Coming SOON...

Ok, so I’ll begin by apologizing profusely for not posting more in the past few days... As Dad correctly surmised (or at least hinted at), I’ve been using my evenings to sleep more and write less (okay, not at all). The results have been pretty good; I stayed awake during all of class on Friday (although bringing my laptop computer to class rather than just blank paper was a significant contributing factor) and likewise during all of the movie we watched on Friday night (“Big Fish”; I didn’t think much of it in the category of “good movies,” but it’s pretty much awesome in the category of “swoon-worthy footage of Ewan McGregor”). However, this does not mean that there has been nothing worth writing about as of late! Here are a couple of pictures to peak your interest for my sharing of past adventures:

Take a close look around the dark environment and guess what significant artifact of cultural history I am blocking from your view. Also note how GREEN my eyes look in this pic. This makes me feel REALLY guilty for having “Blue” on my driver’s license...

Here’s a picture from the Utah Senate room on Inauguration Day, since I fully intend re-hashing that subject when I post all my inauguration pictures. In this picture you can completely alter my facial expression if you cover either half of my face; I prefer the left side but the right side is probably closer to the way I was feeling at that moment.

I turned it into stone... Still questioning my capacity to be thought of as “The White Witch?”

Honey, we shrunk the cathedral!!!

To those of you who are at a loss for a response to this disturbing image, be afraid. Be very, very afraid right now.

The White (Witch’s) House: “Do you see those ten trees? My house is BEHIND those ten trees.”

Hopefully, having nothing to do tomorrow but stare at the clock until it hits the far-too-late 24 hour mark from the beginning of my fast to the end will afford me with plenty of time to actually write and post these proposed entries with the accompanying pictures.

Toodle-oo!

I CAN write short posts--see!?

It’s almost 11 pm here and I really want to go to bed, so this is going to be BRIEF. Everything’s good here. I made it to work through the icy slush and treacherous slippy spots, got my work done along with several non-work projects (thanks for your help on the tax stuff, Dad!), and took the Metro home to give myself enough time to go shopping at Safeway before heading back to the Barlow Center in time for a 6:30 briefing. The 6:30 briefing was very nervewracking and depressing (all about nuclear weapons in Korea and how frustrating it is that we haven’t done anything and can’t really do anything and probably won’t do anything), but very interesting all the same. BUT I was still very tired and had to fight hard to stay awake. Immediately after the briefing we had Institute class, about the Presidents of the Church/Presidents of the U.S. Sister Blanchard had provided us with dinner, practically—chili, crackers, fish sticks, cheese, cookies, and milk—so I at least didn’t have to worry about fixing myself something to eat afterwards! I wouldn’t have had time anyway, cause right after Institute Valerie and I had an appointment with our home teachers. They kept us talking until I had to break it off for my 9:30 pm appointment with my visiting teachee/companion, which lasted until 10:00 pm. Our other teachee was sick and we couldn’t find her, so we ended up leaving a note and some orange juice outside her door.

I was not happy at missing the opportunities to go to Barnes & Noble, the gym, or the free concert tonight, but... “there’s always tomorrow!”

I have nothing. Ben, I have nothing...I have twelve paragraphs of nothing

I’m feeling kind of tired tonight, and not very motivated to write a long post about my day...but here I go, anyway.

Today was the first real day of the year here in D.C. where it actually snowed. And boy did it snow! Not as in we got a lot of snow, but as in like, ALL DAY IT WAS SNOWING. It was really pretty and exciting in the morning, but slippery and annoying in the evening. After all my parents’ hard efforts to send me a nice sturdy umbrella, can you believe that I just walked off this morning without it!?!? Well, on the bright side, it was probably my only opportunity for the entire year to arrive at work covered with a fine attractive layer of white powder. I was very grateful for the lack of snow during Inauguration Day, but would actually like to see some more snow here. It makes everything look so pretty! Also, there’s a rumor going around that the city officials panic and shut everything down when there’s enough to build a snowman, so we don’t have to go to work... But I, like doubting Thomas, need to see this thing before I will believe it.

Anyway, I found the snow pretty difficult to navigate in my completely pathetic tractionless (but oh so professional-looking) boots, so if it’s still wet and slushy tomorrow (highly likely) and if I still have to go to work (siiiiiighs notwithstanding, highly likely), I might wear my Keds and just slip my Sunday shoes in my bag to wear while at work. The Keds worked very well for me when I went to Georgetown and to the Kennedy Center after work today. And anything is better than having to leave another half hour earlier so as to inch along in tractionless shoes and still get to work on time and sans snowy-muddy ("Smudwy?" Whadda ya think, Kirster?) clothes from falling in the street.

Work was rather normal and nice. The receptionist was out for the day, making it even more quiet and peaceful than usual... And my computer worked fine all day and I finished updating the files I was given and I got to work on a fun interview piece for the upcoming magazine and I finally met with the HR guy to get a lot of paperwork to fill out about getting paid. That last part has me a little worried, but I’m going to do my best to get it all done tomorrow, and may end up calling Dad for help. Hear that, Dad? Can you manage to stick around the phones tomorrow?

I had lunch from 1:30-2:30, and read The Washington Post in the nice big lunch room on the 6th floor. I try to read the paper every day but don’t always make it. Of course, we’re encouraged to read as many papers as possible while in D.C., but since Professor Bowen sends us a lot of articles and videos to review for class, and I have other readings to do for the internship, there’s never time to read everything. I do like The Washington Post, though. They have interesting articles and commentary on what’s taking place. Unfortunately, they do not have Dilbert.

By the time I finished work, it was dark again as usual (grumble, grumble), and it took me longer than usual to make my way home in the slushy snow. But I enjoyed the nice long walk anyway—I do get a lot of exercise walking to and from work, and it’s always nice to save money by not riding the Metro. Plus, there’s always a lot to see in the streets: Cute quaint shops, very old or distinguished buildings (did I tell y’all I can pass the house of President James Monroe every day on my route? I’ll have to take a picture sometime), funky little restaurants and pubs (“Foggy Bottom Pub” has such a Londonish air about it, wouldn’t you agree?), important business people who somehow seem much less important when they are standing outside in order to smoke a cigarette, foreign people speaking to each other in their own foreign language (hardly a day goes by without my hearing some Asian language, and the other day two fellows took me by surprise by speaking English in a Scottish accent! Very neat!), strange-acting homeless men who try to dissuade me from going into McDonalds...

Random story time! Last week I was sent out to pick up a news magazine with an article about our museum in it. I went around to a hotel close to the museum, picked up the magazine (it was free!), and was on my way back when I passed a McDonalds. For no reason at all, I decided to go in and see what they had on the menu and how much it cost and so on. However, before I could open the door, this random shabbily dressed, unsteady looking guy stumbled outside. He was holding the door open for me, but then he stopped and, staring, said, “YOU’RE going in THERE!?!” I paused, almost already inside, and ran a quick scan of my memory to reassure myself that entering a McDonald’s was not a heinous crime in the United States (well, by some standards...), and said, “Um, yeah.” This bit of affirmation astounded “random tipsy man” beyond all proportion. He informed me that the McDonald’s was “bad,” even “terrible,” and that I would be taking great risks (it was not clear whether these would be to my purse, stomach, person, or life) should I cross the threshold. “Suit yourself,” he warned, like an ominous prophet, before lurching down the street while hiccoughing, staring, and cackling back at me like a witless buffoon. By this time, I had determined to go inside McDonalds simply to get away from this unsavory character, but I was sufficiently unnerved by our conversation to do nothing inside the establishment (which, by the way, seemed as perfectly normal a McDonald’s as one could expect to see) other than wait for him to exit the immediate area before stepping out again. Moral of the random story?

A. Apparently I’m too good for McDonald’s.
B. Don’t judge a McDonald’s by its cover. Or a crazy homeless man by his craziness (after all, he was probably right about McDonald’s being “bad.”). Or a poor college student by a remarkably professional and high-class demeanor (I’m convinced the “boots” made all the difference).
C. I think we can all agree that it is still considered to be socially acceptable for guys to hold doors open for girls.

The point of all this was that I like to walk in D.C., and especially now that I don’t have to look at a map at every corner to figure out where I’m going. So I walked home after work, then immediately walked to the Kennedy Center and enjoyed most of the free concert. It was a group of operatic singers called the National Washington Opera Group or something like that. All the singers were incredibly talented, but all but one of their songs was in Italian and it was a little hard to always pay attention. Especially since I was falling asleep by this time. Oh, and there was a young girl next to me who kept coughing during the whole thing. I could have shot her down with the eyes of hate, but her mother seemed pretty embarrassed about it, and eventually made her switch seats to move away without any prompting from me whatsoever. So apparently “thoughts of hate” are becoming just as effective...!?

After the concert, I went shopping at Safeway (a record-breaking four bags—the most that I’ve ever carried from one shopping trip!) and then home to eat dinner, a nice ham-thing in the MRE package. After dinner, I walked to Georgetown and spent an hour in what is rapidly becoming my favorite place in D.C., if not the world: Barnes & Noble.

And NOW...I’ve just been informed by Valerie that she has been having rather lengthy and substantive conversation via Facebook with a very potentially date-able young man whom she met at the ice skating activity last week. They’ve exchanged four or five messages and looked at each other’s photos only in the past few days, which sounds pretty serious.

Apologies for not posting about Sunday or Monday. I do have a Sunday draft scribbled out, but Monday and all of its dreary Mondayness is kind of slipping away from me, so I might have to let that one go.

Don’t forget to comment! Love to you all!

P.s. Did anyone else noticed the shift in my attitude from "I don't wanna write" at the beginning to "If ONLY I could keep writing!" at the end...? Just curious.

