Abby's Journal

I gave in... I'm writing this after writing the list and I'm amazed how hard it was. Anyway. Here you go. Twenty five things about me.

1) I hate how my hair looks when it's short. But I am too impatient to let it grow long. So I haven't had long hair, well, ever.

2) I have a love/hate relationship with my height. I think that it gives me a bit of quirkiness (yeah, like I was really lacking there...), but I also think life would be easier if I were taller. Buying clothes would be easier, keeping my weight steady would be easier, reaching things on top shelves would be easier, etc, etc.

3) I started working on political campaigns when I was fourteen years old. I started off helping out in Russ Carnahan's campaign office in March of 2005 after having my friend Austin track down his Dad at the mall and asking him for a job, and I still work there. I worked full time in that office in the summer of 2006 and I think that that will always be the period of time I look back on as the best time of my life.

4) I get depressed when I start thinking that I peaked in 2006 and that it's all down here from there. To make up for that, I make grandiose plans that I will probably never actually carry through with. Current plans include spending the summer traveling Europe, getting back with my oboe playing and becoming part of the pit of a touring musical, getting my MBA and joining the Peace Corps.

5) I have never gotten a speeding ticket and I have never been in a car accident. I did, however, hit a parked car once when backing up. I don't think that should count though. I don't have a reason it shouldn't count, it just shouldn't.

6) I absolutely love playing in orchestra pits of musicals. I did my first show in eighth grade. Sadly, I think my playing was better then than it is now. People tell me otherwise, but I know for a fact that I was playing a good fifteen hours a week more than I play now.

7) Speaking of my middle school music experience -- I had a terrible crush on my middle school band teacher, Mr. Harris. But I guess these are supposed to be things most people WOULDN'T know about me. I think everyone -- EVERYONE -- knew about my crush on Mr. Harris. Amusingly, I still talk to him, now he's "Jason" and I don't find him remotely attractive. I joked with him during the last show that we played together that we were perfectly intellectually matched when I was twelve.

8) I think it would be interesting to live somewhere other than Saint Louis, but know that I would absolutely hate living anywhere farther than twenty minutes from my family. I already don't like living five minutes away.

9) I hate that my older brother, Phil, moved out to California last August. I always figured that I would get close with my brothers when I got older, but now that he lives thousands of miles away, I'm losing hope.

10) My other brother, Nathan, claims that the reason I'm so outgoing is because he was so mean to me growing up. I kind of believe it.

11) I am envious of how close my older brothers are and that I have never had that kind of close relationship with a sibling.

12) I am also grateful for how close my brothers are, because if I were closer with them, I might not be as close as I am with my mother.

13) I have the coolest mom ever. She is my best friend. There's a scene in Mamma Mia! that makes her cry every time we've seen it (20+ times), where the mom sings "What happened to the wonderful adventures / The places I had planned for us to go / Well, some of that we did but most we didn't / And why I just don't know ". That line always makes me happy, because my mother and I haven't missed out on any of those adventures that we dreamed of. We have done everything I could have ever wanted, and more.

14) Going to college has made me appreciate my friends from high school. I went through high school thinking I didn't have any close friends. I didn't have many, but I had way more than I do now. There are really only two people from high school I've kept in touch with, but I am so much more grateful for their friendships now, and am much more willing to work at keeping them going.

15) My four year advisor at WashU is Ray Arvidson (see: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/arvidsonRay.php). He is the smartest person I have ever met, and I think it is absolutely awesome that he takes time to direct the undergrad environmental focus group I'm in, the Pathfinder program.

16) I'd put my Dad right up there on the list of smartest people I know, right up by Ray. But one of the things I love most about my dad? Whenever I feel bad about how I did on something, he knows EXACTLY what to say to pick me up and get me back on track. He doesn't just tell me that he thinks I'm perfect no matter what, like any good Dad says, it's that he prefaces that with understanding of how I'm feeling and his faith that I can do better. It's hard to put into words, but all I know is how I felt talking to him after getting a 29 on my first chemistry test. No one else in the world could have said anything more helpful.

