Journal time again. About time, I guess.
Had Dwen down for the weekend back in the 13th-14th. We spent the 3-day weekend doing some cultural stuff. For anyone around the area, I would recommend checking out the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. It's not huge or anything, but it's a good way to spend an afternoon. Dwen probably got a little more out of it than some people might, since she's a psychologist and some of the exhibits are done by mental patients. We also went to a symphony at the Kennedy Center. Find the place was a bitch (the address says F St. but F St. ends about a mile east of the Center, and then they just arbitrarily declared the Center's drive to be F St. also) but it's really nice inside. The music was good, and they had this funny little soloist in a bright blue dress who flounced out onto stage bra-less ("nice tits!" is not a phrase you expect to utter at the orchestra, but life surprises you, you know?) and played the hell out of her violin. And then we stopped at a diner for ice cream in College Park at 1am, still in suit and cocktail dress.
Took a four-day weekend the week after, and took the Chinatown bus up to NYC. I spent some time at a couple of museums: the Museum of Sex is ok--they have a pretty good exhibit on Japan right now but not much else--and the Guggenheim is pretty much overrated. I also had a nice little tour of my college ex-girlfriends. I went out to dinner with Esther, for what may be the creepiest meal ever, and this is from a person who drank snake blood in Vietnam. San nak ji is a Korean "delicacy" that basically consists of a small cuttlefish that is quickly gutted and chopped up, and then handed to you. That's it. No cooking or anything like that. The end result:
Also, it continues to move. Notice how only one chopstick is visible: it's hanging on. Surprise, surprise, this dish isn't too popular among younger people, only traditional (i.e. old) Koreans. So, the restauranteurs were happy to see someone under 50 trying it, and we got a couple of free side dishes out of it. As for Esther herself, she's doing well, and we still get along well, both of which were gratifying to find.
I also spent an afternoon with Rina, whom I haven't seen since we went to New Orleans last June. I was a little bit afraid it would be awkward after so long (and, you know, because of the break-up in the interim period), but we still have our old rapport. I think we're ok, though, partly because we've already been through this before. The very first time we ever broke up, after she graduated, I'd already bought the air ticket to go visit her for her birthday, so we were forced to spend a whole weekend together like it or not, and I think that inured us to awkwardness. The first day of that trip was terrible. Just fucking miserable. Then finally we got to talking and realized we still liked each other just fine, and ever since then it's never really gotten awkward for us. I think we learned to just trust each other to stay basically the same, even as our circumstances and outer traits change. So, we went to the Museum of Modern Art, just like we would, and it was a lot of fun, and we just talked and caught up and enjoyed each other's company. (That's another museum recommendation, by the way!)
Locally, I've apparently gotten popular over on Facebook. This one girl Christie started talking to me a while back, and we've started going out. Whether on dates or not, I have no idea, although I think her body language suggests attraction. I haven't decided what I think of her. She doesn't really talk much, so she has yet to show herself to be particularly intersting, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for a while longer. If nothing else, it's another branch on the ol' social network.
I also got an add request from a married woman. As a general rule I keep my friends list to people I've met on that site, and I told her that, although I mentioned that we could go out for coffee and get to know each other some time if she wanted. Usually that gets rid of people, but she immediately responded "sure! how about this weekend?" So, I guess I'm going to go meet this Tanya woman next Saturday and see what she's doing soliciting random men on the internet. My current working theory is "recently moved here, doesn't know anyone" but I'm secretly hoping for "discreet affair." She's pretty hot, so at the least maybe she'll have equally hot friends?
One other thing: I'm going to go see an old high school friend of mine in a dance show in DC this coming weekend! I haven't seen Cait in a pretty damn long time, so hopefully I'll get to talk to her a bit. Won't hold my breath, though; the cast of serious shows doesn't usually come mingle with the audience. Here's hoping, anyway.
Had Dwen down for the weekend back in the 13th-14th. We spent the 3-day weekend doing some cultural stuff. For anyone around the area, I would recommend checking out the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. It's not huge or anything, but it's a good way to spend an afternoon. Dwen probably got a little more out of it than some people might, since she's a psychologist and some of the exhibits are done by mental patients. We also went to a symphony at the Kennedy Center. Find the place was a bitch (the address says F St. but F St. ends about a mile east of the Center, and then they just arbitrarily declared the Center's drive to be F St. also) but it's really nice inside. The music was good, and they had this funny little soloist in a bright blue dress who flounced out onto stage bra-less ("nice tits!" is not a phrase you expect to utter at the orchestra, but life surprises you, you know?) and played the hell out of her violin. And then we stopped at a diner for ice cream in College Park at 1am, still in suit and cocktail dress.
Took a four-day weekend the week after, and took the Chinatown bus up to NYC. I spent some time at a couple of museums: the Museum of Sex is ok--they have a pretty good exhibit on Japan right now but not much else--and the Guggenheim is pretty much overrated. I also had a nice little tour of my college ex-girlfriends. I went out to dinner with Esther, for what may be the creepiest meal ever, and this is from a person who drank snake blood in Vietnam. San nak ji is a Korean "delicacy" that basically consists of a small cuttlefish that is quickly gutted and chopped up, and then handed to you. That's it. No cooking or anything like that. The end result:
Also, it continues to move. Notice how only one chopstick is visible: it's hanging on. Surprise, surprise, this dish isn't too popular among younger people, only traditional (i.e. old) Koreans. So, the restauranteurs were happy to see someone under 50 trying it, and we got a couple of free side dishes out of it. As for Esther herself, she's doing well, and we still get along well, both of which were gratifying to find.
I also spent an afternoon with Rina, whom I haven't seen since we went to New Orleans last June. I was a little bit afraid it would be awkward after so long (and, you know, because of the break-up in the interim period), but we still have our old rapport. I think we're ok, though, partly because we've already been through this before. The very first time we ever broke up, after she graduated, I'd already bought the air ticket to go visit her for her birthday, so we were forced to spend a whole weekend together like it or not, and I think that inured us to awkwardness. The first day of that trip was terrible. Just fucking miserable. Then finally we got to talking and realized we still liked each other just fine, and ever since then it's never really gotten awkward for us. I think we learned to just trust each other to stay basically the same, even as our circumstances and outer traits change. So, we went to the Museum of Modern Art, just like we would, and it was a lot of fun, and we just talked and caught up and enjoyed each other's company. (That's another museum recommendation, by the way!)
Locally, I've apparently gotten popular over on Facebook. This one girl Christie started talking to me a while back, and we've started going out. Whether on dates or not, I have no idea, although I think her body language suggests attraction. I haven't decided what I think of her. She doesn't really talk much, so she has yet to show herself to be particularly intersting, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for a while longer. If nothing else, it's another branch on the ol' social network.
I also got an add request from a married woman. As a general rule I keep my friends list to people I've met on that site, and I told her that, although I mentioned that we could go out for coffee and get to know each other some time if she wanted. Usually that gets rid of people, but she immediately responded "sure! how about this weekend?" So, I guess I'm going to go meet this Tanya woman next Saturday and see what she's doing soliciting random men on the internet. My current working theory is "recently moved here, doesn't know anyone" but I'm secretly hoping for "discreet affair." She's pretty hot, so at the least maybe she'll have equally hot friends?
One other thing: I'm going to go see an old high school friend of mine in a dance show in DC this coming weekend! I haven't seen Cait in a pretty damn long time, so hopefully I'll get to talk to her a bit. Won't hold my breath, though; the cast of serious shows doesn't usually come mingle with the audience. Here's hoping, anyway.
That food looks interesting to say the least.