Wine, cigars and Stratego

That’s what I call a recipe for a good night.  Two bottles of Spanish red wine, two Romeo y Julieta cigars and a couple rousing games of Stratego, both of which I won.  That’s what Ed and I did last night.  Oh yeah, and then we polished off the half bottle of Johnnie Walker that we didn’t finish two nights earlier.  So far traveling has not been great for my health, but isn’t that why you travel?  You can be healthy and all that stuff when you’re at home.

My travel plans are starting to crystalize a bit.  I bought a book, Vagabonding, which I may have mentioned in an earlier post and if I did then you know that I really did buy it.  I’m thinking South America for a few months, starting in Peru and going from there.  I’m trying to convince my friend Khash to travel there in between jobs and we can buy a cheap motorcycle and relive the Motorcycle Diaries.  He can play Fuser.  I’ll be Che Guevera because he’s cooler.

I did the touristy stuff yesterday, went to see the White House and the Washington Monument and the War Memorial that was just completed in 2004.  I’ve got to say I’ve been to a lot of nations’ capitals and we have one of the best ones.  It’s approachable, clean, well laid out and not over the top opulent like an old school palace with a moat and gold trimmings on every window.

Tonight we’re going out to Cafe Japonais that supposedly has sushi and karaoke at the SAME TIME.  So you take a break from eating to go knock out ‘Girls just wanna have fun’ then come back and finish your spider roll.  I may love this place forever.

Lastly, I finally got to go to Cake Love here in D.C.  If you’ve ever read What Should I Do With My Life, by Po Bronson, one of the stories in there is about this guy Warren Brown who quit his job as a lawyer and opened up a cake shop.  It has since blown up and we went there today to buy some cakes for this birthday dinner we’re going to.  Unfortunately Warren wasn’t there today but I’m still pretty psyched I got to visit his shop.

I’m also psyched I won both games of Stratego last night.

First stop, D.C.

I’m sitting here in Tryst coffee shop next to the one and only Ed St Lawrence.  He’s working while I’m trying to figure out how to use these around the world planning tools online but I’m having the hardest time ever.  Grrrr.  I think the best way is to call these people up and get the prices through them.  I did find out that they may not be as cheap as I initially thought.  OneWorld RTW tickets start at $3900.  Dang.

Last night we went to the Wizards and Spurs basketball game pretty much right when I arrived and afterwards played some shuffleboard at Buffalo Billiards.  Unfortunately I lost both games even though I was one point away from winning both times.  I’m not as clutch as I imagined myself being.  We headed back around 1 and should have called it a night but for some reason we decided that opening a bottle of Johnnie Walker was a smart move.  We polished off over half the bottle and I remember thinking how sweet it would be to drink the whole thing.   When I woke up this morning with a pounding headache I realized that would have been the dumbest idea EVER.  Plus, now we have some left over for tonight.

We fell victim to what my friend Winston calls the ‘Too Hardcore on the First Night Syndrome’ which generally happens on the first day of a vacation where you go out too hard on the first night, usually impacting the next night or the entire vacation.  There should be a wikipedia article on this as I believe a lot of people are afflicted with it but may not know they have it.

Day 2

Ok so I was a bit lazier today.  Watched some tv before heading out to get my haircut and making a pit stop at the Royal Ground.  I blame the laziness on the late night last night.  I headed out to get a drink with my friend Iraz, just a casual low-key Monday night drink at Black Magic.  We ended up walking into a Mardi Gras kickoff party, called Lundi Gras, that was completely going off.  Beads, streamers, some guy wearing a lampshade as a hat, cajun food…the works.  At one point someone brought out his trombone and started playing When the Saints Go Marching In, and then led a marching parade around the block.  We left with beads, masks and this little rubber ducky I picked up that looks like he’s ready to party at a moment’s notice.

I’m taking the rubber ducky with me on the trip as a reminder that no matter where you go or what you do, you never really know what is going to happen.  Just like the crazy night we had last night.  And now it’s almost 10 p.m. and I still have not packed yet.  Flight is at 8:30 a.m. Let’s see if the rubber ducky helps me magically pack a lot faster.

Day 1

Good evening.  So, first day being unemployed.  I have to say, it’s a bit tough figuring out what I’d do every day if I never had to go into work again.  I imagine I’d get involved in some volunteering organization or something where I could establish some routine and feel like I was being productive.

BUT, that’s for another day.  Today was all about the thrill of not having to get on the 41, about going for a run down to the Marina with the whole city to myself.  I ran a few errands, then headed home for the customary midday nap.  A tough day indeed.  Then I went to the Royal Ground coffee shop to do some trip planning and read a bit, then I was off to see There Will Be Blood which left me feeling edgy and wanting to start a fight, or at least talk sh*t to some random on the street.  By the way, this blog will be censored whenever possible so feel free to share with people of all ages.

The neighborhood is a different place at 11 a.m. during the week.  Much less people milling around, walking on the street than I’m used to seeing.  I kind of like it.  It’s like I’m getting the city to myself, which I just notice I wrote in the paragraph above.  You’ll probably find a lot of repetition in this blog so prepare for it however you deem best.  The coffee shop was pretty full though, seemingly with freelancers or contractors, or at least people with laptops who were looking serious.

So that’s it for Day 1.  I’d say it was a raging success.  For at least one day in my life, I probably lived a more desirable day than Tom Brady did.