Too Many Things

This summer, I'm interning with Virginia Living Magazine. But I'll be honest: I only work there two days a week. If you've been wondering what I do the other five days, here's a picture:

1. Microsoft Word document

I'm working on a story! I'd like to make it something I could release periodically in small parts, but it's taking me a while to get off the ground. I'm going to write a few chapters to make sure I have my head on straight. We'll see where it goes from there.

2. Photoshop Elements 12 window

I've been trying to learn a few Photoshop tricks. I have the software. It'd be nice if I could do more than just use the brush tool. I've actually been poking around in tutorials online. So far, I've only done one, but there are a few others I'd like to try. It's just a little disheartening when I attempt something and it looks nothing like the tutorial. Wouldn't it be nice if I could just download Photoshop skills into my brain? Ah, but then it wouldn't mean anything to me...

3. YouTube window

Okay, yeah, I kind of watch YouTube all the time. Way more than I should, in fact. But sometimes it's helpful for research. Today, for example, I looked up violin and guitar duets to see if they're actually a thing. It turns out they are, and they can be quite nice. That's a detail I needed for some character development. I'm also watching a Let's Play/walkthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Because I'll never actually play it.

Another video site I frequent is ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com, home of the Nostalgia Critic and all his friends. I really enjoy listening to other people analyze movies. It helps me look at old favorites from different angles, and it's really informative on how not to tell a story.

4. Water bottle

I've been drinking a TON of water ever since I arrived in Richmond. I'm just always thirsty. My personal theory is that we only eat multigrain, super-fibery food in this house and it makes me thirstier than usual.

5. Bamboo tablet

Mostly connected with the Photoshop business

6. Game Boy Advance

I wasn't super interested in the Nintendo DS when it came out, and now I'm too cheap to buy a 3DS, so I'm still playing on the Game Boy Advance I got for my tenth birthday. I've had it for over 11 years. I haven't had this particular game pak for that long, though. It's The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, with the Four Swords game included. I actually bought it used from Amazon right before I left for Richmond. 

Since I've been interested in the Legend of Zelda franchise lately, I really wanted to try playing one of the games. Thanks to my aforementioned cheapness, my options were limited to Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Wii games.

If you know the Zelda franchise, you might be saying something along the lines of, "Wait, what?! Why didn't you buy Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword? They're great games, and they're much more recent than A Link to the Past!"

Because my brief moments with the Wii are few and far between. I don't have it with me in Virginia. My hopes are not high for being able to take it to school with me in the fall. It was a family Christmas present one year, although I'm the only one who still uses it. Now that both my sister and I will be at school, maybe I'll be allowed to take it along? I mean, we have it. Somebody should use it. I'd really love to play Twilight Princess. And Skyward Sword, even though I've already watched the whole thing online. But I have to beat A Link to the Past, first, and it's a lot harder than you'd think it would be. Puzzles, man.

7. Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job

It's been a while since I've read a book that wasn't assigned to me by a professor. This one is pretty interesting so far! My aunt recommended it to me. So far, I find it funny and intriguing, even though it's about death. Can't wait to dig more into it. My aunt had a graphic novel that Christopher Moore wrote, which I also read, which was called The Griff. I wasn't so enthused about that one. The idea was solid and really very interesting, but the pacing was off. It was adapted from a screenplay version that Moore had written earlier, and you can really tell. The panels flash by and whip back and forth from location to location just like scenes in a movie might, but while that kind of pacing works for a movie, it's just too fast for a medium that tells its story in just a few panels. Moore seems much more at home writing a book, and I am definitely hooked. I just need to hurry up and finish it before it's time to leave.

8. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen

A lot of friends have recommended this comic/graphic novel to me, so I thought I might as well read it. The guy at the comic book store had only good things to say about it, although he wanted to make it clear to me that the book was much better than the movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I've heard plenty of awful things about it. I haven't gotten too far into the book yet, but I'm really intrigued by it. The guy at the comic book shop said it best when he described it as "a deconstruction of superheroes." It's really a different look at superheroes, different from any of the bright and shining or dark and gritty figures you'll see beaming up at you from your usual Marvel and DC comic books.

9. Notebook, pencil, and marker pens

I bought the notebook in a pack of three at Target, just because I wanted something to write and doodle on. I bought those pens specifically because the editor at the magazine I intern with uses that kind. Hers is red and full of frightening power, though. I doodle, both for the sheer joy of putting ink on a piece of paper and in an attempt to learn to draw better. I've been using a few online tutorials for that, as well.

So that's what I do with my other five days of the week. I also go for long walks (and occasional runs), watch movies, cook and buy food, hang out with various friends, and sleep. I sleep a lot. Well, I don't really sleep a lot, but the specific hours I choose to sleep sometimes make it seem like I sleep a lot.

I do a lot of things. I'm engaged in so many different things that it's taking me forever to do any single one of them. I do one thing for a while, then I put it down and do some other things, and then a week or two later, I finally get back to the first thing. Too many things. I am spread too thin. But I'm really happy that I'm getting a chance to do some of the things that I don't get a chance to do during the school year, like reading a book for fun and playing video games. Vive summer!

Happy Independence Day from the Beach and Zoo!

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, everybody!!!! Happy Independence Day!

Late? What do you mean, late? THIS IS AMERICA. WE CELEBRATE OUR FREEDOM ALL YEAR ROUND!!!!!!

Have you seen those Buzzfeed posts with all the obnoxious America stuff? I find them hilarious. A little facepalm-inducing, but on the occasion of my country's birthday, I find it all quite funny.

I went to Virginia Beach for the weekend with my aunt. We stayed with her boyfriend and his daughter. It was fun. They have a big, comfy house, and the guest bed was super comfy as well. The first night, I bonded with my aunt's boyfriend's daughter over MarioKart. It's always more fun to play with another person. It was just a lovely night.

