Quick and dirty post time-- GO!

Wednesday
 I met up with Caroline (a friend from dance class) to head to Space Bar, a hole in the wall place in Falls Church that serves almost exclusively beer and grilled cheese. The food was delicious. I so rarely hang out non-romantically with people one-on-one; it was lovely. Friendships take work, man. I should put in some effort here and there, because they're probably worth it.

Thursday
Day 1 of parent-teacher conferences. I already wrote about that. (See previous post.)

Friday
Day 2 of parent-teacher conferences. The second day of conferences went much like the first, except that they were tightly packed. It was like a marathon in messaging. After work, I tidied my room one last time before heading to Reagan National to pick up Dear Friend. I felt like an grown-up-- parking in short-term parking at an airport to pick someone up! I may have taken Dear Friend to Space Bar for dinner, because I am embarrassed about cooking in front of people and I just can't get enough of their sauerkraut-filled sandwiches.

Saturday
Dear Friend set up a party for himself at a friend's house. He invited a bunch of people he'd known during his years living in DC. They were lovely. A couple of us built card structures while chatting. We ate grilled things. Some of us went out dancing afterwards, but the DJ was playing rather dark, industrial sounding stuff that made dancing difficult.

Sunday
Dear Friend and I went to see Coriolanus at the Shakespeare Theatre. We had meant to go see Wallenstein and Coriolanus back to back, because they share a set and many actors, but then traffic was AWFUL and we didn't make it into the city in time for the matinee. Alas. We spent a long time picnicking in a park. We went to my favorite used book store and didn't buy anything. We marveled at how white some of the neighborhoods have become.

Monday
Memorial Day! No work! Dear Friend and I headed to a swimming hole. (Did you know that there's a swimming hole about an hour outside of DC? No? Neither did I.) The water was too cold for anyone but DF to actually swim, but he seemed happy. The rest of us just happened to be wearing bathing suits under our clothes for a lovely picnic.

Tuesday
I took the day off to spend it with DF. He had lunch plans with his old boss, so I toodled around the Smithsonian museums for a bit. And then he kept running into people, so I ended up museuming for about four hours. But HEY, I saw lots of art and finally got to eat in the cafeteria of the Museum of the American Indian, about which I have heard so much. They have good corn bread. Things I learned from museuming: resin opens up cool possibilities with depth and embedding things, art is sometimes just displaying other people's work (or machines' work) after you've taken it apart and put it together differently, I like cut and/or layered paper (knew that already), I like strings and exploring spaces with them, and sometimes the art puzzles the guards.

Also on Tuesday, we had dinner with a couple of DF's family friends. They're a retired couple. They travel a bunch and seem to have led interesting lives, and-- even better-- they're still leading interesting lives. I want them to meet my parents.

Today
Dropped DF off for his flight early this morning. (I wasn't even late to work.) Goodbyes are hard.

Work. Sixth grade graduation is in a week and a day! The kids are getting nutty. I worked with the sixth graders on graduation decorations today. Evidently, they chose splatter painting as their visual theme. I decided to have us work on that outside.

General notes
I'm vaguely trying to lose weight. Or maybe just to get stronger. Preferably both.

Art. I'd like to do more of it. I just finished my second piece of the month, which is rather prolific for me. Drawing (art-ing?) often gets me into that perfect focus state where time slows down. Creating things is fun.

Writing. I'd like to do more of it. I bought a nice journal and a silly pen in a museum gift shop yesterday. I keep telling the kids that, to be a writer, you just have to write, even if you don't know what to write and you think you're churning out junk. Time to walk the talk.