no sex in the champagne lounge

my goodness, has it been a week already? i hate having a job!

victor yushchenko has been in dc all week, which i think is totally rad. he was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to back down even after his political opponents made an attempt on his life, and today he was on the hill talking about what the ukraine needs from the US in order to become a successful democracy. (note: i think it's bullshit for bush to claim any responsiblity for what happened in the ukraine. for bush to try to ride yushchenko's coattails is just shameful.)

anyway, today, while i was outside basking in the sun at lunchtime (80 degrees and sunny today!) i saw yuschchenko's motorcade drive by. it was so freaking cool. like 25 police cars, sirens wailing, surrounding a black limo with a ukrainian flag. on monday i saw the presidential motorcade go by, which really gives me a thrill every time i see it. even though i think bush is totally evil, i'm still sort of impressed by the drama surrounding the presidency, and i can't help but feel awed when i'm standing on a street corner and the president and all his security people go whizzing by, 10 feet from me.

oh, and to explain the title of this post: on saturday, helen and i went for lunch and to visit my new apartment (adorable, right, helen?) and afterwards we stopped by this place called like duke ellington's champagne lounge and [something] garden. it was really cute, and it was basically a bunch of grey armchairs facing each other in little pairs. helen ordered a mimosa, which she declared to be "not as gross" as she thought it would be. how charming!

also, on the way to visit my apartment, we took the shortest taxi ride in the history of taxi rides. it was raining and my lazy future roomie david didn't want to walk the 2 blocks to the metro station to pick us up - so we took a taxi instead of the metro. so, we stand on a corner and hail a cab, and a guy stops and picks us up. i gave him the address and he said (after he started driving) "oh, i can't take you there. i'm on a radio call, and i just picked you up because i thought you might be going the same direction." so at the next street corner, he dropped us off. i mean, i'm not now nor have i ever been a taxi driver, but i'm pretty sure that's bad technique.

okay, over and out.