week in review

every day feels like a week. not because they are long but because there's so much information to take in. and so many feelings to process.

this week:

• a walk and dinner with simona & friends.
• negotiated the second to last worst deal in my negotiations class.  there's only room for improvement, right?  :)
• had an inspiring phone chat with matt lambert.  i reread notes from our talk, and they looked like this: THINK BIG.  what does success look like to you? what problem do you want to solve?
• danny kahneman lecture on intuition.
• kirtan with lauren.  two hours of mantra-chanting went by faster than i expected!
• hot pot dinner with asian ladies of the woo.
• met up with flora, ian, and baby andrew in princeton.

matt will be in town next week.

story telling

i feel like so much of what we do is story telling -- telling stories to ourselves and to each other.

as i apply to jobs, i've been looking at my life like a historic text -- picking out relevant bits, weaving a narrative around it. 

in the process, i end up introspecting a lot about who i am and what matters to me. 

it's a good thing, i guess.  one of our career services people said that we often confuse our identities with our jobs.  so when job situations change, people lose themselves.

happenings

• partee time.  leslie's birthday.  woo progressive party.
• magic show with lis.
• workshop on media interviews.  be quotable.  get our talking points across.
• yoga class, taught by a classmate's mom.  loved that she would say, "everyone is doing a great job" and "let's do a fun pose."  :)
• class.  liking them.  also, liking no class on wednesday or friday. 
  

v-day

i had a great v-day skype "date" with matt.

we tried a new thing -- listening to a podcast on the interwebs together -- with great success! 

it's the most fun i've had a skype. 

my sf map

me and berkman

berkman

ma79, vol. 2

ma79, vol. 1

twenty-nine is mine

for my birthday, matt and i transformed into pacman and ms. pacman.

we ate our way from 18th & guerrero back to bernal.  nom nom nom.

before i completely forget winter break

i did some non-chinese food experimenting:

• curried carrot soup (so good, though it makes your house smell like an indian restaurant for days)
• ginger butternut squash soup (eh)
• butternut sage ricotta gnocchi (decent first attempt)
• snow pea, mushroom, almonds with orzo (yum)

first day of school

was today!  i'm really excited.  what is most exciting is all of the six-week "half" classes.  like dim sum. 

in ascending order of difficulty:

• negotiation
• social entrepreneurship (half)
  
• environment & development (half)
  
• impact evaluation (half)
  
• development economics
• risk analysis (half)
  

hawaii

we spent a week on kauai.

• a bit of hiking.  to hanakapi'ai falls, where we were rewarded with a dip.  another to a little dam, where we swam up to a spa-like area. wierdo spiders spotted.
  
• most awesome boat ride.  ever.  snorkeling.  whales, dolphins, turtles.  napali coast. 18 foot swells.  wind and sun.
• camping on the beach, sitting in the shallows, snorkeling.
• plate lunches. lau lau. poke galore. taro fries. taro bread. saimin. farmer's market excursion.
• we also saw the moon, venus, and jupiter in the sky.  all at the same time!
  

matt's grandmother

died this month.  we attended her funeral in maryland a few weeks ago.