Political Influence

dude...if all political activists looked like gigi ibrahim, i'd follow her revolution.

Strangers

wow...it's been a while since i've done anything with this site. suffice it to say that the lone reader that still subjects themselves to reading this lowly medium into my random thoughts has moved onto newer and shinier objects in the webosphere. but whatever, my corner of the blogosphere remains to simply allow me to throw junk into onto the internet, and i will continue to do so.

i don't really have anything insightful or truly thoughtful to post this morning, just thought i'd post this wong fu productions video that i found hit particularly close to home.

Cabin Fever

needing a good weekend outside the confines of the district, a bunch of friends and i rented out a cabin in the shenandoah for a few days of hot tub relaxation. it allowed for friends to gather...play a few games...drink you libation of pleasure...taste the local wines...and rest the dc weary minds for a couple of days.

night one...a surprisingly fun drive through a blustery winter evening ended with patrons of my car being fearful of driving into the woods with a classic horror film beat down pickup truck following us down winding mountain roads. though it did eventually veer away, what started out as a cheap scary movie allusion quickly turned into a muted, but genuine fear felt among all riders. but alas, we ended up at our assigned cabin in hot tub heaven and proceeded to hot tub and play drinking games until the wee hours of the morning.

day one...a day of wine tasting and vineyard frolicking. our caravan of two cars hopped from winery to winery. making stops at fox meadows winery, to linden vineyards, to narmada winery where we finished off our day reliving our childhood days on a playground as we watched our friend's dog chase down sticks and tennis balls.

night two...we finished that day with burgers and shrimp, our poor man's surf and turf. with everyone exhausted from a day of wine-ing, the night seemed to end earlier than most nights i've spent in dc. but surprisingly, that was a very welcome night's sleep.

day two...pack up and clean up. check out at 10...and we were back on the road. no sooner had we left our diamond shaped urban prison for the rolling hills of the blue ridge mountains were we back, ready for another week on the grind.

but for a few days, a quick drive westward, and in the company of good friends, one can escape and just have fun the way it's supposed to be had.

Prom

another year...another february...another excuse to don the tuxedo and head out to tysons for the winston health policy ball.

ever since my first visit in 2008, as a naive and wide-eyed young staffer, i've looked forward to this event each year. this year was particularly rewarding as i had to wrangle my way into the ball as a guest of a friend so as to not rankle the unusually strict reading of the ethics rules my boss had. but i wiggled my way around the rules and was able to bring out my tux from the corner of my closet and pull out my shining black dancing shoes (though no dancing was to be had).

but what i really took away from this year's event was the growth i've had since 2008. i remember that first year, not knowing anyone besides the few coworkers and staffers in a ballroom of hundreds. so new that no one really wanted or needed to talk to us...with only a few lobbyists making their a work-demanding effort to reach out to us junior staffers only because we were of the finance committee.

then moving onto that second year, with the entire health world reeling from the uncertainty of a post-scott brown era. with the bill languishing in the freezing nights of snowpocalypse, we gathered in the ballroom all a bit more somber and what a party should have been.

but this year, full of energy and with a new and some more respectable role as a true health care staffer, i realized that i knew a lot more people and was able to walk down the hallways and not feel as if i was that freshman in high school who didn't know anyone as the seniors and popular kids mingled and ignored you. instead, this year i was able to inject myself in conversations as opposed to having be introduced.

by no means do i feel like i've made it, but there are minor moments in my day-to-day where i do feel that i've done something. that i haven't just been a prop in the ever changing moments of life. and those days aren't too bad.

Brotherly Love

no no...this really has nothing to do with my brother, whom i do love very much and is doing well in shanghai.

this is about a random weekend trip i made out to philadephia to visit a few friends from san diego. being my first trip out there in my nearly four years on the east coast, i was fairly excited. though it probably wasn't smartest to head over there in the dead of winter.

but whatever, off i go...just a quick weekend trip to see the liberty bell, independence hall, old told philadephia, constitution center, reading terminal...you know, the standards. but coming from a city full of historical importance, i did find it ironic that the only thoughts i had while standing inside independence hall was about the movie "national treasure"...typical.

it's okay though, the purpose of the trip really was just a quick break from the district, to visit some old friends, and to enjoy some good philly cuisine...which i did, here, here, here and here. overall, a pretty decent day and a half. a nice little escape out of my tiny little city.