Monday, May 4, 2009

What I did, but should have done differently

Looking back on a recent trip to New Orleans and being the reflective person that I am, I'm going to let you know about three instances that took place and let you know how I would handle them if I had to do them all over again.

#1) Walking through the French Quarter working on drink #2, after only being in town a couple hours, a drunk group of friends come at us from the opposite direction. One really drunk guy looks right at me and says "I'm a smoker, my lungs are black!"
* What I did -- Replied, "You're fine" and kept walking.
* What I should have done -- I should have stopped to hug him and said, "I'm sorry" then kept walking.

#2) I made it a point to enjoy as many locally themed food items (and drinks) as I could, that's what I like to do in new cities. At lunch on the last day there, I ordered what is probably the most expensive lunch of my life. It was all shrimp and nothing but shrimp: fried shrimp, shrimp stuffed with crab meat, shrimp and okra gumbo, and shrimp au gratin.
* What I did -- Ate every bit of shrimp on the plate and felt a little miserable on the drive home
* What I should have done -- Finish the half of a Cajun stuffed potato that was left on the plate; why not, I payed for it. The discomfort on the drive home was worth it. (Meredith, Kelly and Kinsley would probably also add I should have skipped the donut outside Mobile and the Sonic Mozzarella Sticks in the last hour of the trip.)

#3) I had an errand to run on this trip, my friend Amanda asked me to pick her up a Hand Grenade Party Pack from the Tropical Isle Bar. I separated from the rest of the group to venture out on this errand knowing I would meet up with them in about 30 min. Walking down Bourbon Street in the middle of the afternoon alone is no big deal, but the bars and clubs don't care what time of day it is. There's this one club that had this scary guy outside yelling at anyone that would pass by, "Live sex acts, no cover." By far, I would rank this as the trashiest place on Bourbon.
* What I did -- I ignored the guy and kept walking
* What I should have done -- Nothing different, I made the right choice.

The lessons I learned in New Orleans are as followed: I need to be more compassionate towards strangers I meet, I need to learn to control cravings, and that avoiding creepy strip/live sex clubs are always the right choice.

1 comment:

  1. That last meal you ate is how I found out that I was allergic to shrimp (shellfish). On my 21st birthday, I had a plate of not but shrimp. Not a good day for me.

    ReplyDelete