Happy Birthday, America!

Sorry for the delay on posting, I'm going to backdate this so the month of July doesn't look so pathetic. I actually had a great 4th of July weekend. We got a bunch of time off work to make up for that conference we had at the beginning of June, so I spent immense amounts of time poolside. Lifeguarding in high school and college cemented an addiction to sunbathing that I think only a skin cancer scare will cure. Something's got to kill ya.

On Independence Day a bunch of us girls met at Elephant & Castle Pub on Pennsylvania Ave downtown. We wanted someplace walking distance to the Mall so we could have a couple beers and then trot over to the Washington Monument area to watch the fireworks. I took the metro in, and on the way some foreigners asked me where a good place to watch the fireworks was, and I told them I was going to the Mall to watch. The lady's like, "Oooh, a mall? So we can go shopping AND watch fireworks?!" Um, no.

Anyway, It was fun, this British guy next to us wanted to make friends so I got a couple free drinks (and we all got shoulder massages from him, weirdly). Then his two buddies, who were American, came over and we decided to sing the national anthem. I'm ashamed to say that 1) without a band playing in the background, I forgot where the verses went and got them all jumbled around, and 2) that I sang grossly out of tune but refused to shut up. But it was America's birthday! I can't sing the Happy Birthday song in tune, either.

(Side question - is it true the Happy Birthday song is patented or something and the descendants of the guy who wrote it get royalties?)

We started to walk over to the corner of 14th & Independence Ave to watch the show, when all the sudden we heard booming - the 'works were starting!! We all started sprinting down 14th. I was a huffing, puffing, sweating mess, but that's OK, the rushing added to the excitement. I LOVE fireworks, so I oooh and ahhh and cheer and scream for almost every single one, and it seems like every year I get in a crowd where people want to watch in silence, so I get all these looks the whole time. Whatever dudes.

It's FIREWORKS exploding over the WASHINGTON MONUMENT! Who is going to keep quiet in the midst of that? Impossible, I tell you!

After fireworks we took a cab to the Georgetown waterfront to continue the fun. The streets were so clogged with cars, it probably would have been faster to walk over there. Mayhem!

We went to Tony & Joes and chatted with people. This guy kept pestering Maureen, saying he was only in town for a couple of days but really wanted to take her home. "No, please leave me alone." He kept messing with his chest. I asked him why he kept grabbing his pecs. He said he didn't know, and then flexed them. Tried again to get Maureen to leave with him. THESE ARE OUR OPTIONS, PEOPLE.

Later on, Maureen and I sat down on the steps and were happily chatting when these two homely older men came up to us and interrupted our conversation. They seemed to think that the fact that we were two women talking only to each other that they must be welcome. They were boring anyway, but when one desperate 40-something told us that he was used to seeing sad, beaten-down women like the two of us when he was out in DC, I was out of there. I think the psychology on that is making us think we're worthless would make him more appealing. He tried the wrong set of girls if he thought there was a lack of self esteem to be found. Imbecile.

So I went to talk with a gentleman in a completely sequined jacket in the pattern of the American flag. I thought for certain he was gay with a jacket like that, and therefore a safe bet. But I actually don't think he was, cos he tried to get into my and Maureen's cab with us when we left.

Ruth, Svet, me, Maureen, and Liz, with some explosions in the background. What a night!