Best Advice for 20Somethings

I'm in love with this article...seriously some great advice.
Let's LIVE A LITTLE while it's still socially acceptable...

tickle the kiwis...

TICKLE

The NYC Contingent Grows By 1

So this is going to be a brief (but action-packed!!) update. I finished my gig at Carleton at the end of April and while I was über pleased to be done with it, in the end it was a more rewarding experience than I'd anticipated. If any of you want advice on how to get into selective undergrad programs, just let me know.

Since then I went to my mom's graduation from grad school and have been hanging out at home for a week. It's been nice to help my dad and chill with my grandpa (who starts every conversation with a perplexed question about South America...he's real adorable) but now I'm on to another step. And that step will take place in...

New York! I put a lot of thought into it and decided that it's where most of the jobs I'm finding are located and it also has the greatest concentration of friends here in the US. So I'm flying out tomorrow to follow up on some job applications, hit the pavement to find more opportunities, and start networking with alums/other contacts. I have a summer sublet with a really chill (read: stoner) NYU law student in E. Williamsburg and I'm just looking forward to another new start in a stimulating place.

And that's my update. I'll definitely have more anecdotes from Carleton (and soon, NYC) to share with you all when I see you. Hope you're all doing great, talk with you soon!

Best Quote Ever

Andrew: "He's making sweet walrus love to that guitar." [in reference to the base guitarist in the band at the bar we were at who had the FUNNIEST facial expressions]

This was later followed by " I hope to God that's not his O face".

#good times

california por una mas ano...

por/para?

anyway, i'm staying on the west coast for another yearrrrr. i'll leave emandal on sept. 5 and start work in watsonville on the 6th! this new dig is 30 min from santa cruz, an hour from big sur, and four miles from ze closest beach. i'm doing another year with AmeriCorps, this time helping out at a charter middle school. we'll see how it goes! just wanted to drop the line in case any of you were thinking about heading westward, tambien!

Half-marathon: check!

Hey y'all - I just finished my first half-marathon! To be completely honest, I had to take a few power walk breaks after mile 9, but I was happy I made it that far. Thus, my time was a very modest 2:19:21, a little over 10 min/mile. Everyone who finished the race got a medal and (what I most craved!) a sticker that simply says 13.1. I can't wait to put it on my car! Now I'm exhausted and eating eating eating drinking. Hope y'all are well:)

Sparkling Innovation

Hey Guys - I wanted to update you on my life...




So I just got promoted, which means I'm "rotating," as they call it, to a new department. I'm now going to be working on the "Sparkling Innovation" team.




Still learning what this means, but basically, I do short term innovation of all carbonated soft drinks. So I get to develop new products (everything from what flavor goes into it to what the brand message is to how the packaging looks, etc). I get to work with our Consumer Insights team to look at research on what consumers want and what type of product would fill that want. I even get to work with the Supply Chain team to figure out how the product should be priced and what the marketing plan should be before we hand it off to the brand team.

Though I'm super sad to leave the sports team (probably the coolest job I will have ever had, not to mention it was basically a FRAT of coworkers I went drinking with at different sporting events), I'm incredibly excited for this new role. It's going to be a lot of creative thinking full of brainstorms and consumer focus groups (people watching at its finest behind a two way mirror = AWESOME).

This move also came at the perfect time...they announced it at the Sports Party last Thursday...so I ended my sports rotation drinking with all of our sports partners. Let's just say my night ended with a crazy ride on the Sports Bus (read: crazy party bus with a full bar, leather couches, tvs, and a killer sound system) that included much dancing and debauchery. They also totally asked me to play DJ on the bus (briana, you would have been so proud of how I got my 40-year-old coworkers singing along to Richman and I'm On A Boat).

I'm learning more about what I will be working on next week, but I won't really be able to update you (pretty sure all the projects are top secret...HOW COOL IS THAT?).

