Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen Great Websites For Slacking 1. Facebook: You can get lost for hours on this thing. The following quote expresses it pretty well: "If AIM is a gateway drug, Facebook is internet crack." 2. YouTube: pretty much anything you want - it's there. Also, archived footage at thedailyshow.com 3. Overheard in New York: hilariously real! 4. Ebaums World: Ridiculous things (albinoblacksheep.com is good too). 5. Addicting Games: I'm a fan of the puzzles and the helicopter game. 6. Recovering Frat Boy: He publishes a bimonthly column. 7. Wikipedia: You can get severely sidetracked by clicking on links in the middle of articles. As a friend said, "Wikipedia is like alcohol. You start into it, wake up a few hours later, and can't remember how you got there." You can play the "Jesus Game." Either click "Random article" on the left hand column, or go to a random page yourself. See how few clicks it takes to get to Jesus. 8. College Humor: fairly ridiculous and sometimes funny articles. 9. LOL Catz: Sooo juvenile but sometimes hilarious. 10. The New York Times: If you want to do something a little more refined (or you want people to think you are sophisticated when they look over your shoulder), NYT has great articles, photo slideshows, and videos on tons of topics. 11. Memes: You're probably familiar ;) 12. Google: There are so many games and funny things to do with google. One option: put in the searchbar: Your Name needs Your Name looks like ...does ...hates ...goes ...loves ...eats ...has ...will 13. prettymuchanything.blogspot.com: Like wiki, one can spend hours surfing blogs by following blogrolls.

Thursday Thirteen #9

I have just embarked on a summer as a staffer on a political campaign, and what a year to be doing this. Here is a quick recap of the first 2 1/2 weeks:




Thirteen Things I have been doing this summer while working on a political campaign. I... 1. ...flew to a city that I have never been to before. After one of the worst days of delays and flight cancellations I have ever experienced, I landed at 1AM, found my way to a hotel, and then worked that day 9AM-8:30PM, meeting the entire staff for the first time. 2. ...slept on a couch at the deputy finance director's apartment before moving in with the family of a supporter. I quickly got used to the family's habits and 20-year-old cat that yowls in the middle of the night. 3. ...began working 12 hour days, 6 days a week. This Sunday will be my last Sunday off. It will be 7days/week from July on out. 4. ...spent a little bit of time downtown exploring the city. Honestly, it is not quite as great as everyone told me it would be, but I am somewhat impressed, and I have plans to see even more of it this weekend. 5. ...went canoeing with friends. I so wish I had more time off to explore this great state! 6. ...went to a festival and a nursing home as a representative from the campaign. The nursing home was so fun - half the people thought I was the candidate and the other half wanted to tell me about WWII. 7. ...met the candidate who, by the way, is one of the most awesomest people I have ever met. 8. ...had lunch twice with the candidate and a few staffers. The candidate said this is something they try to do once a week in order to "maintain the illusion that campaigns are actually civilized." 9. ...went to a fundraiser at a beautiful house with great food. It kinda, no it really made me wish I worked in finance. They get to go to the events all the time. 10. ...had a truly deep conversation with the campaign manager about flavored tootsie rolls. (Office conversations are great in the evenings. Everyone is tired and lets loose a bit - the results can be pretty hilarious). 11. ...went to a chocolate factory and tasted the BEST chocolate I have EVER had. They make all kinds of flavors like one that tastes like wine, and one that has Chai flavoring. And of course, that chocolate tasting was all very serious official campaign business. Quality control for fundraisers, you know. ;) 12. ...made tons of fundraising calls! Yes, this week I am that annoying person who calls you. The end of the quarter is on Monday so we are in overdrive. Almost all other aspects of the campaign have shut down and everyone, even if they do not work in the finance department, is expected to make fundraising calls. 13. ...took a twenty minute call from a "colorful" voter who had thought through her own plan to deal with Iraq, decided an Indian member of our staff is actually Polish (???), and went on and on about something involving sabotaging oil fields in I guess the Middle East (this was where I kinda lost the conversation).




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It's been great so far and things are only going to get more active, more crazy, and more amazing as we get closer to E-day! I'm still crossing my fingers that the national party will send a celebrity of some sort our way to help out.


p.s. I also got to see the candidate dive stomach first onto an exercise ball when the candidate thought no one was looking!

Weekend Events

After walking to Walnut Street and back with a brief rain shower (gotta love spring) we had to go pick up the TB from school. The students are currently in a war with the administration and Jessie, the security guard, over closing the gate to the driveway making us walk ALL THE WAY AROUND to our cars on K-Ave. Turns out their latest battle move has been to start closing the gate at 3:40 instead of 5:40 which is totally ridiculous because there are still people there at 3:40 but...enough about the evil administration. Here are some pics of attacking and beating the system.
TB running towards us:


Inspecting the fence:

Pushing her bags through in preparation:



Trying to squeeze through:

Trying to hop over:

Open the gate!(that is my arm in the lower right):


Jessie the security guard coming over:

Then KB freaked out because Jessie had yelled at her before so she ran away...


...and hid behind a bush:

Jessie did open the gate after yelling at us.

Thursday Thirteen #1

This seems to be a very popular meme so I am going to attempt to join it if I can figure out how to get the code on here.
My First Thursday Thirteen of 13 things that happen during the spring of senior year:

1. You think "because I forgot" is a perfectly good excuse for not doing your homework. 2. You don't even try to read the book for English class... 3. ...or you didn't even purchase it in the first place. 4. Brushing your hair every morning becomes too much of an effort. 5. Even showing up is just such a "why?" thing. 6. You spend all of your classes watching videos of The Ellen Degeneres Show on YouTube. 7. Your teachers don't even care if you're using your laptop for notes or not. 8. You voluntarily do math problems to figure out how low of a grade you can get on the next assignment without failing the class. 9. You become So. Incredibly. Addicted. To. Facebook. 10. You wish underclassmen would just SHUT UP. 11. You volunteer to be a prospective parent tour guide just to get free food and tell people not to come here. 12. You spend all of your frees sleeping...you can goof off during class. 13. Slacking Overachiever becomes just slacker.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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The Intermittent Stalker

He's baaaaack...and wants pictures...really not sure how to respond.

Musings to avoid summer reading and that blue sheet

You know you’re a Washington, D.C. intern when…

You look at a Dear Colleague with 20 or more signatures in awe
You have become disillusioned with parts of the legislative process
You “guess” what mail is important
You are amazed at how friendly everyone in DC is
You are ready to change planets at a moment’s notice
Riding the subway between government buildings is still fun
You still read all the names of representatives on the plaques outside their offices
Tourists, school groups, and ice cream annoy you
Some days, all you do is play sudoku
You are thankful your office has subscriptions to most major magazines
You live for Heard on the Hill
You and your colleagues are “running the world”
You think your official ID badge is the bomb
You religiously stick to the routes between buildings that you learned first
You are impressed by the amount of helpful signs
You really hope the mail has been screened well for anthrax
You are continuously making sure you know whether it is morning, afternoon, or evening so you don’t screw up on the phones
You can see how easliy egos are inflated
Your boss’s office is still a scary place
Your boss isn’t your “real boss”
You stood outside Senator Clinton’s office and worshipped her doors
You go to briefings for the free lunch
Being on C-Span still amazes you
Crazy constituents lighten your day
Getting to refill the water pitchers in the hearing rooms might be the highlight of your day
You think the person you work for is the coolest representative and you are totally excited about your office’s issues
You have forgotten how hard it is to check your party hat at the door
Your office is flooded with coca cola products
Stacks of newspaper clippings have suddenly become fascinating to you
You can give others directions…sorta
RSOB and C-204 are the bomb
You think you can exit RHOB on one side and “quickly” walk around to the other side
RHOB has a courtyard?
Security guards have become your best friends
You swear Dirksen and Hart are the same building
When sorting mail, you still have to check the issues assignment sheet in your office
You feel sorry for the staffers in the district office

You know you’re a WW intern when…

You’re dying for anyone to win the World Cup as long as they’re not French
You are thinking about calling Matt’s girlfriend
A half naked French guy asked you about your grandmother’s funeral while you were watching birth videos
A man in his underwear is not always appealing
You were almost arrested in the subway
You do not get along with DC police or taxi drivers
Who reserves part of the curb?
You beep every time you go through the metal detectors
You are still bitter about the congressional baseball game for several reasons…
Where do you sign up for the softball teams?
You don’t believe in dominant genes anymore because you swear Brigid’s sisters are not half asian
Going to Ballston (and getting a pedicure) is considered a night out on the town
You “know” what the next few presidential tickets will be, all the way up to Hurn-Maloney-Kennedy
You’re going to watch Wedding Crashers dammit!
Even though you are a liberal, you say freedom fries
Preppy pink hats are the shit
Photos with your congressperson are NOT emailed!

You know you’re a high school intern when…

You find yourself constantly explaining that you’re majoring in “high school”
Everyone keeps telling you how lucky you are
You are the lowest of the low and no one really cares about you but you are loving every minute of it
You’re not sure if you should friend your coworkers on facebook or not

The stalker revisited

here is yet another email from "Saddam." funny how sporadic he is. i think AK would agree we wouldn't work out.

hey!!! how r u!!! i miss u so much, i miss PC's days....
how z everything going with u!!! and how z the SAT exam!!!when z ur school start!!! hope u r enjoying ur time
tc honey

Middle Eastern Stalker

Here's the whole (illustrated) story:
Over spring break I did a program in Washington, D.C.The program was run by Presidential Classroom and was called Future World Leaders Summit. (Yes, we had fun calling ourselves future world leaders of America). It was awesome because there were students from all over the world there. I was part of the Jordanian delegation.
(By the way, don't google image Jordan, apparantly a lot of strippers have that name, too)

We really bonded as a group and were known as the closest delegation there. One of the best moments was our street dancing for money.
Then, we tried to give all the money away to strangers and found that they are much ruder when you are trying to give them money than asking them for it.

