DC Part III

Last Tuesday I came out of a meeting to discover unexpected voicemails on both my office and cell phone. It suddenly became imperative to find my supervisor. I had ten frantic minutes of preparation before informing her my days working at the university are numbered. Numbered with a big number, like 75 to 175 days, possibly more. I managed to catch her before she listened to the voicemail message she received - success.

Happened faster than I expected. I did not anticipate mentioning anything until late May or early June. Now that both my supervisor and boss are advised of the situation I can share without chance of the news surprising anyone it shouldn't. The remaining issue being that nothing is yet certain - formal approvals, budget constraints - all things that could significantly delay or prevent my departure from the university.

The good news:

I passed my oral assessment for the U.S. Department of State. Which means I have a "conditional" offer of employment with the foreign service.

My security clearance interview was last week. I know a few of you readers had interviews with various Diplomatic Security personnel. My medical forms are in. I passed the additional certification test I needed to pass on Wednesday. At this point I just wait, and wait, and wait some more. My score is fairly solid. I will brag that I did score higher than diplomat C, but it wasn't exactly the same OA, so we'll say his was harder. My good friend J who took the OA for the same position thinks he scored a 10 - the scoring system must have changed since right now it is out of 7 points and you must score a 5.25 in order to pass.

Needless to say, Friday, March 15th I was quite a mess. The commencement of this DC trip was quiet tense. Testing started at 7am EST. A rough start time for a California girl who flew in the night before. The oral assessment consisted of a 45 min online skills assessment test. Followed by a 45 min written case management section. Then I had a 60 min interview which had three distinct sections of its own. At the end, after an excruciating wait, they call you back into the interview room and tell you if you've passed or failed.

When I walked into the room and began to sit down the lead questioner stopped me, "They are not even going to let me sit down?" I thought for a moment they were going to tell me I failed and send me directly on my way. Instead there was a flood of relief.

After exiting the building I walked the National Mall in a daze. It took several hours for the shock to wear off. This changes almost everything about my life. It is fantastic and frightening.

Reminding myself it is not yet official keeping me sane. I still have time. That, and the fact that I have a masters program to finish this month. Which may not be making me more sane, but is completely distracting.

There isn't much more to do, the boss has been informed, hoops have all been jumped. Life may look quite different by summer's end.

DC Part II

One of the slightly strange thing to do on my list involved a man buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. The one who donated drinking fountains which ran afoul of art lovers. There is one in DC. I planned to find it. During a moment of shock (to be explained in part III) I needed something to do. I was standing on a street corner somewhere in DC and decided to look up the Temperance Fountain to see how far away it might be. I became rather frustrated with Google Maps when it kept showing me where I was with no other markers. Finally I zoomed in enough on my tiny phone screen to see it wasn't directing me to exactly where I was standing but just across the street. I looked up and there it was. It was hideous.

But seriously? I decided to look it up when I was standing directly across the street from it. At that point in my day I was so happy to have anything be easy that it seemed a miracle.

I will admit, I had hoped the fountain would be slightly more garish and flamboyant. It's ugly - but I don't know that I am repelled by it enough to disassemble the thing in fury as the mob in San Francisco did.

But judge for yourself.

The thought of getting drinking water from the mouth of a fish with teeth like that is not appealing. With this marketing strategy it's no wonder the temperance movement didn't take off the way Cogswell anticipated. It he wanted to get people out of the bars he should have followed French style - exchange the fish for a naked woman with a jug that the water flows out of. I wonder if Cogswell left an explanation of the fountain's design somewhere?

Q turns 3!

Last Saturday was Q's much anticipated third birthday. J decided on a Storybook themed part.

Preparations began Friday night. Once the moon was settled in we set up floating lanterns in the pool. Q was disappointed they didn't float in the air (like in the movie Tangled), but lil' J was all over them. When an unfortunate manmade gust of air (thank you brother-in-law with the leaf blower) blew most of them over lil'J was distraught.The lights did look lovely for being thrown together with printer paper, tape, and disposable plates.Q was also an enthusiastic blower-out of all the candles when we were pulling them out of the pool.

