The summer always makes me lazy(er). It's a shame, really. I create grandiose plans for my free time during the frigid months, and they languish in the heat come June.

I enjoyed my trip, although I've begun to like flying less and less. I feel violated by the security precautions -- being forced to stand in a line, take my shoes off, and unpack my luggage. One machine in Detroit even allows the guards to see through one's clothes! On my way back (my flight was in the morning), the security guard told me to bring a smaller bottle of saline solution next time. I looked at him wearily, "I thought that was a medical supply and that I wasn't limited to size for medical supplies" (I had checked the website). I don't understand why, if it's prohibited, he let me bring it through and, if it's not prohibited, why he gave me a hard time.

So, yeah, my actual visit. I spent time with the people I like, and stayed far away from the Place That Shall Not Be Mentioned. The trip was short, but we had some quality discussions about prenuptials (THAT nearly came to blows, actually), wolf packs (hilarity ensued), future plans, and people we used to know. Emily insulted my capitalism when I said something positive about Starbuck's health plan.

Emma made me eggs with herbes de provence that nearly persuaded me to become a vegetarian (if it weren't for Arby's roast beef sandwiches...). We got tickets for Love's Labors Lost in an outdoor amphitheater. Shakespeare is always funny, but the play was actually enhanced by the addition of rock music to the choruses. Em and I went berry picking with Brooks and Dana -- 50 lbs in less than an hour! We could hire ourselves out as migrant laborers. We spent Sunday with the always-hospitable Alexandria girls, and had fun introducing Emma to Cranium. Sarah and I would have won if she'd only known who Justin Timberlake is!

Sadly, I don't think I could ever move back. Given my views on the federal government, I find the National Mall repulsive. The Washington Monument rapes the sky, and the Lincoln Memorial houses the carcass of the United States before martial law was ever declared, and habeas corpus suspended. Even in the less offensive enclaves of College Park and Alexandria, traffic is ridiculous. Cheap housing is often unsafe, and there is greater socio-economic disparity than in the Midwest. The general atmosphere is, forgive the pun, ungoverned. If I want to live in a city, it'll be somewhere that is a city for a reason -- somewhere temperate and civilized -- like San Francisco, or somewhere unusual, like Cairo.