Oh, Canada

So tomorrow morning (literally, I have to get up at 4am) I am off to Montreal, QC.

Should I managed to get to the airport by 5.30am, no doubt I will have a splendid time. I am looking forward to some steak frites.

A Panda Frenzy

Xena is currently having a Farewell Tour of DC so yesterday morning we went up to the Zoo bright and early. The pandas, which usually just laze around, were full of beans so it was a very worthwhile excursion indeed (especially because we then had a long lazy brunch on a workday!).





We had a surprisingly productive afternoon back at the office, then I wanted to show Xena this exhibition I'd admired earlier. I'd also mentioned I was seriously considering buying one of the works. As art goes, it wasn't expensive but it was a fair bit of money and I wasn't sure about it. To cut a long story short, Xena then bought the work as a parting gift! I was a bit overwhelmed. It's a good way I suppose to describe her incredible generosity (the most generous person I've ever met)- that she's the one going away but she's buying everyone else gifts when it's usually the other way round.

Ho hum.

I feel like I really need to struggle to put things on here nowadays, so I don't know how much longer this blog will last.

Good things:

On Thursday night I went to the baseball with Xena, Scarlett and Scarlett's boyfriend- it was rad. Hot dogs, home runs and beer-flavoured water, otherwise known as American Light beer.

I am going to Australia for November. Hurrah!

Bad things:

Xena leaving has made me strangely moody. I think that's the prompt for it anyway. I'm going to explore some kind of volunteering gig in DC because although I have two wonderful American friends, they can't be responsible for my entertainment every weekend. I have been feeling a bit lonely of late.

Work is... interesting.

Absolutely Soaking Wet

Sometimes I am so gay.

109F

Yesterday at lunchtime it got to 109F (about 43C). So hot. There was a check-on-old-people warning and everything.

Last night I dreamt I had forgotten to prepare a 45 minute presentation on the Democrats, and I had less then an hour to pull something together. I took a cab up to the Capitol for some fliers. John Edwards and Hilary Clinton gave me some. They weren't very helpful.

Who Knew They Had It In Them?

I went to the game last night with Scarlett, her boyfriend & her dad. To everyone's great shock, the Nats managed to beat last year's World Series champions- St Louis Cardinals. Not only did they beat them, they thrashed them 12-1. Ryan Zimmerman got two of the Nats' home runs, so it was all very exciting really especially since, as I have learnt, we hate the Cardinals. There were even two five-run innings!

Mercy!

I needed to lie down afterwards.

Meanwhile, I am personally offended that the ad for Daddy Day Camp uses the Figaro overture.

Again, completely unrelated, I stumbled across some fascinating migration statistics:

The US attracts just over 20% of the world's migrants (the largest of any country), and they make up just under 13% of the population.

Australia attracts 2.5% of the world's migrants, and they make up 20% of the population.

The highest share of population is Qatar, where 78% are migrants.

Security Theatre

One of the things which constantly bugs me is the ridiculous level of security in this city. And the thing is, it's not even really doing anything. It seems anyone who works in security here, especially if they're charged with escorting the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior (a known target for sure), is also an arsehole.

This week we have had some materials in a major government building on Capitol Hill. Yesterday afternoon I went through the security checkpoint and stripped it all down and walked out again. Not one of the security personnel bothered to ask me what was I doing. I seriously considered getting Xena to then go in ten minutes later and ask where everything was because she was expected to take it back to the Embassy.

Airport security is a well-worn path and nothing I say will add any original thought to the matter, but, what the fuck? One guy tries, and fails, to blow up his shoes and we have to shuffle barefoot. And why, why, why must the TSA be so rude and unpleasant? Politeness and Security are not mutually exclusive- the security guards in Nice were positively friendly, and in Singapore they're so polite. Here you're almost arrested if you leave your scarf on.