I heart people exclamation mark

TFG that I will be going back home this weekend, which means I will be out of this city and in the middle of the country and far far far from this bullshit concrete bureaucratic place. Which is to totally say that DC is a lovely place to visit make no mistake. I hope you all get a chance to come to your nation's capital and enjoy all the free stuff and "opportunities" and whatnot. But it is also quite possible that I have let some city bitterness seep into my psyche and need a serious attitude adjustment. Thus, when I return, I hope to be competely balanced and a much nicer person, perhaps even entertaining. Wish me luck!

Bonjour!

So here are just a few of the pictures I took while in another country:

This was a loose coalition of the Willing to Protest Anything group out for a lovely Sunday stroll.



This sign says "Bonjour! Welcome to Canada! Are you afraid of technology? Fear not, friend! Drink until 5 in the morning and take a cab home! You will forget about technology! Except to take a picture out the window! You may regret it in the morning but it will have been worth it! Bonjour!"



I am only allowed to post ambiguous pictures of Canadians to maintain the mystery and allure of our friends to the north. They have arms just like us. They also know how to use them.


Best belt. Ever.

I spy...

Well.

On the orange line tonight, someone shit their pants (or produced an uncanny facsimile thereof). Nice. I changed cars at the next stop...to the car with the crying baby. It was at that point, I just turned up the Split Lip and gave up.

On the next leg of my journey, I recognized another commuter and added him to the list. He is now the Dennis Green Doppleganger and he joins Tall Asian iPod Guy and Circe Nightshade (aka "Cape Lady"). Yeah, I can see this Spot-A-Metro-Commuter becoming a regular feature here. (A variation might be Celebrity-Metro-Lookalike: I saw a Stevie Nicks on the redline yesterday. No shawl though and probably on her way to work at the Fajita Round-up. Holla, pip!)

And you wonder why I drink?

So this might be the last post before I leave for the weekend. I hardly need tell you how much I'm looking forward to this. I won't be sharing any salacious details of my Canadian exploits (sorry to disappoint my friends from the Middle East who routinely search for terms like "nippy fucky" and land on my blog). I will say, however, that said exploits will not only be salacious and libidinous, but also possibly gay. Like very very gay. And also the best. Ever.

And with that I bid you adieu!

Week wrap-up

Well. This has been one long week, I must say. We are putting together a large proposal at work and I was tasked with the job of figuring out level of effort across 6 years and translating that into multi-million dollar government contract. Hi. Say what? Um, I did not receive the memo and/or TPS report on this particular topic. I am in charge of statistics and methodology and you know, general 'making things happen'. These are things I know. Contracting? Not so much. Cost-plus/fixed-fee mumblemumblesomething or other = ? to this girl. And to top it off, I had to work with a crazy-cat lady accountant who is kind of new to the job? And who likes to talk rather than dealing with a spreadsheet at 7pm on a Friday night essentially keeping me hostage? Plus also, huh? So yeah. Long week.

Yesterday was an interesting exercise in It's A Small World Afterall. We took the dogs to the dog park here and met the only other lesbian couple in town (the old guard lesbian we met a month ago with her dog does not a couple count). That might not seem all that strange. There are lesbians in this town apparently. BUT what if I threw in that they had moved from KS a couple of years ago and miss it. What if I then threw in that one of the women used to work in the same building as I did and got her PhD there (granted, years after me, but). What if I threw in that the other one had the same name as the agent and spells it exactly the same way. What if I threw in that the one who worked in my building years ago now currently works in the building next to the agent. What if I threw in that the one with the same name works at the vet place we now take our dogs. What if I finally threw in the fact that they are big Chiefs fans and are all about watching football on Sundays. Yes! I have finally found some beer drinking buddies! Hello, Midwest Represent in action!

So today I'm chilling out. The agent is off doing some agenty thing today and tomorrow so again the house to myself. The weather has cooled off thankfully and it's been kind of rainy and just nice. We opened the windows and it's been great at night. Very cool, only in the high 70s this week so that helps my attitude. I will be able to face the city again.

This week is a short one and after last week, I must say TFG. Headed north on Thursday for a very long and very needed weekend out of here and with her...

JHC + WTF

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Mates

Obviously, the reason is sad, so I hate to say what I'm about to say b/c it's so shallow, but. Those matching black tape armbands LJ and Sue are wearing are fucking sexy. Um, I have a thing for arm/wrist band type things. Just sayin'.




Also, the Storm somehow backed their way into the playoffs despite the rollercoaster that has been their season. Shades of 2004? Let's hope..

Star-gazing

"I've studied the stars--spoken with philosophers-- and I have the gift of prophecy. I can be very valuable to you."

Time to do some star-gazing tonight. The Perseid meteor shower is happening this weekend and I'm going to be checking it out. I'm hoping there won't be too much light pollution where I'm at, but that might be asking for too much. We shall see though, yes?

In another life, I would be an astronomer. In another life, I would be a geologist. In another life, I would be a chemist. In another life, I would be a biolgist. Instead I'm a psychologist with an identity crisis and career envy! Good times!

Video playlist #1: No Man's Land

Here is something gay for you. Rather than just link you to songs, I'm going to put together a little playlist via the wonders of youtube! Now, I love jesus, but I also drink a little so hence, this post. If this floats your boat, say hey and I'll do it again in the future. If it's completely strai, say hey and we shall never speak of it again.

