Klee5389’s Weblog

I was assigned my first-ever story from The Daily on Monday.

To keep the story short (and because I really shouldn’t be online posting this for…oh, the random people who read this blog just because they typed “Monday” or “interview” into the WordPress search engine), in the past three days I have interviewed:

• The Deputy Secretary of Administrative and Financial Services of the Philippine Senate
• The Mayor of Tkon (a little town in Pasman Island in Croatia)
• An operations officer for the International Organization of Migration (IOM)
• A training coordinator for CHF International
• The manager of the EU Project for the Estonian Ministry of Education

…Aaand a few other people whose titles are amazingly long. Gettin’ the connections, no? I’m stoked.

This article’s due on Monday, hopefully I’ll be able to finish this, the first draft of my globalization paper, the first draft of my other international studies paper, and the weekly international studies paper before Tuesday/Wednesday. Oh–and I gotta do some research for a separate globalization project and study for a midterm.

Also, I have a funeral to go to on Sunday. I’m guessing I won’t be able to take my laptop there. What do you think?

Overall, this has been an interesting and pretty awesome week and weekend. The Halloween “party” (which is in quotes because really I’m not even sure if it can really be called a party) was alright. Afterwards, my roomies and I took a midnight stroll (ok, maybe it wasn’t midnight, but it sounds so much cooler) on the Ave and got some food, while, I might add, in our costumes. One of my roomies had a pirate costume that was incredibly short and was topped off with fishnet stockings and there I was, Cleopatra, in a  super-thin, spaghetti-strapped, low-cut dress with a gaudy headdress. We got some attention, I’m sure. And I’m surprised I’m not coughing with a painful sore-throat yet.

Well, Saturday was pretty uneventful actually. One should know (or maybe it doesn’t matter) it is now Sunday morning and I’m adding to this unpublished post (if, for some reason, you didn’t catch on to that, although you really should considering the date on which this is published is displayed a few inches above this). I’m just sitting here waiting for my cousin to take me to Vancouver.

My entire Saturday consisted me sitting on my ass in front of this laptop slaving away on my article. What killed me was that I was ten inches over the required length of thirty. I think I got too much information out of my interviews that I founded sincerely fascinating. BUT what else contributed to the ten inches were, I think, the long names and long titles of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship recipients. And the fact that in journalism, “U.S.” can only be used as an adjective (U.S. schools for example). Everything else, like “This is his first visit to the U.S.” is completely wrong–United States HAS to be written out. And since the length of newspaper articles depends not on the number of words but rather the number of CHARACTERS (including spaces, commas, periods, dashes, and all that jazz), and since United States is thirteen characters…well, you get the idea. So I edited that damn thing honestly over a hundred times–made really lame changes. In that example above, for example, I would’ve changed it to “This is his first U.S. visit.” That sounds terrible, but that’s not an ACTUAL example from the article. Give me some credit here.

I’m rambling.

This week should be jam packed as much as this last week. I’m looking forward to it. I kinda want Monday to be here.

So, that “thing” that I’ve been waiting for. I think it’s here. Maybe.

Nothing to get too excited about. It’s quite pathetic really–I’m ashamed that I’m even writing about it. But it’s a Sunday night, I’m taking a break from studying commodities, commodity chains, and capitalism, and I have nothing better to do while listening to the oh-so-smoove “Pepe Linque” by Oregon, a local (if I were still in the Vancouver/Portland area) jazz band.

So, here goes.

The past four weeks have been absolute bores that were comprised of reading. Now, I must say that I do enjoy reading. But like 100 to 200 pages for every other day? And actually understanding and remembering the words on the paper?! Oh, heck no.

And now week five of the 2007 fall quarter at the University of Washington dawns upon us…while raining down (the downpour type of rain that doesn’t cease to end) the midterms and due-dates for term papers and other research projects.

Hello, Mr. Thing That I’ve Been Waiting For.

See? Pathetic.

I think there might be something wrong with me. I’m actually excited. Really. On my Windows Vista I have the Notes Gadget with a list of things-to-do typed in a nice, loopy font. I just checked off two things yesterday. Sa-weet.

I think I’ll grow up to be one of those obsessive-compulsive workaholics and die from a heart attack. I have no idea where the latter came from, but for some reason I associate workaholics with heart attacks.

This is all a total wake-up call. It’s all happening at once. So much to do. Hallelujah.

On another note, the past week was a good one. It started off interestingly with a journey at midnight to the Chevron gas station (the ONLY convenience store that we could find open…the other two or three convenience stores located on the Ave weren’t too convenient in my opinion) to buy cigarettes that my roommate wasn’t going to smoke.  That, right there, is a post by itself, but it’s been a week already–ancient history. However, I will say that I felt sympathy for the clerk.

Some other good (and definitely amusing) things happened here and there…one involves a weekly paper that I thought I was going to fail and one exceptional individual. Even though this story is only about three days old, I refuse to post about it.

Picture me smiling to myself right here. Oh, the torture (for you).

Anyway.

I went shopping with the roomies yesterday. Finally got myself a costume for the Halloween dance/party and blew about $85 on a white dress, gold bangles, bracelets, necklace, ring, armband, and an “Egyptian” headdress. You receive a nickel if you can guess what I’m going to be.

I have a meeting tomorrow with The Daily. Hopefully I can finally get my hands on a story assignment to add to my Notes Gadget.

I feel like my life is at a standstill. I feel like I’m waiting for something, but I just don’t know what the hell it is or when it’s going to happen. Everyday it’s the same ol’ thing–roll out of bed, go to the IMA, shower, eat, classes, eat a package of gummy bears or licorice, tennis on Tuesdays and Thursdays, study, read approximately 100 pages about the Crusades, the Mongols, and globalization, do homework, eat “dinner,” sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

I KNOW I’m waiting for something. I guess I’ll find out what it is when it finally (or if it even) happens. If it doesn’t, then let’s just say I will be one unhappy camper.

Maybe it’s because these past couple weeks have gone by extremely quick for me. It seems like just yesterday that I was waiting at that second bus stop for the same bus.

On another note, I desperately need a hitting partner for tennis. I was at practice for two hours today and probably only hit for a total of ten minutes.

And on ANOTHER note, to Santadelic (since I have no idea how to comment on your site):

We didn’t exactly get lost. We were just extremely confused. First-time bus-riders here. Well, yes, I do take the bus to the IMA every morning, but I’m still a newbie. I wonder if you’ll even read this…?

The title sounds rather “yawn,” I know, but trust me, it’s meant to be a total curve ball.

Before we went up to Seattle for school, Sally and I decided that we would come back down to Vancouver during the second weekend of school by train. So, of course, since the train station is in downtown Seattle, we would take the bus there from our dorms.

Simple, right?

Right?!

Read on.

Last week, I trip-planned our destination on the Metro website; we would be taking bus 73 at 3:27 pm. Ok, sounds good.

We decide to meet up in front of Lander Hall–probably about a 3-5 minute walk to our bus stop. I wait in front of Lander…my behemoth-sized Northface backpack crammed with laundry and an alarm clock that I didn’t need at school hanging off of my right arm, my messenger laptop bag strapped across my shoulder, and my painfully-heavy-black-international studies-textbooks-filled tote bag weighing down on my other shoulder. That workout this morning at the IMA, by the way, turned out to be totally unnecessary. Sally, meanwhile, comes into view with an equally-large Northface backpack weighing her down as well, a gigantic rolling luggage bag trailing behind her.

We trudge our way to the bus stop–bus 73 arrives right on the dot at 3:27. We flash our Husky Cards to the driver, who says “Pay as you leave.”

…Never heard that before, but ok. The man says to pay as we leave, so we’ll pay as we leave.

The bus is jam packed with people. Sally, somehow, amazingly gets her luggage bag through the tiny aisle without knocking anyone out (I think) while I have some struggle getting through with three different bags hanging off of my arms. I think I might’ve hit someone with my Northface backpack.

