The Oscar Goes to....

Who says DC doesn't have culture and a sense of humor? This encapsulates the very hipster quality of the H Street neighborhood near where I live.

Kelsey had work Saturday morning, and after that we headed down to Williamsburg. This was my first weekend in over a month that has been even a little "free" (which means I still had to work, but I could do it from my computer) so I was very happy to get out of town. Absi and Zan were very kind to host us, and we had a wonderful time. We had dinner at La Tolteca (where Absi and I spent many a lunch/dinner our senior year) followed by bowling. Absi also gave me a really awesome Houdini coffee cup (he disappears when you put hot liquid in the cup) and a trivial pursuit game designed for geeks. Truly, she knows me well. 

The next day Kels had her half marathon. I dropped her off and then Absi, Zan, and I went to have a nice brunch. As I was enjoying my meatloaf panini sandwich I said "hey guys, let's not tell Kels that we were doing this while she was running her *checks watch* fourth mile," because I'm nice.

Two hours went by quickly for me and I picked Kels up at the finish line looking none the worse for wear. I almost wished that I had signed up to run the half marathon as well. Almost. That night we had an Oscars party. Meimei was in town so she came over and we all dressed up. We filled out ballots and spent the entire night basking in glory whenever we correctly predicted that a movie we knew nothing about would win an oscar for something like best on-set catering. We also had grand plans for making cocktails that went along with each best picture nominee, but we stopped after the Life of Pi Key-Lime Pie cocktail because it was very good and there was nowhere to go but down after that.

The next day was Monday and I had to get back to school so we left in the morning. We did have time for Kels to get an oil change, and while that was going on I went to get my hair cut. It was pretty much the best hair cut place ever- they cut it well, the shampoo process involved a hot towel on my face, and the chair had a built-in back massager. It was also super cheap. Why can't we have nice things like that in DC? 

The trip back up was uneventful, and, as is now tradition, I worked on my assignments as Rupert tried his best to distract me.

I've been busy...

One of my students today (and whenever I say that, it is always one specific student) said, after I handed him an assignment and told him not to lose it, "I'm sorry Mr. Johnson, but I can give zero promises on that." I responded "It's okay, [student name], because I can give zero grades." 

So basically I get a zero for blog-updating over the past month. Why? Well, I've been busy. Busier than usual? Yes. I made a choice at the beginning of the semester that I was going to just go ahead and try my hardest at a lot of things. As it turns out, trying takes a lot of effort, and effort is paid for in the currency of minutes and hours. I was worried at the start of the month because I had so many things on my plate and, as with anything, there was a chance that none of it would work out. I stopped posting because I kept waiting for things to feel finished, and up until now nothing has felt that way.

So, what have I been doing?

Well, I have been having as much fun as usual. I saw the winter play, Cloud 9, and did some ushering for it. Kelsey was the head usher and did a wonderful job. Josh and all of my other friends in the show were great, and I enjoyed getting to go to the traditional after-show parties. I also had the opportunity to emcee the Georgetown annual talent show. I certainly wasn't going to say no to that. It had a "roaring 20's" theme and the people who put it together did a really nice job. Georgetown even tweeted a clip from the show: http://bit.ly/VPa9Rk. That guy was really great, but he wasn't even in my top three performances- the talent pool here is astounding. I was thrilled to be a part.

I've also been applying for jobs. I had nine interviews over the course of two weeks, which were fun. They went well, and I will be working at my top choice this summer- the Office of Special Counsel- doing things in their investigation divison. Ben, my roommate from last year, will be spending his summer in their ADR (alternative dispute resolution) department, so it will be great to spend some time with him.

I also decided to try out for the Mock Trial team again this year, in part because I have been kicking myself ever since last year for flubbing out of round two by performing a closing argument that had me sarcastically yelling "the gun was filled with bullets! It wasn't filled with cheese!" One of my other big motivations for doing well was that if I got on I could perhaps do a mock trial with Stephanie R; we're a good team. I did end up doing better this time. In fact, I got to do a few full trial rounds after I had made the team, as part of the subsequent tournament. I made it to the final round before getting bested by some truly amazing competitors who just refused to mess up at all. I did not mention cheese in my closing. I almost referenced ninjas, but then thought better of it. This was a good call, as the judges seemed to really like my closing and I know I would have lost points by talking about ninjas.

I have forgotten many other things that happened this month. This is why I need to update regularly.