Wednesday.
Today was a fantastic day. Divine almost. I've been quite mopey lately so I decided to buck up and be happier. I've been spending more time in prayer and scripture study for the past couple of days, and I've been trying to focus more on other people than myself. Of course today contained ironically horrible things. My days always do, but the irony usually makes me laugh. Lately I've been letting those things get to me, but not today!
I was supposed to cover an event today, and not just any event. It was a discussion with a news anchor, the chairman of the FCC, and someone from the Department of Education, and it was being recorded live in a studio in the Newseum. How awesome does that sound!! Also, today was gloriously sunny and warm, despite being the first day of February. I didn't realize quite how warm it would be when I dressed that morning. So I had worn a sweater over a long-sleeved button up white shirt and thick tights under my pencil skirt. I walked to the metro station with sunlight imploding into my retinas from all possible directions. The sunlight was dripping onto my skin, drawing out beads of sweat. By the time I finally got to the metro station, I was exhausted. When I arrived at my destination, it was even worse. The area of the city I had gone to was more open, which meant more sun. The sun rays reflected off cars, buildings and sidewalks as I walked the .7 mile to the newseum. I went the wrong way at first and had to back track. By the time I got there, my legs burned from trying to walk fast in a restricting pencil skirt, my eyes burned from the winter sunlight and I was a sweaty mess.
I walked into the cool air of the museum, went through security, and entered the main doors. I approached the sign in desk and was greeted by sorry looks. It was 1:02. I was two minutes late.
"The live studio has started, and we can't admit anyone into the doors," one woman told me. "You should have been in your seat at 12:30."
"The FCC press release didn't say anything about that," I objected.
"We're not in charge of what the FCC says. Our press release said to be here a half hour early," she said.
"I didn't get a press release from you."
"I'm sorry."
I dejectedly re-entered the heat of outside. It seemed even hotter on the way home. My metro stop was the worst. This certain stop has to exits. The regular exit is shut down right now due to construction, so I have to use the other one. This alternative exit has literally the tallest escalator in DC. Maybe even the world. My fear of escalators will not allow me to stand still on an escalator. I must climb them. So I climbed this half-mile escalator in a tight pencil skirt with the hot sun pouring down the tunnel. I stayed motivated only by the desire to see the face of the man in front of me. He had tan skin and a most attractive body with bulging muscles. I was curious to see if his face was as attractive. I matched his speed, and soon he grew too tired to continue. He stood to one side as I passed him, and I caught a glimpse of his face. He looked like Johnny Depp, but much beefier. After passing the man, I climbed a couple more yards and emerged from the escalator: sweating, panting and grasping at the railing.
As I came out, I saw a man with a large video camera. I froze, stared at him in shock and then fled from the lens's view. It was a news camera man from channel 5, no doubt filming some B roll of the escalator for a story about the other entrance being closed. The camera man had caught my grand entrance complete with sweating, panting and awkwardly sneak-glancing at the hottie.
Mortification.
I walked away and literally laughed out loud at the irony of my adventure. I met my boss's boss as I was walking the last block back to work. I said in one of my first blog posts that his name was Tim, but I got his name mixed up with another reporter. His name is Dan. I told him of my wasted time and being turned away from the event. Then we continued into the office.
Not soon afterwards, Howard came back to the office from an FCC meeting. I didn't tell you about Howard yet because he was gone my first week at a meeting in Vegas. He's another editor, a middle-aged man. But after I met him, he soon became one of my favorite people because every time I talk to him, he goes off on a couple tangents that end with sprinkles of journalistic advice. It reminds me of my favorite teacher back at BYU-I. It's a trait that many writers have, and most of my favorite writing teachers have had it.
"You ought to do as much of that kind of thing as possible," Howard said as I told him about when I covered a court case for a class at BYU-I after we got on the subject somehow. I've also made friends with the two other women in the office, Yu-Ting and Kamala. We're Facebook friends so it's official right? They're super cool. I'm helping Yu-Ting with the state legislative beat, so that has kept me busy this week so far. I love the environment here, and everyone I work with is supportive and helpful.
So after work, I went home for dinner before institute at the barlow center. My landlord is the mission president in his ward so apparently the missionaries sometime come to see him. They came tonight, and of course one of them was a 6' 5" football player from byu. Again, are you kidding me? So that was fun. Naturally, I was late to institute because I got caught up working on this post. But I loved the class when I got there. We learned about Joseph smith coming to dc to talk to the president and running for president. Then we talked about modern prophets. The spirit was so strong, stronger than I have felt it since being at byu-i. I love the propel in my ward. When I first got here, I thought some were snobby, but there really are so many amazing people here.
I finally feel settled in, and I've got less than three months less. Today was amazing, and my only worries so far are figuring out who to watch superbowl with on Sunday. People here don't watch sports, they watch politics. :p
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