"Too Much Fun, Not Enough Homework"

The title quote was my response whenever someone asked about my week. It's reeeeaaally hard to be motivated to do homework when you find your classes dull. I got through about 80% of it...there are so many other fun & interesting things to do!

Lately, I have been utterly speechless with gratitude for where God has put me in life (DC, grad school, job, ward, apt) and the way He's arranged my life for maximum growth and joy. I reviewed the list of reasons why I moved to DC and came to realize they are all being fulfilled! (see "Remembering Why I Came")

1) God's will
2) Career opportunities
3) Education opportunities
4) Big LDS Community
5) Cultural richness
6) Historical richness
7) Waterfront
8) Greenery
9) Diversity
10) East Coast city life

I have a strong belief in 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

Wednesday - Went to an event called "SNCC Women Then and Now". GW is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and 50th anniversary of the March on Washington with an initiative called "Pro[Claiming] Freedom". As a Black history nerd (See "Black History Kick-Off"), I feel so happy to be at a university (DC reasons #2 & 3) that actively commemorates and educates others about it (DC reasons #6 &9). I met up with Porschia after work and we were both in awe listening to these courageous women talk about their experiences on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights Movement!

Porschia ended up buying the book Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC and getting all their autographs haha. I had to leave early to meet up with friends for dinner at this crazy place called Honey Pig! It had loud Korean pop music playing on flatscreen TVs and pictures of their raw meat selection all over the walls, with the strong scent of grilling meat wafting from every table. A full sensory experience.

They give you endless side dishes - kind of like Olive Garden but with kimchi and garlic bean sprouts instead of salad and breadsticks.

It was my 1st time trying Korean BBQ and I was glad we went with a bona fide Korean! We ordered bulgogi, spicy pork belly, and some other kind of pork...which all comes raw and a waitress comes flip it once in a while and chops it up for you. Mighty tasty carnivorous fare.

Friday - treated myself to what I lovingly call "cafeteria slop" at GW Hospital (where I work). It reminded me of my mom's yummy Chinese comfort food.

After work, Cory invited me to go with his buddy Michael to a free jazz concert at the Kennedy Center. It was a beautiful but chilly day!

I seriously never get tired of this place (DC reason #5). This concert was by a group of musicians from Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program, playing original compositions they wrote/rehearsed within 12 days.

I was overwhelmed by another flood of gratitude that the Lord brought me to a job/grad school (DC reasons #2 & 3) that is in such close proximity to this cultural center and the waterfront (DC reason #7).

After the concert, I split off to go ballroom dancing for the first time in 5 months at Chevy Chase Ballroom (DC reason #10). I wanted to go when I was mourning my absence at Dancesport (see "Confessions of a Former Competitive Ballroom Dancer") but had a good distraction with my New York trip instead (see "The Big Apple: Bitten"). I was bracing myself for coldness and haughtiness from the young exclusive crowd like last time (see "Changes Not So Small") but this crowd was much friendlier and inviting! What they lacked in sheer number, they made up for in warmth. I got asked to dance almost every song, whereas last time I had to initiate every dance. I had a blast dancing waltz, foxtrot, triple swing, hustle, tango, quickstep, samba, and cha cha again :)

Saturday - Made it to the Temple this month right before my big trip next week! (stay tuned) Had a wonderful time getting to know/catching up with Elizabeth, Bobbi, and Heather :)

That evening, I met up with Cory to "compete" in our March Madness Ward Activity (DC reason #4), which was held in the gym and consisted of various stations of fun/funny/ridiculous games such as "Junk in the Trunk", where we had to dance/shake to get the ping pong balls out of a kleenex box strapped to our derrieres.

I only asked Cory to take pics but he took the liberty to film it also (see Facebook video). No shame.

This was my least enjoyable one - putting gobs of petroleum jelly on our noses and trying to get as many cotton balls as we could into the next bowl.

There were lots of other games I didn't get pictures of...but we did do the photo booth!

w/ Jeff & Ashley, the blue spirited photographers :D

I love balancing air balloons almost as much as I love throwing water balloons (bring on summer! And DC reason #8!) -

Super fun activity; I think the ward should do these game nights every 3 months instead of once a year!

Sunday - Rode the metro to Catholic University of America to attend my 1st mass! We were greeted by lots of graffiti at the metro stop - lovely.

The National Basilica on campus is actually the biggest Catholic church in the United States! I had wanted to go last week for St. Patrick's Day but couldn't make it (see "Girl Got Green"); turns out today was Palm Sunday and the place was packed.

Not surprisingly, it is huge and ornate inside, with very interesting art that had lots of words in it. It was so different from an LDS church service in so many ways. They gave us palm leaves at the entrance...we had no idea what to do with them haha. I really liked the incredible operatic singing, but the strong incense was a bit much for me. I came home with lots of questions for my Catholic roommate Gaby haha. Good eye-opening cultural experience, but we had to leave early to get to our church meeting on time. I love being a Mormon :)

Let's see how long it takes me to catch up with homework...