Happy Birthday, Dear America

We decided to brave the crowds for the Fourth of July, since we are in the nation’s capital and all. I was rather pessimistic about it, honestly, because I hate being in close proximity to millions of stinky, sweaty people, but it wasn’t actually that bad. It turned out to be pretty great!
Fancy that.

We went to the Folklife Festival (And yes, this proves that Texas, in and of itself, has its own culture and identity, for those of you who are wondering)for most of the day and ended up learning mostly about Bhutan (little nation between India and China), which was interesting, but somewhat strange since we were celebrating our own nation’s birth. These monks (and they are real monks from real Bhutan) are performing a traditional Black Hat, “whirling dervish” style. The cymbals almost did us in by the end, but it was still fun to watch. I was kicking myself because the next was a “dramatic” dance, which tells a story, and was really neat. They had deer costumes, a sage, and a hunter, and their costumes were very elaborate. It reminded me of that part from The King and I when they perform a “Siamese” version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (“Run Eliza, run! Run to get George!”) But, by the time they came out, I was all out of memory card space—bummer.

It kept raining intermittently, and it started raining the hardest after all the museums closed and there wasn't really any place to run for cover. But some would argue that all the aggravation was worth it. And I have to say, the fireworks were cool.

But, I have never seen so many freaking people in one place trying to find their way to the Metro at the same time. Ugh. I don’t know if we will be doing this in the future!

I was wishing a little that we could go to the Stadium of Fire again back home, which I actually wouldn’t even care about except that DH and I found the best spot in the whole place to watch the fireworks, and I always looked forward to it. We would bring our little chairs and some snacks and sit and chat. It was a place where not a lot of people could fit, so I didn’t feel crowded at all. Am I sounding anti-people? Ok, it’s true, I hate people.

One of my co-workers said that Miley Cyrus was a big hit at the Stadium of Fire, and she got paid a million dollars for a 45 minute performance. Wow. That is quite the job she’s got goin’ on. I made a comment on how I hope she doesn’t blow it all like so many young celebrities do, and he sent me this great little gem: a clip on how we are facing the worst entertainment crisis the world has ever seen. I know I’m going to cut back on my Hannah Montana usage . . . oh wait, can you cut back from zero? I guess I can rest easy since my Miley footprint is non-existant!