Keeping up regularly with a blog has proven to be more difficult that I had initially thought! It has been around 3 weeks since my last update about D.C., so I suppose I should make it a good one! Let me recall what has happened over that period of time... Internship has still been going well (half way done already!). Went to my first "adult" club -- it wasn't a fun time, I will tell you that. Signed up and donated to an environmental activist group, and got to hang out with the recruiting member for a bit the following day. Went and hung out with a new friend in Alexandria in his 16th floor apartment that had a gorgeous view that spanned D.C. and much of the surrounding regions. And most recently, my Biffles (a good friend from school) came up to visit me last Friday, and we ended up walking around D.C. for most of the day. If I had to write a thesis for this blog entry, it would be that I have been doing my best to enjoy my time in D.C. by exploring, and being spontaneous.

I have been taking quite a few pictures while I have been down here. This picture was taken in front of the White House (obviously...). The signs read "Live by the bomb, die by the bomb" and "Ban all nuclear weapons or have a nice doomsday". This idea, to me, kind of aligns with one of Newton's laws of gravity: To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you are going to attack others with nuclear weapons, or bombs, inevitably, you yourself will die by the same fate -- though this is probably just sounding like activist nonsense right now. But anyways, figured I'd share this as a side note.

So, I should probably elaborate on my beginning topics a bit. Yes, is my answer, if you were asking whether that "adult" club was in fact a strip club. I don't remember the name of it, but it was bloody expensive. It was $8 for a bottle of water, $9 for a small glass of beer. It was club policy that you must buy something in order to stay in, so I did, stupidly enough. I had a friend with me though. She was the one that suggested going to a strip club. Mind you that it was only like 6 or 6:30 pm by this point, but we went anyways. After talking with her for an hour or so about politics, and various environmental issues plaguing this world, and sharing a few laughs, I figured why the hell not. She seemed cool to me. Again, yes, if you were wondering if this was in fact the activist recruiter that persuading me into going to a strip club... Memories I say! We exchanged numbers after this horrible, yet fun experiences, and ended up meeting up the next day at an Irish pub near George Washington University. We drank, and talked about whatever. Then 9 o'clock hit, and penny beers had arrived. Penny beers are precisely what they sound like, cups of beer for a penny -- that is it. And we drank some more, and some more... It was a good night to say the least, and I did make it home safely without getting into trouble.

I saw this adorable little thing while waiting around in front of a Potbelly's. Carrying my camera around with me gives me a chance to capture these beautiful picturesque moments that nature provides. I sat around, reading a book called My Lobotomy, and a fella stopped by and commented on my book. I don't remember his name, but I remember having an entertaining conversation with him. He was a biker (bicycle), and apparently knew the other biker guys that were around because he was conversing and sharing jokes with them quite a bit. Some of the things that he said made me burst out with laughter a couple of times -- most of the humor coming from perverted, or juvenile comments, but, to me, those contribute to the little things in life. Like this little bird did, just something to smile about on any ordinary day. The reason why I was lounging around was because I was going to be meeting up with my roommate soon for a drink. Her name is Sarah.

I am 6'2, so not necessarily that short. But Sarah, I'm not entirely sure how tall she is, but she is certainly taller than I am. Extremely nice girl though, and very passionate about the environment. She volunteers for the World Wildlife Foundation (I believe, will correct later if I am wrong) -- made me feel sorta bad since I am getting paid for what I do, but I would argue that, what she is doing, is far more important for the world in comparison. But anyways, we met up for a drink after we were both done with work, and just talked a bit, mostly about politics and life. I had a nice time, enjoyed talking with her. Every now and then, we will just bullshit about whatever back at our house, usually ends in a laugh or two.

This is my Biffles: the infamous Biffles that I am in a picture with in the "About Me" section of my site. Rarely caught by a camera, I got a shot of her in action, rare site indeed ;). Her name is Meg.

Like I mentioned earlier, she had come up last Friday, and we spent the day walking around the city, and catching up with each other. It was a lovely day... though a hot one. We checked out a couple of the Smithsonian museums; one was the Italian Art Exhibit (I think), another was about the Native Americans, and then we checked out the Museum of Natural History.

While at the Native American museum, we stopped to watch a couple tales of Native American mythology... Great stories... One was about a little girl that got visited by a creepy star every night that brought her pleasure. Not even kidding you. And the other was about a bear that slaughtered a whole village of people; the survivors managed to kill the bear by trapping him, and burning his whole body, making sure that no drop of blood remained or else he would be instantly resurrected. 

The Museum of Natural History was very interesting too. All of the old dinosaur bones, and stuffed animal replicas that populated the museum. As well as the interesting layout of the museum itself, and the designs that they used. 

Because of all of this walking around on this hot hot day, we stopped at a smoothie shop eventually: they had amazing smoothies, so amazing that I can't even remember the name... Sweet & Tangy maybe? We ended up walking to Union Statiion by the end of the day. Amtrak is located there, which was her ride home. We got there pretty early, though, so we ended up just sitting around talking some more -- I always enjoy that.

After she left, the rest of my weekend was pretty relaxing. Didn't do much else other than play video games, and read. A little bit of alone time, away from people, isn't a bad thing. For me, it is a time to simply cleanse my mind, and to just relax. On any given weekday, I probably walk by, or encounter, hundreds of people, so its nice to just sit away and alone in my own little oasis.

I finished that book that I mentioned earlier, My Lobotomy, and am now reading The Alchemist -- just as another side note. Attempted reading a book called Southern Vampires, but I just wasn't getting into it right now. Maybe I am not in the mood for that type of book right now, or just couldn't enjoy the southern dialect that it was written with. Whatever the reason, I decided to read another book, and I chose The Alchemist.

I almost forgot to mention this adorable story. On our way to one of the Smithsonian Museums, we encountered this mother duck and her little babies following her. Shortly after spotting them, they waddled their way over the ledge on the left, with all by one of the ducklings making it over it initially. The poor guy tried getting over the ledge, but was really struggling. But, he persisted, trying again and again. On about the 4th or 5th attempt, he succeeded! Reuniting with his family once again, and I hope, they lived happily ever after... hehe. It was a warm and beautiful moment, and sight to see. 

Thanks for reading everyone. I will make sure that I will post up another blog by this time of next week -- for real this time. In the meantime, check out the other links if you'd like on my blog. Though I don't update my D.C. blog all that regularly, I do post up poems from time to time in "Some Poetry", and hopefully, will post up some more rants in "Some Thoughts".

                   

Firstly, I must apologize for my lack of attentiveness to this blog, I promise that I will update it more regularly from here on out. Now that I am midway into my third week of my summer internship, I feel like I have learned some various things about living in this city.

1.       Metro, Metro, Metro. If you are a poor college student, like myself, or don’t have the time or patience to commute daily to work, take the Metro. It is far cheaper than driving, between the cost for gas and for parking – parking alone can cost you anywhere from $10-$20 a day!! I pay around $6-$7 a day for my Metro commute. (Biking is an option too)

2.       Know your route. If you are planning on using the Metro system, do some research in advance. Find out which bus and rail routes that you will need to take (WMATA has a trip planner that does a good job at planning a route). I have found out though that you can find cheaper/ sometimes quicker routes if you do a little digging yourself.  Since rail charges per stop (like 25-50 cents I think), maybe consider riding the bus a little farther, and boarding at a rail that is closer to your destination.

3.       Smallish city with a big city mentality. This is more for the “small-country” people who may be reading this. Living/working in a city a lot different than living/working in a small town or community. People are much more goal oriented and job focused, so don’t take too much offense if people don’t seem as polite or compassionate as they do back home. Everyone has a place that they are trying to get to, and get there quickly -- you will too.

4.       Expensive, but not if you plan. Coming into this city, I had my expectations that everything was going to be ridiculously expensive, rent especially. And while rent is fairly pricey, it is certainly not in any mean unmanageable – though this is easier to say since I am a paid-intern. Food and drinks down here are relatively pricey, but right around what you would expect in this city. Beer has run me anywhere from $3 during happy hour, to around $7 at a more formal establishment.  But a twelve-pack at Giant can run anywhere from $8 to $16 or $20 (depending on the quality of beer). Food wise, if you shop ahead of time, and pack your meals, you can save yourself quite a bit of money as well. Instead of paying around $7-$10 for lunch, you make a cheap lunch for less than $2 sometimes – savings do add up.

