Washington Deezy Fo Shizzy

Day 69

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 07:08:01 GMT

Why am I still awake?....So its almost 3am and I have to pick mike up at about 6:15 am, and then go work a 9-5 and then go party after. Why the hell am I still awake? Il tell you why…cause its Spring Break 2k4!!!!! So I think I am just going to stay up the whole night, I think that will be better than trying to sleep for three hours. Papers are due by 5pm tomorrow. I have my turned in, but my roommates will for sure be up all night and well into the afternoon tomorrow finishing it up. By writing this journal I am officially ending Thursday and beginning Friday wooo hooo. Thursday was a good day. I woke up about ten minutes before class. That’s what’s nice about having your classes be in the same building. It was only an hour class today, and it consisted of telling us how to turn our papers in and how to do the oral presentation. After class I walked with Az to get some lunch and to get some thank you cards to pass out to people at work tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon consisted of talking to my roommates, napping, and cleaning up my room. I turned in my paper around 9 tonight, and between 9 and like midnight I don’t know what the hell I did. The time just kind of flew by. I even tried Vegiemite from Australia thanks to Emily, was the worst shit I have eveeeer tasted in my life. It ended up being the joke of the night to have people try it. That was like three hours ago, and I still taste it in my mouth.

So Erin came down about 1am to the patio and we had a little talk. It looks like we plan on hanging out a bit this summer. I mean it sucks shes leaving so soon after we started to hangout together, but hopefully we can continue to get to know eachother.

Day 68

Thu, 03 Jun 2004 19:17:32 GMT

Capitol View Club…..Ah what a day. I am actually feeling better today, except for a slight cough. Work went good today. I spent most of the day training the new intern. You don’t really realize how much you have learned until you start teaching someone else. Some of the highlights of the day consisted of going to cloak room right outside the House floor, and I also got to sit down with the Congresswoman for a couple minutes to just chat a little bit and take a picture. She also signed a copy of the Constitution for me with a nice note in the inside. It is something that I am definitely going to keep with me for the rest of my life. I also had lunch with Ruth this afternoon. It kind of sucks because once I start meeting these really cool people it is time for me to go home.

After work I relaxed a bit. I had to go down the hall and pick Erin up at 8:30 to go to the Capitol View Club for desert. The CVC is like this real exclusive restaurant/lounge that over looks the Capitol building. It is an excellent date spot. I decided that best way to get there would be to take a cab just so we wouldn’t get all gross walking. Erin is like 5’9 as it is, plus she had stiletto heels on so she was my height if not a slight bit taller, which is hot, yet kind of uncomfortable. She is tall, thin, blonde. I don’t know what she was doing going out with me lol. We had a great time at desert. They have a chocolate buffet that we took advantage of. We sat and talked for almost two hours, and then we decided to walk over to the Capitol and take the metro home. It was a very very nice evening. The night ended up with me, her, and her roommates on the patio for another hour or so just chatting away. I mean most likely it will be the last time we will hangout, but it was definitely fun.

Day 67

Wed, 02 Jun 2004 03:01:00 GMT

Feeling like shit… Yeah so I woke up today feeling like crap. My throat was score, my nose was stuffed up, and I was tired. However, I did force myself to go work. The walk to work was not fun, and to top it off the escalator was broken. What a way to start the day off. When I got in to the office I was greeted by the new intern, Emily. That makes three Emily’s now I have met on this trip, and two of them work in the same office as me. I was also greeted with three days of mail which took me the better part of the morning to get through. Jamie asked me to the give a tour in the afternoon which he told me I wouldn’t have to do. He said I could go home after I give the tour, so it sounded like a deal. When I met the girl that was on the tour with me I was glad I stayed. She was sooooo hot lol. The tour was with her and her dad, and a class of 8th graders. Most of my attention was not on the 8th graders if you know what I mean. We did exchange numbers, and are supposed to hang out when I get back to Los Angeles. After work I came home and took a nap. I was supposed to get desert with Erin at that hotel tonight but I was feeling like shit. I didn’t want to bail on her however. When I talked to her it was agreed since she had a paper due tomorrow that it would be better to delay the desert an extra day. So everything worked out good. I am excited to go out with her, I don’t know if it’s a date or not. I made it as clear as possible that it kind of was and she still seemed stoked so its all good. I mean I am not like super in to her, she just seems like a cool person to hang with. So the rest of the evening consisted of cleaning the room, eating dinner at the Governors House, and doing laundry. I am kind of bummed because my roommates good friend was hit by a car yesterday crossing the street and he is in critical condition, so I am praying that everything works out ok with that. Well I am about to go change my laundry to the dryer.

