Italo

Italo and I went out for a ride tonight with a friend of a friend (who is now ... my friend?). It was such an awesome ride, I'm so happy. And tired. Too tired to write more, but will sleep hard dreaming of the next D.C. ride.

D.C. splatter

So much to say, and yet, I'm not sure if I want to say anything because I don't know where to start. So ... here's some mushy brain splatter:

Joined a gym. I'm just so thankful I can run in cool AC, I don't even care that I'm using a stinking treadmill. I actually think I am motivated to run longer because it means I get to stay in the coolness longer. Don't get me wrong. I still sweat like a maniac. The gym also has great perks: good hours, towels/bathroom stuff, yoga, bikes, spin, other classes, foam roller (My BFF), the - ahem - spa area: 3 separate saunas, this rock amphi-theatre seating thing that's heated rocks. I guess you lie on it and it feels good to have hard warm surface on your post-workout muscles? There is also this shower thing where you stand under the water but the faucet makes it feel like it's gently raining on you. There are hot and cold rain showers. A-mazing. Will try tomorrow and report back.

People here (in D.C.) ask weird questions and are super career-oriented. After work, people talk about work. People establish within 5 minutes what your job is, where you went to college, and what you see yourself doing in 5 years. I especially like, "What's your dream job?" Cookie-cutters make boring art. Not sure I'll fit in for the long haul, but still giving it a go for now.

I have been working hard to save money. This calls for drastic measures like no cheese or meat and lots of biking in absurdly hot 100 degree/80% humidity. Speaking of, I got a flat tire on Rhode Island Ave the other night as I was sprinting home in the first drops of a massive thunder/lightning storm. Made it home, but had to change the flat this morning. It was the back tire, too, so I was particularly proud of myself. Don't ask me how long it took.

Take note: when you live in a swamp and you leave your wet laundry in the washer overnight, it will smell like nasty mildew after you eventually take it out of the dryer. I had to wash it all again, it was so gross. Thankfully, laundry is free.

Our downstairs basement neighbors smoke pot and play video games all day. No really, ALL DAY. I can't believe anyone smokes pot that much. I now can believe, however, that video games lead to seriously violent people. The pot smell comes up through the vents to my 3rd floor bedroom. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, I have to walk through their apartment to get to the laundry. Most unfortunately, I saw the dude pulling up his pants and jump off the couch. Gross.

The all-important question: Do you have a job? No jobbie, yet. But I'm feeling encouraged after a few "nibbles", as my grandmother likes to call them. My grandma is 94, lives alone, is sharp as ever, but quite hard of hearing. This is how our phone conversations go:

G: Any good news?

C: No, nothing yet.

G: I said, did you have any nibbles?

C: Nope, no nibbles.

G: Huh?

C: Increased volume and slowed word speed. NOoooo.

G: Wait, hold on. High-pitched squeal of hearing aid tuning. Any good news?

C: Screaming as loud as possible, NO, I ... DON'T ... HAVE ... A JOB!, which, for the record, in one's own head sounds like "I ... AM ... A ... LOSER."

Good times.

Spring Break!

One little class left this evening between me and spring break. It's hard to believe it's already spring break and I know life will zip by after we are back at the end of March. What am I doing? This Spring Break I'm taking the train to San Francisco, then biking and camping my way down to Los Angeles. I've been wanting to do this for years!

So, tomorrow I pull out of the Denver Amtrak Union Station on the California Zephyr, heading West to San Francisco. I'm so excited to see the snow covered purple mountains. I'm serious, the mountains here at sunset are purple and beautiful. I have never seen this part of the country and I thought watching it pass by from a train window seemed proper for my modern frontier exploration. It's been a bit of a hustle to get my things packed and together. I still have to actually take apart (some of) the bike and pack it in this massive box. I'm a wee bit nervous now, but I'm sure it'll all work out. I'll learn a lot -- about bike touring, the country in which I live, and, of course, about myself.

An adventure I'm sure to remember!

Riding outside in February

Crazy that it was 64 degrees today. I brought my bike to school and went for a ride outside, first one of 2011. It felt awesome. So awesome. It still blows my mind that I can ride outside in shorts and a tank top in February. Oh, Denver.

Time for lots 'o work. I need to be researching more for my bilateral trade agreement work. I'm also planning some lectures on civil society, democratization, and anti-corruption. Then there's the regular homework for, among other classes, evidence.

But who can do work when it's so nice outside!?

