Sanity Restored

"Dear Lord, Protect me from your followers." - Unknown

This weekend I went to Washington, DC to attend the Daily Show's Rally to Restore Sanity and to visit some good friends. It was an epic weekend of moderate drinking, reasonable behavior and copious amounts of fun. This is my recap. I heard the rally referred to as "the biggest inside-joke walk-a-thon in American History" and a "mock-in." It was legendary and everything I imagined it to be.


I flew in on Friday morning and arrived at Reagan Airport about noon. It had been three and a half years since I had been in DC, years which have gone by very quickly. Mark was busy working, so I hopped on to the Metro and went to meet my friend Bob for lunch. I still had my old smart pass with money on it, and it was nice to see it still worked. I had to transfer at Rosslyn, the first place I ever lived when I first moved there after college. To think, each day I would wake up and walk to that metro station and now it was just another stop along the way on a visit to this town. I met up with Bob and it was great catching up. I appreciated that he took the time to come and hang out with me. I miss hanging out with Bob and Angie.


After, I headed into downtown DC on the metro to kill some time. There was one museum I always wanted to go to, The Spy Museum. It was near my work and I never made it out in all the years I lived there. I promised myself I would go before I left, but the timing didn't work out. So this time I was intent on going and finally made it. That took a long time to check off my to do list, but it was worth it. Spy stuff is cool, I would like to be a spy, which probably makes me a bad spy. Oh, that and a blog.


When I was done learning how to take secret pictures and mark mail boxes with codes, I went to meet up with Sam aka Dr. Cook at an Irish pub. It has been a while and it was nice to see him. He is getting married next year and I'm looking forward to his wedding in San Diego. We had a few drinks and caught up. It is always great talking about old times. It is good when friends make an effort to keep in touch.


Once Mark got out of a late day of work, he picked us up at the Metro, and we went to his place where his wife Ashley was making cookies. We had a few drinks and then headed to my friend Sarah's Halloween party. It was only a quick cameo, but it was nice to see my friend from 7th and 8th grade summer smart camp. Sarah is one of those really happy good spirited people and I was happy that she was just like I remembered her.


When we got back to the apartment, we drank with Ashley's friend Ashley2 and her boyfriend's father. It was nice to finally get to hang out with Ashley and get to know her as a person and not just Mark's fiance/wife. Then Ashley's Kentucky friends arrived. They were such nice people and though I wasn't the most social person, I enjoyed my chats with them. I learned you can use a hairdryer to fill an inflatable bed and a great way to make a road trip more interesting.


Saturday morning, Mark was so kind to go out and get everyone breakfast. After eating and getting ready, we all walked out to the Metro to head to the Rally. It was finally time. It came with a lot of anticipation. Rick got there well before us, which was such a smart idea. We stopped by the nearby CVS and I got 3 blank paper signs and a black marker. The metro was so backed up, we walked over 4.5 miles from Virginia to DC for the Rally. It was fun, but tiring because my shoes sucked. There were a lot of people walking.


Here is a video of Sam doing a commentary as we crossed the bridge into DC: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyadus/5134440253/


Mark had a sign that carried the whole way that said, "Anchor babies are Adorable" and on the back there was a picture of philosorapter and it said, "Anchor babies are Delicious." [fn An anchor baby is an anti-immigrant myth of babies that are born to undocumented women.] Sam made a sign that said, "We want our Country Forward" (with Back marked out) and I made on that said, "I wish all these people Voted." Here are the flickr pictures and videos of the event and all our posters.


When we arrived, the Rally was extremely packed. We couldn't even get close enough to the speakers that we could hear clearly what was going on. The Rally was a gathering of like minded individuals who were ok with not agreeing about everything. It was like a very witty joke and over 200,000 people were in on it. Sign after sign made me laugh. People were connecting, being kind and considerate. Nobody was filled with hate or anger, and there are things to be angry about. Here I am holding up my sign:


I had many friends attend the rally, but due to the size, it was impossible to meet up them. We had a blast, meeting new people, taking photos and hanging out. I think that was what the experience was really about. We even met two old ladies who came on the Huff Post bus who were so sweet and kind. They drank with us as Sam mixed them some drinks. I later had to watch the actual Rally on TV to clearly hear all the jokes and see what was going on, and that was great too. The crowd was very impressive.

A quick internet search came up with: 55 Funniest Signs. There is also the Best 100 signs. There are lots of these sites and I saw some way funnier ones, but some are great. They are a great way to kill time, but if you have time, really check out my photos of the event.

Reading this article about the rally burned, but it really makes me look at the Rally in a different way. It is very long, but one part that really made me think was, "Let’s gather together in an ironic, self-aware way, and celebrate how we’re not really rallying or laying anything on the line–not even now, not even when the whole fucking country is collapsing. What’s our prize, Don?" I do stand for something, but I don't think it is exclusive with having a good time and trying to restore some sanity.

After the Rally was over, we hung out on the mall for a few hours. We had a pretty comfortable camp set up.
My friend Rick came to join us and we then treked into the city to find food. Everywhere was packed and after much much walking, we finally found something. All that walking injured my knee, which was a sad testament to how much I don't usually use it. It hurt to walk, but I toughed it out and was disappointed with myself for getting to a point where this could happen.

Exhausted, we finally arrived back at Mark and Ashley's home at night and rested for a bit. There was no energy to go out to a bar, so we drank and had some great conversations. That is something I a big fan of. It is part of the trip that I really enjoyed. We told silly jokes and one liners, talked about math and probability and about the amazing experience we had that day.


Sunday morning, Sam, Mark and I had breakfast and then I headed to the airport home to Austin. I was very thankful to Mark and Ashley to opening up their home to us and for being such wonderful hosts. Sunday was also the day of the Marine Corps Marathon, which had a lot of runners on my train. We did steal a photo at the podium the day before. Even in our imagination, I still get 2nd place.


In the end, I must say it was an experience I'll never forget. What a perfect way to go back and visit DC. I plan on getting back more.

ghosts around every corner