Whose idea was Monday, anyway?

So it REALLY felt like a Monday today... I slept in, got up in time only to fix myself a nice lunch and eat a rushed breakfast (orange and some bread...) before walking to work and getting there ten minutes late (and that mostly because I was taking a new route that had been closed all last week and the week before for Inauguration, and I took a wrong turn on one street in the new route). I felt bad about being late, but I stayed until 5:40 to make up for it, and my supervisors are always much later than me, so no one seems to mind very much. Except for the little “non-dark-side” of my conscience...

Work was really busy and not very fun. I had to put together the daily art news, which took longer than usual since the news was backed up from last Thursday evening, and then go right to the dreaded Phone Duty training session, which was meant to be a re-cap for me and a fresh intro for ALL the OTHER interns. When I got to the desk, however, there was me, the receptionist, and only ONE intern there. Her name is Kristie Yeung, and she is really nice. She works in Development on the 6th floor, and we promptly became friends and agreed to have lunch together that day. The receptionist was in a little bit of a better mood, and spoke just a little bit slower and allowed us the smallest littlest bit more time in between her directions to write down notes. Whenever the phone rang, she let—made—Kristie answer (not me—huge sigh of relief at having already passed that test!), though more often than not the calls ended up being complicated enough so that she had to take the phone away anyway. We got our phone duty shifts emailed to us last week, and I’ll be working every Tuesday, 12-2. So, extra prayers during this time would be greatly appreciated, folks...!

The rest of Monday pretty much faded into oblivion, as Mondays will do. I finished a PolSci 399R paper and then went to FHE, which involved snacking on popcorn, green-but-chocolate M&Ms, and pretzels, and participating in a music dance video contest in groups (Warning: “groups” is almost always a danger sign for upcoming fragmentation, boredom, and indecision among FHEs). We were supposed to be assigned songs and come up with our own choreography, but my group never was given a song, which resulted in about ten minutes of absolutely nothing as we—some of us—searched for, found, practiced to, and discarded four or five possible options. By that time, it was time for “showtime,” and we pretty much had nothing. But our latest song had been a classical-opera-balletish type piece, so we stuck with that, improvising all but maybe 10 seconds of choreography, and scoring embarrassingly low in the cheer-scream-clap-factor-method used to determine the winner of the night. Some of our members even deserted our group before we performed. The other groups all did better, but nothing so worthy of the deafening screams of raucous applause which came from their members when “voting time” came around. All in all, I was not impressed with the activity, and if it weren’t for the pretzel-popcorn-M&M mix, the night would have been completely pointless.

Further evidence that I am falling to the Dark Side...

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I MUST have written and subsequently forgotten to post the single-spaced, ten-paragraph entries detailing my adventures from the past two days or that my Internet connection went down again or that I was prevented from posting for the last two nights by an alien space attack or another such comparably catastrophic calamity. Well, (deep breath), and this is hard for me... Assuming you’re thinking this, you would be wrong. The truth is that I simply didn’t write. On my blog, that is. I wrote my paper for the Political Science 399 class and turned it in today, roughly an hour before it was due, and I wrote a lot of random work-related stuff today on the job—whoops, internship—including a bunch of boring phone-duty notes from the second session of training, which was nearly as bad as the first, but not quite! You’ll find out why in a minute, after I’m done going off on tangents and reviewing stale, leftover news from the weekend.

So I feel kind of bad, because I was excited to keep a journal blog for every day I was in D.C., and I really wanted to write EVERY DAY, even if it was just a paragraph or something!!! And it’s not even February yet and I blew it. Siiiigh. So please tell me it’s okay and you don’t mind and I’m still pretty much perfect in your eyes and all that other inspirational stuff. Please? ‘Annnyyybodddy?!?’ (Daniel, name that character! No one else will get it so I won’t even bother)

Because of the three day back-up, I’ll try to be speedy in describing my Saturday and Sunday. After the beautiful warm Friday weather, Saturday was pretty cold and dismal in comparison, but I ended up spending most of it indoors anyway, so I hardly noticed. Valerie and I used the morning to go to the Corcoran Gallery and get their two-for-one discount. This turned out to be a relatively good thing, since the gallery itself wasn’t worth the half-price of $7 that we paid for it. It was still kind of pretty and fun to look at and everything. They had cool exhibits and cool pictures and I’ll say a lot more about that when I get the time to put some of my pictures on here.

After the Corcoran Gallery, we walked home and ate lunch at the Barlow Center (peanut butter and jelly bagels, by the way, are infinitely better tasting than plain bagels—how could I have never noticed the difference before?), then split up. Valerie took the Metro to some place to go ice skating for a church activity, and I went to the National Museum of Natural History, which is now pretty much my favorite place in the entire world (or at least a tie with Barnes & Noble).

I could say a zillion bajillion things about this museum and still not cover all the amazing things inside it. I gawked and gazed and tried to take in as much as I could, but I know I’ll have to go back for two reasons: The first is to see all the things that I didn’t have time to see. The second is to take pictures, since I really didn’t take any—wasn’t that dreadful of me? I guess I was just too overwhelmed by it all: The size, the scope, the amount of things to see...Oh, and all the little families rushing around. My goodness! It was worse than an LDS meetinghouse gym at a family ward Christmas party! Surprisingly, this was the first museum that I’ve really seen kids running around in. In fact, come to think of it, it was the first TIME that I’ve really ever seen a group of kids in one place in D.C.... Even during Inauguration I never saw so many children running around. It was weird, like they had all been hiding since I got here or something....Hmm. Well, I’m rather relieved to know that D.C. isn’t like the evil country in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where no children are allowed! On the other hand, I make note of the fact that D.C. probably isn’t the greatest environment for raising a large Mormon family. Unless you could find a way to live in the Natural History Museum (which would be AWESOME). (By the way, you will please note that the exclamatory adjectival utterance of “awesome” is yet another indication of just how far I have fallen to the dark side.)

Here are just a few things to see in this wonderful, humongous museum: The Hope Diamond (not nearly as impressive as Dorothy’s ruby red slippers, but there sure were a lot more people crowded around it). Elephants. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! (Actually, I never saw the lions and tigers...) Continually playing free movies about submarine exploration and Civil Rights and Martin Luther King and evolution. A child-size version of the Amazon Rainforest. Glass elevators that you can see through. A humongous whale. Dinosaurs. Cool but expensive movies about dinosaurs and the ocean which you can see with 3-D glasses (which worked very well, particularly in the Dinosaur movie—I felt like I was getting my face eaten and my eye poked out at least twice!). And The Dark Knight.

No, you didn’t misread that last part. The Imax theater was playing “The Dark Knight” as a special feature film on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in January. And sooooo....I saw it. Did I love it? No. Did I like it? Yeah. A lot.

I was nervous about seeing the film because of the level of violence, but I was honestly relieved and even a little surprised by the result. Of course, there is a lot of violence in the film, but it was neither as gross nor as great as what I had been led to expect from all the hype. Nothing graphic was really ever shown, thanks to the clever cutting away at the “crucial” moment trick. Of course, I tend to cover my eyes or glance in a different direction whenever a potentially-nightmare-inducing image is about to appear onscreen... But I can say that I wasn’t terribly frightened of Two-Face (although I pretty much concentrated on the “good” side whenever he appeared) or even of the Joker’s scary cackle, and I pretty much avoided the screen altogether during the infamous “pencil trick,” but it didn’t look as bad as it sounded.

My main problem was not with the violence of the film, but rather with the volume, which was turned up to a ridiculously high level in the ridiculously huge Imax theater, making it difficult to concentrate on anything during the car-chasing motorcycle-revving building-exploding scenes other than the fact that MY EARS ARE HURTING!!!!!!@!!*&@!(*@&!(*!!!!!!!!

Lastly, but not least(ly), I was warned that the film is kind of depressing, but ouch. It really is. I’m not sure I could have made it through the night if they hadn’t decided to watch one of those goofy whipped-cream romantic comedies in the basement later that night in the Barlow Center. It was called One Fine Day or something like that, and it was the perfect counterbalance to my feelings of darkness and dignity and heroism...

There was another church activity that night as well, with bowling and food and games and stuff at some place on George Washington University campus, but I didn’t feel like going, so I didn’t.

And....I’ll write about Sunday and Monday later. It’s already past midnight and I need to get some sleep before tomorrow so I can wake up early and exercise before work. But quickly, before I sign off, I did get the package today from Mom and Dad with all the fun goodies in it. Thanks for the socks, clothes, DVDs (John Adams! Redwall! Chariots of Fire! You DO love me!!!), and the Redwall books especially. The umbrella ALMOST came in handy today, as it was snowing this morning, but it stopped pretty soon to the sadness of us all (I mean, any day where we don’t have to go to work for 3 inches of snow is a good day, right?).

Crazy, Lazy, and AMAZING Day - In that order!

Today started out very well. I got up early enough to exercise and take a warm shower before our first briefing at 9:30, and I really, really enjoyed the speaker, Gordon Flake. He is LDS and works as a political analyist; his speciality is Asian countries, and he’s particularly knowledgeable about Korea, having served his mission there and lived there and stuff. He talked to us about the history of Korea (which was FASCINATING! MUCH more exciting than the loooooong article we had to read—which, incidentally, was written by him as well) and told us in a very cheerful pepped-up voice about how North Korea had basically crossed every red line, violated every agreement, and lied at every turn, AND gotten away with it! I was pretty nervous by the end of his speech—what are we gonna do now to save ourselves from North Korea, guys!?!?—but he himself was very cheerful and energetic throughout the whole thing. He cracked a lot of jokes (“People ask what I do in my job, and I tell them what my kids tell me—I go to a lot of meetings and talk a lot”) and was so knowledgeable and, unlike last week’s first speaker, had a good spirit of enthusiasm about being a Latter-day Saint involved in politics. I found myself wanting to become a Korean major, an Asian historian, and a politician all at once after his speech... Or at least marry one, y’know.

