Artomatic (Part 1)

While this may not be a "new" thing for me, I do love going to it.  It has been a few years since they have done the program.  It's a free art show where local artists display their artwork, and it's a HUGE show.  This year the show is in Crystal City, and there are 11 floors of art!  We only got through 2 floors, so I plan on going back.  Hence the "part 1" of the title. 

When I got there my friends Amanda and Elsye were at a beer/wine tasting that was part of the show.  After the tasting our plan was to start on the 11th floor where Elsye's friends art was displayed.  However, we got distracted on the third floor where the tasting was.  My favorite artist on the floor was a photographer named Yacouba Tanou.  He was a photographer and he used color in an amazing way in the photographs.  There were photos of an immigrant rights rally with an American flag and some Howard University Cheerleaders.  I didn't snap a photograph because I was worried about somehow debasing the art, but I got over that a little later =)

After that we went to the 12th floor.  We stopped at Elsye's friend's exhibit.  It was photography inspired by the breakup of her boyfriend.  It was desolate photographs from different rundown areas.  I really liked the way she had displayed her business cards.  There was definitely some interesting art work.  I took some photographs of the work that I liked, such as the display with cupcakes in the boxes. 

I walked into this one room and it looked like receipts.  But actually it was this writer who wrote things about escaping the corporate world, and just general frustrations.  He actually had this machine that you could push a button and it would print this little "receipt" with one of his ramblings.  I printed one, and it said

"4:17AM, 15 Jan 12.  I'm ranging further afield in my dreams.  My ghost sluiced out the drainpipe and rippled down the sidewalk to Best Buy, where it coiled in front of a mobile phone display.  I extruded golden fingers and scrabbled at the grass, mewling."

I could not tell you what that means!  But the exhibit was interesting.  There was also a woman named Jolene Sugarbaker whose artwork was dedicated to trailer parks.  It had green carpet with pictures and different photographs describing trailer parks.  It was very interesting- she even had a tote bag that said "I'm from the trailer park" with an RV thing next to her.  Elsye nudged me and said that really anything can inspire you, and really, it was true.  The last thing that I saw that I really liked was an exhibit of photographs of different personalized license plates that were categorized based on what they said.  I looked for license plates that I recognized, but did not see any. 

Overall the experience was a good one.  I had a lot of fun seeing all of the different art.  Some of it was weird, but some of it was super interesting and beautiful.  After giving it some thought I realized that of all of the different types of artwork, I was drawn most to the photography and the mixed media.  I like photography because it can be so clear to find the meaning.  That's not necessarily the case for paintings.  My sister is into mixed media, which is perhaps why it was of interest to me.  I will definitely go back again so that I could get through the other 9 floors!

Hiking at Great Falls Park

So on the lovely Memorial Day weekend I recruited my good friend Aliea to join me on one of my adventures.  I decided to try hiking (again).  For those of you who know me well, you will know that I hate hiking.  I really do.  My hatred of hiking began during my first year of law school when my then-boyfriend convinced me that this was something we should do.  He was really into that sort of thing.  Anyway, he was rather displeased when I did not take kindly to the idea of going to the bathroom outdoors, etc.  We broke up soon after.  Anyway, years later, I decided I would give this hiking thing a try.  I joked that I would have to be consuming beer while doing it, but after the previous day’s activities, I felt as though my liver would not be amenable to that.  I tried to keep in mind that “hiking” is just walking in nature.

Aliea and I managed to get up at 8am, cook breakfast, and be at the park by 10:30am.  I was feeling motivated, so we decided to do the 3 mile hike that involved “scrambling” over some rooks along the river and gorge.  The trail became less crowded as we walked, but when we started this family was in front of us a ways.  We noticed that they had been sitting down, and when they stood up I noticed that the son’s ankle was wrapped up and he was limping along with the rest of the family.  Aliea and I thought that perhaps this family thought this was the Oregon Trail and made the son keep going after injuring himself.  But really, we were only ¼ of a mile in at that point…..Anyway, we were able to get up on some big rocks and take some awesome pictures in the meantime. 

Aliea and I decided that we were SO GOOD at nature.  We pretended we were on the show “Lost” and started saying random hiking terms to prove our expertise.  You know, like the moss grows on the north side of the tree, and we kept looking for it…even though our trail was clearly marked.  There was one point when the trail became very steep and we were scrambling up rocks to get to the top of the hill.  I began questioning the sanity of this hiking plan, but after focusing for a few more minutes the trail plateaued and we realized that the trail had ended and we could take a different (flatter) path back.  Somehow Aliea’s dog Maggie still had energy and she was running along the path everywhere, and while this was happening a bug managed to land on Aliea’s hand.  Now, Aliea is one of the most hardcore people I know, and yet when this happened she began screaming in terror.  I quickly swiped the bug away, and told her I was a “nature slayer” and we decided that should be my title on a business card.  

The rest of the hike went by without incident.  We left the park and went to the pool.  In true Lynn fashion, I became sunburned in random patches on my body.  Nonetheless, the take away point here is that after this three mile hike, Aliea and I became experts on the subject.  We will be available to give any hiking advice you need.  However, there is no need to get carried away.  I will not be caught dead camping ever, in case you were wondering =)



truer words were never spoken

The Museum of Crime and Punishment

This was the first thing to do on my list, technically, and my first museum.  I had been wanting to go here for at least two years, but had not gotten around to it.  Last winter I had actually gotten a groupon for discounted tickets but then never went.  So when there was a living social deal and this project of mine arose, I figured this would be the first stop. 

I wanted to go when it was not crowded so I took a few hours off of work today in hopes that it would not be crowded.  The museum is set up in chronological order.  They had medieval crimes and then colonial crimes (interestingly, just about anything that was not holy could be considered a crime, especially on a Sunday!)  The next thing were pirate crimes.  There was this little blurb about two female pirates who were in disguise as males, and then they met each other.  None of the crew found out, but they were killed during an attack.  The Depression Era criminals were really interesting, and it was neat to see how they were sensationalized by the public in an effort to escape their mundane lives.  I got to see Bonnie and Clyde's getaway car, with the gunshots along the side.  It was neat to see the information on John Dillinger and his accomplices. 



The wild west scene

I definitely loved the information on Mob and the different members of the crime families.  I did not realize that Al Capone and Bugsy Seigel were rivals over bootlegging territory, and Al Capone was respected in the Italian community despite his crimes.  This decreased somewhat when it was clear that he had a hand in Bugsy Seigel's death.  I also got to learn about John Gotti, the "teflon don" as well.  They had an exhibit about "lawmen" including Elliot Ness and some others. 

Al Capone

I moved the more modern crimes, which were actually kind of spooky.  I remember when I was reading about Timothy McVeigh a woman accidentally bumped me from behind and I jumped!  There was something about presidential assassinations as well.  I did not realize that there were other presidents other than Lincoln and Kennedy that had been shot.  The next exhibit was one on prisons.  I had no idea that San Quentin is actually a model for prison reform, and that all of the prisoners are in some sort of education and rehabilitation groups.  Apparently the Arkansas prison was one of the most corrupt, and when they brought someone in to reform it he discovered all of these tortured inmates; when he tried to stop the corruption he was fired.  Alcatraz was never a prison that people were sent to, they had to "earn" the privilege to be transferred there, so that was interesting.  They had a model of Al Capone's cell, based on a picture.  It was quite nicely furnished.

The last thing they had was an exhibit on crime scene evidence and its use.  My eyes glazed over a little bit at this point after everything else.  I had also researched a lot of this in law school.  However, one of my favorite parts was the information on the cold cases.  I really like cold cases, and they had information on the Zodiac killer, the Black Dahlia, and Jon Benet Ramsey.  They discussed the horrible gathering of evidence and prosecution for the Jon Benet case as well as the Nicole Simpson case.  Overall it was an excellent trip.  I probably could have spent 2-3 more hours there, if my brain could handle it!  I think it was an excellent start to my list, and I think it is going to be hard for the future museums to top!

Boundary Road

Last night, my friend Katie and I went to Boundary Road Restaurant.  Normally I will try not to blog about restaurants, because that's not really my goal with this blog.  However, the restaurant was on my list of 5-6 restaurants that I wanted to try, so I figured I'd write about it =)  Plus, the Obamas were there only a few months ago so I figured it was high time I got over there! 

We were quickly seated and ordered this really awesome drink called "I'm thinking about getting a vespa."  It had orange juice and champagne and other things, very delicious.  We also ordered a cheese platter with three different types of cheese, and all of them were delicious.  (This was after they gave us the wrong cheese plate and there was this strange mass on the plate at first =) Katie ordered the pork chops and I ordered chicken with vegetables.  I loved my chicken, it was roasted and the skin was so salty and crispy.  Katie let me try her porkchops and while they were good, I definitely liked my chicken better.  I couldn't wait to have the rest for lunch the next day!  We had some of these Italian doughnuts for desert, and they were okay, not amazing.  The ambiance was really nice, but the service was a little slow.  However the waiter did have a ton of tables, so he did what he could.  They gave us a "neighborhood discount" which I thought was really cool.  I will definitely go back ASAP.  The place seemed busy for a Monday night which made me happy that my neighborhood was thriving.  I recommend it, definitely. 

In an effort to restore my femininity...

My friends and I went on a house and garden tour of Capitol Hill.  I wish I could tell you the details about each of the 15 homes and gardens, but it was kind of a blur of luxury.  Most of the homes were on the famous East Capitol Street.  This tour is so popular that they need "traffic cops" in the house to direct the pepole through the homes.  One home had the most tricked-out "man cave" that I had ever seen in my life.  There were three televisions in one room!  I noticed that they were all playing football, and that they must have been taped for the tour.  The tour guide informed us that "Huffman and Huffman" out of Ohio designed the house, as if we were supposed to know who that was...right.  We got to tour the inside of a house that I always walked by on Lincoln Park.  One of my favorite houses was a woman who was in the foreign service, and there is a picture of her shaking hands with Nelson Mandela!

Anyway, it was a long afternoon, and by the end we were hot, tired, and hungry.  After the tour we trudged to my favorite Mexican restaurant and gorged on tacos and sangria.  It was a fun afternoon most definitely, and it was good to see how the 1% lives!

Ok, so I went to a gun shooting clinic yesterday.  Yes, this is very unlike me, as I am vastly pro-gun control.  However, I agreed to do this months ago with a coworker who was kind enough to invite me, so I made the trek out to Centerville Virginia early Saturday morning.  This clinic was all women learning how to shoot guns.  Some of them were pros, but some of them (like me) had never touched a firearm ever. 

The first class was learning how to shoot rifles and pistols.  I knew that I could not be timid and needed to try everything I could while I was there, otherwise I would be wasting my time and money.  My first experience was with a rifle.  The instructor was really nice and let me try lining up and shooting without bullets first, and she pretended not to notice that my hands were shaking.  However once the gun was loaded I was given a target, and I managed to hit on target seven out of the ten shots!  I was very proud of myself, even when my coworker informed me that most people were pretty accurate with the rifle.  Whatever...

I went on to shoot a pistol next.  Whew.  I only had a few minutes to learn how to do this. However, when I stood there and shot the pistol and felt the bullet leave the gun and the recoil shake my body, it took my breath away.  I fired five shots, and when I stepped back I was in awe.  I was able to hit the target two out of the five times, which I didn't think was bad for my first time.  The picture below shows the target.  Mine was the bottom right-I promise there are two shots in there!

The last thing in the class that I got to try was the black powder guns.  My coworker collects antique guns, so he showed me how to load it and how to shoot it.  He was very meticulous considering its quite a process just to load one bullet in one of those things.  Mike informed me that you can actually just order antique guns over the internet and they will send them with no questions asked because apparently they are "not considered weapons".  That made me feel good, you know, for safety reasons...=P  Another person had this humongus gun that was literally bigger than me at 5'10".  Just watching someone fire it was rather scary, so I said no to that. 

My second class was entitled "How to Avoid Becoming a Victim".  There were only five of us in the class, and it was actually really informative.  I now have some ideas on how I can make myself more safe living in the city, which pleased my mother.  The last class was shotgun, which was after lunch.  It was definitely my favorite class because we got to shoot clay pigeons that were flying through the air.  My favorite thing was watching the pigeon explode in the air, instant gratification!  Anyway, my claim to fame here was that I was the only one in my group to shoot two in a row on my first try.  One of the instructors yelled "ANNIE OAKELY!" which made me happy.  They gave me the bullet casings, which I kept. 

I think the person taking this had never used an iPhone, hence the blurriness



Anyway, after I left I called my mother and stepfather and told them about the experience.  My mother is just as pro-gun control as I am, but she was proud I wasn't sitting inside wallowing.  My stepfather was quite pleased, as he is a card-carrying member of the NRA...I received a certificate at the end, so perhaps I will send it home to them to frame and keep in their house!  It was an long day, but I enjoyed it alot.  I will definitely go again next year.  All in all, not a bad start to my project. 

An Introduction...

My name is Lynn.  I am a typical 20-something young professional.  I am quite fortunate and blessed.  A good job, a wonderful apartment, and great friends and family.  For the most part, I have absolutely nothing to complain about; I try to go with the flow.  Unfortunately, the year 2012 has taken my legs out from under me thus far.  In a span of five months my father had a stroke (he's fine now), my cat passed away, and I broke up with my significant other of three years.  Last week I spent an evening wallowing.  I watched a chick-flick, which was unexpectedly sad; when I described this to a friend I joked that I was too numb from my junk food coma to notice.  I realized that I was only half-joking; I have become somewhat numb after all of these things. 

Hopefully this does not sound too dramatic, that's not the intention.  For my sanity all I can hope is that God has a reason and a plan for testing me with all of this.  However, one thing is clear: I need to pull myself up by my bootstraps, as my mother says.  I have an idea of how I am going to do this.  I've made a resolution to date myself this summer.  I have a list of things that I've always wanted to do here in the city that I've never gotten around to for one reason or another.  Systematically I'm going to go through this list; and ideally I will do approximately one per week.  I am aware that this plan is somewhat cliche and overdone, but as my good friend Green pointed out, everything is overdone, but my viewpoint is not overdone.   Anyway, the goal of this project is multifaceted: to take back 2012, to enjoy my time alone, and to carry out my new year's resolution to enjoy my life and not to pass up opportunities to do so.  Perhaps some self-realization will also occur in the process?  Dare to dream. 

The project began today, and for those who know me, it may seem unconventional....