Going to Washington DC

I could use about a month to get my life in order. Fall and winter have been such a blur that I still haven't fully unpacked from Ohio. Yup, there is a box in my apartment in Boston filled with Obama pin-pricked sweaters, comfy walking shoes for canvassing, and a Halloween costume. I haven't spent quality time with most of my friends for eons, and I am one of those people giving money to Netflix every month for no reason. I also just returned from 16 days in California & Arizona for the holidays. This is time I could have spent being productive and organizational but instead spent eating In-N-Out, going to Disneyland, and laying around in the sunshine since it was 80 degrees. There is no time to delay, however. The unpacked bags will have to molder and my massive to-do list will have to wait for three more days. The inauguration is here, and I am not going to miss it.

I left Brooklyn this morning well-fortified with a cheese tamale to go from Beaner Cafe and the best Mexican hot chocolate you will find in the city. I brought my Obama buttons out of retirement and listened to hip-hop remix anthems of Obama speeches on the radio all the way through New Jersey. I even caught a snippet of Beyonce dueting with Pete Seger (could that be right?) at the big free concert at the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon, and heard our President-elect talking about the great challenges we face as this administration begins. I feel pretty ready to celebrate.

Despite alarmist reports of traffic and mayhem in the city, I rolled into DC this afternoon unscathed and found an easy parking spot right in front of my friend's apartment. My secret to good parking karma is simply to drive to those places where most people are too smart or scared to drive. Last night I headed straight to Manhattan from Boston and parked on the street in front of the bar where my friend was giving a show. Saturday night, in the Village. Lunacy pays off.

I know you all wanted to go to the inauguration. (Well, not you, Sonny, or my other lovely but misguided Republican friends.) But you have to work on Tuesday, or it was going to be a 20-hour drive of insanity, or you live in Pakistan, or you were scared off by the whole "it will be chaos!" hysteria. For whatever reason, you're not going to show up for the big event. Since you're not, I will continue that vicarious arrangement we had during the campaign and do my best to make you feel like you are here. So get ready for numerous reports from the field (and by field I mean the loud, badly lit and crowded bar where I will probably be viewing the inauguration on a 16" television) and my best Christiane Amanpour impersonation of what it is like here on the ground. It's nice to be back.