Inauguration Station

The stated reason for waking up at 6:00 AM was to follow Jim down to the mall and to take a contest-entry-worthy photo of the festivities that engulf this town every four years. Even as I pulled on my long johns and threw my camera bag over my shoulder I knew that photos were secondary to something else.

I walked through the dark and found the streets mostly empty of cars and populated with growing foot traffic. There was energy in the air, but it was more relaxed than the energy of four years ago.

This was my third inauguration, but my first chance to walk into history. As we wound around and around and around the security barriers, it turned out that walking into history was more circuitous than I'd expected. The crowds came together into a mass and then shed a bit at each entrance for the ticketed. After an hour of walking, we finally reached the crush of general public making their way onto the National Mall.

A mere four hours from the ceremony and the big screen TVs were already playing reruns and Ellen jokes. It was the first round of several. The crowd looked large, but again not the crowd of the first swearing-in. We wandered a bit, priced handwarmers (two for $5, two for $8, if you paid more than $1 you were ripped off), and took a few opportunities to sit. The mall itself was covered in plastic and it felt a bit like being on the roof.  (National Treasure would have a field day with that, but it kept us out of the mud.)

As I waited, and looked around, I saw some of the hope and change, but still couldn't quite figure out why we, or really I had come. I was a good 100,000 people away from the capitol and watching the pageantry on TV. There was plenty of Obama paraphernalia,  a few chants of U.S.A., and a lot of stars and stripes. More were on their way.

The crowd didn't "Shout" when instructed this year by the big screens. The flags did wave, sometimes with fervor, but that magic of four years ago was not present, at least not for me. I listened to the invocation of Evers-Williams and looked around trying to figure out what I was waiting for.

After the president was sworn in and he began to speak, I realized what I'd come for. It was inspiration and a reminder that I'm a small part of something bigger. I waved my flag vigorously as Obama checked off many areas this country can improve from equal pay, gay rights, the environment to the economy and world peace. It was big, general talk for a big diverse audience, but it made me realize why I woke up so early. I'm a part of this crowd. I can approach it cynically and crack jokes or wonder about my sanity as I'm swept up in a crowd moving in the wrong direction or I can do what I can to be heard and to be a part of this crowd. I've got a voice and I get to be heard even just a little bit. Sometimes, we'll have to turn around and take an alternate route, but the crowd has power that we fail to appreciate. This was the "I voted" sticker come to life. It doesn't always have to be bickering and bad news. Obama reminded me that don't have to have all the answers, we just have to take steps and push ourselves.

What does it all mean?

I played Ultimate yesterday. I rejoined my Team Schaefer and took the field on a 60-degree winter day.  It was 5 on 5 and the team we were playing had just crushed their previous opponent. Still they eyed us nervously. I looked at us, an aging hodge-podge of Ultimate players that I knew and didn't, and worried that perhaps we were being judged by past success.

I'm still not sure who was right. My body allowed me to play. I was tentative at times, and certainly out of shape, but I got to play. I got an early D. I handled a bit. I threw one away. I couldn't figure out where and when to cut, but still grabbed a few scores. The story lines look about the same as they always have. It's hard to judge a single sloppy game where most of the offense came from hucks and most of the defense came from body positioning and ill-advised throws. I handled more than I would have liked, but my cuts weren't that effective. I didn't get beat much on defense, but I wasn't scaring anybody either.

We won. We battled back from 10-12 to win 15-13. Somehow I expected a more triumphant return. I couldn't have expected it from my body. It's been neglected in all facets save flexibility. I shouldn't have expected it from the sidelines or the team. They were as present or not as they've always been.

One game may be one game. It's the accumulation that matters. As I stretch and massage and try to recover, I try not think about how challenging accumulation has become.

2012 movies

1. 2012
2. Delirious
3. For your consideration
4. One Day
5. Moneyball
6. Made in Dagenham
7. Our Idiot Brother
8. No Strings Attached
9. Friends with Benefits
10. I don't know how she does it
11. Nine Queens (re-watch)
12. Tron: Legacy
13. Win Win
14. 50/50
15. In Time
16. Proof
17. Ides of March
18. Racing Dreams
19. Like Crazy
20. Limitless
21. The Hunger Games (theater)
22. Water for Elephants
23. Footloose
24. Following
25. The Iron Lady
26. Carnage
27. 30 minutes or Less
28. Paul
29. Safe (theater)
30. My Week with Marilyn
31. Down by Law
32. Role Models
33. The Avengers
34. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
35. Rum Diary
36. Exit Through the Gift Shop
37. The Giant Mechanical Man
38. X-Men: 1st Class
39. The Vow
40. Drive
41. Being There
42. The Big Year
43. Margin Call
44. Wanderlust
45. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (theater)
46. Young Adult
47. Safety Not Guaranteed (theater)
48. L'auberge espagnole
49. A Dangerous Method
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
51. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
52.
53. Friends with Kids
54. Going the Distance
55. Jeff, who lives at home
56. 21 Jump Street
57. Salmon Fishing in Yemen
58. The Ten Inch Hero
59. Keeping Mum
60. Albatross
61. Bachelorettes
62. Ceremony
63. Clue (re-watch)
64. Mystery Team
65. Harold
66. The Dictator
67. The Edge of Love
68. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
69. Frida
70. Ghostbusters (re-watch)
71. We Bought a Zoo
72. All the Queen's Men
73. National Lampoon's Vacation (re-watch)
74. The 5-year engagement
75. 28 days later (re-watch)
76. Grown-ups
77. Priceless
78. 28 weeks later
79. Sex and Lucia
80. Butter
81. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
82. The Proposal (re-watch)
83. Ruby Sparks
84. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Wow. That was a lot of movies. I think 13, 80, and 83 stand out at the moment. My least favorite have already been blocked out, though not completely for 74 or 35.

2012 Books

1. Bowerman and the Men of Oregon
2. I am the Messenger
3. Paper Towns
4. The Other Wes Moore
5. Adland
6. The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey
7. Super Sad True Love Story
8. State of Wonder
9. The Gashouse Gang
10. When the Game was Ours
11. The Thieves of Manhattan
12. Ready Player One
13. Game of Thrones (Song of Fire's Ice #1)
14. Livability: Stories
15. One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding
16. True Blue
17. Joe College: Novel
18. Divergent
19. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
20. The Night Circus
21. The Age of Innocence
22. Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking in your organization
23. Why we make mistakes
24. Spousonomics
25. Just one look
26. What the dog saw
27. An Object of Beauty
28. Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac
29. Swamplandia
30. Great by Choice
31. Red Ink
32. Oryx and Crake
33. The Invisible Gorilla
34. The Hypnotist
35. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
36. Gone Girl

My winners: 8, 20, 27, 32, 36.  The losers: 5, 9
I did not read a book that I wanted to give five stars to in 2012.