Mr. Calvin Goes to Washington

When I first got home from Europe (shoot, that's six months ago now), I applied for a job with the Foreign Service. There is/was a Consular Adjudicator position open in Brazil. The first leg of the application was six essays and an autobiographical statement. I passed that, and so I had a phone interview in Portuguese. I passed that, so they invited me to come to Washington, D.C. for two tests and an interview.

I can't tell you much (they swore me to secrecy), but I can tell you that I owned the interview. My final score, however, was .25 points below the cut-off, so I didn't make it onto the final list. Not gonna lie, it was a lot of fun to be walking around DC in a suit and getting clearance to enter government buildings. I kinda felt like James Bond.

So, I didn't get the job, but I stayed for the whole weekend and got to do quite a bit.

Took this on my way to the interview.

Obelisk.

The Washington Monument was closed.

It's cracked from the earthquake (which I felt in Boston).

Yes.

I could spend years at this monument and never get sick of it.

I went to check out the Washington, D.C. temple.

It's awesome.

Even the door decorations are awesome.

I got to see Sister Jones (the artist formerly known as Tiff).

She hasn't changed a bit.

I went to the National Gallery of Art.

I had been to Scotland's, England's, and France's National Galleries.

I guess it was time to go to ours.

This and the next few pics are from Thomas Cole's series called "The Voyage of Life".

"Birth" is above.

"Youth"

"Manhood"

"Old Age"

"Take Your Choice" by John Frederick Peto

"Right and Left" by Winslow Homer.

I love the way the hunter changes the perspective of the title.

Phenomenal.

I took random pictures of the Mall.

The one and only Brad Meehan.

He put me up.

He entertained me.

He introduced me to beautiful women.

He is the coolest person alive.

We showed modern art what we think of it.

We took pictures in front of cannons.

It's a tradition I'm not going to explain here.

Brad's not as in to art as he'd like to be, so we I suggested the National Gallery of Art.

"Houses of Parliament" by Monet.

"The Dead Toreador" by Manet.

"The Northern Whale Fishery: The 'Swan' and 'Isabella'" by John Ward of Hull.

"Daniel in the Lions Den" by my boy Peter Paul Rubens.

I love the immensity of his paintings.

That is a mean kitty.

Brad and I walked around the Capitol.

It's pretty.

Great place for some man talk.

If only my camera could capture sunsets like I want it to.

Gorgeous.

I have always loved Washington, D.C., and this trip did nothing but remind me of that fact.

I left with no job and seven poems.

Totally worth it.

New Glasses - Help Me Pick

After smashing my glasses for the umpteenth time in a snowball fight last weekend, I've decided it's high time I get new ones. These aren't the only ones I'll look at, but I found a website that will send me five frames to try out for five days (thank you warbyparker.com).

If you know me well you'll already know which ones I like the most, but I'm not sold on anything quite yet. Tell me what you think. Comments here, facebook, texts, vibes, whatever. Ready, go.

Japhy

Larkin

Nedwin

Thompson

Roosevelt

Still in Love with Boston.

Here's what I've been doing in Boston over the last few months. It's not a comprehensive list, but it's time to put up some more pictures.

Reed, Al, Mel, and I went to the 2011 Red Bull Cliff Diving Championship.

They jumped off the Institute of Contemporary Art.

(The professional divers. Not Reed, Al, and/or Mel.)

No, seriously, they jumped off the Institute of Contemporary Art.

I want to do it.

I was inspired.

I went camping.

Danielle and I dressed up as Calvin and Hobbes for Halloween.

I helped people move. So did Nishan, Austin, and Michael.

I've noticed that I'm the only one working in these pictures.

I grew a mustache.

McCall grew one, too, but she shaved for this picture.

I ate sushi. The one on the far left is a caterpillar.

Dema ate earwax.

I hugged a giant teddy bear at Costco.

And I ate a bunch of Chex.

Cinnamon Chex aren't as good as Honey Nut Chex, but they're ok.

So that's that.

I'm currently applying to PhD programs. Twelve of them, to be exact: Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Rutgers, UT-Austin, Washington, UCLA, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Cornell, and Columbia. It's a prestigious list (because I have a big head).

I've also made it through two rounds of the Foreign Service hiring process. There's an opening in Brazil. I didn't even have to take the FSOT (the Foreign Service test). A few months ago I filled out an application, which included six essays, and then last Monday I passed the over-the-telephone preliminary language test. We talked politics, which is not my strong suit, but I passed. I'm pretty sure the next step is to go to Washington DC for a face-to-face interview. Guess we'll see.

Anyways, I'm rambling, so this post should end. Maybe I'll take pictures of places I work next (there are currently three of them) for the next one.

Maybe not.

Catching Up With Boston - Yankees/Sox

Making time for a blog post.

After Europe I came back to Boston. A few days later Grandma Olsen passed away, so I went to Boise for a few days. Then I came back to Boston again, and I've been here since. I've done some pretty rad things in the last few weeks, so I'll try to get those up asap.

For today, here's a few pics from the day Reed and I went to see the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway (hooray for Reed not being able to find a girl to take).

Boo ya, Reed.

Boo ya, pizza.

Boo ya, seats behind home plate.

Boo ya, $14-worth of food.

Boo ya, Fenway.

Boo ya, first pitch.

Boo ya, umpire meeting.

Boo ya, Coca-Cola

Boo ya, Green Monster.

Boo ya, soon to be a national landmark.

Boo ya, Prudential Center.

Boo ya, Derek Jeter.

Boo ya, anger management.

Boo ya, nightfall.

Boo ya, Boston.

Who cares if we lost? It's baseball anyways.