Archives: October 2004
Sunday, October 31, 2004
I never did do a run-down of Saturday.
Saturday was a day in which we trekked through some of the Smithsonian buildings. We started off with American History, then went next door to the museum of Natural History, and then across the National Mall to the Air and Space museum. There's not too much that I can really say about any of these places that would be particuarly interesting to the casual reader. They're all well worth visiting though and the few hours we spent in each one definitely wasn't enough.
Highlights included the Hope diamond in the Natural History museum, which I believe is the biggest diamond in the world. Very pretty. I also enjoyed their prehistoric and dinosaur exhibits. For all your airplane and space stuff, the Air and Space museum definitely sates that appetite, from old dinky planes to modern ones, they have lots of actual planes residing in the building, many suspended from the ceiling.
We kept dinner simple and just had Subway sandwiches in our room. We were too tired after a long day of running around the various Smithsonian buildings to go out for a more elaborate food expedition.
Sunday we passed entirely on going to the zoo. We just packed up and headed home. While the idea of the zoo was very tempting, especially as it's free admission, we didn't want to start the drive home bone tired, as we were likely to be once we got back from trekking through the zoo for several hours. We also wanted to get an earlier start home than late afternoon or early evening.
All in all though it was an enjoyable trip, with Varekai as the highlight, and catalyst for this trip in the first place.
@ 02:26 AM EST
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Friday we got a much later start than we had wanted to, because the alarm didn't go off. That and we then hung around a while doing other stuff. So we didn't actually make it into the city until around 5pm or so. We decided to do the outdoor stuff because the museums would all either already be closed, or closing soon.
So we started off with the Lincoln Memorial and then walked all the way up the National Mall to the Washington Monument, which was unfortunately closed for renovations. The Lincoln Memorial was also swathed in construction stuff, but still accessible. From the Monument we walked all the way up to the Capitol. By then several hours had passed and the tummies were grumbling, so we headed over to the metro and went to find the Ethiopian restaurant we were planning on eating at. I'd found the restaurant listed online, and it came recommended by Tom and Karen, so that was a bonus.
The food was excellent, and oh so much better than the fried blah crap from Thursday night's meal. The only comment I really had was about the decor/ambiance. It looked, and was, cheap. Someone needed to spend some time in there and even small changes such as peeling off the crappy and sometimes already bubbling or peeling wallpaper, and the cheap and dingy wood panelling and slap on a new coat of vibrant paint would have worked wonders. As would menus that weren't raggedy and tatty. In that respect, Makeda's in New Brunswick seriously kicks Addis Ababa's ass. But that all means little in comparison to the food, and we left with happy full tummies.
Saturday we'll be getting an earlier start, hopefully, and we hope to visit several of the Smithsonian museums. PreZ is interested in the aviation and space museum, and I'd like to hit up the Natural History Museum, and the National Zoo. I can't remember the last time I was in a zoo, it's been ages. The thing that really rocks about D.C. is that many of their museums are free. At least the three I listed are. Much nicer on the wallet than the $18+ that the NYC Natural History museum charges. Okay, I realise that museums need visitors and donations to keep running, but sometimes in NYC you can feel quite gouged if you and a couple of people go somewhere and get charged over $100 in admission.
I'm not sure what our plans for Sunday are, or when we'll be heading back exactly. It's quite possible that we might just load our stuff in the car, check-out, and head into the city via the metro again for a few hours before starting on the drive home.
So far at least I'm enjoying Washington. I have to also say that this city is so much cleaner than NYC. From the streets down to the subway. NYC is filled with much more grit and grime and a kind of primordial ooze. Here even the subway has moodlighting, much like most of the impressive buildings and monuments.
Oh yes. The alarm did actually go off, but in the pm not the am. This wasn't due to us setting it to go off at the wrong time, but because the clock was set wrong to begin with... very fucking helpful...
@ 10:45 AM EST
Friday, October 22, 2004
So we're here in D.C. and as true geeks the first thing that was set up when we got here was LAN capabilities for 2 laptops ;)
We had to trade in the room we first got, because even though we'd booked a non-smoking room their booking system had received a confirmation of a smoking room. We walked into the room and were enveloped in the smell of stale smoke. Not very overpowering, but we stood there looking at each other going "I thought this was a non-smoking room, does it smell like smoke to you?". No problem, new room, on the top floor, so we can't have any noisy upstairs neighbours ruining our peace and quiet.
Dinner was at some place called Cheasepeake Bay Seafood Grill, or something to that effect. Seeing as it was located across the road in the strip mall we kind of figured this would be similar to Applebees or TGI Fridays, but with seafood... nothing groundbreaking, but edible and relatively tasty. Alas, we were wrong. It turned out to be fried ghetto food... and not in that greasy guilty pleasure finger licking chicken kind of way either. Seafood restaurant my ass... I think half their menu options revolved around shrimp, then they had a quarter of the menu options that were chicken or steak, and the rest was a few other token fish items: crab legs, crab cakes, flounder and some catfish. Most of it came fried or sautéed, in a tasteless greaseball way. PreZ had some shrimp trio thing, which didn't thrill him too much other than the scampi. I made the mistake of getting crab cakes. The crab at least tasted fresh, but it had all the impression of someone taking a can of crab, mashing it together into a patty shape, and then sautéed, but not in the garlic butter that was promised.