Day 66

Tue, 01 Jun 2004 03:32:35 GMT

Oral…Presentation….Yeah well I have decided that I am done with my paper. It might but a big pile of shit, buts 29 pages of shit so its done. In conclusion, I was not able to prove my hypothesis. I didn’t disprove it either. I couldn’t prove a damn thing. I still think it is an interesting paper though. I also finished writing my oral presentation which is due next week. This week will consist of just practicing it over and over again. Other than that the day really consisted of being ultra lazy. The only time I left the building was to get a burrito. Other than that I made plans with Erin from down the hall to get desert tomorrow night which I am kind of stoked about. That’s about all.

Day 65

Mon, 31 May 2004 16:50:57 GMT

National Memorial Day Concert… I had to hit up the paper today. I sat a goal for myself to work from 11-5:30 on my paper. For the most part I did that. I feel like right now if I had to turn my paper in, I could. However, I think I am going to try and tweak some things in my paper to try and polish it up. After that I need to begin working on my oral presentation.

At 6:00 people started gathering in our room to head on down to the Capitol to watch the National Memorial Day Concert. As everyone was gathering it started to lightly rain so half of the group bailed. This was something that I really wanted to do so I stuck with it and went with Az, Erin, and her roommates down to watch the concert. We decided to walk down there which ended up being like a two mile walk. It was so awesome once we got there people were sitting all over the steps of the Capitol and they had this big stage set up. We took our seats on the grass and enjoyed the concert. Some of the highlights were Tom Hanks, Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss, The National Sympathy Orchestra, and various war veterans telling their story. It was a somber, yet patriotic experience.

Since we were in such a patriotic mood after the concert we decided to walk down to the World War II Memorial. Along the way I was shocked/scared by a police dog that just started barking at me. This led to me and Erin having a discussion about how manly she thinks her husband should be. Once we got to the Memorial we walked around and took in some of the sights. There were tons of people just walking around at 11:00pm at night. There was a WWII vet right next to me viewing something and for some reason I just felt that I needed to tell him thank you. He probably thought I was some weird person but it made me feel a little relived inside that I was able to say thanks to some of these guys. I mean 400,000 people died from the United State during WWII, that is so massive. I just don’t think our generation substantially appreciates what generations before us have sacrificed.

Day 64

Mon, 31 May 2004 06:47:19 GMT

Sergios…So I woke up today feeling good, I was happy after last night. After I woke up I spent the morning thinking about working on my paper, but instead I opted to watch some baseball. Around one or two I made my way up stairs to talk to my friend that I had made the comment to last night. I just wanted to let her know that I didn’t want things to get weird or anything like that, she didn’t see troubled at all. Most of the conversation consisted of talking about baseball which is always a great thing to talk about. After hanging out up there for a while I decided to come back downstairs and watch some TV. The World War II Memorial dedication was down on the Mall today so I watched some of that. After that I took a nap to rest up for dinner. I was to meet Lynn and Phenny in Silver Springs (just outside of DC) at 7:30. It was Lynn’s birthday. Some of the bunch was going to go watch Live play at a street concert or something, so I was kind of bummed I had to miss out on that. I left for dinner around 6:45 but before I got on the metro I had to stop at CVS to pick up a birthday card. It was a rather long Metro ride but it gave me a chance to see some of the sights along the way. I didn’t even realize that some of the Metro was actually above ground. I met them for dinner at 7:30 at some Italian restaurant called Sergios. The dinner was nice. Wasn’t the best Italian food that I have ever had, but I cant complain when someone is taking me out to dinner for free. After dinner I found out that I was $0.40 short on my Metro card for a ride home. I was even more bummed when the machine wouldn’t take my credit card because I had already used it once today to buy a card. I also had no cash. When I asked the attendant about why it wouldn’t take my card, and what I should do, he reached in his pocket and handed me $0.40. At first I didn’t want to take it but he insisted. It was actually a touching experience. I even called the Metro customer service to tell them how awesome of a guy he was. On the Metro home I ran into Ashley, Az and some of the rest of the gang. The odds of that happening was very slim. Once we got back to the apartment we just kind of chilled for a while and hung out on the patio before going to bed

