I saw a werewolf drinkin' a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's

Leeann's graduation party (top student for both her departments: Women's Studies and Anthropology) and Amanda's birthday party were both last Saturday, at Leeann's house and a bar called McCaffery's, respectively. I did my first karaoke ever: Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon. It was awful, but not as awful as I'd geared myself up for it to be.

DC was welcoming. I love the transit system, the industrial buildings scattered amongst the classically-inspired government buildings, and the diversity of people and purpose. Kat bought me a DC-centric moleskin with a transit map and pages for me to make notes about restaurants, bars, and places I like. It was a perfectly-timed and heartfelt gift. The first day walking about by myself, I really enjoyed the city. The second day, I knew I wanted to be there for a long time.

I make about 250 dollars a week at work. I'm unusual in that I declare my full tips every shift, and my bi-weekly hourly wage paychecks are about half everyone else's because our taxes are deducted on each paycheck. But hey, I'm a patriot. I need to find a second job though, because we're starting to slow down as summer rolls around, and shifts are going to be scarce soon.

I work a lot-- about five days a week, sometimes a double. I volunteer at least once, usually twice a week (I really should start keeping track again). I do urban farming in Detroit with Earthworks and I do in-home hospice care now through Arbor Hospice. It doesn't leave much me-time anymore, though. I run and work out less. I still haven't gotten into my studying Arabic. I don't read or write or write for pleasure (Doc Savage, Lolita, Cavalier and Klay; some D&D adventures and adaptations I have floating around in my head) but I think about doing both often. On occasion, since he and I keep similar hours, us working at the same place, Matthew and I have a few late-night drinks on my deck.

I can't even go to D&D for more than the last hour or so anymore thanks to my Sunday morning shifts, and it hurts to lose my escape from reality and to have my brother be such an uncompromising Dungeon Master. The problem with a lot of DMs who are writers, I've read lately, is that they want to tell THEIR story, not a collaborative story-- their way or the highway. I wanted to get into DMing again too but now I don't feel like I have enough time to do it any justice.

Thinking about writing in a fantasy world means I find so many interesting tidbits about the real world, though: Did you know that since telegraphs were charged by the word, secret codes were invented using uncommon or foreign-language words to represent long strings of words, and that different companies developed different codes to keep them secure if intercepted? Stranger than fiction.

Been working on financial aid paperwork for school, saving up money. Bought a nice bicycle for riding around here and in DC that will hopefully not get stolen once I move there. I hope to have between three and four thousand in the bank by the time I head out in late August. I feel like I will truly miss so little about Michigan that I am embarrassed to vocalize it.