Now that I've graduated, I am no longer spending as much non-work time in front of the computer. And my goofing off is taking other forms -- for example, I actually get to read books that don't appear on a syllabus.
Plus, I've been a bit down in the dumps for the last few weeks, and haven't felt like sharing my blues with the world.
But not blogging is cumulative -- the longer you don't do it, the harder it is to get back in the swing of things, because the more you've missed. So this post marks my effort to catch up and get back on track.
We'll begin with a list of things I've done in the last month, in occasionally almost chronological order:
- Visited DC for a quick weekend with college buddies Aaron and Jay who were in town for a wedding.
- Took cab from Union station to their hotel. Went out in the rain. Found trendy asian fusion restaurant. Ate. Went back to hotel bar. Hung out with wedding party. Drank. Returned to room. Slept.
- Woke up. Walked around DC a lot. (8 miles or so, based on my quick calculations with a tourist map.) Met up with various other folks who happened to be in town.
- Went to the World War II memorial, the Spy Museum (but didn't get in -- you need reservations! Who knew?), the Natural History museum, the new Museum of the American Indian, and various other places. Tried once again to go up the Washington Monument, but apparently after years of renovations on the inside, they have now closed it so that they can landscape the grounds.
- Met with committees at Mom's church about technology and websites.
- Back to Nashville.
- Work and stuff.
- Saw movies: I (Heart) Huckabees, Donnie Darko Director's Cut, and Primer. Is it just me, or have there been a lot of metaphysics flicks lately?
- Went home for Thanksgiving.
- Enjoyed life sans electricity for most of Thanksgiving day.
- Learned that even gas ovens are now dependent on electric power. Yearned for a simpler time.
- Explored alternatives: hooking the oven up to a car battery and cooking turkey in a trashcan were among the best options.
- Started cooking Thanksgiving dinner around 4:00 when the power came back on.
- Ate dinner at midnight.
- Played family at Monopoly. Or actually an unauthorized "Urban Remix" edition created with contact paper and a color printer by one of my brother's Urban Promise pals.
- Spent much time ordering and installing $5000 of computer equipment for my mom's office at the church. Get to do more of this at Christmas. Whee.
- Went to Washington City Museum with my dad. Unfortunately, it's closing because they ran out of money. It's in the old main Carnegie library at Mt. Vernon Square, and has cool things like a giant illuminated aerial photo of the city that you can walk around on. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to get more money.
- Went to community Christmas Tree lighting at my Mom's church. Took some photos. Would have been even better if I'd brought a tripod -- had to make do with balancing the camera on fenceposts.
- Back to Nashville. Work. The usual.
- As Tracy noticed, I went to the (night) Christmas Parade on my way home from work last week. It was pretty cool. really. Next time I'll bring gloves.
- Got a new boss. Too early to tell how that's going to turn out.
- Applied my pitiful sewing skills in an attempt to save various items of clothing. It amazes me that people actually wore clothes before the sewing maching was invented. No wonder the Roman Empire came up with the toga concept!
- Made stew, but burned it a bit because a friend called. Chicken/vegetable/matzoh ball soup. That one turned out better.
- Got new down pillows as a belated birthday present from my parents. Last night was the first time I used them, but I didn't get to savor them in the morning due to a work emergency. Gak.
- Finally got paid for the freelance photo/web design job I did in October. And got a dividend check from my insurance company for $46. Yay!
