Anti-Tsunami

Fast Food
Lately I have been thinking about fast food more often. Specifically, you enter those places just how you would enter a porn palace: either (1) you’re just seedy and don’t care, or (2) you should know better, but
you do it anyway, either (a) covertly, (b) or with tremendous guilt upon departure. I
have to admit openly that I worship my traditional McDonalds breakfast of a sausage breakfast
burrito and a fruit and yogurt parfait. Also, last week I got a kids meal at BK, and received a free Transformer — more than  meets the eye! But, I refuse to get chicken fries. I think it’s wrong that meat now mimics vegetables. I don’t care that it’s a starch. What’s next, pear-shaped veal?

Credit
In light of purchasing a home in Austin in a few short weeks, I have become obsessed with repairing my credit. My Equifax report indicates that I have healthy credit, and I qualify for more home than I thought. However, I have a few blemishes that I aspire to fix. First, I need to get my balances at below 50% of the credit line. Second, I never closed a Structure account that I opened years and years ago for a free monthly gift. Thank God it has no balance. Third, and most importantly, I had about 5 late payments, the last of which occurred in 2002. I am reading website and making disputes, and it’s become sort of a hobby. I want my credit perfect Gosh darnit!

Rat
So, on Monday I received a message from Andrea while at work. She is crying. I freak, assuming something happened to her dad. I look for plane tickets to Chicago. Meanwhile, I get in touch with Joanna who tells me Andrea has been attacked by a rat. Thinking that Andrea is still working with homeless-type clients, I think that a rabid rat has randomly attacked her. Turns out her (literally) retarded client handed her her pet rat and proceeded to nibble and then rip the flesh off Andrea’s finger. It subsequently affixed itself to Andrea’s finger as she attempted to pull it off with her other hand. After a strong tug, it latched onto her other hand. Blood spurted everywhere in this retarded person’s home, and stains Andrea’s steering wheel. Andrea went to the emergency room. She still has all her fingers though they are covered with weird/large ping-pong ball shaped bandages. You may be happy to know that the rat named "Junior" is now grounded. I thought they should make a yamaka out of the rat’s skin.

LA
I started thinking about my career. One day I may want to be a mediator. It’s something that really appeals to me and I think I am suited to this sort of career for a variety of reasons. I refuse to incur any more debt or leave California. But, I am entertaining the idea of in 3-4 years getting a job at Pepperdine and getting free tuition to get an LLM in ADR there. It is the top-ranked program and would it be a sin to live in Malibu for a year or two? I actually think it would be. I don’t want to leave here SF at all. I feel like SF is my mommy and I am a little boy who needs it to take care of me.

WEEK IN REVIEW:

Head Shot
On Monday Erick took headshots with a low-megapixel webcam. I put makeup on, washed my hair, put on a tight black shirt and we took a bunch of pictures. He did a bang-up job, and they turned out decent but because of the nature of the camera they are blurry — they’re my friendster pictures now. I need to get real ones.

Performance
On Wednesday, I performed my pieces for class. I sang four in all. Francie didn’t like my selections, but Naomi liked them and reiterated that after the performance. It seems like Francie would rather us sing songs we are uncomfortable with that are right for our casting than songs we are comfortable with. She said she thought I would be a perfect Curly in Oklahoma. I don’t think I’m credible enough to disagree with her, but I thought they were OK. In accord with my great eager-beaverness, I went first, which allowed me to appreciate my classmates’ performances. I was asked to sing the entirety of one song I definitely did not prepare for. I think I did well. Regardless, I am relieved it’s over, and excited about my time off and next ACT classes.  I think I am going to start a Psych class next term: Human Sexuality.

Rasberry Collins
Thursday, I had lunch with an alum from NY who looks exactly like Matthew McCaunaghey (sp?) and he recommended Gaspare’s pizza. As he is from NY, I thought he was credible though in his defense, he professed that he wasn’t a pizza snob.

That same night a new friend just moved to attend Stanford Med, so we
celebrated. We originally went to Mecca, which on Thursday night is filled with rich lesbians who valet their BMW’s. We went inside for a little bit and on my way out a femme grabbed me in a private place on my body and proclaimed "darling." It was shocking to say the least.

