A Trip To DC

So a few Thursdays ago I woke up at 5am to drive down to Washington DC for a career fair at Georgetown U. The drive down was noisy, which made me sad. Really, people, who is actually awake enough to talk at that ungodly hour of day?
The career fair was....fairly unfruitful, methinks. I really don't like career fairs that much, I've decided. Not only do the table runners not usually want people for hire, but they're also not going to really help you get a job at that organization. A lot of the organizations were either looking for on-the-spot-start-work-on-Monday candidates or people with 5-7 years experience in the field of choice. Both options are not probably going to help out COLLEGE STUDENTS in job hunts. What college kid has either 5-7 years working in Cambodia already? I finally finished stealing lots of good treats and goodies from the recruiters and tried getting off of the campus to meet up with Aimee on some main street. Well, I got lost on the Georgetown campus. Mind you, I'm not used to campuses, so I was nervous because I was on closed fields of students, and it was quiet, and I was lost.
I finally found my way off of campus and back into real civilization - grumpy and tired and hungry - and I just HAPPENED to run into Lidjia from ScPo in Paris! AND she was holding a baguette, to boot! It was a great run-in, and she brought me by Rahul's house (who was also a buddy in France) to say a brief hello. I don't understand how I also happen to run into people from one part of the world in completely random other parts of the world. It's kind of creepy, the rate that it happens to me.
Anyways, I finally eat downtown some salad and waited for Aimee to pick me up. We ended up going to her friend Maureen's for dinner (gluten-free pizza, anyone?) and girls' night discussions. We finally stumbled back to Aimee's place and went to bed relatively early.

Just a quick note: Aimee's cat sleeps with me on my bladder. I'm glad that the cat likes me enough to cuddle at nighttime, but it's hard waking up in the middle of the night feeling really heavy and having a strong urge to use the facilities.

Friday Aimee accidentally locked me in her apartment, meaning no running, so instead I completely cleaned her place for a few hours instead. Afterwards I headed off to work at our organization's DC office, which is completely different than the NYC office. Kind of interesting, really...
Anyways, dinner was with Aimee and her boyfriend, Mike, at Legal Sea Foods. Another great gluten-free meal, where I ate far too much. Good wine, too.

I finally got my run on Saturday! A good 4-miler put me back in a good mood, and I felt compelled afterwards to drag Aimee to shop at Potomac Mills for some essentials that I lacked.
We met up for dinner at Five Guys, meaning I completely backstepped my dietary habits with a big greasy burger (no bun) and a LOT of fries. Since I'd already put the day's diet to hell, I decided to drive it home with a fabulous Mississippi Mud Pie at Cosi.
We went then to this bar, Buffalo Billiards, for someone's birthday. I knew no one, but then quickly finding myself flirting with a cute guy all night long. He's from Michigan. He's a musician and violinist. He was really cute. Too bad for me that he's so far away. At least I gave him my number, right? Aimee also interrogated the guy, once drunk, about whether or not he was a good guy. Thanks, sister, I'll take it from there.

Sunday was the drive back to the city. I had a nightmare drive back, though; imagine those commercials where these really skinny guys are being squished up to the wall of the bus by a gargantuan person in the seat next to them. That was me. Next to a 300-400 pound woman, and making love to the window for about 4.5 hours. I think it was the first time in my life I actually felt genuinely small.
Got home and went into grocery shopping chaos! Everyone and their mother were in the Whole Foods with me, and I didn't know what to do with myself! Just exercise patience, I guess.

Some Little Thiings & One Bigger Thing

Last weekend I had lunch with my older friend Billy. We got sushi. It was nice to see him. He's an interesting guy; he is from Venezuela but moved to Minneapolis for education. Then he moved to NYC in the summer for cathartic healing after a divorce. And now he's back in MN selling all of his possessions so he can hop from place to place as an art educator. He was visiting NYC for a few days to do some business deals, I think.
Anyways, we talked and joked a lot. The sushi was good. I am calling him Amen Ra now because he looks just like a toss-up between a pharaoh and Mr. Clean.

I celebrated Valentine's Day with Lauren and Jenni. I ended up buying an entire wheel of French Camembert at Murray's (because I can eat French cheeses somehow) and apricot spread. We feasted on cookies (dough and cooked), chocolate goods, and cheese. The wheel was finished quickly. And I had a bloated stomach for a few days after. We enjoyed our Love Day enough, and I think we got more out of it than most did.

The next day I ate dinner with Andy & his lover boy, Evan. Evan is a great guy! I feel like I can really connect with him, which is fabulous. We ate at my favorite, VP2, and discussed my shamanic journey. Andy and I ended up getting dessert afterwards at Whole Foods (berries and soy chocolate pudding!) and discussed more about our lives and his medical endeavors.

I had another session at Sanavita. It was a completely different experience from the time before; this time, I was completely awake and a aware of everything during and after the journey. Alexander, my friendly shaman, pin-pointed one of my main human struggles, and we worked through it. He reminded me that people with our strength in energy shouldn't focus our energy in concentrated amounts because it's too powerful. I am starting to understand the shamanic journey now.
I played with his babies afterwards for about an hour. They are absolutely adorable, but I made the infant boy cry a bit, I'm afraid. Too much?
Then I went back to Lauren to talk about my healing session. As always. We have interesting conversations that no one else would be able to handle, I feel.

