My First Day Of Work

Instead of calling everyone to rehash the days events, I thought it would be faster (and more coherent) if I just put it up here for you all to read.

7:00 am : Wake-up to both my clock and cell going off at the same time and freaked out for about 5 seconds because I haven't had to wake up to an alarm in a while. I then proceded to eat/ drink massive amounts of coffee/ pray that I didn't embarrass myself today/ etc.

8:20 am : Depart from my apartment to job.

9:01 am: Arrive at job to find that no one is there. Worried that maybe work wasn't starting until 10 since it was the day after a holiday so I worked on a Sudoko puzzle. P arrived about 15 minutes later (he had lost his key) and then C arrived 10 minutes after that so then we were able to go into the the office.

9:35 am: After a quick debrief and location of the office coffee pot, I was shown to my office. Okay, so, technically it is the guest office, but I get to work there this summer. It's huge and I have an enormous window with a view of the Capitol. C. brings me some summaries of the bills they've been tracking for the past couple of weeks and a cup of coffee.

10:00 am: M. arrives, we debrief for a few minutes and then he leaves to make a call. C. brings me some information on the University's endowment which was an interesting read. I always kind of wondered where we spent our money and I have to say I think the university is doing a great job.

12:00 pm: P., C., and I go down to the cafeteria and grab lunch. The food was great but kind of pricy. $10.00 for a chicken and cheese quesadilla? I'm packing for the rest of the week.

1:30 pm: P. discovers the intern briefing folder from some unknown corner of the office. While most of the material was waaaay outdated (1992!) some of it was helpful. P and I decided one of our projects this summer was going to be to update the folder.

3:00 pm: After scouring through the folder for useful information I have P. show me how to work the phones. Then I grab the office copy of Roll Call and have a look through. P says each morning I should read the Post, RollCall, and Politico (or at least browse through to see if they mention anything on our bills, or for listings of hearings).

4:10 pm: M. invites me to go to a meeting with him tomorrow to this Innovation Taskforce meeting. I look over the website so I am not completely out of the loop tomorrow.

5:01 pm: First Day of work is over! While it wasn't incredibly hard, it was a bit overwhelming at times. I feel like I am so behind on all this information but since Congress isn't in session this week I have some time to get my bearings.

5:30 pm: I took the Metro to Union Station so I could drop off my application at Ebenezer's Coffeehouse. Luckily, they were taking applications and said they might be able to offer me a job. I am praying that I will get to work there at least 3 times a week making some money because I haven't really come up with a Plan B and plus it's a Christian coffee shop. What's not to love about that?

6:00 pm: On the way back to the Metro, I spill the latte I got from Ebenezer's on my white shirt. Classy.

6:13 pm: While trying to figure out a way to prevent said spill from staining said white shirt, I miss the stop for Metro Center and ride down 3 more stops before realizing it.

6:30 pm: Finally arrive back at apartment after doubling-back on the metro and almost losing my wallet.

6:47 pm: Headed over to student packaging services to pick up my boxes of stuff. Then I get there and realize I hadn't made a plan for getting them back to my dorm.

6:58 pm: After frantically calling 411, finally contact taxi service that will take me (and my boxes) back to my apartment for $10.50

7:15 pm: Get boxes in my apartment. Think about unpacking but then cook a pizza instead.

8:00 pm: Unpack all the useless stuff I probably won't need but want to have around so I feel more at home.

8:36 pm: Finally take a shower.

9:00 pm: Plop down on the couch with a pint of haagen-daaz (spelling?) to indulge in some horribly trashy television. I know, I am to smart for this, but nothing is more rewarding after a day cramming my head with information and politics then watching other people's pointless drama. It is then that I realize my life is actually not so bad and I am somewhat successful at life.

11:00 pm: Started writing this blog, talked to Alex & compared first day stories, then finished blog.

I hope you enjoyed the run down. I'll try to keep you posted if anything extremely interesting happens. Oh and, mom and dad, I promise to give you a call later this week ;-)

Stuff Liza Likes #1 - [Extra] Bold Coffee

Once upon a time there was a girl who would only drink Mocha lattes and frappuccinos. Then, this girl when to college and realized she could no longer afford the $4.00 coffees every day so instead she started to just drink whatever the Baristas were roasting before she got there because it was only $1.68. Out of this serendipitous misfortune, the girl realized she had a penchant for a well-roasted bold coffee. Yes, in case you missed it, this girl was me.

I don't really remember when I first realized I enjoyed my coffee bold or extra bold, although I think I can pin it on the first time I came home and realized every cup of coffee I drank tasted like water. Nothing could measure up to a good cup of Sumatra from my corner Starbucks. So then I started to do a little online research and realized that most of my favorite roasts were considered "Bold". For those of you who have not been so daring (or who are just looking for a good cup of coffee) ask your baristas at Starbucks (yes I am sheltered and haven't figured out how this works at other fine coffee retailers) to brew you one of the following:

1. Sumatra - Extra Bold
2. French Roast - Extra Bold
3. Kenya - Bold
4. Gold Coast Blend - Extra Bold
5. Caffe Verona - Bold

Sometimes I have ordered a grande and have been given the entire carafe because they know that no one else is going to order it and it's better than just dumping it down the sink. Although, I think they charge you more to freshly brew the coffee. It's your choice - $4.00 for a milky whip-creamy thing that tastes more like a shake (and has 330 calories and 15 grams of fat) or $4.00 for an entire carafe of dreamy full-bodied coffee (15 calories and 0 grams of fat)? I'll take the coffee, straight-up and extra bold, if you please.

