SEE : on why i love dc

Guess who I saw this weekend?

{beat}
Barack Obama! In jeans! Less than a block away! (My cell phone camera doesn't have a great zoom. Or any zoom, for that matter. So here's an official photo for proof.)

(J. Scott Applewhite, AP Photo/ July 30, 2010) (via)

My friend Ben and I were eating dinner outside when a cavalcade of black SUVs and police cars pulled up at the Spy Museum across the street. Michelle and Sasha arrived first, and Barry (we're on a first name basis, FYI) came with the second round of cars. We cheered and clapped; he waved. It was all pretty exciting.

And did Ben and I wait around for the First Family to come back out? Um... no comment. :)

all the news that's fit for a half hour comedy show

9. Catch a taping of The Daily Show and/or The Colbert Report.

The Daily Show Studio, NYC. 5/12/09.*

So I cheated: I changed #9 on my "NYC bucket list" from eating hot dogs in Coney Island to watching a taping of The Daily Show. In my defense, I've already been to Coney Island, so it didn't make sense to include it on the list as my intention was to do and see things I haven't done before. I also didn't think it would be possible to see a taping of either show before leaving, since it takes a certain amount of foresight and persistence to reserve tickets.

Apparently, I lack foresight and persistence. Lucky for me, I have friends who don't. :)

Holding our golden tickets!

We got to the studio around 3PM -- you have to be there by 4:30PM in order to get the tickets -- and the line was already a hundred people in (no kidding: when we finally got our tickets, we were numbers 93-96 in line). But it was a nice afternoon, and we managed to keep ourselves entertained until we -- or rather, the people at the head of the line -- were finally ushered into the studio at 5:15ish PM. (We had to be screened, so they let people into the studio in stages.)

The studio is much smaller in person, as is the man behind the desk; Jon Stewart is a wee little man (okay, not exactly "wee" but definitely shorter than I expected). Before the taping began, Jon (Mr. Stewart?) took several questions from the audience. His responses were funny, and I would retell them here except I'd totally over-explain the joke and kill the humor. Tom Hanks was the guest (!), and -- I don't know how the interview seemed on TV but -- it seemed like a whirlwind of a discussion on antimatter, symbology, mugs that looked like Prince Charles, and then boom! he was gone. I know the interviews are always that short, but it seemed so much shorter in person. Tom Hanks is such a nerd. :)

At the end of the show, Jon Stewart thanked us for coming, which was nice. Save for that and the Q&A at the beginning, though, there was little interaction between the audience and the show. While it was exciting to see Jon Stewart in person (and in action) and I did have fun, it wasn't too different from watching it on TV. I love Jon Stewart, but I don't think I would wait in line again to watch his show live.

*Photos courtesy Joanna. Thanks, Jojo!

hot thing

There are times when I can't wait to leave the city, like when:

1. I have to choose between paying ridiculous prices for a carton of milk or having to haul my groceries from TJ's on 14th to Morningside Heights (lazy v. cheap, my ultimate dilemma), and having to withstand the hordes of people regardless;
2. I hear that a friend of a friend is only paying $1600/month for her studio at the Newseum, across the street from the National Mall, or that a friend's mortgage payment towards her house + acreage is still less than what I'm paying for my subsidized apartment that I share with two people; or
3. I and a million of my closest friends end up sharing the same patch of green on the first sunny, warm day in forever.

...But then there are days like yesterday. The weather was perfect, and yes, Central Park was very crowded, but afterward, Brando and I hung out on Main Campus for the Bacchanal '09 concerts, featuring:

Vampire Weekend was so much fun! Definitely great live.

I might have to buy their CD.

...and...

Talib Kweli is so fantastic. The crowd was disappointing.

Days like this make it possible to endure the crowds, the smell, the dirtiness, the high cost of living, and then I'm back to square one in deciding what I want to do after graduation.