Mardi Gras 2019 is down to five hours and change. Of course, I have not attended a parade on Mardi Gras day since 1992, and I have not attended any parade since 1994 when I went to see Thoth, only because I knew several riders, all of whom (save Ray “Big’un” Jeanfreau, who sadly passed away in September 2012) are still riding.

The first year I did not go to a parade on Mardi Gras day, I was a junior in high school. My father, brother and I went on a college tour that day at Mississippi State. Yes, the one in Starkville. I seriously considered leaving Louisiana for college, and Mississippi State was at the top of the list with Kansas State. However, by the end of 1993, I was committed to LSU, and there was no turning back.

Mardi Gras is late this year, one of the latest dates it can be. The earliest is February 3, which has never occurred in my lifetime, but I can remember it being February 5 in 2008, which happened to be two days after the Giants defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, ending New England’s bid for a 19-0 season. The latest date Mardi Gras can be is March 9. I remember it being March 8 in 2011.

If Mardi Gras is late, then Easter will be late, and vice versa. This year, Easter is April 21, and that has a few track and field coaches in Kansas angry, since the Friday they host their meets this year conflicts with Good Friday. Too bad. I don’t feel for them.

Mardi Gras is pretty much done anyway. The parades have long since disbanded. There hasn’t been a parade on Mardi Gras night since Comus’ last procession in 1991. Comus is still a krewe, still the most exclusive social club you will find anywhere in the United States, but no more floats. All because some people couldn’t get in. Heck, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett can’t get into Comus. So why should anyone else in New Orleans worry about something so trivial? I would not WANT to be part of something like that.

Lent starts at 0000. It has in most of the world. Ash Wednesday is not a day of obligation, and I do not wish to have ashes on my forehead. On the other hand, I understand it is a very important religious observance for billions, and good for them for taking the time to go to church and repent their sins.

I believe in a supreme being. I do not like having to go into a house of worship to express that belief. Something about a church intimidates me. When I went to Lisa and Jeff’s wedding in St. Louis in October 2017, it was the first time I had been in a church for something since another wedding, that of Bill and Yvette Franques in Louisiana 18 years prior.

I will never, ever forgive my parents for dragging me to a mass at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans in August 1993. I didn’t want to be there. I remind them of it from time to time.

Enough about church–at least the physical building.

Lent is supposed to be a season where you give up something. Maybe I need to do something for Lent to get me into better habits. Like going to sleep at a halfway decent hour. Like posting on my blog every day.

Maybe that will be my penance. Last year, I tried to give up cursing, and I thought I did pretty well, but there were some slips.

Heck, let me go for it again. I, David Steinle, swear no profanity in this blog for at least the next 40 days–and hopefully the next 4,000 days after that. I’m not perfect. But I’ll try to do the best I can.

Oh, and I will make sure I POST something the next 40 days. Even if it’s two nonsensical lines about a Lifetime movie. I’m paying good money to WordPress for this blog site, so what the heck am I doing letting it gather cyberdust?

Since it’s 1900, I should follow through on my promise to go to bed at a decent hour. Not now–it’s too early. But I need to be in bed no more than three hours from now. So that’s all for Foots Prints for this day.