The 4th was a nice time this year. Last year the Mall downtown was empty. No one wanted to go down except a few of us, and although the fireworks were nice, it was all sort of strange.

This year, we had a party at my parents' house as usual, where we swam and ate good food and talked to people we haven't seen in a long long time... I met some great people from Taiwan, Japan, and Germany, and garnered some invitations to visit them in the future. :)

Later, we went down and sat right in front of the Lincoln Memorial, looking over the reflecting pool to watch the fireworks, and it was packed. I should say, it was reassuringly packed, because it reminded me of how it had always been in the past. The security was new, but the police were not. It all seemed very normal, and the traffic jams of people were so much less annoying because we felt good that everyone was out there...

This country has been the greatest social experiment ever conceived. I hope it continues to improve and reinvent itself for a long long time to come. :)