it’s been a while since i’ve provided an update on my life, so i’ll do my best to recap the past 6ish weeks of my life in one succinct blog entry.
the rest of the institute for humane studies seminar went wonderfully. i am so thankful that i was able to go. not only did i learn far more than i could have ever anticipated, but i also experienced a reformation – or, rather, a refinement – in my personal views. what a blessing it was for me to be surrounded by intellectual, like-minded peers of mine and nonetheless be able to learn from all of them. the lecturers, moreover, were nothing short of amazing individuals in their own right. james taylor (of the philosophy department at tcnj) delivered an extremely moving lecture advocating the introduction of a free market for human organs. we were also treated to a lecture on the current financial crisis by john allison, formerly the president of bbt bank. i kept on thinking to myself, “wow... this is a man who needs to run for the presidency!”
spending time with my peers also proved to be time wonderfully spent. at first, there was definitely a problem with egos flying, and certain individuals strived to prove themselves as more intelligent – or, perhaps, more “correct” in their views – than others. consequently, i adhered to my regular life pattern of hanging out with the older people: in this case, the ihs staff members (particularly the darling sarah holliday). however, it only took a day or two for individuals’ “bullshit detectors” to start going off, and individuals who persisted in their attitudes seemed to become less respected by the conference at large. by the end, i think that we all (or, at least, most of us) came to listen to and to respect one another, a phenomenon that i very much enjoyed.
i did have encounter one unnerving issue while in winston-salem, however. as i believe i’ve articulated in the past, at&t (my mobile provider) provides wretched service throughout the entirety of north carolina, and winston-salem was no exception. on june 2 (our “free” day), i had made plans to have dinner with keely, a friend of mine from back in thousand oaks. before dinner, however, i decided to go on a targét spree with lara and kelley, two fabulous girls from rhodes college who i met at ihs. unfortunately, en route to targét, kelley’s car broke down, leaving us stranded on the shoulder of business 40 for a couple of hours. by the time we got back to wake forest’s campus (where i at least got some semblance of reception), a few hours after i’d told keely i’d meet her, i discovered that she’d called several dozen times, panicked that i’d disappeared or been abducted or something. this was because i’d posted on my twitter that i was going “downtown,” which is known for being rather sketchy. i wouldn’t have felt as bad if this hadn’t happened to keely’s brother kenny a few years ago. yeah... talk about feeling like a terrible person. :(
moral of the story: when i get back from south africa, i’m switching to verizon. ;)
anyway, as fast as ihs came, it ended, and afterward, it was off to washington, dc, not only to take care of some business at gwu, but to spend time with my amazing friends up there as well. unfortunately, my time spent at gwu was rather fruitless, as i was unable to obtain credit for having participated in ihs, as i’d hoped i’d be able to. however, i’m so glad that i was able to spend time with my friends; they are all such blessings to have in my life, and i am sad to be apart from them until late november. anyway, while up in the district, i visited both theodore roosevelt island and rock creek cemetery, the latter of which made for a relaxing day for writing “thank you cards” to the ihs lecturers and staff members; unfortunately, however, i had problems finding the gate to exit at the end of my time there... consequently, i was ½ hour late in meeting girl-jo for dinner. boo hoo! :(
after dc, i flew back to california, where it took me less than three days to become absolutely bored and miserable. luckily, that weekend (the weekend of june 13), boy-joe was going to san francisco for a wedding, so i decided to meet him there. i was all set to drive there, and i even fixed up my brother’s car so i could take it up there, but in the end, my parents proved to be too difficult to deal with vis-à-vis parking in san francisco – i wanted to park at a bart station and take the train in ($4/day), but they didn’t want me leaving the car so far away, so they told me that i had to park at the hotel ($30/day) or no dice – so i would up calling in a favor from flight attendant boy, who put me on stand-by for united’s lax-sfo route. not only did i get on the flights that i wanted to, but i got to fly first class both ways – very nice!! not too shabby for michael! ;)
so, in the end, i only paid $75 for travel, which was far cheaper than if i’d driven.
san francisco itself was great. joe once again proved himself to be a stellar travel partner and an all-around amazing guy. we got to do a lot of great things together, including check out the newly renovated academy of sciences (including their jackass penguins exhibit – so cute!!), take a boat out to alcatraz, get a driving tour of the city courtesy of his awesome friend michael, and hit up some pretty rad bookstores. i also got to see both rini and a. potischman while there, which was great, as well as meet some of joe’s friends from his undergraduate at uc berkeley. the weekend proved itself to be a great way to get away from ventura county for a while, to see the city (which i hadn’t really seen much of in the past), and to spend time with boy-joe. :)
with the exception of the two days following san francisco, life returned to its expected level of boring upon returning to ventura county. the day that i arrived back in los angeles (june 17), jeffrey had his concert at disney hall downtown, and the day after was his graduation from high school. (in fact, as i write, he’s at cal state long beach for freshman orientation – i can’t believe it’s already here!) life back at home, of course, has been boring, with precious few events (such as coffee runs with friends and the like) to shake up the tedium; however, i’ll admit it’s been nice not to have to worry about other issues while getting ready for south africa (or, even worse, try to cram all preparations in to a smaller time frame). however, as you can imagine, i’m very much looking forward to settling permanently in washington upon my return to the united states in late november.
on that note, i’m feeling a little better about both the direction that my life is going and the decisions i’ve made in the recent past. not thrilled, but i think i’m further ahead on my life than my peers. as it turns out, the requirements for my public policy concentration have changed, so now it will be easier for me to complete my curriculum. (the most noteworthy change is that i can now take psc 101 in place of psc 104, which is only offered roughly once every 4 semesters, including the one during which i’ll be in cape town.) and as for expensive flights to places i don’t want to go to anyway (read: home), i’m absolutely resolute in this time about avoiding that in the future. after all, as my dad said, my career is taking off, and long absences from washington, such as this one, will do naught but serve as a hindrance to me in the future. moreover, i spent most of yesterday boxing most of my possessions (e.g., the ones not accompanying me to cape town) so i can easily send them off to my new home in the washington area upon my return to the united states.
as a result, my room is largely empty now, and most of what’s left is what needs to go in to the suitcase for transport to cape town. i can’t believe that, after today, i have only got one full day residing in the united states before i immigrate (er... temporarily, at least) to south africa. i can’t believe it’s finally happening. after years of dreaming about this, as well as months of preparing for this, on monday (the day after tomorrow), i will officially be en route to my new home in the republic of south africa. it seems absolutely surreal; it hasn’t even completely hit me yet that i won’t be back at gwu for a long while! after all, i continue to make these plans for after my return to the united states, but i’ve hardly taken the time to realize the momentous nature of what i’m about to undertake, before my return to the united states. i guess, of course, that this is what blogs are for. ;)
on that note, i’m not sure how easily i will be able to publish blog posts during my tenure in south africa, but i hope to be able to do so as frequently as possible... even if this does mean extremely short posts. this also might be my last blog post before my departure, save for something incredibly interesting happening beforehand.
wow... i’m moving to south africa. :D
(oh, and one more thing: this morning, i went out with dad and his friend cortney to dim sum down in chinatown. delicious!!)
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