The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer

It's my friend's birthday tomorrow so I gave him his present today at lunch. Last year I became aware of just how fascinated he is with political bobblehead dolls. At the Public Interest Project auction last year he had coveted the bobbleheads of various Supreme Court judges on offer. But, alas, being the ones in need of the funds the auction was to raise (grants for unpaid summer public interest work) we were unable to bid for them. Then this summer he mentioned in passing that he'd seen ones of Colin Powell at some store in Georgetown but was again unable to buy one. I decided to get it for him for his eventual birthday and tried to figure out where it was that he said he saw it. I turned the town upside down looking for it but was unable to track it down. (I couldn't really ask him for more information because it would ruin the surprise.) At this point it became my mission, to find and acquire a political bobblehead doll, sometime before his birthday. But where?

On the way back from monitoring the presidential election in Florida I changed planes at Dulles Airport. In the airport there's an MSNBC store. (An MSNBC store? Who knew?) It's like an ordinary newsstand kind of place, except that there's a big screen tv behind the counter broadcasting MSNBC, which that evening was surrounded by people watching the results come in. In the front of the store was a temporary display full of DNC-related merchandise. T-shirts and stuff. Oh, and the "Defiant Kerry" bobblehead. There he was, bobbling away while his political fortune was being decided. Resolving to ignore the incredible awkwardness of conspicuously purchasing a Kerry bobblehead (I'm sure everyone there - probably even the clerk - thought to themselves, "Who IS this weirdo who shops for a Kerry bobblehead? And on election night in an airport no less?) I made my move. This was my chance to finally end my quest.

I'm glad I did as my friend seemed really pleased with it. I've never really been able to see the appeal of bobbleheads. They seem... grotesque. But maybe now I can see the absurdity in them. At least for major public figureheads.