Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act Three, Scene Two: He's a Lady (whoa, whoa, whoa)
While this post didn't materialize as quickly as I'd originally planned (due to unforeseen and entirely legitimate circumstances, I assure you), here it is at last. It details the period between Monday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 30 with the startling accuracy you've come to expect.
On Monday (Oct. 24) we went to the World Wildlife Fund to learn about what they do, and I've got to say that with the amount of money that they are obviously spending on their swanky headquarters, I wonder how much of the money one donates actually gets to the Pandas. You wouldn't have believed this place... I guess I always pictured non-profit organizations as groups of dedicated individuals working in run-down hovels of righteousness. We also did something else, but neither Claire nor I can remember exactly what it was - we usually have one really good event, and one substantially less good event. So, as she put it, "all the crappiness is running together."
This week, I was originally supposed to write a report on the Democrats’ new energy plan, but for some reason or another, it wasn’t put out. However, I was assigned a new project by one of the counsellors in our section. She asked me to follow the ongoing discussion about reforming the mandate of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is the body that reviews foreign acquisitions of American companies by foreign companies and can (if the need arises) block them on national security grounds. So for Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 25 and 26, respectively) I did a bit of research on that, but otherwise I didn't have too much to do.
That night,though, I had the adventure of a lifetime. Brendon invited Claire and I to join him and some of his friends from work for what was described to me as "dinner and a gay drag race." Now, when I heard gay drag race, my first thought was pink race cars. But I was wrong. The annual High Heels Race is, in fact, a footrace where a cadre (I'm not sure what the correct name for a group of drag queens is... I'm thinking it should something like "A sashay of drag queens") of drag queens literally race up 17th Street. And let me tell you, some of these guys can really haul-ass in heels.
First they sort of had a parade, where the drag queens walked up and down 17th Street showing off their costumes, before the actual race. Then, after the race, the crowd (and it was a huge crowd, let me tell you) was allowed onto the street to mingle and have pictures taken with the drag queens. Claire and I had our pictures taken with a bang-on Princess Di (she even had body guards and a Dodi) but I've yet to get the picture from Brendon. In the mean time, here's one of Brendon and I with a dude dressed up as (what I assume was supposed to be) a Playboy Bunny:
Funny story! Since I'd come directly from work, I was still wearing my blazer, and with it, my Canada/US flag-pin. It turns out that drag queens (or, at least those with a knowledge of vexillology) are huge fans of Canadians. We had a rather hilarious encounter with a particularly hairy cowgirl which ended in a bunch of us yelling "a-boot" instead of "cheese" while we were getting our pictures taken.
It was arguably one of the most entertaining nights of my life - clearly the highlight of the week. I was left thinking about the Family Guy representation of English humour:
Englishman #1 - "I say, you know what's rather funny? A man dressed up in womens' clothing."
Englishman #2 - "Yes, quite. Ripping good laugh."
On Thursday (Oct. 27) I attended a meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which was much more subdued and involved far less cross-dressing than the night before. Once again, they were discussing reconstruction after hurricane Katrina, and American energy policy moving into the future. It started late, and went fairly long, as the Senate was having roll-call vote and they had to delay it. When I returned to the embassy, I started my report, which I finished on Friday.
After work on Friday (Oct. 28) I had volunteered to help out at a reception being held at the Embassy related to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. It was pretty interesting - the public relations department put up a whole lot of posters and information showing how requiring passports to enter (or re-enter) the United States from Canada will negatively impact the economic relationship between the two countries, and also how it will personally impact those living in a number of border communities.
The high point of my night was mingling successfully and discussing the United States’ plans to drill for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge with one of Senator Murkowski’s (R – AK) aides. The Senator is greatly in favour of drilling in ANWR, and Canada is vehemently opposed, so it felt very official to discuss our positions. Of course, since I'd been following all the energy related stuff, I was actually able to comment with some level of intelligence.
On Saturday (Oct. 29), I met up with a few friends for brunch at a weird little boutique hotel near Dupont Circle. The food was really great, and since one of my friends had one of her friends in town for the weekend, we ended up walking around to most of the monuments down near the National Mall. It was pretty cool, I got to go see the Korean War Memorial, which I had missed before, and we walked around the tidal basin to the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.
In contrast, I spent most of Sunday (Oct. 30) studying, as I had my midterm the following Monday. Although, in the interest of procrastination, I slept in, watched a movie, and had a nap.