Afterwards, we went to Martunis again, which has become my favorite
bar. They had these really ridiculous drink specials for any drink with
$1 Plymouth Gin. We had Rasberry Collins and on top of it received free
CDs.(more on that later). I was so giddy that I was willing to sing, but un/fortunately the piano player didn’t know my songs. The Plymouth promoters were really funny. There were two of them, a guy and a girl. They spent a lot of time at our table, assuring us that we were the most approachable people in the bar. The guy kept on saying how proud he was that he was getting more attention than the girl b/c all the gay guys wanted to talk to him. The girl kept on trying to get him to mingle. He was a senior at Berkeley who plans to be a cop, or so he says. He was simultaneously complaining/bragging about all the guys hitting on him, but he kept on touching me. Space issues. Weird guy.

Cab
I took an interesting cab home. My cab driver was a nice Indian man. I started talking about Lahore, where he ate the day before. He felt I was very credible b/c I knew Lahore and went on very passionately about his wife’s Nihari and the 5-hour cooking process, and the marrow, and it was very intense. I feel strangely connected to Indian people. I really do. In the midst of this passionate exchange, I started talking about investing in Austin, and the prices there and I think this man was going to blow. He has 6 kids and wants them to have a good life. I gave him my card and he called the next day and is going to move there. Weird the lives you change without even intending to.

Explosive
I was walking to work minding my own business on Friday. I noticed a little bit of nervous energy around me but had no idea that I very narrowly averted a major explosion that occured 1/2 a block away from me on a street I travel on every day. The Crocker Galleria is abutted by two streets. I was walking down Sutter, the other side is Post. The explosion occurred on the Post side, right where I had intended to dine for lunch, at a place called Medicine, which is based on a 500-year old Japanese diet. A Mac friend and I are going to check out Medicine next week. Re: the explosion , weird - b/c (1) there’s nothing you can do to avoid stuff like this and (2) how unphased I feel about it. Later in the day I played the CD I received at Martunis.  It was so awful that it was entertaining. The guy singing in it was so tone deaf that I was too embarassed to even play it in my office. It’s like the William Hung of jazz standards.

Slow and Comfortable
On Friday, I bumped into another random Macalester person in the Mission. This has happened so many times that I no longer consider it a
coincidence. We had a pleasant night — went to a Sunflower Vietnamese, a Jazz Club named Savannas, and partook in tacos at Taqueria San Jose. A solid, if not slightly uneventful, night with 5 Jewish men and a lady. Jeff asked me in a nonoffensive way, but not rhetorically, how long I could go without talking. I think I could go pretty long actually, though I believe this is unquantifiable unless I were to join a monastery. The question is why would I want to?

I woke up at about 3 PM on Saturday, and Andrea and I spent the whole day together. I feel so comfortable with Andrea, a person with whom I have spent three phases of my life with. I totally get her and love her. We went to Costco where there were the best samples I have seen in a while: trout, bacon, chow mein, yogurt drinks, pork loin, sausages, chicken salad, tuna salad, pomegranate juice, teddy grahams, frozen berries, tortillas, ravioli, the list goes on. Free samples make me oh so happy. It’s my Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The best I’ve ever had? Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the Summer of 2002. I guess Oprah has her summer home there for a reason! As a side note, I want a talk show.

We went to dinner at Gaspare’s. While waiting for a table we found an awesome and dynamic Russian bakery. About the pizza: The crust was gummy. The place had a good vibe inside, but the crust situation made me uber-sad. I really liked the meatball and marinara sauce, but San Francisco NEEDS better pizza. MN had better pizza, for Christ’s sake. Is it really that hard? During dinner Andrea and I squabbled about whether Risiminis had pizza. I swear they just had calzones and pasta dishes.

Afterwards, Andrea and I went to Mitchell’s, which we have been intending to do for a while. I had butterscotch marble. I love chocolate dip. We proceeded to Cow Hollow to watch the 40-year old virgin, which was slighly more insightful than other movies of its genre, though it was also slightly racist and homophobic. I think I love the soundtrack. I returned home and the Stanford neighbors were at it again with their psychotic fraternity antics. They have a new habit of smoking on our stoop and accidentally leaning against our buzzer. Fun fun fun!

