Killing Time

Another week, no word on the job situation. Le sigh. So, I have been trying to find ways to kill time while I wait. Most days I have hung out in my room, sleeping late and reading. A strange lethargy has overcome me; perhaps it is the heat, which until today was gawdawful. I did do a few things interesting things during the week, however.

Monday afternoon I went over to Old Town Alexandria, which, as the name suggests, is the old section of Alexandria, Virginia, that is just across the Potomac from DC. It dates to colonial times, and boasts that it was the childhood home to one Robert E. Lee, of Confederate general fame. So there's that.

The town is as you might expect. A lot of old buildings that, architecturally, date to probably the 1700s or the early 1800s, obviously since refurbished and repurposed. But other than its oldness, it is pretty similar to a lot of cutesy, upscale small town main drags: several chain upscale boutique-like stores, such as Francesca's Collection, or Chico's. Mixed in with, of course, a lot of independent, small business boutique stores. And coffee shops. And independent cafes. And the obligatory Starbucks (or five). In all it is a pleasant enough town; I enjoyed it because (big surprise) of the old buildings and historical nature of the place.

I wandered around for a while, taking pictures. It was real, real warm. And humid. God I hate humidity. I stopped into a coffee shop/gelato place to get some water, and gelato due to said aforementioned heat. I had a very interesting kind of gelato, which was a "chili chocolate." As you might expect, the flavor was a standard chocolate flavor, with some kind of chili powder in it. It was good, but also a strange sensation of each spoonful being simultaneously cold and hot. The cold hit first, almost immediately followed by the heat at the back of the throat. I liked it, although they might have gone a bit heavy on the chili powder. Not because of the heat level, but because I could kind of taste a raw chili flavor, like one finds in, well, a bowl of chili. So it was kind of weird to taste that along with chocolate. But it was good. The place is called Killer E.S.P., and is located at 1012 King Street, Alexandria. If you are in town, it is worth a stop.

Pictures or it didn't happen:

View of King Street, the main drag through Old Town Alexandria

Alexandria's city hall. They don't really "do" subtle around here

Old colonial mansion, apparently repurposed as the home of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. Classy*.

The thing about DC and the immediate outlying areas, is that it is somewhat culturally deceptive. Yeah, it's the South. But you don't really hear people with a Southern drawl, or if there is one, it isn't that pronounced. And DC itself is fairly cosmopolitan. The whole area kind of has a typical, almost vaguely European feel. One can tend to forget that one is technically south of the Mason-Dixon line. You want to think, "yeah OK, but Virginia isn't *really* the South. It's a blue state, c'mon."

Aaaaand then something like this happens:

"The Marshall House stood upon this site, and within the building on the early morning of May 24, 1961, James W. Jackson was killed by Federal soldiers while defending his property and personal rights, stated in the verdict of the coroners jury. He was the first Martyr to the cause of Southern Independence. The Justice of history does not permit his name to be forgotten. Not in the excitement of battle, but cooly, and for a great principle, he laid down his life, an example to all, in defence of his home and the sacred soil of his native state, VIRGINIA. Erected by the sons and daughters of Confederate soldiers." So... that happened

Old Town Alexandria can be reached by public transportation on the Yellow Line of the DC Metro, at the King Street-Old Town stop.

The other thing of some interest that I did this week was go to the National Zoo, located in the Cleveland Park neighborhood. Run by the Smithsonian Institute, it is another attraction in the area that is my favorite price of free. I didn't get there until around 3:00PM in the afternoon, and my god was it hot and humid. I was like dying. And about 15 minutes after I arrived, I got trapped in the gift shop for 45 minutes while they shuffled everyone off of the main road through the zoo, and didn't let us leave our designated spot until a (very) large truck was finished transporting a new Asian elephant to the elephant enclosure (truck and elephant were complete with their own motorcade and police escort. Must have been one damn important elephant). I alas did not get to see said elephant, save for one part of its trunk that was sticking out of the back window. Anyway, below are some of the better pictures that I took for the day there, because if you know one thing about me, it's that I love animals.

Entrance to National Zoo from Connecticut Avenue

Some gazelle and other Savannah-based antelopish creatures

Zebras

Cheetahs hanging out in the shade. It's a hard-knock life...

ZOMG Panda!

IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GUNNA DIE!

OMNOMNOM

I do like parrots. They are very pretty birds, so colorful

Who can? Toucan! ...K I'll stop now

Hooty-hoot!

Not, in fact, an ostrich, but rather an emu

Flamingos: inspiring tragic American lawn "art" since 1950

Something about this sign just struck me as patently ridiculous/absurd

This was kind of cool: from the plaque next to it, "Pennsylvania Station Eagle. Adolph A. Weinman, 'Knoxville Marble' Limestone, 1910. A gift from the Pennsylvania Railroad to the Smithsonian Institution for the National Zoological Park, 1965. For years, this eagle watched over New York commuters from the facade of Pennsylvania Station. When the old station was demolished in 1963 [a tragedy, IMO] for the construction of Madison Square Garden, there was much demand to preserve the sculptures and architectural features. Today, of the 22 original eagles, only 14 are known to exist." And apparently the Smithsonian got one, and it is chilling in the Zoo. Ah, New York. I miss New York

Some kind of stunted horse. It looked like a donkey, but apparently was not

Orangutan: out of f***s to give

Why alligators and related species are the most terrifying, ever. Those beady little eyes above the water, always still and watching

Kind of hard to see, but that is the head of a lion. That liked to roar. A lot.

Not going to lie, I am one of those people who thinks it would be totally badass to have wolf for a pet

The National Zoo is located at 3001 Connecticut Avenue, NW. It is accessible via either the Woodley Park-Zoo or Cleveland Park Metro stops, both on the red line. The grounds of the zoo are open 6:00AM-8:00PM, the special exhibit houses (for example, the ape house) are open 10:00AM-6:00PM. Cafes, gift shops, and the visitor center are all open 9:00AM-5:00PM. During the winter months (November-March), the grounds close at 6:00PM and the exhibit houses close at 4:30PM. All other hours are the same.

*It is probably actually a good thing that they research mesothelioma. It's just that every time I see "mesothelioma," I can't help but think of those sketchy TV lawyer commercials about hiring a personal injury lawyer for mesothelioma claims.