Yesterday afternoon Andrew, Mike, and I walked over to the Arlington National Cemetery. Here are some of the pictoral highlights of our tour:
All in all, I walked over 13,000 steps, according to my pedometer.
This past Saturday my new friend Ame (aka kissendre on IRC) drove down from Norfolk to spend the day with me. We walked over to the District from my apartment, passing by the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Netherlands Carillon, Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the reflecting pool, the new WWII Memorial, and the Washington Monument. Our first actual stop was the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden, which is six acres of sculptures.
We stumbled across a Calder (who is my favorite artist) there:
This next piece looked two-dimensional as we were walking up to it, but as we got closer it revealed itself to be 3-dimensional:
This reminded both Ame and I of the movie Donnie Darko (2001):
Our next stop was the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden. Here's another Calder for your viewing pleasure:
Another cool sculpture with the last Calder again in the background:
After that, Amy and I went into the National Gallery of Art.
Ame informed me that these next two paintings are a light study:
Sorry, but this next one came out a little blurry:
This was Calder's last piece before he died:
Another Calder I recently discovered:
According to my pedometer, Ame and I walked six miles on Saturday. We were sore the following day. However, I was energized today. I really must get out walking more often. Next weekend Andrew and I, along with our friend Mike, are going to try to make it over to the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival. Someone is coming to paint our apartment on Saturday and that may bleed over to Sunday. We just have to wait and see what happens to know whether or not we can go.
History:
The original 3,000 cherry blossom trees came to the people of Washington, DC back in 1912 as a gift from the city of Tokyo. The National Cherry Blossom Festival has been celebrated every year since. This year marks the 93rd celebration.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival began this year on March 26 and it will continue until April 10. Peak blooming period has been predicted to be between April 4 - 9.
Event Highlights This Weekend:
This evening between 5:00 - 8:30 there will be a Musical Prelude and Fireworks along Washington's Southwest Waterfront (nearby the Jefferson Memorial). I wish I could go, but since I have an inordinate amount of homework assigned for this weekend I will likely end up watching the display from our livingroom windows.
Sunday afternoon between 2:30 - 4:30 the Lantern Lighting Ceremony is being held on the North bank of the Tidal Basin. It is interesting to note that the lantern that will be lit is 350 years old. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to forego attending this event, as well.
However, I have made some tentative plans for next weekend to go and see the blooms with a few friends. I hope I can hold out until then.
Last Saturday Andrew and I walked over to the new WWII Memorial. We wanted to see it before all the tourists descended on D.C. for Memorial Day. It should be pretty packed for the dedication ceremony scheduled for today.
This is a shot of Rosslyn (a neighborhood in Arlington where I reside) taken from the D.C. side of the Memorial Bridge.
The Washington Monument viewed from the north side of the Lincoln.
Facing north, inside of the WWII Memorial.
Facing northeast.
Facing north.
Andrew.
A very hot (and not in a sexy way) Crystal.
As you can see from the pictures, quite a few people were splashing around in the water. Andrew and I were not among them. I think that was highly disrespectful on their part. This monument is supposed to serve to represent the selfless souls who sacrificed their lives and there's all these fu©kheads swimming around in the pools. *Sigh*
As I mentioned earlier, my friend Rebecca and I went to Chinatown today. It is located in neighboring D.C. There really wasn't much there to see, a lot of Chinese restaurants, a couple of shops, and a grocery store.
Here's where we ate lunch, the Wok n Roll restaurant.
Getting back to my September the second entry when I only just briefly mentioned my visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum has taken me a little longer than I imagined it would. I thought I'd get up the following morning and use whatever extra time I had then to finish this up. Instead, Andrew proposed that he drive me out to East Falls Church (not that far out of the way of where he needed to deliver our car in order to have the safety inspection performed and definitely closer to my school in Vienna) and drop me off at that Metro station. The catch was I had to be ready in little time as possible. It was raining and I was amenable to arriving at school early since I wanted to remind myself of all the points I wanted to discuss that morning in my English class and I also had that quiz in Music coming up later in the afternoon. Andrew and I made great time on 66. Almost all of the traffic was headed into D.C. and not out of it. Andrew left me at the station with a kiss and as I was ascending the stairs to the platform, I heard a conductor call out, "Orange line to Vienna." That was quickly followed by a familiar recorded voice that announced, "Doors closing" and I hauled ass up the rest of the steps and dove into the first train that I laid eyes on. Usually the doors have begun to close by the time the recording goes off. The doors of this train weren't in motion. It was only after I was already seated and looking out through grimy windows on closed doors that I noticed the other train. I watched it pull out of the station before we began to move in the opposite direction: the direction from which I had just came. I got off at Balston and turned myself around.
