quick note on a lazy Sunday

Today was sunny once again with snow covered streets and sidewalks. I didn't go too far, just wandered into Georgetown and saw Up in the Air with ACC (no cultured museums today! too worn out). It was very good, but I found it depressingly real - at least each of the characters seemed depressingly real to me. We stopped and had pain au chocolat though and that really does make the world better. They are very big on the whole "communal" table idea here, a few of the local chains do it. So we sat at a big communal table and ate croissant with strangers. Not terrible I suppose.

Huge full moon tonight. Not sure if it was actually full last night because it was cloudy so couldn't see it. But tonight it was massive. I couldn't really get a good picture of it though unfortunately.

I went back to work for an NSO concert last night (Mischa Maisky, cellist, he was quite brilliant) and realized when I got up this morning and was stiff that I'd walked 8 miles yesterday, 6 of them in the snow. So then I didn't feel quite so bad about it.

This week should be less hectic. Tomorrow after work I'm venturing to Arlington where a friend is going to take me to a British food store. Yay! We'll see what they have anyway. The work week should hopefully be manageable, though busy again. We end the week on Saturday with a performance by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and their cast party (it's their closing night, they perform all week). It's hard when your job requires you to go to cast parties with a bunch of extremely handsome and fit dancers. It's a tough job sometimes, but someone has to do it - and it might as well be me...

OMG why does Bell suck so much?? I've had to email them for the second time since I've been down here because they keep charging me for things that are theoretically included in my plan. So irritating...

It sure snows a lot...

for a place where it never snows...

8 inches today so far apparently - it is another "snow emergency"!!! Though I managed to walk to and from work somehow (well actually it hadn't started snowing when I left this morning) but people are driving like crazy people it seems. All but one of our callback actors made it in today too. Brave little soldiers...

Today was long. I spent pretty much the whole day in our Hall of Nations registering people for our McNally auditions. It was interesting to see the differences in the type of city DC is from Toronto after casting the last two seasons at Canstage. Today was a mix of scheduled appointments and "open" call- which essentially means you didn't need an appointment, you could just show up. In Toronto, any open call would be swamped (I believe the open call for Hair at Canstage had over 1000). Here we had five walk ups the entire day. Five. Apparently last year for Ragtime they had hundreds but still you would think anyone in this area would really die for a chance at a KC contract and to be seen by this theatre department.

The other major difference was the huge number of people who just didn't show up. We'd get that in Toronto too, but it might be one a day, today easily 10 people didn't show up. Didn't call or email just didn't show. This is not a sophisticated arts town and here is just another way that it comes through. In Toronto, there is such a large acting community that you show up, you crash, you do what you have to do to get seen. I think I'd hate to be a talent agent here!

Apparently too, the Hall of Nations is where I should have been hanging out all along to meet men. I was asked out twice this afternoon! Perhaps it's because I was wearing lipstick. Lipstick is one of those luxury items I've cut back on. I used to wear it every day, but being here on a fixed income and out of reach of my friends with MAC discount cards, I've gotten out of the habit. But today since I was going to be dealing with the public, I figured I should make an effort. Who knew?

Long day, very busy, but good I think. Joe, the coordinator in theatre programming, gave me a full backstage tour today, which was great - though I think he chose particularly confusing routes just because. All the backstage areas are linked somehow or other, mostly through the bowels, so you are walking under the stages to get from one to another. It really is a rabbit warren. The three theatres I'll be working in are basically on top of each other (two quite literally are stacked) so the distance travelled is not that far, it's just remembering the most efficient way to get there that will be the challenge. It is actually faster to walk outside around the building to get from our offices to the opera rehearsal rooms, so I may do that a lot. Especially since I'm not really afraid of the cold like the locals are. Well, this sort of cold anyway.

The rest of the day I had two seminars, helped with the first afternoon of auditions for our McNally plays and went to the ballet. No down time at all.

I know this is sacrilege but I only stayed for 2/3rds of Romeo and Juliet tonight. It was American Ballet Theatre and the danced beautifully (and there were something like 90 of them on stage which is impressive in and of itself), but at over 3 hours long, my stamina just ran out. Tomorrow is a full day of auditions so I just wanted to pace myself a bit. Boy, I'm getting old...