17) Being a part of the Pathfinder program is a great experience, not only because of Ray's awesomeness, but also because my fellow Pathfinders are the best group of peers I could have ever asked for.

18) I love text messaging. The little noise my phone makes when I get a new message makes me inexplicably happy.

19) I made a resolution to spend more time in the dorms this semester. But the truth is, I hate the dorms. And I really don't think spending more time there is going to make me hate them any less. I love being at home. What's wrong with that?

20) I was baptized Catholic because my father's family was very religious. This did not, in any way, make me feel like any less of a heathen child when I was in the "Young Catholic Musicians" in middle school. Even if I had "really" been Catholic, I feel like the not-quite-matching bright blue bow ties and cummerbunds would have been way more than enough reason to turn against the church.

21) I had never really hated anyone in my life until last year. But I hate every person that attacked my family last July. I hate them for the pain, both physical and emotional, they caused my family most of all. But I also hate them for ruining my idealism, the genuine faith I had in the goodness of all people. That is shattered.

22) I also never loved anybody other than family and friends. I don't quite know what to say on this one, except that I know that's not true anymore. And even though nothing came from it except for one sad train ride, I am glad. It was a growing experience.

23) I love the East Village Opera Company. Yes, their music is amazing, but for me, it's the people in EVOC who make it special. They are some of the sweetest, most interesting people I know. I feel so honored to have been adopted as a member of that family. Being even the tiniest little part of EVOC is like a dream come true.

24) I love Disney World. I wish I could live in EPCOT. My dream job would definitely be being one of those people who gets to go around Disney and give out special offers to vacationers.

25) Joe Chambers, my high school history teacher, soccer coach and confidant, once said about me that I was "Entirely too excited about everything." I would really like to be entirely too excited about everything again.

I've certainly had my fair share of "favorite" bands in the last seventeen years. But it wasn't until a year or so ago that I found my true FAVORITE band. The first band that made my ears and heart sing. The first band that I drove (with my parents) cross country for. The first band that I truly, truly loved.

See, a year or so ago I went to a concert by the East Village Opera Company with my parents. I wasn't sure what to expect. Surely not what I got, which was wailing electric guitars, drums -- a full out five piece rock group -- perfectly balanced with a string quartet and the most amazing vocals I'd ever heard. Even more unexpected was the amazing way the band reacted to a random high school kid who found herself enamored by their music. A year later, I now have the honor of working with the band and helping out with their online presence. Which is why I am writing this article.

The East Village Opera Company (or EVOC, which is substantially easier to type) does not have a stereotypical fan. I love showtunes, 60s music, Queen, the Beatles, Michael Buble, Eminem and Sugarcult, among many more equally diverse genres. My parents' music tastes are extremely different from my own, my brothers make sure I have my music turned all the way down most of the time and my friends think I have the wackiest sense of what "rocks" ever -- but there's one group that all of these people agree on. EVOC. Their appeal is universal.

And yet, for some reason, word hasn't quite caught yet. I've spent the last year contemplating why that is and now I'm doing something about it.

Listen to their music here. If you like it, then add them as your friends on MySpace. Then buy a ticket to one of their upcoming shows. Buy a CD. Tell your friends about their music. Wear an EVOC shirt.

Why? Because EVOC rocks.

Hey! Sorry it took so long for me to write another entry. I've worked late for the last three nights so I wasn't really up to a post. I honestly don't have that much to write...I had a lot of absolutely amazing interactions which I can't really write about for the most part. I guess the gist of it is that I am more convinced than before that I really want to go work for Anthony Weiner's race for Mayor in 2009, Dennis Kucinich now greets me everytime he sees me, I really hope Nick Lampson does well in 2008 in a district that would be pretty much impossible for him to win. Rahm Emmanuel is a god. And Dick Durbin and Barack Obama are really cool.

The first 3 I can't post much more about, but Emmanuel and the Illinois Senatorial Delegation I can -- I'm not sure if any of you pay attention to the craziness that emerges from our Vice President's mouth. Recently he claimed that he was not a member of the executive branch but rather the legislative branch since he presides over the Senate. This was convenient for him because he would not face as much oversight in that capacity. So Emmanuel added an ammendment to a bill on appropriations for the executive branch that would have removed all funding for the office of Vice President, since he's apparently not a member of the executive branch. How AWESOME is that????? It failed to pass by 8 votes. I'm honestly surprised it was that close. But I'm sure Congressman (God) Emmanuel did not expect that the bill would actually pass...surely not. It was merely a genius move to highlight just how crazy the Vice President can be. Congressman Emmanuel, you are my hero.

This morning, I woke up extra early and went along with some of my friends over to the Senate Office buildings for a town hall meeting with Senators Obama and Durbin. It was really fun. Dick Durbin made me cry talking about a soldier who came back from Iraq who suffered massive brain trauma and was told he could never walk again, but then did. It was a much more powerful story than my rendering of it. But he really was amazing. And Obama was awesome as ever, though I wish he didn't have to be so careful in how he answers questions now. But it makes sense and if I want him to do well in this race, I don't want him answering any differently than calmly and carefully calculated. After the town hall, we got our picture taken with him and then got on the subway back to the Capitol. And then Chuck Schumer got on the train too. I didn't get to speak to him, but it was still cool. And then when we got off John McCain was standing there. So we took a picture with him which was very cool. He's old. And I don't like him. But it was still very cool to meet him and get a picture.

We had the last votes of my session tonight as Congress went into recess for the 4th of July week, which was honestly way more upsetting to me than I think it will be for me to leave on Saturday. There is something amazing about sitting on the House floor during a vote, or walking through the halls as the members are congregating...I get goosebumps -- or rather got. I will miss that. But other than that, I am SOOOOO ready to go home. Less than two days! I've wrapped up what business I need to here and will be happy to pack up Saturday morning. My flight gets in around 6 Saturday night and I'm going to have dinner with my family and just hang out Sunday, possibly go out with friends. And then Monday, I start back at the campaign! I'm very excited about that. More than anything, this experience has fueled my love for electoral politics. And for my family.

This will probably be the last time I post from up here and I highly doubt I will continue to have a regular weblog after I get back home. But thank you all so much for reading and sending me replies. I know I never really replied to them very much, but know that they were extremely appreciated!

Love,

Abby

Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't posted these last two days. My parents got up here Thursday night and I've been spending as much time with them as possible.

Thursday was a pretty awesome birthday enveloped by extremely boring work. Jessie, Brendan, Erica and I went to Pete's for breakfast where I got breakfast pancakes which they bought me for my birthday. I was very sweet and we had a great time. Once we got to the House, I was doing...oh hell, I don't even remember what I was doing. But there was lots of sitting on the floor in a corner behind the Page desk trying to keep my mind occupied. I helped Ben out some and established that some intern in the District office has been logging on my IM. So if you get any weird IMs that don't seem like they're from me, they probably aren't. So the day dragged on somewhat, but after work, I pretty much ran back to the dorms to meet my parents. Who didn't get there for another 10 minutes or so because, well, DC is kind of the suckiest city ever.

My parents are here!!!! We went out to dinner at this Salvadorian place near the dorm which was really good. Mom claims it was the best meal she ever had. I wouldn't go that far, but it was fairly amazing. Then we decided to walk around the Capitol and that I'd show them what sites I could of where I work from the outside. So as we're walking around, I point out that if the flag on top of the chamber is up, then the House is still in session. And the flag was up. So I called up to the DC office thinking that maybe someone would still be up there, even though it was like 8 at night. And Todd, the Congressman's Chief of Staff, picked up the phone. I told him where we were and that we were hoping to get passes to the House gallery for my parents (my ID gets me everywhere -- how awesome is that???) and he said that that'd be great and to come on up. So we get up to the office and it's Russ and Todd sitting around. It was quite possibly the coolest birthday gift I could have gotten. We sat around and talked with them for about 40 minutes and it was really cool. My parents have met Russ, but never really gotten the chance to talk to him much. And they'd never met Todd. So that whole experience was absolutely AMAZING.