I still managed to arrive on campus a good half hour before I otherwise would have, had I taken my usual train at Rosslyn into Vienna. I had no problems discussing the points that I wanted to make in English 325, in fact, before the start of class another student who was seated next me asked about one sonnet we had been asked to read for homework titled "Joy Sonnet in a Random Universe" by Helen Chasin and after I summed up my explanation that she told me that she thought I had nailed it. I'm not convinced that I did, but I'll know for sure on Monday when I get my second response paper handed back to me. I should post my response paper regarding the sonnets were asked to read when I am finished with this entry. Speaking of response papers, my first one on Margaret Atwood's "Happy Endings" got a check plus (which is very good by this professor's grading system that he uses for this type of work). I noticed that he had posed a few questions at the bottom of my paper and I responded to them by writing down the answers and handing it back in to him at my English Recitation later on that evening. Recitation is the second component of my English 325 requirement. It is a lecture performed every Wednesday evening by a different professor from within the English department. The idea behind the Recitation portion is for us to get to know everyone and learn more about our major, which is, of course, English. With regard to the quiz I had later on in the afternoon in Music 101, I know I did fine. The quiz was matching Italian terms found in discussions of tempo and dynamics on the right of the handout with their associated meanings on the left. I studied a lot harder than was necessary, but I wanted to genuinely learn the material and not just commit it to memory.
Nothing lasts long in my head if I don't take the time to understand it. I have a photographic memory and the total capacity for about twenty pages before I need to take a brain dump. That's really not a lot when you think about it. By thinking about the material and making meaningful associations with it to knowledge I already possess I can store it infinitely and without any concern for space constraints. I think I may have made an ass out of myself yesterday before Music class had started when I attempted to explain how I study and why I do it that way to a fellow classmate. I just feel I didn't do an effective job of articulating myself. Toward the end of my first semester at GMU I discovered that I had been writing information pretty much verbatim from my notes on exams. All I had to do was call to mind any distinctive characteristics of my notes such as the color ink I used to write them in, any drawings I might have doodled in the margins, the color highlighter I used to bring out certain key points, and what manuscript I used and I could then clearly see the page that I wanted. What called my attention to what i had been doing was when I had lost one point off an exam because I used a professor's example to explain a complex idea in Intro to Philosophy. When I later compared my notes to the exam they matched up almost exactly. Where I missed a word I had just substituted it for another that was similar in appearance and sometimes in meaning. I was not actually learning the material. I believe that is the real reason why I ended up with two A-s (as well as two As) that semester. What I was doing didn't completely work for those two classes I had earned the A-s in (Intro to philosophy and America in the 1960's Freshman Seminar). At that time I was thrilled with my new-found ability, but I was also deeply concerned that there was something inherently wrong with it, certainly morally, but somehow also conceptually. I started out my second semester, exploiting my ability where I was able to after being assured that I was in no way cheating. I wrote notes for my different classes in different colors to keep them separate in my mind. Before an exam I would limit myself to only looking at what I had highlighted to save space for what was key. Unfortunately, with at least two of the classes I had all of that extra effort didn't help me much: I still needed to further learn how to apply knowledge I was gaining and not just spit back at someone grading me on how well I can do that. That requires intense thinking about the material. My grades were slightly better than the previous semester: I ended up with three A+s and one A. This semester I have refined my study tactics even more. At this point, I'm not trying to memorize anything. It takes me a great deal of time and effort to understand some ideas on a level that I feel I could be tested on it and pass. Sometimes I have to go back and read things more than once. I'm studying a whole lot more than I ever have before, but I feel like finally learning now. Anyway, that's the explanation I should have given my classmate yesterday. Maybe I can just direct her to this webpage, lol. I'm not likely to do that. I'll probably just try to make any of my subsequent attempts at conversation more clear. My confidence has been escalating too, which at the beginning of a new semester starts out low, and builds up as I feel I prove my intelligence to a room full of new people. Low confidence has this terrible tendency to cause me to spit out asinine things.
I still haven't gotten around to talking about the Holocaust memorial Museum, have I? Well, now that I am ready to, I have already arrived at the conclusion that there is not much I can say about it. Visiting the Museum is a personal experience and even if you go with someone else the impact it has is still very much individual. Out of respect, I did not bring along my digital camera, as I usually do on trips over to the District. I later found out that all (flash or not) photography is strictly prohibited (as right it should be). I have nothing that I can post here that will give you a sense of what it was like. You just have to go and witness it for yourself. Andrew and I made it through the fourth floor saving only two things (two series of films, one called America's Reaction and the second I failed to catch the title of) for a later. It will likely take us several more visits to see and read everything offered.
I've spent an hour more than I had allotted typing up this huge entry. I am going to post my response paper on sonnets, eat something, and then get down to studying. I'm trying to split all of the homework I have this weekend across two days (today and tomorrow) so I can clean the apartment and hopefully relax a little on Saturday and on Sunday be initiated into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). I also have an officers' meeting with Alpha Lambda Delta (I was elected Historian of that group) coming up on Tuesday, my only day off from school in between two full days of classes so I need to work ahead if it is at all possible. All that may not leave me with much time left for writing entries. Hopefully, my life will be dull and I won't have much to post. What am I talking about? My life is always dull, right?? lmao.
