Short and Snappy
No internet at home…yet. So, I’m going to keep this short and snappy and stream of consciousness.
Loving the new job. It’s great. My new work environment is just beautiful — apart from students. It’s in an old mansion and my new office is very masterpiece theatre; it has a big brass chandelier, and a fireplace. People light fragrant scented candles. All we need are scrolls and pens with feathers at the end to play the whole thing off. My co-workers are really community-oriented; we eat lunch together, visit each other all the time, and scheme — I love it. My Assistant Director is particularly wonderful. (Another Russian Jew - first all my friends were South Asians, and now the Russian Jews. Interesting trends.) I am particularly enjoying working for a school (GW) whose graduates are so proud to have attended here. I am excited to meet political figures like Wolf Blitzer, Cokie Roberts, Colin Powell, and Mark Warner. Also, I am enjoying paying taxes less and less. I’m almost taxophobic.
My apartment is great. It’s all furnished with beautiful furniture (sans a sofa; i just purchased one on overstock.com, http://www.overstock.com/?page=proframe&prod_id=1909949 and am excited about it). My bed is so comfortable I can barely wake up in the morning. And it’s in the most central location, walking distance to everything.
I joined Netflix for the second time in my life thus far and am not using it again. I’ve been super busy. Eating too many salads and sandwiches, which is the fare here. After numerous attempts at suitable Indian, just found a Pakistani place, Mehran (which I was pointed to by a cabbie) nearby and really liked it. Other places I’ve enjoyed food-wise include: Amsterdam falafel, Coppi’s organic pizza, Gifford’s ice cream, and Lauriol Plaza (I recognize how cheesy it is and don’t care). Last week, I checked out Whole Foods and loved it. Bought canvas bags, and turkish figs, greek yogurt, cherries, cashew butter. Eating it all and loving it. Also, I’ve been taking my vitamins. I am missing my chiropractor - hard-core. But, my gym is awesome - and yoga starts very soon. Need to check out Eastern Market.
I’ve become a psycho about ironing. I never thought that would happen. I spend about 30 minutes a day ironing.
I bump into people pretty much every day; one day I bumped into 4 people in one day. I bumped into Anne Hardenbergh, Ereni Roez, Julia O’Donohue (who I also bumped into in South Beach), Mike Helfgott, the list continues… I feel like D.C. is one big college campus.
Visitor-wise - I saw a blast from the past, from Amherst, Karen Kohn (hadn’t seen her in 13 years), and Mary Brevdo and her brother Eugene, who is a great kid, came up. We saw Belle and Sebastian and I felt hella old. Tom and Merinda also passed through on their move to Seattle.
Socially, this is the land of the happy hour and the dinner party. I have no objection to this, except that I am probably drinking too much. Last night we went to a happy hour after work and I got dizzy after two citron martinis. Of note, the other day Kitty made me excellent, and I mean the best, turkey burgers ever. I am going to teach her how to make meatballs next week. Megan Newell and I attempted try #1 of butter chicken - we did it in two batches - the first ended up tasting like a West African stew; a good one. We did two key things wrong. So, I am going to re-attempt. I recognize this is a year’s long skill to develop.
I’m having a lot of fun. My expectations weren’t super duper high. And, it’s not San Francisco in a lot of ways. But, everyday is just dandy. I don’t really have a "group" out here, but I’ve been creating some ad hocs, and it’s going smoothly. My busy-ness is the reason I am not taking advantage of Netflix (that and the absence of a couch). I have seen and would like to spend more time with so many people, including Mercer and Ellen. But, I guess we have all the time in the world. Made a really good new connection - with Erica Laudano’s buddy - Jennifer.
I found this incredible independent movie theater here (at 11th and E) - heaven (student discount rate is good). In addition to seeing and liking An Inconvenient Truth, Jennifer and I saw a really life-changing movie called Islam: What the West Should Know (Which only played for 3 days in Atlanta, Chicago, and DC, apparently has FBI agents in the audience, and elicited very strong reactions in audience members). It’s definitely propaganda, but very powerful conservative propaganda; a sober "primer" on the Nation of Islam. The premise is basically that Islam is inherently violent, expansionist, deceptive, and fundamentalists are the only ones living a true Muslim existence. Some of the depictions were downright disturbing, like a machete-wielding crazy man who suggested that he planned to chop off every jew’s head that gets in his way. Scary as hell. This movie really challenged my PC-ness/relativism, in that their evidence corroborated with a lot of information I’ve heard before. I need to probe the facts a lot more before I develop a position, but I’ll admit that I am a confused cat right now. It was like Fox News, not on crack. The best counterexamples I have heard are the witch trials, the crusades, slavery, and guantanamo bay.
The humidity is not as treacherous so far as people had suggested it would be; I am considering purchasing a bike; without hills it seems feasible. But, my assistant director had her’s stolen right after purchasing it. D.C. is a far more violent town than San Francisco. People don’t smile as much either. I have met many women with large gold earrings indicating their zodiac sign, which has allowed me to "break" certain people. I heard this really disturbing story about this 27 year old dude unloading his trunk in Georgetown last week. Tried to succomb to the assailants’ advances, and his throat was slashed. The assailants included a woman and a kid; they were found eating at Wendy’s right afterwards. Horrific.
Travels: I am headed to New York City this weekend (it’s been well over 2 years since I’ve been: 2/04) - to Erica Laudano’s rooftop birthday celebration and shop (DC shopping lacks), and eat Albanian pizza. Also, headed to Kentucky for Elizabeth Cooke’s wedding in August, and back to SF for JIll and Chris’s nuptuals in September. Not sure if I’m going to freak when I go back because I love it there so much. I think I’ll realize how happy I am here when I go back there. Funny how I think my reactions are separate from my logic.
