Day 3: My favorite television program

Yeah, so, I'm awful at posting every day. Anyhow, here is the post in which I will go on and on about Doctor Who! And possibly some other shows.

But first, Doctor Who!


A promo for the 2005 series

So Doctor Who is an old British show; it started in the 60s. I wasn't aware of it until rather recently, when the new version which started in 2005 had already had 4 seasons. So I started with the 2005 season with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, his companion. I was hooked almost immediately. It didn't take me long to power through the first season, at the end of which the Doctor, a Timelord who can regenerate with a new face and personality, does so. So the second season has a new actor playing the Doctor: David Tennant.


David Tennant as the Doctor

At first I thought, oh no, it will never be the same, but then I started liking Ten even more! Season Two was great, then Season Three had a new companion, Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman. I loved Rose and hated to see her go, but Martha was alright. The best episode of the season by far was "Blink," which was the first episode I saw and also written by Stephen Moffat, who was the creator of the show Coupling, another UK show I love.


Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones

The fourth season featured another new companion, Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate. The character had appeared once before in the Christmas special before season three, and I didn't much like her, but she was much better in this season. It was a pretty good season, though it had some very bad episodes as well.


Catherine Tate as Donna Noble

The fifth season has just started, with a new producer, the wonderful Stephen Moffat himself, a new Doctor, Matt Smith, and a new companion, Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan.



There have been two episodes so far, and so far it's brilliant. Love it. I already really like Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as well.


From episode 2, "The Beast Below"

So, basically, to summarise: Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show mostly directed towards kids. However, it can be deep and scary and often has elements of romance, so plenty for me, as well. Also, it is silly and campy and sometimes quite hilarious. There is a wide range of tones depending on the episode. It really has something for everyone (people with completely opposite tastes have been known to like it equally). It varies widely in quality, but overall is very good. You do not need to like sci-fi whatsoever to like it! So give it a go! The fifth season would be a fine place to start if you don't feel like playing catch-up.


From the opening credits

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I will briefly go over a few more shows that I love.

-Veronica Mars - A high school girl works at her father's private detective agency on the side. It's funny, sassy, dramatic, and very compelling. Kristen Bell stars.




-Skins - Follows the lives of teens in Bristol, England. Quite engaging, dramatic, sometimes funny and quirky. Very addictive.



-How I Met Your Mother - Sitcom about a guy telling his kids how he met their mother by showing what led up to it (hint: it's the fifth season, we still haven't met the mother). It's absolutely hilarious.



...And that's about it for right now! There are other great shows, but those are the ones I've been most currently into.

Let's face it... I'm a slacker

Yes, I'm going to admit it right now. There's something in me that's patently lazy. Maybe it's just the weather - after all, I have done a lot during all the nice days we've had, at least. Maybe it's the still-early-darkening of the days. Maybe, for this week in particular, it's the fact that I've been sort of sick. But anyway, there are a lot of things I haven't been doing. One of them is writing in this blog. I hope to change that. I get distracted every time I'm online, especially by my RSS feed which has the effect of 'oooh, shiny...'. Also, playing Robot Unicorn Attack hasn't helped (I see you clicking that link. Go ahead... it's fun). And I just decided to really start up my Flixter account, to feed that need to put star ratings on everything I do ever - so that covers movies now as well as books and food/businesses/museums not to mention the site I use to simply catalog everything I watch or read. So I'm a little addicted to social media sites, including Facebook and Tumblr too, which sadly has made me neglect my blogging.

I also haven't been exercising like I should. Yes, last weekend I walked from my house to U Street to Dupont Circle then from Metro Center to the Washington Monument to the Capital building to Union Station then from Woodley Park to Adams Morgan to home again... but then I woke up the next morning to find that my knee hurt. So I need to be doing stretches and purposeful knee exercises. And going out dancing whenever I'm feeling better from this mystery illness.

Another thing I haven't been doing is applying for jobs. My AI internship is coming to a close at the end of April, and I'd really like to have something part-time lined up by then. I am also going to apply to this sweet Sierra Club internship, but that is basically a shot in the dark. But if I got it - oh man, two months in SF plus hiking and rafting and traveling? AND a whole bunch of free North Face gear? Awesome. Basically I gotta get on the making-another-video thing. I just don't want to give up. Of course, it's also come to my attention that I should probably be thinking about the future. The Sierra Club internship wouldn't really help there, unless I really go for my dreams and try to make some sort of career out of travel or the great outdoors in one way or another (kayak instructor? horse trek leader? ropes course facilitator? travel writer? suggestions?). Maybe I could be the next Randy Drake, who knows.

Here are what I have in mind for possibilities of what I might do in the future: library or archival work, museum stuff, teaching of some sort, or maybe something with computers, maybe even specifically social media. It's still pretty broad and each thing is even too general. But at least for most of that stuff I am on the right track - the Smithsonian internship is really broad, enough to cover most of that stuff. I need to do some informational interviews with some CFCH employees to see what they really do and if I might like it. I want to work in a library, I really do, to see if that's the kind of thing I might like. And of course there's the hope that Jeff and I will be teaching in South Korea next year which would cover the teaching possibility, and allow me to see if I like it.

