Hi everyone! I just wanted to say that I love you and the posts are coming. Things have been very busy in the last few days... as in I have been taking lots of pictures and notes and excursions to important must-see-before-you-leave tourist attractions, and just haven’t had the time to put together full wordy posts about my experiences yet.
Here’s an attempt to collect my thoughts and update you on what’s coming up in the blog as soon as I get the time.
Some of the places I’ve been and will write about SOON:
Jefferson Memorial (cherry blossoms are coming out, and I REALLY need to take some pictures!)
The Senate Gallery (“where tired travelers and sightseers can come in and rest their feet for a few minutes...”)
The House of Representatives Gallery
The National Museum of the American Indian
National Postal Museum
Lansburgh Theater
Some of ye olde places where I’ve been and which I STILL need to write about:
The Supreme Court
Harper’s Ferry and Gettysburg
Philadelphia and Valley Forge
Places where I want to go in the next few days and WILL write about:
Ford’s Theater/House Where Lincoln Died
National Zoo
National Museum of Crime and Punishment (it’s not cheap, but I hear it’s worth it)
Arlington Cemetery
Old Town Alexandria
Newseum (possibly...)
National Building Museum
All the Smithsonians AGAIN! (I need closure...)
Phillips Gallery (NMWA’s rival!)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Happy Birthday to all and to all a good night...
It’s after midnight, so I’ll only write a little bit here before going to bed. Today was a fabulous day, both at work and at home, despite my accomplishing very little besides turning in the three papers I had already written and working a little bit on the fourth one, due next week. I really want to get it done earlier, though, so I can concentrate on the research paper next week and the week after. It’s hard to believe that the semester is really drawing to an end. I’ll definitely miss Washington D.C., but I’m also really excited about going home and seeing the family. And I can’t believe how wonderful it is to have such a light workload. Only one twenty-page paper and then I’m practically done!!!! Amazing, right?
Anyway, the main reason why today turned out so well was that it was my supervisor’s birthday at work. Ergo, at least half the day was spent in partying: We had TWO cakes AND, for the first time, I went out with my supervisors to lunch! We walked to Chinatown and find a nice Chinese restaurant, where I ordered something relatively safe-sounding with noodles and vegetables, which turned out to be 1) very large 2) hot, 3) difficult to eat, 4) not what I had been wanting, and 5) all of one taste. But I managed to eat it and like it anyway. Someday I’ll get the knack of ordering Chinese food, I promise! Until then, though, a picture menu would be really nice...
It rained today, also, which was kind of nice since it gave me the first real opportunity to use that sturdy umbrella sent to me by my loving family. I used it on the way to work, and then just enjoyed getting wet on the way home—it makes my hair a little curly and just feels lovely and refreshing! Rain, glorious rain—I’ve really missed it in Utah!
I stayed at work a few minutes late to finish some stuff, and then walked home just in time for the Kennedy Center concert at 6. Only it wasn’t a concert—it was some high school group performing “The Taming of the Shrew” in one act, and an original skit called “Variations on a Scene,” wherein maybe 10 couples acted out different versions of the same story. It got a little boring after couple number 7, but I stuck around until about 6:55, and I was sitting in one of the very back seats where I had to strain to even hear them, so that says something.
After the performance, I got some oatmeal at Safeway (can you believe I’ve run out of both the oatmeal packets from home!?! The end really IS coming!) and went home. I packed a bag—Valerie’s bag, since I didn’t have one of my own—for our Philadelphia trip tomorrow, and am excited to be going to Valley Forge and Independence Hall. I will try to take pictures and post them more diligently over the weekend, but please be patient with me. The pictures from the Capitol turned out pretty rotten, and I do not know yet how cooperative my camera will be. Fortunately, we’re still planning to have a picture party at the end of the semester, wherein I will hopefully be able to acquire a lot of better-quality pictures of the places we’ve been.
As for the birthday thing mentioned in the title, I found out when I got home that it was Jamie’s birthday (have I mentioned Jamie on this blog before...? Yes, yes, I have), and that she had run into someone on the Metro whose birthday was also today, AND it was Valerie’s dad’s birthday (so she called him on the phone and we all sang to him...sorry Dad, I wasn’t quick-thinking enough to have them do the same for you on Valentine’s Day)! And I seem to recall it being Julie Hughes’ birthday a day or so ago..........sooooooo Happy belated birthday to you, Julie!
Anyway, the main reason why today turned out so well was that it was my supervisor’s birthday at work. Ergo, at least half the day was spent in partying: We had TWO cakes AND, for the first time, I went out with my supervisors to lunch! We walked to Chinatown and find a nice Chinese restaurant, where I ordered something relatively safe-sounding with noodles and vegetables, which turned out to be 1) very large 2) hot, 3) difficult to eat, 4) not what I had been wanting, and 5) all of one taste. But I managed to eat it and like it anyway. Someday I’ll get the knack of ordering Chinese food, I promise! Until then, though, a picture menu would be really nice...
It rained today, also, which was kind of nice since it gave me the first real opportunity to use that sturdy umbrella sent to me by my loving family. I used it on the way to work, and then just enjoyed getting wet on the way home—it makes my hair a little curly and just feels lovely and refreshing! Rain, glorious rain—I’ve really missed it in Utah!
I stayed at work a few minutes late to finish some stuff, and then walked home just in time for the Kennedy Center concert at 6. Only it wasn’t a concert—it was some high school group performing “The Taming of the Shrew” in one act, and an original skit called “Variations on a Scene,” wherein maybe 10 couples acted out different versions of the same story. It got a little boring after couple number 7, but I stuck around until about 6:55, and I was sitting in one of the very back seats where I had to strain to even hear them, so that says something.
After the performance, I got some oatmeal at Safeway (can you believe I’ve run out of both the oatmeal packets from home!?! The end really IS coming!) and went home. I packed a bag—Valerie’s bag, since I didn’t have one of my own—for our Philadelphia trip tomorrow, and am excited to be going to Valley Forge and Independence Hall. I will try to take pictures and post them more diligently over the weekend, but please be patient with me. The pictures from the Capitol turned out pretty rotten, and I do not know yet how cooperative my camera will be. Fortunately, we’re still planning to have a picture party at the end of the semester, wherein I will hopefully be able to acquire a lot of better-quality pictures of the places we’ve been.
As for the birthday thing mentioned in the title, I found out when I got home that it was Jamie’s birthday (have I mentioned Jamie on this blog before...? Yes, yes, I have), and that she had run into someone on the Metro whose birthday was also today, AND it was Valerie’s dad’s birthday (so she called him on the phone and we all sang to him...sorry Dad, I wasn’t quick-thinking enough to have them do the same for you on Valentine’s Day)! And I seem to recall it being Julie Hughes’ birthday a day or so ago..........sooooooo Happy belated birthday to you, Julie!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Obama Mystery Solved! (P.s. Except for the "Michelle" part)
I knew it! I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it!
See the following: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/25/potus_events_40.html?wprss=44 and http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/25/obama_headlining_two_fundraise.html?wprss=44
I have only two reactions at the moment: First, why did I stay at home all day when I could have schemed to be there to take advantage of the most fantastic opportunity ever for an intern!?? (Duh. The Secret Service would have shot me dead, that's why.)
Second, $30,400 a COUPLE!?! The Kennedy Center suddenly seems a lot cheaper...
See the following: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/25/potus_events_40.html?wprss=44 and http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/25/obama_headlining_two_fundraise.html?wprss=44
I have only two reactions at the moment: First, why did I stay at home all day when I could have schemed to be there to take advantage of the most fantastic opportunity ever for an intern!?? (Duh. The Secret Service would have shot me dead, that's why.)
Second, $30,400 a COUPLE!?! The Kennedy Center suddenly seems a lot cheaper...
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
"Not a bad day..." (yup, I finally succumbed to the peer pressure and watched "The Office")
While at work on Monday and Tuesday, I kept receiving interesting emails about such topics as, oh, the Secret Service would be roaming around our floors and checking things out, and we had to be out of the building no later than 5:30 p.m., and on Wednesday would not be able to stay in the building after 2:00 p.m. Then it was changed to 1:30 p.m. Something was up, but nobody I worked with could tell me (either that, or they just didn’t know. Probably some of both). I heard someone mention the name “Michelle Obama,” which could either be 1) a garbled-up pronouncement of “This mail’s for Mama,” 2) one of the 1,000,000,000,000,000 normal, non-note-worthy mentionings of Michelle Obama that take place regularly in a workplace, D.C., or America, ooooor 3) crucial evidence proving that Michelle Obama herself was going to be at NMWA today! I won’t know until tomorrow. I’m too excited to sleep.
Just kidding. Ha. I probably won’t even remember it by tomorrow.
But anyway, since we all had to leave at 1:30 anyway, my supervisor gave me the day off, and, as a result, I had one of the best Wednesdays in my entire life (by the way, for those of you who don’t know me, Wednesday is my LEAST FAVORITE day of the week). Spent almost entirely at the Barlow Center from beginning to end. And it went by waaaaay tooooo fassssst, lemmetellya.
But here’s how I spent it anyway:
-Slept in. Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
-Made my bed, straightened up all of my stuff at my desk, cleaned the microwave, my desk, and—this probably took the most time of anything—the bathroom, washed ALL of my laundry and all the bathroom laundry (Mom—you are right, laundry takes forever!), finished some internship forms, and watched Nicholas Nickleby, the first Charles Dickens movie I’ve seen where the protagonist actually does exactly what I want him to do in every situation, and the outcome is exactly what I hope it will be. It was really great, but by the end I was feeling kind of perplexed, wondering why I was feeling sorry for the villain, and a little annoyed/suspicious with the hero for being able to take charge of his life and make it so perfect so quickly, and not entirely convinced that there weren’t still some loose ends or secondary villains somewhere that needed to be dealt with. But anyway, it was still a good movie. It made me laugh and it made me cry...although the same can be said for the horrific South Pacific, which both Valerie and I recently suffered through (to be honest, I couldn’t endure all of it) only by making numerous jokes and groaning noises through the ridiculous strand of cheesy love scenes/boring love songs. And the plot was...let me put it this way: stupid, stupid, stupid.
-Ate breakfast and lunch. Not at the same time, of course. But this was the first time I made myself macaroni and cheese for lunch—what a delicious surprise!
-Chatted with Valerie when she got back from her work. Yeah, the day went by waaaaaaaaaaaay too fast.
-Exercised downstairs while watching some more of Hidalgo. I’d already started it and could probably have finished it today if I didn’t have to watch all my favorite scenes again and then all my favorite moments in the favorite scenes. My particular favorite is the opening scene where Frank Hopkins passes the stuck-up rich guy and gives four wonderfully striking/oh-so-cheesy lines: “Why did you then?” “C’mon little brother,” “Let ‘er buck,” and—my favorite—“Yeeeee-haww!”
-Took a shower, rushed to Institute class (a little late but at least not stinky and sweaty!)
And that was my Wednesday—lazy and lovely and not-long-enough. It was wonderful to have a break in the middle of the week just to clean up everything in our dorm room and not stress about going out and doing touristy things in the city. And, as a bonus, now I feel extremely refreshed and excited to go to work and begin my Thursday! Seriously, let ‘er buck.
Just kidding. Ha. I probably won’t even remember it by tomorrow.
But anyway, since we all had to leave at 1:30 anyway, my supervisor gave me the day off, and, as a result, I had one of the best Wednesdays in my entire life (by the way, for those of you who don’t know me, Wednesday is my LEAST FAVORITE day of the week). Spent almost entirely at the Barlow Center from beginning to end. And it went by waaaaay tooooo fassssst, lemmetellya.
