I can’t believe I’ve held out on you (without realizing it). I didn’t remember the story I was going to tell here until Zac picked me up from the Metro, because he’s not an intelligence officer, but he does work in an intelligence agency that gathers data from the other 17-30ish (depending on who’s counting). His office is at Ft. Belvoir, which is what made the story come up in the first place.
I was sitting next to a random dude on Southwest coming back to DC a couple weeks ago. I asked him if he was coming or going. He said he lived in Fredericksburg and worked at Ft. Belvior. I wait a second and say, “so what kind of intelligence operations are you doing right now?” The look on his face was simply priceless. Just “how in the hell did you know that?” We laughed together and he said “I’m not a spy. I’m their ride.” He was an airplane mechanic. Just so fascinating because he talked me through takeoff and landing as it was happening. I’m not a nervous flyer at all. This is because I automatically assume that if the plane is going to go down, there is nothing that I can do about it. I don’t have to sit there and worry because no one is going to ask me to help out.
Even the airplane mechanic next to me can’t help if the plane is currently in the air.
Up on the airplane...... nearer my God to Thee.
I start making a deal,
Inspired by gravity.
He did that DC thing where people complain about the traffic and I said I preferred public transit because I can zone out and do something else, not advisable in a car. 😛 The thing that I really like about this area is that even if you live in the suburbs, you can use public transit to get anywhere. The Virginia Rail Express connects to the Metro, and there’s a similar line for southern Maryland called the MARC (transfer is available on lower level). It runs between Union Station and most of Baltimore. Having grown up in Houston, this is the most amazing thing ever. It’s cool to own a car, but it’s even better when you can get one because you want it and not because there’s no other option.
I also think “why drive? Let someone else do it.” I’m not talking about mooching rides off friends. I’m talking about Uber and Lyft, which I generally use to get to the train station and not my final destination. 😛
Other days, I walk. It’s about two and a half miles from my house to downtown Silver Spring, which is just long enough to feel like I’ve worked out and thus accomplished something.
I also love that I live in MD and Zac lives in VA, because the vibes at our houses are so incredibly different. I think that’s because Maryland is so small and Virginia is so large. We in Maryland do not spread.
Taking public transit is kind of the point for me. I am introverted to the point of insanity, and trying to branch out. Yesterday, I met a woman named Angel. We’ve been texting for about the last hour. She also has the cutest kids on the planet. Meeting new people is exciting, because it’s the beginning of a story. Right now the story we’re working on is hers. She asked me if we could collaborate right off the bat, and I told her I’d never been in a writer’s room vs. alone and why not? Also nice to have a friend in Brookland, which isn’t too far from me. Red line represent.
Holla.
Zac and I shot the shit and drank way too much and I hate being hungover, so this morning was a wash. I didn’t feel so hot, but was touched that I woke up next to a cup of coffee and a sippy cup of water (does he know me or what?). The train home was the worst part, but it wasn’t the train’s fault. Feeling bad physically didn’t do anything for me mentally, and I was tearing up thinking about my writing. What I’ve put out into the world lately have been the most vulnerable pieces of me that have existed so far. It’s little fragments of lines that stick with me, like “ironically the score is love when we’re the most furious.”
I think I was at the airport when that one passed by. Speaking of which, I think the Metro stop for the airport is in the wrong place, because I like the old building better. 😛
Also, it’s been years and years and years. Still never heard a local call it by its name. I won’t even say it during Pride month. The person it’s named after did more to fuck up my future than anyone could have guessed, because that was the beginning of every message about queer people on TV being that we were going to die and we deserved it.
It will always be National. Full stop.
……when I’m up on the airrrrrrppppplaneeeeeee……..
Stories That Are All True 