Ray was probably the reason I joined the Marine Corps. He was my father-figure during 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade when my Mom and he and I were living at 5077 Noble St Riverside, Ca. Ray and his daughter Ayana and fiance Kimberly came to DC today. They stopped by the Rayburn Building to see Congressman Jerry Lewis so he could perform the ceremonial kiss on baby Ayana
Have you ever heard the Monkees' song Last Train to Clarksville? It seems like a nice song but it's actually about a last visit at the train station before some guy gets shipped off to Vietnam ... "And I don't know if I'm ever coming home ..." Did you ever hear the M*A*S*H theme song? It is actually a song entitled Suicide is Painless. Did you ever hear the song about the six-pence, pocket full of rye, four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie!?
I was coming out of the National Geographic Building after dropping off some files to print and coming down the street was this "Billy Bass Car." It stopped at the light and a man almost shouted laughing when all the fish (including the lobsters on the roof) started singing and moving.
Many people may not know that there are practically no bowling alleys in all of Washington DC, and those are the people who don't bowl. The big joke is, that the bowling alley in DC is in the White House ... because there is one in there. Me and my fellow photographer friends AJ and Antonio went to Alexandria Lanes instead of the White House. As if bowling isn't a wacky enough sport on it's own, they had to put this place in the basement of a discount supermarket.
Me and my friend Brandon were sitting on the bench across the street from the DC City Court House when I noticed this squirrel chasing another squirrel. Then I started watching it through my lens ... I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The squirrel was playing with a branch. "Dude, look at this crazy squirrel," I told Brandon. It was soo playful I couldn't believe it. I thought it might have been bitten by a bug or something. It ran up the tree trunk and did a flip landing on its feet and started rolling around with the stick again. Brandon suggested it might have rabies and started making the squirrel sound. I took his suggestion for real and told him to be quite so it didn't attack. While we watched it ball-up and roll down the hill, and repeat this several times. "it might be a government experiment animal," I said. Wouldn't it be cool if they bred park squirrels to do tricks for you while you sat on the bench?
Vanessa Hidary shouts verses of spoken word poetry focusing on popular social issues. She has appeared on HBO's Def Comedy Jam. I was there at Woodrow Wilson Plaza shooting the event for ESPN Magazine, and focusing on the Washington Wizards Basketball player Etan Thomas. Thomas is also a spoken word artist. He seems like a really decent person too. He does a lot of work with the community, and tries to raise young peoples' awarness of the importance of education and making the right decisions with their lives.
I need to move out of my place at the end of the month. I found a couple places ... one on Corcoran St., too small though. It would be nice if I could find a place near a Metro subway, but anywhere in North West or South East close to downtown would be convenient. If you know of a place please let me know ... thanks.
I spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill today. It was my first time ever in the Capitol Building ... a very elaborate castle. I was trying out an internship at The Hill Newspaper. Me and my escort John, Hill photographer, shot a Medicare press conference trying to raise the quality of the Medicare prescription drug program. Then we went and shot the Pro- and Anti-Same Sex Marriage press conference where I saw my good friend M. E. Sprengelmeyer. When it was over I convinced John to take the bus back to the office instead of the subway. As I was editing my photos my cell phone rang and ESPN Magazine assigned me a feature shoot this weekend, 3-5 photo layout. Later, while I was walking home I struck up a conversation with Osmond Sims at the bus stop. I mentioned the wonderful new WWII Monument. Then Sims told me he was a Sailor serving as a radio operator during WWII. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the bombing. And he likes the memorial as much as I do. While I was talking to him I missed the bus, but I didn't care.
I've been getting to sleep earlier lately. Because of that I get a lot more done. I think you can get more work done with half the effort before noon.
People living somewhere in the middle of Iowa pay taxes, so they have the right to move their sluggish groups up and down the middle of our sidewalks. I became use to them when I lived near the National Mall in South West DC. A bum named Warren once told me the groups of tourists reminded him of amebas moving down the sidewalk like jelly fish.
This is the second time I've come to the National Aquarium this weekend. Although it costs $5 to get in the animals are starting to grow on me. (I already think I deserve to pet the giraffes at the zoo.) I've seen Sea Turtles swimming out in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and wondered what they were doing there. Of course I felt bad when I saw this Logger Head Sea Turtle with no other Sea Turtle or at least a fish to play with, even a dead fish. It sure was interested in my wide-angle lens. He started bumping his nose against the glass and I felt bad, like a fake friend, so I left.
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I don't know much about Alligator Gars, but I now have another reason not walking through any swamps Down South. I do know I like the Gars' fake Cypress Tree swamp habitat at the National Aquarium.
