i am currently in a twilight-zone of washington living, having had a delightful weekend, but now feeling thoroughly discombobulated (the expression coined during college of "all sortsa discombobulated" certainly applies) now that i'm here at work, kicking off another fabulous week of staff assistant bliss...

my apologies for the utter lack of posting last week--the week flew by, although the hours at the office seemed to drag at a snail's pace. it was a very strange week, to say the least--time was seemed to stop between 9 and 6 (or 8 and 5, as it was for most of the week), but, at the same time, it seemed as if everything was racing by at breakneck speed. i felt a bit dazed, as a matter of fact, with little ability to control the pace at which everything was moving. i had to sit back and let everything happen, which, fortunately, didn't result in calamity (at least not that i know of)...

but nonetheless. went through the week, got to the weekend and went to adams morgan for a party at patrick's, at which i got to catch up with my favorite ben p. of the class of '01! it turns out he's trying to relocate down here--words cannot describe how excited i was to see him! ben was one of those guys that everyone on campus knew and most, from what i could tell, thought very highly of, and i didn't have an opportunity to get to know him until we worked on midsummer (he as lysander, myself as god--or, in less theatrically-minded circles, stage manager), and he became one of my favorite people during the process. so seeing him and being able to catch up was fabulous. not to mention that he gives great hugs, so i received a truly good, quality hug down here for the first time in what feels like eons (which amused me immensely, considering i've been having a good, in-depth discussion about hugs recently).

and on saturday, the parentals descended upon dc. they arrived shortly after ali finished up the moving out process. yep, moving out. i don't really like to think about it, as ali's come to be a great roommate and a good friend. it didn't hit me that she was really moving until she left--but i'll be optimistic. i know i can expect amusing phone conversations after each episode of our reality television and i am hoping to take a weekend in the somewhat-near future to head up to new york to visit.

the parental visit is still occuring--they head back to vermont tomorrow morning. it's been, in a word, fabulous. quick rundown of events--saturday they arrived, we caught up, panera for lunch (for those within range of a panera, i highly recommend the mezo bean & vegetable soup--fabulous), wandering about saturday afternoon, dinner at the cheesecake factory saturday night (score!).

we spent yesterday being fantastically tourist-y, which brought me great joy. we swung by the mellon aud to see if we could spot anything related to the west wing's filming schedule. walking down the sidewalk and past the production trailers and cars, the wires and cables leading from the trailers to the building, where, no doubt, my favorite actors were portraying my favorite characters of my favorite television show--i'll admit it, it gave me a thrill. i'm a theatrical/hollywood/television junkie (but in a good way, not the "ohmigodineverleavemytelevision" couch potato sort of way), and knowing that there could have been only a wall separanting me from bradley whitford, allison janey, matrin sheen and the like was intoxicatingly exciting. it was hard to keep my cool.

spending time at the national gallery, where we spent the afternoon, was outstanding. we viewed only a fraction of what is available, and i plan on returning there in the very near future to roam about and explore. the work we saw was gorgeous--as a youngster visiting museums, i completely lacked the appreciation for what art can provide a person's soul--i felt so comfortable and at peace as we milled about (as did my mother--my father enjoyed it for the first couple of rooms, but then, i think we can all agree, got a little on the bored side and wasn't exactly pained to leave--it was adorable).

we left the gallery and walked up past the capitol to my office building so they could see which entrance to enter through this afternoon when they meet me for lunch and get a short, vickie-led tour of my office (ha--my office? like i own the place...that amused me). we then traveled to union station (where my mother, who had been consulting the aaa-provided capitol walking tour the day before, was amused by the fact that the roman statues on the outside and inside of the station had to be modified to provide a little more, shall we say...coverage...so as to not scandalize the passengers when the station was first opened) before traveling out to wheaton for the inevitable shopping excursion (it always works this way--they want to buy me things, i feel bad and get upset with them for spending money on me--warm fuzzy feelings abound and i ultimately wind up with some things that i love but would never spend the money on myself--it's always very nice), after which, we stopped at dupont on the way home to pick up wraps from wrapworks (which i'd always wanted to check out but never had--i was a fan and recommend it. dad and i built--custom-ordered--ours, he opting for steak, mashed potatoes and barbecue in his wrap, myself opting for grilled veggies, red rice and charred salsa in mine, both of which came with a garden salad with corn and red peppers--while mom had the "state of confuscious"--basically a chinese chicken salad in a wrap. all were tasty, all three of us were satisfied. for the record, you can tell i miss alison when i start answering the questions she'd ask when i think back to dining excursions--she always asks about what each of us selected for an entree and how it was.) before coming home to relax. i went grocery shopping and worked out, then we all watched the super bowl--which disappointed me across the board--the game wasn't overly exciting (while i'm always a fan of good defense, as a former soccer fullback who believes the best offense is a good defense, i think the game was demonstrating weaknesses in both teams' offenses more than any standout defensive play) and the commercials were, for the most part, much less entertaining than normal. the only ones i really enjoyed were the budweiser "jackass/zebra" commercial, the "yo/yogi" commercial and maybe a couple of others. the snl halftime special, however, did amuse me greatly (i heart jimmy fallon).

but i've been having a wonderful time with the folks. my father paid me one of the greatest compliments as we were enjoying dessert at dinner saturday night--he commented on how much he enjoys visits to dc now because it's not just like he and my mother are visiting one of the kids--they look forward to being able to visit a good friend. i was thinking the same thing at that very moment--as we were laughing about some story over our drinks and dessert--it was a truly great moment that embodies the experience (thus far, anyway--knock on wood). it's been comfortable, relaxing and fun.

and, since i should probably mention it, i picked up some fun treats for my room through the aforementioned shopping. while at the national gallery, mom and i came across a reproduction of van gogh's "cafe terrace at night" and i just fell in love with the painting. i've always loved "the starry night" but never bought a copy of it because it's so known and so many people have it--"cafe terrace" is just as gorgeous and i'd never seen it before. while i was looking at vintage poster prints in the gift shop, my parents found a print of "cafe terrace" and bought it for me, as well as a frame while we were in wheaton. it looks absolutely gorgeous and works so well with my bedroom (which has a blue and yellow scheme to it). we also bought a burner (of sorts) for the yankee candle fragerence tarts i'd been given for christmas (mmmm...). i put my foot down when mom tried to buy me the new (ok, it's not new anymore, but i still haven't bought it) david gray cd, however, promising her that i would buy it for myself soon.

ok, i've got a pile of work to get through, some fun emails to write (expect mail this afternoon) and a lunch with the folks, plus a possible big surprise for them, to look forward to. whew...as well as my rambling about why i'm discombobulated (funny how i start off with that and i write a book without really addressing that--but hey, that's just me, so deal. bwahahahaha).