Babylon

Babylon by David Gray



I bought my sister this album for Christmas in 2000. It might have even been a Friday night, going no where, when I bought the album. I spent much of the fall of 2000 walking around Georgetown. This was my Friday and Saturday nights, I'd eat at 6ish, while reading a book, then take the Metro to DuPont. I'd then go west along P Street into Georgetown, then criss crossing the side streets where some of the rich and famous of D.C. live. Usually I'd stop at the Barnes & Noble on M Street and sit for a half hour or so, listening to a few albums in the process. With no where to go, I would eventually make it to Georgetown University and walk around the campus a bit taking in the boys and girls rushing off to whatever party or bar they were running off too. Then it was time to go back, this time east down Q Street... just to change things up a bit. I'd get back to the dorm between 10 and 11, right after the roommate had left for a night of drinking and hitting on girls (he had a decent success rate).

I was lonely, but I didn't entirely mind it at first. I was 18 or 19 and a freshman in college surrounded by East Coasters whose ignorance amazed me. I wasn't really making friends, so long walks in Northwest DC was what I did. It wasn't until right before Thanksgiving that I actually got lonely—and that's when I started making friends.

Over the next three and a half years, once in a while I'd still take a night to walk around Georgetown. I love the area still today and while I don't miss those nights, almost ten years ago now, walking around, I am a bit nostalgic for those nights alone, where my only worry was loneliness.