The agent called today and is thrilled to be working with me. That was fast and nearly effortless – other than the 20 years I already put into this career.
I decided to go on an adventure today. I took a local bus (my first time on a public bus since leaving New York almost 18 years ago) to Canal Street in the French Quarter and walked down to the French Market to Christmas shop and buy vegetables. Met a colorful character on the bus, of course, and he walked with me some of the way. When I got within sight (and smelling distance) of Café Du Monde with its amazing beignets (3 for under $1.50) and chicory coffee and the jazz singer entertaining people from the sidewalk, I got misty and full of joy that I actually live here now in my favorite city in the United States. Everything feels right and familiar, it all makes sense to me in a way that Los Angeles never did.
Laden with bags of locally made soy candles, fleur de lis decorated items, pralines and locally grown veggies, I headed back to Canal Street and caught a streetcar home. It was my first ride on a streetcar and I highly recommend it. For $1.25 (in exact change), you can go all over town in the same way the locals have since 1835. There were tourists, an interracial goth couple carrying laundry, a man walking on two canes, students, and one “bag lady” (that’s what the older man smoking a cigarrette on a milk crate in front of a restaurant on Royal Street called me as I passed him on the other side of the street – yes, the people are so friendly here, they even engage strangers on the other side of the street).
Later, I attended my first movie at the local theater, The Prytania, about a mile from my house.
It’s the only single screen theater left in Louisiana and the oldest theater left in New Orleans (opened in 1915) and well worth the much lower prices they charge for new releases, midnight movies (mostly cult favorites like “Pulp Fiction” and “The Gremlins”), and matinee classics (things like “Gone with the Wind” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”). I think I can be a movie buff and still live here.
L.A. to N.O.LA 
I’m having so much fun reading your electronic postcards!