six words to change the world.

So I had one of those days. Well, not really one of those days. Just one of those afternoons. I had a great morning, and then I left my apartment. It was MISERABLE weather in DC today, rainy and gross lie-in-your-bed weather, and my umbrella recently broke. If I were a rational human being, I would have bought an umbrella at the CVS that is literally across the street from my apartment, but I have a problem with boring umbrellas. I hate rain, so when it rains I want to at least have a cute umbrella to make things a little more bearable. This has led to me walking around in the rain umbrella-less for the past two weeks. I managed to get to campus and do some work without getting too wet or too angry about life in general, but then the computers were behaving badly. And then I needed a bagel. And when I went outside it was raining. And I had a frustrating phone call. And then I decided to walk to J.Crew to buy a cute umbrella. And then J.Crew had no umbrellas and I told them, “FINE, I’ll just go to GAP then!” And then my button (the essential middle button, mind you) popped off of my coat and I almost burst into tears. And then I paid $24 for a new (very cute) umbrella at Anthropologie, even through I know it will break, like, tomorrow, because it’s an umbrella from Antropologie. FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, PEOPLE.

It was at this point in the day (circa 4:45 p.m.) that I thought maybe I should just call it a day, go back home, maybe pop some popcorn, and hide under my covers because my heat doesn’t seem to work yet. In a feat of exceptional courage, however, I pushed through. And I went to the event I was supposed to go to at 5:15, which was with Chris Cillizza from The Fix. (Feel free to give my title a high five for punniness now.) Guys? He is great.

This is just a guess, but I don't think that's his real body.

As I watched him talk, I was like, “Hmm, I wonder if he’ll be my best friend.” He was smart and self-deprecating and had funky glasses and talked about his baby. I was obviously a goner. And he made an interesting point about the difference between voice and bias, which was interesting. As in, it’s one thing to call out Sarah Palin for objectively being an idiot (or, to use the example he gave, to commend her for rhetorically delivering a solid speech at the RNC), but quite another to condemn every Republican action simply because it’s a Republican action. In other words, there’s a difference between having an opinion and being partisan. Not that that’s what we do here at SWTCTW, but I appreciate his point. Mr. Fix also commiserated with me about the meanness of bloggy commenters (I obviously told him about the Great Monkey Debate of 2008), so that made me like him even more.

I think what I’m trying to say is that my day got better. Thanks, Chris Cillizza!

Big college reunion this weekend, which means our SWTCTW “correspondents” from all over the country will be flooding the District with inside jokes and obnoxious dance moves. Watch out, people.

[Posted by Mallory]