Day 63

Sat, 29 May 2004 16:06:27 GMT

Another dope ass Friday night….Oh boy what a night. I found out late last night that I didn’t have to work today, Spring Break!!!! However, I did have to wake up early in order to make it to my group tutorial for my research paper. The tutorial went ok, I still have a lot to get done on my paper and that is what sat, sun, and mon will consist of. I also need to get my oral presentation done before m to the izike comes out next weekend, so basically I need to get my ass in gear. After the tutorial the roommates and I spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment and doing dishes. It was getting really gross in here. I think there were dishes in the sink from like two weeks ago. After getting the place all spic and span we finished up working on the slide show for the farewell dinner, then made a run down to the liquor store get some beer for after the dinner. Around 6 we headed down stairs for the dinner. The dinner was ok, nothing special, but free. The slide show went off good so at least we got that out of the way. After the dinner the party train left the station and was headed up to 611. It was still light outside, but the drinks started flowing. Once the beer was done we made a little run to get some Yager. Beautiful ladies and alcohol, you got to love it. A little later, another Yager run. The antics continued up in our apartment till about 10:30 when finally everyone decided that it was time to go get our freak on. I did have to accidentally nail a girl in the face before we left. I felt really bad, but everything turned out ok. The group made our way down to Sign of the Whale where the dancing continued throughout the evening. I seriously need top learn how to dance better. I am not shy about dancing, but I just wish I was a little better at it. Finally at about 2:30 we left. Some people wanted some eats, but I needed to hit the bed after dancing so hard lol, so I came home.

So after having a few drinks in me I think I confessed to something that maybe I shouldn’t have. I mean don’t get me wrong, like I was drunk, but I knew what was going on, so deep down maybe I did want to just get it out in the open. I mean this girl is absolutely beautiful not just by the way she looks, but she also has a beautiful outlook on life (if any of my buddies are reading this back home, don’t talk shit lol). I always seem to fall for girls that are way out of my league. I know I totally shouldn’t be falling for her at all. I mean there are so many reasons why it is not a good idea, but when I hangout with her those seem to slip my mind. I don’t know, I just don’t know.

Day 62

Fri, 28 May 2004 02:40:45 GMT

Slide show…Well today was kind of a down day. Like any Thursday I didn’t have to go in to work, pus we didn’t have class today. I woke up around 10am. I had to read a couple rough drafts and make some comments from a couple other people in my group for tomorrow’s discussion. I laid around for a while and watched TV waiting for Justin to get done with his discussion so we can go work on the slide show that UCLA is going to do for entertainment at the farewell dinner tomorrow night. The whole afternoon consisted of putting together the slide show. It is a bunch of pictures and comments that are stereotypes of the other campuses. I walked outside for a bit to get some fresh air and when I came back in a fucking Cicada was attached to my back. Thos damn bugs are everywhere. After working on the slide show till 5:30 I came back upstairs and realized that I had a missed called from none other then Mr. Mike Anaya. I am stoked that he is coming out next weekend. Its going to be a great way to spend my last weekend in D.C. and I think we are even planning on going out to Baltimore one day to watch a baseball game. After that I went up to class and listened to a lady speak about the organization that she works for which fights to regulate guns. I realized that it was my lass class meeting for my interest group class. We didn’t even have a final for that class, and all I have to do is email the paper that’s due. That was seriously the easiest class I have ever taken. We met like seven times, and I didn’t do one bit of homework except for the couple small papers that were due. After class I cut my hair, made some dinner, and watched AZ get drunk. They went down to watch the Laker game but I have to be up early, and I am beat, so I think I am going to call it a night.

Day 61

Thu, 27 May 2004 15:47:15 GMT

Costco…Today was actually a rather cool day. I went in to work. It was kind of cool because I was kind of like in charge of the interns. Jamie and Emily were both gone, so I was the boss of this new intern Patrick. He is actually a really cool guy. I think he is only like 19 but he seems like a fun guy. Work was rather dead today. I got some more writing done, and it looks like I at least have a rough draft done for all my papers that are due. Ruth, this cute Jewish girl called and wanted to know if I wanted to grab lunch but I couldn’t leave the office for that long since Emily and Jamie weren’t there. That sucked lol.

When I got home from work Justin was about to go to Pentagon City to do some grocery shopping. When he was about to leave Ashley meandered on over and we hung out for a while. By the time we were done talking I had enough energy in me that I wanted to go with Justin and AZ. We decided to eat at Costco since it was right by the store. Costco is so the shit. A piece of pizza, hotdog, and a soda for like $3. AZ, Justin, and myself just sat around bullshitting and telling stories about high school football. I am really starting to have a good time here with these guys, but no way does it compare to the COF for shizzle. Damn this summer is going to be so dope, “beer and bitches bro” (inside joke from Snow Summit). After Costco we did some grocery shopping. I think we are pretty well set for the next week and half. It is going to be gross when we have to start cleaning everything out of the fridge.

