The District of Columnbia.

Howdy folks. It's been a while, and no less than three times has my computer frozen (I'm getting a newer desktop, soon) while I have tried to update this darn blog. It's been a journey. Here is what is happening in my life, because you simply must know.

• Saturday = me + new buddy Rachel Coleman going the West Side pistol and rifle firing range, to bust some caps.
• It's nothing official yet, but I may be going to graduate school in Israel. Fascinating? I should think so.
  
• Tomorrow morning I have a job interview for a PR company called Hyde Park Communications, which I got through Emily, who was also my partner in visiting DC last weekend! (Photo Safari Below.)
• I have started observing at St. Agnes High School, where Emily's friend Ted (who teaches English and Spanish brilliantly there) has been letting me observe him and his co-workers. Neato baijito! More info + photos later.
• I'm going to a poetry reading Saturday at 8. It's at the Bowery Poetry Club. Show up.
  
• I got my ambassadorship for the Study Abroad program!
• I'm probably going to go for the rock wall job, since the job I'm interviewing tomorrow, and the rock wall, currently closed, will be open after spring break...
• I tried racquetball today (best racquet sport ever, it's like Homicidal death Ping-pong), and Pantea and I went rock climbing! Good stuff.
  

The word on Washington: A special report, photo-safari style.

We went for 2.5 days.

The first day, we left on a bus at 7 AM on a Chinatown bus. Got in around 12, walked 5 miles to the hostel (it was a nice day), dropped the stuff, went to the center of the city around 2! It was gowdjeous.

We basically hung out around the reflecting pool (it was supposed to rain that weekend, and it was sunny then, so it seemed like good a time as any) , saw the white house at sunset (One, two), and then read near the Lincoln Memorial. There was this square where all the states had little monuments that I didn't know was there, it was at one end of the reflecting pool. Emily (One, two) and I both proceeded to look pretty there. It probably has a name, but I don't know what it is. Funny, though. Look what's next to New York's memorial.

Emily took a picture of some people, and I took a picture of her doing it. It was abstract. She also checked for lost quarters underneath the Washington monument. I guess you don't know, but Emily's pretty much ripped. I'm not that strong, so I did an impression instead.

Dude. It got dark then, so we walked to Georgetown, had a cup of tea, went to the hostel, and bought some kickin' groceries. Salad, pesto pasta, and some animal crackers for me. Happy day.

The second day, as predicted, was a little moist in DC. This happened. Also, we went to the Holocaust Museum...which was amazing. No pictures, sorry. You should really go and see it for yourself, though. I knew it was perverse, but it's just odd to see what happened...to interact with one of the terrible events of history. Most interestingly, the whole thing is presented in a very unbiased way--it's not all "oh, how horrible this was," because you get that anyway. The interesting part for me was seeing so much about it, and just looking at this very encompassing collection of media on the topic. I never really had a lot of time to see this kind of stuff, see a lot of discussion about it.

It rained a lot, so we ended up doing a lot of reading in a Starbucks that afternoon. Good times.

Then, we went back and made dinner, went to sleep. Same as last night.

The third day, it rained again. We took an (un)magical tour of the Museum of the American Indian, which was both depressing and weird. There was a ceremony held in the main hall that day, which was strange because it was just a bunch of tourists watching people in costumes who really didn't seem to take themselves seriously, although they were American Indians. I kept thinking, why did they build this museum instead of buying back more land for the Indians? Why set up a tombstone/museum for something that's trying not to die? It's not very inspiring.

The best thing about the American Indian museum was, WITHOUT A DOUBT, the black hole they had set up for the ducks. Those Indians, they know how to have a good time. Despite the blankets infected with yellow fever that Jackson knowingly used to poison and kill them while marching them on the trail of tears. That man goes on the big jerks in history list.

Later that day we went to the US Botannical Gardens, which was actually quite the bee's knees. I didn't even know we had one of those. Check out these pretty flowers (One, two, three.) I'd suggest this one, if only for the little exhibits where you can smell the raw cinnamon and watch flowers grow really quickly. It was fascinating.

Before we left on the Chinatown bus again (this time at 5 PM), we walked around and saw the capitol building, which is a pretty rockin' one indeed.

Things that don't fit anywhere else:

1. NYC subways - crowding + Elegance + 1984 architecture = DC subways.
2. NYC Chase Bank + DC = Hilarious. I didn't know the other Mr. Chase was such a jack of all trades.
   
3. This building was empty on a friday. Hah.
4. You heard the government building. I'm a metrosexual.
5. I guess even politicians have a sense of humor about what they do. I couldn't help but take a picture of this...
6. Sad statues.
7. Finally! I found it. I knew the real one was somewhere.
8. He needed the help.
9. You bet your home-made patonkas it is.
   

Music: Thriller, by Micheal Jackson. Weep for me. Also, Dare, by Gorillaz.
Mood: Yes.