With this new year, I’m hoping that I’ll be happier; most people make new year resolutions of things they want to be. I’m usually not one to make new year resolutions but this year I just want to be happy, not stress constantly or depressed like I have been these past two years. Happiness is something that most deserve and I wish I’m one of those who do. I’m the happiest when I’m with the people that mean the world to me, the one that brings me the most happiness is my best friend Sarah but we now live 9 hours away from each other and have very different sleeping schedules. In May or June, I will be hopefully moving back down south and that will most likely bring me more happiness than living here. Happiness is something that just accrues randomly by the weirdest things, like some youtube video of senseless humor.

“happiness rock” by smariesmithblog is shared under CC by 2.0 license 

There’s a stereotype of redhead/gingers having really bad tempers and as a ginger, I can confirm that, at least for me, the stereotype is true. I have anger issues and only recently I’ve been able to contain it. Growing up the parents of my neighborhood didn’t like me playing with their kids because their kids loved to harass me and I’d hurt them for annoying me. My parents have named my anger “shark” for how a shark attacks its prey is the same way I fight people but I’m not the only one with anger issues in my family; my mom has her “bees” that you can also hear and it’s terrifying. My Dad’s anger is “a berzerker”, he used to fight a lot when he was younger and he most likely will when due to his size and amount of experience. When I get mad I tend to get blinded by the anger and I attack people without realizing what I am doing. The adults in my neighborhood were afraid of my family due to our anger and no fear of fighting. Anger is something we can control though and I have; people tend to no long tiptoe around me which is great. It took me three years to get it under control and now I rarely experience anger.

“Shark” by Teodum shared with attribution 2.0 generic (CC BY 2.0).

The place of voodoo and partying; New Orleans is a place that everyone should visit at least once in their lives. New Orleans is a place of large history and several cultures, there is a lot to see there. New Orleans was founded in 1718 by a French company which inspires much of designs of the building and streets. Savary was very popular in the south and when the Africans brought their cultural they brought the voodoo beliefs with them and the belief is still strongly used and is one of the things that makes so New Orleans popular with tourism. New Orleans is host several parades and festivals throughout the year; my personal favorite being the Voodoo Fest, Krewe of Boo, and Mardi Gras.

Voodoo Fest is one giant concert with several bands playing on stages that match their genre of music throughout the designated location; I went when I was in 6th grade and I saw the Foo Fighters, The Dirty Bourbon River Show and AWOLNATION perform. Several people were drunk and high walking around just enjoying themselves and buying overpriced food and merchandise. Sadly I had been so tired that night me and my brother fell asleep on the ground during the Foo Fighter performance.

Krewe of Boo is an amazing parade to witness with everyone in costumes running enjoying themselves, the parade is full of lights and is quite similar to Mardi Gras. When I visited there my mom had made everyone themed costumes. My Dad had even been put on the front page of the newspaper due to his sugar skull costume but my favorite was when my dad and I were voodoo themed with my dad being the voodoo priest and myself being his voodoo doll.

Mardi Gras was quite the event when I went to witness it was 2017 and that was the year that a man ran over a crowd of people, I personally did not witness the act but was a block away and was unaware of what happened till four hours later. The Mardi Gras parade itself was very entertaining and very shocking due to the number of shirtless women freely (and very drunk) walking around and flashing the men on the floats to get the items they wanted.

New Orleans isn’t just parades and festivals but it is a very beautiful place to see if you know where you are going. The French Quarter is a very popular and beautiful place to go see along with the New Orleans city park. If you do enjoy partying and street performances then I recommend going Bourbon Street but if you are under the age 18 or can’t defend yourself well I don’t recommend that you stay on that street after 9:30pm because there are several bars on that street and the people can be dangerous when intoxicated, some don’t even have to be intoxicated.

Although New Orleans is a beautiful place and a good place to have a good time it can be very dangerous to do a large number of people that often flood the streets in the evening. it’s best to stay in a group and spend sightseeing times during the day. But do enjoy New Orleans and see the culture.

Key West is the Southernmost Point of the Continental US and just over the horizon is Cuda at 90 miles away. It’s a beautiful place to go any time of the year due to it being close to the equator with beautiful daytime weather and the island itself is made coral and it has no natural beaches with the sand being imported from the Bahamas. It’s a great place to go snorkeling and diving, fishing, sightseeing, or just party at. It is a very small island with an impressive history behind it; such as the number of hurricanes that have hit, the Ernest Hemingway house with its six-toed cats, the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge, the oldest house on Key West, the free-roaming chickens, key west cemetery, and the 7-mile bridge; you can learn about these things on one of the several history tour buses. Although the island is just barely over 7 miles in size it has a large population of 26,990 residents and there are several tourists that go down throughout the year. It is referred to as a gay paradise do its large acceptive community and there is a part of Duval street that is just dedicated to gay bars, clubs and stores. It’s a wonderful place to visit with friends and family and I’ve been going there for 7 years even 2-3 times a year due to its beautiful surrounding ocean and wonderful sightseeing. I recommend going at some point in your life to experience the beauty yourself.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton