...then I want none of it. Ok, so maybe I want a little of it.
I have been thinking a lot lately about WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP. (That is in caps because it's a big and often worrisome topic, not because I am yelling)
I have some dream jobs. Here is a list, in no particular order of preference.
Professor
Midwife
Financial/Debt Coach
Something on Capitol Hill
Aid Worker in Africa
Flight Attendant
Something that makes me feel good - doing stuff for other people
Getting people into school - people who don't have the tools to do it themselves
Almost anything in a developing country - teaching english, working in an orphanage etc.
Peace Corps (they won't take me, I'm not a citizen)
Working for the Olympics
Other things I can't think of right now.
So, I have been thinking lately - why am I pursing an office job (admittedly I have been looking at stuff on Capitol Hill, which fits into one of my dream jobs) when none of my dream jobs is really even close to that?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Hilarious Horrible Tragic
I have had the most trying couple of days recently. Let us begin at the beginning.
My car has had a few challenges with its battery lately. It all began one day when I was late to work so I drove my car into Arlington and rode the Metro from there to work. When I returned to my car that night, I had accidentally left the lights on (not that anyone ever does that on purpose I presume) and the car was dead. Right before I found this out I stepped in an ice cold puddle, so my feet were wet and freezing. It was a Balticly cold evening. I called my long-suffering marvelous roommates and someone was dispatched with immediacy to come to my rescue. I am so blessed in so many ways by my roommates. So, with the car jumped (thanks to the foresight of my little sister, it being she who insisted some jumper cables be housed in my car) we were back on our way again. Thus began the long decline of my car battery. I only drive my car on the weekends and some occasional evenings, so when it recently got very very cold, and the car was sitting all week the battery would die. I attribute this to the constant drain on the battery from my car alarm light flashing. Then last week the check engine light came on. I was immediately panicked as my check engine light has being the harbinger of major doom in the past. With no strange noises coming from the car, no smells and no lack of performance (other than the occasional dead battery) I was soon convinced that the light was on because the car had hit a mileage that required it.
So begins the trauma of our present week. On Monday I had plans to go to FHE. I went out to my car and it was dead. Dead, but with a little clicking. I went back inside and my roommate offered to let me use her car or to drive me there, but I had been cutting it close and would no longer be able to make my deadline. We chatted for a little while and then I decided to take her car and use it to jump mine. I went outside and proceeded to do this. Of course this was no mean feat. My car was parked inbetween two other cars so I ended up having to push it out of its parking spot in order to get the other car close enough to do the jump. I hope someone was watching and getting a laugh out of this. It must have been really funny to watch me pusing my little Jetta around. Anyway. I get the car jumped and hop out of Wednesday (my car) to turn the other car off. When i disconnect the jumper cables I go to put them in my car only to realise that it has locked itself. The keys are in it. It is running. It is locked. What is to be done? Well, I calmly return my roommates car to its spot then run inside to get the phone number for a locksmith. My roommate has AAA so she calls them to come and unlock it for us - what a blessing. We head outside to meet the AAA guy and...... the car is gone! I've been towed. This my friends, is more than I can handle and I proceed to laugh. Consider the hilarity of the situation. I must not have been meant to follow through on my plans for that night. So, the car has been towed. I determine that the best plan of action (after determining that the car has been towed and not stolen) is to call the towing company management in the morning and complain perchance earning myself a repreive from the $125 fee to retrieve my car. No such luck. The towing company are steadfast in their determination to have my money in exchange for my car. We go to the towing company (my purse and various other important items - passport, keys etc. are in the car) and when I get my wallet out I realise that I don't have my credit card - it is the pocket of my coat, safely nestled in the closet. So then we have to drive back to the apartment and collect it. Then we collect the car (which needs to be jumped AGAIN) and I finally break down and take it to a mechanic. By this point it is late in the afternoon and the mechanic doesn't have time to look at it. The next day when he calls me he says that the reason the engine light is on is because the gas cap is missing. He also tells me that I need a new battery. Neither of these is cheap - mostly because he spent so long figuring it out (there apparently isn't a warning light for a missing gas cap - does this strike you as INSANE!?! so the check engine light comes on. I didn't discover the missing gas cap for myself because I ony drive the car maybe twice a week so I bought gas a good three weeks ago and still don't need to fill up) that the labour charges are as much as the parts. All in all I just want to blow my car up. I need a job. A real job. More on that later today.
