howard/shaw for the 1st time

My friends left, and now I'm back to obsessing over the possible gov't shutdown, which directly affects me, as well as millions of other people. In the area where I live, many people work for the federal gov't (me included), so many of us are quietly (or not so quietly and really quite publicly) stressing.

Baby steps. So yesterday: I woke up and cleaned the bathrooms. The last time I gave them more than a cursory clean was when my friend M stayed over, so the last day of August. I washed my boatload of dishes, and then I set out for Walmart. I got to Walmart around 11, which was bad because everyone and their mama was there, so I drove right through the parking lot and went to Target, then a regular supermarket. Much faster and a more pleasant shopping experience. I made it back in time to do some more cleaning and even eat. Treated myself to those King's Hawaiian sweet rolls (best bread ever). Was watching the Big Bang Theory onDemand when A came! Then a half hour later, C came!

Great catch up times. They were both one year below me in high school, but they remember so many more people than I do! In an attempt to find some cute clothes, I drove us to the Columbia Mall, but a no-go, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory afterwards. Cute waiter. Then I took them to the good liquor store! I love when my visitors are from PA, because in my home state, the state gov't controls the alcohol, so we have state run "package stores." But in MD it's commercialized, so when I take my guests to this Total Wines store which is like a warehouse for alcohol and so overwhelming that the employees spend all their time helping people find where the alcohol is, my friends are always impressed. I can't even tell you what I was like the first time I went in there. Shock and awe, people, shock and awe.

We were going to go to a club/lounge/hookah bar place - strangely all those places are near the White House. But then we realized they all had $20 cover charges. So instead we went to an all night art festival in the Howard/Shaw neighborhood. C drove. Parking was crap. Less than one minute after we parked, we witnessed a fender bender in an intersection. I felt awkward until we finally settled into a bar called Nellie's and I got a cranberry vodka, which was half cranberry and half vodka. I was good after that. We saw so many gay men. I thought of A and wish I could have brought him - he either would have enjoyed it or been bitter that there were so many couples. Either way, we would have had a good time.

Anyway, on to distracting myself until my 5pm call with M&A. Wow I have a lot of friends with A names.