We had class right after the briefing; it was all about the Arab-Israeli crisis and how we had all grown up hearing only the pro-Israel side and how many Palestinians were dying and it’s all the United States’ fault for not doing enough and so on. I had difficulty following along with Professor Bowen’s charts and rapid historical account, but I’m not sure how much of it was due to the late hour, her fast talking, or the fact that I had had nothing but an orange for breakfast. Sigh! We went well over the hour, cutting our break between class and the time we had to leave to get to the building where our final briefing of the day would be held. Grrrr. I had only enough time to eat a bagel before we rushed off to the AIPAC building (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) where we would get our second briefing, from a pro-Israel standpoint (well, duh. Did I really think she was going to bring in an anti-Israel Washington D.C. person to talk to us...?). Professor Bowen was very serious about warning us to be on our guard, and think neither of AIPAC leaders as “The Messiah” or as “The Devil.” Feeling confused, but wanting to be safe, I decided to think of them just as regular people. I hope that was okay.

The briefing was rather one-sided and predictable, as we expected. The lady who addressed us was the campus outreach director for AIPAC, and had actually visited BYU several times and worked with people from BYU before, so she knew a lot about us and was very positive about the church. Interesting tid-bit: She has Israeli heritage (and still has family living in Israel), but was born in South Africa, and grew up in Georgia and graduated from UGA! Neat, huh? She was very friendly and nice and pretty knowledgeable about what she does and what the company does, but she was very careful to stay out of any controversial issues and make it clear that AIPAC was only interested in making sure the United States and Israel had a “good, strong, healthy” relationship. Which means lobbying for foreign aid, education, money, etc. Pretty anti-climactic. I asked her if it was difficult to get Republicans and Democrats to work together in deciding what to do about the United States-Israel “relationship,” and she responded in about two minutes, basically just saying, “No, it isn’t.” (This is quite an impressive talent, by the by—saying a lot while saying little. Given the length of my entries here, I seem to be lacking in this area...he he he).

I neglected to mention that we took a bus to get to AIPAC. It was the first bus I’ve taken here, unless you count the Kennedy Center bus that just goes from the Metro to the KC and back, and I rather enjoyed the ride. It was nice to see the city rather than the dark, shady tunnels of the Metro for once, and I got a good feel for where AIPAC was in relation to other places (it’s just a few blocks north from where I work). Unfortunately, it was also kind of hot and stuffy, which would have been fine if I wasn’t all dressed up for winter. Today was definitely the warmest day I’ve seen in D.C. so far! It’s supposed to get cold again in a day or so, but the warmth was kind of nice, especially since I’m still trying to recover from that sort-of-sore-throat. Oh, and ESPECIALLY since as of this evening, we no longer have hot water. Farewell my warm morning shower, how I miss thee already! Valerie and I will both probably be heading to the gym tomorrow to shower and hopefully exercise. I rubbed some more blisterish things on my feet from walking a few miles (I walked home from AIPAC rather than catch the bus; it took about 45 min) in my hose and boots, and Valerie’s Achilles’ tendons have been hurting, so we’re both a little footsore right now. Maybe the exercise bike would be the best option!?

Also, the AIPAC building had absolutely no signs outside whatsoever, and nothing to indicate that it WAS indeed the correct building. Inside they told us this was for security purposes (so I guess the US-Israel relationship actually does still have a few kinks in it!). Also for security, we had to pass all of our stuff through the metal detector; honestly, I’ve never had to go through so many metal detectors in my life as here in D.C.! The Washington Monument, the Museum of American History, the Holocaust Museum, the Senate building, AIPAC... On the plus side, I’ve become pretty quick at taking everything out of my pockets and putting it back again. We also had to be “escorted” up to the 7th floor and back down again, via elevator. I noted that everyone there seemed to be observing “Casual Friday” in their dress; either that or it’s okay now to wear jeans to work!?!? Oh, and the bellboy person who took us up was wearing one of those Jewish skullcaps, along with his casual clothes and stuff. Pretty neat!

So after the briefing (which was in a HUGE conference room with a nice view of the U.S. Capitol outside; a lot of people took pictures, but I had unfortunately left my camera behind again...), they served us all drinks (Sprite—yum. Oh, and that was my lunch—tada!) and escorted us down. We split up pretty soon, some to take the Metro, some to wait for a bus, and some to walk whithersoever they desired. I joined the group heading for the Barlow Center, and made it in roughly 45 minutes, taking my usual work route for part of the way.

Back at home, it was about 3:30, and I figured it would be pointless to try to rush and see a museum when they all close at 5:00 or 5:30, so I just ate lunch, took a nap, and went shopping.

Skip to the AMAZING part! Due to the kindness of one of Val’s coworkers, Valerie and I had free tickets to the National Symphony Orchestra, featuring pianist Yundi Li, at the Kennedy Center. We went and our tickets ended up being FOUR ROWS away from the stage!!!!!!!!!! And that’s not all, we were DEAD CENTER in the MIDDLE SECTION on the FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!! I had only ever been on the third balcony in any stage in the Kennedy Center, so this was a rare and remarkable privilege. I had to look up at the balcony a lot because I knew the chances of me getting this perspective again were slim. One of the fun moments came at the end when we applauded (like for 5 minutes, as the conductor had to walk out and in again about 3 times) and I could turn my head and HEAR the applause echoing from around the room! Really incredible.

As for the concert itself, wwwwwhuh-owwwwww. The orchestra was really beautiful; I never heard a mistake, and was very impressed at their sharp technique and concentration. We were so low down in the audience that it was hard to see anything other than the groups of violinists and bass players (I never saw the brass or the drums, but I heard them! I heard them! ~name that movie...), but we REALLY saw these performers: I could see faces, facial expressions, every turn page, every grimace, and little details, like the cloth that the first violinist (who was by far the most eye-catching figure; she was apparently a “second-in-command” to the conductor) used to cushion her violin between her shoulder and chin, and the different ways that they held their bows at rest. I also had a pretty good view of the guy who played the cymbals, which was nice after the first startling “crash,” because I could turn to watch him and prepare myself for the next loud noises. By the way, this is common sense, but the closer you are to the stage, THE LOUDER EVERYTHING IS. My ears were a little overworked by the end of it all, and I can only imagine how the players themselves cope!

The pianist, Yundi Li, was definitely the highlight of the night. There were three main numbers (the final was a selection of pieces from Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, which was most recognizable), and he played throughout the second, accompanied by the orchestra. He was basically perfect. No music to look at, nothing. And he never missed a note. And he played at maybe the speed of light. It was in-cred-uh-bull. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself, honestly. And with the low vantage point, I didn’t get to see his fingers very well (though I saw all the weird things he was doing with his face while he played; he grimaced a lot and would shake his head sometimes), so I’m still not entirely convinced that it wasn’t rigged. Or a miracle or SOMETHING. I was kind of sad he never came back after the final number, which is when we all did our “standing ovation” custom, because if anyone deserved a standing ovation, he did. He just bowed his two or three times (we did clap long enough to keep him running back—yeah!) and then vanished. The program said he would be signing CDs in the hall that evening, but I never saw him, soo.... farewell to the mysteriously marvelous piano man. Oh, and after witnessing such an incredible performance (sorry—I know I keep over-using that adjective), I’m not sure if I’m feeling inspired to practice the piano more, or just overwhelmed enough to give it up entirely. Kind of like how the Don Quixote ballet made me pine obsessively after acquiring the Baryshnikov film version, while loathing even the memories I have of pointe shoes. Any thoughts on this dichotomy?

Well, just a few more things to say before I wrap it up for the night:

1. I got the “food” package from Mama and Dad on Thursday. Thanks so much! And Mama, seeing your handwriting on the package made me homesick...I love you!

2. I haven’t called BYU yet, but will try to do so tomorrow, or Monday if they aren’t open. Thanks for trying, Dad!

3. I am uncontrollably and unconditionally in love with the Barnes & Nobles in Georgetown. Yesterday, I walked in, sat down, and read The Hunger Games for over an hour in a quiet spot in the kids’ section. It was seriously the highlight of my entire day... Oh, and the book is really rather interesting. I would recommend it :)

4. I have fallen to the dark side. Having loathed caramel and ice cream combos for years, I was utterly shocked and appalled to find myself consuming and ENJOYING the formerly alien brand of “Caramel Vanilla Delight” ice cream served to us at Institute. To those of you who know my detestation for caramel (it’s nearly as fierce as my loathing for mint, mushroom soup, and “broccoli breath”) and are shaking your heads in shock right now, I am just as confused and anxious about this as you. You might want to start repenting, as the end of the world is surely near.

5. I promise the pictures will come. But if not...will you still comment?

“How can you read this? It has no PICTURES!” Name the quoted source and character - bonus points to whoever recalls the clever comeback...

So yeah, once again I apologize for the lack of pictures (and of my spare time to post them). I was feeling kind of tired and sickish today, although my sore throat feels better now. The weather wasn’t quite as cold, and I took the Metro to work this morning, sparing myself some exposure. Anyway, since I do actually HAVE the pictures, I guess I rationalize postponing them since I know I can always come back to them, whereas my thoughts are flighty things that I’ve got to write down quick before they disappear. And you’ve got to remember that I was introduced to journal-writing in ye olde times, when all journals were written by hand and pictures were put in the ancient dust-covered photograph albums next to the family Bible. Some of my fellow Barlow Centerians have already informed me that my own digital camera is still rather behind in the times, with its inability to focus clearly on distant objects, zoom in and out like a racer car in a commercial, and function without alerting everyone within a 20-foot radius by a loud “ker-chick!” and flash that an old-fashioned, poor-quality photograph has just been taken. But it has kept working so far (bless its heart!), so I will try not to complain too much.