But here’s how I spent it anyway:
-Slept in. Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
-Made my bed, straightened up all of my stuff at my desk, cleaned the microwave, my desk, and—this probably took the most time of anything—the bathroom, washed ALL of my laundry and all the bathroom laundry (Mom—you are right, laundry takes forever!), finished some internship forms, and watched Nicholas Nickleby, the first Charles Dickens movie I’ve seen where the protagonist actually does exactly what I want him to do in every situation, and the outcome is exactly what I hope it will be. It was really great, but by the end I was feeling kind of perplexed, wondering why I was feeling sorry for the villain, and a little annoyed/suspicious with the hero for being able to take charge of his life and make it so perfect so quickly, and not entirely convinced that there weren’t still some loose ends or secondary villains somewhere that needed to be dealt with. But anyway, it was still a good movie. It made me laugh and it made me cry...although the same can be said for the horrific South Pacific, which both Valerie and I recently suffered through (to be honest, I couldn’t endure all of it) only by making numerous jokes and groaning noises through the ridiculous strand of cheesy love scenes/boring love songs. And the plot was...let me put it this way: stupid, stupid, stupid.
-Ate breakfast and lunch. Not at the same time, of course. But this was the first time I made myself macaroni and cheese for lunch—what a delicious surprise!
-Chatted with Valerie when she got back from her work. Yeah, the day went by waaaaaaaaaaaay too fast.
-Exercised downstairs while watching some more of Hidalgo. I’d already started it and could probably have finished it today if I didn’t have to watch all my favorite scenes again and then all my favorite moments in the favorite scenes. My particular favorite is the opening scene where Frank Hopkins passes the stuck-up rich guy and gives four wonderfully striking/oh-so-cheesy lines: “Why did you then?” “C’mon little brother,” “Let ‘er buck,” and—my favorite—“Yeeeee-haww!”
-Took a shower, rushed to Institute class (a little late but at least not stinky and sweaty!)
And that was my Wednesday—lazy and lovely and not-long-enough. It was wonderful to have a break in the middle of the week just to clean up everything in our dorm room and not stress about going out and doing touristy things in the city. And, as a bonus, now I feel extremely refreshed and excited to go to work and begin my Thursday! Seriously, let ‘er buck.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Four Memorials in a Day!
Since I know everyone reads the blog (FAITHFULLY, RIGHT!?!?), and I’m not sure of everyone’s email addresses, I have just a few notes to put here for some of my wonderful family fans.
To Dad: Thanks for that sweet voicemail message today. Sometimes I just really miss your and Mama’s voices, and I’m glad I missed your call, because now I have your voice and special, sweet message to play back whenever I need it (which will be often). I will call you tomorrow on Mom’s cell phone number to chat about the ecclesiastical endorsement. Also, thanks for putting a little hug on all your emails.
To Grandma/Grandpa: I apologize for not responding earlier to your sweet note! Thanks for thinking of me and for being so interested in how I’m doing and for keeping me informed on your own escapades in Tennessee. As far as I’m concerned, you are the most wonderful grandparents ever, and I love you SO much! I am so lucky and proud to be your granddaughter, and hope to see as much of you as possible whenever possible!
To Aunt Shelly: Thanks for the lovely card (such a pretty painting!) and for sharing your news! You have no idea how excited I was to see that I had an actual letter in our mailbox—it made my whole day :) And I loved hearing the news about all the cousins. How is Mary doing? Is Andy still the master of all the video games? I will have to write Julie about her New Orleans trip, and definitely want to see pictures of Becky’s new haircut :)
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Happy Sunday, everyone! It’s hard to believe that next week will be my last Fast Sunday here—I guess I’d better start hunting for some spiritual experiences if I want to bear my testimony :) However, I don’t know how appropriate it would be to share my experiences of sobbing during the Gettysburg Visitor’s Center film or becoming extremely emotional while watching the Animated Hero Classics film Abraham Lincoln on YouTube. Probably more appropriate than it would be to share the number of sighs gushed and tears shed over the dazzling cast of Ocean’s Eleven, which scrumptious visual treat I also happened to watch this past week (and which I formerly thought actually had something to do with one of two large bodies of water filled mainly with salt).
Anyway, I’ll try to share what’s been going on in the past few days (namely, Friday, Saturday, and today). But I do want to assure everyone that I have not forgotten about the Gettysburg/Harper’s Ferry trip, or the Supreme Court, or even going to the National Archives all day on the Saturday before last (Just kidding—actually, I had TOTALLY forgotten about that. I had to sit here and think about it for five minutes before I wrote it down :).
I’m still taking and downloading pictures, but, due to the low quality of the camera, most of them are turning out badly. Aaaargh. First thing on my list for birthday wishes is a good camera. Did everyone hear that!?!?
Sooooo, on Friday, we had class ALL DAY. We started with a briefing by Elder Ralph Hardy (an LDS guy who works for the Church here in Washington, and also the uncle of one of our interns—Sage Hale) which was very interesting and nicely delivered. It was almost like a conference talk—he told a lot of stories about Joseph Smith and the history of the Church in Washington.
Next we had a few minutes of class, on the topic of “what are our expectations for institutions and where did we get these expectations.” A few good points were brought out, but not many. And our professor spent a long time in explaining extremely basic concepts, which I felt was unnecessary. So I was annoyed when the Syrian ambassador arrived a bit later, and we still had to stay as he went over his allotted time, just so we could finish our wonderful, prolonged class discussion on “what you believe and why you believe in and how this will CHANGE THE WORLD!”
The Syrian ambassador gave an interesting presentation, which mainly consisted of an explanation of Syria’s complete innocence in all affairs in the Middle East and the United States’ and Israel’s extreme guilt. Then he took questions from the class and reiterated his argument with quoted statistics (which I never really pay attention to anyway) and rhetoric. I would have liked him better if he had been less one-sided, more humble, and less condescendingly critical towards all the opinions that differed from his own. He also made certain issues—elimination of all chemical and nuclear weapons in the entire Middle East, the conflict between Sunnis and Shias, the solution to the current Palestinian/Israel conflict—seem much more simple than I could believe them to be. In the end, I enjoyed his speech—at least it kept me awake!—and only wished I or someone had known as much on the subject as he did in order to give us a more multi-sided perspective. The best question (labled by the Syrian ambassador as being “one of the most difficult questions I’ve been asked!”) was asked by Andi, a BYU student and native of Albania, who doesn’t live at the Barlow Center, but comes for the classes. He asked if the Syrian people were happy. The answer? More rhetoric and statistics (“We have Iraqi refugees pouring into Syria, and not Syrian refugees pouring into Iraq, so what does that tell you? People would rather be in the Syrian authoritarian society than the Iraqi democracy!”). Meh. I didn’t buy it.
These two presentations, combined with class, lasted over three hours. We were scheduled to meet for a third briefing at the D.C. District Courthouse at 2 p.m. And it was already past noon. Grumble, grumble, grumble. I had enough time to rush to the computers on the second floor (the wireless Internet has been down in our rooms again for the past few days) and print up some stuff for my Gallery Talk presentation at 7, and then grab a few bites of lunch before putting on my coat and heading out the door.
I was tired and hungry and grumpy, and late on top of that (we were supposed to be there 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and I left the Barlow Center—with some other people—almost 20 minutes late), and I knew it would be too late to do anything between the briefing and my museum Gallery Talk, so I was strongly tempted to just skip the briefing, hit a museum, and get some more lunch. But I didn’t. BEST DECISION...EVER!!!
The briefing was absolutely FANTASTIC. Possibly my favorite one! (After the one on torture, definitely) (Which, let’s face it, is gonna be impossible to beat). Judge Thomas (?) Griffith—who is a Latter-day Saint AND a judge on the D.C. Court—was our briefer, and definitely one of the nicest ones we’ve had. He smiled, made jokes about himself and his job, spoke truthfully and respectfully in answer to all of our questions, and made even the dumb questions and questioners seem smart. Wow. What a guy! The briefing was held in the actual courtroom, where famous federal cases like the Watergate tapes and the Clinton scandal were held, and I got to sit in one of the neat comfy rocking chairs that the 9 Supreme Court Justices were all using at the Supreme Court (And I’m not sure I can accurately describe how amusing a sight it was to see 9 grown-ups in a row, rocking back and forth in comfy chairs...sometimes, words just will not do). The rocking part was super fun, but unfortunately, my chair was stubbornly set at a height for a somewhat tall person, leaving me dangling my legs or sitting on the tippy tippy edge of my seat. A minor problem, all in all, but I do wish that I had been able to figure out how to adjust the height.
After the briefing (and I took notes, believe you me!), I was impressed enough to want to shake Judge Griffith’s hand, but he was pretty popular with the other interns, and we all got shooed out of the courtroom before I could get the chance. A lot of the interns took off once we were out, but I still hung around. At this time, someone had realized that we hadn’t had a photo with Judge Griffith yet, like we usually do with all of our briefers. Luckily, Andrew Dougherty had a camera, so we posed in the hallway and got a picture. And after that, I got to shake Judge Griffith’s hand! A photo and a handshake—staying later DOES pay off!
It was well after 4 p.m. by this time, as I knew it would be, but it was SO WORTH IT to go to the briefing that I didn’t really mind at all. I enjoyed a leisurely walk home, where I ate, changed, and took off for NMWA to give my Gallery Talk. I took the Metro to get there a few minutes early, although I ended up starting my presentation a few minutes late since there wasn’t really anyone interested in a tour from 7-7:05 ish.
My Gallery Talk went very well. Hooray! To my surprise and delight, the following things occurred:
1. Nobody minded that I mispronounced/butchered the Hungarian names.
2. Only about FIVE people were officially listening to me. However, there were other people wandering around in the exhibits, and some of them afterwards commented that they had overheard and enjoyed the presentation. Zoom—there goes my self-confidence!
3. There was an actual guy from Hungary who attended the exhibit! Aaaaaand, instead of being snotty or inclined to only speak in French, he was really nice: Instead of contradicting or correcting me on anything, he expressed gratitude and appreciation for my and the museum’s promotion and support of his country’s artists. And he helped me pronounce a few names when I asked him. And he was cute (but that’s beside the point, especially since I didn’t get his name or number).
4. Other Ruth (I call her “Other Ruth,” and she calls me the same, I imagine. She works in Member Services at the Museum and is super super nice) attended for moral support. Vivian, my supervisor, wished me luck. After the talk, Karen, one of the guards, chatted with me for a while about both the exhibits. It was like a family reunion!
5. Despite completely losing my place in my notes and forgetting half of what I wanted to say, I got through 30 min. of speaking about photographs and themes and artists and ideas, and still somehow managed to stay on track and make it sound like it made sense.
6. The 5 people—bless their hearts!—didn’t have hard questions and were very nice and said “Thank you” and didn’t complain about what a shabby small collection we had! (Note: This is my biggest fear)
Anyway, I was very very happy after it was all over. I spent some time looking at the Mary McFadden exhibit and then went upstairs to do some computer stuff on my new office computer, and then walked home on Cloud 99.
I can’t remember exactly what happened Friday night... sighing, swooning, crying... Oh yeah. Ocean’s Eleven.
Saturday was another super duper day, from beginning to end, but I’m going to have to write about it tomorrow, since it’s midnight now and I want to get to bed. Just know for now that Saturday involved the following things:
-tour of the U.S. Capitol
-visit to the White House Visitor’s Center
-tour of the DAR
-yeah John Adams!
-Happy Birthday to Brad...