Here's a quick overview of what I have been doing:

-Obsessively watching the entire three seasons of Veronica Mars (oh wait, there is where all my time has gone recently!) But I'm done now. Kind of sad.
-Languishing on my computer.
-Reading the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson (partway through book 2 of 3 now).
-Feb. 27 - my parents came to visit. Ate lunch at Capitol Brewing Co., walked around the mall, went to the National Botanic Gardens, played some Phase 10 at home, ate dinner at Ray's Hell Burger.
-Feb. 28 - parents still here, and my grandparents came in along with Uncle Jamie and Aunt Kathy and we went to brunch at Jaleo which was absolutely amazing and decadent. Then my parents and Jeff and I went to the Newseum. I returned the next day since the admission gets you in two days in a row. It was great.
-March 6 - went into AI really early to help Keri with a meeting. Then went over to Old Town Alexandria and watched a St. Patrick's Day parade, met up with StephGreg and Suz and Nate and had some lunch and some cupcake. There were shriner cars and storm troopers in the parade!
-March 7 - Zach and Trevor came to visit and we did the aforementioned walking around, going to Ben's Chili Bowl for lunch, Firehook for a cookie, and Bukom, a West African place in Adams Morgan, for dinner.
-March 8 - I went to Pollo Campero by the metro for lunch with Zach and Trevor then finally finished Veronica Mars, leaving me time for a life.
-This Wednesday started getting dizzy spells so I didn't go into work Thursday, and went in but left early Friday, and didn't go to the rally yesterday. I'm feeling better now and we're supposed to visit Williamsburg this weekend, so I hope I really am better.

Sorry this post was so long, but I had a lot of catching up to do.

Curling, a Parade, etc

This past week has been mighty eventful. Let's see... there was trivia on Tuesday, a Tegan and Sara concert on Wednesday, a conference call on Thursday (not exciting), finishing season 1 of Veronica Mars on Friday, failed attempt at curling, a walk to the Jefferson Memorial, and dinner and a movie with Suz, Steph/Greg, and Stan Saturday, successful attempt at curling, Chinese New Year Parade, and Nat'l Museum of Crime and Punishment with Stan and Carla on Sunday. Need I even mention that Jeff was involved in all but the conference call?

Trivia went well - we got fifth place! Now onto the more interesting stuff. Jeff had bought me tickets to see Tegan and Sara for my birthday and now the time was upon us! We headed to the Warner Theatre after eating at Chopt which was yummy. They had assigned seating and we were on the balcony. The opening acts were Steel Train, an all-guy band that I really liked, and Holly Miranda, a band with a chick lead singer who had an amazing voice but thanks to me being tired the mellowness of that act nearly put me to sleep.


Steel Train


Holly Miranda

Then Tegan and Sara came out. They started off playing a lot from Sainthood, then started interspersing it with older stuff. They played a lot of songs I really like, including "Hell," "Nineteen," and "The Con." I was only disappointed that they didn't play "Take Me Anywhere," but that's okay. They are amazing live. They do a lot of funny bantering, and interact a lot with the crowd. After leaving the stage they came back on without their band for an acoustic set which included the popular "Living Room" which I didn't know I knew, but I did. Basically, I loved it.


Tegan and Sara

One weird thing did happen at that concert - Erica clone was there! She's this girl who goes to W&M and looks exactly like my friend Erica and she was standing really close to us. Bizarre. Skipping to Saturday... Jeff and I tried to go to the Capital Curling Expo but there was a three hour wait for curling. Instead we wandered towards the mall, finding a big giant map in a square...


Jeff is totally inside the Capital Building here.

Next we decided to wander towards the monuments, after looking at an imposing-from-afar building which turned out to be the EPA. We walked by the Washington Monument and then I realised I had possibly never been to the Jefferson Memorial, so we walked there. We walked by the water where the cherry trees are and noticed a lot of storm damage, including to a great big lovely elm that is apparently well-known. We noticed there's paddle-boating you can do so that might be something to remember (though Carla says you can do it for cheaper elsewhere). Anyway, we made it to the monument and admired how tall Thomas Jefferson was.



It was a nice day and we walked a lot. From there we walked to the Smithsonian Metro and met the people mentioned above for dinner at the Arlington Diner, which was mediocre or less but cheap. Then we went to Greg and Steph's apartment and watched Away We Go (review to come), which Jeff and I really liked.

On to Sunday! We made a second stab at the Capital Curling Expo and this time were some of the first people there. Jeff, Stan, and I gave it a go, though it was fake ice and no sweeping.


Stan curling

Basically it was a little taste and I learned a lot of things, including that you can go curling for real in Laurel, MD, which I'd really like to try. Next we ate at Subway, then went to the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown, which was pretty cool.


Lion Dancers

Next we went to the Museum of Crime and Punishment which I got into for free with my Smithsonian badge. It was decent but not the best museum I've been to.


Jeff on a police motorcycle

Today I got a haircut at Bang Salon on U Street. It's fabulous and was inspired by a girl I saw at the Tegan and Sara show. Now here's hoping this week is great as well!