House Parties
Lately, I have been invited to more house parties. Today, I spent the whole day at my friend Brian’s BBQ in Noe.   It was a lot of fun. His home was quite nice. The crowd was comprised of attractive professional hipster types, i.e. ex-Peace Corps volunteers who sold out. I spent 7 or 8 hours there, just drinking beer and meeting interesting people clustered in cohorts, many of whom were from Boston, did Peace Corps in Benin, attended Middlebury, or had visited South Africa. I chilled the most with a couple of international folks: a German-South African-Norweigan guy named Thor (who reminded me of Tom b/c he is a German national who works for a shipping container company — he knows about 50 ways to open a beer bottle), and a Russian girl named Polina, who I felt remarkably comfortable making fun of. I wish I had time to nurture friendships with all the cool people I meet. I love how that’s one of my bigger problems right now.

Parking lot
- My dad just developed the ability to perceive when I tune him out. I feel so bad when he notices and immediately gets off the phone with me. I know that talking to me on the phone is one of the highlights of his life, and now I have to act engaged the whole time. Again, boo-hoo, if this is my biggest problem.
- My sister hung out with Luke Wilson (the actor) this weekend who is also investing in TX real estate.
-Dave Tallman notified me that Macalester is rated the hottest college in America by a subjective and random ranking concocted by Newsweek to sell magazines and compete with USNews. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8939242/  — I notified Mac about this before they even knew.
Shut up, I get excited about those things.
- We’re going to go camping in Big Sur pretty soon. I haven’t been camping in MANY years. The only thing I hate about it is sleeping on the ground.
- I cleaned my bedding today. Boy do I love fresh sheets. I have notably had no laundry snafus as of late.
- I love reading your blogs and I love that you read mine. I think it’s a great way to keep in touch and document the little things in your life.
- My old firm has a new website that looks much better.
- My friend Cara is missing and I am really worried. She spent the summer in Texas, but hasn’t returned, her phone is off, and she is not listed on the student directory at USF.
- The Folsom St. Fair is coming and even though last year I was completely traumatized by it, I am strangely excited to go.
- Rakhee is moving soon!
- My roommates and I have all been doing all our own things lately. It’s both sad and nice at the same time, but all in all completely different.
- I’ve had a weaker bladder lately
- I am obsessed with Yelp still. Help.
- There’s love in the air. I can smell it. Not necessarily for me, but it’s out there.
- Did Risiminis really have pizza?

So, after a hectic week of work with 3 12-hour+ days and 5 public speaking appearances, I am finally A-OK-ish. I won’t be completely ok until I am done with my musical theatre performance next week, which I am seriously REALLY REALLY behind on, and I’m not just saying that. OUCH…

Random musings:

- I hired a work-study student for myself. He is 1 year older than me and getting his LLM at GGU. I love the Louisiana twang.

- I took a cab home tonight because I was so tired. I like cabs. I want to be on Taxicab Confessions.

- I have been really lucky lately. I received a free Ipod from Freeipods.com. I can’t frikkin believe it’s not a scam. So weird. I unjoined Netflix. My video-watching is too erratic to justify the cost.

- I got a great deal on JELLO pudding snacks, and I have been eating pudding like it’s going out of style.

- I need to dedicate a 1/2 day to returning a bunch of defective items that I own, including clothing, electronics, and a disposable camera.

- Update on the mouthguard. I used to think that people who blacked out were just liars. But every night I go to sleep with my mouthguard on. And, in the morning I wake up with it sitting on my dresser. I have zero recollection of taking the mouthguard out and gingerly placing it next to me. So, now I believe that people black out.

- People totally take for granted that the weather here is so perfect so often. I will never get over this.

- I met a big-wig from BART who now has me paranoid about terrorism in the chunnel under the Bay Bridge.

- I am trying to make some extra dough, through admissions consulting and organizing people’s homes. I figure that by just keeping myself busy doing things I enjoy that are free or money-acquiring, I will save money. I want to eradicate my credit card and private loan debt.

- I am excited about all of my West Coast travels next month — Portland, Austin, and San Diego are all, quoting Tony the Tiger, "GRRRRRReat!"

