monkey nonsense

every tuesday i tutor in the city, in SE. because it’s farther into the city on metro, i usually park my car at rosslyn (last station in VA) so that i can save time and drive back home instead of riding the metro all the way out. yesterday morning, i did what i usually do – parked my car in a garage in rosslyn.

so it’s evening time, after tutoring. and i ride the metro, like usual – get on at eastern market, get off at rosslyn… but no!!

i ride all the way out to dunn loring! where i usually park my car! i’m walking around my old apartment complex trying to find my car…. thinking oh shoot! did they tow my car??? (they’ve been known to tow in that area) i can still visualize my car parked along the curb, but clearly it is not there! then i realize… I PARKED THERE YESTERDAY!! and my car is at rosslyn!

so back on the metro i go. all the way back to rosslyn to pick up my car. it took me ~1 extra hour (20 extra minutes riding out to dunn loring, 10 minutes walking around looking for my car, 20 minutes riding back into rosslyn) to get home.

idiot!!

wow! this weekend was the marine corps marathon in dc. it’s one of the largest marathons in the us.

i woke up kind of late and had to rush to rosslyn. it was actually pretty cool in the morning which made dressing kind of hard… i didn’t want to be hot later in the day, but i didn’t want to freeze early in the morning! plus, i wanted to be able to carry some stuff (not too much, just my cell phone really) while not being weighed down. in any case, around the mile 4/5 marker, as the course crossed the key bridge (and maybe as a result, the buildings/trees in VA stopped blocking the sun), it started warming up and i ran into people i knew! i felt so energized… i even sprinted a bit of the span of the bridge!!

… which i regretted later on. because then my legs were tired! i ended up walking up to the mile 9/10 marker… right around mariam’s old apartment. it was really cool, they were handing out oranges for runners to eat! and everyone was throwing the peels right on the floor after they finished. i saw one girl whose job was to sweep the peels to the side to prevent any runners from falling. it was about 2 hours into the race at this point in time and i was supposed to meet people at the mile 11 marker… having dawdled/walked (due to the sprint on the key bridge!), i had to pick up the pace. towards the end, i even sprinted down towards constitution to make it… it was kind of cool, i thought surely there would be no way i would run into the people i was looking for and yet, i ended up running right into them! of course, that’s after i wasted all my energy sprinting down to constitution.

… which was a bad idea again. i was sooo tired. at a little past mile 22, i had to sit down. i found a bench by the side of the course and just plopped down. i sat for about 5-10 minutes before i noticed bees were flying around me… i didn’t want to get stung so i got up again.

finally, at the finish line, it was ridiculously crazy!! first, i was sooo tired but the finish line was sooo far away… even up a small hill!! it was like a marathon just to get to the finish line and there were swarms of people to dodge… plus, at this point in time, i was really tired but kept having to run to catch up to the people i was with because they were moving much faster than me. every 5-10 seconds, i’d have to catch up… otherwise, they’d be out of my line of sight and it’d be crazy trying to find them later. in the end, we had to meet at the rosslyn metro in order to collect everyone… and then we stood/sat outside for a good half hour before deciding that it would take forever so we should just walk to the courthouse metro… about a 15-20 minute walk. but at this point in time, i was so exhausted!! we walked slowly and by the time we got to courthouse, we were able to get on a train and get back home.

where i proceeded to sleep until 5ish.

i got to say… it is SOOOO exhausting watching a marathon!! i don’t know how people do it! trying to chase after the runners you’re following… cramming onto a metro train just to make the next mile marker! and then… not even making it to the finish line in time to see them finish because the metro station is ridiculously crammed and the finish line soooo far away!! i think jenny finished as we were trying to exit the metro… and then by the time we had walked to the finish area (maybe like 10-15 minutes), bel had finished! and they looked less tired than simon, kevin, and me!! and we hadn’t even walked that much! here’s a map of my “marathon”… the lazy bum’s marathon… according to gmaps pedometer, i travelled a little over 3.5 miles… i know i know, it’s not quite 26.2 miles, but it’s pretty goo… ok, it’s a walk in the park compared to 26.2 miles.

i ran into jenny and bel by chance on the key bridge. at that point in time, i had been walking for … oh maybe 10 minutes? they had been running for close to a hour already (the marathon started at 8, but i’m sure they didn’t cross the start line until some time later). they had already covered 5 miles. i had covered… half a mile.. not even. i attempted to run along side them. bad idea. 3 steps later, i realized the futility in doing that. so i sprinted ahead… in hopes of getting a little in front of them so that i could yell and cheer as they passed me again. yeah… bad idea. i sprinted as fast as i could and yea… didn’t end up much ahead of them. in fact, they passed me seconds after i stopped sprinting.

