07
Setting: Dupont Circle Metro platform.
Me, addressing hipster with the requisite culturally-different girlfriend: “Um, I don’t think you’re allowed to be smoking down here.”
Hipster: “We’re not from here.”
Me: “Apparently.”
22
These items were found in my wallet:
TriMet bus transfer (from Portland, Oregon)How did these items get into my wallet you ask? I’m not really sure, as I’ve never been to Portland, don’t get receipts for Metro tickets (much less buy one for only $4.00) and don’t even know what a Wetzel’s Pretzels shop is. Another search reveals there are no shops in DC. Then I remembered the other night at the movies,making my way through the concession line when someone said I had dropped something out of the my wallet and I gathered up the pieces of paper on the floor and shoved them into my wallet. It turns out, they weren’t really mine. Maybe I had dropped a receipt of sorts and it fell upon these already lost pieces of information and I hastily scooped everything up without even looking at what it was.
I’m writing this on my new iPhone 3G/s. I took the plunge.
I tried to deal with the shattered-into-100-pieces glass situ but it really got to be too much. Watching video was fine, but trying to read anything, from emails to websites, was somewhat annoying.
Yesterday I worked a cater/waiter event and made some nice cool cash and since it’s under the tax claimant limit I can run with it. This was the impetus that pushed me over the edge to decide it was time to get a new phone.
I’m up today, early from yesterday’s physical work and therefore an early evening, and I decide that this is the day. Why wait, right? The Clarendon store opens at 11:00 and I figured it was better to get there as early as I could for two reasons: a smaller crowd, and more time in the afternoon to play with the new toy.
When I get to the store I hold two new iPhones up, showing their backs. I’m still torn between the black or the white. And while I’ve leaned towards the white for its crisp look it’s still black on the interface side while you’re using it. I thought it would be cool, on the white ones, if they would make the front side top and bottom (where the ear speaker and home buttons are) white as well, and maybe have a white background for the desktop icons. So I chose the black back for its cohesiveness.
Apple apparently doesn’t want you paying cash for iPhones (afraid they will be “jailbroken” and shipped overseas or something) I have to buy a gift card and turn around and use that gift to purchase the phone. Whatevs. I have a leftover balance on the card and with that I get iTunes gift certificates.
The process to activate the new phone was pretty quick and simple. The employee helping me said it would be activated “within twenty minutes” but then about 30 seconds later it pinged and was on. My old phone was instantly turned into an iPod touch.
Now, to fill these 32 gigs up with almost all my iTunes library and even more video (Dexter episodes for $0.99 anyone?)!
25
I was trying to pick a CD to take with me for driving to Charlene’s services yesterday, and I stumbled upon Journey’s Escape, purchased with my first year roommate at UofH, when we both joined one of those music clubs to get 11 CDs for a penny. I thought Journey would be a good pick for the era that Char and I were good friends; we graduated in 1982.
I was surprised (and only a little embarrassed) to discover I knew practically all the words to every song, even the ones that weren’t radio hits. The biggest mistake was when I pulled into the funeral home’s parking lot Open Arms was playing and I was a big blubbering mess.
After the service (and decompressing at home) I went to dinner with Goldy and since she had missed her bus I told her I would take her out to Herndon where she can pick up her car from the commuter lot. Driving back into town around 11:30, with Thomas Dolby and Depeche Mode’s Speak and Spell blaring from the speakers I had an odd sense of déja vu. Twenty or twenty-five years ago I was taking the exact same route, probably at the exact same time on a Friday night, to go downtown and party. Destinations at the time would have been Winston’s or Poseurs in Georgetown, Lost & Found or maybe Badlands in Dupont. A-ha, Hall & Oates or Arcadia would most definitely have been blaring from the “tapedeck” at that time. Or maybe Styx or Journey.
After passing through the toll plaza I see the cars exit that are heading north and south on the Beltway but I and several other cars keep going, taking the most direct route into town. I wonder if they’re coming into town to do what I was doing years ago. Possibly.
Today I’ll head back out to Annapolis for Charlene’s former funeral service. I’ll bring the Escape CD with me again but I’m really wishing I had Paradise Theater or something by Heart or Pat Benatar. Wait, I’ve got it: Go-Go’s Beauty and the Beat!
08
After going to bed around 12:30 last night, I woke up at 3:00am and couldn’t get back to sleep. It is now 7:40 and I’ve given up on falling back asleep so I’ve gotten up and made coffee. But I still feel tired.
Last night I was giddy with the prospect of going to La Lomita with Melba, my first dining-out experience in the last two months. I had a $25 gift card which paid for most of my portion so I was able to rationalize the expense of going out. It was a great meal, with great conversation, and I practically licked my plate clean. Hopefully it won’t be another two months until I can return.
Usually after our nights at LL I would wake up at some point in the night, smacking my lips together and needing to hydrate from the split pitcher of margaritas earlier in the evening. Maybe that’s what woke me up last night, maybe not. For when I did wake up, it was with the abruptness of what’s-her-name in Pulp Fiction when she gets the adrenalin styringed straight into her heart. I wasn’t having a dream, at least not one that I can recall, that shocked me awake. Then I just couldn’t get back to sleep.
Now I’m counting down (and hoping I can stay awake until) brunch today. A good friend from NYC, Nancy, is down this weekend and offered to take me to brunch. See how the love is flowin’ y’all? We’re meeting up at Rosemary’s Thyme which I have never been to. Oh! Let’s check out their brunch menu. I think egg’s benedict (always a favorite) or maybe the cured salmon. Or maybe the spinach ravioli from the lunch menu?
I went with the eggs benedict. They were good, but not as good as the eggs neptune at Busboys & Poets that I had a couple of weeks ago. Also joining for brunch was Glen, and also down from New York. He’s a freelance web designer and combined with Nancy’s ad agency experience they really sparked me up on the New York job market and are going to return home and see if they can dig up any contacts or job opportunities up there in the Big Apple.
They had a couple of hours before their train left so we scooted over to the National Building Museum. We visited the Detour exhibit: new and unique rest stops and pit stops along Norway’s National tourist Routes; and Green Community: pollution-contaminated urban spaces and their steps towards turnaround to a viable, livable and public-transit-friendly communities. The Detour exhibit had great models and photography and we discussed how great it would be if our government’s “stimulus package” would incorporate some clever, unique designs instead of awarding the contract to the lowest bidding contractor. Probability factor: not likely. The Green Community exhibit had some really cool electronics in it, including traffic lane entrances that while you walked forward, the vehicle you were standing over (I ended up in the bike lane) would move with you and give you information on that mode of travel. At the end of the exhibit was this wonderfully animated touch-screen of an evolving community and the choices that can be made to improve it and why those options are beneficial. Fun stuff.
18
First, an early morning trip back to the Grocery store: chicken breasts (and some thighs for making soup) and frozen pizzas.
Purchase: $40.55
Balance: $87.94
Club Card Savings: $31.84 (44% of purchase)
Then, onto the day. What was supposed to be an early afternoon departure down to The Mall turned into a phone call with Kenny Sss and then heading down to The Mall. KSss is also unemployed and has recently started to re-enter the resumé game so there was a lot of pointing things in the right direction and being okay with it if nothing came ’round. He’s always a good center for me and I should have talked with him sooner but sometimes things need to spiral a bit before the upswing begins. And that’s all fine.
I get a little bit of a late start to the day to head down to the inaugural concert on The Mall. I took the D6 thinking I would get off at Farragut Square and walk on down, but once downtown it was entirely gridlocked. With cars and people, it was like Times Square in New York or Chinatown in DC after a game lets out of Verizon’s MCI Center. But it was everywhere, it didn’t dissipate. So I excited at 11th St and walked on down to The Mall. People were everywhere! It was amazing.