And we found out that Russ's legislation on international family planning (distributing condoms to developing countries) had passed after a really, really tough debate. I was so proud of him for that legislation and I was so worried that it wouldn't pass. I had had to do statements on the Republican side during that debate and almost strangled someone. It was so painful how AWFUL the Republican debate was. They were saying that giving contraceptives to developing countries meant that the organizations who were given said contraceptives would then be free to spend the money they would have spent on contraceptives themselves and put it towards abortions. Wait, what? What money that they're spending on contraceptives? Really? Cause I think with the high rate of HIV/AIDs, other STDs,families that are too big to support, and therefore,unwanted pregnancies and dangerous abortions, it's clear that, A) these countries do not have adequate supplies of contraceptives and B) distributing these contraceptives would not INCREASE the number of abortions but rather DECREASE the need for them drastically. The supposed "right to life" doesn't seem to be siding very much with life in this debate, or many others for that matter.

So that legislation passed with the provisions for distributing contraceptives through foreign countries. Which I am EXTREMELY happy about, and extremely proud of Russ for. Now the question is whether or not the President will veto that legislation.

After speaking with Russ and Todd for a while, we took the gallery passes and walked over to the Capitol and sat in the gallery for a while listening to some foreign operations debate. I wasn't quite sure what was going on...But I was able to show Mom and Dad the different tasks that I do on the House floor and other cool stuff like that. It was very neat getting to sit in there late at night and seeing different people that they recognize (and hate), like Roy Blunt.

And then I got back to the dorms for the night and Jessie calls me into the kitchen and like 12 people burst out singing "Happy Birthday". They had baked me homemade cookies and we listened to music and hung out until curfew. It was so amazing! There are some really really cool people here. And I doubt any of them are reading this, what with the sucky internet access and all, but I want to thank them again so so much! That was such a perfect ending to my birthday.

Then yesterday I was doing runs and ended up just helping Ben out with some little tasks until it was time for me to leave for the day. I had talked to Ms. Keading on Tuesday when I did flags, where you get off around 11, and struck an agreement that I'd work all day when I had flags if I could leave early yesterday. Which she was fine with. So at 11:30, I left work and met my parents who had again gotten lost because of this awful city. And we walked up to this bakery, Firehook, which is apparently a chain, and got a couple different desserts. I had a mini banana cream pie that was AMAZING. I love that place. But I think it was way cooler when I thought it was one of a kind. And then we packed up my dorm and walked to the Metro stop -- not the Metro right by my dorm, no, the one like 3 miles away. I still do not quite know why. Dad seemed to think it was quicker. Oh well, I like walking.

So we dropped our stuff off at the hotel -- they're staying at the Ritz! -- and the room was really hot. Apparently they had been struggling with the AC in the room the night before, so we they sent an engineer up who said that he fixed it. So we went to go get lunch and shop around a bit and then came back to check and see if the room had cooled down. It hadn't. There were actually two visits from an engineer saying that he'd fixed it...I don't quite remember when the two happened. But anyway, it hadn't gotten fixed. So we called the front desk and asked if we could move rooms and they were a real pain in the ass about it. They put up all this pretense of being ritzy, pun intended, opening doors and saying "welcome back", but then when we actually need help with something, they were rude and it took forever to get a hold of someone. They were going to send another engineer up, but we said no, just to move us to another room. It clearly wasn't getting fixed and we'd already had people coming in and out of the room for an hour. It was like 10 at night and we were done. So they told us that they'd put us in room 606. After like half an hour of waiting for the key -- why they wouldn't let us just go down to the desk and get it, I don't know -- we finally went to room 606. To find that 606 was NOT an empty room. We opened the door and there was a laptop and bottle of soda sitting on the desk. Luckily no one was there, but nevertheless, the situation was EXTREMELY amusing, in a really irritating sort of way. It was almost, but not quite, like something out of one of the Vacation movies.