Fiscal Responsibility

In the past few weeks or so I have been racking up the credit cards, mostly because I had to buy several suits and other things to prepare for my internship in D.C. that starts next Tuesday. As a result, I've been learning how to pay bills (on time), calculate FICO scores (myFico.com offers a free 30-day trial that's been really helpful), and figure out how much money a month I spend on different things ($46.00 at Starbucks in May...)

Since I've started tracking my actual expenditures I've realized I have poor money management skills. I guess because growing up money just seemed like this invisible entity and I never really saw it, I just knew we used the AMEX card. Now that I actually have my own cards and I have to PAY the bills, it's starting to hit a little bit closer to home. I'm definitely feeling some pain right now, but thankfully my mother took pity on me and gave me some money to start off in D.C. I'm a pretty lucky kid that my parents can bale me out whenever I get in over my head and that I am getting a few years as a trial run before I get out of college and have to do this all myself.

I got a new phone today! It's the new Sprint Rumor phone by LG in White (although, Sarah and I decided it was more of a "pearl" color - I think we should tell the advertising companies to change the name.) Then I got a hot pink snap on cover, which is super girly according to Alex. I think though my favorite part is the slide out full QWERTY keyboard. I can finally send a text in under 5 minutes! INCREDIBLE!

Other than that not a whole lot is going on. I am excited and nervous at the same time for D.C. because I still need to find a part time job and I haven't heard from my job about how to get to work and what time to be there on Tuesday. But I think it will be fun and I am looking forward to being back with a small group.

I still need to make the "Stuff Liza Likes" blog. It's going to happen. Maybe in 20 minutes. Because I have nothing to do and I have a bad case of insomnia.

Smith Mountain Lake & Summer

This weekend I went with my friends Sarah and Drew to Virginia to stay with Drew's family on the lake (Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia). At first we were really worried that we would just have rain but then on Saturday it was sunny and beautiful so we were able to go out on the boat and jet ski. Being out on the lake made me realize how much I am going to miss spending summer in Tennessee cause my family usually goes to Percy Priest Lake every other weekend in the summer. [Although I'm not sure even if I was staying home we would go out on the lake, but I definitely miss those days]. Anyways, we had a ton of fun, I fell off the tube several times and got a mild-concussion / sun-burn but other than that everything was awesome. And Drew's aunt and uncle were so nice to us (I'm sure they were impressed that Drew rolled up with 3 girls).

I leave for Washington D.C. next Sunday and I have to be honest, it hasn't really hit me. The credit card bills have, though, unfortunately. I have exactly $15.00 until the end of the month. Hopefully though I can find some chores and stuff to do for some extra cash before I leave next weekend. I'm definitely excited to be in D.C. during an election summer but the financial situation of working full-time as an intern unpaid and a full time job at night is already making me nervous.

On a side note, the whole way back from Knoxville Sarah and I talked about relationships (past, present, possible future) and I started to get depressed. I realized that everyone I actually like or am attracted to are people who are totally wrong for me or just treat me poorly. I'm not really sure why I am attracted to these kind of guys, I suppose because they pose a challenge for me and I want to prove to myself that I am worth their attention or affection. I like playing hard to get as much as the next person but there comes a point where I just want to know that the person cares as much for me as I care for them, and it's been awhile since I have truly found that. I'm just wondering how many more fake relationships/dates I'm going to have to go through before I find something real. Maybe I should take Alex's advice and go learn an instrument (or how to apply make-up, since that seems to be a problem area for me).

Sorry this was so random. I just noticed I hadn't posted in awhile and you were probably wondering whether or not you should take me off your Live Bookmarks tab. I've decided to start a new feature, called "Stuff Liza Likes", inspired by Stuff White People Like (see sidebar). I started thinking the other day about how I usually just complain about things that bother me, so I wanted to start looking for things that I enjoy. Maybe I'll start tomorrow, with Bold Coffee. Hmm, this might require a field trip / tasting at Starbucks... I am liking where this is heading.

Tales of a Suburban Summer

Thank goodness it is only a few more weeks. I am going to be sad to leave my family (since I see them so little as it is) but being back in the suburbs is almost more than I can bear. First off, there are no coffee shops (Cafe Ambrosia how I long for thee...) and I have no car so I must stay at home all day and clean, do laundry, cook, and (more often than not) catch up on the several novels I have yet to read. Every day is one step closer to becoming Julia Child, although at least she was a spy.