After the store we made the long journey home with our Chinese lady cart. Once we got back we opened a beer and watched the end of American Idol. Damn I didn’t want that girl to win. After AI we watched Seinfeld. I then made some phone calls from the patio. I learned that someone wrote a letter to me wanting me to ref semi-pro football this year. Semi-pro is so funny. Its all these guys that couldn’t make it in the NFL. I think they pay over $100 a game though. It even involves refereeing the new woman’s football league. Its not prestigious at all, but it pays good. After that I came up watched some TV and then went to bed. I get to sleep in tomorrow.

Day 60

Wed, 26 May 2004 03:07:39 GMT

Cant think of a title…I was sitting here trying to think of a title for todays post, but honestly nothing to exciting happened today. I woke up and went to work as usual. Work was pretty mundane except for the fact that I organized some pamphlets. Its nice to see something look like crap and then look half way decent by the time you get done with it. Lets see, I tried the chicken fingers at work, they are even better then Speedzone. Other then that it was a normal day.

When I got home from work I took a nap. About 7 Ira called me and wanted to know if I wanted to grab a burger at the Govenors House Hotel acorss the street. If we show our ID for the center we get half price burgers. It was a pretty decent meal. Ira is a nice guy and is easy to get along with. After dinner we came back up to the apartment for a little meeting for the our skit for the farewell dinner on Friday. I cant divulge to many details right now, but I think it is going to be pretty funny. The rest of the night just consisted of me watching some TV and now going online.

Day 59

Tue, 25 May 2004 03:21:35 GMT

Girls can really fuck guys up….Why do girls have the power that they have? Tell me. They can be the most amazing creatures, yet they can be the worst of humankind in a blink of an eye. Last night I told Wendy that basically wasted my time with her. It was really hard for me to say that but I think I really meant it. I mean here is a girl that I would have given my life for, or loved even if she was paralized or something, and then I get kicked to the curb. Now on other hand, there are just some really amazing girls that I have met. There is a girl here that the more I talk to her I just realize how awsome she is. I know we will never be more than friends, but a guy can wish cant he lol.

Work was decent today, we are on recess so it is kind of laid back. I had a little argument with my boss today about the philosophy of treating on how to treat constituents when they come in to the office. It got all the way down to the fundamental purpose of Congress, I think I won the argument. The rest of work just consisted of me trying to work on a paper of mine, and that’s about it.

After work I came home and took a long nap. The President spoke about Iraq at 8 tonight, talk about a jackass. I then went down to the patio for the ice cream bash that was going on. That was cool but was short lives. After that I fixed some dinner, watched some sibling fear factor, and then went out on the patio and tossed the football around and chilled.

Day 58

Mon, 24 May 2004 02:13:39 GMT

Angels...Tell me why the Angels are so dope. They are so so so dope this year. They are .659 with a 3.5 game lead. Now thats what I am talking about. I watched the Angels play today on tv and saw one of the best plays I have ever seen. Here was the situation: adam kennedy on 1st, david eckstein at bat. There was a hit and run on, but Baltimore saw it coming so they pitched out so they would be able to throw kennedy out at second base. Now for those of you that dont know the game of baseball, when there is a hit and run on you have to try your best to put the ball in play so you dont leave the guy running to second out to dry. Well a pitch out means the pitcher throws the ball like 4 feet outside so the catcher can get it easy and the batter cant it it. Well ecksetin actually threw his bat at the ball to hit it. That is so so so awesome, and thats why the x factor is the shit.

After waking up close to the noon hour today I did some laundry and then went down to the computer lab. I think I actually might have finished my paper. It is only a rough draft, but I am glad that I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. By the way I will be home on June 9th only about two more weeks away. After working on paper till about 4 I made my way down to Buffalo Billiards to watch the Angel game. It a nice place to watch a game, no one bugs you and I have a whole big screen and couch to myself. After the game, in which the Angels were victorious, I came home made some dinner and then have spent the remainder of the evening on line.

