Snow is blanketing my city, and all I want is my bed.
First thing...I am devastated by the news of Kim Manners' death. He was the directing (and producing) force behind some of my favorite television in history. I feel so bad for the SPN family, who have lost a great friend and family member, and the show will simply never be the same without him.
I also found out this morning that one of my coworkers, of whom I was quite fond, has passed away. He had cancer, and they forced him to come back to work way too soon. I'm really pissed about that.
But on to happier times, or I'll spend the day crying. I finally managed to write down an entry about my experience on the Mall at the Inauguration,
The adventure started when between_names got here Monday evening. We got a pizza, watched the ELE audition tapes and Wall-E and went to bed early in preparation for waking well before dawn. I slept badly, because I was starting to get sick, but woke up at 4:30 anyway. We got layered up (three shirts and a sweater on top, plus one of those Thermacare back wrap thingies, two pair of pants and two pairs of socks, hat, scarf, gloves complete with wrap-around hand warmers) and got all of our supplies ready (camera, water, protein bars and cough drops) and headed out to the Metro at a little after 5. Still pitch dark and colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra, there were already plenty of people making their way towards Capitol Hill. I was surprised that the Metro wasn't that crowded, but I am guessing that the cold actually deterred a whole lot of people from going and/or going that early.
When we got downtown, we wandered around, navigating the closed streets and following the herd, over to the Lincoln Memorial, which was our final destination. We passed St. John's Church, which had a big sign hanging behind it welcoming Malia and Sasha (provided by the AFL).
Everyone around us seemed to be in a good mood, despite the weather. The crowds grew thicker the closer to the Mall we got, but we bypassed the majority, since we were heading further down than just about everyone. We reached the Lincoln Memorial and set up camp front and center. We did notice that the WashPost had completely LIED about the placement of Jumbotrons, so we couldn't actually see anything, but we could hear. Before the sun rose, we saw Annie Liebowitz taking photos around the Memorial, which was pretty cool. But now it was a waiting game. We got there just after 6 and had 6 hours to wait in sub-freezing temps. I was fine except for my toes, which after about an hour and a half were in serious trouble. So, being a smart cookie, I took the hand warmers off and put them in between my two layers of socks. Sure enough, my feet were soon toasty warm. And everything got a little better after the sun rose.
As time passed, the crowds grew thicker.
There was such a feeling of anticipation in the air, like the entire city was holding its collective breath. We struck up conversations with some of the folks around us, and everyone was really nice. At one point, between_names and I were singing songs from The Music Man, and not ten minutes later, we were talking to the lady in front of us, who turned out to be from Gary, Indiana!!! My cousin, Paul, showed up with his friend, but they decided to get closer, and headed for the Washington Monument (and a good thing, too, since my cuz got interviewed by ABC News and showed up on tv that evening, talking about his 8 hour drive, and then doing the hokey pokey with a bunch of strangers). God, I love Paul...he's my pookie darling.
After seemingly endless waiting (which wasn't so bad, since they were piping in Sunday's events over the speakers), things started up for real. All the people were announced as they came out to take their seats, and the only hissing I heard was for Cheney (I thought that booing Bush would just be unnecessary on such a day of celebration, but I'll hiss at Cheney, no prob). Huge cheers for everyone else, though.
(My camera has an awesome zoom. This is just the very fringes of the monster crowd that covered the Mall. Simply amazing.)
And finally, it was time. The level of emotion (and positive emotion at that) was overwhelming. I, and everyone else, had a huge smile on my face and tears streaming down my cheeks. K and I had our arms around each other, and everyone around us was hugging and swaying and laughing and crying all at the same time and all out of happiness and relief and pride. The huge, collective breath that the country was holding was let out as an elated sigh from coast to coast, but was a palpable and spiritual event on the Mall that day. I have never seen that many people in one place before, and it was amazing. And everyone was over the moon. And every time I see footage of it on tv, or hear someone talking about it, I get that same feeling of awe and love and happiness that I had on that day. I was the experience of a lifetime, and one I shall always treasure.
