He’s a much better player than I am, though. I tend to be optimistic about how far Drake can jump.

WASHINGTON, DC — This morning, my bus driver said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please utilize all available space and try to congregate toward the rear of the vehicle.”

A son looked up at his mother. “We have to move to the back of the bus,” she whispered.

Yep.

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Don’t get me wrong; I’ve had maybe the best temping experience one could have had. I thought I’d be in a different office every week, doing menial work, but instead I stuck with the same office for a long time and actually got to do some interesting stuff. In fact, for six months, I worked at a fantastic company with wonderful people with whom I developed real, likely lasting, friendships. If I had any passion for the work, I would have applied for a job there in a heartbeat. And really, how many temps can say that?

Still, it will be nice to defragment my brain a bit and let myself focus solely on being awesome at this amazing job I’ve lucked myself into. (Yes, ending sentences with prepositions on my off-hours woooo.) I do not fail to recognize how extremely lucky I am to have found a journalism job, writing, for The Washington Post, on a subject I love. That’s…a quad-fecta. Working longer hours will also (maybe?) free up some time to get back into serious reporting, which would make it a quint-fecta. In sum, life is pretty awesome right now, poised to get more awesome if I can hack it and I’m a very happy camper.

Plus, my SO just got Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and it’s maybe the most entertaining game to watch…um…ever.

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Dear Santa: Please Make My Mommy Happy : NPR.

Hope you all have a fantastic Turkey Day.  I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Great family, a wonderful (better) other half, a roof over my head and a mercifully understanding and supportive group of friends. And now, to add to the list.

I. Have. A. Job.

A job! I will be working for the Washington Post’s technology section starting Dec. 6. That’s right, folks, someone will be paying me to commit journalism. I will be paid to do what I love.

I am so grateful and humbled, but most of all…excited beyond belief.

Thanks.

–Hayley

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YouTube – On the Rocks – Lady Gaga – Bad Romance.

Silver lining: Found there’s a market for websites that don’t explain what injuries and illnesses are before telling you how to treat them. Look, I am a huge fan of context, but maybe when I Google “coffee burn on hand” I want the treatment to show up in the sum text. Now I have a new business model in case I ever need one.

Bonus bright spot: Finding out your co-workers like you, even if you are just a temp. And that they habitually have ice packs in their mini-fridges.

And, if you’re lucky enough to be like me, call your grandpa and thank him.

In Flanders Field: Lt. Col. John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Those who know me know that singing is a HUGE part of my life. Since I was seven, I’ve been in a choir every year of my life, save one. So naturally, I joined a choir here as soon as I set down some semi-permanent roots.

My choir of choice was the Congressional Chorus, a 70-person co-ed ensemble dedicated to singing American choral music. And most importantly, to me, the chorus dues and fundraising also support the American Youth Chorus, an ensemble for DC children ages 8-14. Youth choirs are a big deal for me.

Are youth choirs a big deal to you? Is beautiful music? Because if you answered YES to either of those questions, come see the Congressional Chorus sing at the beautiful Church of the Epiphany on Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. David Simmons, our music director, puts together a heckuva program.

So, to recap, that’s:

Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, 8 p.m.
 Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G Street NW
Washington, DC  20005

Tickets are $25, and you can get ‘em at http://chorusmarket.org/tickets/

Post done! With tons of time to spare.

Things were getting ridiculous with 343 subscriptions. Instead of staying  informed, I was piling on the guilt of choosing ignorance as I clicked “Mark All as Read” again and again. Streamlining Reader taught me three simple lessons, a lot about my media consumption habits and a thing or two about myself.

Lesson One: A news feed is not a book. You can’t reread and love it.

This should be obvious to a young person like me, but it’s not. Having been a student my whole life, I’m constantly noting things I’ll want to cite later. With no shelf space to consider, it shouldn’t be such a problem, except that it’s rare that a feed is interesting all the time.  So while I like The Oatmeal, and wish it well (did you see the link?), I only find it funny about 20% of the time..and can find those things mostly through blogs that match my personality more consistently. 46/343 feeds removed.

Lesson Two: Feeds are redundant (and information and time are finite.)

On job interviews, I’m always asked how I get news and have so many answers they must think I’m channeling Sarah Palin’s “all of ‘em” answer. I love holding up two stories about the same thing and looking at the differences. But a lot of the time I’m reading the AP feed AND the same AP story running in a regional paper. Plus, newsrooms often post the same thing on multiple feeds, so goodbye, CNN.com Latest News; I’ll make do with just CNN.com. With this in mind, I managed to streamline my four news folders into two – Local News and Other News. I also learned I’m in love with traditional media, reading mostly newspapers, services and magazines. Time to diversify. 113/297 feeds removed.

Lesson Three: As with most things, divide and conquer.

Finally, I turned my attention to the best, if less important, part of Reader: what amuses me. The answer, I found out, is a lot of different things that I have to be in the right mood for. People of Walmart may be hilarious one day, but disgusting and shameful the next. So I separated it out by category, namely: Sports, Pop Culture, Webcomics, Personal Blogs and Geeking. Now, even if I hit “Mark all as Read,” I have finer control over what I’m not reading. All of those categories took some serious weeding…except one. 30/184 feeds removed.

Final total: 158 feeds.

I admit. I’m still totally addicted to the information I can get off Reader, and — yes,  you math people — even added some feeds as I was trying to cut them down. At least it’s nicely organized now.

If you are what you eat — or at least consume — then I’ve confirmed something about myself that I’ve suspected all along.

I’m a total geek. More on that later.