Day 57

Sun, 23 May 2004 05:57:40 GMT

“I have seen war, I hate war”… Well I woke up this morning after sleeping in rather late and made some breakfast, chatted with the roommates, and watched some tv. After lounging around a bit I went down to the patio to get a little done on my paper, but it was so hot outside that the plan didn’t last that long. After that I realized that I had better go to the store because I wanted to get a camera for the evening when I was going to meet up with my second cousin Lynn, and his fiancé. After a trip to the store I watched some of the Dodger game. I was rather upset because Fox cut away in the 9th inning. That’s what sucks about being on the east coast because west coast teams get no respect as far as tv time. After watching the game and spending some time online I decided that I had better hop in the shower and get ready. At six Lynn and Phenny picked me up at the building and we went over to Arlington, Virginia (which is only about a ten minute car ride) to get some dinner. We ate at the awesome Thai restaurant. I forgot the name, but it was one of the better meals that I have had since I’ve been here. After dinner we drove back in to town and went over to the new World War II Memorial. The new memorial is a big deal out here. It is actually on the Mall which was controversial because the only monuments on the actual Mall before that were the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. The new memorial is really nice, its still not dedicated yet so they don’t turn the lights on at night. This weekend is the dedication and they are having a huge celebration on the Mall and expect hundreds of thousands of people to attend. After walking around the WW II Memorial for a bit we walked over to the FDR Memorial. It is right on the Tidal Basin which is really beautiful at night. You can see the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the background and the whole DC skyline. FDR I think is by far the best President that the United States has ever seen. I have actually been to the Memorial a couple time now and I must say that it is my favorite. It is like a story of his long Presidency. Like during the Depression they have sculptures of the Bread Line, and famous quotes. As you move on it gets in to WWII and why he viewed it as important. FDR stated “I have seen war, I hate war.” Well after the FDR memorial and walking around the Tidal Basin for a bit just chatting with Lynn and Phenny we finally called it a night. I got home around 10:45 or so. I spent the rest of the evening talking to my roommates who have been spending the whole day working on their papers. It is kind of crunch time I guess because everyone has these really long papers due in a couple weeks. We even have a rough draft due by Monday morning. I feel that I am in decent shape though. After chatting with the roommates, mainly about what were going to do for our skit for the fairwell dinner which it seems the 611 has been taking charge of, I went out on the patio and just chatted on the phone for a bit. Its 2:00 am now and I need to get some work done on my paper tomorrow so I think I am going to try to get some sleep.

Day 56

Sat, 22 May 2004 18:24:30 GMT

Oh man last night was the shizzle…. The day started off kind of bad when I noticed that I lost my Congressional ID, but like I said Spring Break baby, so who cares lol. No it kind of sucked because now I have this temp id until I can get a new one next week. The rest of the day at worked consisted of going to a lunch/briefing on the nuclear threat reduction, basically the end of the world is coming lol. I then gave a tour and decided to leave about 4:30 so I could rest of for Ryans 21st bday bash. When I got home I learned that Ryan had puked in room 808 which is dope. I took a nap, cut my hair, and then got myself looking all fine for the ladies tonight. We took off around 730 for Buca de Peppo. There was a large group of us at dinner, but it was totally a party atmosphere. I fell in love with this 17 year old at the other table, but get this, from what I hear the legal age in DC is 16, but the bartender could have been fucking with me. The drinks were flowing at Bucca till like 10 and then we went down to Buffalo Billiards and got our drink on there. The chicks are so so so dope out here. We drank, talked, drank and talked at Buffalo’s until like 130. Some of us drank a tad to much, and I hope they are ok. From there AZ and I met up with some of the gang at Sign of the Whale. Sign of the Whale is like this old kind of pub that has music and dancing. Someone even told me I had rhythm for a white boy, can you believe that. We stayed there till almost 3 and then we decided to call it a night, but let me tell you it was one hell of a party.

Day 55

Fri, 21 May 2004 03:36:28 GMT

Ditched class…ok this is going to be short because Justin is sleeping and I think the typing bugs him, so I feel bad.
1. went to class this morning
2. slept
3. did some dishes
4. worked on my paper/ aol/ sent wendy an email wanting my class ring back
5. watched tv (the Seinfeld thing was the shit)
6. went on the patio and worked on my paper
7. ditched my interest group class. Spring break!!!

I think I am falling for someone that I know I can’t have, and that I know is way out of my league. Whatever should I do? Goodnight.

Day 54

Thu, 20 May 2004 03:21:17 GMT

DC United…Soccer is such as communist sport. I went to the DC United vs. LA Galaxy game tonight. It was the first, and looks like last soccer game I will ever pay to go watch. I mean it cool to see Freddy Adu play, and listen to the Spanish translation over the pa. I cant get enough of Los Angeles being pronounced in Spanish. I mean all these guys do is whine and complain all the time. I ask, what kind of sport estimates their time, that is such BS. Another cool think was getting to see RFK Stadium. Nice old stadium, it was the home to the Redskins for years, as well as the Washington Senators baseball team.

