Life

Police News of the Weird

This afternoon I stopped by Adams Morgan Day in DC, an annual street festival.  B. and A. and I ate at Amsterdam Falafel, always a treat, and then I was talking to a couple friends while B. and A. walked around checking out the assorted booths. At around 1:15 pm, things got weird. Reports vary, but one thing is for sure: “There was definitely a gun involved,” says B. According to eyewitnesses, two dogs (a poodle and a rottweiler or pug) got into a scuffle.  The poodle and its owner left the scene, while the man with...

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Girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch

…I’m not one of them, and never was.  I never imagined the song could be about me.  Actually, I’ve never been inside an A&F store, on some sort of vague “principle” formulated when I was about 14. That was also the age when I became a teeny bit obsessed with the band LFO. My years of listening to top-40 radio were limited but intensive. In particular, I would often listen to the top 8 at 8 on Q102, and then call in to try to be the 8th caller and win a prize. One night this worked,...

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List

books in black wooden book shelf

Things that suck about moving: -packing -unpacking -no Internet in apt for days (thank you, Cleveland Park library) things that don’t: – awesome friends; who make moving lots faster and more enjoyable. Yay community!  Also, pizza. -getting furniture finally into the best conceivable arrangement, after first dragging it all over the room in all kinds of ugly ways -windows, finally, after 1 1/2 years in the cave -sitting in my new reading nook, next to the bookshelves I’ve just filled. Books are my favorite part of both packing and unpacking. Bookshelf organizing strategies, folks? I went with...

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"Well, excited and scared."

photo of a mural on the wall of a building

Happy Friday!  Congratulations, you’ve almost made it to the long weekend. It’s an especially eventful Friday for me, because today happens to be the last day at both my current job and my current apartment.  Neither of these are bad things, and in fact I’m excited about changes on both fronts.  But at the same time, the transitions feel bittersweet.  I like to blame my mixed emotions on being a Libra: I always have a lot of feelings even about a single situation. I know people who wholeheartedly embrace big changes and jump headfirst into the unknown,...

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Cute Kid of the Day + More Poetry

human holding a bread

So I’m back from vacation, and it was fun even though the weather was not particularly cooperative (by which I mean it rained for four straight days. Fact: there is nothing to do in Cape Cod when it is raining). Anyway, welcome back, me. Thanks to Poplicola for posting the great Edna St. Vincent Millay poem and keeping the V&V poetry tradition alive this week. Today I have some bonus poetry, courtesy of this freaking adorable video of a three year old kid reciting the Billy Collins poem “Litany” that I posted here a few weeks back....

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Poem of the Week

closeup photography of sand

On Saturday, I’m leaving for vacation! On the beach! I’m rather excited. In this week’s poem, Ogden Nash celebrates the joys of doing nothing. On the beach. Thanks to my friend K., who introduced me to this very pleasant piece. Pretty Halcyon Days by Ogden Nash How pleasant to sit on the beach, On the beach, on the sand, in the sun, With ocean galore within reach, And nothing at all to be done! No letters to answer, No bills to be burned, No work to be shirked, No cash to be earned, It is pleasant to...

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Annals of Disturbing Polling Results

woman measuring her belly

From the Nutrisystem Diet Index (TM) comes some truly frightening findings regarding Americans’ attitudes toward weight loss.  In national surveys, over half of women said they’d rather give up sex for a summer than gain 10 pounds. more people said they’d prefer to lose 10-20 lbs than get a promotion. almost 3/4 of respondents reported that they would give up television, cell phone, or computer “for a  flat tummy this beach season.” Really?  Really?  Like many people (women especially), I’m not 100% satisfied with my weight, but I think that would be true no matter how much...

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It's International Beer Day! Thank Jimmy Carter!

SEE UPDATE/CORRECTION BELOW Today is International Beer Day,* and if you’re a lover of fine micro-brews (and I know you are), you have but one person to thank. No, not Jim Koch. The person you must thank is none other than former President Jimmy Carter. E.D. Kain explains: To make a long story short, prohibition led to the dismantling of many small breweries around the nation. When prohibition was lifted, government tightly regulated the market, and small scale producers were essentially shut out of the beer market altogether. Regulations imposed at the time greatly benefited the large...

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Weddings

Sure, Chelsea may been made an honest women on Saturday, but more importantly, Lisa’s wedding was the next day. Sadly, Lisa’s didn’t work out. (This actually came up in conversation yesterday while we were grillin’, but none of us could remember what date it was supposed to be. A strange coincidence that some idiot kids would probably incorrectly call “ironic.”)

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