Andrew had jury duty earlier this morning and they ended up not needing him for the full day. Rather than going in to work I managed to tempt him into staying home with me. I reminded him that we needed to renew the tag for the car (it was due last month) and that meant going and getting an emissions test and a state safety inspection. We also needed to have an oil change and a warranty repair on the driver's side window. Unfortunately, it is the start of a new month and so the dealer didn't have enough time for everything we needed to have done. The safety inspection would have to be put off until tomorrow morning when Andrew goes and drops the car off on his way to his PSP class. What was possible to accomplished this afternoon wouldn't be in the time that was reasonable for us to hang around and wait. Everything settled, Andrew and I were dumped at the Metro station and we decided to ride it straight over into D.C. I wanted to go and visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum and Andrew was game for the adventure. To be continued at a time when I am less in need of sleep...
Picking back up where I left off on the pictures from our visit to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden a week ago when life intervened:
I almost neglected to mention that the exhibit is called "At hand" by Ann hamilton from 2001. We had to look that up online since all of my NiMH batteries had dried up and that left me with no way of capturing the placard.
I ended up choosing the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden as our destination for the afternoon. While we waited for our friend Roger to meet up with us, Andrew and I took some snap shots of each other and of the Calders (first name Alexander, an American artist, lived 1898 - 1976) I found within and without the Garden.
Ok folks, there are plenty more pictures left for me to offload, I mean erm upload, but my back is beginning to ache a bit from sitting so long at the computer. I'll post some more when the pain subsides and after I have eaten something substantial.
There's *still* more to come. It'll have to wait, though. At the moment I'm nervous about tomorrow being the first day back to school and as a result my stomach is all knotted up. Andrew is now fixing us a little tea, then it is into the shower from there, closely followed by bedtime. I hope I can sleep.
Andrew and I arrived at the AMF close to 8:00 p.m. and we stayed the full three hours until 11:00 p.m. We exercised the entire value of our $12 spent apiece. The alley wasn't as crowded as we thought it might have been. A nice couple bowled in the lane adjacent to ours for a little while and that was pleasant. We cheered when any one of us got a strike or a picked up a spare. Andrew beat me almost every game, save but one when I rolled a 122 and bested him by only three pins. As the night wore on, I improved and Andrew worsened until finally he gave up and I bowled the last two games alone. It usually takes a while for me to warm up and get used to a new lane. I didn't bother to clear Andrew's name off the screen and I kidded around about playing for him. The first game Andrew sat through I rolled a 129 for myself and a 168 for him (see, I can't even win when I'm throwing the ball for him, lol). I think the 168 was the highest score I've ever had. I've never bowled as regularly enough to become very good at it. I seem to recall the last game I played for both of us ending in a tie of 104. It might have been 105. I was getting worn out by that point. Consequently, I'm feeling pretty stiff and sore in a few new areas today. We really did enjoy ourselves and will definitely consider returning on some other Sunday night for the all you can bowl.
Andrew and I kept our date to go glow bowling over the weekend. We went to the local AMF on Saturday night. The place was pretty well worn, but it wasn't as bad as some of the alleys back in Daytona Beach. It took the guy working behind the counter quite a while to cut the fluorescent lights off and turn the black lights and strobes on. He had to clear the leagues out of there first and we ended up waiting about forty-five minutes. The first game for both of us was free due to the inconvenience. Andrew won two out of the total three games that we played. He bowled very well for his first time with his new equipment.
I made a mental note when I read a sign advertising all you can bowl for $12 a person on Sundays and Wednesdays from 8:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. When it is just the two of us, we can bowl a three games in about an hour, so that's a pretty good deal. We might do that tonight if we're up for it when the time rolls around. I don't know if I will be... some of my muscles are unhappy, but we'll see.
Yesterday afternoon, Andrew and I abandoned our responsibilities and ventured over to D.C. to visit the National Arboretum.
Tuesday night Andrew and I walked over D.C. for the purposes of getting some exercise. We had talked about seeing the inscription that was recently made on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that commemorates the spot where Martin Luther King was standing while he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech forty years ago. The skies outside were looking lowery, so we clad ourselves in rain gear, I grabbed my digital camera and my mostly water-proof pouch to tote it in, and then we set off. We had just about reached the Arlington side of the Memorial Bridge when the clouds let loose. Andrew popped open my Chococat umbrella and held it in between us and we kept on moving at a brisk pace. The lightning was rapidly approaching and we were audience to an astounding visual display. When we reached the Memorial, there was a throng of people lined along the top step. Many were trying to get good shots of the lightning over Lincoln. I had reservations about ascending the wet marble and then trying to squeeze in past everyone. Despite a rude woman who shoved herself into the same open space I was going for we didn't have any problems. I tried to get my own shot of the lightning (to post here, of course) and I was disappointed to discover that I had left my compact flash cards back at home in the hard case. I found the ranger on duty and asked him to direct us to where the inscription was placed. The spot was unlit and we still were hunting around for it when another young couple came up and asked us where it was. We told them that it was supposed to be somewhere around the area we were looking in and they located it before we did. The words had blended in easily with the wet marble. The following were the five etched lines that we came to see:
