what is this asian dude doing?!

i did the parade, which was sorta interesting. there were hella people. dc during fourth of july is absolutely ridiculous. but i was struck by two things during the parade… firstly that there was such a falun dafa contingent, and of course, seeing my friend quynh marching with the vietnamese american contingent.

falun dafa army

viet-am contingent

artistic rendition of my friend quynh

tourist of doom

afterwards, i headed over to the hare krishna festival of india. it was pretty dope, lots of folks came through, free food, got myself a henna hand tattoo. and i was once again by the kindness of the hare krishna boys, who helped to find my phone when it dropped outta my pocket. considering how i’m living, my cellphone is crucial. if i lost my phone i would be completely screwed. they went out of their way to help me out, and i hella appreciated it. honestly, i just hope and pray i meet as many cool and kinda and good hearted folks as i did among the hare krishna boys.

hare krishna stage

henna of love

quynh and me

hare rama hare rama

afterwards, i headed over to the natl gallery. again. i love that place.

dc pizza... good enough only for the birds

i finished up the night by hanging out with liz and her friends, at the most baller picnic i have ever been to. like holy jeebus. we went to the national cathedral, which is one of the most GORGEOUS buildings i have ever been to in my life. it took my breath away and made me want to believe in god again, it was so gorgeous. liz and her friends were some of the most awesome folks i’ve ever met, kind, open and with this very relaxed, chill vibe that made me feel right at home.

oh david.

it's too big!... that's what she said.

look ma! a cathedral!

she might look sweet but...

the whole group

and goddamn, what a spread!

helllllla foood

after the fireworks, with attendant elderly bitching about folks not sitting down… we went back to liz’s apartment to play games and play with sparklers. a great time was had by all. liz had a baller apartment. and after that hansi and minjung took me to dc 9… which is by far the most hipster club i have ever seen outside of williamsburg. i felt right at home. it was a great, great time and i am so happy that liz invited me and her friends were so awesome. and now they’re my friends too!

cranium hijinks

everyone look like they're having fun!

sparklers

and i once again was struck by the goodness of people, because all the people i met, david, esther, minjung, hans and even the mafia champion deborah were all such good, giving people who were so down with taking me in as one of them.

so the 5th was a bust so i’m not going to discuss it very much. i managed to get lunch with liz, which is always amazing. it was good seeing her one last time ‘fore i left because i knew i was leaving DC with a life long friend.

and then 16 hour bus ride, only broken by meeting a really dope homegirl named sarah who was going to knoxville from DC to do work. we talked about activism and organizing and it was good to meet another young progressive who was doing work. it almost made me want to start doing work again.

but burnout is a bitch.

i am presently in nashville and will update more as time goes on. i have a bunch of other stuff i am ‘sposed to talk about and will eventually… but first, a nap. also, i’ll have photos of lunch with liz, what i look like with full gear and of sarah soon as i can get facebook uploader to work.

i’ll update a mite before heading out to experience nashville tonight. peace yall.

admittedly, i haven’t done much to counter the sickness, neither rest nor doctor’s visit. but whaddya expect? i got sick on the 4th of july, as far as i know, the biggest holiday in the city. dc loves the 4th like nyc loves halloween. so if i DIDNT come out, it would’ve been the type of shame that i couldn’t look down.

eh, shit like this is what they made sudafed for.

i have hella ish that i need to write about, considering i missed two packed days. but because i will have a 16 hour bus ride, and at least two hours worth of battery life, i’ll make a second update about the past two days and about dc in general tomorrow morning… written on the bus.

that's where i wanta live!

some photos, no matter how touristy, are obligatory

so on the 3rd, i did the museum thing… the freer gallery and the national gallery east wing with my homeboy camden, as well as a more general walking tour of downtown dc. i’d like to publicly thank camden again for taking me around and showing me the sites. what a great guide to the city! it reaffirms my belief that you really do need locals in whatever place you go.

as per usual, i was amazed at the beauty that is art. i fucking love the national gallery. it is AWERSOME sauce. admittedly, the east building is a bit bloody tiny, but getting to see the Nude Woman Standing by Picasso was… life changing. it really is an amazing piece of work, as are so many works in the national gallery.

who's that sexy bum?(and yes, i changed clothes)

what the hell is it with manet and horses?

the walls are closing in!

nudie!

i REALLY wanted to go to the national archives to see the constitution and the declaration of independence, but the line was too ridiculous.

even then, i had an awesome time being a tourist in DC.

real coney island dog? i think not.

but even more than that, even more than the fact that i’m sick, i keep thinking about meeting the hare krishna boys. they travel from state to state, setting up this festival of india fair grounds thing. it was ridiculo random meeting them, as me and cam were randomly resting in front of one of their tents when i found out some of them played a little bit of submission wrestling. me being me, i asked them what affiliation they were with and somehow ended up wrestling one of ‘em.

taking the back and looking for an armbar

god i am a midget

big dude by the name of hari gave me one hell of a fight for my money, ‘specially considering i had trained for so much longer than he had.

but afterwards, all the hare krishna folks took me, which is weird, introducing themselves, sharing their food and beverage. honestly, in trading stories and experiences with them, it struck me how much i depend upon the kindness of strangers on this trip. the hare krishna boys, among others have really fundamentally renewed my faith in humanity. there is such an open generosity of spirit in the human character and i feel like that feeling was definitely embodied by the hare krishna boys.

the boys + ninja dude

(one of the guys in the above picture is a ninja. i mean dead serious. completely able to blend in the background. i’ll talk about him and natural talents some other time. dude scared the bejesus out of me)

it’s trippy… life is such a game of inches, full of weird circumstances. my life is especially so. random things happen, random things come together. or don’t. but thas my life. and i’m set adrift on this river of circumstance that reaffirms my idea that if there is a god or some great power guiding the paths of our lives… he/she/it has one hell of a sense of human. or i might just be a cosmic joke. either way.

they stole my haircut!

that night, after laundry of course, was artmoatic, this massive art festival/warehouse party, where i got to meet up with some of the folks i met at hay qua. whoa, that was dope, even if i hardly spent any amount of time there. and even if my first purchase was a glass of wine. but hey. it’s me.

i hella enjoyed the day. more discussion about it later, as well as about more philosophical things i’ve been thinking about, as well as my fourth of july hijinks. which was minddblowingly awersome sauce. and more about the hare krishna folks, of course.

plus, i’ll talk about meeting up with one of my friends in highschool, using that as a springboard for discussion of how people change or don’t change over time. and about wingmanning for her ditzy arse. i am awesome.

oh… and if you’re reading, please comment. it’s too often that i can feel just the tiny bit alone. or that this blog is a scream into the ether.

oh and if ANYONE knows ANYONE in nashville tenn, please connect us.

life is like a cold… more often than not you’re floating on a benadryl haze… and when you ARE cognizant, it mostly sucks.