Thursday September 10

I left home around noon for the 4 hour drive to DC--I was listening to my latest "book on tape" that 's really on a cd-(Atlas Shrugged, what else for the protest??)-If I saw a bus along the way, I'd wonder if they were heading to Washington, too. I'd see a car with an American flag flappin off the rear window and again wonder if it was another "patriot" enroute to the Tea Party. Thank God I have a GPS in my car or I'd have NEVER found my hotel which was nestled in the northwest section of DC on "EMBASSY ROW"--I arrived around 4 pm, registered, asked for some restaurant recommendations and got a map of the area- Parking on premises here is $28/day--- amateurs! I'm from New York where it costs $28/ hour--HA!

The helpful guy at the desk, was a "ferener" and I didn't understand ONE thing he said--I kept saying, "excuse me?" after everything he said--the other desk guy was also a ferner from another country and he helpfully tried to "interpret" what the first guy was saying--finally I gave up the fight and just nodded-- he looked very excited and disappeared into the back room-- he came out with a small plate, and a wet, wrapped towel on it-- He proudly pushed it across the counter at me. Trying not to look STUPID, I unwrapped the towel and looked at him, puzzled.
"for your hands, ma-DAM" he said
So I stood at the desk , while I was in the middle of REGISTERING, holding a cold wet towel to wipe my hands on--Now, my hands are sopping wet, and he's pushing the form at me to sign and asking for my credit card--wondering what to do with my wet hands, and the wet towel, I plopped the towel down on the plate, wiped my hands on my ass, scrounged in my wallet for my credit card, signed the papers, took the key and went outside to move my car. I wondered what country on earth these guys came from that gives you a cold wet towel at CHECK IN?

The man at the desk had informed me it was "a little tight" in the underground (under the building) parking area-TIGHT??? meaning. . .?
I got the car, started the descent into the gated underground parking--you needed to put in your room key to open the gate--- the gate squeeked and creaked UP and I inched forward-- all kinds of pipes, insulation, air/heat vents were hanging from the ceiling-- I seriously wondered if my jeep would scrape the ceiling--at the bottom of the entrance, dead ahead, was a cinderblock wall--as I creeped forward, the gate started closing behind me--- NOW WHAT do I do? the only parking was at a 180 degree turn around the wall to my right-YIKES!! --as I turned the car to the RIGHT , my headlights nearly touched another wall where the elevator was--WHA??? no way back, no way front, no way sideways-- so the only thing for me to do was make a 50 point turn, hoping the car didn't lurch into the elevator nook--- I finally got the car headed in the right direction for parking, and there were 6, count them, 6 spaces, 2 each between 2 sets of poles-- the only way in was another 75 point turn--after sweating and twisting, and turning and doing all kinds of contortions, I finally got the truckster nestled into a spot on the end--I gave up trying to open the tailgate-- it would have whacked the hell outta the ceiling--guess I'll go to PLAN B for travel tomorrow--aint taking that baby outta there-
Anyway, went up to my room to "freshen up" before heading out to dinner-- My room is fancy, papered in black toile, with all kinds of "modern" sleek lamps and bath fixtures-- the bathroom door is frosted glass, a nightlite pops on under the sink when you go into the bathroom, the sink is FLAT--HUH? there is a giant chrome? lamp that looks like a desk lamp that I still havent' figured out how to turn on? I grab my make up bag and turn on the lights over the mirror-over one of my eyes, it looks like a line of black magic marker? I lean in closer-- is it mascara? I licked my finger and rubbed--it didn't BUDGE--oh dear, was it on there when I was registering?? no wonder the man brought me a wet towel? IT WAS FOR MY EYE-- NOT MY HANDS!! OH NO !!! OR??? Did my mascara smudge when I was sweating bullets doing the 700 point turns in the bat cave?

