Happy Birthday

Author’s Note: The following events were written as they were occurring. As such, they were written in the appropriate tense at that time. The following events occurred on January 13, 2019.

“Children waiting for the day they feel good. Happy birthday, happy birthday.” Those are some lyrics from one of my favorite songs, Mad World, originally written by Tears for Fears but performed by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. After a mix of emotions throughout this trip, ranging from sheer happiness to anxiety to sadness, today was my day to feel good. Happy birthday.

Today was also our final class meeting during the trip. I woke up and got out of bed just before 10:00 AM, changed into a long-sleeved shirt, a fresh pair of pants, my lucky garments, my jacket, and headed to the hotel lobby where I realized that I had missed breakfast. Oh well, guess I won’t be having any cheerios this morning! I waited in the lobby and at one point, went back to my room as I awaited for the rest of the class to come to the lobby and meet for our final class session at 11:00 AM. Due to a lack of space at the hotel, our class met outside by the pool in 48ºF (9ºC) weather with our journals at hand to reflect on our experiences in New Orleans. While we were outside, our professors went over some logistics regarding our course. We were reminded to check out by 11:00 AM tomorrow and were informed that we spent less money as a class than any previous class to date. Because our class went under budget with their provided meals, we were given a $30 credit for dinner tonight. Shortly after going over logistics, we moved into the hotel lobby to continue our class as we were freezing our butts off. Once we settled down in the lobby, we were asked to write down three words that described our trip (mine were “uncertain,” “empowered,” and “relaxed”), our most significant memory (mine was that random moment when one classmate said “I like you”), a lesson learned (I learned that I need to be prepared to take matters into your own hands), and how we can make change once we return (I wrote down re-taking CERT to refresh my certification). We engaged in a class conversation about what we wrote down in our reflection to which some students realized that they wanted to make change, while others saw the failures of Katrina as race related. Shortly after wrapping up our discussion, my classmates gave me a birthday voodoo doll and our professors gave us tiles modeled after the sidewalk tiles of New Orleans. Everyone signed the backs of each other’s tiles while enjoying po-boy sandwiches from Killer Po-Boys. To be honest, I was not a big fan of my sandwich. Once everyone signed each other’s tiles, we cleaned up the lobby, made reservations for the Oceana Grill near Bourbon Street, and headed our separate ways. Some students went to Magazine Street and others rode a ferry across the Mississippi River. My group headed to Congo Square.

After a couple minutes to freshen up, my group walked across Rampart to Armstrong Park, a large park which is home to Congo Square, an historic square where slaves were free to express themselves and trade with one another during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Square was listed on the National Register of Historic Places back in 1993 and serves as a reminder of the dark history of slavery in the United States. On a more positive note, this square also served as the birthplace of what would become Mardi Gras and Jazz culture, which New Orleans is world-famous for today. We spent a couple minutes exploring the square and the rest of the park. There was not much else to do at the park so after spending less than an hour exploring, we decided to head over to the French Market and order crepes. I ordered a Nutella crepe which I found to be okay while on of my classmates found her crepe to be amazing. Our group then decided to head back to the hotel and I chose to unwind while some others headed over to Pat O’Brien’s to watch the Saints / Eagles game going on at the Superdome.

I spent my downtime reflecting on things that occurred today and throughout the week as well as listening to a podcast. I was honestly surprised at how kind people were with celebrating my birthday. This was something I informed the class about early in our trip, that my birthday was coming up and that I wanted to celebrate it with them. I do not like asking for things I want, I prefer to earn things through hard work and such. In the end, this would be worth it, but we will get to that in a minute or few.

During my downtime, I called Oceana to confirm that my reservation for 13 people had gone through. I found out that it did not but was able to make a reservation for 7:30 PM that night. All went smoothly in the end, but the restaurant misspelled my name as “Basey”.

I freshened up a little bit just after 5:00 PM; I left the hotel with a classmate and walked over to Preservation Hall off of Saint Peter Street. As we were passing Bourbon Street, a woman approached us and touched our behinds in a possible attempt to pickpocket us. She walked past while stating “Welcome to New Orleans” while we kept moving forward as if nothing occurred. My classmate and I discussed this and left it at that. This experience was a reminder as to why I store my belongings in my front pockets instead of the back, but things could have been worse. I was once spit on by a homeless man back in high school, but thankfully I have not yet developed any diseases.

My classmate and I were the first in line for the 6:00 PM concert at Preservation Hall. The rest of our group joined us in line as we peaked at the TV screens across the street to see that the Eagles were defeating the Saints 14-10. Just before Preservation Hall opened its doors for us, the Saints’ luck would change as they took the lead. We all got student discounts, some of us without our student IDs because we answered questions about who Chapman’s president was without hesitation.

