A nice sort of weekend. I spent the last few days in and around Washington, DC. I had a few family obligations to attend to, but they were actually sort of pleasant. I wasn't even the least Chinese person there. Luckily, a few family members married white people, so out of courtesy most everybody spoke english, even the 80 year olds who came from Taiwan. And besides the whitey's there were a few chinese people there my age, second cousins or something, that couldn't speak a lick of Chinese or even understand it. So I felt all superior. Anyway, on Friday night there was a party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my great aunt's marriage. It was actually sort of touching. At the end of the dinner, they both made little speeches about how they met in DC 52 years ago, after coming to America from the same island off china and never meeting there. There was a certain When Harry Met Sally quality to it, you know, the little scenes in the movie with the couples telling how they met. It was sort of sweet. Old people and life-long devotion, that sort of thing. Tugs at the ol heart strings.
So anyway, after i left there, I drove back down to Dupont Cirlce and met Matt at someplace called the Townhouse Tavern, I believe. He was out with this girl jessica, whom he knew from earlier in the spring, i think. She's actually from near my neck of the woods in PA. Actually the town she's from is the last place I saw Lightning Mike Quackenbush wrestle, more than a year ago. Anyway, I thought she was a cute girl, sort of pixie-ish. Seemed nice enough. We stayed there for about an hour, as Matt explained his latest scheme. His plan, which I won't bother to explain, was actually his most grounded idea yet. Much better than his hexagonal supermarket idea. I've got to post that at some point, by the way.
So on saturday, I slept till about 2pm. Then matt and I went to the Circle and got some grub and shot the shit. it's good to get his perspective on things. His suggestions and opinions are always well reasoned and logical, though the "reason" and "logic" are of course all relative to our often fucked-up way of thinking. But within that framework, he makes some really good points. So then I had to get ready for my grandmother's 88th Birthday party. It was all the way in Germantown, MD, about 30 miles away. the party itself wasn't bad. Lots of good food, and it's sort of nice to see my cousins. I hadn't seen most of them since I lived in DC a year and a half ago. Actually, I don't think i've seen any of them. I forgot that they knew about my journal. On friday, their first question after "How are you?" and "How's New York?" was "So what ever happened with Rodzilla?" It sort of shocked me that they actually said the word "rodzilla." I don't think they even know her name. It was all sort of embarrassing, especially when they were trying to figure out what i called myself in the journal. Anyway, i like that people read it, but I hate when people talk to me in person about it. It's all weird and uncomfortable, because I write a lot of things I would never say.I'm sort of watching Boys Don't Cry on tv right now. One of the girls I work with at the Parks job is in the movie. It's sort of weird to see her on TV.
So anyway, after my grandmother's party, I headed back to DC to drop off my car and meet Matt in Adam's Morgan. I was also scheduled to meet Jen from On My Turf as well, and I was wondering if she'd be there or not. So as I walked in to the Toledo Lounge, I saw Jen's friend Heather out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't 100% sure it was her though, so i just kind of ignored her and gave the guy at the door my ID. But about 2 seconds later, i heard "Greg?" and sure enough it was Jen, with her new short and dyed blond hair. So I said hello to her and her friends Betsy and Heather and talked with them for about 14 seconds before spotting matt and his ladyfriend further in the bar. So I talked with Matt and Dale for a while about nothing in particular, then Jen came over and chatted. Matt and Dale left to go see some friends they left at another bar, so I stayed and sat down with Jen. It ended up being a fun evening. I enjoyed talking with Jen and her friends immensely. While Matt was gone, I put a number of drinks on his tab, so it was almost like he was there the whole time. It was sort of weird to hear Jen tell her account of my life to her friends, having never directly told her a lot of it. She was pretty accurate with almost all the info though. She told Matt about some lame comment I made the last time we met up, about her hair. That made me feel like sort of a doofus. But I was much more comfortable this time. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe I'm growing up. I do feel slightly less socially awkward lately. though there were a few people at the birthday party who insisted on making small talk, which still makes me really uncomfortable. Anyway, i did get the feeling that Jen wasn't all too impressed with my boy Matt. I thought he was acting a bit strange myself, in a way I'd never seen him act before. But all in all, a very pleasant encounter. She's a sassy dame.
So then matt and i went home and got all fucked up. There was a sort of cheesy On the Road quality about it, I thought at the time. It always seems sort of cheesy to say things like that, in that same I-am-Holden-Caulfied kind of way, but that's what I was thinking at the time. There are a lot of scenes in On the Road where they're just fucked up and wrapped up in conversation, and that's all they're doing, and it's great. So, right at the moment we were doing that, i got a little flash of literary insight, which made me appreciate the moment and the book just a touch more.
