The best part of waking up

Getting only 3 hours of sleep the past 2 days before going to work made for an exhausted Laura Sue this morning when I got home from the hospital. I threw the blankets over the windows, put on my cute little eye mask thingy that Adam sweetly found for me at the drugstore, and then, with a smile, threatened murder to Adam or the dogs if any one of them got in the way of me getting at least 5 hours of sleep. In REM by 8:15 at the latest. Just now awakened at 3:30 by a sharp, high pitched, and very loud YELP coming from Scooby as Jesse stepped on him on his way out of the bedroom. Scooby is such a drama queen. Totally unnecessary. Jesse just stared at me with his typical "what did I do i'm so sorry and pitiful and heartbreakingly cute" look.

And, Mexican music blasting from one of the neighbors, and I can't figure out where it is coming from since most of our neighbors are black. You know, not to stereotype or anything because I'm sure there are some black people out there who listen to Mexican music, but I doubt they live in Mississippi. And if they do, I need to meet them NOW. Maybe I should go wander the neighborhood, follow the music, and find a new friend. Or maybe I should shoot for another hour of sleep? Yeah, that one.

DM Freakin' V

I am 100% cursed by something evil when it comes to the DMV. I have never had an easy time of it, no matter where I have lived. Adam and I discussed this early on in our relationship, and I discovered that he has basically never had a bad experience with the DMV. How is this possible!!?? He is blessed among men. Or he is lying. Can't decide which.

After 6 months of living in Mississippi, I finally got around to getting my license changed over. I won't outline all of the ways in which this went badly. Let's just say that I spent a total of about 7 hours trying to get it taken care of. SEVEN HOURS OF MY LIFE.

And now, gentle reader, please feast your eyes upon the Harrison County Department of Motor Vehicles Licensing and Registration Division.



Doesn't exactly give you the warm fuzzies right away. But at least they thought of the handicapped. Kind of.



This sign is the reason people that aren't from Mississippi like to ask us kiddingly if we still use the outhouse or remark sarcastically that they are surprised to see us wearing shoes!

Progress

The City of Gulfport is actually installing its portion of a long-running sidewalk down by the beach. On BOTH sides of highway 90. People, this is huge! Unfortunately, they are going with concrete on the beach-side instead of the classic wooden boardwalk, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. I believe the sidewalk will be complete from Long Beach to Biloxi, maybe even more inclusive than that. They are working fast, and I can't wait to see the finished product. I took the dogs down yesterday to give it a whirl. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!!

Evening Constitutional

Tonight as I was walking the dogs, I came upon two very strange sights. First, a block from our house, a weave lying in the middle of the road. Adam and I have actually seen this weave before. I think one of the dogs has even peed on it. It has fueled more than one joke on our daily walks. But after a heavy rainstorm last week, we didn't see it. I thought it was gone from our lives forever. But tonight, there it was again!! How very curious. Where did it go and how did it find its way back? The second oddity was a fish head lying in the middle of a sidewalk. This is not the first time I have seen a fishhead on the sidewalk before, but this one was lying immediately adjacent to a trash can, so it made more sense. Like someone went outside with the fish head in one hand and a bag of trash in the other, attempted to throw them both in the bin, the fish head bounced off the rim and landed on the sidewalk, and the person said "screw it" and left it there. But this one today, totally nonsensical and without any reasonable context. Such a strange place we live in.

Appreciate

Look at this amazing oak tree in my neighborhood. Every time Adam and I walk by it, we have to say "wow" and just admire. Wouldn't you love to be a bird and have your home in that tree? Complete with a beach view!!

The End of the Pier

What better place to enjoy piss-in-a-can than the always unused West Side Pier of Gulfport? Thanks for reminding me, stranger, what time it is.

No Trespassing!

One thing about living in the South is how fiercely protective some people are over their "private property." I get that looters were a big problem right after The Storm (as everyone down here refers to Katrina), but, well, the looting has stopped. It stopped a while back. Do you really need to put a "no trespassing" sign on your porch? Good, honest people (the majority of people, I think) understand that your porch and your home are off limits to us without invitation or good intentions. And the bad people? They probably won't be deterred by your signs. Even more irritating and insulting are the signs posted next to totally empty, fenced-off lots. Just what damage do you think I am going to do to your overgrown lot? Here is a small sample from the walk I took the dogs on this morning. All of these signs are posted within a 10-minute walk of my house. It's hard not to feel isolated, like no one wants anything to do with each other in this town. Native Gulfportians would probably call me naive on this one, but I really believe if people took these signs down, nothing would change.