The Week in Review: Mall, Bethesda and Sqashy Disasters

Last weekend, Rowan asked me to go work clothes shopping. Since Miriam had helped me so much, I figured I would pay it forward. Plus, we had a lot of fun.
Not everything fit. Rowan had the opposite problem with pants--or at least she did until she discovered that "ankle" meant they were short.
She came away with a lovely pair of pants, and then we started searching for something to eat. I couldn't resist taking a picture with this smoothie and yogurt stand. (Sorry, pregnant woman. The other 2 shots had someone with their hand down their pants, so this was the best bet)

Tyson's Corners is a huge mall, with all sorts of odd specialty shops. They even had a Lego store, which sold Legos by the scoop as well as in sets.
After dinner at a diner across the street (and a very attentive waiter) we drove into DC, following the instructions of my GPS. This was a poor choice, as we ended up with a full tour of the district, even managing to drive through Dupont Circle. I am still figuring out how to be smarter than my GPS.

Rowan's house was having a cocktail party, and we were only a little late for it. Emily (far right) was in town, and we spent lots of time laughing over Smith things and catching up. She was a regular at the Kosher K, and we have several mutual friends. I was so glad to get a chance to chat with her. From the left is me, Rowan, Kelsey and Emily.
Sunday, October 25: This was my first unscheduled healthy day in ages. I started it with a tzatziki-feta cheese omelet, which came out quite prettily.
Then I had a slow, lovely walk into Bethesda. The trees are changing here, and many have a mixture of all 3 colors on the same tree. This tree is right next to my apartment building.
There are also these short trees with smooth-edged leaves that are very red right now. It was pleasant out as I walked. It felt good to be quiet inside (although I was queasy from the eggs).
I wanted to capture a common sight in Bethesda: this pizza shop closed. It is still in business, but I rarely see it open.
As I walked past the Burger Joint square, I was struck by all the different sources of red in this scene: the umbrella, the 2 trees, the woman's hair. Surprisingly, she did not even notice when I took about 10 pictures of her.
I passed The Blue House, which has awesome home furnishings. I love these pillows. If I had a white couch (which I should never buy), I would decorate it with brightly colored pillows.
After a lap around downtown Bethesda, and some time sitting in the sun by the empty fountain, I settled in at Quartermaine for a latte and some letter-writing. They serve coffee in real mugs if you ask for it, and that made me feel extremely cozy. I sat at the counter and rocked out to '90s hits like "Don't go chasin' waterfalls," and reminisced about these songs with the male barista who was probably about 5 years older than me. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Once home, I decided to cook up some dinner: spaghetti squash with putanesca sauce (from Trader Joe's), mushrooms, zucchini and veggie crumbles. As I cut into the squash, it did not feel as impenetrably hard as usual. Then, without warning, it crumbled under my knife and oozed all over the counter.
Turned out to be fermented on the inside. And do you know how gross it is to sponge fermented squash juice off of the counter, floor, and cabinets? I just had sauce, veggie crumbles, and vegetables for dinner. In only a day, the fermented smell was gone from my kitchen.

Monday, October 26. I know the date of Monday very well because I told it to about 400 people. I spent the afternoon and evening involved in a public health event. It went quite smoothly, and everyone was quite polite. My gaff of the evening was asking a man to answer an uncompleted question on the Spanish language health screening sheet. After he started laughing and making belly-growing gestures, I realized that the question read, "are you pregnant or nursing?"

Tuesday, October 27. At work I spent some time at one of our clinics, answering phone calls about flu. It was overall a positive experience and gave me the chance to get to know some of the ladies at that clinic a bit better. After work I went grocery shopping. Finally, there are brussel sprouts at Giant. And they look so cheery!
Wednesday, October 28: Today when I arrived at work, J had decorated my desk for my birthday! There was a "Happy Birthday" sign, confetti, a card, and a candy jar with m&m's. Made me smile. I thought everyone was mistaken as to the date of my birthday (it's tomorrow), but turns out they all know it's tomorrow, but decided to celebrate early. Fine by me! The whole group took me out to lunch at a Thai restaurant. There were 8 of us total, and there was much joking and laughing, especially on the walk to and from the restaurant. Much of the morning was spent moving office furniture around and rearranging the space in the offices to get ready for our grand total of 7 people, the last of which will arrive on Monday. I work with some really great people.

Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I am headed to Northampton for the weekend. My plans include Herrells, Osaka, naps on Haven couch, shopping in NoHo, time with Smith friends, and surprise anniversary celebration (2 years!). Basically, I am going to eat and hug people. Very much looking forward to the weekend.

Sick Day Amusements and Back to Work

On Tuesday, I started to get a little bored at home. I spent some time wrapping the canned wombat up in a sheet, trying to achieve different fashion styles. Mostly, he looked like a nun.
I had 2 squash on my counter: a delicata and a spaghetti squash. Squash and Squash-on-South-Beach.
On Wednesday I finally returned to work, glad to be back after what felt like a long time (despite the fact that I had worked on Saturday and had only been out Monday and Tuesday). The day mostly consisted of responding to the 14 voicemails that accumulated during my absence.

Today, I was out and about in the community a bit. I got to see the PW County schools admin building, which is new and gorgeous. I love the open architecture. The downside, I suppose, is the fishbowl effect of the glass internal windows. It reminds me of the campus center.
The admin building is right near the landfill, where I spoke a few weeks ago. The hills pictured here are the landfill; hardly the garbage heap of our imaginations. It's actually quite a complex structure with a great view.
The leaves are turning here a bit. I do not see the same colors as in New England, but there are splashes of a red orange here and there.

I also saw a rainbow as I pulled into the office parking lot this morning. The drive in the mornings has been pretty since it stopped raining.

Super Q Mart

Today in Virginia, I needed to pick up a few cans of chickpeas. I pulled into what I thought was another Walmart spin-off. It turned out to be Super Q Mart, which is an international foods extravaganza.
They had all manner of root vegetable--round, oblong and lumpy, hairy, knobby, purple, etc.
And 3 kinds of coconuts!
This store does not specialize in one ethnicity of food; but rather, has a bit from everywhere--ranging from falafel mix to 30 different soy sauces; from an assortment of queso fresco to pure cow ghee. I was in pure heaven and resolved to return when I had more time.

Im, this photo is for you. My parents probably still have some of these cans in their pantry. I remember you unloading them from your suitcase in our bedroom, plucking from among the dental supplies and spilled bottle of fish sauce.
I'm not exactly sure what this is, but it reminded me of Telephone Agar Agar, or those lychee gel desserts. However, if you look closely, it appears to be a product of a Spanish-speaking place.

This place was really awesome, although I don't think I'd buy anything from the meat or fish section. At least they didn't have those half-alive eels like at Super 88 in Boston.

I'm home sick again. I went to the doctor, and it's some sort of sinus headache. The people in the apartment upstairs sound like they are coming through the ceiling onto my head, with their boxspring, at any minute. It literally sounds like they are throwing the box spring against the wall. Not in a sex way, just in a javelin-substitution way. So much for my relaxing bed-rest.

In other news, the card-swiper-face has become a cyclops. And I officially have watched too many movies. I feel like the Berenstein Bears and Too Much TV. Really ready to go back to work tomorrow, even if things are busy there. I also am ready to wear real clothes again. I am getting tired of pajamas and tomorrow promises good weather.