Well, I mean, there was that whole Hurricane Arthur thing that happened. That was a little frightening. But Virginia Beach didn't get hit too hard. There wasn't much damage from the hurricane.

But you know what did happen? A tornado warning.

A TORNADO WARNING. Because APPARENTLY THOSE HAPPEN IN VIRGINIA.

It happened in the middle of the night- 1 A.M., 1:30, 2... somewhere in there. My iPhone started beeping at me. I had mentally prepared myself for the sound, since the storm was picking up steam, but I had expected to see something about a hurricane on the screen when I rolled out of bed and checked my phone.

Nope. It was tornado time.

So I went into tornado mode. I stuck my contacts in and went downstairs to watch the news and determine if the tornado was going to be a threat. I determined the safest place in the house to hide from the tornado. I fretted and fretted over whether I should wake anyone else up.

Nobody else got up when their iPhone started beeping. I was apparently the only one who was worried. And, you know, it was all fine anyway. By the time I figured out how to work the TV (it's never as simple as pushing the POWER button these days), the storm had moved out of Virginia Beach and into Norfolk. I stayed up until the tornado warning got knocked back down to a tornado watch.

And then the entire next day, I felt exhausted and foolish. Because I was the only one who was worried about the tornado warning.

But... it was a TORNADO WARNING. Where I come from, YOU DON'T MESS AROUND WHEN THERE'S A TORNADO WARNING. If there's a tornado warning, it means either A TORNADO'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN or there's ALREADY A TORNADO ON THE GROUND AND IT'S COMING TO GET YOU!!!!! Sure, most of the time the tornado doesn't actually come to get you, BUT YOU STILL DON'T MESS AROUND WHEN THERE'S A FREAKIN' TORNADO WARNING!!!!!!

I'm almost done complaining and ranting.

When I finally got to bed, the wind kept me up for a long time.

And then when the wind stopped being loud and annoying, the cat started.

And that was why I was so exhausted the next day.

Now I'm done complaining and ranting.

The next day was the Fourth of July! And it was glorious!

We all slept in a little bit, and then we had a few rounds of "What do you want to do? I don't know, what do you want to do?" and then we went to the zoo.

The zoo has lovely taste in decorations. A bunch of the animals were inside or hiding or sleeping, but it was still really fun to see the critters that were out and about.

They just thought they otter be patriotic.

How about a tall one to celebrate our fine country?

An elephant nose how to enjoy a national holiday.

This guy was so patriotic, and I'm not lion.

'Ears a spirited celebrator!

This guy and his family celebrated in a very patriotic manor.

I would try to make a pun, but you just don't get any more American than a bison.

The Fourth of July is very near and deer to this little guy's heart.

This guy really made a big skink over the holiday.

These guys wouldn't let other countries get their goat today. 'MERICA.

I bought a red panda toy because it was cute. I didn't actually see any red pandas today, though, and that was disappointing, but now I have one to take home with me! His name is Pabu.

After the zoo, we went to dinner. There were yummy garlic fries involved.

The next day, we went to the beach! And it was so much fun! I'd forgotten how much fun it is to swim in the ocean.

I did get a little sunburn on my back and shoulders, though. Not too bad, although the redness intensifies in those spots where my arms were apparently too short to reach.

I have a birthmark on my back, and it's kind of hard to see, except when my back is sunburned and it sticks out like it's screaming, "HEY, LOOK AT ME! I'M A BIG, WHITE SPOT!!!"

I'm kind of just in a continuous state of laughter over my sunburn.

Virginia House Blog-athon: Whoops

I'm on my way home from Agecroft Hall. I checked on Google Maps and determined a route to get back to Cary Street. I just found out that, thanks to streets curving and changing their names every fifteen feet, I have been walking parallel to Cary Street for about ten minutes.

Virginia House Blog-athon 6: WHAT.

After consulting Google Maps (it wasn't my fault I got lost; the roads just ceased making sense), I finally got myself to the Virginia House.

Pretty, isn't it?

Here's a photo of their sign:

Ah, yes, the Virginia House, owned by the Virginia Historical Society and open by appointment-- wait, WHAT?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!

I do NOT remember seeing this information on the website! Google itself was under the impression was open today-- until 5!

I was so, so tempted to just sneak under the chain. But I really don't want a run-in with the Richmond police. So I just took another photo from the other gate.

Major bummer.

But then I kept walking and saw a tall flagpole flying an American flag. It was lovely, but what caught my attention was the British flag flying right next to it.

What luck! Another historical place right next door to the one that wouldn't let me in.

Unfortunately, it's only open for about another hour, so I don't want to pay admission. But I think I'll go in and poke around a little.

Virginia House Blog-athon 5: Man vs Nature

Once upon a time, human beings tried to build red brick sidewalks in some Richmond neighborhoods.

Nature laughed in their faces.

Also, a dog just crossed a street to come bark at me because I apparently wasn't intimidated enough when he barked at me from inside his fence. It didn't take him long to determine I wasn't a threat.

Virginia House Blog-athon 4: Decision Point

I have reached Sulgrave Road. I'm fairly certain I need to turn left. But I don't feel like checking the app. This will either take me right to the Virginia House or lead me very far away from it.

Wish me luck.

Virginia House Blog-athon 2: Return of the Queen

I stopped at the elementary school playground to prove myself Queen of the Monkey Bars. The monkey bars stood no chance against me.

I'm writing this post from a park bench on the edge of the playground's big, grassy field. The children are quite fortunate to have such a massive playground.

The day is warm but very breezy. With stinging palms, I press onward toward my destination.

Virginia House Blog-athon 1: Setting Out

Today I'm going to the Virginia House. The website says it's a house that was built in England and relocated to Richmond. I'm walking there, and while I have my Google Maps app, I really have only a vague idea where I'm going. Hilarity may ensue.

I've just set out. Approaching the elementary school. Stay tuned for further reports.

Thursday, In Which Rebecca Teaches the Office Something New and Almost Gets Catapulted

(new record for longest post title?)

