Good food, good music, lots of sun, a beach, wild ponies, and a few friends. Wow, I had a pretty sweet weekend.
Before I get into this weekend, I completely forgot to write about the best part of last weekend. See-yin, Lauren, and I were invited to the Ambassador of Slovakia's house for a barbecue. There were only seven of us there in total including the Ambassador and his wife, all thanks to Lauren's uncle, Tom. The Ambassador was a very kind gentleman with children that are a little older than me. It was exciting to find out that he is well acquainted with the Czech community in Cedar Rapids. Also, the entire time I was taking mental notes on "how to become a diplomat".
This weekend See-yin and I went to Assateague Island. It's about a three hour drive there and two hours back (go figure). Since this was my last real weekend in DC we thought we would mix things up a bit. In other words, it was a nice change to get out of the city and just have a day of relaxation. I finished my book, Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride.
See-yin and I made it back to College Park in time to go to a house party that my fellow interns were attending. In a way it was our last hurrah and a chance to say goodbyes in good fashion.
Currently I am working on my essays for my Peace Corps application. I'll be sending them to friends in the next day or so for review; I'm inching closer and closer to completing it.
I am absolutely stunned that tomorrow I will be starting my final week of work. My parents are arriving Thursday. I will certainly be glad to see them! I am still not sure of how many stops I will be making on my way back to Kansas. I know that I will definitely be stopping in Mt. Vernon, but we'll see how much energy I have for travel.
Well, it's time for me to get back to work: I have quite a lot on my plate in the next few weeks :).
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
"walking the dog"
It's been quite the week. Let's work through this backward so I don't miss a thing: Today I had a pretty successful day at work, simply crackin' away at some country reports I'm doing. I like how every project I have ends in "report": makes me feel important. I came home straight from work today so that I could get some reading and writing in as well as (hopefully) working on my Peace Corps application as well as doing some graduate school research. I was delayed on my walk to the Metro station, however: it's raining cats and dogs outside!
Yesterday I went out for sushi with Annika after work. It was potentially the last time I would see her before I left for Costa Rica. I think for both of us it's quite the shock to see summer slipping by so quickly.
Tuesday See-yin and I made a trip to Georgetown after work. She had never been and so I went with to show her around. Georgetown, for the most part, just makes me feel pretty poor but it was nice to walk around a different part of DC for a change. I think I have already developed this sense of nostalgia when I wander about. Mostly, I think it's because I know I'm leaving soon and I will be sad to go. On that note though, I am ready to be home to take a break from my break.
On Monday See-yin and I watched a movie called The Wackness. The highlighting line of the film was "you see the wackness when all I see is the dopeness". I had to think about it, but I actually understood what that meant. In other words, my movies are telling me to chillax.
This brings us to the weekend. My good friend Lauren flew all the way from Chicago to visit See-yin and I. On Friday See-yin and I took her out to see the monuments by moonlight. We also saw the movie, 500 Days of Summer. Currently, it's my favorite movie of all time. I won't tell you what the theme of this movie is, you'll just have to see it yourself.
On Saturday the three of us drove up to Baltimore to see the Inner Harbour there as well as Artscape, which happens to be America's largest free arts festival. It was very fun to see all of the artists' booths and we spent the day hopping from different food vendor to vendor getting free samples. Artscape also hosted a concert in which Cake, one of my favorite bands, played. And you know me, I weaseled my way pretty much to the front of the stage.
So that's where I leave off: it's been a week. I have I grown up any more? Probably not. I have I learned something new? Most definitely. Am I excited for next week? Always. Do I know what it brings? Psh. If I've learned anything from Margaret Atwood it's "why predict the future? We often cannot change it, so why suffer twice?" I'm starting to think Atwood can be grumpy. I'm going to say we cannot predict the future because everybody already knows I'm twice the fun then anyway.
New music: Fun.
Yesterday I went out for sushi with Annika after work. It was potentially the last time I would see her before I left for Costa Rica. I think for both of us it's quite the shock to see summer slipping by so quickly.
Tuesday See-yin and I made a trip to Georgetown after work. She had never been and so I went with to show her around. Georgetown, for the most part, just makes me feel pretty poor but it was nice to walk around a different part of DC for a change. I think I have already developed this sense of nostalgia when I wander about. Mostly, I think it's because I know I'm leaving soon and I will be sad to go. On that note though, I am ready to be home to take a break from my break.
On Monday See-yin and I watched a movie called The Wackness. The highlighting line of the film was "you see the wackness when all I see is the dopeness". I had to think about it, but I actually understood what that meant. In other words, my movies are telling me to chillax.
