Booze-lia is Back!!!!!

Julia is one of those people who I absolutely adore but don't see enough. We met during high school because we both happened to work at the Rockville public library. This is embarrassing to recall, but I believe our first conversation took place after she saw me on one of the computers in the staff room and I was looking at a Star Trek Voyager website. She went, "You watch Voyager??" And I went, "Ohmygod yes!" And she went, "Ohmygod so do I!!!" and everything else is history.

We actually made a Voyager website back in the day, and I have to give us a pat on the back for that, because it really was very, very funny. It was called Captain Proton's Interstellar House of Pancakes, and since neither of us had any computer skills back then, we used Geocities. It's a pity that it's no longer up (due to lack of upkeep), but it was a testament to the close bond that only nerds can share over the common interest that is Star Trek.

So to return to the present, Julia recently came back from a summer session in Florence as an art student, and we had a chance to have one of our Amy-Julia sleepovers like old times. We made s'mores and roasted marshmallows in her oven, she showed me her latest art work, and we watched a few episodes of Voyager before going to bed. The great thing about Julia is that we can be totally lame and do things I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever choose to do with their time on a Saturday night (like drive around following a Fire&Rescue vehicle on their nightly route for about a half hour), but still have a great time.

This morning, we were talking about having a Voyager marathon (if only we could somehow dish out the $600+ for all seven seasons). We calculated that there's probably around 140 episodes at an hour each...so to watch all of them we would have to stay up for about six days straight with no sleep or bathroom breaks. "Oh my God," said Julia, "I think I would puke. But it would be totally awesome."

Yep. Those are pretty much my sentiments too.


Yes, roasting marshmallows in your household oven really is this exciting.

You can see Julia's artwork here.

Mundane Updates

Carry My Joy On the Left
Holy shit!! Ryan sent me a present from Indianapolis, and it's a pink Corona cowboy hat! If I was never the life of the party before, I will be now. Thanks for not making it a bong, Ryan!

I lost my "Question Reality" button I always have pinned on my purse a little while ago, but I found another one online. w00t. Also bought a couple of CDs to add to my collection (Gorillaz, Mark Knopfler, Refused, and Sonic Youth).

My homegirl Julia is back from Italy!

The lifeguards at my pool get hotter each year. Where are they finding these guys?! Each summer I think, "Wow, the people hiring are really outdoing themselves this time," but then the next year rolls around and they manage to get lifeguards of an even higher physical caliber. Are they models in their free time? Do I need to fake a drowning? I think the answers are, respectively, yes and yes.

Carry My Pain on the Right
My car Earl died on the Capital Beltway a few days ago on my way to work. Poor Earl! He gave me quite a scare. But we sent him to the hospital and they patched him up (needed a new fuel pump), and now he's good as new. Welcome back, Earl!

I got chewed out by a US marshal last week for attempting to deliver an "imperfect subpoena." The bastards. There was nothing wrong with the subpoena, and they knew it. I used to think the marshals were great eye candy in the courtroom, but I don't know if I can be a fan of them anymore. I'll never again look at Marshal Marshall in the same way.

We urged one of our clients a few days ago to take a plea bargain from the government in his case. I feel bad for the guy because he could go to jail for up to over two years for something that so easily could have been avoided. It was entirely his fault for getting himself involved in the incident, and I don't deny that he did a stupid thing, but it just sucks that now he has to pay for it with potential jailtime. He's not a bad guy at all and I am sympathetic towards him. But he's done jail time before, and I guess he can (and will) do it again.

Internship Entry 3: Down Time

This past week has kind of been a joke at the office for Nick & Casey and Sach & me. We're running a little dry on work to do, and that's the understatement of the year. Well, we all need a little down time. Or, a lot.

7/20 You Only Hurt the Teams You Love
Want your favorite baseball team to have a chance at the play-offs? Here's a piece of advice: don't get me tickets to any of their games. The Amy Chen curse continued unabated Wednesday night with the disappointing defeat of the Nationals by the Rockies, after a 4-0 win the night before. What's the Amy Chen curse, you ask? Well, it's shitty, is what it is. When every single baseball game you've gone to has resulted in the defeat of the team you rooted for, it's natural to come to the conclusion that you are cursed, that your team will never have a fighting chance in a game where you have a seat in the stands. So what do I do in a predicament like this? Do I leave halfway through a game, knowing that my absence will consequently garner my team a mind-blowing win, albeit one that I will never get to see in person? Or do I stay and cheer until my voice gives out, only to watch the game end with my team's painful, ignoble defeat? This is the kind of dilemma that needs to be discussed more in philosophy courses. I'd like to hear Kant's take on this little quagmire.

So the night ended with the Nats losing 3-2. In addition to that the O's lost to Milwaukee, and the Yankees came out on top against Texas. The curse is cruel. But at least Nick, Casey, and I made a lot of noise in the stands. Half the stuff we yelled made absolutely no sense, and the subdued (and annoying!) silence of the people around us only made us that much more obnoxious. But we worked up a good sweat and wasted our voices, so in the end it was a good night.


Casey, Nick, and me at the Capitol Brewery before the game. I got to take advantage of Happy Hour without getting carded. This never happens.


Casey and I after the game. We were very sweaty at this point. The Washington humidity doesn't quit after dark.

7/21 The Many Faces of Sachin
At work, this has been the Week of Nothing. As in: What work did we do today? Nothing. What's next on our to-do list? Nothing. How much are we getting paid? And you get the idea. While Matt & Karen and Mike & Naomi seem to still be consistently knee-deep in work, Nick & Casey and Sachin & I have been spending the vast majority of our time either playing HORSE in the intern office or humming that over-caffeinated Six Flags commercial ditty ad nauseum. Here, Sachin and I spice up a phone call to the nincompoops at the witness voucher office:


Sachin annoyed by the incompetence of the witness voucher office.

Sachin sad, also sleepy.

Sachin high; drugs taken from client.

Sachin worried, about to wet himself.

Sachin practicing for his role in an off-Broadway musical.

I don't know what the fuck is happening in this picture.

Internship Entry 2: D.C. is full of neat stuff!

June 28:
Casey and I took a walk around the Capitol after work. It was overcast and drizzled almost the entire time we were out, but we barely felt the rain. We walked by all the congressional offices, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court. It's a liberating feeling to be surrounded by all these historic and important American buildings, while at the same time being able to just be totally giggly and carefree with a girlfriend. In your little world, all these symbols of power and grandeur are relegated to the background, and all that really matters is having a fun night. There were pictures of me and Casey hugging a palm tree outside of the botanical gardens, but they were a little blurry so I left them out. These photos are less humorous.


The Capitol.


Some flowers in this garden-thingy we walked through by the Capitol.


A fountain near the Capitol.

July 8:
Sachin and I were in Adams Morgan to investigate an incident that happened outside a bar called "The Reef." While walking through an alley to the back of some bars and stores, I saw these little "cave paintings" on the building walls. I snapped a few shots of them with my camera phone.



And the day before, while waiting for one of our interviewees to arrive, Sachin and I took a detour to Adams Morgan and stopped by Meridian Hill Park, on the corner of 17th and Euclid. This isn't a good photo (again, taken with my camera phone), but it gives you an idea of how expansive the park is. (This is just one section of the park.) I never even knew this existed.