The State of the Union

So being in DC, I felt it only appropriate that I go to a State of the Union party. Initially I thought that going to a bar near the Capitol would be a good idea (there is one next to the Canadian Embassy I've been wanting to try since the Canadians hang out there) but with the very severe road closures in that area, I thought better of it. So a couple of my fellow fellows and I ended up at a place right across the street from my apartment (I didn't pick it, I swear!) It was actually where the Young Democrats DC were having their party which is why we went there.

It was packed - apparently there are a lot of young Democrats here. I thought at first that I'd have to move us back to my place if we were going to actually hear the speech, but the place went silent (after the cheering) once the President came on. The crowd of course reacted as you'd imagine a group of young democrats would. Going wild appropriately and booing and taunting the Republicans to stand up and clap the tax cuts etc. The speech actually re-iterated to me what an amazing orator the President is - I mean truly brilliant. It would be difficult to poke too many holes in any of what he said. I do lean (okay teeter) left myself, but regardless I do think it's important to remind people of where the American deficit actually came from and who caused the collapse in the housing market here. Who started the Iraq war. But I digress.

When I've been to events or bars in Toronto where the Democrats Abroad are hosting the crowd is significantly older, so recognizing that this is DC and everyone is political, it was nice to see young people engaged in what was happening around them. I chatted with two young guys who had worked on the Virginia Governor race (Democrats lost) and these were guys who worked full time other places but interned and campaigned for weeks (without pay). It's impressive and probably pretty rare outside this area.

Harman Center tour was pretty lame last night - not backstage at all, only the lobbies and the auditorium which I'd already seen. So that was disappointing. Tomorrow I'm seeing the American Ballet Theatre production of Romeo & Juliet. I haven't seen many full length ballets as I only go if I can go for free, so I hope to enjoy it. Otherwise work is a bit nutty, but am getting through it...

Another thought for the night...

Why are books so cheap here and vitamins so expensive? I mean seriously, they don't fund their schools so the population is illiterate and they don't fund health care so...

(seriously vitamins are easily 1.5x the price here - even at Target!)

I was going to gloat about it being 63F (about 16 C) here this morning and that I had to take my jacket off on my way to work, but that seems unkind. (and this was at 8:30am....)

I got mail today, which is always fun. But included in the mail was a genuine letter from my Aunty "She". So rare to get a real letter! I am as guilty for this as the next person, because the best I manage is the odd birthday card which might have writing in it if you're lucky, but that's about it. It's a dying art for sure.

I've suddenly gotten very busy. These next two weeks will be finishing up my marketing rotation and starting my theatre one plus what seems like an extra large number of seminars that I actually want to attend. I have also taken on an "Arts in Crisis" client - this is the program that our CEO started last year to help arts organizations through the recession by offering free consultation. My client is a small DC arts education group so should be very easy to at least come up with some creative ideas for. However it all means that I'm going to have to remember how to manage my time again....

Tomorrow I'm off for a backstage tour at one of the other theatres - a couple of those coming up in these next weeks as well. And a wall of meetings...

For a kind of dreary day, today was a good one. I started out by being introduced to an amazing diner in Capitol Hill called Pete's. Pete's is a traditional American diner run by a Vietnamese family. So there is a shrine in one corner next to the open grill and various more traditional food options to go with two eggs over easy. It is also quite reasonably priced for DC, so I'm sold, though a bit of a trek from where I am for breakfast! (the Eastern Market/Capitol Hill area is actually one I'd like to relocate to if I were to be here longer term. More grown up than U Street). Apparently you get a great mix of people in there when they first open in the mornings (something like 4 or 5am...). Construction workers, shift workers and interns and other folk from the Hill who have just not made it home yet. I'm not likely to try it that early but you never know.

I followed that with finally making it to the Newseum while they had their half price deal this month. I thought it was terrific. Really well thought out and sooooo much information. Since it's all about journalism and the media they are playing a lot of television and documentary footage - you could spend a whole day just going from screening room to screening room. I skip a lot of that but I was there pretty much the whole afternoon regardless. Notably for me was their exhibit on 9/11 which was beautifully done (and gave me the same gut wrenching feeling I had on the day - I actually couldn't stay in that area very long), as well as one on the Berlin Wall. It very clearly detailed what lead to it first being built and then coming down. They even had a section of wall and one of the observation towers. A really good mix of informative and interesting - the right mix of solemn when appropriate and a sense of humour at other times. Like the tiles that decorate the washrooms....