This brings us to the weekend. My good friend Lauren flew all the way from Chicago to visit See-yin and I. On Friday See-yin and I took her out to see the monuments by moonlight. We also saw the movie, 500 Days of Summer. Currently, it's my favorite movie of all time. I won't tell you what the theme of this movie is, you'll just have to see it yourself.
On Saturday the three of us drove up to Baltimore to see the Inner Harbour there as well as Artscape, which happens to be America's largest free arts festival. It was very fun to see all of the artists' booths and we spent the day hopping from different food vendor to vendor getting free samples. Artscape also hosted a concert in which Cake, one of my favorite bands, played. And you know me, I weaseled my way pretty much to the front of the stage.
So that's where I leave off: it's been a week. I have I grown up any more? Probably not. I have I learned something new? Most definitely. Am I excited for next week? Always. Do I know what it brings? Psh. If I've learned anything from Margaret Atwood it's "why predict the future? We often cannot change it, so why suffer twice?" I'm starting to think Atwood can be grumpy. I'm going to say we cannot predict the future because everybody already knows I'm twice the fun then anyway.
New music: Fun.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
"Sweeter than this"
I think right now is a great time for me to appreciate the things that I can do now that I won't necessarily be able to get away with later in life. I hope that I can appreciate my youth now without getting lost in that fountain of youth chase that many of us seem to get caught up in. You know what I'm talking about: "oh, I wish I could be young again", "youth is lost on the young", and "please make my face plastic so I can look like I did when I was sixteen".
Maybe the last one is an exaggeration, but I think I could argue successfully that our culture has an obsession with staying young. Anyhow, the purpose of this blog is not for me to create a list that I can look back at mournfully while sighing, "those were the days". Rather, more than ever, right now I feel like I'm on the stepping stones of adulthood (although I still contend that I'll never truly grow up). And while I'm excited to embrace new changes, I'm also starting to come to the realization that I cannot simply do everything there is to do in this world. Short of planning meticulously each hour that I have left to live, I am certain that some things will be left undone (goodbye learning twelve languages, visiting every country, fathering two football teams- so they can play each other, starring in an Oscar-winning performance alongside Natalie Portman, and fighting that hobo in NYC). The list goes on.
Although I refuse to plan out the rest of my life- I think that perhaps the most fun we can have sometimes rests in the unplanned- I have been thinking much about what I do what to accomplish. I think I'll post a more comprehensive list later but right now I'm settled at an advanced degree, multiple years living abroad, and writing at least one book, for the future.
Anyway, enough of the future. What follows is a list of things that make me incredibly appreciative of where I am now and how far I've come, as well as super excited for the future:
1) I just ate a whole pot of mac' and cheese, plus four hotdogs. Cheers to metabolism.
2) I can wear flipflops around town and people don't think (I think) that I just forgot shoes today.
3) When I wear t-shirts inside out, it makes me look edgy, rather than cheap when it comes to laundry.
4) I can sing in public places and not get carted off.
5) The music I listen to isn't uncool...until tomorrow, when I start listening to different music.
6) Aside from obligations to friends, family, the IRS, and a few others, I have no obligations. Feel like spending a few months abroad? No problem. Want to stay up all night talking about how much Glenn Beck sucks? Sounds like a plan!
This last one really gets me. I try every day to not under-appreciate the liberties I have.
Anyway, as far as updates: work is still going well. I figured out today that I've been working on TPP reports, which is a little too close to TPS reports. Furthermore, I'm supposed to be stapling them and putting them on my boss's desk. Yes, my life has turned into the movie, Office Space. No, I refuse to come in on Saturday.
I know that it certainly sounds ambiguous as to what I've been up to recently, so if you want to know more about what's going on in DC, just shoot me an email or a question in my comment box.
New music: Katie Herzig
Maybe the last one is an exaggeration, but I think I could argue successfully that our culture has an obsession with staying young. Anyhow, the purpose of this blog is not for me to create a list that I can look back at mournfully while sighing, "those were the days". Rather, more than ever, right now I feel like I'm on the stepping stones of adulthood (although I still contend that I'll never truly grow up). And while I'm excited to embrace new changes, I'm also starting to come to the realization that I cannot simply do everything there is to do in this world. Short of planning meticulously each hour that I have left to live, I am certain that some things will be left undone (goodbye learning twelve languages, visiting every country, fathering two football teams- so they can play each other, starring in an Oscar-winning performance alongside Natalie Portman, and fighting that hobo in NYC). The list goes on.
