Cake of Patriotism

I had a great time last night. From the roof of Trim Zander's house, we could see 360 degrees worth of fireworks. It was intense. There were so many things being blown up!

In honor of the occasion I made a cake. The outside of the cake looked like this:



The inside of the cake looked like this:



I worked extremely hard on this project, and while the cake itself was not especially light or fluffy, the aesthetic outcome was satisfactory, and everyone likes chocolate frosting, so it was a winner.

Happy Birthday, Constitution Gods!

This is my first Independence Day in Our Nation's Fine Capital. So far, so good. I am still in my pajamas, so pretty soon I have to start looking for a red, white and blue outfit.




Last year I was being all fancy at the Ambassador's house for my Independence Day festivities. Nowadays, I have no Ambassador friends to hobnob with so I have to make do with all my fellow 20-something grad student type friends. None of them even know how to play bridge!

But I digress.(You might not think I could digress, since I wasn't actually talking about anything, but you would be wrong on both counts. I can digress in situations that would amaze you, and also I was talking about something. I was talking about Constitution City.)

Much to my surprise and delight, fireworks are legal in this town. I kind of thought anything even remotely dangerous was frowned upon around here because what if the Presidential Motorcade happens by your house and he gets an ash on the windshield? Now you'll have to go to prison! But, it seems that patriotism in the form of explosives trumps any concern about danger (also in the form of explosives) so there are fireworks stands all over the place. I bought some yesterday on my way home from school, and will be exploding them this evening from Trim Zander's 4th of July party.

I am excited because it's been a while since I had any fireworks to explode. Last year I was in Rwanda, so no fireworks stands were available to me. The year before that I was in Minneapolis and watched the city display from the roof of a parking garage. The year before THAT I have absolutely no recollection of where I was or what I did, so it must not have been very fun or exciting. Either that or it was extremely fun and exciting and involved a lot of alcohol.

So. Have fun out there! Don't blow yourselves up.

The martians are coming!

d
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

oh, the humanity

Woman coming in from outside:It's really human out there.
Man:Yeah -- it's not the heat, it's the humanity that will get you every time.

It's true, the humanity is usually far more annoying to me than the weather.

You know what helps both? A nice cold beer!


via Overheard in the Office, Jun 27, 2007

I Spy

Well, my brother (among others) really did say something to Our Dear Leader. They said it in a letter format, and very politely too. Good job, Scholars!

My brother also said something directly to old GW about "having more respect for human rights", to which he apparently got no response at all.

Yesterday we (me and the brother, not me and GW) went to the Spy Museum. It was fun. Or it had its moments at least. I was really cranky because of the deathly heat, already, and then I became even crankier because of the dumbness of their "accommodations". I asked if they had captioning on their video things, to make sure they had it turned on, and instead the front desk guy gave me a little device to wear on a (very fetching) lanyard around my neck. I asked him how it worked and he was vague. "Just wear it, you'll see."

Well, I didn't see. Nothing happened. The first room where we all got shepherded in had some video and some audio going on, and when I asked the staff person THERE what was up, she seemed taken aback, and went to ask someone else. After that, we were sent into another room to watch a movie and the doors were locked behind us. Again, no captioning. I fought my way out of the theater and was told to "sit closer to the screen".

That seemed to work okay (apparently the screen needed to be able to sense my presence via the little lanyard device), although I was annoyed because it meant I was not sitting with my brother, and why didn't someone explain it ahead of time?

But after that, my proximity to the screens made no difference. And after that, there was no way out of the museum and no staff member in sight. I seriously went all the way through it to the end and back, looking for someone because maybe I am just doing something wrong with this little device item. Maybe it needs a new battery. That's fine, I will accept a replacement, I will just ask some friendly museum worker to assist me with this issue.

Or I would have, but there was NO ONE to ask. I have never seen a museum with so little supervision.

There were a LOT of videos and audio things. A few of them had transcripts hanging on nearby pegs, but not anything like all of them, and by halfway through I was so focused on being upset about access that I sort of quit paying attention anyway.

Which was too bad for me because there was a lot of good stuff to look at. WWII army jackets with cameras hidden in the buttonholes and 19th-century revolvers hidden on jeweled rings. Nice.

One especially great item, I thought, was a big ornamental decoration that a bunch of schoolchildren in the USSR presented to the US Ambassador in the days of the cold war. And it had a bug in it! Those crafty Soviet schoolchildren. I wish the Presidential Scholars would have hidden a practical joke or something in the Oval Office, just to keep old George on his toes.

Anyway, at the end of the museum I went and complained for awhile and got apologized to and was given comp tickets and a promise that next time it will be better. So we shall see. Who wants to go to the Spy Museum with me?

more google searching

1. comical disability breakfast invites
2. mustachio bashio august 7,2005
3. what is Ms. Whitworth's least favorite thing?
4. nightlife tblisi
5. dancing stick person
6. cowgirl congress new pictures
7. criteria for a shenanigan

I am particularly intrigued by numbers 1, 3, and 6. Anyone who was the searcher behind these searches, please tell me your story.

