Rest In Peace

So this has not been a good week for news.

First I found out my Great Uncle had passed away.
Then my Dad sent me an email telling me his dog had passed away.
Finally, and least important, though it does affect me the most, the 7-11 from the corner is closed.

I have also been unable to get a hold of Dano, for about a month, and am getting a bit worried. I understand she is married and has a life and is generally terrible about keeping in touch, but a month? I'm just concerned and hoping nothing bad has happened.

I haven't seen my Great Uncle in years, but he always made me laugh. He was just a funny guy. And for anyone who has ever been to Disneyland, he had a hand in the design and workings of the witch at the very end of the Haunted Mansion telling you to come back. I wish I could say I would miss him a ton, but as I never saw him, I know I won't. Which makes me feel like an ass. I do feel terrible for his sister, my Great Aunt, as I see her more often. Being out here though, it kind of separates me, and makes me feel distant both physically and emotionally. Sigh.

For Max, he was a good dog, and I will miss him on my visits to Dad's. I really hope there is some sort of doggy heaven where he can be chasing rabbits forever, as that is what would make him the happiest. Dad and Meaghan are sad, and will be for a while, but they know he was in pain, and this is best for him. Mom said Jake may go by the end of this year too, which really breaks my heart. We all get so attached to animals, and they are only with us a short time. I wish there was a magical elixir of life we could give to them. There are still times I miss my old dog and cats, and when I can, I am definitely getting a pet out here. I would prefer a dog, but will take a cat if that is all I can have. Sigh.

Anyway, RIP Uncle Loius and Max, and may you always be laughing and chasing rabbits (respectively).

Final Slurpee Count: 6

Random Observation

So I don't know if I just have unrealistic expectations or what, but in my mind, firefighters are hot. Maybe its that whole uniform thing, or the macho hero thing. I don't know. But in my thoughts, as well as my past experience, firefighters are hot. In San Diego for example (where I will be in less than 2 weeks!), the firefighters who shop at the grocery store near me tend to be pretty freaking cute. And yes, I realize that not all of them are, but a good 6 out of 10 tend to look good, which I think are fairly good odds. Sadly, DC never got this memo. To be honest, I can recall only seeing two hot firefighters in my time in the District. One may think I am being too hasty in my observations as I have not been witness to any fires. However, the alarm in my old building used to go off a lot, so the firefighters would come over to check it out and such. Never did I see a cute guy in these groups. Then, there was the inauguration, where I saw many firefighters, and two cute ones. In fact, one of the cute ones took pictures for me from the top of the firetruck. This was the exception though, not the rule. Finally, I now live right around the corner from a firehouse. I pass by every day, and have yet to see a cute guy there. This makes me sad. It also pains me to see that not only are they not hot, but a lot of them are overweight. How are you seriously going to fight a fire when you are as out of shape as some of these guys? Maybe they hold down the fire hose or something. I don't know. What I do know is that these are not the firefighters I signed up to see.

Anyway, that was just a random observation I had to put down into words.

Slurpee Count:5

Being Social

So I have come to the conclusion that being social involves spending a lot of money. If I make plans to see someone, it usually involves going out for food, drinks, a movie, shopping, etc. All of which require money. This is quite unfair. Granted, catching up can be done with little to no money spent if you just hang out together, wandering around or something. However, most of the time money will be spent. Also, in addition to whatever amount of money is spent while out, one must remember there is the cost of getting anywhere as well. In DC, that means metro or bus, which adds up at at least $1.25 (bus) or $1.35 (metro) each way. I am trying to be better about being social and getting out more (I have managed to see people every week, so yay me), but this money situation just sucks. I would see people more if I could, I just can't afford it, lol.

I am off to see some friends for a happy hour/sangria night tonight, so there goes some more money, sigh. I keep telling myself its worth it, and my wallet keeps saying it wants to stay in. What a conundrum.

Slurpee Count: 4 (and yes, I did have a 7.11 ounce slurpee on July 11th, or 7/11, but I am not counting that one as it was super itsy bitsy tiny)

PS: I bought my tickets home! Well, Dad gave me miles so I can come home. August 5h through the 22nd. It is kind of a long time, but I am excited. :-)

Unclear

So I am signed up for this summer course that I thought was going to be super cool: "Crime, Media, and Culture." I especially thought it would be cool as I am taking "Mass Media and Modern Terrorism" in the fall, and I thought comparing the classes would be interesting. Then, I ordered the book for the class, and was slightly unimpressed. On top of that, our assignment before class starts is to read each entry, pull a quote from it, and write a 250-500 word response. I kind of feel like that is lame, especially as those "responses" won't be graded. It also feels a bit high school to me. Then, I got the syllabus today. Turns out, I am in no way interested in this class. It is all about prisons and prison culture. That is not what I wanted to take. Quite honestly, I could care less about learning about prisons. It is not my field of interest and in no way can it be compared to the class I am taking in the Fall. It also relates in no way to anything I have studies so far in this program. This depresses me.

The main reason I planned on taking this summer class is because I wanted to be done with school in December. If I take this course, I will have 9 units left (3 classes), all of which I can do in the fall (including my internship). Now however, I don't want to do this class. I think what I can do is take my internship for 6 credits instead of three, since I will be working enough hours for it anyway, and still take two additional classes in the Fall. I don't think I will be able to take my comprehensive exam in October, but I should be able to do it in February. The reason I don't want to sign up for it in October is because I am afraid I will be so busy with work and school that I won't have enough time to study and prepare for it. I think by taking it in February I will still be done in December, and be free to study for the test. The downside is that I will have to maintain matriculation in order to take the exam, and that is the cost of one credit.