5.       Socialize! Can’t really say I have had too much success doing this yet, though I do realize I have only been down here for a few weeks. The social experience, from what I have heard from many people, can make or break your experience here. Furthermore, you wouldn’t just be doing this for the friendship aspect of it, but also the networking opportunities! The more people you know, the more you can potentially meet. I ashamedly resorted to meeting some peeps online, just so I had a place to start, in regards to making friends here – so I if I go missing all of the sudden, at least you will know why ;)

6.       Just experience the city. Allow yourself to just embrace the city, rather than simply staying focused on your job or internship, or even on your expectations that you created prior to arriving here. There is so much here to do, and so many opportunities to create new and beautiful memories. Even if the city doesn’t “suit your fancy”, at least try and make the most out of the time that you will be down here. This point, I suppose, could be applied to all of your experiences in life.

Enough lecturing for today! I hope that my advice can help you in some sort of way in the near or distant future. I, myself, should try and adhere more to these tips, and any tips that you all would like to share! Writing rational thoughts isn’t that difficult. Turning these thoughts into action is the difficult part, especially considering how I, with probably many people, get caught up in our day-to-day lives, and forget to take our life experiences into perspective.

I’d love to hear your feedback or reactions down below.

Peace, love, and booze,

Daryl

It has been a little over a week since I have arrived here in Washington D.C. and so far, for the most part, it has been a fun experience! I had some jitters early on (spilled coffee on myself), to having trouble finding my way home via Metro and ended up having to take a taxi! To top it off, my new shoes decided to break themselves in on my heels, leaving lovely ol' blisters to accompany me on my travels. But enough with the bad, I shall now share some of my good experiences!

Besides the rough first day, which I would assume that most people on their first days at work usually encounter difficulties of some sort. what is it that I am doing? I am interning a firm called McAllister & Quinn, which is near the White House! They, or we, lobby for nonprofits, educational institutions, and other organizations. And so far, I think I have learned quite a bit about what lobbyists actually do -- they normally get bashed by anyone and everyone, and yet, few really know what their jobs entail. I am still learning quite about about what they do.

Normally at work, I am just assigned various projects. Initially, I didn't have anything to do. But as I completed one assignment, two more seemed to appear. And now, I typically have a consistent work load, or at least something to attend to. The typical works usually consists of sending out fundraising emails, doing research for one of the directors' clients, or doing front desk duty (answering phones). With the increase in work, I have noticed that the days have been drifting by quicker than before. Unlike manual labor jobs, like at factories, they are very lax about breaks and lunch, and about vacation days, which is great. In fact, I just found out today that I will have the 4th of July off, as well as the day proceeding it! That's enough about my work, now onto some of the other aspects of D.C.!

Last week, I walked around the city a bit after work. Of course I had to bring my camera along! I walked around McPherson square, which has a little park in the center of it. That is where I found this cute little specimen on the right I believe! I love that nature still exists within this concrete jungle! I found some other critters along my way as well on that beautiful day. Some were by a red brick church, while others where near a statue surrounded by a circular intersection (these are common in D.C., though they probably have an official name that I have yet to learn). Speaking of nature, I took a little trip to a hidden gem within this city.

The National Arboretum (Ar-boor-e-tum) in Washington D.C... There is so much that I could talk about this little paradise, so I am going to keep it short for this post. On your left is the Capitol Columns. I am not sure why they are there, but they sure were amazing to see in real life! In my next post, I will share the history of these columns, as I will actually do some research prior to writing that one! Furthermore, I will describe what it was like visiting this magnificent place, and journeying around the little paths that exist within the woods there! Thanks for reading :)


                                                                                                       Warm regards,
                                                                                                                Daryl Simons Jr.

Since I will be starting my internship soon, June 3rd to be exact, I figured that I could start working on my blog! This particular blog will not be limited to just my experiences at the internship, but also the experiences that I will have around the city, as well as some photography that I plan on sharing with you all. It is a city full of life and potential that I want to tap into and experience as much of it as I possibly can. My hope is that with this blog, I can not only share my experiences with you, but I can also create some type of online journal for myself to record these memories.

I will love to receive any questions or comments, so feel free over these next few months to contact me!

Peace and Love,
-Daryl Simons Jr.