Anti-Tsunami

The other day I had the most surreal experience. Helicopters are always flying around the District. On Thursday morning at 4:30 am, I was awaken by the sound of a chopper hovering right above my apartment. The Vietnam-reminiscent sound did not subside; for 45 minutes this machine, with its high-beam search lights glaring in my window, made regimented rotations above my flat. I fully got out of bed — not sure if I was dreaming at first — and checked the Internet to see if there was something major going on and couldn’t fall asleep again until after 6. I have no idea.

Part of why the helicopter experience was so off-putting is because the noise woke me up from a horrific dream. Here goes: A friend took me outside, and randomly put a lethal sci-fi-like laser gun in my hand. He had another laser gun and shot a guy, and killed him. He told me he was going to run away to Mexico and dispose of the gun. He offered for me to go with him. I declined and ran inside, with my laser gun in hand, and didn’t know what to do. First, I hid it between the mattress and boxspring. Then, as I heard the sirens in the distance, I decided I was going to tell them the truth, though the evidence would weigh against me (though I had no animus toward the dead guy). Then, I woke up.

There’s a lot of crime here in DC — random crime. A couple weeks ago, this dude got murdered in his sleep a couple blocks away (Swann St.). Note: I live in a posh neighborhood. Looks like there may be foul play, but still weird. In Bethesda (the Palo Alto of DC), some one-legged Iraq War vet, got attacked by a bunch of hoodlums. And, you know about the 27-year old rising star who had his throat slashed in Georgetown. The homeless people here aren’t as aggressive as they are in SF, but the streets are dark, and people lurk in the shadows. There’s always the creepy, albeit romantic, sounds of crickets looming in the background, which adds to the feeling.

With that said, DC has been good. I am having a lot more substantive conversations about politics and the state of the world. I missed that; especially because my career is largely bereft of intellectualism. Danai (my amazing friend who’s award-winning play, In the Continuum, is in town for 6 weeks) went to dinner (Kanlaya Thai) with a nice group of people I compiled. She commented on how the conversation reminded her so much of what she liked about Macalester. I’ve heard that before from other Mac friends sampling my world, with regard to other circles, and it made me feel really lucky.

At dinner, there was a lot of baseline ideological accordance, with tweaky, interesting disagreements. Our discussions were like abstracts of PhD theses. We talked about how multiculturalism/pluralism define American culture, and are destroying America, as we export the model and apply it to a global context; about how the American middle class is being erased due to outsourcing; about how our less patriarchal system creates less of a "need" for women to be in relationships, and about our skewed, ever-changing perceptions of "needs"; we spoke about how September 11 was predictable, and conversation about it too "easy". All of these things are blog-worthy in and of themselves. I also watch the news a lot more; not because I feel like I have to, but because it is interesting.

I find myself thinking about the Midwest a lot more these days; glorifying the amenities and friendliness of Chicago and Minneapolis. With my salary, I could live like a king in the Twin Cities. I could buy a 3-bedroom house near Macalester — in that lovely, safe, tree-lined little area with book stores, record stores, coffee shops and nice people. I never thought about that when I was in California. Or Connecticut. I feel like I am lacking certain things right now; like a sailor with scurvy who needs some citrus.

I was supposed to go to NY this weekend, but I battled a sore throat (a weird, very painful one, sans cold) this week and am headed to SF next week, so I don’t want to relapse or overextend myself.

I saw Jeff in DC yesterday. Was nice to see an old friend. He had an altercation with our waitress that was embarassing and funny (he got his food late and demanded that she take it off the bill; she got all ghetto and defensive in the SNL way).  That kind of encapsulates a night with Jeff. We left the restaurant at about 12:30 am last night. As the place was thinning out, a group of about 10 yuppies early-20-somethings entered and thinking Jeff was the host, asked if the restaurant was still serving drinks. Jeff said - "yes - just sit down at any table", and they complied. Also, we have had the ongoing fight about the correct pronunciation of Uganda, which he pronounces "oooooganda". I met the woman who he cites as being the expert last night. And she was with me. Oh, the glory!

