March 22, 2011
I had my trip to WY last week. It was amazing to be able to go home for the weekend! I’m so pooped though.
Before leaving for my trip, I did my laundry. It always bothered me that the dryer didn’t have a lint catcher, but I just figured it got blown through some tube or something. While I was drying my cloths, I smelled burning. I saw there was tons of lint stuck in the door holes, so I tried to tweeze them out. Nothing was really coming out when I found where the lint catcher was hidden! It’s in the door. A blanket of lint came out. Some got stuck in the little space where the lint catcher chills and I tried to tweeze it out too. No luck. I then went to get our vacuum cleaner to use the tube on the lint. The vacuum cleaner is like a child’s play thing. It’s tiny with no tube sucker thingy. I just shoved the lint catcher back in and hoped for the best. I’m so glad I figured out about the lint catcher before we all burned in our sleep! Clare witnessed it all. Hopefully she told the other girls. There was so much lint it was bursting out of the lint catcher slot! Oy evay.
The next day, I had to get up to be ready for a shuttle to pick me up at four in the morning. I accidently woke up at 1:30 thinking it was 3:30 and got ready and went down by the door to wait. The time came and went so I called in the office and asked if I missed my shuttle. The dude asked me what time it was and I said “four thirty” and he said “no… I’m pretty sure it’s two thirty.” And I felt all stupid. I didn’t dare go back to sleep because I was afraid that I wouldn’t wake up again. I was up since 11:30 Cody time! I think that, for some reason, I thought that my phone was set to Cody time so that’s why I got up at 1:30.
I ordered a shuttle to come to my place to pick me up. It was so nice to just ride a shuttle to the airport. I got to the air port in plenty of time so I lay down on the ground with my bags as pillows and an alarm set on my phone. I had to turn every fifteen min or so because my hips would start to hurt. I’m glad I set my alarm clock because if I hadn’t, I would have missed boarding. My alarm went off and people were just starting to line up to get on board. There was like a whole family sitting around me and I felt weird and groggy as I had to get up and get in line.
I found my seat and got settled in. A lady came by me and complimented my bag. We started chatting about all sorts of things. We talked about working, school, drugs, marriage, etc. I told her that I was a junior at BYU and she asked how I managed to escape being married so far. I laughed and she told me how her brother is LDS and all his kids went to BYU and got married super young. She told me about her son who graduated from a super expensive private school and got a nice job but got fired soon after because of the bad economy. He had to move back home with her and her husband until he could find a new job. She works for the Marriott as a golf instructor and the Marriott manager got him a job as a golf guy and a food guy for a year until he decided what he wants to specialize in. The lady said that she got that golf course started from the beginning with that manager. She used to be a single mom and had to work really hard until she met her current (Greek) husband who encouraged her to be more serious about golf and I think she said she was pro or semipro at one point. She now works part time as an instructor at the Marriott. She talks about how it’s nice to have the main Marriott people to be LDS because they give people Sundays or Saturdays off depending on what religion they are. They also let men off on paternal leave when their wives have children. I thought that was pretty neat. She also gets amazing discounts at Marriott resorts and goes golfing on different resorts a lot. Her daughter works for the airlines, too, so traveling is pretty cheap for her. That sounds like a great set up to me! We also talked about how dumb doing a lot of drugs and alcohol is. She talks about how her one son was in that private school and she kept saying annoyed that he is a follower so she talked about all the trouble he got into and how her nephew is in prison for five years for robbing his grandma at gunpoint so he could get more drugs. We both wondered how you find certain drugs. That’s always confused me. We also talked about how the LDS church now days encourages women to get educations because we never know when she might need it. The lady thought that was good because she got married at 18 and it lasted for 11 years but eventually fell apart and she had to support herself, but she was never pushed as a teenager by her parents so all she did was get high. That made me laugh. (She lived in the middle east as a teenager). She admits that her one bad habit is smoking. We also discussed the balance of pushing your children but not forcing them to do things they don’t want to do. Should a parent push their children to practice piano all the time when they don’t want to? My best idea is sign them up for a bunch of things at first, see what they like best, and let them specialize as much or as little as they like. I’m just afraid that they would be too much like me and be too lazy to get good at any of that… it’s still a mystery to me. Anyhow, it was good to talk to someone like that. At one point when I mentioned BYU, the boy in front of me (who was coming on way to strong to the girl next to him) turned around and called on the name of Jimmer and told me to look up “teach me how to Jimmer” on youtube, which I have yet to do… I also passed out after a bit and the lady told me after we landed that I snored. Oops… I swear, my sleep is just getting weirder and weirder. Really gory dreams about death, vivid sleep talking, and now snoring… oh dear.
