Dude, that's like a trillion books!

Winter Break 2009:

12/12- Moved Home

12/13- Miami

12/14-12/19- Cruise

12/19- Toys for Tots (for 20 minutes), Gingerbread manz bakeoff, sleep ovah at Catherine's

12/20- Cleaning/laundry/actually sleeping in my own bed

12/21- Dinner with Mel Mel and Joel, followed by seeing the whole SH crew at "Planet Power"

12/22- Busch Gardens with Leslie and her family, followed by a late night walk in the park

12/23- Taking the Canadians to the mall, followed by coffee with Matty Matt!

12/24- Coffee with Meagan D, followed by Christmas Eve Party and sleeping in my old room

12/25- Getting woken up early for no reason, presents, Eve's house, Stephanie's house

12/26-Dade City to visit Steevie, Chloe, and Alan and Zhills to see Brett, sushi with Jon, and hang out time with the Canadians

12/27-Shopping with Jon, Coffee with Matty Matt, and Dad's house again to see my aunt and more Canadians

12/28- Lunch with Gma and my aunt, Coffee with Alan

12/29-Kidnapped by Catherine, blindfolded, and taken to the Forum for Lightning practice, Jordan's place to not help Jordan clean, mall, NYE dress!, Jordan's other house, Wiregrass, JG show, T. Flats with the gang and JG

12/30-Actually hanging out at home for a little while, visited Andrew at KFC, picked up Jordan needlessly and Applebees with Cat/Laur/Matt/Jordan, karaoke

12/31-Moved Jon Oliver, Greek food with him and Jordan and Cat, my house with Cat, Jordan's, grocery store!, Jordan's family, some girl's house, saw the love of my life, stupid ska and punk bands, women's work, TGI Friday's, hang out time at my house, sleepovah!

12/1-Football at the Raley's, hair did, date night

12/2-Sweet tomatoes, mall, book store, BONFIRE!

12/3-Dad's house, gave Taylor her bday prezzie, played with the kids, home!

12/4- Went over to Catherine's for a hot second and had dinner

12/5-ihop, Dino world with Jon Oliver, nap at his place, USF vs ND bball, visited Meagan, sleep over with Jon

12/6-shopping with Eve!!!!! found out my uncle died =[[[[[

12/7-lunch/shopping/Oreo McFlurry with Catherine, sleepover with Jon

12/8- Sherlock Holmes with the alchies, Going Away B'grl Party with Cat, Alli, Lauren, Brett, and Jordan

12/9- Lunch with Jon, visited Clark and the kids, friendship bracelets/Xmas tree fire at the Raleys'

Best. break. ever.

Observation:

My mother never comes upstairs when she needs to talk to me. Either she thinks I'm still away at college and for some reason thinks my land line is my cell line OR she's a vampire and can't get in my room without being invited.

Either way, it's annoying. bleck.

Tragedy brings people together...like Christmas.

"Today is my last day."

"Fuck! That sucks."

For some reason I forgot to mention the awesomness that was the national christmas tree lighting. So fun. anyway...

Soooo....I survived finals week! I make it sound like a big effing ordeal, but I really only had to study for one and the other two were easy.

My last week in DC was extrmely busy because I was working all week, plus I had to pack and do exams and make sure I had everything together. I definitely didn't sleep enough and I got sick, which sucked. On my last day at CSPAN I cried walking out the door, then I get on the metro and read my emails, one of which is from ORLH telling me that I didn't get a single, then I had to go home and pack like a crazy person and load up the car when Jon got there. The next day we got up and drove home and as soon as we got here my mother decides to inform me that both my grandfather and my dog died and she had hidden it from me and told Bob and Jon not to tell me, which, let me tell ya, just made me feel so much better. So I was a hot mess and had to get my ass out of bed to pack for our cruise.

The cruise was ok for the most part, other than the fact that my mom and Jon were drinking the whole time and my mom was being an uberbitch and she was mad at both me and Jon and of course just took it all out on me. She was drunk the entire time, even dropping empty beer bottles out of my backpack (which smells like beer now, as you probably guessed) which was apparently too inebriated to know how to zip up. I just heard the glass break and thought to myself, "What has that alchie gotten us into now?!!" I can't spend 5 days straight alone with that woman on a confined boat. I wish Bob had come with us.

Over all the cruise itself was really fun. The show singers singlehandedly ruined any toleration I had for Nirvana and all of the love in my heart for Destiny's Child. However, I know what I'm buying for the menz on my Christmas list: velour dance pants, blue ones to be exact.

My fav part of the cruise was our overly excited cruise director. I mean, I know being excited about everything is his job, but this guy was on some sort of crack/alcohol diet the whole cruise. LOVED IT. I think I would be an excellent cruise director: I love to act like Im drunk, I love to yell, and I love to get up in people's faces.

When we were in Belize we went cave tubing. Unfortunately for us, they neglected to mention that we had to carry out gear two miles through the effing rain forest. Fail. I did love our guide thugh because he referred to our tubing trip as an adventure every three seconds, which I loved.

I have never seen as much Ed Hardy as I did during those 5 days. I kid you effing not, everyone had some. It was the classiest, white trashiest, adventure of all times.

Goals for break: bonfire, steal back my underwear from Lauren, punch someone in the face. All very attainable and not mutually exclusive.

I got to ride on a dolphin in Mexico, it was pretty much the best ever.

I think my favorite thing we did on the cruise was go to karaoke to watch people and the staff person running it was Italian and he sang an Elvis song and I almost died laughing. He talked like Borat. So good.

Yesterday we got off of the boat at 6:30am and I rushed home to make it back for Toys for Tots, and missed all but 20 minutes of it, but I still got a shirt for trying. Score.

After that we all went back to the Raley's and hung out and talked for a while and then we went to the 3 different grocery stores so Alli could make stuff for some party we werent invited to and Lauren hit me in the stomach with bread. Some things never change.

When we got home we made gingabread manz and Jordan told us to go to his place to decorate. And that we did. We picked up Mel Mel on the way and had an absolute blast. Pictures will be happening soon. We didn't do what we usually when decorating, making them look like our friends, because everyone has intricate tattoos that frosting just cant recreate.

Today was my first legit hang out at home day since I've come back.

Pet peeve: people using my toothbrush not only once, but twice a day for a week.

"Yall aren't married?" -newlywed couple we sat with at dinner to me and Jon

"One day....I'm going to break your jaw." -Jon

"thanks for bringing a little class to this operation." "she plays a good game."

"you'd be a sexy Muslim."

"youre sneaky, smart, and no one would suspectyou. You are the perfect spy" -Allison

"there is a lot of hateful ska"

"I feel like I just cemented the gayest road on earth."

"the headless horseman says: you're all fucked."

"I want to get a thundercats tattoo. I might regret it in a few years, but for now it would be cool."

"that wasn't a gun shot. That was someone walking around in flip flops." "those were pretty big flip flops."

"what's that new show? Launch my line?" "tht sounds very sexual."

"there is nothing scarier than a really ghetto white girl."

For goodness sakes, Brenna, stay on your own two feet!

Today, instead of studying for philo I...

- watched the rest of the 1st season of 30 Rock on Netflix

- watched not Underworld, but the PREQUEL to Underworld on Netflix

- tried to go to Zoolights but it was closed "due to the weather" (I never thought I'd say this but geez, since when is 2 inches of snow a lot?)

- put my Xmas music back on my phone

- packed up most of my room

- played Balderdash (and won!) for 2 and half hours

- wrote this blog

Who's excited for their yearly youtube video post on your facebook wall and/or christmas music mix cd Christmas prezzies?!!??!

It's the thought that counts and while I know this'll be the four year in a row that some of you are getting these CDs, it still carries over. I've made Jon at least 8 mix CDs and has he ever listened to a single one? Nope. So see, there's no point in mixing it up. I've got some good holiday themed youtube videos to share with yall though.

I'm saddened that I cannot watch "Love Actually" instantly on netflix. Fail on their part.

