It's been a strange, eerie anniversary day for me. I got to work at the museum this morning and the space I usually work in was blocked off with plastic sheets marked "Hazard: Microbial Waste". There were workers in jumpsuits and breathing masks doing some sort of cleaning...I'm still not sure exactly what they were cleaning...mold? dust? Anyway, they were there for more than half the day so I ended up helping track down and prepare some archives for our upcoming Katrina exhibit instead of doing my usual duties. What a weird way to spend this day, let me tell you. As if I wasn't bound to recount all of the good and bad memories from the past two years anyway... I ended up flipping through issues of the Baton Rouge Advocate from August 30 & 31, 2005. We also had to pull all sorts of foam-core signs...the kind that were staked in the neutral grounds all over town for months and months after Katrina. There was stuff from the mayoral election from last year, there were political cartoons, there was even a "Be a New Orleanian, wherever you are" sticker from Dirty Coast in the mix.

I've had this kind of sick feeling in the pit of my stomach all day. I think it's been building up for at least a few days, maybe even a couple of weeks. My boyfriend's birthday was yesterday, but he's celebrating it tonight, at the Whirling Dervish where he usually DJs on Wednesdays. And since it's Wednesday, that means it's also ladies night and 1/2 price on all drinks all night for the ladies. Good timing this year, I guess... For those of us who just can't deal with today at least there's always someplace in town where drinks can be had for cheap.

I wish I had something profound to say. I just don't have the energy. I've been feeling completely drained lately. I just keep thinking about all the times during the last two years that I've envied those friends who moved away for awhile, regained some semblance of their sanity, and then returned home to deal with all of this on a day to day basis. I never really got that. And while in some ways, I'm glad I've been here pretty much the entire time, it's been extremely trying. I'm burnt out. So forgive me if I don't quite feel like writing a more spectacular remembrance today.

Oh yes, and the picture accompanying this post is one I took a year ago. X marks the spot where my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Maguey, once stood on the beach in Gulfport, MS.