Schnappi schnappi schnapp.

I've introduced BiebzBear to Schnappi, which we have been watching 4+ times a day. he has been so whiny lately to go outside but because he likes to throw himself off of stairs and other tall things, trips outside are still kind of stressful for me, so I try to manage them accordingly.

The gym is kicking me soundly in the butt. Three weeks ago I went to a zumba class for the first time, and while I almost died in the first five minutes (seriously I looked at the clock and assumed 30 minutes had passed, but it had been FIVE minutes), I loved the teacher and was psyched to come back the following week. But then there was a substitute teacher! who sucked and I don't like his style at all, and he said that the regular teacher would be back but then she hasn't been back, the sub was there yesterday. boo. Anyway also my gym offers 15-minute ab classes every 45 minutes during peak hours, and on Tuesday I was all, "oh I'll do that it's only 15 minutes it can't be so bad." but then it was actually really really REALLY difficult. I still haven't been able to get my abs to relax, but at least they weren't in pain for the first 18 hours or so. But I got it in my head that even though I was still feeling the burn from Tuesday evening's ab class, I'd go to zumba at noon on Wednesday. The class taught by the sub is maybe a third of the workout that the regular teacher provides, so, I figured I would be fine.

I have never ever been able to say "I hurt in places I didn't even know I had" until now. My obliques light on fire every time I move any part of my body. What I can clearly identify as my teres major and lats are all "um don't do that" when I think about lifting my arms. I could barely sleep at all last night, because every time I would get stiff and have to move, which was more often than normal, the fire pain woke me up. it did not occur to me to take advil until this morning, somehow. so, I guess I learned my lesson about underestimating my gym and overestimating how much my body can do.

Last night I was craving Mongolian grill more than almost anything in the world, and so I went to the new place on my street. It was fine but it was $12 and NOT unlimited and didn't have water chestnuts.

omg I just sneezed and I think I've blown away the analgesic effects completely because everything is on fire again

Psalm 23

There was a spring thunderstorm the other day! A thunderstorm! yay! A thunderstorm that started right as I was putting DaveyBug Jr down for bed! Not so great!

Right around Christmas there was one evening when he wouldn't sleep, so I sang him a song, and then he started asking for a song every time, and since I don't know all that many songs, or at least complete ones, it tends to be the same ones every week. And, since all the music I've constructively sung in the past 5 months has been church-related, they tend to be church songs. He's started asking for Amazing Grace by name. Which is cute. I also wonder if I'm crossing an invisible line drawn by his Buddhist(-ish?) parents? Should I not be singing about Jesus?

On Thursday while Tiny was napping, Big and I were having a delightful round of Ring Around the Rosie, and after a few particularly good spins we were both on our backs on the floor giggling. I have always been very easy to dizzify, so I was definitely dizzy. and apparently so was Big, because he stared up at the ceiling and said quietly, "Mooooving..." which was hilarious.


When I lived in my various apartments (all in the same building) in Northwest DC, I always kind of assumed that all living spaces have cockroaches, and they will always be in your kitchen and/or bathroom at night, no matter how clean you keep your house. I did a pretty good job of keeping a clean apartment, and stopping the sink at night, and all the other things that you do, and there were not many of the nasty things, but they were definitely there.
But now I live on the East side of town, and mostly work on the East side, and NONE of my houses that I work in have cockroaches! Doesn't matter if it is a clean house or messyish house or a basement apartment, I have seen no cockroaches! However, all the houses/apartments I work in over in Northwest have them. A few of my houses in Southeast have had trouble with mice, though. I've never seen mice at Bear's house, though, and that may have something to do with his two cats, who may only have a combined total of 7 legs, but are very fierce.

I am well aware that this is not the way that household pests work. I'm sure that cockroaches are not restricted to the northwest quadrant of the city, and that mice are not restricted to Southeast, and that not all houses in Northeast have an opossum that occasionally hangs around on the transom of their back door. These are merely my observations.

fireflies and cherry pies

I no longer have any sort of reasoning behind titles of blog posts.

Last night I ate a mango right before bed while watching Thursday's Daily Show, and now my computer has sticky yellow goo on it. Mmm mango goo.

Now, I am eating a mini cherry pie from Dangerously Delicious Pies, and on the hexagonal bar / coffee table next to me - don't worry, it's on a coaster - is a pint of chocolate milk from Clear Spring Creamery, which also provided me with the quarter pound of quark that is waiting in the fridge. My farmer's market is small but tasty!

Awesome Shit that I Have Already Done in DC

1) Sunrise Easter service at Arlington Cemetery

2) Midnight Mass at the National Cathedral on Christmas

3) Easter mass at the National Cathedral

4) Various Smithsonians - Air & Space, American History, Natural History, American Indian, Castle, American Art

5) Inauguration of President Obama

6) Inaugural Concert!

7) Inaugural Ball! Western States reppppresent

8) White House tour

9) Nats games at both RFK and Nats Park

10) Pride Festival (though not the parade, boo)

11) Cherry Blossom Festival

12) Flown into and out of all three airports (lame, I know, but it's a thing)

13) Lunch at the Senate cafeteria

14) Experienced a summer thunderstorm on top of a house in Columbia Heights

15) Tended bar at a DCWeek event

16) had days where I go to all four quadrants

17) eaten at Ben's Chili Bowl

18) mini-golf at H Street Country Club

Ok! some are boring. but there are some things that I think are cool because they can only be done in this city. SUCK IT, OTHER, LESSER CITIES.

there's lots of other stuff I can't remember right now

It's List Wednesday!

I am bored, and don't want to work on things that I need to work on, so I decided to finally put down my DC Bucket List - stuff that I haven't done yet in DC and really need to do before I move away. I don't know when that is, but it is at minimum a year, so just to be safe, I want to start making sure I can take care of business and do everything.

So here is my list of shit that I haven't done yet in DC but want to do / places I haven't been but need to, in no particular order.

PLACES:

1) Roosevelt Island

2) National Arboretum

3) Hirschhorn Gallery

4) FDR Memorial

5) Air & Space Museum at Dulles

6) Frederick Douglass House

7) Pentagon Memorial

8) the museum in Katzen at AU

THINGS TO DO:

1) Sunrise at the Lincoln Memorial

2) Caps game

3) DC United game

4) Watch the drag race in Dupont

5) Screen on the Green

6) Roller derby (uh... watch, not participate, as much as I love Whip It)

7) train to Baltimore for the day (I know that's not DC, but, it starts at Union Station!)

8) a sport on the Mall! frisbee, bocce, softball, croquet, etc. doesn't matter which one.

9) go up the Washington Monument

10) Embassy open houses, EU and others

11) Paddle boats in the Tidal Basin (except this is so romantic I might barf)

What am I missing? It doesn't need to be all national shit, it can be like "hey you totally need to go to Sticky Rice on H Street, NE! and have omakase, and a carafe of sake. Then, go to the Biergarten Haus and drink whiskey while rooting for the Celtics, as your roommate shuns you in his ugly-ass Laker hat."

Well, I did that last night, so, think of something else.

OK well we also have a list of Awesome Shit that I Have Already Done in DC, which will be the next post, for ease of editing.

How 'bout them Uruguayans?