Wahhh

I hate going back to work after the weekend. Everyone is in a bad mood. Oh, to be Paris Hilton.

This weekend = big plans. Probably the biggest party of my life. I am sad that I have to choose whether to get a good spot at the swearing in or at the parade. I think I choose the swearing in. That way I can try and shove my way in at the parade while Obama eats lunch. That means I need to bring lunch. Where on earth are all these people going to pee? Where am I going to pee?

I need to get pumped about monday funday. The best 4 day weekend is looming in the distance!
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Union Station

Every day I purposely exit the metro in Union Station so that I get to walk through the inside of Union Station. I have several reasons for doing this.

1. So that I can stay out of the cold weather for as long as possible- walking through Union Station is at least an entire block that I can preserve the feeling in my fingers, toes, and ears.
2. To see the gobs of 8th graders from all over the country making their required pilgrimage to our nation's capitol. I always know who they are by their matching brightly colored t shirts and the ridiculous cliques of hip girls, nerdy boys, fat goths, etc. They are extremely hard to walk around because they won't split up their clique pack for anything. They also have no idea about the flow of foot traffic.
3. To see the tourists in general. They are always taking pictures of the ceiling or videotaping their girlfriend and it's fun to walk by them really fast with a scowl. "Silly tourists, I work here! Get out of my way." This is also fun to do with the hordes of 8th graders.
4. Window shopping. On my path out of Union Station I pass by an Au Bon Pan (look at the bread and pastries), a Borders, a Nine West (love the shoe displays), an Origins, The Body Shop, a Swarovski crystal store (right now they have a display of crystal gorillas?) a chocolate store, and a weird cart that sells coffee. Some days I enjoy the whiff of perfume waifting from The Body Shop but some days it makes me really nauseous.
   

I am sad because at Christmas when I would come out of the train part and into the big hall there was a HUGE Christmas tree glowing. It made me so happy. There was also a model train set, a player piano, and three giant (GIANT) wreaths out front. Now all that is gone. Yesterday they took down the wreaths and were hammering and fussing to take the train apart. I come out expecting to see the Christmas tree now and since it's not there I get so disappointed.

disgusting day

Today was all kinds of suck. It's been cold and pouring rain all day. This morning I had a stupid orientation meeting. This afternoon after I worked out at the gym during my lunch hour I found out I won't have the alternative work schedule that everyone else is getting because of really stupid bureaucratic crap. It all has to do with pay scales, job classifications, federal laws, and ridiculousness. I swear to god, for all the benefits you get for working for the government you have to put up with a LOT of STRICT bullshit. The most strict, unflexable, uncaring bunch of shit ever. So now I may be working a regular 8 hour a day 40 hour week and then work 4 days for 10 hours and have that Friday off. I guess something is better than nothing, but the other schedule would have been way better (8 days of 9 hours, 1 day of 8 hours, one day off every two weeks).

SO THEN after all that stupid drama at work and all the rain and misery outside, I finally settle into my evening commute. I'm reading Christmas on Ice by David Sedaris, which is hysterical, and I was so glad to go home. I had just gotten on the train and read about a page when I heard a weird sound and looked up only to see a guy across from me PUKING A SHITTON OF APPLE JUICE AND WEIRD WHITE THINGS ALL OVER THE TRAIN CAR. Seriously, I was about three inches from getting splatter on my shoes. Now I feel sick from having seen that / smelled that / sat on the train with that for another two stops. What the fuck? Seriously? That is the sickest thing ever!!! I have the worst metro luck sometimes!! When that happened everyone on the car was SILENT. Ususally there are some conversations going on in the evening. When I got off I went to the train driver and said "Um.. someone just threw up on that car." and the guy kind of smiled and shook his head and said "thanks for letting me know." I think when that happens they have to clean it up immediately and the trains all get backed up (bad news at rush hour).

Oh man. What a stupid ass day. Thank god my favorite MTV True Life is on (True Life: I'm a Cheerleader). I can't believe they still play this stuff, these episodes are from when I was in high school.

I can't stop sneezing; I am so depressed.

