I may have written about this before but I am waaaaaayyyyy behind on starting this. A few months ago, Mooncatblue gave us a Scavenger Hunt to work through throughout the summer.

Here’s the list:

SCAVENGER HUNT LIST

1. It’s Mother’s day-  Create a post dedicated to your mother. – mode of creation open
2. Write a love poem incorporating the following words: rabbit, glass, mud, super nova, Motel 6
3. Use puberty as a major theme- mode of creation open
4. Write a story or a poem incorporating this sentence: She wore her green dress, the one the color of spring onions.
5-8. Write poems or stories inspired by the following photographs ( photo credits to John G.)
   

9. Write a travel Haibun
10. Incorporate words or phrases in Latin- mode of creation open.
11. Write something set in a laundromat.
12. Create something inwhich a lobster is a symbolic centerpiece. – mode of creation open
13. Create a post for your father. – mode of creation open
14. Create something in which fire is a center piece. – mode of creation open
15. Write a flash fiction- incorporating the following words: amoeba, tomato juice, tire, tiger lily, Bible
16-18. Blinded me with science: Create pieces grounded in any principals or theories of biology, chemistry, and physics
19. Create a piece to go with a favorite song.
20. Write something which incorporates the following sentence: The four brothers, minus the brother lost to the war, played their horns late into the night.
21. Create something based on an old family story.
22. Write a ghost story.
23. Create a post in which food is a theme- mode of creation open
24. Write stories or poems inspired by daydreaming to the  following three Carolyn Coalson paintings ( in order “Element of Merk”,” Revlon 1957″, “Untitled Blues”)
 
25. Revise and/or choose 3 old poems, prose or photography pieces. Research and muster the courage to submit them to a publishing entity.
26.  Create something in which death is a central theme. -mode of creation open
27. Create a post incorporating the following: butterfly, sawdust, Mack truck, blood, ocean- mode of creation open
28. Create something which answers the question: When the town drunk dies, who should be the first to buy a round?
29. Write something that scares you.
30-33  . Write poems or prose based on the following: ( yeah, I know my pictures aren’t as good as John’s. heh)

34. Create something with independence as a central theme- mode of creation, open
35. Write a poem or prose incorporating the following sentence: I’ve loved you since before you were born.
36. Go ahead. Write a sex scene. You know you want to.
37. Create a post about your childhood home- mode of creation open
38. Create a story/ post out of notebook doodles.
39. Create a post about flying- interpretation and mode of creation, open
40. Create a post reflecting your life’s “bucket list” – mode of creation open.

It’s pouring this morning and I’m wishing hard for some Wellies (I think that a trip to the store is in order this evening).  It’s hard to get up on a morning like this. I really could write a book on all the crazy people that I see on Metro. This morning, I was on the train and some guy probably in his 20s or 30s got on the train. He was a real hipster type. He was listening to his iPod and apparently really liked the song. He hung his umbrella up on the ceiling bar of the train car and started shaking his hips and doing a little toe tapping and some little kicks. He starts swaying and even swings around one of the poles.

At this point, I’m trying hard not to giggle and I’m looking at all the other passengers to see what they’re doing and of course, they are staring because that’s what we do in DC, we stare. But you’ve gotta love that guy. He truly was dancing like no one was watching. You don’t find a lot of people brave enough to do that.

So BigShow’s latest post has me thinking a bit. Having a significant other does not mean you get a special “Get Out Question Jail Free” card. Families like to ask questions particularly when it comes to love, don’t they? And even after you score that special lady or gentleman of your dreams, the questions and suspicions will keep coming. For serious.

After you’ve been dating your SO for awhile, the tenative questions begin. They’ll seem really innocent (i.e. Do you see yourself ever marrying this person?) Never ever ever make the mistake of saying yes. You’ve gotta tie this question up like a politician in front of a Congressional committee. Turn the question around. Say “No comment.” Defer the question to your aide. If you do not, pretty soon the inevitable marriage question will come up. I made the mistake of answering yes to this question and it has set off a firestorm in my family, particularly with my youngest sister.

Cases where KT was mistaken:

- Just about every time I go home, KT says something about getting engaged. When the Architect and I took my family up to Hershey Park to see the Christmas lights right after Thanksgiving, KT was pretty sure that we brought them along because the Architect was going to propose to me. She was so sure that she had even told some of her friends that she thought he was going to propose so they were all texting her to see if he was going to propose. I didn’t find this out until we got home and the Architect and I had a good laugh over it.