-in which I learn that playing Mafia can be either pretty fun or pretty boring
Lest Sunday feels left out, here’s a quick summary of how I spent my time today:
-woke up
-including traveling time and a few minutes at the Munch-n-Mingle after church (mmm, pizza bagel bites!), church = 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
-lunch, rest
-1/2 dinner
-loooooong walk to and back from the FOUR MEMORIALS mentioned in the title (Einstein Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, FDR Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial) and looooooong phone call, mainly to Sarah, during which phone gives out and has to be recharged
-other 1/2 dinner (the alfredo pasta is gone, but the cheesy pasta remains to be devoured! I’m on it!)
-looooooooooooooooooooooooong blog entry, culminating in the words “looooooooooooooooooooooooong blog entry” and “Good night—I love you.”
Good night! I love you!
To Dad: Thanks for that sweet voicemail message today. Sometimes I just really miss your and Mama’s voices, and I’m glad I missed your call, because now I have your voice and special, sweet message to play back whenever I need it (which will be often). I will call you tomorrow on Mom’s cell phone number to chat about the ecclesiastical endorsement. Also, thanks for putting a little hug on all your emails.
To Grandma/Grandpa: I apologize for not responding earlier to your sweet note! Thanks for thinking of me and for being so interested in how I’m doing and for keeping me informed on your own escapades in Tennessee. As far as I’m concerned, you are the most wonderful grandparents ever, and I love you SO much! I am so lucky and proud to be your granddaughter, and hope to see as much of you as possible whenever possible!
To Aunt Shelly: Thanks for the lovely card (such a pretty painting!) and for sharing your news! You have no idea how excited I was to see that I had an actual letter in our mailbox—it made my whole day :) And I loved hearing the news about all the cousins. How is Mary doing? Is Andy still the master of all the video games? I will have to write Julie about her New Orleans trip, and definitely want to see pictures of Becky’s new haircut :)
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Happy Sunday, everyone! It’s hard to believe that next week will be my last Fast Sunday here—I guess I’d better start hunting for some spiritual experiences if I want to bear my testimony :) However, I don’t know how appropriate it would be to share my experiences of sobbing during the Gettysburg Visitor’s Center film or becoming extremely emotional while watching the Animated Hero Classics film Abraham Lincoln on YouTube. Probably more appropriate than it would be to share the number of sighs gushed and tears shed over the dazzling cast of Ocean’s Eleven, which scrumptious visual treat I also happened to watch this past week (and which I formerly thought actually had something to do with one of two large bodies of water filled mainly with salt).
Anyway, I’ll try to share what’s been going on in the past few days (namely, Friday, Saturday, and today). But I do want to assure everyone that I have not forgotten about the Gettysburg/Harper’s Ferry trip, or the Supreme Court, or even going to the National Archives all day on the Saturday before last (Just kidding—actually, I had TOTALLY forgotten about that. I had to sit here and think about it for five minutes before I wrote it down :).
I’m still taking and downloading pictures, but, due to the low quality of the camera, most of them are turning out badly. Aaaargh. First thing on my list for birthday wishes is a good camera. Did everyone hear that!?!?
Sooooo, on Friday, we had class ALL DAY. We started with a briefing by Elder Ralph Hardy (an LDS guy who works for the Church here in Washington, and also the uncle of one of our interns—Sage Hale) which was very interesting and nicely delivered. It was almost like a conference talk—he told a lot of stories about Joseph Smith and the history of the Church in Washington.
Next we had a few minutes of class, on the topic of “what are our expectations for institutions and where did we get these expectations.” A few good points were brought out, but not many. And our professor spent a long time in explaining extremely basic concepts, which I felt was unnecessary. So I was annoyed when the Syrian ambassador arrived a bit later, and we still had to stay as he went over his allotted time, just so we could finish our wonderful, prolonged class discussion on “what you believe and why you believe in and how this will CHANGE THE WORLD!”
The Syrian ambassador gave an interesting presentation, which mainly consisted of an explanation of Syria’s complete innocence in all affairs in the Middle East and the United States’ and Israel’s extreme guilt. Then he took questions from the class and reiterated his argument with quoted statistics (which I never really pay attention to anyway) and rhetoric. I would have liked him better if he had been less one-sided, more humble, and less condescendingly critical towards all the opinions that differed from his own. He also made certain issues—elimination of all chemical and nuclear weapons in the entire Middle East, the conflict between Sunnis and Shias, the solution to the current Palestinian/Israel conflict—seem much more simple than I could believe them to be. In the end, I enjoyed his speech—at least it kept me awake!—and only wished I or someone had known as much on the subject as he did in order to give us a more multi-sided perspective. The best question (labled by the Syrian ambassador as being “one of the most difficult questions I’ve been asked!”) was asked by Andi, a BYU student and native of Albania, who doesn’t live at the Barlow Center, but comes for the classes. He asked if the Syrian people were happy. The answer? More rhetoric and statistics (“We have Iraqi refugees pouring into Syria, and not Syrian refugees pouring into Iraq, so what does that tell you? People would rather be in the Syrian authoritarian society than the Iraqi democracy!”). Meh. I didn’t buy it.
These two presentations, combined with class, lasted over three hours. We were scheduled to meet for a third briefing at the D.C. District Courthouse at 2 p.m. And it was already past noon. Grumble, grumble, grumble. I had enough time to rush to the computers on the second floor (the wireless Internet has been down in our rooms again for the past few days) and print up some stuff for my Gallery Talk presentation at 7, and then grab a few bites of lunch before putting on my coat and heading out the door.
I was tired and hungry and grumpy, and late on top of that (we were supposed to be there 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and I left the Barlow Center—with some other people—almost 20 minutes late), and I knew it would be too late to do anything between the briefing and my museum Gallery Talk, so I was strongly tempted to just skip the briefing, hit a museum, and get some more lunch. But I didn’t. BEST DECISION...EVER!!!
The briefing was absolutely FANTASTIC. Possibly my favorite one! (After the one on torture, definitely) (Which, let’s face it, is gonna be impossible to beat). Judge Thomas (?) Griffith—who is a Latter-day Saint AND a judge on the D.C. Court—was our briefer, and definitely one of the nicest ones we’ve had. He smiled, made jokes about himself and his job, spoke truthfully and respectfully in answer to all of our questions, and made even the dumb questions and questioners seem smart. Wow. What a guy! The briefing was held in the actual courtroom, where famous federal cases like the Watergate tapes and the Clinton scandal were held, and I got to sit in one of the neat comfy rocking chairs that the 9 Supreme Court Justices were all using at the Supreme Court (And I’m not sure I can accurately describe how amusing a sight it was to see 9 grown-ups in a row, rocking back and forth in comfy chairs...sometimes, words just will not do). The rocking part was super fun, but unfortunately, my chair was stubbornly set at a height for a somewhat tall person, leaving me dangling my legs or sitting on the tippy tippy edge of my seat. A minor problem, all in all, but I do wish that I had been able to figure out how to adjust the height.
After the briefing (and I took notes, believe you me!), I was impressed enough to want to shake Judge Griffith’s hand, but he was pretty popular with the other interns, and we all got shooed out of the courtroom before I could get the chance. A lot of the interns took off once we were out, but I still hung around. At this time, someone had realized that we hadn’t had a photo with Judge Griffith yet, like we usually do with all of our briefers. Luckily, Andrew Dougherty had a camera, so we posed in the hallway and got a picture. And after that, I got to shake Judge Griffith’s hand! A photo and a handshake—staying later DOES pay off!
It was well after 4 p.m. by this time, as I knew it would be, but it was SO WORTH IT to go to the briefing that I didn’t really mind at all. I enjoyed a leisurely walk home, where I ate, changed, and took off for NMWA to give my Gallery Talk. I took the Metro to get there a few minutes early, although I ended up starting my presentation a few minutes late since there wasn’t really anyone interested in a tour from 7-7:05 ish.
My Gallery Talk went very well. Hooray! To my surprise and delight, the following things occurred:
1. Nobody minded that I mispronounced/butchered the Hungarian names.
2. Only about FIVE people were officially listening to me. However, there were other people wandering around in the exhibits, and some of them afterwards commented that they had overheard and enjoyed the presentation. Zoom—there goes my self-confidence!
3. There was an actual guy from Hungary who attended the exhibit! Aaaaaand, instead of being snotty or inclined to only speak in French, he was really nice: Instead of contradicting or correcting me on anything, he expressed gratitude and appreciation for my and the museum’s promotion and support of his country’s artists. And he helped me pronounce a few names when I asked him. And he was cute (but that’s beside the point, especially since I didn’t get his name or number).
4. Other Ruth (I call her “Other Ruth,” and she calls me the same, I imagine. She works in Member Services at the Museum and is super super nice) attended for moral support. Vivian, my supervisor, wished me luck. After the talk, Karen, one of the guards, chatted with me for a while about both the exhibits. It was like a family reunion!
5. Despite completely losing my place in my notes and forgetting half of what I wanted to say, I got through 30 min. of speaking about photographs and themes and artists and ideas, and still somehow managed to stay on track and make it sound like it made sense.
6. The 5 people—bless their hearts!—didn’t have hard questions and were very nice and said “Thank you” and didn’t complain about what a shabby small collection we had! (Note: This is my biggest fear)
Anyway, I was very very happy after it was all over. I spent some time looking at the Mary McFadden exhibit and then went upstairs to do some computer stuff on my new office computer, and then walked home on Cloud 99.
I can’t remember exactly what happened Friday night... sighing, swooning, crying... Oh yeah. Ocean’s Eleven.
Saturday was another super duper day, from beginning to end, but I’m going to have to write about it tomorrow, since it’s midnight now and I want to get to bed. Just know for now that Saturday involved the following things:
-tour of the U.S. Capitol
-visit to the White House Visitor’s Center
-tour of the DAR
-yeah John Adams!
-Happy Birthday to Brad...
-in which I learn that playing Mafia can be either pretty fun or pretty boring
Lest Sunday feels left out, here’s a quick summary of how I spent my time today:
-woke up
-including traveling time and a few minutes at the Munch-n-Mingle after church (mmm, pizza bagel bites!), church = 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
-lunch, rest
-1/2 dinner
-loooooong walk to and back from the FOUR MEMORIALS mentioned in the title (Einstein Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, FDR Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial) and looooooong phone call, mainly to Sarah, during which phone gives out and has to be recharged
-other 1/2 dinner (the alfredo pasta is gone, but the cheesy pasta remains to be devoured! I’m on it!)
-looooooooooooooooooooooooong blog entry, culminating in the words “looooooooooooooooooooooooong blog entry” and “Good night—I love you.”
Good night! I love you!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Ketchup! Ketching up!
Good morning, everyone! Just so you know, I DID write a long entry last night, but didn’t post anything because there was some top secret/personal/embarrassing stuff mixed in, and I was too tired to sort it all out.
So while you’re reading this, bear in mind that 1) it will sound jerky and 2) it was written late last night.
*************
I hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick’s Day! I felt incredibly old and grown-up and boring, as this was the first March 17 I can remember where I FORGOT to wear green!!! I even forgot to wear my gold shamrock necklace which I had packed back in January specifically for the occasion!!!!! Shame, shame, shame. Fortunately, according to some people, I DO have green eyes, and I did have a green watch around with me all day. Even so, I did get pinched one time in the evening, by a girl who managed to overlook both the color of my eyes and the watch, and then conveniently claimed ignorance of the rule wherein I would be entitled to pinch her back 10 times for the error. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Peppermint Patty!
Valerie was wearing all green colors, to make up for it, and looked sort of like a leprechaun with her red hair and, um, gold jewelry (!?). I was a bit disappointed that she didn’t pull her rainbow umbrella out of the closet to complete the ensemble, but she managed to light up all of our eyes anyway with the delicious corned beef and potato cabbage dishes she made. Yum yum!
