Entry 5 (June 3 - 9) Plans that go Sideways
Featured Photo:
Monday, June 3:
Today I worked from home on my upcoming presentation for my internship.
In the evening, there was a sunset hang out on The Mall for people from Institute. There was a great turn out! Most of the people played a huge game of soccer on the green while a smaller group and I sat on the sideline "guarding the cookies" and cheering for whichever team looked like they were winning. I brought my knitting and it was a quite peaceful time. I loved it. I met a friend there that goes to law school at UChicago, and we had a great conversation about it, since UChicago is on my top list for grad schools.
I had wanted to bring the Hatch House volleyball but no one was putting it back after using it, and so I had asked a couple days ago to use it. And before going to the hangout I asked to use it again, but this time with a fire Bernie Sanders meme I made. I was pretty proud of it :)
The lights were also out on the metro, which was weird, but lemme tell you the GroupThink is strong on public transit and everyone just rolled with it.
Later that night I facetimed mom and the cat and went to bed early! It was a lovely day.
Tuesday, June 4:
I had made some good progress on my presentation for my internship, so I spent some time working on my Astronomy code. Which I retried for a millionth time. At least I felt cool working on it, even if I'm running really fast in place haha
To channel my code frustration productively, I made some pretty great pancakes.
I made some more progress on my internship presentation. It's about the quality of life in the military and what the Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests on how to use the allotted budget to make improvements. I'm hoping it goes well, it's starting to stress me out a bit too.
Wednesday, June 5:
I decided to beat the morning roommate rush and get out the door bright and early. I went to the Freemason Temple at 7am to work on my presentation.
Unfortunately I was greeted by a retired English Professor who made sure to tell me all about how he comes here this early every Wednesday and Friday. He explained the plot line of all the books he's written while sitting in the Freemason Library and how he's been coming here this early for so long, they actually made him an employee and pay him 50 cents every year so they can put him on the insurance ? Honestly I got lost somewhere around 7:30 because I just wanted to work on my presentation.
I made my exit gracefully as I could...on my way out I stopped by the bathroom and let me tell you: Freemason bathrooms??? so cool!! like aesthetically the coolest I've seen. & there was this guestbook there that had signings back to the 80's which was cool to see!
From there, I went to the MLK library downtown. I finally got to work on my presentation. I also swapped out reading books! Summer is awesome because I finally get the chance to read for funsies
After a solid day of work, I went home and worked on my knit sweater some more :)
After a solid day of work, I went home and worked on my knit sweater some more :)
Thursday, June 6:
After some issues with the fridge being too warm and my dairy starting to go bad, my roommate and I turned down the temperature, which obviously backfired because this morning, I was greeted by my milk completely frozen solid. I let her know...
Today was the day for my presentation finally!!
The other intern was in an airport going to a family event, so I was presenting both our halves to the whole Committee..of retried military men..who I've never met before.
I feel like I should have seen this one coming, but I didn't because I'm only used to my family's cowboy flavor of sexism. I was not prepared for how poorly my presentation went with these guys.
I feel like I should have seen this one coming, but I didn't because I'm only used to my family's cowboy flavor of sexism. I was not prepared for how poorly my presentation went with these guys.
It was on zoom which I think compounded the issue.
I was going through the slides and they kept interrupting me to ask questions that I for sureee did not have the answers. All their questions and side commentary took up all my time so my supervisor informed me I only had 5 minutes to present the other 75% of my presentation. I sped run through it and they all clapped and thanked me but I felt pretty low...well actually I was full of feminine rage. Just like Taylor Swift in her new album Tortured Poets Department lol
In my rage I decided the most productive thing to do was to walk to Instutue and catch the last 10 minutes, as the bi-weekly meeting usually ran right during it. So in my little work dress and very poor work shoes I sped walk to institute huffing and puffing. But by the time I got there my work shoes had ripped up my heels so I sat through the last 10 minutes of the Institute lesson on loving our neighbors with bleeding heels. It was good to see my friends though!
I was going through the slides and they kept interrupting me to ask questions that I for sureee did not have the answers. All their questions and side commentary took up all my time so my supervisor informed me I only had 5 minutes to present the other 75% of my presentation. I sped run through it and they all clapped and thanked me but I felt pretty low...well actually I was full of feminine rage. Just like Taylor Swift in her new album Tortured Poets Department lol
In my rage I decided the most productive thing to do was to walk to Instutue and catch the last 10 minutes, as the bi-weekly meeting usually ran right during it. So in my little work dress and very poor work shoes I sped walk to institute huffing and puffing. But by the time I got there my work shoes had ripped up my heels so I sat through the last 10 minutes of the Institute lesson on loving our neighbors with bleeding heels. It was good to see my friends though!
