Halloween

Yeah, I'm going to be looking great tonight.

Here's to breaking my long tradition of shitty Halloweens. Really the only good one was when I met all of you people. Oh target costumes.

Food

I can't stop thinking about it lately.

First, I read Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch. She describes working in one of the best restaurants in the nation, and describes it as something pretty irresistible. The attention to detail and every wish of their clients is almost stunning. It really makes me want to go to a restaurant like it sometime in my life, even if it means blowing two weeks of pay on a few hours of eating.

Then I saw Julie & Julia while visiting Katie last weekend, which if you don't know, is all about the famous Julia Child and a blogger trying to cook all of her original recipes in one year. It's definitely not a traditional plot-type movie, but is quite well done and hard to look away from (especially when Merryl Streep is on screen). Once again, they tout an exquisite attention to detail and the joy that food can bring into a situation. I came home from the movie and have wanted to get dirty in the kitchen ever since. I want to be good at it, which is something I doubt will happen until I am old enough to have my own well-stocked kitchen and time to spend in it.

C and I have been planning a kitchen session soon, and it should be fun. But I couldn't wait that long. Decided to go after an easy recipe today and see how it turned out. Someone in my family had mentioned how bad banana bread is for you, so it was a natural choice. After tinkering with the recipe enough to cover the slight inadequacies of my kitchen's supply cabinet and to include some blueberries I was craving, it was done in no time.
It went pretty well. I didn't do a great job transferring it to the baking pan and let the blueberries be mostly on the bottom, and the bread part turned out a little dry and not quite banana-y enough for me, but it's still some good Chocolate Chip Blueberry Banana Bread. Heat it up and toss on some butter and it's heavenly.

(Almost) everyone is off camping and enjoying themselves. I am not. I am sad about this. I am also quickly coming to realize just how little time I have left in my summer. I will be moved into my new (shitty) dorm room by this time two weeks from now. I spent most of the day in a brooding emo angst session, partly without good reason and partly because of stuff with K I just can't quite bring myself to let go (and other stuff I don't want to think about but can't stop myself from). Do I need to learn to give less of myself?

I want everyone back from camping and I want to see people more. Particularly the other C, who I feel like I have been missing all summer after really looking forward to more time with her. She could explain away this angst, I have no doubt.

"I hate laziness. I hate excuse-making. I hate rationalization and self-bullshitting. I hate willful ignorance. I hate watching people piss away their potential. I hate it when people blame everyone but themselves. I hate mental weakness."

Anonymous quote wins.

What 2nd Semester Was

This post is a follow up to this one.

Okay, so my predictions weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. Not too shabby overall, I'd say.

While a full class schedule and an internship three days a week was definitely quite a bit to handle, I got through it with minimal damage to my GPA. Learned some new skills because of it too, chief among them being how to function on 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Important for someone in my (hopeful) line of work! The internship was a high point though, not a low one as I had predicted. Ended up being that work days weren't hard to wake up for and I really enjoyed myself. I was right that I would make plenty of connections, but way off on the cynicism.
While I thought I would be on the low end of the cynical spectrum in the office, it was probably the other way around. Most of the staff wasn't very transparently political and focused on the hard work of their substantive jobs. The amount they actually cared about sappy letters I occasionally passed on to them was quite a bit more than I would be able to show. I think it may have done the opposite of what I thought it would and made me want to be in politics more, but definitely on the campaign side where I am free to be a bit more emotionally detached.

The jaded-ness definitely occured, at least a little bit. By the second half of the internship I didn't get excited to speak with the Congressman on the phone or walk through the winding basement of the Capitol. By my last week I was a bit more into the coolness of it all, as I reminded myself to take it in before my ID got taken away and I no longer had access. Might be a while before I have it back.

I was very correct that I would have a fun spring break, without seeing too many people for much of it. The dual C.S.s made my week a blast. And yeah, I'm getting bored out of my mind waiting for people to return home and looking for a job. Hoping I find one soon. The prospect of a Santa Barbara trip sometime soon is also going to remove some boredom. Yay.

I'm kind of surprised that I errored a little bit on predicting my keeping in touch patterns. Had quite a bit less communication with Cupertino people than during first semester. I guess a lot less contact with GW people too. Just too busy to keep up the same level of chit chat as before. Still miss you guys though and am really looking forward to your shitty quarter system schools ending.

This semester made me realize a bit how much I enjoy delving into classes. First semester I had a lot of fun (looking back) actually doing the huge reading assignments for my poli sci class, going through dense articles for interesting tidbits. This semester pretty much everything I didn't have to do got blown off, and I miss the amount of secondary learning I got before. Still got through classes okay, which makes me wonder how people who are getting Cs in these classes manage to fail at life so hardcore. Not like I'm a hard sciences guy or something that requires actual thought.