Earlier in the day, I had gotten off work a little early to walk to the National Portrait Gallery and look at their new (well, new in January) exhibit on the Vice Presidents of America. It was as enthralling as I had expected, and I took many more and better pictures throughout the Gallery of photos I wanted to remember. I plan to post all of them, eventually, possibly on Facebook, with my commentary. I am particularly excited to at last have a good picture of the handsome (yet hated, in Georgia) General Sherman, as my previous ones were all blurry or accidentally deleted.
I ended up spending about two hours at the National Portrait Gallery, and then took a long walk home, through the Mall, past the Washington Monument, and through the Park past the Lincoln Memorial and Einstein Memorial (the latter one is like no memorial I have ever seen before or hope to ever see again... except perhaps to Santa Claus) (P.s. I take it back—the messy-looking, giant head of John F. Kennedy in the Kennedy Center comes close to reminding me of this style). I had some crumbs of a bagel in my pocket, and I fed them to some ducks. Then I saw a sign that said “Don’t feed the wildlife.” And then I felt guilty. Next time, I’ll just throw the bagel away. Or give it to a homeless person. Actually, I might not—some homeless people can be pretty cranky if you give them anything besides money.
Changing the subject entirely, work is going pretty good. Back in February my office did a little Oscars party, where everyone guessed the Oscar winners and pooled their money and gave it all to the winner. I didn’t attend the party and didn’t lose any money, and still guessed quite a few of the winners correctly, through pure luck and Googling. Through the process, I became interested enough in Slumdog Millionnaire to go and see it at a movie theater (oddly enough, it’s on the block across the street from the famous Ford’s theater), and I found it pretty good. But, unfortunately, not as epically spectacular as I wanted it to be. The casting and acting was just not quite...mmmm...enough, for me, I guess. But it was still a good film. They ought to put it on the repertoire at International cinema, along with The Lives of Others. Now THAT was an Oscar-deserving film! (And it won one too—Best Foreign Film in 2007).
Back to the subject of office party pools, now another person has organized a March madness tournament, and I’ve also filled out my own private bracket. But I don’t really care who wins. I like BYU and I like Duke because I have family members who go there, and I picked North Carolina to win because I like how the letters spell U-N-C like the nickname of my mom’s younger brother. Also, they’re number 1. Also, they’re a Southern state, and I like the South. But as far as basketball games go, I really don’t care. Come championship game time, I will most likely be reading a book, working on homework, at an art museum, or sleeping.
Well, back to catching up. I had phone duty (roll eyes) on Tuesday, which was especially annoying since the receptionist had been gone all day Monday and left the phones on “Do Not Disturb” (one of the other interns asked, “Why can’t we just do that EVERY DAY!?” and I found myself agreeing), and then on Wednesday, neither the intern who is supposed to cover the phones nor the receptionist was there, so the phones were again on “Do Not Disturb.” So I was irked at having to fulfill my phone duty assignment on Tuesday, but I did it nonetheless. At least I haven’t come up with any calls that I haven’t been able to handle—of course, my failsafe strategy is to tell the person to call back in a few hours or (preferably) the next day. Or I transfer them to someone nice who I know will at least KNOW who to transfer them to. The real problem is getting people in the office to answer their phones, because they’re all out eating lunch—another reason why it’s a bit pointless for us interns to be answering the phones at this time.
Wednesday was kind of a blah day. I woke up, went to work, and my computer crashed. So I spent half the day trying to figure out, both on my own and with the museum’s computer person, and eventually I packed up my stuff and moved to the Library, and then moved upstairs to a spare computer on the 5th floor in the “commons” room, next to my supervisors’ offices! Yeah for sunlight and not being next to the freight elevator and the copy machine and not being alone in a dark space all day and not having to pass the scary receptionist desk every time I go to the bathroom or upstairs! I felt renewed and exhilarated, as if I had received a promotion or something. Or started a new internship! All day I got to hear more traffic noises, see the sun, listen to the chatter of the Education department, snack on the leftover food from a meeting with some teachers at the Education department, and fiddle around with my chair to make it adjust and STAY adjusted to my height.
Today I spent the majority of the day working on my Gallery Talk/lecture/presentation on the Hungarian Women Photographers exhibit we have going on display tomorrow. I took a self-directed tour of the photos before leaving work, and planned out my talk and the photos I would target. Now I just need to print some visual aids, organize my notes, and pray that my brain doesn’t freeze, that a lot of people don’t show up, that in the number of people who do show up there will not be a person who knows the exact proper pronunciation of every Hungarian photographer and insists on it being said correctly, and that we can avoid crashing into the Mary McFadden group which will be touring and likely wandering around the other end of the floor. There will be tours given all day in honor of the opening of the two exhibits, and I’m hoping to catch one or two myself before I have to give my own. Mary McFadden herself is giving one at 6 p.m. which would be fun to catch. I’ve seen her a couple of times in the museum so far, but haven’t yet heard her speak loud enough to make an impression.
Today there were some TV people interviewing Mary McFadden at the museum and Michelle (my Comms/Market supervisor) got to spend most of her day with them. I wished I could have stuck around and seen more of what went on in the interview, but Ms. McFadden didn’t look like she wanted to have anyone who was not NECESSARY in the area, and I did have work to do preparing for the Hungarian photographers talk. Still, I enjoyed the privilege of sauntering through the exhibition in its installment phases, and handing Michelle the two water bottles which she asked me to purchase earlier from the convenience store across the street. I also brought a big box of mail from the shop upstairs to her desk, and helped Vivian fetch some posters for our sandwich board signs from a printing place. Productive day, yes!? Except one of the paintings on the sandwich board (Self-portrait of Frida Kahlo for Leon Trotsky; NMWA is famous for owning the original) turned out rather orange-y. I didn’t think it looked too bad, until we compared it with the original. Then it basically looked like Frida Kahlo was 1) suffering from scarlet fever or 2) covered in Cheeto dust. So we’ll be getting a reprint of that shortly!
So while you’re reading this, bear in mind that 1) it will sound jerky and 2) it was written late last night.
*************
I hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick’s Day! I felt incredibly old and grown-up and boring, as this was the first March 17 I can remember where I FORGOT to wear green!!! I even forgot to wear my gold shamrock necklace which I had packed back in January specifically for the occasion!!!!! Shame, shame, shame. Fortunately, according to some people, I DO have green eyes, and I did have a green watch around with me all day. Even so, I did get pinched one time in the evening, by a girl who managed to overlook both the color of my eyes and the watch, and then conveniently claimed ignorance of the rule wherein I would be entitled to pinch her back 10 times for the error. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Peppermint Patty!
Valerie was wearing all green colors, to make up for it, and looked sort of like a leprechaun with her red hair and, um, gold jewelry (!?). I was a bit disappointed that she didn’t pull her rainbow umbrella out of the closet to complete the ensemble, but she managed to light up all of our eyes anyway with the delicious corned beef and potato cabbage dishes she made. Yum yum!
Earlier in the day, I had gotten off work a little early to walk to the National Portrait Gallery and look at their new (well, new in January) exhibit on the Vice Presidents of America. It was as enthralling as I had expected, and I took many more and better pictures throughout the Gallery of photos I wanted to remember. I plan to post all of them, eventually, possibly on Facebook, with my commentary. I am particularly excited to at last have a good picture of the handsome (yet hated, in Georgia) General Sherman, as my previous ones were all blurry or accidentally deleted.
I ended up spending about two hours at the National Portrait Gallery, and then took a long walk home, through the Mall, past the Washington Monument, and through the Park past the Lincoln Memorial and Einstein Memorial (the latter one is like no memorial I have ever seen before or hope to ever see again... except perhaps to Santa Claus) (P.s. I take it back—the messy-looking, giant head of John F. Kennedy in the Kennedy Center comes close to reminding me of this style). I had some crumbs of a bagel in my pocket, and I fed them to some ducks. Then I saw a sign that said “Don’t feed the wildlife.” And then I felt guilty. Next time, I’ll just throw the bagel away. Or give it to a homeless person. Actually, I might not—some homeless people can be pretty cranky if you give them anything besides money.
Changing the subject entirely, work is going pretty good. Back in February my office did a little Oscars party, where everyone guessed the Oscar winners and pooled their money and gave it all to the winner. I didn’t attend the party and didn’t lose any money, and still guessed quite a few of the winners correctly, through pure luck and Googling. Through the process, I became interested enough in Slumdog Millionnaire to go and see it at a movie theater (oddly enough, it’s on the block across the street from the famous Ford’s theater), and I found it pretty good. But, unfortunately, not as epically spectacular as I wanted it to be. The casting and acting was just not quite...mmmm...enough, for me, I guess. But it was still a good film. They ought to put it on the repertoire at International cinema, along with The Lives of Others. Now THAT was an Oscar-deserving film! (And it won one too—Best Foreign Film in 2007).
Back to the subject of office party pools, now another person has organized a March madness tournament, and I’ve also filled out my own private bracket. But I don’t really care who wins. I like BYU and I like Duke because I have family members who go there, and I picked North Carolina to win because I like how the letters spell U-N-C like the nickname of my mom’s younger brother. Also, they’re number 1. Also, they’re a Southern state, and I like the South. But as far as basketball games go, I really don’t care. Come championship game time, I will most likely be reading a book, working on homework, at an art museum, or sleeping.
Well, back to catching up. I had phone duty (roll eyes) on Tuesday, which was especially annoying since the receptionist had been gone all day Monday and left the phones on “Do Not Disturb” (one of the other interns asked, “Why can’t we just do that EVERY DAY!?” and I found myself agreeing), and then on Wednesday, neither the intern who is supposed to cover the phones nor the receptionist was there, so the phones were again on “Do Not Disturb.” So I was irked at having to fulfill my phone duty assignment on Tuesday, but I did it nonetheless. At least I haven’t come up with any calls that I haven’t been able to handle—of course, my failsafe strategy is to tell the person to call back in a few hours or (preferably) the next day. Or I transfer them to someone nice who I know will at least KNOW who to transfer them to. The real problem is getting people in the office to answer their phones, because they’re all out eating lunch—another reason why it’s a bit pointless for us interns to be answering the phones at this time.
Wednesday was kind of a blah day. I woke up, went to work, and my computer crashed. So I spent half the day trying to figure out, both on my own and with the museum’s computer person, and eventually I packed up my stuff and moved to the Library, and then moved upstairs to a spare computer on the 5th floor in the “commons” room, next to my supervisors’ offices! Yeah for sunlight and not being next to the freight elevator and the copy machine and not being alone in a dark space all day and not having to pass the scary receptionist desk every time I go to the bathroom or upstairs! I felt renewed and exhilarated, as if I had received a promotion or something. Or started a new internship! All day I got to hear more traffic noises, see the sun, listen to the chatter of the Education department, snack on the leftover food from a meeting with some teachers at the Education department, and fiddle around with my chair to make it adjust and STAY adjusted to my height.
Today I spent the majority of the day working on my Gallery Talk/lecture/presentation on the Hungarian Women Photographers exhibit we have going on display tomorrow. I took a self-directed tour of the photos before leaving work, and planned out my talk and the photos I would target. Now I just need to print some visual aids, organize my notes, and pray that my brain doesn’t freeze, that a lot of people don’t show up, that in the number of people who do show up there will not be a person who knows the exact proper pronunciation of every Hungarian photographer and insists on it being said correctly, and that we can avoid crashing into the Mary McFadden group which will be touring and likely wandering around the other end of the floor. There will be tours given all day in honor of the opening of the two exhibits, and I’m hoping to catch one or two myself before I have to give my own. Mary McFadden herself is giving one at 6 p.m. which would be fun to catch. I’ve seen her a couple of times in the museum so far, but haven’t yet heard her speak loud enough to make an impression.
