Hello Ladies and Gentlemen!
Welcome to the 3rd Wednesday of the year 2014! I hope you all are enjoying the winter weather (that feels A LOT like fall), and I trust you have been keeping alive the flame of the human spirit. I haven't got too much to talk about this week, which can only mean one thing: I need your help. That's right folks, you can contribute to Across 53 Wednesdays this very day! All you have to do is leave a comment below with questions you may have, things you might want talked about, or remarks on the things I talked about that week. That how we can make this special people, and making things special is what makes life worth living.
This week -Sunday specifically- I traveled down to the capital of the United States of America, known in the English language (and all other languages because it's a proper noun) as Washington D.C.. I had my official camera crew (my girlfriend) take several pictures of the adventure, which I will attempt to tell in an anecdotal style.
The day began early on a Sunday morning in January. I arose around the hour of 0600, and prepared myself to leave at 0630 to pick up a member of our group, and then report to the meet up point. Having all successfully arrived at the rendevouz, we -the four of us: me, Micki, Brad, and David (no, last names aren't important)- and drove down to Shady Grove, where we caught the metro into Metro Center, where we jumped to the Blue Line (we were on the Red Line before) into Smithsonian. we arrived fairly early (around 0900 or so) and thus began our adventure. We traveled due West, passed the Washington Monument, where a group of predominantly female Asian tourists asked us if the could take a picture with us. That was interesting to say the least. From there we went to the memorials, and had some pretty solemn moments at the WWII Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. I'd honestly prefer not to get into my rant about the Price of Freedom and how Freedom is not Free, but I feel like that is a discussion for another time. After witnessing a protest at the Lincoln Memorial involving the situation at Guantonamo Bay, we preceded to the National Museum of Natural History. But lunch was on the horizon.
We traveled to the National Place to eat at the Five Guys there. As great as a plan as this was, we failed to realize that the National Place isn't open on Sundays at all. And the four of us stood there at the corner of 13th and F street before the locked doors of the National Place, hungry and not sure what to do. So, we went to a place within the same block called Shelly's Backroom (r) Tavern. If you don't mind the smell of cigars, I recommend it to you. I personally like the smell of cigars (not the smoke, just the smell) and so I honestly enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. Definitely bar like, definitely Scotch and Cigar High Society Bro feeling to it, but the burger was good and the food came out fast. The only problem was that we were outside and ready to eat at 1130, and the Tavern didn't open until 1200... so we waited for a half-an-hour outside. But other than that, the day was still trucking along! Back to the museum!!!
Can I just say that I love dinosaurs? I know a lot of people love dinosaurs, but when I say that I love dinosaurs, I mean to say that they were that one thing that I absolutely obsessed over as a child. Like, would sit through the 230 minute long BBC special called Walking With Dinosaurs loved dinosaurs. And so, when I walked into the dinosaur exhibit for the first time in a couple years, I felt a great bubble of childhood happiness rise up through my body, and almost exploded in the form of a childish gleeful yelp. I didn't though, and while my company wouldn't have enjoyed that if I did that, I certainly regret not doing that. We traveled through bones for a bit, and then oceans, and then we split up to cover different things. During this time, Brad and I breezed through the Geology Exhibit, and the Genome Exhibit, and the Insect Exhibit, and the Non-Extinct Animal Exhibit.
Welcome to the 3rd Wednesday of the year 2014! I hope you all are enjoying the winter weather (that feels A LOT like fall), and I trust you have been keeping alive the flame of the human spirit. I haven't got too much to talk about this week, which can only mean one thing: I need your help. That's right folks, you can contribute to Across 53 Wednesdays this very day! All you have to do is leave a comment below with questions you may have, things you might want talked about, or remarks on the things I talked about that week. That how we can make this special people, and making things special is what makes life worth living.
This week -Sunday specifically- I traveled down to the capital of the United States of America, known in the English language (and all other languages because it's a proper noun) as Washington D.C.. I had my official camera crew (my girlfriend) take several pictures of the adventure, which I will attempt to tell in an anecdotal style.
The day began early on a Sunday morning in January. I arose around the hour of 0600, and prepared myself to leave at 0630 to pick up a member of our group, and then report to the meet up point. Having all successfully arrived at the rendevouz, we -the four of us: me, Micki, Brad, and David (no, last names aren't important)- and drove down to Shady Grove, where we caught the metro into Metro Center, where we jumped to the Blue Line (we were on the Red Line before) into Smithsonian. we arrived fairly early (around 0900 or so) and thus began our adventure. We traveled due West, passed the Washington Monument, where a group of predominantly female Asian tourists asked us if the could take a picture with us. That was interesting to say the least. From there we went to the memorials, and had some pretty solemn moments at the WWII Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. I'd honestly prefer not to get into my rant about the Price of Freedom and how Freedom is not Free, but I feel like that is a discussion for another time. After witnessing a protest at the Lincoln Memorial involving the situation at Guantonamo Bay, we preceded to the National Museum of Natural History. But lunch was on the horizon.
