Michael in Federal City

So it's been three days since I moved into my new DC home, this time for good! From couchcrashing to housesitting I've been doing it all the past three weeks, and I'm very happy to have a bit of permanence.

It's situated at:
3356 18th St NW
Washington D.C., DC 20010

Still no bed, but that is mere trifle.

These past couple days I heard back from my application to intern in the spring at the State Dept... not only did I get a primary candidate offer from one of my two choices on Tuesday, but then yesterday I got the other! So I went from excited to ecstatic to sad that I had to decline one of them. The offers were for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Office of Cyber Affairs (focusing on China) and the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs, Office of International Communication and Information Policy (East Asian/Pacific division). It was tough but I decided on the second one, the topics are larger and not solely defined by China (Internet freedom! cloud computing standards! technology transfer!), and it felt like it's a bit more of an "in the open" position so the interactions I'd get internationally and inter-departmentally would be really cool. Feel free to disagree : )

UPDATE: Just got a call from the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement, also in the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs. Said sorry already decided. Too much! If only house hunting had been more like this...

So, this was Friday:

Look at what it feels like... I didn't think that was a temperature that was humanly possible to bear. Friday was also my first day my part-time work at International Reporting Project, which'll be interesting. In the afternoon I went out for lunch looking for a nearby branch of the lovely Julia's Empanadas and found a Shake Shack shaking it across the street. Yay!

Still looking for apartments/rooms. Saw three places today, ran the gamut from a top-floor apartment that the power company doesn't know exists and gets free electricity to a five-person group house with one bathroom and a rooftop terrace where you can see DC steeples across horizon (and had a 100+ person party with a rented DJ two weeks previous...). Met Rachel (from Beijing/Chicago) in Mt Pleasant and went for dinner which was good fun.

And to finish off the day, DC gave me the gift of my very first heat rash! My body is not meant for this weather methinks...

After a wonderful month of summer at home I have arrived at the capital of the Intergalactic Federation, the aptly named Federal City (couldn't they be just a little bit more creative?). Been crashing at the (Chris) Hopkins Manor, where due to an unpleasant apartmentmate (and an inconvenient commute) I won't be calling it Manor Sweet Manor. It's located in Columbia Heights, a fun, hip neighborhood that's kinda Mission-y (826 Valencia's 826DC Museum of Unnatural History is here, visited it today). The area is filled with awesomeness, there's a delicious vegan bakery that I can't afford, and a delicious empanada (~calzone) place that I can afford. Where I'll be living permanently is still in flux, so The Hunt continues. Demand for housing in DC is apparently crazy.

So, another beginning. I'll leave you with this quote from a notable person that I find apropos: "I still have a little spark of a dream though… call me crazy… but I’d like to insert myself into politics, as a technical person with real ideas… too many words in political spheres… too short of an attention span… too short of goals. Humanity can accomplish so much..." I'll try to get cracking.

Sathya Sai Baba (L), who claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba (R), died yesterday.

Images of Sai Baba in Shakthi's kitchen

In the upper right, and below in blue.

Notice the small picture of Sathya Sai Baba to the lower right of Sai Baba's image

A Sai Baba temple along the road (on the road) between Shakthi and Aniruddh's homes

The temple would give out free lunches to anyone in want once or twice a week, there were a lot of people who came for it.

On my flight out of India, the guy next to me had Sai Baba as his cellphone's background wallpaper.

I recommend a gander at their biographies from the links above, the cultural/religious/ascetic tradition they come out of in India is very interesting, as is Sai Baba's syncretic Sufi-Islamic/Hindu philosophy.

Back in Hangzhou a year back I briefly jammed with some peeps, something I had increasingly wanted to do ever since I realized I never had the opportunity to join any bad high school bands (the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra doesn't quite cut it in this area unfortunately). I provided more details in a some posts from way back when, but basically I joined them in May of 2010 (please see the appropriately named Hey Baby I'll Make You a Star) and ended with the academic year that June (with the also appropriately named Last Jam). So a month and a half, maybe five or six jams total.

Point being, some jams have surfaced! Fabian made a cute little myspace page for us recently and uploaded some of our jams/songs/pieces. So buckle your hat, hold onto your pants, and close the door behind you as you enter the dark and jammy world of...

Señor Eddy & His Vaudeville Backyard Jass Catacombo

Below I've listed some of the better I've run across, with suggested starting times, since there's a lot of chatter or aimless noodling between when people decide the next song has started. Their genre is hardcore post-indie, falling pretty much directly under steam-punk and rocket rock, though with more of an acousto-tronic vibe.

Number 1 (start at minute two)
http://www.myspace.com/564916769/music/songs/35-1-mp3-80821400

Numba 2 (start at minute six)
http://www.myspace.com/564916769/music/songs/35-6-mp3-80782445

Number 5 (start around minute 3:30-4) A quieter piece.
http://www.myspace.com/564916769/music/songs/35-5-mp3-80781841

Spooky Music at a Distance (please ignore the rhythm issues for the first 20 secs... >.> )
http://www.myspace.com/564916769/music/songs/spooky-music-at-a-distance-mp3-80927500

Señor Eddy/鄂冬 (È Dōng), guitar, drums; Ask, drums; Emi, vocals; Michael, violin, guitar, piano, bass; Fabian, saxophone