sweet and juicy

i currently feel like a watermelon.


no really, it's not because i'm sweet and juicy (i think i'm probably neither of those).. but because i'm wearing a pink t-shirt and green shorts. i realize that this is incredibly random, but it's just one of those things that has to be documented.

watermelon.

in the hours that i've spent on my butt today, i've come up with a list (as usual) of things that need to be done -- some plausible, some possible, some entirely not. here goes:

- flickr or smugmug? establish one, stupidhead. shutterfly ain't no good.
- play around with this website more
- play around with flash (the nerds inspired the nerd-dom in me)
- find a job, yeah yeah, doing something interesting (no disorganized bosses, no more!)
- get back into swimming and running and rock climbing. the calluses have disappeared, sniffle.
- do a better job of keeping in touch?
- which leads me to -- contact people in california
- cook lots and get fat from awesome food
- read. i really did spend more than $200 shipping books across the country; might as well read them now.
- have fun decorating the new house in august (and spend money minimally but time optimally.. is "optimally" a word?)
- convince the dc-ers to move to the west side, bwhaha
- stop acquiring new hobbies because my bank account hurts and i'm running out of hours in each day
- yeah, find a job...
- so that i can visit the east coast whenever i want! and go on vacation to fiji! and new zealand! and asia and africa and iceland! and greece! <-- this would be the part of the list where "to do" has become completely impossible.

gasp, clouds?!

i'd like to note that yesterday (and maybe today too!!) was the first cloudy day in my 27 days in california thus far. it wasn't even entirely cloudy -- there was sunshine in the afternoon when i went trudging along the running path -- but generally cloudy for the majority of the day. incredible. absolutely amazing. clouds, what a concept.

it's friday, which means that i've spent approximately 1.25 weeks being lazy. jobless and homeless = kinda enjoying my summer, eh? i've gotten on the job search thing though (hunkering), and surprisingly, i've been rather busy over the past few days, all thanks to the bad luck that my car's encountered while parked in monterey. yeah... PARKED. sigh... but i'm organizing and planning, and in complete truthfulness, i haven't had a free summer week in 5 or 6 years. so this is quite nice :)

on monday night, we went to an oakland-redsox game. 7-3, oh yeah. red sox still kicking booty. we had like.. 30 people, or at least, there were approximately 30 people there that we knew and met up with. lots of transported phi sigs -- the san fran and monterey kind -- plus emsense people and friends of friends and "friends" and sisters and etc. i didn't ever find any cotton candy though... damn. guess i'll have to make it to another baseball game sometime soon :) and on thursday, i went wandering around monterey to the farmer's market. hehe. i haven't been to a farmer's market since.... we stumbled upon one in paris last year? or haymarket in boston 5 years ago? something like that. farmer's markets are great -- lots of fresh food, lots of adorable old farmers, and lots of recipe-dreaming. yummmmm.

draw a flag.

team awesome was pretty damn cool. who knew :)

food, glorious food

i could be a chef.

culinary school, anyone?

somehow, somewhere along the way, i went to a science and technology school. but now, all i can think of is stuff relatively unrelated to sci-tech. art and photos and food and graphics and ecology and sociology. maybe it's all about integrating all aspects and interests in life. that sounds so philosophical, but deep down, it just means that i have no clue what i'm doing or what i like. i think i'm starting to embrace this confusion :)

taking a breath

it's july 19, 2006, and i've now unofficially (no permanent address to speak of) resided in california for 19 days. it's been quite interesting :)

i'm currently chilling in willie's apartment with my laptop, reading and responding to mass numbers of emails that i've ignored or failed to read in the past ~3 weeks. the front door is open to allow the breeze to enter, and i can hear the sound of the ocean because the bastard lives within 3 walking minutes of the surf. what ridiculousness. i finally slept more than 4 or 5 hours last night, and i accidentally took a 2-hour nap mid-afternoon too. hehe. so finally, rest and relaxation and renewal. and some serious planning for the future.

