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Thursday, January 20, 2005

Report From the Front Lines

The whup-whupping of low flying helicopters overhead, the oscillatting flashes of police vehicles blocking the streets, long lines of people patiently waiting alongside a seemingly endless row of black chain-link fence, it's about as close to a warzone as I ever want to get.

Getting into D.C. itself actually wasn't too bad. With the federal and D.C. government closed, metro was pretty empty. Me and a bunch of lost, confused tourists. But after getting off at Metro Center, everything changed. Random volunteers in orange windbreakers stood at every corner, looking almost as lost as the tourists. The D.C. Sams (uniformed, on the street helpers paid by the city) were in full effect, leaning against the nearest building and trying as hard as possible to not look helpful. A few protestors stood around, waving signs like "Beat Back Bush" and "Don't Celebrate the New Police State". I walked the few blocks from the metro station to the street my work sits on, and made my usual turn.

"Hey...hey!" someone yelled at me.

I turned around and saw a police officer running towards me, his hand at his hip, just covering his gun. After he huffed and puffed his way to me, he said, "Just where do you think you're going?"

"I work down here. On this street, on this block."

"Oh, you do. And where do you work?"

I told him the name and address of where I work.

"Uh-huh. Do you have a badge?"

"No. We don't have i.d. badges where I work."

He looked at me skeptically. "Everyone who works in D.C. has an i.d. badge."

Now this is certainly true if you work for the government. But I don't, and our place is small enough that we really don't need i.d. badges. Which I told him. I then said, "Well, I have to get work. We're open today. Can I give you a number to call, or maybe you can walk me there?"

The officer stood there for about a full minute, contemplating his options. "Open your bag," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"I'll walk you to your office, but I need to look inside your bag."

So I opened my bag and showed him the books inside. He flipped through pages, I guess making sure I hadn't hollowed it out to carry something inside. He then opened my cd player, both the cd slot and the battery slot. He then patted me down and said, "Ok lets go."

I thought about making some sort of joke about cavity searches, but he didn't seem in the mood. We walked the half block to my office, and my co-workers were nice enough to tell the officer that yes, "he does indeed work here".

While I don't think I really give off that terrorist vibe, I guess I give off something because lots of other people have been strolling down the street the rest of the day. I've been jokingly accused of being a spy, a communist, and even David Spade but never a terrorist or assassin. Maybe I need to broaden my keyword search for jobs on monster.com to include "will kill for money".

Excelsior.

15 comments:

Jen said...

Wow, did he give you a kiss or a handshake when he dropped you off? Will he walk you back, or did he just say he'd call you?

It would've killed me not to say something smart. I also suppose, however, I would have been killed for saying something smart. Congrats on your maturity and self-restraint.

Anonymous said...

David Spade?? You do not look like David Spade.

-L

Hebdomeros said...

Aside from hair color and a bit of a baby face, I agree with you. The person who accused me of being Mr. Spade was highly intoxicated (with beer and possibly other substances), and it was at an industrial club with unusual but limited lighting. My hair was also a little longer and shaggier then.

Anonymous said...

Longer and shaggier? *Makes puckered face* I think I'm gonna have to go with preferring you just the way you are... now.

-L

LadyLitBlitzin said...

Wow, just when somebody's protesting about a police state... you get treated like you live in a police state. Damn. What a story! I think it's very good you didn't make the comment about the cavity search. I'll bet they would have busted your head with a bully club!

I used to work very near the White House, and the closest thing I can compare it to is when the WTO protesters would come into town. We had a hard time getting into work those days -- and very likely were dressed just like many of the protesters, seeing how we were an Internet startup and didn't have to dress like "professionals." I will say there is nothing scarier than police in riot gear.

My roommate looks about as little as a terrorist as one can possibly look and she's gotten searched many times at airports. But then again, maybe they just wanted her to lift her skirt up. A thought.

Anonymous said...

I remember the WTO protesters. I was at GWU, so it all took place right on my campus. Very carnival-like atmosphere. I still plead ignorance as to the specifics of their plight, but it was a fun day, even if I was awoken by people using dumpsters for drums and helicopters circling the dorm. At 6am. After I had gotten off work at 3am. But still, it was fun... people playing music in the street, wannabee anarchists, handmade parade floats, the satantic cheerleaders, banners, songs, kind of a whirlwind. I just wandered around and snapped pictures. Unusually warm day. The second time they were planning protests, everyone expected it to be more towards the violent end. We weren't allowed to bring guests into the dorms, except for family that you had to pre-register. Well, sly one that I am, turned Hebdomeros here into my step-brother. Hehe. Anyway, that protest was abandonded after 9/11 occurred. And I sincerely doubt they'd let anyone have an all out street-fair protest these days. Pity.

-L

Hebdomeros said...

So LLB, you think the cop just thought I was cute? :)

I remember WTO. I worked in Dupont Circle at that time, and I remember the random collection of people just wandering the city. An odd but fun time.

LadyLitBlitzin said...

