Ancient History, Volume V

In early 2006, I was told that my job was being made permanent, but that I wasn't eligible to apply for it because I wasn't already a permanent employee *head explodes* So I went "Screw this, I'm leaving on my terms on a date of my choosing" and booked a plane ticket to the US to see Megan. (And yet, two months after I got back, I ended up back at the same company doing basically the same work. Go figure...)

By this point, Megan was living in Tennessee. My first travel diary entry after arriving includes the genius sentence "Tennessee is quite different to Nebraska." OH MY GOD, REALLY?????? Thanks so much for clarifying that, 23 year old me. One of the most exciting parts of this trip was that I bought my very first digital camera, which means I don't have to search through photo albums and scan stuff. WHEEEE!!!

Ahem. So. We spent a couple of weeks in Tennessee, pottering about and hanging out with people, and almost going to private parties for Dierks Bentley in Nashville. We also went to a bar where this happened:
Megan's housemate: What beers do you have?
Waitress: Oh, a whole bunch!!

Yup. That was about as helpful as she could manage... After those first few weeks, we packed up all our stuff and got on a plane to Washington DC. Our first port of call was the Library of Congress, because Megan was in the middle of her Masters and needed to do research for her thesis.

If you ever get the chance to go to the Library of Congress, TAKE IT. It's gorgeous. And their collection is astonishingly brilliant. </library nerd spiel>

We also visited the Capitol Building (well, the outside at least), where the annual Law Enforcement Officers' Torch Race was happening. There were a LOT of law enforcement officers wearing tiny shorts there. Also on the list of sites were a bunch of Smithsonians, including the National Gallery of Art, the Natural History Museum, and the American History Museum. Back in those days, prior to the Great Washington Earthquake of 2011, you could walk right up to the Washington Monument.

Fascinating, no? We also went to the National Archives where I attempted to take photos of the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and Constitution without the flash. Clearly, I wasn't very good at the whole holding-the-camera-still part...

You can totally read that, right??

You could also get much closer to the White House in 2006 than you could in 2011. See?

We also wandered around all the memorials. Unlike my trip last year, the Reflecting Pool actually had water in it, which was quite exciting. While walking around the Tidal Basin, we saw quite possibly the most unexpected thing I've ever seen in America: PEOPLE PLAYING CRICKET.

Good luck with converting America from baseball, embassy types...

We also had quite the exciting Sunday, which featured TWO churches and a zoo. Did you know there were dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden? I sure as hell didn't. But according to this mosaic on the roof of the National Basilica of something or other, there were. I circled it for you:

Having spent a millionty years at Anglican schools, I felt far more at home in the National Cathedral, where 99% of the decoration was courtesy of stained glass windows. One of which contains space rock:

BEST. WINDOW. EVER.

And the zoo featured a baby panda playing with its own feet. Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

And finally, we headed across to Arlington National Cemetery, where we saw all the expected sights and where Megan had to remind me that singing the Adelaide Crows theme song whenever I heard the Marines' Hymn playing was probably not a good idea (same tune, VERY different words)... Despite my inadvertent faux pas, the Iwo Jima Memorial was totally worth seeing (as was the rest of Arlington, really!):

So that was Washington. And as this is already stupidly long, I'm going to divide this trip into instalments. Next up, things get far more interesting when we catch a BUS to Philadelphia. Yeah.........

K xx

101 in 1001 #70

On Saturday night, I crossed something else off my Day Zero list: I went to a cricket match at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). It's been a really long time since I went to the MCG for anything - all the football games I've been to in recent years have been at Etihad Stadium, and I can't even remember the last time I went to the cricket! So when my brother asked if I wanted to go to the 20/20 game between the Melbourne Stars and the Melbourne Renegades, I figured it was an excellent opportunity to cross something else off the list.

[Okay, America. Here's your possibly inaccurate crash course in cricket. Watch this ridiculously dated video for starters:


So. The first thing you need to know is that the two innings per team thing only applies in test cricket. A test match lasts up to five days. There are food breaks and tea breaks. Everyone wears white, goes home for a nice sleep at the end of the day, and picks up where they left off the next morning.

Then there's limited overs cricket, which was introduced when it became apparent that people could no longer afford to take days and days off work during the week to go to the cricket. So they created one day cricket, where each team has 50 overs (1 over = six balls) to try and score as many runs as possible. And finally, a few years ago, 20/20 cricket was created, where each team has 20 overs to try and score as many runs as possible.

Basically, 20/20 goes for about 4 hours, one day cricket goes for 8 hours, and test match cricket goes for 5 days. And there are weirdly named fielding positions like 'silly mid-on' and 'square leg' and 'deep cover' and 'third man'. If you have questions, let me know and I'll ask my dad for the answers direct you to Wikipedia try and answer them as best I can1]

ANYINSANELYLONGTANGENT, we went to a 20/20 game at the MCG. As C and most of his friends are MCC members, we were going to get me a guest ticket and we'd sit in the members' reserve. But when we got there, we realised that one of the guys wasn't wearing a collared shirt. So no entry to the members' for us, because they have ever so slightly bonkers strict dress codes. So we ended up in general admission ("with the PLEBS!!", as my brother kept saying in a mock horrified tone). Which was fine by me, because it was $5 cheaper.

We ended up with pretty good seats (they're not allocated), considering we got there about 5 minutes before the game started. The Melbourne Stars (who were the home team - Melbourne Renegades are based at Etihad Stadium) batted first, and got off to a pretty good start. C neglected to mention to me that whenever the home team scored a 4 or a 6, fireworks and fireballs were set off. I don't know why he didn't tell me - that would have been a much more compelling argument than "Shane Warne's playing!".

This has officially gotten way wordier than I was planning. Long story short, the game was rained out, we wound up on the big screen at the MCG, the Melbourne Stars won, and my telephoto lens came along for the ride:

I'm pretty sure it should be a rule that cameramen have to ride Segways now

Luke Wright batting

Luke Wright batting

Me and 40,000 of my closest friends

David Hussey batting

I have no idea who this is. FAIL.

Someone had clearly just scored a 4, resulting in fireballs. WHEEEEEE!!!

David Hussey bowling

Warnie bowling

Who else spent the summers of their childhood being confused by the menfolk spending days at a time crowded around the television??

K xx