I finished up a project I’ve been working on this afternoon, so I took the rest of the day off to just play, which meant first and foremost taking the bike out for a ride to see what might happen. That little activity never fails to satisfy, and today was no exception. I headed down to the Quarter with the idle plan of shopping for a cell phone I don’t need at a Radio Shack that shouldn’t exist. I locked to the rack at the mall and walked up Canal, but I stopped at the Insectarium. I’m afraid of bugs, so I figured it was a good idea to go inside, and I’m gainfully employed for the foreseeable future, so I’ve got the $15.95–I’m still getting used to that. After petting a hissing cockroach, washing my hands furiously, and having security called to rescue the butterfly that illegally hitched a ride on me as I left the butterfly room, it was time to get back on the bike and forget about bugs. I did my loop around the Bywater and then stopped in at the Antenna Gallery on Burgundy for an event with the Lens, our local indy investigative reporting blog. The gallery was also hosting a show, “My Mom Says My Work Has Really Improved,” which featured displays of work from artists when they were children alongside their current work. I snapped this photo of an artist’s long history of working with raccoon imagery. I love people and their minds and projects–hit up the show if you have the chance. Then there was a ride to a bar to watch basketball, another bar to listen to a brass band, Cafe du Monde for late night beignets, and now I will ride home in a breeze that just might cool things off, as long as I keep pedaling. Lucky, lucky me.