welcome to the real world

as dc prepares for the arrival of mtv's the real world, i myself have been experiencing the arrival of the real real world. it barged right in and emptied it's giant bag of crap all over the place, taking up all of my living space with its 40+ hour work weeks, less than 6 hours of sleep a night, blistered feet from too-tight (but oh-so-cute heels), reading case documents on the metro, conference calls, understanding why people drink heavily after work, and SUPER HUGE PAYCHECKS.

=) that last point is awesome. this is my first paid internship, and getting rewarded for putting in long hours and intense brain power feels fantastic. not to mention that it'll make funding that IV drip of caffeine i've installed in my cube a little bit easier.

i'm in the process of trying out new photo software, so you'll have to wait for pictures of last week's adventures: a trip to the ultra-indie, ultra-hip artomatic, a hike through calvert cliffs, and a trip to eastern market. i promise good things.

i finally got my haircut yesterday, after a very long run of steelers AND penguins playoffs. (by the way, PENS WIN CUP. v and i are holding our breath for the pirates to win out. we're believers. don't hate.) i managed to make my way back to my favorite salon in dupont circle that i found my first summer here. it's full of fantastically gay (and talented) stylists. the boy who shampooed my hair was wearing cut-off jean bermuda shorts with knee-high black wellies. gotta love it. he also gave a killer scalp massage.

and since i trekked ALL THE WAY out to dupont circle, we just had to go to lauriol plaza for dinner. i also had to order white wine sangria. i went for my old stand by of ceviche, but decided to try a tamale, too. i've been dying to have one, and i figured lauriol was the closest to authentic mexico i'm getting for awhile (swine flu, anyone?). it was stellar. once the weekends away die down (NYC this weekend to visit my favorite love, atlantic city to hang with jim the next), i'm going to buy me some corn husks and whip up some of my own. alton brown did a show on them, so obvi i have to try.

v and a went back to dupont tonight to the brickskeller to say hello to their friend's little bro who's in the army and going back to hawaii soon. i decided to opt out and save my liver for my company dinner at the city club on thursday and a weekend of debauchery with my lyss.

and i just heard the really ridiculously strange beeping noise indicating that the dryer has decided my clothes are done. this means i have to go turn it back on for another 45 minutes.

ciao,

j