14: Well, that didn't go as intended.

The whole thing that yesterday's post was about... didn't work. I'm sure that I'm simply using the tools at my disposal incorrectly, but I didn't have the time today to figure it out nor solve that problem.

Today was busy, but fantastic. I woke up decently late (11:30 ish, it's a Saturday!), and then got ready to head into downtown DC. I showered, made breakfast, and then loaded up my laptop and camera into my backpack to head down. The walk to the Herndon metro stop is maybe 10 mins, and the Silver line goes all the way to the national mall from there. It's a little more than an hour on the metro to the national mall, but I absolutely adore riding the metro, so that's not a problem in my book. I got out my laptop on the way there and did some work on my photography portfolio, which has also been going well. Once I was at the national mall, I wanted to go to the smithsonian, but of course the castle and the arts and industries buildings are both closed for renovations. I went to the museum of African art, which was really cool. I specifically wanted to see the Benin Bronzes, of which one was on display. There was a whole section about how the rest of them had been returned to Nigeria, which was really nice to see. I remember learning about the Benin Bronzes in AP Art History in high school, and how there was a controversy with these specific pieces for exactly that reason, and since I learned about it, it's been remedied! The pieces that the smithsonian still has are all on (permanent) loan from Nigeria and their museums.

I wandered around the mall for a couple hours and called my good friend Cassidy to catch up, which was really nice. I didn't have the willpower to spend another 2 or 3 hours in a museum, and since I got a fairly late start, I wouldn't have had time to hit many of them properly anyway, so I found a local coffee shop (Coffee Republic, right next to Metro Center) and got lunch/dinner and a drink. While I was there I worked on the portfolio some more, and then took the metro back to the apartment.

After I got back, I did my laundry and played video games with my dad and my brother until just now, which was awesome. I haven't played with Seth I think since spring break, and we played well.

I haven't done today's crossword (I am becoming a fiend), so I'll have to seriously lock in on the crosswords tomorrow, but Seth said he would help me with them, and I am happy to make that my activity for the day, so I'll get them done.