Saturday was charming. And all the little guests were adorable in their costumes. I had been envisioning a 'too much birthday' situation all week, but Q held it together fairly well...at least until all the guests had left.

Let me describe the different areas J set up in the back yard.

Exhibit A:

There was a butterfly garden/art area.

A table was set up with paper and supplies, once masterpieces were finished they were hung in the gallery.

Exhibit B:

She built a cardboard castle, complete with a functional drawbridge.

Exhibit C:

An alligator pond. Lil'J thought the alligator was about the best thing ever. He couldn't stop talking about it all morning.

Exhibit D:

A castle shaped bounce house (gift of the in-laws): 

There was also a lovely mermaid cove (which I neglected to take a photo of) where treasures were buried in the sand to be uncovered by little hands.

Playing in the sand is the only way I got these two to hold still long enough to take a photo. 

Eating lunch in her castle.

Q needed a little help with those candles.

Chocolate on her face, dirt on her feet.

Wasn't all peaches and cream. Sometimes even the princess can't get everything she wants.

Lil'J handled Q getting the attention like a champ.

This is how it ended, Q streaking from the house screaming hysterically for her princess dolls. Completely inconsolable over having to take a bath and a nap, while we all laughed.

Ode to T

And funny as all hell.
-End

I know, that's not technically an ode, but today is T's birthday, and I am no Keats. 

We have been friends since diapers. Since before I can remember. Her father baptized my parents. Before my sister J was born. Her mother held J as my family was sealed together in the temple. T and her sister L were my first friends. She's been as long as I've had any sense of the world.

At BYU we went walking almost every night for almost a year (except when 24 was on - T couldn't miss). This periodically required multiple sweatshirts and jackets, we walked even in the dead of Utah winter.


Emails have been written every single weekday for years (except during illness or vacation). In 2012 we exchanged over 525 messages. Rarely brief, many reach three or four single spaced pages. I'm grateful she is willing to read all my ramblings and thoroughly advise. Almost everything I think about, she reads about. She sees the process before I've figured out the answer. At times she is called upon to provide the answer. There is no birthday gift I can give to equal that.

I'm honored she trusts me to read her life, hopes, dreams, disasters, and ridiculous moments. Work. Writing. Wonderful boyfriend M. T is amazing, and puts up with a lot from me - breakdowns, bad advice, crankiness, plain stupidity at times. She is always there to comfort, celebrate successes, support, and tell me to snap out of a funk. Laughs and cries with me. Her writing never fails to make me smile, often laugh hysterically. The best friend.

I'm aware how utterly lucky I am. I think of these lines from Anne of Green Gables,

"A bosom friend--an intimate friend, you know--a really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my inmost soul.  I've dreamed of meeting her all my life.  I never really supposed I would, but so many of my loveliest dreams have come true all at once that perhaps this one will, too.  Do you think it's possible?" - Anne, Chapter VIII

Happy Birthday T! I hope it is fantastic.

 T, K, and L. No idea what we are singing.

 Based on the look on my face this may have been the best moment of my life.

 L, A (who we visited in DC), K, and T.

M and 3 giants in the back. Several cropped out entirely.

Because, you know, we lived in Provo.

 Hiking in Utah.

Heading out on a walk, in the snow.

At Disneyland.

 Meeting niece Q.

In Cleveland for a previous T birthday.

DC Part I

Don't get excited. The only places I visited were basically the Holocaust Museum (which we spent most of the day Saturday at) and the Vietnam Memorial. I didn't even walk the extra 200 feet to see Abe. My feet hurt okay! I'm planning on going back so this was a leisurely visit. Most of the time was just spent wandering around.

I pretty much ate and slept-in for the entire weekend. Visited with best friend T and lovely A as well. 

A and I worked together at the MTC in Provo with T's sister L. I hadn't seen A since L's wedding, and L has 3 babes now...it has been a while. In July A leaves to do a two-year stint in Thailand for work, so she will sadly be gone before I can get back.

