Isn't this nice? I think so too:
Anyway, there were a few "noteworthy" events this weekend. Number one: DC now has its own brewery again. And it just so happens that they were making their first beer exclusively available this past weekend at Meridian Pint like a block from my house. Given that DC's tendency to favor crowd behavior, it was sure to be hectic there Friday when it was first available. So I had ordered a pizza from Red Rocks (in my top three for pizzas with Crossroads in Hellertown, PA and this place whose name I don't remember in Little Italy in Montreal), which is right across the street from Meridian Pint. I figured if it weren't too crowded I would grab a quick beer before I picked up the pizza. But, as expected, there was a line out the door to try a beer that would be available everywhere else in the city and even at Meridian Pint later in the weekend. But I guess you couldn't be considered as cool or tell your kids about it if you weren't there on "opening night". So, on Saturday, after a nice hookah session I convinced one of my roommates, at 2am, to go with me to Meridian Pint to try DC Brau's The Public. A few of my roommates had tried it on Friday and were not fans, but they admittedly were also not fans of hoppy beers, of which this was very much one. I don't know the difference between an America Pale Ale and an Indian Pale Ale but if you had told me this were an IPA and not an APA I would have had to believe you. But I like hops and I'm proud DC now has a brewery and getting a few more, so I enjoyed it.
Speaking of Saturday, things over which I had more/any control:
1. My good friends' girlfriends - apparently people actually read this. so theres that.
2. The economy - the answers for how to get this thing going again are out there, if only the repubies would just let the sane people govern we all would be a lot better off.
3. Getting my sister motivated to get a fucking job - my parents are enablers and my sister has no intention of ever leaving home/making money on her own.
4. My level of empathy towards certain people/situations - I wish I had a heart.
5. Who can/cannot have children - this isn't really something I personally would like to be solely in charge of, but maybe there could be a board on which I could serve.
Did you know Saturday was Record Store Day. Given DC's crowd mentality (when I eventually did go to the record store I overheard how people had camped out to get in on Saturday (are you serious DC?!)) I decided on Sunday I would go down to the record store in Adams Morgan and see what this new old craze is. But first I had to eat. So a couple weeks ago I mentioned how I was on my way to Adams Morgan to see if there were still a Vietnamese restaurant there for some pho. Well there isn't. But there are a couple old school book stores on the way. I don't know if you know this about me but I am a sucker for 19th century high society English romance novels like Jane Austen ones. Well they just came out with a new movie for Jane Eyre, so I stopped in the bookstores looking for a copy since I have never read it because Los Campesinos! told me not to and then I would go see the movie. And if there were a jesus this is how this situation would have played out:
I would have asked this little old British lady at the book store on Columbia if they had Jane Eyre and she would walk right to it and I would buy it for like $2. I would read it and enjoy it and then shortly thereafter I would head down to E Street Cinema, our local indie movie theatre, by myself and take a seat away from the other couples, because who goes to see Jane Eyre by himself, especially as a guy? Well me and this other girl do who sees me by myself and she's very pretty--no makeup or boots--and comes and sits...behind me. Then after the movie she's still by herself and she takes an immediate liking to me because I obviously have a soft side and interest in romance novels and then she's like "so did you enjoy the film?" and I say I do because it's almost impossible to do wrong in my book with a movie based on 19th century England. And then I ask her to get a drink and she says OK. And we drink good beer and talk about life and I say something rude and she tells me so and then we get married and the wedding is all on her grandparents' account because they're super wealthy and then they give us all the money.
But this is actually how it played out: I go to the bookstore on Columbia and the little British lady walks over to where the Brontes are and she says they're out of Jane Eyre because there's a movie that just came out and the other two bookstores in Adams Morgan tell me the same thing. Eventually I will find this book and read it and go to E Street and I will sit away from the other couples because no guy goes to see Jane Eyre alone and I will like it and then go home alone and no richer than when I left.
Back to the food. So I walked down 18th the length of Adams Morgan until it basically became Dupont and told myself once I realized pho was just not going to happen this weekend I would eat at the next place I saw. Well that next place was Loriol Plaza, which just so happens to be, along with things like lines waiting to get to try a beer that will be available everywhere and always a couple days later, everything that is wrong with DC--a simple idea that is blown up to the extent people wait in line to eat at an overpriced, pretentious Mexican place that is just as good as any cheap Mexican place you can eat anywhere in Mexico or at least on 14th St. in DC. Anyway, a couple doors down is a place called The Cajun Experience. Did I ever tell you about the time I went to Mardi Gras and ended up getting really drunk and hungry at this place that sold jambalaya and after I finished my bowl and everyone else's at the table because it was that good I ended up eating random people's too and upon getting out of the cab almost back at the house where we were staying I projectile vomited said jambalaya? Remind me sometime and I will. I had just told that story the night before and with New Orleans talk a craw fish boil was mentioned and how they don't have them in DC. Well the Cajun Experience place just so happens to have one every Saturday and coincidences like that make me just wonder if its jesus or chance behind things like that. The jambalaya was delicious btw.
And then I eventually made it to the record store and I had intended to ask what it is about records that they are making a comeback with indie bands now rather than people just buying digital music. But that didn't happen of course. Instead I just fingered through the records to see which all bands released their stuff on records and it was an impressive amount. Because I don't have a record player I didn't buy any to play but bought one that says "Bethlehem's Finest" on the sleeve for obvious reasons. And I plan on framing this. So there is also a frame store near the record store and asked how much it would cost. The guy said $60 so I don't know if I plan on framing it anymore.
On the way back, just to make this little time machine day of visiting things like record and book stores official, I visited a video rental store (yea, I didn't think they existed either) on Mt. Pleasant St. You know how I mentioned last week I wanted to go see another French film to verify if it is a style that I enjoy prevalent among the French or just that one director? Yea, well it was sold out, of course. So I rented a French one and two documentaries. Incidentally, if you are feeling good about life and want to be brought right back down to reality or are looking for something to make you want to kill yourself, watch Inside Job. Then walking across 16th back to the house this little edifice popped up:
So I had called my Dad when I was near the record store to see if he still had a record player that I could use in case I wanted to hop on this bandwagon and he eventually called back and told me he had actually just gotten rid of a good one a few months earlier. Jesus. So not all coincidences work out in your favor.
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