Washington D.C.

Last night I had the opportunity of traveling to Washington D.C. to see the group Tegan and Sara perform at the Warner Theatre. My friend Sara and I took the MTA #11 down to Penn Station at around 4:30 and purchased a one-way fare on the MARC commuter train to D.C. for something like 5$. What a great service. The MARC train is a dual-level train that makes several trips to and from the Greater Baltimore Area to Union Station in Washington D.C. everyday. It was a great train ride: quick, clean and cheap.

We arrived at Union Station after about a 45-50 minute ride. I told Sara how I'm always fascinated about how you can be in a completely different city, with a different feel, within just a few minutes. Every time I go to D.C. I can't help but get giddy when I see the Capitol through the arches of Union Station as I walked outside to Massachusetts Ave. We walked up to 7th Street on Mass Ave until we entered Chinatown. We found a Thai place called Kanlaya Thai by using Yelp on my phone. Yelp finds your location and then gives you local places of interest with user submitted reviews. I got Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles) and Thai Iced Tea, my favorite dish. It was very good. I had to go all the way to D.C. to find a decent Thai restaurant.

Sara and I then walked to the Chinatown Metro Station and took the Red line one stop to Metro Center and then walked to the Warner Theatre. The Theatre reminded me a lot of Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine. It was one of those sumptuous, velvet adorned theaters probably built during the Roaring Twenties.

Tegan and Sara are two sisters from Canada who sing songs in a New Age/Electronic Infused/Indie Rock-Pop style. There are a lot of people there and a lot of same-sex couples. Since Tegan and Sara are both lesbians, I guess it makes sense for them to be favoured in the LGBT community. They had two opening acts, the latter of which I enjoyed. I didn't catch their names. They performed a bunch of songs, however they played mostly from their last two albums. To be honest, their live performance paled in comparison to what I had expected. Tegan was less powerful of a performer than Sara. The band seemed a little uncoordinated at times. Overall, I enjoyed the concert, though.

More than anything, I enjoyed the excuse to get off of campus and into D.C. Every time I descend the escalators to the Metro, I get a familiar whiff of a mixture of electric engines and industrial rubber/concrete. It brings back memories of the many childhood trips to D.C. I took with my family. Since my parents lived, studied and worked in D.C. for many years, we typically visited every year or so. I thoroughly enjoy the city and it has a lot to offer. Personally, I think it would be amazing to work in the city, but I think would live in Baltimore and then commute in everyday. Baltimore, and it's people, just has more character. D.C. has a lot of privileged lobbyist bankers like the man who sat next to Sara and I at the Thai place. When the server asked him how his meal was, he responded something like: "I wasn't happy with it, I didn't like the texture of the noodles. I'll just take the cheque". It's people like that, who complain about a more than adequate meal and waste 75% of it just because he didn't like the 'texture', that drive me crazy. Just outside the restaurant there were people pan-handeling for money and food. Mr. Slick in his expensive suit has nothing better to do with his life than complain about his food that he could probably cut back on in the first place. UGH!

Oh yea, we also saw a man laying facedown on the street corner surrounded by cops. I think he probably had a heart attack or something. Maybe he was dead. Then earlier as we were walking to 7th street, we saw a guy in an Escalade hit a man on a bike. Thankfully, the biker was okay (he was wearing a helmet and had safety lights). Stupid SUV.

We took the Metro back to Union Station after the concert. We got some grub (ha) at Au Bon Pain and sat in Union Station for three hours. The earliest train back was 3:15 AM Amtrak. In my time at the station I witnessed a police officer who repeatedly checked people's tickets to make sure that no one was loitering/sleeping. An elderly man, probably experiencing homelessness, who had a limp w/o a cain was told to get out of the station when he failed to produce a ticket. I understand that the city has a responsibility to make sure that the train station doesn't become a makeshift mecca for people without a place to go; that's not the purpose of a train station. But at the same time, I would have an incredibly hard time just kicking people out of a public station. I gave one of the other men what was left on my Metrocard. Hopefully he could put it to better use.

We split a cab with some MICA students who lived in the Gordon Hill neighborhood in Baltimore. Wicked nice neighborhood. I liked it a lot. We ended up getting back at 4:00am. Quite a night!

Also a quick update, I was assigned the Service Coordinator position at the Center for Community Service and Justice (CCSJ) for next year! I'll be responsible for coordinating and organizing the Care-A-Van and Viva House service sites! I'll be moving in early next summer for a week long orientation/training/retreat. I'm so excited and I'm really looking forward to it. That was a lot of typing, so I'll stop here...

What I'm thinking of at the moment: Indian Food for lunch
What I'm listening to: We Are the World (demo) by Michael Jackson