it started with a smile
I wish I had learned years and years ago how much easier and fun it is to go through your day when you smile. For now it seems like I do it instinctively when I'm bored or confused or nervous, and I'm often amused with myself or the world in general in my head, and it really does make everything a little bit smoother.
The within 10 feet list, continued:
(is that it today? I guess so)
I went to the Nevada breakfast this morning for a change and took a picture with Senators Reid and Ensign. In retrospect, I suppose I should have tried to say my name or something, but I just said, "Hi" and stood there for the picture. That breakfast was in a nicer but smaller room -- and they had orange juice! Senator Ensign joked that one pitcher costs $28. I don't think it was a joke. $__$ He seems like a nice man.
I had absolutely no work to do today minus little tasks, so I spent a lot of it trying to find work or floating around. I decided to start a collection of Senatorial headshots -- at least of the people I like -- and have thus far collected John Kerry (signed), Dick Durbin, Barack Obama (signed), and Harry Reid (to-be-signed if Stanley can manage it). I am still thinking about who else's I want... the list, so far: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Bob Casey... need more women, but there aren't that many more Senators that I adore...
Also, someone told me today that I was very smiley, which I think is a wonderful compliment. If I had tried this back when I was all emo I'm sure it would have made a difference. Is it too late now?
It seems to be a general consensus that networking is key in DC and you can't really get a job without knowing people.
This is a really, really bad thing. I feel like the only people I'm really getting to know are the intern coordinator and office manager -- the foreign policy legislative correspondent I work with has such a way of making me feel like an awkward idiot. I don't know how he does it. I babble out random shit in front of him all the time because he makes me feel so inadequate with his eyes and then I say something really stupid and he just looks at me like I've grown another head and aghoeahgouaeghoea. I really don't feel like I'm going to get a rec out of this guy, but I don't want to have to bother Jeff forever..
The other thing I've noticed is that our office takes people who have connections. Interns whose parents are friends with a staff member or whatever. This isn't a problem until these interns do jack shit and get all of the benefits. Why should they get universally preferential treatment for going to receptions, eating in the Senator's dining hall, getting better projects, etc.? Especially when so many of them flat-out act as if they don't give a fuck. It's not that bad, compared to what I've heard from other offices, but it's just such a ridiculous and backwards concept.
If you are going to hire interns that are so lazy and inept that you need to allocate other interns just to babysit them, you really need to re-think that decision as far as I'm concerned. Today I literally went to someone to ask what work there was and she told me to try to get one of these other interns out of her office somehow. Come now, I'm sure we could have done this differently.
The within 10 feet list, continued:
- John Ensign
- Bill Nelson
- Harry Reid
- Jim Webb
(is that it today? I guess so)
I went to the Nevada breakfast this morning for a change and took a picture with Senators Reid and Ensign. In retrospect, I suppose I should have tried to say my name or something, but I just said, "Hi" and stood there for the picture. That breakfast was in a nicer but smaller room -- and they had orange juice! Senator Ensign joked that one pitcher costs $28. I don't think it was a joke. $__$ He seems like a nice man.
I had absolutely no work to do today minus little tasks, so I spent a lot of it trying to find work or floating around. I decided to start a collection of Senatorial headshots -- at least of the people I like -- and have thus far collected John Kerry (signed), Dick Durbin, Barack Obama (signed), and Harry Reid (to-be-signed if Stanley can manage it). I am still thinking about who else's I want... the list, so far: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Bob Casey... need more women, but there aren't that many more Senators that I adore...
Also, someone told me today that I was very smiley, which I think is a wonderful compliment. If I had tried this back when I was all emo I'm sure it would have made a difference. Is it too late now?
It seems to be a general consensus that networking is key in DC and you can't really get a job without knowing people.
This is a really, really bad thing. I feel like the only people I'm really getting to know are the intern coordinator and office manager -- the foreign policy legislative correspondent I work with has such a way of making me feel like an awkward idiot. I don't know how he does it. I babble out random shit in front of him all the time because he makes me feel so inadequate with his eyes and then I say something really stupid and he just looks at me like I've grown another head and aghoeahgouaeghoea. I really don't feel like I'm going to get a rec out of this guy, but I don't want to have to bother Jeff forever..
The other thing I've noticed is that our office takes people who have connections. Interns whose parents are friends with a staff member or whatever. This isn't a problem until these interns do jack shit and get all of the benefits. Why should they get universally preferential treatment for going to receptions, eating in the Senator's dining hall, getting better projects, etc.? Especially when so many of them flat-out act as if they don't give a fuck. It's not that bad, compared to what I've heard from other offices, but it's just such a ridiculous and backwards concept.
If you are going to hire interns that are so lazy and inept that you need to allocate other interns just to babysit them, you really need to re-think that decision as far as I'm concerned. Today I literally went to someone to ask what work there was and she told me to try to get one of these other interns out of her office somehow. Come now, I'm sure we could have done this differently.