9 Rows from Oprah

So, I have survived the Inaugural--so far. Highights:

6 a.m.- Began a truly unnerving 2.5 hour Metro ride that ended up at the Capitol South stop.

8 a.m.- Stood on the train platform for the 20 minute shuffle up the stairs. The nice Metro lady kept yelling "Keep it moving! Keep it moving!" and the crowd kept yelling back, "Yes we can!" Then when she wanted us to stop moving forward so we didn't crush everyone alive she'd yell "Red light! Stop light!" But no one yelled "Neon light" when I did.

9 a.m.- I began to feel that I would die on the spot of cold. The minutes ran backward as they did for Ferris Bueller. Then the sun came out and it climbed to 30 degrees for a while. Bliss. We were in an amazing section called "Green Tickets." Oh, the goodness.

10:30 a.m.- The great cavalcade of celebrities begins. Oprah. Stedman. Sam Jackson. Jesse Jackson. Denzel. Caroline Kennedy. Some dude everyone wanted to be photographed with but who was unrecognizable to me. Jamie Lee Curtis. Don King. Diana Ross. Angela Basset. And a host of others. And the best ever: Curtis said to me, "Hey, Usher just jumped up on my chair."

11 a.m.- The great exchange of power began. It was surreal to watch it so up-close. Yea!

1:55 p.m. - We fund a taxi after just four blocks of hoofing it! Karma. Hung out over the afternoon with the pals who hooked me up with tix.

PS - Time TBD, I will re-brave the Metro and hope to get home. Oh, and "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder is stupendous.

The Inaugural

Kind friends hooked me up with a suh-weet seat at tomorrow's Inaugural ceremonies. I am not looking forward to my 6 a.m. Metro ride but I am pumped about the chance to wave four fingers on each hand at anyone who so much as looks in my direction.

I called my Sister-in-Law to talk about it and she told me that one of my nephews had asked that on Tuesday they eat carrots in honor of the new President. When asked why the carrots, he replied, "I like carrots and I want Mr. Obama to be like me."

Don't we all? The poor man is going to have so many of us wanting him to do what we'd try to do: save the economy, bring back our national self-respect, foster global peace, knit bridges between the elderly and the young so we don't fight over Medicare versus education, and generally not be that woefully idiotic George Bush. We are all so optimistic about the new Administration.

So, put down the smokes and pick up the carrots, Mr. President. We are going to need you for a long time. And we are going to need you to be the kind of a man who makes my nephew say, "I want to be like him" when he grows up.

PS - Now, I love the man but has anyone else noticed that he looks a bit like one of the Easter Island moai? Could be a good thing to have an icon in the Oval Office. Oh, and "Sequestered in Memphis" by The Hold Steady is worth a listen; now playing on iTunes.