Being home was grand! I got to stay up late with the family and Dan every night, we went to the cabin, and our ward’s annual Dutch oven cook-out/freeze. Mom knows how to throw a party too! It was good to see so many people. Dan and Papa bonded over business talk which made me happy. There were a lot of people there that I didn’t quite recognize who remembered me, though. And I forgot a lot of names… oh well. The best for me was seeing the Bullingers! I loved their kids, but I haven’t seen any of them in like four or five years. The three oldest are married! It was really great to catch up with them, though. They are a fantastic family. I also spoke at Cody high to some students about my experience on the hill and spent a good amount of time talking them into getting an education, but I also talked a lot about politics. The teacher almost argued with me about health care, but Dan said I shut him down. I didn’t even know I shut him down or that he was trying to argue with my ideas of socialism. I basically just told him that other countries that have socialized medicine are smaller, are possibly better at budgeting, but the states would just take our money and not use it as much for health as we would like and that the countries that are socialized are always used as examples as being good with socialized medicine, but that they are in fact in debt over it themselves. The family also went bowling which was fun. I finally have found someone worse at bowling than me! That would be Kirsten. Not by much though. We both need to practice. I’m already way better than I was when I would only get gutter balls. Saturday night, little Clara said “please don’t go. Pretty please with a cherry on top” and it broke my heart. The ride back to DC wasn’t quite as eventful, but boy am I beat from it! Riding the shuttle back home, I was actually pleasantly surprised to be kind of happy to see the capitol again and to get home. It was nice. I still miss Cody, but being excited to be back in DC, no matter how minimal the excitement was, is comforting. I was expecting dread! Now I know these next two months will be manageable.
I was chilling at home and let my brain melt by watching tv for a couple hours. Clare and her friend came back to the apartment. I actually like this guy, though. He’s really nice. They told me how Michelle and Max, the intern from Enzi’s office, were on a date and were hanging out all last weekend! I guess she went to Capitol Hill club to check it out after I told her about it on Friday night and met up with Miles, Jon, and Welchie there. After that, she went to their usual bar, Hamilton’s where they met up with Max and they hit it off! I think it’s so funny how my roommates hang out with the Wyoming boys out here. It makes me giggle. Well, the next night, Clare, her guy who we call Boston (which is where he is working), Michelle, max, and Jon went out and I guess Michelle and Max started making out and Boston caught them. Man, stuff goes on in my apartment when I’m not here! I really like max, so I wouldn’t mind seeing him around the apartment more. Same with Boston. I approve. It’s so bizarre when two of your worlds collide like that, though… as in WY kids and roommates. They like the Wyoming kid’s country charm, though, and I don’t blame them.
