What is Up

I am still around, but with a lot less lingering around the hostel than normal. I tend to come home from work without anything to do here except cook dinner and read, and then it's 9:00 and I'm like, weeelll, looks like time to hit the hay and I end up sleeping for eleven hours. This is too much sleep for normal people. I wake up kind of groggy and all I want to do is keep sleeping. I get crazy dreams, though, and I don't really want to give those up.

I accidentally forgot to take my cell phone with me and when I got back - six missed calls. What! Why don't I get that many calls on normal days? Amazing!

I've become very bold recently with cooking choices. Lately, I've had bread dipped in olive oil and various other Italian spices, spaghetti alfredo, a cooked sausage dog with Grey Poupon mustard that someone left behind (the sausages were also left behind), bruschetta with chopped tomatoes, um, yogurt....

We just had this guy call the hostel with the wildest expectations imaginable. First, he wanted a three-bed room, which would have to be a bunk bed and regular bed and which no hostel has ever offered. Then, he asked if we had a television in each room. Believe it or not, we don't. He didn't believe me. He then asked if we provided lunch and dinner. What kind of fairy tale land does he live in? Are there any hostels in the world that provide lunch and dinner? Do hotels provide lunch and dinner? Weird.

Oh! Travis had media passes to see Vantage Point last night and I don't want to ramble on forever except to say 'don't go'. It would have been a clever, almost ingenious satire on the classic action genre, but it wasn't because I believe they were totally serious. The audience was laughing at the ridiculous car chases and maddening time-travel backwards to the same point six different times. One plot twist could have been really, really interesting had they not given it away in the commercial. I was kind of irritated throughout the whole film and we didn't even pay.

Sleep Day

Because I am an eager beaver, I ended up with so many hours at work that I had to take today off. Literally, all I have done so far was walk from Travis' house to the Metro to the hostel, eat breakfast, and fall asleep. Then wake up. This nap was epic.

So tonight I don't know what I'm going to do since T. has an NPR story on video games to cover. I cannot sleep any more. Maybe reading. I received a wonderful advance-copy book of short love stories that don't work out. It's excellent so far.

Oh, I went out to Georgetown yesterday as the control 18-24 female nonsmoker group in some medical research study on the effects of tobacco on hormone levels. This group was the place to be, since I didn't have anything injected into me and the worst thing that happened was that I had three vials of blood taken and had to give the pee cup directly to the hot doctor. But it was worth it for the thirty dollar Safeway gift card.

Sickness

Since I missed out on the Great Xmas Flu '06, I've been hoping that my turn would finally come around. And voila, yesterday afternoon at around 4:00, my wish was granted. I don't know if it was just a virus, or botulism, or what but wow. I just ate two pieces of toast - my first solid food in over twenty-four hours. It was the best toast ever. All this in addition to running the hostel.

I've been feeling better today, luckily, since this week is turning out to be really busy.

I remember back when I was about twelve and had been throwing up earlier that day. I stayed home from school and A Few Good Men was on TV. I convinced Mom to let me have Cocoa Puffs because I was feeling better. Guess what happened. I have been paranoid about eating anything after being sick since then. Coincidentally, A Few Good Men was on this morning, too. I took that to be an omen.

Heartfelt thanks to Travis, who kept me in good supply of Gatorade, water, ginger ale, Pepto-Bismol, Tums, warm towels, company, naps, and ginger tea. Yaaay.

Now it's time to vacuum. Too fun!

Working Weekend

I've been working like crazy lately, but it's a good kind of crazy since I enjoy all of my jobs. Yesterday was the internship for a few hours and then the psychologist's office, and today and tomorrow I'm working 8:00 AM until 11:00 PM here at the hostel. Steve's up in Boston or something so I am totally in charge. Being in charge is boring.

I cooked up the best meal ever yesterday at Travis' apartment. I started out with tortilla chips and salsa (the good kind), and continued on with chicken quesadillas and grilled onions and lots of cheese. Then for dessert I made apple enchiladas which turned out kind of different because I think I used too much liquid in the glaze. Everything was delicious and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures because I was either too worried about something burning or else enjoying the dinner.

