Impromptu Beaching

I drove to the beach yesterday. I sat on the beach today. I forgot to apply lotion and am feeling a little overdone. I am also tired from sleeping 12 hours last night and into this morning. I haven't slept so long in at least 8 months. I feel fantastic, except for the radiation-burned parts of me. Despite being broke, underemployed, broken, and almost beaten, I live a charmed life at times. Thanks to my brother for the use of his car while he is off visiting the Motherland.

My expeditious return to darkest Wisconsin begins sometime next week. And yes, I did need a brief vacation before my vacation. I almost regret leaving my manservant, butler, staff, and entourage behind on this minor excursion as I have no one to apply lotion to my back.

Holiday Crowds

Here's to hoping they flock to my bar and tip well. Or even just a solid 15%. I wonder if there's a pool I can go to this weekend, it would be nice to get some sun and water in between shifts. I can get sun in my glade by the canal, but I can't go swimming there because of the murderous rapids.

Addendum: I was going to Ray's Hell Burger long before President Obama went there. It's a great place to grab an economical and fucking tasty meal before going to the First Mondays Show at Iota. Just so we're clear. Ask dontEATnachos, he'll tell you that I didn't even know about this until today. I suggested Ray's as a place for a good burger, and possibly as an capstone to a burger trifecta (Rockland's, Five Guys, and then Ray's) and he directed my attention to that article.

Strolling in the Gloaming

We've been having hurricane affect weather in the District this weekend. This put a bit of a crimp in my plans to help my church's annual yard sale, but we forged ahead and did well enough in spite of some deity's decision to drench us in a downpour.

After spending both Saturday and Sunday in various stages of damp exhaustion, I finally made it home around 6 pm on Sunday. The sun was poking out between some rather impressively threatening clouds which were stalled in the precipitation negotiations, and I could see mist rising out of the trees near the river. I decided to take a brief jog to a favorite vista that is hidden by the crowding foliage along the bluffs above the Potomac River. I didn't mind the drops, the burrs, or the mud. As I reached the gap in the trees, I saw a lovely cascade of pastel colors, most of which I remain unable to identify. The clouds were a mix of dark grey and pink, the sky faded from blue to afternoon yellow. The tops of the clouds shined bright gold, and the mist oozed up from the river gorge enviously.

Tonight, I took a walk to clear my head and curl my hair in another foggy evening. I walked down to Canal Road, and the world might as well have ended at the river bank. Walking back up the bluff, the mist over the reservoir was banded. A dark lower layer brooded over the floating mats of gooseshit, and flocks of gooseshitting geese. There was an oddly light swath of fog above the dark that caught my interest. Perhaps it was an artifact of the streetlights and stoplights behind me but the fog seemed to have a dim inner glow from about twenty feet to thirty feet in the air. Alien exhaust fumes, or just some pedestrian reflection of the white-green glow of the streetlights. Above this, a few stars glinted through the thin clouds expressing absolute apathy to me, my job search, my love search, or John McCain's plans to ruin America.

One of Those Blog's Weeks Linky Lush Lumps

I knew I was ready to leave work early this morning when I laughed at this in my gmail rss feed:
Drywall Buttjoints - eastcoastdrywall.com - Eliminate Ugly Drywall Buttjoints Automatic Drywall Tools Sales

Survey says: Discovery Channel needs better journalists. Bonobos and Chimpanzees do not "share much of the same behavior and social hierarchy." Chimpanzees are typically patriarchal societies and bonobos groups are typically matriarchal. Bonobo behavior is also startlingly different when it comes to sex, in that it happens on a frequency that reminds a guy that maybe he misused his college years by playing any Diablo at all, ever.

I wouldn't mind having a squid beak implanted in my cyborg-super-mutant-soldiers when I rule the world.

Library of Congress Has a Flickr Account

DCist used one of the Library of Congress' photographs as their photo of the day for today. This is a pretty damn neat idea and there are already more than 3000 photos online. I thought this picture of a woman inspecting widgets was pretty. The Library is a wonderful resource that I had never used until my current job. It is a lot like all the wonderful free museums that I rarely visit in town.

I did spend a lovely day yesterday strolling through the National Gallery of Art. I wish I had every Wednesday off to wander at my own pace and absorb centuries of art. The Edward Hopper show is great and leaving town soon, so check that out before it leaves.

I was also able to check a new-ish set of exhibits at the Air and Space Museum, which I thought was the Aaron Space Museum until I was twelve. The have a neat section devoted to the history of commercial flight. I got to ride in a simulator and turn do some barrel rolls and not throw up. Hanging upside-down and attempting to maintain a missile lock is damn hard.

Thanks for inviting me to enjoy the art with you, Social Security Administion. You know who you are.