D.C. Adventures: My Life as a Congressman

My fellow congressmen and I

Acting as a congressman is tiring, time consuming, and emotionally draining while simultaneously being a fulfilling experience. Everyone writes and proposes bills to his or her own committee (or refers it to another committee). Each bill is dissected and thoroughly review by the committee . If the bill is passed by committee it moves on to the House of Representatives which would then transfer to the Senate and if the two agree, the president would sign the bill and make it a law. Although prior to my Washington DC excursion, I had some sort of idea of how Congress works, I never truly understood until I competed as a congressman in this mock congress competition.

Sitting in the airport, going home a winner

The Congress itself is very complex with its rules and parliamentary procedure. In addition, its very easy to see how issues between sides may arise; prior to my participation in this program I assumed that all Republicans were wacky right winged conservatives who only care about money. However, since I had to represent a Republican congressman from Oklahoma, it was interesting to see  how Republicans and Democrats share the same idea which is to protect the American people. It seems only clear differentiation between the two parties is the way they choose to go about executing specific policies. I am glad I participated in a program that could seamlessly educate competitors about politics and legislation without emphasizing competition. The mock Congress felt so genuine and I am so fortunate to have been able to take part in something of this nature.

As a congressman, I've learned how to properly author, sponsor, and submit legislation. I have made friends and future contacts. Most importantly, I realized why voting for the district representative and state senators are so important. I can't wait to be a congressman again.

D.C. Adventures: Night Time Exploration

My team and I were hungry so we went out in the freezing cold rain to find food. We all sat down, ate some really genuine Vietnamese food, and got to know each other better. It was dark, but not too late so we went on an adventure to find some desert. We seemed to be strolling for miles until we decided to walk to the White House. We made it to the White House and there was a surprisingly high population standing outside the presidents house for the middle of the night. We were just going to take pictures, but then some random guy in missed matched clothing patterns and social awkwardness walked up to us to attempt to engage in conversation. typically when strangers approach me, I like to ignore them to send the message that I do not want to participate in whatever he or she is offering, however, one of my teammates actually listens to this guy.  Said teammate talks to the stranger for a solid ten minutes and the rest of us are getting restless. One girl storms off to walk back to the hotel solo and in the chaos of trying to reason with her, my teammate  has actually followed the stranger over to a tent across the street with a man who claims to be a polyglot sitting on the inside. At this point it is late, I'm tired, and I had taken so many poorly lit selfies that I too was getting quite impatient. I gathered up the straggling teammates and reconnected with the rogue teammate to head home. We wanted food for the hotel and stopped to ask for directions. When we stop, we notice a man in mismatched patterns and messy hair walk past. Yes, it was the creepy stranger from the White House and yes, he did follow us for half a mile (0.8 km).

Moral of the story: Always walk in squad and look behind you every now and again :)

D.C. Adventures: Meeting my Congresswoman

Library of Congress <3

I could feel the fast pace energy of the city from the very moment I landed. The minute I arrived in DC I hopped in an airport shuttle, dropped of my bags at the hotel and took the subway for the first time to make a meeting with Congresswoman Franklin. I had never been through so many security stops in my life ( TSA, then the congressional office security, then the library of congress, etc.). After getting cleared by security, I walked to her office which had orange juice ^_^. My team and I entered her office and got to have a personal question and answer session with our congresswoman. It was very interesting to hear what she said about where she came from and the responsibilities that come with representing a district. I also enjoyed looking at the architecture of the building itself. Everything looks so official and expensive. After our photo with the congresswoman, we stopped in the Library of Congress. It was beautiful functioning as a library, an art museum, and a historical landmark all at the same time.  Definitely an experience I'll never forget.

Photo opp with Congresswoman Franklin

100th Post - Asking for Help

Personally, I hate asking for help. I feel it's more honorable if I can achieve and conquer my obstacles without the help of others. However, there's not one famous person that doesn't have a team for people supporting him or her. So instead of trying to do everything by myself, I'm going to start asking for help more.  It makes life's difficult processes more bearable if there are people available to support me.

I was silently struggling in Trigonometry until I put my pride aside and asked my friends for help. As a result, I did so well on the last test, it brought my class score up an entire letter grade (YAY :D). I was silently stressing about filling out all these scholarship applications while trying to complete quality work by these never ending deadlines until I asked my mom to fill in the tedious parts (Name, Phone number,etc.). It was important for me to realize that asking for help is not accepting defeat, admitting to weakness, nor a sign of laziness. Asking for help is just my last resort when I know I can't complete everything by myself.

As a successful person in training, it’s important for me to let my team help me and to accept their support so that as a group, we can all reach our full potential.



P.S.
This is my 100th post. I have written more than 130 pieces, but I want to make sure that everything being released is a quality and heartfelt piece that I would be proud to have my viewers read. Thank you for joining me on this journey through 100 posts. I can't wait to see what happens when I write 100 more <3

I Gave My Pizza Away

I went to a club meeting and there was leftover pizza. The coach gave me a box to take home which I planned to give to my family. I walked outside of the meeting room and I see college students sitting on the floor. they comment as I walk by saying "Looks good" and "Oh is that for me?" I stop and turn around. I ask them " Do you want it?" One of them says " Oh no, we were just kidding" as the  male behind him says "Are you serious?" I say "Ya, here. There's not that much in there but-" Before I could finish what I was saying, five hungry college students attacked 3, maybe 3 and half slices of lukewarm pepperoni pizza. I leave quietly and they yell "Thank you!" after me with their faces full.

