signing away rights

This morning, I officially signed away my right to have representation in congress. I am a bona fide, card-carrying DC resident, with a quadrant in my address and without a senator. There was this little clause on my voter registration that basically amounted to, "I hereby understand that I do not have the right to vote in any other state and therefore will not be represented in Congress." Ok, so it didn't really say that literally, but it might as well have. When I went to sign that, I really had to stop for a minute...it makes me mad, but I don't have a choice, really.... at least not legally. So, there you have it. I will now join the ranks of DC-ites that look forward (or dread, depending on your view) to mayorial elections. So much for rights.

Hey, I like Indian food!

Today, I tried Indian food for the first time in about five years. It was yummy! So, there's still a lot of things on the menu that looked scary, but I liked what I tried. Now, I must enter a disclaimer: the restaurant was a bit hoighty-toighty and the food seemed like mediterranean tapas with a curried twist, but I liked that. So, I guess I'm making progress, at least. Perhaps, I am ready to try actual bona fide Indian cuisine now. I won't hold my breath and I won't go too hungry. It will be nice not to have to recoil in fright when my friends suggest going out for Indian, though.

escalators and vertigo

So, today, I left work early for the first time in a really long time. I was so proud of myself for actually leaving early since I had been there late most nights for the last few weeks. So, I walked down to the metro and there was this huge line of people waiting to go down into the metro. Apparently, the escalators were broken and there was only one that could even be used as a staircase so there was a line wrapped around the block waiting to get down into the station. The metro guard-guy (I refuse to call them police.) told me it would be a 20-30 minute wait. So, I walked to Farragut North and got on there. Weird. How bizarre is that. Who would have thought that a simple escalator outage would have caused all of that.

And, while I'm commenting on bizarre things, I had a girl call today to order a subscription that asked for a specific locale because she has vertigo. I'm not entirely sure what vertigo feels like, but I have a feeling she probably shouldn't have purchased tickets in the second tier.

Velvet Elvis

So, a friend of mine recommended that I read a book called, "Velvet Elvis". If I had known it was a "God" book, I wouldn't have bothered borrowing it from him. I don't know why I didn't pick up on that...I mean we were talking about God stuff when he brought it up. Anyways, so I started it Thursday night and I just finished it today, two days later. I can't begin to say enough about this book. For the last two years or so, I've had all of these thoughts about how Christianity works in my life and in our society that I just couldn't effectively put into words. Things about my view of spirituality and specifically the cross-section between spirituality and Christianity. I had all of these amorphous thoughts about how blighted organized religion is and at the same time how necessary and God-mandated/condoned it is. Things about the fact that being a Jesus-follower doesn't mean being a rules follower, it's about freedom to be everything I was created to be... the ultimate reality. But, most of all, that questioning and stretching the rubber band of beliefs is necessary and beautiful. So, the point is that I've had trouble articulating this, but he did it. He did it in a creative, easy to understand, yet researched and defended way. Not to say this book answered my questions, but rather that he said about Christianity the very things I was thinking without the words. Reading this book, I felt like he put on paper my philosophy of Christianity. Of course there are things in there that don't perfectly resonate with me, but in some parts, I felt like I was reading my thoughts translated into English. I think that anyone that's ever considered, doubted, questioned, criticized, accepted Christianity should read this book. This is the first book written by a Christian about a Christian-y topic that I have ever liked. Really. Ok, I'm done. Just read it: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.