Getting home is another story entirely, but I can put up with a lot of bullshit when I need to...and the pain and the sickness was actually well worth it.
I also found out this morning that one of my coworkers, of whom I was quite fond, has passed away. He had cancer, and they forced him to come back to work way too soon. I'm really pissed about that.
But on to happier times, or I'll spend the day crying. I finally managed to write down an entry about my experience on the Mall at the Inauguration,
The adventure started when between_names got here Monday evening. We got a pizza, watched the ELE audition tapes and Wall-E and went to bed early in preparation for waking well before dawn. I slept badly, because I was starting to get sick, but woke up at 4:30 anyway. We got layered up (three shirts and a sweater on top, plus one of those Thermacare back wrap thingies, two pair of pants and two pairs of socks, hat, scarf, gloves complete with wrap-around hand warmers) and got all of our supplies ready (camera, water, protein bars and cough drops) and headed out to the Metro at a little after 5. Still pitch dark and colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra, there were already plenty of people making their way towards Capitol Hill. I was surprised that the Metro wasn't that crowded, but I am guessing that the cold actually deterred a whole lot of people from going and/or going that early.
When we got downtown, we wandered around, navigating the closed streets and following the herd, over to the Lincoln Memorial, which was our final destination. We passed St. John's Church, which had a big sign hanging behind it welcoming Malia and Sasha (provided by the AFL).
Everyone around us seemed to be in a good mood, despite the weather. The crowds grew thicker the closer to the Mall we got, but we bypassed the majority, since we were heading further down than just about everyone. We reached the Lincoln Memorial and set up camp front and center. We did notice that the WashPost had completely LIED about the placement of Jumbotrons, so we couldn't actually see anything, but we could hear. Before the sun rose, we saw Annie Liebowitz taking photos around the Memorial, which was pretty cool. But now it was a waiting game. We got there just after 6 and had 6 hours to wait in sub-freezing temps. I was fine except for my toes, which after about an hour and a half were in serious trouble. So, being a smart cookie, I took the hand warmers off and put them in between my two layers of socks. Sure enough, my feet were soon toasty warm. And everything got a little better after the sun rose.
As time passed, the crowds grew thicker.
There was such a feeling of anticipation in the air, like the entire city was holding its collective breath. We struck up conversations with some of the folks around us, and everyone was really nice. At one point, between_names and I were singing songs from The Music Man, and not ten minutes later, we were talking to the lady in front of us, who turned out to be from Gary, Indiana!!! My cousin, Paul, showed up with his friend, but they decided to get closer, and headed for the Washington Monument (and a good thing, too, since my cuz got interviewed by ABC News and showed up on tv that evening, talking about his 8 hour drive, and then doing the hokey pokey with a bunch of strangers). God, I love Paul...he's my pookie darling.
After seemingly endless waiting (which wasn't so bad, since they were piping in Sunday's events over the speakers), things started up for real. All the people were announced as they came out to take their seats, and the only hissing I heard was for Cheney (I thought that booing Bush would just be unnecessary on such a day of celebration, but I'll hiss at Cheney, no prob). Huge cheers for everyone else, though.
(My camera has an awesome zoom. This is just the very fringes of the monster crowd that covered the Mall. Simply amazing.)
And finally, it was time. The level of emotion (and positive emotion at that) was overwhelming. I, and everyone else, had a huge smile on my face and tears streaming down my cheeks. K and I had our arms around each other, and everyone around us was hugging and swaying and laughing and crying all at the same time and all out of happiness and relief and pride. The huge, collective breath that the country was holding was let out as an elated sigh from coast to coast, but was a palpable and spiritual event on the Mall that day. I have never seen that many people in one place before, and it was amazing. And everyone was over the moon. And every time I see footage of it on tv, or hear someone talking about it, I get that same feeling of awe and love and happiness that I had on that day. I was the experience of a lifetime, and one I shall always treasure.
Getting home is another story entirely, but I can put up with a lot of bullshit when I need to...and the pain and the sickness was actually well worth it.