Today was the first day wherein I tackled the phone duty responsibility at work; I had wanted to wait until I could attend a second training session before starting up, but the next training session for all the other interns (who weren’t there last week when I received my own personal stress—um, training—session) was on Monday, and apparently the phone duty shift for today COULD NOT WAIT. So guess who was the ONLY intern who was, um, “trained”? Right. Me. Uh-huh.

So Addie, the Intern coordinator, had told me phone duty would be two hours MWF and one hour TTh, which cheered me up considerably, since, after all, what’s the worst that could happen in an hour? Then I checked in with our receptionist this morning to make sure...and she told me I would be working from noon to 2 pm. Ker-thunk. That was my heart sinking into my shoes.

At noon, I went down, but due to a meeting getting out it was really about 12:15 pm when I got behind the desk and the secretary left. She was answering the phone pretty much constantly every few seconds before she left, so I was terrified. Speaking a mile a minute (honestly, she speaks faster and more aggressively than any other person in the office, and possibly than any other person I know), she gave me a barrage of last-second instructions, all of which I could have followed up with a lot of questions, but didn’t, as I could tell she didn’t want to hear them and wasn’t going to slow down anyway to explain. So I nodded, grinned, sweated, and focused so hard on trying to appear as if I was thoroughly paying attention that I actually failed to really, uh, pay attention.

But then she left. It was me and the phone. How I glared at that phone. I prayed, I pleaded, I promised it cookies if it would not ring for the whole two hours. It was good at first. For the whole first hour, I hardly got any calls. The ones that I did get were fairly easy to handle, and I became a little more comfortable with transferring calls and looking up people on the many confusing information sheets provided at the desk. Not to say that I was perfect. There were a few flubs as I transferred calls to people who weren’t in their offices (but how was I supposed to know that they weren’t in?!), to voicemail, or—in one or two sad cases where I never found out the consequences—accidentally hung up on the party! I was really upset for a while about this, particularly since the callers had seemed nice and friendly, but gave myself a little pep talk shortly thereafter, with the following points of encouragement:

· No matter what happens, it is ONLY a phone call.
· In the worst possible scenario, I could ask the caller to call again later when the real receptionist is in (p.s. There is also some elaborate way to put them on hold and call the receptionist on her cell phone or on an extension and somehow transfer the call to her and yet still be able to talk with her and transfer the call to another person again... Needless to say, I much prefer the former method, and have a feeling that most other people do as well).
· It WAS my first day and I did have a sore throat—it’s okay if I messed up.
· It’s only two hours, and it’s only once a week at the most. Actually, I don’t have to do it at all next week because there are four other interns now, and none of us works on Friday, so we alternate M-Th. Yeah!!!

The second hour got a little crazier, both in the number and type of calls. I got calls about random things that I vaguely remembered being warned about in the crash training session course a week ago. For example, our number is one digit away from the number for the Peter Pan Peanut Butter company, and YES! I got a call about that very organization!!!! It was an old-sounding lady wanting to know if her Peter Pan peanut butter jar was being recalled for salmonella. Ummmmm..... Fortunately, I remembered that the secretary had the PPPB company’s number written down in the phone notebook, so I went searching for it madly (WHY can you never find anything when you desperately urgently NEED it!!?!?), flipping through the book several times while trying to explain the mix-up to the lady. At LAST I found the number, gave it to her, and tranquility was restored!

Another funny one was a guy calling SPECIFICALLY to get the number for the National Gallery of Art. Like the National Museum of Women in the Arts was a perfectly logical and reasonable place to go for such a thing. Fortunately again, this apparently happens all the time, and the receptionist had the number written on a Post-it note by the computer. Cha-ching!

By the end of the second hour, I was attempting to cast spells on the telephone to make it shut up, and on myself as well to make it possible for me to concentrate on my reading, my homework, my work, ANYTHING but the fact that I just KNEW that telephone was going to ring in the next second.... It was really quite nerve-wracking.

And then 2 pm came. And NO receptionist. 2:15 came. Nothing (by way of the receptionist, that is. I was getting (and loathing) plenty of calls). 2:25? Nada. Jane, the assistant to the director, a friendly but quiet lady who never fails to smile or say “Hi” to me in the mornings, walked by and asked me if the receptionist was coming back. I said, “I hope so!” 2:30. Then, at LAST, the phone rang and it was SHE! Hallelujah! She said she was coming up, and then hung up. And then it was like another 6/7 minutes before she appeared. She was smiling and cheerful, and congratulated me on surviving my first day, and then she told me that she had not even left the museum for lunch, just in case I needed to call her. As I look back on it, this was actually her way of doing me a favor and trying to be nice, but at the time I was rather upset at knowing that she COULD have come up to relieve me at 2 pm and chose for some reason or other not to, as well as at my having to work an extra hour-and-a-half past the time limit Addie had given me. But I was also SO RELIEVED to see her that I ignored my frustrations, and thanked her very much for coming back to take over. I have been praying that she and I would get along better and she would be in a good mood, so I feel blessed that Heavenly Father seems to be answering my prayers. Now all I need to do is strive to keep my part of the bargain by being cheerful, prompt, and as knowledgeable as I can. Without stressing myself out about it too much, cause after all, it’s JUST A PHONE CALL.

A few other things I experienced while on phone duty:

1. Most people calling in are either informed about what they want (meaning I don’t have to be the smart one—they tell me where to transfer the calls or who they want to speak with), or uninformed but nice and pleasant, and—this is important—slow talkers. I like this a lot, as it gives me a chance to evaluate the situation, double-check my number sheets, and take my time in transferring or looking up something or doing what needs to be done.

2. As a receptionist, people expect you to know EVERYTHING about the museum. Half of the questions were about stuff that anyone could go and look up on the website (Web site...if you’re Michelle), but of course, if you’re the receptionist, people assume you already know.

3. The 4th floor seems pretty remote and shabby, and the back part of it where my office and our junky tiny lunch room and cranky printer (which is named “Poundc@ke,” oddly enough) actually fits this description well, but there’s also a display room with art and a Library with books and stuff on display. Which is kind of neat—I’ll have to take a look in there sometime! Particularly when there are all these people coming up to look at it and ask ME questions about it!

Before I finish up, I wanted to say thanks especially to M.A. and the Ultimate Banana for commenting on my last two posts. For a few agonizing hours, I was afraid you had all abandoned me after the three-day crisis wherein there was no wireless!!! The comments, even the short ones, do buoy my spirits considerably, and you’d be surprised how inordinately proud I am of the fact that at least one loving person has commented on each and every post I have here. Also, I was quite excited to see this morning that Daniel has become a follower; yeah for my family and how much they love me!!!! Now if only I could convince Mom and Joseph that my ramblings are worth subscribing to... But until that day, I suppose Hoosier and Kirstiloo can be counted on to provide truthful reports of my proceedings :)

I love you all. Have a great Friday! (Sigh, yes, it IS Friday now. Shall the post-midnight postings never end!?)

So passes a Ruthena-less Wednesday. Aaaaaaaarrrrrrgh!

Okay, so, I got home ‘round 6 pm, and Valerie told me that we had Internet, but it wasn’t wireless, so we had to figure out how to plug these cords (we had one between us, but luckily she had another one) into our computers and then into the wall, and THEN figure out on the computer screen how to un-do the wireless thing and reconnect to the wireful thing. Somewhere in the middle of all the chaos, I decided to go shopping for groceries at the Watergate Safeway (my new favorite place for, um, everything). Despite our fears that all stores would be totally packed and almost empty during Inauguration Day and the following days, Safeway wasn’t crowded at all and had plenty of food. And thanks to my nice new Safeway card, I got a discount :). After coming home, I fiddled with the Internet some more, and finally managed to get it working, with Valerie’s help. By then, of course, it was time for Institute, which ran until 9:30 or so. Starving even after the consumption of our post-Institute ice cream sundaes, I ate my dinner, and then remembered I had to finish up some homework, clean my dishes, and take out our trash. After doing that, guess what!? It’s 12:07 am, and no Wednesday post. Soooooo... I apologize.

After the luxurious five-day weekend (sans the breaking down of the Barlow Center) and hyped-up festivities of Inauguration, it felt strange to go back to work today. Everything seemed rather commonplace and blah, particularly when I found out that most of my co-workers had, true to their word, stayed inside for the whole time and watched whatever they wanted to see on T.V. I myself had a bit of a sore throat from the exposure to the cold weather, I assume (‘Cause I was SO not that crazy girl you’ll see on TV screaming “O-BAM-a! OOOO-bama!” at the top of her lungs for five full minutes), and was careful to wear all my warm clothing again today to hopefully stave off any worsening illness. Right now my voice sounds much worse than my throat feels—which is fine with me. The only foreseeable problem is that I’m scheduled to do phone duty tomorrow (the other interns have all arrived now, but none of them have been “trained” yet, so guess who got stuck with the first shift?). It’s only for an hour on Thursdays, so I’m crossing my fingers and praying and fasting that NO ONE will call. And that the secretary will be in a good mood. It’s a little difficult to gage her moods: Today she seemed kind of snappish while sorting the mail and complaining about something to a few co-workers, but she also gave me a nice wave this morning and said something (she speaks kinda fast, so I didn’t catch exactly what) to me in a friendly way as I left the building today, so I don’t think she was mad at me for anything... I’ve stayed away from all the malfunctioning or prone-to-malfunctioning machines as much as possible, and the printer has been cooperative with others so far, so I can only hope my streak of good luck continues.

