,,,the Professor and the voodoo curse...

Gardener/ Professor Lovin'

State-dependent memory is the phenomenon through which memory retrieval is most efficient when one is in the same state of consciousness as when the memory was originally formed. As I tell my students (jokingly), “if you’re drunk when you study, you should probably drink when you take the exam.”

It’s in this very sense that I write this post about my recent New Orleans trip. Tonight I’m on my third Vodka Cranberry which is almost like having one of the Hurricane beverages from New Orleans.   

Before the beignets

In future posts I’ll discuss the PCA/ACA conference in New Orleans in more detail because it was such an amazing conference but I want to start by writing about my “meet up” with The Curious Professor Z.  By definition, a meet up is when individuals come together to learn something, do something, or share something. We did all of that. It many ways, I feel like meeting The Professor was like meeting a long lost friend. I knew a while ago through the blogosphere that if we lived in the same city we would be trouble (e.g. lots of fun). Coming together in New Orleans, one of the cities of all cities was near perfection.

Sippin'

The Dungeon

I remember seeing The Professor for the very first time. She was standing with Ed in the lobby of The Marriott. I instantly thought, “There’s my friend”. We hugged. Hell, I even hugged Ed who was more like “who are you” but geez, come on Ed! I know you vicariously through the blog! By the end of the week, I think I grew on him. After all, I think he and my fella are best buds just waiting to happen. Nerd Power Activate! Form of… Okay, you get the picture.

No Photography Allowed in the Club... oops!

More sippin'

The Professor is gorgeous! More importantly, she is smart, witty and kind… She shared her friends and colleagues with me AND she has never met a stranger. The introvert in me is still in awe of how she casually walks up to each and every counter-culture individual to strike up a conversation. In the end, she found us the best restaurants and the best club! We talked; we ate beignets and sipped coffee; we drank Hurricanes; we danced; and hell, we shopped! She’s the kind of enabler that I need in my life. She’s the type of conversationalist that even when I’m tuckered at 2am I want to continue chatting with her just because I know that time is going to run out. I can’t recall any other academic conference being so much fun.

We saw a Second Line!

Vampire belt buckle... just because

The only downside of the trip is that she…. And she knows that I’m going to harp on this but I seriously have a phobia of dolls that she didn’t know until we were standing on the street and she made a little comment about a doll being creepy. It was a creepy doll and I tried to keep walking and not make eye contact (with the doll) but I swear it winked at me and then after that we both got sick! Seriously sick! I haven’t had a voice since Sunday. Hmph. Don’t talk smack in the land of Voodoo, y’all!

But I’m starting to recover in that I’m terribly *homesick* for New Orleans and my time with the Scooby gang… and our talks, walks, and pizza/ Hurricane rendezvous.  We promised to keep in touch. I should have made her pinkie swear in the cities of the dead*. But I have a feeling that there will be more adventures in the future…

Vampire Boutique

*In my next posts, I plan to discuss Metairie Cemetery, Odd Fellows Rest which hasn’t been open to the public since WWII, and Charity Hospital Cemetery/ Katrina Memorial… as well as some of the other events of the conference.