Since everyone at school is SOOOOOO busy with their tawdry lives of engineering and equally not important things, I was basically dying on the inside from not talking to them about a huge problem in my school life that could potentially ruin everything for me for forever. And I have to talk to someone at school about it because they know the people in the situation and when I asked Catherine, she just started singing that Rihanna song "Live Your Life" which was little to no help. Like, I was to the point of crying over it last night and my roommate Maggie came over and sat on my bed and listened to me complain about how everyone loves me and how that is a problem (because it is and yall would know if you let me talk to you about it =P ) for a good half an hour. So ACE and BECKY, engineer me a robot that gets me tissues or let me complain about my problems to you. Either would be nice. Seriously, it's an unexpected and quasi-intriguing story. Before I shoot myself in the face. <3

"It's easy to say 'I love you anyway' but I don't. 'I love you because.'"

"I Love You Because" = new fav musical. Pride and Prejudice set in NYC in modern day with the genders switched?!?!?!?!? Be still my heart!

The day a Miley Cyrus song could describe my life is the day I've hit rock bottom.

Today Zac Hahn apologized for making me cry 3 or 4 years ago. Better late than never I spose. He told me world AIDs day reminded him of me. Uhmm, kay.

So last week......

On Tuesday I worked, classed, did laundry, then caught the last metro to union station, then walked to CSPAN bc I was told not to hang out at US by myself from 12-3AM and I just hung out at CSPAN like the sketch monster I am, then I rode in the donut truck from my building to US because it was raining and there are homeless people. The donut man loves me because he is Hispanic and only Hispanic men love me. I will take it. Ricky Martin is Hispanic. He is also gay. Gay people also love me. Double loving! Then I got on the train which was such a fun adventure, I highly recommend it.

Wednesday I finally got to Boston and despite the fact that Tom was late getting me it was a good day. Brushed my teeth in a train station bathroom. Classy. Saw some graves. Also classy. Ate some seafood across from the aquarium. About as classy as it gets. Met Tom's family. Slightly awkward, but WAY better than the worst case scenario that I was prepared for (et's just say I had Enrique the donut guy on call to come pick me up in Boston). Caught up with Tom. We're super best friends now.

Thursday = Thxgibbing. Parade happened. Woke up earlier than Tom, making me a non-lazy guest. Gave his family a candle. Took a nap. Ate some food. DID NOT drive all over God's green earth like I usually do. Stayed up late with Tom again.

On Friday Tom and I went back into town and saw a play. It was a good time, other than the fact that it was like, 30 degrees outside. Got back on the train and back to DC.

On Saturday I went to Starbucks with Courtney and then we attempted to go ice skating but the rink was broken so we museumed it up and then went and got Burmese food with Nathalie and I came home and passed out...........

Sunday: stayed passed out.

Monday: back to work and glad for it! Turned in my journalism paper! 2/3 done

Today: Long and wonderful and productive. Yesssss.

"brenna, you look tired." "I have no makeup on." "oh, I guess I just associate you and no makeup with sleep?"

"Do you know what a puppy does when you pick it up by the back of the neck like this?"

"Punches you in the face?"

"Brenna, I thought you were already married."

"I'm so down to marry you." I guess that means me and Brett are getting married

"We're planning a play date for our faces."

"Why are you sketch monsters?"

"Because we basically make out with everything that moves."

"That's why you're pretty much soul mates."

Advice...Brett Snyder version:
"...I will make him eat a box of mothballs."
"...I'll break both of his knees."
"Most guys are douchebags. Just how it is."

.....the rocks aren't really as jagged down here as I thought they would be

One More Time With Feeling.

So the past week has been AMAZINGLY fun.

I got to go out with my favs a lot last week.

Andrew Schelldorf almost died this morning. I almost died when I heard that.

I fed the homeless and wore the same apron VP Biden wore when he went to the same place.

Catherine and I have a lot more in common than I thought. I love it.

"That backpack looks stupid. At least this bag says 'peaches' on it."

I met Lil Wayne.

"Is everyone in Georgetown douchey?"

"Yes."

"Like, not in a good way."

"I hope when I googlemap Burma it gives me the restaurant an not the...yeah, it gave me the country."

"these three things in a row sound like a boat load of fun: holocaust museum, house where Lincoln died, an iwo jima memorial."

"God made contraceptives for two reasons: to piss of Catholics and to keep you not pregnant."

My best frans were here this weekend! It was amazingly fun.

Thursday I picked up Allison at the airport and we went to dinner and talked and eventually went to bed.

Friday morning we got up and picked Catherine up at the airport, dropped her stuff off and went to the grocery store (where Allison bought me a bx of assorted fruit snacks!) and ate brunch where Allison had "a sexy grilled cheese", and went to Capitol Hill to look at leaves, the Capitol, the LOC, and the SC. I also showed them around CSPAN. I got onto a short shoot so I could see the girls and ended up being with Andrew! and other favs. The Raleys walked back to CSPAN from the museums they went to see and we went home and got ready and then we went out for Greek food and crepes in Dupont. I did a Michael J. Fox impression. I'm going to hell.

Saturday we got up and went to Eastern Market, ate at Market Lunch, walked around and bought stuff (I got Tom's family a really cool candle for letting me crash their Thxgibbing), and went to Capitol books. Allison bought me some flowers for my apartment too! After that we went to the Spy Museum and spent like, 3 hours there. I got hollered at by a boy in this air vent we were all crawling around in; he was 16. Afterwards, we went to the National Portrait Gallery and Catherine and I sat around in the courtyard like the bums we are while Allison went and looked around. Later we went home and got hot and went and ate Burmese food, which is the best food ever!!!!! After that we went and looked at the monuments at night.

Sunday we woke up and went to brunch at Leftbank and they gave us 50% off because they still consider me an employee I guess. It was awesome. After that we went shopping in Georgetown. #1 purchase: peppermint lip balm with a picture of Hermey from the claymation Rudolph movies. We also got amazing cupcakes and I figured out a new route to and from Gtown. We also met Lil Wayne sometime that day and Cat and alli got their first dose of crazy train. After taking Allison to the airport, Catherine and I baked cookies and watched Spinal Tap. After that we went to Jumbo Slice and ate pizza with Diet coke and then we went and got coffee at Tryst and stayed there for forever. Later, we came back and talked to Nathalie and got ready for bed.

This morning there was some creative signing out of Catherine, but it all worked out and she got home safe and sound. =] Such a great weekend!

"You're a slut...in a good way."

"Yeah, like 'on a date' slutty."

"That's how I want my dates to think of me."

"I'm glad you understand that there's such thing as being thought of as a slut in a good way."

"That's the only way I want guys to think of me."

Don't talk back to Darth Vader, he'll getcha!

Is there a patron saint of getting a single room? If so, can someone put in a good word for me, Imma need it.

I feel like this past week went by extremely quickly and without any real excitement.

Monday I went to the NPC and learned about war and presidential elections. I also got free soup, which was pretty much the highlight of my day, other than going out with my favs.

Tuesday I got called in an hour and a half early, but it worked out well for me because Andrew brought me a bag full of the best candy ever from his Halloween leftovahs. I also did research for history programming, making Sheila love me even more. Then I got to go out with Andrew and Bob to learn about Woodrow Wilson, which was fun because I never go out with them AND I got a free sodie.

Wednesday was ok: I went to AU to see the Syrian Ambassador talk with 1/2 of my favs and KJ, who was apparently in Georgia shooting things for a week and I DID NOT have to do shotgun, KJ got that honor. I got to watch KJ roll around on the floor and giggle with the other people running stuff, however. Later that day Karma caught up with me and I tripped and fell on my face right in front of KJ. FML.

Thursday I was barely conscious for class (Success!) and then took a four hour nap afterwards (greater success!). Later we went to the Folger and saw "Much Ado About Nothing" which was amazing. I was like, geeking out. It made me miss doing that show.

Friday I went in at noon and went out to this like, lawyer convention and felt like an actual intern: I sat on the floor, got stuff spilled on my bag, and had to buy someone food. It was a good time though. I didn't get home until 8:00 and Courtney and I just watched Flight of the Conchords for like, 3 hours and chilled. Erin kept running in saying ridiculous things like "I need to find 'PS I love you" or Ryan will kill me, which is weird for two reasons: 1) Ryan is never home 2) I've never heard "PS I love you" referred to in life or death terms.