Work was made even more blah by the fact that I had nothing but two pieces of plain bread, broccoli, carrots, and an apple for a lunch, so in my shopping trip I decided to be a little extravagant and buy some peanut butter and jam. Assuming I like the change, I shall endeavor to make both items last for a good long while.

And that’s pretty much all I have to say about this day. Scroll along to the next post to see my write-up about Inauguration Day. I debated on whether or not to save the post for when I have time to put some pictures, but I figured you guys would probably rather read about my experience while the day is fresh in your minds. So stay tuned for another Inauguration-themed posting with all the fun pictures and videos!

Happy Obama-nation Day!

Today, history was made. I’m referring, of course, to the absolutely unprecedented wave of freezing cold winds and temperatures that descended upon the city of Washington D.C. for the past 24 hours. Oh, yeah, and the inauguration of our new president. But seriously, it was COOOOLD! When we started out, I was glad that I had run upstairs to grab my hat after momentarily forgetting it. Half-way through, I was wishing I had grabbed a few more things, like three more pairs of socks, two more pairs of gloves, two long-sleeved shirts, a sweater and my hoodie, etc. By the time we made it to the Capitol Building, I was wishing I was wearing every article of clothing I possessed. Bro. Rowberry, who has lived here for quite some time, says that today was the coldest weather he had ever known in D.C. Which makes me feel a little less wimpy...but not less cold.

But to make up for the cold, everyone was excited and happy and crazy, all at once. Which made for a very exciting, happy, crazy interesting series of adventures on Inauguration Day. Here’s the scoop:

I woke up at 6:15 am, almost exactly on the dot! That’s when I knew that this day was going to be different and special...

I exercised downstairs, watching almost the very last episode of my Redwall mini-series (Sniff! I’m going to miss them! Please note: Scarcity is the mother of unfounded feelings of great appreciation for things that would otherwise be discarded as stupid and childish). And they totally wrecked the Cluny-in-the-bell-tower scene, just so you know. For one thing (oh, and spoilers ahead, though I can’t imagine anyone reading my blog who does not know this already, or cares enough to be upset at the spoiler ending), he gets INTO the tower by grabbing Cornflower, rather than just running in. This makes Cornflower look pretty helpless, and also wastes all the hard work they put into making her a strong tough feminine character in completely fabricated episodes!. Then Cluny lets Cornflower go for unknown reasons when Matthias pursues and attacks him. THEN Cluny grabs Cornflower AGAIN when Matthias is at the top of the tower (making her look not only helpless, but stupid for not running away during the minutes it took for Matthias to get there). THEN Cluny yells at Matthias to come down—and totally forgets the part where he tells him to lose the sword. Um, hello? And finally, which is perhaps the most ridiculous happening of all, Cluny spends maybe five seconds standing still and staring up at the bell when it falls, screaming at the top of his lungs. Five seconds! Enough time to lick all of your fingers after a helping of Great Hall Trifle and summer salad, and the blighter just sits there, wot!? Well, anyway. I still enjoyed watching the series. In fact, picking apart the bad parts is almost as fun as enjoying the good.

But back to Inauguration Day. After exercising, I washed some dishes and, hearing some sirens, went over to our commons room and got to see a whole line of maybe 20 police motorcycles and police cars, followed by a small line of black cars, all heading down Pennsylvania Avenue past the Barlow Center. I knew the chances were slim that it was....HIM...but it was exciting all the same, because, well, it had to be SOMEBODY, right?

After a shower and quick breakfast apiece, Valerie and I headed downstairs to the lobby, where a rather large group of us had gathered to head out for the Senate building. The streets didn’t look too crowded where we were, and we were hopeful of walking to the Capitol in as little as an hour. Ha.

We had planned last night to meet at 8:30, but most of us knew we wouldn’t end up leaving before 9, and we didn’t—but it was mostly the fault of one guy who had heard that we would be leaving at 9, and behaved accordingly. It seemed silly to hold up the show for one guy, and it seemed even sillier when we ended up breaking off into numerous groups in the first half-hour, but, as is the case with crazy excited happy people in an atmosphere surrounded by other crazy happy excited people, we did it anyway. It turned out to be a good thing that we waited anyway, since it gave me time to change my outfit a couple of times. I couldn’t decide whether the Senate reception thing would be formal or not, so I changed my casual T-shirt to a less-casual shirt and my keds to my nice boots. Then I decided that I was going to be doing a lot of walking, so I changed back to my keds (which, incidentally, made me look ridiculous, but I solved that problem by never taking off my coat). Then I decided it would probably get cold, so I grabbed my hat to add to my scarf and gloves. Wise decisions, the latter two. The first was kind of dumb, since, as I said, it never got warm enough for me to take off my coat anyway.

I was elated to discover that the first half-hour of walking the streets was not that cold or even crowded. We walked along Pennsylvania Avenue until 14th street or so, and then met a big crowd all heading towards the Washington Monument. Whoever was in the front of our group decided to join the crowd, and we followed like sheep, cheering recklessly whenever the crowd did, waving our non-existent American flags, taking pictures of other people taking pictures of picture-taking people, and generally behaving like a bunch of nuts. I did take pictures, and even some videos, but will have to post those later as the Internet is STILL (weep, weep) down, and there’s too much to write about anyway without bothering to put up the pictures. To all those of you who prefer short quick descriptions and pictures to long-winded journal entries, go away. This blog is primarily for me, anyhow, and my wonderful Dad, who will read and love everything I write (and I love you too, Dad!). So there. Nyah.

It was beginning to get cold by this time, but we were still excited enough to not care, particularly when we got close enough to see the Washington Monument and walk around on the not-so-green lawn surrounding it. There were a lot of people, but we had plenty of space to walk around and could see quite far, so we were still optimistic about making it to the Capitol. Perhaps we would even cross the Mall, we mused to ourselves as we passed the Monument and the huge screen of Obama giving speeches and the speakers even farther off, which were playing “This Land is Your Land” (Funny side-note: When it started playing, I heard one mild-looking middle-aged white guy exclaim to another, “This is my kind of song!” Which made me happy, since I also at least know and kind of like the song). Ten minutes later, we knew we were kidding ourselves. I have never seen a crowd form or close in on a group so quickly: One minute we had plenty of room to walk around and we could see off in the distance. The next, we had all stopped moving, there were people all around us in every direction, and the somewhat-shorter-ones (including, sigh, yours truly) had the ill luck to not be able to see anything past the shoulders of coats of big people standing all around. Our group had already undergone severe fragmentation by this point, but there were 6 or 7 of us who still clung together, and we ultimately decided that there was nothing to do but go back out of the Mall, as far away from the Monument and as far back as possible to the Southwest of D.C., and then walk around the whole thing until we came up behind the Capitol.

This was easier said than done, but easier done that you might have expected. Laura, perhaps the shortest one in our group but also one of the “natural leaders” (more on this later...), took charge in forging a way for us through the enormous crowd which had now congregated around the Washington Monument. We followed her in single file, never taking our eyes off the person in front of us (well, at least I didn’t!) and got out in record-breaking time, perhaps as little as ten minutes. On the way I was amazed to observe how small the gigantic stretch of land with the Washington Monument appeared when covered with people, blankets, and backpacks. Some people had literally just camped out for the day, and didn’t show any signs of doing anything else that day besides sitting in their one secured spot. I did NOT envy these people, not one teeny weeny bit.

After we got out, it took us a good hour to forge our way south and around all the security, though the crowds were more of a concern for me. To be honest, I was a little terrified after the last blinding as well as claustrophobic experience (because being short is the equivalent of not being able to see anything once you’re in a crowd). Being unable to see or move is pretty scary. And I could have gone deaf as well if they had decided to suddenly all start shouting “O-BA-ma! O-BA-ma!” as they did spontaneously later on in the day. It’s a dangerous life, but someone’s gotta live it, I guess.
We managed to do pretty well for the next part of our journey. We went farther south than I had ever gone in D.C. before, passing even the Holocaust Museum and walking several blocks around to get to the Capitol. We even walked past the L’Enfant Metro station exit where we had emerged after a slight bungling of plans two weeks ago!

We almost got lost after making it behind the Capitol, but a nice security guard pointed us in the right direction to the Senate building, and from there on it was clear sailing. Cold, hungry, and anxious because it was 11:13 am and the inauguration was due to start at 11:30, we were all EXTREMELY excited to see the uncrowded, warm, unlocked Senate building at last! After over 2 full hours of nothing but walking in what had rapidly becoming freezing cold weather, I can’t even begin to express how grateful I was for the comforts provided by the Utah senators for their constituents. We took an elevator to the 9th floor, used the bathroom, signed our names on name tags (though my hand was so cold that it took me three times as long to make a legible signature), and walked inside the reception room, sobbing for joy at the sight of empty padded seats, screen TVs, and FREE FOOD. The next 30 min. was pretty much heaven on Earth, particularly the part during which I was eating those rich, chocolatey chunky fudgy brownie things (but don’t get me wrong—the chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, fudge cookies, cream-filled cookies, raspberry and pineapple sherbet drinks, hot chocolate, chips, and pretzels were also ravenously good).