Now, remember that fabulous sparks mix? Here's a selection of favorites for your viewing pleasure.

1. Klaxons - Golden Skans




2. Menomena - Wet and Rusting



3. Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Dress Me Like a Clown



4. Midlake - Head Home



5. Kunek - Coma



6. Howie Beck - Sometimes




ps. This is what happens when she is off in no man's land, literally. I get all drink/music/missing

Waiting with my Aunt Rosaline

I'm so currently obsessed with this song by this band that I have snuck onto blogger from work to mention it.

We like the newness, the newness of all
That has grown in our garden soaking for so long

Whenever I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed into something more productive like Roscoe
Been born in 1891
Waiting with my Aunt Rosaline




The whole album is fantastic and to be honest, it was the only thing that kept me sane this morning with the greenline/redline/orangeline delay from hell cram packed into a steaming metro. I went into my bubble and pretended humans ceased to exist on earth, something I've also been thinking about on my train ride lately for some strange reason, hmm. I listened to a podcast with that author and read the story (want the book) and have been imagining this city crumbling and overgrown. The thought of nature and trees and grass and water just breaking down all this bullshit and reclaiming the land sounds good to me in a weirdly it's-ok-humanity-is-overrated-anyway way. Heh.

This is what a day like today and yesterday in this damn city will do to me. My own personal saving grace is that I have two trips planned in the upcoming weeks far far away from here that will restore my faith in what I love most about people and balance me the fuck back out. You have no idea how much I need these trips (well, actually, you probably do). Until then, I'm going to think about honeysuckle covering the metro fences, pulling them down, the Potomac washing away the concrete, tree roots breaking through walls and green green grass overgrown and waving in the wind.

No wonder I love people so much!

And each and every one of them was crammed up against me at some point.

ps. Tonight, someone had peed on one of the seats on the orange line, the girl sitting in front was warning people away from it. At least there's some common courtesy amongst my fellow 19.2 million.

pps. The best part of this week is the fact that it will reach 99 degrees for the next two days which means that the underground stations like Metro center will be a nice soupy mix of burnt pee smell, offal, and human sweat. Yum-my! Admit your jealousy now or lie to yourself forever.

Eastern/Western Market

Ah, well so I was going to do a little video travelogue for you wherein I took you with me to visit DC's Western Market yesterday and then to the Eastern Market today so you too could experience a bit of market business. So armed with my camera and supplies, I headed into DC yesterday on what was quite possibly the hottest day of the year (at least until this Wed when it will actually be 100). Good times walking around the city in the sun/heat. So I got off at the Dupont Circle metro stop and decided I needed a beer before the walk. Then I hiked up about 8 or 9 blocks into Adams Morgan to see for myself what this Western Market was all about. I am sad to report it was only about 5 tented booths with a few knickknacks. In other words: a bust. I said fuck it and stopped videoing for you all and stopped at a cute little place french bistro-y type place near there for mimosas. I met a fellow newly-moved-here lesbian and off we went for more drinks. While out, we met this smarmy energy lobbyist we thought was gay but he was just overly tan and dressed gay-ly. Good times. I now have a headache to show for my trip to the market. But I have now made a new wingwoman/drinking partner to go out and about with so all was not lost.

Today, the agent and I are headed to the Eastern Market which promises to be like an actual market with you know, more than 4 booths. It's an actualy stop on the Orange/Blue line so I figure they can't lie too much about it being a real market. Wish me luck though, I've been wrong before. Like yesterday for instance. Hope your Sunday is progressing nicely. Goodday! Or as they say in Sweden: Tjadå!

ETA: Well, two things. First, we didn't make it to the Eastern Market. We were derailed at Chinatown due to the agent needing to throw up. Woo! We never did figure out the cause but we didn't want to chance a further metro trip to the market and potential public barfing so we hung out a bit at Gallery Place until things were settled enough to make it back home. Doesn't that sound fun? Oh well, to be honest, I was give-or-take-it wrt checking out the market. I can't quite believe I actively chose to go into the city both weekend days when I can barely make it through the week with all those people. Go me. I've spent the rest of today napping and chilling out which is pretty much a perfect Sunday (if it were football season, then it would be perfect, which, I realize, makes me a total lesbian, fair enough).

Random interlude: And I called vivvy and the Mrs last night! Yet we conversed not about boobies! Upon review, why not?!

Second thing: I wasn't going to post the two videos I took yesterday b/c they are gay and also I didn't really follow through with that whole document-the-market thing since I gave up after the second one and started drinking (lest you think all I do is drink and purchase hookers, let me assure you that in my off time, I often work for world peace and custom knit baptismal onesies and bonnets for small woodland creatures; it's what I do). However, I would hate to think that VJJ is out there waiting and wishing and hoping to see these way-gay vids and I disappoint. So here you go:

1. Wherein I attempt to draw a comparison between ascending the Metro and a bright-light-at-the-end of the tunnel near death experience and fail lamely.




2. A stop off at my throw-down bar for a pre-market beer. And by throw-down, I mean default and by market, I mean 4-lame-craft-booths-with-macrame-and/or-pottery-(no-offense-to-the-"artists"-who-are-at-least-trying-to-get-a-market-going).