Thursday, December 15, 2011

Dispatches from DC #14
15 December 2011

Hello there... Rodger French here.

What with the Holidaze now in full swing, I thought it felicitous to extend best wishes and append this update; kind of like those Christmas letters one gets from friends, only without the cute photoz of the kidz. Or paw printz of the dogz. Or coherent paragraph transitionz.

Thanksgiving was very relaxed, as we avoided the national transportation nightmare and instead had a quiet dinner at a nice local restaurant with friends. We also avoided the national consumer nightmare known as "Black Friday" and instead had a quiet dinner at another nice local restaurant with other friends. Good food, good company, and zero drama. This is our current scheme for Christmas, only with movies thrown into the mix.

You Russian music fanz will be gratified to know the Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra's fall concerts went swimmingly, with the accordion duet being particularly well received. And those of you in the DC area can catch The Rodger French Trio as we periodically tour the finer coffee houses and cantinas of Alexandria, VA. (And yes, we're on Facebook. Thanks for asking.)

[Holiday Special: Looking for a thoughtful, high-class, yet inexpensive gift for Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Boxing Day... whatever? You are in luck: "Main Squeeze Deux - Lenny DeLuxe presents Another Album of Select Accordion Solos" is now (still) available at www.cdbaby.com.]

Big news in the 'hood: The city of Arlington is installing a robot (traffic signal) at the corner of N. Pollard St. and Wilson Blvd., a very nasty intersection spectacularly disadvantageous to pedestrians. At last we'll be able to access the excellent burger joint across the street without threat of vehicular annihilation. (This is no joke; a pedestrian was recently hit at this very intersection and another was killed just two blocks away.)

In a hopeful harbinger of general economic recovery, new bidness tenants have moved into the Hawthorn Building: Zapatat Tattoo Removal. I've been predicting for years - really, I have - that tattoo removal was going to be big. The young and supple of skin can get away with these things, but the older you get... well, (sadly, tragically), gravity always wins. To each her/his own, of course, but I've never been a fan of permanent "skin illustrations;" several years in the U.S. Navy, decades before the current tattoo-mania, no doubt colouring my perspective.

In other news, I'm making preparations for a trip to the ATL for the Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival (Feb. 3-5). And, in case you're wondering (which you are likely not), there are no plans afoot for Yet Another DeLuxe Vaudeville Orchestra Annual Reunion Concert. I will also be traveling to Madison County, NC to check in on my modest mountain habitat and try to bring some semblance of organization to way-too-much stuff. This is increasingly imperative because...

(...pause for dramatic effect and actual paragraph transition...)

Anne is being posted as Information Resource Officer (IRO) to Buenos Aires, Argentina for three years. What's more, instead of leaving the States in October 2012 as originally scheduled, it looks like we're outta here in July. Between now and then, she will spend several months immersed in Spanish language classes at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), where I plan to study as well.

Naturally, I'll keep you posted as the situation develops. And, for what it's worth, the next round of international postings is tentatively titled "Bulletins from BA."

Felices Fiestas. Adelante.

Rodger