I wrote down one quote from one of the walls of the building:

"Journalism is the first rough draft of history" Philip Graham, publisher, the Washington Post

I like that.

They have a great terrace from their 6th floor that looks out on to Pennsylvania.

Located next to the Canadian Embassy! (which I still haven't been inside...) This was my arty shot for the day.

This city is obsessed with many things, among them Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Kennedy and it seems Elvis. Both the Portrait Gallery and the Newseum are having Elvis exhibits this spring (is it some sort of notable anniversary of his death or something?) and the KC sells Elvis merchandise though he never actually played there. I don't get it myself, but I guess he fits that tragic icon figure they like so much here. So Alistair, visit after March to get the full retrospective...

Weird KC tidbit. Peanut M&Ms are the biggest selling item of all restaurant/merchandise sales. I am partial to them myself I have to admit.

So much I haven't covered from this weekend - the KC Haiti benefit, some jazz etc etc but will fill in those gaps early in the week.

The strangest things happen to me here...

Maybe it's because I'm out of my comfort zone. Maybe it's because it's all temporary. Who knows. But I can pretty much guarantee you that a cashier in a drugstore in Canada has never offered to play a card game with me in the store...

Here's the story. Tonight a bunch of us were planning on going to "nerds nite" at my favourite DC dive bar, DC9 (I've only been there once to see Elliott Brood but was looking forward to going back). Nerds Nite is when they have a live band but between sets there is a lecture about various things - tonight two of the topics were the mating habits of some sort of stick insect and cemetery architecture - the latter I actually was looking forward to. Anyway, we didn't know you could get tickets ahead of time and so discovered it was sold out (nerds I guess plan ahead) so we decided to have a board game night at ACC's place. I was given Clue in chocolate form as a Christmas present (awesome) and we thought we'd pick up some sort of card game as well on the way home. We stop at Walgreens, a drug store, and are in line with a pack of regular playing cards and UNO, a card game I've heard of but do not know. The line is long so the cashier working the photo processing area calls us over to ring up our purchases. I think he's joking when he offers to play a game in the store. He's not. So we do and for the next half an hour we are playing UNO in the Walgreens while he continues to look after people picking up their photos (and he simultaneously teaches me the game as I of course have no idea what I'm doing...).

When we finished and I am victorious!!! beginners luck maybe, Curtis D. as his name tag says, asks where the UNO tournament is happening tonight and I'm thinking, are you even of legal drinking age?? Seriously I think he was 19 years old at best (cute though!! really cute...) We don't of course offer to have him join us but it was all rather surreal and crazy... it will be boring when these things don't happen to me any more...

It was bound to happen..

Last night I went to my first DC gay bar. I was there with two fellow fellows and one fellows boyfriend. It was a very interesting cultural experience. My one friend and I were the only women there and the bar seemed to self-segregate. The second floor where we were was entirely black (well except me and the Kentucky fellow of course), the main floor, mostly white. I hadn't really noticed this until my friend who frequents this bar told me that that was the way it was. However, this is actually one of the few bars in this area where the groups mix at all, otherwise there is a latino gay bar, a couple of all-black ones etc.

I'm sorry if I go on about it, but I do find the racial politics here fascinating and foreign. DC is a different type of city too of course because the black population is the majority here - I believe it's the only city in the US where this is the case. History is so prominent and wounds of the riots of the 50s and 60s here still fresh. I suppose it's good that the relations are as progressive as they are, though there feels like there is still so far to go.

The week included two State Department events. The US State Department is big on "cultural diplomacy" these days. The first event involved international arts managers visiting from Russia, Syria and Pakistan (this was a KC organized exchange) and we got to meet them at a reception on their last day here. This was really great actually and I wish we'd met them at the beginning of their two weeks here (something I expressed and I think will change with the next group in March). It's just very interesting seeing how other countries work and fund (or not) the arts. Especially work that is happening in countries that have other things to worry about and focus on than the arts - and yet the art still happens.

