Random Things about D.C.

I have been in the District now for almost two months (more than halfway done with my time here...wow). In that time, I have observed some things about the city and its inhabitants that are idiosyncratic. Every city does have their idiosyncrasies, but DC seems to have a lot, and a lot of "ticks" that are rather unique to it. Here is a list of some of the more prominent things I have noticed:

1. Charter schools. On my walks to and from work, and around the city generally, I tend to observe the scenery and world around me (sometimes at the expense of looking where I am going...whoops). I have noticed something strange: I haven't seen one "normal" public school. All of the non-private schools are some form of Charter school, which is really more like a quasi-private public school. I know that charter schools are becoming more of a (somewhat controversial) thing in cities --Chicago has several, whose ads are always gracing the insides of El cars-- but Chicago and most cities also still have their regular "neighborhood" public schools. In two months here, I have yet to see one regular public school. This is actually one of the first things I noticed when I got here. It's weird, and gets me wondering if DC is on some kind of program or policy where all of its public schools are now charter?

2. There are three types of people (well, professionals anyway) in DC: 1)lawyers, 2) consultants, or 3)consultants who want to become lawyers, and vice versa. Literally everyone I have run into in DC --whether coworkers, or people at "networking" events, or the time on the Metro I randomly ran into a girl I graduated high school, operates in one of those three categories. I guess there is also the odd doctor, because people get sick and need hospitals, but like everyone else is a lawyer or a consultant. Even people who are not actively practicing in those areas, have some kind of degree (JD for law, idk what for consulting) that is geared towards law or consulting. I guess this is not surprising, since DC's industry is government, and government is mostly lawyers, and what private sector there is, is geared toward supporting or catering to government. But I have never really been in a city with such a generally homogenous group of people.

Image courtesy of memegenerator

3. No one is from here. Kind of an addendum to the above, but very few people I have met are from DC, or even the immediate surrounding area. Again, this makes sense, because it is the nation's capital, where people come from all over the land under the federal government's jurisdiction to (in theory anyway) govern the country. In a lot of cities --particularly New York and Chicago-- you get a lot of people that were born, raised, and stayed in the city or immediate surrounding areas, and have never left. Or they left briefly and then came back. Of course DC is physically smaller and has fewer people than these cities, so it is natural that there would be fewer native DC-ites, but just how few there are is kind of surprising.

4. People here talk in code. Again because DC is ground zero for government business and (more to the point) bureaucracy, there are lots of departments of the government all over the city. There are also just a lot of agencies --public interest, NGOs, think tanks, etc. And much of the work that is done in DC, is codified in and carried out pursuant to federal statutes. What do all of these three things have in common? If you guessed, "You can essentially boil the names of those entities down to easy-sounding acronyms," you'd be right: FEC, FTC, CII, SEC, ACLU, FOIA. All important and prominent thins within the District, all will fun acronyms. And for the most part, people only refer to these things by their acronyms. But, for the uninitiated, it means they pretty much speak in code: when every noun in a sentence is some kind of acronym, the sentence has no meaning if you don't know the acronym. May as well be speaking ancient Greek. So yeah, that took some getting used to. I guess that is why they call DC "alphabet city."

Pretty much this

Back in D.C.

Well, I am back in DC. Have been since Friday evening. One reason I love the East Coast: It's like Europe -- in a few hours, you can be somewhere completely new, unlike in California (where I grew up), where five hours of driving in any one direction and... you're still in California. The Greyhound bus service is great for moving around the East Coast: cheap and easy. So I left Connecticut on Friday morning. Since I didn't really have a reason to rush back to DC, I decided to give myself a few hours in New York City (I had to make a connection there anyway to get the bus back to DC, so why not). I had hoped to meet up for lunch with some law school friends who are working as summer associates in NYC, but alas they have like, actual jobs right now, so they couldn't meet up. So it was just me.