I'm glad I gave them my pizza; now that I think about it, the pizza was never mine.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my beautiful Valentines! Over the years, I've noticed that you don't have to be in a romantic relationship to have a valentine.  Valentine's Day is just a day for people to appreciate the loved ones they have in their lives. So when a friend of mine asked me if I had a valentine this Valentine's Day I said "Of course. Everyone is my Valentine."  Especially my amazing blog viewers <3

Motown the Musical

Motown was AMAZING!!! It is an amazing show that embodies the emotions, stories, and obstacles in creating Motown Records while simultaneously including major events in American history. The actors and actresses were so talented-representing the true spirit of Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and Stevie Wonder. It was like taking a step back in time which I appreciated because I did not grow up with the sweet music of the Supremes; the closest thing I know to 60s and 70s music is Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson. The music had a voice and quality that is lacking in modern music.


The awesome thing about music is that its universal, timeless, and immortal. Which would explain why I know almost all the words to "Square Biz" by Teena Marie which was released almost 20 years before I was born. Motown the musical is more than just a show with songs; its an unforgettable experience that allows one to see history through the eyes of music.

Little Kids -_ -# Part 3: Working on my Little Handful(s)

When the little girl licks me.....

My little handful-the overly informed 4th grader- is behaving a little better. He actually gets really excited when he sees me come in. He leaves the lunch room early so he can go to study with me (Yay!! :D ). He's more intelligent than he knows, it just takes some effort to extract it. In all honesty, the effort is so worth it. He tells me about his struggles and I tell him about what he perceives to be my struggles (aka living without a fancy phone or cable television). Some of the kids hear of my trials and tribulations and they say “I feel so bad for you". Little do they know, the feeling is mutual.

After I finished working with the "older" kids, I went to go work with the kindergarteners. Fortunately, they had no homework so we went outside to play. It’s amazing how much energy they have. They want to run and play and yell and just do fun kid stuff. It’s a lot of fun to watch them, it’s just really tiring to join them.

 One girl likes to come up and lick my arm sometimes…so that’s kind of weird. Another girl gave me a hug and then insisted on slapping my butt and thighs exclaiming that they are “jiggly”. Kids are bold (a little weird) and fearless; I applaud them for that. The key is to teach them to stay fearlessness, but fine tune the boundaries between courage and inappropriateness.

Little Kids -_-# Part 2: My Little Handful

Yesterday I was helping the kids with their homework and one kid sits down next to me. The first thing he says to me is "You talk like you're white". That in itself is very depressing because he thinks that speaking proper English is only for white people. As the tutoring session goes on, he continues to drop very disturbing tidbits about how he's from this neighborhood and how he's in 4th grade, yet he knows about sex and how to curse. Where is the innocence? The innocence is non existent. I am almost mystical to him because I am black, I speak proper English, and I dabble in Chinese. He doesn't understand how I could possibly have aspirations outside of becoming a famous basketball/ football player or a rapper.

It's pretty clear that school is not on his list of priorities; he just "wants to get whatever job gets him a lot of money. He "doesn't even need school" which is problematic because he couldn't figure out simple arithmetic. When I ask him about his future aspirations, he tells me the "job doesn't matter." My heart aches for him. These younger generations of kids only know the technology they were born into, the  popularity that comes with having the newest shoes, and the fun that comes with affluence. The concept of faith, hard work, and consistency is lost on a kid like this overly informed and culturally ignorant 4th grader. The best way to combat ignorance is by using knowledge so I'm going to continue to drop little tidbits about myself to see if it rubs off on my little handful.

My face every time that kid opens his mouth. #WorkingOnIt

My 1st Charity Event

My volleyball family <3

I am a sand volleyball player and my coach was nice enough to host a charity event for the FAU volleyball team. Naturally, I chose to participate. I donated a $25 gift card to iTunes and attended the event. I got to play with the FAU girls; they are super talented. They reminded me to continue to be an academic overachiever because I really would not be able to compete with them at the collegiate level unless I put almost all my focus into specifically volleyball. It was fun exercising with them and hearing some of their advice. All in all, I think my 1st charity event was super successful and I am glad I got to be a part of something wonderful happening in the community.

One of the younger players asked me why I gave away an iTunes gift card. She says "oh you must not have an iPhone/iPod." I responded "No, I have an iPod. But I'm sure someone else needs this more than I do." The winner of the gift card was actually one of the FAU girls and I'm sure she needed some iTunes spending money because college is SUPER expensive.

FAU girls #三班

Genuine giving feels really good because it is the act of doing something nice for someone else without expecting anything in return. In this case, I got to spend time with some awesome people and got some pretty awesome free advertisement for Camy's Corner ^_^