pentagonal

it might interest you to know that i now have a pentagon access badge.

it might interest you further to know that i could probably use that badge to get you into the pentagon, too.

just don't do anything suspicious, because the pentagon is full of people carrying loaded weapons.

seriously.

to be exact, at any given time, the pentagon is full of 23,000 people. or so said the very sharply dressed marine giving the tour that i passed on my way to the IT department.

if you want to call someone to tell them about your awesome pentagon adventure, you'll have to stand by a window or go into the courtyard.

if you go to the pentagon to pick up your access badge, and the card to access your department of defense computer system, you will wait for about two hours. and you will have to walk between corridors and rings and offices for approximately 1,000,000 miles. this increases if you get lost. which, if you are with me, you most certainly will.

not to worry, though. there are plenty of food carts along the way to keep you from perishing.

there are also emergency gas masks everywhere, so no need to fret about nuclear holocaust either.

doesn't life inside the pentagon sound happy?

join me next time, won't you?

walk this way

i have been walking to work for almost three weeks now.

walking to work is heavenly.

walking to work is, as my friend adam would say, the holy grail of urban living.

walking to work looks like this.

out the front door, usually with a piece of fruit or a rice cake in my hand. head phones in. comfortable shoes on. dressy shoes stowed in my bag.

walk up the street and down some stairs. small fantasy about being in a scene from a romantic comedy. (you know the one where the no-nonsense career girl walks out of her hip brownstone in trendy clothes and heads to her high-powered job at a fashion magazine or an ad agency? that one.)

say hello to the construction workers on nash street.

jaywalk across key boulevard.

jaywalk across the other part of nash street.

cut through the gas station.

jaywalk across meade street.

walk into the lobby of my building.

get in the elevator.

ride to the penthouse.

punch in the office code, open the door, walk to my desk.

total travel time: approximately four minutes.

like i said. heavenly. the holy grail.

especially when you need every last minute of sleep you can get because you got home late the night before after a dinner theater performance of "high school musical."

(yes, you read that right. and no, i am not going to say it again.)

just, you know, for example.

tea and sympathy

{enjoying some pomegranate juice and a toffee granola cookie at teaism, one of my weekend adventure stops.}

i woke up on saturday morning feeling pretty sorry for myself.

for one thing, it was 7 a.m., which is ludicrously early to be awake on a saturday. (if this whole, be-a-real-adult-and-get-to-work-on-time thing has killed my ability to sleep in on weekends i will be, as prince humperdink would say, most put out.)

for another thing, it was a saturday and i had nothing to do and no one to do it with.

and for the first time since i moved, the "if i were in salt lake..." thoughts started rolling.

if i were in salt lake maybe i would have been meeting some people for brunch at the blue plate diner. or maybe i would have been going to the farmers' market. or maybe i would have been riding my bike up city creek canyon. or maybe i would have been doing any number of other things with any number of dear, and dearly missed, friends.

but instead i was lying in bed. in arlington. at 7 a.m. with nothing to do and no one to call.

my first solution was to go back to sleep. because everything looks better after 9 o'clock. or 11 o'clock. or noon. whatever the case may be.

then once i woke up again i spent a few minutes toying with the idea of employing the sleep-it-away technique for the whole day.

but then i mustered my courage, girded my loins and decided to just make something happen. (something besides an all-day mope-fest, that is.) because when you are the new kid on the block, it's up to you.

so, i called dana and we filled the afternoon with a stroll through the american history museum, a quick tour of the department of justice and an early evening snack at teaism.

next was dinner with an old friend of my parents', who regaled me with tales of singing with my mom on the street for money.

then it was swimming and movies at a swanky hotel for michelle's birthday.

sunday was a new ward filled with all sorts of friendly people, and then emily invited me over for a homemade cafe rio dinner, which is way better than real cafe rio. especially when it is accompanied with a side of new friends.

i finished off sunday night with aunt joyce and "harry potter and the goblet of fire."

and so it came to pass that my potentially disastrous and demoralizing weekend turned out to be pretty great. and so it came to pass that i was pretty grateful.

i am sure it is not the last time i will feel a little sad and lonely for the familiar things and people i have left behind. i am sure it is not the last time that i will run down a mental list of ifs. and i am sure it is not the last time i will have to put aside fear and insecurities and reach out to new people and experiences.

but it feels pretty good to have conquered it this time around, at least.

ruined

remember that one time when i went to turkey?