I have to say, there is nothing quite like a day in the City to lift one's spirits. It was a perfect day, too: I got in around 11:00AM, and it was sunny out, slightly breezy, probably in the mid-70s and not humid. I inevitably ended up in Times Square again (because that is where the Port Authority bus terminal is and, let's face it, I always inevitably end up in Times Square when I am in New York, purposefully or not). Because, unless I am seeing theatre, Times Square is not my most favorite part of the city, I high-tailed it out, and walked north towards Central Park. I grabbed some lunch at a diner (it was "meh"), and then parked myself under the shade in Central Park, and proceeded to read my book. It was, in a word, delightful. I got to intermittently people-watch, which I always like to do in New York City. I would have liked to have walked around and explored more, but I was lugging a bunch of crap with me -- my heavy laptop case, my grocery bag of clothes, and my purse -- so walking around would have been both unpleasant and impractical. So I enjoyed the scenery and great weather instead. Central Park is like one of my favorite places in NYC anyway, so it was all good.

On my way to Central Park, I spotted The Soup Man, the restaurant that inspired the "no soup for you!" bit from Seinfeld

Central Park. How could you say "no" to this?

I love this town

New York City: always love to see you, always hate to have to leave you. I hope one day I can make it back, permanently.

Anyway, I am back in DC now. On Saturday, I went to a Washington Nationals game, against the Colorado Rockies. It was a sunny day, but holy hell was it hot. I had seats in the sun (naturally), so I even splurged and bought a Nationals baseball cap at the stadium so that my face wouldn't fry. Even then, about halfway through the game, I had to move into an empty seat in the shade, because I was starting to feel like I was getting heat sickness or something. Unfortunately, it was a bit too late, and while I didn't get heat stroke, the back of my neck and the tops of my shoulders got a bit cooked.

You know who else got cooked? The Nationals. I didn't get to the game until the top of the 3rd inning, and already the Rockies were up 3-0. Bad sign. The game ended up 7-1 Rockies; the Nationals only got their one home run in the 9th, and besides that, I can probably count on two hands the number of times a runner even got on base, through the whole game. It was kind of bad. The Nationals could neither hit, nor strike people out. The halves of innings where the Rockies were batting, probably lasted twice as long as the half of the inning where the Nationals were at bat. Too bad, so sad. Other than the heat and the outcome, though, it was fun to go to the game, and I am glad I went. You can do worse for $25.

Entering Nationals Park

Washington Nationals v. Colorado Rockies

Scoreboard. Not actually reflecting the sad state of the score of the game, however

In other news, I get to start my job tomorrow! Security finally came through. Won't be able to blog about the job, so this will be the last update on that front. But at least I can start, and this odyssey is over. Huzzah!

Link Round-up: Nice Things

There seems to be a lot of negativity in the world these days, and a lot going around to make people feel down. From violence and turbulence, to a non-existant job market while the loans stack up, sometimes (or often) it can be difficult to keep a positive disposition. Often when I am feeling frustrated (which seems to be, for me anyway, the most prominent negative emotion to surface lately), I go online to try to find distraction, and something reaffirm my faith in the world. So I am instituting a new feature to the blog, that will pop up from time to time: Link Round-up. Link Round-up will be a collection of five links to "things" found around the internet, with a mostly-positive theme attached to them (things that are funny, things that are cray-cray, etc.). Tonight's round-up are things that are "nice," as in things that when I saw them, I went "hey, that's really cool/nice." Without further ado:

Nice Things

1. Finding out that my friend Kathryn was selected as poet of the month. She also has a blog, which you can check out here.

2. Brazil using superheroes to fight pediatric cancer.

3. Ten year old owning it on America's Got Talent.

4. Finland starting new mothers out on the right foot.

5. Separated pets being reunited with their owners after the Oklahoma tornado.

Book Review: The 13.5 Lives of Captain Bluebear

Still not working, I have spent a lot of my down time reading. Before leaving for DC I packed a recent acquisition with me, The 13.5 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. I had seen it in a used bookstore in Berkeley, CA, but the store was cash only and I had no cash on me. So i made a mental note of the book, and bought it online. Given the large amount of free time I have, even though it is roughly 700 pages, I have finished it.

As a side-note, reading for pleasure is such a welcome change. I don't know how long it has been since I have really read for pleasure, either due to time constraints or "reading burnout" from 90% of my out-of-class work being reading material. It is really nice to just read a great story. So I am grateful to this book for letting me rediscover the simple pleasure of just reading a story.

The Review:

The 13.5 Lives of Captain Bluebear is a novel written by German author Walter Moers. If I had to describe the book in one word, it would be: delightful. This novel is essentially a children's story for adults. I imagine that children would like it as well, but it also should appeal to any adults who still retain child-like wonder at a good story.