We settled into Preservation Hall where the jazz band performed a 45-minute show, covering different classic jazz tracks. Towards the end of the show, I received word that the Saints won their game, so I paid $20 and requested that the jazz band play the Saints song which got the room cheering and chanting “WHO DAT?” The energy in the room was amazing and I was beginning to loosen up from everything the week had brought on. Once again, today was my day to feel good.

We traversed the bustling and celebratory Bourbon Street across a myriad of bars and drunk people to the Oceana Bar and Grill off Conti near Bourbon. Once our party of 13 arrived, we were promptly seated and enjoyed dinner.

I reviewed the menu in search of items that would fit within our allotted $30 budget for the meal, ultimately settling on a platter of fried shrimp, hush puppies, and fries. I’m sure my doctor is thrilled with how much cholesterol I have been consuming.

We all ate dinner and shared different stories with each other. I mostly talked to a classmate who asked questions about my upbringing and Japan. At one point, I mentioned some identifiable things about myself which I am retracting here. I would later find out that a younger classmate would find this story to be super cool.

I remember another classmate talking about how we’re are all friends and such and expressed how I was hesitant about being referred to as a friend (nice one, dude). I explained that I want to get to know everyone better and that I do want to hang out with everyone and keep in touch on LinkedIn, but that I felt uncomfortable with the word “friend” at this time. I think the word “friend” is tossed around like a rag doll and, to an extent, has become meaningless. To me, the word “friend” still means something and I felt uncomfortable with calling a group of students, of whom I just started getting to know, “friends.” I truly think that the seeds have been planted for amazing friendships but only time will tell. On the upside, the majority of the class added each other on LinkedIn, so that was cool.

I ordered creme brûlée for dessert and was surprised that the waiter announced that there was a birthday in the house! He called me out on my shyness but proceeded to engage the restaurant in the most energetic singing of Happy Birthday I have ever experienced. I was not sure how to react, so I sat there in silence while my class plus one sang Happy Birthday to me. Shortly after the singling concluded, a quieter classmate passed down a birthday card. This single card made my day and taught me something about myself that I never really considered was a positive. She wrote that she was impressed with my “capacity to think, ask questions, and share [my] thought-provoking ideas.” I really appreciate being recognized for the very thing that I strive to do, which is to think, ask questions, and share ideas. Her card made my entire night that much better and is something I will cherish for as long as I can remember. Over the course of the night, I found that other students appreciated how I appeared to not be afraid to express my ideas and challenge things.

As we walked back to the Hotel, one classmate and I started dancing out of the blue. I started referencing random vines such as “Lebron James” and “Put em’ in a coffin!”, too which I intentionally fell backwards. At a later point, as we were walking down Burgundy Street, I started doing some break dancing, starting with a cartwheel and finishing with that spin thing where you kick your legs under your arms. My classmates were surprised at how extroverted I had suddenly become. The grad student and my former co-worker, who has known me for a few years now, was particularly surprised at how I had come out of my shell.

I certainly felt a deeper sense of connection and although we were heading back to the hotel, my night was not quite done yet. I walked over to Café du Monde with my freshman classmate so she could pick up some beignets for the flight home. We discussed various things, such as our trip experiences, the people we met, and interestingly enough, relationships. At some point, I guess I mentioned something about a previous crush and having been rejected back in May, to which my classmate followed up on. I told her the truth, that [Name Retracted] is a nice girl and that we are still friends. As we headed back to the hotel, we discussed our majors and our academic paths, talking about how different our programs really were. We briefly talked about relationships once we returned to the hotel and concluded the night thereafter. My trip to New Orleans was now complete.

My time in New Orleans made me realize that I am more powerful as a person than I give myself credit for. It’s a reminder for me to act as if I am powerful instead of powerless; to build up my own confidence and realize that people like me for the very reasons that I thought they hated me for. I was with a crowd of students who appreciated my perspectives on various issues and while I know not everyone agreed with me, they appreciated my ability to think and question ideas. I was with a group of students who valued me for me, and I did not have to worry about walking on too many eggshells this time around.

I also realized that I need to take some things easy. My desire to work perfectly has led to the opposite effect. I also struggle with recognizing people which lead me to mixing up the names of my AmeriCorps friends all the time. In a way, my perfectionism relates to my fear of failure, which played a contributing factor to what happened with the University Program Board back in November.

I found myself focusing a little too much on my work this trip and looking back on it, I should have taken things a little easier. However, I remain nervous about what the future has in store for me. I am not fully confident that I will maintain ties with the people I now call friends. Right now, I’m feeling better about things, but I have found through experience that when I expect things to go well, they usually don’t. The inverse is also true: When I expect failure, I often get success.

Happy Birthday. My day to feel good came by and it felt great. I enjoyed feeling loose for a change and being free from my anxiety and other insecurities. I can’t wait to see what happens in the future but even as I write this, I still remain skeptical. Let’s see what the future holds in store.

This concludes the “Now in New Orleans” blog series.