Advice from Brett Will Taylor, who wrote this piece (full story) for The Times-Picayune in November 2011:

Photo by Jason Kruppa (via NOLA.com)

As we cavorted and mayhemed and frolicked into the wee hours of All Saints’ Day, I shared with my friend the top ten things I’ve learned my first year in New Orleans, the kinds of things that come in handy when you look around, dazed and confused, and wonder where y’at.

Here they are:

1.  Planning.  Abandon all hope of planning ye who enter here. It’s not going to happen.  If you try to plan, you’ll get an ulcer and find yourself constantly making incredulous faces. Just. Let. It. Happen. If you’re meant to hang with someone, Mama NOLA will make it happen.  If not, she’ll send even more fabulous people your way to hang with!

2.  Comfort zone.  Drop yours.  New Orleans is like no place on Earth, so don’t experience it the same way you experience everywhere else.  If you do, you’ll miss her completely.

Read the full story here.