I complained to one of my friends there who's a Marine and he told me about how to assert dominance for next time haha
I'm grateful to have good friends who listened to me rant and then helped me find bandaids and walk home...slowly lol
I'm grateful to have good friends who listened to me rant and then helped me find bandaids and walk home...slowly lol
Friday, June 7:
Ah what a beautiful day today was!
I went to my favorite place on earth, which is arguably the actual happiest place on earth: IKEA!!!
IKEA is out in College Park, so I took the connecting metro trains to the IKEA bus stop and finally arrived to my happiest place on earth!
I had such a good time wandering around IKEA, with all their weridly named Swedish furntirue and random items, and with their silly supreisingly well thought out displays. I love that the closer you look in all their displays, the more details you can spot. My favorites from this trip were the nailpolish in the bathroom mirror cabnit, the cap and gown hanging up in the studio apartment for a college kid, and the fake flowers and foliage in a large metal bowl with cut out papaers of avacado halves and tomatoes to make it look like a salad on the table. Fake flowers really do make for the best salads haha
One of my good friends from back in Utah is doing a research internship at Universtiy of Maryland in College Park and wanted to hang out since I was in town too, so he met me at IKEA after a little while and we went to the food court. BECAUSE IKEA ALSO HAS IT'S OWN FOOD COURT. I freaking love IKEA, it is so random and yet makes so much sense. A silly exterior until you realize it's all quite sensible, how endearing.
Anyways, it was great to catch up with this friend! The bus to take us back to the metro and back to college park, respectively, broke down and they had to get a new bus, so we had plenty of time to catch up since we last hung out in Utah. It was kind of odd being with a friend from West out East. It was the same feeling as walking into the Hatch House to see all The U merch: homey but then confusing becasue you're not at home? You're thousands of miles away?
It was cool.
Anyways, it was great to catch up with this friend! The bus to take us back to the metro and back to college park, respectively, broke down and they had to get a new bus, so we had plenty of time to catch up since we last hung out in Utah. It was kind of odd being with a friend from West out East. It was the same feeling as walking into the Hatch House to see all The U merch: homey but then confusing becasue you're not at home? You're thousands of miles away?
It was cool.
Oh and I picked up some Lingonberry Jelly because how could I not? That stuff is so good!!
Late that night though, my phone wouldn't charge at all and that created many issues and stress.
Late that night though, my phone wouldn't charge at all and that created many issues and stress.
Saturday, June 8:
My housemate took me to the Apple Store early in the morning and we got the wireless charging to work! They're fixing the charging port hopefully soon. Having my charging port stop working was so random and stressful, because I had a full day planned out.
My day plans got shifted by like 5 hours.
I had had planned to meet up with a friend but that got all jumbled up and so on improv they picked me up from the Apple Store and we grabbed lunch and walked around the Mall.
I also had plans to meet with another friend and the sister missionaries and go to Mass at the National Cathedral, but my friend and I planned drive time poorly because the Pride Parade was right in front of my house, so there was no way we could make it in time before they closed the doors. So I had to very awkwardly tell my friend and the sisters I couldn't make it. Then later in the day I also had plans to meet up with another friend and that got all shifted around too, but we rescheduled to just walk around the Mall later in the day. So I found myself on the Mall twice and not at all at Mass in the same day.
I think the moral of the story is if your phone is going to decide to stop working, don't let it be on the day you have a three commitment/hangout day because you won't be able to make it all happen.
The good news is though is that I ran into some Texas FFA kids on the Mall!! It's always a bonding moment to see someone wearing an FFA shirt while you're Oot&Aboot. I also gave directions to a very lost man who didn't understand the difference between the metro and the buses, prayers for him.
Oh and my second Mall friend and I ran into some BYU kids at the Jefferson Memorial! I just run into the same 50 ppl everywhere I go haha
Oh and I taught my second Mall friend how to take instagram worthy pictures, so here are some:
oh and we saw fireflies!!!
Sunday, June 9:
In true Sunny fashion, I procrastinated a scholarship application until the day of the deadline. I spent all after-church working furiously on this thing! It was a huge chunck of money as well as a great opporutnity to be part of a really community, so I realllllly wanted this one!
Oh but earlier in the day, one of my lovely Housemates drove some Hatch House people to church. I ended up in shotgun and it was so cool to see DC though a windsheild! Don't get me wrong, I absoltyly adore the metro, but I haven't really seen the Washington Monument by driving past so it was just such a cool moment full of wonder!
Oh and in the elevator of the Hatch House, someone dropped a Snowbird sticker, which I though was just so Utah, I loved to see it haha