- I am so busy and inaccesible that some people suspect I lead a secret life. I wish I had time for a secret life.  This is what I do: work, Macalester stuff (Bay Area chapter leader, Chair of the Reunion Planning Committee, AND a 2001 Class Agent), 2 classes at ACT (Singing, and Vocal Ensemble), advisory board and general cheerleader for Lila Theatre, yelp elite squad (currently ranked 7th in the country), real estate investing in TX, a slew of wacky entrepreneurial ventures, and entertaining visitors almost every week.  How do people have children?

- I found there is a Paul Mitchell Institute in SF for $15 a doo.

- Orientation was really stellar due to my highly competant colleagues’ efforts. I made a presentation on etiquette and professionalism that was quite well-received. I think of my friend Anu (HAPPY BIRTHDAY) as the most appropriate person I know, so I had her in mind the whole time I was speaking. The funniest part is that for hours after the presentation the new students were being very gracious and cordial to me, as if we at some debutante ball in Kentucky. I felt very self-conscious and scrutinized for the rest of the night, while I was eating, etc.

- I met some great new students who I am excited to get to know — especially one who I met through Zach’s worlds colliding campaign, which I now totally buy into. I love the energy surrounding a new school year. I thrive on it! There are a LOT of job openings at GGU. I have a hard time understanding why b/c it’s seriously such a healthy and happy work environment. If you rock, let me know if you’re in the market for a job at a Law School.

- Small world: My friend sat on the plane with my ex-coworker from the law firm. I am the only person who left that place during my 9-month tenure there, and I feel sort of focused on. All indicators point to the fact that they discuss me and my departure, which just gives me the willies.

- My downstairs loser Stanford neighbors are having another one of their exclusive parties. This time they are blaring Mariah Carey and it’s a sing-along. Interesting.

- I really liked the Sex and the City episode where Charlotte gets married to the short Jewish lawyer guy, especially when Miranda’s speech catches fire.

The Skog took a stab at this little spirituality questionnaire, which I found abfab, so I did it myself…

1. Who am I?

I am my thoughts, what I know, a man, brother, son, friend, alumni director, singer, advisor, event planner, consultant, entrepreneur, what I eat, my experiences.

2. Am I what I do or am I something beyond what I do?

The latter. I am all that I am capable of, much of which I cannot comprehend.

3. How do I know who I am?

Through my senses; through taxonomy and comparison; in looking in the mirror and at the parts of my body that I can see; through my internal dialogue, which is largely shaped by how others perceive or react to me.

4. Who is God?

God is a metaphor for the unquantifiable and intangible thing(s) that create, sustain, and control me.

5. What is my relationship to God?

It frustrates me because it won’t let me in on its secret. It’s imperfect, or perhaps perfect in the way that Mona Lisa is beautiful. I appreciate that it gives me the opportunity to think and express all this. It makes me feel like I am accountable to something. Ironically, I don’t think I go to church (Glide) because of God, but rather for human insight and the energy and multiculturalism.

6. What do I value?

I value modesty, vulnerability, challenge, identification, unconditional love, honesty, compassion, and ambition.

7. Do you value material possessions?

Yes. I appreciate technology, like my Ipod, and brown shoes. I also like expensive clothes, shoes, watches — like my Armani sunglasses.

8. Would I be happy if I gave away everything I currently own?

Temporarily I’d be pissed, but ultimately yes. I am not what I own. My belongings are just conveniences and reminders. A wise Bengali (a language spoken by 100,000,000+) once told me, we are born and die with our hands empty

9. What possession would I be most upset about losing?

My pictures, blank checks

10. What role do books and reading play in my life?

I rarely read growing up or in high school. I wasn’t sure if I had ADHD; I am still not sure, though I am sure I hate Adderall. I read now because it presents me with a challenge. I feel doubly awesome when I read a book, not only because of the substance of the book, but because I know I can get through one.

11. Do I take time to write letters?

Well, that’s like 1/3 of my job. But, otherwise, rarely. I don’t like the whole process of obtaining an envelope and postage. It always takes 5 times as long as it should and hangs over my head. Like reading, though, when I send (or receive) a letter in the mail it is unquantifiably rewarding.