Danai and I hadn’t seen each other in a while, and we were discussing how we had changed. She showed me a picture of her and her boyfriend. I analyzed it for about a minute and spewed out all of my perceptions of their relationship. It was dead-on. I feel like the John Edwards (not Presidential nominee, but Crossing Over guy) of relationships. I think it’s because I’ve been surrounded by so many f-ed up ones I developed a keen sense — through "thin-slicing" (Blink reference) of the healthy-ness/spark in a relationship (don’t ask if you don’t want the truth; or tell me if you want me to lie). Anyway, the way I’ve changed is that despite this talent, I’ve let go of other people’s baggage (in the ife coach realm in general). I used to assume liability for other people’s lives and decision. I still have the potential to do that, but I stop myself. I realized that the few instances where my friends have assumed that pain for me, haven’t propelled me forward at all.

Reflecting on my mom’s visit, it’s interesting how we had a lot less to do because my life is so abundant with material goods. She really wants me to have kids. I’m not feeling it. I wonder if I will (?) My dad’s getting a lot worse. He is usually very talkative, but seems to have given up. Makes you really ponder your mortality.

I am switching more and more to myspace. I think I am going to start posting my blogs there too. I held out with friendster for longer, but I am succombing — little by little.

I really want to start college consulting. I’m going to do it!

Things are pretty good.

No Fried Chicken

I went to Kentucky and had a great time; ’twas a lynch-free visit. Notably, I really like Macalester alumni — who are always smart, self-deprecating, have hidden talents, and just know how to grind, let loose and talk about (and then make fun of) hegemony, interchangeably. We had such a blast. Kentucky was way cooler than I expected/remembered. You may remember that I dated a girl in high school from KY, and my predominant memory of it centered around large bales of hay that were in her backyard (as well as vampire animal killers). And, I saw some hay this time too. Also, there was plentiful sweet tea and lemonade, porches, friendly people, sticky weather, lots of green grass, Bluegrass (which I’m developing a taste for) and funky little shops. It was a pleasant respite. I stayed at one of the coolest hotels I’ve ever seen - the 21C - which is a museum. I also did well playing darts at a bar where a strange old man with a long white beard ogled the young ladies I played with; they had good chicken fingers though. My friend married a Malagasi man; they imported a Malagasi band, which rocked. It was an interesting multicultural experience. I realized that EVERY Mac wedding I have been to (approaching a dozen) has been between an inter-racial or international couple.

I hate Overstock (sort of)
Overstock gave me a hundred bucks for all of my troubles. At first, I refused to buy something with the credit. Then, I figured it would hurt them more to deplete their merchandise. So I tried to stretch the money as far as I could and purchased a watch, a table lamp, a book, and a CD. I vowed I would continue to hate them; but somehow I don’t deep inside. Dammit. I still won’t order from them on principle; or at least I won’t admit it.

Bantu PRJ
I bought a new couch from craigslist. I hired a mover from craigslist as well. Turns out he is from South Africa and spoke Zulu. I impressed him with my Xhosa. It was a magical exchange, and kind of strange for his Salvadorian helper who was like - "aren’t you Latino?" Identity is a strange concept. Did I share that David Blaine is a PR Jew?

Material Boy
From the whole overstock.com thing, I have been thinking about material things that I lack. It turns out, there aren’t many. A bunch of people were sitting on my couch 2 weeks ago watching and poking fun at a Jack LaLane informercial for his juicer. I thought it was so funny at the time. But, subliminally, I cannot get juicers off my mind. Now I want one really badly. A good one. And, a panini machine.

I am also wearing increasingly more khaki and polo shirts. It’s seriously like a uniform here. I don’t hate it. Until I go to NY. (I am going to NYC this weekend. And SF the following weekend.)

Patriarchal Visit
My mom came to visit last week. I call it a "patriarchal visit." All she did was cook and clean for me. All I did was work. We managed to try a bunch of restaurants for restaurant week: the Ritz Carlton, Agraria, Zengo’s, and Nora. I have a terrible canker sore. A really bad one, which I developed after Zengo. I am thinking about seeing an oral pathologist because it is so uncomfortable.

