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La Nouvelle Orleans

November 17, 2003

science, UCLA

Accessing the Internet wasn’t as easy as the Society for Neuroscience had promised, so my official New Orleans recap is coming at end of the experience as opposed to the periodic updates that I had hoped to make. I apologize for this delay, but only out of formality, as I am the poor soul who is being forced to write these journal entries. Off we go,..

Last week started with the potential to be an incredible week in my life. My couch was delivered on Tuesday, Team Neuroscience saw The Matrix Revolutions at the IMAX on Wednesday, and then it was off to New Orleans for a week of Bourbon St. fun interrupted by the occasional poster presentation. I’m going to save the more restless of you the trouble and cut right to the chase: New Orleans exceeded all of our expectations and our trip ended up being an incredible bonding experience.

Jen B.’s decision to rent a house just outside the French Quarter may have been the most important part of the New Orleans experience. In fact, if I weren’t fundamentally opposed to the “shout out”, I would most certainly give a “shout out” to Jen followed immediately by a standard “holla!”. While not located directly on Bourbon St., our house was close enough to ensure regular sightings of New Orleans’ finest weirdos yet far enough removed to avoid the mind-numbing stench that saturates the area. I was particularly satisfied with our location when Ashley described the origins of that unmistakable Bourbon St. stench so strong it burns your nostrils as you breath: the combined effect of hundreds of years of feces, urine, beer, vomit, and garbage pooling against the street gutters. Yum. Anyway, our house at 1918 Burgundy St., (pronounced Bur-GUN-dee) had a kitchen, backyard, a parlor, and enough room to sleep a dozen people “comfortably”. The group included the usual cast of characters: Ashley nabbed the most comfortable bed in the house, Deb and Seth all but colonized the downstairs bed, Libby and Mike were keen on the air-mattresses, Jen chose the upstairs full, I opted for the couch, and Brian/Josh pretty much slept wherever.

The instant we arrived in our neighbourhood, we spotted a 24-hour bar named “Iggy’s”, which proved to be a sort of safe-haven, before and after our nightly adventures through the French Quarter. The bartender, Liz, quickly became our best friend in the entire world. A New Orleans native, Liz was full of interesting stories of the culture and history of her hometown. Right down the road was my personal favorite, the Praline Connection, a soul food restaurant introduced to us by Seth. I could have eaten at this place three or four times a day if it was practical. In fact, if it was up to Libby and I, we would have spent the entire conference hanging out at Iggy’s and the Praline Connection all hours of the day. This was unlikely to occur, however, due to the obvious safety issues in our area. The lack of safety became painfully clear to me when I noticed the “obstacles” mounted on some of the local residents’ fences to keep intruders away(below). Yikes.

Here is a randomly assorted list of items that will likely be meaningless unless you just so happened to be in New Orleans with us this week:

Brian/Josh and his sticks

UHF

Turkey in Seth’s mouth

Mike’s Face (T-shirts)

“I eventually got wet in the shower, though it’s unclear how.” – Seth B.

Santorum

The howling wolf

Ashley’s Beans and Rice

Mike’s headrest

86′d

Seth’s transformation from “The Human Missile” into “The Human Bomb”

Someone sleeping in the house at all times

Seth and John fencing

Librium, the Liberator, The Libyans!, MadLibs

“It’s unclear.” – Seth B.

Hurricanes

Swan-shaped Doggy Bags

Deborah’s late night Po’ Boy deliveries

“I don’t think I’m going to the conference today.” – Everyone

Mark’s tour of the house

Floyd getting butt-hurt about his inadequate tip

Patty O’Brien’s aka Carlos O’Brien’s aka Mohammed O’Brien’s

The Dragon’s Den

Seth getting carded

The Adulterer

The really high shower head and the really low bathroom sinks

That song that some random girl sang outside Iggy’s

The grocery list

the John

Seth talking to his clone

Brian/Josh’s orange shirt

Indeed, just about everything that needed to happen in New Orleans did:

Brian/Josh was in top form throughout the week.

In a surprising turn of events, I managed to go the entire week without being stanked.

Ashley reconnected with her Louisianan roots, as evidenced by the emergence of her southern drawl and the constant stream of “y’alls” echoing throughout the house.

Libby, Brian/Josh, and I were lucky enough to spot the Pink Panther in all his tight-jeaned glory.

Jen B.’s talk went very smoothly despite only three hours of sleep, that darned elusive cup of coffee, and some unruly woman from U Penn that tried to sabotage Mark’s laptop.

I saw more weird people during one walk through Bourbon St. than I have seen in a year in Los Angeles.

Some random girl on Seth’s flight home referred to our place as “The Party House”, confirming that we had indeed accomplished our goal.

In retrospect, I can’t claim to have learned anything neuroscience-related from my week in New Orleans. I read countless posters, I went to a bunch of talks, and I even toured the biotech vending area, but ultimately, I just ended up having a lot of fun. Too much fun. An inordinate amount of fun. So much fun, in fact, that it’s difficult for me to articulate on this journal exactly how much fun was had. This is why we collectively documented much of our experience digital cameras. I’ll be posting these pictures tomorrow for the entire world to enjoy.

* Libby O.Quote of the Day: “You missed Brian/Josh in top form last night!”

* Jen B. Quote of the Day: “You missed Brian/Josh in top form last night!”

* Seth B. Quote of the Day: “You missed Brian/Josh in top form last night!”

* Brian/Josh Quote of the Day: “I have no idea what happened last night.”

* Movie Quote of the Day: “Everything that has a beginning has an end.”