even if we tried so hard, would we still be coming to an end?

the place i get bagels in the morning is right below our building. it's a greek restaurant that primarily does lunch, catering, and rotating greek specialties. seems to be doing well, since it's one of the only local-run lunch places within five blocks of here, and the food is generally good. who doesn't like greek? (not real great for vegetarians, but i am assuming.)

they also have breakfast, coffee, a seldom-used espresso machine, and bagels. h & h bagels, to be specific. fresh from new york. they are easily the best bagels i've had in DC-- which, admittedly, is like saying i'm easily the tallest person on Lilliput-- and have traditionally been coupled with a gigantic styrofoam cup of iced tea, no ice, which i take upstairs and pour over ice for the equivalent of 3 glasses of tea. $4.39 for bagel and cream cheese and tea-- if they had a tip jar, i would have chipped in tons of cash over the 18 months we've been at this office.

the people who work there all know me pretty well by now, and are really, really friendly. the big boss, when he's around, is this super greek looking guy who insists on engaging every single person who comes in. there's a weird mixture of english, greek, and spanish (with different accents) that are spoken behind the counter, which always amuses/delights me, because i don't think i've ever let on that i understand or speak spanish. the guy who makes my bagels on most mornings is my buddy, as is the guy who works the register. it's sort of a de facto family.

i used to go every day. i've gotten really sloppy in recent weeks, and we got an iced tea machine in the office, so i haven't been going. so, when i went in today (at about 11am, the whole place is empty as they're getting ready for catering and the lunch rush), all of them greeted me kindly and immediately commented on my beard. i swear to god the damn thing is a conversation piece. they treated it (and me) with a mixture of amusement, confusion, and enthusiasm. so i told them about how it's for the election, and how i'm going traveling.

i don't know if i can flog the point that i'm going to miss dc any more than i already have. i'm looking forward to having stories about other places, and to returning.

said it was good to be alive

i am in a rough mood, so let's focus on the positive. the weather today could not be better. twelve calendar days until the end of the quarter. twenty two calendar days until the end of work. and i've got holland, 1945 stuck in my head.

which led me back to an idea that's been kicking around in my head along with my other grand and probably unworkable plans: monthly drunken cover singalongs. here's the pitch: lots of people like to go to/host dance parties, in which good times are had and alcohol is consumed. as is well documented, i don't like dance parties very much. as is also well documented, i love playing other people's songs. so, what i want to do is curate and host the first edition of a hopefully monthly gathering of folks hanging out, imbibing, and having a big ol' singalong.

i have no idea if this will work, be weird, be well attended, or what. but i think it'd be a hell of a lot of fun, especially if a few people (me, others) were actually excited about the ethos of it, namely, to participate and share and have fun unironically via music. so, preferably no snide covers of radio rap, no forced participation, etc. byob, byoinstruments. i'll need to get an upright piano. three part harmonies encouraged.

brainstorm a tracklist with me in the comments. forward this to anyone you would want to have involved. tentative ideas: neutral milk hotel, fleet foxes, CSN(Y), spoon, pavement, sufjan, bowie, talking heads, joanna newsom (duh), wilco, bon iver... i guess anything that's on the tip of people's tongues. we'd publish it in advance for learning purposes, and if muxtape were still around i'd make one of those. maybe i'll post the tracks... ON MY BLOG.