about a hour later, they were approaching mile 11… and i was sprinting down the street to meet simon and kevin so i wouldn’t miss jenny and bel as they passed. i had covered about a mile in the time they covered 6…

when we finally situated ourselves at the 22 mile marker (metro was packed! it took us about 30 minutes to get there), they were approaching that mile marker… we only waited another 30some minutes before they ran past us.

and then they beat us to the finish line… despite us taking the metro!! we tried to walk out to the finish line in order to catch them finishing, but WHY DO YOU PUT THE FINISH LINE SO FAR AWAY from a metro station!? and so up-hilly!! jenny and bel ended up finishing, walking past us somehow, and were sitting by the metro station waiting for us to arrive! and both of them didn’t seem all that tired!!! crazy! 26.2 miles in a little over 4 hours… and they were still able to walk another 15 minutes to the farther metro station in order to get on!! i’m so impressed and inspired by them!! i might try to go run TWO miles… er, in the future some time.

congrats to jenny and bel for finishing their first marathon! and for making it look so effortless!!

this past tuesday was interesting. ann asked me late in the afternoon whether it was a good day or a bad day… and i think i would classify it as a good day.

i normally tutor in the city tuesday evening so every tuesday, i’ve been driving to rosslyn, parking my car there, and riding the metro in. this ends up being pretty costly so i’ve been meaning to wake up early to get the “early bird” special at the garage – in by 9, $9. so of course, this tuesday, i woke up late. d’oh! i got ready as quickly as possible and headed out.

when i noticed one of my tires was deflated. not flat, just really deflated. i checked the other 3 tires and they seemed fine. i figured my tire must be slowly leaking… or it’s a flat and i just happened to catch the tire while it still had some air. i hoped for the first case… so i had to go to the gas station first and get my tire checked out. i ended up just pumping air into my tires and hoping that it was just a slow, gradual leak. and then i headed into the office. really late now.

then, during lunch, as i was eating my cheap, korean bulgogi from the cart (good stuff)… i felt this hard object in my mouth. i was a bit taken aback because bulgogi doesn’t usually have bones. so i spat it out and realized… it’s the crown from one of my root canals!! d’oh!!! i’ve been avoiding the dentist like the plague because i hate dentists. dentists are evil… and they always have bad news!!! so… now that my crown has fallen off, i had to make an appointment to go see the dentist. i called and was only able to get an appointment today (thursday)… which meant that for the past 2 days, i’ve been eating with a stump of a tooth and i’ve been afraid to bite on that side for fear of damaging that stump of a tooth. but perhaps the worst result of losing my crown… is that i missed going out to this fancy restaurant with coworkers! one of my coworkers planned a trip to this belgian restaurant (he says one of his favorite places to go in the city) for the restaurant’s anniversary celebration. it was a $20 fixed menu meal… man! i really wanted to go!!!! instead, i have to go to the dentist =(

THEN, on the way to tutoring, i was sitting on the metro (’cause i was going the opposite direction of traffic, i actually got a seat!). those familiar with the washington dc metro will know that half of the train seats are facing forward while the other half are facing backwards. i was sitting in the first/last backwards facing seat, which means the people behind me are sitting with their backs to me (since they are facing forward). so i was riding the metro, sitting on the window side of the backwards facing seat… trying to sleep. and i have a lingering cough from last week, when i was sick… so i coughed. now, i’m sure i probably don’t do the best job, but i think i make a conscious effort to cover my mouth when i cough…. when all of a sudden, this black elderly lady starts yelling really loud… “what the fuck. cover your mouth! i’m gonna slap you… i’m gonna slap you if you don’t cover your mouth one more time!! you getting your cough all over me. i’m gonna slap you” and so i was puzzled… is she talking about me? so this is the thing… that was one of my few coughs, i was really trying to minimize my coughs… and i was really trying to cover my mouth. now here’s the other thing…. the lady is sitting with her back to my back! AND she’s sitting on the aisle side, not window side! so how my cough travelled diagonally BACKWARDS is beyond me! furthermore, the lady sitting next to me was rather large and was pretty much IN my personal space. she didn’t even flinch when i coughed! neither did the 2 people sitting in front of me… whose heads would be in direct path of any uncovered coughs i might send! so this lady… goes on for another minute or two, yelling quite loudly. the lady sitting in front of me turns around to see what the commotion was about… and gives me this weird look like… huh? how’d you cough on her??? i end up totally ignoring the lady and she eventually starts talking to the person next to her all calmly again. i think she might be a schizo….

