Showing Signs of Agoraphobia

The other day my dad asked, “Why don’t you just make blogging your job?”

That would require me to a) remember to blog on a regular basis and b) find a sponsor or eight.  So, if anyone would like to pay me to blog for them, I’m down.  Jon declined.  But I am going to start restaurant reviews soon, so get excited!

The Hill has been pretty busy lately.  First there was the SCOTUS ruling, then there was the Capitol Fourth celebration.  I don’t know if I can say this enough–I hate crowds.  I especially hate crowds where people are screaming.

Naturally, the most logical thing for me to do was walk three blocks to the Supreme Court to see the ruling live and in-person.  My dad called me three times at 7 a.m. because he had some stellar chants prepared for me to go yell in front of the pillars, but I decided to remain silent.  Not wanting to miss such a big political event (and really, with no excuse not to go) I went down to the Supreme Court and tried to find somewhere to stand.

I hate crowds.  I don’t think I’ll ever like them.

So there I was, thinking I was about to get an “I had a dream” speech or something from all the justices with their ruling.  As it turns out, that’s not entirely how it works.  After I had been standing in the sun long enough to contemplate returning to the air conditioned house, interns ran down the steps of the court and started giving out pieces of paper to people in the crowd.  Bear in mind, I was across the street trying to avoid the crazy protesters, so I couldn’t hear a thing.  As soon as the papers had been distributed, signs that said “WE <3 OBAMACARE” started waving high–convincing onlookers that it had passed.

But soon enough, the “Don’t Tread on Me” flags started waving just as high, and everyone was cheering.  No wonder most of the major news networks got it wrong.  It was confusing and loud and hot.  As I tried to film the crowd’s reaction, my phone shut down because it was overheating and none of my tweets would send because everyone else in the world was trying to tweet from that same exact spot all at once.  It wasn’t until I got home that I actually knew what the ruling was–how anti-climactic.

That week, I also had two tapas dates.  I met up with Amy, my best friend from middle school, for happy hour at La Tasca in Chinatown (their sangria is sooo good and happy hour makes it even better), and the next day I went to the Lincoln Restaurant with my bosses from my internship and one of their daughters.  I think I love tapas the most because you can almost always get asparagus.  The drinks at Lincoln were delicious but definitely on the DC price range–and even though I only had one I almost fell when I went to stand up (the floor is made of pennies; it had nothing to do with the cocktail).

Yesterday, I got to see Marilu and Peter and Baz march in the Capitol Hill parade on Barracks Row, where they were joined by the Princess Patrol, Internet providers and Bolivian dancers, among others.  I keep waiting for it to stop being hot, but it never will.  Afterwards I went to two cookouts with Amy and her friends from school out in Bethesda.  I know I know–the Capitol Fourth was down the street from me–but that didn’t seem appealing in any sense.  To much sorrow we never saw fireworks, only heard them as we were waiting for the metro shuttle.

But that’s ok, because I hate crowds anyway.