Las Placitas, Sick Days, and a Canned Wombat

Friday, October 16: I met my friend Martha at the Eastern Market metro for a trip down memory lane. Las Placitas, a Salvadorean restaurant on 8th St, was a staple in my family when we lived on the Hill in 1999-2000. At the time, it was a hole-in-the-wall on a sketchy street, where we made sure to walk on the side of the street near the fire station, just for security. Now 8th street is quite happening, with a few clubs, some shops, and some trendy restaurants. Las Placitas is still there, slightly nicer, but still serving the same solid food. I had plantanos, which were just as I remembered them.
The sauce on Martha's fajitas was just as I remembered it, and my seafood chimichanga was just what I wanted. Martha and I went to high school and temple together, but became friends at Camp Sisol. Martha was one of the most enthusiastic participants in all of my Jewish kids' music. I was happy to find out last year that we were both in DC.
Saturday, October 17: I know this date very well, I wrote it about 300 times on various forms. I spent Saturday working a big public health effort. It was quite successful, and ran very smoothly. A great combination of human factors and public health, 2 things that really fire me up. Much positive interaction with the public and excellent teamwork among our staff.

Sunday, October 18: Saturday night I started not feeling well--headachy and very tired. So I stayed in on Sunday, napping, watching movies and reading. I did make a brief foray to the library and Chinese restaurant, for movies and dumplings (respectively). On my way back into the parking lot of my apartment, I noticed an addition to the security card swipe:
I swear, it didn't have eyeballs on Saturday. I laughed out loud. With the card in the slot, it looks like a tongue.

Monday, October 19: I was still not feeing hot this morning, so I stayed home from work and went back to sleep until almost 11. Then, over breakfast, I opened a present my dad brought back from Australia.
How does one open a canned wombat, one many ask? With a can opener, of course.
The difference between canned wombat and canned tomatoes: tomatoes don't look back at you.
The wombat was a little can-shaped as he emerged.
Surveying his new surroundings and stretching. Being canned takes its toll on your muscles.
Free at last!
And right where he belongs, in a canned-wombat snuggle.

Thanks, Dad!

Photos from Im's Visit

Im emailed me pictures from the weekend, so here they are. I have just turned the heat on in my apartment. It's cold and rainy. The pond by w--oh no! That was my fire alarm going off (just in my apartment), apparently set off by the heat. I fanned it into submission and turned off the heat. And put on a sweatshirt. Don't worry, Mom, I also called Chea.

Onto the photos:
On the metro on the way to see Cleve Jones.

Pho with Joey, Thomas, and Jake (Kim's' guy friends). Jake was eating the remainder of everyone's pho.

At Rock Bottom, Im and Su pour over the menu.

The evening was highly pleasant, and also highly funny. Su and Helene.

Su and Julia thought this was just a nice photo. Im thought otherwise.

Someone ordered an ice cream sundae, and 5 girls devoured it promptly.

Back at my apartment, hunkered down for the night.

Brunch the next day at Nest. We got to eat outside. Most of the Smithies we ran into were also wearing Celebration shirts. Again, I thought this was a nice photo, and Im had other ideas. :)

My fritatta.

The march went past the white house. I was surprised how close they let us. The sign on the right of the White House says, "Hetero is not Beter-O"

The interracial marriage sign I mentioned.

Julia was very enthusiastic about keeping the chanting and cheering going.
Su, Helene, Kim and Julia marching. You can tell that we had plenty of space to move around once the march got going.

Kim and Im at the rally. We found a nice spot in the shade and collapsed in a heap.

Still waiting for the picture with Girlyman. I have really been enjoying listening to their new CD. A thing I like about them is that not all of their songs have the same musical style. There is bluegrass (Girlygrass), straight up folk, a song that sounds like the Andrews sisters, and a pop-y boy band ode to Obama. These guys really rock.

Girlyman

This post describes the Girlyman concert in great detail. If you have no interest in this group, I would recommend skipping it and just reading about the March in the post below.

As if the march was not enough, Sunday also brought a Girlyman concert. I cannot even describe how much I love Girlyman. From the moment they came on stage to the moment they left, I was grinning a big stupid grin. The concert was extremely high-energy. They played many of my Joyful Sign favorites: Hold it all at Bay, Through to Sunrise, and Joyful Sign, and I started bouncing at each intro. I love Doris more each time I see her. Her voice is so strong and she really gets the sentiment of the song out there. Got to hear her do "Storms were Mine" and "Say Goodbye," as well as several tracks from the new album. I liked the new songs more the second time I heard them (this concert), and bought the new CD.

