Thursday, December 13, 2012

On 12/12/12, and other nicely round dates

Yesterday was 12/12/12! Hooray!




Since I like fun dates, especially repeated ones like today's, and since I'm pretty sure this is the last one I will get for quite a while), I thought I'd dig through my brain and some social media archives to guesstimate what I was doing on each of the repeated-date dates of the past decade and a bit.


9/9/99

This was the first one I remember (I was a toddler on 8/8/88), and I'm pretty sure I remember it because MTV had one of their awards shows on this date. At the time (I was in the beginning of 8th grade), I didn't have MTV so I was likely actually out at Beth Or auditioning for or just starting Rehearsals for Once Upon a Mattress, the first time I was in it.

01/01/01

I was in the 9th grade. We had either just done or were about to have auditions for my first high school show, Fiddler on the Roof (this was the 2nd time I was in that show). I don't remember what I did that New Years, but I was definitely one of those odious kids intent on letting everyone know that I knew that the millennium didn't REALLY start until 2001 (while secretly feeling like all that mattered was the first number in the date changing), and that 2001 felt pretty anticlimactic.

02/02/02

I was a sophomore in high school. That year, I was in marching band for the first time, and remember being so relieved when it was musical season. That spring's show was My Fair Lady, and I distinctly remember most of my friends quitting because they were cranky about their parts. But I stuck with it ( because -- hello, My Fair Lady!), and as a result, my poor mother and sister had to endure four performances of not-the-best version of that show, with no cuts and plodding pacing (see: the time i still owe them deeply for 16 hours of bad HS musical).

03/03/03

According to my journal from the time, this was a Sunday in the spring of my junior year. I spent that morning helping run programming for the 1st graders at Beth Or. Alli and I spent the afternoon at the Philadelphia Flower Show with mom, helping her get her materials into the convention center for a talk on recyclable gardening materials, and then having a gallumph about the show. Apparently, I had also just gotten contacts for the first time and was cranky about my inability to get them into my eyes, and was nervous about the results of a trigonometry test. Ah, to be 16!

04/04/04

April 4th was a Sunday in my last semester of high school. My journal says I spent the day with Lauren G,. bouncing around Ursinus' campus (she lived on the border of it, and at the time, I thought I was going there). I wrote in vigorous superlatives about the day, but it mostly looks like we hung around her house, ran errands, and drank coffee at Horn and Hardart. I suppose that's the best kind of day, in a way.

Also amusing -- I wrote that I "walked the love of my life" that morning - clearly, I was referring to Harley, but it is a touch concerning that at 17 I thought a dog would be the love of my life. On the other hand -- he was a pretty great dog.


05/05/05

In May of 2005, I was in the middle of exams for my spring semester freshman year classes. The day before, I had my first experience with a double exam day in which one is a Kapelle class -- which is to say that on May 5th, I was likely nursing quite the hand cramp. My journal from the day also says that I had a Schutzy sandwich for dinner -- a wonderful comglomeration of tuna, hummus, spicy mustard, bagel and many other wonderful things which was Mat's speciality when he worked at Usdan. I can almost guarantee that the Octet also gathered for our then-traditional smoothie that night.

06/06/06

I spent the beginning part of the summer after my sophomore year of college working at the Abramson Center in their recreation department, so that's what I was up to on 6/6/6. (And yes, getting to play Bingo and sing songs with nice Jewish old people was a perfectly designed-for-me gig). That week, i wad also gearing up to staff a Rockwood Adventures trip with a bunch of crazy teenagers and my friend Aaron.

07/07/07

According to the social media, I spent the day visiting Jackie in NJ, where we made an epically amazing video because we missed Missy (who was in Australia at the time). A week later was Schutz's epic 21st birthday party, the last of our summers-in-between-college rendezvous in NJ, so I'm sure I was also spending the day getting ridiculously excited for that.

08/08/08

A hot summer day in Philly, working at my first job out of college at the Franklin institute. I likely spent the day dissecting sheep's hearts and cow's eyeballs, and telling people about the World's Cheapest Spacesuit. Also, the week before, Shaked and Will and I met Bradley Whitfield and Christine Baranski after their show Boeing Boeing, so I can guarantee that I was telling everyone who would listen about that adventure.

09/09/09

This was a great day -- it was when ACEEE released my first report as lead author. Oh, for the days when climate change legislation really seemed like it was going to happen . . .

10/10/10

I was home in Pennsylvania, visiting mom and attending a Rosh Chodesh training at Temple Sinai (site of many scout meetings as a child). Afterwards, we went to a bookstore to drop off many many books (Mom had me get rid of an entire floor-to-ceiling the day before, and then spent the evening having dinner with Bubbie.

11/11/11

Elizabeth was in town visiting, so Sarah and Elizabeth and I all went out to dinner together at this cute place in Logan called Veranda. I remember that the food wasn't so good, but there was a bachelor party or something going on, so we had excellent people watching time. Afterwards, we went to ACKC Cocoa Bar, which (before they closed teh 14th street location) was one of my favorite places in all of the DC.