P. S. I currently have three least favorite things: Grasshoppers, mushrooms, and the Student Accounts Office. Not necessarily in that or any other order.

SORRY.

I was out for dinner last night (a delicious dinner that I ate way too much of) with my family, when my uncle said in an accusing manner "why don't you ever update your blog? I look at it EVERY DAY and there's NOTHING THERE."

So then I took some pictures of my uncle and my mother with my mobile cell phone text internet camera device. All of the pictures turned out terribly but I don't want to be known as the kind of girl who makes empty threats so here is one of them, anyway:



Let that be a warning to anyone else who feels the urge to tell me I don't post enough posts: I may retaliate with a badly lit, blurry photograph of YOU!

In reality, my mother actually has a face.

So, my brother is some kind of nationally recognized child genius and the government flew him into to Our Nation's Capital for the week so he can hobnob with all the other child geniuses from around the USA. And my mom and stepdad tagged along for the ride, I think because they are worried that my brother will say something totally uncalled for to some government official and be arrested and everyone will have to devote a lot of time to getting him released from prison in time to start college in the fall.

Anyway, I haven't even seen my brother yet because he is too important for the likes of me, but maybe I'll see him from a distance or something before he goes back to Montana.

And that is all I have to share, for the moment. See you.

**P. S. how do you write "uncalled for" anyway? un-called-for? un- called for? Hmm.

Okay!

Here's what I have been so busy with:



That and travelling.

New York was excellent as always. Maryland was also excellent. Probably as always, but it was my first time so I don't want to make any reckless pronouncements.

For Memorial Day we had a potluck involving boiling crabs and eating them on the roof. That was messy and delicious. My two favorite ways for something to be!

Next, I'm going to Minnesota. Hopefully that will be messy and delicious too. I'll keep you posted.

hold on!

I have a very good blog entry to write but not right this second. Because I am at work now. The reason I didn't write it before is that I am extremely lazy and irresponsible. Also I went to New York last week (to hang out with Chris Koza and JoAnna James, among other fantastic people) and then I had to rush back to leave again right away for Annapolis to go to a big huge crazy party. There was a moon bounce!

Then I had to sit around my house for two days doing nothing. And like I said, now I am at a computer where I don't have access to all of the visual aids I will need for this exciting new post, so you will just have to hold on tightly to the edges of your seats and anticipate for a few more hours. Don't explode! Go have an orange juice popsicle or something while you wait.

politics, elephants, due respect

Julie posted the text of my speech at deafdc.com and now there's a very entertaining comment thread. All about... well, not actually about anything, as is wont to happen with comment threads on blogs. Anyway, Bert has inspired me to think of a catch phrase for my own comments. I'm thinking of ending every post with "So there!" from now on. Or maybe someone else has another suggestion?

So there!

Constitution City

I had to go to Georgetown yesterday to do an errand. That place is very time-warp-y. It is full of tiny attractive old houses, with all their little small doorways and intricate, cracked wooden carving. I was walking on 28th street between P and M and I kept expecting some colonial housewives to come out the front door and empty a pan of water into the street or something. (Why do I think this is what colonial housewives would do? I have no idea.)

It is very different from the other parts of this city, like for example all the gigantic monument areas where the buildings are on a 3-to-1 scale and bright white and are subtly illuminated at night so nobody forgets that they are in Our Nation's Fine Capital.

In a few hundred years, after the apocalypse has come and when Charleton Heston comes stumbling through the ruins to find out what kind of planet this used to be, everyone is going to think that Washington was once populated by a ruling class of giants who loved white marble and were served by an underling class of very small people who loved antique furniture and organic vegetables.

I am willing to consider selling this idea to a movie company. Call me!

ta da!

more fame

I'm going to be one of the commencement speakers on Friday. You can watch it online here. I don't really know when during the whole thing it will be my turn though, so make sure you are provided with some snacks and crossword puzzles to get you through all the tedium.

The ceremony starts at 1:30 my time. People who live in Washington DC, get ready to take me out for a drink afterwards!

I may not have gotten enough sleep lately

Today, I am sneezing a lot, and this song is stuck in my head:

d

I am the sick Cebu. Achoo mumu achoo mumu achoo mumu achoo mumu cebu. (Because of the sneezing only. I think it's allergies really. Stupid spring.)

I turned in all my schoolwork and immediately became embroiled in yet another battle with the geniuses in the Student Accounting Office. They have something against me, down there in that office, and their attempts to thwart me are unceasing. I may or may not actually graduate, depending on who is victorious in this current tussle.

Regardless: I am finished! Hooray! Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the celebrating! I am going to run around doing all kinds of fun activities tonight: My one favorite friend is gathering a crowd at Madam's Organ for dancing and making merry, and my other favorite friend is having a Mustachio Bashio (it's a party, a party where everyone must wear a mustache) and it is time to start work on the 48-hour-film-project costuming. Plus mostly, it is time for general giddiness because did I mention I am finished? I am finished!

the most exciting chalk message

This was what I encountered when I went out of my house the other day:



It wasn't for me. I don't think.