading this, thanks for a great weekend. I laughed almost the whole time, from the moment the girls team pulled ahead in pictionary, to the moment Amanda asked, "Is there something in my teeth?" to which Karen responded, "If there is, it's tooth-colored." Hilarious.

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