Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Ninny LIVE! The eastcoast tour: Washington DC

Wonder where I've been? Wonder no more. I've been everywhere and nowhere. Still gainfully unemployed. Still wandering. Still trying to figure out america. First I drove to Utah, met up with dear friends, managed to remember where a few things were (you'd think after three years, I wouldn't forget major landmarks like the temple???) and checked on my stuff in my storage unit. Still there although there was a minor lizard scare.

DC was a stop along the way...I happily reunited with many dear dear friends and saw all that the district has to offer...Went to the LDS Temple in Maryland with my Nan and Pap. THis was a really lovely experience not only for the spiritual recharge but for the yummy Korean food we consumed beforehand. Nan killed it with her chopsticks and my Pap was taking care of some serious Jjigae. I got to speak some korean and it made me happy.
I took a tour of the Dirksen and Russell Senate buildings in DC. I hoped it would help me understand this great country of ours. The tour was led by my dear friend E, formerly of the Department of Justice. E is best known for his work with the crack whores of the south east but has in the last two years changed career track and now monitors the crack whores of the hill...He showed me the best the senate has to offer.

Sour Patch kids in brown paper bags (gov't version of the 40?) and old white guys.Here I saw Evita-esque views of Capitol Hill from the window balcony of a colleague's office and listened as E told a charming story of being unceremoniously shooed off said balcony by guards with AK47's during Obama's inauguration speech.
Let's just pause for a moment to admire the ease with which we wandered into Ted Kennedy's office and took a photograph. There. That was nice, wasn't it?

And now, some very important instruction for viewing these pictures: ignore my bad hair. There was this surprise east coast rain storm and I thought to myself, "surely, in the nation's capitol there will be a little man selling emergency umbrellas from the back of a taco truck or news stand for twice the usual price." Boy, was I mistaken. Nea'ry a taco truck or convenience store could be found. I knew I was in trouble when I saw lots and lots of stately looking people in very staid brown, black and navy outfits huddled in doorways of old buildings waiting for the rain to stop. I couldn't even find a stray newspaper to act as shield.


And so I walked in the rain and showed up at the dirksen senate building in GASP! brightly colored clothing and GASP! looking like I had just been given a swirly by John Kerry (I saw him BTW. E pointed him out to me during out SPOT THE SENATOR GAME (we saw 5!) and said, "You know who that is, don't you?" to which I answered, "uh, no." to which E said, "he ran for president." to which I replied, "heh. still don't know." at which point E decided that I didn't deserve the ride the special underground train from the senate building to the hill. I've got some work to do, America.)

1 comment:

MB said...

What the WHAT?! And you didn't stop by to see US!?!
We're in DC too! (pout) Hope you are well!