Union Station

Every day I purposely exit the metro in Union Station so that I get to walk through the inside of Union Station. I have several reasons for doing this.

1. So that I can stay out of the cold weather for as long as possible- walking through Union Station is at least an entire block that I can preserve the feeling in my fingers, toes, and ears.
2. To see the gobs of 8th graders from all over the country making their required pilgrimage to our nation's capitol. I always know who they are by their matching brightly colored t shirts and the ridiculous cliques of hip girls, nerdy boys, fat goths, etc. They are extremely hard to walk around because they won't split up their clique pack for anything. They also have no idea about the flow of foot traffic.
3. To see the tourists in general. They are always taking pictures of the ceiling or videotaping their girlfriend and it's fun to walk by them really fast with a scowl. "Silly tourists, I work here! Get out of my way." This is also fun to do with the hordes of 8th graders.
4. Window shopping. On my path out of Union Station I pass by an Au Bon Pan (look at the bread and pastries), a Borders, a Nine West (love the shoe displays), an Origins, The Body Shop, a Swarovski crystal store (right now they have a display of crystal gorillas?) a chocolate store, and a weird cart that sells coffee. Some days I enjoy the whiff of perfume waifting from The Body Shop but some days it makes me really nauseous.
   

I am sad because at Christmas when I would come out of the train part and into the big hall there was a HUGE Christmas tree glowing. It made me so happy. There was also a model train set, a player piano, and three giant (GIANT) wreaths out front. Now all that is gone. Yesterday they took down the wreaths and were hammering and fussing to take the train apart. I come out expecting to see the Christmas tree now and since it's not there I get so disappointed.

happy birthday homeless man, I got a free facial

Another busy day in DC town. Work kind of sucked, partly because of the cold and wet weather (wind chill of 39 degrees? what is Winter like?) and partly because my supervisor can be ridiculous. But it was ok because thanks to Slickdeals.net I found out about a free mini-facial that the Origins store is doing! I made an appointment last week so today after work I went and had my first ever (mini) facial. It was GREAT. And the sales scheme WORKED because now I want EVERYTHING in the Origins store. Did you know their products are all natural, contain no petroleum based ingredients, contain no animal products, and are NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS?!!! So no cancer and no blind bunny rabbits at Origins!! So... that's why it costs so much I guess. Ugh. I'll hit up ebay and see what I can do. Forget clinique.

I was still feeling great from having someone rub my face with nice smelling things when I was walking to the metro and I saw this one homeless man who is always at this stop. He is in a wheelchair and I saw a woman give him some money and I saw him smile really big. Then I saw a little handwritten sign that read "Today is my birthday, I am so blessed!!" and I immediately started digging around for any cash that I had to give him. It was really touching- and I have seen this guy at this metro stop several times. He had a little portable heater plugged in next to his wheel chair today.

Beyond the homeless birthday man is the table where people aggressively get you to sign up for absentee voting. In the past I've just seen the volunteers shouting at all the rush hour metro people to sign up but today... today there was a woman playing a guitar and singing into a mic some song that she was making up on the spot that basically consisted of: "Going to be out of the county on election day... vote absentee .. vote absentee... avoid the lines on election day... vote absentee... vote absentee.... make sure your voice is heard... vote absentee ... vote absentee..." it was irritating and endearing at the same time.

On that note, today I mailed my absentee ballot off to North Carolina where hopefully it will be put to good use in turning North Carolina blue. I got off the metro at Union Station to go home and put it in a mail box outside of the post office. I had a hard time letting it go, it was so unceremonious, not at all like real voting. I wanted to shout afterwards I JUST VOTED, I VOTED EVERYONE! But I didn't. Voting is so special and exciting. I was especially thrilled to vote in Union Station. I'll never get sick of Union Station.

When I got home I made some dinner (E is back!) and then the guy from the yard sale where I bought the two framed pictures brought them over! They are beautiful- I'm very pleased. This weekend, once the Halloween festivities are over, I will hang them up.

Tomorrow is another big day because it is the annual DC Drag Race. Apparently all the drag queens in Washington all come to Dupont Circle the Tuesday before Halloween and parade up and down 17th street and at 7PM there is a HIGH HEELED DRAG QUEEN RACE. I'm there.

my new city, my new friend

DC is still magical, I'm still excited all the time. I figured out where some of the city pigeons sleep: in Union Station! Those lazy bastards are still sleeping when I go to work. I also keep tabs on the gray squirrels that live/work/play near my office.

Yesterday I found a cheap last minute flight to go home for the long weekend. I was never a believer in the whole "last minute" deals but they are REAL. I'm really excited to see my mom and bring things back to the apartment. Also, the South Carolina State Fair is going on now and I GET TO GO! It's like I get fall break just like I did in college!

I have lots of things I want to write about concerning the Pentagon, since that is where I get off of the metro and get on a bus to get to/from work. My internet paranoia has truly reached new heights so I am not going to tell Pentagon stories other than the Monday morning protesters that quietly hold signs right where you get off of the escalator from the metro. I see them at 7:30AM, who knows what time they get there. One week they protested the war in Iraq, this week it was Afrocon. It's really interesting because probably 80-85% of the people who get off at the Pentagon metro on Monday morning at 7:30 work in the Pentagon, and they orchestrate wars and things, so it's a really significant place to protest something. And everyone is always brooding in the morning.

Riding to and from the Pentagon stop so much has made me realize how exciting and scary and hot it is to see all the men and women in their various uniforms going to and from work. I've seen Navy, Army, Airforce, all kinds of uniforms. It's so attractive! I don't know why!

So I guess I have to go pick out my "party shirt" for the last day of customer service week tomorrow. Good grief. At least I don't have to pack a lunch!