This week has been a lot of...just...preparing. Take that for what it's worth.

I also got tea with Natasha, after about over a year of neglect. She looked like she was a bit out of it. Afterwards I drank tea with Rob, my rock. He always makes me giggle and laugh, just because of his ridiculous stories. Quite a change between those two tea dates. Rob ended up scolding me for much of the night about men's names and that I was never allowed to date men with these "soft" names (hahahahahahahahaha *breathe* hahahahahahahah). And I still need to teach Rob how to salsa...I promised.

I keep sleeping through yoga class! I need to get that under control.
Working on Friday...in DC

A Controversy

Alright, this seriously the world out to get me...
All I have wanted the last few days are pomegranate seeds!!!
Not pomegranate juice.
Not pomegranate-flavored stuff.
Not pomegranate smoothies.
The seeds.
Give me a pomegranate, and I shall shuck it.

But no, not in Whole Foods, nor in any nearby bodega are there pomegranates to be found.
I have searched high and low. To no avail!
And let me tell you; pomegranate juice does NOT cut it! It doesn't even taste like the seed part!

This mission is not over. Oh, no. It is war now: me versus merchants hiding my prized seeds.

Another Quick Update

Loads is going on. I'm not necessarily saying my life is interesting. I go to the gym, I go to school, I go to work, I go to bed. Rinse, repeat. That's my life in a nutshell. But I'll fill in quickly on some key events that have happened since my last brief...

Lauren and I celebrated a very merry un-birthday (as noted earlier) on the Saturday between our birthdays. It was great! I started the day with going to Lululemon's for my hemmed pants, and then I met up with Lauren to start the night of festivities. We first went to La Paella and had some tapas for a meal. And it was very good. I've gotten her hooked on tapas, I think.
Afterward, we discovered a bakery (Pinisi) next to our hookah bar (Sultana) and pre-gamed the night with our own slices of flourless chocolate cake (called the "xs"). Let me just tell you...it was magnificent and heavenly! So gooey and rich! We have been going back ever since just to order a slice or two of that cake. And they have other good cakes, too, but we rarely venture to their other products.
The Sultana tea party was subdued, but good. Not everyone who promised to come came, but those who did come had a good time with us, and we laughed, drank glorious mint green tea, and ate more. Their Moroccan Cigars and grape leaves were amazing....but their cakes were also amazing! We ended up getting more cake for us, sharing, and the owner of the hookah lounge gave us a birthday cake to boot! By the end of our time at the lounge, Lauren and I were completely stuffed and drunk with cake.
We went out to visit some friends at a few bars, but we didn't do much while there. We were far too full to drink anything, so we ended up going back to her place early and played with her Tarot Cards.

The next week I became extremely sick. I had an ear infection, a sinus infection, and I struggled with flu symptoms for two days. I ended up going to the doctor on Wednesday for her to tell me that my 99.2F temperature wasn't a fever (which, it was), and then she dolled me a doctor's note and some drugs to get me back to normal. I missed class on Wednesday, and I was miserable on Thursday. I even had to leave a Reynold's Speaker Event early (I was excited about it, too) because I was unable to think or listen at all. I finally got better, after a few days of misery.

I got a really cheap haircut at Aveda's Institute! It was really interesting; the student took 2 hours with me and my hair, to make sure that my trim was not going to get messed up, and I was monitored by some supervisor, too! The haircut was a great deal, and I'd probably do it again.
Lauren and I celebrated the Superbowl by eating exorbitant amounts of chocolate and avocado dip at her apartment. We oggled at the commercials online (I loved the eTrade ones), but otherwise didn't bother watching the game. We just kept the windows open and listened to the bars around us and people's reactions to the game. NYC was CRAZY after the Giants won, and the streets were full of shouts and screams until late that night.

I had dinner with Dad on Monday at a really nice place, Lumi. Their salmon was really fabulous! And Dad indulged my sweet tooth a lot that night with an added trip to my little favorite spot uptown, Corrado. We had a nice talk, too. It was a good night.
I went to FIAF on Tuesday and, despite really frustratingly struggling with my French that day, made a group of friends who have agreed to try to put together a French restaurant run sometime soon so we can continue our French speaking.
Work's been really really busy. There's a LOT to do, I stay late, and I don't think it'll be possible to finish all of my projects by June. At least I really like my co-workers and my boss. Great people.

I had dinner with Danie at Gobo on Friday after work. We talked and caught up, but it was short-lived because she wanted to sleep early. Welcome to my life for the past month. I feel like I crash earlier and earlier as time progresses. 10pm?! Come on, really now.
I ended up meeting up with Nate and his friends for a little bit that night, too. That wasn't very eventful, so not much to say but that I really hate PDA.

Yesterday I had an amazing experience at SanaVita. I had a shamanic journey, let's just say, and I learned a whole lot about myself. Lots of things happened with the shaman that were....out of this world. And I feel a lot better from that. I already booked next week to do something similar with him.
I ended up hanging out with Lauren, Jenni, and Matt the rest of the night. We ate (stuffed ourselves is more like it) at Casa Mono. Really excellent tapas, once again. The food was soooo good, and we were all giddy with the quality of the food afterwards. After, though, Lauren and I ended up spending the night low key and gushing about our spiritual selves.

That's all that's been going on. In a nutshell, at least.