My copy of The 13.5 Lives of Captain Bluebear

Part fantasy, part adventure story, the novel tells the tale of Bluebear, a blue bear who lives on the mythical continent of Zamonia. It tells the story of the first half of his life -- or rather, the first 13.5 of his 27 lives as a Bluebear (as all Bluebears have 27 lives). A "life" in the story is essentially a chapter in the novel, each chapter describing a distinct time, in a distinct place, where Bluebear got into a distinct adventure. The reader follows Bluebear as he goes through all of these stages of the first 13.5 periods in his life, from adventure to adventure.

This is not a profound novel in the way that something by an author like Kafka or Cormac McCarthy is "profound." It does not to aspire to pretensions of being the next great work of literature. But in its own unassuming way, it is, because the author gives over completely to a world of uninhibited imagination. And he is able to do so through compelling storytelling such that the reader cares about the characters, even though they are wacky and fantastical, such as the blob-like alien Gelatine Prince Qwerty from the 2364th dimension. I have read a lot of books and novels and short stories; I tend to be kind of an at-arms-length reader, so I often don't get personally invested in (or react to) the characters any more than a standard reader would in order to enjoy the story. That being said, in all those stories and books, I have rarely had such a palpable dislike or outright hostility towards a character, than I had towards one of the main villains in the novel, a equally fantastical and not-at-all-real Trogolotroll. I think that the fact that the author can elicit such emotion and response from readers to characters who, by their basic external descriptions, are patently absurd, is a testament to the compelling strength and effectiveness of Moers' storytelling, plot and character development. The novel succeeds because while it maintains an almost childlike creativity in putting the world of Zamonia to paper, it manages to realistically convey experiences and emotional responses to those experiences that the adult reader would recognize from our own world. As a law student who spends her days in the mire of the very real reality of everyday life, of always looking at the world through the lens of the completely logical and sound, escaping to this world of gleeful non-logic and zaniness, was a welcome and much-needed break. As a law student or lawyer, you sometimes get moments where you can be creative (think of defenses like "the Twinkie defense"), but don't often get moments where you can imagine. I thank this book for allowing me to do so.

Other reviewers of the book (on Amazon.com) have said that the novel is stylistically and structurally similar to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and that if the reader enjoys Hitcherhiker's, he or she will enjoy Bluebear. Having never read Hitchhiker's, I cannot attest to the validity of this statement. But, I can say that if you are an adult who enjoys stories that celebrate imagination, that give over to the fun of storytelling, while all the while retaining something fundamentally and recognizably "human" in the experiences it relates, then you will enjoy this novel.

The novel is, as I said, a bit over 700 pages, but is actually a pretty quick read. The language is not complicated, and it is quick-paced. It is also interspersed with equally delightful illustrations of the characters and Zamonian landscape, which cuts down on the actual word-length of the novel.

Example of Moers' whimsical illustrations. From page 276

Overall, I would give the book 8.5/10.

Antiquing

Another day not working. So I decided to scope out some more of D.C., and go "antiquing." "Antiquing" is apparently an actual hobby thing that people do, hence there being a name for it. Basically, it entails going to a bunch of antique shops in a day, and looking for good prices on cool finds.

Because I love old things (and pretty much anything historical. I am a total history nerd), I decided that going antiquing would be fun. I figured that D.C. would be a good a place as any to hunt for old antiques, since the whole area goes back to colonial time. There is bound to be some good stuff out there. So I went on the internet and looked up a few places that are supposedly good antique stores. I found three-- one of them is on U Street near Adams Morgan, the other two were in Georgetown (natch). So I started at the one on U Street (since U Street is the next stop after my metro stop, so it was on the way), and then went to Georgetown.

The first place I went was called Goodwood. It is located at 1428 U Street NW, about 2-3 blocks past the U Street Metro stop. It was your pretty standard antiques store: had a range on nick-nacky things; a lot of smaller items like jewelry or small home goods type stuff. They had furniture as well, which they used to display a lot of the other items, but that did not really seem to comprise the bulk of their stock. The items were tagged with prices, but did not come with dates or anything to indicate how old any item might be. So that was a little disappointing, but (as I came to find out), the upshot is, the store was very reasonably priced.

