Monday, April 05, 2004

Fear & Loathing at the Cherry Blossom Festival


The moron in this picture is likely going to glow in the dark and grow a third arm.

(image borrowed from a website of Columbia University. See the complete website here.)

Yes, it's spring in Washington when the annual horde of tourists come to see the cherry trees in blossom at the Tidal Basin. The cherry trees are currently in bloom so go see them (if you are so inclined) while you still can. Or just visit the National Cherry Blossom Festival website for more details.

I have to say, this is one of the worst years for the festival my short-term memory can remember! Every year despite the thousands of tacky tourists, something compels me to walk down to the Jefferson Memorial to see the blossoms. Usually it's not so bad, but today when I visited it was cold as the Arctic tundra and windy as the Mongolian steppes.

And let's not forget the beautiful Tidal Basin itself. Always the place to go if you are looking for trash, pollution, funky smells, and dead Potomac fish. I'm surprised the cherry trees haven't mutated and rampaged through the city yet, having to be so close to the cesspool known as the Tidal Basin.

"Why is this news?" you may ask. Well, it seems this week a student at George Washington University (where I am applying to grad school, incidentally) may have committed suicide by throwing himself into the Basin while visiting the cherry blossoms with friends. Were the blossoms that bad this year? Man! The victim apparently made some comment and then threw himself into the murky waters. Check out the whole story in the Washington Times.

Ah, spring is in the air...

No comments: