The first thing I want to report from today
is that the top tier of our federal government could seriously use some
Magi-powered honesty. I’m seriously into
empathic overload tonight; and some of what I picked up today was just as ugly
as anything I sensed the few times I was around Corwyn or Gawain Hathorne.
That isn’t a very nice thing to find out
for sure about my country’s leaders, but I doubt that there are really all that
many people living outside the beltway who would be surprised at that
revelation. There would be a lot of
shock if I could reveal the things I learned today; but that can’t happen. It isn’t all dark and sinister in the halls
of power here, but there also isn’t much light either right now; and I have no
idea what it will take to change things for the better here.
It’s been raining pretty much all day here,
which fits right in with my inner mood – even though I’ve tried my best to be
happy on the outside. That isn’t to say
that I haven’t had any fun, because we have had a pretty good day for
everything except for the barrage of empathic ugliness I’ve been under. Though I know more about the White House and
Capitol Hill than most people who live and work here, thanks in part to some
archive records; it was pretty special getting to do those tours with Michael,
Rowen, Tim, and the rest of our friends.
The buildings really are very cool to see in person; and it was fun to
watch my friends too as they experienced politics up close and personal for the
first time.
Those reactions were fairly diverse, and
while I was the only person in our group – or in the city, for that matter –
who could passively sense so much empathically; I wasn’t the only one taking
everything we heard with a large grain of salt.
To be more blunt, as one of my friends suggested; it’s a good thing that
bullshit alarms aren’t part of the security systems or they’d be going off all
of the time! Thankfully, he saved that
critique for after we were on the way back to our hotel this afternoon; since
that observation probably wouldn’t be amusing to some of the people working on
Capitol Hill.
Continuing along those lines, most of us
had our personal bullshit alarms working just fine today; and we especially
needed them while having lunch with one of our Congresspersons. In this particular case, Congressman is appropriate,
though I won’t name him; or write about some of the things I learned from being
in close proximity to him. I know that
there’s a propensity for citizens to believe the best in their own
representatives while being much less charitable of the rest of our government,
but if I had that bias before today; I don’t anymore.
After a busy day of tours and empathic
overload, I was as ready as anyone in our group to have a fun night of dining
and shopping; and we started and ended that part of our day with a
full-immersion experience on the Washington Metro system – a first for most of
my friends. That was fairly entertaining
for me, but my favorite part of the evening was our seafood dinner stop. That’s one thing that I’ve definitely missed
since needing to move from our last home on the Atlantic coast; and Michael and
I were the only teens in our group who were adventurous enough to try some of
the really great menu options. We each
picked different meals and appetizers; and then shared everything so we could
try more of the different foods – though we got in on some mixed platters with
the adults in our group too.
For the rest of the girls, it was the visit
to the DC USA Mall that was the most fun, and while I do love shopping as much
as the next girl; a chain store in Washington D.C. isn’t so much different than
the version in Crystal Springs that it gets to the top of my list of best
moments of our trip so far. There were
some small, local shops that were interesting enough, and Rowen and I both
picked up some new clothes and some gifts to take back home with us; while
Michael and Tim kept themselves entertained by checking out the electronics,
gaming, and sporting goods at the usual ‘guy’ stores.
They still spent some of that time with us;
but we spent as much time with Gretchen, Sally, and some of the other
girls. We did some of our gift shopping
together, particularly when Rowen and I wanted some guy advice on gifts for
other boys – like our brothers. We ended
up having a bit more than two hours of shopping time before we needed to head
back to our hotel; and then almost no time left once we were there before the
bed checks were done at eleven.
Doing goodnight hugs and kisses with my
boyfriend is not exactly romantic when you have a chaperone standing nearby;
tapping on a watch to let you know that you’re not in your rooms on time. At least I didn’t have to deal with the added
stress of having a parent for one of those chaperones, though in Tim’s case; he’s
pretty much exactly the same around his mother as he is the rest of the
time. That probably scares her now and
then; but at least she knows he isn’t playing any teen games with her.
Rowen and I got to have turns in the tub
tonight while Sally and Gretchen led the post bed check entertainment and chat
time; and it was once again heading toward twelve-thirty by the time they were
falling asleep and I was able to start my usual nightly computer checks. There’s nothing new going on with the
Hathornes that I could find; I had a bit more family business work come up that
I took care of; and there were more than a dozen email to read and answer from
my family and friends. Rowen fell asleep
already too, but it’ll be a while longer before I’m wound down enough to get
some rest.
We’re getting a lot of rain now, and that’s
going to continue all day tomorrow; so it’s a good thing that we’ll be hanging
out at two of the Smithsonian museums for the day. The guys are all fired up about the
second-half of those plans because space is way cooler than history; but I
think that I’ll probably enjoy seeing the history of both places more –
particularly when being able to put the artifacts into context with my Magi
archive knowledge of those events and eras.
Our steakhouse dinner plans for tomorrow
evening are still on, but since the evening entertainment was going to fit in
with our Memorials and Monuments day, and required good weather; we’re
tentatively going to have a free evening instead. I wonder if anyone would notice if Michael
and I disappeared; hid in one of our rooms; and made out for a couple of hours.
Yeah, I’ve got three Magi chaperones; so I’m
sure our absence would be noticed. Then
again, being in one of our rooms would be safer than going out anywhere on our
own; so it might just work! ;^)
That’s a nice thought to wrap this up with,
so I’m going to call it a night and try to get some nap time in before it’ll be
time for Tai Chi with Michael again.
Until next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