So today was Thursday.

On Tuesday, I wrote some copy for an advertisement page. I wasn't actually writing the advertisements... well, scratch that, I did write some advertisements, but then the person in charge of me told me I wasn't supposed to do that. Whoops. I wrote the little blurb that goes before all the advertisements. It was about spas. I looked online and found that mindful living is apparently a trend this year, so I wrote about mindful living and how Virginia spas can help you do that. Nothing grand. Just three paragraphs, typed in a Google doc so other people could jump in and edit or whatever.

On Thursday (earlier today), soon after I arrived at the office, one of the guys who was working on the advertisement came over, looking a bit glum, and informed me that one of the paragraphs of the copy I had written had accidentally gotten cut out and lost at one point. He asked if I had a copy saved on my computer, and I didn't. I offered to try to rewrite the paragraph from memory.

When I pulled up the document, I sat and tapped my chin for a moment. At some point in my career of using Google Docs and randomly pushing buttons, I had stumbled across a way to view the document's revision history. After a moment or two of poking around, I found that one can do this by clicking the little announcement that says "All changes saved in Drive."

I was able to pull the missing paragraph out of an earlier edition of the document and restore it! Hooray!

But the best part was that I got to go tell the guy how I did it. And he was pretty impressed. So impressed that he came back to my desk and got me to show him how he did it, and another staff member came with him. I received some blush-inducing praise for my button-finding skills.

The magazine office is full of sophisticated software that I have limited skill on or have no earthly idea how to use, and it is also full of people who are highly trained in the use of said software. But even if I get nothing else out of this internship, I will always be the person who showed the office how to access the revision history on a Google doc.



And then I had issues with my chair.

I've actually been having issues with my desk chair since Day One. The seat has always been reclined too far back, which means I've always had to either sit up perfectly straight or slouch way back. Since sitting up straight is exhausting, I've always gone for the slouch option. However, the angle of the seat back and the slipperiness of the chair have always resulted in an endless cycle of me slipping down farther and farther in my chair until my chin can rest on my desk (very professional), and then boosting myself back up again.

I tried messing around with the levers and knobs on the chair. Nothing ever worked. I even asked the intern who sits next to me how to fix the chair, and we determined that it was broken. Yet hope springs eternal, and every day I found myself trying fruitlessly to adjust the chair. Nothing ever happened.

Until today.

Today I played around with the crank and flipped one of the levers up. Nothing happened, and I went about my business.

Later on, I happened to lean forward in just the right way, and--

WHOOMP!

"WHOA!"

The back of my chair came swinging up, nearly catapulting me right onto my desk!

Well, whatever part was stuck is now fixed. I can adjust my chair with ease.

Unfortunately, the adjustments have not fixed my sliding problem.

Pajama Haiku

Few things feel better

Than putting on pajamas

Fresh from the dryer

A Trip to Church: A Play in One Act

A Trip to Church

A Play in One Act

Dramatis Personae

Rebecca

An editorial intern. New to the city of Richmond

and rather afraid of its streets. Not good at

navigation.

Car

A 2014 Ford Fiesta hatchback. Silver. Equipped

with Sync system. Loves to drive and is very

optimistic.

GPS

The Google Maps app on Rebecca's iPhone.

Renowned for reliability and a veteran

at saving Rebecca's bacon.

Setting: Various streets of Richmond and a parking garage. REBECCA and GPS are inside CAR.

REBECCA: Okay, guys. Let's get going to church. This is a little bit later than I wanted to leave, but we still have over forty-five minutes before the service starts, so I think we'll be okay.

CAR: Oh boy! We get to go somewhere other than work!

REBECCA: I have a vague idea of where I'm going, but I'm still going to need some help. GPS?

GPS: Here's the route I think you should take.

REBECCA: Okay, let's see. This street... turn right here...

GPS: Hey! Quit dragging around on my face! I can't tell if you're trying to change the route or what. Just let me tell you when to turn.

REBECCA: I was just curious. Jeez. Okay, let's go.

CAR: Wheeeeeee! Nobody has a turning radius like mine! I'm awesome! This is exciting! You never drive me anywhere!

REBECCA: Walking's good exercise.

CAR: Who needs to be in shape if you have a zippy car like me?

GPS: Turn left here.

REBECCA: So far so good.

CAR: Can we turn on some music?

REBECCA: I'd rather not. You're not always good at switching between the iTunes and the Google Maps app. I don't want to get lost.

CAR: Aww, that was just one time.

GPS: Turn left here.

CAR: I'm great at left turns. No traffic! Yay!

REBECCA: It's only supposed to take us eight minutes to get to the church, so I think we'll be in good shape.

GPS: Head west on this street.

REBECCA: What? West? Which way is west?!

CAR: Let's go this way!

GPS: Wait, wait, wait, no! Don't-! Aaaaaaagh. Let me recalculate the route.

REBECCA: Well, sorry. How about a "left" or a "right" next time?

GPS: Still recalculating.

REBECCA: If you could hurry, that'd be nice. I don't want to get too far off track.

GPS: I'm trying to concentrate.

REBECCA: Why on earth did you take me this way anyway? I thought we were just going three blocks up the street and taking a turn on Monument.

GPS: Take the exit in one-fourth of a mile.

REBECCA: Exit? What do you mean, exit? We're not on a highway.

CAR: This is fun! Wanna see me switch lanes?

REBECCA: Okay. This is insane. I'm pulling into this convenient parking lot and we're going to sort out the right route to church.

CAR: Boooooooo! I don't wanna stop!

GPS: All right, fine. Here's the route.

REBECCA: What?! How did I get all the way out here? Why did you take me this way?

GPS: I took the information I was given and I plotted out the shortest route to get there. If you don't like it, you should be more careful the next time you plug in an address.

REBECCA: This is not my fault. How did we even get all the way out here? We're never going to make it to church on time!

