Well, I’ve been in D.C. officially a month now - can you believe it!? - and couldn’t let the night go by with a little short—SNORT!—post in commemoration of that event. Today was a fairly average day; I woke up, exercised, showered, ate breakfast, walked to work, worked, walked home, went shopping, came back, snuck some free chili from Institute for dinner, did most of my homework, and now it’s almost midnight.
A few highlights of the day:
While researching the daily art news for the staff, I came across a free (but ticketed... But I got a ticket!) event at the National Portrait Gallery Saturday evening, as part of the “Black History Month Smithsonian celebration.” All I know about the event so far is that it will feature the first actor to play Porgy in the “Porgy and Bess” opera, but that’s enough to make me excited. Yeah!
Michael and I finally coordinated our schedules to walk to and from work together! It was snowing in the morning, and he almost took the Metro, but at the last minute changed his mind and walked with me, making me very happy. It DID make the walk go by quicker, but we were still on time, having left at 8:20 rather than my usual 8:30ish, and strolled rather than...um...galloped. We almost missed each other on the walk home, but then happened to notice the other one walking on the opposite street! It was funny. Also, when we walked past the White House, we ran into a group of protestors with signs about illegal activity taking place in Mexico. I’m not sure what they wanted us to do about it, but Michael took a flyer from them. It was a rather small, relatively quiet group; they just walked and took pictures of themselves and talked amongst themselves. I kind of liked it—they seemed much less like radical demonstrators and more like normal people who just wanted to share a message.
Did I mention free warm chili at Institute?
A few “dark”lights of the day:
Today I endured another dreaded two hours and twenty minutes of torture at the receptionist’s desk for “phone duty.” Looking back, the experience was not too bad, as the phone was fairly quiet during the last hour, and I didn’t get any really awful or difficult calls. Best of all, when the receptionist FINALLY came back, she was in a good mood and apologetic for being late and very appreciative of my staying overtime, which is nice (Naturally, I would happily trade twenty extra minutes of phone duty to have her in such a nice, friendly mood!). So everything worked out for today. But I am very glad that there’s only ten more weeks of phone duty to go. And I am COUNTING.
It snowed. Which would normally be a highlight, since snow is pretty and since we get out of work if it snows enough. But it snowed just enough to make it wet and cold and miserable walking to and from work. Typical!
One of our fellow Barlow Center mates has been sick since Saturday, and apparently had one of the worst possible days in all time today. She came in and told Valerie and me about it. Apparently she has mono, and needed to get her blood tested, and tried to go to several Urgent Care places (some of which ended up closing at 4 pm!) but was unable to be seen by anyone wherever she went. She made many calls to people in the ward, but those who answered their phones were unable to help, so she ended up using the Metro and a taxi to get to the last Healthcare place she could find, which turned out to be in a trashy ghetto area with a 4 hour wait. Since the Metro closed at midnight and it was 9 pm and she had only $7 to take her back home, she opted to go back right away, but was too tired and too sick to walk the 4 miles to the Metro. She waited a few minutes to try to catch a cab, but of course there were no cabs in the area, it being rather nasty and all. Somehow she made it to a bus stop, and after a good half hour of being outside in the freezing cold, caught a bus to the Metro. All of this makes my day look wonderful in comparison, so I won’t add any more negative occurrences.
Well, Valerie has turned out her light and I need to do scriptures and get to bed, so I’ll end for now. More tomorrow, after I finish my laundry and dishes and homework and Institute and shopping and dinner... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
4 comments:
Would it be ethical for me to call you during next week's phone duty?! Anything to lighten the load! Your friend's search for health care is frightening; wouldn't GWU have a clinic she could use? Of course she would need to get an earlier start. Here we are busy and fairly happy: Mom's RS event is tomorrow night and she will be glad to have the piano performance out of the way. MA was out with the sisters last night and received a call from the local hospice about doing some volunteer work, which is an exciting prospect for her. She spends her mornings at Mountainland and seems to be enjoying and benefitting from that. Dan has a presentation in his public speaking class and has chosen celiac disease as his topic. He plans to bring some gluten-free treats to delight the restless mob, perhaps with some help from MA. Sarah spent the evening at Sister Gray's planning MIA Maid activities, and is happy to have finished Personal Progress finally. She is also working overtime on a certain literary masterpiece you might be acquainted with. Hannah was flattered at last night's art lesson when several of her fellow students wanted to draw HER. When asked what she had done, she showed me one decidedly unfinished elderly bald male face. I have nearly finished my Hill AFB application and am enjoying working at Concentra only two days a week. I had to do a drug test on Monday and was finally allowed back on the computer, although I still have no internet service. I did find time to send you something for your favorite un-birthday, which is the 14th, of course. It is perishable and consumable, so you needn't wait until V Day to start (or throw away!). :))
Hi Ruth!
Glad to hear everythings go good and that you have an escort to work!
I had my art class last night and I did manage to draw one recognizeable face of one of our fellow students (of course Dad didn't recognize him because he's never seen him before). I am enjoying the experience and look forward to drawing some more in my spare time. I will be posting on my blog soon so come and check it out!
I am, it must be said, horribly jealous of all your cultural/ musical/ concertical activities. Operas? Ballets? Musicals? Not to mention a cute -- at least I hope he's cute -- escort service! Though I'm not so much jealous of that last one as I am nosily curious. And happy anniversary, by the way.
Happy month mark! And always may your schedules coincide!
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