Well, Giovanni, the manager who spoke with a heavy accent and then informed us that he had lived in San Francisco all his life, was not as amused at our walking into someone else's room as my dad and I were. He was extremely apologetic and put us up in a suite on the top floor. Which is really really nice. And I have my own room for two nights (well, one now), which, love my parents though I do, is really nice after having lived with two other people for the last two weeks. So everything worked out well in the end. But it was not all that fun dealing with. Amusing, yes. Fun, no.

I'm not quite sure what the plan is today. There's talk of renting a car and driving up to Annapolis during the day and then seeing the monuments tonight. I haven't gotten a chance to do that yet, except for the brief car tour through the city with Ben after he picked me up. So that'll be cool. And I had really wanted to do it at night, which will be awesome! I'm very excited about that. And I will most definitely post about it either tonight or tomorrow morning. Oh, and I have high speed internet! It's only for a couple days, but it's so wonderful! You have no idea how much I've missed high speed internet. And all of you. I've missed you all terribly. But probably none so much as my parents, who are now here!!! :-D

Hey everybody! My parents get here TOMORROW!!! Yay!!! Today, however, was extremely boring. I did runs all day and then statements for two hours during "late night". I'm sad that every time I volunteer to work late night, they only stay in session until 7:30 or so, but when other kids do it, they're in session until like, 2 in the morning. I mean, I suppose I shouldn't complain. It's not really a good thing for Congress to be in session that late. But still...it seems far more exciting than any work I've gotten to do late night. Last night was only amazing because I had no work to do. Oh well. Tomorrow! :-D

In my spare time today, I concocted the idea to actually create the "Abby Halley Political Scorecard" that Weiner was joking about. I can't decide whether to actually give it to him or not. He seems extremely smart and has a sense of humor, but still...it might not go over as well as I would hope...Anyway, you can look at it after ( the cut )

So, my father, ever the aerospace manufacturer, explained to me the other day as I was sitting in front of the Capitol complaining about being bored that my life here is very similar to that of a fighter pilot. There are vast periods of boredom with intermittent bits of intense excitement. I laughed at that analogy at first, but after today, I've realized that there could not be a more perfect analogy.

I got to work early today and found out that I was working desk. This entailed sitting at a desk for hours answering any phone call that came in and sending off all the other pages to go walk around and do the fun jobs. It was so ungodly boring that, after about five hours of it, I traded with another girl and volunteered to go do runs. And I don't even like doing runs that much. And I only got two. My day up until around 5:30 was so profoundly boring that I didn't think I could possibly come back in tomorrow to do the same thing all over again. I even crossed my name off of the list to work late night because I just wanted to get out of there.

But there were too few people working late night, so I put my name back on the list. That was one of the best decisions I've made. Definitely the best since I've been up here. Votes started at 5:30 or so and every member of Congress was on the floor and I really didn't have anything to do but stand around and try to be helpful. And that is where the amazing, phenomenal, heavenly, perfect evening I had began. Here's a bit of a recap...

First I had a small run to pick up a cosponsorship for some bill or other, and I was picking it up right as all the Congressmen were walking over to the Chamber to vote for the evening. It was so amazing, walking through the tunnel between the House Office Buildings and the Capitol and seeing all of these faces that I've only ever seen on the Sunday news shows and Better-Know-A-District...I got chills, it was the first time I really realized the power I am surrounded by every day and the amazing opportunity I have to work for this amazing government.

