Holley gets inked ! ! !

So I was planning my celebration for Sat. after MY LAST CLASS (!!!). I was going to leave Gorgas Library, head to a parlor and get my phoenix. I chose this image because I'm making some changes in my life that will make it a better place, not only for me, but also for the people who have to put up with me :D

After I got here to D.C. though, I began to wonder, why not get the tattoo here (where I'm having a blast) instead of T-town (which I hate)? So I got the yellow pages out and spent a couple of hours surfing the websites of local tattoo parlors before settling on Jinx Proof in Georgetown. I'll have to add the link later...these vendor sponsored internet cafes do not let you have more than one search window up at a time...sucks. Katie and I windowshopped until time for my appointment then we went in. My tattooer was Eric Owen Doyle and he rocked! ! ! Katie and I had the best time and my tattoo is B-U-tiful! I'll post a photo as soon as I can but unfortunately I left all the cables for that at home. The tattoo is on the inside of my right forearm, about the size of, or maybe just a bit bigger than, a 3X5 index card! I love it and it is just what I wanted. Eric told us that he'd gotten WAY more business from the librarians in town for the conference (I was apparently the 4th one he'd tattooed this week) than he had when the last biker convention had come through! Take that, America! When he said that, the other tattoo artist in the room said, "We like the librarians better than the bikers. You guys are HARD!" Needless to say, Katie and I were rolling AND having a gr8 time! The tattoo itself wasn't so bad until it got to the bend in my elbow...that's some soft, sensitive skin there, people!

Afterward, Eric pointed us towards a great pizza place right across the street from the shop, Paradiso Pizzaria. The menu for food was one laminated sheet of paper, front and back. The beer menu I estimate to have been 8 or 9 pages long. I ordered some kind of Canadian fruit beer made from green apples, Ephemerée, and it was okay but I just don't care for beer as a general rule. However, this was an unparalleled opportunity that I could not pass up. There were beers from everywhere! Anyway, when we got ready to leave the waiter brought the check and said that Eric had paid for our beers! It was VERY cool! In appreciation, I just shipped him a Nancy Pearl Deluxe Librarian Action Figure with Shushing Action and a nice thank you note. He had other action figures around his station, including Vlad the Impaler who DEFINITELY needs a librarian in his little plastic life ;D

Yesterday would have been interesting if my feet hadn't hurt so badly! We were taking an Insider's Guide to Capitol Hill tour through PLA (public library association/part of ALA) and the tour guide asked if anyone would like to visit their state's House Representative. C said yes and we ended up ditching the PLA tour for a staffer-led tour of the Capitol building itself, including getting to go into the House room and watch a session of the House of Representatives. It's the same room where the President gives the State of the Union Address and it seemed alot bigger on television. Our session involved a gavel, a court reporter, and the person talking saying the session had been called to order to pass the motion that the House would be at recess until 2pm. As it was 12:30, we thankfully left. The wording on that is wrong, but I don't remember exactly what was said because I was bored as hell and ready to leave. We'd had to stand (STAND) in line for a total of about an hour or two to get through all of the various security checkpoints and my patience dwindled, wore thin, then eventually gave out all together.

Afterward, Katie and I rushed off to the Friends of Libraries of the USA (FOLUSA) Gala Author Tea, which was great and let me tell you why! ! ! I had my second shot at Markus Zusak! His books had not made it to the tea (which was very ironic because they were going to be giving away copies of The Book Thief) but I did get him to autograph my program AND to pose for a picture with me (which will be up ASAP). The other authors in attendance included Joyce Carol Oates, Susan Vreeland, Frank Delaney, and Eileen Gouge. It was very cha, cha.

Our dinner was at Mount Vernon. We got to take and after-hours tour of the new museum AND the mansion itself. Our tour guide even let us take pictures which is a strict no-no during normal operating hours. The guide did preface it by saying not to go overboard with the photos, so I made it a point to choose ONE ITEM in each room that I wanted to photograph and that was it. Our guide was the best I've seen in any tour, ever. Very enthusiastic with a sincere passion for history and a genuine love of Mount Vernon and the history of the Washington family. It was a very unforgetable and patriotic experience.

I was very sad that Katie left to go home this morning so I've been on my own. C, E, and S went to Library Day on the Hill where librarians are going to speak to their state senators and house representatives for the day. I skipped out because I jsut COULD NOT do it again today. It just wasn't happening. So I had breakfast with Katie before she left, took a last swing through the exhibits to see if I could finagle anymore free stuff, and shipped some stuff home. We have dinner reservations at a Meditterranean (sp?) restaurant tonight and then it will be time to pack up. Our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon but I'm not sure what our plans are for the morning. I for one am ready to go home. I am just not at all a city girl and the crush of people is making me crazy! I still have 2 more days on my last petsitting job before I can go home and I am SO ready for my own house and bed again. I've been pettsitting since June 8th and it has gotten old to say the least. My last class (that's LAST CLASS, people!) is on Friday and Saturday and I think I'll just schedule a nice coma for Sunday with a possibility of laundry, but that will be IT!
For me, tired and grumpy have only one cure and that is sleep.

That's all for today...I'll get back here (this blog, not Washington D.C.) when I can.

¡Buenos tardes!
htw