HA WE JUST KICKED PROTESTORS OUT OF THE BUILDING

rock. and that's my power trip for the week.

National Security referred to as Alice in Wonderland

The New York Times has a hilarious yet frightening article about the case involving government wiretaps. It's really nice to see these judges call the Justice Department out on the carpet.

More Strange Happenings on H Street

As mentioned previously, I live just off H Street. H Street isn't a BAD neighborhood, per se, but it isn't a GREAT neighborhood either. There are a lot of bums and smelly people that hang out on street corners and general harassment for little white girls such as my roommate and myself is pretty common. On the plus side, I am constantly reading about things the long-time residents are doing to promote the area and make it safer. Go H Street!

The most recent push is to ban 'singles'. For the uninitiated, such as myself, this is confusing: only couples can live on H Street? What is someone gets divorced? If there's a nasty break-up, who gets to stay--the one who finds a new mate the fastest? But no, no, these singles refer to ALCOHOL. Single beers and 40s and banning the sale of them at grocery/convenience stores. Here's the link. While I am a general fan of reducing the number of smelly bums on the street, and have never been a fan of buying 'singles', I'm not entirely convinced that this is a productive way to combat the problem.

But the BEST PART of that article is at the end--the Red and Black is trying to offer haircuts+a shot for $12!!!! Wooohooo!!! I'm all over it.

Birthday dilemna

My parents are coming to visit for my birthday which is in a little less than a month. They are going to take me shopping for a day as my birthday present. They figured out a few years ago that this is preferable for all parties involved over buying me presents on my own. However, for the past few years I haven't had the opportunity to really go shopping, so I would figure out one of two things for them to get me. But this year they're coming, and I'm working on narrowing down my list.

This is much harder than it seems. I just moved and just started a new job. This means I'm in need of suits (since the job requires suits and I only own 2) but also in need of furniture. I'm also in need of quality shoes because I spend large parts of my day walking around. The best shoes I've ever found are Campers...and they're really expensive. My last pair died about a year ago and I've been itching to get a new pair ever since...and this birthday seems like the perfect time to do it. But they're really expensive. And I could really use a rug...and a coffee table...and a new suit. All of which I could get for much less than two pairs of shoes.

What to do what to do?!?!?!?!

Confessions of a Bonifide Politico

I get a thrill out of working in the Senate every day. It doesn't matter what's going on, it doesn't matter that the reality of my job is exceedingly dull and unexciting, I still get a kick out of walking down the hallway of the Russell building with its high ceilings, dark woodwork and lush carpeting. I gawk out the door every time John Kerry and Ted Kennedy walk down the hallway, sit in on any hearing I can get to, and giggle when I hear Trent Lott whistling. I've developed crushes on Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel and Amy Klobuchar. It's not that I see anyone as important, really, the entire Congress is a shame, but I still love it. A lot.

So last night I did something I've always wanted--I hosted a State of the Union party. And it was great. Many snickers from all parties involved, very little talking OVER Bush (which is REALLY annoying and has always happened at other SOTU parties I've been too). I was really excited. I feel as though I've fully embraced my politico self and its wonderful. When I was in York I loved being surrounded by others who got excited by the political process and by political research. I didn't think I would be able to find it once I left. And while I have yet to really feel as thought I have, I know I'm making progress. And it's pretty awesome.

March for Lifers

ARE EVERYWHERE. They hang out in the hallway, they come into my office, they ask me if they can go on our balcony (NO!!!) , they march past yelling Hey hey ho ho Roe v Wade has got to go!!!

The worst part is I REMEMBER PARTICIPATING in this march in high school. I went to Catholic school until I was 18 and the sophomore class trip was going to the March for Life. Why not? Get a day off school, walk around for a bit, go to the museums. The issue was presented simply as thus: there's a law that allows for women to kill babies they don't want. It was morally wrong to kill anything, therefore allowing abortion to be legal is morally wrong. I won't break into my common rant against religious schooling, but suffice to say that this is one of many issues I had with going to a religious school. The inability to tell the whole story combined with the convincing ability to twist the story to fit into the organized tenants of the religion is, frankly, terrifying.

Or else my soul has been taken over by the devil and I'm damned to hell. Depends on how you look at it.

My Pop Culture for the Week

Stephen Colbert meets Bill O'Reilly!! I'd been looking forward to it allll week!!