Although I refuse to plan out the rest of my life- I think that perhaps the most fun we can have sometimes rests in the unplanned- I have been thinking much about what I do what to accomplish. I think I'll post a more comprehensive list later but right now I'm settled at an advanced degree, multiple years living abroad, and writing at least one book, for the future.
Anyway, enough of the future. What follows is a list of things that make me incredibly appreciative of where I am now and how far I've come, as well as super excited for the future:
1) I just ate a whole pot of mac' and cheese, plus four hotdogs. Cheers to metabolism.
2) I can wear flipflops around town and people don't think (I think) that I just forgot shoes today.
3) When I wear t-shirts inside out, it makes me look edgy, rather than cheap when it comes to laundry.
4) I can sing in public places and not get carted off.
5) The music I listen to isn't uncool...until tomorrow, when I start listening to different music.
6) Aside from obligations to friends, family, the IRS, and a few others, I have no obligations. Feel like spending a few months abroad? No problem. Want to stay up all night talking about how much Glenn Beck sucks? Sounds like a plan!
This last one really gets me. I try every day to not under-appreciate the liberties I have.
Anyway, as far as updates: work is still going well. I figured out today that I've been working on TPP reports, which is a little too close to TPS reports. Furthermore, I'm supposed to be stapling them and putting them on my boss's desk. Yes, my life has turned into the movie, Office Space. No, I refuse to come in on Saturday.
I know that it certainly sounds ambiguous as to what I've been up to recently, so if you want to know more about what's going on in DC, just shoot me an email or a question in my comment box.
New music: Katie Herzig
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
"I'm a half-hearted fool..."
I was all set to start this post with, "There's a major flaw in plans", but I believe I've already started down that path before. But the fact of the matter is I had forgotten, when I made the comment in my last posting that I wanted to finish six books this summer, that one of the books I had purchased at the used book store was a copy of Norton's Anthology of American Literature. It's sitting at around 3,500 pages and in reality, has around 200 works in it. But I'm excited- there's a lot in there that I haven't been able to read yet. I think I'm going to start The Turn of the Screw. This morning I started The Ides of March.
My two coworkers were replaced by a Russian grad-school student named Svetlana. Born in Russia and raised in Israel, she speaks a half-dozen languages. I swear, monolingualism just isn't cutting it anymore. I don't even bother telling people in the office I speak kindergarten-level Spanish although my boss did find out today that I do know Spanish. She was carrying a hefty stack of what looked like Spanish legal code. As she shifted the pile from one arm to the other she hinted, "I might need you later." She looked a little too excited when she said that. But I'm excited, I could really use the practice.
A friend took me out for Sushi tonight. My chopstick skills are about as good as my Spanish but I'm not complaining; it meant one more meal I didn't have to cook for myself.
The weather today was absolutely phenomenal: it was hot but somehow the air was still crisp, like fall. Yeah, yeah, I've resorted to talking about the weather, but walking around the city today was a fantastic expierence.
Currently listening to The Hush Sound.
My two coworkers were replaced by a Russian grad-school student named Svetlana. Born in Russia and raised in Israel, she speaks a half-dozen languages. I swear, monolingualism just isn't cutting it anymore. I don't even bother telling people in the office I speak kindergarten-level Spanish although my boss did find out today that I do know Spanish. She was carrying a hefty stack of what looked like Spanish legal code. As she shifted the pile from one arm to the other she hinted, "I might need you later." She looked a little too excited when she said that. But I'm excited, I could really use the practice.
A friend took me out for Sushi tonight. My chopstick skills are about as good as my Spanish but I'm not complaining; it meant one more meal I didn't have to cook for myself.
The weather today was absolutely phenomenal: it was hot but somehow the air was still crisp, like fall. Yeah, yeah, I've resorted to talking about the weather, but walking around the city today was a fantastic expierence.
Currently listening to The Hush Sound.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Grazed Knees
Epic fail: not scratching in the dirt for forever. I haven't written anything in over a week not for a lack of activity but for a lack of words to describe them. Regularly, I've been getting home in the dark hours of the night, passing out, and then waking up early for work. In other words, just completing the cycle. Between this and the last post I've traveled through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. I've crossed over the Brooklyn Bridge, wandered through Times Square and Central Park, and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In terms of work, the report I was working on was published and displayed for ambassadors as well as State Department officials (but that's the boring part of my past week). I have also gotten really sick (then better).
My daily life has become somewhat routinized but not in a necessarily bad way. I have been waking up in time to catch the train into work, where I spend long hours staring at a computer, interjected with short bits of goofing off with my coworkers. When I leave for work, however, I have decided to quit taking the nearest Metro stop home. Instead, I usually spend a couple of hours walking around the city just checking out the sites. Sometimes I plug my headphones in and pretend like I'm in a movie.