The open part of The Mall was crowded and I could see how the actual inauguration was going to be setup with the Jumbotrons and how they were allowing access. But moving further down past the Washington Monument was where everyone was packed in, this is where the concert was happening. I was getting there a little late but still had the opportunity to hear Obama speak. Really amazing, Tuesday is going to be incredible. Of course, on the mass exiting, I get frustrated with the moronic tourists not getting out of my way, and it’s made me rethink going down on Tuesday. I’d still like to, but now I’m on the fence.
Here’s Obama’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial:
06
First blog post of ’09. Whatevs.
Today I will be doing my best James Evans impersonation as I apply for government assistance and food stamps, just as soon as I polish off this pot of coffee. Coffee is a luxurious commodity that cannot be wasted.
I have use of Goldy’s car today (kthxbai!!1!) and that would make it a lot easier to get to The Man’s office on Rhode Island Ave, but the food stamp office is on North Cap. There’s ample parking on RI but not at NC. So I think I’m going to take the bus/train so that I can get all of this completed in one day.
I think I hear the bus go by (early) and run outside to check but it’s only a large truck. Looking the other way, the bus is two blocks away (early) so I scramble to grab everything and run outside. I hadn’t set my umbrella out, so I’m hoping the rain was only in the morning and will hold off this afternoon. I did manage to make a PB+J to take with me though. I think it’s going to be a long day.
Since I live and pay taxes in DC yet worked in the H8ST8, the DC online filing page said I would need to come into their 1500 Franklin St NE location to file my claim, hence today’s excursion into the wet and cold. When I get there, it turns out that I need to file in the H8ST8. Could DC have put a link on their page for residents who work in MD or VA?? DC Governent Web 1.0: FAIL. So now I can go home and file online, now that I have the VA web address. Oh DC, why do you make it so difficult?
Yet walking up Rhode Island Ave, I did pass the former Salvation Army where 12 years ago I purchased a blue & green lamp that went perfectly with the blue & green split couch I had at the time. The SalArm is now Gussini Fashion & Shoes.
Now it’s on to DHS, where (I’ve been told) you have to apply in person for food assistance. It’s right before lunchtime so there will be fewer clerks doing their duties, so this oughta be fun.
DHS: 60 minutes and counting…
DHS: 120 minutes and counting…
The book that I brought to read is Less Than Zero, a paperback edition I purchased in 1986. In it are two bookmarkers. The first is a ticket stub from General Cinema, ticket price is $3.75. The second is a Houston bus transfer from May 20, 1992. Punches in the transfer show I was headed east on the 42 line, probably headed to school.
After waiting 10 minutes shy of three hours, I’m finally called to speak with my case worker (I have a case worker!). Mr. Davis asked questions, made copies of papers and entered a lot of information into his locked-to-the-desk-with-a-cable Dell computer. He even signed me up for Medicaid. I’m totally living off the state now. I think it’s time to start listening to some early 80s British ska music.
I didn’t bring my work termination letter because the unemployment people said I wouldn’t need it, but apparently DHS does. I need to go back down there at some point this month and turn that in for next month’s check. But I can go tomorrow (to a smaller, less crowded gubmint location) and pick up my food stamps card. $148 per month. Pretty generous, huh?
20
I’m standing here at 2:31 in the you-know-what morning and I’m waiting for the last D6 of the evening to take me home.
Down the road, on Mass just west of Dupont, the lights are flashing and the sirens are going off: The Dick needs a haircut or a blowjob and therefore nothing else matters, much less my plight to make it home for a $1.25 bus fare versus $15.00 for a cab. Traffic will be re-routed and I will assume my position among the homeless, walking aimlessless but yet pointing myself towards home.