- She thought we were going to get engaged on the cruise that we went on in January.

- During Easter, KT and B insisted that we have an Easter egg hunt (hah, they’re 19 and 21). I was helping my mom make breakfast and all the sudden KTcomes over holding a plastic egg as if it were the Holy Grail and says “Megan, look!!!” So I looked and the egg had a sticker with my name on it but I recognized my aunt’s hand writing on it. So I opened the egg and found some delicious fruit flavored jelly beans. Poor KT was so disappointed because she thought the egg was from the Architect and that it had an engagement ring in it, which would have been funny since the Architect was in the shower at the time.

But it’s not just KT, when all of my family was out here for B’s graduation, all they wanted to talk about was wedding stuff. It was kind of funny.

So BigShow, the family craziness does not end when you finally bring someone home. Bad news!

BigToePeople tagged me to put together a list of the 15 books that have most moved me. She only listed the title of the books but I’ve seen others explain why they were so moved and I shall do that as well.

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: This is one of my most favorite books ever. The story of the friendship in the book is so universal and really transcends the setting of the book.

2. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs: I read this book in one sitting in a Starbucks my freshman year of college. I read it with my mouth wide open in shock while thanking my lucky stars that I had the family that I had!

3. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris: David Sedaris knows how to spin a good story. He weaves a great memoir that had me laughing out loud.

4. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown: This book taught me that you don’t have to write well in order to spin a good story.

5. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: Such a good love story. I read it right after breaking up with a long time boyfriend which was not the best time emotionally but the book made me see that love is out there, it’s all around and when you are least looking for it, it’ll find you.

6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: This book set off my obsession with the Jazz Age and Prohibition. In fact, if I really, really am thinking about having a 1920s themed wedding (Soullfire, your dream interpretation may have been pretty dead on; we’ve really started discussing the whole engagement thing pretty seriously).

7. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: The Architect and I read this aloud to each other earlier this year. It’s quite a philosophical book.

8. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak: This is my all time favorite children’s story. Oddly enough this is the book that made me want to see the world (I thought it was so cool that Max got to go to a distant land).

9. The Babysitter’s Club books: Oh wow, I loved these things when I was younger. Looking back, the stories are a little cheesy but they’ve stuck with me.

10. The Chronicles of Narnia: I read them once when I was younger and loved them for the fantasy aspect. I read them once again as a Junior in college on my own and loved them for the philosophical aspect. It’s funny how books can change meaning for you as you age.

11. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez: Whoa, now this is a love story. The story is undescribable but I get warm and fuzzy when I think about it.

12. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: Ah yes, another love story. This one is part romance and part mystery and kept me reading late into the night.

13. Candide by Voltaire: A lovely satire that everyone should read.

14. All of the Dr. Seuss books: what more can you say about these? I’m sure that I still know most of the worlds to many of the books. They’ve stuck with me.

15. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami: This book was so vividly written that I can still picture the scenes. The story was wonderfully weird and unique.

I won’t tag anyone but please do this and if you do, tag me so I can come see your choices!

So I guess you could say that we had a good turn out for our little Xanga meet up.

Here’s your cast of characters:
Meg thecheshiregrins
Ying scrooge0
Alex roadlesstaken
Jose stupid_systemus
Trish pineapplelurve
Torri torri
Terri ciaobella810
Modupe melodicserenity
Matt theacematt2
Dommie dommiegirllovie
Mai vampiressmai
Kevin ch10n9
Marvin d2h5b

If you notice, we even had three non-DMV-ers. Theacematt2 came all the way from Ohio and DommieGirlLovie and VampiressMai came from Philly. So to those of you that said you couldn’t make it because of distance, these guys really showed you up. It’s okay though; you may all redeem yourself next time.

We started out the day at Busboys and Poets for a delicious lunch. Torri brought Xanga cupcakes in Xanga colors, which was super tasty. We even did a Xtv session on Ciaobella’s site (I think you should be able to look at the archived footage if you missed it).

We spent a bunch of hours just chatting and having fun in the restaurant. What a great group of people! Xangans truly are a friendly group. I don’t think that anyone outside of our group would have known that for a lot of us, this was our first time meeting in real life. That evening we went to the Spy Museum and did an interactive thing called Operation Spy where you pretend to be a spy. It was a little cheesy but a lot of fun. After, we even got dinner at California Tortilla.

