hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2007-05-25 05:08 pm
hummingwolf) wrote2007-05-25 05:08 pm
Update, Part 2
Tuesday, May 22: I was having a good morning until about twenty minutes before I had planned to leave the house, at which time my body decided to remind me that it really doesn't like mornings and why didn't I consult it before deciding to leave the house in the early afternoon, which is practically morning anyway? So I called ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mariness, who was visiting the DC area for the first time in years, to let her know that I'd be a bit late. When I finally arrived at the Freer Gallery, I saw someone out of the corner of my eye who matched Mari's description. "That must be Mari!" I thought. Then, "I must go to the bathroom!" I dithered some fraction of a second before deciding to rush into the Freer to use a restroom, hoping Mari would wait. (By the end of the day, the Freer's security guard was greeting me like an old friend.)
After that little detour, I went back out to the museum steps where Mari & I introduced ourselves. First on the agenda was lunch, which was tasty as Smithsonian food usually is. Next, it was time to visit museums. It had been ages since I'd last done anything in DC more interesting than transfering from one Metro line to another, so I was willing to go pretty much anywhere anyone else wanted to go. We went back into the Freer and wandered around a while. After looking at nifty old Asian ceramics and things, we went into the Freer Gallery gift shop where we were awed by the prices of some items and by the amazing tackiness of other items. Then we visited the Sackler Gallery's gift shop, where we did pretty much the same thing. We overheard someone saying that most of the Sackler was closed in preparation for an exhibition next month, so we went outside to talk about where to go next, which decision was perhaps more difficult than usual because it turned out that many other places in the Smithsonian complex were closed at the time. We talked a bit more, and then Mari realized that she'd missed a few calls from her friend Kathryn (apparently also known as Australian Accent Girl). Oops.
After a few minutes of mildly confused telephone conversation, we met up with Kathryn, who needed to use the restroom at the Freer Gallery. I should probably point out that I can think of no particular reason why seeing Mari Ness should create a need to go to the bathroom. It was surely just coincidence. Anyway, because Kathryn and I were both willing to go pretty much wherever, Mari decided she needed to visit the dinosaurs again and we trooped off to the Natural History Museum. Yay dinosaurs! There were also ancient marine fossils, which marine biologist Mari very helpfully pointed out were often mislabeled. We wandered a bit, rested a bit, wandered a bit more, got kicked out of the museum (because it was closing! really!), and decided it was time to go take the Metro someplace where we could eat more food and have fun conversation.
Kathryn went home after supper. Mari wanted to go visit the monuments at night again. Realizing that the last time I saw any of the monuments at nighttime was in the early hours of 2000 and that I actually had a decent amount of energy left, I went along with her. Well, we walked a bit more than planned after getting off at the wrong Metro station, but that wasn't too bad. My superpower for the week seems to be making other people take the wrong turns. Anyway, the World War II memorial is beautiful lit up at night, so you all should go there if you have the chance. We spent some time talking, admiring fluffy families of geese and ducks, and dodging a few roving gangs of tourists. After a while, we realized that it really was rather late and we both wanted to get to Metro before the last train, so there was a bit of fast walking and then we said goodbye.
Wednesday, May 23: Woke up with a bit of a headache, but not nearly as tired as I'd expected to be. Walked a couple of miles, went to the library, did some grocery shopping.
Thursday, May 24: Did you hear that? That was the sound of me crashing. Couldn't keep keep my eyes open for more than an hour or two at a time, so I didn't bother trying. Didn't sleep much, but did spend a lot of time resting with eyes closed. Not in agony, but certainly in more pain than usual. Listened to music (old stuff from Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin). Managed to read a bit. Couldn't sit fully upright. Never turned on the computer.
Friday, May 25: Feeling better, I've managed to walk a little less than two miles so far. Now I'm about to check out LiveJournal. Did I miss anything?
mariness, who was visiting the DC area for the first time in years, to let her know that I'd be a bit late. When I finally arrived at the Freer Gallery, I saw someone out of the corner of my eye who matched Mari's description. "That must be Mari!" I thought. Then, "I must go to the bathroom!" I dithered some fraction of a second before deciding to rush into the Freer to use a restroom, hoping Mari would wait. (By the end of the day, the Freer's security guard was greeting me like an old friend.)After that little detour, I went back out to the museum steps where Mari & I introduced ourselves. First on the agenda was lunch, which was tasty as Smithsonian food usually is. Next, it was time to visit museums. It had been ages since I'd last done anything in DC more interesting than transfering from one Metro line to another, so I was willing to go pretty much anywhere anyone else wanted to go. We went back into the Freer and wandered around a while. After looking at nifty old Asian ceramics and things, we went into the Freer Gallery gift shop where we were awed by the prices of some items and by the amazing tackiness of other items. Then we visited the Sackler Gallery's gift shop, where we did pretty much the same thing. We overheard someone saying that most of the Sackler was closed in preparation for an exhibition next month, so we went outside to talk about where to go next, which decision was perhaps more difficult than usual because it turned out that many other places in the Smithsonian complex were closed at the time. We talked a bit more, and then Mari realized that she'd missed a few calls from her friend Kathryn (apparently also known as Australian Accent Girl). Oops.
After a few minutes of mildly confused telephone conversation, we met up with Kathryn, who needed to use the restroom at the Freer Gallery. I should probably point out that I can think of no particular reason why seeing Mari Ness should create a need to go to the bathroom. It was surely just coincidence. Anyway, because Kathryn and I were both willing to go pretty much wherever, Mari decided she needed to visit the dinosaurs again and we trooped off to the Natural History Museum. Yay dinosaurs! There were also ancient marine fossils, which marine biologist Mari very helpfully pointed out were often mislabeled. We wandered a bit, rested a bit, wandered a bit more, got kicked out of the museum (because it was closing! really!), and decided it was time to go take the Metro someplace where we could eat more food and have fun conversation.
Kathryn went home after supper. Mari wanted to go visit the monuments at night again. Realizing that the last time I saw any of the monuments at nighttime was in the early hours of 2000 and that I actually had a decent amount of energy left, I went along with her. Well, we walked a bit more than planned after getting off at the wrong Metro station, but that wasn't too bad. My superpower for the week seems to be making other people take the wrong turns. Anyway, the World War II memorial is beautiful lit up at night, so you all should go there if you have the chance. We spent some time talking, admiring fluffy families of geese and ducks, and dodging a few roving gangs of tourists. After a while, we realized that it really was rather late and we both wanted to get to Metro before the last train, so there was a bit of fast walking and then we said goodbye.
Wednesday, May 23: Woke up with a bit of a headache, but not nearly as tired as I'd expected to be. Walked a couple of miles, went to the library, did some grocery shopping.
Thursday, May 24: Did you hear that? That was the sound of me crashing. Couldn't keep keep my eyes open for more than an hour or two at a time, so I didn't bother trying. Didn't sleep much, but did spend a lot of time resting with eyes closed. Not in agony, but certainly in more pain than usual. Listened to music (old stuff from Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin). Managed to read a bit. Couldn't sit fully upright. Never turned on the computer.
Friday, May 25: Feeling better, I've managed to walk a little less than two miles so far. Now I'm about to check out LiveJournal. Did I miss anything?