Die happy

I can now either die happy, or leave New Orleans fulfilled. I have officially won first place in a costume contest. As usual, I went way overboard and wore an itchy nightmare of a costume. (For those of you interested, I dressed as a Christmas tree. I think I sealed my win when I plugged in my tree lights). The best thing about New Orleans is that everybody goes too far every year: they spend too much money, too much time planning, and often cross lines of taste and politeness. Surprisingly, I didn't see one person dressed as a maggot-filled refrigerator, but hey, it's not even Halloween yet.