Weird thing: my supervisor hurried past my desk the other day and said, "Alaina, get into the copy room, we have danishes and Ziplocs!" Now what does that mean? It meant that for some reason, the danish company and the Ziploc company decided to send us a ton of their products. Why? We represent aerosol companies... but anyway, I am not one to turn down free food or free products, so I grabbed three boxes of zip bags and two danishes.

We even got the fancy Authentic Danish.







Their spokesman, Ohlaf.










I just transferred pictures from my camera to my computer and I found a lot that I had completely forgotten about. Here goes:

It was a sad time last week when I found out about our rodent problem during the rains. I like mice but I get very panicky about the thought of them touching me without prior approval.



Closer-up of the mouse.








I don't know what these cabbagey plants are but they're quite common around here. They seem hardy enough to stay alive during the winter.




It's like the Easter version of cabbage.







I see these signs in parks a lot, and the pooper-scooper is funny, but the bottom one in particular made me laugh.









Who is drinking martinis in this park? The only alcoholic beverage I've ever seen in a park was discreetly hidden by the crumpled brown bag encasing it. Where are the classy park drinkers?




After the park, I was walking along talking to Erin on the phone and I saw a black squirrel! I've only ever seen two before in my entire life.





One of them was in DC and there's a restaurant near me called "The Black Squirrel" so maybe they are a little more popular in this region.





Black squirrel in the tree.








I kept my interview at the Newseum even though I really didn't care if they hired me or not because a: it's a good idea to have interview practice and b: I wanted a sneak peek before it opens in April. Here are... sinks!


And a toilet! The bathrooms were cool because they had humorous headlines at various intervals on the walls.








This box made me laugh at CVS the other day. I wonder how well it sells. I just don't know if bald guyz are really that concerned about keeping their head refreshed.








Hey hey hey - our lobby just got a new board and ACE totally made it.







Obviously hotels are hurting from all of the stolen towels and now charge. Don't take a comforter - they're $60.00 each. $2.00 per washcloth? Pshaw.




I went to a Burger King for breakfast one day and was lucky enough to have stepped into one with a film theme. Of course I sat at the Batmobile.




You couldn't rock hard or else that would be trademark infringement.







They had the kids from ET biking near the ceiling.







Running away from Jaws...








Right into the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.







Is it... art?

California Tortilla

Things are turning out well lately; I've been getting a ton of compliments at work which is going to puff up my ego and it's also been great weather. Today while walking up Connecticut Ave I had to take off my coat because it was so warm. Then, I unbuttoned my jacket and dress shirt! Wild! Even though it's basketball night Steve said there was no one checking in so I have a free night to watch a lot of seventh season Simpsons.

I went to the tastiest Mexican place yesterday called California Tortilla. It was right by the Chinatown Metro stop and I've seen it before but never went in. I picked the taco salad since that's my default Mexican standby and I was about to say "but no beans and no rice" when I read the ingredient list and there were no beans nor rice! It had lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, corn, salsa, guacamole, and tortilla chip strips - all tasty things. I requested a cup of ranch dressing and the salad was perfect. Travis ordered a burrito and he got to spin a wheel of fortune because apparently on Monday night you can do that when you order a burrito. He got $1.25 off his meal. They also had the funniest newsletter - from Wikipedia:

There is a fun, perky newsletter that gets published online & in print monthly called Taco Talk, written by Pam Felix, who purchased the original franchising rights and name to California Tortilla, and whose picture appears (with her partner, Alan Cohen) on all the paper goods and signature sauce bottles in every restaurant. If it's your birthday or you win/redeem a free burrito coupon, you will most certainly get a crazy, loud "YEE-HA!" from the staff and management. It's all part of the fun.

Here is the newsletter in all of it's fun, perky glory. If you sign up for it you get a free taco.

Oh yeah, and good news at work is that my supervisor thinks I'm doing a good job and is going to rewrite my contract so that I can work more hours. YEE-HA! I'm diverting funds from other worthy causes.