GPS: Am I to blame for your inability to follow directions?

CAR: Come on, you guys. Don't fight! Let's start driving again.

REBECCA: You know what, whatever. Just get me there. Let's go.

GPS: Turn right here.

REBECCA: Fine.

CAR: Ah, the breeze blowing over my windshield on a fine Sunday morning. Doesn't driving make you feel relaxed and happy?

GPS: Go west on this road.

REBECCA: Stop saying that! I don't know which way is west! I can't stick my head out the window and judge the position of the sun! Tell me left or right!

CAR: Well... we're going east right now, if that helps.

REBECCA: Wait, so... I'm going the exact opposite of the way I want to go? Brilliant. Wonderful. This is ridiculous!

GPS: Recalculating.

REBECCA: I don't even recognize any of these buildings!

CAR: Come on, church bus! Quit blocking the road! I wanna drive!

REBECCA: Maybe we should just follow the bus and go to whatever church it ends up at.

GPS: Turn right here.

REBECCA: And then what?

CAR: It's not a good idea to look at your phone while you're driving...

REBECCA: We're at a red light. Shush. Okay, right here, left here...

CAR: Green light! Whoo! Aww, come on. Am I the only one that's happy?

REBECCA: Wait... this is the road! This is the road I'm supposed to turn right on!

CAR: Turning! Whee!

REBECCA: Hey, GPS, was there any reason you didn't tell me I was supposed to turn just then?

GPS: Turn left on Bricks Road. Turn left on Adams Street. Turn left on Caroline Road.

REBECCA: What?! Stop! Are you crazy? One at a time!

CAR: Uh, Rebecca, I think GPS is a little confused, so I'm just going to disconnect her. I bet you and I can get there! We're a good team!

REBECCA: WHAT NO NO NO I NEED THAT!!!

GPS: You disconnected me? How dare you? That's it, I'm getting off of this crazy bluetooth wagon. Good luck getting anywhere in this city without me.

CAR: Sync. Please say a command. Bing!

REBECCA: Bluetooth Audio!

CAR: Ummmm, GPS doesn't really want to talk to me right now, but I'll try to reconnect her...

REBECCA: Aaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

GPS: Turn left on Bricks Road.

CAR: There you are!

REBECCA: OHTHANKGOD.

GPS: At the traffic circle, take the fourth right to turn onto Monument.

REBECCA: Traffic circle? I don't see a-- oh, there.

GPS: Turn right on--

REBECCA: WAIT WAIT WAIT That's the church right next to me! And there's the sign for the parking!

CAR: Aww, here already? Hey, here's an idea-- why don't we just listen to a church on the radio and go drive around some more?

REBECCA: You, you mothertruckin' GPS, can just shut up now. I'm not listening to any more of your crazy directions.

GPS: That's some way to talk to the machine that has gotten you home every time you got lost in the city. And that was a lot of times.

REBECCA: Yeah, well, that makes it all the more disappointing that you couldn't even get me through the three turns it should have taken me to get to church. Thanks for nothing. Well, thanks for very little. I can't believe-- AAAAAAAH NO WAIT THIS IS THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE!!!

CAR: Hey, take a chill pill. Did you forget about the part where I have a great turning radius? And brakes. I have super brakes. And there's not even any traffic coming at us. You're awfully wound up. Hey, this ought to cheer you up-- you have almost fifteen minutes until the sermon starts! You parked kinda crooked.

REBECCA: You're small. You fit in the lines.

CAR: I sure do!

REBECCA: Car, thank you for being awesome.

CAR: No problem!

REBECCA: GPS, I'm plotting out a Facebook status in my head. Something along the lines of "Mothertruckin' GPS took me on a tour of Richmond this morning."

GPS: Do you really think that substituting the word "truckin'" for what you really mean is going to make your grandmothers any less shocked when they see your status?

REBECCA: Shut up. I'm going in now.

Curtain.

Pink Toes, White Sauce, Green Apples

In case you ever wondered what my feet look like, there they are. The toenails aren't usually pink. Today my aunt decided that she wanted to go get a pedicure, and she invited me along. It was kinda nice. The little foot bath was nice and warm, although the lady doing my nails seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry. But now I have pink toenails, and they're kinda fun. My fingernails, on the other hand, are naked, but you know what? That's okay.

If you look carefully, you can see the great sock tan I've got going on. That's only going to get worse-- especially when band camp starts.

Tonight I went to eat dinner with a friend from school. She actually lives in Virginia. Her church was sponsoring some young people who came to help out with one of their camps this summer, and it was my friend's family's turn to feed them dinner. So my friend invited one of her high school friends and me to go with them to a Mexican restaurant, and that was pretty awesome, especially since I had nothing else to do on my Saturday night.

At the restaurant, I ordered a Burrito Grande, thinking it sounded delicious, although I didn't realize exactly how grande it was until it was too late. That thing was as long as my forearm, I swear. It tasted great, but there was no way I could finish it. I brought a little under half of it home in a box.

There was some kind of white sauce that the waitress served up alongside the salsa. Nobody could really tell what it was. We knew it wasn't cheese. I elected to just eat my chips plain, which is how I prefer my chips most of the time.

After dinner, our big group all went back to my friend's house, where we played Apples to Apples and halfway watched various cooking competition shows in the background. I kicked butt at Apples to Apples, man. I think I had around seven green apple cards.

You know how sometimes people joke around that the green cards you win describe your personality? Some of mine fit pretty well, like "mischievous" and "eccentric." I didn't agree so much with "smelly" or "masculine."

But it was quite a fun night. It's really hilarious how many friends I'm digging up so far from home. So far, I've gotten together with a friend I go to college with, a friend I went to middle school with, and a friend I met in kindergarten. How crazy is that?

Excuses, Excuses

Okay. So.

On Wednesday night, I had a legitimate reason for not blogging, and it's name was There Was A Storm And Our Power Was Out Until After 3 A.M.