It was a perfectly relaxing vacation. I'm quite content. It could have been a disaster. 

I packed three days in advance. One bag for DC and one bag for the single night I stayed in Berkeley with D and N. Which they found hilarious.

 Riding BART to the airpot in the middle of the night. Alright, it was only a little before 6am, but knowing what time I was going to have to get up Friday morning had me terrified. 

 Naturally the man next to me on the plane smelled horrid. 

 I adore the ceiling at Reagan airport.

And the floors.

Thursday night I stayed with A, and agonized over the time change. Could not fall asleep.

 Friday T arrived and we checked in at the hotel. I stayed in that bed until 10 or 11 both Saturday and Sunday. Went to bed surprisingly early as well. Catching up.

 Walking around the Mall Friday.

 We stopped in only to see the gem exhibit and the Hope diamond. Then headed to a lovely dinner at The Capital Grille. Which was amazing.

DC was charming, if a bit chilly. I'm looking forward to T and I meeting up there again, someday. I'll write a follow-up later for Part 2 with other fun things we did...but it might have to wait a couple weeks. Stories to come. 

On Wishes

The last few weeks months have been quite the whirlwind. I am hoping, after April 30th, things will suddenly change. I’m crossing my fingers they do.

My primary wish is simply for the semester to be over. The more apt wish would be that I was prepared for my comprehensive exam. I had a meeting with my advisor last week that threw me a complete curve ball. I’d had fellow students outline what the test was like for them and explain what the chair of our department instructed them to do, but each professor handles the exam in their own way. Not that I’m complaining, but I wish I’d known my advisor was going to do things a completely different way. Good thing I adore her, and agree with her approach (I just wish I wasn’t the person who had to take the test). I don’t know how I’m going to “know more than you’ve ever known in your life” in 25 days. Here goes nothing. Maybe, if I survive, I’ll write a book – How to Become an Expert on Victorian and Modernist Literature in 25 Day. I can tell you the conclusion now – it is impossible. Doesn’t mean it won’t be entertaining.

No matter if it is or not, I'm going to wake up May 1st and feel as though it is tomorrow.  I suppose I'd better pass the time studying.

Vintage Board Games

One of my favorite things about SFO is the fantastic exhibits their museum puts together. Every self respecting airport should have a museum of its own. Actually SFO has two – the Aviation Museum and Library (in the International terminal) and the SFO Museum, which has rotating galleries throughout the various terminals.

Flying out to DC a few weeks ago I was transfixed by the Let’s Play! 100 Years of Board Games exhibit. Unless you are planning to visit terminal 2 before May, when the exhibit closes, you should take a look at the online gallery. A few of my favorites from the exhibit are included online, but find an overview of some of them below. My photos of the Nancy Drew game sadly didn't come out - so check out the gallery for that one. And if any of you happen to have The Nancy Drew Mystery Game sitting on a shelf in your closet, I'd really like to come over and play.
  

I was actually reading The Devil in the White City at the airport. Had a mild excited fit when I saw this game about the Chicago World’s Fair. And it is an amazing book - if slightly creepy. I was more interested in the building of the fair and what those working on it accomplished than in the serial killer portions, but I can see the role of its contrast within the book. Even if it was all horrifying. I’m shocked it didn’t give me nightmares...knock on wood.

There is a much better photo of the Charlie Chan game in the online gallery (which I have stolen and am including below). It looks as though it functions like a Clue game board, only with much more exciting locations than ‘the conservatory’. Something I’m probably going to need to play at some point.
 

Check out the copyright date on the description below it, c. 1916. It’s WWI and the game was made two years before the war ended in 1918.  

 

Here is an exciting game that sounds like a real good time, “The game board illustration depicts a road winding through the countryside and suburbs into a city where the ration boards are stationed. The first player who returns home with five ration cards for butter, gas, sugar, coffee, and meat wins.” I know you are all bemoaning the fact this game is not on the shelves of your local game store.

I know you are now going to rush out to buy plane tickets just to get passed TSA to see the exhibit before it closes.