12. Am I comfortable with my feelings?

Yes, I think I have a good thought-feeling balance, which allows me to emote more. I do tend to obsess about things, especially when I feel disrespected, unappreciated, or maligned.

13. Where do I show my personal style?

Through my writing, clothing, and speech/expressions.

14. What do I do well?

I am persuasive. I am a good singer, sculptor, and artist. My job (I think).

15. Do I have a lot of friends or a few?

A lot. I think it’s partly because my sister went to a psychic when I was 8 who told her I would be popular, so I manifested that reality. I acknowledge also that a lot of people don’t like me, and I’m getting better with that.

16. Are relationships important?

Yes, they are everything. I often wonder if I would cryogenically freeze myself if presented the option, but it would be too hard to find people to identify with, who would care about me, and vice-versa. I would basically be me, relationship-less.

17. Are friends more important than romantic relationships?

I think so. To me, romantic relationships are friendships + attraction + intimacy. The problem with them is that we end up tolerating more unhealthiness in romantic relationships than we would otherwise because we develop co-dependency. We also often pursue romantic relationships due to pressure to conform — either from family, friends, religion or society. Friendships are more natural. The saddest thing is how friendships dissipate due to the pressures of romantic relationships, both friendships with a former romantic partner, or friendships beyond a romantic partner.

18. What is the point of traveling?

It helps us develop a more well-rounded understanding of our surroundings. It exposes us to the idea that people can and do live in completely different circumstances — and that the way we live our lives is a choice, and a privilege, as opposed to a template. It satisfies curiosities and cures myths. It helps us identify with others who have travelled to the same places.

19. Am I tolerant of differences?

Yes and no. Religious, ethnic, sexual, political or other differences I am hella cool with.

20. What differences won’t I tolerate?

Ideas-wise, I am a bullheaded control freak about the random things I am most passionate about, i.e.,  if you don’t like Lahore Karahi, or kombucha, don’t appreciate liberal arts colleges, or love Iceland, you’re just a dummy.

21. What is the purpose of my life?

Unanswerable until I know/think my death is immediately imminent. Not everybody has the privilege of answering this.

22. What would I do if I could do anything?

Like Clay Aiken, I would love to be invisible or keep a macrobiotic diet.

23. Should I help other people?

Yes, but qualifiedly so. As I get older, I believe more and more that no good deed goes unpunished.

24. Which people should I help? 

People who are receptive to my help and appreciate it.

25. How do I benefit from helping other people?

Just like travelling, helping others allows me a context to develop or gain a different perspective — to meet someone new who comes from another context, who can help me identify with more people. Through giving advice a part of me lives on, like giving an organ. I also like the feeling of doing good, like when I got all that food destined for the trash to a homeless shelter.

My Myers & Briggs Personality:

After a lifetime of ENFP-ness, I am now… an ENTJ or "Commandant"

The single word to describe your type is fieldmarshal or commandant. You also belong to the larger group called rationals. You love to organize others in matters of logic. Even as a child, you likely naturally assumed the role of leader in groups. You share your personality type with 2% of the population. When you lead, you are more concerned with policy and goals than rules and regulations. You have a tendency to become a workaholic. You are impatient with repetition of error. You are friendly and outgoing, though. You don’t mince words and willingly share your many strong opinions.

As a romantic partner, you are inspiring, but also somewhat challenging. You have a strong desire to be in charge and your clear need for an organized life and home can be overwelming to a partner. You like to
confront conflict directly, discuss problems unflinchingly, solve them, then put them behind you. However, you can be too impatient or unwilling to take the time to listen to your partner and give them a chance to express themselves fully so that they also have a sense of closure. You are generally uncomfortable dealing with emotions, so you are apt to dismiss your partner’s emotions as illogical. You feel most appreciated when your partner asks for your opinions, takes your advice, and relies on you to get a job done right.

Is it accurate? I think the relationship part is.

Do the test, and post your type in the comments. Seems like this test has been right on for many and especially interesting to see how one change in one letter completely changes the description.

