Mace Anyone.

It has come that time where I blabber about my week. Three weeks left, I knew time would fly by. Why do I blog late at night every time I do a post? Hmmmm anyways........

Sunday I got to have to dinner with one of my dear friends at Matchbox, a restaurant located in the China Town area. Did I mention China Town to me just looks like a bunch of random Chinese restaurants and Chinese words translated under buildings? No. Okay. Anywho yea back to dinner, it feels real good to see familiar faces since technically I am up here alone. One of the most memorable moments about dinner was that the table where me and friend were having dinner was next to a window and for some reasons there were flies. Me no likey. I just happened to have a Chinese restaurant menu in my hand and my friend starts smacking the flies with the menu. I.was.dying. It was hilarious, I laugh to myself randomly throughout the week about that. Thanks for that memory Tat.

I did some retail therapy Saturday at The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City and I'm going to add much need retail therapy so I can feel better about my purchases. I love me a sale rack, Macy's has great sale racks, and I found a cute dress for twelve buck; you can't beat that. It was a moment I had to admit I can fit an extra small.....in some things, I try to pretend I'm not that tiny. I don't know where I get these eat-whatever-the-hell-you-want-it-won't show genes from, but THANK YOU!

Does anyone feel Forever21 is a hit or miss? I do. I can walk through that store and have absolutely nothing in my hand. In this case I had to kind of force myself to find things. I have more bottoms than I do tops so I wanted to balance out my wardrobe for work. And let me tell you, I have been repeating pieces of my wardrobe. The lack of options I gave myself during my so-called packing the day I left has been biting me in the ass. But I'm making it work.

I did the most damage to my pockets at Steve Madden--my favorite shoe brand. I pretty much love every single shoe made and want each one. I'm a shoeholic. I strongly believe that we were force to only wear shoes, I country would be much healthier. There was a buy one get one half sale....you know BOGO. I couldn't resist. Once I become financially well off, I will still have pre life of riches.

If I'm sounding a little vain or materialistic, trust me when I say I'm not. I'm simply a girl that loves her shoes and a great deal on anything really.

Well besides doing a little shopping, there was one other thing I noticed a can't bag (get it bag, okay): a guy. Yea yea I'm 21 and still fairly just starting out but I believe I'm old enough to know what a good man is. I honestly think I have the worst luck with guys lol. I don't date much and when I do it always ends.......sour. But I'm staying positive. Before my aunt passed she told me I was going to change the dry spell of weddings we have in our family. "You're going to change that, I just know it", she said. As much faith as she had in me, I hope she's right.

Work was work this week. Nothing really major that stuck out to me.

My first site briefing for the summer was at The World Bank. I strongly support and want to join their mission in ending world poverty. There is enough food in the world to end poverty it's just a mean or resources that some of the poorest low-income countries do not have.

Globe inside The World Bank.

Me at the podium after the presentation.

"Our dream is a world free of poverty"

I mentioned before that the metro is literally sucking me dry. I need metro money management asap. I brought a $36 seven day pass and it actually only lasted me six, so I put $20 on my card on the sixth day so that was $56 on metro alone within a week. Then Thursday guess how much I had on my smartrip card, no take a gander. Ninety five damn cents, $.95, so I put $10 on my card, so in just a week and some change I have spent $76 towards the metro. I caaaaaannnnooooooooot. It's just three weeks left but I need to make some changes. I know there is the bus and it's cheaper but the metro is faster and I really don't like the bus (especially after riding one for 12 hours to get here).

I had a mini journey for last week's Thursday class. From Foggy Bottom to Virginia-GMU is 4 metro stops. Why in the hell it took about 15 stops to get there? Oh yea, cause I decided to just hop on the first metro not even recognizing its the wrong color. All these damn metro colors: green, blue, yellow orange, and red. Class started at 7 p.m., I got there at 7:38 p.m. The only thing good about getting lost that day was the three sexy metro officers that almost made me fake a distress.

"Someone is following me."

"Who?"

"Never mind he stopped."

Like they were that attractive.

The weekend is normally when I take my adventures because that is when I have a whole day for free time on my hand. I decided to go to the Corcoran Gallery of Art and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The gallery was beautiful man, my first art gallery experience. I have such an appreciation for the arts. Also since I went alone I didn't have to feel rushed. I was able to soak in every piece of art and capture that moment the flash went off or the last stroke of paint hit the canvas. You really never know what you are interested in until you do something that you may find uninteresting. That was not my last gallery visit. Oh and it was a free admission weekend #SCORE

 

Beautiful.

 

Full figured mhm.

Can you believe those last 7 pictures are action figures? Amazing.

Since I had window of time until I had to be to The Kennedy Center, I decided to just grab something quick to eat. I ended wandering around the downtown area just looking for a place to eat. Anything could have satisfied me, I passed by a McDonalds for crying out loud but noooooo I wanted *spirit fingers* Panera Bread.

Oh no no searching for a place to eat was not nearly as annoying as a creeper I came across. A creeper is a over 30 year old man that is........creepy; a scrub is 29 and below.

