I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since I have posted. This summer is just flying by faster than I ever thought it would or wanted it to. I know I won’t be able to remember everything important that has happened since I last posted, but hopefully I can relay the more important things.
Arguably the most important holiday in DC has gone and passed and left me with red skin and a week later, blisters on one of my legs from the sun. I’m not kidding; however many days since the fourth and I am still showing signs of my stupidity in forgetting to use no sunscreen. The morning started off with a parade on Constitution Ave filled with middle and high school bands, floats, military men and lots and lots of sun. The parade probably lasted about two hours and, after thinking that the fourth in DC is comparable to New Years in Times Square, was not as busy as I thought it was going to be. Later that afternoon, we made our way down to the National Mall area to stake out our spot for the fireworks. We sat right in front, or on the side, or in the back…somewhere right under the Washington Monument. It rained on and off the entire night and there was word that the fireworks were going to be cancelled. They weren’t, and as expected, they were the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. I’ve never been a fan of fireworks; you see one show, you see them all. Nothing compares to the fireworks in DC.
Later on that weekend, we went to the Air and Space Museum. It is by far the best Smithsonian I have been to. We saw an IMAX movie about black holes narrated by Liam Neeson that was very interesting. This place is so big that we didn’t even get to see half of it. I actually want to go back in the morning when they have a live star watch with experts there to talk you through it.
This past Wednesday I got to tour the Capitol. I’ve been there before but I got lost and didn’t get to see as much as everyone else did. This time, I got to see even less. The days leading up to the field trip, my supervisor kept saying that he hoped I would get a really good tour guide. Yeah, he wasn’t that great. We waited in line forever, longer than the actual tour. Okay, so maybe not, but pretty close. We got to see the Rotunda, but couldn’t hear our tour guide because it was loud with the voices of other tourists and he wasn’t speaking into the microphone hooked up to our headphones and then moved on to the National Statuary Hall (used to be the meeting place of the House). The coolest thing about this room is that there is a plaque with John Quincy Adams’ name on it and when you stand there, you can here conversations that are taking place on the other side of the room. Our tour guide showed us how this worked, but did not tell us that the reason Adams’ name is on the plaque is that he used this to hear the conversations of people on the other side of the room. After this, we went to the Crypt, which is the last part of the tour and has displays on the history of the Capitol. That was it. I got to see so much more when I was lost the last time.
Work is going well too. I’ve been doing a lot more writing (well, rewriting mainly), but it is better than recording media clips or organizing client stories. I don’t mind doing that kind of thing, I just know I need more experience when it comes to writing. I get to write two articles on my own; I interviewed a mitigator and got client stories that I am now writing up into articles. Last Friday, I was asked by a coworker to look over a report because he thought I did a good job on the last one I did for him. That was exciting. Other than that, I did a lot of stuffing, labeling and mailing, so I did not have much time to do my own work.
This past weekend, I got to do some things that do not necessarily fall into the tourist category, things that I actually prefer to the typical sites you would find in Frommers. There is this festival going on called the Capital Fringe Festival that features a bunch of brand new, innovative theater all over the city. It goes on until the end of the month, and from what I have seen, has been one of my favorite things in the city so far. Friday night we went to Coriolanus, which is a lesser known Shakespeare play. It stayed true to the language, but updates the meaning a bit. It is about this war hero who comes home to find that his parents want him to use his war hero status to become a politician. The “Tribunes,” or speakers for the people, were turned into reporters and tried to get the public to go against Coriolanus. He then gets kicked out of Rome and ends up teaming up with his enemy. What I got from the way this cast portrayed the show was to show how easily people can be influenced into changing their views when other people are involved. Obviously, this is the very simplified meaning of the play. Probably the best part of the show was after Coriolanus left and Rome is in shambles. Someone comes out with a sign that resembles the color threats we have, with a person coming out every few seconds to change the color to the next highest terror threat. The audience died, it was so funny. The show was in this small, dingy little room with the walls painted black and a creaking platform that acted as the stage and probably only 20 chairs set up for people to sit. It was very, very intimate. So much so that you could hear all the goings on in what was called the backstage, but probably did not resemble one. Regardless, it was great to see a show like this, where the focus was on the story and what the audience was to get out of it rather than making sure the set is this huge piece of work and the costumes these elaborate works of art. Don’t get me wrong, I love those aspects of a show too, but that is not what this festival is about. It is about the art of a show rather than how much money it can make. These people do it for the love of theatre and the messages it can send out. As a writer, this is what I pay attention to more than anything else.
Saturday afternoon, we went to a musical called Diamond Dead. It is about a rock band that dies in a freak subwoofer accident only to come back as zombies. Then, there is this religious fanatic who tries to stop the band from performing during a live MTV broadcast. It was composed by the same guy who did Rocky Horror. As weird as the concept sounds, the musical was very, very good. Almost all of the actors played their instruments and they all had AMAZING voices! The lead girl could belt and had one of the best rock voices I have ever heard. The show was great, and I had the songs stuck in my head for the rest of the day. One of my favorite lyrics was during the last song: “You go to heaven for the scenery; you go to Hell for the company.”
Later that day, my roommates and I were getting on the Metro and while on the platform above the train we heard this woman scream over and over again. We ran. We wanted to know what the Hell was going on. I was hoping something big was going on; I had my hand in my bag ready to grab my camera to record whatever was going down (yes, this is the first thought I have. I’m not worried about my safety or what danger I could be running into, I want to document it). We get down there and there was this guy lying on the floor with a crowd around him. Apparently, he tripped or fainted into the space where the train comes right when it was on its way. Two men jumped down and got the guy out right as the train pulled in. I think he is fine, he probably broke some bone or something, but my train came before the medical men came. Those Metro trains are crazy fast. Depending on where you stand on the platform, you can either feel a slight breeze or it can make you sway. I was told that it is not uncommon for someone to jump in front of one. I can’t imagine how anyone would want to die in such a painful way.
The theatre-filled weekend continued as I saw Mamma Mia on Sunday at the National Theatre. Pretty much all I knew of this musical is what I have seen in the commercial for the movie and that it is all ABBA music. I spent probably more than I should have for the view, but really, when am I going to have the chance to see a Broadway show without driving a few hours or travelling to New York. I’m really glad I spent the $47 to sit in the last row of the theatre. The show wasn’t the best show I have seen, but it definitely wasn’t the worst. I was actually surprised at all the adult humor that was in it. There were numerous scenes and little pieces of choreography that were blatant sexual references. Obviously I don’t mind, it was just an unexpected surprise, especially with all the little kids there. I spent $3 on a bag of M&Ms that would probably cost less than a dollar anywhere else. The music was fun and I still have “Dancing Queen” in my head.
Today I got to tour the Pentagon. Basically we walked a mile and half around the corridors. All we got to see was hall after hall. I mean obviously there is more and we can’t see it, but our tour guides were entertaining and mainly talked about America’s history, not about the Pentagon. One crazy thing was that I actually stood where the plane flew into the Pentagon. They have a two-room memorial with green-tinted windows (in this room at least) so that if someone takes a picture of the Pentagon from the outside, it will distort the picture so you can’t tell what it is. I actually was upset because we were told that cameras were not allowed in the Pentagon so I did not bring one, but in the waiting area, people were taking a crazy amount of pictures. I wish I could have taken a picture of those tinted windows.
So yeah I think that’s all the major happenings in the past two weeks. Oh yeah, I’m blonde now.
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