don't call it a comeback
Jul. 24th, 2005 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burnunitSo, haven't posted in a good long while (mad summonings of engineers not withstanding). So here's some biographical stuff. Later, I'll post my hot new writing, boo yah.
Washington Monday thru Wednesday I was sent to Washington, DC for my work. We met with some folks about the Celebrate Diversity Month deal, including the proclamation we're hoping will go through the legislature, and also about some other stuff that could bore you to tears. Basically we're hoping to grow the demographic data in our online resource by huge leaps and bounds. Traveling was cool because I got to travel with the owners of the company. No bragging here, but it's sweet not to have to fill out an expense report or carry any cash for a couple days. I ate decently, stayed in a big hotel room with a/c and cable, and cabbed around DC. We did do some walking which hurt my back and we did do a bunch of work which was kinda exhausting, so I don't feel I was goldbricking it. Washington is an interesting town. It's quite small, considering. It's all so clustered around the center of power and once you know where the big dick is (guess which monument I mean), you pretty much know where everything else is. They say invasion would be hard because of the streets and the circles, and that may be, but force coordination would be a breeze with a giant phallus to guide the enemy by night and day. The flight in to National Airport is cool because you get to make this low-altitude run up the Potomac River that's kind of breathtaking. The use of stone in all things architectural is appreciated. The way commerce and power are crammed together into the swamp is kinda appreciated too. Our hotel was six blocks from the white house. Weird to think of for me. Walked down there on Tuesday night, hoping for some action after the big Supremes announcement (maybe some protests or something). It was eerie and quiet. The whole Lafayette-White House area is creepy. It's open all the time. There's a sense of safety and security. And it's quiet. St. Paul quiet. I took some pictures with a disposable camera and hopefully they won't be atrocities against film (I'm sure my photographer friends are appalled. what can I say? I can't afford to get my Nikon FE looked at and repaired, plus I'm a rank amateur anyway!). I talked briefly with Connie, the woman who's living outside the white house. She was covering up her things with a kind of plastic wrap hut for the night. She has a nervous looking dog, so I hope that she's safe. The White House is surprisingly small. I'm sure there are many narrow passageways and great complexes underground, but it looks small. I was hoping for some sign of humanity there, something to humanize Bush and the whole thing. There's not. It's a museum, a lovely marble doll's house with terrific lighting and astounding security. Outside wander us little dolls, photographing, or protesting silently, or just watching. Nothing happens for a long time. The moon rises, the heat makes our clothes cling to our bodies, the lights in the white house turn on or off. It made me ineffably sad.
OH! Two cognitive dissonances from Tuesday: next door to the white house is the Eisenhower Office Building, former home of the War Department. On it hung the flags of the US and India, since the Indian Prime Minister was in town apparently. Weird to see the flag of the nation of India, born as a modern nation state through nonviolent resistance to western colonial militarist imperialism, flying on the Eisenhower building, a successful military general and our last presidential voice against the powers of western colonial militarist imperialism. The other was this fact: at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue stands the White House. At 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue stands a really big Caribou Coffee.
I also saw the baddest looking Secret Service agent ever in this SWAT gear with all kinds of black and neoprene and a largish sidearm and a larger automatic weapon and who knows what all, but a clear "Secret Service" on the uniform. He wasn't at the White House, he was at the parking garage entrance to a condominium-looking building a couple blocks away. This was about 1145 pm, so I suppose that late at night a good number of the secret service aren't dressed in their fancy suits with earphone wires coiling down their neck, instead going for the functional obviousness of ominous black that's all business. I walked back to the Marriott and ate some ice cream.
Wednesday I attended a ceremony launching the Wow! Facts book and the announcement of the Celebrate Diversity Month proposed proclamation. Luminaries attending the event included Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and some corporate donor-types. Also present were Congresspersons Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI) and Mike Honda (D-CA) who are a pair of certified badasses and who both spoke eloquently and fiercely. I like them. Cari Dominguez from the US EEO Commission and another speaker I can't recall gave frankly-terrifying speeches (i.e., there's a LONG way to go) and the star of the hour Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton showed up. You may have heard of her. It was intriguing to see her in action. She's very casual, very relaxed. It seemed like maybe, just maybe, she didn't know what event she was at when she first walked in and stood waiting to speak. But you could see her aide brief her, hand her a program, etc. She read it, nodded a couple times, and when it was time to speak, spoke knowledgeably and comfortably, playing to the crowd and the camera with aplomb. She's a pro, and I for one wouldn't want to face her in any kind of primary. For my money (which as I've already said, wasn't an issue on this trip, take THAT poverty!) Mike Honda was the coolest. Then got on a boat and ate mediocre food and "networked" for two hours.
