The Fun and the Fawkery of Inauguration Weekend in D.C.

I witnessed history on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.

But the experience started way before the Inauguration service of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. The journey started in a medium-sized city in New Jersey and made pit stops in New York City and New Carrollton, Maryland before getting to Washington, D.C., my final destination.

I experienced some fun and some straight fawkery but overall it was the best 3-day vacation of my life. I'm proud to be an American. I'm glad I live on the East Coast (so it was feasible to get to Washington, D.C. in the first place). I've kept my only New Year's Resolution going: 2009 shall be mine.

Let's start with the fun (in no particular order of importance)

YBJ/Associate Member Mixer at Ozio Restaurant and Lounge: I have to give my friend April some heavy praise for pulling off a wonderful event while starting a new job and moving to a new city. She really is www.dabomb.com and the next time you see her buy her a drink. On Sunday night, I got a chance to see some journalism friends I haven't seen since the Unity Convention in Chicago in July and other friends I haven't seen in ages. I almost forgot to give thanks to Greg for the champagne toast to start off this wonderful night.

Zeta Party at Tuscana West: It is no secret that blue is my favorite color (my car is blue, my bathroom is blue, etc) so it is natural that the Zetas are my favorite sorority women. Let me tell you the Zetas know how to party and I was loving it. I mean short, tall, light, dark, thin, thick...you name the size, color or shape and it was well-represented on Monday night. I sent a text to my boy, who was back in New Jersey, "that I might get married tonight because I felt I was in the candy shop." Now that I think about it, the D.J. didn't play 50's "Candy Shop". If he did, that place might have erupted. I left the party a little early to get some sleep before the Inauguration.

Kingsway Cafe at Beltway Plaza Mall: I stopped to get something to eat at this Caribbean Restaurant owner by a friend of a friend on the way back from Tuesday's Inauguration. I was hungrier than a hostage and the food was more than fulfilling for my rabid appetite. I had the curry goat and white rice and I washed it down with some two D&G Kola Champagnes. The food was almost as good as my mother's cooking but on the real...nobody beats my mother's cooking but this was a very close second. If you are in the Beltway Plaza Mall stop by Kingsway Cafe.

DC Metro Station colors: I've been to D.C. before but this was the first time I've taken the Metro. I have to say it reminded me of my hometown city Boston with its color-coordinated train line system. Actually, I think Boston and D.C. use the same colors and the maps almost look the same in the way they cover their metropolitan areas.

Home cooked breakfast: When you are single and live alone, you don't get to just relax and enjoy stuff sometimes because if you don't do it the task doesn't get done. Monday morning was the exception. While I'm on my laptop checking in at my the office, my friend's sorority sister cooked me breakfast and brought it into the office where I was working. I didn't ask her to do it and I didn't even know she was doing it but the simple act of kindness warmed my heart that morning. Go Zetas!

Inauguration Day on the National Mall: I didn't get there early enough to get close to a jumbo tron but I got a spot near the end of the National Mall near the Washington Monument. I couldn't really see anything going on way ahead of me but I could hear everything. There were people of every race and every age out there shivering while listening to the various speakers and singers. I'm mad that Barack fumble the Oath of office but you have to chalk that up to being a little bit nervous because I would be. I didn't stay for the parade but I saw most of it on television while at Kingsway Cafe at Beltway Plaza Mall. Am I the only person in America that said "why the fawk is he getting out of the car and walking along with Michelle along the parade route?" That didn't sit right with me and I'm glad the Secret Service finally ushered them back into the car.

Friendly Women in D.C.: I know I'm going to get some hate mail for saying this but D.C women are some of the smartest, finest and nicest women I've ever met. Every time I go to this city, I have a blast. I've lived in the NYC area for 4 years and six months and haven't once experienced the warm reception that I've gotten in D.C. on my visits. Only in NYC, does a upstanding black man get NBA (Nothing But Attitude) for simply saying "Hello," "How are you doing?" or some other simple polite greeting to a black woman in public. I saw in some survey that NYC and Washington, D.C. are two of several areas in the country where there is a surplus of educated black women. I guess all the nice ones live in D.C. and all the "Hi Haters" live in New York City. lol. I don't want to live in a cold weather city for the rest of my life but if I was to consider another cold weather city...D.C. would be at the top of my list. It might be time to move.

