"My Life is a Joke"

Ansley Bartlett
Delta Delta Delta

The past week really nailed it in. What did it nail in, you may be asking yourself? Well, the fact that my life is indeed, one big joke. I’ll explain later why this week especially became the end all be all of my life’s existence of seriousness, as I had once thought that it was. But I’ve got to start from the beginning, to tell all of you how “my life is a joke” became an essential phrase in my vocabulary.

It all started in February of 2011, in New Orleans, Louisiana with three of my best friends: Amy Shaw, Harrison Crabtree and Kyle Ketchings. It was my first time experiencing Mardi Gras, so of course as a freshman in college, I took the experience in with open arms. It wasn’t until that Saturday though, that the phrase really became hammered in.

We had gone out to the parades on St. Charles all day long, having a blast people watching and dancing with the music. As one parade had ended getting ready for a new one, people played with beach balls in the street. Of course my oblivious self stood right in the way of a flying, muddy, wet beach ball. I could just tell you that it hit me in the shirt, leaving a bug muddy print on my shirt, but no, I have to tell you the truth: the beach ball (that a seven-year-old punted, might I add) came flying across the street, nailing me in the face. Mud, dirt and other various things that had been on St. Charles were now all over my face, with probably a good 75 people laughing at me (although I like to tell myself they were laughing with me). As the weekend came to a close, the phrase “my life is a joke” sunk in, with every ridiculously fabulous event that occurred.

But what does my first Mardi Gras have to do with this past week? Well, I went down to New Orleans, again, to celebrate once again. Having the knowledge that I experienced the year before, I thought that I was prepared for anything and everything that could possibly go wrong. Boy, was I wrong. In the midst of all the awesome chaos, I was robbed of $200, lost all my IDs, Smoothie King card (which the next one was free and I was planning to use the Monday I got back), my AAA card, Nordstrom gift cards from Christmas, and anything else you can think of that might be of importance. It had drowned in the midst of blood, sweat and tears of Bourbon Street. (Okay, that was too dramatic how about: the beer, sweat and grime of Bourbon?) And that was only on Saturday. “My life is a joke” was definitely an understatement for that trip.

So why am I indulging y’all in such a typical New Orleans story? Well, because in the past week I have learned to live with my mistakes and that the little “jokes” that are played on you during your life, make you who you are and will be. Losing my wallet/getting robbed was not particularly something I would suggest to do or have done, but it taught me some very special lessons, that I hope I can pass along to other people who consider their lives as jokes too.  Three main lessons:

1.    Big Star is your friend. With only $20 left for the month, I got two bags of carrots, milk, tortillas, and bananas all for $8.

2. &nb