Wednesday was definitely marred by getting out of the cab at the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 9 am and feeling the pants of my brown suit split. It wasn't noticeable and nobody would have been looking anyway, but I spent the whole day in the company of corporate leaders and dignitaries with a torn out ass. Nice. I was able to change before the flight. Again, flying with two members of the NWA World Club definitely eased my pain. By which I mean there are free drinks in the World Club lounge. Free drinks as in just mix them yourself without the hassle of a bored or stingy bartender or any tipping. Business travel and a free bar inspires a man to build a meanly dry double martini. It was brisk yet relaxing. That was awesome. They drank wine and nibbled. Me, I sipped Beefeater with just a wafting of vermouth on ice and shamelessly devoured dry white cheddar. I followed it with a shockingly good cappucino from a machine (not like that vanilla cappucino at the convenience store) and relaxed all the way home.
Eleanor has been visiting Grandma & Grandpa Olsen all week. This is a fundamentally weird sensation. She's apparently having a great time with all the cousins (my parents bravely took in Eleanor and SIX other kids for the week!) but gosh it's strange to be childless.
Thursday I celebrated Meat Day 2: The Fishening. Lowlight: I don't deserve Meat Day this year due to my backsliding on the diet and feeling unhappy with things like the aforementioned splitting pants. Ugh. This will be my turnaround, however. Highlights: Bigeye nigiri at Origami, flounder at Sushi Tango, the homestyle cooking and pleasant conversation at Yummy, olive oil and fleur de sel ice cream at Krema. I mean, fleur de sel ice cream! It was gifts from the seven seas all day long, baby! Depressingly, Long John Silver's has changed their hush puppies recipe, making it bland and bleah (the fish planks are still good chowhound food). But I got Yummy lotus root with shrimp paste, an oyster pancake thingy and ice cream made with fleur de sel! Other highlight: Faith & Lee, our friends from Spearfish, were in town back from a year in Egypt! It was awesome to talk to them, and Lee and I chatted for almost two hours. They're so cool. I wish they'd come back to live here, but I think they want to go someplace they haven't been yet. c'est la vie. I got fleur de sel ice cream!
Friday was nice, worked, hung out, then later we went to Batman Begins again. Saturday, more bumming around. Went to Concom and I'm glad I did. Ditto the volunteer party.
Today, I had the best tasting french toast at Wilde Roast. OMG, you gotta check out Wilde Roast! And today my darling daughter returns to me! Early enough that I'll get to see her before seventeen consecutive days of rehearsals make it impossible. All in all, a good week, if stra-a-a-ange.
I read James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia this week. Ouch. Brilliant book. Exceedingly painful. Ellroy is kind of like that double martini, brisk except without the classy feeling. And maybe like somebody spit a bloody mouthful of punched-out teeth into the glass and after you're done drinking it (fast, gulping like) you're going to go beat up a hooker and scream racial slurs or something. Definitely need to switch over to Harry Potter. I've managed to avoid spoilers and my boss said I can borrow her copy, so I'm ready. No matter how bad and/or depressing The Half Blood Prince is, it can't possibly top the last 100 pages of The Black Dahlia for horror on top of horror with a side of intensity, gore, shock value and head tripping plot twists. If it does, then Harry Potter is definitely NOT for children, cuz I'm not sure Dahlia is even for adults. Good book though. Seriously.
Rehearsals are proceeding. I feel good about my lines, I'm on pace to have them frickin' nailed, I really think so. I'm ahead of my curve based on the last time I was acting in a show (a few years now) and the character resonates with me. Thac0 is going to be awesome and you should come to it at the Fringe. If you're a gamer and just the title makes you laugh out loud, you have no excuse for missing it.
