These are the people in my neighborhood	October 11, 2007

Living in the ‘burbs is a trip. Sometimes, the quaintness gets so mind-boggling, I wanna hurl. My neighborhood is chock-full of flowers, puppies, babies, and climbing trees. And every morning, I commune with my neighbors as we make our commutes into the District, and I’ve come up with an identity for each one of them.

The Smiling Spaniard
Here’s how it goes: There are two bus lines we can take that all go to the Pentagon Metro, but their stops are on different streets. So we all go to the corner and space ourselves out at different vantage points, then the first person who spots a bus yells, “Bus!” and we all run to the appropriate stop. Something about this process is very funny to me, and when it’s time to run, I usually start laughing. The Smiling Spaniard is my only neighbor who laughs with me—everyone else is too jaded after doing it for years, I imagine. I don’t know that he is Spanish; I only know that he speaks Spanish yet looks like a white guy (specifically, he looks like the guy who played Carrie’s Vogue editor on SATC), so I’m jumping to a likely inaccurate conclusion.

Funny Elvis
The Elvis comes from his Elvis Costello glasses, and the Funny comes from the fact that I once made a joke and he laughed and then he made a joke back, which made me laugh, and for a long time, he was the only neighbor who had ever spoken to me.

The Pansies
The Pansies are a young couple, and their condo is located right next to the bus stops. On several occasions, when the wait has been especially long, I’ve seen them give up and get in their car and drive. I shake my head at them every time. They don’t understand that waiting for the bus is all about commitment. They just can’t hang.

Inconceivable Man
Inconceivable Man is my favorite. He is so named because he looks like that dude in The Princess Bride. He and I actually work in the same building, so I follow him from the bus to the metro to the street to the front door. And I say “follow” because every morning, the man races like he’s late for his own wedding. He stands up and waits by the door when the bus is still blocks away from the station, then he sprints down the escalator, then the metro platform, and so on. Yet every morning, while I mosey along at my own pace and he’s racing like a maniac, we end up on the same elevator up to our offices. All of his eagerness can’t beat out the system of stopping and waiting for things that slows you down at every turn.

Smelly Man
Kinda self-explanatory. I avoid sitting behind him at all costs.

Boring Clothes Lady
I need to come up with a better name for her. You know that August Silk/Alfred Dunner section in the back of your local department store that sells boatneck sweaters that lack shape, texture, or style? She wears one of those every day, with dark-colored pants. This in and of itself wouldn’t be so bad, but they’re kinda tight on her, and her pants are kinda short… she needs a makeover (she’s otherwise perfectly attractive). Maybe when she’s not looking one day I can knock her out and change her clothes.

Coach
Coach is a very nice fluffy-haired man who often reads Harry Potter. Every once in a while, though, he’ll carry a few cases of beer in to work with him. I had to ask him once what that was about, and he explained that he’s the coach of a college Lacrosse team, and the beer is for after the game. There’s just something kinda cool about knowing that—should it be needed—our bus ride is well-stocked.

Green Handbag Girl
I covet this girl’s handbag so much. It is big and green and very cute. There have been times when I was in the store and saw a similar handbag and thought I might buy it, but didn’t, because I knew she’d see me and think I was copying her. This is silliness. Fortunately, I haven’t seen her in a while, so maybe I can break out of this stranglehold she has on me.

Lovin’ it	October 8, 2007

There is absolutely nothing better than these wacky federal holidays that just sneak up on you. I’ve spent my life celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas, so my internal calendar is finely tuned to know exactly when to anticipate them. But Columbus Day? Not so much. So when I’m having the crappiest Thursday ever, and someone unexpectedly points out that at least we have a three-day weekend ahead of us… that is a good feeling.

So I best make the most of my day off. And I think I’m doing a pretty good job so far. It’s 3:00, and so I’ve cleaned the living room and dining room, made a rather costly trip to Costco, and I’m currently watching the movie Dreamgirls (which, I am really sorry to say, is not really doing anything for me. I am clearly not a musical kinda girl).

Once I make it through this movie, I plan to play a cool hour’s worth of Dance Dance Revolution, which I have decided is the awesomest thing I’ve ever purchased for myself. They just released it for Wii, and it’s not-so-different from other versions, except you get to use your arms as well. Not only is it crazy-fun and a crazy-good workout, but the game is smart enough to be able to do such things as tell you exactly how many calories you’ve burned while playing. Now that is impressive.

And after that, I will clean the kitchen, and get to work on my Halloween costume, and hopefully get around to hanging the pumpkin lights. Steve and I had this really brilliant idea of what we wanna wear for Halloween, but we’re not really sure if we’re going to have anyplace to wear it. We’re going out of town for a wedding the weekend before the 31st, and I think a lotta folks who are throwing parties and such will do it then. I’m not sure, but I’m working on the costume anyway. Worst case scenario, I’ll save it for next year (and precisely because of that possibility, I’m keeping tight-lipped about what the costume is!)