Let's continue with the fawkery (in particular order of foolishness)

New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal on Sunday: Now, why were there like 300 people in line at the Port Authority to take the Greyhound or Peter Pan bus to Washington, D.C. at 7 a.m. on Sunday. Yes. You heard me correct there was a line almost the length of a Port Authority hallway to get on those buses. Why weren't these people at church? lol. I thought I would be all slick and just walk right on the bus because nobody would be up that early but I got a rude awakening when I got to the Port Authority. Thankfully, I was going to New Carrollton, Maryland and they boarded us first because our stop was before D.C. I have to make a mental note: Always take the Greyhound/Peter Pan bus to the New Carrollton, Maryland when going to D.C. for a big event. I was hearing that people going to D.C. on Greyhound/Peter Pan buses were experiencing almost 2 hour delays from the bus they really wanted to get on.

D.C. Metro fare system: When someone explained to me that it isn't a straight subway system like Boston or New York... it is more like NJ Transit and NYC's Long Island Railroad, I calmed down a bit. But on the real, what type of fawkery is it that you have to insert your card to get into the station and insert your card to leave the station when you arrive at your destination? I mean that added 15 minutes to every one's trip because some people didn't know what the fawk they were doing and the lines were longer than at a homeless shelter on a sub-freezing temperature day. Is this the only subway/commuter rail system in the country that does this? I just wasn't prepared for that extra hassle.

Black people at the New Carrollton Bus Terminal on Wednesday: O.K. Some black people just lost their damn minds also their manners trying to get home on Wednesday morning. People were shouting, pushing, cursing at each other just to get on a damn bus. I was like 5th in line and somehow I was like the 32nd person to board the bus. I gave some folks the "don't even fawk with me stare" and they backed off because I just wasn't having it. One older lady that sat behind the bus driver kept complaining about the heat....WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IN THE BUS felt like they were sitting in an oven. She was banging on the glass behind the driver and just making a big scene. She acted like she was too good to ride the bus with her fur coat..and I'm like why the fawk are on you on this piece anyway then. We all paid the same price to ride the bus and goodness sake....you are sitting in the front...shut the fawk up and go to sleep. She's lucky that I wasn't the bus driver. I would have pulled over and called the state police and have them haul her ass off the bus. Then she could have rode in the back of a police cruiser on her way to jail.

Cold Weather in D.C is no place for young children and the elderly: I know I'm going to get some more hate mail for this but on the real...sub-freezing temperatures are not the climate for children under 5 or the elderly. But sure enough there were parents dragging their newborns and small children with their noses running and jackets not fully zipped up around D.C. in that ridiculously cold weather. There were also elderly members of society needing canes, walkers or some other type of apparatus that were getting knocked over by disrespectful and inpatient younger people and younger adults that couldn't wait behind the elderly. That was disgraceful to watch and it was people of all races committing this humanitarian crime against small children and the elderly. I would not have taken my children (if I had any) or my grandparents/elderly family member out in that cold or that type of crowd atmosphere. There were 2.1 million people there for the Inauguration and it just isn't worth getting sick or hurt over. Not even for the country's first black president.

L'Enfant Plaza and closing Metro stops: I would have preferred they searched everyone coming to the National Mall rather than closing subway stops like the Smithsonian and forcing everyone to walk to L'Enfant Plaza after the inauguration. I'll get to this fawkery in a bit. Let's rewind to getting to the Inauguration. On my way to the Inauguration, we were held underground in L'Enfant Plaza for like 30 minutes for whatever reason and people were getting restless. It was hot. People were pushed close together. It just wasn't an environment I wanted to be in at that moment. When the security people finally let people leave the station, there were cheers. Now, there were plenty of boos on the way back from the inauguration. The walk to L'Enfant plaza took 15 minutes. The time to actually get into L'Enfant plaza took 1 hour and 45 minutes in 17 degree weather. I don't even know what the wind chill was that day. You heard me correctly. My toes felt like cement blocks. My ears were like popsicles. I couldn't feel my arms or any other external body part. Now, the crowd was orderly for a short while but when the security people started playing favorites on which side of the crowd they were letting through...the scene got ugly. People started shouting. People started pushing. People starting faking injuries just to cut the line. It was so tight at one point...I could only face one direction and that was forward and it felt like I was moving at a snail's pace. Someone was touching my ass. Someone else was grabbing my leg. Somebody didn't shower. Somebody's breath was foul. Someone else farted. I couldn't accuse anyone because everyone looked guilty. It was a violation of personal space to the highest order. LMAO.