My car has had a few challenges with its battery lately. It all began one day when I was late to work so I drove my car into Arlington and rode the Metro from there to work. When I returned to my car that night, I had accidentally left the lights on (not that anyone ever does that on purpose I presume) and the car was dead. Right before I found this out I stepped in an ice cold puddle, so my feet were wet and freezing. It was a Balticly cold evening. I called my long-suffering marvelous roommates and someone was dispatched with immediacy to come to my rescue. I am so blessed in so many ways by my roommates. So, with the car jumped (thanks to the foresight of my little sister, it being she who insisted some jumper cables be housed in my car) we were back on our way again. Thus began the long decline of my car battery. I only drive my car on the weekends and some occasional evenings, so when it recently got very very cold, and the car was sitting all week the battery would die. I attribute this to the constant drain on the battery from my car alarm light flashing. Then last week the check engine light came on. I was immediately panicked as my check engine light has being the harbinger of major doom in the past. With no strange noises coming from the car, no smells and no lack of performance (other than the occasional dead battery) I was soon convinced that the light was on because the car had hit a mileage that required it.
So begins the trauma of our present week. On Monday I had plans to go to FHE. I went out to my car and it was dead. Dead, but with a little clicking. I went back inside and my roommate offered to let me use her car or to drive me there, but I had been cutting it close and would no longer be able to make my deadline. We chatted for a little while and then I decided to take her car and use it to jump mine. I went outside and proceeded to do this. Of course this was no mean feat. My car was parked inbetween two other cars so I ended up having to push it out of its parking spot in order to get the other car close enough to do the jump. I hope someone was watching and getting a laugh out of this. It must have been really funny to watch me pusing my little Jetta around. Anyway. I get the car jumped and hop out of Wednesday (my car) to turn the other car off. When i disconnect the jumper cables I go to put them in my car only to realise that it has locked itself. The keys are in it. It is running. It is locked. What is to be done? Well, I calmly return my roommates car to its spot then run inside to get the phone number for a locksmith. My roommate has AAA so she calls them to come and unlock it for us - what a blessing. We head outside to meet the AAA guy and...... the car is gone! I've been towed. This my friends, is more than I can handle and I proceed to laugh. Consider the hilarity of the situation. I must not have been meant to follow through on my plans for that night. So, the car has been towed. I determine that the best plan of action (after determining that the car has been towed and not stolen) is to call the towing company management in the morning and complain perchance earning myself a repreive from the $125 fee to retrieve my car. No such luck. The towing company are steadfast in their determination to have my money in exchange for my car. We go to the towing company (my purse and various other important items - passport, keys etc. are in the car) and when I get my wallet out I realise that I don't have my credit card - it is the pocket of my coat, safely nestled in the closet. So then we have to drive back to the apartment and collect it. Then we collect the car (which needs to be jumped AGAIN) and I finally break down and take it to a mechanic. By this point it is late in the afternoon and the mechanic doesn't have time to look at it. The next day when he calls me he says that the reason the engine light is on is because the gas cap is missing. He also tells me that I need a new battery. Neither of these is cheap - mostly because he spent so long figuring it out (there apparently isn't a warning light for a missing gas cap - does this strike you as INSANE!?! so the check engine light comes on. I didn't discover the missing gas cap for myself because I ony drive the car maybe twice a week so I bought gas a good three weeks ago and still don't need to fill up) that the labour charges are as much as the parts. All in all I just want to blow my car up. I need a job. A real job. More on that later today.
Monday, February 23, 2009
And Here We Go
This blog has been requested at least once by at least one person so I am acquiescing and hopefully I will be more successful at this one than we were at the last one. I may occasionally still use the other one, but I can't guarantee that. We shall see. The purpose of this particular blog would be to document what I get up to in the marvelous city of Washington D.C. and its environs. Here goes nothing.
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