Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Digging one out of the draft archives for your entertainment. I am busy busy so I have nothing new for you guys. So enjoy. The Moby DJ set was late last September. (OMG I was out of my head with the old songs too. Really some DJ’s can make you cry with their awesomeness.)

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Now, I know that most frugal types probably aren’t partying the night away at nightclubs much anymore. And I have definitely slowed down in the past 2 years. But when I go, I like to throw down. Since my last serious club experience was at Nation in DC, on one of its final nights, I hadn’t been to any of the new warehouse-sized clubs downtown, until Moby a few weeks ago. I have been avoiding them for a reason. I’m not a “see and be seen”-person. I like going to clubs for the music and to get groovy. While I care that I am stylishly dressed, I really don’t give a sh*t what other people think or if they are looking at me. A nightclub is the last place I want to meet someone while they are drunk or high or both.

The last few times I’ve gone out with friends, the company has been the draw more than anything. I’m used to warehouse clubs in shady parts of town with very rough interiors and cheap $7 covers. Ambiance is nice, but I can get that from a cool and foggy rooftop and stars with some grilled cheese action rather than a $100K light show for which I’ve just paid $20 bucks at the door.

So, on to my rant… (quite a prelude, eh?)
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I bought a bottle of yeast, a bottle of shampoo (with a $2 off coupon) and some bar soap. Total bill was $18.02 and the two ladies behind me in line gave me the pennies for the cashier. YAY!

As predicted, I didn’t do a whole lot on the holiday. I baked some whole wheat bread for me and a friend. (Which is why I had to get the yeast. I measured the flour out and discovered I didn’t have any yeast left in the pantry.) I spent the day doing chores, futzing around, knitting. The whole wheat bread takes all day to make. (It rises 4 TIMES!)

Sometime in the afternoon, boyfriend fixes up my bike and we discuss going downtown to the Mall for the fireworks. Let me tell you something, in the 9 summers I’ve lived in the DC Metro area, I’ve never been all the way down to the Mall on 4th of July. I hate crowds. I’m not phobic. I just like dislike people and crowds in general. I’m awful when it comes to leaving a hockey game. I race out of the stadium to the metro gates. I cannot get away from people soon enough.

But I’m game. I’m a little worried that I’m out of shape for this and the roads are slick from a downpour a few hours earlier. It’s still drizzling at 8:30pm and I’m wondering about brakes. I’m riding really slow the whole time to ensure my brakes will actually stop when I need them. The roads are closed everywhere so it’s actually a pretty easy ride to the Mall.

The fireworks are great. I’ve seen other fireworks up close, which I HIGHLY recommend. But these are beautifully done with special colors and super sparkly ones. I almost missed the red star at the beginning, but I caught it just in time. Very pretty.

Riding back, I almost get hit with a Roman Candle. Stupid kid is like 5 years old, shooting things across the street. ARGH. No, I’m not wearing a helmet, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Magnesium balls are white hot and would have melted right through. (Roman candle wars are dangerous stuff!)

I just don’t understand the appeal of spending all that extra money when you can run down to the Mall for free. It’s what we pay taxes for. Don’t get me wrong. I am a pyromaniac and considered get a technician’s license. But there’s a free show on the Mall. FREE. Why pay more and risk your fingers and limbs for some up close fun?

(Now if only I could find that Dutch PSA about fireworks safety. It’s two hands signing out the PSA narrative to be careful, but the hands are maimed. Missing fingers from an explosion. Very compelling.)

I realize that it’s summer, but last week, I was able to move my hocket seats to a better spot in the Verizon Center.

How did I do it? EASY!

I’ve got a friend who is leaving DC for California, who didn’t renew his seats. The new ticket rep I have has both of our accounts. I just rang him up and said ‘Bobby M has moved out of town. Can I have his seats? They are Section XYZ, Row G’. Sure enough, I got them! Okay… I did have to wait on hold while the rep checked with his manager to find out if it was ok to do the move before the special ‘Select A Seat’ event this week.

Don’t feel bad I took my friend’s tickets. Bobby’s seats were back in the pool of available seats because he didn’t renew them on time. He left for CA two weeks ago. I was merely capitalizing on the inside knowledge. Yes. Pun intended.