Here is my review for the worst restaurant:

In sum, the place has a cool story in that they use all kinds
of organic local ingredients. After this experience, all I have to say
is "pass the Velveeta."   

Job
The job is still going well. I have one co-worker who clearly doesn’t like me; a young lad who’s at a parallel level in the hierarchy. He wouldn’t acknowledge me for the longest time, and kept on trying to go behind my back. I refuse to have a nemesis. Initially, I just played it cool and, when it was getting worse, finally confronted him. After that, things seem to be going better. It’s especially hard to deal with people who don’t like you without a concrete reason — either because they don’t like your vibe or are intimidated by you. All in all, though, things are going really well at work and I enjoy it a lot. (Interestingly, I’ve been recruited a lot lately, and a lot of people have been forwarding me jobs — dream jobs even — in like Los Angeles and stuff! But, there is no way I would leave my job for a while; I need to stay put and grow.)

Lahore: the fastest way to my heart
My assistant director is the sweetest person ever. Her family lives in San Francisco and she went to Lahore Karahi, not once, but twice. I can’t wait for it. My body aches for Lahore. I also really miss chiropractic.

Meeting Up
My friend Mike and I galavanted around the city on Sunday. We went to the Natural History museum, saw the Hope diamond and insects, and went to an interesting networking dinner with meetup.com at this subpar Burmese restaurant. Meet-up was a weird but interesting experience, especially for me because I am not looking for a job — or to meet people. I mean this was Masters-thesis-level interesting.

It was so "meta" — people meeting with the sole purpose of "conversing." In the beginning, we had to get up and introduce ourselves. It was like a walking singles ad. "Hi. My name is Andrew. I’m an Alumni Director. I like meeting new people, musical theater, and kombucha." I didn’t say that, but you get the gist. There were different conversation groups at different tables, ranging from self-help and life-coaching to spirituality and miracles. There were window-tinting entrepreneurs, jobless professors, and unemployed law graduates. There was a lot of pressure to converse and most of the conversations revolved around analyzing the concept of meetup — at least for us. A few people walked up to me and crafted fake conversations for the
purposes of collecting my business card. I had 3 follow-up e-mails in
my Inbox this morning.

Afterwards, met up with a new friend Lindsey and her guy Hassan, who are livin large in Gallery Place. We had one of those long/easy/stimulating conversations that last for hours and you drink lots of beer, but don’t need to act drunk to be having fun.

What else? Macalester was rated to this hokey Kaplan rating as a "new Ivy", I really like that I went to Mac:
http://money.cnn.com/services/tickerheadlines/prn/200608140800PR_NEWS_USPR_____NYM116.htm.

Refugees
It’s funny that I feel more connected to Mac, because I probably have more good friends from UConn Law (remarkably, I have no law school friends left in CT). I keep on hearing about refugees from my law school leaving their cush law jobs for jobs like mine - in higher ed and business. What’s interesting is that the jobs they are leaving were the gold standard - what we dreamed for when we sat in the library, sizing up our competition for the few coveted positions, which guaranteed a privileged life. My boss at GW is one of us. Law school is so funny; it warrants a lot more space than this.

So I’m in this really strange place where I’m simultaneously feeling neglectful and unsustainably busy. And, reflective, but not communicative. I have Internet access at home now, so I plan to post more, shorter entries.

Life

I have made all sorts of cool connections here in D.C. I found a revolutionary posse of politically-minded people. Jen and I have been tearing up the streets of D.C., going to museums, checking out ethnic dining establishments, watched some Fringe Festival plays, and are just causing some general mayhem. We’ve done bluegrass amongst gentrified racists in VA, sang Rent at the top of our lungs in a car, seen a couple indy flicks (hated Skanner Darkly), perused the Portrait Gallery, dined on Malaysian. Lately, I have discovered some good ethnic cuisine (Delhi Dhaba in
Arlington rocked my socks), a nice farmers market in Dupont Circle, a great smoothie place. We’re going to check out the new, dodgy Bohemian hood — the "Atlas District" — and check out this new bar, the Palace of Wonders, where they have woman’s arm wrestling competitions every Tuesday night. My friend Danai’s play (In the Continuum) comes next month. I couldn’t be more excited.

At the same time, I am feeling neglectful. I miss my friends in SF, and SF. (I am excited about Labor Day back in my land!) I have all these friends here in D.C. who I expected to see all the time, but for one reason or another, have flaked on or not made plans with. And it’s not excusable.
Part of the flakiness was due to the fact that it was about a bajillion degrees outside and I was dying (99 the other night seemed bearable). Part of it is that I couldn’t drink every day any more. Part of it, is that life isn’t conducive to it.

Crazy world

I had a really thought provoking snippet of a conversation on Saturday, which motivated all of these random thoughts in my head. We were talking about how people in India and Albania don’t conceive of garbage in the same way we do. They build concrete walls around their homes, to preserve the yard in front and dispose of the garbage on the street. I also have a co-worker who loves killing animals. Loves it. And, I was also thinking about how the criminal justice system makes so little sense. Does the prospect of jailtime really deter anybody. Then, my mom told me about this crazy conversation she was having with my cousin’s husband who is a Fox-News obsessed Republican.  psycho. And, together, all these things makes me realize that there really is no order. And we make no sense. I’m feeling more existentialist. I wish I had Glide here. I may go to the Unitarian church down the street. Or meditate.

On Edge

I realized recently that people’s idiosyncracies bother me in this weird secondary fashion. Like I have a friend that taps his body incessantly - like a percussionist. Meanwhile, another friend of mine was talking on the phone in front of my other friends. I didn’t care for my sake. I am a voyeur; I like to overhear other people’s conversations. But it bothers me that he might be bothering other people. And that’s what bothers me.

Wimp

Let me preface this by saying D.C. is far more racist than other places I’ve live. I saw 2 swastikas in one day. I felt like a real wimp the other day. I went to this Indian restaurant and there was this 50-something couple sitting right next to us. The guy said right to his waiter’s face, "I love dopey looking Indians." His wife, laughing said, "don’t say that." The guy responds to the waiter, "you didn’t mind that, did you?" I should have said something. I can’t change the past.

Xhosa Couch

I just bought a couch, so I feel like I’m at home. I feel even better about the transaction because my delivery guy was a South African of Bantu descent. We exchanged words in Zulu/Xhosa and made a great connection. We’re going to check out Danai’s play together. I have a whole saga regarding customer service stuff, but writing about it at this point is only going to rile me up. So, all I have to say that if you like me and yourself, you won’t buy from overstock.com. OK I’ll say the story.
1) I ordered a couch on overstock
2) They couldn’t specify a time or day to ship it to me
3) They shipped it to my work
4) It arrived completely unassembled in 2 gargantuan boxes
5) I rented a pick-up truck and my co-worker Lars (Idaho) volunteered to help put it together
6) We opened the boxes and they were for 2 different models of couches
7) Overstock promised to pick up the mistakenly sent couch and send the correct one at a mutually agreeable time
Overstock did not live up to their promise and again sent out people at their convenience without a time frame
9) After a heated phone call, I finally gave up and rented another truck to send back both couches.
10) I found UPS on the street near my house after their failed attempt to pick up the box.
11) They said they only had one pick-up request
12) I sent both boxes.
13) A supervisor from overstock corporate called me to bitch me out, threatening me and telling me "You made a big mistake"
14) Another supervisor from overstock corporate called me on the other line 3 minutes later, and was very pleasant
15) Both supervisors told me they were higher ranking than the other
16) I hung up on the bitchy one. I still haven’t received a refund.
17) I passionately hate overstock.com

Metro

I like it when random people — and especially unlikely people — jump into a general conversation I’m having. It makes me feel community with the outside world, and interesting. It’s happened to me a lot as of late. I thought it was something specific to SF, but apparantly it happens here too!

Work

I really like my new job and co-workers. GW has a LOT of politics, but it’s a good place. My boss called me "a prince among men." I think that is my favorite compliment I have received. Ever.