Life seems to have a new Brazilian beat, in Texas?

Well, we still don’t have jobs yet, but my life is slowly but surely starting to feel like mine again.

We just spent the last three weeks putting together costumes and make-up for "Carnaval".  This was the 29th year of the event, which is held for one night from 9pm till 2am and consists of "Brazilian music played on Brazilian instruments and sung entirely in Portuguese", and throngs of people in outrageous costumes dancing and having a great time.

I have to thank Shortbus for that, because had she not found a great fansite about Carnaval we might never have known that such an awesome event was being held just a couple of blocks from our apartment.

Shortbus, Gonzo, Doug, Stuff and me all decided to give it a whirl.

I have to say that for the first time, in a very very long time, I felt like myself.  The high that I experienced was not unlike any one of the parties we had at the wHoReS except that there were a lot more people and most strangers.  For a change, I wasn’t worried about not having a job, or having lost our home or anything else.  I just enjoyed the music and the people.

I could have been anywhere just celebrating, but I was in Austin, TX.  How lucky am I that I had to leave one great city like New Orleans, but be able to discover a city that seems to be just as groovy.

For now, I’m still on an emotionally charged high from all the people, and what can only be called rejoicing.  I still miss our friends and family and the life that we had, but I’m glad to start to see that life appears to be going on.  So, "Vivo!" my friends, which the English to Portugeuse dictionary tells me means "Live!".