Tag Archives: Washington

It’s a show about nothing…

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After a full 24 hours of having no commitments other than showing up to work at what seems like the ridiculously late hour of 8:30, and walking around Capitol Hill for the better part of an hour and a half taking pictures, and walking to the Chinese place down the street for General Tso’s, it occurs to me that when I don’t have class (and don’t really have any reason to work OT), I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself. I think someone once referred to the concept as “free time.” I don’t really even have clue one what I want to do. Well, that’s not entirely true, but in the interests of maintaining this blog’s PG-13 rating, I’ll spare you the details.

Suffice to say that it’s taken a grand total of 24 hours for me to start going stir crazy. I just can’t quite shake the feeling that I should be doing something. I’m not sure, but I think I might have the DTs.

The heart of the empire…

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It has been years since I have flown directly into Washington. Living in Baltimore, it was always more convenient for me to use BWI. This afternoon was one of those moments that gives even the cynical and jaded bastards among us a moment of pause… following the Potomac north the City spreads out from the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials in the West (ever stopped to think that the two presidents most identified with “the west” have their memorials on the west end of the Mall?) to the dome of the Capitol in the east. It’s later afternoon and the marble of the official city of Washington is catching the last orange rays of the day’s sun. It absolutely glows. Working here for the better part of four years, you grow a little immune to the charms of this place. You never really stop to look because you’re on a mad dash to the next meeting or trying to get home before the rush hour really gets fired up.

It’s good to be back here, in this place, in the beating heart of the American empire. Of course it’s even better to know that all I have to do is walk downstairs and hail a cab in the morning and someone else will drive me to work, too.