So, Girlio & I went to Harper's Ferry for what was supposed to be a two day, one night thing.

Pros: KOA Kampgrounds are much, much less crowded during the week in early June, set up our tent in maybe 10 minutes we white water rafted with an awesome guide, saw a bald eagle, like 20 great blue herons, roasted weenies & marshmellows and stayed dry in our tent. New sleeping bag & air mattress are awesome sauce. I also drove most of the way home, including on 495 & in the city, without incident. I even got us parked fairly well.

Cons: It was OMG SO HOT, we had to pull the raft off the water while a lightning storm ran through, which promptly chilled us to the bone (actually, it was kind of cool to watch once I was certain we wouldn't die), some teenagers 20 CAMPSITES AWAY were ridiculously loud until 10pm and then started up again at 7am, the rain meant that the ground was damp & I couldn't get a fire started without copious amounts of lighter fluid, some ground water in the tent (kmusser, is that par for course with this thing? First time we've used it when there's rain - I wasn't sure if there was just seepage from a crappy tarp that was slightly too small for the tent or what), stentorinsista broke her eye, resulting in us ditching the tubing and me driving most of the way back.

She's asleep and has been since we got home about 3 hours ago. I feel like I should go wake her up, but whenever her eyes bother her, she's always exhausted anyway.

One of these days, I'll remember how to make a fire. I was on the waterboiling team for skills camporee for pete's sake!

Today, I drove my little brother to the DMV to get his learner's permit (hee). Then Mom & I drove to Old Navy... knee length olive khaki skirt and 3/4 length white collared shirt (to replace the 1/2 sleeve one I got from express and wore to bits). After french fries at Johnny Rocket's, we went out driving in neighborhood Atherton until the brother got his test graded and his picture taken, then picked him up, drove him home, drove to a dry cleaner to get the skirt taken in at the waist and drove home again.

I need to learn how to parallel park, get a little better at changing lanes, get my three point turns and/or backing up, and drive on the freeway... and I think I may be able to get my drivers license. Only 8 years later than most folks. It's funny, I plunged right back into driving for the first time since August and I remembered immediately.

This makes things like getting a car or a zipcar account a reality. I can't get to the point where I want to take the driver's exam in a week, though. And then I get into the weird area of in Virginia, with a potential permit but no car or in California, with no way of getting a permit (no residency) but plenty of chances to go out driving. Oh, the frustration. I suppose I could be a legal resident of both states, but only vote in one? Is that even legal?

When I'm in California, I feel like I've been putting my life on hold by being in DC. I miss the community I have here, even if it is a small one. I like this area so much, despite the way the community has gone from middle class to extremely upper and the suburbia factor feels stronger. A lot stronger. I could go work for a theater in San Francisco or something... I dunno... I miss California more when I'm here than when I'm not. My mother's always here to feed me and talk to me for hours and hours about nothing at all or to diagnose the various psychological problems of my friends of give me advice for the children I'm going to have (::dies laughing::) and my friends are always here to get me drunk, though the bastards have moved on and gotten different friends. DC is a city of transients and so much of it feels just temporary. If I do want to get into 'turging, I have to get into a grad school, which is about the last thing I want to do. That being said, Catholic in northeast actually has a very good program

Or maybe I just shouldn't post at nearly midnight.

I saw the Neverwhere mini series. The book is better. Oh, oh the bad acting. And the stupid character introductions at the beginning of each episode... oh, oh the pain. Netflix it if you're a Gaiman fan. If you're not, I'll lend you the book.

I've been knitting like crazy on Madli. I'm about an hour away from running out of yarn. And I have 2400 yards of a lovely, laceweight cashmere/silk yarn from my brothers as a birthday gift. Where's the pattern? Washington, DC. Yeah.