Then, once I got back to the Chamber, Nick Lampson, the Congressman that Jessie and I had lunch with last week because he couldn't find another table to sit at, came up and started talking to me about being nervous around the various Congressmen and how it was unnecessary, that I was smarter than a vast majority of the people standing out on that floor voting. I, ever modest, told him I wasn't so sure about that but that I certainly appreciated his comments. He then proceeded to regale me with a story about being a Bar-b-que with some Congressman a long time ago and that the guy was a complete mess, BBQ sauce all over, tie askew, corn in one hand a pork steak in the other, and that that was when he realized that these guys are nothing special. And that he held his first elected office a year after that. From the few interactions I've had with Congressman Lampson, I've been very impressed. He's a really nice guy and I hope that his race in 08 goes well. It's going to be an extremely tough one as the district he's in is not traditionally liberal.

So, that in itself would have been amazing. But it got better. Way, way better. Rafael, another Page, and I were standing around while the votes were going on, it was pure pandemonium, and we were talking about how awesome Congressman Weiner is (more on that later) and Congressman Mike Honda (D,CA15) turned around and says to us "You are so loud, I can hear everything you're saying. But you should talk louder so it'll be clearer. Cause you're funny." And then he came back and talked with us for a long time. And he's HILARIOUS. Absolutely awesome. And he told me that I should be sure to tell Congressman Kucinich how much I appreciated his remarks yesterday (again, ask me privately if you want to know this whole story...I have to use some discretion in what I post...). I explained that I wasn't sure that was the best idea, that I would feel somewhat out of place doing that. But he said that Kucinich would really appreciate it and that I really needed to tell him.

So five minutes of Honda-humor-filled discussions and Dennis Kucinich walks by. And so I turned around and told him how much I appreciated his comments on the necessity of not pursuing the aggressive, radical foreign policy that is trademark of the Bush administration in Iran and some other remarks (see above parenthetical note...) and he really seemed to appreciate it! He was really really nice and stayed back and talked with me about it for a while, and it was amazing. I'm not an advocate of his campaign for the Presidency, but he still is a cool person and an excellent Congressman. His voice would be sorely missed in the House were he to move on for other things. I think that he serves a wonderful purpose in the House as a voice of dissent and reason. I really had not been much a fan of his in the past, but these last two days have definitely convinced me otherwise.

Surely there can't be more, right? Wrong. Honda came back and talked with us a bit longer which was great. Rafael and I were on such a high talking to these great men that we decided to try and find Congressman Weiner and meet him too. Now, to explain why it is that we wanted to meet this guy so much... I give you ( this video (and lots more text about my AWESOME evening and a couple pictures) )
In conclusion, tonight was pretty much the most amazing night ever.

Hello diligent readers!

Today was an AWESOME day. I've decided to start getting up early so as to have shower pressure and a bit of time to myself. Which is nice when you have to do almost everything with a buddy unless you want to go through a whole ordeal of getting checked out, which I did last night to go out with Ben and his girlfriend. That was a lot of fun, we got Chinese, talked about STL politics. It was really just nice to get out of the dorms for a bit. It's kind of living in an extremely poorly run prison. A prison full of really rich kids who seem to all have somehow formed really close bonds in the week that we've been here. I have yet to understand how that's happened...

Anyway, got up early, had Cheerios and walked over to the Capitol. I got there about an hour and a half before I actually had to be there, so I dropped my purse off in the House chamber which was completely empty at the time, grabbed my phone and went for a walk around the Capitol. I spend my whole day there everyday and live a couple blocks away, but I had never actually seen the whole Capitol from the outside. It was really, really cool. Well no, it was actually miserably hot. But it was beautiful and there were very few people around and so it was extremely cool to sit there looking out on the Capitol Lawn and the Mall and the Washington Monument and all the cool DC stuff that you see in movies and call my parents. All together a very nice morning, right?

