Closing Another Week

Today marked the end of another busy week. Our morning started with a short video about the Waldorf Astoria and its employees. The scene was chaotic; everyone always had to run somewhere. The managers were stressed and the line-level workers have long hours of hard labor. The hotel, with all its grandeur, seems like a well-organized mess behind the scenes.Things appear to run smoothly in front of guests, and the cameras portray smiling employees who seems happy about their jobs. I have my doubts though; does the concierge at the Waldorf Towers truly enjoy searching for a vegetarian restaurant that offers meat dishes? Do runners really enjoy hefting beds and fetching toiletries for eight hours? As the doorman mentioned that the bags he lifted were often 70 to 100 pounds, I also wondered how many employees regularly had to consult the occupational health department. Or maybe just a psychiatrist to help cope with the stressful requirements present in all the jobs.

After the video, we had until 12 PM to turn in our reports. After some small editing - hindsight is always 20/20 - I tried to print my paper. Unfortunately, so did many other people, and Mark had one person out there to sort through all of the papers. I printed my work at 11, and didn't receive all of it until 11:57. I thought it would have been better to have everyone write their names on the board when they were ready to print, and have them wait and go three to six at a time (one to two per printer) so that chaos could be avoided. As the person distributing the papers could call out the next six or so names, signaling that it was their turn to print. No papers would be lost, and less time would be wasted trying to figure out what report belong to which person. I wanted to suggest this, but Mark was going in and out of the room so fast that I really didn't have a chance. Maybe they will try my idea next time. After all, as the Waldorf video proved, there must be a method to the madness.

Afterward I had the rest of the afternoon off. Alva and I grabbed lunch together, and discussed English and Chinese curse words as well as how we want to change the world - the topics every kid our age would tackle over fruit salad, soda, and cheeseburgers. I checked my e-mail at 1:50, and discovered I still had one more copy of my report to print out - and less than ten minutes to do it! I ran to the class through the wonderful humidity and 88-degree heat, and made it in six minutes (the walk usually take me fifteen to twenty minutes). I caught the TAs just as they were about to leave, and thankfully they stayed the extra two minutes it took for me to print out my copy.

The highlight of tonight was going to see Spider-Man with the rest of the cohort. The movie had some good and bad parts (I don't want to give any spoilers); the music was good, Stan Lee's appearance this time was obvious and hilarious, and it was a good way to escape school life for two hours. Overall, the movie was a B for me. As a side note, sometimes I felt like I was watching Twilight; the main character wore his hair like Robert Pattinson, and scenes between he and his girlfriend consisted mostly of almost-kisses. Those are the two main characteristics of the vampire love story, and I wondered if Jacob, having failed at attaining Bella, would go for Gwen instead (Team Jacob vs. Team Peter Parker?). At least the acting for Spider-Man was better.

After going to Target to pick up some toothpaste, we all went back to the dorms to do our own thing (I did laundry). Tomorrow we are going to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. I'm not exactly excited about it (I've never been very interested in the sport), but I do think it will be interesting!