Long story short, the week passed with visits to all the great places of DC. We were lucky enough to be there the week the cherry trees blossomed.At one point, we went to the senate building and accidentally stumbled into the hearing chamber (where people like Justice Alito - who we saw - are interviewed by the senators before approval). The room was supposed to be locked. It was really dark so we saw some buttons on the wall but our counsellor said maybe we shouldn't start randomly pushing buttons in a room of a government building that the security guards had told us not to go into in the first place. So we stumbled around in the dark and used the flash on cameras to see the room.

One of my roomates goes to a therapy school because she started sleeping around a lot when she was fourteen (lovely). She had to stay there for the first two years and could not even go home for Christmas (her parents were allowed to send her one present). Her therapist reads the letters she sends to her parents and friends, there is no rap music allowed, bed time is 8:30 and, if you open your door after then, an alarm goes off. She will be graduating in two months. There was soooo much drama around her it was like rooming with an episode of Laguna Beach.

The stalker part: There was one boy in the Jordanian delegation who began to get....close....to me. I noticed he started following me around and would sit next to me whenever he could. He followed me all around the Georgetown bookstore and put his arm around me several times. Kinda clingy and protective. Once I got back, he sent me this email:

hey!! how are you!!!! hope that you are fine!!! how did you do in the SAT exam!!!!

you know something, i didn't dry for 6 years, but when i knew that you left without saying goodbye to tou i cried......

nahida told me that you came and you were searching for me am sooooooooo sorry about what happened i hope that we will meet again....

i want to tell you something, i really liked you, you are the most beatiful grl i ever seen in my life, you have an amazing eyes, i really liked you and i hope that we can stilll together for the rest of my life....

thank you for everything, am so happy because i met person like you, hope to see you

(He means he had not Cried in 6 years - he was the least good at English out of all of the Jordanians)

The next day, he sent me this:

marhaba "hi", how are you!!!

so you have to visit jordan :) am fine the plane ride was good we had fun together

i hope that we will meet again and i hope that you will get a high mark in the SAT exam, we will be friends forever i will try to mail you everyday even if i only say "hi" to you just to keep in touch

by the way, i really meant what i said and i will never forget your picture

see you, yella

(yella is an Arabic word we all had a lot of fun saying and became an inside joke for our delegation).

Then yesterday I got this email:

hey lucy, am fine, how are you!! i remember that it was so funny i will ever never forget it and i will not forget ur eyes while we were looking at each other at the dinner...

ya i saw the pictures and i havfe pictures i will send them to u soon

hope to c u

bbye

best wishes

So, when do we think he will lose interest? (I'm kinda glad he is so far away so he can't "drop by." Bye the way, I do not remember looking into his eyes during the dinner. A and I have been calling him Saddam.

Totally unrelated: The girls from Japan were so cute and had really neat names.

Doc Appt

So today I got to get out of softball and the horrible B for a yearly physical...apparently things change when you turn 16. First, we had to wait for a while which was annoying, why do they tell you to come at a certain time and then make you wait a long time? Maybe someone changed all of their clocks (that would be a good prank...).

I never had to put on a gown which was nice except she then got to see my awesome Joe Boxer "Kerpow" boxers (S-I will show you sometime). So we sat and talked about iron and calcium blah blah and then she asked my mom to leave. My mom has asked me before if I ever want her to leave during the exam but I never care. So she left and I suppose this was my cue to fall to the floor on my knees and tell the doctor I am being abused.

She asked me more questions about classes and activities (her daughter went to the same high scool and knew mr. a - proof he is a fossil). She asked me the date of my last period which I don't know why people ever bother to ask me questions like that because anyone who knows me knows that I am too unorganized to have a watch that says the right time much less remember some detail like that. So I really wanted to say Jan. 33 which is totally stupid, obviously. So I kinda made up a date that is near the 33 but actually exists. The really sad part that had S peeing her pants during history while R was giving us the evil eye (everything happens during history, hmm...) is that before the appt, I knew she would ask so I got the answer but forgot by the time I got there. To be fair, I did have to remember through an entire school day after a long break.

Then she tells me I should do monthly breast exams...okay...then she starts talking about gynecological exams! (you know it would be just my luck to get a hot young dr). She did say I don't need one until I turn 18 or become sexually active, whichever happens first...let's take bets on that one. And she asked me if I smoke or drink, etc. which was weird because, I know there is all of that doctor-patient confidentiality, but I think if a minor is endangered you are supposed to do something. Anyway, she then asked me to look at all of the answers my mom wrote down to the questions on the form and tell her if they were true or not. At this point I kinda felt like I was in an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit where they beg and plead with the girl to tell them that her mom is a lying bitch and her stepfather's brother is pimping her or whatever. So that was a fun day, I also missed the first day of play practice, how lovely...and even though I told her last week I wouldn't be there, C didn't know...grr...

Then she made me do the duck walk, and I gave her a really weird look. You sit on air and then lean your chest to your knees and walk across the room. It is supposed to test a lot of your joints.

BTW, the Queen of England writes in her diary everyday just as Queen Victoria did so that one day her diary entries can become part of history...how lovely.

Video of the Day. I think Ken should get the points, he is right.

Continuing with the theme...

To continue with random acts of kindness and making people happy, go here

Maybe this is why the British are so weird.