We traveled to the National Place to eat at the Five Guys there. As great as a plan as this was, we failed to realize that the National Place isn't open on Sundays at all. And the four of us stood there at the corner of 13th and F street before the locked doors of the National Place, hungry and not sure what to do. So, we went to a place within the same block called Shelly's Backroom (r) Tavern. If you don't mind the smell of cigars, I recommend it to you. I personally like the smell of cigars (not the smoke, just the smell) and so I honestly enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. Definitely bar like, definitely Scotch and Cigar High Society Bro feeling to it, but the burger was good and the food came out fast. The only problem was that we were outside and ready to eat at 1130, and the Tavern didn't open until 1200... so we waited for a half-an-hour outside. But other than that, the day was still trucking along! Back to the museum!!!
Can I just say that I love dinosaurs? I know a lot of people love dinosaurs, but when I say that I love dinosaurs, I mean to say that they were that one thing that I absolutely obsessed over as a child. Like, would sit through the 230 minute long BBC special called Walking With Dinosaurs loved dinosaurs. And so, when I walked into the dinosaur exhibit for the first time in a couple years, I felt a great bubble of childhood happiness rise up through my body, and almost exploded in the form of a childish gleeful yelp. I didn't though, and while my company wouldn't have enjoyed that if I did that, I certainly regret not doing that. We traveled through bones for a bit, and then oceans, and then we split up to cover different things. During this time, Brad and I breezed through the Geology Exhibit, and the Genome Exhibit, and the Insect Exhibit, and the Non-Extinct Animal Exhibit.
As much as I love the museum, I've seen it so much that it's begun to (unfortunately) lose some luster to it. I find that I want to go the the American History or the Native American History museums more than before. Oh well, maybe next time, right?
Well, that's about all I have to say this week. Not too much happened, and I'm feeling way too tired for 2200. I will end this as I have before, with a poem and a quote, but also an allusion. It's a little something new, so you can learn something from this, because learning is cool, makes you look smart:
I wish to be on the better side
Where grass is green and nature needs no guide
Where the good people wait
Where no one weeps at the sight of his fate
How can I get there?
When vines are all around,
And all I know,
Is crushed to the ground?
I wish to be on that better side
Where light is strong and darkness will hide
Where my path cannot go
To the shore I'll never know
I can smell the beauty
And hear the voices
The angels singing
Saying unchoosable choices
I need to be on that better side
Where strong things grow and nothing has died
Where I can lay to rest
After being my best
I see out there that better side
The way i found, in you I'll confide
Find what you love, and do it everyday
That is, and will be the only way.
I have made it to the better side
Where grass is green and nature needs no guide
Where the good people wait
Where no one weeps at the sight of his fate
Well, that's about all I have to say this week. Not too much happened, and I'm feeling way too tired for 2200. I will end this as I have before, with a poem and a quote, but also an allusion. It's a little something new, so you can learn something from this, because learning is cool, makes you look smart:
The Better Side
By JD Galuardi
By JD Galuardi
I wish to be on the better side
Where grass is green and nature needs no guide
Where the good people wait
Where no one weeps at the sight of his fate
How can I get there?
When vines are all around,
And all I know,
Is crushed to the ground?
I wish to be on that better side
Where light is strong and darkness will hide
Where my path cannot go
To the shore I'll never know
I can smell the beauty
And hear the voices
The angels singing
Saying unchoosable choices
I need to be on that better side
Where strong things grow and nothing has died
Where I can lay to rest
After being my best
I see out there that better side
The way i found, in you I'll confide
Find what you love, and do it everyday
That is, and will be the only way.
I have made it to the better side
Where grass is green and nature needs no guide
Where the good people wait
Where no one weeps at the sight of his fate
Term: Magnum Opus
Origin: comes from the Latin "Great Work"
Meaning: that which is considered the greatest work by an artist, composer, or writer
Example: Many argue that David Copperfield was Dicken's magnum opus.
"The wisest men are also the weirdest." -Tyler Weddle
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| The Washington Monument |
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| David, me, and Brad at the WWII Memorial |
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| The Emblem on the ground on the Atlantic side of the WWII Memorial |
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| A bird from the bird exhibit |
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| The American Woodcock |
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| Aqua Fossil Tracks |
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| Petrified Tree trunk |
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| A Fossil Rock |
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| More Petrified Tree trunk |
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| Dinosaur Skull (not a Triceratops) |
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| BUTTERFLY!!! |
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| North American River Otter |
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| I honestly can't remember |
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| It's a Polar Bear! |
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| Saber-toothed deer, or the Chinese Water Deer |
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| The secondary emergency meet up place... |
