hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2007-12-25 09:59 am
hummingwolf) wrote2007-12-25 09:59 am
Update!
This entry was mostly written last night in a state of near-exhaustion, so please forgive any grammatical errors, lapses in logic, or speaking in alien languages.
Thursday: Called social services only to be told that, in spite of all previous assurances about somebody working on my case Real Soon Now, I still did not have food stamps (boo!). They suggested I call back after Christmas, then told me to have a happy holiday. I was compelled to mention that it might be happier if I knew I could afford food after it. Oh well.
Also managed to get to a local hospital to have my blood drawn & tested to make sure I still have a functioning liver. It was a nice enough day that I got off the bus a fair distance away from my destination so I could enjoy a good walk. As I approached the hospital, I saw a bright yellow helicopter landing either on the campus or just beyond it. Is yellow a typical color for med-evac helicopters?
After having my blood sucked out, I went to a natural foods store and wandered a bit, looking at all the tasty and not-so-tasty things on offer. Finally bought a vegetarian "fish fillet" sandwich and stuffed it in my bag before getting on a bus to go to a local mall where I sat down in the food court to eat the thing while watching shiny toy trains go round & round a Christmas display. Having satisfied my curiosity about the vegetarian fish fillet, I can safely choose to never buy another one again. It wasn't bad, mind you, but I'm sure there are other foods in that store which are much, much better.
Hung around the shopping center a while, reading and using a previously unsuspected magical talent--being unaffected by Christmas muzak. Too bad I am not skilled enough to ignore holiday dreck at will: the gift seems to come and go depending on weather fluctuations or planetary alignments or something.
The high point of Thursday came later in the evening, of course: Mad! Science! Coffee! Not that I drink the coffee, but I do enjoy the company of the mad scientists. There were even mugs! and special festive cards! "Axial tilt is the reason for the season!"
Friday: My main goal for the day was to buy enough food to survive through December 25 without having to go to any stores again. Mmm... catfish.
Saturday: Spent the day resting, with my main activities being sleeping, reading, and listening to various bits of BBC radio online.
Sunday: An extra-special treat--I got to see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
invadersteven! Ever since his announcement that he was going to be near the Dulles Airport for a business trip, I'd been wanting to stalk hang out with him while he was in the area. He was kind enough to find his way through the local forms of public transportation so we could meet up at the Smithsonian. Hooray!
Having realized too late that I had some things to do close to home before going downtown, I was worried that I was going to get to the station well after he did. As it turned out, though, I had a bit of standing around to do before he showed up, so I got to watch tourists trying to make their way through the fog. And oh yes, it was foggy, as Steven discovered when he got there and tried to see the Washington Monument through the murk. After we gave up on getting a clear view, we went inside the Natural History Museum, where shrieking small children seemed intent on tripping Steven while he was trying to look at the exhibits. One little kid in particular was drawn to his knees, which didn't seem all that healthy for the kid. Next, we went outside where we were pleasantly surprised to find the fog had lifted, so some pictures were taken. After that was a visit to Air & Space, where the museum was less claustrophobic than Natural History but the noisy food court made up for it. (I pointed out that as bad as it was in there, it could have been worse. Instead of spending the Sunday before Christmas at the National Mall, we could have been in a shopping mall. The horror!)
After a few hours of museums we were both exhausted, so we started to go outside into the rain. Rain? At this point, my companion thought it a good idea to buy one of those little umbrellas from one of the Smithsonian's ever-present gift shops. We went outside, where we were greeted by enterprising groups of men selling more (and cheaper) umbrellas to anyone unfortunate enough not to have one already. As we walked to the Metro station, Steven tried valiantly to keep the umbrella over both of our heads. Didn't work, but the rain wasn't too bad so I just laughed. We took Metro down to whichever Virginia station it was, then went our separate ways.
Even though it was raining, I'd been unbothered by it and hadn't opened up my own umbrella all day. I was perfectly comfortable with this choice until a point on my walk home from the local Metro station when a passing car decided to drive into a puddle and splash me all over. So when I got home, I had to change into dry clothes and then collapse into bed for a few hours.
Sunday was exhausting, but overall I'd say it was a good day.
Monday: Rested. Rested some more. Went to a drug store to buy some dish detergent. Regretted going into any kind of a store on Christmas Eve. Rested again. Decided I wanted to go to a local candlelight Christmas Eve service, so I took a nap at about 8 p.m. At 10, I regained just enough consciousness to realize that I was better off not going anywhere, so I went back to sleep.
