Day Seven
You would think that after yesterday’s horrendous experience with waking up at five a.m., the FAs would think twice about making us wake up early again.
But no.
We had to leave at SEVEN. SEVEN FREAKING A.M. Not even a breakfast that we could share with everyone. Breakfast was at the National Press club (where we had that annoying speaker about agriculture) and so, as a result, we were forced to leave by seven.
Which equals to us like, waking up at five thirty.
Which I didn’t.
Anyway, so we got there. Wahoo. I caught a nap (as usual, I think I should just move my bed to the bus). We got there, and I managed to get a table right at the very back where nobody would think to look for me. Joelyn and me managed to keep each other entertained throughout the whole thing (since it was incredibly boring, but not as boring as the other talks). No wait, I take that back. It wasn’t too bad. Seeing as to how I’m semi-inclined towards journalism, I thought it was actually pretty interesting, learning about what journalists have to do in the field.
But still. Talks bore me.
AND we were served breakfast late, too. Like, every OTHER table around us got served, but us. We had to remind this elderly waiter guy who looked like he was about to suffer from a heart attack to bring us our food. He proceeded to slop water over the table after that. >.<
But breakfast wasn’t too bad. The eggs were actually edible, unlike the hotel eggs.
Hmmmmm. Then after that scintillating talk, we headed to the WWII memorial. It was so INCREDIBLY SAD, although also incredibly short. I saw the whole thing in ten minutes (no joke). It was really short. So to get my mind of the depressiveness of it all, Dennis, Daniel and me walked around the memorial several times to get rid of the extra twenty minutes we were forced to wait. Then we headed back to the buses, with them torturing me about my height every single minute.
Dennis: What was that? (in response to my mumble) I can’t hear you, you’re too far down.
Me: I WILL HIT YOU.
Daniel: I don’t think Dennis will appreciate you grabbing his kneecap…
Me: *smacks Daniel*
It was quite funny.
Anyway, so we got back to the hotel with half an hour to spare. Instead of the hour I thought we would have, we only got THIRTY MINUTES. I hardly think this is fair, yes? Anyway, I don’t think I did anything. I think I tried to sleep, but with the TV blaring in the background, that was pretty difficult to do, even with Ipod headphones in.
Hmm, then there was lunch. Nothing much to report on that front.
So after the LGM briefing, we went to the town-hall briefing. I went to the college admissions process talk, which wasn’t even the actual PROCESS talk. It was more like these sort of questions:
“Is increased competition bad?”
“What are the factors do you think contributed to increased competition?”
And so on, and so forth. The speaker hated me, I swear. EVERY TIME I RAISED MY HAND, HE WOULD NOT CALL ON ME.
And NO. it wasn’t because I was SHORT. It was because he HATED me.
Speaker: *looks at me* *looks away and calls someone else*
Me: aaaaaghhhh!
But it was a fun talk. It was probably the first thing that helped me think all week. X)
Meh, and then we went for the debriefing. The first inkling I had of drama was from the people who went to the Energy talk. Apparently, there was this girl who asked what we teenagers could do about the environment, seeing as to how we were kids.
I can just imagine the scene now:
Drama Girl: What can we kids do about this issue? We’re just teenagers. We can’t change the world.
Everyone Else: ???!!!!?!?!?!?!?!??!
I mean, really. Where have you been the last few days, lady? THE MAIN THEME WAS THAT WE TEENAGERS CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE ISSUES.
Then the second inkling I had of drama (not so much an inkling as a full on blow to my face) was from Leis and Christina, my roommates. Apparently, a girl in their meeting (about immigration) said that immigrants shouldn’t be allowed in the States because they were all taking the legal residents’ jobs. And apparently, she targeted Hispanics and blacks, mainly.
Um, seeing as to how Leis is a Hispanic, and Chris is an African-American, they did not take that with a happy smile.
They were swearing, man! Like, swearing left and right and ranting. In fact, I had to run out of the room to escape their wrath. It was scary. I wouldn’t want to be in their way when they’re mad in the future, certainly.
AND THEN WE GOT TO GO THE MALL.
Yes, the mall. Tysons Corner. It was big. Like, super, super big. Penangnites, think Queensbay, ‘cept…wait, no, exactly like Queensbay. =) Except I think it’s bigger? I don’t know. I didn’t see the whole thing, as Daniel, Dennis, Sonia and me hung out in only one part of it. We had dinner at I-forget-where (bad Italian food), and talked a lot. Sonia teased me about Ashley’s step-dad, and according to Daniel and her, my face was about as red as the red Ritz Camera sign behind us.
I said it was the light reflected. They insisted it wasn’t.
I found it funny that neither Daniel nor Dennis have figured it out yet. Sonia figured it out a looooong time ago, along with Jo. Ashley told Naomi, and Naomi approves! =D
And then the highlight of my day happened.
So we were walking up the escalators, and suddenly Sonia goes, “Sam, make sure when you walk up the escalator, you look down at your feet. It’s very important that you do it at the foot of the escalators, so you don’t trip on the first step.”
Which I take to mean that she wants me to look at the foot of the escalators. I thought there was another one of those funny yellow alien men that were all over the pedestrian crosswalks in the National Mall.
But no. The name ________________ was emblazoned on the foot of the escalators. I took one look at it and burst out laughing hysterically. Daniel and Dennis thought I went mad, because I kept giggling for the entire duration of the time we took to go up and down the escalators (something we did to pass time). Then I noticed him coming down the other side of the escalators, and I started laughing even harder…yeah, the boys thought I had gone bonkers and off my rocker.
It was hilarious. =D
So we get back to the hotel, and we had to go for Model Congress meetings. Blech. But another funny thing happened. I was talking to Sonia in passing when I passed her MCM room, and she was all, “Don’t trip over your feet!” (because I totally tripped at one point on the escalators, I was laughing so hard).
My reply was “I BLAME THE ESCALATORS FOR EVERYTHING. D=<”
So when I get to my MCM room, still giggling, Greg Starman (this one guy who reminds me so much of Jhen, I do not know why) is like, “Don’t blame the escalators for everything. They didn’t do anything to you.”
I told him that he didn’t know why I was blaming the escalators.
And then I forget how, but I think Julia came along and asked why I was giggling and Greg was smirking. She put two and two together (strangely enough, that was fast) and was all, “It’s about a boy isn’t it? Oh my gosh you like a guy!”
To which, my smooth reply is, “Um…”
“Is he tall? Is he cute? Is it him?” and then she points her finger at Greg, who isn’t actually paying attention to what’s going on, because he was busy sliding down the wall to be my height (the boy is like 6” 4’ I swear) and snickering at how far his legs have to stretch to be my height.
It was kind of funny, the height jokes and all. Not. >.<
Anyway, so I’m like, “No,” to Julia’s question. But I don’t know. *shrugs* I was occupied with trying to glare Greg into oblivion. He’s obsessed with making fun of my space-efficiency. X)
Oh, and I got the post of Amendment Writer for the bill and Model Congress Speaker, just like I wanted. =) It was good. All gooood. We even finished our amendments on time, like Kitty wanted! I don’t know that they make much sense, but I’m sure Arianna and me did a bang-up job. At least, I hope so.
Then we all went to the talent show, where I spent my time hitting Dennis for no apparent reason (with the egging on of his friend, Jennifer, such a cool girl). But the talents there were really good, ranging from singing to playing the piano blindfolded (there’s no way he made that song up on the piano, he had to have had practiced it beforehand). They were really good, and I’m pretty sure I lost my voice. =( But it was fun!
And then we went to bed. =)
Ta.
