Slow down, W8, week 8

Hopefully all of y'all caught the pun of W8 (because wait, slow down, I don't want this to end) but if you didn't, there's your explanation.

It was a mighty long week.  I loved every minute of it, don't get me wrong.  but wow.  Long...yet not long enough because here I am complaining that I only have 2 weeks left.  I got asked to stay for an extra week but I don't know if I could do that.  Not unpaid, at least.

Monday--I had class with a group presentation that was due.  I hate presenting, honestly.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm scared of it because c'mon, I love people.  But it's just tedious and you're always afraid to frustrate your group members by not coming in the clutch like you need to.  Luckily, I had an awesome group so it was a flawless presentation.  After I got out of class (which was surprisingly early) I met up with Mel because she came to see me in DC!  Exciting to have your best friend of the past 7 years with you in a city that you STILL haven't gotten to see all of.  I took her to the monuments because what else were we gonna do since it had rained all day...BUT nonetheless, it rocked.

Tuesday--work was average, kind of slow for the day, but had a really awesome meeting which went VERY smoothly to my delight as well as Abby's (other intern with me in our office) considering we were supposed to be handling all the logistics of it.  After work, I napped because I needed it and then Mel and her parents picked me up and took me to dinner.  Let me get something out in the open right now, I love the Pesek family.  They rock, literally the sweetest set of people you will ever meet.  After dinner, I had a cab pick up Mel and I and we drove around DC--I took her past the Capitol, over past the monuments, and then we started at the White House and walked ALL the way back down to the Lincoln Memorial with a group of random people we met.  It was worth it though, it's nice being so outgoing sometimes because I never never NEVER meet a stranger.  Dinner rocked though, we had Haagen Dazs for dessert, and an awesome Uber driver who offered to drive us around whenever we wanted hahaha.

Wednesday--this was my best day by far.  Yet another meeting, trying to handle the logistics and grasping for some explanations somewhere down the line--you don't get the clearest directions when you work for the government, but you work with what you have and learn along the way.  The last half of the day was most exciting but I do have to admit that I love my office.  Everyone in my office is so great that I really enjoy going to our staff meetings.  Jimmy Story is my hero and that probably will not change for a very very VERY long time.  After the staff meeting, I had a meeting to go to with my supervisor about one of my projects with someone else who works in INL and ended up being given an INL challenge coin, which I personally think is the best part of it but then again, I'm a little nerdy.  After that, I went to the meeting that I helped set up and escorted, only to escort someone from the DoD; I ended up chatting with her for a while about what life was like on that side of the fence and it turns out that I am going to find out sometime this week on my visit to their offices.  The meeting went well and Brownfield is a rockstar.  I got a few new projects, which is exciting, and worked through the day.  Thankfully, Lester was hungry when we got off work and we went all the way to Crystal City to Chick-Fil-A where I got to also see the OU office in the Crystal City mall!  

Thursday--Thursday was a blur, nothing too good or exciting happened, but I went on a good run after work (pictured below) and sent out a few emails that needed to be addressed.  

Friday--work was great, I felt like I got a lot accomplished early in the day and reached out to everyone that I needed to reach out to.  I tried my very first street vendor hotdog at lunch and it was AWESOME (and cheap) and the vendor was actually a really patient guy when he found out all I had was my card.  He said I could go eat first and then pay him after I finished lunch, but obviously I found a card machine and paid him ASAP.  After work, I ran back home, got everything put together, and made my way to Union Station to catch my amtrak to go see my sister and niece.  I upgraded to business class because I'm paranoid and didn't know how Amtrak worked, but in the end it was definitely worth it.  I sat behind a guy who heard me mention that it was my first time on an Amtrak train and he started a conversation with me; he was in his late 50's, a grad from Ole Miss, and seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing in DC all the way from Oklahoma.  He assumed I was already in grad school (which made me feel good because I never get mistaken for being older than I actually am) and when I told him I wasn't, he got even more curious.  He continued to ask me about my dreams, aspirations, etc.  He worked for the Associated Press for 35 years as a political correspondent--needless to say, he recommended never going into journalism because it didn't pay well.  After finding out that he was a political correspondent for a while, he said that he just recently changed to his job now where he works at a law firm out of Richmond but that they also have an office in DC.  Once again, I never meet a stranger so it was cool to have someone to sit by and talk to about my future, someone who actually doesn't laugh at you, ya know?  He asked if I considered going into law school and when I said hell no, he gave me his card and said he saw potential in me.  Needless to say, I was excited because once you get into the professional world, you realize there is no better compliment than receiving a business card with the whole "contact me soon, we'll talk more about this and what you want to do when you graduate" kinda conversation.  We talked professional, we talked college football, and ended the convo (sadly enough) once I got to my destination.  I finally got to my sister's and was so happy to see her and my niece, but went straight to bed that night.

Saturday--I spent all day with my niece, sister, basically brother-in-law/basically other niece, and we spent some time on the lake.  We came home, I helped with dinner (the good Lord KNOWS I love mashed potatoes) and had an awesome home cooked meal.  I watched a movie with my sister and Daniel at the end of the night and then all but passed out.

Sunday--today was mainly packing, spending as much time as I could with them, and then getting in a little lake time. 

My train was late so alas, I could be arriving in the next 15 minutes but instead, it's gonna be another 25.  That's all right though, I'm learning (slowly...very slowly) to be patient.  Thankfully, it was an awesome weekend of relaxing and getting in a little family time while I could.  Back to the grind in DC--pray for me for these next two weeks because I know that they're gonna fly by.  Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures and expect the next two posts to be depressing; I'm not ready to leave this city or the awesome people that I've met and connected with.  So with that, the greatest lessons I have learned this week are:
1. Appreciate the people who surround you and provide you with constant love and support.
2. All you have is today.  You aren't guaranteed a tomorrow and the past will be irrelevant in 3-6 months.
3. Reach out to who you can, when you can.  People are a beautiful thing and good karma is real.

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find.

-John F. Kennedy