So, an update that is not me whining from my blackberry. Christmas and New Years were GREAT because I didn't have to work and there were great people to hang out with at home. My mom and I had our annual Christmas party (even though it was after Christmas this year) and it was surprisingly not as awkward as usual. I think because everyone is growing up it's just ok to be who we are and catch up, high school grudges and hangups aside.

I visited some family for Christmas. My grandmother gave me the world's smallest food processor and world's smallest rice cooker (!!!!) so maybe after I read how to use the things I will be eating something other than PB&J and stir-fry. It came to my attention while I was at home that many of my comrades who are now in the working world don't cook or bring their lunch. This idea has never crossed my mind, probably because I hate eating out a lot and I'm also too cheap. It made me realize how much I hate eating out. My mom reminded me that I even hated it when I was little. I like going out with friends and on weekends and stuff.

Anyways. After lots of fights with my mom (and her sudden flight to Birmingham, AL with her boyfriend?!), quality time at my boyfriend's house playing Wii, and perusing the after Christmas sales (see, Dolla Saver), I went to Asheville with my boyfriend. We went to the J Crew CLEARANCE CENTER which is part of the J CREW DISTRIBUTION CENTER FOR THE SOUTH EAST. When I was done throwing up all over myself out of excitement I picked out a pair of earmuffs that I'd been eyeing at the regular J Crew store that were $50 but at the special clearance store they were $10!!! I also got a wool dress for $35 for those cold ass days when I am tired of wearing pants. That place is seriously awesome. Even my bf got a sweater! Probably because I made him stay in there for 2 hours.

On New Years Eve I drank gin and tonics with friends and we rang in the new year on the top of an apartment building overlooking the city. It was really nice celebrating new years without a tv.














We saw a weird new years caterpillar thing (oh Asheville).

Afterwards we went to a bar (The Z Lounge) and danced and watched the hilarious people in there.

On New Years Day we cooked collards and pork chops and hoppin' john and we slothed around all day. It was glorious. The next day me and the boyfriend and I drove down Warren Wilson Road and I stocked up on almond butter from Amazing Savings (discount gourmet grocery store that is my life-force). We ate at Burgermeisters (awesome) and drove home. I really didn't want to leave.

After that I made a trip to the Clearance Goodwill, where you can buy Goodwill items by the pound ($1.00/pound). There, sparkling and new was a Bernina Bernette 50 sewing machine in perfect working condition for $25. I packed that sucker up and hauled it to DC in my carry-on bag. The machine I was planning on bringing back was one of those old Singers that is made of solid metal. They are awesome machines because they can sew through anything (concrete, leather, moonbeams) but they weight approx. 150 lbs. So finding a nice nice lighter machine was extremely good luck. It was my Christmas present from Goodwill. I'm planning on sewing ugly/cute stuffed animals, bags, wallets, ipod holders, etc. very soon. Ideas/things to copy are welcome.

New years in Asheville was great and terrible at the same time. I realized that I really really need to move back there. ASAP. Which is still at least 2 years down the line. I am honestly sick and miserable right now to be back in DC. I feel so dumb for thinking that I would be ok living without the Western NC mountains. I am concentrating on enjoying myself while I am in DC and making a career for myself so that when I move back I can do something other than being a waitress. I also have a cold right now (round II, cool) that is making me even more miserable. It's hard to return to work- no one tells you when you're in school that you are being trained to be a cog in a giant machine that there is no way out of. Well, there are many ways out, but not if you have college loans. I guess there are my two goals: 1. build my career 2. pay off college loans. New Years Resolution 2009: pave the road back to Asheville.

Back to work

Oh, oh, back to work. I almost forgot how the metro worked (not). Thankfully it's not so cold in the capitol city today.

I flew with my new sewing machine that I purchased at the clearence goodwill for $25 (a Bernina Bernette 50). I am depending solely on the hope that sewing will keep me out of an all consuming depression and homesickness for western North Carolina. I guess the sunrise over the Potomic isn't so bad.

I need a DC crew really bad. Off to work for me.
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