On Thursday night, I did not have a legitimate reason. My illegitimate reason's name was I Forgot.

On Friday night, I had a semi-legitimate reason, and its name was We Went To A Richmond Flying Squirrels Baseball Game And It Was Raining So The Game Was Delayed Until 9 P.M. And We Got Home Really Late.

(It's semi-legitimate because I had all day to blog and I didn't, and although I was tired when I got home late after spending several hours at the baseball game, I stayed up doing other things anyway.)

So, how 'bout them Squirrels? I think it's really funny that the team is called the Flying Squirrels... I mean, usually when you pick your team's mascot, you pick an animal that's fierce, fast, or threatening in some way. But you know what? The baseball fans in Richmond really go with it. They bring their enthusiasm, and all of a sudden, it doesn't feel stupid that their mascot is something you'd normally call cute and fluffy.

They did a pretty good job making the Flying Squirrel logo and the costume of their mascot, Nutzy. It's all in how you stylize something.

So that was fun, despite the rain and ridiculously late starting time. They sold hot dogs for a dollar as an apology. I got one. And it was tasty.

Today I overslept by a lot. I think I accidentally turned my alarm off instead of hitting the snooze button. And I didn't really do a whole lot today. I watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I had a pizza delivered because one of my aunt's dogs is at "camp" for the weekend and he wasn't here to go ballistic when the doorbell rang. It just seemed like an opportunity I had to take advantage of.

I went for a lovely walk after dinner. Just kinda wandered around the neighborhoods a bit. I walked past the elementary school and found a set of monkey bars so tall I had to jump in order to reach them. So while I can't imagine them being of much use to small children, I had fun swinging across them. Maybe I'll go back a few times a week and get some good calluses going.

Did you ever read Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary? In the book, Ramona (in the fourth grade at the time the book takes place) and her friends often compare the calluses they get on their palms after swinging on the rings at the playground. The girls who lived closest to the playground had the biggest (and best) calluses.

I used to keep that in mind as I mastered the monkey bars at my first elementary school. Those things were HUGE. They were so high off the ground that you had to climb a ladder to reach them, and it was a long, loooong drop down if you couldn't make it all the way across. And getting across wasn't easy. For one thing, there were a lot of rungs on the monkey bars. It was a good 15-20 feet across. But you also had to contend with the huge gap in the middle- a gap where a rung ought to have been, but was never placed. The gap occurred in the dead center where the poles that held up the middle were.

(Yes, the monkey bars were so long that they had to have support in the center. They were THAT intense.)

When I was in probably third grade, I gradually worked up the strength to get to the center of the monkey bars, but the gap was a problem for a while. I eventually figured out that I could somehow steady myself by wrapping my legs around one of the support poles and then REEEEACH across to the other rung. And that's how I mastered the monkey bars.

I Got The Power! ...except I kinda don't.

My computer is rather confused right now, as it is running without a battery. At least, I assume that's why it's running a little more slowly than usual.

Why is it running without a battery?

Because I took the battery out.

Why did I do that?

Because the battery was BURNING HOT.

Why was the battery BURNING HOT?

I can only guess.

I assume that part of the problem was that I had my laptop sitting on my bed. I assume that another part of the reason is that I'm not using the original power adapter (as you may recall, that got fried in Ireland). The battery hasn't been quite right ever since I got back from Europe, anyway. I've been getting a message that the battery life is decreasing for months, and sometimes my laptop freaks out and doesn't recognize the adapter. So between the European electricity and the not-Dell power adapter, my battery is slowly losing its patience with me.

So, yeah. My laptop wasn't charging, as the blinky yellow light informed me, and upon doing all the normal investigations to find out what was wrong, I noticed that the bottom of my laptop was as hot as a few choice words.

I popped the battery out and put it on the nightstand. Hopefully it'll cool down and work again by morning. If not... Well, as I discussed last summer when my power adapter gave up the ghost, I'd rather have a bum battery than a bum power adapter. At least this way I can still use my laptop!

In other news, I edited some copy today! Yaaaaaayyyy!!!! It was a small collection of short news blurbs known better to Virginia Living readers as the Bellwether.

That, of course, was in the middle of the interviewing and research I did today, like I do on most days. It's getting easier. Sometimes I actually find someone really interesting to talk to. Some people are really passionate about their high school programs, and it's just refreshing to know that there are good people out there to guide and direct those crazy teenagers.

I can call teenagers crazy. I, myself, was a crazy teenager not too long ago.

But tomorrow's my day off! All I know right now is that I want to go to the candy store. Hey-- as long as I walk there, I oughta get my 10,000 steps for the day. That justifies the chocolate.

Catch-up

Hi! So, yeah. I had a couple of nights when I just reeeeeally didn't feel like blogging. I was also doing some legitimate research for a writing project, so there's that. My apologies. I'm going to cover a lot of ground in very little time, because I have to get up and do stuff tomorrow.

This dalmatian is my aunt's dog Fuego. I was responsible for watching him and his brother Shadow (see below) for almost two days while my aunt was out of town. Fuego and I became buddies.

This Weimaraner is named Shadow, and he and I had a bit of a fight over who was the leader of the pack while my aunt was away. I had to turn to Cesar Millan for some advice, but I came out on top in the end and Shadow doesn't hate me.

I used to get these out of the vending machine when I was studying in France. So why do I have one here in America? Well, when my aunt returned from her trip, she took me to this AMAZING candy store called For the Love of Chocolate. It. Has. EVERYTHING. I was seriously overwhelmed by the candy amazingness in that store. I could hardly decide what to buy. I decided that I would just have to go a couple times a week and sample something different every time. As long as I walk there, it'll be okay!

I also got this Irish creme truffle from the big truffle case. Mmmmm. So good. I might have to start a blog series about all the candy I get from For the Love of Chocolate.

