I had a pretty good day yesterday. I skipped out of work entirely and slept an extra two hours. That already makes it a great day. Then I went downtown and met my dad for lunch at the Hotel Washington. With the beautiful weather and great views of the White House and Washington Monument from the rooftop terrace cafe, it was a pretty nice place to have lunch. Then it was straight down Pennsylvania to the Capitol. There was a much larger crowd than I expected, and no protesters or pushy activisits to be found anywhere. I was shocked, relieved, and above all delighted to see that everyone had gathered to enjoy the celebration rather than to push a specific agenda. Probably the first time that's happened in a long long time in Washington. Anyway, we caught the tail end of the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal and the Dalai Lama's address to Congress. Then we were treated to some Tibetan cultural events on the lawn stage, brief speeches by Richard Gere and Nancy Pelosi, and then an address by the Dalai Lama. He spoke primarily in Tibetan with a translator, which seem spretty common, although he does speak pretty understandable english as well. I'm not a buddhist, but there's something that just makes so much sense about that way of life. There's a serenity and compassion that's hard to ignore.
