One thing that I notice is that time seems to go by faster when you have a blog that you don’t update. Last update October 24, 2010. WOW! That seems like yesterday! If feelings of guilt make life go by faster, then I’ll probably be dead soon.
But enough about me (ha!). The first thing *you* might notice is my new header. In early November we took a 22 mile bike journey down to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate. It was a spectacular day; you can see pictures here.
The second thing you might notice is that, as my pal Girl Chris might say, it’s been over a month since I’ve blerged. And in response to that, I’ve got nothing. I’ve started posts; I’ve abandoned posts. I’ve got posts written that I just haven’t published. I’ve taken lots of pictures with the new cammy, and then I haven’t posted them. Spot a theme? What can I say, unlike the rest of America, for me November is a drag. There’s been a disconnect.
But this is not to say that I haven’t been writing. I’ve been working on other things that don’t belong here on ye ole blog, but that have nonetheless felt very satisfying. And I’ve been reading a lot — still addicted to Sarah Waters (recently finished The Little Stranger and Fingersmith, both of which I recommend highly); have been loving my Kindle subscription to The New Yorker; am currently making a quick detour through John Grisham’s latest legal thriller; and have a bunch of other half-read books lying around waiting to be picked back up (like the fascinating story about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919). A loyal Randa’s Fan recently gifted me with a book by Vivian Gornick, which I haven’t been in the right headspace to read yet. But I’m looking forward to that.
I saw Sarah Vowell a few weeks ago and was inspired to download the audio version of The Partly Cloudy Patriot, which is a brilliant way to make the long miles of a Thanksgiving road trip fly by — much unlike listening to the audio version of, say, Dante’s Inferno, which is more the equivalent of being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic outside Fredericksburg. I love hearing Sarah Vowell read. While I was listening to her audio book I pretended she was in the back seat. Good times.
In other news and events, around Halloween I attended Night of the Living Zoo at, well, the zoo. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals headlined, and it was a great show. And while Grace was amazing, the highlight for me was definitely running into Anne Boleyn.
Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was the next day and, honestly, that was an opportunity of location — I live here. So I went down to the National Mall to see what it was all about. By far the best part of the rally was that it brought to town so many people I had not seen in years, and even though a roughly 250,000-person-outdoor-being-crushed-by-the-masses-Icantfuckingmove rally isn’t the best place to catch up, it was still great to see several old friends and to hug their necks. Here are a few photos. I didn’t get up super early for a prime spot, so these shots are from the way-way–back.
Randa's Fans 
Hug their necks says it all.