January 16, 2009
I’m in the pit of planning for the inauguration weekend and I just learned that tickets to the “Art of Change” inaugural ball are sold out. But two of my dearest buddies want tickets and I want them to be able to attend. If anyone has an extra ticket (or two) that they are willing to part with for face value please contact me.
p.s. I fully intend to write a legitimate blog later today. My apologies for using this forum to seek tix. Clearly I’m a lady in need. 
October 6, 2008
I had a terrifying event occur this weekend when I was camping out in a park with some friends.
We had been asleep in our tents for a handful of hours when I woke to the sound of someone messing around in our campsite. I thought it was one of my friends and so I unzipped the tent a crack to look out. I didn’t see anyone at first until I shined a light into the woods. I saw (with my contacts out) a guy who I wasn’t sure if I recognized. So I reached back in my tent and put on my glasses.
With my sight improved I looked out again and saw he was now standing in front of my tent looking right at me.
He was medium height, blond hair, maybe in his late 20s to early 30s. His shirt was untucked and he had a big red something, maybe a scrape, bruise or cut” about the width of a golf ball on the left side of his forehead.
What frightened me the most was that he was looking at me with a drunken grin. I guessed he was in a drunken black out stage in which he could do anything and not remember it the next morning. That idea frightened me to the core. Yet I spoke with a calm voice as I said…
“Hello. Are you lost?”
He made no reply and kept staring, his body swaying in my direction and then back again.
“Do you know your campsite number?” I asked.
“Yes” he said, still grinning.
“What number is it?”
“This one,” he responded.
He took a couple steps forward then back and, without looking away, he plopped down on the end of the picnic table bench.
I began to fear that perhaps he was going to try attack me. He didn’t know I had guys in my tent.
I called the name of a guy friend (we’ll call him “D”) in the tent next to us and nudged awake a friend in my tent, who we’ll call “youngin.”
“D” climbed sleepily out of his tent and asked the guy the same things. Then “D” suggested that the drunk man might be from the site next to us and he led the man next door, which “D” said was littered with empty beer bottles and cans.
I was terrified.
I was still frightened out of my mind and didn’t want to leave the tent but I had to pee. I almost insisted that ”youngin” escort me into the woods but he was still half asleep so I gathered my courage and took the biggest flashlight we had and ventured out.
The sound of the owl that had serenaded me when I first went to bed now terrified me as I ventured down the hill. Every sound of crunching leaves made me want to bolt. I RAN back to the tent when I was done.
I could hear the stranger moving around in the site next door and it took me at least an hour to get back to sleep.
I told my sister about the event when I returned from camping and she understood my fears.
My friends had acted wonderfully to take care of the situation and had not made fun or belittled my reaction at all.
Yet I don’t think they understood how terrifying that kind of experience is to a girl. I think we, as women, have more reason to be worried about being attacked and raped in alleys, jogging trails, woods, etc.
After everything was over, all I wanted was for any one of my guy friends to put their arms around me to make me feel safe until I went to sleep. But I didn’t feel right asking for it. I was afraid such a request would be misconstrued for something else. Instead I inched my sleeping bag and mat up next to “youngin” who was already curled up in his cocoon of a sleeping bag and I tried to sleep.
The next day as we were packing up to leave, the guy from the night before drove by and waived at us. I guess he was appreciative that he didn’t spend the night traipsing around the campgrounds.
Still, the memory of a stranger in our campground will make me take some more precautionary steps next time we go camping.
August 4, 2008
This weekend took it out of me…. I’m spent. Some of it was my own doing and some of it was just due to my existence on this planet.
As you probably know, my grandmother underwent major surgery and, thanks to the grace of God, she is recovering quickly and is expected to be checked out of the hospital. But the whole experience was emotionally draining for me. Truly. My arms and body felt weak and I felt a dull throbbing in my head. I don’t know how people handle long term family health scares. My heart goes out to those brave and strong souls.
Saturday night, I had a blast at an all girls slumber party I went to once I knew grandma would be ok. We played Apples to Apples, watched TV, chatted about just about everything and had a grand old time.
Yesterday I made my way home and took my dog out to play in the park where my favorite tree grows.
There is something about Sherie the tree (pronounced: Sharie) that helps me find my center and return my mind to some semblance of peace. I love that tree. I sat there on one of the lower branches, with my legs hanging on either side like a great cat in a tree in the jungle. I sat there with my ear to the tree and smelling the mild fresh musk of bark until my legs started to go numb. I literally was a tree hugger. hee hee. I’ll have to write more about the tree and her history later.
Then I hung out with a friend who is flying back to college later this week. We devoured some kick-ass french toast (even using my gluten free rice bread, I was loving it, yummy) strawberries, sausages. I add, with embarrasment, that I got a little bit too thirsty for my own good.
Chris and a bunch of other interns were there so after the food was in our bellies, we played scrabble. I add here that Chris is an awesome wordsmith. I was impressed.
When I got home, I was feeling the need to just hang with someone who knows everything there is to know about me, who can offer me good advice on stuff and who is just generally one hell of a loyal and honest friend. That would be David. Luckily, he was awake and so he came out and met me at Sharie the tree. He loves the tree too. We sat there on the grass (we never made it all the way to the tree) and chatted until 3 a.m.
Sophie, my dog, loves David. So she kept running back and forth accross the field and then back at david, like a puppy playing. She would tear around with grass flying behind her legs and then flop on the ground and roll around on her back… lord knows rolling on something smelly. David made some comment about how much of a great personality Sophie has and I agreed.
Then, realizing we both had stuff to do in the morning, we headed home.
I’m so lucky to have such wonderful friends, both the new ones and those who have been in my life for many a year.
Today I feel my age and wish for sleep. But I’ve got a b-day party to go to in Chinatown so it will probably be a somewhat late night for me again. The good thing is that I’ll be at the mercy of the metro hours, which means I’ll be home before 12:30. I’m sure I’ll pass the … out when I get home.
Oh man, my pillow is sounding pretty good right now.
July 22, 2008
I was very excited to have plans to go see the movie Dark Knight tonight at the IMAX theatre in Virginia. But silly me didn’t plan ahead and buy tickets. Now it seems that the theater is sold out solid through Sunday afternoon.
I might end up settling to go see it at a regular theater tonight but it will be hard to hide my disappointment.
You see the IMAX experience for me goes back to my childhood when my family, nearly once a month, would trek down to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (which for a long time I thought was the Erin Space museum) to see a show in the IMAX theatre.
I remember how my stomach used to tighten when the screen showed astronauts training, people skydiving or planes diving. I remember how the theatre always played Pachelbel’s Cannon in D major over and over again while the audience filed into the theatre. And how by the time I was 10, I had every note and part in that song memorized.
In fact, I believe that one of the reasons why I adore flying so much is because it reminds me of the wonderful feeling of soaring over the land that I used to get watching the IMAX films.
So, yes, I am dissapointed I won’t get to see an adult-ish movie as an adult in a type of theatre that brought me much joy in my youth. Perhaps I will still go see it there on a later date.
Ah well, lunch break is over. I must return to the world of my adult life now.