And it was much less hilarious than anticipated. I remember when I REALLY LOVED watching John Stewart doing interviews on the Daily Show, and then sometime last year he STOPPED doing interviews and instead TALKED during the whole thing. Don't get me wrong--love John Stewart, want to have 10 million of his babies etc, but I enjoyed watching him set people up to dig their own graves. When the Colbert Report began I laughed hilariously when Michael Brown slaughtered himself, and Ariana Huffington proved her idiocy...but the Bill O' Reilly 'interview' last night? Colbert's comments on O'Reilly are funny, and when O'Reilly got a word in edgewise he lived up to the assholeness we love. But frankly, Stephen, I left this encounter with you feeling a little dissatisfied.

Saving the evening were the first 10 minutes of the Daily Show. Fucking brilliant.

Strange happenings on H Street

Last weekend I was walking down H street and noticed a red jeep with flames stickers on it parked on the side of the road. I glaced inside, as one does and saw.....

A black penis. With a man attached. Jerking off.

The terrifying part is that this isn't the first time I've seen it. It also happened to me once in Madrid.

AAAAHHHHH

WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOO

SENATE ORGANIZING RESOLUTION HAS PASSED YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

Now I can finally stop explaining to people why the chair of my committee hadn't switched to the Democrats and dealing with their disbelief. ROCK.

A TaxiCab Confession

Yesterday, after partaking in a stomach-bursting feast at the Melting Pot, I went to get on the metro only to find that I had just missed the last one. Awwwwwww SHIT.

I looked at the busses--it was going to be a pain, so I decided to grab a cab. Being that I'm fairly new to DC, this would only be my third cab experience...and my first two were enough to make me dread it. I'm also a horrible cab-rider; I've mainly used cabs in Europe, and as a result I never know how much to tip. This has colored my few cab rides in the U.S. and turns them into pressure-filled events where I'm terrified the cabbie will throw me out or beat me on my doorstep because I tip so poorly.

SO I grab a cab and ask him how much the fare will be. I'm about a dollar short, I tell him, and ask him if he could take me however far for the amount I have. He says, don't worry about it, I'll take you anyway!!! Gasp!! Amazement!!! A NICE DC CABBIE (in my other experiences they were TERRORS)!!! He NOT ONLY takes me a $8.80 trip for $7 (I had $7.50, he declined to take the change) but also INSISTS on waiting for me to unlock the door and wave so he's sure I'm safely inside at 'this late hour' in 'that rough neighborhood'. 'I think a young lady such as yourself should not walk around her at night,' he said to me. 'I wait for you to get inside.'

I love DC. I'll probably change my mind again in a week, but this week? Love it.

A quickie gloat

Why my job rocks:

I've spent the past two days watching hearings about Iraq. That's it. And it's considered legitimate work.

Woooohooo!!!!

On smoking

With the smoking ban in place for 8 days now, I, as someone who once enjoyed smoking a great deal and now still does on occassion (although less and less frequently now), I am a fan of the smoking ban. Waking up the morning after a rough night out and having my room reek of cigarettes ON TOP of the nasty stale beer smell that most bars have was never fun--now if I stink like smoke its because I was smoking. And I'm fine with that. I understand all the bitching about secondhand smoke and the like, the complaints about this affecting small businesses (don't raise the revenue loss to 15% that's fucking ridiculous--and can mean the difference between paying your workers and not for a small business). The only arguments I wholeheartedly agree with are those against the paternal state as I generally think this is an area where the state is overstepping its bounds.

HOWEVER I really really really REALLY mind the self-congratulating holier-than-thou bullshit I keep reading from non-smokers about ever damn 'victory' they win over the horrible people who smoke--obviously just to piss off and inflict harm on the non-smokers. Get off your high horse for christssake. Anyone who smokes knows it--non-smokers don't like to be around smokers 99.999999%, if not all, of the time. Smoking is bad for your health. Smoking smells bad/makes kissing gross/harms those around you. We know; everyone know. No one is denying it.

But just like I don't rub in to the fat girl I went to high school with that I've lost weight since I last saw her, the kid who dropped out of high school that I recently finished my MA, or the friends who are still living with their parents in bumblefuck no-where that I moved out and now live in a metropolitian area, would you please stop posting about how great the smoking ban is and how wonderfully healthy everyone who doesn't smoke will now be? Seriously. It's really annoying.

Losing the blues

It was raining men in KatWorld this weekend.