The second event was the launch of DanceMotion USA (I think that's the program's name). This one is coordinated by BAM in Brooklyn and involves three dance companies touring to Africa and Asia. I'm unclear what the point of this program really is as the companies involved were not the best known dance companies from the states, and one in particular seemed to be using amateur dancers, so maybe I'm missing a link here. The overwhelming feeling I've been left with after these events is that it isn't so much about cultural exchange, but rather a strange form of cultural imperialism - though with a soft and fuzzy non-threatening covering.

I forgot to update you!

You know I told you about Matt the Intern. Well he's back! Intern no more, he's been hired as an assistant in the NSO Devo office. yay! Though, he remains Matt the Intern to me.
(in fact, the best way to get a job at the KC is to intern here. From the last bunch, 5 or 6 have been hired to full time or contract positions...if only I'd known!)
Matt yesterday coined a new phrase. Hailing. Hailing is any hug given or received by Gail. I'm quite partial to it and hope it catches on. :-)

Someone remind me to stop going to NSO concerts. They don't get any better.

And a sure sign that you and everyone you know go to one bar too often is when the bartender asks about your tooth when you haven't told him anything about it. Bartenders know too much! However, nice guy, and a free drink for my troubles (tooth is fine now), so that's all good. Worst veggie burger I have ever eaten however (I'd heard they were bad so I'd not tried one until today - really, it was truly horrible). I think it was made out of rice, but it actually tasted like corrugated cardboard. Honestly, I've never had anything quite so awful.

That's the sort of day it was.

Terra Cotta Warriors

This one's for Laura....

The girl who cannot go to an exhibit without touching something!!!

Okay, okay, no I did not touch the 2200 year old warrior! They had one at the end of the exhibit that you could photograph and "touch with care". It was hollow (which was a bit disappointing...)

Finally made it to the exhibit that's been on since November. The National Geographic Museum is one of the few with evening opening hours and since it's only about seven blocks away, that was perfect. Also, there is something fun about going to a museum at night. It was pretty fascinating, though I wished of course that they'd had a huge room filled with them - instead I think they had about 15. Still amazing craftmanship. My favourite thing was actually this miniature diorama in clay which depicted the construction of the warriors. It was probably about 14 ft long and gave a real sense of the artistry and precision involved, as well as the shear factory like quality the construction must have had.

In other news, I had my first meeting for my theatre rotation today. I'm actually going to request tomorrow to leave marketing early so I can get started (plus, you know, marketing is boring...). We have 3 shows happening in rep - though since they are each in different venues, it's not true rep, just many plays happening all at once. I'm pleased because they trust me enough to give me one of them to company manage on my own, and I'll be the associate on the other two. It's going to be a lot of work and long hours so basically don't expect to visit me in March or April. However, it will be nice to be involved in something real again and to get back to the business of show biz. I haven't been a true "company manager" since Rent, though I faked it at Canstage a bit, so it's back to being nice to actors! I think I'll remember how to do it.. :-) The challenge will be of course that American Equity rules are just different enough to catch me up, so I'm going to have to do my homework ahead of time. I also think I'm going to try and cram in as many sight-seeing things as I can in the next few weeks as I'll be working weekends again while the shows are up. It's good. It'll be great as long as I don't screw up!

I'm crabby today. Also my roommate has disappeared - I've not seen her since Friday, which wasn't unusual until last night when I figured she'd be back. I mean, I like having the place to myself, no question, and I assume she's at her boyfriend's...but still strange...

Okay so last night was the MLK tribute evening at the Kennedy Center. Through many misunderstandings and misinformation, I didn't end up going. Which is likely why I'm crabby today!! Big organizations have very poor communication. I did however get this close to the President...

He's in a window on 16th St!!

Anyway, I had a lovely night out with a friend and we shared a bottle of wine instead. And if I end up marrying him, I'm sure I'll not mind missing a second proper sighting of the Pres (third sighting in total for those of you keeping track). And it's Washington, there will be other opportunities. I'm just irked today is all...

A panda shot for you, just coz....The Washington Zoo has a couple of famous pandas, one of whom (Tian Tian) is leaving the zoo in a couple of months - I'm not sure which if this is him or not, but let's just say it is...

