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It’s almost over. One more low-key party tonight for Orpheus, then tomorrow morning’s open house for the Society of St. Anne, followed by a long but festive walk to Canal Street for the Rex and Zulu parades. After that, I’ll have a farewell-to-the-flesh cocktail at some local dive, unlace the knee-high boots, pin the wig and mantilla back on the styrofoam, and settle in for an evening of playing video games and watching the oh-so-WASPy, oh-so-creepy meeting of the courts of Rex and Comus that signals the official end of Carnival in New Orleans.

As exhausting as it sounds, there’s a certain pride many of us take in not just enduring the grueling Carnival season, but truly enjoying it. My pal Elizabeth summed the sentiment far better than I could in an email she sent out last night after a busy night of Bacchus parading and juking to the Go-Gos at House of Blues:

so it’s 2am mardi gras weekend and apparently there was a superbowl? but who cares because though i’ve been under the weather since friday, i rallied to haul myself down to the house of blues where i danced for 1 1/2 hours to the GO-GO’S!!!!

…my ears are ringing, my throat is hoarse and i still have a costume to construct tomorrow….but unlike many of you poor slobs, i have lundi gras off to recover and sew….

so drink up all you new england fans…i’m not jealous of you, even if my home team never makes it to the superbowl. it’s 74 degrees here, i’m off work till next monday and i’m sure my “barfly” costume is cooler than your painted hairy chest that you displayed on tv tonight for all of america to admire.