how few, few words..: april showers bring may cherry blossom flowers.

i went to the cherry blossom festival this past weekend in DC, and i got hail, rain, and extra bright (not the nice kind) sunlight all within twenty minutes, annnnd now i hate cherry blossoms. however, i took most of my pictures on film, and by virtue of that fact, i will hate them a little bit less.. even though my pictures came out really, really blue.. oh well, practice makes perfect..decent..good-enough-to-justify-buying-this-camera (i have low standards).

despite my newfound hatred of cherry blossoms, i did have a few revelations (re: only revelations to me) this weekend:

1. there are no cherries on cherry blossom trees. i don't know much about flowers, so you know, this was quite a revelation to me. i think flowers are nice once in a while, but generally, they're kind of boring and weird-looking, especially when you stare at them for a long time. something about their reproductive organs being out in the open also freaks me out.
2. i need to learn how to focus my pics. wearing glasses (in the rain) does not help any. plus, manually focusing and refocusing each shot over and over again was nauseating, and the fact that it was an endless sea of white flowers did not help my cause.
2a. did you know that cherry blossoms are white?! not only are there no cherries, they are not pink as i had previously thought.
3. japan gave these trees to the US as a sign of their nascent friendship in 1912 (only one of two cool revelations/facts i learned this weekend.)
4. the US almost gave up on aviation in the early 1900s, but it was revived as a result of the US postal service using it to send mail. (second cool fact i learned this weekend.. obviously the nerdier of the two - courtesy of my brief foray into the national air & space museum.)
5. my title is technically incorrect since cherry blossoms bloom in early spring, but i liked my lame title too much.
6. i.love.jelly.belly.sours.
7. i know every rest stop between NJ and DC. i can't help my small bladder.
8. exposure is tricky, tricky thing. i couldn't sleep one night and ended up reading about it from 4-5am.
9. asian tourists will always have a bigger, better camera and lens than you. always.
10. there are cherry blossom trees all over DC. like everywhere. even in front the the shitty apartments on the outskirts of dc. i don't know why i subjected myself to the boredom, nausea, and hunger walking around the tidal basin for two hours.
11. i don't know much as is evident by the fact that i am having revelations every 10 minutes apparently.

ok, enough rambling for one post i suppose.