Work yesterday was fine. I fell asleep with my head to the side and my neck hurt way bad when I woke up. Welchie was kind enough to document it. He also shot me with a rubber band in hopes of waking me up but I didn’t even flinch. Jon and Welchie make fun of my sleeping (I’ve fallen asleep at a couple of lectures before) and my random hiccups. I actually really like those boys. I’ll miss them when this is all over. We had lunch together and Jon told us about how one night, when he was drunk, he got in a car with a G to get a ride home. The G had cocaine and a “girlfriend,” who I suggested was probably a prostitute and Jon thought I was probably right. The G kept offering stuff to Jon but Jon said he just wanted a ride home and miraculously, he made it there safely. He did have to convince the G that he wasn’t the police, though. Goodness… I’m glad he survived! What a story! Welchie also had one night where he got so drunk, he woke up the next day in his bed, not remembering how he got home. Lucky the kid got home alright. Welchie said he drank a lot that night because he was depressed that he maced the office. Jon and I were like “no… really, it is fine! It was actually kind of funny!” but for some reason, Welchie is really depressed about that. Jon also told us about how he almost got arrested for public drunkenness when the police took him home after giving his brother a DUI and jon was all “Ociffer! That’s my brother! Don’t mess with him ociffer,” and just giving him crap. Finally, as the officer had had enough, he said he was going to arrest him but Jon ran to his house and pounded on the door and his dad opened up and the police shook his head at Jon’s dad. Jon said he got a huge lecture that night. The story was pretty funny when Jon was telling it. Welchie and I sat up front for a little bit, but that’s all we did yesterday… Jon’s been busy marking photos for the senator to sign. That’s all he does, poor kid. I also introduced them to the wonder that is BYU culture. I told them about filling your canteen, NCMO, and other goldies. It was funny.
Today, Welchie and I had a tour for 21 people, a bunch of middle schoolers and their chaperones from Jackson. They were all so great! This group of kids really paid attention and cared about what we talked about unlike other kids that come through here. They also asked questions and answered my questions. I asked them if they knew the gods on the fresco from Percy Jackson and they did! I had to inform them that those were the roman equivalents but that that was still very impressive. I got to do the rotunda, crypt, and hall of columns. the tour went well.
I also had to organize the supply closet. That went well. It was actually kind of relaxing, but you all know how poorly organized I am. Kathi said that it looks much better, though, so that makes me happy. That only took me about an hour. I must say myself; it does look a lot better in there. There’s so much junk in there, though, that it will never look that great. someone else commented in a pleasant way that it will be nice to have a clean closet. I guess it was alright. it was quite satisfying. I was also trying to talk the boys into going to the six flags in Maryland this weekend. Jon’s all for it. We may have to work on talking Welchie into it more. I also had lunch with Welchie and we talked about why I didn’t go to UW among other things. I’ve also read some of the Ensign online. Kathi is setting up photo appointments with other senators too! I’m excited about that.
Well, that’s all for now. Kelsey missed last Monday because she was in the hospital for something she caught in Haiti. Maybe I’m glad I didn’t chose to go after all when BYU was going last summer… I think she’s better now and I will be seeing her tomorrow when we do our white house tour! I also have my Royksopp concert tomorrow with Macy and Chris. I will have to check with them how we will coordinate this. I’m stoked though!
The other day, Macy called me into the office because a package I had sent to the Cheyenne office never got there. I had to buy high ball glasses and send them to Cheyenne. The next week, I found out that I was supposed to buy a ton of other things to send to Cheyenne too, but I didn’t know that at the time. I was nervous about that but didn’t tell anyone because I figured it was too late. Anyhow, like three weeks later, Macy told me that the package never got there and was mad at me and it was awkward. She was all “you lost aver $100 worth of stuff!” but only I know that I only lost $22 worth plus mail. It’s good and bad… somehow. What an odd situation. I think I’m glad the package got lost and I didn’t get in trouble for not buying the other things. I gave all the receipts from that errand job to Kathi and she could have easily figured out I didn’t send all the stuff. Another possible explanation is that they got the High ball glasses but nothing else, so they just assumed that the rest of the stuff got lost in the mail. Well, whatever it is that happened, at least not as much money was lost as we thought. Oops. I totally dropped the ball on that one. And it was quite awkward. I hope I didn’t already tell that story. I think it’s a good one though.
Also, another health care bill was introduced RIGHT after Erin introduced hers and us interns got it passed out. Phew!!! :)
Well that’s all i’ll write for now because I have a feeling I will have a lot to write about tomorrow with the white house tour and concert. I love you all so much! Have a good one. Miss you all already.
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