Hello from 831 Jackson Ave, New Orleans, LA. 70130

831 Jackson sits right about where the "Garden District" label is in the SE part of the Crescent.  If you ever wondered why New Orleans is called the Crescent City, it's because the Mississippi winds around the city, sort of cupping it in its muddy hands, forming the crescent shape you see on this map.  We live two blocks away from Magazine Street, which is famous for being very hip, very pretty, and very packed with young college students.

This is a typical commercial sidewalk on Magazine.  Tons of small boutiques and restaurants and delis.  One of the cool things that came from Katrina's aftermath was a BOOM in the antique business.  There are probably ten antique / furniture places within a few blocks of our apartment.  I talked to this guy, 

Simon (pronounced the French way...  dude had the thickest accent I'd ever heard) for a while about why there are so many antique places after I bought a table from him, and he told me that he still gets furniture from houses that were abandoned during Katrina.  Which was six years ago.  He and his wife spend all day on their outdoor patio fixing up old furniture and painting.  They have a beautiful daughter (also French accent, duh) who has been my impetus for returning to their shop without any intention of buying anything.  Probably four times now - "just to look around."  

Something I love about magazine st. is the boardwalk/balcony things that hang over so much of the sidewalk.  They are almost all private residences up there, but they provide a very nice old-timey feeling canopy for those of us who pass by underneath.  

Does it look like everything in this picture is leaning to the right?  ...I'm sure it's an optical illusion, to an extent, but I also should tell you that there are TONS of leaning tower of Piza imitators in this city.  For example, our next door neighbors' place.  It was abandoned during Katrina and left in the hands of the jungle moss / vines / birds who now call it home.  Thank God it will be demolished sometime soon.

Just a block and a half away from out place is Stein's Market and Deli.  It's supposedly world famous.  I was a bit skeptical, but I had to try it.

And this is the magical interior I found.  It looks like some place from Italy or France.  I was actually a bit put off by the extent to which it emanated that rustic feel.  But I'd already been hooked (surprising because I'm not sucker for this kind of place at all) and THIS is what I ended up eating.  

So now I am in love with Stein's Market and Deli.  I'm not even going to describe to you how good this sandwich was.  I'm just going to let you stare at the mountain of pastrami in there.





Ok, enough pictures, for now.  I swear I've taken a bunch of pictures of our place, but they just don't do it justice.  So I'm opting to wait it out until I figure out how to put the best quality pictures up.  I'm pretty sure I realized that Jon's new Iphone takes the best pictures of the place, so I'll hop on that very soon.  My bedroom is certainly the highlight of our apartment.  It has very, very high ceilings, a wooden ceiling fan, off white painted walls / ceiling with very elaborate and darkly stained woodwork throughout.  The floors might be my favorite part - it looks like our landlord (Eddie Talebloo, who offers us a cold Coca Cola every time we step foot in his office) just threw buckets and buckets of stain on the ground and let it soak into the floor for days.  It's gorgeous.  I also mentioned the table I bought from Simon, which functions as my bookshelf, my eating table, my desk, and my this-is-where-I-put-everything-else-I-own table.  It's very large, and very, very beautiful.  Other than that, I have a bed.  There is a balcony out front of my room that faces Jackson Ave.  To get to it, you must lift one of two 8 foot tall windows (they are heavy) and latch both of the latches to the wall.  It's a little bit of effort to get outside, but it's amazing.  In the evenings, I open both windows and let the sunset in, sit at my table with dinner and write some fiction.

I've had a lot of success, so far, writing fiction.  I spend an hour or two every day working on it, sometimes adding onto a longer narrative I've begun, sometimes writing unrelated short stories.  One of the stories I've written is, at least relative to everything else I've written, something I'm very proud of.  In fact, I submitted it to a NOLA online publication called The Rag recently.  It probably won't be accepted, but we'll see!

Yesterday, I got my headshots taken.  Trev, thanks so much for your work on mind, but I think we just didn't have enough time to get it done.  The little Italian man named Pompo who took me around the French Quarter was very good, and he took some great pictures.  They'll be online soon and I'll put a link to them here on the blog so you can all heckle me and make fun of my "glamour shots."

When they're chosen, I can start putting myself out there!  I'm in the process of crafting a very professional looking acting resume (which will need a headshot... so I'm actually waiting right now) which I will start throwing around like confetti on Mardi Gras.  There is also a TON of film happening in New Orleans due to some sort of tax exemption here...  they call it Hollywood South, no joke.  So I'm going to try to get into tv shows, movies, and anything else I can.  It's thrilling to think of being on film.


Ok...  I miss everyone a ton.  Hope everything is going great up in Seattle / Tucson.  Please don't be bashful if you ever want to call or e-mail.  It really is amazing how far away I feel.  But as Mom told me on the phone the other day: come on, we really aren't far away at all, when you think about it.  She was so right.  And this blog will hopefully turn into a way for me to reach out and get even closer to you all.  All of my love.

Kevin

posts in the future:
the French Quarter
Parkway Bakery
Acting updates
Hanging out with old high school friends.

PS: my birthday is in a few days, and I have no idea what I want.  I know I've always been terrible at crafting wishlists...  but I WILL say that the # 1 gift I could receive from any of you is a visit down here so we can hang out and I can show you around!