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You may have noticed I don't really have much going on in my life by the way I stretch one story out into three days worth of entrys.......

Anyway, I forgot to mention one of the coolest parts of the protest on Thursday. After things were dying down, Nic and Adam and I went over to Nic's place for beer and food, and to review the video footage he had just shot. Nic and I then went back to the scene to see if anything was still going on.

In that one short hour, the protestors dispersed (mostly to go get peope out of jail,) and the street was empty again except for the lingering smell of pepper spray, and a few signs that people left behind. Nic filmed me picking up the trash, and then explaining for the camera one noteworthy sign we found. On one side was a quote by Bush, on the other an anti-fascist quote by FDR. I can't remember exactly what it was; all I remember is that they went together like slimfast and bacon grease.

The barricades had been pushed back to the position they were at before the cops went on a pepper spray and clubbing binge, which allowed us to enter the Heathman Hotel. For some reason, the consiegre turned his back as we entered, and allowed us to stroll into the dining room to the tune of swing music, dance down the hall to the right, and then exit to the streets on the other side of the barricade. We figured if hotel guests could go out that door, we could too.

We walked confidently (see also: danced) past rows of police cars, mass-arrest vehicles, and fire trucks. Most of the cops still there were just smoking and talking about.... I don't know, whatever it is cops talk about. On the other side of the barricaded section of the city, there was a group of four protestors still hanging out. The cops had left them all alone. One of them, a large black man with a smooth, bassy voice was still holding a sign and singing a song which he told us we would never get out of our heads. He was right. It went like this:

Dick Chen-ey
Masturba-tion
George Bu-ush
Menstrua-tion
you'rebleedingonme
Douche!

It became funnier with every refrain. We were so amused by these antics, that I invited them all to our room at the Hilton (The Hilton is where Bush had his fundraiser earlier that day.) They were very eager to join us, until I told them that we didn't actually have a room, we were just trying to see if we could sneak in. I guess some people just don't have any sense of adventure. They politely declined, and remained on their boring, obeying-the-rules side of the barricade.

It took a little while to find a door that opened in the Hilton. I thought I was going to get arrested trying to act casual as we tried a long row of them without success. Oh, not that one either, ooohhh, silly me, it must have been this one. Oops, not this one either. Finally, we found an open door, hurried inside, and tried to act casual, swinging to the music as we crossed the floor. The problem was that this music wasn't as loud or as swingy as the music in the Heathman, but we swinged all the same. down the escelators to the ballrooms, the first person we passed was a cop. That wasn't much of a surprise. We got out the camera, and started investigating the area. What do we have in this room? Hmmmm... a group of very drunk cops, still half-dressed in riot gear. And in this room.... more cops. And in this room, cops..... hmmmm. Without even discussing the matter, we turned off the camera and ran as fast as possible up the stairs, and to the exit.

On the way back to the oher side of the barricades, we passed a secret service agent. Nic took his picture just to for the fuck of it. Then we walked as fast as possible back to the nearest barricade.

We hadn't explored this one yet. (There were nine blocks total sectioned off, making eight barricades.) There was still a collection of black-bloc kids there, just wishing they could start a revolution, and then what? I don't think they would know.

I wished we wouldn't have gotten so spooked, because there was probably a lot more mischief lurking in that hotel, but then again, we were probably the only people in that building without the authority to arrest some one.

Oh yeah, and I still have that song stuck in my head.

update: I thought he had left hours earlier, but I learned from news sources that Bush was in that Hotel last night. It makes me uneasy to know that I was in the same building as that much evil.