Sign in front of GoodWood

I appreciated that they had a Zelda Fitzgerald quote on an old schoolroom chalk board

Dresser setup with keepsake box. I ended up purchasing the box for $35

GoodWood is open Monday-Saturday 12:00PM-7:00PM, and Sunday 12:00PM-5:00PM.

The next stop was the two stores in Georgetown. Actually, that is slightly false: first, I made a detour into Foggy Bottom (Georgetown does not have its own metro stop, apparently. So I had to get off at the Foggy Bottom-GWU stop and walk about a mile to Georgetown. Whatever, walking is good for you) because the shoes I had been wearing were not so good for not getting blisters, and I knew getting to Georgetown would require walking. So I found a Nine West in Foggy Bottom and made a stop. On my way there, I found the European Union. Apparently, the EU gets its own embassy (actually, I think I knew that considering I just finished a semester on EU law). This has always struck me as a little strange: since the EU is a conglomerate of several countries, all of whom also have their own embassies and consulates, isn't that kind of like double representation?

The European Union. Sort of.

The first place I tried to go was called Susquehanna Antiques, which I had read online is like *the* place for antiques. But, naturally, while it was open for business, it had one of those "will be back in 15 minutes" notes on the door, so I had to kill time somehow. Luckily, there was an antiques store next to it! This store was called Cote Jardin Antiques, located at 3218 O Street NW. The store had a nice selection of goods, a lot of which was pretty "hardy;" like, if I had a nice backyard or something, it was a lot of the type of stuff that I would want to put in my back yard for decoration. Obviously, it also had indoor wares. Probably unsurprisingly given the store's name, the style of most of the things they carried was French/European. I actually quite liked their selection, although it was not an inexpensive place. I think the cheapest thing I found was priced at $120. Still, if you have the money and are in to rustic European type goods, this would be a excellent place to shop.

Entry to Cote Jardin Antiques

Large vase and table on display

Cote Jardin Antiques is open Monday-Saturday 11:00AM-5:00PM. Apparently, the store also has a location in Palm Beach, Florida.

After snooping in Cote Jardin, I found that the "back in 15" sign was still in place, so I had to find something else to do. I was determined to go to the Susquehanna Antiques, especially after walking all the way there. So to kill more time, I went to the next store on my list, which was only a couple blocks from Susquehanna. This place was called Random Harvest, located at 1313 Wisconsin Avenue. The store had a nice, classy selection of mostly furniture, that would look very nice in a contemporary home going for the rustic-New England-but-not-heavy-"old" look. As an antique store, however, I did not like it as much. It had antiques, but it was more of a combination between actual antiques, "vintage" wares, and newly-manufactured goods made to look old or rustic. So it was more of a speciality furniture store than a straight-up antiques store. If I had the cash, I would definitely think about purchasing some of their stuff, because it is very nice, but for antiquing, probably not as much.

Storefront of Random Harvest

Example of items on display

Interior of the second floor

Random Harvest is open Monday-Saturday 11:00AM-6:00PM, Sunday Noon-6:00PM. There are also locations in Old Town Alexandria, Alexandria proper, and Bethesda, Maryland.

After waiting around some more, I was finally able to go to Susquehanna Antiques, located at 3216 O Street NW. This place, for all you antiquers and lovers-of-old-things, is the real deal. It has apparently been in business for about 100 years, and its stock definitely bears testimony to that. Unlike the other antique stores I went to, this place had a much more warehouse feel to it: while the others tried to make some semblance of cohesive display, this place was just a depository of random old things everywhere, placed where room could be found. And random stuff did I find. There were a lot of canvases; in fact, canvasses and paintings fully decorated most of the walls, and room for some even had to be found on the floor. Seriously, 150-year-old canvasses were just stack together leaning next to tables. Some of the artwork was also tres cher; I am pretty sure I saw a $30,000 painting from the early 1800s in there. There was a wooden carousel horse from the 1920s, Polish silver Sabbath candlestick holders from the 19th century, and an old wooden dollhouse from I don't know when. There were Empire and Federal style gilded mirrors with their original glass, dating back to Revolutionary times (pretty much exactly like the mirrors and furniture I saw yesterday in the National Gallery). I even saw items dated back to the late 1500s. Basically, for a history geek, it was the greatest find, like, ever. Unfortunately, all of the items were pretty much out of my budget, which was super sad. Hopefully one day, when I in theory have a job and income, I can afford to go to places like this and just geek out totally. But again, if you have the money and are really into antiques, this is the place to go in D.C.

