Full and Fulfilling Sunday
Today was a very full day. My sleep schedule is a bit off, and I fall asleep early at around 10 or so without being ready for bed, with all the lights on, and the TV going. This happened again last night, so I woke up with morning at 3 and turned everything off. I went back to bed for a couple hours. My friend Becca was coming over at 9:30 to pick me up to go to a shooting class. Not knowing if she would want to come in I thought it best to clean some, since my places was and still sort of is a mess. This involved getting up early to clean, which is never something I like to do, but was not as bad as I had anticipated. I got sidetracked though by a video I had seen on boingboing, of virtual reality expert and professor Randy Pausch's last lecture. (He had inoperable and wide spread tumors in his liver, and died recently). The lecture is long, but well worth a watch. I was not familiar with him, or his work, but he was light and witty throughout, but a couple spots in the video made me cry- loud and ugly sobbing. I recommend watching it. When it became clear that my apartment was not going to be clean in time for Becca's arrival I gave up on the pursuit and resolved myself to just not inviting her up. This was not a problem as she arrived late and had plans after shooting.
The shooting range we went to is called Bull Run, it's part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park system, which means it's subsidized by the state. Becca had never fired a gun before, and wanted to try it, so we took an introduction to shooting class. It was mostly gun safety, which is good, and some history of the games. (Apparently in England, where our instructor Jeffrey is from, they shoot trap in tops and tails still.) When we walked in to the clubhouse everyone gawked at us. Aside from the older woman at the cash register we were the only women in the place, and definitely the youngest women about. We were joined by a young boy, who was probably 9 or 10 and the wife of someone who was out shooting trap. We had our class out on the wobble trap stand and each took turns breaking targets. I was much improved from the last time I went shooting. I think I broke at least as many if not more clays than I did in the two rounds of trap I shot with my cousin Geoff, and in about 7 rounds. Becca was visibly shaking after her first shot, but got better and broke a couple clays, which seemed to give her more confidence. She revealed to Jeff, however, that she had been closing her eyes when shooting, so he had her shoot some more, "With both eyes open this time" as he said. We're hopefully going to go back soon and shoot some wobble trap.
Becca dropped me off and I got ready for the second part of my day. I hopped in the shower, since it turns out standing in the middle of a field under the hot sun is a sweat-inducing activity. Made some lunch then headed out to the National Gallery where I was meeting my friend/co-worker (he works at the BLS but not in my office), Michael. Though it had rained, I anticipated it to be hot still, so left with enough time to transfer to the green line so I could get off at the Archives/Penn Quarter stop rather than walking all the way from Federal Triangle. I should have known though, that Michael, being a punctual person would be early as well. When the train pulled in to Rosslyn station Michael stepped on to the car. He didn't see me, and I debated at first not saying anything, and I didn't for a minute and just studied him. but then I got up from the bench where I had been reading and approached him. We chatted as we rode, but ended up getting off at Federal Triangle and I ended up getting sweaty again as we walked, since in the 30 or so minutes it took to get there the air had warmed up again. We went to go see Afghanistan exhibit at the NGA. It's of work that they recently discovered in the vaults of the central bank, under the former president's residence. It was of lovely ancient works and artifacts recovered from ancient tombs. It was interesting to see the confluence of all the cultural influences. Some of it was very Greco-Roman, other pieces looked more Egyptian, still others looked Indian in design, and others had a Chinese feeling. There were images of Greek gods, Buddha, and several triple combo animals. My favorite was the Makara, which is a crocodile, fish, elephant hybrid. Michael and I didn't talk much through the exhibit, exchanging the occasional comments or quips. It turns out he is a plaque reader, and a thorough one at that. He poured over every plaque, every caption, every word printed in the whole exhibit. We chatted a bit about it afterwards, and walked around the East building a bit. I always like visiting the Calder mobiles. There is just always something so magical about that room. I don't think Michael enjoyed it as much, but he at least went with me, which I appreciate. We chatted more as we walked back to the metro, and a bit less on the ride home. The goodbye was awkward, but I'll likely see him tomorrow. I'm still trying to figure out if it was a date or not, but it was fun either way and I'd like to do it again (hopefully he does too). I'm not sure how forward to be with him. I know if I'm not forward enough nothing will happen, but I worry being too forward will scare him off. We'll see how it goes.
The shooting range we went to is called Bull Run, it's part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park system, which means it's subsidized by the state. Becca had never fired a gun before, and wanted to try it, so we took an introduction to shooting class. It was mostly gun safety, which is good, and some history of the games. (Apparently in England, where our instructor Jeffrey is from, they shoot trap in tops and tails still.) When we walked in to the clubhouse everyone gawked at us. Aside from the older woman at the cash register we were the only women in the place, and definitely the youngest women about. We were joined by a young boy, who was probably 9 or 10 and the wife of someone who was out shooting trap. We had our class out on the wobble trap stand and each took turns breaking targets. I was much improved from the last time I went shooting. I think I broke at least as many if not more clays than I did in the two rounds of trap I shot with my cousin Geoff, and in about 7 rounds. Becca was visibly shaking after her first shot, but got better and broke a couple clays, which seemed to give her more confidence. She revealed to Jeff, however, that she had been closing her eyes when shooting, so he had her shoot some more, "With both eyes open this time" as he said. We're hopefully going to go back soon and shoot some wobble trap.
Becca dropped me off and I got ready for the second part of my day. I hopped in the shower, since it turns out standing in the middle of a field under the hot sun is a sweat-inducing activity. Made some lunch then headed out to the National Gallery where I was meeting my friend/co-worker (he works at the BLS but not in my office), Michael. Though it had rained, I anticipated it to be hot still, so left with enough time to transfer to the green line so I could get off at the Archives/Penn Quarter stop rather than walking all the way from Federal Triangle. I should have known though, that Michael, being a punctual person would be early as well. When the train pulled in to Rosslyn station Michael stepped on to the car. He didn't see me, and I debated at first not saying anything, and I didn't for a minute and just studied him. but then I got up from the bench where I had been reading and approached him. We chatted as we rode, but ended up getting off at Federal Triangle and I ended up getting sweaty again as we walked, since in the 30 or so minutes it took to get there the air had warmed up again. We went to go see Afghanistan exhibit at the NGA. It's of work that they recently discovered in the vaults of the central bank, under the former president's residence. It was of lovely ancient works and artifacts recovered from ancient tombs. It was interesting to see the confluence of all the cultural influences. Some of it was very Greco-Roman, other pieces looked more Egyptian, still others looked Indian in design, and others had a Chinese feeling. There were images of Greek gods, Buddha, and several triple combo animals. My favorite was the Makara, which is a crocodile, fish, elephant hybrid. Michael and I didn't talk much through the exhibit, exchanging the occasional comments or quips. It turns out he is a plaque reader, and a thorough one at that. He poured over every plaque, every caption, every word printed in the whole exhibit. We chatted a bit about it afterwards, and walked around the East building a bit. I always like visiting the Calder mobiles. There is just always something so magical about that room. I don't think Michael enjoyed it as much, but he at least went with me, which I appreciate. We chatted more as we walked back to the metro, and a bit less on the ride home. The goodbye was awkward, but I'll likely see him tomorrow. I'm still trying to figure out if it was a date or not, but it was fun either way and I'd like to do it again (hopefully he does too). I'm not sure how forward to be with him. I know if I'm not forward enough nothing will happen, but I worry being too forward will scare him off. We'll see how it goes.