brain barf… yum!
After a week of travels, I’m finally home.
I have to back-blog and fill in Days 3 & on of the Washington trip, as well as my trip to/from Oaktown… which would bring me up-to-date to today.
Unfortunately, I think my network card died while I was in DC. I cannot log on to the internet or access our network.
What a pisser.
After all the excitement with the Redcoats and WCL on Day 2, I took the Metro from Capitol South back to Tenleytown-AU and grabbed a cab back to the place I’m staying.
Jan and I were rushing to leave the city before rush hour hit so I could see her weekend home in Warrenton, VA. We got stuck in traffic anyway, but made good time & got out there just in time to walk around her 2.5 acre property in the light of the sunset. Her beautiful house overlooks a small lake, complete with a dock, and a flock of ducks and geese. (Did you know that geese hiss if you get too close to them? I didn’t. They can be mean suckers.)
We had dinner with Jan’s Himalayan cat, Lilo, who insisted on hanging out on the dining room table as we ate. Rainbow, Jan’s Sun Conure, hung out on her shoulder, getting little veggie treats from Jan as we talked.
We had a quiet evening at home, watching Part 1 (of 3) of a PBS Bill Moyers special “Becoming American, the Chinese Experience.” Part 1 sucked. Jan fell asleep before the first hour was over. I was bored, but I watched it all.
I took a shower, looked through Jan’s bookcases (lots of Marilyn Monroe books), and since my insomnia had kicked in, I decided at a very late hour (past 1 am) that I would attempt to get online via Jan’s laptop there.
That was probably the biggest mistake of this trip.
Continue reading ‘Washington DC, Day 2 (continued)’
Damn.
Where is the switch for that weirdo magnet? And how the hell do I turn it off?
After that whole Redcoat fiasco yesterday, I wandered around Union Station, did a bit of souvenir shopping (what a tourist I am), and then showed up at my old workplace, the California Governor’s DC Office. Of the people I knew when I worked there, only one remained. I was very glad to see him and to visit with him. We quickly caught up on old times and pledged to stay in touch (we’d better this time!).
From the Hall of the States, I walked down to the new (to me) National Japanese American Memorial, which was a big hole in the ground the last time I saw it. It was very moving for me and while I was trying to take it all in, a weirdo walked up to me.
Continue reading ‘The magnet is on again’
Today, I got on a bus (!) and then hopped on the Metro toward Union Station.
Somewhere along the way, a swarm of folks wearing bright red jackets/coats got on. They were obviously a part of some convention & upon further investigation, I realized they were all postmasters (or retired postmasters) from all over the nation. Sweet as these hard-working folks may be, I believe it must be somewhere in the postal code that in order to be a postmaster, you absolutely must have an ugly haircut. If they hadn’t had their name tags and postal service pins on, the array of bowl cuts, mullets, and cuts-so-fugly-they-don’t-even-have-names would have led me to believe they were in town for the “Whoa Nelly! I’ve Got an Ugly Haircut” competition.
Then to my dismay, they started to follow me. When I stood up to get off the Metro, they all did the same. I swear, they followed me out to Union Station, stood in the same line as me for food, and when I finally thought I lost them, I plopped down in front of one of the fountains outside the station to eat (and to enjoy the beautifully, gorgeous weather). But then, all at once, the Redcoats started spilling out of the front doors of Union Station, like red ants evacuating their hill.
They started toward me and my palms began to sweat. I began to worry that I had accidentally made some comment about the hair out loud, instead of thinking it in my head, as I’d intended. Suddenly, they all turned and crossed the street in the other direction.
I should have figured. The National Postal Museum is across the street from Union Station.
What a crazy couple of days weeks it has been.
Aside from the insanity of packing & moving, I went directly from concert craziness to packing like a madwoman in order to get on a red-eye from LAX to Reagan National Airport in DC. I only got a two hour nap on the flight from L.A. to Chicago and I had to change plans to take a 7:00 am commuter flight into Washington DC. By that time, there was not much more sleeping I could get done on the plane.
Stepping off the plane and seeing this beautiful city in the Spring made all these vibrant memories rush back to the forefront of my mind. I could instantly feel the electricity of this amazing city rush through my body and felt immediately at home. I didn’t even hesitate to get on to the Metro, defying my phobia of public transportation.
Jan, my good friend (and former work associate), picked me up from the Metro station and brought me back to her place near American University. After a quick nap and shower, we hopped into the car and drove down to the Ronald Reagan Building for a special presentation on the life of Reformist Charlotte Perkins Gilman at the Woodrow Wilson Institute.
The city is much louder than I remember it. While walking around Dupont Circle today, there were countless police officers on foot, bike, horse. Choppers flew continuously overhead. People were holding signs and chanting, protesting the war. Security is at a maximum, which is comforting and upsetting at the same time.
I had dinner with a dear friend from L.A. at a Lebanese restaurant. The food was super yummy. It was great to see her and to catch up with her since I had last seen her in L.A. before she moved here. How does 5 months fly by so quickly?
What a long, but fun & exciting day. I wish I had a digital camera so I can chronicle this short trip… I’ll take my regular camera out tomorrow and take some shots as I wander around the city.
Pack, unpack.
Pack, unpack.
Pack, pack, pack.
Does it ever end?
