I just started reading Foreskin's Lament, a memoir by Shalom Auslander. I heard one of the stories from it on This American Life and loved it. The book so far is equally entertaining.

With the exception of last night, socially, the last few weeks have been a desert. Everyone has been really busy and the only real socializing I've done was in the dining hall. But I still have a lot to write about! Because over the last few weeks, I have had visitors and left campus; nay, the town; nay, the state!!

Two weekends ago, my family visited. We ate a lot, went on some walks, went to the art museum on campus, and ate some more. They were here from Thursday night to Saturday morning, and it was lovely and relaxing. After they left on Saturday, I went out to the green for beautiful weather and bad live music. It was but a preview of springtime. The week that followed was dreary and cold.

Which is why I was glad to head south of the Mason-Dixon to Washington, D.C. the following weekend for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I left school on Thursday evening and caught a bus to New York City, where I stayed with Patty. We had a lot to talk about since the last time we'd seen each other. I met some new friends and had a good time. In the morning, it was raining very hard. I took the subway downtown and got on a double decker bus to D.C. It had a sight-seeing roof, which leaked New York rainwater all over me for the first hour or two. The ride was otherwise uneventful. Once in our nation's capital, I wandered around Chinatown for a bit, had a mini bacon burger at Five Guys, and then explored the National Portrait Gallery and the Luce Center Foundation for American Art. Both were exceptional.

In the evening, my parents picked me up and we drove to our family friends' house. After a short walk, we had dinner, then did a night walk of monuments. It was exceptionally crowded because of the Cherry Blossom Festival, but still beautiful. I left a message for Barack at the house, since he and Flotus were out of town, meeting with dignitaries and all that. Early Saturday morning, we did our blossom admiring around the basin next to Jefferson Memorial before it got too crowded and then went to breakfast at a delicious Austrian restaurant called Leopold's, which had delicious bratwurst and beautiful bathrooms. We drove to Mt. Vernon, visited the Washingtons, and then headed home for a nap. In the evening, we walked through the zoo (which I didn't even know existed and loved, despite the fact that a lot of the animals had been put inside) en route to a great Vietnamese restaurant called Nam-Viet.

On Sunday morning, our gracious host made us a delicious breakfast. We had a great walk to Georgetown, where Mom and friends went to church and Dad and I hung out. We ended up at the old foundation of a bridge, where we enjoyed sunshine and the Potomac. The church going crew picked us up and drove me to my bus stop. I made the bus. There was no leaking (expected) and free wireless internet (mind blowing). It arrived in New York City in time for me to wait in front of Madison Square Garden for my second leg. There were a lot of people leaving the city on Sunday evening. Then, the circus ended and an army of parents and children with weird hats and plastic unicorns stormed the crowded sidewalk. Then I was approached by a guy with a clip board who wasn't dressed like he was collecting donations.

"Sir, sir, excuse me sir."
"Wait. Me?"
"Yeah. We're collecting money so [whatever] baseball team can get uniforms and compete in [whatever] tournament. If you could write your name and donation amount on this list..."
The list of names and monetary donations is all written in the same handwriting.
"Uh, well... I don't have any cash on me so... sorry."
The man looks down from my face a little.
"Oh. You a lady."
"Yes... well..."
"You want to be friends? Wanna hang out sometime?"
"No. What? I'm waiting for a bus!"

Made it to my final bus destination, where a car full of clowns picked me up. I then stayed up until 4:30 doing the work I neglected over the weekend, the due date of which, I was told the next morning, had been changed to Wednesday.

Last night, I went out for the first time in fo'eva. It was with a friend who I hadn't been able to hang out with for a while and the parties and activities were very low key. I took a great walk from my friend/birthday girl's house back to campus and ran into some friends, with whom I went to the SPA where we ran into more wonderful people. Overall, I had a great time. There was cake involved so... you do the math.

I have a lot of extracurricular work that I need to do, but I've been so lazy. Hopefully this weekend can be an exception.