(i know, my blog backlog is totally pathetic.)

well, i am also counting that as a trip to greece. or at least as a trip to ancient greece, because we spent a few days climbing all over some pretty bodacious ancient greek ruins. (ancient + ruins = department of redudancy department?)

sometimes ruins are totally yawn, but these ones had been preserved and reconsructed so well that you could really spend hours just wandering around, imagining the days when these ruins were bustling metropoli, filled with people wearing togas (one of my favorite exercises).

the largest ruins by far were at ephesus (of bible fame), basically a whole city that has been reconstructed. but i am reserving those photos for a post of their very own. luckily for this post, we also hit up priene and didyma. (and luckily for us, you can hit them up without knowing how to pronounce them.)

behold!

{we encountered some rain at didyma, which would have been a disaster if they weren't selling animal umbrellas at the tourist shop across the street. to honor the temple we were visiting, we named him apollo.}

{priene is a city of ruins, up at the silent top of a mountain, so it has a serene, almost eerie sense. it also has the ruins of the temple of athena, so "battlestar galactica" references abounded. dana was very patient.}







{and yes, i am wearing polka dot socks with my sandals. desperate times, people.}

in short, i give (ancient) greece two enthusiastic thumbs up. and don't worry if you haven't had your fill yet. there is more to come.

in the outer (banks)

fact: geographically speaking, i did not go to duck beach. rather, the locals call where i was the outer banks. or OBX, if you are really in-the-know. as for the mormon social phenomenon, however, the term duck beach still applies. it's duck for short (and awesome).

fact: if you are going to forget one item on a trip to duck, it should not be your razor.

fact: sunscreen should be reapplied every 80 minutes. to everywhere.

fact: the ocean is freezing. and terribly wonderful.

fact: the world is small. duck sightings included: lauren and rob, who i know from boston and who now live here; darrin, who i know from the MTC and who now lives in boston; adam who i met in salt lake and who now lives in nyc; carl who i know from denver and who also lives in nyc; and megan all the way from the good old ensign 7 in slc. i could go on, but i won't.

fact: it is statistically impossible that so many men have naturally hairless chests.

fact: catching sand crabs in the middle of the night is all fun and games until someone dumps them out of the bucket and makes you stand still while they run all over your feet.

fact: the fine for lighting bonfires on the beach is $300.

fact: duck is a great place for old friends...




and new...




fact: i would say i'm glad i went once and i don't need to go again, but there's no sense in setting myself up to keep eating my words now, is there?

quack, quack

first off, i am most pleased to report that i have won the wireless war (thanks, obama!) and my blogging will return, effective immediately, to its usual, fabulous status. (that is, of course, if i am not preparing documents for the deputy secretary of defense until 10p.m. every night. and you better believe i am going to brag about that every chance i get.)

and, i have more good news. (it just keeps coming!) in addition to a recounting of the rest of the terrific turkey trip and a full debrief on the cross-country drive (the billboards in kansas alone are worth multiple posts), you can also look forward to a very detailed retelling of my upcoming trip to duck beach.

duck beach? you ask. what's that?

well. in addition to being a well-known geographic location in one of the carolinas (i can't remember off the top of my head which one, but i am not leaving until tomorrow so i have time to figure it out), duck beach is also the premier east coast singles extravaganza.

twice a year, over memorial day and labor day, hundreds (this is not an exagerration) of mormon singles descend on duck beach for a weekend of mixing, mingling and general debauchery. you know, mormon-style.

the goings-on at duck beach are legendary. everyone who is anyone is there. you go to duck beach to see and be seen. duck beach is to east coast mormon singles what the white party in the hamptons is to the characters on "gossip girl." it is serious social business.

and ever since i heard about it... i thought it was the dumbest. thing. ever. i believe my exact words have often been, "i wouldn't be caught dead at duck beach."

as i don't plan on dying this weekend, at duck beach or otherwise, i guess i'll have to eat those words. but the thing is, friend-beggars cannot be choosers and i was invited by some truly lovely people. so i have decided to embrace duck beach.

(and thanks for not rubbing it in.)

(also, quack, quack.)

the first day of my life

today i prepared a briefing and sent it to the pentagon.

today i got a crash course in acronyms. JEC, CAC, PM, WIIJEC, COB, POC and counting.

today i made a new friend at work.

today i used an access code to get into my new office.

today i ate a lot of candy.

today i said funny things and people laughed.

today i worked late and it felt good.

today i wore my most flattering and stylish suit.

today i heard the phrase, "we still don't have the necessary resources committed from all the assets."

today i will relax with aunt joyce and "dancing with the stars."

today i am happy.