ok, i love my new roommate dearly. she is very sweet and very kind and fun to talk to and hang out with. so she's totally cool. that SAID ... a conversation yesterday afternoon ("r" stands for roommate, "v" obviously stands for me):

r: "hi guys! how are you?"
v: "great, but wow, we're tired!"
r: "what did you do today?"
v: "we walked the mall. like the WHOLE mall!"
r: "oh wow! what mall? tyson's corner?"
v: (slightly confused pause, then reality dawns) "oh, no, i meant the NATIONAL mall."
r: "the national mall? where's that?"
v: "um ... it's right downtown. it's where all the monuments are and where the smithsonians are ..."
r: "oh, ok! that's cool!"

um ... yeah. :-)