As a side note, I also tried Thai food for what was either the first or second time in my life (I can't remember, but I think I might have eaten it once before). I got Pad Thai, and it was amazing both in the restaurant and in leftover form. We got veggie tempura as an appetizer and I loved that, too! Especially the asparagus.

This is a tapestry of Louis XIV, my favorite French king (and a lot of other people's favorite French king, too) and it is located at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where I chose to spend my Saturday afternoon. The museum was awesome! It was a lot bigger than I expected it to be. I wasn't expecting a whole heck of a lot because general admission is free, but I was blown away by the size of the museum and the variety of art on display. I mean, it's no Louvre, but what the heck else can be a Louvre? I had a great time, and since the admission is f-r-e-e-that-spells-free, I think I'll go back a few more times. I mean, if nothing else, they have a pretty cool art library that I'd like to poke around in.

When I look at art exhibits, I don't just wander around, glance at a few things, and think, "Oh, that's pretty" or "Eh, I don't understand that." My mind has been trained to go much deeper than that over the course of my education in the English language and literature. 

I scrutinize. I analyze. I read the information signs. I look at the art from a few different angles. And then I think, "Oh, that definitely represents the mindset of the time" or "I wonder if the hands are missing thanks to weather or people or what" or "Eh, I don't understand that."

Although it took me about 0.51 seconds to recognize that the figure in the photo above was Saint Denis of France. He's the only headless saint I know of (The guy supposedly was beheaded and then picked his head up and walked away with it), so that was a pretty easy one.

I had no idea who this was from looking at it, but the sign told me that it's Saint Barbara- who, as far as I know, having a father who was in the military most of my life, is the patron saint of things that go boom. Which is pretty cool.

Virginia folks, I don't wanna hear anything about Alabama people being rednecks. These are some crazy Confederate protesters I saw through the museum windows. They're apparently there pretty often. EVERYBODY'S GOT SOME REDNECKS.

Okay, okay, it's not really politically correct of me to call people who wave the Confederate flag rednecks. What I should really say is that I disagree with just about everything they're fighting for under the stars and bars.

(I had written out some specific reasons for my disagreement with Confederate flag-wavers, but with each reason, I had opened up a big ol' can of worms that I realized could cause me some problems. So... playing it safe. On with the show.)

This garden display outside the museum reminded me of something I saw in France.

As I mentioned briefly before, I'm currently researching names for a story/thing I'm trying to write. That's taken up some of my free time over the past two-ish days. The names are for a fantasy world, but I'm struggling to come up with the right names. After doing some research about mythology and fairy tales and stuff, I began browsing through Ancient Scandinavian names and started coming up with some results. I'm going to check out Old English and possibly some Russian names, too, and I'm definitely going to raid some roleplaying websites for ideas.

I also reached out to my Facebook friends about the rules of making up names. I mean, I feel so stupid stringing together a bunch of letters that don't make a real name, but you've seen the fantasy and sci-fi names we have in our culture: Legolas, Frodo, Gandalf, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Darth Vader, Voldemort, Aslan, and so on. We don't question those names (or at least we don't question them much). We just take them as part of the fantastical world into which we are delving when we read a book or watch a movie. But somebody had to sit down before that book or movie came to life and string a bunch of letters together to make up new, weird names.

My question is- how do they do that? How do they make names that sound foreign and fantastical but don't sound completely stupid? Do they research and combine words from old languages together? Or do they seriously just put a bunch of syllables together until they find goofy names that they like?

I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out, though.

And now I really gotta go to bed, because I have a little roadtrip tomorrow to meet an old friend for lunch. Later, gators!

An Evening of Tans One Year in the Making

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a photo of my right shoulder. As you can see, it's a bit pinkish. That's because I took my hour-long lunch break yesterday out on the deck behind my office building and I sat on the side of the picnic table that was in the sun. I wore a new shirt for the first time yesterday. As you can probably tell from the state of my shoulder today, the new shirt is sleeveless.

My left shoulder is ever so slightly burnt as well, but it's hardly worth mentioning. It doesn't even hurt. 

How on earth did I get such a lopsided sunburn? (I'm thinking it's something to do with the angle of the sun, but whatever) Not only will I have crazy tan lines on my shoulders, but they'll be lopsided, too. I'll never get them evened out.

This is not the first time I've had a lopsided sunburn, though. 

Once upon a time, in the month of June and the year 2013, I was a blogging globetrotter, living in Tours, France with a host family. My host mother's great-granddaughter was having a birthday party, and I was invited along. The party was at a house somewhere across the river, and it was a house very much like those we see in the United States-- in a neighborhood, not attached to any other houses, with a front and back yard. And the backyard was enormous. Probably bigger than my own backyard.

It was a nice, sunny Summer day, and I was wearing a yellow tank top. At one point in the party, several hours in, I found myself seated in a little circle next to a tree along with my host mom and some other family members, just chatting. What I did not realize was that I was only sitting halfway in the shade of the tree.

By the time I realized my folly, the damage had already been done. My left shoulder was a bright, raw red, while my other shoulder was untouched. The lopsided pain, flaking, and tan would plague me throughout my remaining time in France and well into my journey in Ireland.

As the winter came and I limited my exposure to the sun, my shoulders and all the rest of my skin sank back into the cold, dead paleness that would make a Victorian gentleman swoon. I forgot that the sunburn ever happened... until now.

In the summer of 2013, I burned my left shoulder. Now, in the summer of 2014, nearly an entire year later, I have burned my right shoulder. While it might appear that I once again have a lopsided sunburn, I know the truth.

I have finally evened out my tan.

Rich Boy

Today I didn't do much of interest to the general public. I mean, it was a really nice day for me. I slept in late, watched some stuff on YouTube, went on a walk around Carytown, went to Kroger, and ate an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. But that's probably not as interesting to you as it is to me.

So instead of just talking about what I did today (I mean, more than I already have), I decided I would draw a little something for you. And that little something's name is Rich Boy.