Yesterday I worked on my paper for forever and then me, Natalie, and Courtney went to the restaurant me and Nat used to work at to visit the sushi chef on his last night and everyine was super nice to us The sushi chef gave us a bunch of free sushi and the manager offered to let us in for no cover later in the night and he said he'd buy us drinks and stuff and I was like, "WTF?" and all of the staff came over and gave us hugs and weird, awkward European cheek kisses. After that Courtney and I went over to the Grinnell apt to visit them and Pavielle and we stayed there until about 2:00. I also got a text from Tom Blanford asking if I wanted to come to Boston for Thanksgiving, and a half an hour later I had my train tickets. Plus, Tom assured me no lady friends would be killing me in my sleep. SO STOKED!

Today I finished my journalism paper. 18 effing pages. And the internet was out for the longest time, which sucked. But now all is good. =]

At some point this week Pavielle taught me to holler:

"It's easy, you don't even need to talk."

"I feel like Notre Dame boys are scared of girls."

I just looked up the video of "Hook Up Story" from last year's Keenan Review. so funny.

"Brenna, I feel like you've got game."

Baby, you can go wherever you like.

Everyone is fa-reaking out over the threesome on Gossip Girl. Geez people, it was only a matter of time until they started down that slippery slope ending in ritual animal sacrifices on TV. In more important news: did no one hear that AMAZING cover of "Whatever You Like" playing in the background during the threesome, because I did.

My weekend was super fun.

Saturday I was awoken by my alarm clock and thought I was an hour late for work. I was not because I don't work anymore. Win! Later, me, Coutney, Megan, and Nat went to Dupont and bought cupcakes and took 10000000 pictures there and on the mall.

Later that night I went with Megan and Courtney to eat downtown and then came back and watched a little of the healthcare on CSPAN with Nat before I wanted to kill myself so I was talking to Adam and asked what they were doing and he said football so I figured lesser of two evils and went down there. Once I got there he asked what we had been watching in my room and I made the stupid mistake of mentioning that they were on the final vote for healthcare so immediately they switched the channel to (what else?) CSPAN. I couldn't escape it. They made up a drinking game where they drank every time Nancy Pelosi said something political...hilarious. Later, Pavielle and Courtney came over and we all went to Ben's at 1AM and then they smoked Hookah and I hung out. We got back at 3:45 and started watching Garden State but I didn't want to fall asleep and have to walk of shame it in the morning, so I went home.

Yesterday I went to the gardens at the National Cathedral and Courtney and I went and saw Train and Uncle Cracker....I kid you not. I will let you figure out how hilarious that was.

And that, children, is what I did this weekend "other than jumping off of fountains."

My stepmom always hounds me to tell her what I want for Christmas. I told her that since my request for a pony has been denied for the past decade, I've lost faith in the holiday and that I will just make do with an Obama Chiapet...which she also denied my request for.

Fail.

I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.

Today is by far the latest in-time ever. 12PM suckas! I got up SO early that I was able to shower, wash my hair, style my hair, AND have an hour left to myself to do crap like this. Being the only intern apparently DOES have some perks.

This week has been a good week for me as far as sleep; I don't think I've gotten this much in my whole life. It's awesome.

Last night my class went to this local news station for our school visit and everyone finally saw how awesome my future career is and why I want to do it. It was SO much fun. They were SUPER high tech. We even got to sit in on the whateveroclock newscast and distract the weatha-man. AWESOME times! Afterwards Courtney and I were like "We want to do something." so we decided to walk back across the river to Georgetown to go see "Paranormal Activity." Out walk there, complete with sketchy path along random canal, was WAY scarier than the movie. I felt like throwing up because of the camera work, but the movie itself was actually quite the hilarity. At one point this possibly homeless man was yelling at the screen and the staff had to ask him to leave and he almost punched them in the face. It was epic. Afterwards we went on another adventure to find the Foggy Bottom metro stop because Gtown sucks and doesn't want the metro riding riff-raff to be anywhere near it. Overall, a good day.

I bought Catherine's plane ticket up here for her bday prezzie! So Allison AND Catherine will be here in 3 weeks! Hooray!

"I would LOVE to eat a cupcake in Dupont Circle with you!"

I'm always gonna want to blow you mind.

Overall my Halloween weekend was awesome. It was my last weekend of work, and even though that sucked, I don't have to go back ever!!! On Halloween Courtney, Nicole, and I went to this sketch venue off of H St. and saw some hipster band and this guy who played with Robots. It was amazingly fun, even if we did have to wait for forever for busses. The shirtless one in the hipster band LOVED me and Courtney and gave us a shout out during the set and all of the drunk people (did I mention we were the only people there under 21?) were like "What?" it was awesome. Courtney was Post Secret so we posted secrets on her all night.

On Sunday I went with Adam to see Simian Mobile Disco at the 9:30 club and just as soon as I had washed off the thickest X's ever to grace my hands from the night before, they gave me the biggest effing stamp I've ever seen. Fail. The show was really fun, even though we got there at 11:30 and didn't get home until 2 after walking. It was a good time and a good show. I got all of three hours of sleep that night, but I somehow didn't die yesterday.

Speaking of very little sleep, I had to wake up at 4:30 this morning. Boo. But my event was at the Marriott across the street so when we had a 5 hour break I got to come home and nap for forever. It was by far the best day of work ever.

Andrew Jones owes me candy if I ever see him this week.

Catherine might be coming with Allison to DC!

"Brenna, I thought you were already married."

(661): i get tired of guys telling me there married or they have a girlfriend. they act like it concerns or matters to me

This week has super duper amazing awesome time funtastic fun!

I got to go out with my boys Monday and Tuesday and got to do two shoots both of those days, which was so much fun. KJ and I are working on not being mean to each other and we both had nothing to do at a shoot on Tuesday so we talked. Sadly for me, everyone on that crew knows how old I am now because the logistics desk called me up during it and asked for my DOB and SSN so I could get cleared for the WH, and I was like, "DOB: 4/14/1991." and KJ was like, "Whoa, 1991?!" and Chris was like, "Whoa, you're 18?!" and KJ was like, "Whoa, you're 18?!" and I was like, "Whoa, you cant do simple subtraction!?" Apparently I look 20, which WAS a plus until it didn't matter anymore. Boo.

Yesterday was by far the most amazing day of my life though because I went to the White House! When I got to CSPAN in the morning, one of the people in my 2 person crew was like "So out schedule is: get there, set up, three hour nap, lunch, and then maybe the press briefing will start by then." So I was like, "All right, this is going to be the best day ever, I love naps!" So we get to the White House and saunter in through the front gate (it was way less secretive and secure and such than I thought it would be, but no complaints) and walked up the front driveway to the West Wing where the press room is and one of my crew stood outside with me and explained which room was where in the White House and all about the security and stuff that he knew about which was neat to learn about. As soon as we got there they told me to tell anyone who asked that I was a producer because interns aren't allowed outside of the press room, so lying to everyone about my age (I apparently graduated from college in '07, go me) and title was fun.

Later he took me downstairs below the press room where there used to be a swimming pool before they built over it and the tiles are still on the walls and people from the press who have been down there have signed it for years, it's like the wall of fame of the White House Press Corps, and he handed me a sharpie and told me to sign and I freaked out. My signature is on a wall at the White House! Later on he also bought me a tea. Ben is now my favorite person alive.

After the press briefing, which was pretty cool because I got to stand up front AND meet this reporter from NBC who I've been crushing on for years because he's super dreamy (and unfortunately married), the independent field producer who just so happens to work for CSPAN was like, "Well, there's an event that's only for the press pool, so only a few people get to go and I'm one of them, but my Blackberry is broken so if they need me I need to be in my office, would you like to go to the Cabinet meeting?" and I was like "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG yes!!!!!!!" So I lied and said I was the IFP and got walked through the West Wing and the Rose Garden to the Cabinet Room with just me and 5 reporters and a few cameras and stood like, 4 feet from Obama. BEST DAY EVER.

Later on I watched a bill get signed and saw the Kennedys, Al Franken, Sen. Nelson, the head of the Joint Chiefs, the Defense Secretary, and others at that. I made friends with the Asian press, which was fun.

Overall, best week ever in my life.

Tuesday I somehow ended back at CHS, which was depressing and I broke a life resolution twice in as many days....then I went shopping and life looked brighter.

Wednesday I was held captive by my mother and we went and saw "Where the Wild Things Are" which was adorable.