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=16567335035599898597

Oh yeah, I miss Peter Jennings…

Going-away
Tonight I went to a going-away party for my friend Emily who is moving to CT to attend Yale. To celebrate, we went to Martuni’s, which is a pretty kick-ass piano/sing-along bar. I thought I drank responsibly, i.e. 2 martinis, but boy was my heart pounding and head spinning. Seriously spinning. I crashed at about 11. I awoken 3.5 hours later with surround sound. My downstairs neighbors (frat boys from Stanford) are having a loud ridiculous party with blaring classic rock sing-alongs, arhythmic wailing, and tons of expletives. Meanwhile, my roommates are playing poker, and their friends are much louder than normal — their footsteps and glass clinking and door shutting and voices and shushes. The cigar smoke has finally permeated my room, and I would prefer not to describe the state of the bathroom floor. It’s interesting because there’s often a lot of overlap between the parties, like it’s determined by the position of the moon.  It’s so loud right now (at 3:22 in the morning) that you would think we were in Jerusalem…right after a bomb had been detonated. At this moment, it’s completely unlivable.

Homeless
I think about homeless people ALL THE TIME. Last weekend I worked all Saturday running a conference for Asian lawyers. We had tons of extra sandwiches, salads, cookies — you name it. I was devastated about throwing it out, so I called around and found a shelter that would accept it - at 5th and Bryant. Wow - was I grateful. One of the lawyers drove myself and the food over and waited in front of the shelter with a big tray of cookies in the front seat. I went in to transact with the powers-that-be and heard all these rumors circulating about the good food in the Chinese woman’s car. When we were unloading it, they thanked us so many times and told us we were going to heaven. It felt so good to see this food so appreciated and just gave me a much better perspective about the scope of my own dinky financial woes.

I just think about homeless people all the time because I interact with them every day. I wonder what they were like in elementary school and what their siblings say about them. I try to brainstorm solutions, but the demographic is really not uniform. Some are hooked on drugs, others are depressed, others are plain old crazy. What do you do with the plain old crazy ones?

Also, San Francisco has a whole demographic of old, frail Asian beggars, which somehow is more intriguing and disconcerting to me, and I just can’t figure out why. I tried to communicate with the beggar near GGU the other day, but she didn’t speak English, and so my mind is left to wander.

Last Class
In my class this week, there is this quirky business woman who totally went ballistic on the teacher, who is just not the type of person I would lash out at. The woman screwed up her song and the teacher merely suggested that she train with a vocal coach, and she basically ate up all of our performance time with her banter. It’s funny that this woman is a lawyer and CEO. Gives me more faith in myself. We had to perform contemporary songs for our Musical Theatre class, and boy did I screw up. The one song I practiced I completely bombed. Somehow the words and tune to this one song just didn’t stick. Frikkin Sondheim. I sang the crap song right after I respectably sang a more difficult song that I hadn’t performed since high school, which I *hope* was redeeming. I have my open class in a few weeks, which I am getting nervous about. It’s sort of a big deal. I have to construe a headshot and resume somehow in that period. I have already signed up for two more ACT classes for the next session, which should be less demanding, including Vocal Ensemble and Singing I. I am going to take Singing I with a bunch of friends (Steve, Rakhee, Kitty), and I anticipate many hijinks after class.

Offices
I moved offices. I went from a nice windowed office to more of a dungeon. Though admittedly, the dungeon does have its virtues. It’s off the beaten path. One of my colleagues just resigned today, and there is a lobby for me to move to her office in the Dean’s suite, which would be much more visible. I think I kind of like laying low where I currently am, though I am scared of developing seasonal affective disorder or something.

Professionalism
I directed and co-starred in a play about professionalism, which I would pay to watch. Basically, myself and some other staff members took two scenarios and did just about every inappropriate thing you can imagine, from offering too much personal information to crumpling food wrappers in class. It is quite entertaining and low-budget — like the higher ed version of the Blair Witch Project.