Entry to Susquehanna Antiques

Brochure from the store. About all I could afford to take with me

Interior of Susquehanna Antiques

Gorgeous shell-inlaid table. A good example of the beautiful stuff they carry

Susquehanna Antiques is open Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM-6:00PM.

So that was it for my day of antiquing. I could definitely see this becoming a hobby of mine, as I just find looking at old artifacts fascinating (and would love to have some of my own). I think, however, I will have to wait a bit to really "get into it," until I actually have an income that can support such a hobby.

On the way home I stopped at Pete's New Haven Style Pizza to grab a couple slices, since it is next to the Columbia Heights stop. It was pretty good thin crust pizza. One thing I have noticed about East Coast types: they are really intense about pizza. Apparently New Haven style is distinct from New York style pizza. And then there is the always-entertaining debate between East Coasters and Chicagoans, regarding thin crust versus deep dish. According to my Connecticut-raised boyfriend, Chicago-style deep dish pizza, while very good, "is not pizza." He is very insistent on this point. Maybe this is where the laid-back West Coast attitude comes in, but where I am from, flattened-out dough with some kind of cheese, sauce and toppings is pizza. Pizza is pizza, there aren't really any "styles" other than the distinction between take out quality and restaurant quality. Ah well. I like all pizza: I am an equal-opportunity muncher.

New Haven style pizza from Pete's

The Waiting Game

Still not working, still no word on the status of my security clearance. Just... waiting.

So instead of mope around for the day, after a leisurely morning and breakfast, I decided to go out and see stuff in D.C. And by see stuff, I mean go to the National Gallery of Art, because I am me.

I spent about 3 hours there, taking my time through the museum's West Building. It took me a while to figure it out, but it is on two floors. I started in the (basement? Not-main) floor. There was much colonial furniture from just prior to the Revolution, to about halfway through the 1800s. There was also much statuary and sculptures. One thing I did learn, was apparently Edgar Degas (of ballet dancer paintings fame) made a bunch of models for small sculptures, but never had them cast. After he died, the family found them, and had them cast. The National Gallery has the largest collection of these small statutes, and had many of them on display. So you learn something new every day.

I finally made my way to the main gallery on the main floor. And pretty much saw European paintings from the 1300s through about the 1600s or 1700s. This means: there were many portraits, ALL OF THE JESUS/MARY STUFF, and much representation from Italy and the Netherlands, with some French people thrown in for good measure. It was informative to look at, as I don't usually seek out this type of art; while I appreciate the insane skill it takes to paint like they did -- particularly in the 1500s and 1600s-- with exacting precision, I don't find Renaissance art particularly interesting, aesthetically or artistically. But it is good to see this stuff once in a while, if for no other reason to appreciate where modern (as opposed to art from antiquity) started, to then understand where it went and why.

Here are some of the works I came across. I took pictures of particularly famous works, because it was cool to see them in person.

Little Dancer by Edgar Degas

The Thinker by Rodin

If you are in D.C. and like art, here is the information for the National Gallery. Like so many things in D.C., admission to the Gallery is my favorite price: Free

Address: Between 3rd and 9th Streets, on Constitution Ave. NW

Hours: Monday-Saturday: 10:00AM-5:00PM, Sunday: 11:00AM-6:00PM

After I was done at the museum, I headed over to the DuPont Circle neighborhood. I went there looking for needle and some thread, which is kind of absurd, but I am glad I went. It is my new favorite neighborhood. I think it is somewhat arty and hipster-y, but I liked that because it means that there were a lot of funky, not-chain stores to check out. Like this one bookstore that was a combination bookstore, cafe, and grill. It was pretty awesome. There was another store that was like a walk-in, public art studio. Any person from the public could just go in, grab and canvas and some paint, and just create art. While I am definitely not that artistically-inclined, I definitely intend on going back and painting up a canvas some time while I am here. I love funky neighborhoods like that.

One thing I really love about the East Coast, is just how everything is old. I am a huge history buff, and find it fascinating that you can get things out here that date from the 1600s and the 1700s. Some of my most favorite "old" stuff, is definitely the architecture. You get styles that you just don't see much of out west, at least in ways that are authentic. In D.C., it is an interesting mix of the colonial and early-1800s style from New England, with some Antebellum Southern Plantation styles. And the resulting product is just so interesting, intricate, and often colorful. The pictures below will show what I mean. You just don't get that anywhere else.

