Thoughts

I often think about this blog and feel guilty for abandoning it. One should always finish what one starts!
The place where I work has expressly forbidden its employees to blog about the office, so that takes away a great topic of conversation. And somehow writing about going to Marshalls just isn't exciting. I did, however, finally get to Sticky Fingers Bakery. Their carrot cake cupcake was DELICIOUS and I couldn't tell that it was vegan at all.
I spent a lot of time outside today. I walked to the bakery and back (2-3 miles), ran to DuPont Circle this morning because I was terribly late to proctor tests, walked to the circle again this evening.
I've been reading "Appointment in Samara" by John O'Hara. Its setting is similar to the early novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. (My favorite author, with Edith Wharton and Margaret Atwood.)
Last night I watched "Revolutionary Road" which is a quietly devastating film. I had sympathy for Leonardo DiCaprio's character - a boy trying to figure out how to be a man/husband and father. Kate Winslet's character, April, the wife of Frank Wheeler, was less sympathetic. She really was a drama queen and pushing her husband to be whom she wanted  to be herself. It was all rather odd. And deeply sad. I like the Mad Men look of the film, though.
Tonight I also talked to a former lover, which was nice and melancholic at the same time. We've been through so much together - put each other through so much! - and now we are like combat buddies. Time and distance has cleared away the relationship debris (what a furious storm it was at times) and I can look back with calm and some nostalgia. I was so happy when he would let me be.
Enough about all that! What an odd place for my mind to go at this late hour. I must be very tired.

Since I'm not going to be dramatic in person...

Why doesn't he wear a wedding ring? Why did he not tell me he is married until I asked a month after we met? Why did he do all those exceptional things for me? It doesn't make any sense. Why did he talk about how much he loves his wife and children the whole time? agh!!!!!!!!

A New Vegan?

So I was reading "Skinny Bitch" which I finally broke down and paid for (discount through Amazon of course! So much for supporting local Kramerbooks). And it details the meat and poultry industry in a way that turns your stomach. Reading the history of the dairy movement and how it's really not designed for human bodies, and thus we have trouble digesting it, brought back the words of my dermatologist who suggested that I might have a dairy allergy. Last December I had tried to replace milk with soy milk on my morning cereal but found that I'd rather have rosacea than do that.
Finally, this morning I managed to break out of my denial and lethargy, went to Whole Foods, bought a different brand of soy milk. Had it on my granola, didn't taste super good but it was also warm and I'm used to cold milk. Anyway, I'm going to have to cut out cheese (which apparently is designed to make us crave it like little crack addicts), and eggs.
To this Herculean task I raise a glass. I told myself that if I can eat dairy free for a week then I will reward myself with Bloom lip gloss ($20) which I love love love.
As luck would have it, I found a store that carries Bloom on my walk this afternoon. I've run across only one other store that carries it, in Chicago, and they stopped a year ago. It seems to be fate!
Alright, I will keep you apprised of my challenges and success.
On another note, I think about boys too much.
I had the idea today, what if I had not called and pursued the young man who became my boyfriend my freshman year of college? Would my college life have been easier?
Enough for tonight.

Cry me a river, bankers.

Hey folks,
I've been so caught up in the whirlwind of Washington DC that I have ignored my blog. Unfortunately for me, we are absolutely forbidden to blog at work (above all other things that we could do on the internet) so I have to wait until I come home. By then I'm either tipsy or exhausted and it doesn't happen. Fortunately, I just had to get rid of my cable because I couldn't afford it, so I will have more free time on my hands. When I was paying an exorbitant amount for cable I felt that I ought to be watching it all the time.
Lots of bankers from JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Smith Barney called the office today crying aobut the possible loss of their bonuses if the Senate approves S. 651 (HR. 1586). "It will ruin my life!" one man wailed. I told him that losing a loved one would ruin his life, but losing his bonus would merely alter it significantly. He agreed.
So many of the people were whining as if their bubble of privilege had never been pricked. It was amusing, and hard to grasp. One person couldn't understand why my boss would vote for the tax on bonuses and he was a political science major. It was utterly bizarre.
Okay I'm exhausted. That's all for now. Must pick out an outfit for tomorrow and floss my teeth. In that order.