We're starting to pack for next month's move and that's exciting. Tonight, we get a kitty, huzzah!
How's THAT for a marathon post?!
Washington Monday thru Wednesday I was sent to Washington, DC for my work. We met with some folks about the Celebrate Diversity Month deal, including the proclamation we're hoping will go through the legislature, and also about some other stuff that could bore you to tears. Basically we're hoping to grow the demographic data in our online resource by huge leaps and bounds. Traveling was cool because I got to travel with the owners of the company. No bragging here, but it's sweet not to have to fill out an expense report or carry any cash for a couple days. I ate decently, stayed in a big hotel room with a/c and cable, and cabbed around DC. We did do some walking which hurt my back and we did do a bunch of work which was kinda exhausting, so I don't feel I was goldbricking it. Washington is an interesting town. It's quite small, considering. It's all so clustered around the center of power and once you know where the big dick is (guess which monument I mean), you pretty much know where everything else is. They say invasion would be hard because of the streets and the circles, and that may be, but force coordination would be a breeze with a giant phallus to guide the enemy by night and day. The flight in to National Airport is cool because you get to make this low-altitude run up the Potomac River that's kind of breathtaking. The use of stone in all things architectural is appreciated. The way commerce and power are crammed together into the swamp is kinda appreciated too. Our hotel was six blocks from the white house. Weird to think of for me. Walked down there on Tuesday night, hoping for some action after the big Supremes announcement (maybe some protests or something). It was eerie and quiet. The whole Lafayette-White House area is creepy. It's open all the time. There's a sense of safety and security. And it's quiet. St. Paul quiet. I took some pictures with a disposable camera and hopefully they won't be atrocities against film (I'm sure my photographer friends are appalled. what can I say? I can't afford to get my Nikon FE looked at and repaired, plus I'm a rank amateur anyway!). I talked briefly with Connie, the woman who's living outside the white house. She was covering up her things with a kind of plastic wrap hut for the night. She has a nervous looking dog, so I hope that she's safe. The White House is surprisingly small. I'm sure there are many narrow passageways and great complexes underground, but it looks small. I was hoping for some sign of humanity there, something to humanize Bush and the whole thing. There's not. It's a museum, a lovely marble doll's house with terrific lighting and astounding security. Outside wander us little dolls, photographing, or protesting silently, or just watching. Nothing happens for a long time. The moon rises, the heat makes our clothes cling to our bodies, the lights in the white house turn on or off. It made me ineffably sad.
OH! Two cognitive dissonances from Tuesday: next door to the white house is the Eisenhower Office Building, former home of the War Department. On it hung the flags of the US and India, since the Indian Prime Minister was in town apparently. Weird to see the flag of the nation of India, born as a modern nation state through nonviolent resistance to western colonial militarist imperialism, flying on the Eisenhower building, a successful military general and our last presidential voice against the powers of western colonial militarist imperialism. The other was this fact: at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue stands the White House. At 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue stands a really big Caribou Coffee.
I also saw the baddest looking Secret Service agent ever in this SWAT gear with all kinds of black and neoprene and a largish sidearm and a larger automatic weapon and who knows what all, but a clear "Secret Service" on the uniform. He wasn't at the White House, he was at the parking garage entrance to a condominium-looking building a couple blocks away. This was about 1145 pm, so I suppose that late at night a good number of the secret service aren't dressed in their fancy suits with earphone wires coiling down their neck, instead going for the functional obviousness of ominous black that's all business. I walked back to the Marriott and ate some ice cream.
Wednesday I attended a ceremony launching the Wow! Facts book and the announcement of the Celebrate Diversity Month proposed proclamation. Luminaries attending the event included Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and some corporate donor-types. Also present were Congresspersons Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI) and Mike Honda (D-CA) who are a pair of certified badasses and who both spoke eloquently and fiercely. I like them. Cari Dominguez from the US EEO Commission and another speaker I can't recall gave frankly-terrifying speeches (i.e., there's a LONG way to go) and the star of the hour Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton showed up. You may have heard of her. It was intriguing to see her in action. She's very casual, very relaxed. It seemed like maybe, just maybe, she didn't know what event she was at when she first walked in and stood waiting to speak. But you could see her aide brief her, hand her a program, etc. She read it, nodded a couple times, and when it was time to speak, spoke knowledgeably and comfortably, playing to the crowd and the camera with aplomb. She's a pro, and I for one wouldn't want to face her in any kind of primary. For my money (which as I've already said, wasn't an issue on this trip, take THAT poverty!) Mike Honda was the coolest. Then got on a boat and ate mediocre food and "networked" for two hours.