Have I changed? Yes. Pretty much no doubt in my mind that I am a (slightly) different person than before. I am both more confident in my professional abilities and more mature. Working in an office (even if it wasn't the most serious one on the Hill) has helped me tone down some of the crap when I need to, while not excluding it from my personality as a whole. I was very glad to see that doing well at MV and GW has translated into being able to work well. This internship definitely hasn't harmed my ego.
And that brings me to the other obvious change, to me. I don't know what all I will have learned from Katie by the end of everything, but I know it'll be interesting and probably quite a lot. At least I'll have some stories, no matter what. Right now isn't the easiest time ever, but I was happier (and busier) for the last month of school than I had been in a long time, and I think that's worth some hardship. Especially when that pain can be anesthetized by a few hours in the car (e.g. sb trip mentioned above). I feel like this summer will be different personally than I would have predicted a couple months ago. Hope it's not a bad decision to pursue this and not other things.

But once again, something needs to pierce my ego. Maybe I'll fail to find a job this summer. Maybe I'll just read this in the morning and that will do the trick.

Spring Break Wrap

Now that I finally have a few minutes, I can write a proper blog post! Break was busy, in a very good way. School this week has been busy, in a less good way. Still okay though, since I got through it intact and just in desperate need of some sleep (soon!).

It's weird. It feels like I hung out with Neri and Arjun a month ago, but not less than two weeks have passed. I always forget just how funny Neri can be. It was a very nice respite from the boredom of having almost no one else home during my break.

Of course, I took some of that into my own hands by forcing Chery and Crystal to put up with me for a few days in so cal. (thanks) Even the solitary drive down really wasn't that bad. Good time to get mentally organized and catch up on music I had been wanting to listen to. Yes, my playlists are always pretty screwy, but that just makes them more fun. I even got to remind myself of some hilariously awesome teen movies from my childhood, Neri.

I was pleasantly impressed by how much I liked both of their friend groups, which always provides a nice boost of faith in humanity. I didn't go down expecting not to like them, I just know I am generally a finicky person and it wouldn't have surprised me if we just didn't happen to mesh well at all. It does make me a little sad to notice how far away I am from everyone and that I am not likely to be visited much. I want to show off too!

It's also been nice to have people notice my (über-light) tan from break, probably from the beach trip. Plus their jealousy at me having gotten to go to a beach in the middle of March (and enjoy it). I need to remember to put on sunscreen before umpiring when I get home for the summer, otherwise I will probably burn to a crisp. And that would suck. Especially with whatever job/internship I end up having. Because of sleeves or something.

This summer is going to be fun.

I also have to register for Fall classes in about a week, and need to decide if I want a grueling schedule that allows me to have an internship easily along with it (so all schoolwork is crammed together—like this semester) or if I want to set one up that lets me relax some and blow off having an internship. I am leaning toward doing a repeat of the craziness of this semester, even though taking a language with it may be the straw that break me.

How long does the friend group comfort last? It is still going strong now, but certainly won't be forever. A couple years? Through college? 10 year reunion? Always a network to fall back on? Questions, questions, interesting indeed.

One other thing I have decided. Crystal could be a great politician. She's driven, image conscious, and capable of setting guidelines for herself. But a lot of people have that. The real thing she has going for her is an innate ability to make people feel special when they interact with her. It's what Bill Clinton could do (and can!) that served him so well ('til Monica). It's often noted as the trait that sets true superstars away from those who rise just through persistent hard work. I think watching her work a crowd in 20 years could be a sight to see. Plus she's weird enough to keep some sanity when going through the daily grind of it all.

I wish I had that. Would save me from having to be a workaholic.

Work Work Bork

I think that for the first time in my life I may be at a point where I want to do work.

Next semester is going to be a bitch. A major bitch. I have an internship on the hill that I will be working full days at on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of classes, lasting a little bit longer than a work day. Plus a after-dinner lab on Wednesdays.

Luckily most of my classes next semester are pretty easy, with a lot of introductory courses that I skipped this semester to jump into higher-level work to see how I liked it. Even with that help, it's not going to be a breeze. Should be interesting to see how it works out though.

Even with how much of a bitch it's going to be, I am pretty excited for it. I feel like I got pretty lucky with my internship, and that it will be pretty rewarding. Plus when I go crazy and want to give up there are people to support me a little bit until I man up and take it. (M, this would be a good time to jump in with your favorite joke, connecting it to my 'taking it'.)

Might be some foreshadowing too. When I was interviewing, the SA asked what my dream job was. When I told him, he laughed a bit. I was a little surprised and expressed that to him. He explained that he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to kill themselves like that for so long. I smiled.

I also can't decide whether I am better in group-of-friends situation or one-on-one. Opinions would be great.

Mental (read: don't buy me this crap, or anything else. because then when I don't get you anything I feel bad. for a minute or two at least.) Christmas List:

-A louder alarm clock.
-Some awesome yet reserved ties to SUIT UP (ht: Chery) with