Long Overdue Update: The Arlington Chronicles - 2009 Edition: Part Deux - Revenge of the Overly Cumbersome Titles

I have even more to catch up on than I did in the last update. Let's start with the shorthand notes version of the last few months:

- Thursday, April 2nd - Cherry Blossom Festival with Andrea, walked over to Jefferson Memorial, watched a dance troupe, enjoyed a cloudy but pretty pleasant day, avoided most of the crowds by going on a weekday

- Saturday, April 18th - DC Scavenger Hunt with same company as before (Watson Adventures), enjoyable again and better weather but destroyed by other teams, no free adventure for us

- Sunday, May 17th - Washington Post Scavenger Hunt with Wahab and some of his friends (Andrea was home for late Mother's Day festivities), freakin' hard but a ton of fun and I got to see Dave Barry (awesome comic writer), albeit hundreds of feet away on a stage

- Thursday, May 21st - Coldplay concert with Andrea, my first stadium-venue concert, amazing and worth the exorbitant prices

- Monday, May 25th - Memorial Day OMGWTFBBQ in northern New Jersey at Rich T's place, basically a big reunion of Lehigh friends, great chance to catch up with all of them

- Weekend of May 29th - Flew to Savannah for brother Ford's graduation, very proud of him, gave a short toast about which I had agonized for hours but decided to give off the cuff, went well, saw lots of family, good times

- Friday, June 26th - First annual performance review, very straightforward and positive, huzzah

- Saturday, June 27th (last weekend) - Tourist time with Andrea, Library of Congress and National Archives, my first time at both, too much to see but not enough energy or patience for all of it, both well worth the time though

- Future - Video Games Live, scavenger hunt at the National Gallery, and Greg Proops

And those are just the highlights from what I recorded on my calendar. I'm sure I missed other outings, such as other museum visits (I know that I've been to Air and Space and the recently renovated American History museums since the last post) and various shenanigans. Now to get to the meat of this post: July 4th on the National Mall.

Um... yeah. While I overall had a nice time, I don't think I want to do that again. Let me count the ways:

Andrea, Andrea's friends, and I had gone to a Nationals game earlier in the day, so our ride to the game found a street to park on for free (hooray for free holiday parking) and we metro'd to the Capitol from there. Our main goal was to have a spot from which to see the fireworks, but the concert was happening behind the Capitol, so we set out to claim some territory there. We came with our coolers, which happened to contain some alcoholic beverages, and made for one of the security checkpoints.

Someone had researched what the rules were for the Mall, but she hadn't read anything about alcohol. Well, sure enough, it was a no-no. So what did the Capitol Police who searched our bags do? Did they:
a) Tell us that we could not bring those in with us and that we would have to consume the beverages somewhere else?
b) Warn us that they would confiscate the beverages if we passed through the checkpoint?
or
c) Not give us any warning and simply take the alcohol without giving us any options?

If you guessed c, you're right! But wait, they also did it in the most asshole way possible: As they collected each of the drinks (Mike's Hard Lemonade, so not a huge loss), they joked about, "Oh man, we're going to have a party tonight!" "Woo-hoo, this is good stuff!" etc. etc. I can understand not allowing alcohol in; I can even sort of understand why they would simply confiscate the drinks, even though we were all of age and there was no reason why we couldn't keep possession of the drinks if we didn't continue through the checkpoint; but there is no excuse for taking such glee in the confiscation of another's property. Yes, yes, you're a big man who gets to take alcohol away from 20-somethings who didn't know the rules. You should be very proud of yourself, jackoff.

Oh, and the piece de resistance: I was carrying one of the coolers with alcohol, and as one of the officers took out each bottle, he looked at me, did a double-take, and said, "Wait. Are you sure you're 21?" I'm not one to disrespect authority, but it took every fiber of my being to suppress a reply of "Fuck you, officer" to the smug bastard. Instead, I replied, as playfully as possible, "Yes, I'm pretty sure," and even presented my ID, even though he didn't ask (and it didn't matter, since our drinks were taken anyway). So our alcohol was stolen (I say "stolen" because we should have been given the option of not entering instead of just having the alcohol taken) and I was treated like a juvenile. Once we got clear of the checkpoint, I told the others, "That's it. I've lost faith in my government. I'm an anarchist now." While I was kidding, I can certainly understand now why some people have so much disdain for and mistrust of authority figures.

So I was disrespected by an officer of the law. I was determined to not let that ruin my first Independence Day on the Mall. And it did not. We got a fairly nice spot, not right in line with the Capitol but off to the side with a line of sight to the screen that a crane had hoisted up to show the TV broadcast version of the festivities. We played some card games and Apples to Apples as we bided our time for the concert. We saw Barry Manilow and Aretha Franklin perform, along with the Muppets from Sesame Street (albeit only at glimpses, because they were on other parts of the stage most of the time). And then it was time for the fireworks...

A number of trees were in the way of our view of the fireworks. So we rushed with the crowd to a clearer area for a better view, only to still see maybe half of the fireworks; a tree cut off the bottom half of the show. Great, all this waiting around, and what do we get to see? Half a fireworks show? At home, I could have seen the whole thing with fewer irritations. Andrea was more disappointed than I was, but we still managed to enjoy what we could see. And then, it was over.

We head out the nearest exit, waiting down one path for everyone (who had split off during the fireworks) to regroup. We take our time on the way to the metro, getting some spectacular views of the Capitol (I'd never been up next to its steps before) and seeing the motorcade of performers pass us by on their way out of the District (we gathered that it was the performers by the tinted limos and the one car out of which a puppeteer had Elmo, on the side not facing us sadly, waving to the crowds). Eventually, we get to the station, and I part ways with the others as they get off to switch lines and I stay on my line to get home.

Well, good thing we got on at a less crowded station and got seats, because the train is filled to the brim by the second stop, and things don't get any better after Metro Center. The train moves at a glacial pace, as each station is delayed by the throngs of people pressing to get any available spots on the train. When it finally rolls into my station, I barely make it off before the conductor tries to close the train's doors. I amble into my apartment 2 hours after the fireworks ended, during which time I probably could have walked the 5 or so miles from the National Mall to my apartment in Arlington if I weren't burdened with a cooler (I carried it for one of the others, until we split ways) and my backpack. (Sidenote: I just checked, and the walking distance I got from Google Maps is almost exactly 5 miles; I was just guessing. Nice.)

Oh, and I got a mild sunburn on one of my arms in an area that apparently got neglected during my 2 applications of sunblock during the day. Wonderful.

So yeah, I don't like crowds, I don't like dealing with them, and I'm sure we could have found another fireworks show in the area without all the hassles of going to the Mall. Or maybe we could watch the fireworks from a spot in Arlington that I'd heard was good. We'll have to try something different next year, because unless the concert next year features a must-see performer, I'm just not interested in jumping through hoops again for an experience I could have had somewhere else. But I wanted to see how it was and I did, and in spite of the obstacles, it was still a fun day. So I guess that's pretty good.

And now, my patient blog readers, I think we're all caught up. I'll make a better effort to update more regularly, so that I don't get so far behind again, but I'm sure there will continue to be lapses. That's life. I hope you all had a Happy Independence Day, and I'd love to hear your stories if you have any