Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Cast & Crew

DC Summer 2009
"Puke and Rally"

Starring:


Jessi Molinengo and Hilary Hurst

Fran and Hank Molinengo

Richard Walsh
Spending the summer at William & Mary

Katie Horner
Spending the summer at Virginia Tech

Andrea (Drea) Goetchius
Spending the summer at UVA

One may ask, how are they a part of your summer if they're at school?
Don't worry. West Springfield High put something in its food
so these guys are obsessed with each other and we make it work.

Up until now the music of choice has been Britney Spears/Lady Gaga and CSN. Haha.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Double Talk


In downtown DC most of the stores have their names
written in English and Chinese.
Pretty cool, huh?

Friday, May 22, 2009

"My dear, I don't give a damn."


This past week I've been paid to read.
NRI, the temp agency that hired me, placed me at the University of the District of Columbia where I worked as a cashier for registration week. Students came to me, exhausted after winding through every possible setback caused by the illogical and misleading process, where I proceeded to deplete their bank accounts by hundreds of dollars. Thankfully, I only dealt with a handful of piercingly pissed-off people and I rather enjoyed the experience.
Originally there were five temps hired for this job, but each day we lost someone (because not enough people came through to make it worth it) so by today just Julie Eccles (from the ward out here. She's the one who hooked me up with NRI) and I were left. 

Julie Eccles at our station. My computer is the one on the left.

The view from the window behind us.

Basically what my days looked like were:
I read my book until someone walked into the room. If none of the other temps stood up to help then I would take the student's ID number, look up how much they owed, take their money and point them to wherever they needed to be next. That's it. I wish I could say more about the people or the job but except for the squat, mustached female security guard and the complete failure of any sensible system, there's nothing to say.

Hilary and Julie. Die hard temps. Oh yeah.

In our hour commute to UDC, Julie and I have to switch trains. Yesterday, as we headed home, there was an unusually large number of commuters so as we got on our second train I was surprised that the people sitting next to open seats were taking up more than their fair share. I asked a young sandy woman if I could take the seat next to her and sat down. Because Julie was behind me, she walked two rows past and went to occupy a seat beside a white male: 24 years old, dressed like a thug/skater carrying a guitar case and mini-amplifier.
Immediately the woman beside me, who obviously had watched Julie go to sit down, grabbed my arm.
"Do NOT let your friend sit there! Don't!"
As I turned to hail Julie, with no clue as to why, the round black woman across the aisle from me scooted over to free the seat next to her and, with eyes too-wide and a voice too-urgent for any apparent reason, waved Julie to her side.
"Sit here!"
Turning back around my sandy-complexion neighbor said, "You don't want your friend sitting there. That guy's been rolling joints this whole train ride. Look now! See?!"
Sure enough, Mr. Pot had a doobie stuffed in his hat and was licking a new one closed. He then proceeded to spend the entire rest of the trip hollering anything that would produce a reaction, and when that stopped he would cough/clear his throat/spit and then sing marijuana-theme songs. Interesting how the appearance of one weirdo will draw together so many strangers. That ride was the one commute where I had a good conversation with someone I didn't know, and it wasn't just with Ms Sandy, it was with everyone around me. For example, the middle-aged man who told me in all his years moving with his Dad in the Airforce his two favorite places were Germany and Kansas. It always makes me wonder what I'm missing in all the other train cars.
People really are more interesting than anybody.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Week Well Spent

So I had a week to burn before starting my first job placement tomorrow but more about that anon.
Anon?
Dead give-away to what I've been doing; I devoured "The Three Musketeers" in the last four days. I still find myself thinking in Dumas styled rhetoric and I'm constantly playing the characters over in my head.
First, can I say (and this is to those familiar with the work) that I was so upset that Milady's real name is not Lady d'Winter. Thanks to Disney's "Three Musketeers" (which is so off-base it doesn't deserve the title) I thought her name was Lady d'Winter when in reality her title is Lady Clark. Definitely a name not fitting to the sexual daemon Dumas paints her to be. However, thanks to Disney, I also believed that Aramis looked like Charlie Sheen. Thankfully I was able to overcome all previous assumptions and delve into the world of 17th Century France.
Now that I have finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, that novel, the local public library is holding "Gone With the Wind" for me to blow through. I'll take my time with that one though, since I really don't know the story at all.

Tomorrow I'm metro-ing to the University of DC where I'll be stationed for the next week doing whatever they tell me. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing but I think I'll be working the cash register. (Not registering, despite my desire to turn common nouns into verbs. Registering is a different activity.) I'll fill you in later this weekend.

This weekend should be fun. Jessi's friends are coming home from school so we'll have a bigger gang and more havoc to wreck.
LOL, jk. No, but really.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Rain Rain Go Away

It's Spring and not Summer yet. That's for sure.
The natural sprinkler system of Virginia has been keeping everything wet and cool. I'm not complaining because it reminds me of California winters but every time the sun makes an appearance I find myself begging it to stay. One nice thing, everything will be green and beautiful for the summer. I'm a fan. : )
Friday night I was laying in bed when I realized there was a lightening storm in the distance and I was missing it. (Jessi made sure to let me know that there will most definitely be more/better storms this summer. It's a summer thing apparently. Weird the things I never realized.) So I sat at the window listening to the static sounding downpour and watching the flash illuminations of the outside world. It's such a zen-like moment. Kind of like when you realize all your Scrabble taws align perfectly on the bo
ard in an eight letter word or when you finally learn how you want to express the notes of a piano piece. Anyways, Thunderstorms are definitely something I missed out on by growing up in San Jose.
As for now, I've been catching up on reading (Gone With the Wind is the newest adventure) and journaling until Friday when I go off for my first job. I'm excited! Not California, but I am really understanding the draw of the East.

Jessi and me in front of the DC temple the week we got here.