Wailing in Washington: An Educational Tour Gone Awry

Thank you Morpheus Nag for your funny artwork for Wailing in Washington! It fits the story well.

Homewood Suites, Washington, August 2006

Thup Thup
In August 2006, I stayed in a Homewood Suites in Washington D.C. In that Homewood Suites, the AC kept on going Thup, Thup. The first time I heard the sound, I woke up with a start and sat down on the bed. I clutched my ears and refuse to lie down. My mom then told me it was only an air conditioner. So, I lay down. Soon, I heard the airconditioner again. Again, I sat up and clutched my ears.

Since I kept sitting up every few minutes, none of us could sleep. Then we all woke up being very cranky. However, we had planned an educational visit to the Smithsonian museums. After breakfast, we all walked out groggily.

I dragged Aneesh to the museum, but I was very tired and exausted. So I did not let him see anything. I hardly saw one exhibit in the museum before I started saying that I wanted to go back. Aneesh then complained to mom saying that I do not let him see anything and hence he did not want to go to any museums with me.

Then, we all returned home and tried sleeping in the afternoon. The same thing happened. The air conditioner kept on going thup, thup. Again, we went to the museum completely exhausted. Within a few minutes, I wanted to return home. Aneesh protested that I just drag him all the way to the museum and do not let him see a single thing.

We then went back. While we were walking back from the train station, I insisted we had to go to a different hotel and not the Homewood Suites because of the air conditioner. My mom told me that we cannot go to another hotel because we do not have a reservation there.

When we got back to the hotel, we heard a loud fire alarm. I was casual while even the neuro-typicals were closing their ears. My mom was then surprised that I did not cover my ears for the fire alarm, but I was jumping up and down for the air conditioner. This incident was before I got my brand new ears in 2010, after MNRI. Read about my brand new ears here.

Wailing in Washington

While the educational tour did not go as well as expected, we made up a fun play.
My mom enacted Aneesh, Ananth, and all the people, I acted the air conditioner and the fire alarm.

Of course I did not actually wail. Well, at least not much. Anyhow, I like the title as it fits with our series of stories including Anxious in Atlanta, Bawling in Biscayne Bay, Cranky in Kennedy Space Center, Growling in Grandpa’s House. Meltdowns in Minneapolis, and Tantrums at Twilight. So we called it Wailing in Washington.

Educational Tours of Washington Museums
When I went to Washington later in 2010 and 2011, I saw the museums patiently. I did not jump up and down for the air conditioner, and I had much better sleep. I went to the Natural History Museum, Air and Space Museum, American Indian Museum.