My Dad's Dog...

It's a Mastiff.

I know what you're thinking.

Death. Destruction. Jaws. Brute Force. Killer Dog.

Well, I'm happy to report that I'm still alive and that he's actually pretty adorable, well, not as adorable as he was when he was a puppy. He's big now but still acts like a puppy, one that's a bit more well behaved...anyhoo, the pic says it all..

December Snow... it happened, again.

So a brief update, first, about the title, last year if you are from the Northwest, you would remember how we had the snowstorm of the decade. Well, apparently this 'snowiness' followed me to Washington DC, where I thought I could most certainly escape it. Well, read on...

I'm writing right now from my dad's house in Monroe, WA, the picture to the left is a shot from my Dad's porch, it almost makes living in the boonies tempting... Now I'm about to open some presents and eat some delicious food, all the while celebrating my grandmother's 94th birthday, aka, Birthmas. This is my fifth day here in the hometowns of Woodinville and Monroe, towns not so far apart. Monroe is a lot like how Woodinville used to be, before all the development came in. Now, I want you to know that I won't claim to be that old, to have been here way back when the family used to hop in the 'ol pickup and drive down the dusty road to the general store... but I thought I'd draw a picture of some of the similarities that exist between these two towns.

I arrived.

But just barely.

The wednesday before, some of my coworkers were talking about the 'big snow' that was predicted to hit that weekend. "Whhhhhhaaatt?"

My heart sank.

I couldn't believe it.

I immediately checked all the local news stations, finally going to the National Weather Service and seeing that they had a 'conservative estimate' of 1-2 feet of snow. My flight was to leave on Sunday.

Balls.

My coworkers tried to reassure me that the weather people we probably overestimating, and that the snow storm wouldn't even hit at all.

"Bull," I thought, the National Weather Service isn't an organization that tends to try to freak people out just to get good ratings, like the local weather folks, (nothing against them, though). I knew in the back of my mind that it was going to be an interesting weekend. I prayed for the best but assumed the worst.

Friday: Time, 7:30pm.

The air is crisp, as what remains of my house (Tricia, Emily, Pat, and I) walk through the neighborhood of Dupont Circle, to a holiday party at a friends'. Our breath is instantly cloudified and rises up from the  bright streets towards the orange sky. The moon isn't visible, just the greyish orange reflection of the clouds overhead. It just looks like snow, minus any of the white stuff actually precipitating.

We arrive to the house, well, basement, where Lourds (our friend) lives. It's a very cute setup, with plenty of 'hang-out' space, a table of beautifully organized holiday desserts, and a interesting walkway to the kitchen where alcoholic beaverages await. A keyboard sits in the 'hang' area and I looked longingly at it for a moment, before being offered baileys coffee and almost forgetting about it completely. My friend Carl arrives and as we start talking, people start yelling. I look outside and see the first flakes of snow coming down. It is beautiful, but I just hope that it stops just as soon as it started so I can get to where I need to go.

As we get ready to leave, the snow has continued to accumulate and there is more than a heavy dusting on the ground and it doesn't look like it is going to end any time soon. In the time it takes us to walk two blocks, my hair has gone from red to white. We hop in the car and head home, driving extra carefully.

Saturday comes, and I wake up to snow surrounding my room on three sides, filling the windows and stacking on top of the branches outside.

Balls.

It looks nice, but I can't help but thinking about how screwed I am when it comes to me trying to get places, IE out of DC. I walk downstairs and open the door: 1 foot of snow.

Ungh.

I shovel the porch, which takes about 10 minutes, the come back inside and work on an essay for an application. The snow continues outside and before long, I'm back outside shoveling another foot of snow. I decide that it is more prudent to just stay inside today, I make one attempt at venturing outside to send off a xmas card, and come back cold and wet.

The snow continues to pour, and pour.

I finish the rest of my Christmas cards.

I play a few tunes on the keyboard.

I also sign up for updates from the wmata, as I read that all the bus lines have shut down along with all the above ground metro stations, effectively cutting me off from where I need to go. It would make a good story to say that at this point, I just broke down and cried, but I didn't. Not my style, or I just wasn't feeling emotional enough. I just thought through a few choice four letter words.