okay, so here's a full explanation -- since arriving on the west coast on july 1st (or was it june 30th?), i've spent my precious time at the fairmont hotel in downtown san jose. the national youth leadership forum on technology (NYLF/TECH) is held at the hotel for 9 (or 10) days each summer (for the past 4 years); approximately 1200 high schoolers (juniors and seniors) from across the country meet up and create absolute chaos at this posh hotel for 9-10 days and spend their time in "tech talks," seminars, keynote speeches, company site visits, university visits, and other "free-time" activities. the first week, we faculty advisors (about 40, mostly between the ages of 22 and 30) spent 8pm-5pm in curriculum and logistics training, prepping for the responsibility of taking on 25 nerdy and rowdy students. the ADPs (associate directors of programs in education and operations) trained us (they're all mid-20s and gorgeous too), and the rest of the time, we FAs -- pretty much all strangers, forced into a grand hotel for 2.5 weeks -- got to know each other. it was like.... camp all over again :O)

on sunday the 9th, the kiddos descended on san jose, and from that point on, i haven't really slept much at all. each morning, staff meetings were held around 7:30am, followed directly by tech talks (with the 25 lovely and totally well-behaved (YEAH FREAKING RIGHT) students) and seminars and a whole span of activities and other faculty responsibilities and posts that lasted till approximately 9:30pm at night. sometimes, we'd have an hour midday for a quick break, but that was usually taken up by prepping and planning for the evening's tech talk or whatnot. 11pm was security check for the kids, so we faculty advisors were never finished till 11:15... and then, if any plans existed afterwards, we'd never make it to bed (which bed?! bwhaha, drama) till 1ish at the earliest. and up the next morning by 6:30. phew. pooped. totally pooped.

but so much fun :)

the kiddos, mostly crazy and intelligent and fun (but with a good number of nerdy and socially inept exceptions), were interesting to deal with, and the whole forum definitely provided me with awesome teaching and educational experience. my kids loved me though -- surprisingly -- and i think it turned out better than i could've imagined. the other faculty advisors, some of whom were totally nutso, were generally pretty cool; i'd like to think that i made some good solid friends, a few of whom i might keep in touch with. and now i know downtown san jose like no other :) on friday and saturday, both "cultural days" for the kids, we went and visited san fran (pier 39 and fisherman's wharf) and santa cruz (the boardwalk), and the hotel had an awesome pool, so i'm now kinda tan, all thanks to california sun. goodness gracious me.

so yeah, there was a bit of drama... not with me of course, but surrounding me -- in all directions and radii. as usual. i just sorta sat back and watched, amused and confused as usual too. willie finds it hilarious that i tend to attract such fun and good friends, but all of whom create drama like no other. i'm talented, i guess. anyway, me and team awesome -- about 7 of us unofficially -- are tempted to get together and do another forum like this next year. it could be fun..... :) we're all scattered around the country. the ADPs were hilarious too -- and i guess, overall, it was just sorta neat to see where people my age are in their lives. like, which paths, what jobs, what aspirations and inspirations and activities. and it's totally hilarious to be teaching these things about "working cultures" and "communication" and "leadership" and "finding your niche in technology" to kiddos.... when in reality, these lessons probably benefit me more. kinda sorta, yeah? who knows. i did discover something though -- this whole "steph in transition" thing is pretty a-okay. in the next few weeks, job searching obviously has to ramp up. that's my goal... but it's okay to have to figure it out. yay.

ohhhhhhh, and me and susan found a house in redwood city! it's in a slightly ghetto neighborhood, certainly middle class.. but it's close to downtown redwood city, and because it's the suburbs, there's easily accessible stores and shops and things everywhere. rwc is also a pretty good location, with respect to san fran and san jose, so my job commuting shouldn't be too difficult. the house -- not an apartment!! -- is free-standing, bright yellow (no joke), and itty-bitty. but the kitchen's nice, the living room is roomy, and there's a garage, a mini backyard and patio, and small frontyard and porch, and plenty of fenced-in room for a puppy that susan's been wanting. rent is quite reasonable; the landlords are great; and i think it'll be good to have a more personal, less corporate-managed place. i can do without the hotel elevators and front-door concierges and high-rise apartment buildings. it'll be good... i'm psyched :)

i'm in california. what craziness.

wow, today's weather is so nice....

.... BUT IT'S ALWAYS THIS NICE!
oh sigh, the things i have to get used to :)

the past week's been a little hectic, but quite fun. lots of training for this upcoming 9-day tech forum for 1200 high school kiddos -- lots of curriculum and logistics, and i'm in charge of influencing 25 bright young nerdy minds next week. bwhahahaha. i can't believe they entrusted me with this task :) hehe. the other faculty advisors are pretty cool though, and we come from all over, so it's hilarious to find commonalities and quirks. there's 8 or 9 of us that have formed TEAM AWESOME... because well, we're just that cool. and we happened to sit around one of the round tables at training early in the week. one of the dudes has the strongest bawwstuhn accent ever (he's a townie), and another recent duke grad says, "all y'all" all the time. haha :)

besides that, things are good. cali's warm and sunny, cool at night, breezy and dry. really, it's nuts. the only worry i have is that north korea is gonna bomb us. but alas, i HAVE to be concerned about something, right? :)