When I came for my final interview with EF Smithsonian back in September, I was able to go to trivia one night with Krishna and her friends from George Mason Law School, of previous dark horse in March madness fame. George Mason actually has a statue memorializing him near the Jefferson, but hardly anyone knows who this founding father is. I just new him as the statue whose lap you could sit on. See below. His head is kind of in there. Just in case you enjoy trivia, George Mason was significant because he was the leader of delegates at the Constitutional Convention who pushed for adding a section for states' and individuals' rights. He didn't sign the Constitution because it didn't include such a segment and drafted his own declaration of rights for Virginia, which later became the basis of the Bill of Rights.
That wasn't really relevant to the rest of this post, but I feel a good back story always makes things more interesting. After moving here at the beginning of November, I continued going to trivia and have adopted Krishna's friends as some of my own, so I quickly jumped at the chance to spend an evening with all of them at Barristers' Ball. The best way I can describe it is as a law school prom. The only differences from high school are that there are no chaperones, drinking is encouraged and included with admission, and a shot glass is a parting gift. Here we are at the event.
We also recently went bowling for Kev's birthday and had some great Mexican food out in the Columbia Pike neighborhood of Virginia. Due to my carlessness, I was dependent on the kindness of others to actually make it to these places. Jason and Candace took Krishna and myself to the restaurant, bowling, and back, but we had a little bit of trouble getting out of the parking deck after dinner. It was one of those where you have to validate your ticket based on how long you spent in the area. We think the machine got fed up with Jason putting his credit card in the wrong slot because it ended up charging him but not returning our validated ticket. We tried pushing the help button, but no one answered. We came up with some unlikely scenarios to help us escape the parking deck like knocking someone out after they validated their ticket. Finally someone in the grocery store called the company in charge of the help line and they agreed to buzz us out of the deck if we'd push the button. Well, she still didn't answer, so I got out when another car came up to try and grab a new ticket to validate. At that exact moment, the bar rose, and all I could do was yell at Jason to go through without me. Unfortunately, I think many people witnessed this. Below are the four of us.
After a night of bowling fun including a 186 in my third game (I really have no clue what demon possessed me to get that score), I rode the metro home on the last train. The metro was in fine form on Saturday. Martha happened to get on the same car as me and sit right across from me without noticing on my way into Virginia, and then I chose the same car as Matt Brown on the way home. I thought this would end my metro experience for the day, but no I was in for more. While reading the seventh Harry Potter book in Spanish I noticed the woman across from me slumped over next to her boyfriend. She began to slowly throw up on the floor without him noticing. I was about ten feet away, and I could smell it. I have no clue how he was oblivious until it was pooling around them. Once he did notice, he kept telling her to stop as if that was going to do any good. I think if I cold control my throwing up I would do so without needing the support of a friend.
When the doors opened for the stop immediately following the one at which the barf couple departed, a guy came up to a dude drunk sleeping, punched him in the head three times, and then ran off the train. What is going on with people in the city? I thought the no food and drink rule and the carpeted floors enforced some classiness on the metro. I now see it as wishful thinking.
The last thing currently involving my Virginia friends is a game of online Diplomacy. If you have never heard of the game, it's a classic board game like risk but with fewer armies. It's all about dominating Europe by making and breaking alliances. Playing online adds to this experience in that none of the conversations, or very few, are done in person. I have no clue what other players are saying to each other, and I can't trust what they say to me either. I feel like we're on a reality show trying to decide which person to vote off by taking their territories. I was luckily randomly assigned England, so I am up in the corner out of the way of the crazy action in the middle of Europe. Krishna was assigned Austria and has already been screwed. I wish I had someone filming confessionals for all of us, so that I could go back and see what people were really thinking at each step of the game. That is probably one of the nerdiest things to wish for, and I am not the least bit ashamed. I know I'm going to get really competitive over this rather quickly like most things, so I better at least not get eliminated too early on. That's my biggest fear of being on a reality show. I'll stop there before we delve to far into my psyche. I will post some updates as the game goes on. I'm almost caught up in my blogging! Only two more to go on the church I've been going to and the production of Canterbury Tales I saw tonight.
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