Today there were some TV people interviewing Mary McFadden at the museum and Michelle (my Comms/Market supervisor) got to spend most of her day with them. I wished I could have stuck around and seen more of what went on in the interview, but Ms. McFadden didn’t look like she wanted to have anyone who was not NECESSARY in the area, and I did have work to do preparing for the Hungarian photographers talk. Still, I enjoyed the privilege of sauntering through the exhibition in its installment phases, and handing Michelle the two water bottles which she asked me to purchase earlier from the convenience store across the street. I also brought a big box of mail from the shop upstairs to her desk, and helped Vivian fetch some posters for our sandwich board signs from a printing place. Productive day, yes!? Except one of the paintings on the sandwich board (Self-portrait of Frida Kahlo for Leon Trotsky; NMWA is famous for owning the original) turned out rather orange-y. I didn’t think it looked too bad, until we compared it with the original. Then it basically looked like Frida Kahlo was 1) suffering from scarlet fever or 2) covered in Cheeto dust. So we’ll be getting a reprint of that shortly!
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Honeymoon is over...
Hello everyone! It’s me, and I’m still here, and... it’s been almost a week since my last post. Cringe...
Ok, so, basically, Iapologize. I have still been writing on my journal on Microsoft Word here, but it’s become quite difficult to post now that my computer has starting acting weird (it’s a long story, but basically, the “clicker” mouse button doesn’t work, a virus thing comes up every time the computer turns on, and it’s just kinda sluggish in general). I am still taking pictures and am full of ideas and experiences to write about, though. So it’s only a matter of time as to when these long-anticipated posts will, actually, like, y'know, post.
Speaking of...TIME! Where did the time go? Is it really March 16? Is it really only a month (approximately...) until I head back home to Utah? Since when did a winter semester suddenly become so short? Seriously, I think Daylight Savings must have been rigged this year or something. Of course, on the flip side, wasn’t Inauguration, like, FOREVER ago? As in, isn’t it about time for us to have elections again....? The honeymoon is over. And not just for Mr. Obama (although, for some of the folks here, I do believe that particular honeymoon will last longer than many marriages). This morning, Monday morning, I got a distinct impression that the “honeymoon” between me and the Washington Seminar—not between me and D.C., heavens no! I still have a ton to see and do (and hear and smell and taste and feel) here!—is over. I felt like a cross betwen a regular grumpy college student, and a mature businesswoman going to an all-day work job.
The day went rather quickly, and I am pleased to say that I was, for the most part, productive. I didn’t take the elevator once during the day, adding considerably to the number of minutes I was able to spend away from my desk in running errands and taking long detours in order to avoid certain people (yes, there is more to this story. No, you shall not learn of it here). I cleaned up my overflowing inbox from last Thursday to today, compiled the art news from the weekend, studied and made notes and a draft for my Gallery Talk presentation on Friday, and wrote up one of my PolSci papers that isn’t due for another two weeks. I have two more petty papers to finish this week, and then will have to get cracking on that research paper.
After work, I walked home in the chipper (but un-wet) weather. Yesterday, I took the Metro home from church and ended up getting off at Metro Center, about 30 min. away from the Barlow Center, when the Metro experienced delays for 16 min. or so. It was a very refreshing walk in the light rain coming home, but I did get pretty wet, and my Sunday shoes aren’t the best for taking long walks in. So today, the only day as far as I can remember doing so, I brought my umbrella to work! And...no rain. Nothing. Not a drop. I was looking at the sky on the way to work, but it was clear. Well, actually, there were a lot of birds flying around. And then I thought, “Aw....how pretty.” And then I saw that they were all flying so close together because they were chasing/attacking this one bird who had managed to get ahold of a large chunk of food. So much for my envy of the beauty and freedom of the birds! I may not have the best life in the world, but at least I don’t have to fight off twenty people to get my daily dose of oatmeal, banana, and yogurt in the morning!
So, after work, I walked straight home (sans Michael, who had somehow managed to get out of his office before 5 p.m. and race home before me...we were literally only a few minutes apart and never saw each other!) and then exercised downstairs. In a twist of fate and luck, the TV was working, and I got to watch some of “White Nights” (starring the impeccable Mikhail Baryishnikov as a Russian dancer!!!—cue the “squeal and swoon” here—whose plans to defect from the Soviet Union are thwarted, and then counter-thwarted, and then quasi-counter-thwarted, and then ditched and revamped and semi-executed) and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” in Spanish. Action/adventure movies in Spanish are pretty awesome, actually. You can always tell what’s going on once you know who the good guys and who the bad guys are, and it’s especially nice that they always speak in short, clipped sentences like “Lista,” and “Ningún problema.” After exercising, I came upstairs and fixed myself some dinner—the last of the “Alfredo Sauce” pasta (sniffles!) and some grapes—and then went to FHE. The missionaries came and gave us a first discussion on the Restoration, and then gave us Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons...?) to give to someone before we leave. I already have a person in mind!
After that, we filled out March Madness brackets (I’m still thinkin’ on mine...) and ate brownies with ice cream.
And that’s was my Monday! How was yours? Tomorrow I figure will be about the same, although I will have to find some spare time to go shopping (out of bread...and salsa...and yogurt...and grapes) and maybe, possibly try to hit a museum or something. It’s really sad how many things I have left to see here in D.C. before my internship ends. Of course, I know I won’t be able to fit it all in. Just, um....99% of it? At least. Maybe I could pull an all-nighter my last day and....okay, never mind.
Coming as soon as I can post and write about them:
My adventures at the National Archives!
My adventures during our Gettysburg/Harper’s Ferry trip!
My adventures at the Supreme Court!
My adventures.....elsewhere!
Ok, so, basically, Iapologize. I have still been writing on my journal on Microsoft Word here, but it’s become quite difficult to post now that my computer has starting acting weird (it’s a long story, but basically, the “clicker” mouse button doesn’t work, a virus thing comes up every time the computer turns on, and it’s just kinda sluggish in general). I am still taking pictures and am full of ideas and experiences to write about, though. So it’s only a matter of time as to when these long-anticipated posts will, actually, like, y'know, post.
Speaking of...TIME! Where did the time go? Is it really March 16? Is it really only a month (approximately...) until I head back home to Utah? Since when did a winter semester suddenly become so short? Seriously, I think Daylight Savings must have been rigged this year or something. Of course, on the flip side, wasn’t Inauguration, like, FOREVER ago? As in, isn’t it about time for us to have elections again....? The honeymoon is over. And not just for Mr. Obama (although, for some of the folks here, I do believe that particular honeymoon will last longer than many marriages). This morning, Monday morning, I got a distinct impression that the “honeymoon” between me and the Washington Seminar—not between me and D.C., heavens no! I still have a ton to see and do (and hear and smell and taste and feel) here!—is over. I felt like a cross betwen a regular grumpy college student, and a mature businesswoman going to an all-day work job.
The day went rather quickly, and I am pleased to say that I was, for the most part, productive. I didn’t take the elevator once during the day, adding considerably to the number of minutes I was able to spend away from my desk in running errands and taking long detours in order to avoid certain people (yes, there is more to this story. No, you shall not learn of it here). I cleaned up my overflowing inbox from last Thursday to today, compiled the art news from the weekend, studied and made notes and a draft for my Gallery Talk presentation on Friday, and wrote up one of my PolSci papers that isn’t due for another two weeks. I have two more petty papers to finish this week, and then will have to get cracking on that research paper.
After work, I walked home in the chipper (but un-wet) weather. Yesterday, I took the Metro home from church and ended up getting off at Metro Center, about 30 min. away from the Barlow Center, when the Metro experienced delays for 16 min. or so. It was a very refreshing walk in the light rain coming home, but I did get pretty wet, and my Sunday shoes aren’t the best for taking long walks in. So today, the only day as far as I can remember doing so, I brought my umbrella to work! And...no rain. Nothing. Not a drop. I was looking at the sky on the way to work, but it was clear. Well, actually, there were a lot of birds flying around. And then I thought, “Aw....how pretty.” And then I saw that they were all flying so close together because they were chasing/attacking this one bird who had managed to get ahold of a large chunk of food. So much for my envy of the beauty and freedom of the birds! I may not have the best life in the world, but at least I don’t have to fight off twenty people to get my daily dose of oatmeal, banana, and yogurt in the morning!
So, after work, I walked straight home (sans Michael, who had somehow managed to get out of his office before 5 p.m. and race home before me...we were literally only a few minutes apart and never saw each other!) and then exercised downstairs. In a twist of fate and luck, the TV was working, and I got to watch some of “White Nights” (starring the impeccable Mikhail Baryishnikov as a Russian dancer!!!—cue the “squeal and swoon” here—whose plans to defect from the Soviet Union are thwarted, and then counter-thwarted, and then quasi-counter-thwarted, and then ditched and revamped and semi-executed) and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” in Spanish. Action/adventure movies in Spanish are pretty awesome, actually. You can always tell what’s going on once you know who the good guys and who the bad guys are, and it’s especially nice that they always speak in short, clipped sentences like “Lista,” and “Ningún problema.” After exercising, I came upstairs and fixed myself some dinner—the last of the “Alfredo Sauce” pasta (sniffles!) and some grapes—and then went to FHE. The missionaries came and gave us a first discussion on the Restoration, and then gave us Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons...?) to give to someone before we leave. I already have a person in mind!
After that, we filled out March Madness brackets (I’m still thinkin’ on mine...) and ate brownies with ice cream.
And that’s was my Monday! How was yours? Tomorrow I figure will be about the same, although I will have to find some spare time to go shopping (out of bread...and salsa...and yogurt...and grapes) and maybe, possibly try to hit a museum or something. It’s really sad how many things I have left to see here in D.C. before my internship ends. Of course, I know I won’t be able to fit it all in. Just, um....99% of it? At least. Maybe I could pull an all-nighter my last day and....okay, never mind.
Coming as soon as I can post and write about them:
My adventures at the National Archives!
My adventures during our Gettysburg/Harper’s Ferry trip!
My adventures at the Supreme Court!
My adventures.....elsewhere!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
So, work was great today! Probably because it didn't involve much "work"!
Today I did nothing other than work and go to Institute, but it still wasn't a bad day. Work was actually quite exciting, even! In the morning I got to go with my supervisors to a special press preview of the Corcoran Gallery’s newest exhibit on Maya Lin (designer of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial). There was free food and we got name tags and I sat next to and introduced myself to this random guy, who turned out to be a light designer at the Corcoran Gallery! He seemed friendly but shy and awkward talking about himself or asking me any questions, so we basically spent twenty minutes just talking about lights. And I did learn a lot, I must say - enough to make me analyze the light design at the exhibit and at our own exhibits today! Then we had to listen to the curator speak for a bit about...um....something... and then, surprise, surprise, Ms. Lin was actually there in person to talk about the exhibit! It was really neat to see and hear her in person. People were taking photos of her, so I took one too.
And yup, she was probably the only one there that day wearing blue jeans. :) Good to see an artist can still have a sense of style these days!