Chiropractor
I have been seeing a Chiropractor. She is about my age, which always makes me skeptical, and this perception is quite ironic given my age/position at work (the 26 year old working with alumni who are all older than me).  I can’t decide whether I think that chiropractic is bogus. The one thing that I know is that I totally have TMJ, which corroborates with what my dentist told me. Apparantly many lawyer types AND singers hold their tension in their jaws. This is in addition to constant teeth grinding (which I was told people do when they live in the city). I am trying to wear a mouth guard to reverse my jaw condition. I have a fear of swallowing my mouth guard, which was heightened when a friend told me that sometimes people swallow their dentures. Just the other morning I went to sleep with the guard and woke up with it on the other side of the bed. Anyway, going to the Chiro is just fun b/c it breaks up my day, and I love getting cracked — just the sound. And, the stents, I love seeing how high I can tolerate the electrical charge. I went up to 24 the other day.

Technology
The reason why I haven’t written in a while is that my computer died. Thank beJesus for Dana and google who fixed my computer like a champ.

Texas
I am going to Texas on September 1-5 to buy me some property — Austin, in particular. The prices there are ridiculously low. I can buy a house for about 125K, rent it out for 1200 a month, and make a profit from the get-go. It is one of the fastest growing cities in America. And, of course, the Real World is there. My mom is meeting me out there and plans to invest in some property herself. She has always had a weird fascination with Texas. I don’t plan on moving anytime soon, but I can’t say that had I discovered it earlier I wouldn’t have chosen Austin over San Francisco, simply due to cost of living issues. I am so happy here that I can’t imagine leaving though.

I have lots of travels in the next few months, to include Austin, San Diego, and Portland (for Megan’s wedding). I have had a nice little lull in the visitors, or at least the ones lodging with me. It’s been good for me.

Allergist
Sometimes I sneeze like 8 times in a row. Every morning it’s like I have a new cold. My allergist told me I don’t have allergies. I want to sue for malpractice. Is this a West Coast thang?

Sirloin
Last weekend Hiam and Toby hosted a BBQ at Toby’s parents’ apartment, which is just a groovy place with a huge porch overlooking the whole city. Anyhow, they had a party where we all had to bring our own meat. I was at the store and compared "super premium extra lean" with "sirloin". Sirloin had 1/2 the fat, which defied the marketing. So, go with the sirloin!

India Aire
Going to a concert at Robert Mondavi vineyard tomorrow with Andrea and Misty (visiting from Macalester). So excited.

Katie Wiik
Was wonderful to see Katie and her sister Kristen. We went to a great little jazz bar called "Jazz at Pearls" and to Glide, which I think they appreciated. They are lovely Scandinavians.

Brown Public Policy
They just started a program. It is probably easier to get into than it should be and they’re probably giving money. Were I younger without debt I would have gone to this over UConn Law in a heartbeat. But, hindsight is 20/20. My roommate hates people who go to Ivy League schools pretty much automatically. Working at Golden Gate, which a great rough and tumble place with some nifty alumni, and having loser downstairs neighbors from Stanford, I have developed a more critical perspective about prestige and privilege. Speaking of which, Kitty, Joanna and I met this PSYCHO gelato store owner who must have condensed 15 prestige keywords, i.e. pulitzer, harvard, etc in each sentence. His partner is a labor lawyer and I was trying to say that he may know my friend who happens to be a brilliant and locally prominent labor lawyer. He responded, "he wouldn’t know her, but she would definitely know him."

Yelp
You can say I have become obsessed with yelp.com, a rating website. I have rated over 140 establishments, and was asked to join the "Yelp Elite Squad" where I get invitied to all-expenses-paid happy hours and get to meet other networkers and connector-types. This is a pretty exciting concept.

E-mails
Today I received e-mails from two women who were very instrumental in my life. This is not the first time they have e-mailed me on the same day. There is some synchronicity there. Exchanges with these two are always confounding, and purging at the same time.

Fascination
I got my haircut today at Festoon and I admitted to my stylist a weird habit of mine. I have this weird fascination with e-mailing people experiencing their 5-minutes of fame. I am not talking about people at even the Gary Coleman level, but more people who’s names you wouldn’t know who have faded into the background, like the actors in the Real Cancun. I look them up on facebook or friendster, read their profiles, and try to add them, and I’m not talking celebrity profiles. I was friendsters with Alison, the teacher from Mad Hot Ballroom for 3 or so days. I added the guy who scored 180 on his LSAT to my facebook account. I also e-mailed the BIGLAW attorney who was let go for being a secret porn star. It’s just an interesting demographic to me.

Comments
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