Yes, this what I am forced to deal with as an unemployed person. Thanks Georgie how the fuck did we ever get to this and could I please have some of the billions of gazillions of dollars you’ve spent on making yourself a more rich oil family?? I hope you and you personals die horrible deaths and finally, in your privileged lives, find out how the rest of us feel. You can burn in hell for all I care.
On top of everything I am forced to relocate myself to a bus stop which is in front of a previous boyfriend’s apartment, and could I not be more sickened?
19
Here it is: I was laid off on Tuesday. Technically Monday, but as I was still recooping from the weekend’s germ-fest I didn’t get the news until I went in Tuesday morning.
I was fearing this would be happening, but didn’t really think it would. But then it did. Five others were also laid off, cutting the studio staff by 20%. That’s a pretty big cut. I figured that if any of the production managers would be cut that it would be me, considering the year I’ve had.
So now what to do? I’ve been taking this week and sleeping in (except for today) and taking it easy. I’ve looked into (and when I say that, I mean I investigated some websites) receiving unemployment benefits and after advice from friends, signing up for food stamps. Which apparently are not really stamps anymore, but are issued in credit card form. I guess that will help alleviate some embarrassment at the checkout line but I’m sure the cashiers know. The unemployment place is on Rhode Island Ave in Brentwood and the food stamp place is at H St NW & North Capitol so that will be a fun day of running around on the bus system. But not today because it’s raining and cold and nasty out.
I’ll get my final paycheck at the end of the month, so that will at least pay rent thru January. I’ve already told friends that I’m not going to be going out for dinners or even one drink and I’m counting my quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. Jeff took me out to dinner at Argonaut on Tuesday which was really thoughtful. And Goldy showed up on Wednesday with some groceries which I thought was really just the sweetest thing to do. She included pastas/sauces, soups, clementines, toiletries, even a bag of Funjuns. Now I’ve got to make sure I eat all my perishables first and stretch out what’s in my cupboard as long as I can.
I also have to quit my gym membership because that’s too expensive to hold on to while I’m pinching costs elsewhere.
I’ll go in this weekend to clear out my office, which has over eight years of personal and goofy stuff that has accumulated. I’ll need to clean off my hard drive too of mp3s and photos and other stuff; this will probably take longer than cleaning out my office.
26
It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and most folk have already left town because nobody really lives here or has family in this hellhole of a city town.
Those of us that haven’t left yet are going to work and carrying on with the rest of our daily routine. For me, that consists of a bus, a train, another train and then another bus. It’s a fragile time-sensitive schedule that has to work together in order to get me where I need to be in a timely manner.
This morning I’m at the bus stop on time and make it to Union Station in pretty good time; there aren’t a lot of stops as there aren’t a lot of passengers to pick up or drop off along the way.
Then, at U-Stat where I’m waiting for my first train transfer, is where The Delay happens. A train is held up somewhere on the Red Line. Because the entire Metro system is run from a computer program from 1976 that uses punch cards, this means all red trains going in my direction are delayed. But the red trains running in the opposite direction are free to keep running, of course. Eight of them went by as I waited.
Almost 30 minutes later a train is coming down my track but it’s one of those hilarious pranks that Metro likes to play on passengers: it’s an empty car. Looks like it’s running fine to me, so why not make all the stops along the way? Haha, that’s a good one, Metro, happy fucksgiving to you too!
A few minutes later a train doing its actual job comes through and picks up us unfortunate work-up-until-the-holiday folk. You would think the tunnel ahead would be empty since a train hasn’t come through in half a hour save the one that was barreling through without stopping at the stations. And yet the train I’m on crawls through to the next two stops where I can transfer to my next train. Fun and not stressful at all! Thanks for the headache this morning!
Note to those attending Inauguration Day: if you can walk to The Mall in under 120 minutes, do it. You’ll get there quicker than if you took Metro. If the system’s having 30+ minutes delays on one of their lightest passenger days of the year, I fear to think what is going to happen when you add an estimated five million more people to the mix.