My advisor has been little to no help. She doesn't seem to understand that regardless as to whether or not I take the internship for 3 or 6 credits, I will still be putting in the hours. I know I can do it, as I managed last semester to work and take 3 classes. When I proposed taking 12 credits in the fall and the comp in February, she said it didn't make sense monetarily and I was better off just taking another class in the Spring. The whole point though, is that I want to be done in the fall! (with the exception of the comprehensive exam of course) Ugh, she is no help.

At this point I am confused and anxious and basically unclear about the whole situation and what to do. Plus, I am afraid that foe some reason the internship will fall through and then I will be screwed big time. Sigh. This sucks.

Slurpee Count: 3

Happiest Place On Earth

So for me, the happiest place on earth is not Disneyland, but Barnes and Noble. This was confirmed when I had three hours to kill today and spent them quite happily in the bookstore. In fact, when it was time to leave I really didn't want to, and instead managed to browse a little more and find a couple of books I didn't need but decided to buy anyway. My afternoon was spent reading a couple stories, wandering around aimlessly, finding interesting books, and basically just enjoying the day. What a place :-)

A Capitol Fourth

Fourth of July in Washington, DC... does it get much better? I submit that it cannot :-)

I worked in the morning from 9 to 145, which was unfortunate as it meant I had to get up at 730 in the am...gross. I still haven't figured out the fastest way to get to Georgetown from here, so I have been giving myself an hour to get there and am consistently getting there early. I just know the day I leave a little later I will be late. It always happens that way.

Anyway, after work I came home relaxed, read, played online, searched for plane tickets, etc. Then it was time for the bbq. After all, what is the Fourth of July without a bbq? So it was mostly, ok, all, friends of my roommates (most of my friends were out of town), but it was still fun and I met some cool people. All in all it was pretty fun. We had ribs and hamburgers and hot dogs and lobster and pasta salad and fruit salad and chips and cheese balls (oh the cheese balls). It was amazing goodness I must say. Then, around 850, Tom and I decided to head downtown to catch the fireworks (slated to begin at 915). We arrived at about 905, and walked towards the Mall (our plan was to head to the Ellipse). At about 910 though, the show started, so we found a little niche/picture window between the Old Execuative Office Building and some trees and had a perfect view. We could see the whole show and it really was fantastic. 20 minutes later the show was over, we headed back to the metro, caught one within a minute (quite fortunate, as the next one wasnt for 20 min and we knew that one would be full of tourists...stupid tourists), and were home within an hour of when we left.

All in all, it was a fantastic (and capital) fourth :-)

Slurpee Count: 2.5

Slurpee Count

My new home is a block away from a 7-Eleven. This is good for when I just need to run to get something, and bad for the amount of slurpees I know I will be drinking. In order to keep myself in check, I have decided to do a slurpee count. This way, when I see the ridiculous number I have had to drink, I might skip a day or two here and there.

Slurpee Count: 2

PS: what a weird word slupree is

Friends

So I was thinking today, and I realized that I finally feel like I have actual friends here in DC. Granted, I felt that before, but a lot of the people I was hanging out with I knew through LC, and while I could call them and such, I feel like these are my people, lol. Tonight for example, I went out with Charlotte, Andrew, Jamie, and Andrew's friend Matt. This is nothing big or anything, but I took the initiative, and we decided to meet up for a happy hour deal. We laughed, talked, had memories to discuss, and it was just a good time that I hope to repeat.

I guess the point is that at this stage in my life, I feel that it is a weird situation. You have friends from high school and your hometown, but you don't really talk to them as much as you used to as you are growing apart and people change. Then there are the college people who you were with 24/7 during those four years, but looking back, for some of them you wonder why, and for others you wish you had spent more time with them. In any case, they tend to be from all over, so once again, communication just doesn't happen very often, even when you want it to. Then you get to the stage I am in now: post grad, but still in school. I want to make friends with the people in my program, but I feel like many of them are still tied to college friends or family at home, and others are just stupid and I have no idea how they made it this far. So then you are left with making friends at work. Sadly, my work is Gap, and while I have actually made some friends there, real, solid friends are few and far between. And I did make "friends" at State, but they were all way older than me, and so that didn't gel.

So how are we supposed to build our circle when we are (relatively) young and on our own in a new city? Roommates are a starting point, but they cannot be the end point. Same with school and work I suppose. I guess this means I need to get out more and find something I enjoy that I can meet people through. Similar interests=possible new friends?

In the meantime, back to the original thought, I am ridiculously happy that I did this Italy program. Not only did I get to live in a Villa, learn amazing stuff, and travel throughout the country, but I feel like I made some true friends. I think Charlotte and I will definitely stay friends, and I hope to meet up with Pat (and Jillian) more here in DC as well. Andrew, who I knew from school, and I got closer as well. There are a few others I think I will stay in touch with too. At least I hope so. At any rate, tonight was a good night, and I hope to continue to slowly branch out, spread my wings, bloom, whatever metaphor you choose, and meet more people and just do more. We shall see. It all sounds good now, but I have to make sure not to be all talk and no action.

In any case, yay for friends :-)