Well, it got about 12 times more amazing. There was a JDRF event happening on the front lawn of the Capitol this morning around 10 and Elliott Yamin was signing! I knew I wasn't going to be able to go to the concert, but I figured I'd try and see him before I had to start working. I went back into the Chamber and signed into work for the day, then ran to one of the House Office Buildings to get a post card and then went back to the front lawn. And sat there. I eventually asked a photographer when Elliott would be getting there and he said that it would be within a half hour or so of when I asked. If it were at the end of that time frame I would have been cutting it extremely close for getting back to work, but as luck would have it, I saw this short guy with curly hair walking up right after I had asked. It was Elliott!! So I ran up and asked him if he'd sign the post card, that my whole family was big fans and that my oldest brother had just been diagnosed with Type 1 last year when he was 24. So he signed it and told me to tell Nate to "keep his head high" and said that it was great meeting me. It was an extremely short interaction, but still!!! I met Elliott!!! And he signed the post card!!! It was AMAZING!!

And then I had flag duty this morning, so I just got to take around flags to one of the House Office Buildings in the morning. Normally after that, you get the day off, but I worked this afternoon so I could get Friday off to spend with my family. Which I am so incredibly excited about. If you hadn't noticed that from my earlier posts.

The rest of the afternoon I spent working statements. Which was extremely exciting, but there was some stuff that happened that I can't really post on here. Nothing bad per se, just being careful. Ask me or my mom sometime. It's a very cool story and one that I'm happy to recount. Just not on here. I do hope that everyone understands that I do have to use some restraint in what I post online.

Anyway, we walked to CVS and Subway after work and then came back to the dorm and watched the first season of The Office. Much fun. And now I'm sitting in bed, hoping that tomorrow will be as good a day as today was. Cause today was really awesome.

Oh, and I bought Star Wars stamps. They are SOOOO cool. If only I had mailed the post card in one of the R2D2 mailboxes they have here.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

For anyone else reading this, my parents are quite possibly the most amazing parents anyone could ever want. They have made it possible for me to be up here, getting this amazing opportunity. They have made sure that I was able to do anything I ever wanted on the way, and for that I am so grateful. There is no way to say how much I love my parents and how much I miss my family right now. We are so closely knit and have such an amazing dynamic between us all, and that is entirely thanks to my parents.

I know that this is Father's Day and that I should just be focusing on my dad, but I think he'd want me to post about both him and Mom here -- afterall, he always tells me that the one thing I need to do to make him happy is to make Mom happy. That and to do dishes. I like to think I do one of those well... They are a team, they work together in a way that has made my life, and I like to think that of my brothers' as well, as close to perfect as possible. I honestly cannot think of one thing that I would want to change about my life, except that right now I wish I could be at home writing this instead of 835 miles away.

I think that next time I randomly have lunch with a Congressman, I will propose that instead of having Mother's Day and Father's Day, we should have Parent's/Parents' Day.*

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for everything you've done for me. I am so excited that you are coming out to see me this week. How amazing is that? I really do have the best parents in the world.

Love,

Abby


*The different apostrophe usages indicate that single parents would not be left out of this holiday.

Well, the days up here are going to be substantially better now, I imagine! I now have internet access in my dorm room, slow though it may be (it's dial-up). It took people on both coasts and in the midwest to set it up, but now I am laying in bed on instant messenger with Facebook and MySpace and I can do whatever I want! And I have fanfics again!!! Oh fanfics!!! How I've missed that drivel! I can't even believe how wonderful it is to have internet again. I <3 technology!

Anyway, that is definitely the highlight of my day so far. I woke up, went to Pete's Diner for breakfast with three other girls -- it's where we go for breakfast pretty much every day, though now I have Cheerios and milk and want to start eating those instead. It's run by these Asian women and the food isn't particularly good. But it's easy and on the way to work. I think we're going there tomorrow morning for a pancake breakfast...though I may just lock myself in my room all day tomorrow and sit on the computer -- would that be considered antisocial?