Here is the breakdown of what happened the day of my departure.

1. I woke up
2. I checked the weather, and WMATA, and was assured that nothing had changed, the bus was still shut down along with all above ground metro rail stations.
3. Balls
4. I call the Super Shuttle, well, I go to their website and make a reservation. At no time did it say that they would not be able to pick me up.
5. I rejoice, that I will be able to make it out.
6. I pack my things.
7. At 2:00pm, 4 hours before my scheduled departure, I get a call from a Super Shuttle Representative. They inform me that they will not be able to make the pick up and that my best bet is a cab, (to Baltimore.... yeah, um, how about a 80 dollar cab ride?) even though there is a 4 hour wait for cabs in the city.
8. I scream bloody murder.
9. My housemates hear me, and ask what's up. I inform them of the situation, and Tricia and her BF, Pat, save my Christmas single handedly. They tell me that they will be able to drive me to the airport and that we are leaving ASAP.
10. We dig out the jeep, and drive to BWI. I make my flight, all is good, and I arrive in Seattle around 11:35pm.

It was so crazy once I got to BWI, there were lines of people who had had their flights cancelled the day before and earlier on Sunday. To me, it was surreal as I just stepped to the E-Check-in, and printed my boarding pass and made it past security without a hitch, 3 hours early.

I got out, but it wasn't by skill, or smarts, or anything that I intentionally did, it was luck and by the grace of others that I was able to make it home.

This week has been a whirlwind, of seeing friends I haven't seen in ages, and realizing there just isn't enough time. There's just not enough time, with each coffee date, an hour passes by faster than ever before, and we are left wondering where the time went, and part our ways, until our next meeting. In each coffee date, I'm halfway brought up to speed on their lives, I feel like I've missed out on so much.

Christmas thus far has been great, the presents, of course, because they're unexpected, and it isn't the gift as much as the generocity of others that surprises me and delights me each time that someone has thought of me and gone through the process of finding a present, wrapping it (especially wrapping it, its a pretty long process for me, at least), and giving it. I don't feel that the price of a gift should mean that much, it should be about the feeling of affirmation, the knowledge that there are people out that care. While I don't want to get to wrapped up in this (pun intended), I feel that presents themselves can be a physical manifestation of love or appreciation or friendship but really shouldn't by any means be the only way that a person feels loved. There are signs all around us that there are people who care for us, its just a little more apparent at Christmas because you "get" things, but in all other times in life, there are gifts we are given that arn't wrapped in paper, and sometimes it is hard to realize just how much of a gift they are.

Rain and Snow

Last night I went to bed to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof, looking out into the darkness, past the trees, long since stripped of their ruby red leaves. Against the silhouette of barren branches, and rain drops, i could make out the glowing capitol building and the washington monument. There was something comforting about being in my warm bed, wrapped in fleece blankets, looking out at the city, while outside it poured, and poured. Speaking of rain, I've recently been introduced to a song which has topped my charts, and has remained at the #1 spot for the past few days. If you haven't listened to this song, get ready, its beautiful.




Well,  I should get to some good stuff, I mean, I expect you'd like to hear some good stuff about what I've been up to this week, the notable events, the good and bad ones, etc. Well, the week was extremely busy, I'll start off with that, there were not many evenings that I had free to just chillax, put what little hair I have down, and just sit down on a couch and drink some hot chocolate.

Let me see, a couple of the highlights:

I wore a suit to a fund-raising dinner.
I ate some amazing appetizers
I "met" Joe Biden.
I learned how to call "AAA" in the event I need to be towed.
I heard about the "Yes-Men"
I spent a few hours practicing "I miss you" by Incubus on the piano
Ate dinner with some Jesuits
Went to an urgent care
Watched Good Will Hunting (one of the best movies I've ever seen, period)

I might update this tomorrow and add specifics, but we'll see..