frazzledness, squirrels, and wire hangers

What an insanely busy week. By Thursday night, I felt so frazzled and disoriented, almost as though I wasn't even myself. Work was just insane this week. I knew I had a lot to get done, but I didn't anticipate all of the other little things that would sap my time one minute at a time. And then, somehow I had an obligation every night. I'm not entirely sure how this happened, but lately my weekdays have been chocked full with work and social stuff and then the weekends are the "open" times. Which, I guess is good...it gives me a little breathing room before the next crazy week begins. It's just weird because for a long time, I had plans every weekend and not during the week. Anyways, that's not the point. The point is that it's left me in a bit of a search for myself. Where is the Hyla I always knew? I'm not the frazzled, discombobulated (wow, I don't think I've ever written that word before and I have no idea how to spell it) go-through-the-motions kind of girl. Even when things are crazy, I process things and take time to watch a squirrel eat a nut. (Yes, I actually did that one day. It was awesome! You should make it a point to try to see that at some point in your life.) But, I felt like I was always five minutes late and had to press the next button, get on the next train, and come up with the next joke. But, now that I have a few minutes to process things a bit, I realize that I've somehow allowed life to attack me. I mean, they are things that are necessary and things that I love...like work and church stuff and music stuff, but they sort of usurped authority over my life and in the process have left little, if any, time to pursue the new things I want to be part of my life. My new goals. It doesn't look like the hectic-ness is going to stop anytime soon, though, so I may need to get creative about how to pursue those things. And, how to remain true to myself. Okay, I'm off now. I need to rig up some rods for my new file crate. I wonder if I could manipulate a wire hanger for that?

update: Yes, a wire hanger is actually quite easily manipulated into file rods. Happiness.

oreos for breakfast

For me, there is something so luxurious about eating oreos for breakfast. Something very indulgent....perhaps just disgustingly American (especially since I dunked them in milk to obtain that yummy soggy texture!) I feel like a kid whose parents are away for the weekend. They can't make me eat fruit!! I will have oreos just because I can! In fact, living alone is a lot like being a kid whose parents are on vacation. I leave my shoes by the door because it's not going to annoy mom and I stay up way too late emailing because no one's going to tell me to go to bed. I guess when you're a kid doing things like leaving your clothes all over the room when mom and dad are away is a way to silently claim a bit of independence. You're still completely dependent, but for that one weekend, concerning that one little matter, no one can tell you differently. For me, that's independence. And, so on this wonderfully empty Saturday morning, I got up late and declared my independence by eating oreos for breakfast.

my new vocabulary word

Tonight, we were sitting at the Cheesecake factory, staring at the bizarreness that is their architecture (did I spell that wrong?) when someone said that there is a term in architectural/design circles called suburban gaudy. I love it! That's exactly what I hate about the suburbs... the plasticity and the suburban gaudy element. I am putting that into my regular vocabulary rotation.

the corruption of small children

I think I may have corrupted some small children this evening on my commute home. I was sitting on one of those cement slabs they call benches at Metro Center waiting for a train when a cute little family of four came up and sat down. The father walked away to check the value on his smarttrip card and the little girl, who looked to be about 5, seemed quite concerned that he was going to miss the train. She heard the trains underneath us and was looking for the train and seemed confused when no trains showed up. So, I, in my father's tradition of talking to anyone within earshot, said to the girl, "There are trains underneath us, too. Did you hear a train?" She looked frightened and ran over to her mother. The little boy (about 3, maybe) turned to his mother and said, "May I speak to the stranger?" When she said, "yes", they both started up a conversation with me that was quite entertaining to me since I rarely talk to anyone under 18, but the mother scolded, "Now let her read her newspaper." I don't know...maybe I shouldn't make a habit of talking to random little kids, but they're kids!! How can you resist? I suppose I should have known they employed peculiar parenting strategies when I overheard the mother say, "What word are you not going to say anymore?" to which the little boy answered, "kill". I suppose they will outlaw the words "lie, cheat, rape, sex, and shoot", too.

Atlantis II

I talked to a friend of mine, well, ex-boyfriend, really, from New Orleans East. He's not expecting to have an apartment left and certainly not a car. He is sure that his family's home is ruined. One of his closest friends freaked out and jumped out of the Superdome to his own death. He told me that he is not going back. So, now he has to reinvent his life. Find a new job, a new city, a new life, really. The good news is that his whole family was able to leave and get to Texas safely. The bad news, of course, is that his life will never be the same. But, maybe that's the good news. I certainly hope that he reinvents himself in a really fabulous way. When we were talking tonight, he said that he had decided something come hell or high water...and high water definitely came first! It seems almost sinister to make light of it, but I think he was glad to have someone make him laugh. He said, "How appropriate that such a bizarre little city would end up a cross between the lost city Atlantis and the Iraq battlefield."

I know that he loved (and hated) that city, though, so I know it will be difficult.