On Monday (Oct. 24) we went to the World Wildlife Fund to learn about what they do, and I've got to say that with the amount of money that they are obviously spending on their swanky headquarters, I wonder how much of the money one donates actually gets to the Pandas. You wouldn't have believed this place... I guess I always pictured non-profit organizations as groups of dedicated individuals working in run-down hovels of righteousness. We also did something else, but neither Claire nor I can remember exactly what it was - we usually have one really good event, and one substantially less good event. So, as she put it, "all the crappiness is running together."
This week, I was originally supposed to write a report on the Democrats’ new energy plan, but for some reason or another, it wasn’t put out. However, I was assigned a new project by one of the counsellors in our section. She asked me to follow the ongoing discussion about reforming the mandate of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is the body that reviews foreign acquisitions of American companies by foreign companies and can (if the need arises) block them on national security grounds. So for Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 25 and 26, respectively) I did a bit of research on that, but otherwise I didn't have too much to do.
That night,though, I had the adventure of a lifetime. Brendon invited Claire and I to join him and some of his friends from work for what was described to me as "dinner and a gay drag race." Now, when I heard gay drag race, my first thought was pink race cars. But I was wrong. The annual High Heels Race is, in fact, a footrace where a cadre (I'm not sure what the correct name for a group of drag queens is... I'm thinking it should something like "A sashay of drag queens") of drag queens literally race up 17th Street. And let me tell you, some of these guys can really haul-ass in heels.
First they sort of had a parade, where the drag queens walked up and down 17th Street showing off their costumes, before the actual race. Then, after the race, the crowd (and it was a huge crowd, let me tell you) was allowed onto the street to mingle and have pictures taken with the drag queens. Claire and I had our pictures taken with a bang-on Princess Di (she even had body guards and a Dodi) but I've yet to get the picture from Brendon. In the mean time, here's one of Brendon and I with a dude dressed up as (what I assume was supposed to be) a Playboy Bunny:
Funny story! Since I'd come directly from work, I was still wearing my blazer, and with it, my Canada/US flag-pin. It turns out that drag queens (or, at least those with a knowledge of vexillology) are huge fans of Canadians. We had a rather hilarious encounter with a particularly hairy cowgirl which ended in a bunch of us yelling "a-boot" instead of "cheese" while we were getting our pictures taken.It was arguably one of the most entertaining nights of my life - clearly the highlight of the week. I was left thinking about the Family Guy representation of English humour:
Englishman #1 - "I say, you know what's rather funny? A man dressed up in womens' clothing."
Englishman #2 - "Yes, quite. Ripping good laugh."
On Thursday (Oct. 27) I attended a meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which was much more subdued and involved far less cross-dressing than the night before. Once again, they were discussing reconstruction after hurricane Katrina, and American energy policy moving into the future. It started late, and went fairly long, as the Senate was having roll-call vote and they had to delay it. When I returned to the embassy, I started my report, which I finished on Friday.
After work on Friday (Oct. 28) I had volunteered to help out at a reception being held at the Embassy related to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. It was pretty interesting - the public relations department put up a whole lot of posters and information showing how requiring passports to enter (or re-enter) the United States from Canada will negatively impact the economic relationship between the two countries, and also how it will personally impact those living in a number of border communities.
The high point of my night was mingling successfully and discussing the United States’ plans to drill for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge with one of Senator Murkowski’s (R – AK) aides. The Senator is greatly in favour of drilling in ANWR, and Canada is vehemently opposed, so it felt very official to discuss our positions. Of course, since I'd been following all the energy related stuff, I was actually able to comment with some level of intelligence.
On Saturday (Oct. 29), I met up with a few friends for brunch at a weird little boutique hotel near Dupont Circle. The food was really great, and since one of my friends had one of her friends in town for the weekend, we ended up walking around to most of the monuments down near the National Mall. It was pretty cool, I got to go see the Korean War Memorial, which I had missed before, and we walked around the tidal basin to the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.
In contrast, I spent most of Sunday (Oct. 30) studying, as I had my midterm the following Monday. Although, in the interest of procrastination, I slept in, watched a movie, and had a nap.
posted by Scoops at 10:38 p.m.
1 Comments:
Where is the you and Princess Di/entourage??? I am despairing that perhaps you merely made that up to impress me!
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