Not a moment of peace to be had here in snowy Washington for both the best and worst of reasons as of late. Really, I feel like one Very Important Event has transpired after another since Christmas. InterAction was sent into a tizzy of activity for about two solid weeks dealing with the tsunami crisis. Since IA mainly serves other charity organizations, rather than operate as a public funding institution, we usually get about 2 or 3 calls from the public a week. But we distrbuted a list of our members involved with the tsunami to the Associated Press, who gave it to just about every other media outlet, so we had 200-300 calls a week all of a sudden.
Complicating matters was the fact that a colleague was honeymooning in Thailand at the time, and barely escaped the disaster while causing us a lot of worry in the meantime. It was an extraordinary, awful situation which really taxed the abilities of a large sector of people well-versed in calamity on a global scale. I think we're back on track now, but everyone is still caught up in the momentum.
Amid all of this, I managed to leave the burden of saving the world behind and celebrate my 24th birthday. I was taken out to eat no less than three separate times, which was quite nice. I was also whisked off to NYC by Jeffrey for a lovely weekend of perusing old haunts (Met, West Village) and new. Among the new was the relatively new Museum of Sex in the Flatiron District, which was surprisingly educational. Admittedly, there were moments I got the impression that they were stretching a bit for educational context (let's just say I learned more about foot binding than I'll ever want to know in the ancient China exhibit), but not at all a seedy experience. It's no substitute for la Met, but it's quite interesting.
Back in DC, the snow and the inaugeration have put the city in a state of suspended animation. Most businesses (including IA) were closed for the inaugeration -- not so much so people could attend, but because about 100 sqaure blocks were shut down making commutes impossible.
Actually, I know of no one from DC who went. I myself stayed inside and watched the proceedings on TV. It's not that I begrudge the inauguration taking place. It's just that my going to W's second inaugeration would be a bit like me attending the Carolina Panthers NFC Championship victory party last year. Someone's gotta win, and they won fair and square, but some parties just ain't my scene. Besides, it's not like it's a royal funeral or anything. That, as we've learned, is a thing not to be missed.
And the hits keep on coming. Tomorrow the Eagles play their fourth consecutive NFC Championship, which could determine whether Monday morning will be greeted with abject delight or despair. Regardless of the outcome, Monday will be guaranteed to either compound post-victory elation or assuage my horrible melancholy with the announcement of the U2 Vertigo tour, to be followed on Tuesday for a ticket pre-sale for dedicated fan club members. I believe that that's a fine slice of the drama of the human experience for one month.
Robyn
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