August 14, 2009
Today was the last day of my summer internship. It just so happened to coincide with the day all the interns also finally got to meet with the congresswoman. It was an interesting discussion, and it was nice to finally be able to ask some of the questions I’ve been asked all summer.
The experience overall has taught that I am still more naive than I think I am. It goes beyond the fact that I never realized how many crazies there are in the world. All summer, I’ve been a little bit curious about how the other interns were chosen, especially the high schoolers. I know there are soon-to-be high school juniors who are very interested in government and politics. The two high school interns at the office, though nice, pleasant, and polite, were pretty la-dee-da about those topics. They weren’t really sure if they were interested in politics or government at all. Strange choices for interns for the congresswoman I thought.
I was under the impression that merit plays a big role in getting internships with congressmen. I learned today that, out of the summer interns, I was the only one who had no previous connections to my boss. In the end, it was not merit or interest that apparently brought the summer interns on board, but political connections or those of their parents. I realize now that I shouldn’t be too surprised. That’s politics for you. I had just assumed congressional intern programs were somehow exempt from this unfortunate reality.
It all adds up to my continuing disillusionment of the democratic process. I’m getting pretty convinced that I could never be a politician. There are some things I’m just not willing to sacrifice after all, and I could never play a game where even if you play by all the rules and have the most talent, you can still lose and often do.
August 8, 2009
I’ve been pretty good since Wednesday at keeping myself busy. Yesterday, I even finally went to the DOL to get my license renewed and a new enhanced one. Because I went before my birthday, I’m going to have a vertical license for another five years. I arrived at 1:30. The entire process took about ten minutes, so it makes perfect sense that I was able to leave at 4.
Anyway, today was the first day since Wednesday that I didn’t have any plans for my day. After breakfast, the house emptied as everyone headed to the mall. I would have tagged along, but there was not room in the car. Normally, I relish the chance to be spend some time alone, have a little time to sit and think. That was not the case today. I had absolutely no desire to be left alone with my thoughts.
At a loss for anything else to do, I decided it was finally time to do a little blog summer cleaning. I’ve been meaning to properly categorize my posts for forever and finally got around to it. I also updated my links. I was going to add twitter, but then decided against it for now.
I had to go to the Rocket Bakery to get a decent internet connection, but this was fine with me. I’ve become somewhat addicted to the lemon poppyseed cookies. At some point I will also update the About part of my blog, but when I thought about doing it today, I realized I don’t yet know what to put there. So I’m going to wait until things come together, as I imagine they will at some point.
August 5, 2009
It was back to the intern cave, after a week at the front desk and a five-day weekend. I get to work beneath the charming smile of GW. I was happily oblivious to his portrait above my head for most of my internship, but noticed him a couple weeks ago. I escaped his gaze last week, but now I sense his beady eyes on me as I work.
Today went well at work, though I may have partially melted during my drive home. It was a busy day so it passed quickly. I only have three days of my internship left, one tomorrow and two next week. I should meet the Congresswoman one of those, but the schedule keeps changing so who knows. At the end of next week, I’ll stop through Pullman for my birthday on my way home to pick up my stuff. In 10 days I turn 21. In two weeks, I hope to be moved back onto campus.
I can’t believe how fast such a relatively uneventful summer has passed. Still no word on exactly what I’ll be doing next year. It has kept a thin shadow of waiting and impatience on a good part of my summer. It’s also very different from my last two summers when I had the paper on my mind as summer drew to a close.
This summer has its highlights too though.
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July 31, 2009
I took the Myers-Briggs personality test* for the first time my freshman year of high school. Though I don’t recall any other specific questions, I do remember one. It was something along the lines of - Do you value mercy or justice? I remember because I thought it was a silly question. Justice clearly, because true justice will mean mercy isn’t needed. Though no justice system comes to mind where this is perfectly executed, in the abstract, mercy is built into justice.
It was surprising to me that this line of reasoning didn’t seem to be very widespread. And mercy or justice is a somewhat common personality question. But I was very pleased to learn that Wallace Stegner understands, or at least he made his characters from Angle of Repose share my sentiments even if he doesn’t personally agree with them.
