Capital Shlepps

Or, Why You Should Not Excuse Every Indulgence With "I'm on Vacation!" and Why Pepto Bismol is the Unrestrained Traveler's Best Friend


Today's big event was my visit with Abigail, who lives here in DC, having left the Only Place Worth Living (California) due to some bizarre need for "gainful employment" and "career advancement." I only get to see her a couple of times a year now, so I've been looking forward to this as one of the highlights of the trip, which is why it is particularly unfortunate that my digestive system took today as its opportunity to explode.

I will not get into details, because this is not that kind of blog; I will only say that I ignored the signs and brought it upon myself, and when one has been eating rich foods for a week straight (coming off a normal diet consisting of reasonable portions of whole grains, lean proteins and lots of vegetables) starts feeling a little delicate, one should not decide to deal with the situation by "only" having a small barbecue chicken pizza for dinner. That may have been my downfall.


I didn't skip the day, of course, that would be unthinkable, but I did abandon poor Abigail at regular intervals, in places like bookstores and restaurants, and took her on a brief detour through a CVS to stock up on the magic pink tablets (now in Cherry Flavor!). Also, I declared that I wanted Japanese food for dinner, so I could have miso soup and grilled fish, which isn't the most considerate choice when the other person isn't crazy about seafood.

But, despite all that, we ended up having a pretty good time, and we saw Betsey Johnson in person (from across the street), which I have to admit is more celebrity sightings than I typically get in California. (She's tiny, by the way. Seems very nice, from a distance.)

And next time, next time, I really am going to learn to pace myself.