Thursday began me and Jongy's epic adventure to DC. We left at 4:00 because he had a midterm and ate when he got to my house. We drove until about 1:00 and then he had to take a nap. At 5:00, he needed another nap so I stupidly said I'd drive, just so we could try and miss morning traffic.....which we got stuck in AND I couldn't see out my back window. I hate driving Shakira. I hate it foreverrrrrr. We eventually got to DC at 7:30AM and slept for a few hours. We woke up and went to CSPAN and gave them baked goods and I showed Jon around. Later on we went and got lunch in one of the Senate office buildings and looked at the Capitol. Then we walked down the national mall and went to the Air and Space Museum and the American History Museum. After Jon took a nap we went out for sushi and walked around. Overall it was a good day. Yesterday we woke up and went to Eastern Market for breakfast and looked at things around there. After that I felt like crap so I took a nap and Jon watched NBC's Thursday night line up that we missed because we were driving. Later in the evening, I cooked dinner and no one died. Afterwards we went to Tryst and got coffee and then went grocery shopping in Adams Morgan. Even later we went and got more coffee....we do things like that. We watched a movie and went to sleep. This morning Jon left at 7:30. Boo.

Since I felt like I had done absolutely nothing for forever, I made the journey to Georgetown and went to the library to get books for my research paper and saw Nicole and Courtney there, so I sat with them and left when they did. The bus was forever late, but evnetually we got ot Dupont and we ate Subway at the fountain there and then came home. Overall I felt productive and got to go outside for a while, so that was nice.

7AM in-time tomorrow. Bleckkkkkkk. It's baked goods Monday, though. =]

"I feel like I took the Disney version of the walk of shame."

I got home Thursday night only 30 minutes late! It was amazing! Jonathan got lost and was later than I was, but it was all good.

I saw a bunch of people I love on Friday because I stopped by IMEX and KFC. Andrew told me never to work at IMEX again as a favor to myself. Walmart apparently doesn't sell slips anymore, making finding the stuff for my Halloween costume impossible, so I had to go with a nightgown instead of a slip. Apparently people in Brooksville don't even try to keep it classy anymore. I went to HCA's football game and they lost, which was sad, and I don't know anyone left on the team, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Applebees and secret plots happened....I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Saturday was just a bunch of insanity inspired by insanity.

Yesterday I went over to Disney to see my dad and his family and we all went to MK that night and froze and got candy. We met this guy from W. Laf, IN and I was like, "I work at CSPAN and the CE..." "OMG the CEO of CSPAN is from WL!" "Yeah, I kn..." "I went to his high school! He;s famous!!" "I know."

Today I snuck onto CHS campus to see Bailey and she made me awkwardly talk to her class about how going to college and getting out of Brooksville was a good thing and about how life is awesome when you intern at CSPAN and get out of high school. She said it was inspiring. I got an organic chocolate cake out of it. Fair trade. I didn't get arrested. Fairer trade. Some kid who wasn't even there when I went to high school knew who I was before I was introduced and he like stalked me the whole class and called me "the distinguished guest." I'm a school legend now apparently because of everything awesome I did that no one cared about when I was actually there. Legend status = awesome. Overall, a successful trip.

So she's lactose intolerant AND a slut.

textsfromlastnight.com : what gets me through 6 hours of senate hearings.

I'm going home tomorrow! I'm super stoked on seeing Jongy and crew. Although I'm kind of sad not to be going to CSPAN for over a week.

I got out of work three hours early tonight!

I'm dying Courtney's hair later....this should be interesting.

I got invited by a co-worker to hang out. He says I will like his wife. I'm super stoked because he's my fav (also he graduated from college like, 2 years ago, so he's not some creepy chester).

OMG is Joseph Fiennes in that new ABC show?!!??!?!!??!?!? I will watch ANYTHING with him in it, even if it is on ABC.

Monday night the red crew dropped me off outside of the building so I could be home in time for Gossip Girl. The red crew is now my favorite.

On Monday this girl at our site was super nice to us and gave us free stuff and we were like, that's cool. She then told us she was a friend of this guy, KJ, who works at CSPAN and we were like "oohhh, ok." So then I told KJ that we met his friend when we got back and he was like "That was my girlfriend." and I asked if she knew that......................maybe KJ is delusional.

I'm going to see Bailinator while I'm home!!

I'm going home tomorrow!

JCFF continues tonight!

I'm going to see SMD in November and my friend Adam from down the hall is coming so I'm not going alone, which makes it even better.

I'm going to Disney this weekend!

I need to make my Halloween costume. ughhhhhhh

Mood: happy

No one else is in the field office and I have an hour to kill

I just ran into an HR person in the hallway and instead of yelling at me for sluttin it up (I COULD potentially have my undershirt higher up, but that's no fun...the fact that I have one on at all is a miracle) she complemented my outfit. Success.

Hollerin@chu, Becky Sees!

Becky told me she reads my blog too.

Bby Ashton is old enough to go clubbing......yessssssss.

Guy on train (after Goth girl gets off): Was that a vampire?! Man, I need to go to church. It's like "Twilight" up in this piece.

Me:"...so we're going to have to sleep out on an air mattress in the living room."

Derek: "I feel like that's a pretty accurate glimpse into your future if you stay with him."

Me: "Ouch."

Rando customer: "Looking beautiful as usual."

This was the same rando who was editing his book while eating. When I asked him about it he said the book was a cross between "Jumanji" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" and besides the obvious Copyright infringement issues at stake here, that sounds like the scariest thing ever because "Jumanji'' traumatized me as a small child and I've never quite gotten over it....srsly, I ran out of the theater SCREAMING.

I'm saddened by the lack of regrettable choices I made this weekend....although Mel and I did ask a secret service agent (who looked JUST LIKE Jason from SWR, no lie) about security at the White House like total creeps, which probably wasn't a good idea....although he was the nicest SSA I've met.

I had a customer today who introduced himself to me and proceeded to talk to me for like, 10 minutes today, talking about Obama and ND and iPhones and all that jazz. He was def my fav.

I just went on a secret mission to save my Oxford sweatshirt because, even after telling myself to remember to grab it, I forgot it at the grocery store when I set it down when I checked out. On the way out some rando European man was like "Hi!" and walked beside me for a while....weird.

I met a random ND grad at the Supreme Court thing I was covering. We're everywhere.

Last night after Mel and I got done looking at the White House and other sites, we got on the Metro and sat down. 10 seconds later I hear my name called, turn around, and in the row diagonal from me are Courtney and her dad....we walked right by them and none of us saw each other. Courtney is a ninja like Kellenberg.

John Cusack Film Fest continues tomorrow because I have no class!!!

I got onto staff for PEMCO's mainstage show for this spring without even being on campus.

Tom Blanford says he is sad because he was planning on bringing me on as his secret weapon and I was sad because I want to be credited in the program as his secret weapon, just like I was Claire's "assistant" for "Assassins." Needless to say, I'm going to make that happen. I'm stoked on having the crew back together, pulling our hair out as usual.

I went over to the Grinnell apt last night. Nathan is my fav bc he's hilarious when he's drunk. There was also a whale hat involved. And Pavielle and Oliva!

Mel came this weekend. We....

-went out for Maggie's bday at Ben's Chili Bowl

-went out for ice cream and it was amazing

-walked over to Bus Boys and Poets and say Pavielle and Oliva standing in line

-walked around Adams Morgan

-talked nonstop

-took tons of pics

-walked around the Zoo

-went and saw the monuments AND Solar Decathalon at night

-went to the White House

-talked Tyra

-went to Tryst

-had tons o' fun

My boss almost flipped her shhhhhh when I asked to go home a little early bc I had company here. As a result, I'm cutting my hours severely and the new manager won't call me back.

Mel Mel made my bed for me today when she left. <3

"Brenna, you're out of control, and that's why I love you."

-Ace

I've been listening to "Forever" a lot....and it may or may not be directly attributable to "The Office." I also got some Stevie Wonder music, which my or may not be directly attributable to remembering Andrew Schelldorf's impression of him.

I just watched a BUNCH of videos from sophomore year and remembered these. Other than the fact that I was dating Schuster at the time, they were grood times:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2452370

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2452143

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2451816

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=611331

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=171430

Lemme holler at you, Ace Face!