Wednesday was definitely marred by getting out of the cab at the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 9 am and feeling the pants of my brown suit split. It wasn't noticeable and nobody would have been looking anyway, but I spent the whole day in the company of corporate leaders and dignitaries with a torn out ass. Nice. I was able to change before the flight. Again, flying with two members of the NWA World Club definitely eased my pain. By which I mean there are free drinks in the World Club lounge. Free drinks as in just mix them yourself without the hassle of a bored or stingy bartender or any tipping. Business travel and a free bar inspires a man to build a meanly dry double martini. It was brisk yet relaxing. That was awesome. They drank wine and nibbled. Me, I sipped Beefeater with just a wafting of vermouth on ice and shamelessly devoured dry white cheddar. I followed it with a shockingly good cappucino from a machine (not like that vanilla cappucino at the convenience store) and relaxed all the way home.
Eleanor has been visiting Grandma & Grandpa Olsen all week. This is a fundamentally weird sensation. She's apparently having a great time with all the cousins (my parents bravely took in Eleanor and SIX other kids for the week!) but gosh it's strange to be childless.
Thursday I celebrated Meat Day 2: The Fishening. Lowlight: I don't deserve Meat Day this year due to my backsliding on the diet and feeling unhappy with things like the aforementioned splitting pants. Ugh. This will be my turnaround, however. Highlights: Bigeye nigiri at Origami, flounder at Sushi Tango, the homestyle cooking and pleasant conversation at Yummy, olive oil and fleur de sel ice cream at Krema. I mean, fleur de sel ice cream! It was gifts from the seven seas all day long, baby! Depressingly, Long John Silver's has changed their hush puppies recipe, making it bland and bleah (the fish planks are still good chowhound food). But I got Yummy lotus root with shrimp paste, an oyster pancake thingy and ice cream made with fleur de sel! Other highlight: Faith & Lee, our friends from Spearfish, were in town back from a year in Egypt! It was awesome to talk to them, and Lee and I chatted for almost two hours. They're so cool. I wish they'd come back to live here, but I think they want to go someplace they haven't been yet. c'est la vie. I got fleur de sel ice cream!
Friday was nice, worked, hung out, then later we went to Batman Begins again. Saturday, more bumming around. Went to Concom and I'm glad I did. Ditto the volunteer party.
Today, I had the best tasting french toast at Wilde Roast. OMG, you gotta check out Wilde Roast! And today my darling daughter returns to me! Early enough that I'll get to see her before seventeen consecutive days of rehearsals make it impossible. All in all, a good week, if stra-a-a-ange.
I read James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia this week. Ouch. Brilliant book. Exceedingly painful. Ellroy is kind of like that double martini, brisk except without the classy feeling. And maybe like somebody spit a bloody mouthful of punched-out teeth into the glass and after you're done drinking it (fast, gulping like) you're going to go beat up a hooker and scream racial slurs or something. Definitely need to switch over to Harry Potter. I've managed to avoid spoilers and my boss said I can borrow her copy, so I'm ready. No matter how bad and/or depressing The Half Blood Prince is, it can't possibly top the last 100 pages of The Black Dahlia for horror on top of horror with a side of intensity, gore, shock value and head tripping plot twists. If it does, then Harry Potter is definitely NOT for children, cuz I'm not sure Dahlia is even for adults. Good book though. Seriously.
Rehearsals are proceeding. I feel good about my lines, I'm on pace to have them frickin' nailed, I really think so. I'm ahead of my curve based on the last time I was acting in a show (a few years now) and the character resonates with me. Thac0 is going to be awesome and you should come to it at the Fringe. If you're a gamer and just the title makes you laugh out loud, you have no excuse for missing it.
We're starting to pack for next month's move and that's exciting. Tonight, we get a kitty, huzzah!
How's THAT for a marathon post?!