As always, Girlyman gave a great all-around show, in between as well as during songs. There was a tuning song about Nate "believing in inequality," and a dead-pan sarcastic riff about the pains they take to avoid recycling, including saving those 6-pack holders to toss at seagulls. Swine flu came up as well, with me wildly cheering. They suggested that each type of flu should have an animal associated with it--they gave the examples of goat flu and the exotic koala flu (if you had traveled to a far-off country). This was joke. There are no such flus.

The funniest part of the evening came when an audience member thrust a note at Nate. After he read us dinner specials off the back side of the note, he started fiddling with his pants as he read us the front: "Nate, your fly is down." "You a**-holes!" he admonished Doris and Ty, "My fly's been down for half the show and you didn't tell me!" Doris admitted that they usually check flies before their shows, but had forgotten. Nate asserted that it was all her and Ty's fault. "No," corrected Doris, "we check our own flies, not yours." There was much hilarity all around, and a tuning song about the fly with some back-up singing. Nate then proceeded to check his pants between each song.

The opening band was excellent as well: Po' Girl, a zydeco-ish group from Canada with such varied instruments as a clarinet, several guitars built by their own guitarist, an accordian, a washtub, a glockenspiel, and an enthusiastic drummer with headmotions like Animal in the muppet band. They were much fun to watch. The women were very physical with their instruments (they played all of the funky instruments).

We had quite a merry crowd there: Rowan, Kelsey, myself, my concert buddy Allie, G (a friend of sbolts), and 2 other Smith alums. I got there early and saved us awesome seats, which really enhanced the experience. We made friends with our neighbor and her mom, who were basically sitting among us, and ate dinner while chatting excitedly and waiting. Despite our exhaustion from the march, the evening left us all deeply content. A picture should follow in several days of a bunch of us with Girlyman. We got our CD's signed, which was kind of embarrassing. I don't really like meeting people I admire, because I never know what to say. But they were quite gracious, and just as cute up close.

Equality March: The Weekend Continued

I wasn't sure what to expect at the Equality March. I've never marched politically before. These pictures were taken by Celeste Lavin and Alex Guyton. From the metro, people streamed towards the meeting place in every imaginable t-shirt and rainbow bits of clothing. As we waited for members of our party to pee in Starbucks, I got more and more excited, as Kim cooly surveyed the surroundings. She does not tend towards bouncing up and down the same way I do.

There were so many people marching! It took a while to get moving, and for a while we were a giant pack. But after a bit the streets widened, and there was plenty of room to move about while marching. This space also allowed us to vary our pace, which brought us into contact with many different groups of people. We saw a group from West Virginia, one from Kentucky, a bunch of drag queens, and Dan Choi, an army Lt. who was just discharged from the military for publicly coming out. He was there with his partner and people cheered every time they saw him.
There were many, many homemade signs that made us clap or laugh. A sampling is pictured below.




This one says, "Jesus had 2 dads and he turned out fine," and was one of my favorites.
A sign that made everyone cheer and tear up was held by an interracial couple: "Our marriage was illegal too."


The cheering was one of the best parts. Different groups led cheers at different times, and Julia of our group led several as well. Cheering and chanting made the 2.3 mile walk move quickly, and boosted the energy. It gave me goosebumps to think of all of us, there together, with similar goals.
Some cheers:
"What do we want?" "Equality!" "When do we want it?" "Now!"

I said, Hey, ho
That homophobia's got to go (this had a great rhythm)

"Show me what democracy looks like!"
"This is what democracy looks like!"

Gay, straight, black, white
We deserve equal rights

Out of the closet and into the streets!

Obama, Obama,
Let Mama Marry Mama (I didn't hear this, but others did)

I'm really glad I went. We had good weather, and even got a little sunburned. I was happy to see many women, people of color, and people of diverse ages. Many allies as well as gay people. I think it was a successful turn out.