Yesterday it rained as promised and I hit the National Museum of the American Indian - which has been recommended to me repeatedly (Smithsonian #5 if any of you are keeping track - only 14 more to do!). The building was designed by Douglas Cardinal, the same architect as the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. I have to say that while the building was beautiful, the exhibits themselves left something to be desired. There was a lot of information, but no order to any of it, so I ended up feeling dizzy, going in circles to pick out things I'd missed. And each display itself was actually in a circle, so it was more than just a feeling of going in circles. There were circles within circles within circles.

However, there was a special exhibit by a Canadian artist, Brian Jungen, a member of the Dunne-za tribe, that was just amazing. The photo is of totem poles made entirely from golf club bags. All of his sculpture was of found objects or trash that he turned into these huge, impressive sculpture. I couldn't get a good picture of his turtle made of large green recycling bins, it took up an entire room and you could walk inside the turtle shell.

After the museum, was a quick trip to Trader Joe's and then to my friend's for an evening of the Golden Globes (we had been cultured dammit!! so it's okay. Lots of truly awful wardrobe choices this year I thought...). Today is MLK day so a strange January day off. I still have the apartment to myself so it's quite decadent, sipping tea and watching some really bad home reno show on HGTV. Apparently lots of Americans volunteer today, but since I hadn't heard of that until yesterday, I'm being the lazy foreigner...

I will write more in the morning about the day, but this is the view as I walked home tonight from my FFF's house (having watched the Golden Globes with her). Her apartment is only two blocks from my new one and these are the streets I get to walk along between us. It is so beautiful and I can't help but love the life I have created here. Yes, I wish my family and friends were here too, but this city and the work I am getting to do here, it's all incredible. And look at this street! It's not the best photo but it is so tranquil and the architecture is gorgeous. This is what is around me now every day...I am just trying to soak it all in...

Gorillas make me sad

They always do. They know that they are not where they should be. They always sit in the absolute furthest corner of their "environments" obviously trying to get away from the public. It never fails to make me very sad. I know that likely they are better off here than in what's left of their natural habitat, but what does that say about what we've done to the world.

I did make it to the zoo today - will upload some pics tomorrow probably as it's too late this evening for my brain to function enough to do it. It was a beautiful day here and even though many of the pavilions were closed for renovations (so no elephants or sloths or seals...) the zoo was really quite crowded. I was surprised at how busy it was. It made me glad I went in January, the lowest tourist season here, because I imagine the crowds are nuts in the summer. It's a good size zoo, but not huge. I'd say more Calgary zoo size than Metro Toronto but considering it is in the middle of the city (there are actually some beautiful apartments that surround it), they have done a nice job.

DC is a small place as my fellow fellow and I bumped in to someone we knew at the zoo. He even remembered her name (which was good, because I didn't). Maybe everyone I know just goes to the same places, but this seems to happen with fair regularity here...

After we walked back to Dupont Circle - which I thought was a shorter walk than it turned out to be. It looked shorter on the map anyway, but it was probably 2-3 miles - it seemed long after walking the length of the zoo twice (only one pedestrian entrance that we could find...). Fortunately it was still nice out. Then I had him and another of the fellows over to my apartment for drinks-my first hosting at my new place. Having a roommate whose boyfriend lives in Baltimore is very handy. Two nights in a row now I've had the place to myself. I am going to be spoiled and not want to share again tomorrow night...

Did you know that four banks in the US have been closed by whatever agency it is that regulates banks here? That's four banks THIS year - so in less than three weeks. 140 were closed last year.

And they wonder why their economy is in a mess - how many friggin' banks are there in this country????

And it was announced that the Pres will be at the MLK celebration on Monday. So hangin' with the Obamas again apparently. Yup, no big deal.

Today, I'm off to the zoo! And since I have the apartment to myself, I'm having a fellow fellow over for dinner. Well, I say over as it will be located here, but I imagine he'll actually do the cooking....

(it's going to be 12C here - yay!!! sorry, if you still have snow where you are...)

Half way point

Apparently today marks the halfway point of my time in DC. Crazy. I feel I still have so much left that I want to do and haven't even begun to feel like I've accomplished enough, seen enough, done enough... ACK!!