Friday I went on a pseudo-date. First one since the nasty break-up...and wow does it feel good to have someone flower me with attention, act like I'm brilliant and have eyes for no one but me for a little bit. I say psuedo-date 'cause it definitely was a first-time-hanging-out-do-I-like-you-or-not kind of thing, and it wasn't one-on-one. He's sweet, very nice, really, but I'm not feeling any chemistry. It ended up being a bit more of a friend-date than anything. Still, very nice.

Saturday went out to a bar with my roommate and was chatted up by not one but two attractive and not horrible men. Perhaps the creepy-men-come-here sign has been removed from my forehead. Male number 1 was roughly 10 years older than I and works for the EPA and I was fine talking to him until he decided we should talk about life one the Hill....blah blah BOREDOM. Male number 2 was nice and funny and cute and flirty--seemingly perfect until about 10 minutes in the conversation he decided to tell me about his struggling business that hasn't gotten off the ground yet and how he's working construction until it does....yuck.

Sorry, call me shallow, but after the last ex who STILL lives with his parents and works a shitty temp job but liked to 'talk' about how he was 'going places'--give me someone whose made it a reality. I'm sick of listening to all these 'plans' that never work.

Despite the none of these boys sticking yet, I consider the weekend a great success. My uncharacteristic shyness and awkwardness that manifested after moving to DC seems to have left...and hopefully for good. I feel like I'm getting back on my feet again. Yipee!!

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right

I used to smoke a lot of pot. Not really of my own accord, I had a bunch of stoned-hippie friends that smoked all day and I would smoke with them most of the time. Numerous ultra-lazy boyfriends, poorly written papers and missed appointments later, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't smoke anymore. Not only was I annoyed with the listlessness it inspired in my relationships and general life-outlook, but the overwhelming cynicism and paranoia I get while stoned, not to mention my uselessness via pot-hangover the next day, in incredibly depressing and painful.

HOWEVER DESPITE KNOWING THIS I decided it was a good idea to get stoned last night. First time in roughly six months...and before that six months...you get the point. NOT ONLY did I get stoned, but I also went out in public. From a girl who hung out with stoners that smoked pot and watched movies, this is never a good idea.

So we smoked, then went out to the Palace of Wonders where we watched a magician. Who made lame jokes with sexual innuendos (Frank's big magic DECK helps him pick up girls har dee har). The most entertaining part of the show was the wasted guy who kept yelling 'NO HOW'D HE DO THAT?!' in a childlike incredulous voice. I left around 11:30, after becoming convinced that my friends hated me and wanted me to leave. Then woke up this morning with a head full of cotton that has yet to dissipate.

Stupid pot.

I will sell this house today

Today is the swearing in ceremonies for all the incoming and re-elected Senators. Me, the lowly peon in the office, is nervous as hell. The number of dignitaries, not to mention the incoming chairwoman and all of my new bosses will be in the office for the first time and have 'informed' (read: warned and scared the shit out of) my co-worker and I to be on our best behaviour. Its truly ridiculous, all this pomp and circumstance, and probably more ridiculous that I'm actually concerned that if there was any day where I could lose my job if everything doesn't go perfectly, today is the day. My co-worker even brought in a lint roller to ensure out suits stay fresh. On the plus side, one of the receptions down the hall is being catered by Legal Seafood so hopefully I can score some tasty food.

I am definitely going to need a beer after work today.

Post-holiday cheer!!!

Now that Christmas is over I'm seeing a gigantic influx of attractive men on Capitol Hill. A friend of mine in college always said that it paid off being liberal more than being conservative because liberals tend to be more attractive (think Bono vs Mel Gibson; Angelina Jolie and Ann Coulter...actually if someone can name me a really HOT conservative I'll be impressed). While I don't think this means that I'll end up finding a better pick of men as Hill staffers thus far don't seem to be overly friendly, interesting or unpretentious, I can't complain about the eye candy. It's refreshing.

How was your Christmas? How was your New Years? Yeah? Really? How interesting. blah de blah de blah. I went with some friends to the Rock and Roll hotel, solidifying my favorable impression of the place...and its helluv convenient to be able to walk home from New Years escapades. The upstairs DJ was pretty rocking and creative while the downstairs DJ was full of the necessary cheese. $50 and free drinks till 1 left me with very little to complain about by the end of the night. Oh, except the obnoxious frat boy who offered to give me a New Years make-out sesh despite the New Year having been rung in well over an hour earlier. Bring it on, 2007. I just went through a rough year and look forward to what shit I'll have to fend next.