After the speeches, we got to see the exhibit. I really liked it (especially since it was FREE!), much better than the interesting-but-okay-this-is-becoming-tedious "Portraits of Power" exhibit which Valerie and I forked over an ample amount of money to see a while back. Here there were a lot of "sculpture/architectural structures" that attempted to capture the beauty of a natural landscape using indoor type materials (blocks of wood, atlases, 2 by 4s, pins). There was also a video showing Maya Lin and explaining her approach to art - she seems to consider herself involved in three fields: architecture, art, and memorials. It was all very interesting and the artworks were just fun to look at from different angles - like 3-D art! All the press people were taking pictures, so I pulled out my own camera and snapped a couple of the coolest things. But I probably won’t post them until after the exhibit opens...don’t want to pre-jump the press or violate copyright or anything like that. ;)
After the Corcoran Gallery preview party (party = free food and free art and a famous person!), I took a long walk back to the museum, walking all the way around the White House Ellipse (they had policemen blocking off the normal route behind the White House...and I really didn’t mind having to take my time getting back, if you know what I mean) and enjoying the nice, breezy but not too cold day. Back at the museum, I ate a quick lunch and finished writing a press release, then it was time for a meeting about the logistics of the upcoming exhibits/preview events/special thingamajigs happening along with the opening of our two new exhibits. One is basically a collection of all these fancy gowns and jewelry designed by Mary McFadden, and the other is a selection of photos by Hungarian women photographers during the early 20th century. This will be around next week, and there will be special dinners, lectures (Mary McFadden herself is flying here to give some special lectures and help with setting up her exhibit!), and education-y type stuff, including a number of “gallery talks” by curatorial people. And guess what!? At the meeting there was one empty slot for a gallery talk to be done at 7 on March 20. No one wanted to or could do it, and someone suggested that maybe one of the interns would be interested, and, since I was the only intern at the meeting... I kept my mouth shut.
I knew I should have said something and not passed up the opportunity, but I was also just too nervous to speak up. And then the matter was over and settled and someone was going to ask someone else to do it, and I figured it was alllll over. But after the meeting, I was still thinking about how I should have volunteered, and then I worked up the nerve to email the curatorial assistant, wherein I just sort of explained that I was sorry I had missed the opportunity to volunteer, but would actually be really interested in doing the gallery talk and if she didn't want to do it or the other person she had in mind didn't work out......
Five minutes later.........
I GET TO DO A GALLERY TALK NEXT FRIDAY! On Hungarian women photographers!!!! I’m still a little nervous, but mostly really excited for the opportunity to research the exhibition and give a tour and be a real museum expert on the floor. The curatorial assistant, who is super nice and often comes down on my floor to get her mail, use the scanner, and say hi, gave me a lot of good tips and advice after the meeting, and I am more excited than ever. So wish me luck next Friday!
After all that, I went back to my computer, but there was a guy making all kinds of noise trying to fix the big copier/printer thing next to my desk, so I really wasn't able to focus on anything. After about two minutes, I packed up and got permission from my supervisor to go home - yeah for going home a whole hour early!!! It more than made up for the 15 min. lunch break :)
P.s. I'm really, really sorry for not finishing my posts about the Supreme Court and Gettysburg. I'm working on it! I promise! Don't lose hope, because.... "There's always hope." (Daniel, quote?)
And yup, she was probably the only one there that day wearing blue jeans. :) Good to see an artist can still have a sense of style these days!
After the speeches, we got to see the exhibit. I really liked it (especially since it was FREE!), much better than the interesting-but-okay-this-is-becoming-tedious "Portraits of Power" exhibit which Valerie and I forked over an ample amount of money to see a while back. Here there were a lot of "sculpture/architectural structures" that attempted to capture the beauty of a natural landscape using indoor type materials (blocks of wood, atlases, 2 by 4s, pins). There was also a video showing Maya Lin and explaining her approach to art - she seems to consider herself involved in three fields: architecture, art, and memorials. It was all very interesting and the artworks were just fun to look at from different angles - like 3-D art! All the press people were taking pictures, so I pulled out my own camera and snapped a couple of the coolest things. But I probably won’t post them until after the exhibit opens...don’t want to pre-jump the press or violate copyright or anything like that. ;)
After the Corcoran Gallery preview party (party = free food and free art and a famous person!), I took a long walk back to the museum, walking all the way around the White House Ellipse (they had policemen blocking off the normal route behind the White House...and I really didn’t mind having to take my time getting back, if you know what I mean) and enjoying the nice, breezy but not too cold day. Back at the museum, I ate a quick lunch and finished writing a press release, then it was time for a meeting about the logistics of the upcoming exhibits/preview events/special thingamajigs happening along with the opening of our two new exhibits. One is basically a collection of all these fancy gowns and jewelry designed by Mary McFadden, and the other is a selection of photos by Hungarian women photographers during the early 20th century. This will be around next week, and there will be special dinners, lectures (Mary McFadden herself is flying here to give some special lectures and help with setting up her exhibit!), and education-y type stuff, including a number of “gallery talks” by curatorial people. And guess what!? At the meeting there was one empty slot for a gallery talk to be done at 7 on March 20. No one wanted to or could do it, and someone suggested that maybe one of the interns would be interested, and, since I was the only intern at the meeting... I kept my mouth shut.
I knew I should have said something and not passed up the opportunity, but I was also just too nervous to speak up. And then the matter was over and settled and someone was going to ask someone else to do it, and I figured it was alllll over. But after the meeting, I was still thinking about how I should have volunteered, and then I worked up the nerve to email the curatorial assistant, wherein I just sort of explained that I was sorry I had missed the opportunity to volunteer, but would actually be really interested in doing the gallery talk and if she didn't want to do it or the other person she had in mind didn't work out......
Five minutes later.........
I GET TO DO A GALLERY TALK NEXT FRIDAY! On Hungarian women photographers!!!! I’m still a little nervous, but mostly really excited for the opportunity to research the exhibition and give a tour and be a real museum expert on the floor. The curatorial assistant, who is super nice and often comes down on my floor to get her mail, use the scanner, and say hi, gave me a lot of good tips and advice after the meeting, and I am more excited than ever. So wish me luck next Friday!
After all that, I went back to my computer, but there was a guy making all kinds of noise trying to fix the big copier/printer thing next to my desk, so I really wasn't able to focus on anything. After about two minutes, I packed up and got permission from my supervisor to go home - yeah for going home a whole hour early!!! It more than made up for the 15 min. lunch break :)
P.s. I'm really, really sorry for not finishing my posts about the Supreme Court and Gettysburg. I'm working on it! I promise! Don't lose hope, because.... "There's always hope." (Daniel, quote?)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Happy Birthday, dear Valerie!
Ruth here, and sorry to disappoint y’all again with the lack of pictures and details regarding my more adventurous undertakings. I have the pictures, and I even have notes from my ventures with the Supreme Court, Gettysburg and Harper’s Ferry, but what I am lacking is ti/me and motivation to start writing these posts earlier in the day so I can get everything recorded and downloaded. I also don’t feel like researching the Web sites from Gettysburg and the Supreme Court to make sure all my information is accurate tonight. Also, work and school seem to have caught up with me at last! I have three short writing assignments to finish and two longer papers to write, and then today was actually given TWO new projects to work on, and this in addition to the daily hour and a half or so that I spend reading up on and making lists of the art news from around D.C., the country, and the world. Whatever happened to wasting time in the office!?! Just kidding—I really do like to stay busy, and am having a lot of fun and learning a lot in this internship. There’s definitely been a few difficult moments (phone duty, I am looking at you), but the benefits of working here have been great (check that I got in my mailbox today, I am looking at you!). Oh, and good news about phone duty! As of last week, our ticketing office moved to the shop, so now the receptionist doesn’t have to relieve the ticketing person at noon, meaning we don’t have to relieve the receptionist until 1 pm for lunch! Voila ~ only ONE HOUR of phone duty coverage a week! Call it an early Christmas present, a springtime miracle, a tender mercy...whatever. I can’t thank whoever was responsible for it enough.
The weekend went by pretty quickly. Friday and Saturday (I promise more information on both dates is forthcoming) were both occupied by scheduled Barlow Center things, for the most part. After the trip to Harper’s Ferry, Valerie went to spend the rest of the weekend at her mother-in-law’s house, and I enjoyed my lone wolf time in our room. It was nice being alone for a bit—I got to turn the air down to the coolest number (somewhere in the 40s...but I doubt it was telling the truth). Valerie is an exceptionally cold-natured person when it comes to body temperature, and I—as y’all know—am perpetually sweating (Twilight fans alert!!!!!!!!!!! Valerie = vampire; Ruth = werewolf!!!!!!), so it works out well for us to sometimes be apart :) When we’re together, of course, we compromise. At night, she wears socks and blankets and I throw off pretty much every article of clothing that I can while remaining somewhat decent. We’ve talked briefly about rearranging our room to put my bed under the air vent and her bed by somewhere warmer, but I think both of us are too lazy to actually do anything. It’s almost mid-March, anyway, and we’ve managed to survive this far. Valerie was suffering during January and February, so I guess it’s my turn to endure the humid heat for the next two months. I am beginning to wish I had packed more spring-ish outfits and less heavy-duty fall/winter stuff. Sarah, we SO are going shopping when I get back!
Sunday was a good day. I got up, got dressed, went to church all by MYSELF (smiles proudly), met a cute boy on the way to church (sigh of rapture), met a nice lady on the Metro who turned out to be Jamie Hartman’s aunt and helped her find Jamie at church (Jamie is a fellow intern here—she’s supercute, supernice, and, well, just super in general! I love Jamie!), had a really great sacrament meeting and Sunday School (we’ll just not talk about Relief Society, shall we?), and a wonderful munch’n’mingle session afterwards! This ward does M&M every other week like clockwork, and I’ve come to appreciate it greatly. Especially when the food is as good as it was this past week—baked potatoes with sour cream, butter, cheesy lasagna sauce, and chips! I didn’t realize how much I have missed eating baked potatoes here until now...
After church there was a baptism, which was kind of neat. I felt a strong confirmation that the truth was being spoken during the talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost, and also felt nostalgia about my own baptism, and excitement for the growth of the church in Washington D.C. Oh, and a bit of annoyance towards Michael Bean, who kept pulling my hair for some ridiculous, immature reason...;) Wanted to see how long it was, my foot!
After the baptism, I took the Metro home and spent what was left of the afternoon doing miscellaneous things. I cleaned up our room, made Valerie’s bed to surprise her on her birthday, made her a card (Noelle decorated our door and also made her a card), and met with my visiting teachers, Brooke and Laura. I also went for a walk to the Lincoln Memorial and talked with my family on my phone while admiring the view from the uncrowded back side of the Memorial. It really was a beautiful night, and there were plenty of visitors there to make me feel safe (unlike the Night of Great Terror of Bridges, or whatever I entitled that one time—shudder!). And it was great, as usual, to hear everyone’s voices.
Sunday night was great, and I didn’t even have any trouble adjusting to the time change! There was a lot more sun in my eyes on the way to work, but the walk home actually seemed better. And there was a beautiful breeze on the way home, too—just lovely. I had gotten out of my office right on time and was walking home at a steady pace. Then, as I was walking past the White House and observing all the people lined up at the fence to take pictures, Michael came up behind me and grabbed me, which scared me enough to jump, but luckily not enough to scream or anything. I’m pretty sure the first thing I thought was, Why in the world would I get attacked while I’m walking past the WHITE HOUSE, where all the police are!?!? But anyway, we chatted—and argued, as we inevitably will—the rest of the way home, and managed not to get hit by any cars in the process. He has a rather dangerous habit of trying to beat all the lights by running across the intersection just before the opposing lights turn green (whereas I prefer to beat the lights by just walking very quickly at all times). Our differences have often led to his racing across a street while I prudently—yes, PRUDENTLY—decide to wait for the changing of the light in my favor. I tease him for risking his life when he usually just waits for me at the corner to walk across anyway (so we can continue our argument), but he insists that the thrill and satisfaction from beating the light (and escaping the fate of a broken neck for one more time, apparently) is reward enough. Tsk, tsk (*shakes head reprovingly*).
