The Eclair Cake Got an 8.4

In a survey of three guys who were in no way part of our progressive dinner, my eclair cake was given an averaged score of 8.4 out of 10.

I was happy with this rating. And it would have been higher if we had included the ratings of everyone who ate it. But considering I wasn't actually conducting a true survey, I didn't get anyone's number rating at the actual dinner.

There were just murmurs of "divine," "really good" and "heavenly." The domestic love continues.

My interview with the lady last night went really well. The hardest part was getting over there. I got off the metro and had to catch a bus. But it is often pretty hard to find exactly where the bus stop you need is. I had directions. I thought I found the right one, got on it, and turned out I was right. But I couldn't really see the names of the streets, so I completely guessed when my stop was coming up, and somehow (praise God) I guessed correctly. I think I'm getting better at this whole public transportation thing. And overcoming my overwhelming fear of buses.

I was early to the interview, so I just sat down for a few minutes and collected my thoughts, making sure I had my questions together, etc. Then I went inside. I was meeting her at the Curves gym she co-owns, which was kind of fun. I was still early and she wasn't there yet, so while I waited one of the women working there talked to me for a little while and tried to talk me into joining Curves. The conversation went something like this:

Lady: "So, what gym are you a part of?" (A clear trap.)
Me: "I'm not, actually."
Lady: "Well, you should join Curves. It's a really great work-out..." (spiel about how great Curves is)
Me: "Yeah, I'm actually only here for a few months, so it doesn't really make sense."
Lady: "Well, with Curves we have some sort of plan that lets you use any Curves gym in the country!"
Me: "Uhhhhhhh."

But the interview went really well. The woman I interviewed was extremely nice, and even though it made me feel extremely lazy because she works out probably 100 times the amount I do, it was cool to hear her story. I'll post the link when the story publishes. It's not supposed to print until a week from Sunday, so it will be a little while.

I didn't have any trouble getting back to the apartments (which was even more exciting), and I got back a little after 7 p.m. The progressive dinner had already started, so I grabbed my dishware and joined the fun. We had avocado dip and chips and salsa for an appetizer from the girls, then the boys made a baked potato bar (which was really good, even though the potatoes took way too long to cook), and then we had my eclair cake, which, as I already expressed, was a hit.

My roommates didn't think that if I just made one eclair cake it would be enough, so I made two. We ate exactly one. We had an entire cake left. So after the dinner was over, and I had laid on the floor for a decent amount of time, Karin and I decided to visit the boys' rooms upstairs and see if we could get rid of some.

We started in Jason, Zack, and Mark's apartment because we know them better. We went in and Zack got as excited as he ever gets about anything about it, and we basically dumped about a quarter of the cake on a plate so they could eat it periodically. Then Jason came out of his room and we all started talking. Then Mark came back. And Karin and I didn't end up leaving for almost two hours because we all ended up just talking. The only reason we ended up leaving, I think, was because I managed to remember to ask what time it was and we realized it was already after midnight and all of us had to work early.

So that ended the evening.

Today I came into work and started transcripting my interview from last night. Then I was given a story assignment about how the economy is affecting flower sales for Valentine's Day. It was actually a really fun piece to write. I called like 6 different florists in the area and talked to them for a little while.

I talked to one guy who wanted to give me an illustration - he asked if I had a boyfriend. I said no, I don't. He said, "ok, then let's pretend I just started dating you" and then he went from there, talking about our fictitious relationship. That was funny. He called me "sweetheart" at the end of the conversation, too.

Then there was the guy that was obviously very excited to be interviewed by someone from the paper. At the end of the interview, he expressed his love for the paper and how he reads it all the time and offered if we needed a photo for the paper, he would be happy to have a photographer come out and take pictures. Turns out we did need a photo, so I sent a photog out there. I'm sure the man was thrilled.

It was a blast. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this piece. And my editor really liked it. She asked a few clarifying questions but didn't change a whole lot at all, and left it at the word count I had it at! And there's going to be a photo! So this should be a pretty good clip. I'm kind of excited.

Alyssa (another WJCer) works just down the street from me, so we got together for lunch this afternoon at Corner Bakery just across the street from me. It was really fun. This was the first time I had actually left the office for lunch, and I think that leaving, even just for a half hour or 45 minutes or whatever it is, just makes the day feel better.

So it has really been a good day. Great compared to yesterday. My back is feeling significantly better, so I'm hoping by tomorrow or Saturday I'll be back to normal.

I think I'm going to go to Target after work and then head back to the apartments. There's been some talk of salsa dancing tonight, but I'm not going to lie - I'm tired, I still have some work to do for class tomorrow and it's Office night. So we'll see. I think a lot of us are feeling that at the moment, so I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen. But then I still could end up going. It's a wait and see.

And I'm finally starting to really settle in to this office I think. Today just felt really good. I felt like I was on much more sure footing. I enjoyed it.