So it was a blah meal. So blah that I commented to PreZ that I would have preferred McDonalds. And if you know me, you have a fair idea. I would kill for one of my cousin's carpaccios right now. And freshly baked rolls with truffle butter. But I have a slurpee, some chips and some sour octopus gummi candy, that will have to do.
And so, after the crappy meal that was a severe disappointment for someone jonesing for good fresh seafood, on to something that really can't disappoint... Varekai. Which didn't disappoint, of course. We had even better seats than when we saw Alégria, we were down in the center front section, second row, mere feet from the performers when they came to the edge of the stage.
It was amazing, absolutely spectacular. Time seemed to fly past much faster than when we saw Alégria, even though the shows are of equal length. The costumes were stunning, Kit, I really wish you were here to see them. And looking at the programme, I realised why they were so incredible... the costume designer is Eiko Ishioka, she of Bram Stoker's Dracula fame. You can also notice certain similarities in some of the costumes.
So, once again a recommendation for Cirque du Soleil. If you ever get a chance to see a show, do so, because they're such stunning productions.
@ 02:24 AM EST
Thursday, October 21, 2004
And so today is the day we head off to D.C. Well, after we wake up in several hours that is.
I'm looking forward to this trip. Lots to see and do there, and Varekai.
@ 03:06 AM EST
Saturday, October 2, 2004
I've not been updating much lately, so this is a catch-all post.
Three weeks 'til D.C.
PreZ booked us tickets to see Cirque du Soleil's Varekai show in Washington D.C. I believe this particular show has already toured NYC, and did so last year, or a year and a half ago, and we never managed to see it, to our shame. And so this shall be rectified with a mini-break*, a long weekend in the nation's capital. I'm looking forward to this, as I've never been to D.C. other than driven past it en route to North Carolina, which didn't exactly encompass any sightseeing. Hopefully the weather will hold up that weekend so that our sightseeing events aren't a wash-out.
PreZ is currently messing around with shopping cart software that he's considering purchasing for use on Goth.Net, another step closer to merchandising on the site. The software will mean that he's probably going to have to switch out from postgres to mysql for database software, because apparantly most software seems to support mysql, which PreZ doesn't want to use because of it's inferior security, but mysql seems to be the microsoft/IE of database software and dominates the market, regardless of being the crappier option. Non-geeks will have tuned out by now. There's an upside to this though, most blog software also seems to run on mysql, and this means I'll be less limited in my personal site blog software options.
Patterns have been ordered so that I can attempt Halloween costumes for us soon. This will be much fun indeed, especially as we didn't actually decide to do costumes until this late in the game. A fabric shopping trip is forthcoming for that, hopefully on Tuesday or some day this week, even though the patterns won't have arrived by then (bless the internet and pattern companies having pattern fabric requirements online). Halloween plans are getting shifted 'til later due to conflicting schedules, which should buy me some extra time, I'm guessing it will be much needed.
Dylan, the kid from upstairs was asking PreZ this morning whether we were going to decorate again for Halloween. He already asked me that a week or two ago, but I guess needed the added confirmation from PreZ. He also asked why they weren't up yet... their decorations are up, because today is the first day of Halloween. Granted, he thought Halloween was very close-by over 2 weeks ago. Much as I love Halloween, 6 weeks before the holiday isn't that close-by for me, and a month is still too far away for me to be decorating.
Kit's coming over tomorrow. First time we've seen him since he was in the grip of Drop Dead. His computer needs reinstalling, our computer needs returning, PreZ's casemod needs designing, my cheongsams need reworking, Kit needs feeding, and Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow needs watching. I'll be making a lamb roast tomorrow, and possibly my lemon soufflé pudding which we haven't had in forever, which I've never inflicted on guests before, and which remains one of my all time favourite desserts and as such I must make new converts to yummy dessert :)
I made pumpkin pie tonight, and will probably make up a batch of pumpkin cookies tomorrow. I also need to make fruit salad, as I have fruit in the fridge that needs using. So a fresh food making kick, something that hasn't been happening all too much lately. It's been a lot of convenience foods. Pasta's been popular.
I've been reading Nancy Kilpatrick's The goth Bible which I received as a review copy. Hopefully I'll finish that soon. I'm kind of mixed on my feelings about it though.
Other than that... housekeeping, which never makes for interesting updates, reading about cleaning out one's fridge and other cleaning chores is guaranteed loss-of-braincell material.
Working on a portfolio site, the CSS of which is giving me some headaches. As is always the case when I'm trying and learning new stuff. I'm hoping to get a large chunk of that done this weekend, or at least get a rudimentary one up which can be fleshed out later.
Etc.
*spot the reference
@ 01:57 AM EST