Tuesday

Sunday we headed over to a weekly flea market slash craft fair southeast of the capital. I bought six refrigerator magnets and Sunshine got a nice t-shirt picturing a boy and a well-armed octopus. We ate the worst Indian food I've ever had, which was really not all that bad compared to the worst the rest of the world has to offer. After getting a little sunburned, we went downtown to see Year of the Dog* at the E Street Cinema* (this comedy steers-the-course even when the going gets tough: sometimes it doesn't even bother trying to be funny. This makes it mildly transgressive, but also a solid downer--its unsympathetic cast is never redeemed, their existential plights never resolved. Plot: a caring introvert spirals out of control when her sole companion, an affable little dog, unexpectedly dies). No pun intended: after the movie we ate at the Lost Dog Café, a deli-type place with really incredible pizzas and an expansive selection of world beers. Some portion of the proceeds goes to rescuing dogs. It's also thematically decorated with funny animal paintings. Mom's DC vacation was almost over after that. We all got together during Sunshine's lunch break on Monday for a large Vietnamese meal at Four Sisters in Eden Center (which is becoming a tradition). Then I got right back into my usual thing: mom dropped me off at the metro station as she headed out of town, and from there I headed on up to Silver Spring to see a couple of movies. Now it's Tuesday, and I've finally caught this Update Column up just in time to mention that we are expecting our friend Frank to arrive any minute, and I'll probably hang the "out to lunch" sign on the blog door tomorrow and Thursday. [Cavin]