Yaset Acevado told me he reads my blog, so I'm giving him a shout out and an "I love you!" I realized today how many people at ND I miss and how much crap I'm going to have to do when I get back. Boo.

Today in the metro, I look over randomly to see Kellenberg where he definitely was not only a few seconds previously. I turn to him and go, "Whoa, Kellenberg! Where did you come from?! You're like a ninja!" To which Kellenberg simply smirks and turns back to his paper.....I consider that a confirmation of his ninja status if there ever was one.

I'm kind of a fan of Passion Pit.

Last night, while walking home from work, I walked by this couple having an extremely dramatic convo. Bad part was that they were right beside my bus stop, so I ended up just looking like a creep listening in on their convo.

I wish I could have my ipod on all of the time....damn wetness of the shower.

Courtney observed, during Day Two of the John Cusack Film Festival we're holding in my room nightly, that all of his movies end with beeping.

I has class in NPR tonight and went to Chinatown and chilled afterwards. Good times.

Mel will be here tomorrow!!!!

Taylor Swift was at ND the other day/?!?!

"Can we do it in the metro." How dirty does that sound out of context?

"The ginger isn't to cleanse your palette, it's so that your breath doesn't suck when you get laid later. It's solely for sex."

-the sushi chef at work, Nick

That guy who filmed the Kennedy Assassination who is my bestie was at an event I was at the other day and in the middle of it his phone went off it had that Jewish bar mitzvah song as the ringtone. LOVE HIM.

People keep telling me I'm the best/coolest intern ever.

Yesterday I got free food from the guys. They bought me a Vietnamese sammich AND let me have the free one they got. LOVE THEM.

Someone told me I look like I could be this girl who works at CSPAN's sister. I love her, so that's awesome.

I was told that I look Eastern European....because they look SO much different from regular Europeans. It's funny thought because I am and no one has ever called me out on it out of the blue.

Courtney and I have bonded even more over our mutual love for John Cusack. We're starting a John Cusack film fest. tonight. We both also hate Iones Skye from "Say Anything"

Today was Maggie's birthday. We colored her a sign. We ate cake. It was good.

"Brenna! My fav-or-eet song een Serbia es priteeee Brenna." (sounded out phonetically)

-Dan, the new bus boy at work

I spent 4.5 hours at work with no tables and then I got 4 right before I was going to go home. I ended up with $60 at the end of the night, I would rather have just gone home.

Ugh, Senate hearing tomorrow. Boo.

I forgot home much I love "Say Anything."

Technically Mel Mel comes here tomorrow!

Technically I go home in a week!

Technically I come back with Jongy in 2 weeks!

Technically I'm extremely happy!

"I remember eating chips and salsa and I remember seeing them on the floor in the morning, but I don't remember deciding to eat them or even getting them out."

"Yeah, and then we went over to the Grinell apartment...I don't really remember what our mission statement for that trip was."

"'Women, Money, and Power Summit'? What is this, a hip-hop summit? First you get the women, then you get the money, then you get the power?"

-a co-worker talking about the title of our event today.

"Where did you get those mints from?"

".......The Hampton Inn."

Everyone get jealous...

Melanie effing Ellis (and friend) is coming to see me this weekend!!!!! I'm super beyond stoked. I like, bounded across the hall in joy and locked myself out of my room as a result, but it was all good solely because Mel is coming!!!

Today I was told that I couldn't use my flirtation to get whatever I want. I flirted with the guy who told me that to get him to change his opinion.

Songs I like lately: "Last Name," "Dress Me Like a Clue," "If I Never See Your Face Again," "Quelqu'un m'a dit"

I'm going to a feminist conference tomorrow for CSPAN. Awesome.

I guess everyone at the grocery store today knew something about a nuclear holocaust that they all apparently had to prepare for at exactly the same time I was buying 5 things.

I made $220 today. Holler.

Courtney and I literally did an under the table money exchange today.

We also went to a drum circle in Columbia Heights where people were dancing and there were dogs and things.

I got told that I can only deposit my paycheck on Tuesday or it won't go through. Sketch.

I have a co-worker at CSPAN who says, "Oh no she did-n't!" whenever I walk into the room.

My boss told me that it looks like I'm always happy. My boss pays me to be happy. I told her "I'll be whatever you pay me to be." I think that came out wrong.

"Brenna, what are you doing?"

"Just dancin'"

I went and saw 500 Days of Summer for the third time last night and then went to IHOP, which took over an hour.

This weekend was awesome.

I was in three states in one night.

"Then we went over there...I don't really know why. I forgot our mission statement."

Beer olympics happened. The guys commissioned me to film parts of it for the underground documentary I'm making about the ND DC program...best part is that I filmed it on the school's camera.

I almost fell asleep yesterday (who would have guessed, since I got 2 hours of sleep the night before) at work so they let me walk around...and where were we? The effing Newseum! So I got to see that for free and got to abuse my contractor badge privileges by going places I wasn't supposed to. Some creepy old man also offered to get me and my friends in for free. I also got followed/creeped on by an old employee with a walker, he wouldn't leave me alone. There were gaggles of children. I creeped on my crew from a window above the studio. I got to set up a camera too....stfu, it's exciting.

I have to go in at 6effing30 on Monday. FML. Bright side: going to a feminist conference.

I made $150 today....over half of it was in singles. Yessssss.

I'm going to see 500 days of summer for the third time with Courtney! Hooray!

My phone went mysteriously missing last night. I was sad. Then it mysteriously turned up in my bedroom, where I had definitely not been for 5 hours previously...and I have used my phone in that 5 hour time. Bizarre.

"What kind of emoticon do you put after 'I hope you titty feels better'?"

Today we went to Virginia to go to IHOP.

Courtney and I are a couple now because I sat next to her and ordered her food for her. We also shared a piece of bacon, Lady and the Tramp style.

I wished for a split second today that I had a nametag at work, but then I realized that since I don't I can lie about my name.

"This is your dinner guest starring Brenna."

"Let's tell them we were late because Brenna got hit by a car."

-Megan, when we were almost late to the Symphony

I saw Watergate today.

Kellenberg is a ninja. He appears and disappears with incredible speed. We tried to stalk him and his wife after the show and they vanished. He also popped up behind a group of us at Starbucks when they were talking about him. His wife has an accent and looks a million years younger than him, although we've probably aged him.

"The best defense is a good offense...and by offense I really do mean defense, since he was showing up to see how people like you stop people like him."

"He was from some cyber safety magazine."

"Those exist?"

"Yeah, 'Cyber Creeps Monthly.'"

There was a sign at IHOP that said "Pay Your Waiters"

The boys asked me to film the beer olympics tomorrow night. I said yes. This'll be interesting.

You can't write this stuff.

Apparently I can't even entertain the idea of giving elderly old men kisses on the lips without my boyfriend finding some fault in that. What is this world coming to? JK. But in all seriousness, I had a bizarro encounter with Marvin when I got home today...

Me: Hey Marvin!

Mar (in warbly old black man voice): Can I have a hug?

Me: Why, sure! *hugs Marvin*

Mar: *keeps arm around Brenna's waist so she cannot escape* Can I have a kiss?

Me: Uhm.....on the cheek? Sure.

Mar: No.

Me: I have a boyfriend.

Mar: Why?

Me: Because.

Mar: I have feelings for you.

Me: Uhm....I'm just going to kiss you on the forehead. *does so*

Mar: That wasn't long enough.

Me: Don't push it....Also, you and Bryan need to give me a new nickname, because 'Hyper' is not working for me.

Mar: I call you 'Beautiful'

Me: Let's see if you can ever get Bryan to commit to that one.

I got 4 hours of sleep last night and had to be to CSPAN by 6AM, which was depressing. As a result fell asleep at the "Distracted Drivers Summit" during the part where they were talking about drowsy driving, ironically enough.

I made $12 tonight AND had to train an overly eager Russian waiter, BUT I got out of cocktail waitressing for "Wicked Wednesday" for GW students. You can only imagine the fun that would have been. On the bright side, I probably drank $30 worth of espresso-based drinks, so it kind of wasn't a bust. The bartender also put about 2 shots worth of vodka into my coke when I wasn't looking...I feel kind of like I'm going to die. Best words of the night: "Baby, you can go home." Creepy because my manager is 37 years old, but awesome in every other way. Also, the new waiter knows every Russian on the Capitals. Score.