After that, we went to Six Flags. We left at 9:50 and got into the park at 11:15. It's not that it takes a long time to get there. No, half an hour of that was spent sitting at the intersection outside of the park trying to turn in. It wasn't even that crowded, it just took a ridiculous amount of time getting in. Six Flags was fun I suppose. I like roller coasters, they're fun, but amusement parks as a whole, with the definite exception of Disney World, just aren't that fun. And they're RIDICULOUSLY expensive. We got back here around 5 or so and I walked with Chelsea over to get a phone cord so that I could get internet and we stopped at Cosi to get salads. It was AMAZING. I had a Bombay salad, which had tandoori chicken in it and it was just really good. It's apparently a chain and I think we should get one in St. Louis. They have really good bread and lots of healthy but good choices -- salads, sandwiches, soups, etc.. And then we did laundry and I cleaned up my room (room inspections are on Monday) and now I'm on the computer!!! With internet!!!

Yesterday was a very lopsided day. My morning was extremely busy because I was doing votes. There were 24 votes yesterday morning. I had to print them all off and distribute them around the House floor. The only interaction I had with Russ yesterday was a shared look of "This is pure insanity." Because it was, it was absolutely crazy. They were all on the floor doing 2 minute votes and they couldn't leave the chamber or they'd miss the next vote. There was one point that one of the Congressmen (not sure who..) moved to seal the chamber. It was turned down of course, but still hilarious.

But after that, nothing. There were a couple more votes that night, but nothing crazy. It was a lot of sitting around. A LOT. That's what I'm not enjoying about this. I don't handle boring or mindless well. And with a few exceptions, pretty much all we do is boring and mindless. And, honestly, everything we do could be handled either through e-mail or just by interns. We serve ceremonial purposes I suppose, and I'm extremely glad to have the opportunity, be able to serve the Congress, blah blah blah.. But still. I'm not a big fan of things that are ineffective and don't make sense. And using 16 and 17 year olds are glorified carrier pigeons is both of those things.

Not a whole lot after that yesterday. We got Subway and came back to the dorms and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. I've established that though I love Audrey Hepburn, I really don't like that movie. I don't care about any of the characters, except possibly the cat. And the plot is very...random. To each their own I suppose.

Well, I'm hanging out in my dorm for the night. On the internet!!!

Now if you see me on AIM, I probably am actually there! So IM me! :-D

Hey guys! I know I didn't post yesterday -- sorry about that, the timing just didn't work out. I was working until about 7:30 and had to come back and clean my room and take a shower and we aren't allowed to get on the computers after 10. Which is incredibly stupid. Seriously, this whole dorm life thing is really getting me down. It's very high intensity and...teenager-y.

Yesterday was really really boring. I was doing runs all day and because there are so many of this, a vast majority of my time was spent sitting edge of the floor wishing I could go back to sleep. The highlight of my day yesterday was definitely finding out that my parents are coming to visit me next week! How amazing is that?!?!?! I am sooooo incredibly excited. I've talked to the Dem. Page sponsor and she's going to let me do flags next Friday so I'll be off early and can go out with my parents. And then I'll stay with them Friday-Sunday (real showers!!!!) and then I only have a week left. I think I can make it.

I don't want anyone to think I'm not enjoying myself. I was talking to one of my friends here and I said that this would be a perfect 3 week job if only it were in St. Louis and I were living in my own house, with my own family. I've had some really cool opportunities though. Working on the Floor doing statements on..Tuesday? I think Tuesday. That was great. And I've seen Russ everyday that I've been here and had to opportunity to help his office out. And today was particularly awesome at lunch. The Congressman who took Tom DeLay's seat couldn't find a place to eat lunch in the Longworth cafeteria because it gets absolutely PACKED asked Jessie and I if he could eat with us. So he sat down and talked with us and was really nice and very very cool. He said that it's looking like his next race is going to be extremely rough and talked about that and it was extremely cool.

I don't have many other stories from today or yesterday... I've been doing runs both days and it's been quite boring. I miss home sooooo sooooo much. It's kind of excruciating how much I do. I'm no longer looking forward to moving into the dorms for college (not that I was all that excited about it in the first place....). Instead, I think I will just live with my parents forever.

That's all for now. See you everybody!!

And again, it's just missing home and the dorm stuff that's not fun. Other than that, it really is quite awesome up here!!!