Cynically Optimistic

Flying in the spring means you sometimes have to deal with thunderstorms. SWA Flight 713 last Friday was more exciting than most rides at the Magic Kingdom. Cups and nuts were literally flying into the aisle due to incredible turbulence. Even the flight attendant had to suspend service and grabbed a seat in my row. Still, the pilot managed to land safely and only slightly behind schedule, beginning my weekend in DC.

“Let’s ease into the weekend, try not to overdo it.”
Being in a celebratory mood, Tom and I sipped martinis while dodging raindrops, switching to beer only after a large sip of tequila. So much for easing into it. Following Helix and Titan, we scarfed down a hot dog and caught a taxi to a party. The home was beautiful – great paint colors, tasteful artwork, and dramatic centerpiece in the dining room. Turns out someone there liked it so much, they ganked the host’s candles on the way out! Not Cool!

“Search for Colecovision"
Saturday morning was spent watching clips on YouTube and playing with new tech toys. Brand new Apple products are like crack. Soon, hunger pains won out over technolust and we walked to Lauriol Plaza. The chickadees there are aggressive! If you drop a chip on the ground the tiny little birds peck it to bits and fly away with chunks. Better than pigeons or rats I suppose. After filling up, we bought party snacks and hurried home to clean up for the pre-parade party.

“See him kill his own mother with a broken lawn chair.”
Party on! George, Carl, Rich, Bob, Lou, Peter, James and company had a fun time hanging out and chatting over m&m’s and hummus. Just before throwing everyone out, Tom pops Dr. Tran into the DVD player. I love watching other people watch Dr. Tran for the first time. Plus, it never gets old to me when I re-watch it.

“Please don’t stand on the furniture”
After we heard the parade start, the pack of us stumbled downstairs to find a spot to enjoy the parade. It only took about 5 minutes before a few of us split off to watch the parade from inside Halo. Unsurprisingly, DC’s parade was noticeably more political than even New York’s. Both the crowd and parade participants were very well behaved – I didn’t see anyone get arrested.

“No Amber, not more Jameson… okay fine… Twist my arm.”
After Chinese food (in retrospect – ugh!), Tom and I met Carl and headed to Blowoff. What a night! Great crowd, great energy, great music and great video. Everything was definitely in full effect. Most of the usual suspects where there. We danced and jumped around and shouted until the wee hours of the morning, and then collapsed.

“Cornfed? Look more like Beeffed to me”
Sunday Sunday Sunday – Festival time! If you’re not there you better be dead or in jail. After another ill-advised meal (learn from my mistakes, no more bad idea burgers), Tom and I walked down to the festival. Pretty standard really – meat on a stick, commercial vendors, arts and crafts, of course politicians. Right away we bumped into a lot of friendly faces and stopped to chat and recollect on Saturday’s festivities. Later, we used our crazy ninja skills to avoid being plastered with stickers en route to the beer tent. The tent was fairly crowded, and we only stayed for a little while. Standing around in the sun drinking a Bud is so draining!

“I’m totally veto-ing waiting in that line.”
Sunday night I got pulled along on the tradition of meeting up at JR’s – with the rest of the known universe. At first insisting it was insanity to wait in line for the privilege of having vodka spilled on my shoes and smoke blown in my face, we made a lap around 17th street, running in to Jim and Don who, while waiting on their entrée, agreed with me that it’s lunacy. But the line got shorter and I caved, but we didn’t even stay there for longer than 30 minutes. Pizza rescued our stomachs, as we spent the rest of the evening watching Seinfeld and the Simpsons (which really has jumped the shark anymore – the jokes are so recycled).

Now, I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!!! Go check out the photos!