Week 9

I’m sitting here drinking my first caramel apple cider of the season and realizing that fall has finally arrived. At the end of October. I’m pretty convinced that nothing beats fall in Tennessee, but as long as there’s a Starbucks close by, D.C.’s not so bad either. I blew off the cement and high-rises for a few hours on Saturday headed out to Fairfax to take some pictures of the colors. You can imagine by surprise when I kicked away some leaves and found actual dirt underneath instead of pavement! Not that I don’t appreciate big city living, but sometimes a girl just has to get out.

It’s been a pretty low-key week. Like most of the country, we’ve had a real shortage of rain. I’m not pro-drought or anything, but I’ve basically been crossing my fingers every day hoping the skies won’t split open while I walk to the Metro. It had to happen eventually, though, and it did this week. Just like the stand-to-the-right-walk-to-the-left thing on Metro escalators, I found out that there are some unwritten rules about carrying an umbrella on a crowded sidewalk. There’s this weird moment when you lock eyes with the person walking towards you and you realize that one of you needs to lift up your umbrella so that you can pass each other without having to sidestep into the street. You both realize the sidewalk isn’t big enough for both of you, but neither of you wants to move. As I eventually figured out, if you’re the one closest to the street, it’s on you. I learn these things the hard way so you don’t have to.

I think there must be another rule saying that when it’s raining, Metrobuses only have to stop for you if they feel like it; you have to flag them down like taxis. But that’s another story for another day!

Thankfully, the clouds rolled out in time for the weekend. It was a big weekend for our fair city because about 30,000 really ambitious people descended upon the area to run in the annual Marine Corps Marathon. Several coworkers (and a few TWCers, I think) were getting in on the action this year, so the rest of us met early in the morning to watch. Marathons have gotten really high-tech these days, and you can actually keep up with runners through text message alerts. Crazy! We spent the day trekking from milepost to milepost cheering on our friends as they chugged through all 26.2 miles. Race days are seriously some of my favorite days in a city because so many people show up for these things just to cheer for people they don’t even know. It’s awesome to see everyone hang the picket signs for once and spread some kind words to complete strangers.

Things have been pretty uneventful at work this week, and aside from stomping around in the mud and rain in full business attire to check out a house for some clients, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about.

What is worth mentioning is the 17th street drag parade that just went down in Dupont Circle a few hours ago. This was another one of those last-minute D.C. blog finds, and it was pretty spectacular. It happens every year on the Tuesday before Halloween and it’s followed by the drag queens racing down the street in stilettos for a few blocks. I stopped by after class tonight but couldn’t see much because it was so crowded! This place gets quirkier by the minute.

Last bit of exciting news: I managed to get a photo featured over on DCist a few days ago and another on the DC Metroblog, so that was a great way to start the week. Score two for the intern. It’s kind of a fun way to leave my mark here, I think.

Until next week!