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Wednesday, Apr. 17, 2002 / 11:42 a.m. ~"I�m Going To Washington!", she squealed inside herself~ It�s 9:31 a.m., cubicle time. I�m still thinking about the idiocy of asking an entire group to cater to one person�s phobias and delusions, the ridiculousness of asking 11 people to accommodate the one who can�t function, the one in the group who can�t work with others. It�s too insane. At this moment, my radio is on, it�s the college station, Listerine mutters behind me, she intermittently mumbles and talks to herself, reading?, I don�t know. But I�m living according to my Astrology.com, by way of Yahoo!, horoscope, once again. Today I�m supposed to be planning for a vacation, a trip, and well, it just so happens that�s exactly what I�m doing. Coincidence? You be the judge. I can�t explain it, and I don�t want to. So I�ve made my first list of things to do, take, accomplish, and I�m trying to gauge the most necessary tasks. When I pause for a moment, when I look off at the sun shining outside, I sort of squeal inside, "I�m going to Washington!". Then I think about the long bus ride, will I sleep, will I be bored, who will sit next to me? And this last question is so important. When we went to protest the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Vladimir attached himself to me. Immediately. Oh yeah, he liked me, he asked if I minded him sitting next to me, and of course I said, "Oh, no, not at all, go right ahead", but by Sunday I was insisting on sleeping across two seats, alone, thank you. He not only sat next to me on the way up, he was glued to me the entire next day, he leaned in next to me when people took my picture, as if we were a couple, he invaded my physical space over and over, and I was overwhelmed by the number of attractive men in D.C., did not want anyone thinking we were a couple, but it was unavoidable. Vladimir was married, in his 50s, with grown children, some still in Belgrade. His English wasn�t very good, so we had our communication difficulties, but he was kind and sincere, confessed immediate attraction to me. He bought me a book, it�s about the history of NATO in the Balkans, and he signed it for me, but I don�t remember what he wrote. I just remember becoming angry at his attachment to me, at his insistence we get together once we returned to town, the emails he sent, the time he wrote he�d meet me at the mall, he�d be waiting, and I never even agreed to show up. Regardless of who Vlad is as a person, I don�t go out with married men. Period. It was crazy. And this time? I found out this morning (I logged on to my PC, something I never do in the morning) that Carlos is going, he decided at this last minute, sent email through the list serv. But who I sit with, who attaches or doesn�t, remains to be seen. It adds to the overall excitement, the trepidation, the anxiousness. I don�t mind. This is a good feeling, a good mix of feelings really, and I have planning to do, I have visualizing to do, picturing what I need for a road trip, for a bus trip specifically, to stand on my feet for hours, to march, potentially in the hot sun, or maybe rain, to sit for hours listening to speakers at a rally, and to sleep as comfortably as possible on a bus. It�s all coming together, as I listen to Listerine mumble and a headache germinates. (Michael Moore is on this week�s "Commonwealth Club"! This should be good listening.) It�s 10:58 a.m., cubicle time, the women are unbelievably loud, cackling, shouting across cubicles, and if you ask me, which you never would, this is ten times more unprofessional than any 5:15 on a Friday game of balloon volleyball. I just told a person on the phone some incorrect info, corrected myself and apologized by saying, "I�m sorry, it�s so loud in here I can�t even think", and she said, "It IS loud". The Commonwealth Club is over for this week, and Michael Moore was SO inspirational! Like Ralph Nader on speed! I�m so psyched about this weekend!!! To be surrounded by people who ALL feel as passionately, who ALL want to change the world, oh, man, it�s going to be so great! I do wish I�d left my apartment, gotten off my ass and gone to see Michael Moore when he was here though, I knew I�d regret not going. There�s another big rally here in September, I think, and he should be at that, and I doubt he�ll be in Washington this weekend, but you never know. Even if he�s not, I�m sure the other Rally speakers will be good. They usually are. I�m excited, did I say that? Even if I do worry about the possibility of some 6�4" 280 pound guy sitting next to me on the bus� being there, off the bus, will be worth it. One of the things Michael Moore just said is sticking, he was talking about his first experience with political activism, back when he was 16 years old, and it was powerful, the change he inspired, integration in the Elks� Club, but he was saying it all started with something really small, and he was one person doing something really small, and that�s how it starts, with a small group, doing something small, or one person, doing one little thing, we can change the world! It IS possible� sigh� Cost of the War in Iraq
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