And now we're back to the present. I assume this was interesting to absolutely no one, but it was fun for me to take a gander through my journals and the interwebs to find out what I was up to on each of the same date-dates in the past decade. 12/12/12 was a pretty fun day too -- I was in Portland, OR for work -- a totally new and exciting city/state for me!


Sunday, August 12, 2012

A Goodbye Letter to DC

DC,

It's time to break up for a little bit. It's definitely not you. It's me.

As you know, we've had a pretty fantastic relationship over the past 3.5 years. You were my first City that I really felt was MINE, and for many years, I loved nothing more than declaring my love for you (often loudly, usually post-a-delicious meal). I was even happy to be called a Washingtonian, over the giggles of my much cooler NYer friends (although not Washingtonienne, because that calls to mind that terrible slutty staffer tell-all from the mid-00's).

But the time has come for new adventures, new opportunities, and a new place to explore and fall in love with. I'll probably become one of those obnoxious denizens of SF who can't imagine living anywhere else because of the food, the tech, the trees, blah blah. I'll come back to you, Washington, but I might be grudging about it this time around.

So since that might happen, I want to preserve in my flighty brain the feeling of love I have for you now. DC, what follows is a list of reasons and stories about why I love you. Some of these things dont even exist anymore, or the people who mattered have moved away, but this is an (admittedly incomplete) list of what made MY DC.

The terrible snow collection services that turned Snowmaggedon into one of the most fun weeks of friendtime imaginable. Cinnamon gelato shake and hand roll bento box at Teaism.  The view from the Kennedy Center roof. The walk from the zoo to Pica Taco, and the feeling of unbridled joy at getting a fish taco after a day in Amazonia. Being the Sloth Whisperer.

Knowing that in any social situation someone will get your West Wing reference. People caring deeply, passionately, about the issues that matter to them. 


Working three blocks away from the best sister in the world. Lost nights with Rachel, Seth, Stacey, and Suzy, even though she didn't watch Lost. ROOMS. BBQing at Rachel and Ben's. Shabbos dinner at Jason and Gavi's. Cookie day shenanigans. Free/cheap good theater around the corner because you know someone who works at the Theatre J.

Sukkot at Jonathan's parents, and the fact that Mat would come from NY just for that. The Jefferson library room at the library of Congress. scratch that -- everything about the Library of Congress. New years parties where your friends will hang out with you even if you do look like a lobster. Living in a place where you're guaranteed to be visited by your best friends.

Barbara Cooks Spotlight series at the Kennedy Center. The dance music at Saint Ex. Slushies and 70s dance music at Little Miss Whiskeys. Politics and Prose's bargain floor. Joint birthday parties. Picnics in Meridian Hill park. Eastern Market mornings, followed by Good Stuff Eatery lunches. 

Cheese platters and cocktails at Ripple in Cleveland Park. Taramosalata and fig cocktails at Agora.  Bibimbap and sojoutinis at Mandu. Swirl margaritas and the sounds of 20-somethings getting drunk all around you at Lauriol Plaza. Shrimp and grits at Eatonville brunch. THE DONUTS at Tabard Inn brunch. 

Unexpected views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument that remind you you're in DC. Cherry blossoms, before they fall into the water. Walking from the Cathedral south along Mass Ave until you hit DuPont. Realizing that finally you know your way around the intersection of New Hampshire, Q, and 18th.

Barney Frank, Susan Sher, Bobby Flay, Mark Bittman, David McCullough, at Sixth and I. Taylor Branch and Sarah Vowell at Politics and Prose. Sondheim at Signature Theatre. Classic shows made into something new and wonderful in Arena Stage's theater in the round.

Signature theatre's open house. A day of free theater? Yes please.

Bottomless Bellini brunch at Urbana, followed by an afternoon of West Wing watching. Toasty warm late September-early October evenings. The black and blue burger at Ray's HellburgerNot needing a car. Pepperoni sauce at GraffiatoThe spinach appetizer at RasikaTrivia near the piano Truman used to play in the Press Club. The Georgetown waterfront on a pretty day.

The feeling that anything I could possibly want to do could be achieved within "the radius" of Dupont. Greek-themed Hanukkah parties, because if you defeat a country in war, you def get to eat their food. Crafternooning. Hamantashen-making while watching Sister Act. Lunchdates and chevrutas with Jason. 


Seeing Brandeisians everywhere you go. Running into everyone you know at the Whole Foods on P St. And at Soviet Safeway. The dog park at S and New Hampshire. Running into the Mayor (even if he is embattled and corrupt) at Bens Chili Bowl. Veggie chili cheese fries at a Nats game.


DC, it's been grand. It's not goodbye, it's definitely l'hitraot. 

Love,
Rachel