It feels like it's been a long week. Three mornings of 8am meetings will do that and tonight I'm really quite exhausted. I've been a bit homesick this week too for lots of reasons and while it's all fine, sometimes all the new gets tiring.

However, we have another long weekend here this weekend as Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's a very bizarre time to have another day off so close to returning from Christmas. And we don't get any time at Easter which is about when you'd like a bit of a break, so that's odd. Apparently some places give people Good Friday, but it is not a Federal holiday so we don't get it.

I'm hoping to go to the free concert at work on Monday, but unless I can scoop a ticket ahead of time that may not happen. Apparently it's a zoo and people line up over night for the seats. Crazy. Of course last year it was Oprah and Aretha Franklin (and the day before the Inauguration) so this year won't quite be like that I shouldn't think, but there are always surprise guest appearances so I'm going to see how persuasive I can be tomorrow to secure a spot.

Otherwise it's supposed to be a lovely weekend so I have a couple of ideas on what I might like to do, but I'll just have to see how it all unfolds. I think I have the apartment to myself so it will be tough to get me to leave it :-)

I did not end up at Arena Stage today as they called to reschedule. It is budget crunch time for next season (same is true at the KC and I'm sure at my old stumping grounds as well) so I completely understand. A bit of a drag, but hopefully it will work out in a couple of weeks time.

You will be pleased to hear that the murder rate in DC in 2009 was at its lowest rate in something like 40 years. I believe the final number was 160. Now just because Ottawa which has a comparable population only had 9 murders last year should not be cause for alarm. This was trumpeted as good news around these parts so I'm just rolling with that.

Be nice to telemarketers

I spent part of the afternoon yesterday with the telemarketing team for the KC. We keep them in this little room in the roof of the concert hall. It's actually much more pleasant up there than I had imagined it would be. They are a little bit on top of each other, but otherwise it is quite civilized.

Now I find many of the methodologies used to motivate telemarketers a bit weird - like for instance, they refer to themselves as "fine art consultants". And if one of them is in a bad mood, their manager puts this little plastic walking crab on their desks because they are being "crabby". Whatever gets you through the day.

I got to sit and listen to Carl, our top caller for the last two weeks, as he made his calls and I swear I would have bought something from him he was that good - and I can go for free. He was calling for the NSO and there are about 40 concerts left this season with them, each with a different conductor, soloist, repertoire. This guy knew them all and he could put packages together for someone based on a couple of simple questions in moments. He was amazing. He made every call just like he was chatting with a friend he hadn't spoken to in awhile. They have a script to go from, and he would follow it but deviate enough to respond to how the person on the line was reacting. Sure he had hang ups as well, but I never thought I'd come out of a telemarketing session that motivated about what you can accomplish in sales that way. I mean it all still feels a little dirty to me, but they were calling only people who had purchased something in the last couple of years so it wasn't a pure cold call - theoretically these people liked the symphony a little anyway - and it's a really good deal they are being offered. So if the KC calls you, buy it!

Tonight I went to see a really good play. I know, it was bound to happen sometime here. It's on at Arena Stage and the timing is particularly good as tomorrow afternoon I have an info interview with their Managing Director. I still have to think of smart things to ask him...better do that now I think...

Oh! Oh! Oh!

I just paid off my entire credit card debt!!! Thank you Canada Council, who have come onboard as the official Federal sponsor of my KC fellowship. Hallelujah! And I now have breathing room to more or less afford my over-priced DC apartment...and yes, I have gloated to my fellow fellows and plan to credit the CC every time I speak in any public capacity for the remainder of my time here :-)

Adventures in American Healthcare

So the day started with a call from my dentist's office saying that my insurance had been turned down and did I still want the appointment. Good times. My coverage does not include any "preventative" care, so I'm not covered for the dentist to examine me, but I am covered for some of the treatment that they might deem necessary from an examination. There is a lot of logic here so try to keep up. The receptionist told me that I had to tell the insurance company what type of injury it was, so I called them directly. I asked what type of injury was covered, explaining that nothing dramatic had happened, no car accident or anything. I was told that my health care provider would determine whether it was an injury or not. And so the circle of healthcare in the US is complete.

