Bad Boys, Bad Boys, What Ya Gonna Do? (Chris)

Fasten your seat belts because this journal entry is going to take you on a ride. Have you ever heard of four cops surrounding someone once in a night? How about twice, and the same cops that surrounded him the first time, surrounding him a second? Well, you are about to because that is what happened to me last night.

I am a night owl, and around twelve last night, I decided to go to the supermarket to buy some aftershave and milk. Once I got to the supermarket I came to find out that it had just closed its doors, so instead of going back to the RV, I heard a little karaoke action going on and decided to give a little treat to the Louisiana people. It didn't take me long to start up a little small talk with the locals, and soon a girl was asking me to video tape her singing because she thought some talent scout would see it on our site, and want to sign her to a multi-million dollar contract. I agreed to film it because, to be honest with you, I heard no talent and wanted to use it on a video right before I taped my talent-less self being a fool in the middle of Alexandria, Louisiana. After I taped her, her and her two guy friends wanted to listen to it, so we went outside and all watched the video. They then started asking more questions, and in order to clear them all up I showed them the RV and gave them some free T-shirts. Well, during that time of being outside and giving them the shirts, the sister of the singing girl starts yelling about how her sister and two guy friends are missing. The security guard then approaches me with these three people, and asks about the predicament that is going on. I know nothing until the yelling sister comes up to her three friends and I, remember it has been five minutes since the girl sang karaoke, telling me that she didn't know where her three, 21 year old, friends went, and that she was scared. Next, four police cars surround me because the hotel called the cops due to the commotion outside. I answer all the questions, and they tell me that I am free to go, and the problem has to do with the fact that the group had some minors in the karaoke bar. This was the first time of the night, but not the last.

While I was in the karaoke bar I had asked the waitress to hold my keys, wallet, and phone, so they didn't get stolen during my serenade to Alexandria. I never got to sing, so I was pretty disappointed, but since I didn't sing I had to go back, after all the police business was over, to pick up all my stuff. After I picked up my stuff, I was on my way back to the RV, when this slightly intoxicated homeless man starts talking about his time in California, and all the poverty he saw, and so on and so on. I am a real talkative person, so of course I try to be nice to the gentleman and converse with him. Next thing you know, those same cops that had just talked to me about the crazy karaoke group, were surrounding me again, but this time they had all their guns out and pointed at this homeless man I was talking to. They pat him down, and start checking all the bushes for something the man might have thrown. They then ask me if he had brought up a watch, and I replied honestly with a, "NO." They then tell me that they just got a report that this guy pulled a gun out on someone down the street for their watch, and they think he was just about to do the same to me. I didn't see a gun when they padded him down, but that was enough for one night, and I got in the RV and drove it to a place the police officer said would be safe. He also told me that the area we were in was a safe area, but I was just unlucky.

We are now in New Orleans, and tomorrow we are going to try to talk John Curtis Christian High School about not only their big win over Hoover, but also about the hardships their community went through during Katrina. I really wanted to do this story because I wanted to see the destruction Katrina caused, and try to bring a happy story about a great program, to a sad event in New Orleans history. Hopefully, we will be able to talk to them, and get to see some of the parts in New Orleans that have still not been taken care of. We did get to go to the French Quarter tonight, and I had some great stuffed crab and gumbo. It is a Sunday night, so it wasn't that lively, but I still feel that I got to get a sense for the Big Easies most famous area. The people here are crazy, but I now have a story I can tell for the rest of my life about good ol' Alexandria, Louisiana.