Going out last night in DC really made me see a lot of New York/DC differences. DC has such a different vibe to it, especially in Adam's Morgan. The main difference that I felt was that everyone in DC thinks they're so fucking cool, while everyone in New York knows they're so fucking cool. I'm not saying new york people are cool, but I think they're much more confident in their delusions, and therefore don't try as hard. There were some pretty horrible people in the Toledo Lounge. While I was waiting for the bathroom, I was witness to the surreal sight of a rather large bespeckled man, decked out in a kilt, ranting on and on about the American electoral process. Heather I think heard him too, but she seemed to be mostly ignoring it. But he had the knee socks and everything. But the bar was full of looneys and losers. Jen seemed to pay a lot of attention to what people were wearing, and if it suited them or not. "If I had that ass, I would not be wearing those jeans," was basically a good part of the conversation. But i can appreciate that sort of critical commentary, just for the sake of making fun of people. She doesn't sound how I made her sound, by the way. I feel like the one quote i've remembered makes her sound like Chandler form Friends. Maybe not. whatever.
So, continuing... Today Matt and I went for brunch. I was sort of in a pancake mood, so we walked down 17th st. looking for a suitable place. We walked into some place where a man dressed as a women was sitting at the bar smoking, and looked at us and asked "two?" The place was empty, and looked much more like a club than a suitable place for brunch. Though the menu we perused actually looked okay. But the loud disco and flashing lights and floor and various transvestites wasn't what I was looking for on a sunday morning. So instead, we went to this gay coffee house. I say "gay" because when we headed over matt said "ok, there's one more place, but it's kind of gay." And in reality, it was really, really gay. But that's cool. Whatever, man. Who can turn down $5 all you can eat pancakes? Not me. So we sat at the bar and ate pancakes and bacon and drank coffee from beer mugs and stared at guy's asses and winked and giggled. Only part of that is true. But anyway, it was fine. Hey, here's a picture of Matt outside the joint we ate brunch:
Matt, outside the gay pancake house.By the way, I think it's sort of weird that both Matt and I live in neighborhoods known for their large gay population.
So after that, we hung out in Dupont Circle for a while, for the specific purpose of me taking pictures. So here are the pictures we ended up taking:
Me, at the fountain in Dupont Cirlce. Matt gets a big kick out of the fact that it's dedicated to a Rear Admiral. It's the word "Rear." He's weird.
I only put this here because I like what the water is doing behind me.
Matt, talking on his phone with Jen.So, after that, Matt had a hankering to throw the frisbee, since it was such a nice sunny day. So we hopped in the Coug and set off for the Mall. We chucked the bee around for a little while. there were all sorts of seagulls flying around, and I almost hit a few. Then these little southern kids showed up. They couldn't have been more than 10 or 12 years old, but they were sort of acting like little bastards. They were throwing rocks at the seagulls, and I was kind of pissed off, but I thought that there was probably a time when I thought it'd be really cool to hit a seagull with a rock. Like, oh, a few weeks ago. And I have fond memories of being in Stone Harbor, NJ, and throwing bread to the seagulls, and every so often throwing an old cigarette butt that I found on the beach, and wathing a seagull catch it perfectlt in its mouth and make it look like it was smoking. I got a huge kick out of that. Anyway, then the little boys started to try to intercept the frisbee as it flew between me and matt. Just listening to them talk in their Georgian accent really started to piss me off. But then i actually started to warm up to them. It was really Matt's doing, I have to admit. He was much friendlier and less annoyed than I was. So he asked them if they wanted to play Ultimate frisbee, and we go a little game going. they didn't know how to play, but it's not exactly a complicated game. And they really got into it. I was shamefully winded after about5 minutes, but it was a pretty close game. For the record, my team lost 7-5. But we had three people, while matt had 4. So there. But it's nice to do these kinds of things. I like to think we made their day. And their parents seemed appreciative. I curse too much, by the way. I really had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming "Fuck!" and "shit!" at every bad play. Don't want to be a bad influence, you know.
All in all, a good weekend. The drive gave me lots of time to do a lot of thinking. Fortunately, I squandered most of that thinking time singing along mindlessly to the cds in my car. I really don't want to think about anything right now. So instead, why don't we look at some more pictures?
Me, on the Capitol Mall, all tuckered out from unscheduled physical exertion.
Me, still on the Mall.
Matt, driving around in the Coug.
That's all. Oh yeah, something I always think of now when I think about Veteran's Day, which was saturday. It's from a Kurt Vonnegut book. I think it's Breakfast of Champions, but they're all starting to blur togther. Basically, the line goes "Armistice Day has become Veteran's Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veteran's day is not." Or something like that. I don't know why that line sticks out to me, but it does. I suppose it has something to do with the watering down of a holiday from something specific to an all-encompasing day. So I can see his point. Anyway, too many goddam words today.