Today was a decent day at work. The phones continued to ring non stop about firing Rumsfeld. Our new intern handled most of the mail, and the Congresswoman lectured me about wearing a hat when i am out in the sun, as she said “you know one of those with a top, not one of those that just has a strap around a bill.” When it was time for the game I decided just to meet the group there because I RFK is only like three metro stops from the capitol. I felt so white in a sports coat at a soccer game. Well I am pretty beat right now, so I am off to bed.

Day 53

Wed, 19 May 2004 03:17:16 GMT

BONO…..Dude, dude, Bono was chilling outside my office door today. Suuuuuunday bloody Suuuuunday. Sunglasses on and everything just taking a picture with a couple girls. How awesome is that. My co-worker and I were in complete shock, he was literally standing in the door way taking the picture. Bono is so the shit. The guy has done so much, and from what I am told he is seen quite often on the Hill. Another great Irishman for you.

Besides that exciting few seconds the rest of the day was nonstop phone calls asking Rumsfeld to be fired. Well over a hundred calls and a thousand emails. Just keep in mind my post from a couple weeks ago saying that Rumsfeld would loose his job over this. We have a new intern in the office. He is a couple years younger, but the guy is sharp. The Chief of Staff asked me to stay through the summer, but I just cant. I said I would love to have a job when I come back, and she said if there is an opening that it would be mine. Exciting day in the office.

The rest of my day consisted of eating dinner, going online, hanging out on the patio, and watch the season finale of law and order svu.

Day 52

Wed, 19 May 2004 00:03:32 GMT

Veterans Affairs…Ok well right now I am writing this in Word because something is wrong with Live Journal. If I loose my journal I am going to cry.

I had to attend a briefing for Eric this morning about veterans benefits and military justice. It rather long for a briefing, three hours. The first half about benefits I could really care less about, but I still had to take notes. The second half was about military justice which was really cool. They talked about the differences between military and civilian law, and about some of the current issues. The main idea was that we are stepping back sixty years in justice in the military. We are forgetting all the lessons we have learned since WWII. After the briefing I came back up to the office and finished up various things around the office that I needed to get done. An exciting moment in the day came when I was walking outside and saw a crowed gathered around a window washer who was stuck hanging from the building. He was rather calm for being in that situation. After fire trucks galore came the man was safely brought down. The rest of the day consisted of eating, sleeping, and yeah sleeping. Not a very exciting day. I just found out that Stephanie is coming here in the Winter to do a similar program, and Caros might be here to at the same time. Well goodnight.

Day 51

Mon, 17 May 2004 03:17:36 GMT

Baseball…Why is baseball such the perfect sport? Can it be tailgating in the Dodger Stadium parking lot getting harassed by cholos? Can it be watching the sun go down at Angel Stadium (I am glad its not the Big Ed anymore, that was weak)? Maybe it’s the Dodgers and the Angels having the best records in the baseball? Or can it be hanging with your best friends playing over the line? No matter what your reasons, you must understand that baseball is the best sport ever invented. The end of April is something that every baseball fan looks forward to every year. How many other sports can bring together fathers and sons, boyfriends and girlfriends, brothers and sisters, and best friends. I truly do believe the MLB slogan “I live for this.”

I woke up this morning in absolute pain from my sun burn yesterday. I think I have put lotion on at least five times today and I know I am still going to peel like a mo fo. Aftrr waking up a meandered down to Safeway to get some food and lotion for the week. I then did some laundry, worked on my paper a tiny bit, watched some tv, and took a nap. After heating up my pizza I headed on over to the Buffalo Billiards to check out the Angel game on ESPN. On my way over there I inadvertently took the long way, but walking around the city at sunset made me realize how awesome this town is. It is so beautiful, people are out every where, and even the bums are nice. I spent the net few hours watching the Angels get shutout by the O’s. It wasn’t that the Angels played bad, it was just that Baltimore played really good. Anytime you can enjoy a nice evening watching a baseball game in peace it’s a good night