Hahaha. I was thinking more along the lines, he'd say, "No more mouthiness from you!" But maybe he was infatuated. Hee.

Yeah, L, the carnival atmosphere was pretty cool and always reminded me of my own rebellious punk rock days. Made me want to climb on the top of cars and start singing Crass lyrics. In all seriousness, some of their sloganism is still the same as when I was in my teens. Strange, that.

Ah, the old "this is my step-brother ploy." Ha. I have an ex-boyfriend who everybody always thought looked like my brother. Which was a little disturbing. We also thought alike in some ways... sad that it wasn't meant to be (despite the fact that in the birthday book he's supposed to be my soulmate. What a bunch of bunk! Hee, hee.). He's still one of my best friends to this day, though... Okay, I just went on a tangent... that really has nothing to do with the old "this is my step-brother ploy." ;)

LadyLitBlitzin said...

Hahaha. I was thinking more along the lines, he'd say, "No more mouthiness from you!" But maybe he was infatuated. Hee.

Yeah, L, the carnival atmosphere was pretty cool and always reminded me of my own rebellious punk rock days. Made me want to climb on the top of cars and start singing Crass lyrics. In all seriousness, some of their sloganism is still the same as when I was in my teens. Strange, that.

Ah, the old "this is my step-brother ploy." Ha. I have an ex-boyfriend who everybody always thought looked like my brother. Which was a little disturbing. We also thought alike in some ways... sad that it wasn't meant to be (despite the fact that in the birthday book he's supposed to be my soulmate. What a bunch of bunk! Hee, hee.). He's still one of my best friends to this day, though... Okay, I just went on a tangent... that really has nothing to do with the old "this is my step-brother ploy." ;)

Anonymous said...

LLB-

Looking back, I feel a bit superficial/hypocritical for not really knowing all the politics behind the protest and just going along with the crowd, but with the exception of one burnt up police car, it was non-violent and just a joyful moment. Guess joyful doesn't follow the punk feeling, but you know what I mean...

As to the bf/brother bit, surprisingly, Hebdomeros has the same name as my ACTUAL brother (not step). Eery at first but just kind of silly after that. And if we followed the astrological book, we would have been doomed. Y'know, I was just talking with an ex earlier about that. He was saying how he and his s.o. don't apparently match up astrologically. Though he and I were also supposedly "perfect" for each other, and you can see how well that turned out. Much better as friends (and even better as friends in different states!) than anything else :)

I like how we're taking H's post here and turning it into our own chatroom of sorts. I'm sure it's amusing him too.

-L

LadyLitBlitzin said...

Hi L - I had a few joyful punk rock moments back in the old days but most of them involved breaking things. Hee. ;)

Yeah, astrological matching is by no means an exact science. Like, I could see how this particular guy could have been my soulmate, the way that we got along and all, but we did make much better friends than anything else, like you say about your ex... maybe some things are just too good to be true and of course our own self determination has something to say about the way things go. A lot of people don't want to be with someone who's a lot like them, because they can kind of get in their head or something... Also, I think my ex in question wanted me to be in his life always, and I get the odd impression that he thought romance would endanger that. Sounds odd, I know, but what can I say -- some of us who are products of broken homes probably have a few warped views of what relationships can do.

And yeah, I know I've said before, I use astrology for entertainment purposes -- some people's personalities really do follow astrological descriptions, which makes me less skeptical. But really, I tend to take the compatibility stuff with a grain of salt.

Hebdomeros said...

Someone I used to know did my chart for me once. It's beyond my understanding, but because of all sorts of factors she told me to read the horoscopes for both Libra and Capricorn; my truth would be a mix of the two. Which kind of makes sense, because Capricorn descriptions never really fit me.

Now Chinese Astrology is a different story. I'm a water rat, and it fits me almost perfectly.

LadyLitBlitzin said...

Yeah, my chart was interesting -- even though I'm an Aries, I have a ton of earth signs, and my moon sign is Cancer, which explains a lot. Like I think it tempers some of my Aries tendencies (and likely explains why I don't mind solitude and being a home body and am prone to moodiness, though my mood swings don't tend to last too long).

My Chinese sign is year of the Dog, which from the really short descriptions I've read seemed to fit pretty well too.

Anonymous said...

And I'm a Leo with Virgo rising. Nice little astrological identity crisis going on with that one. While it kind of makes sense, it's not in the way it's supposed to. Most people meet my Leo side first -extraverted, bubbly, ready to go. Yeah, some meet the Virgo side -quiet, complacent, taking the time to really think and hash stuff out- but those are generally older adults and in work related situations (or dating related, i.e. meeting the parents). My Leo though is often tempered by my Virgo; I'm a big time planner: love my lists, can't go anywhere without knowing precisely where I'm going and staying, 5 year plans, etc. Obnoxious but generally helpful.

-L

LadyLitBlitzin said...

Exactly! I think the chart does explain things that don't "fit" about the regular sun sign... I had a friend of mine (also a Leo) do his chart once using an online chart generator... he thought it was BS till he kept reading and was like, "whoa!" Hahaha.