Also, my mom said I got this job because I'm both sparkling and innovative (God knows she's told my whole home town this). She clearly doesn't know my sarcastic, whiny side, but I do have to admit, I'm psyched to have such a cool and happy sounding title on my new business cards. :)

ZE SPREENG

Frrrriends. The farm just started groovin' this week (in term of tripling its human population and the cessation of 10-days' continuous rain)! Folks have moved in and studying (re: lesson planning) has started. I start teaching Waldorf (imagination/fairy-driven schools) and Montessori (child-centric, pragmatic schools) students at the top of May...so I'm working on cramming in some stellar local environmental/natural history knowledge. If you come visit this summer (highly recommended), I should be able to teach you anything you wish...or effectively use a dichotomous key or a scat/print tracking guide to deduce the answer.

A few things I've learned:

• False Spanish Moss is especially false because it is not moss, but a lichen. Also called Old Man's Beard for obvious physical reasons.
• Douglas Fir Trees are not true fir trees, partly due to how their cones grow and some other reasons I have yet to learn. Their needles taste strongly of lemon.
• Madrones can be remembered as "refrigerator" trees because they frequently have exposed smooth bark that is always cool to the touch even in summer.

I've got a lot more to learn. These training days are partly composed of lesson planning and partly composed of gardening, trail maintenance, hiking, cleaning, and cooking (today: flour tortillas...which are incredibly easy! 3 c flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 3 tbs shortening, 1/3-1/4 c butter (?), 1 and 1/4 tsp sea salt (less is using table salt), and 3/4 c warm water). We ate them today for supper. So far, I've only made one very small social flub. Apparently people consider exaggerated stories as "lies," something I probably ought to have taken seriously by now. In this case, I extrapolated on a brief 5k by saying that I'd actually run 10 miles (starting at 8 p.m.) and run into the illegal immigrant cartels that are starting to set up for their season 'round the mountain. I didn't realize that people might actually believe this. Whoops.

Anyway, I also used the German accent. I've definitely made one friend off it...she laughed pretty hard. Others sort of were uncertain as to what to do. You can probably guess the two phrases I divulged. It seems like an extraordinarily long time since I've talked any of you, really, and I worry a little bit, now working with people in their mid-to-late 20s who don't appear to have a lot of contact or connection with their college friends. I'm going to try to write more letters to you! That seems to be the primary way I've been keeping in touch with the Cape Codders. But two years since we've actually hung out for longer than a day...and the gap keeps growing. Perhaps in a few years? More importantly, I need to replenish my database of stories to tell. (Place winking emoticon here.) In terms of socially acceptable behavior/first encounters, I've come a long way since Cape, which means there are hardly any good awkward stories to tell! Hmm. A sign of growth?

Tomorrow we're having a "progressive" dinner (re: tapas and alcohol) with the whole staff. Maybe more stories to come after that? I'll keep you posted.

Harry Potter the Musical

So I just discovered this...did you guys know that the oh so hot blaine from glee wrote and starred in a harry potter musical at university of michigan??? I think I'm in love...

I hope they recruit this guy for glee...

I may be a Disney nerd, but THIS can't be described as anything other than fantastic...

Spring Awakening

It's been way easy keeping nostalgia and rose-tinted reflection at bay thus far in my stint at Carleton. This is primarily because being friendless and 24 in Northfield is so utterly boring and stagnant that romanticizing the place would require seriously conscious effort on my part.

THAT SAID, today was the start of spring term and I have to say I got a little misty-eyed (jk, but definitely a less dramatic version of "misty-eyed") seeing people frolic. Even though the temperature was still in the 30's (fuck you Minnesota) campus was full of people studying t-shirted in the sun and running in twos and threes. Most beautiful though was the game of frisbee on the Chapel lawn accompanied by what could only have been mixed drinks in nalgenes. I stopped and watched for a while in fond recollection.

All of that is to say that life is returning to Carleton and while it doesn't tug at my heartstrings in an "I want to go to there" kind of way, it definitely makes me miss and appreciate you pals. Hopefully I'll be able to play drunk frisbee/bocce ball (in matching polos, Andrew) with you again soon!

Utter terror.

Hahahahahahahaha!