Tour de Parking Garage

Marco. Polo.

After work all I wanted to do was plug in my phone and jam to Pandora during my rush-hour ride home. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. The parking garage decided to hide my car for a solid 10 minutes and laughed as I walked all five floors without luck of finding my car. After the humiliation of all my co-workers seeing mey on every floor as they head to the exit, I finally found my car on the fourth level --which was the original floor I started searching, might I add. That parking garage has it in for me, I swear. That is surely not the first time I have felt like a lost child in Disney World. Only this time there are no fun rides to distract me nor keep me entertained. Finally finding my car was a humiliating relief. I simply sat in the driver's seat getting everything set: phone charging, Pandora station playing, my parking ticket in hand, credit card ready to be charged. As I got to the top floor I was in line with 10 other cars waiting to leave work. Once I got to the gate, the girl working and I had a giggle over the stupidity a long work day brings upon others. Silly people, the gate arm doesn't rise willingly. It's called monayyy.

To accompany this long afternoon, I had an equally long morning. The American Red Cross was visiting HMA and offered appointment times to employees. I signed up to give blood and was actually very excited. I haven't given blood in a while, and now was my chance to A.) do a good deed and B. ) get away from my cubicle for an hour. In the past I have had problems with my iron levels, and have been turned away numerous times for being anemic. To offset this common occurrence I woke up an hour early and treated myself to an IHOP breakfast. After ordering I was stoked to give blood. Who wouldn't be excited to have an excuse to eat a delicious breakfast of pancakes topped with bananas, bacon, scrambled eggs and chocolate milk?

Breakfast was absolutely amazing and helped me stay focused during my work day (I guess those mini-wheats are speaking the truth). After lunch I headed to Hill Auditorium to do my good deed of the day. That was another wild goose chase. I honestly do not know the lay of the land at the Woodruff Arts Center. That being said, I walked around for 15 minutes attempting to find the American Red Cross. I eventually found the room and was able to successfully give blood. Yay for saving the lives of nine babies! I will say I was getting nervous while waiting, though. Right as I arrived three ladies had previously passed out/were feeling flushed from giving blood. Some claim the cause was the slightly warm room and the lack of breakfast the ladies had eaten. Regardless, I was starting to psyche myself out. I held it together and pumped that little stress ball like my life depended on it. After an hour of waiting, freaking out, and filling up one bag of blood I was a proud blood donor. Now I know that "I make a difference."

After giving blood, I entered the office just in time for a communication meeting. Our department met and discussed potential ads and marketing concepts offered by a highly revered ATL/NYC ad agency. This was the same agency our department met with earlier this summer to discuss the idea of the High's newest campaign. It was cool to see the proposed advertisements that had been influenced by our inputs and ideas. Even though we were presented these ads, they are by no means the final draft. There are still things to be edited, deleted and ideas that have room to grow.The ads are going to be great and the marketing placements and concepts will hopefully catch the eyes of those interested in seeing the High's soon-to-be exhibit. Sitting in on these meetings helps me feel like a true component to my team. I have a chance to be face-to-face with each member and to make suggestions and comments that will respectfully be considered and heard.

Everyday I work my way up an incline of how great my internship is. There are no drastic dips or hills, rather everything is consistently improving. The one thing that isn't? That daggum parking garage. From now on I am going to have to leave myself a note on my phone as a reminder. How embarrassing. I am already losing my memory at the young age of 22. Oy vey.