Of course I went to the appointment anyway regardless of what if anything was going to be covered. The chip was easy to fill and so about 15 minutes and $160 later (after what my insurance did cover and a 15% discount - yes, discounted healthcare! Have no idea why they gave it to me but hey, I took it) I was out the door again. I actually think it likely would have cost roughly the same in Canada but I've not had to pay for full dental in awhile. And new dentist guy was very pleasant and likes to attend classical music at the KC and the Bolshoi Ballet (coming in two weeks I told him!). He also really wanted to talk to me in French, so I let him. It's not like I was doing much talking anyway and he had a lovely accent...

Kalorama Heights

I was quite lazy today, but did go for a walk as it was another beautiful day. I didn't go too far, just over to Kalorama Heights....which is about six or seven blocks away, but somewhere I hadn't wandered yet. They call these the Spanish Steps and they are at the top of 22nd leading to S Street. The Casa Loma staircase it isn't, but still a nice view down 22nd. The things I'd read about it mainly criticized how there wasn't anything much at the top of the steps, but look....

A Yellow Panda! It's a bit strange, but I'd climb the stairs to see him...

Lazy Sunday

Oh the simple luxuries that I will never take for granted again. A Sunday morning with the apartment all to myself. Tea and toast in front of the Food Network still in my PJs. It would only have been improved upon had I been able to watch Coronation Street (what's happening on it BTW people??? :-) ) Now I'm listening to Friday's Q from my CBC podcast - a little voice from home.

I should put some laundry in and then decide which DC walking route I am going to tackle today. The lovely Miss Tracey Nolan gave me a box of city walks and I've intentionally and accidentally been working my way through them. It's another beautiful sunny day and again around freezing so I may not north into Adams Morgan and see how the other half live....or I may end up just at the local coffee shop, we'll see....

Beautiful day...

I had a surprise brunch with a fellow fellow followed by a stroll through my funky new neighbourhood. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and only around zero (all the locals just thought is was freezing and I had to open my jacket...) It was just one of those beautiful-feels-like-winters-over days that in Canada you get in March. I'm not saying winter is over, even here, but it just filled my heart (that is so corny, but true!). It is always better when the sun is shining.

I saw a matinee of a play at Studio Theatre - now just a few blocks from me at one of my favourite intersections, 14th and P. The play was called In the Red and Brown Water and was by a young black writer from Florida. He used some imagery from the Cuban Orishas (gods) and played with some interesting structure to his writing. I mention that he's a black writer because here everything is so black and white. It's so extreme. I went with my friend Damion and he said he just wanted to see a black play without death in it. I said I just want to see "white" plays with some black actors in them. Here it seems all the work they get is in "black" plays. I realize it's hard enough in Canada, but I don't think it's quite this extreme. Today's had a couple of excellent actors in it, some of the best I've seen in my time here. The lead reminded me of a young Raven Dauda - she had the same power that Raven does, but less polished. What I thought was good though was how diverse the audience was, and this is a good sign I think. Of course it was a pay what you can preview (I am on a budget!) and so I think that brought out a lot of young people, but it was good to see all ages and colours in the audience. Something we in Canada could do better.

Mini-Wheat injury

I had an 8am meeting this morning (yes, the KC is yet another one of those arts organizations that like early morning meetings - I miss the Mirv days when nothing happened before 10am...) and while sort of rushing through my mini-wheats (maple and brown sugar flavour - 0% sodium) I managed to chip one of my lower front teeth. Not entirely sure how I achieved this but I did. It's not visible at all as the chip is on the inside, and it doesn't hurt at this point, but it's awkward and a nuisance and rubs roughly against my tongue (which I can't seem to stop doing even though it hurts to do it!). So next week I will have my first adventure (and hopefully my only one) with the American "healthcare" system when I visit the dentist. I have a very nice dentist in Toronto I wish I could be seeing!

