i'm intrigued.

this morning, i was looking up information about kickboxing classes in the area, as i've been thinking about getting a tape or something as a way of overall body-strengthening and as an aggression/frustration/energy outlet. but i figured going to at least one class might be a good idea, so i can see and be instructed on the proper way to do it before i give it a shot and listen to billy blanks or someone equivalent on my own. so i found out that there's a fitness center actually just around the corner from my building that offers a kickboxing class on tuesday evenings. and has a free two-day introductory special. so i printed out the little coupon thingy and am thinking about checking it out tomorrow night, at it works into my schedule really well. i'm sure the price of a membership is unrealistic for me (i'd really only be a member for the sake of being able to participate in the classes--i have a fitness room in my building that i can--and do--use for free, so what's the point in paying?), but having the opportunity to kick my own ass in kickboxing and see if i like it is great! and, i figure, since the class only meets once a week and i would, therefore, not be able to take advantage of that with a two-day offer, perhaps i can take advantage of the massages on wednesday and get my first backrub in eons! mmmm...

anyhoo...it was a nice weekend. went out to happy hour with some of the office friday evening--started off at cap city brewery and then went with jess, liz, greg and greg's brother (new to the area) to irish times, which i'd never been to before. hung out for awhile, surprised myself at the fact that i was nice and buzzy after a vodka cran and a midori sour (granted, the midori was strong and in a pint glass--good irish times bartender, i say!--but nevertheless, a midori sour isn't exactly what one would think of when one things of drinks that will get one nice and drunk). i, for the record, enjoy the buzzy feeling so much more than the "hi, i'm duuuuruuunk" feeling. i haven't been a really big drinker as of late, primarily for that reason, i believe. but riding home on the metro, my eyes feeling a bit fuzzy around the edges, my head not completely attached to the rest of my body and my fingertips feeling a bit buzzy? i'm always a fan of that feeling.

i visited the holocaust museum as i had intended to do and the experience was amazing. i spent over three hours there without realizing how much time had passed and was fascinated by everything i came across. while i obviously knew of the details of the holocaust, prior to saturday, i could never fully understand how things had reached the point they had. but the manner in which the museum is set up gives the visitor the opportunity to really understand how it was a gradual process and how it wasn't as if the german people were foolish and just randomly let hitler take power and warp everyone's minds...it was fascinating. and the reflection room at the end of the museum is gorgeous and moving. it's rather difficult to put into words the way i felt as i wandered through the museum...while no one in my family (to my knowledge, anyway) was involved with the holocaust from any real point of view (we're pretty much strictly from ireland), to be walking through the museum, with my blonde hair and blue eyes, i had to wonder how the logic could have existed that i, had i lived in that time and area, would have been considered "purer" or "more german" than someone else. no matter how many times you are taught about it, no matter how old you become, i honestly believe there's no way to get past that initial fact--and i don't think it's possible to ever provide an answer to it.

so i left the museum and, on the metro ride back towards my neighborhood, checked my messages, only to discover that my father had called to ask about what had happened to "the space shuttle." unaware of the fact that columbia was in orbit, i figured there had been a launch delay or something, so i called him at work and told him i didn't know, but i'd find out when i got home--just had to run some errands and whatnot. so i stopped at tenleytown, took my own sweet time grocery shopping (i found that i have two additional grocery stores that aren't super far away from my place--yeah, larger selection!!!), walked home, stopped at panera to get myself a bowl of mesa bean & vegetable soup (mmmm...), then ambled into the apartment, turned on the tv, and realized what had happened.

whoa.

besides my initial shock about the events that had transpired, i found myself comparing this experience to the experience i had as a young child learning of the challenger explosion. i don't remember a lot of that day--i was five, afterall--but i do remember watching the explosion on television and talking to my parents about what had happened. but i remember knowing that something like that had never happened before and hoping that it would never happen again.

when i discovered that it was columbia that had exploded this time, i instantly realized that i had seen columbia in person--back in junior high when my family vacationed in florida. my brother, who had been a huge nascar fan, was being treated to a trip to the daytona 500 by my father. since mom and i were letting the men of the family be all macho-like and watch cars race around a circle track (can you tell i've never been a nascar fan myself?), we decided to spend the day at the kennedy space center. so we drove down, took a tour and, as luck would have it, were able to see a shuttle on the launch pad, as it would be taking off on a space mission two days later. the shuttle was columbia.

so i spent much of the afternoon watching the television coverage, then took a break from that to work out (but wound up watching the coverage while i cross-trained in the gym) and then ate dinner while watching the coverage. i had intended to go out with chloe and the various and sundry chloe-people, but plans fell through and chloe wasn't going to be doing anything afterall, so i headed up the street to the movie theater there to catch the late showing of "chicago." a short review of the movie will follow later this afternoon.

and sunday was relaxation. went to trader joe's for the first time ever--love that grocery store! did a lot of reading and room decoration--finally hung up my various framed pieces of artwork or vickie memorabelia. i finished "confessions of an ugly stepsister" and began my research about shakespearean authorship. i'm now reading a book called "murder of the man who was shakespeare" (or something like that) by hoffman, which argues that christopher marlowe actually wrote all of shakespeare's work. i'm doing everything in my power to remain skeptical (i would be crushed if shakespeare didn't actually pen my favorite works), but i plan to do a lot of research on this and am already finding hoffman's book fascinating. so we'll see...