Washington D.C.’s artsy too!

...In a political kind of way.

Frankly, I'm a little tired of my friends telling me D.C. lacks soul. It does not. I swear. Take for example, these painted televisions that have been popping up in the city:

Painted television at the corner of Harvard and 16th street

I have no idea what it is, or what it represents. But it is art, right? Somehow, it feels laden with political meaning. How very D.C.

Now if I could only figure out what it represents...

Sssh!! The Potatoes have eyes…

I’ve been working in my job for three weeks now and desperately trying to keep up on health news. It’s hard because your usual websites like CNN and BBC aren’t very scientifically minded, and though The New England Journal of Medicine is pretty detailed in describing protein pathways, well, it’s just not the kind of health news that needs to be on my radar.

But I have to say, the more I know, the more depressed I get. I mean, what are we doing to our poor planet by continuing to drive monster trucks for short commutes to work, prohibiting teenagers from getting the proper Reproductive Health knowledge, inventing reasons to go to war, and completely disregarding the law on gun use?

I finish my work day with a heavy heart and increasingly distressed about life in general. It’s just not healthy.

And you know what else is not healthy? Potatoes that have been left to grow eyes and flower in a bowl in the kitchen. I mean, did you even know that potatoes could flower? It’s just unnatural.

(Actual picture of Potatoes in a friend's kitchen)

My very own Bump Identity!

The author of the Bumps has created a Bump Identity for me! It kind of looks like a mutated marshmellow eating a strawberry cheesecake. Which is increadibly appropriate in a way.

You can read her response here. Thanks!

Planting a Seed

A friend from High School started a website called Sprout to showcase her Bumps creatures, artistic talents and consultancy services.

Awww, looks just like those cuddly, cute palm grubs people eat in the Congo

I'm not sure how she became so creative because, let me tell you, our High School squelched anything remotely creative, free-thinking and originial in each and every one of us. But I figure something must have planted a seed.

My most salient memory of her is during German class. It must have been in German class because I remember being bored out of my skull and totally clueless to what was going on around me. Although to be fair, that could have pretty much described any classes in High School.

She was sitting behind me and eating a babybel. She took the wax covering from the cheese and rolled it into a perfectly circular, shiny ball. Then she remodeled the wax again and made a little mermaid. I swear this is true! A mermaid made out of Babybel wax. Ahhh, good times.

Anyways, looks like she’s progressed well beyond the food art and into, into... well, weird creature-making. Go check out her most excellent Christmas video of the Bumps or directly on Youtube.

007 in India

Seems like another family member is capitalizing on MY fame. Not satisfied that my sister decided to use 007inCanada as her code name, my brother went ahead and used 007inIndia.

Go check it out!

Split Personality

So I started my new job. As an act of kind of kindness to me I suppose, my colleagues have been reluctant to give me too much work the first week...and the second...then I go slammed.

In addition to the slamming of work, I have to commute to two offices depending on my mood and workload. If I go to the Rockville office (Twinbrook metro stop), it takes me an hour by bus and metro. It's far from anything and anyone and there is not a single bar to drink my sorrows away after work. I swear I am not kidding. It's the most desolate place to which I've been. And trust me, I've been to some pretty remote places. But I have my own, lonely office so I guess that's something.

Sometimes I decide to shorten my commute and go to our Washington D.C. office. I work in the "swing" space, which is a poetic expression for a hot and sweaty cubicle. I am in the center of the action and sometimes feel like I am dodging bullets. It's fast, hectic, and panicked.

Having two offices is a bit like have a split personality. One is a sweet 9 year old girl that does as she's told. The other is an old woman who uses her umbrella to spear people out of her way.

Fingers of an 80 year-old woman

Source

I had to give my fingerprints today. I warned the security office that I have been dubbed “the girl with fingers of an 80 year-old woman”. Indeed, it seems that my fingertips do not have the usual deep grooves and ridges fingers usually have. The security person taking care of my file laughed and told me the office had a new “water-based” machine that could lift the print of off anyone.

I placed my finger on the monitor and rotated from one side to the next. The computer showed that there was only a 73% match, but 75% was a passing grade. The picture of my fingerprint on the screen looked minutely grooved and general smooth.

Miffed, we tried it again. Three times. With water droplets rubbed into the tip of my finger, then heavy Vaseline cream. I tried pushing hard, pushing lightly, and pushing my finger with my other index to help it along. Finally we get an acceptable print. After undergoing the same process for each finger (imagine 5 times x 10 fingers), we finally decided to leave well enough alone and kept the best prints.

I must have looked worried, because the man walking past me said “I really don’t think that you have the profile of a criminal so don’t worry about it”. But then I (jokingly) answered “well you never know, the scariest things come in small packages”.

D’oh! I’m so retarded.

Memories of the Congo

Carl the Pilot was in town a few days ago and had dinner with me. We invited a roomate of mine and proceeded to talk non-stop about our experiences in the Congo for a few hours.

Oblivious to her obvious sign of boredom (yawning, slowly fluttering eyes, fuzzy gaze and faint smile), we just talked, and talked, and talked some more.

I guess our adventures are not exciting as initially thought. Oh well, no matter, it was fun!

I really don't want to spoil the fun, but Carl has some awesome news. Update your bloody blog Carl!

Not Saving the World...Yet

Well, I think that it's safe to say that I'm not saving the world yet. Today in my new job, I have:

1. Gone to the cafeteria and poured over the yellowing lettuce, cheese and ham to decide the best lunch combination
2. Labelled a few pieces of paper into a meticulous well-organized folder
3. Called the same three people 10 times
4. Gone to the water fontain no less than five time to refill my plastic bottle

...excuse me while I go to the ladies room (my fourth time today).

Two music venues

Source

Two days ago, I went to see Toumani Diabate, a wonderful Malian Kora player. Because I am too lazy now to talk about it, I am transcribing the Lisner Auditorium description:

Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra
Diabate is the vanguard of a new generation of griots from Mali who are both modernizing and honoring traditional music. Toumani is a performer of truly exceptional virtuosity and creativity and his Symmetric Orchestras id an expert everything from age-old Malian standards to contemporary Cuban-Senegalese salsa.

The best compliment I can pay Toumani is that listening to his and his orchestra’s music --instantly, vividly and for a full 2 hours-- transported me back to Senegal, warm sandy breezes, salt-soaked hair and all.

Tonight, I went to see an Opera called “La Filled du Regiment” at the Kennedy Center. Diametrically opposite to Toumani’s performance of course but immensely entertaining. This is a light, funny piece that had the audience laughing quite often.

The best compliment I can pay “La Filled du Regiment” is that I didn’t nod off to sleep and actually paid attention to the story. And that, my friends, is a feat!

First day at work (again)

(I swear, I've had 4 different jobs in the span of 2.5 years. It gets old quickly).

My first day of work was disappointedly uneventful. Oh, other than the fact that the human resources person who was supposed to meet me in the lobby downtown at 8:15am didn’t give me sign of life until 11:20am. And then only to tell me that she had been sick since Wednesday, and hadn’t she called me to let me know? Nope.

Then I went to the other office uptown (it took me an hour), and just kind of chilled out and thought about how I would decorate my office. Very few people were actually in the office and it kind of felt like London during the second World War. You know the feeling: there ought to be a crowd of people busily going about their business but it's earily silent because a bomb just dropped.

The most stressful part of my day was that my middle toe (noticeably bigger than the other toes) poked a hole in my pantyhose and I had to walk around all day with one toe and a half sticking out of the hose. Very uncomfortable.

I hate hose.