I grab the bottle of Oil of Olay and dab it on the eyelid-- this ALWAYS works-- except for NOW-
what the hell? anyway, now I wet my finger, soap it up and rub-- no go-- -- NO GO!! grab a tissue, wet it, with a dab of soap and rub~~~NOPE~~~YIKES what is this????? get the washcloth , wet it, soap it up and scrub-OUCH~~ scrub~~ OUCH~~scrub~~OUCH! it finally, FINALLY comes off, only now my eye is beet red and I look like HITCH --
Oh well, I don't know anybody in this town-- so I'm off for the mere 12 BLOCKS down the road toward the restaurants. I spotted a restaurant called THAIPHOON and thought the name was very clever, so I went in--
"table for ONE," I said
he seats me next to another lady at HER "table for one"
She had ordered the "special"--lightly breaded eggplant, with minced chicken and basil in a light garlic sauce--Hers looked so good I ordered the same-- we started talking and it turns out she was from Germany-- we talked about our different governments and she was tellling me that they have socialized medicine,that they pay DEARLY for, and income taxes at 70%--that's HER percentage, as a YOUNG, SINGLE taxpaper--God only knows what the wealthy must pay there, and that the wait to see a doctor is a very long time-- she said she has never been really ill, but if you were, you were not given any special considerations-- you waited your turn. PERIOD. That's why I'm here, I told her. She even said that she would try to make it to the Capitol on Saturday to see what it was all about.
She told me she was staying down the block at the Mayflower Hotel
"Isn't that the one where the Mayflower Madame ran her business?" I asked her
She looked at me blankly-
"UH OH", I thought, "maybe she's a hooker??"
"I don't understand the "madame"? she said
"you know, like a girl PIMP? a MADAME? she wrote an expose book on all the famous people who frequented there"
She nodded, as if deep in thought~~
maybe she WAS the Mayflower Madam-- ?
anyway~~
Signing off for the evening-
Later~

getting ready for my birthday journey

Today, September 9, 2009, I am printing out hotel confirmations, itineraries for the "protests" and packing. I e-mailed my brother to ask him if he wanted to join me in DC

"I'm goin to DC to protest--- wanna go?" I asked.
his reply:
" Joe Fxxxxx (xx's to protect poor ole Joe's identity) went to Washington alone to protest for the Indian (natives) causes and came back and promptly gave her husband Sandy a case of the claps, who then promptly gave it to his girl friend from Minn. who went home and gave it to her husband who then gave it to his girl friend and so on. I was in the house when she came home, so I got a call from the health dept. and at last count 18 people got it within 3 days. b careful "

THIS is what he wants me to be careful in WASHINGTON DC with?????I was thinking more along the lines of wearing a flak jacket and taking pepper spray--

Getting ready for THE PROTEST-first some background. . .

I guess you're all wondering if Sue and I made it back from being cooped up in the car for 6000 miles---we did--- the journey ended as it started--- COLD and snowing! But I will try and catch you up to that later!

On April 15, I traveled to NEW YORK CITY ALONE (well, it wasn't that far, after all, only a 30 minute train ride from my house), armed with magic markers, poster board, flags and money--

We were protesting in the infamous TEA PARTY-- about HIGH taxes, bailouts, stimulus bills, out of control Congress, and the clueless government in general. I had no idea what to expect, or where I was going-- I had an address-- the city hall park. $40 later, with train $$, and taxi $$, I was dropped off a few blocks from the area-- I could tell, because I saw a herd of people walking, so I jumped out, and joined them--- hoping they were going to the same thing as I was!!

I rounded the corner to the sidewalk in front of the park!!! HOLY!!! People, people everywhere! And here I thought I was the only one here in NEW YORK! It was truly truly inspiring to see how NEW YORKERS, of all people, were so outraged ( and this is BEFORE any talk of HEALTHCARE)-- we were told that over 12,500 people were there!!! NO RIOTS, NO RUDENESS, just mad as hell people holding signs--- there were kids there, foreigners, young people out of college, black, white, asian, ukrainian, english, you name it, they were there and they were MAD-- and of course not ONE peep out of the mainstream media-- not one PEEP.