Given the crowds, I was doubtful that the members who had split away from our main group would end up at the Senate building, but surprisingly a good number actually attended. Another thing which shouldn’t have been surprising but was anyway was meeting Elise’s friends (I only know one—Meggie—from ushering and a Spanish class, but have run into the others at least three times now, including the time at La Madeleine while getting hot chocolate, and the completely random encounter on the free Kennedy Center bus); they’re all student teachers, and I guess they’re all from Utah as well... We didn’t have to provide a record of our constituency or anything, but I would honestly have claimed to have been a genuine Utah pioneer just to get inside and at those refreshments after the long cold walk we had been through.

Watching the Inauguration in a warm environment, sitting down, eating food, without having to crane my neck to see or hear anything was perhaps the very best part of the day. I tried to pay attention to what was said, but I was so stuffed up with pep and energy and sugar that it was hard to concentrate on anything other than cheering and clapping as hard as I could after every sentence like any old insanely-minded Obamaholic on the Mall. I do remember listening to and thoroughly enjoying the invocation, and thinking that it was really neat how the reverend or pastor quoted scripture and prayed for the protection of the presidency and that we would all do our best to make America a better place, etc.

OH! That reminds me—there were a TON of people along the Mall and the Washington Monument area when we first came that were carrying all sorts of scriptural signs, about Jesus being our Savior and that He was coming soon and that we should repent and things like that. I wasn’t quite sure of the point of most of these signs, but one sign held by an elderly, nice-looking lady stood out quite clearly: As best I can remember, it said “How can we ask God to bless a country that condones abortion?” While her statement made sense, I wish she had attempted to provide an answer to the question. I oppose abortion, but I still believe in the values and ideals of America, and the freedom to make and live by our own laws. Is it possible to love what America ought to be and strive to make her so, asking for God’s blessing in the process? I hope so. Another white-haired gentleman in front of a church had a sign which said, as best I remember, “When they say it’s a choice between the mother and her doctor (or it might have been “God” in place of “her doctor”—yikes! I can’t remember now), they’re forgetting somebody,” and it showed a picture of a little baby. That one was really powerful, and I absolutely agreed 100%.

Back to the Inauguration itself. I was impressed with how interesting and yet how short and to-the-point the ceremony was. There were some beautiful musical numbers, there was the swearing in of the vice president and president (I got the latter on video—a few people groaned when he stumbled on the first few words, but I thought it was kind of cute), there was the speech (very nice, very optimistic, but I’m finding it hard to recall any of it just now, so it couldn’t have been too memorable. I do remember thinking it was nice when he thanked President Bush and everyone clapped, y’know, out of respect). And there were the prayers; I thoroughly enjoyed the invocation, as I mentioned, and the benediction was...uh...interesting. But a little bit irreverent there towards the end, reverend. The best part was when the camera cut to President Obama during one of the speaker’s comparisons about how “the red man can get ahead, man,” and he (Pres. Obama) couldn’t help smiling, even though he kept his eyes down. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the singing of “My Country Tis of Thee” and the National Anthem. The latter was dignified and touching, but the former did cause quite a bit of laughing in the reception room, due to the perhaps unconventional display of emotion and intensity of gesticulation in her performance. Yeah...I’ll leave it at that.

Soooo, after we had all stuffed our brains and our stomachs to maximum capacity on that wonderful refreshment table and the accompanying Inaugural ceremony, we stuck around for another twenty minutes waiting to see the actual helicopter carrying President Bush take off in front of the Capitol (we were just behind it, which was kind of annoying, because we could really see anything, but we KNEW that it was taking just on the other side...). It was really neat—I took a video, and moved the camera back and forth from our actual view of the helicopter and the view provided by the T.V. It was nice to see how friendly and peacefully the two presidents parted; they just shook hands and hugged and then smiled and waved. It didn’t feel monumental or anything, but it didn’t really need to. One of the things the T.V. announcer was continually emphasizing was how amazing and miraculous it was that the American government had a system where power could be passed so freely from one leader to the next, and I was kind of proud of our forefathers for making that such a crucial element to the function of our government. Change is good for everyone, and I must admit that I am kind of excited to see what kinds of changes we’ll see in America with a new and different kind of president. I’m excited for Obama, I’m proud of him now that he’s our president, and I fully hope and pray for his success and for God’s blessing on him and his family as he takes on the responsibilities of the office of President of the United States.

We left soon afterwards to head home, but a few of us wanted to see the Parade, so our group (which had reconvened into a fairly large size) split up once more. I went with Brad and Ashley to the nearest Metro station, Union Station, because I was tired and wanted to go home. Unfortunately, we had to spend about 30 min. of crowd-enduring before we got anywhere close to the Metro station. The place was jam-packed, and we could go ten minutes or more without moving more than five feet. At one point, Brad suggested we pull out and just walk...but we realized pretty quickly that it would be just as hard to push our way out as push our way in by that point, so we decided to stick it out. None of us was feeling particularly motivated to be a leader (or had the “natural leader” aroma) to get us out, either, which was probably the main reason why we just kept standing there. To keep us entertained, Brad played a few mind-games with us, which basically means any game that makes absolutely no sense to the people who have never played it before until they discover a simple rule, and then the game becomes obvious and boring, and you have to move on. This kept us going for twenty minutes or so, but I guess we were just too smart, because we had figured out all his mind-games and were still stuck in the same twenty-foot area in front of the escalators that led down to the Metro. Sigh...

Despite my qualms about being in the lead, I was somehow in the front of the group at this time, and expecting them to follow me as I opened up a path, like we had with Laura. But they didn’t, so we eventually got separated, I made it to the Metro long before them, and got home on my own without any problems. It’s really funny now when I think about how nervous and scared I was to ride the Metro all by myself when I first got here in D.C.! One good thing about walking across and back the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge at nighttime by myself is that nothing else seems even comparably difficult or frightening.

Now a word of explanation about “natural leadership” as it applies to crowd-walking: This is the ability to enthusiastically set a course and start walking towards it, and HAVE PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU. It doesn’t necessarily mean people trust you or depend on you, but it DOES mean that THEY WILL FOLLOW YOU. From my observations, it could depend on a number of things, including display of personal confidence, easy visibility (it’s much easier to follow someone wearing bright colors and some kind of weird tacky ornament than a rather blah person in a blah coat with blah hair and makeup), pitch and volume of voice, self-assured click-clack of shoes on concrete... Any and all of these factors can make or break you when it comes to being a natural leader. You do NOT, however, have to be in front of people or know where you’re going (ACTING like you know where you’re going is much more effective).

If you haven’t guessed already, I am NOT a natural leader when it comes to crowd-walking. I like to stay in the back and follow the person directly in front of me. I’m terrified of getting lost in a big crowd, of confronting strangers, and of dealing with all the responsibilities that (supposedly) come with being a leader. Come to think of it, I’d make a horrible U.S. president. Whenever I found myself in the top tier of the group, I made sure I was behind someone else. Whenever I was in the very front, nobody followed me. Even when I knew exactly where to go and was going there in a straight line, no one followed. Even when three of us were bunched up together like sardines in a can and I was inching forward in the only direction that could possibly get us closer to anywhere we wanted to be, the others didn’t follow (meaning they didn’t follow as I would have—which means staying closer than, uh, ten feet or so). Result? I got separated from the group. Note that the group did not get separated from me. That would only have happened if I were a natural leader. Fortunately, I’m pretty comfortable navigating my away around the Metro now, and was so tired of standing in line that I immediately decided not to wait for the others and forge a path for myself.

There were about a zillion people on the Metro, most of whom were nice and normal and not from D.C., so I got to act all smart and knowledgeable giving advice to a lady and explaining how the Metro card worked. She seemed really nice, and we actually started up a good chat before I had to get off. Too bad I left my church pass-along cards at home... Elise would have been better prepared. There was a HUGE line of people waiting to get INTO the Foggy Bottom station when I got off, though the line of people getting off was relatively easy to maneuver. In fact, once I got clear of the Metro station, I hardly had any trouble at all with crowds. I made it to the Barlow Center in record time, and took a long rest and snack before doing anything else.

When I was ready to join the rest of the civilized world again, I found some people watching the Inaugural Parade on T.V. downstairs, so I joined them for a good amount of time (i.e. until I fell asleep). The only part of the Parade that was really memorable was watching the slow-moving black car carrying the President, accompanied by the insane cheers of the crowd, which became even more insane when the President and First Lady got out of the car and walked for several minutes, waving to the left and the right. After a while, you could tell they were kind of just waving mechanically, and I knew their faces had to be feeling the pressure of smiling so hard for so long, but I was still proud that they got out and did the walk (particularly the First Lady, in a none-too-warm-looking dress and high heels! My goodness!). I had been hoping they would...y’know, as a way to connect to the people and express gratitude and make the insane Obamaniacs wildly happy for the rest of their lives. Joe Biden and his wife were also walking and waving, I believe, but of course the camera didn’t pay any attention to them.

After I woke up from the post-Parade nap, I went upstairs and did a few middling things that needed to be done, like straightening my desk, doing laundry, reading the paper (OF COURSE this is a task that absolutely NEEDS to be done—just ask any of our professors!), and pining through it all for the restoration of Internet privileges.

A few of us went to Georgetown later to browse through Barnes & Nobles and get some food. I got caught up in reading The Hunger Games upstairs, and missed my group when it left, but tagged onto another group which had arrived in the meantime. I unfortunately missed Institute tonight, and the concert (which probably would have been too crowded to see anyway), so I guess I will be attending Institute tomorrow for sure. Also tomorrow I hope to go shopping, maybe see the concert, visit B&N again to get another crack at The Hunger Games, finish homework (ha ha ha), and—is this even POSSIBLE!?!?—Go to bed before MIDNIGHT for once!

Good night, everyone!