Catherine wrote a speech about me, I can't wait to hear it.

I almost wasn't allowed to turn in my bitch of a philo paper yesterday because I didn't have a stapler downstairs AND forgot my key to my room. Thank God for crazy random happenstances.

While I was at work, Nathalie texted me and asked me to bring home TP and by the time I got back the stores were all closed, so Bryan was like, "I'll give you the key to the bathroom and you can steal stuff out of there. If it was later, I'd let you go through the whole storage room." So I got a big industrial sized roll of TP and paper towels. Score.

My Program Director at ND asked me to do a mini-movie about the program. Did she give me any really indication of what she wants? Nope. Creative licensing much? You betcha. They're giving me a camera and everything; I can't wait to see how craptastic it is. I need to think about how to make this totally awesome. Any ideas, cast of "A Very Potter Musical"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwM_AKeMCk

I never thought anything remotely interesting or funny could come out of the state of Michigan, let alone its public school system.

You know what I don't have in my life right now? That guy who always wears fedoras...or at least owns one. I need that in my life. Why? I don't really know, but I'm always happier when I have a man with a good hat collection on speed dial.

I got an email today that started off with: "Since you always bitch about your crazy ass name and how it'll never be used in a song or movie or anything, I rewrote the song "Kelsey" by your favorite band ever (Metro Station) for you." The file consisted of a acoustic version of "Kelsey" with my name instead of "Kelsey." How.....creative? Also, not a fan of Metro Station. Just clearing that up. However, he had a point, I do always complain about my name never being used in songs or movies. Life goal: accomplished.

I really want to see Capitalism: A Love Story.

Last night that Alex guy who I wrote a note to in Megan's name (Cirano de Bergerac style) was sent into the room Megan was studying in by Bryan who told him to go get a pen. Bryan then proceeded to try and hook them up. At the end of the night Bryan was forced to tell Alex that I wrote the note and he replies, "I know, I read it on Megan's blog." I DIED. I love how he's more of a creeper than I am.

Bryan called upstairs and told me goodnight. We're pretty much besties.

"Here's 50 pence, now you can say you weren't broke when you showed up in London."

Apparently Brand New's brand new album is on my phone. How? I will never know.

My wall got a sweet new tattoo Friday night. It's not coming off.

I think the worst part of this weekend was the fact that I was sober the entire time, meaning I made every crazy choice with full knowledge of what I was doing.

Today at work I had Europeans give me a $1 tip, some lady gave me a 50 pence piece which I gave to Nathalie so she won't be broke when she goes to England. I got some AWESOME tips. I walked in on my boss crying in the closet. I held my manager's baby. I got yelled at for helping people. I ahd 8 tables open at one time.

Courtney refuses to move into my room. Boo.

Last night me and Courtney went and saw women's drumming and walked forever in the rain and figured out the bus system....kind of. There was falafel and cake involved as well.

I made a shton of Rice Crispie Treats today.

Megan and I got sushi tonight because we're too lazy to cook.

I haven't talked to Jon Oliver in two days. I hope he is alive.

This weekend was pretty awesome, you wish you were here.

We spent like, 30 minutes stalking our Program Director trying to find out things about him since he never tells us anything. We are calling the ongoing investigation "Kellengate."

Apparently the bus girl at work complains about us as much as we complain about her.

I found a new use for the weird green felt packages my birth control pills come in: all-in-one ID/metro card/Money holder for da cloughb.

I hung out in the CSPAN bus yesterday at the book festival because it was wet outside.

I've started using the term "cha-ching" in my life. The bad thing is that I don't really want to be constantly reminded of where I heard it used frequently.

"Big Bird doesn't make the tough decisions."

I love the song "Do the Panic"

Thursday was pretty much the longest day ever. We had to go to this brunch in Rayburn, which I later found out CSPAN was also in and people saw me, and then we had to go to this law firm and talk about law and then the girls went to take some pretty awesome pics at the White House, then we had to go to the snore-posium. I slept an effing lot.

Yesterday was crazy. Examples in quote form:

-After telling Nathalie the story about last night she said: "You must have been drunk."

-"You're crazy."

-"I'm going to take a bunch of Advil and pass out."

I went to work and then I went out with the interns for a while at Union Station, then I ran back home and got sushi with a bunch of people, then we all went to the cloughb. Interesting things arose.

"You have good reflections."

I love the song "As Tall as Cliffs" by Margot and the Nuclear So-So's. JS.

Today was pretty fun. I got made fun of for saying "whilst" and told I did a good job by the same person in the same hour. I got to play with a computer I wanted to play with anyway. So, that was awesome.

Tonight WHILST waitressing I realized a lot of things:

-my roommate Megan and I are the only people at work who don't fluently speak two languages

-the people who are bilingual don't speak English as a first language (yes, that counts our roommate Nathalie, who is Puerto Rican)

-I caught a plate of food before it fell on the floor and the bartender told me I had "good reflections" instead of "reflexes" which, in her defense, is probably true; my reflection is probably a hell of a lot better than my reflexes.

-EVERY FREAKING TIME I go into the kitchen SOME version of "She Wolf" by Shakira is playing, no matter the time of day, how busy we are, or who's working back there.

-The music we play in the front is like a mix CD of straight score from Ocean's 11-13 and Catch Me If You Can.

-People tip me more when I tell them I don't know anything about alcohol because I'm 18 and then they feel like I'm super cute and innocent and the 1s start pouring in.

I got $60 in tips tonight, which wasn't bad because I had 5 tables all night. However, I got $40 of that in 1s. Mission to one day get all of my pay in $1 bills and making it rain on dem hoes being close to being accomplished: Priceless

"It's because I hate you and Not....I mean, Notre Dame."

So today kind of sucked, not going to lie. I got called in by the assignment desk 3 hours after set up for my shoot began so everything was done when I got there PLUS the event had started so everyone was really busy so I had no real direction or instruction or purpose and the hearing was about healthcare, an automatic snooze-fest if ever there was one. So I sat around until 12:30, walking to the various places we had cameras and watching people use them (riveting), and then we had an awkwardly long break of more than 2 hours and NO ONE TALKED. I read and ate my lunch, but it was just really weird esp since I had never worked with that crew before.

After that, the healthcare fun only got funner. Luckily, a crew that I do know came and relived the one I was already with so I was with them for 2 hours and got spoken to and was given things to do.

Yesterday was really weird. I didn't go in until 11 and I did research for someone at the assignment desk until 2:00 (after actually getting to eat lunch with other interns for once!) and then we went to the shoot, but 15 minutes into set up CSPAN called my crew chief and told him they were sending Andrew to pick me up because we had to do some intern thing....no one really knew what was going on. Andrew came and got me and whilst trying to track down the other field intern we became best friends.

Later, when I was dropped off at the Supreme Court, I was told we were doing promo shots for a docu that CSPAN is doing on the SC, so they wanted the interns to be in the photos. After that, I left and got dinner with Megan before we had class. It was just a weird day overall.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better. *crosses fingers*

"Where in the Midwest are you from?"

"Uhm, I'm from Florida."

"Oh, really? You're just so friendly."

If only they knew.

I made almost $200 on Sunday dinner, a feat almost unheard of in the waitressing world, esp at my work. My customers were super awesome too. I hate bussing my own tables though.

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote last.

Let's see....

Wednesday I think I went to another Senate hearing, so now I'm a pro on the set up at the Dirkson Senate building. I loved the crew I was with that day, the security guard gave one of them a hard time about how ugly his shirt was....it was funny because we were telling him how pissed we'd be if we weren't allowed in bc of his shirt. I went on a late shoot that day and talked about Malibu Shark Attack with KJ (I knew seeing that movie would give me some small talk with someone someday). I also am a pro at shotgun now too. I love riding in the van, it makes me feel official.

Thursday I had to wake up way too early to go on a tour at the Library of Congress, a tour I had already taken. Class was fine. I had to makeup my Political Journalism class that night, but we got a tour of the Post and we got to see the front page of the next day's newspaper. I think my teacher likes me because I'm super sarcastic. I missed the premiere of NBC's fall lineup AND Fringe, so it totally wasn't worth it.

