drag racing, etc.

Greetings from Tynan, my new favorite tea shop in Columbia Heights. Tynan is like a tea-version of Starbucks (although yes, you can get coffee), and I'm sure once it becomes more popular, I'll start hating it. Until then, I am surprisingly content with the establishment, especially with my portabella mushroom sandwich, pumpkin chai latte, and free wifi.

In other news, life has been busy as always. Thursday was, once again, my one chance to sleep in, but was unfortunately ruined by a team of tree cutters deciding 7am would be a perfect time to cut down a few trees on my street. The noise was incredibly, painstakingly, and annoyingly loud, and woke me up from a wonderful slumber. I quickly closed my window (only to reduce the sound to annoyingly loud) and within seconds my bedroom became a human sweat box. I tried cracking the window (bringing us up to painstakingly and annoyingly) but the slight murky breeze wasn't enough to lull me back to sleep. So I got up.

This past Tuesday after work at the Smithsonian, I went to, yep- Tynan, and my friend Laura sent me this text message: Care to attend the high heel drag race tonight? near dupont circle, 9pm!" My response was an obvious: "umm...YES!"

Apparently, every year on the Tuesday before Halloween, thousands of spectators flock to Dupont Circle to watch costumed drag queens show off their elaborate outfits and race down 17th street. I tried to ask people how long this has been going on for; I talked to a handsome (but graying) man from Stockholm, and I THOUGHT he said the last race he attended was 50 years ago. Thinking this man was now about 70 and may or may not be hitting on me, I sort of ran away. Turns out it hasn't been happening for that long, so he must've said 15. Still.

Well, uh, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

This last guy wasn't a participant; rather, he explained to us his undying love for "short shorts," and how he takes every waking possibility to expose his "good-lookin'" legs to the public. Hey man-more power to you.

Besides drag-queens and tree-cutters, I've also been thinking about, discussing, and engaging in race-relations in DC, classism, phone interviews, and life goals--both short and long-term. All very, very, VERY deep stuff. That being said, I think it'll be easier (and more exciting) for me to tell you about my potential halloween costume. I am thinking about buying a white sheet, cutting two holes, and draping it over my body. (Hopefully) most people will say "hey, are you a ghost?" (rather than "hey, are you a KKK member?") and then I can so cleverly respond, "no, I'm a sheet with two holes."

....Badum-ching!

OK, time to research grant-writing, finish my pumpkin chai, and jump on the metro to Bethesda for work. Bye bye odd blog world.