Connections. Dumpster Diving, and Cooking

Friday was uneventful at the start. I've begun to have a rather opposite sleeping schedule than I'm going to need for when I start my internship. I got to bed at 2:00AM, and then I wake up at 11:00 because I don't have to go to work yet. This will soon change. Starting Tuesday morning, I have to be on a bus by 6:00 or so, thus I may be going to bed when everyone is still being really social. I'm hoping that this doesn't mess with anything that I would want to do. What I know is that I'll have the afternoons off (for the most part--on Tuesdays, I will be attending a class that Colman teaches at American University.), and so I'll have time to relax, explore, and meet people!
So connections have already started coming along: I recently wrote about meeting an intentional community called Mai Tri--we met them when Emily took Andrew and I Contra Dancing last week. After Dumpster Diving this week, Bryan (I think) said that they were having a Peace Potluck, and that we were welcome to come! So I think Jess and I are going to go to that tomorrow night! Super exciting.

Here's the funny part: The guy who hit on me at the Food Co-Op--Emily knows who he is, and said that he just broke up with his girlfriend (who she knows) (thus the hitting on), and he's in one of the group houses that Emily mentioned to Jessica when she asked about Intentional Communities, they were one of the ones mentioned, but she still hadn't gotten their contact information yet. So it was really successful, in the fact that Emily knows who this guy dated, and also knows that he's not a creeper! So their house invited our house to a noon brunch on Sunday, and I know that Jess and I are at least going to go!
So if you haven't figured it out, we aren't going to be cooking on Sunday!! :)
Contra dancing was a lot of fun the second time. I had a lot of fun dancing with the old guys, because they know what they are doing! I'm getting the hang out it, and learning to spin more and more--it helps that I'm not wearing the "New Dancer" button, because Emily says they are more likely to spin you if you aren't wearing it. It's great though, because I don't have to lead in the dances.

Several people asked me to waltz, but instead I took a break and talked to Jan, a friend of Emily's that I learned was a foreign exchange student in Illinois, who lived with a Lutheran pastor and his wife for a year and learned to play the piano and the organ because he'd go into the church when no one was there.

We went Dumpster Diving-- another great experience. I just kinda dive into these kinds of things... literally. The people I go with always say something along the lines of "You are a trooper", or "you just really get in there". The funny thing is, I really get this kind of attitude from other people with a lot of different things--like volleyball, for example. Lindsay always says "you're so aggressive!" I guess I throw myself into things. Anything I love, or have always felt good about. Some people would call it passion. But am I passionate about dumpster diving? Maybe not, but I like the results, I like meeting different people, and I like the idea that I'm climbing through trash. So maybe so.

This morning I was woken by a phone call from Jess, which is completely fine--because it was 11:00 after all. She called because she was so excited about making granola. I came out of my room when I was awake enough, and giggled when I said hi to her. I got ready, and then we started with the granola. It wasn't a hard recipe, but we didn't have some of the ingredients, and so we were putting in more almonds because we didn't have sunflower seeds, and more raisins because we didn't have craisins. We also threw in some coconut, for kicks. We used Bruce's recipe. I emailed him about a week ago, because Jess really wanted granola, and I asked for the recipe. He sent it right back, and it was simple and looked like it would be great. And it was, is.

Jess decided that we also should make bread. I suggested Whole Wheat Bread, and she agreed. We found this recipe, No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread. We didn't know where it was taking us, because neither of us have made yeast breads without kneading them. We didn't kill the yeast with too hot of milk, and everything made sense--the dough rose, as planned, but it was weird because we spooned it into the pans, let it rise again, and put it in the oven. What we didn't expect happened next--the bread rose with insistence, and the two loaves merged together in the center, and threatened to roast to the ceiling of the stove. Jess intervened, and separated the adolescent loves, I mean, loaves, from each other, but they still were enormous, and huge. It was by far the largest whole wheat loaf I have ever seen before, and there was great rejoicing.

While we were waiting for the bread to rise, then cook, Jess was planning a bike ride to the Zoo, and then a run. I looked at the Bike Map with her, and gave ideas and things, but didn't realize she was inferring that I would come along until she asked me. And then I decided to go--we have two house bikes, and I hadn't done any biking in the city yet. So I decided to go. As soon as we had out bread out the pans on the cooling racks, we situated the bikes, figured out the locks, and headed out. It was a challenge, and we didn't bike on the sidewalk on Irving, and we should have, but we got there, and ended up at the zoo--it was about a four and a half mile bike ride.

There, I got to see the Great Cats of DC, who were all pacing and waiting for their dinners, as shown when they would pace the entrance for the zookeepers. I really enjoyed the vertebrae house. This was my favorite place this time--everything was so colorful and rich. At first, I didn't know if I would like going through the zoo alone.  But I found that it was a nice quiet change, as you don't have to wait for anyone, and take pictures at your ease. That was nice. We biked back to the house when Jess was done with her run, and found the sidewalk on Irving, thank goodness. Although I wasn't scared the first time, Jess said she was, and later on in the evening, she said that she was terrified of cars. Again with my weird fearless moments.

Fets and Bryan had gone to the Fish Market in town, and they got this huge chunk of salmon for ten dollars! Perfect proof that local shopping saves money. It was $2.00 a pound.

Jess had invited Emily over for her birthday and we were still deciding what we should eat for supper--there were only so many options without barging into anyone else's meal plans for the week. So we made breakfast for supper, using some cage-free eggs which Trader Joe's happily donated, and the pancake mix that we had in the cabinet. The guys ate all the bacon (only four pieces) before anyone else came, so it was okay. Then Emily came, bringing Kendra, Lex (both housemates), and Luis, a friend that Emily has known since she came to DC as a member of the WCSC house.

We had a great evening, finishing off some Secret Chocolate Cake (The secret, by the way, is beets), finding moldy oranges in the fruit bowl (some members of the house have been slacking, and may get scurvy in the near future), and playing what Emily calls Picture Pass it (I think. It's her form of Picture Telephone.) That was a lot of fun, especially trying to write, or draw after Bryan, who made Lisa Simpson look like a floating man, and Sarah Palin look like Davy Jones.

After that, we had popcorn, and watched "Milk", a movie about Harvey Milk who fought for Gay Rights in San Francisco in the 1970s. I have always been a little touchy on the homosexual idea, in honesty. It's hard for me to address, because I am heterosexual, and I have no idea where they are coming from. It's not that I'm offended by this. The acts of homosexuality are made for the same reasons as heterosexuality in the aspect that people love each other. It's just a weird thing to think about, and people and the society that I have lived in have established that being gay is a bad thing, and that these people are outcasts, petaphiles, and perverts. And I know they aren't, and I love people for who they are and who God created them to be. I also understand struggles, though they aren't the same as my own, I know how it feels to be made fun of and not taken seriously. This movie really informed me of the fight that they gave to get the rights they have now. I find it horrible that people were killed, discriminated against, and hated because of their sexual orientation. It kills me. But I have taken the silent vow, and not taken seriously the people who support those who are gay. "Milk" made me realize that you cannot be neutral about this. You either love them or hate them. And I am a lover, not a hater. So just as Jesus showed love to those sinners, and ate with them, I will show love to people who are different.

We talked about flirting, and knitting, and then everyone went to bed. Except me, now.