A couple of posts ago, I talked about how I felt kind of like Lois Lane at my internship and I chuckled over the idea of a Richmond superhero being my boyfriend. I derived the name Rich Boy from the name of the city of Richmond and it just stuck in my head as an awesome name for a comical superhero.

Behold! Rich Boy! Able to fill in a pothole in under sixty seconds! Rescuer of tourists about to turn the wrong way on a one-way road! Defender of drunken college students trying to stumble home in the dark!

He keeps watch over the city by his position at a Richmond magazine (none of the newspapers would hire him) so that he knows exactly when trouble is happening (and he is also very well informed on the cutting-edge programs at high schools and colleges in the commonwealth of Virginia).

He loves lobster! He may or may not actually be rich!

Rich Boy!

THE RETURN OF MOUSSAKA!!!!!!!!!

Today I went to the Richmond Greek Festival with my aunt and her boyfriend. We waited until around 2:30 to go, hoping that there would be fewer people there, but we still ended up waiting in line and we just spent a longer chunk of the day being hungry. But that's okay! The line moved quickly, and we got our food.

The menu had all kinds of Greek entrees, most of which I can neither pronounce nor remember how to spell. But which entree caught my eye and earned a spot on my plate?

MOUSSAKA!!!!!!!!!!

If you followed along with my adventures abroad last summer, you'll remember that I fell in love with my host mom's moussaka in France. If you didn't, you can catch up on those blog posts here, here, and here.

I was kind of excited to get to have moussaka again and to see how my host mom's dish compared to authentic Greek cooking. My two moussaka experiences were actually very different.

It's been a while, so I'm not sure I have the details right, but I remember my French host mom's moussaka consisting mainly of eggplant slices, tomato sauce, and cheese.

The moussaka I got at the Greek Festival still had eggplant, but there were some very different other ingredients in it. For example, it had ground beef. Again, I could be wrong, but I don't remember my host mom's moussaka having any meat in it. There was also a layer of something in the Festival version that reminded me of mashed potatoes but was decidedly not. The most noticeable difference was that my Festival moussaka had cinnamon in it. I thought it was a little weird, but I was starving, and I gobbled it right up. It wasn't until I revisited the leftovers later in the day that I decided that the cinnamon is too weird for me and I prefer my host mom's moussaka over the authentic Greek dish.

How do you think the festival workers would react if I bought moussaka tomorrow and asked them to make it a little more French?

But moussaka is moussaka! It was still pretty good, and I was glad to have it. I also had some kind of cheesy pastry which was tasty if a little rich, as well as a side dish of green beans with tomatoes in it. I ate the green beans without complaint. They were fine. Nothing really to write home about, but they didn't offend me in the least. All in all, a tasty and satisfying meal.

I got to sample a bunch of different Greek desserts. To sum them up in one sentence, I would say that the desserts were very sweet, and none of them had chocolate. There was baklava and other pastry-like things with honey or powdered sugar or almonds... all with Greek names I don't remember (I am sincerely sorry). I got something that looks like cheesecake except there's kind of a flaky crust on top and bottom, both crusts appearing to be drenched in honey, and the inside is extremely soft and quite sweet, although it has kind of a weird texture.

I don't mean to give the impression that I'm turning my nose up at all this Greek food. I'll admit, my experience in food is fairly limited to a few select cultures, and there's a lot of stuff out there that I've never tried, so my taste buds aren't exactly programmed to immediately enjoy new things. But my official stance on food is that I will try anything once, and I tried a bunch of different food from the Greek Festival. While it wasn't food that I would choose to eat very often, I did enjoy it, and I'm very glad we got the chance to go.

The atmosphere was kinda fun, too. There was music, and I heard rumors of dancing. We didn't stay and eat at the Festival; my aunt's house is only a short walk away, so we walked over, grabbed some food, and walked back. And I need to mention that I was eating a Greek yogurt popsicle on my way back. Because it was delicious. And strawberry-flavored. Made with real strawberries, too. Honestly, I don't know how I forgot to mention the popsicle earlier. It might have been my favorite part of the meal. I probably forgot it because I ate it so much earlier than I ate the other parts... but it would have melted if I hadn't eaten it first!

Also deserving of mention is the fact that I saw a car with stickers from my university at the Festival. That was really, really awesome. On the first day I was here, I saw a car with stickers from my university's rival, which was kind of a "What the heck? What are you doing here?" moment. I began to wonder if perhaps I wasn't alone in Richmond, if maybe there were others like me. If one of my rivals lives here, then why not some of my own people, too? And today I found them. And it was definitely a Roll Tide situation.

Here are two pictures of the Festival for you to peruse:

I am a Journalist

So let me just start off by saying that my second day at my internship was MUCH better than my first day was. Still a little too long for my attention span, but it was okay.

Why? Well, today I decided that, if people didn't pick up the phone when I called them, I would leave them a message AND email them. And the emails brought results.

The person in charge of this project gave my next-desk neighbor (who I thiiiink is also an intern?) and me a revised game plan today. There were certain schools highlighted on our Google spreadsheets, and those schools had a specific program or building that we were to call and ask about. There was often also a point of contact and phone number already listed, which was awesome. So today there was less mucking around on the Internet looking for stuff and less mucking around in telephone transfer land.

And I actually heard back from some people! I think the whole email thing helped. Like, I would totally be more willing to answer questions over email than over the phone (but then again, you know how I feel about the phone). I got to talk to a really interesting professor at the College of William and Mary about a dual degree program. She was very willing to talk about it, which was AWESOME.

But as the person in charge of the project was telling us about the new additions to the spreadsheet, she also went over the kinds of questions we were supposed to be asking. She encouraged us not to feel limited to the questions on our scripts, but to follow up on some of the details if we found them interesting. She finished up with a very trusting "You know, you're journalists."