It was a good full day of fun! As you notice, I don’t have any pictures on my site because I kind of forgot to take pictures because I was having too much fun. I know others have photos so you should go visit all the sites and see them and also you should visit because all of these people are pretty awesome.

Thank you to everyone that came! I can’t wait for next time!

Really quick before I start getting ready for the DCXM: part Deux, last night I had a super weird dream about a fellow Xangan. I dreamed that Soullfire sent me painted cowboy boots (I don’t wear cowboy boots). Hilarious! I’m going to blame the strangness of the dream on the ice cream I had last night. I realized this morning that in all my time on Xanga, this is the first time that I think I’ve had a dream about a fellow Xangan. 

So I’ve gotta know, have you ever had a dream about another Xangan that you haven’t met in real life?

Well I’m off to go get ready. Yay for DCXMs

I have a co-worker who is about to get married. He and his soon-to-be wifey are registered for the coolest thing ever. In a world full of registries filled with  $85.00 Vera Wang soup bowls, its nice to see someone actually registered for a cool gift (although they still have a registry with the infamous soup bowls but I digress…).

I was not aware of this before but there is a website called Travelers Joy where you can register for activities to do on your honeymoon. You can register for anything from excursions to romantic dinners. I went home and told the Architect about this and apparently he’s heard that there is even sites that simply allow wedding guests to put money towards an overall honeymoon for the couple.

Now I’m getting all sorts of ideas. Seeing as how we already pretty much have everything a couple needs as for a house, I can definitely see something like registering for a honeymoon would be a good option for a registry. To me, travel is way more meaningful than a lot of material things. Not that many blenders are going to give you really extraordinary happy memories but travel has a tendency to do that for both myself and the Architect.

Would you register for something like this?

Tomorrow is the DC Xanga Meet-up. Come one, come all!

Saturday, June 13

The fun begins at 12 pm at Busboys and Poets (5th and K location)

The restaurant is best accessed by Metro (parking is at a premium). Use the Green, Yellow, or Red Line to get there. The restaurant is a short walk from the Chinatown Metro (Green, Yellow, Red lines) or the Convention Center Metro (Green and Yellow lines).

Then at 5pm, we’ll be at the International Spy Museum.

The museum is best accessed by Metro once again. The Chinatown (Green, Yellow, and Red lines) and Metro Center (Red, Orange, Blue lines) stops are closest. The Chinatown stop is super close (use the Verizon Center exit)

If you want my number, send me a message. I want everyone to be able to meet up this time!!!

Also ciaobella810 is another good person to get in contact with.

Hate is an ugly word. Being the Pollyanna-like person that I am, I like to think that in some small way we’ve progressed at least a little bit. I like to think that we are a little more loving to each other and that we care a little bit more for our fellow man. Although when things happen like what happened at the Holocaust Museum in DC today, it makes it apparent that we haven’t progressed as a society as much as I had thought.

Today, an 88 year old white supremacist named James von Brunn is suspected of entering the museum at about 1pm and shooting at people with a rifle according to news reports. If you have ever been to the museums on the National Mall, you know how busy they get during the day, especially right after the lunch hour. Von Brunn shot a security guard who later died at GW Hospital this afternoon. Von Brunn is a known white supremacist who has spewed his hate in writing online mostly of the anti-semitic kind with a bit of general racism thrown in for good measure.

It is very sobering every time something like this happens. We still have a long way to go. If anything can come from this event, let it be a reminder that we would all do well to be a little nicer, a little more loving, and a little more caring for each other.

I’m leaving to go back home in a few hours. This has been a really good trip. San Diego is gorgeous and I got a lot of hang out time with Air Lady, whom I hadn’t seen  in about a year! There’s so much to do here and as much as I would like to drop everything and just stay here in this lovely weather, it’s time to go home. Home always feels good after a trip. I’m hoping that I’m not going to have bad jet lag when I go back home (it seems to affect me a lot worse going back home then flying from the east to the west coast). I’ve managed to get up everyday between 5 and 7 am PST or 8 and 10 am EST so hopefully that should help. Although I realize that it would be a lot worse if I went overseas some place, jet lag still does not feel very good.

How do you usually get over jet lag?