Take me to the riot

Holla. So let's see, Christmas happened. And then the New Year came/went. I made a resolution to bitch less and as a result, I have nothing to left to say! Heh. Actually, things are ok, I am staying positive, all is well etc etc.

I will say, though, that I am getting a little concerned by what are in essence dire warnings from the DC peeps about THE HUGE CROWDS EXPECTED and how public transportation will be AT CRUSHING LEVELS and the city will be in virtual GRIDLOCK ROADS CLOSED TRAINS PACKED and how people should expect to STAND FOR 8 HOURS SHOULDER TO SHOULDER with other people. ps. TAINTED MILK! And so on, along those lines. Every day the papers/radio/internets around here have inauguration updates and planning tips (e.g., "Uh, yeah, you probably don't want to leave your house, sorry" - DC Metro).

ETA: For those that think I'm exaggerating about TAINTED MILK!, here is a link to download the 9 page press release entitled: 2009 Presidential Inaugural Law Enforcement and Public Safety Public Affairs Subcommittee Announces Joint Transportation Plan which details road closures and warnings about taking your babies or grandmas to the event.

Having never been in this city for such an event, I am already prepared for the worst. The good thing is that they are giving us Inaug day off, which hello, if people actually had to commute into work you might as well forget it. So my particular plan is to lay in about four days worth of provisions next Friday and hunker down. Thus, as much as I love people and being in huge crowds and jammed on trains and forced to touch strangers, I will be passing on attending any of these historic events. Sorry, you will not be receiving any Twits from me on the frontlines reporting on Sasha's pigtails or Joe B's facelift.

As an aside, yesterday, WTOP online reported on the girls' first day of school and this was an actual sentence in the news: "Sasha was carrying a pink Trans backpack by Jansport and wore a brown coat and her hair in pigtails". Now those kids are dang cute, but wha?? If this town is so giddy and in love with the Obamas, why don't they marry them? Ah, it's ok, after 8 years of hell, even a pink Jansport looks a little like heaven. It's kind of cute the way people are here, they almost seem..dare I say, happy? I have even heard laughter on the Metro of late. Actual human sounds signaling happiness. No one makes a peep on those trains usually. Yeah, it's weird. Oh well, it's a New Year and people are allowed to hope/change/be happy. I know I have signed up for that myself.

So yes, aside from work and attempting to engage in life a bit more, that's what's been going on here. Good times, good times..

Oh and one more thing, I am clearly more in touch with my feelings than normal because this video makes me want to shed a wee tear and find my own elephant:



Goodnight!

why i love this city

30 minutes to go 4 blocks = the best thing ever.

ain't too early/ain't too late

Hi from glorious Oklahoma, where it's actually not as hot as DC. A first, perhaps.

So yes, I am in the City of Oklahoma which is kinda spread out and which I have only passed through once. Seems nice enough, I certainly am not going to malign the state that bottoms my favorite one. Many years ago, my Cleveland friend and I drove down to her hometown of Tulsa for Halloween. Let us just say it was a night of mezcal and a next morning of having to pull over on the drive back so my friend could relive the worm over and over again. Not a pretty sight. So that is Oklahoma for me. This time, of course, was like 100X more business-like and stern negotiation and bad cop/good cop. (I am always the good cop in these scenarios somehow - which is weird b/c if you know me, you know what a bitch I can be when given the right circumstances/incentives).

Anyway, it's been ok, but the overriding theme has been knowing that this is the last one of these trips I need to make for this project and one more on another and then done. I really hate to keep talking about work on this thing, it seems to be the same thing over and over again like when I was Metro bitching. Bear with me, I may actually get a life when things slow down so I can start talking about things like whatever it was I used to do and enjoy. Vice? Corruption? Sex? The City? Scratch that last one, please. All skate - now reverse!

And with that, I bid you goodnight from the middle of the country where I am tantalizingly close to where I want to be. I even felt a twinge of homesickness when I had a few beers in the hotel bar and it was karaoke night and a bunch of locals in cowboy hats were singing Willy Nelson. It's come to that, yes.

Instead, I have this to look forward to when I return - the bane of my current existence!