Thursday: Called social services only to be told that, in spite of all previous assurances about somebody working on my case Real Soon Now, I still did not have food stamps (boo!). They suggested I call back after Christmas, then told me to have a happy holiday. I was compelled to mention that it might be happier if I knew I could afford food after it. Oh well.
Also managed to get to a local hospital to have my blood drawn & tested to make sure I still have a functioning liver. It was a nice enough day that I got off the bus a fair distance away from my destination so I could enjoy a good walk. As I approached the hospital, I saw a bright yellow helicopter landing either on the campus or just beyond it. Is yellow a typical color for med-evac helicopters?
After having my blood sucked out, I went to a natural foods store and wandered a bit, looking at all the tasty and not-so-tasty things on offer. Finally bought a vegetarian "fish fillet" sandwich and stuffed it in my bag before getting on a bus to go to a local mall where I sat down in the food court to eat the thing while watching shiny toy trains go round & round a Christmas display. Having satisfied my curiosity about the vegetarian fish fillet, I can safely choose to never buy another one again. It wasn't bad, mind you, but I'm sure there are other foods in that store which are much, much better.
Hung around the shopping center a while, reading and using a previously unsuspected magical talent--being unaffected by Christmas muzak. Too bad I am not skilled enough to ignore holiday dreck at will: the gift seems to come and go depending on weather fluctuations or planetary alignments or something.
The high point of Thursday came later in the evening, of course: Mad! Science! Coffee! Not that I drink the coffee, but I do enjoy the company of the mad scientists. There were even mugs! and special festive cards! "Axial tilt is the reason for the season!"
Friday: My main goal for the day was to buy enough food to survive through December 25 without having to go to any stores again. Mmm... catfish.
Saturday: Spent the day resting, with my main activities being sleeping, reading, and listening to various bits of BBC radio online.
Sunday: An extra-special treat--I got to see
invadersteven! Ever since his announcement that he was going to be near the Dulles Airport for a business trip, I'd been wanting to Having realized too late that I had some things to do close to home before going downtown, I was worried that I was going to get to the station well after he did. As it turned out, though, I had a bit of standing around to do before he showed up, so I got to watch tourists trying to make their way through the fog. And oh yes, it was foggy, as Steven discovered when he got there and tried to see the Washington Monument through the murk. After we gave up on getting a clear view, we went inside the Natural History Museum, where shrieking small children seemed intent on tripping Steven while he was trying to look at the exhibits. One little kid in particular was drawn to his knees, which didn't seem all that healthy for the kid. Next, we went outside where we were pleasantly surprised to find the fog had lifted, so some pictures were taken. After that was a visit to Air & Space, where the museum was less claustrophobic than Natural History but the noisy food court made up for it. (I pointed out that as bad as it was in there, it could have been worse. Instead of spending the Sunday before Christmas at the National Mall, we could have been in a shopping mall. The horror!)
After a few hours of museums we were both exhausted, so we started to go outside into the rain. Rain? At this point, my companion thought it a good idea to buy one of those little umbrellas from one of the Smithsonian's ever-present gift shops. We went outside, where we were greeted by enterprising groups of men selling more (and cheaper) umbrellas to anyone unfortunate enough not to have one already. As we walked to the Metro station, Steven tried valiantly to keep the umbrella over both of our heads. Didn't work, but the rain wasn't too bad so I just laughed. We took Metro down to whichever Virginia station it was, then went our separate ways.
Even though it was raining, I'd been unbothered by it and hadn't opened up my own umbrella all day. I was perfectly comfortable with this choice until a point on my walk home from the local Metro station when a passing car decided to drive into a puddle and splash me all over. So when I got home, I had to change into dry clothes and then collapse into bed for a few hours.
Sunday was exhausting, but overall I'd say it was a good day.
Monday: Rested. Rested some more. Went to a drug store to buy some dish detergent. Regretted going into any kind of a store on Christmas Eve. Rested again. Decided I wanted to go to a local candlelight Christmas Eve service, so I took a nap at about 8 p.m. At 10, I regained just enough consciousness to realize that I was better off not going anywhere, so I went back to sleep.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Sorry your food stamps haven't come through. That's wrong. :( I hope they get it sorted out right away as soon as the holidays are over.
no subject
I'm planning to call about food stamps again tomorrow. Hopefully they will have good news for me by then.
Fascinating!
Re: Fascinating!