Here are some quick pictures of the pre-birthday preparations:
See how nicely I made her bed? I even messed my own bed up so it would look nicer by contrast, ha ha (No, Mom, I'm kidding. OF COURSE I make my own bed every day. This was taken Sunday night, just before I went TO bed. I even washed that brown blanket the other day.)
Noelle and my "cards," made from the scratch paper in the Barlow Center's computer room. If you can read the top sheet on my card and are scratching your head, just know that, yes, there's a story behind it, and yes, there's a REAL card underneath that one.
Our door looked quite festive!
Well, it’s time to go to bed here, and I honestly can’t think of more than the following two words to say to wrap up the post: Good night!
The weekend went by pretty quickly. Friday and Saturday (I promise more information on both dates is forthcoming) were both occupied by scheduled Barlow Center things, for the most part. After the trip to Harper’s Ferry, Valerie went to spend the rest of the weekend at her mother-in-law’s house, and I enjoyed my lone wolf time in our room. It was nice being alone for a bit—I got to turn the air down to the coolest number (somewhere in the 40s...but I doubt it was telling the truth). Valerie is an exceptionally cold-natured person when it comes to body temperature, and I—as y’all know—am perpetually sweating (Twilight fans alert!!!!!!!!!!! Valerie = vampire; Ruth = werewolf!!!!!!), so it works out well for us to sometimes be apart :) When we’re together, of course, we compromise. At night, she wears socks and blankets and I throw off pretty much every article of clothing that I can while remaining somewhat decent. We’ve talked briefly about rearranging our room to put my bed under the air vent and her bed by somewhere warmer, but I think both of us are too lazy to actually do anything. It’s almost mid-March, anyway, and we’ve managed to survive this far. Valerie was suffering during January and February, so I guess it’s my turn to endure the humid heat for the next two months. I am beginning to wish I had packed more spring-ish outfits and less heavy-duty fall/winter stuff. Sarah, we SO are going shopping when I get back!
Sunday was a good day. I got up, got dressed, went to church all by MYSELF (smiles proudly), met a cute boy on the way to church (sigh of rapture), met a nice lady on the Metro who turned out to be Jamie Hartman’s aunt and helped her find Jamie at church (Jamie is a fellow intern here—she’s supercute, supernice, and, well, just super in general! I love Jamie!), had a really great sacrament meeting and Sunday School (we’ll just not talk about Relief Society, shall we?), and a wonderful munch’n’mingle session afterwards! This ward does M&M every other week like clockwork, and I’ve come to appreciate it greatly. Especially when the food is as good as it was this past week—baked potatoes with sour cream, butter, cheesy lasagna sauce, and chips! I didn’t realize how much I have missed eating baked potatoes here until now...
After church there was a baptism, which was kind of neat. I felt a strong confirmation that the truth was being spoken during the talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost, and also felt nostalgia about my own baptism, and excitement for the growth of the church in Washington D.C. Oh, and a bit of annoyance towards Michael Bean, who kept pulling my hair for some ridiculous, immature reason...;) Wanted to see how long it was, my foot!
After the baptism, I took the Metro home and spent what was left of the afternoon doing miscellaneous things. I cleaned up our room, made Valerie’s bed to surprise her on her birthday, made her a card (Noelle decorated our door and also made her a card), and met with my visiting teachers, Brooke and Laura. I also went for a walk to the Lincoln Memorial and talked with my family on my phone while admiring the view from the uncrowded back side of the Memorial. It really was a beautiful night, and there were plenty of visitors there to make me feel safe (unlike the Night of Great Terror of Bridges, or whatever I entitled that one time—shudder!). And it was great, as usual, to hear everyone’s voices.
Sunday night was great, and I didn’t even have any trouble adjusting to the time change! There was a lot more sun in my eyes on the way to work, but the walk home actually seemed better. And there was a beautiful breeze on the way home, too—just lovely. I had gotten out of my office right on time and was walking home at a steady pace. Then, as I was walking past the White House and observing all the people lined up at the fence to take pictures, Michael came up behind me and grabbed me, which scared me enough to jump, but luckily not enough to scream or anything. I’m pretty sure the first thing I thought was, Why in the world would I get attacked while I’m walking past the WHITE HOUSE, where all the police are!?!? But anyway, we chatted—and argued, as we inevitably will—the rest of the way home, and managed not to get hit by any cars in the process. He has a rather dangerous habit of trying to beat all the lights by running across the intersection just before the opposing lights turn green (whereas I prefer to beat the lights by just walking very quickly at all times). Our differences have often led to his racing across a street while I prudently—yes, PRUDENTLY—decide to wait for the changing of the light in my favor. I tease him for risking his life when he usually just waits for me at the corner to walk across anyway (so we can continue our argument), but he insists that the thrill and satisfaction from beating the light (and escaping the fate of a broken neck for one more time, apparently) is reward enough. Tsk, tsk (*shakes head reprovingly*).
Here are some quick pictures of the pre-birthday preparations:
See how nicely I made her bed? I even messed my own bed up so it would look nicer by contrast, ha ha (No, Mom, I'm kidding. OF COURSE I make my own bed every day. This was taken Sunday night, just before I went TO bed. I even washed that brown blanket the other day.)
Noelle and my "cards," made from the scratch paper in the Barlow Center's computer room. If you can read the top sheet on my card and are scratching your head, just know that, yes, there's a story behind it, and yes, there's a REAL card underneath that one.
Our door looked quite festive!Well, it’s time to go to bed here, and I honestly can’t think of more than the following two words to say to wrap up the post: Good night!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday Marchness....or Marchy Mondayness - take your pick!
Note: This post is all Monday. It was written on Monday, about Monday, and intended to be read on Monday.... very late on Monday. Possibly Tuesday. But with a sense of recognition that it was written on Monday, and possibly a nostalgic feeling of fond remembrance towards Monday. So please forgive my deception in changing the post option dates to make it appear as though this was posted on Monday, when in fact, it was nothing of the sort.
It snowed all night, and so Valerie and I were in high hopes of not having to go to work today. We even woke up and got out of bed, we were so excited!!! And then we looked up the federal government Web site and saw the rather ambivalent “Delayed Arrival” sign...which means, “Ok, you caaaaaan come late or stay home if you HAVE to, but you are SUPER LAZY for doing so and should feel GUILTY about it ALL DAY.” We both ended up chatting with our employers to get the real deal, and both of us had a pretty nice deal: Valerie didn’t have to go to work at all! Score! And I got to go in late—like around noon. Score! I actually didn’t mind going to work today. The walk there and back is great exercise, and work was actually kind of fun without any museum visitors (no one felt like braving the cold wind...especially to see a museum that was in between exhibitions) to crowd things or the receptionist there (she took the day off—SCORE!) to worry about. Everyone was feeling kind of lax and lazy with the cold weather, and I even got to go home a few minutes early. So yeah. Work was a doozy today.
Tomorrow is going to be a little wilder. We’re having a big corporate event all day and they’ll be swarming around the area where I usually work. So my new office for the day is going to be either in the library on the 4th floor, or upstairs with Michelle and Vivian on the 5th floor. If I’m on the 5th floor, I won’t have to worry about working around the receptionist, running upstairs all the time to get stuff for Michelle and Vivian, and dealing with the delivery guys who Security always sends to the 4th floor (some guys came today, unfortunately, and were asking ME what they needed to do! Yikes! The receptionist wasn’t there to direct them, and I was actually only one of two people on the 4th floor at that time. Neither one of us knew really anything about helping delivery people...). But if I’m on the 4th floor, I might get to see Reese Witherspoon (shhh- it’s a secret!), who will be coming. Eeeeeee....tough choice! Hey—I have phone duty that day! Maybe, just maybe....she’ll be there between noon and 2 pm. IF THERE’S ANY JUSTICE IN THE WORLD.
Aside from the snow and the chilly wind, the weather wasn’t too bad today. The roads were fairly clear, I only got drenched once, up to my ankles, and didn’t have a problem with ice, really, at all. I’m very hypocritical now, because I would like to have nice weather for Wednesday (I get Wednesday off work ALL DAY, because I’m going to watch the oral arguments at the Supreme Court—yay!!!!), but freezing cold weather and a ton of snow for Thursday (so I can get work off...yup, I’m lazy). But of COURSE I would spend the time catching up on my homework and my emails and my blog and my laundry and yada yada. I’m not COMPLETELY lazy.
FHE was interesting tonight. We held a “service auction,” where the participants all come up with acts of service they are willing to do and then everyone bids for the items. The “acts of service” were mostly “offers of free food,” with a few strange random acts (“I’ll take a walk with you down the Potomac River,” “I’ll watch Moulin Rouge with you,” “I’ll hold your hand for 15 min,” etc), and some old-fashioned massages (I offered up a neck-and-shoulder massage, which went fairly quick and cheaply to a girl roomie friend). I thought about offering to wash dishes, but...meh. People should wash their own. It’s a matter of principle! I saved all of my paper $100 and used up $90 of it to get the one and only item I really wanted—a free personal tour of the Capitol building, offered by two girls who worked there. So yeah! I’m going to tour the Cap-i-tol!
Afterwards we ate chips and a few of us hung around to play this card game, “Nerds.” It’s kind of intense, and has a tendency to bring out the more weird/random/competitive/tempermental aspects of people—i.e. Not-the-best-game-for-someone-like-Ruthena-to-be-playing. But on the upside, I and my partner—Andy Evans—won the game by a resounding 20 points. I’ve only played the game once before, with Andy again as my partner, and as I recall, we won that game too. So, go us! Quite a team of vicious nerds we be ;)
*************
Sorry for not posting this post earlier; it’s difficult to manage my computer now with the clicker button broken, and I wanted to wait until after Tuesday to spill the “R.W.” news, just, y’know, in case. I’m also sorry for not catching you up right away on my Tuesday and Wednesday. The former was one of the busiest days I’ve seen at work, and the latter was one of my laziest days here in D.C., minus the morning/early afternoon hours, which I spent in attendance at the oral arguments at the SUPREME COURT!!!!!!!! If you hadn’t guessed from the ten exclamation points, it was Uh-MAZE-ing. More later. I promise. And pictures!
Ok, here's ONE to whet your appetite.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Sup--REEEEEEEEEEEME KORT! At roughly 8 am this morning :)
It snowed all night, and so Valerie and I were in high hopes of not having to go to work today. We even woke up and got out of bed, we were so excited!!! And then we looked up the federal government Web site and saw the rather ambivalent “Delayed Arrival” sign...which means, “Ok, you caaaaaan come late or stay home if you HAVE to, but you are SUPER LAZY for doing so and should feel GUILTY about it ALL DAY.” We both ended up chatting with our employers to get the real deal, and both of us had a pretty nice deal: Valerie didn’t have to go to work at all! Score! And I got to go in late—like around noon. Score! I actually didn’t mind going to work today. The walk there and back is great exercise, and work was actually kind of fun without any museum visitors (no one felt like braving the cold wind...especially to see a museum that was in between exhibitions) to crowd things or the receptionist there (she took the day off—SCORE!) to worry about. Everyone was feeling kind of lax and lazy with the cold weather, and I even got to go home a few minutes early. So yeah. Work was a doozy today.
