Washington, D.C. (July 21-28), 2002

Phew am I tired. After reviewing a previous journal entry, this is starting to sound like the norm *giggle*. But I've got GOOD reasons to be tired. This entry might be a bit long, but I've been in Washington, D.C. for a whole week so I've been racking up the stories for you... It all started on Sunday, July 21st as I flew out of Atlanta, GA to Washington, D.C. An hour and a half flight was not bad at all, however the entire time I was sweating that I just didn't have enough clothes to last me the week.

Boy...was I EVER right about that...hehehe

So Sunday I rested up and just went to dinner at Pepper and had my favorite dish from there, the Pretzel crusted chicken. MMm MMm good.

Monday was a good day as I was in DC to teach a class on some software and technology that I had been researching for about 2 years now. The class went great and I was off for the rest of the evening. So should I rest up or hit the town?

LOL. What do YOU think?

Going out in DC is very different. They have "nights" like this night is this bar and that night is that bar so not knowing where to go on Monday, I went to the most convenient spot, JR's a little video bar. It was "Showtunes" night and I had a blast watching all the people sing and carry on. I had to turn in early as I was teaching on Tuesday so that was my one and only stop.

Tuesday, my class went well again as we finished up early and I headed back to the hotel ahead of schedule for a nice LONG nap. I had met up with an aquaintance, Shane who told me that the place to go would be Cobalt. However, first I went back to JR's as a little add about "Pick a Trick" game that started at 9:00. It was the funniest thing I've seen in awhile. Think "The Dating Game" but much more vulgar and with really cute guys. I mean, when 2 of the contestants answer the question "If we were going on a picnic what would you bring?" with "Condoms and Lube" *eyeroll*. The guy that "won" the date with the guy had the most "slutty" answers, but it was funny.

I met up with Shane later at Cobalt and as it turned out, it was retro 80's night. FUN! I actually ran into "Contestant #1" from PaT who, poor thing, was so drunk from playing the game and actually was upset for losing. I was like, "Dude...sometimes when you lose...you win...that was one contest I wouldn't MIND losing if he wanted the slutty one..."

He didn't quite get that and kept harping about losing so I politely "moved on" and introduced myself to this really cute guy Patrick who happened to be from LA and we had a blast dancing and hanging out together the rest of the evening.

So Wednesday I trucked into work and did my "thing" and they want to have me teach another set of classes (woo hoo!). After upgrading this and that, I was bushed for the day so went back to the hotel to take a nap (notice a pattern yet?). Not wanting to be the "barfly" that I had seemingly become, I decided to go and take a stroll to the Washington Monument and from there branch off to see a few other historical landmarks.

For those of you that have never BEEN to the Washington Monument, let me tell you it's HUGE. I actually felt vertigo looking up at it's pinnacle and had to get away from it.

After that I tripped on over to the Lincoln Memorial and took a few pictures and read the engraved walls with his famous "Four-score" speech. It was quite an impressive piece of art and gave me a definite sense of weight at his importance in the development of our great nation.

The next monument left me with a hole in my heart as I've always wanted to see it...the Vietnam War Memorial aka "The Wall". Hundreds and hundreds of names of those killed in this brutal and often debated war adorned slabs of cold polished granite. I had always seen movies and television shows about the Vietnam War, but never have I, as an american, really felt as deeply as I did reading the names. In the darkness, no one could see the drops forming in my eyes, for here, written on The Wall was the name of the person I've always believed to be my guardian angel, Joe. I had always thought that I had "invented" Joe as someone to "talk to" in my head, but I was drawn to a particular name and I put my hand on it feeling the grooves as a sort of physical reassurance of him. After passing the monument, I noticed a small book, a listing of names and dates of their passing and looked up the name I believed to be my Joe. I stared in disbelief at the dates as I had always believed my Joe to be only 21...and this name I was drawn to...out of the hundreds of names was a 21 year old Joseph, died in 1969, 5 years before I was born. Maybe it's him or maybe I'm just silly. It doesn't matter...at that moment I felt a strong connection to the Universe and believe that he was there with me, walking The Wall as we both remembered.

By that time it was very late (11:00PM) and I didn't want to be out that late so I headed back to the hotel walking quietly in memoriam.

Thursday? Well Thursday Scott, my best friend, arrived from Atlanta to hang with me and we went to Pepper and I had my pretzel chicken. From there we went to JR's again and met up with Jason again who was up by himself on the upper deck. After chatting there, he convinced us to go to Cobalt once again as this was "the night" for it. Yours truly was in RARE FORM and decided to enter their "Best Package" contest after one of our bar aquaintances, Josh decided to enter. All I had to do was strip into underwear behind a curtain and do a "little dance". I did, got plenty of free liquor, but did I win? Oh no. LOL. But I had a blast and did end up with a free pair of 2-Xist underwear that I'm wearing RIGHT NOW. Hehehe.

So Friday I actually was "off" from my contract work and Scott and I spent the day shopping and running around the Museum of Natural History. I took quite a few pictures that will be posted into my gallery soon.

Friday night my friends Ron and Justin came in so we went to dinner at "Trio" an italian restaurant with EXcellent alfredo. Mmm...gained 10 pounds just from that dish.

After that we hit JR's again because Justin doesn't really do country so I felt giving him a little fun before we headed out to Remington's. While there we were told that Remington's was dead on Friday and we should to go Badlands. We had promised my friend Jaret that we would stop by as he's the manager. We had a good time though, but left Rem's to hit the Badlands at around 12:30ishy.

The entrance to Bandlands is kind of unnoticeable. However, I couldn't help but notice the guy outside to the right PUKING his guts out. He made noises like I haven't heard since Jurrasic Park. Badlands was amok with party boys and there were quite a few...WOOF. My friends started crashing while I was still in the GROOVE. I was ready to go when the crowd started thinning out.

On the way home there was this CUTE guy (WOOF) that from ACROSS the street I was cruising. :) He was a little short guy with a goatee/beard going on. We both kept looking back but I wasn't about to dump my friends for a boy. I never realized I could "cruise" that far before. How funny!

Saturday the boys left early in the morning and Scott and I were hungry so we went for breakfast at Annie's. After that was shopping at Universal Gear (I spent like 0) and then to the Aerospace Museum. We got rained on big time on the way there and I was melting because you all know I AM made of sugar.

Saturday night we were supposed to go to Velvet Nation for the foam party but ended up going back to Remington's for dancing. It was very fun that night, not as dead as the night before.

Sunday I was back home in the afternoon, VERY thankful to be home, but glad I had the opportunities I had while in DC. The things I saw and did, the people I met (and did JUST KIDDING), all in all was a very enhancing experience for me.