Day 50

Sun, 16 May 2004 17:07:48 GMT

Preakness…Ah man what an awesome, awesome, awesome day. Today was the day of sport. We woke up about 6:45 and Emily, Michael, Brad, Ashley, Danielle, Justin and myself headed out the door to catch our train at 8:30am. We mad it to the train in perfect time and found some seats. I must agree with Mike that traveling by rail is a great experience. After a relatively short 45min train ride we made it to Baltimore. With not a real good grasp on the city it took us a bit at the train station t realize we had to hop on the light rail line to get the Pimlico Race Track where the 129th Running of the Preakness was at. For those of you that don’t know, the Preakness is the second leg of the Triple Crown of Horse Racing. It is a big deal, and this year Smarty Jones has a great shot at winning the Triple Crown. That means the same horse wins the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and The Belmont Stakes all in the same year. Well after finding the light rail line we met up with some serious rednecks who seriously had a trash can full of beer. It was then that we learned that you are allowed to bring you own beer in. I couldn’t believe it. So after getting off the light rail line and waiting in line for the shuttle for a while we finally made it to the race track about 10:30. We then realized that we had to buy beer. So we picked up a few 18-packs and ice, and bought a cheap cooler from these ghetto, and I mean ghetto liquor stores. Pimlico is not the nicest race track in the world. It is right in the middle of the ghetto and it is kind of plane. Santa Anita is so much nicer. Well we then started walked with the masses of people (110,000 people at the race) to get our tickets. We opted to pay the extra money to sit in the infield, so tickets ran us $42. Some seats were up to $250 and they were all sold out. Well after finally making our way in we were shocked. This was the biggest party I had ever seen. 70,000 people in the infield with tons and tons of beer. It was a drunken mad house. Girls flashing, beer pong, beer bongs, wet t shirt contest, music, gambling, it was insane, really insane. We found a nice spot on the grass along the back stretch and starting making a dent in our collection of alchohol. We had various contest, such as finishing your beer before the horses reach us on the back stretch and what not. It was a blast. We met George a dude with long hair who is a pool cleaner. This guy is like the surfers in Saved by the Bell. My betting plan was out the window, and I then started betting on the long shots and names I liked. A few hours in to the race I juts couldn’t hang and ended up falling asleep right on the grass for a while. Needles to say, I didn’t win any money. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the light rail line and to go over to Camden Yards and watch the Angels take on Baltimore. Well a few beers mixed with rooting for your team on the road equaled out to me heckling throughout the game and getting hit with the occasional peanut. Camden is awesome. The Angels won, and played a great game. The Angels are doing outstanding this year. After the game we had some time before the bus came so we checked out the Summer Concert Series outside the stadium featuring none other then Eddie Monie. Chicks dancing in the rain, me high fiveing every Angel fan I saw, and of course some more heckling. It made for a great ending to a great day. We then got on the bus and enjoyed the movie Cast Away on the way home with the occasional Laker’s update from the bus driver. After getting back to my apartment I took a cold shower and was asleep within a few minutes. I am as red as a cherry right now and I am already starting peel. Ouch.

Day 49

Sat, 15 May 2004 02:50:12 GMT

Old Ebbit’s Grill…What a dinner. Well today I woke up and went in to work as usual. I met a staffer from Rep. Miller’s office to talk to her about the housing project by Rowland Heights and why I don’t think it’s a good idea. I know it wont do anything to change his mind, but I at least thought I should share my views. After that I came back to the office and did a little work that needed to get done, and then I met Az’s parents and gave them a tour of the Capitol. After that I came back up to the office to get even more work done and headed was out by five. After that I took the metro to Metro Center near the White House to meet Az and his parents at Old Ebbit’s Grill for dinner. This is the most popular and one of the oldest restaurants in Washington. They even eat at there occasionally in West Wing for lunch. The food was fantastic and his parents are really nice. After that all of the roommates kind of went our separate ways. I was beat from working all day so I came home, cut my hair, took a shower, went outside on the patio and talked on the phone. Well right now I am just chatting with Az. It seems the show he went to at Ford’s Theatre with his parents was a Christian kids show lol. He didn’t know until he got there. Now that’s funny. Az is a good guy, in fact I am starting to really get along with all my roommates now. Ah Emily from Australia just came to the door, to tell me that she’s not coming, wait she is coming, I underestimated her. We still haven’t decided if we are taking the 8:30 or the 9:30 train tomorrow, I am shooting more for the 8:30 one myself, so incase we miss it we can still catch the 930, but we shall see how it goes. Wish me luck at the horse races tomorrow, and go angels.

Day 48

Fri, 14 May 2004 04:05:05 GMT

Our own backyard session…Today was a fun day. I feel like I actually have a group of friends here. Now don’t get me wrong, these people are really cool, but there not the COF homies. The COFers are my rib lol don’t worry, no frat joining here. The girls here are really cool. The funny thing is that the one girl I think I can really find myself liking, beyond me just thinking she’s attractive like the other girls I mention, is the girl that I know I can never have.