Tomorrow is going to be a little wilder. We’re having a big corporate event all day and they’ll be swarming around the area where I usually work. So my new office for the day is going to be either in the library on the 4th floor, or upstairs with Michelle and Vivian on the 5th floor. If I’m on the 5th floor, I won’t have to worry about working around the receptionist, running upstairs all the time to get stuff for Michelle and Vivian, and dealing with the delivery guys who Security always sends to the 4th floor (some guys came today, unfortunately, and were asking ME what they needed to do! Yikes! The receptionist wasn’t there to direct them, and I was actually only one of two people on the 4th floor at that time. Neither one of us knew really anything about helping delivery people...). But if I’m on the 4th floor, I might get to see Reese Witherspoon (shhh- it’s a secret!), who will be coming. Eeeeeee....tough choice! Hey—I have phone duty that day! Maybe, just maybe....she’ll be there between noon and 2 pm. IF THERE’S ANY JUSTICE IN THE WORLD.
Aside from the snow and the chilly wind, the weather wasn’t too bad today. The roads were fairly clear, I only got drenched once, up to my ankles, and didn’t have a problem with ice, really, at all. I’m very hypocritical now, because I would like to have nice weather for Wednesday (I get Wednesday off work ALL DAY, because I’m going to watch the oral arguments at the Supreme Court—yay!!!!), but freezing cold weather and a ton of snow for Thursday (so I can get work off...yup, I’m lazy). But of COURSE I would spend the time catching up on my homework and my emails and my blog and my laundry and yada yada. I’m not COMPLETELY lazy.
FHE was interesting tonight. We held a “service auction,” where the participants all come up with acts of service they are willing to do and then everyone bids for the items. The “acts of service” were mostly “offers of free food,” with a few strange random acts (“I’ll take a walk with you down the Potomac River,” “I’ll watch Moulin Rouge with you,” “I’ll hold your hand for 15 min,” etc), and some old-fashioned massages (I offered up a neck-and-shoulder massage, which went fairly quick and cheaply to a girl roomie friend). I thought about offering to wash dishes, but...meh. People should wash their own. It’s a matter of principle! I saved all of my paper $100 and used up $90 of it to get the one and only item I really wanted—a free personal tour of the Capitol building, offered by two girls who worked there. So yeah! I’m going to tour the Cap-i-tol!
Afterwards we ate chips and a few of us hung around to play this card game, “Nerds.” It’s kind of intense, and has a tendency to bring out the more weird/random/competitive/tempermental aspects of people—i.e. Not-the-best-game-for-someone-like-Ruthena-to-be-playing. But on the upside, I and my partner—Andy Evans—won the game by a resounding 20 points. I’ve only played the game once before, with Andy again as my partner, and as I recall, we won that game too. So, go us! Quite a team of vicious nerds we be ;)
*************
Sorry for not posting this post earlier; it’s difficult to manage my computer now with the clicker button broken, and I wanted to wait until after Tuesday to spill the “R.W.” news, just, y’know, in case. I’m also sorry for not catching you up right away on my Tuesday and Wednesday. The former was one of the busiest days I’ve seen at work, and the latter was one of my laziest days here in D.C., minus the morning/early afternoon hours, which I spent in attendance at the oral arguments at the SUPREME COURT!!!!!!!! If you hadn’t guessed from the ten exclamation points, it was Uh-MAZE-ing. More later. I promise. And pictures!
Ok, here's ONE to whet your appetite.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Sup--REEEEEEEEEEEME KORT! At roughly 8 am this morning :)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Out with the old month, in with the new!
So March came in like a lion today, and Ruth slept in like a...bear (!?!?!??). Seriously, it was 9:30 am when I finally woke up enough just to go take a shower, and then, even with the added time from not having to wash my formerly super-long hair or even eat breakfast (yea, Fast Sunday!), we barely made it to church in time for the last of the announcements before the sacrament hymn. Much too close for comfort! So, Valerie and I have decided that we definitely need to start leaving here to catch the Metro earlier, to be on time for once for the opening hymn and prayer (especially if the Metros are going to make us have 10 min. delays – *scowl* ) at church. Which probably means we oughta start going to bed on Saturday before midnight.
But, in fairness, last Saturday actually wasn’t too bad. We—Valerie, me, and Noelle, our Barlow Center roommate next door—were on a date with three Barlow Center guys from 5:30 – 9:30, and then after that we just stayed in the Barlow Center, chatting and vegging (cool new word I learned! It means pretty much everything I do between 5 and midnight every day!) and watching movies (Red Eye—Eek! Scary! But good! Great heroine, and handsome yet despicable villain (squeal)! But naughty language!—and Over the Hedge—Ok. Funny. Not that funny. Kinda cute) until, well, before midnight. Then we went to bed.
Today was pretty good, all things considered. It was fast and testimony meeting at church, and all the testimonies were good. I’d like to get up the nerve to bear my testimony (my last chance—April 1—is coming up!), but the trick is that you have to get up RIGHT AWAY or you will NEVER have the time to come up later without having to wait 20 min. and maybe lose your nerve, because there are ALWAYS ten or eleven people on the stand waiting to bear their testimonies (and I have NO idea how they keep the order straight...). Today we actually went 20 min. overtime, just so everyone from the second wave could get in. But I enjoyed all the testimonies, and didn’t mind going over.
After church, I went straight home, but it still took an hour, with the Metro delays...*furrowed brows and scowl.* At home, I took a nice long nap, ate the last of my grapes and leftover pizza from our date for dinner, and called home. I got to talk with Daniel, Dad, and Mom, and they all seemed to be in good spirits. Things are apparently all a-bustle with Dad trying to figure out how he’ll be living in an apartment over the week while at this new job, and Daniel starting a new class at the mid-point of the semester (Yikes! Is it really half-way over?!? Guess it’s time to start cracking on that research paper!!). I didn’t get to talk with Sarah :( - but will have to schedule another time to call her back, as I have a LOT of girl-talk business to take care of.
At 8 pm we all went downstairs to hear the CES fireside with Elder Robert D. Hales, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I’ve never particularly enjoyed his talks, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this was one of the most beautiful, insightful talks I’d ever heard from any General Authority that I can remember. He spoke about standing on high ground and overcoming temptations by having the Holy Ghost with us at all times. I was particularly impressed with the following points he made:
Enticements of the adversary are always short-lived and poisonous. (This is so true, and also, sadly, so easy to forget. I loved the crisp, clear way that Elder Hales put it though—very memorable)
We are not the only ones who are affected by our mistakes—our future companion and even future children need us to be strong. (I definitely felt the Spirit here—and also knew that I had some key things I needed to work on to change!)
Sometimes we forget who we are. We are CHILDREN OF GOD. We want to eventually return and live with God, our FATHER. To do this, we have to live worthily. (This really struck a nerve with me. If I knew that I had to do something to return and live with my parents and family in Utah again, I’m pretty sure I would find a way to do it, just because I love them so much and desperately want to see them again. It’s the same way, only much more so, with Heavenly Father)
Satan does not have a body and does not have power over us—when we tell him to depart, he MUST. Understand that. (I really liked this point, since I had never really considered it before in such literal terms)
There are four very tender words of caring between spouses—we can’t afford it. (Great quote, and so out of character for Elder Hales—it made me laugh!)
You can lose all the blessings that are in store for you, if you are not careful. (This really scared me, since I know I do NOT want to lose those blessings in store for me. Sooo...I’m going to be careful.)
I took more notes, but these were my favorite. And I am definitely now a fan of Elder Hales, and will be looking forward very much to his General Conference talk in April. What an inspiring, wonderful man.
Not to detract too much from the spirit of the post, but I did want to let everyone on the blog know that I got my hair cut yesterday. Without going into too much detail, I got 6 inches off, then I had it layered and styled with curls and things. Everyone liked it, but I doubt I’ll be maintaining all the wavy things on a regular basis, so don’t expect me to come home looking like...well, like this, for instance:
Or even like this, as I looked on our "date":
But, in fairness, last Saturday actually wasn’t too bad. We—Valerie, me, and Noelle, our Barlow Center roommate next door—were on a date with three Barlow Center guys from 5:30 – 9:30, and then after that we just stayed in the Barlow Center, chatting and vegging (cool new word I learned! It means pretty much everything I do between 5 and midnight every day!) and watching movies (Red Eye—Eek! Scary! But good! Great heroine, and handsome yet despicable villain (squeal)! But naughty language!—and Over the Hedge—Ok. Funny. Not that funny. Kinda cute) until, well, before midnight. Then we went to bed.
Today was pretty good, all things considered. It was fast and testimony meeting at church, and all the testimonies were good. I’d like to get up the nerve to bear my testimony (my last chance—April 1—is coming up!), but the trick is that you have to get up RIGHT AWAY or you will NEVER have the time to come up later without having to wait 20 min. and maybe lose your nerve, because there are ALWAYS ten or eleven people on the stand waiting to bear their testimonies (and I have NO idea how they keep the order straight...). Today we actually went 20 min. overtime, just so everyone from the second wave could get in. But I enjoyed all the testimonies, and didn’t mind going over.
After church, I went straight home, but it still took an hour, with the Metro delays...*furrowed brows and scowl.* At home, I took a nice long nap, ate the last of my grapes and leftover pizza from our date for dinner, and called home. I got to talk with Daniel, Dad, and Mom, and they all seemed to be in good spirits. Things are apparently all a-bustle with Dad trying to figure out how he’ll be living in an apartment over the week while at this new job, and Daniel starting a new class at the mid-point of the semester (Yikes! Is it really half-way over?!? Guess it’s time to start cracking on that research paper!!). I didn’t get to talk with Sarah :( - but will have to schedule another time to call her back, as I have a LOT of girl-talk business to take care of.
At 8 pm we all went downstairs to hear the CES fireside with Elder Robert D. Hales, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I’ve never particularly enjoyed his talks, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this was one of the most beautiful, insightful talks I’d ever heard from any General Authority that I can remember. He spoke about standing on high ground and overcoming temptations by having the Holy Ghost with us at all times. I was particularly impressed with the following points he made:
Enticements of the adversary are always short-lived and poisonous. (This is so true, and also, sadly, so easy to forget. I loved the crisp, clear way that Elder Hales put it though—very memorable)
We are not the only ones who are affected by our mistakes—our future companion and even future children need us to be strong. (I definitely felt the Spirit here—and also knew that I had some key things I needed to work on to change!)
Sometimes we forget who we are. We are CHILDREN OF GOD. We want to eventually return and live with God, our FATHER. To do this, we have to live worthily. (This really struck a nerve with me. If I knew that I had to do something to return and live with my parents and family in Utah again, I’m pretty sure I would find a way to do it, just because I love them so much and desperately want to see them again. It’s the same way, only much more so, with Heavenly Father)
Satan does not have a body and does not have power over us—when we tell him to depart, he MUST. Understand that. (I really liked this point, since I had never really considered it before in such literal terms)
There are four very tender words of caring between spouses—we can’t afford it. (Great quote, and so out of character for Elder Hales—it made me laugh!)
You can lose all the blessings that are in store for you, if you are not careful. (This really scared me, since I know I do NOT want to lose those blessings in store for me. Sooo...I’m going to be careful.)
I took more notes, but these were my favorite. And I am definitely now a fan of Elder Hales, and will be looking forward very much to his General Conference talk in April. What an inspiring, wonderful man.
Not to detract too much from the spirit of the post, but I did want to let everyone on the blog know that I got my hair cut yesterday. Without going into too much detail, I got 6 inches off, then I had it layered and styled with curls and things. Everyone liked it, but I doubt I’ll be maintaining all the wavy things on a regular basis, so don’t expect me to come home looking like...well, like this, for instance:
Or even like this, as I looked on our "date":
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