Some touring has occurred. I got to see John and meet his friends Greg, Jess, and Leda, and they are clever and fun. I saw the lovely woods and creek behind John's house, and ate at a vegetarian-friendly Burmese restaurant (Mandalay) in College Park, MD. And Leonard and John and I walked the Mall at night.

I stood on the steps of the Capitol and stared at the Washington Monument. A red beacon blinked from its peak. It resembled some cheap Sauron toy. And it made me so sad so see yet another thing I can't believe in. Like Sarah Vowell, I make these pilgrimages to this sacred sites, cemeteries and capitals. And not only don't I trust the current administration, I fear it's queering the pitch for decades to come. I find myself thinking that these trappings of pomp no longer hold anything I value. In the light of morning I know that's not true, but under the klieg lights the melancholy overtook me. I looked up to the stars, symbols of terrible, impersonal inevitability, mocking our aspirations and our temporary accomplishments. The Washington Monument seemed yet another Ozymandias.