Next season: HOME ICE for 2 periods and a new hockey t-shirt!

(Kolzig put his house on the market so I’ll have to buy an Ovechkin shirt. I was going to buy one last year but I seriously thought he’d be leaving for another team in 2 years. Good for Leonsis for making a smart move.)

Last Friday, I pulled HC out of the office to join me at Artomatic for Craigslist: The Musical.

Artomatic is a free art free-for-all in DC. Basically if you’re an artist with a few dollars and some volunteer time, you can get a display space. Admittance is free, but they ask for donations. Plus happy hour is 6-8pm and beers are $3! Even the fancy Flying Dog beer.

Artomatic 2008 ends on June 15th so this is your last week to attend. (It’s closed Monday and Tuesday.)

Special Events:
* PostSecret Book Signing - Friday, 6/13
* Art in Fashion - A closing event that will combine fashion, art, music and fire. The event will take place in both first-floor music venues simultaneously and begins at 8:00 on Saturday 6/14 and continues until closing.

PostSecret is Frank Warren’s original art project which debuted at Artomatic several years ago and has turned into an amazing confessional, revelatory art experience. At times it’s heart-breaking, humorous, or bizarre. I know Dawn at Frugal For Life was arrested by one postcard about personal finances.

I suspect the fire show will include my friends from Flights of Fire. Some pretty amazing pyroarts of all kinds.

Some of my favorite pieces are the Peeps dioramas, the Jesus figurines, mandala photos by Vick Fisher (a former co-worker with a secret hobby!), and the artist next to my friend Christine Otvos (at 9 NW A2). The artist next to her had little skeleton art reminscent of Mexican Day of the Dead artwork. Great stuff.

Bengie’s in Baltimore (hon!) runs a weekend triple-feature called ‘Dusk to Dawn’. For $8 bucks a person, you can see three first-run films with vintage cartoons for intermissions. For another $8 bucks you can bring your own food. (But no alcohol.) The snack bar was pretty good though. ($6.25 gets you a huge bucket of lightly breaded chicken fingers.) There’s a special deal for classic cars on Sundays, the driver gets in free! Go early before dark so you can see the classic cars on display near the snack bar.

Boyfriend and I took the Jeep up and put the softtop and windshield down for a really awesome clear view. While it was a little chilly late at night, the bigger problem was the bugs, which weren’t too bad. (But it’s Monday and I still itch.) So take some bug spray. I took a US Army surplus wool blanket (flea market find for $15) and I was cozy all night. Boyfriend thought I was crazy to bring it till he was cold at 1am.

Guys and gals and kids and pups turned out for the show. It’s a very family-oriented event and the bathrooms weren’t too bad. They just get REALLY crowded when a film ends.

The triple-feature linenup:
Speed Racer - A visual treat, but not the greatest plot. That’s ok though since the old TV show was a lot like that anyway. Things I loved: The little nods to the original show like Trixie appearing in frame upside down, Spritle’s obsession with candy, etc, and other stuff like Boy in Paul Frank pj’s with monkey in little boy motif pj’s.

Indiana Jones 4: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Disappointing. But there was no way I wasn’t going to see it. If you liked the first three, yes, go see this one. The little nods to the first three are there and it becomes a fun guessing game to see which things will turn up. But Karen Allen is a bad actress and the plot is weak. Also, the soundtrack to the film was lifted from American Graffitti. I swear to God.

Iron Man - Absolutely the best of the three we saw. Boyfriend is typical boy and likes comic books so he tipped me off to some of the insider stuff to the original Marvel comic books. However, we didn’t stay for the scene at the end of the credits which hints at a sequel. (Of course there’s going to be a sequel!) I have the hots for Robert Downey Jr. He certainly doesn’t have a heroin addict’s body in this film. Watch for Pepper Potts’ line early in the film about taking out the trash. It’s total catfight material. (And Gwyneth Paltrow looks fab as a red-head, or should I say ’soft auburn?’)