This dentist is actually very close to work and apparently good. I had to be "approved" as a patient however before they would book an appointment. I'm assuming this was them checking my health insurance. Actually my dental benefits are pretty good - and shamefully better than the Americans' coverage for the people I work with. I guess that's one benefit of the particular Visa I'm on, the healthcare requirements were mandatory. But yes, I could have been rejected for any number of reasons - too many other patients on the same insurance, inadequate insurance coverage etc etc

Hopefully it won't get worse over the weekend. I'm eating soft foods as a precaution! I haven't tried a cup of tea yet, I will test that in the morning and see how I do with hot. Blah!

Jupiter

The best planet of all...

(oooh look, I got this embedding thing to work!!) This is of course not the NSO. Hearing this passage live though did make sitting through the first act worthwhile. The played quite well together tonight actually (though the Elger in act one was still painful). I give this credit to Leonard Slatkin the conductor this evening. He seemed to energize them in a way I haven't seen before.

The most amazing passage starts about 3 minutes in and to me it is one of the most beautifully written movements in classical music. It fills me with British pride (I don't even know if Holst was British, but this must have been used as theme music in enough BBC films for it to forever be linked in my mind). Hum along if you like....

playing catch-up

I've been quite tired this week, unused to all the activity from my week in Toronto I think. I'm looking forward to Saturday and a bit of a sleep in honestly...

Tonight I'm going to an NSO concert which includes Holst's The Planets in its program. I remember my dad used to blast the record of this on Hallowe'en when giving out candy. I believe it was the Mars section which was favoured for this. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, and the evening won't be a late one, but I think I need some caffeine first to keep me going. These next few weeks here are quiet as January isn't a great time to sell tickets so I want to see what I can with the limited choice.
I'm going to try and see some plays at other theatres in the next week as well. I've got tickets to see Stick Fly at Arena Stage next week (one of the shows featured in the talk I went to - thus proving that free programs can lead to ticket sales!)

And for those of you on Facebook, if you are "fans" of the Kennedy Center, it's me updating our status this week. Yes, for very brief moments this week, I am the Facebook voice of the KC. The responsibility is heady!

I gave directions!

This is actually the second time I've done this, but the first time in my new neighbourhood which is really the height of confusing with the diagonal streets and round abouts every few blocks.

I was on my way home after stopping at the Communist Safeway and someone asked where Dupont Circle was - they were walking in the wrong direction and I re-directed them (AND I was right! after they set off I had a moment of "oh, um, actually..." but I needn't have doubted myself or scurried off in the opposite direction in case I was wrong...)

I love 17th street where this Safeway is (the grocery store itself is terrible - the produce section in particular...). It is the heart of DC's gay district and it is just so lively and friendly. The homes are beautiful and the stores and restaurants really diverse and interesting. I'm not sure what the area is referred to as officially so I call it "the Street of the Gays" like the Avenue of the Americas. It seems to fit and so far no one has corrected me!

(I apologize if any of you consider this to be a politically incorrect posting. It is of course said with love...)

Back in DC

After a very whirlwind visit to the home country, I am back in DC where it is surprisingly cold. It's all windchill (or Real Feel as my father says they refer to it as in Boston - hilarious) as the air temperature is only like -1C. However, windy windy.

Today was just one of those days. First day back after two weeks off and 100s of email to sort through (the marketing folk love their email). My watch battery died, and I didn't realize this until it was 10:30 every time I looked at it for likely 20 minutes - until I clued in that there was a problem with this and was late for a meeting because of it. I couldn't remember how to do one of the daily reports I'm responsible for this week - which hadn't been updated in my absence so there were many weird sales days to sort through to get it right. Anyway, it was really just one of those days.

I went to a panel discussion tonight on race and the stage which was pretty interesting but relied too heavily on references to a play that is in previews currently for the theatre hosting the discussion. It's a new work so only four audiences worth of people have seen the play - of which only five individuals were in the audience for the discussion. I'm all for plugging your season (and certainly I'm now very interested in seeing this play), but the discussion was advertised as a much broader issue and I would have liked to have seen it addressed more in depth. In the states, the race issues only refer to black and white, there was no reference to any other race or demographic. This makes sense given this country's history, but it is different from the discussions I've participated in in Canada. I'm not convinced that we offer more opportunity for other races and cultures to participate in the theatre than they do here, but perhaps those communities in Canada have a greater opportunity to speak out and be heard as part of the work. There is a huge divide in this country and it truly handicaps their arts community...