Lounging hard

After a book review, a paper, and 2 presentations, I took today OFF. It was glorious. Slept late, went to breakfast at my favorite spot, read part of a novel my parents gave me, wrote letters, caught up on cleaning, dishes, and laundry. Went for a 2 1/2 hour ride with la Gracie. Oh my gosh, we were so cold! There was ice and snow in parts! I'm just not ready to put Italo away for the winter...

The Epitome Of My Day:

I was bumming around checking my e-mail at school before class tonight and my friend Tony walked up and says, "You look like you're lounging hard."

May flowers

Here I sit at a vegan-only cafe in Philly with the hippest of the hipsters and the punkiest of the punks. I have let the bloggie fall to the wayside with the understanding that I would be blogging daily again in the summer. I'm not done with my Quarter work (1 paper, 1 final left), but I've left Denver, not to return until mid-August. The past Quarter was especially hard - law school politics and slaps in the face, grad school politics and less-than-stellar professors, and my internship took a turn for the worst. I have been battling plantar fasciitis and heel spur, so running has been iffy, slow, and painful, if at all. I haven't been dating or meeting anyone. All meals have been pretty much alone and, well, all of Denver has been pretty lonely. All told, I'm pretty much ready for a break from Denver and school.

... Thus! I'm in D.C. for the summer doing an internship. My generous friend, Elizabeth, has kindly let me stay in her Dupont Circle one bedroom place for the summer. It's a beautiful apartment with a twelfth floor view of the city, matching red kitchenware and plenty of books on Latin America. The JCC is across the street and gives 35% off to students. Monty, a big black woman - perhaps not Jewish? - sits at the front desk and takes good care of me. Work is 1 mile away (hellooo showing up sweaty to work!), and I'm excited to start on June 1. More on that later. For now, I hopped on a bus up to Philly for my dear friends' wedding. I'll be here playing with Andi, Uti and Oni (3 yrs) and Kai (4 weeks) for the week, while also working on my paper. Then, I head to Nashville to see Jessica and celebrate Ariel and Sam's wedding.

It feels so good to be back on the east coast. My mind can stop constantly figuring out what time it is ET. My hair is back to true curly with the humidity. There are black people around, and Indians, and Asians, and even white peo who look different from each other. There are people down the street who I want to look in the eyes, talk to, and smile at. I don't feel stressed, even though there are school things to do still.

I will miss the ability to hop on my Italo, my bike, and go for a 60 mile ride. I'll miss meeting Katie on the Platte for a quick 2 hour ride. I'll miss the births of 3 of my friends' babies. I'll miss dry, sunny trail runs until 9 p.m. and bananagrams at St. Marks with Tony and Gracie. I will miss those things. But, I'm looking forward to rejuvenating myself -- will I get to a point where I am excited to be back in Denver, where I feel proud again to be a DU student? I'll just have to see where I will be in 3 months. For now, I am pretty happy to be somewhere new, to be myself, and to be far away from Denver.

odds and ends update

Yom Kippur yesterday - fast was hard! I was doing fine through about noon. Then I started to get a headache. Then I started to feel reeeaally bad. Then I broke, went to a quirky little break fast. Ate. Then my stomach just hurt. Ow. I knew it was coming. I don't even think I ate that much. I think the whole thing about going to temple the whole day isn't the best way to spend it. You don't actually get time to think! I don't think I reflected enough :/ but I feel like life is already moving on (without me!). You should have seen the scene at Temple Emanuel, though. Everyone all done up. Moms who are all put together with the fancy suit, the bleached/blow-fried hair, bright power-red nail polish, skinny-as-anything. I seriously wondered if some of them actually were sick and that was why they were so thin.

I got a call from Ms. Ariel and am very excited to be one of her bridesmaids at her upcoming wedding in Nashville. Hurrah! It will be so fun.

I am desperately trying to work on a first draft but it's not going so well. I have a meeting tomorrow at 11 so I am getting up at 5 (ha, a mere 7ish hours) to get working on it. Sigh. It shouldn't be this hard. Grad school is so much more fun than law school, I hate to admit.

Oh yeah, can you believe (1) it's almost October and (2) it stays dark so long! Almost until 7 a.m. Sigh, and it's dark when I get out of class at 7:15 p.m. Fall is here; winter is coming. The amount of people working out/running/biking in Wash Park is diminishing considerably. Soon, I will be able to bike the wrong way around the park and see the sun rise from my favorite angle. I had to stop doing that once spring hit because people (ahem, who had NOT been out biking through the winter as I had) decided to come out and tell me what not to do. It's not like I hadn't biked the wrong way through the park, in the dark, early morning all winter long! Sigh. A slave to society.

g'night!