We went two places run by the National Park Service down at the Outer Banks. However, the lands pass available for $80 is only good for admission to one place, Kitty Hawk. It won’t cover the climbing fee at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

The Kitty Hawk Memorial was interesting to visit. It was $4 a person, so $8 for the two of us. It’s been over 100 years since the first flight by the Wright Brothers so it was kind of fun to go. It was very educational if you like geeky aeronautical things or mechanics. The historical stuff was kind of neat too. They had an oral history project, a reconstructed camp cabin and hangar, and a few replica planes complete with mannequin in period costume.

It’s definitely more of a family place to go where kids can fly kites and run around. There is a massive lecture hall there where I guess more serious stuff takes place after they wheel in a plane. Also, if you are a pilot, there is a small airstrip there, but no tower.

I didn’t want to climb the hill to the monument there, but it’s a great way to burn off some energy, and no, you don’t have to walk all the way from the main visitors center. You can drive over and park at the bottom of the bill, and save yourself a little energy to walk up in the heat. Honestly, don’t go on a really sunny or hot day because there is no shade at all.

The big attraction for the Outer Banks is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It’s the world’s tallest brick lighthouse. However, it’s not in the original location and there are a few other lighthouses out there, like the Bodie Lighthouse. It’s $7 per person to climb the tower, so $14 for both of us. It’s a lot of stairs. They even have a defibrillator at the top just in case. I was definitely huffing and puffing, but it was a lot easier to climb than St. Peter’s in Rome. It’s less steep and much wider. However, you do get dizzy going down because you go down much faster. The view is very nice. The water is really beautiful from there. But don’t go with really small kids since they have to be 3′ 6″ high to climb the stairs alone. They don’t let you carry kids since the stairs are iron and a slip would be rather nasty.

It’s an hour down to Cape Hatteras from the park entrance in Nags Head, but fear not, there’s a few towns along the way within the park itself where you can stop for lunch and gas, so don’t feel like you have to buy gas before entering the park, though it is marginally more expensive per gallon in those towns. BTW, if you do stop for a convenience store snack, look for some frozen burritos from a local place. I didn’t catch the label, but I had the chicken one with the blue oval sticker. It was really tasty, but needed some spicy hot sauce.

Lastly, there is night fishing and bonfires on the beach. The fires have to be out by midnight and when the sun sets later in the evening later in the summer, that doesn’t give you lots of time to get a big roaring fire going. But it’s still nice to kick back with a few beers and a fire.

Personally I don’t think the Outer Banks will be my beach of choice since I kind of like people watching on the boardwalk in Jersey or places like Cape Henlopen or Half Moon Bay which are more like day trips from the city. But I definitely won’t say no if my friends organize a trip and invite me down. It really was pretty there with some of the cleanest beaches I’ve ever visited.

Let it be known, that St. Valentine, is not my favorite saint. I’m just saying. It’s a dumb holiday. I can say that as someone who has a sweetie pie this year so that remark comes from the afterglow of a pretty awesome Thursday.

Last night I spent the best Valentine’s Day in the last 10 years, if not ever. I dislike Valentine’s Day since it’s always been Bitter Singleton Day for me. Rarely have I had a significant other in mid-winter, when I’m at my grouchiest. However, this year, I cut a deal. We do nothing for Valentine’s Day and go all out for my birthday in a few weeks. Boyfriend was down with this idea.

About a week ago, some friends of mine in a dancing troupe made the Washington Post’s Valentine’s Day guide. Their regular monthly gig happened to fall on Valentine’s Day and they had a sold out show. Since these are folks with whom I used to dance, I really wanted to see them perform in this new venue. Even if last night was not a holiday, we would have gone to the show.

Tickets were $10 apiece. After a lovely home cooked Indian meal, we headed out and had a great time. The Palace of Wonders is pretty cheap and 4 beers were $20 including the exorbitant tip of $4. (Walk up, get two beers for $8 bucks and leave the bartender the change. Hey, they’re probably friends of friends. No need to be stingy.)

I did a meet and greet afterwards with everyone. I’ve been so busy blogging the last two years and focused on some other interests that folks are always glad to see me. I made plans for Saturday in Philadelphia after visiting my folks (scrounging tickets for an event). Then we headed back into the cold to go home.