The ride begins. I let out a sigh of relief…we’re on bus 73, on our way to downtown Seattle to Amtrak.

We drive down along the Ave and I wonder where it is exactly that we’re going to get off. We eventually start driving in a neighborhood, there are houses everywhere…is this really how we get to downtown? Must be. I specifically remember saying “This must be the long way or something.”

3:52…we are STILL driving in this anonymous-looking neighborhood. According to the trip planner, we were supposed to be at Amtrak two minutes ago. Uh…

I turn to a girl wearing a Jack O’Lantern hat at the seat next to me, asking her “This bus goes to downtown, right?” She gives me a blank stare.

A girl comes up next to me and Sally, questioning the same thing. Low and behold, she’s trying to get to the same bus stop as we are. We ask the driver, who explains that this bus was going completely in the opposite direction of downtown.

…?!?!

Sally, Girl-Who-Made-the-Same-Mistake-We-Made, and I haul our butts off, crossing the street to get to a bus stop to wait for a bus that was actually going in the RIGHT direction. We wait for a good thirteen minutes. There was a Nubian Salon and a Cafe Wein-something across the street. Behind us was a dentist office. The only reason I remember this is because the girl kept saying that she was thirsty and wondered where she could buy something to drink.

Finally, our bus comes. I let out of a whoop of excitement (not really, but I WAS excited) as I gather my bags once again. I eagerly step on, displaying my Husky Card high and proud in my hand to the driver when I realize…

That it was the SAME driver from before. He pretty much rolls his eyes and laughs. He flicks his hand a couple times to indicate that he remembers us. I thought it was pretty hilarious myself–we actually got off a bus only to get back on it again thirteen minutes later. Lovely. Just lovely. Sally and I were howling with laughter. He must have thought we were pathetic.

Thus, we drive back through the neighborhood again, back down the Ave from which we came, and finally back to the street where we got on the bus stop about over an hour ago. Yes, over an hour ago. In one hour, we had rode up and down the Ave, up and down a neighborhood, and finally back to where we initially started–three to five minutes away from Lander Hall.

There were even MORE people on the bus as we were actually going to downtown. People standing in the aisle were right in front of our faces. Sally smelled them as we ate sour gummy egg candy things.

We FINALLY arrive at the bus station when we encounter yet another conundrum: where in this immense bus station do we get off to get to Amtrak?! I slid my cell phone cover up and down every other minute to check the time.
With about 45 minutes left until our train leaves, we look apprehensively at each stop, pondering whether or not we should get off. Finally, I look behind me at a man wearing a red and white striped shirt, asking him if he knew where the stop was to get to Amtrak. Turns out that this fellow was going to Amtrak as well! Splendid.

We finally reach our stop at the very end of the tunnel. People were rising all at once to get off, but I didn’t want to lose sight of this man, our savior. Sally and I rush off, trying to follow him. He takes a flight of stairs. We, of course, laden with 500 pounds of luggage, opt to take the escalator, which apparently, is much slower than taking the stairs.

We get to the upper level, panting and completely exhausted, but the man is already several feet ahead of us. We walk faster (not that much faster, though) to keep up with him, but the next thing we know he is gone from our sight–disappeared into the thin air, he did. I honestly have never been so amused in my entire life. We were both laughing so hard that we were practically crying.

So. Now we were lost. Where was the damn train station?!

Across the street. Duh.

We come across some MORE stairs (what is it with Seattle and stairs anyway?), on which Sally has to drag the luggage bag, which, by the way, isn’t even hers. That luggage bag seemed to add the hilarity of our day–it kept getting stuck in potholes.

And FINALLY, we get inside the train station and rush into line to get our tickets, laughing uncontrollably at all of this absolute insanity. I don’t know about Sally, but I really was on the verge of tears.

The train ride itself was a very calm one. Sally slept for most of the time, and I studied while iPoding. I could write about that as well, but that just wouldn’t be very entertaining. Oh, wait. I just did.

And besides, I’m really tired. Abrupt ending ends here.