I woke up this morning and went down to my research seminar. It was actually a good class, and I think I know a little more about which direction I want my paper to head. Between two classes, I still have about 22 pages to write in three weeks. After class I got dressed for my meeting with the Congresswoman and headed down to the office. Well I soon found out she couldn’t meet with me because they had some surprise votes and she had to give a speech. It was cool though because she personally told me, and she felt bad. She told me we can meet next week, and I also walked her to the elevator where we chatted for a moment. At first I was pissed because I got dressed for nothing, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that this would really help me with my paper. It looks like I am finding that the increase in staff has negatively affected debate in Congress. Members are simply to busy. Having this happen today will be something that I can definitely write about in my paper. Well after that I bought a couple hot dogs at a stand on the corner and then came back up and ate my dinner and then took a nap. After that I worked on my paper for a bit and then headed down stairs to do some reading and watch the laker game. By the way, the laker game was awesome. Everyone in the lounge went nuts. After the game bunch of us sat around outside just talking about life. It felt like a semi-backyard session even though we were on a patio on the 4th floor. I am quickly falling in love with that patio. Well another day of work tomorrow, but I will be sure to get my picks ready for the horse races on sat. Ohhhhh boy.

Day 47

Thu, 13 May 2004 04:05:42 GMT

Erin…Well I made in to work today. It was a normal day. I had to give a tour to some high school seniors this morning. I fell in love with this beautiful chick that was part of the group. She needed help putting her sticker on he blouse, so shay came to the rescue. You know, just trying to make that bond with the constituents. After that I continued my current project of getting cosponsors to the smart security bill. We are up to almost fifty cosponsors now, which is good. I have learned a lot about the bill while doing this. The rest of the day consisted o jockeying the phones and doing some research on some new Medicare bills. I finally left work around 715. On the way home I picked up some chips for the little party that was supposed to go down at Erin’s down the hall. Damn erin is hot, way hot. I watched the troubling video of the decapitation online, and then chilled and went down the hall only to find out that it wasn’t really a party it was just me and them. Hey, im not complaining. I did leave by nine however to watch the new west wing. Next week is the finale. In the middle of the show we had a little party for Danielle’s birthday complete with a Penis Cake. I have pics, it was funny. After that I went down to the patio to socialize with the girls from down the hall tomorrow and it looks like they are on board to go to the Preakness on sat, which I must say is going to be awesome. Well I have my research class tomorrow and then a one on one meeting with the Congresswoman in the afternoon so I better get my beauty sleep.

Day 46

Wed, 12 May 2004 03:15:30 GMT

Called in “sick”…Today was just one of those days where I didn’t feel like going in to work. There were two other interns coming in today, and I wanted to get some work done on my paper, thus I decided to wake up and tell Emily that I wasn’t going to go in today, and to pass the message along to the office. I then came back, slept till about ten. I watched some tv and helped do the dishes. Around 11 I went down to the computer lab where I made myself comfortable to be able to work on my paper some more. I am at about page 17 right now, but I almost lost it all today. With some mickey mouse functions I managed to save the paper even though the formatting is all messed up now. I stayed in the lab till around 4 when I met Prof. D. For once he actually told me my paper is looking good and that he is optimistic. After that meeting I went back upstairs, took a nap, and then got ready for class tonight. Instead of having class this Thursday we moved class to tonight so we can work on our “lobby day.” We had some staffers come from the Hill and we got to practice lobbying them about our topic. I have chosen to lobby against the housing development up in the hills. I think there have been a few of the COF’ers actually doing something about this topic. It went good, we had pizza, and just practiced our pitch. After class I met with our T.A., Laura about my paper. She said the same things as Prof. D. but was more helpful on some things that I can change. Following that meeting I went out on the 4th floor patio and chatted with some of the girls from down the hall, and helped one of them write a cover letter. I wrapped my night up with watching Law and Order, and now I am off to bed.

Day 45

Tue, 11 May 2004 03:00:27 GMT

Phone calls…Well again, today was a pretty uneventful. We had to move the desk in the front office a couple inches to make that handicap accessible. The only thing that resulted in that was me banging my knees against the desk every time I sit down. I am going to be in a wheelchair if I keep that up. The only thing somewhat interesting was that I started in on a about a hundred phone calls to other offices to try to convince them to cosponsor h.con.r 392 “The SMART Security Bill.” It is basically our answer to the Bush security plan. We know it will never get passed, we just want to make a statement. After about twenty calls the response has been lackluster to say the least. After work I came home, took a nap, and then walked down to Wendy’s. Its kind of funny, Wendy’s value meal is $1.49 here, and they have fried chicken. After Wendy’s I watched female fear factor. All that show is about is T&A. I then watched Las Vegas, and then took a walk outside since a lot of people were out on the patio because its such a nice night