Canada

I have arrived in the land of the Frozen Tundra.
Actually, its quite nice in Kingston, ON in the summer months. A little empty, but thats to be expected with school out of session. I've been staying in the house where I plan to live in the fall--its not quite what I'd expected, but its certainly nice. Livable. At least, after we've moved in, furnished and decorated I expect it will be. It needs some homey touches, thats all. (Its like the three pigs house. Its wood, and kind of crumbly on the outside, and next-door is fancy brick, v. nice house. Thats how it goes, though.) The location is what makes it so great--two seconds from campus, and a hop skip and jump away from downtown. Fabulous. My room is 7'x8.5'. which is tiny, really. It'll fit a bed, though, I measured to make sure. (I couldn't tell just looking at it.) So thats set.
Also, yesterday I opened a Canadian bank account. Made me feel like a real grown-up. Love it.

Anyway, I can't wait to move here in three weeks. Canada is going to be a great place to live.

Screen on the Green

So I went to the Mall (the National Mall, where the Smithsonians are, not a shopping mall) yesterday to see a movie as part of the Screen on the Green series. The movie was something with Robert Redford that I didn't much like, I left early, but all this is beside the point which is as follows: the US government, as I may have mentioned in previous blog posts, sucks. This time, the reason is as follows: HBO sets up a huge screen on the lawn every Monday for movies. Many, many of the hundreds of college-age interns living in DC over the summer turn up to sit on the grass and watch the movie, which begins at dusk. Unfortunately, however, the screen is right in front of the Capital building, which remains brightly lit all night, not only making it difficult to watch the movie, but also wasting a really large amount of electricity unnecessarily. Therefore, another reason why the US government sucks.

In other news, apparently the Kool-Aid has worn off of my Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.
Thank God, I'm moving to Canada.

Attack of the Dirty Kitchen and Slobby Roommates (Part 1)

I was away all weekend. My family was here, and I was with them, having a wonderful time.
Sadly, however, upon my return to Dorm Hell, I discovered that there was mold in my kitchen. In fact, there was mold, there were dirty dishes everywhere, empty bottles of vodka, and the entire kitchen smells like a small animal died in the garbage disposal.
Which is super.
Basically, I tried to clean up, but there is only so much of that smell that one can take before one perishes of disgust. (I wonder if you can really do that...)

I am way grossed out.

Watchin' the Nationals

The time I feel the most American is when I'm at a baseball game. I love baseball. I love the environment more than the game itself, especially when, like tonight, I'm not especially invested in the team. The Nationals played the Diamondbacks tonight, and neither team was particularly impressive, though the Nationals won 5-0.

Tips from Cops

Good tips I got from police officers while wandering around on the Fourth of July:
1. "I try not to walk in front of moving cars. It might not be a bad idea for you to do the same."
2. "Please stay with other people when walking" (so as to avoid assault by scary DC crazies.)

These were the highlights of my night. Everything else basically sucked.
I did get some good pictures, though.

Word to the Wise

Often when I am reluctant to go out (aka, every time I go out) people try to convince me using the following: "What's the worst that can happen? You might have a good time?"

DO NOT LISTEN TO SUCH NONSENSE.
There are worse things than having a good time. For example, you might end up in a gay club with lots of straight, humping-style couples, and no single straight men. They might be playing Britney Spears music. There might be forty-something year old men not wearing shirts. They (the club, not the gay men) might give you liquor.
And then you might walk the mile back to your dorm in high heels and ruin any resemblance your feet once had to being, you know, useful.

On the upside, you might talk to your far-away best friend for the entirety of the twenty minutes that the walk to your dorm might take. She might suggest the two of you go on a cruise for Christmas (if only you'll stop pestering her about coming to your school in the fall.)
Then you might get back to said dorm and have very pleasant conversations with some people for, you know, several hours. And eat mini-pizzas.

So I had a pretty good night, then. Not a total waste, anyway.
And I'm very impressed that I'm mature enough to know when I'm not having a good time somewhere and am able to actually, you know. Fix it.
Good for me.

Bummer.

Life is terrible for the following reasons:

1. I have finally decided to go out tonight with the people from my program and, of course, I have nothing to wear.

2. I still do not know where I will live in Kingston. Which would be fine, but I'm moving there in, like, two months, so I think this is cutting it a little close.

3. Someone told me something very stressful recently which has to do with something I had finally come to terms with changing. Which sucks.

4. My father wants to get rid of my car. Which I am very attached to, and which I will miss desperately if he gets rid of it.

I must now go in search of some appropriate "American Gay Club" clothing. Because apparently we are going tonight to a (18+) gay club.
Yay.
...

Thank You, Mr. President.

Barack Obama ruined my day.
I don't want to influence anyone's vote, but man did he ruin my day.

I work with a few Canadians, so for Canada Day a bunch of us were going to go have lunch at the Canadian Embassy, by the Capitol.
I even wore a red dress.
So did one of the people at my office. One wore Roots gear.

Then this morning I heard this: "We can't go to Canada. Something is happening." Something? "Something with Barack Obama."

Super.

So we didn't go. Why? Because Obama, my very own senator from Illinois, gave this speech about Faith-Based Initiatives.
So, that was, you know. Nice for me.

I especially like the bit about, well...all of it really. What a super reason to miss Canada Day.

And, as a result, on of the women in the office where I work and I had to wear matching outfits all day and we didn't even get to go to Canada.