I was walking to the library, but decided what the hey, and wandered around randomly and got lost in the suburbs and went in circles until I stumbled upon St. John's church, and found my way to Aspen Hill Library anyhow. It's a good feeling, walking around randomly on a summer day. Very time wasting, but fun.

More.. about.. Saturday. I to the Keniworth Aquatic Park in DC, which was possibly the most ghetto park I've ever been to. It wasn't like, even a real park. There were some pools, and mosquitos, and dying water lilies and lotuses. Most parks have a trail or something.. this was just like.. some sort of lakey areas you find next to a highway. I dunno, maybe I expect parks to be more wooded or have gazebos sitting around.

I think it's rather sad how one part of DC can be really ghetto, and you cross a bridge, and (Capital Hill music starts playing here) you've got like Union Station and the Capital and CNN and Fox headquarters and the Tidal Basin. And the American Gas Association or something. But my dad said that the area was starting to improve economically anyways, because of its proximity, and I guess you could see it, from the new shopping centers and stuff. It wasn't that ghetto, just more ghetto than what I'm used to. Which, being in like the top 5 most prosperous counties in the US, no doubt gives me a damn skewed perspective of what's rich and poor. (I don't feel that it's skewed because it's my perspective, but given my environment, it probably is.) I worry about this.

But Jesus Christ!!! It has kiosks for public libraries!!!

So I was with my parents on the Tidal Basin for a bit, but of course the cherry blossoms were gone. I was like, "Hey, what's that pretty building in the distance over there?" and my mom was like, "Arlington National Cemetary." And I was like, "Oh." And she was like, "Want to go look?" and I'm like, "No," because I wasn't in a funerally mood. I felt sorta stupid though, cuz I was essentially pointing to a cemetary and going, "Oooh, purrrty!"

My mom knows a lot of cities real well.. she can find her way around Hong Kong and New York and DC because she's lived in all of them. I think it's bloody amazing. And then we went to the Jefferson Memorial, because when we were there last year, the steps facing the Tidal Basin were closed for renovation. I really don't see why they have to make a statue of him so big. I mean, in real life he was probably just a normal sized guy. I don't know.. this.. giant statue thing.. seems too Ozymandian for a man who encouraged democracy and shnitz. Sure, he did a lot of great things, but there's no need to have generations of people after him peering up his giant bronze nose. It sort of.. defeats the purpose.

BTW, you can see the White House across the Basin from the memorial. I had a camcorder, so I zoomed in a lot, feeling a bit like a voyeur.. I think it's funny that in Hong Kong the people there were amazed that the White House was actually in DC and you could go in it and drive up to it.

I'm all movie-riffic this week. Alex's party was on Saturday. I guess I should blog about it.

I was sorta disappointed that Nick and Jennypoo didn't come. :(

Oh, Silvia, thanks for the movies.

I saw.. um.. Rush Hour 2 and Matrix. It was cool being able to understand Jackie Chan in Chinese, though some of their translations were strange. ("Get the black dude!" changed to "Get Li's friend!")

Plus.. yes.. it was my first time watching the Matrix (shut up, yes, I am deprived), and it was hella funny. I wouldn't choose the blue pill though unless I really liked jello.

Alex kept making gay comments throughout both movies. ELROND!

Some short DDRing. Yeah.

I saw "Elizabeth" on VCD. It was a pretty bad quality VCD, but the production was good I guess, if incoherent. I just looked at the pretty clothes. There was some gratuitous sex and violence... I had no idea what was going on. It was like.. Catholic something.. Protestant something... some people are burned alive.. some guy gets shot by a crossbow.. stabbed by spear.. tortured by sticking a torch where it shouldn't go... head chopped off... body pounded by rocks in the ocean.. sex in transparent material... French dude crossdresses... Cate Blanchett acts bewildered..priests yell "HERESY!" a lot... Rennaissance dancing with bells.. codpieces.. I dunno. I think the plot was about how lots of people wanted her to marry them, and she didn't. The end. I checked Palmer to see what was going on, and I still didn't understand. Good soundtrack though.