in any case… that actually really pissed me off. i feel like she was just paranoid because she heard me cough.. there’s no possible way she could have felt my cough!! and for her to make such a fuss… and to threaten to slap me?? shoot… i was tempted to turn around, cough on her… and say THAT’S coughing without covering my mouth! to prove a point. but then… i didn’t want to be on any news headlines – “metro fight erupts over coughing” or anything like that. i guess it was just icing on a rather bad day.

BUT then, when i was at tutoring… the kids were reading CURIOUS GEORGE! that’s right!!! i got to read curious george goes to a movie with charles… while the boy next to us was reading curious george! and over at the next table, there were 2 more curious george books (i could see from where i was sitting to see what book they were reading). man, it was awesome!!! that made my day.

and so, i think overall, despite the deflated tire and the broken crown and the visit to the dentist instead of an awesome restaurant and the whole coughing near-fight incident, i’d call the day good

the past 2 weekends i have been quite spontaneous.

last weekend, i went to cedar point! after much talking, but little doing, a friend asked if i wanted to go to cedar point 2 weekends ago. the conversation was very much like this:
friend: “want to go to cedar point?”
me: “of course!”

on friday morning of last week, my friend IMed me to ask whether i would be going THAT day. apparently, our conversation from the previous weekend was in regards to NOW. she was planning on leaving at 3:30pm that afternoon. i hadn’t decided whether i was going to go yet and just headed off to training for work (i was in training that whole week). when i got to class, the teacher said we’d finish early. hrm…. that’s when i decided to go! unfortunately, that meant i had to drive back to VA to get my stuff, then back to MD to meet up with my friend… but it was definitely worth it! so much fun!!

this weekend, i was even MORE spontaneous. i was thinking of taking a bus up to new york with a friend, but at the last minute, she decided not to go. so i went to bed thursday night thinking that i was going to be in the DC area for the weekend. i ended up waking up late friday morning and so i decided to drive in. on my drive in, i felt like man… it’s such a waste. i have my car right there with me… i should go somewhere! so i called up mariam in NC and asked if i could come visit her. note: i did NOT pack any clothes…

so i made plans to go visit her in NC. i was going to stop by the target and the costco on my way down, but then mariam mentioned there was a 24 hour wal-mart! sweet. i just drove straight down after work, got there and went shopping at wal-mart. i now have some nice UNC pajama pants, undies from wal-mart, new socks!, and a long sleeve shirt (that ann admired when i got home!). i think i will shop at wal-mart more often! NC was lots of fun. we went to the state fair… ate fried okra, saw a stand for fried oreos, fried candy bars, and fried coca cola (???). i wanted a turkey leg, but mariam didn’t want us to spoil our dinner (psh! like i ever spoil my dinner) at carrabas… quite delicious. i even got a pair of jeans… which is quite an accomplishment for me because i can never find pants that fit my large, oddly shaped butt.

but that is the end of the spontaneity. i think i’ve confused ann completely. she was in austin for a wedding the first weekend, i went to ohio. and i just IMed her right before i left “i’m going to cedar point! but i should be back to pick u up at the airport on sunday!”… she thought i was joking! then, this past weekend, she thought i was in NYC the whole time (because when she headed off to bed, that was where i was planning on going)… so when i came back, she was all confused that i had been in NC the whole time.

Talida: more number talk
(09:34:21) spreesatwork: so how does it feel to be in your mid-twenties??
(09:43:25) t 4 l i d 4: hah
(09:43:27) t 4 l i d 4: a little sad
(09:43:31) t 4 l i d 4: i liked being 23
(09:45:05) spreesatwork: yea
(09:45:07) spreesatwork: 24 is a nice number though
(09:45:18) spreesatwork: it’s more round
(09:45:20) t 4 l i d 4: haha
(09:45:23) t 4 l i d 4: it’s not a prime
(09:45:35) spreesatwork: true
(09:45:46) spreesatwork: you’ll have to wait 5 more years for that
(09:46:10) spreesatwork: however, it is divisible by many numbers!

Talida: my new zip code is 11101
me: ?
11101?
Talida: it’s binary!
me: ewwwwwwwww
SO NERDY
Talida: i can just tell people it’s 29