Once in a Lifetime

As many of you know, I went to the inauguration of our 44th President (click for pics). Right after Barack Obama was elected I bought a plane ticket without any plans of where to stay or anything. I just knew I needed to be there. I mentioned my trip plans to my girl LaToya and she wanted in too. A few days later, her plans were set and we were on our way.

Our trip lasted from the 14th until the 24th and was all consuming. I was most definitely part of the Obamamania that buzzed throughout the city. Words can't accurately capture the feeling that electrified me or the feeling of love and happiness around DC. It was incredible to walk around for 8 hours a day sightseeing and run into people of all types who were happy to strike up a conversation about their journey and what the election results meant to them.

The overarching highlight of my trip was getting a palpable sense of the renewed hope that lied within the hearts of my fellow Americans. Walking among the masses, talking with folks, and dancing with them at the inaugural concert I felt recharged. It was unbelievable. I was there behind the WWII memorial for the inaugural concert. I was there beside the Washington Monument to hear President Obama's first words in office. I felt the hush of the crowd and its' reverence when he stepped down to the podium to deliver his address. I watched the jumbo tron through the LCD playback on someone's video camera because I was too short to see the jumbo. Talk about meta art. I was there watching a screen watching a screen. It was surreal. I still need to see the full media coverage.

I watched the inaugural parade from Congresswoman Bordallo's offices because we were meeting up with my friend Matt who staffs her. At that point the crowds were so thick that we couldn't get anywhere so we chilled at the office for a bit before going to a late lunch. That was a treat because I haven't seen Matt in eight years and it was so nice hear his story. Meeting the Congresswoman was icing on the cake.

Some other random trip highlights include...

• Reconnecting with people from high school and college that I hadn't seen or spoken to in years. Gotta love Facebook. It turns out I don't need to bring 20 people with me to DC b/c I already know a solid group there. My sorority sisters were uber gracious in allowing us to stay with them. In general, it was fun to catch up and hear how life had changed for them. In one case, I got to meet a friend from Irvine, Travis' best bud (Zach) and make a new connection. Hooray for new connections.
• Sitting in on a Supreme Court Hearing. My dreams of becoming a Justice were dashed because after 10 minutes of sitting there not only was I non-plussed by the court but I was bored out of my mind. It brought me back to Anthro 263 at 8 am MWF during my freshman year at SC. It was awful. The craziest part was that the Justices themselves looked totally over it. They were bouncing in their seats, staring off into space, and writing on their memo pads like they were outlining their next book. Now I can officially retire that dream.
• Learning how to be a super spy with Rick Fox and his daughter at the International Spy Museum. I came away wanting to learn more, which I think is the goal of any good museum.
• Hobnobbing with Will.i.am and Al Gore...almost...at the Smithsonian of American Art as I posed next to Obama artwork.
• Using the Metro. It was clean even with the added crowds and the crazies didn't mess with me. It was great.
• Creating a "passport" for the Library of Congress. It is this new initiative that they are heavily promoting and it's actually really cool. Each visitor can register a little pamphlet to their email address and creates a user name. Then, at each exhibit they insert the pamphlet into an information kiosk and they can download information about all of the individual items within that exhibit. Maybe I'm a huge dork but this was so exciting to me that I told about 12 people. Not even kidding. I met a woman from NH who home taught her son and told him that he can use it for primary source references for his work.

NOTE: It was freezing there. No... really. I know I'm from MA but something about being in CA for the past 8 years has thinned my blood. That and I don't have a real winter coat or gloves. Anyhow, it was below freezing. On some days it was too cold to snow. As a result, I was wrapped in so many layers I looked like a fat kid in a little coat and I pretty much looked semi-homeless in every picture so please don't hold it against me. (Side note: Semi-homeless includes slight disheveledness, hair issues and some slight marks on the coat. Full-on homelessness includes not showering, not changing underclothes, serious hair, skin and clothes damage and footware issues--basically a real problem. )

Please keep all of this in mind as you view my first ever iMovie. Enjoy!