This weekend my friend from school, Annika, and I decided to throw our own fourth of July celebration of sorts. We went to the store and bought twenty dollars worth of red wine to make sangria. For those of you not in college, that's five bottles of wine :). It might have been the largest gathering of Iowa college students in DC: five of us from Cornell showed up to watch the fireworks.
Today I cut work a little early so that I could go read a book in the park (hey they're not paying me, and besides, it was nice out). While I was there I saw four undercover cops corner some guy on a bench. I think it was a drug bust. Anyhow, I made sure to mouth the words "soooo cool" to one of the officers to let her know that I was enjoying the latest episode of Law & Order:DC and also that I would be willing to step in if the need ever arose. As it turned out, the need didn't arise so I continued reading my book, Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. If you have read any Abbey then you'll have a little bit of an idea of how smitten I am with myself reading his works in the middle of DC.
I am running out of food; there's no way to deny it. It's looking like I will have to make a shopping trip this weekend. This past weekend I stopped down at the Eastern Market to pick up fruit to pack with my lunches. The market is definitely one of my favorite places in DC. It's basically a flee market, arts and crafts fair, and meat and produce market, with live music. Old stuff, food, and art are practically my three favorite...-I'm searching for a word here, I'm going to go with "staples" followed by "smells"- in life.
Someone stole my bike. I've thought about this for a few days though, and I cannot really bring myself to be upset about it. I actually figured that it would happen eventually, and really, it probably benefits me more to walk- I could use the excercise after sitting in the office all day. I just hope that the bike finds a good home, and helps someone out. I also don't want to run into the person with the bolt cutters that they would have needed to break my lock.
So what else is new? Now that summer is over halfway done for me I feel more obliged to look to the future. I need to start looking at GRE exam dates, and applications for graduate schools. I also need to finish that Peace Corps application that I started four months ago. I definitely need to crack down and re-learn some Spanish.
Well, I'm going to finish Solitaire tonight. I promised myself I would read at least six books this summer and I'm only at two.
In terms of work, the report I was working on was published and displayed for ambassadors as well as State Department officials (but that's the boring part of my past week). I have also gotten really sick (then better).
My daily life has become somewhat routinized but not in a necessarily bad way. I have been waking up in time to catch the train into work, where I spend long hours staring at a computer, interjected with short bits of goofing off with my coworkers. When I leave for work, however, I have decided to quit taking the nearest Metro stop home. Instead, I usually spend a couple of hours walking around the city just checking out the sites. Sometimes I plug my headphones in and pretend like I'm in a movie.
This weekend my friend from school, Annika, and I decided to throw our own fourth of July celebration of sorts. We went to the store and bought twenty dollars worth of red wine to make sangria. For those of you not in college, that's five bottles of wine :). It might have been the largest gathering of Iowa college students in DC: five of us from Cornell showed up to watch the fireworks.
Today I cut work a little early so that I could go read a book in the park (hey they're not paying me, and besides, it was nice out). While I was there I saw four undercover cops corner some guy on a bench. I think it was a drug bust. Anyhow, I made sure to mouth the words "soooo cool" to one of the officers to let her know that I was enjoying the latest episode of Law & Order:DC and also that I would be willing to step in if the need ever arose. As it turned out, the need didn't arise so I continued reading my book, Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. If you have read any Abbey then you'll have a little bit of an idea of how smitten I am with myself reading his works in the middle of DC.
I am running out of food; there's no way to deny it. It's looking like I will have to make a shopping trip this weekend. This past weekend I stopped down at the Eastern Market to pick up fruit to pack with my lunches. The market is definitely one of my favorite places in DC. It's basically a flee market, arts and crafts fair, and meat and produce market, with live music. Old stuff, food, and art are practically my three favorite...-I'm searching for a word here, I'm going to go with "staples" followed by "smells"- in life.
Someone stole my bike. I've thought about this for a few days though, and I cannot really bring myself to be upset about it. I actually figured that it would happen eventually, and really, it probably benefits me more to walk- I could use the excercise after sitting in the office all day. I just hope that the bike finds a good home, and helps someone out. I also don't want to run into the person with the bolt cutters that they would have needed to break my lock.
So what else is new? Now that summer is over halfway done for me I feel more obliged to look to the future. I need to start looking at GRE exam dates, and applications for graduate schools. I also need to finish that Peace Corps application that I started four months ago. I definitely need to crack down and re-learn some Spanish.
Well, I'm going to finish Solitaire tonight. I promised myself I would read at least six books this summer and I'm only at two.
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