This is my city face.

Happy August! When I first started working in D.C. three summer ago the first thing I discovered (well besides what the world looked like before the sun comes up) is how depressed everyone in D.C. looked. Well not everyone, mostly the people dressed in business attire and/or wearing a DoD badge. People standing in the slug line (exhibit A)

with their head down trying in vain to catch a few extra seconds of sleep standing up or just looking like this is the last place on earth they want to be. Also, on the DoD bus staring out the window with a blank expression awaiting their destination with a somewhat less than enthusiastic attitude (to put it nicely). It was quite depressing really. I thought to myself, "I must escape this vortex of sadness before I catch it too!!"
However, last week I had 2 eye opening encounters with fellow D.C. workers. Apparently I too have come to wear a constant look of misery when commuting to work too. The first was an (overly) cheerful fellow waiting for the elevator. "Come on guys, SMILE!!! It's almost Friday!!!" to which I responded, "No, it's not. It's Tuesday". I shocked myself a little when the words came out. Determined to turn this attitude around I tried to smile a little more but apparently I was failing. On Friday one of the Pentagon guards said to me in a joking tone, "Ma'am, it is not that serious, God has blessed you with a job!"
I wanted to make a scene and have everyone listening while I proclaimed "THIS IS MY NORMAL FACE!!!" but then I realized it's not my normal face, it's my city face.

Discovery Channel should do an episode about me and my likeness to the owl butterfly. They have wings that look like owl eyes to ward of predators. My face is like that, but for creepers and small-talkers (which I find a lot of on my journey to work.) My own special defense mechanism for life's unwanted encounters.

So if you ever see me in a city and I look like a I want to punch something/someone, don't worry! I'm not mad, I'm warding off the creepers. :)