Friday I went to Georgetown which was a total bore, although I learned that I'm well on my way to being readily employed by CSPAN and how to use a mobile transmission van. I bolted to work from CSPAN and worked until 2:30 cocktail waitressing, which was THE WORST. Everyone kept asking if I was Bulgarian and no one tipped (maybe because they were Bulgarian) and I had to sell shots and I narrowly avoided having my tray knocked out of my hand by drunk dancing people. Never. Again.

Yesterday I worked brunch and got to come home early so I went and got groceries. I did homework and watched "All the President's Men" for class and "Charlie Bartlett" with Courtney and Nicole for fun. My roommate's friend was visiting so we all sat around and ate good food and laughed. I was going to try and rebel and stay up late but I fell asleep by 12:30.

I woke up late today and baked for the CSPAN crew, did some homework, watched tv, relaxed, showered, and went to work for dinner.

So that's pretty much it. I wish I had more vivid memories or that I was in the mood to type about them. My life sounds a lot less fun than it actually is, just trust me that it's super cool.

I've started taking the bus or a cab home from work because the neighborhood around there gets sketch really early.

I talked to my dad today and he invited me to Disney while I'm home, so I'm stoked on that.

I have $400 in my dresser.....

I'm going to the bank tomorrow.

I miss Andrew Schelldorf.

My parents told me I can come back in the summer if I want to!!!!!!

I smile a lot, I have learned.

I got to eat a lot of good sushi tonight. =]

Everything about the first part of Wednesday was a lie, I just realized. That day has been lost to me. Ohhhhhhhhh, I remember, I went to the NAtional Archives (in a cab!) with a super cool senior tech and took notes on a presentation. Equally fun.

"If anyone asks, you observed today."

Yet another awesome day in the incredible life of me. =]

Even though I had to wake up at 5:00 AM and get to work by 6:15, I had a pretty amazing day...although I must say it was bizarre to have completed an 8 hour day by 2:30.

Today I....

-had the funniest crew ever. EVER.

-one of the guys was wearing a nautical themed silk shirt his mother got him and the guard at the Senate building, along with every CSPAN person we saw, called him out on it.

-I knew something about setting up AND wrapping cable today so I was one step ahead of yesterday

-I got to OBSERVE the switching of a live feed of the hearing about the reelection of the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and we were the only ones filming so all footage of it came from us to all of the major networks

-I got to leave at 2:30

-As a result of that, I got to take a nap, do laundry, and hang out. It was amazing.

Tomorrow I don't have to go in until 10, so I'm loving life right now.

Ughhhhh, creepy people grabbing my shoulders

Today was amazing in every way.

-I woke up at 9:00

-I got to go to a senate mtg on the dangers of cell phones, which itself was boring, but I got to do tons of cool stuff.

-I got to ride in the CSPAN van!

-I got to put together a robotic camera

-I got to run sound for part of the hearing

-I got to eat lunch with my co-workers who are the sweetest

-I made brownies for the dept and they all love me now

-I had a ton of funnnnnn.

-One of the senators called out CSPAN

A creepy guy massaged one of my shoulders though. Ughhhhh....

"Because making lattes is similar to giving hand jobs..."

On Friday I went into CSPAN and we were sposed to go over to the Senate and film something, but it was raining (boo), so one of the guys I was sposed to work with was like, "Yeah, so we have a permanent robotic camera in there, so we're just going to do that." So I got to go down to the studio downstairs and he let me play with expensive things, which was freaking amazing. He also let me move the volume switch during the press conference, which was also pretty cool because I'm an intern and I think everything is super cool. He said I could do so any time there wasn't anything going on and at that moment the tech geek in me died. I talked sports with this guy who went to Auburn, because he would know, right? I also learned that I shouldn't have gone down to the studio with that one guy, but I feel like everyone just said that because they like to pick on him....I hope.

Yesterday I worked from 9-4 and helped train a new waiter, Jon, who is the NICEST person I've ever met in my entire life ever. It was painfully slow so I only made like $60, but I got to watch a lot of football and ate some cheesecake, therefore it all equalled out. I took the world's longest nap and baked and watched a movie with Nat and Courtney after that, since we're all lame and I was effing exhausted. The Fountain, by the way, is such a weird movie. Rachel Weisz is in it for about 15 minutes and got first billing, but whatever.

Today I worked from 9-6 and felt like I was going to freaking die. I bruised and burned myself a couple times and people were being bitchy all day, plus we were swamped because it was Adams Morgan Day. I did, however, learn how to use the espresso machine....although the bartenders made it so that I felt violated by the time I put the foam on top. I can't really blame them though because you're dealing with an up and down motion of your hand and cream so that's basically an automatic FML moment on my part. I made a lot of money today so that made up for yesterday. I also asked if I could get my tips in 1s so I could make it rain on dem hoes......they politely refused. Fail. I made it out with 30 of them though, so I'll just have to start collecting.

Best moment of my day: Jon asked what we were selling out on the street for AMD and I told him that Gaye, our boss who is Turkish, made all sorts of Turkish delights. He laughs and says, "Haha. Narnia." It makes my day when 23 year old men refer to jokes from books/children's movies.

What am I going to do tonight? Probably read and watch tv or a movie. Yeah, for such an awesome person I can be really lame on the weekends.

"At least you're not the weird intern"

So yesterday I spoke to John McCain and sat in the rain for forever waiting for him. It was cool though, I definitely love my job. The rest of the day was filled by too much homework to understand.

Today my group went on a tour of the Pentagon, which was neat, but they made us walk at like 5 mph through the building, so it was all kind of a blur. We saw some secret service agents getting ready for the President's visit tomorrow for Sept 11. Overall it was pretty neat.

This afternoon we talked about healthcare and trees in class, it was an odd mix. I watched a bunch of Top Model and had a relatively boring afternoon, but tonight I went and got Lebanese food down the street and it was awesome.

Tomorrow I'm going to some Senate thing and I don't have to be there until 9:45. Hooray!

First Day of Work and other tales

So this morning I woke up at the ungoldy hour of 7:35 and got ready for work, deciding to skip the coffee out of fear that I would spill it all over myself and look like a slob the first time I met everyone (luckily for me, we have the coolest coffee machine ever at work).

I wasn't able to squeeze onto the first train that came to my station, which sucked because the next one didn't come for 7 minutes. When I WAS able to squeeze onto that one, this mean lady with a baby in a stroller was blocking the door so I had to hunch over her kid like a creep and she gave me dirty looks and I was like, "Geez, just fold the effing sroller up so it doesn't take up room for two people." After getting off of my train 5 minutes before I was supposed to get to work, I ran the whole way there and made it out of the elevator at EXACTLY 9:00.

The other interns were super nice, I'm the youngest by at least 2 years. The other Field Operations intern is 29 and from Puerto Rico and doesn't speak very good English and he's kind of grabby.....FML. On the bright side, I was given a lot of free things and met a lot of cool people. ALSO, my ID photo is AWESOME, my HR lady should be a photog.

After orientation we were told how to get our schedules every evening for the next day's work and then we were handed off to one of the Sr. Field Operators and he was like, "So I have to direct the White House news briefing like, now. Wanna come?" Yes, please. So I got to see that magic happen, it was pretty cool. After that the guy was going home for the day so since I didn't have any assignments, I went home too.

On the way home though, my train had electrical problems so we had to get off after one stop and wait for the next one. It kind of sucked because a million people were trying onto the same train. No strollers this time, so it was all good.

In other news, our sink is still backed up, so I had to go complain because we now have no clean forks, we can't use the sink or the dishwasher, and no one fixed it today. Here's hoping that we get to use the empty apt down the hall (which we were actually supposed to live in, but it's WAY TOO AWESOME for us or something, I was pissed) because I would like to eat something other than a turkey sammich.

Yay.

"Sweeney Todd? Isn't that the movie with the blood and shhh....stuff?"

Not going to lie, the beginning of my day was tres' normal (boo). I did normal things like cleaning the apartment and going to get groceries, but only because I was out of everything but Ramen. Also, our sink is so effed up, I can't wait until Tuesday when they'll hopefully fix it. I felt like I was going to die walking back from the store with all of the shhh I had to buy. They tried calling me into work but I didn't have my phone on me.