At that moment, my brain shot back a rather unexcited "Uh, I'm actually an English major. I write about old poetry and stuff. All this interviewing and reporting stuff is not my thing."

But you know what I did today? I conducted interviews. I compiled research to be used in a magazine article. I fact-checked another article. I scoured the Internet and called every phone number I could find in order to find elusive information

I AM A JOURNALIST.

I might be a journalist who is slightly afraid of talking to people on the phone, but so what?

It got easier and easier to pick up the phone and call people as the day went on. I think I stopped worrying about it so much. I also stopped sticking so closely to the script and started talking a bit more naturally. Honestly, I think it helped that I realized that I wasn't actually going to get to talk to a human being about 80% of the time.

But when I actually did get to talk to a human being and I actually got a whole stinkin' lot of work done? It felt awesome. I felt like some kind of confident and news-savvy reporter. I kind of felt like Lois Lane and began wondering if some kind of awesome Richmond superhero was going to show up and be my boyfriend.

I mean a good version of Lois Lane, of course. I'm definitely not comparing myself to some kind of weak and swooning type. I was thinking of the DC Animated Universe Lois Lane, who's full of snark and awesomeness.

An example:

See? Very few people can get away with hitting Batman.

The only thing about today, though, was that I realized halfway through the day that I kept writing things like "We are writing a story" and "Please give us a call back" in my emails instead of using words like "me" and "I." In reality, I was doing that because I was giving out one of the higher-ups' numbers and not my own, and the entire time I was really just doing research for the person who would actually end up writing the story, so it was more a collaborative effort than anything.

But it made me start thinking weird things... Like I had been sucked into the conglomerate being of the magazine staff, and we were all trapped together in this hive mind, and all I was was just a hand of the giant being that is the magazine...

So yeah, I think I'm going to stick with comparing myself to Lois Lane. I think I need to make up a superhero for Richmond. New York has all kinds of superheroes, and I'm pretty sure Los Angeles or San Francisco have some, but you never hear about a Richmond superhero. How do you feel about Rich Boy?

First Free Day

Whoa! Almost forgot to write a blog post tonight! It wasn't my fault. My aunt had Sherlock on when I got back from dinner. I got distracted.

I will be working at my internship on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so today, being Wednesday, was my first day off. I'm kind of extremely happy about how my schedule worked out. It means I work a day, get a day off to recover, work another day, and then I get a four-day weekend!

I really hate that I'm already complaining about having to work at this internship. I shouldn't be feeling that way. I really need to be grateful that I got a position with this company that is being so flexible and in a town where I have free and entertaining lodging- dogs included. It's just... Well, I was originally told that I was going to be working four hours a day, and now I'm working eight hours a day, not including an hour-long lunch break. That first day kinda took a lot out of me, you know? And that wasn't even a full-length day.

I mean, you saw in that last blog post where they made me talk to people on the phone, right? (I know, I know, I need to get over it and be an adult.)

Living in a new place and starting a new internship can just be hard sometimes, I guess. Especially since this magazine stuff is so new to me. I'm an English major, so all I know about journalism comes from the class I took in seventh grade and my time as a high school correspondent for my local newspaper. Also, I'm already stressed out because driving in Richmond is harder than what I'm used to.

But in cases like these, I know it's important to focus on the positives. For example, yesterday I learned how to fact check an article. Basically, you just call the people you're writing about (AAAAAAAAAH) and make sure your information is right and your telephone number works, and if there's a website, go there and make sure the URL works.

Also, the people at my office are all pretty friendly. My supervisor got married over the weekend, so they had cupcakes for him in the morning, and I got to have one. The computer I'm working at has a touch screen, and while I don't use it, it's still cool to have. The screen saver is bubbles that float around the screen. Best of all, there's a little deck with a picnic table behind the office. I can eat my lunch there, breathe a little bit, not look at a computer screen or traffic, and recharge my being-with-and-talking-to-people batteries.

So there's a lot of good stuff about this internship. But the title of this blog post is First Free Day.

I stayed up late last night, and I slept in late this morning. And it was glorious.

I watched Justice League on my aunt's giant TV. And it was glorious.

I ate English muffins with peanut butter for breakfast and cheesy scrambled eggs on toast for lunch. The food was glorious.

I wore my favorite marching band t-shirt and my favorite crimson athletic shorts with houndstooth stripes. And it was glorious.

I explored the immediate area on foot, the method of transportation with which I am most comfortable. And it was glorious.

I saw a sign for a dentist whose name was basically Davey Crockett. And it was glorious.

I bought a little box of fancy chocolates from the chocolate shop, making sure to bring one home for my aunt. And it was glorious.

I found a whole bunch of places to eat lunch. And it was glorious.

I bought a green tea frappuccino at Starbucks. And it was confusing, because I had fully intended to order a green tea lemonade, but somehow the word "frappuccino" came out of my mouth. But it was still glorious.

I started feeling dehydrated and sick on my way home. That wasn't so glorious.

My aunt told me that there is, indeed, a Moe's Southwest Grill in Richmond. And it was glorious.

I went to dinner with a friend that I haven't seen since middle school. And it was glorious.

I watched Sherlock with my aunt, accompanied by her two dogs and to the tune of a gentle thunderstorm. And it was glorious.

Then I sat down to write this blog post, and I had intended to just write about my day today, but then my feels started coming out. Man, I hate it when that happens.

I guess I just needed that. I didn't talk to hardly anyone about my first day yesterday. Mostly I just wanted to curl up in a ball. "Please don't ask me about my day. I don't want to talk about my day. Don't ask me about my day."

It's okay. I ate some pasta. Then I felt better.

Okay! Game plan for tomorrow: Get up. Get ready. Make a lunch. Eat breakfast. Go to the office. Do work. Wait as long as I can to have lunch. Do more work. Come home. Scream a little. Have a snack or just dinner. Watch some YouTube videos. Relax. Celebrate the fact that I have four days of freedom.

Sounds easy, right?