The very first time I visited New Orleans, when I was on my way back to the airport, the cabbie told me that that same weekend, there had been a national Alcoholics Anonymous convention in town.

He was just making conversation, telling me about all the conventions that had been going on that weekend -- but a few seconds after he said that, he and I both realized at the same time how insane that was, our eyes met in the rearview mirror, and we both spent the next three minutes just completely cracking up.