I am just walking, minding my own business and this man starts to bother me. I have become a pro at ignoring people, so good I don't recognize when I do it. So yea he's bothering me, but I do give a dry hello, matter of fact it was a hey. This fool cups his arm and tells me "put your arm right here". I look at toward his direction and he says it again. He wants me to latch my arm in his and "come walk with me for a minute." I couldn't help but shiver in disgust and badly wish I had I can a mace to sauté that ass up! It was daylight by the way and as soon as the crosswalk had that little white person and said "walk", I was already across the street.

I just do not understand why men feel that any woman they talk to is obligated to speak to them. If makes no sense how I cannot even walk down the street with someone hollering at me, I hate for myself and women to be looked at some human sex toy. It does not matter what you have going on in your life or what type of person you are, if you look good that is all that matters. I cannot tell you how many times I have men just feel that since they spoke to me I have no choice to speak back, especially, especially old ass men. This is not the 1970s. A lot of times it just disrespectful how men approach women, stare or yell something at them. I don't consider that a compliment or cute. Some women like attention that way but that's not the right way to get it. I don't even know what made that guy say to me to walk with him. It doesn't matter if I'm 21 or 11, STRANGER DANGER! It also made me realize that even though I go out solo during the day, it's creepers and scrubs 24/7.

The Kennedy Center has free performances every Saturday at 6 o clock, my next stop for the day. It is literally down the street from where I stay, seriously my dorm is in a great location.

Tumbao Band y Raul Morel (lead vocalist), a Cuban-Salsa flavored band was a great and relaxing way to end my Saturday. I'm just a lover of music in general, I really don't have a favorite genre, whatever sounds good to my ears. Oh how bad I wanted to dance, but I don't know how to salsa, oh and I was alone hehe. Overall I still very much enjoyed the performance.

Sculpture outside The J.F.K center.

Performance at Millennium Stage.

Lots of the crowd dancing up front.

A river view from The J.F.K. center.

J.F.K. sculpture.

Overall week six, I cannot complain. I enjoy all my weeks so far and the little adventures I have.

Before I close out I just want to say something, get this off my chest.

I absolutely hate when I have to filter myself for the people I am around. I'm at a point in my life where I feel I can actually be myself and I don't like to be restricted other people, especially when it is not in a business setting. To have to give up my level of comfort to make someone else comfortable does not make sense to me and I'm talking about in the environment of adults, people who are no longer teenagers. At some point in your life, one must realize not everyone is like them or thinks like them. I understand that, but people I come across do not. Do people even believe in being oneself anymore?

Adore

Bikini Bottom!

You're probably wondering why my post title is named after a fictitious city where fires can take place underwater and a sponge is best friends with a squirrel but it makes sense. Today getting off the train I just couldn't understand why the metro station smelt like seafood market.

"It is so stink!"

"It smells like fish", said Audriyana.

"I was think the same thing."

"I call Foggy Bottom Bikini Bottom because it smells like fish sometimes."

I thought that was so hilarious and told her I was going to name my post for the day that. It was the wittiest thing I heard all day and I'm mad I didn't think of that first. Gold.

Is it bad that I want to give D.C. some southern charm. And when I say "charm" I'm talking about a Wal-Mart. I understand it's more space in a city with a population of 50 but areas without a Wal-Mart are missing out. I had to shop in Target when I first got here. Target. I don't even shop in Target back home. Target is too rich for my blood but I'll make do.

I can remember last year when me and three other friends came to visit a friend who attends Howard (the HBCU that gets all the black celebrities and rap song name drops) and we were making fun of how "D.C. is sponsored by CVS." We were kind of ruthless, three to one, but the bus driver stepped in and let us know that the Chuckee Cheese, Wal-Mart, and other pharmacies were in other regions of the DMV area. I'm just saying is our nation capital too good for a Walgreens or Rite-Aid?

I'm still getting used to being charged 5 cents for a grocery bag. Can you imagine if that law was implemented back home. I can hear it now, "I wasn't stealing, I was putting it in my purse since y'all charging for groceries and the bags now." One time I stuffed my coconut oil, shea butter, body wash, and jar of honey in my purse because I honestly didn't need a bag but turned around and held my purse cautiously to not break the glass jars of honey or oil.

Oh let me just air this now since it keeps slipping my mind: I do not like Whole Foods (WF) and I'm borderline with Trader Joes (TJ). I really only like Trader Joes because it's cheaper than Whole Foods. WF is disgusting, I couldn't help but grimace as I walked down the aisles. Organic food just seems so..........bland. Everything about WF just yelled tasteless; I've been conditioned to Wal-Mart, Kroger and Piggly Wiggly too long! Why is there an aisle of grains? Like I can't believe people just munch on granola, flax seeds and nuts--unprocessed. See I'm that bad. I just wanted to get out of there. I ended up buying things I haven't ate in years--peanut butter and jelly. Some may say I sound ignorant to the healthy substitute that organic groceries that WF and TJ sell but this my opinion and I can say what I want. I spent like $30 and bought like six items. WTF. On top of that when I decided to make PB&J; I opened the jar and oil spilled out. "Oil separation is normal." Not only did the oil separate but the "smooth" peanut butter I brought had pieces of peanuts in them. Choosy moms choose JIFF and that's all I have to say about that.