PS - I added the picture of the flowers because I love orchids. There was a room dedicated to them at the National Botanic Gardens.

RIP Paul

From left to right: Leon, Hugh, Dwight, Donna, Coloma and Paul Glenn. c. 1918


Paul Stanley Glenn died this morning at 5:35 a.m. He was 95 years old - so he had as long a life as anyone can ask for. He was in a lot of pain, though and it sounds like death did not come easily.
I will miss him. I will miss his link to the past - he is the last of the generation that saw two world wars, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the decimation of hegemonic white patriarchy. Apparently, he was rather cantankerous and gave his wife a hard time. I remember him as a jeweler (and I loved jewelry!), an old man with a big heart for his grand-nieces, and a gardener/apiarist.
I just feel so sad. I wish I could go to the funeral. He and my grandma were close and whenever I visited her (which I did at least once a year) we would usually visit Paul and Margaret in their home in Golden, CO. He is another lost link to my grandmother. sigh.
The funeral will be next Saturday. I send my love out into the universe, hopefully it will reach him somewhere. Hopefully he is near my grandmother now.

Inauguration Notes, or "Defrost me, please"

I was one of the 2 million people at our nation's Capitol today to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama. It was thrilling, freezing, crowded, exciting, and uncomfortable. I could go on and on about my discomfort - waiting 2 hours in line, freezing despite multiple layers and boots, frightening, pushing crowds, fearsome toilets (unused by me), and the overwhelming feeling of - whoa I think I just saw my hat on the replay on C-SPAN! Anyway, this day was not about me, so I'll move on to something else.

I thought the ceremony was great because it was simple, short but not too short, with poetry and music incorporated, and prayer. While more faith-inclusive prayers would have been nice (maybe a reading by a Rabbi?) I thought the words were humbling and guiding. While the mild boos of the crowd indicated the controversy surrounding the choice of Rev. Rick Warren, of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., to give the convocation, I judge his words not his character.

The performance by Itzhak Perlman (Violin), Yo-Yo Ma (Cello), Gabriela Montero (Piano), Anthony McGill (Clarinet) was incredible! So beautiful and appropriate for the occasion. I think Christina Aguilera could have done a better job of singing "My Country Tis of Thee" but Aretha Franklin has the legacy if not the voice anymore. The poem read and written by Elizabeth Alexander was not as good as Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" read at JFK's inaugural, but I did like these lines:
Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

Beautiful, simple and true. I do think most poets lack the performance skills to be the best readers of their poetry.

The benediction by Rev. Joseph Lowry was really hard to hear, but he is 87. I had a really moving encounter on my walk home. As I was waiting to cross 14th street, I chatted with an elderly man with a walker. I noticed that he wore a cap that said "Tuskegee Airman" and I felt the significance of the moment for him, and for history. He symbolized the change in America - from a time when the armed forces were segregated (how is that possible?) to the realization of the dream of racial equality. I couldn't understand much of what he said because he didn't have teeth, but I saw him smile and talk about the cold. Good Lord, a ninety-year-old man braving the cold, alone, to witness the parade or the inauguration. It speaks volumes. That was a moment of grace for me - when I could see outside my pain and discomfort and witness the truth unadulterated by tv cameras and pat phrases. If I hadn't had to walk home because of the insanely crowded metro, then I wouldn't have met him. We slowly crossed the street together and then wished each other adieu.

I'm really jealous that I can't go to an inaugural ball.

I was so cold that I may have nodded off during Obama's address.

It was really cool that Justice John Paul Stevens administered the oath of office to Vice-President Biden. He is my hero. If I were being inducted I would want JPS to do it.

Who else thinks that Beau Biden is hot? Me too.

ps - for those not in the know, the Tuskegee Airmen were a segregated unit of 1,000 African-American pilots and crew trained to fight in World War II. All 330 airmen were invited to the inauguration by Senator Dianne Feinstein. (Rock on, Dianne!) I salute the Tuskegee Airmen and all the members of the armed services, living and dead, who fought for our country.