Oh well. Packing for 7 days of traveling sure beats packing for a move.
so we’re done moving. almost. there’s still the fish tank and some odds and ends over at my brother’s house, but for the most part we are now living in our new place. it’s crowded, but it’s ours. and very private. i’m very happy.
now is the end (mostly) of my stress for the month. we’ve moved, the choir i sing with had their performance tonight, and i can finally get some sleep. the performance went well, we were well received by the audience, i think.
if only i had enough brain power left to finish my blog…
If you’re dying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious jozjozjoz in action, this is where I’ll be tonight. This is also the most likely cause of my infamous twitching.
~~~~~~~~~
FYI… this concert is LA Weekly’s “Pick of the Week” & is on the front page of the entertainment section of Friday’s La Opinion!
Tickets will be available at the door & the box office opens at 7pm!
Stolen blatantly from Sonia’s site, turn your site into a porn page.
Check out jozjozjoz :: brain barf… pornolized!
On second thought, it’s not really all that much different from the original.
UPDATE: DOH! Pornolize is down… :(
Sorry the linky no worky!
The consensus seems to be stress, though I was voting for Kevin’s thought that the twitching might be caused by low potassium intake.
So I ate two bananas. And I was still twitching.
Then I thought that I might be having a twitch attack due to lack of sleep (per siwwygirlie).
So I slept until the sun scorched my face. And I’m still twitching.
But I don’t care what Judy says… I’ve already been tweezed… so there will be no more plucking around my head for a while…
This little thing I saw at blog ala indigoddess.
You are a classic; the quintessential New Yorker.
You are cultured and love to travel, though you
wouldn’t move from New York in a million years.
Then again, you may just be a tourist, trying
to see all the sights in a single day.
Which New York City subway line are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Whoo hoo!
DSL is up! Now I can finally download e-mail at a speed faster than that of an arthritic snail.
DSL seems slower than my old cable modem, but a big *fook you* to AT&T Broadband, which says that you have to pay for (at least) “basic cable” through them in order to get the “discounted cable modem rates” (which, of course, are still more expensive than DSL rates).
Um, WHY would I want to do that when we already have DirecTV?
…now, when I get my big, giant, L-shaped mahogany desk delivered tomorrow, I can *finally* bring my good ol’ computer in to the new place!
Since I’m never gonna be a Playboy Bunny, I will just have to exercise my exhibitionist fantasies as a Happy Bunny, instead. [Jim Benton, you’re a trip!]
congratulations. you are the “kiss my ass” happy bunny. you don’t care about anyone or anything. You must be so proud.
which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Thanks to Sonia, the “you smell like butt” happy bunny. Not to mention Tasha, the “you’re so dumb” happy bunny.
I saw Drew’s post & was originally afraid to take this quiz, but it turned out not being so bad.
Dear Murphy’s Mom:
Today, I came by the house to pick up some mail. When I got there, the gardener was outside watering the backyard and Murphy was running around all over the wet pavement.
When Murph saw me come through the door, she thought she was going to get some playing time & grabbed one of her tennis balls and headed toward me… one of her old, grungy tennis balls… one of the icky ones that she’d chewed until it had popped.
It was wet and slimy and black and gross. And she dropped it on my foot.
Now, normally, this would not be a big deal, but today, I was wearing hose and heels. And the aforementioned slimy ball landed *plop* on my foot. Let’s just say that the hose did not provide any kind of protection for my foot from Murphy slime. And there was a nice little black/brown/green splat mark where the ball landed on my foot… but it’s ok. I was headed home soon, anyway. And I threw the ball exactly once for Murph today… sorry if she seemed disappointed when you got home.
At least she did not try to jump on me. :)
Doh!
I don’t check my e-mail for 2 lousy days and THIS is what I return to… thank goodness I did not even attempt to check e-mail via dial-up.
Had to go back to the old place to check via the cable modem connection, but was it worth the gas money.
Now where’s that ‘delete’ key?
—excerpt—
Check it out:
My thesis is an attempt to fill in the void in academic work about blogs. Previously in articles and commercial books published about blogs (Rebecca Blood’s books and the O’Reilly book, for example), why we blog has been researched using personal experience, with a few indepth interviews, or by analyzing websites. None of these three ways can come close to providing as accurate a depiction of the blogging population – who we all really are, why we blog, and how we’re using our blogs – as a survey.
So how about it? We’ve all taken the “what robot are you” and “what type of hat do you keep behind your toilet” tests, so why not take a few minutes and help this kid out?
—end excerpt—
Arrrrgh.
Dial-up!?!?! What the hell?! I hate this! Damn DSL takes a week to set up?!
BAH! They just have to flip a switch!
I can’t believe they are making me suffer like this…
Was there more than 10 hours straight.
That’s what I get for not doing anything other than moving this weekend.
Doh.
Mostly.
We still have the office (which stays put until we get our DSL), some kitchen stuff, and the fish tank.
Other than that, we’re done… now for the unpacking… sigh…
Ok, maybe not, but I got linked a bunch of places this week (mostly for that parking ticket check I wrote).
Check it out!
• Joelle, who rules, linked me! Whoo hoo!
• Gamshi says that I rock!
• Diana says I am her blogger hero!
• Elly pimped me!
• Hats off to me from Jenn!
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