Even though I vowed to never step foot in WF again, I do want to get on a healthier track with the food that I put into my body and definitely when I have children of my own.

Something good came out of the organic groceries I bought: four days of pasta! I decided to make a seafood pasta on Monday and figured half the packet of noodles should be enough for one person. I was so wrong lol. I had enough pasta to feed six people. I was eating pasta for lunch and dinner for the next three days after that. Monday I had seafood pasta, Tuesday I had tilapia with a tomato sauce based pasta,Wednesday I had seafood pasta made with the rest of the pasta from Tuesday (different from Monday), and finally on Thursday I just threw some spaghetti looking stuff on my pasta that my roommate made. It was actually a Ghanaian stew she made but I didn't care I just wanted to get rid of that damn pasta. I will include photos of the dishes I made.

I'm used to sort of a medley of convenient stores, but up here I guess 7-11s are it. 79 cents Parker drinks are swapped for Slurpees! So if you're from Savannah just imagine everyone with a Slurpee cup. Slurpee??? That's a weird name lol. Sluuurrrrppeeeee. You know those words that sound weird when you think about it. Adds Slurpee to list of things to buy before I leave. I've had them before but I call them icees instead but I want to feel like a local and I shall dine on the popular iced pick-me-up on a scorching D.C. day. It's only right.

Earlier this week I attended a lecture with guest speaker, Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute. A nonprofit think tank that supports free enterprise. I enjoyed his message on happiness and the road to get there. Some of his highlights were that a key to happiness is faith, family, and earned success. You have to believe in something and most importantly you have to believe in yourself. Faith to me gives you something to look forward to. I cannot tell you what faith has done for me and how much it has gotten people through tough times. You can't pick your family, ever heard that? It's so true. No family is perfect but a strong family is everything. I'm so thankful I'm not one of those people that got so screwed over by my own blood that I turn my back on them and undermine them to the value of people who have no meaning to my life. I couldn't imagine why people post statuses and tweets publicly letting be known they don't care for their family. You think that's going to bring a family back together? I really don't try to judge people to my ethics, but sometimes I wonder why people run to God when their family and friends don't come through. There's no greater feeling then knowing you deserved what you received. I just don't think people who have slept their way to success on someone else's work has a soul, you don't feel. My words. Probably why when I first got to UGA, I had a moment of thinking my ancestors were right there with me and how I am a product of their success and hard work. Somebody had to fight for African Americans to be admitted in traditional white colleges. According to data that Brooks collected happiness is 48 percent genes, 40 percent transitional periods, and 12 percent lifestyle. Who do you think is more happier: men or women? Women, men fluctuate in happiness and their most depressing age is 45. Inserts Shania Twain "Man! I feel like a woman"

Moving on to my workweek. I said before this is my first time working a 9-5 and mines is fairly enjoyable. I honestly cannot complain that I have a boring internship. My work day doesn't drag. I'm thankful for not being placed at a boring intern site that would make me wish I had something more stimulating and that I didn't come all the way from Georgia for this. I've been at WAMU for three weeks and can say I've never had any watch-the-clock moments.

One day this week a questioned I ask got called "trivial", of very little importance or value; insignificant, thanks Dictionary.com. Trivial??? "I wouldn't bother with something that trivial", or along those lines. Well excuse me Ms. Intern but I'll ask what I want to ask. Now maybe I could have figured out how to do what I asked, but, I didn't. I'm a very cautious person and when I don't know how to do something or need clarification, I ask trivial or not. Don't get me wrong the other intern I work beside is a nice girl, but to consider my question as trivial is subjective. I'm one of those people that doesn't like to fuck things up. Especially when it ain't my shit. Don't let someone make you feel like you asked a dumb question unless you ask how to turn off Caps Lock on the computer. I asked one of my roommates where was the nearest laundry mat was yesterday and she's steady saying laundry room and how it's one down stairs and why you don't want to use that one. She eventually asked what is a laundry mat and I told her stop talking me and moved on to another roommate. Okay kind of went off track there.

Wednesday I had my first interview and it went great, even though my interviewee was nervous. My interviewee was so nice, after all the searching I did to find one! I finished my first radio piece yesterday and I couldn't help but smile. To know that you completed something with a software that seems so intimidating and technical was rewarding. I only pray that once my supervisor hears it she'll like it too. If so, it will be my first solo project aired on the radio. I find joy in any little thing I do and accomplish. When I was first introduced with Adobe Audition I thought how much there was to learn about it, I mean this is my first time using any type of editing software. Windows Movie Maker? Pssh? This is the stuff jobs ask what type of experience do you have and now I can put Adobe Audition, it is the 1.5 version (that's what the station uses). Can't wait to share it when it's ready for air!

I have been blogging through a headache so I am done......for today.
Jusqu'à la prochaine fois!

Arthur Brooks lecture 

 Monday: Before I added the pasta.

Tuesday: Don't laugh at my tilapia (it broke during flips). Still was delicious.

Wednesday: Honestly, this was my favorite of the week. They were all good but I loved it.

Don't have Thursday!