I saw this crazy lady at the library yesterday. This was the best kind of crazy lady because she was right on the edge - she certainly wasn't acting normal, but she wasn't just yelling and streaking through the stacks. Instead, she was very upset and berating the poor check-out guy to get rid of this woman in one of the bathrooms who she claimed was harassing her because at one point she tried to give this homeless bathroom woman career advice. It got weirder - crazy lady was like, "and this woman in the bathroom, she convulses and is possessed and practices satanism and is demonic and I don't like to talk about myself very much but she stares at me and looks evil!" Really? Evil? The check-out guy was like, crazypants, don't talk to me, go to security. She said, "but every time I go up there with security the woman is hiding! She knows when we're coming!" Of course she does. She's got Satan on her side.

Movies

Lordy. Someone wrote down this Mexican family's arrival time incorrectly and instead of arriving at 11:00 PM they were here at 10:45 AM. Great. So, nothing was ready (sheets, beds, blankets, cleanliness) and they didn't speak much English and I sound like a slow child in Spanish so it was embarrassing. The wife asked me to show her how to heat water on the stove and when I turned on the tap and waited for it to get hot and then filled the kettle, she freaked. I had no idea what was the matter until she was like, "but why is it white???" I'm so used to the milky hot water here that I don't even notice it anymore and I gave her a rudimentary science lesson involving oxygenation that probably has nothing to do with the color of the water but she finally accepted that it's normal and now I have to go back to the kitchen and make sure that she turned off the stove. She did.

Fortunately for me, the loud, boisterous Indian guys checked out a day early since they were so, so disruptive to my sleep. There was only one Korean guy here yesterday and I didn't even notice he was in the room until this morning when I went to get the sheets and was like, oh. A person. I should leave the sheets on.

The Superbowl is on today. I don't even know what time. Maybe Steve won't even be here. If he's not here, it's possible that I might turn it on. But I might not. I'm really not invested in this game.

It's sad that the latest movies out are so terrible. Rotten Tomatoes reports the top of the box office as:

Meet the Spartans: 3%
Rambo: 35%
27 Dresses: 37%
Cloverfield: 76%
Untraceable: 13%

Hannah Montana: 87%
The Eye: 25%
Over Her Dead Body: 13%
The Wilderness: not reviewed, but I am not optimistic.
The Silence Before Bach: 100%

So besides Cloverfield, Hannah Montana, and The Silence Before Bach, (already saw, don't want to see, probably not showing around here), there's nothing of interest.

Fake News

Anyone who knows me know of how I despise CNN. This is one reason why. Snoop Dogg torn?!? WHAT?!?!? People, this isn't real news! What other hard-hitting 'top stories' are provided? NASA to beam Beatles song to North Star. Big shark chomps bitty shark. Vanity license plate sells for $6,800,000. And - wait for it, wait for it - double dipping spreads bacteria. It's like the news for people that really don't want to hear the news.

Hah, but I did find out that Snoop's real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr. I would have changed my name too.

Travis and I went to see the Tsukamoto film Vital last night at the Freer Gallery because 1. it was free and 2. it was at a convenient time. We were late since it was farther than expected but this kindly old man ushered us in and even prompted this guy in the back to move over so that we could have two seats together. Verdict: I liked it, neat idea, funny dialogue at points. It was about this student at med school who ends up having to dissect his girlfriend who died in a car crash while he was driving. A bit morbid, but a nice story. Lots of rain.

And today, if I happen to be able to leave work early, there is some sort of chocolate festival in Alexandria? Fairfax? Somewhere in Virginia, at least. Oh, it's in Fairfax. And, wow, they're even bringing back pogs. The nineties called. They said you can have them.

Sweet - there's 'an arts extravaganza where the medium is chocolate'. And 'historic reenactments at the Museum and Visitor's Center'. Reenactments of what? The grandest moments in chocolatey history? One major perk is that there's a free shuttle between events called The Chocolate Express.