Barb’s Burblings

Yesterday evening I was on my way home from seeing The Diary of Anne Frank at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda (it was really good, by the way), when my phone rings. It’s Carrie, telling me that the fire alarm is going off in our building, though there’s no sign of smoke. The fire trucks have arrived and, after three trips in and out of the building, she can’t get Colin out from under the bed. (He doesn’t like loud noises.) The firemen don’t seem too concerned; they’re just sort of wandering in and out of the building. By the time I get home (maybe 5 minutes later), the alarms are off and the firemen told us we could go back into the building.
Colin finally emerges from the bed maybe 10 minutes later.
Well, this did kind of freak me out. I had a dream last night that I was at the Orioles opening day game, and for some reason I had brought Colin with me. (I also had really good seats; it wasn’t at Camden Yards, though, but it was definitely the O’s home opener–dreams, go fig.) And not in his carrier, either; I was just holding him. So he kept running off and I would periodically go and look for him. The whole thing was odd and stressful. (Plus, Brian wasn’t batting leadoff; some guy whose name was vaguely familiar was. I was really upset about this.)
I guess the moral of the story is that now I’m freaked out about losing Colin. Poor kitty cat.
Current song in my head:
“This Love” by Maroon 5

Congrats to Jon Stewart and the folks at The Daily Show! Their book, America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, was named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly.

I am such a dork. Yesterday, Becca and I spent the afternoon in Georgetown, and there was a part of me that, on the way there, wanted someone to ask me where I was going so I could be all, “Oh, I’m just meeting a friend in Georgetown. La di da. Just a typical weekend for this 20-something in the Washington area.” Just because it sounded so cool and metropolitan. I had similar thoughts when I met Jody for brunch in DuPont. Like, look at me! I’m so cosmopolitan!
Only not, as evidenced by the rest of my weekend. I watched some incredibly bad television movies. I did a bunch of work. Carrie and I decorated the apartment. So, pretty quiet.
But Georgetown was fun. Nothing incredibly exciting, but it was nice wandering around. We got free hot chocolate and watched a bunch of (what looked like) Secret Service agents waiting outside the Baby Gap. They finally took off with a man who looked to be in his 60s; my theory is that he’s a Senator. But who knows. And I got my mom’s birthday present, which means I’m done with my shopping! Whee!
Current song in my head:
“Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul, and Mary

It turns out that kids in abstinence only programs are being taught “false, misleading, or distorted information”
Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person’s genitals “can result in pregnancy,” a congressional staff analysis has found.
Of the 13 curricula being used, 2 are correct.
God, just thinking about this makes me depressed. Here, read the whole story so you, too, can be bummed.

In three weeks, I’ll be happily ensconced at my parents’ house in Oregon. I’m so looking forward to it. And we’ll have almost a week of the family all together, since Kathy and Robert are flying in Tuesday (same as me) and don’t leave until Monday. I can’t remember the last time we’ve been together for that long. The last Christmas we were all together, I think it was for maybe 4 or 5 days. So that’ll be nice. Plus, I’m mostly done my Christmas shopping; I only have my mother left. Whee! And hurray for online shopping!
It’ll also be nice to get through the next few weeks of work. It’s another Book Hell, which seems to be more consistent than not lately. Though, it does make the days go faster. On the negative side, it means I’m bringing work home pretty much every night. But I can leave that all behind for my week in Oregon.
I just hope that I don’t then spend the rest of my break doing work. Which is a possibility. (Other than a break for New Year’s, of course.)
But when I’m feeling down, I can just go to the cutest website ever.
Current song in my head:
“We Need a Little Christmas” from Mame