72 HOURS until "IGIA" (Not "Inauguration," but "I Get Internet Access")

Valerie and I are here at the Gelman Library, and I had the good sense to transfer my journal to my USB drive, so you will have something to tide you over until I’m back to regular blog-posting at the right time in the right place on Wednesday. Enjoy my Friday entry, and my Saturday entry up to a certain point. I actually haven’t finished typing it, so the rest will have to come later…

FIRE and WATER (January 16, 2009)

So yesterday, as you might remember, we had to get by without any kind of hot water for showers or washing dishes. Naturally, there was a little bit of moaning and groaning, but on the whole no one was terribly inconvenienced. Br. Blanchard called in someone to fix the water, and ta-da! Life was hot and steamy once more. Basking in my toughness after enduring a day (or two or three) without washing my hair or taking a hot shower, I decided to wait until tonight before taking and relishing that delicious moment. And then it happened.

The FIRE ALARM went off! Like, at 9 something at night! I had made myself some pasta (it was quicker than the soup, and I was hungry, and, whatever. It was probably a good thing I didn’t make the soup since it would have still been on the stove) and was just about to dig in in my room, when all of sudden the little light started flashing and the bell started beeping.

Ironically, it was FREEZING cold outside, but we all were fleeing from the “fire,” so I had only a few minutes to grab my coat, scarf, gloves, and hat, and head out into the chilly dark night with the others. Poor Andy didn’t even grab a jacket—I was afraid he was going to get hypothermia from just standing out there in his jeans and shirt! Michael quipped that if there was a fire, he would be standing as close as he could to it to try to get warm.

A few interesting things happened while we were waiting. Some random guys smoking ciggarettes came out of the place (bar?) next to the building and started talking with a few of us. I wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but it sounds like they were wondering what had happened and who on Earth we were, etc. Elise, who is a firm believer in missionary work and also one of the genuinely sweetest girls I’ve ever met, actually talked to them for a good long while! But I heard later that they thought she was “high” and were unable to shake off that impression. When they invited her in for a drink and she explained that Mormons don’t drink (liquor), one exclaimed in disbelief, “You SMOKE POT but you don’t DRINK!?” I thought about stepping closer and telling him we didn’t drink coffee, either, but I was afraid it might give the poor guy a heart attack and he would die. Or that I would get second-hand smoke poisoning and I would die. As we learned in today’s briefing, “you don’t want to kill anyone.”

The next interesting thing that happened was that the fire truck came literally within ten minutes! I didn’t have my camera with me, or I would have taken a picture. It was quite cool to observe the efficient manner in which they navigated their humongous truck into our teeny street and got all their men in full regalia to scout out the building. They found, as we expected, that there was NO fire, but that when the guy who “fixed” our water came, he apparently “broke” it. There was some water leakage downstairs, and that’s what set the fire alarm off. Yeah, right. I know what you’re thinking. A fire alarm caused by water? We should call it the “water alarm.” Firemen or fighters will become watermen or waterfighters, watertrucks will be painted blue, inner tubes and lifejackets will replace ladders, mops will replace hoses, scuba masks will replace gas masks, and the spotted seal will become the mascot in place of the dalmation. Next you know, there will be signs everywhere saying “Don’t play with water” and it will be taboo to shout “Water!” in the streets or late at night. This could be the start of something HUGE, people.

But back to the present. Which is actually the past now. The firemen handily solved our water problem by turning off our water. “Someone” will be coming to fix it, but until that happens, we are unable to take showers, do laundry, wash dishes, wash our hands, or (the ultimatum) use the bathroom. I am pretty flexible when it comes to most of these activities, but the last one is going to be extremely difficult, particularly since the more I place constraints on my ability to make use of the “facilities,” the more that part of my daily routine arouses and asserts its priority over all other issues. Basically, I’m like a naughty child. Telling me I can’t have something makes me want it MORE THAN EVERRRRRR. So it’s going to be a long, rough night here. Not to mention the fact that my hair is gross, I’m sweaty, and won’t be washing my laundry early tomorrow as planned. A spot of good news is that we can head to the gym tomorrow morning (well, 8:00 am—they open later on Saturdays) to take showers...

And now that we’re past THAT annoying issue, I’ll try to describe the rest of my day in as brief and succint a manner as possible. I woke up. I ate breakfast. I attended class from 9:45—2:00 pm. I wasted time and ate lunch from 2:00 pm—4:00 pm. I went shopping, went to the Smithsonian Castle and a few galleries, took the picture of a very sweet couple in front of the castle, met up with some friends and waited in line to get free tickets for “Three Women,” an Iranian film which was supposed to be great and turned out to be long and without an ending, saw aforementioned film despite the occasional drowsiness and the extremely annoying presence of a tall bald-headed gentleman seated DIRECTLY in front of me, and went home with the others on the Metro.

Oh, and tonight after the whole fire alarm scare, some of us went to the boys’ lounge and learned how to play “Nerds” from Brad and Andy. It was supposed to be a very fast-paced card game, but was actually pretty slow for the first little while. Andy and I did quite well as a team, but I think the final game was won by Valerie and Emily. It’s okay—I’m content in my state of nerdlessness. While there, we had an interesting discussion about the briefings and our feelings on the Friday class periods so far. Most of us shared the same concerns and confusion over what was expected of us and why we agreed or disagreed with things the briefers had said. It hit me while we were talking that our discussion was much more interesting than anything that was said in class today, and I felt almost sorry that we missed out on so much by keeping all our opinions to ourselves... But at the same time, I was glad that we did at least have access to the free sharing of opinions in an informal context. It strengthened our “network of mutual trust,” if you will. I would write more about the topics discussed in the briefings and the briefers themselves, but I’m afraid most of you would find it rather boring, and I would find it rather boring to write about, so I won’t. Not now, at any rate. It’s 12:44 am, and I’m going to bed.

P.s. This probably won’t be posted until sometime later, for which I apologize. Since the fire/water thing, the internet has been down over here and I’m not sure how soon it will be able to fix itself/be fixed.

P.p.s. WEDNESDAY!!?!?!??! NOooooOOOOOOOOooooooO!

Saturday Sights! (January 18, 2009)

Well, I have a lot of catching up to do here. Saturday was a difficult day, mostly because we were without Internet and hot water for the most of it (well, Internet = all of it). Apparently my suspicions regarding my addiction to the net are confirmed—connection to the Internet is directly related to my happiness here. I’m already feeling blue and blah and lifeless, and it’s only 6:15 pm!

I slept in Saturday morning for a long time, but did go downstairs and exercise when I got up. It was almost noon when Valerie, Brad, Andy, and I headed out to do our weekly “sight-seeing” trip. We got off at the right Metro stop this time, fortunately, and had some fun moseying through the Museum of American History. I had already seen a good deal of it, but was very excited to see the stuff I had missed—including Dorothy’s ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz! It was easy to see that they were the most popular item in their general area. There was always a group of people clustered around them at any given moment—making exclusive “photos of Ruth with the slippers” difficult, but that’s life.

*************Here I was going to put all my pictures, but, well, we’re at the Library and I didn’t bring my camera converter thingamajig. Sorry—remind me to come back and post them on Wednesday!*************

I got to peer really close at them through the glass, and was surprised to see how old and non-sparkly they looked in the dull light of the room, and also impressed with the level of detail in the little red circles that made up the covering. The plaque said that the shoes were a size 5, but Valerie said she heard they were size 7 (her size), sooo.... who knows? Do you know how frustrating it is not to be able to resort to Google right now and settle the whole thing right now?
Aaarargargah! How shall I survive until Wednesday!?!?!??

After our browsing of the sections of the museum that I had not seen, and peering in briefly on a presentation being carried on the main floor by “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln” (which was funny at first since I only recognized Abraham Lincoln, and so was trying to figure out if Thomas Jefferson was George McClellan or Steven Douglas), we went downstairs to the museum cafeteria, which turned out to be delicious and not that pricey (especially when we found out that Valerie could get us a group discount of 20% off with her special “I-work-for-the-Smithsonian” card). It was crowded (as was, well, everything, with the Inauguration and all), but we didn’t have trouble finding a table. The only real thing I can find to complain about is that the cups for water were so small that it took about three trips just to get the equivalent of one glass. Yikes! Valerie and Andy and Brad all ordered meat dishes, while I went the slightly cheaper route of ordering macaroni and cheese with potato salad and a “Cheddar cornbread roll,” which tasted very cornbready and not very cheddary, and very very good. The macaroni and cheese was overpriced for the small serving they gave me, but I ate it all very slowly and relished it. Oh, and we got two desserts and split them among the four of us: New York Cheesecake (I don’t know what was specifically “New York” about it, but it was good!) and a HUGE lemon bar (like four of the regular kind put together). Delicious!

After lunch, we split up: Andy, Brad, and Valerie saw the rest of the museum while I took off to visit the Holocaust Museum for the remaining two and half or so hours before they closed (I can’t tell you how frustrating it is that all these amazing museums have to close so early!!!). Fortunately, due to my printing up TWO maps of it and studying the area quite rigorously from the top of the Washington Monument, I did NOT get lost and made it to the museum in under ten minutes. As with most other museums, there was a long line of people trying to get in, but the line moved surprisingly fast and the nice guard walking up and down outside gave us reading material, so I was not bored.

