The Big ... Sort of, Maybe, Not Sure Yet, Easy?

Your biggest aspirations never turn out exactly how you think they will. I'm taking that with me from now on.

Culture shock is real and it creeps up on you -- so do dashes of stinging loneliness, even though I mainly communicated with my friends via G-chat in New York as well.

Here is some good and bad New Orleans at first glance:

-It's no lie that you don't want to make a wrong turn, but I have yet to see if the danger is exaggeration. I don't like taking people's word, but don't want to find out the hard way.

-The cockroaches are huge and nasty, but they're flushable. You often, I've learned, have to flush twice.

-Nobody seems to get pissed off in traffic. There's a lot of, I wouldn't call it traffic ... slow-moving vehicles creating this sort of lava flow with the occasional streetcar clot.

-Ass kicking music and bars of the same caliber are everywhere. When you want to work or stay healthy, that's a downside. It's becoming like a game to me -- can I peddle past all the seductive bars and brass bands on my way to the gym? Victory was mine today.

-Yes, this city has "groups." E.g.: Rich, poor, black, white, Mexican, people who were born and raised here, people who are "not from around here," etc. This gets me; I hate groups. I'm battling not to be in one.

- Even the tomato soup at a tourist-trap cafe is stunning.

-People don't walk around on cell phones -- I'm the only asshole that does.

-You can jump into conversations easily, but it's not rude to just cut out of one and leave. This is probably a survival instinct -- otherwise New Orleans would be a 24-hour conversation.