I figured out another problem with my writing habits. Whenever I want to write something, I don't have anything to write in or with. Then when I sit down to write I can never figure out how to express what it is I want to say. I decided I would spend a few tonight working on a draft of my story for the advanced creative fiction class I want to get into next fall, but instead I am sitting here rearranging my blog and typing utter nonsense. I think that if someone wanted to they could use this as a casebook example of my entire life.

Today while I was asphyxiating in my suburban monotony, I started to read Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was first tempted to read the novel after seeing Serendipity a couple of years ago but never got around to it, until now. There are two major beefs I have with this novel. First of all, it is nearly a 400 page book and it has only 5 chapters. I really hate books with long chapters because you never feel like you can just set it down. So I have to trudge through 75 pages in one sitting which is a total nightmare if you are borderline-ADHD like me. Secondly, I don't understand why Marquez makes Florentino look like a saint for his almost psychotic infatuation with Fermina. If I was her, I would have freaked out and married a doctor too.

Which brings me to a new thought I have concerning dating and relationships in general. Is it really a good idea to show people how much you feel up front? My brother and I were discussing this today and he was saying how he hates when girls play hard to get because then he never knows if they like him or are just stringing him along. But I hate it when a guy lets me know that he is interested too quickly because it is so much more exciting when you don't know. I mean eventually I would want to know but not at first, not at the beginning. And I certainly wouldn't want him to sit outside my window serenading me with a waltz he had composed on the violin titled, "The Crowned Goddess". Woah. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve.

The basic underpinning to this is, as much as I like watching "chick flicks"or reading about people falling in love, open displays of affection and love are awkward for me. Sometimes I feel fake when I tell someone "I love you". Not always, but sometimes. I feel like my other actions, such as spending time with that person or engaging in meaningful conversations should be enough to show that I do really care about them without all the physical formalities or me actually expressing "I love you". I never felt that I needed other people to say these things to me because I could tell enough from their body language and their actions if what they said really matched what they were feeling. It's the simplest way to know if someone cares. If they love you, they will call you to see how you are doing. They will drop everything if you come into the room just to talk. When you look like you are having a bad day they will say something to cheer you up or ask you to do something to divert your attention. Oftentimes in our society we just say "I love you" because it is so much easier and less time-consuming than showing it, which, sadly, really lowers the face value of those three words.

My First B

I went to Wolverine Access today to check my grades and I finally made my first B. Well, if you want to get technical, it was a B+. But still, I was a little sad. Although I can't say I wasn't expecting it, since it was in French and I have been struggling in that class this semester. Everything else came out alright and I am still waiting to find out the outcome in History.

I really miss school, and I have only been home for 3 days, which is quite sad if you think about it. But in Ann Arbor I feel like I finally had a rhythm, a routine, something that has been lacking my life for some time now. I knew what was going on each day of the week, I knew where to find people if I wanted to hang out, I knew that no matter what time of the day it was, if I was hungry there was probably somewhere open and someone who would want to go (usually Alex). It's not that I don't like being around my family, its just that everything is different now and so I am forced to come up with a new routine and like most other people, I am a creature of habit and this is difficult for me.

I realized today how the late-night Wendy's and Pizza House have been taking a toll on my overall fitness. I went running today with my brother in Bowie Nature Park and I barely made it 1.5 miles before I started walking. Granted, it was 90 degrees and mostly uphill, but still, I was able to run the perimeter trail (4.8 miles) in February and now I can barely make it to the halfway point. I think I am going to dedicate the next few weeks to conquering that trail (and my burgeoning waistline).

Other than that I haven't been doing a whole lot except reading. I think I finally understand what Alex was talking to me about the other day of having a higher concept. Now I just need to come up with a good one. I think my gay-pride parade story might be a good one to start with but it still needs some work. With any luck, the A I made in 223 and a good short story could get me into the Advanced Creative Writing class with Peter Ho Davies. Although, then I would have to convince my mother into paying for my stay for an extra year....

They Call Me The Intimidator

Alright, well not really. But they should.

Last night was our IM championship game in mini-soccer. We won and now are proud owners of the lovely baby blue championship t-shirt but in the process of said victory I accidentally broke the nose of a girl on the opposing team. If we had been losing I might have been slightly (although internally) rejoicing but since we were already up 8 points it seemed like I was just being a jerk. It was totally accidental though. It just seems that no matter who I am playing against in soccer, I always end up hurting someone. I like to attribute it to my big-girl build (hey, it's got to be good for something, right?)

I'm just now starting to hear back from D.C. offices on the status of my internships. So far I've been turned down by the National Legislative Archives and have an interview with the University of Michigan governmental office. I'm not sure what I will be doing there exactly but I am thinking it's a sure job since I am a UofM student and they love having students on staff. I'm still holding out for an internship with the congressional office I applied to, although I am thinking my chances are fairly slim.

Tonight at dinner I had an interesting conversation with Alex. Let's just say it ended with him drawing an anatomically incorrect labia with strawberry sauce on a napkin. Priceless, and somewhat disgusting at the same time.