Three famous people sightings! (sort of)

You will not believe who I met today....

R.L. Stein!

I wish I could say that it was coincidental or even serendipitous (i.e. if I were about to be possessed by an evil mask like in book 11 and Stein came in the nick of time to save me), but it wasn't. Today I went to the National Book Festival at the DC Mall! There were about 70 authors there giving presentations and book signings in tents divided up by genre. Other than Laura Bush (who I missed), R.L. Stein was the only author I had heard of before. And, like 99% of my sixth grade class, I've also read about a billion of his books. Although I wanted him to sign a book for me, I was running late and didn't want to stop at the sales tent. It's a good thing I didn't, because I was literally in the last group of 10 or so to get his autograph before he had to leave. Could my spot have been better used by one of the hundred or so disappointed kids behind me in line, clutching their copies of The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena? Sure. Maybe next time they'll get there sooner.



After the signing I went over to the Capitol Building, which I hadn't been up close to before. It was there that I thought I was about to see another famous person. A hummer limousine pulled up about ten feet away from me and immediately there were a few photographers crowding the door. I pretty much joined them, figuring that I had as much right as they did to sell my pics to the tabloids. Unfortunately, the doorman was very frustrated with the photographers (I quickly stepped back, disassociating myself from the group and pretending to fiddle with my umbrella), and the occupants were refusing to come out. Eventually the car left, but not before I got a glimpse of the people inside. They were teenaged girls in prom dresses and tiaras! While I told myself that perhaps I had just seen the princesses of some tiny island country who were confused about where the back entrance is (in support of this theory, the doorman was carrying a large shield-looking thing as if he were prepared for the paparazzi), it's more likely that I got excited over some girl's sweet sixteen. Darn! I then turned my camera to the Capitol to see if I could zoom in enough to tell if that was Senator McCain on the balcony, perhaps getting some fresh air on a break from an afternoon of grueling bipartisan economic talks. Now that was just wishful thinking. Besides, one famous person is enough for one day!

Debate Number One

For those of you who live sheltered lives, yesterday was the first debate between Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. It was actually the first presidential debate I have watched in its entirety, so I was pretty excited about it! Here are my reactions:

1. Let's get this out from the start: Obama looked like a president.

2. I was seriously bothered by McCain's absolute avoidance of any eye contact with Obama. It made him look mean.

3. Why in the world didn't anyone REALLY talk about the economy? I mean, earmarks? Really? That's not what anyone cares about right now.

4. Although it seems like a lot of commentators don't agree with me, I actually really appreciated Obama's "John is right but" phrases. I thought it sounded more responsible and measured than McCain's attacks.

5. On the other hand, McCain's toughness is going to appeal to a lot of people.

6. And come on Obama, there are so many more offensive things that you can say! You don't have to turn into McCain, but some more firmness and direct challenges to McCain would have been better.

7. I also think it is darling that McCain makes comments about his age!

8. The best part of the debate for me was the exhange about talking with "enemies" without "prerequisites". Initially I totally agreed with Obama, and theoretically I still do. However, I spoke with a friend last night about it and am now thinking more on this issue.

9. I think that Obama won, but of course I am biased. The debate actually seemed fairly close...

10. So, what do you think? Who won the debate? I want to know what you think and why, so leave me a comment!

**

On a related note, I am now really psyched for the vice president debate - especially since I spent some time watching Palin interviews online today. All of the ones I watched were so uncomfortable at best. Some moments bordered on disasters. Like this one:

Obama 2008!

So last weekend I went to an Obama Fundraiser hosted by my neighbors/classmates. It was at a vegetarian Indian restaurant (a whole new food experience for me) right down the street from my house. The food was amazing, lots of people showed up, and hundreds of dollars were raised for the Obama campaign through raffle tickets, donations, and the sale of homemade baked goods! I was really happy to be a part of it, going around to local businesses to (successfully, I might add) procure free haircuts, massages, and other things to raffle off. My roommate and I also made Obama Cupcakes to sell, and they were a big hit! Here are some pictures from the event. The first is of my neighbor and "adopted buddy" (long story) Ajla and Me. The second is of me and my friends Karolin, Ajla, and Drustva (and one other girl that I don't really know!):





Since I am now an official Obama supporter (via my hard-earned money). I'm now getting emails from the campaign. Mom - Obama is sending me emails too! I'm thinking about having a debate watch party at my house soon, so I'll post pictures here if it actually happens.