Alright, I found a bit of time to continue and elaborate a bit on a few of the highlights. Tuesday we spent an evening at the "Ritz-Carleton" of Jesuit residences, Georgetown. Jeremy, our Jesuit Liaison, had already spent time showing us around the Dupont Circle Jesuit Residence, but had raved extensively about Georgetown, and had brought us to meet an accomplished Jesuit, Fr. Curry. Dinner was amazing, as usual, with a nice smorgasbord or dinner items including mussel pasta in a buttery cream sauce, strawberry cake, fresh chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, phenomenal bread, mmm, i'm beginning to salivate just thinking about it. It was nice to just sit around a table and talk about the work we were doing and hear from Fr. Curry about the number of projects he has been working on, including a theatrical program for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to help them cope with PTSD and other war-related mental illnesses. Georgetown is also a fun place to just walk around. Being an institution founded in 1789, the architecture is stunning: Gothic and Georgian in style. I might have gotten a few chills looking up at the iconic Healy Hall, though it might have been caused by the 40 degree weather...

Wednesday was the night of our JVC fund-raising dinner. We might not have, as a house, been totally thrilled with going, as we were very tired, and usually our Tuesdays are low key, just hanging around, working to recoup all the energy lost during the first two days of work. But, we went, and did get a bit excited about dressing up. However, it was raining quite hard. Some of us went directly from work, while some came back home to get ready then took a bus. We all did end up on the same bus, and a little water-logged, got to the final stop and trudged the final two blocks to the hall. As we got there, we were greeted by the other DC house, and the JVC staff, we were given instructions on where to be, the format of the evening, and decided on a rotation so that some of us could eat while others took coats. I started talking with a few of the volunteers from the other DC house when we heard the buzz going around the room, Joe Biden was coming last minuted to the dinner to give a speech. Everyone was beside themselves. Well, he finally arrived with Secret Service in tow, all smiles, shaking hands, I may have been in a picture with him (he was facing away from me.) Everyone was getting so worked up about it that I just didn't care that much to get a picture with him, so I just carried on my other conversations and ate some delicious food, watching from afar the circle of people huddled around Joe move slowly around the room. I likened it to honey bees surrounding the queen, as she moves, everyone else moves with her.


So, that was the jist of the week. Briefly, I was able to meet up with a friend Zach that I had worked with the past two summers at CTY. It was so refreshing to catch up with him again and hear about all that has happened since we last saw each other. He's now looking forward to pilot school, as it has always been a life dream of his to be a pilot. He has this ridiculous attraction to planes, like he stares up the sky like a dog looks at a Frisbee. I'm just so glad for him that he's found his true calling, to be doing something that I know he will be happy doing.

Today has been pretty relaxing, I did a 8.5 mile run around town, and happened to run by the boathouse of Georgetown, George Washington, and like 3 other schools. I stopped to chat up a guy who looked like he was about to row in his single (crew speak for a 1 person boat), and learned about the place and that they were closing up shop for the season in a few days. Today was really beautiful though, sunny and incredibly brisk, like, REAL brisk. Like 32 degrees brisk. My route took me down to Mt. Vernon Square, down K street until I hit George Washington University, then down to Watergate and the Potomac. I wish I had brought a camera, the view from the boathouse was absolutely breathtaking as I looked up and down the river, from Georgetown down to Arlington. I could make out Theodore Roosevelt Island, where I had visited a few weeks before. I was a bit sore from my indoor soccer game yesterday and the cold weather didn't really help that much, but I made it all the way around and back, taking solace in a hot shower to bring some color back to my skin.

In the moment, I started thinking about how beautiful it is here (while at the same time, acknowledging the bitter cold) and wondered if I could see myself living here. The funny thing is, I think I could. Give me people I can spend time with, a group of friends, I can survive anywhere. I think that's what I learned from my experience in college, going to a place that I'd never lived before, and now I'm learning it once again here in DC. Some of the relationships I've formed here I know I will still have years from now, whether I stay here or not.

Oh ya, about the snow....it snowed yesterday (didn't really stick), as watched it from my room. (and that's my dog in some snow, I am kicking myself now for not taking any pictures of the white stuff yesterday, DOH)