The line was due to the fact that we all had to pass our bags through an X-ray machine and then walk through a metal detector. This can be a problem when, like me, you have a fear of having your purse snatched, and so keep all kinds of items about your person in various coat pockets. Fortunately, I did HAVE my purse with me, so in line I unloaded everything into the ol’ bag (making for some panic attacks later on when I was frantically feeling through all my pockets for important items before remembering that they were all in my purse!) and made it through security without any other delays. Thankfully, I had left my water bottle home!
The Holocaust Museum had by far the most things to do of any museum I’ve seen here so far, and each exhibit was so overwhelmingly horrific and breathtakingly powerful that even the most overblown adjectives can’t describe it. I was touched, moved, impressed, and shocked by almost everything in the museum, but wasn’t able to tear myself away from it either, and was sad when closing time came and I had to walk away. Like a surprisingly large number of people (many of the girls I’ve talked to here, and a few other people in my own family), I went through a period of time when I was extremely interested in reading everything and watching everything I could find about the Holocaust. To an extent, all that information was helpful in preparing me to handle and understand what had happened, but it hardly compared with the experience of being able to literally see, listen to, and touch actual artifacts from this tragic time period. At every exhibit, I was blown away by the vast scale and scope of the Holocaust: 6 million is an easy enough number to say, but to actually see photos, shoes, and locks of hair from the heads of individual people is a different thing entirely. To imagine and even to see photos of bodies piled high enough to form roadblocks, fill huge ditches, and fit into rows and rows of cars is a near incomprehensible thing. So many things looked as if they could not be real, as if they had to have been done by a computer or for a film, because surely nothing so terrible would ever actually be allowed to happen to a human being. And yet it had, and it did.

I saw as many exhibitions as I could in the time I had. I highly, highly, highly reccomend the “Daniel’s Story” exhibit, even though it was sort of aimed more towards kids than adults. Basically it’s a self-guided tour, a walkway that leads through Daniel’s life in various stages. You entered enclosed environments that were made to look like his home, the streets of Germany before and after Hitler’s discriminatory tactics against Jews began to be enforced, the ghetto house and camp where he and his family lived for a while, and then finally the concentration camp where his mother and sister were killed. There were sound effects and pieces of Daniel’s journal throughout the whole thing, and many realistic details, like a broken window and rock through their house, Daniel’s father’s medal in his bedroom, even some fake “soup” (an onion and water) in the ghetto house. I was in line behind a young boy and his friend, who very diligently read every entry of Daniel’s journal out loud to his friend; it was interesting to hear the words of one young boy from the lips of another, and wonder what each one must have been thinking.

Other exhibitions were more disturbing; there was a whole section on the experiments performed by Nazi doctors, and another on the groups other than Jews targeted by Nazis to be sterilized or executed (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Romanians, and mentally retarded people). I wasn’t able to read or watch everything in each exhibit, but the sad images and sad music was very powerful, and haunting at the same time.

In addition to exhibitions, there were a LOT of films to see. Most were about 12 minutes long, so I saw all of maybe two, and then smaller chunks from two others. Some of the films related the genocide in Rwanda to the Holocaust, and others traced the rise of Adolf Hitler. My favorite was entitled Liberation, 1945, which consisted of accounts from American soldiers and prisoners of concentration camps who were freed by the Allied forces. One man’s story in particular touched me: he said that when he saw Jewish soldiers among the Allied groups, carrying guns and driving cars and doing things with authority, it struck him suddenly that he was “equal,” and that this idea changed his life. Another man said that he had asked his friend many times in the camp if he thought they were going to make it, and his friend had always answered “Tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll be free.” But when the time came, neither of them could believe it, and he couldn’t stop asking his friend if it was really true, that they were really free. Many people didn’t know what to do with themselves after getting out of the camps, but one American soldier who was interviewed in the film said he had talked to one man who was very firm about saying he was “going home.” Wow.

*****************

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll try to give the family a phone call when I get back from the library. It’s going to be an interesting week… I’m going to try to do as much writing as possible on all my insightful Inaugural experiences and observations…which could be a little scary, considering I can’t remember the last time I’ve made written statements without the aid and support of Wikipedia and Google!

I AM STILL HERE

I know what you're all thinking. I got lazy or tired or busy and skipped a day of writing. Well, you'd be WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What really happened was that the Barlow Center decided to start breaking, piece by piece (we've already gone through trial by fire, water, temperature, and smell), and we have no internet access at home until WEDNESDAY. This wouldn't be too bad of a problem, except that next Monday and Tuesday are pretty much the biggest days in history here in 2009 in Washington D.C., and you kinda need a computer to figure out what's going on and what there is to do and all that. Right now we've found a temporary solution in the George Washington University Library, but of course, they'll be closing on Monday and Tuesday, sooooo, it looks like we'll be the most uninformed, ignorant batch of students ever to be plopped in the middle of Washington D.C. during the presidential inauguration...

Fortunately, we still have power, and I have Word on my computer, so I will keep writing daily in that. Expect to get a bombardment of past news from my life on Wednesday morning!

P.s. As far as the Barlow Center woes go, I wrote a nice long blog entry on Microsoft Word the other night giving all the specifics, so I'll let you wait until Wednesday to figure out what happened. I saved this nice long post in Word, but was unable to email it to myself since, um, there was no Internet. Sigh. "Trial by Internet" is proving to be the most difficult challenge faced in the Washington Seminar so far.

"Have you thought about getting a Safeway card?" "How much is it?" "It's free." "Ok, I'll think about it."

So, y’all are only getting a short post tonight because it’s 11:41 pm here and I am determined to get a good night’s sleep, especially since tomorrow we won’t have class until 9:45 am (my cup of joy overfloweth!). I would have posted earlier, but I was doing homework—we had a rather long reading this time, but I think I did a better job on the writeup. We’ll see! Next week I have to get started on writing some of the actual papers for the classes, which should be...er...fun! Fun fun funny fun!

To be honest, I had not anticipated spending so much time on my internship and so little time on homework here. When I was at BYU, I spent a good 3/4 hours of every day determining what to concentrate on and working on the hundreds of little homework assignments. Here my days are practically set in stone from the time my alarm beeps at 5:30. I wake up (if I’m fortunate; sometimes I hit the button before I have even registered the fact that I am awake); I exercise, shower (although today was more of a “sprinkle”: our water heater wasn’t working for the past 24 hours, which was kind of miserable. Br. Blanchard had to call around to get it fixed, and in the meantime Valerie went to the gym to wash her hair; however, being the rugged frontierswoman I am, I waited ‘er out), eat, go to work, come home, shop, do the “nightly activity of the week,” (Mon: FHE, Tue: Concert, Wed: Institute, Thu: Homework, Fri: Movie, Sat: !??!?!?) write my blog, read scriptures, go to—ZZZZ. Keeping busy with eight-hour work shifts is definitely a good way to make the day go by fast! I do find myself getting a little claustrophobic after being in the same area for eight hours, though... I don’t even get ten-minute breaks between hours like I do with taking classes at BYU! The area where I work in is still kind of shabby and understaffed (and under-everything-else, for that matter), and I’m the only intern with a computer in the open hall. Everyone else on the floor works in an office. My companions for most of the day are the big freight elevator (which people aren’t supposed to use but do anyway...), and the printer, which I’m convinced has the personality of a trickster.

On the upside, Marc, Jason, and a nice lady named Jane all work on my floor, so I get to say “Hi” to them regularly and sometimes chat with them while they’re using the printer or checking their mail or microwaving their lunch (yeah, I forgot to mention that I’m right next to the mailboxes AND the lunchroom on that floor, too. I’m beginning to see why no one wanted this desk before). Today I had a funny story to tell Marc—a random guy called me on my office phone and asked for “Marc,” just like that, without any last name. After recovering from my surprise at being called, I guessed that maybe this phone used to be Marc’s or something, and asked the guy to hold on. But then I decided to ask him what this “Marc’s” last name was, and it turned out to be someone entirely different! I told him I thought he had the wrong number, so then he read the number he had meant to dial and it turned out that he had indeed dialed the wrong number. I was really grateful I hadn’t bothered Marc about answering a call on MY phone for some random Marc! Way to look like a clueless intern here....

This story actually turned out better than my last “I’m-an-intern” experience, which occurred when a lady who had just joined the staff came down to deliver some mail and was asking me where to put packages for people. I knew the answer for one package, and was confident in telling her so, but wasn’t sure about the other, but.... being somewhat carried away in my enthusiasm to be helpful, I gave her advice anyway as to where to put it, rather than look stupid by saying “I don’t know.” (Note: I felt twice as stupid afterwards when I looked it up for myself, discovered I had guessed wrong, and had to stealthily replace the package in the right slot after the lady had left). The next day she came down and told me she didn’t know that I was an intern. I got the mixed impression that she was apologizing for assuming I knew something I didn’t, but that she was also a little perplexed as to why I didn’t just plug my ears and refuse to help her. Needless to say, although the packages did get to the right people, she won’t be asking for my help in mail delivery again... Sigh.

Back on the positive side of things, I mustered up the courage today to smile and say “Good morning” to the receptionist today...AND SHE ACTUALLY SMILED BACK!!! I didn’t have a camera to capture the moment, but you better believe that it was priceless!!!!

Work went well, I went home...Oh, one confession to make: I took the Metro home today because it was supercalifragalistic FREEZING outside. I could endure the still coldness of my morning walk to the museum, but the high winds on the way back were just too much to bear. Plus it was 5:30 and I wanted to get home as fast as I could since I needed to go shopping at Safeway and do my homework. I did get to enjoy a nice brisk 15-20 min. walk to Safeway and back; for some reason, the wind was not nearly as bad on the far NW side of D.C. After my shopping, I got home and finished the rest of my cheesy pasta for dinner, along with grapes, yogurt, and breadlike substances. Tomorrow I think I might try my hand at the Chicken Vegetable soup again...what say ye?

Have a great Friday, everyone! I know I will! Did I mention that I don’t have to go back to work until Wednesday because of Inauguration Day? Suddenly, winter semester in D.C. as opposed to winter semester at BYU just got a whole lot more attractive...