Twenty bucks for two advance tickets on a sold out show is alright by me. Boyfriend bought the beers. Having fun trying my hand at Indian cooking is good stuff. I didn’t even have to clean it up!

What’s on deck for my birthday? Reservations at Les Halles! (We like Anthony Bourdain’s show, No Reservations. So it’s kind of a corny joke to us.)

Well, it didn’t cost me $100. That’s good.

Rundown on the night:

1. I picked up these tiny bottles of champagne for $5 each. Three couples = 3 bottles for a BYOB event. Turns out we don’t need them b/c we’re heading to a club instead of a warehouse party. One could say I wasted the money, but I’m using one of them to make my lazy morning mimosa today. (er, afternoon?)

2. We eat dinner at home. Chicken Kiev with saffron rice and grilled brussel sprouts. Tasty. Leftover saffron rice makes good fried rice with leftover chicken for breakfast today.

3. Drive up to Baltimore for weird club/quasi warehouse party. Cover is $10 each. But the drinks are $4!!! FOR STOLI VODKA DRINKS!!! Natty Boh was $2 a can. Heh. It was $6 bucks a case when I was in college. LOL. (National Bohemian Beer, from the Land of Pleasant Living. It’s a Baltimore icon literally. The night sky has a red neon sign of their winking man logo.)

OMG do I love how cheap Charm City is. Somoene’s date was from NYC and she was also loving the cheap drinks too.

I drove (free parking!), so I pounded two drinks early which was the equivalent of 3-4 drinks and one nice sweet champagne drink at midnight, gratis. I also had two waters, but I have no idea how much they cost. Sometimes, it’s nice to have a date take you out. Cheap as it was.

The music? The atmosphere? Well, heh heh. It was basically a hipster/art school party. (MD Institute College of Art is in Baltimore) Needless to say, I was laughing my a$$ off at the New York Dolls wannabes. But as one of the DJ’s said to me, they’re poseurs. Everything was cracking me up last night. The ’80’s pop song mash ups/samples made me laugh. I was telling our friends (who are much younger than me) how I had these songs on vinyl and these were some of the first albums I’d ever bought. The Purple Rain LP I own was a gift from a girl who dressed like Madonna a la Material Girl era. Pretty hilarious in retrospect. The killer of the night. The song that had me drooling with laughter was the Falco mashup of Der Kommissar. heh heh.

Everyone else was enjoying the deep irony being hipsters, but I was probably having the most fun of all. I was reliving all those moments in my bedroom dancing in front of the mirror and singing into my hairbrush. It was a good night. Pretty low key and didn’t really require a lot of effort, short of driving home while a little tired. I am so glad we didn’t spend all night driving around DC trying to find the *IT* thing to do.

Sometimes, it helps to have low expectations.

I have spent many an NYE doing nothing but driving around chasing a good time. I have a very bad sinking feeling that is what I am going to be doing tonight.

I just bought a new t-shirt that’s purple with sparkles for $20. I love a good post-Christms clearance sale. I am rocking two new hair ornaments that compliment the purple in that club kid/fab way, only $10 for the pair. I could wear them out tonight to a party or not bother and stay home with a half split of champagne and get a good night’s sleep. Either way, I have a bad feeling that tonight will not be super memorable, short of it being the first NYE with my boyfriend.

Agenda is to eat a late lunch soon, buy some groceries and cook dinner tonight while finalizing plans with our friends. We could be in Baltimore all night, DC at a gay bar just lounging, or chasing the groove at a few lame raves around town. Honestly, I look forward most to lunch and cooking a yummy dinner. Did I tell you guys yet that I am food-motivated? (Thankfully with good genes/metabolism that it doesn’t show how much food loves me back.)

I have a feeling that I am going to need to find an ATM and pull out $100 for the night. When it’s gone, it’s gone. But I hope there is some left for lunch money the rest of the week. It’s the best I can hope for for tonight. How lame is that?

Very very mundane. There’s a lot going on at work, plus the holidays this weekend, so there was no post yesterday and probably light post for the rest of the week.

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