Repurposed mansion in DuPont Circle

Row of houses in DuPont Circle. I particularly like the curvy, intricate form of the red house on the right

Row of houses on Monroe Street at 16th Street NW. Just love it

So it looks like I might be on my own for the next few days, trying to figure out what to do. I am going to try to explore D.C. some more, and find things to do that are not necessarily "typical." There are always the Smithsonians and the monuments, but I have been a tourist in D.C. three times before, and honestly, you can only go to the Lincoln Memorial so many times.

Until next time.

Maybe I should go here. Not going to lie, I want to know what makes this gallery "very special." Will have to go back to DuPont Circle to find out

Summer Adventure 2: Washington, DC

So, I realize I did not post much over spring break. I blame that on my boyfriend, who came to visit during the second week off. But you know what? Between blogging and spending time with the significant other, I am glad I spent more of my time doing the latter, and not the former. So no regrets.

Rather than blabber on about what we did, I will give you the sparknotes version, and post some pictures from spring break. For context: one day we went to Monterey, CA. The next day we went to San Francisco. The last day, we went to Napa, CA and Berkeley, CA. The pictures are assorted pictures from those trips. Here they are:

View of the Pacific from The Great Highway, San Francisco

View of ruins along the coast. They look ancient, but are only about 50 years old. Used to house pool complex of some sort

The Cliff House. Iconic and old San Francisco establishment, dating to before the 1906 earthquake. Used to be quite built up and fancy, back in the day

Awesome view of the sunlight setting over the Pacific

Wildlife chilling off the coast of Monterey, near the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Beach and ruins of an old dock at Cannery Row, Monterey, CA

Famous Chinese gate at the entrance to Chinatown in San Francisco

I did accomplish one nice thing over spring break: my ongoing quest to find a legit Chinese wok finally came to an end. The boyfriend and I finally found one in Chinatown in San Francisco. The nice lady even threw in a free pair of long Chinese cooking chopsticks. So you know, that only took looking in three different Chinatowns in three different cities over a 3000-mile span of the entire country.

Then spring break ended. And I came back to school. I arrived the day after Easter; I guess some people were getting in the spirit over break, because I found this on display in the library when I got back:

"Jury of your Peeps"

Not going to lie, seeing that was kind of awesome. Whoever made that is my new best friend.

So school started, went on for about five more weeks, and then reading week and finals. I am now done with another year; another one bites the dust, and only one more to go.

I finished on Thursday with my last final, and by Saturday I was on a plane to Washington, DC, to settle in and start my internship with the government. In theory I start on Monday, but some of my paperwork hasn't cleared as of Friday, so I may not be able to go in until later in the week. Kind of annoying, but if I can't go to work, I guess I will go to the National Gallery or something.

Haven't done much since arriving here. I got in later yesterday evening, so kind of just hung out. Today I unpacked and ventured to the nearby Target, to stock up on some supplies I didn't bother packing. Then I went on a reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get to work, so I do not end up lost and late for work on whatever day it is that ends up being my first day. I have been to DC before, but I always forget how epic some of the buildings are. They aren't very tall (due to a rule in place since the city's founding that no office building or anything, can stand higher than the Capitol Building. But what the buildings lack in height, they make up for in heavy stone architecture of imposingness, engraved quotes of weightyness, heavy quasi-Greek/Roman statutes of allegory, and intense-looking, huge doors.

The other thing I forgot, but then was reminded of, about DC is the absurd crosswalk timers. When the "walk" sign is on, it also helpfully counts down the time you have until the light is going to change. While most crosswalks I have seen counting down in other cities give like, 10-ish seconds, it is not unusual for the timers to give 30 second, 45 second, 60 seconds. And it is not just a few crosswalks. Like every crosswalk gives a ridiculous amount of time to cross what, 10 or 15 feet. I don't get it; are there a lot of really old, slow people in DC? I remember when I was last in DC, the spring break of my senior year in college, my boyfriend and I were endlessly amused by these crosswalks. Glad to see not much has changed.

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print. As I get around the city more I will post more pictures. So it all begins.