Forgiving I have considered, though like my father and grandfather before me, I am a justice man, not a mercy man. I can’t help but feeling that if justice is observed, mercy is forever unnecessary.**
The statement is not meant to make the reader happy, but it had that effect on me. Finally, someone else had put into words what I had always thought myself. Sometimes it’s just nice to know you’re not completely alone in your theories.
*I’m ISTJ. I even took it again here, just to make sure, and definitely ISTJ. It really does describe me quite well.
**This is from page 443 of my copy. It was a good read, disheartening as it was. I think that contributed to its appeal actually. Thanks to Lisa for recommending it.
July 30, 2009
There is a tennis ball locked between Buddy’s and Bailey’s jaws. I’m not sure exactly how long they stayed like this, but it was long enough for me to think maybe I should take a picture. I had time to ponder it, work up the energy to move, go into the house, find my phone, and return. They stayed locked in place I’d say for about five minutes more after I took the picture. Bailey ended up winning.
One more animal photo, courtesy of my sister, for good measure below. No reason other than the sharing of adorableness.
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July 27, 2009
Riverfront Park is really starting to grow on me. There is something really peaceful and simply pleasant about the area. I love the carousel with the antique horses. While I was watching people go round and round, I saw an infant take his first ride. His father chose a giraffe for the occasion. I almost took a picture, but thought it would be creepy. Instead, I took a photo of another reason I love the park – all the snapdragons. Snapdragons are one of my favorite flowers.
Next time I go, I want to make sure to bring some crackers for all the birds. I love watching them swarm near the shore as soon as people start tossing items into the water.
I decided to save my first ride on the carousel for another day, but topped off my stroll around the park with a snow cone. My tiny spork was still in my bag and it came in quite handy. A good day.
July 23, 2009
Today I got some exciting news about my internship, exciting to me at least. So far my duties have been mainly limited to answering the phone, logging mail, and wrapping flags. On a good day, I get to write a note to someone important or track down contact information and exercise my journalism skills.
But next week, I’ll get to fill in for the staff assistant. She pretty much makes sure the office runs smoothly. If someone needs something done, someone contacted, something looked up, they turn to her. I’m not even sure of all her duties but she’s always busy and scared to leave the office lest something comes up and she’s not there to help.
She’s taking a much needed vacation next week, and they’re training me to fill in. I’ll get to leave the intern cave in the back and sit at the big desk in the front of the office. A lot of her duties are being delegated to others while she’s gone, so I’m by no means completely filling her shoes. It still won’t be the most exciting job in the world, but it should keep me busy. It also feels like a bit of a promotion and that is exciting. Another day of training and I start at the big desk early Monday morning.
July 18, 2009
It’s not even a real fork. It is a spork. It came with a salad I ordered when I was with my family at Silverwood last weekend. The fact that it is made of plastic, I can understand. But it was also quite small, no larger than a pen. The tines were short, not very good for spearing salad. It also had a hinge, so it could fold it half and become even smaller, I assume for packaging purposes.
That characteristic would have been mildly amusing if it didn’t mean the slight pressure I applied in my attempts to gather food made it fold and become even more useless. Despite its complete failure, I kept it. It’s useless, but rather small and adorable when I’m not trying to eat with it.
July 15, 2009
A lot. Not pictured here are the men standing behind the hoop and the ones farther out to the sides giving directions. They were setting it up for the basketball portion of the wheelchair games. I was in the process of carrying signs across the court when I snapped this picture so that’s why it is how it is.
Below is the room where I spent the majority of my volunteer time.
July 15, 2009
I had a couple photos for this post, but my phone is failing at its job in life so I must proceed without them.
My volunteer time at Rollin’ on the River, the 29th National Veterans Wheelchair Games ,went well. I worked in signage and graphics. It was my job to place signs directing people to correct locations. Perhaps not the best assignment for me as I had no idea where anything was and am directionally challenged. But I made it work, just like the large volunteer T-shirt I had to wear that went past my elbows and almost to my knees.
I did have some trouble finding the right place to park in the morning and missed the shuttle on my way back. A random little girl also spit on me, but as she spit on other people too, I didn’t take it too personally. Despite the minor mishaps, it felt good to get out and do something. I got to very briefly watch the air gun competition and table tennis.
The week of games is really quite the event.