In other news, I recently bought tickets to see David Sedaris at George Washington University. I bought them through a local public radio station (represent!), so I paid more than market price, but it is worth every penny to me to actually see him live. The show is on Oct 4th, so I am counting it as an early birthday present to myself. Added bonus: My seats are in the first ten rows, front and center - the best seats in the house!

One Month

I just realized that yesterday marked the one month anniversary of my arrival to Virginia. It feels so much longer!

Over the weekend I attended the welcome dinner at ICAR. It was mostly new students and faculty, and was mostly an opportunity to attend a really fancy event. I bought a dress for the occasion, which is significant because I don't think I've work a dress since prom! Here's a pictures of me and my roommate Martha:

Also this weekend I went out with my roommate Allison and some of her friends to a place called UltraBar in DC. It's three stories of wall-to-wall people and dancing. By the way, there was a huge line to get in, but don't worry about it - we were on the guest list.

Allison is the one on the top left wearing brown.

Crazy dancing!

School right now is going well. I am working on a project for my research class, and this is bringing some relevence to my studies. My writing for the media class starts up next week. My goal for that class is to get my op-eds published SOMEWHERE (New York Times, perhaps?). If I do, then I will post it here first thing!

Watch this!

I Survived the Storm

If you are anything like me when I lived in Washington, you are probably not too aware/concerned with Tropical Storm Hannah, the most recent almost-hurricane that has visited the east coast. I, on the other hand, woke up to Hannah knocking on my door. Fortunately though, it wasn't as bad as people had predicted it would be. Basically it was just a lot of rain. Kind of like home actually! The following excerpt from a recent Washington Post article talks about the damage. To give you some perspective, Prince William County (the hardest hit) is almost an hour away from me. Fairfax county is about 15 mins. Apparently the power is out in parts of D.C. (about 15 mins away) but it is on at my house. The rain has stopped. And through it all, it stayed warm outside. Tomorrow is projected to be 85 degrees and sunny!



"Tropical Storm Hanna eased its way out of the Washington region early this evening, leaving behind closed roads, spot flooding and at least one fatality, but, despite rains that measured more than six and seven inches in spots, far less destruction than had been feared."

"The damage appears worst in Northern Virginia, where Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Prince William was the hardest-hit county in the state. Flooding in central and southern Fairfax County prompted a couple of small scale evacuations, authoritities said."

"Trees fell throughout the area, and in one Woodbridge neighborhood a tree fell on a single family home, but no injuries were reported. Rocio Chavaria, 18, was watching TV in the living room with her family when they heard a loud cracking sound. A thick branch broke through the ceiling of the kitchen."

"Water was coming in and I said 'Oh Lord'," she said. "I'm upset by the damage, but we're relieved that everybody's fine and no one got hurt."

"By 5 p.m., the wind and rain were all but gone from the area. However, dark clouds still covered the skies as Hanna headed across the Delaware Bay into southern New Jersey."

"Overall, "things are winding down," said Josh Newhard, a meteorologist at the Accuweather forecast service."

"Pepco reported about 10,000 customers without power early this evening in the District and Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Dominion Power said about 9,000Northern Virginia homes were without service."

"Since Hanna's rain bands first began hitting the region this morning, more than six inches of rain have fallen in Leesburg, and 4.8 inches at Dulles International Airport, where winds gusted to 40 miles per hour."

"As Hanna departed, it was apparent that the storm had not caused widespread damage. Though it met the meteorological standards for tropical storms, in its effects, it was essentially reminiscent of one of the area's more powerful thunderstorms."

See the full article HERE.

Name that movie! (Hint: see picture)

-Crawl, l really appreciate
what you're doing, but, l just--
l don't fit in here.

-How do you know ? You're not even
here now. You're still back there.

-Why'd you come here
in the first place, Bec ?
To try something new, right ?

-Yeah.

-Well, how can you try anything new
if you haven't even left campus yet ?

**************************************

So, I feel like the above movie quote might help to explain how I'm feeling right now. I think I am paralyzed because there is a part of me that is not really HERE yet. I miss my friends and family. I regret that I'm not working at KPLU and living in my downtown apartment the way I had planned. I can't stop thinking about how happy I would be if I had never left. And because of this, I'm not FULLY here. In the movie, Becca had the same problem. She left home to go to school across the country and she didn't feel like it was her place to be. With Crawl's help, however, she overcame that feeling. She dyed her hair, got a tattoo, and dove completely into the Southern California party scene. I feel like maybe that is not exactly what I need to do, but a similar transformation is probably in order. I need to figure out how to BE here, instead of just being here. Sooner rather than later would be great. Any advice?