After taking a three hour nap, I went out to the living room to find my roomies talking about out friend Pavielle's birthday and how we were invited to join her at Friday's for her birthday dinner. With all of the tips I made yesterday, I was SO there. Rain in large cities is the worst idea ever. We had to slosh to the metro and slosh the six blocks from our stop to Fridays and then several of us were soaked, but overall it was a great time. After sloshing all the way back home, we all dried off and changed and watched "Juno" (after much deliberation where I raised my hand for every movie we suggested and got told I could only vote twice in the next rounds of elimination) and baked a cake, which was quite delicious.

Tomorrow is Labor Day, and hopefully the people traffic will lighten up as the day goes on; there are SO many people here. Although, when it was raining, there was no one to be found. Go figure.

I'm signed up to check things out from the NDtv studio even though I'm not there. Whatever.

"What are you, 23?"

So today I worked from 9-4 for brunch, and it was a pretty amazing day. I...

-made more today than I would in a week at the toy factory

-got to card someone

-got asked if I was 23

-learned what goes into bloody mary mix the hard way (I think they add alcohol just to get rid of the horrible taste of the mix)

Afterwards me and some of my friends went downtown and walked around A LOT before we decided to sit down and people watch (and buy mashed potatoes?) at a restaurant. Then we went to Barnes and Noble for forever and on the way home the AC in the metro was totally out so it was nearly 100 degrees down there. Way to go, DC metro system. Holidays weekends are the best times to have major malfunctions.

I was super sick yesterday, and I slept from 4PM-8AM, but luckily today I feel a lot better. I was even able to "cook" myself dinner. Thank God Kate is sending me a cheap cookbook, one can only live off of chicken, pasta, sammiches, and eggs for so long.

Holiday weekends here are worse than summers at Disney. Here, the whole city is a tourist attraction and I live 2 blocks from the Zoo so every tourist with a kid under the age of 8 has been parading between the metro and the zoo since Thursday. It didn't make work any busier though, which kind of sucks because I did make some good money, but it would have been more awesome if I had made better money. Oh well, I made enough to pay for my food and metro fare for the week, and next week I'm working during the neighborhood's street festival so it's going to be crazy.

Apparently USF is playing ND in 2011, and they won their game today. woo-freakin-hoo.

My apt kind of sucks. We can't run the dishwasher until after we've run the garbage disposal because they share pipes and the garbage disposal is broken, so we have to wash the dishes by hand and the water backs up pretty quickly. Oh, and the building is "shifting" which explains the uneven-creepiness of the floor. Boo.

"Heyyyy, sexy ladies!"

So a little bird named Blogspot told me I haven't blogged since May. Mostly because I don't like people knowing my whereabouts/how awesome my life is while I'm home, and partly because I'm too busy having fun to write.

I've begun the adventure that is living in DC until December. And what an adventure it has been.

Highlights:

-rooftop lunches overlooking the sites

-going on the metro 5 stories underground

-having the best security guards ever (one of them offered to buy us alcohol, which we declined.)

-having approx. 1 foot of counter space in the kitchen and pushing a desk over there to make up for it

-the amazing museums

-ice cream socials at Megan's building and getting to partake even though I don't work there

-random do-gooders on the street

-lying to people about my major to fit it to me surroundings (ex: architect at the monuments, art history at art galleries)

-going on a tour with a grown up, art loving version of JO

-holocaust museum (so sad)

-having class at the Post

-Starbucks fights resulting in police being brought in

-making friends with a loan officer and learning how much we need to make to buy a $750,000 house

-sushi

-getting a job as a waitress

-meeting people NOT from ND

-hookah bar (and not smoking)

-making friends with security guards at every museum I go to

-seeing all sorts of historical things

-getting asked to lunch by some random guy

-getting a library card at the Library of Congress

-seeing secret things at the Folger Shakespeare library

-seeing the city from the top of the old post office

-having some random guy sing "Hey sexy ladies" at me and my roommate

-Larry the ice cream creep

-DuPont circle

-"cooking" for myself

-Farmer's Market

-Chinatown

Yep, it's been pretty fun. Jon Oliver is coming up to visit in October too! I start my internship at CSPAN on Tuesday, I'm pretty stoked. =]

Watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

So Lauren and Catherine are teaching me to holler again, since I forgot.

I am obsessed with the new TGS bc it's oh so quotable (and it helped me brush up on my white girl gangster).

I feel like this whole ordeal will be better than the last one because I will be able to wipe away and pretend I never met everyone involved with it a lot easier than the last time. I hope it doesn't come to that, but at least this time my life will simply begin a new chapter instead of being purposefully ruined by other parties. 

I've officially broken out the Taylor Swift music I own. Next it will be Kelly Clarkson. Then I will hate all men. 

I'm doing that thing where I cancel on social engagements in order to save gas. I mean, hanging out with Josh wasn't so social as it was creepy, but still, I didn't have to come over to the Raleys yesterday afternoon, but think of the gas I saved by coming directly here from Spring Hill as opposed to going home and THEN coming here this evening. Lynzee wants to hang out tomorrow, but seeing as I have to be here at the Raleys' by 5ish, I see no point in driving all of the way home tonight and then back here tomorrow. Lynzee can meet me at the Shell Station is she wants to see me so badly.

I need a new text buddy. You know, that guy friend who you text pretty much all day every day simply because you have nothing better to do than update each other on th goings ons in your life? Catherine has Jordin and Brett and Lauren has Matt Hayes and Taylor. None of my best guy friends text because they suck. I wish I had Kevin Swenson's number because I know I could find more than a few things to talk to him about (like his overall hotttttt mess status) haha. 

I'm going to Lynzee's graduation and party on Friday and will be accompanied by Brett and bby Ashton. Jealous, ladies? 

Alexa, it is impossible for me to comment your blog

I figured if I put it in the subject line, you'd be more likely to notice. But yeah, I've tried commenting your last 2 blogs and was unable to so idk what's up with that.

I listened to "A Conversation" from BH's 2nd album, not a light task. It made me think a lot though.

My mom and I talked today about my situation with Jon. I basically told her I was sick of this happening and I'm establishing a 6 month rule from now until I find my soulmate because I feel like it's totally doable to get out of that unscathed....maybe 3 months would be better.

I've had this feeling of complete peace about this whole situation for the past 3 or 4 days and I couldn't put a finger on where and when I've felt it before. I realized that it was right before Jon and I started dating. He told me at the Raleys' house that we would never date because we lived so far away and instead of getting upset at rejection or whatever it was, I just went home. In the car this peace just kind of settled on me and I knew that everything was going to work out the way it was supposed to, either way. I guess things often end as they begin, luckily in this situation it was with hope for the future instead of the sting of loss.

I find I can't listen to Bradley Hathaway anymore, but that I enjoy all of my other music a lot more, since music is so rarely about life being perfect.

Jon asked if I had kissed John Gold on Friday when we were all in Ybor. I said that was pretty much the last thing that I would do with John Gold....I feel like him kissing a girl would just cause his fragile heart to break with no explanation or reason. I do, however, love that kid with all of my heart.

Single. Ladies. Party.

Best idea I've ever had in my life coming at you.

I'm returning to Clearwater on Thursday instead of Saturday, so I will have the house to myself for two nights, so I was going to just go crash in my room at the Raleys' for those days bc I don't want to be alone (although, I could always get a Jewish boy to keep me warm...by buying me a mink blanket...and with his body, I spose. But neither of those things sound really fun.) 

Anyway, then Catherine suggested that she come down to Clearwater and I LOVED that idea. Then I got talking to Alli about the welcome home cake she promised me and then I decided she should make me a single ladies cake.....and then it came to me: we should take those two nights in Clearwater and have a single ladies party, no boys (without at least a 500k yearly salary/allowance and at least 50% Jew in him) allowed! Clearwater has everything single ladies love (well at least, my guls and I): Bennigans (one of the two open in the area), Jamba Juice (1 of 4 in the state), the beach (sunsets are nice), Mel's bday party on Friday night, movies, no parents, and an entire tourist town full of dem boys to seduce and conquer (or just to go out to dinner with and never speak to again. I went to dinner with a snowbird I met once, it was fun AND he paid...maybe HE was part Jewish). 

So basically I'm taking this (quazi?) breakup in stride, enjoying a weekend with my guls hopefully, and then moving on to better (and richer) conquests.