One morning I walked down Crystal drive to work, and there was the plump sushi man again, passing out coupons to passerbyers. He waved at me, and I waved back.

After work I walked home, passing the sushi restaurant. The lights were off, all the displays were collected and thrown hastily inside the store, and there was a giant chain and lock around the front door. A piece of paper was taped on the door, announcing that the store had been reclaimed by Vordano, the company that owns the Crystal City mall real estate, because the restaurant didn't pay their rent.

I stood outside with the realization dawning upon me that I would probably never see the sushi man ever again, or eat any sushi from his restaurant. I started wondering if me buying my spicy tuna combos ever made a difference, whether all that effort the lil sushi man put into his restaurant went to him trying hard to pay his rent, or did he know this was going to happen, and started funneling all his efforts into making cash and running?

Now I need a new sushi place...

We thought it would be a good idea to be adventurous by buying all the weird fruit in the supermarket and making an exotic fruit salad. The moral of the story is there is a reason why some fruits never become popular: they taste sooooo strange. Besides the star fruit and the Shi Tsi [the organgy stuff] The only thing we could barely swallow was the bright red thing, which was almost impossible to eat due to the bajillion rock-hard seeds scattered throughout. Trying exotic fruit from Harris Teeter = also one of the worst ideas ever.

There's a little sushi restaurant right next to my building on the lower level. For one reason or another, business isn't all that good. When I pass there are only 1 or 2 customers; on the weekends it's always empty. The owner is a little rosy-cheeked Japanese man in his early fifties with a round face, with creases on his forehead from worrying about not having business. In his desperation, he's lowered the prices on his sushi, and stands on the corner of the street passing out menus with a free soda coupon. I've been there 2 times, and his sushi isn't bad. It isn't really fantastic either, but that shouldn't result in barely any customers. I was walking to work when he recognized me [from this one time I was the only customer, ordered sushi, and realized that I didn't bring my debit card/ any money. I ran back home and down again to pay] He offered me a menu/free drink coupon and I declined, since I wasn't all that fond of soda. Today I went down to get some noodle soup, since it was freezing and rainy and I needed the warmth. When he saw me he was grinning ear to ear, and said hi to me twice as I ordered. There were 3 other customers in there eating sushi. I think he was just happy he felt that his menu passing was working, and he again offered me a free soda coupon. Again, I declined.
I'm contemplating eating there more often now, really just because I feel sorry for the dude. Not that my 10 dollars every week will really sustain his business. It's just he looked so forlorn standing outside in the cold, sad eyes pleading at the passerbyer to take his menu/coupon and visit his restaurant.

Say hello to the terminator of zits, the destroyer of Propionibacterium acnes:

ZENO
It has fun flashing blue lights, squishy buttons, and it's pretty darn hot. And by hot I mean it can actually burn you if you don't use it correctly. It also beeps and make noises like a tamagotchi, so its like you're pressing a hot tamagotchi against your forehead as it bleeps every 30 seconds.

Since I've only had it for a day, I don't know if it works yet. It claims to be able to get rid of pimples after 12~24 hours. Only really benign ones though, so ones that are like all pus and watery and painfully huge... those you're left on your own. I've been trying them on every single pimple on my face anyways [all +20 of them] Each treatment cycle lasts 2.5 minutes, and I've managed to use up 25% of my cartridgein one day. I've also been running around for at least an hour with this thing attached to my face. While it has a pretty huge tip, if you don't sit still while using it [unlike me, who has been attempting to clean my room while annihilating pimples ] it slips around. I've been trying to be frugal by positioning the tip on two pimples at a time. This is prob the only time in my life where I wish the pimples would grow closer together lol. You'd be surprised; your pimples actually don't cluster as closely as they look.

Not wanting to sound like a masochist, but I think the burning feels good; there's a certain tingling satisfaction/sensation after you know you've just sent those irksome bacteria to a fiery death by Zeno. I wish there was some sort of a contraption I could wear on my head so I wouldn't have to keep holding it against my face. After burning like 15 pimples in a row [more than 30 minutes of treatment] your hand can get pretty heavy from holding the device. It's not heavy, but it doesn't get any lighter.

One thing though, which I haven't had to deal with but I know I will have to: replacement cartridges. Thanks to the computer chip embedded in the Zeno Tip, there are only a certain number of treatments per tip. This is obviously to make it so that you're forever enslaved to the makers of Zeno and have to shell out 25~35 bucks for replacement treatments. And as we all know, acne always comes back. SO. While I'm annoyed at the enslavement, I'm more annoyed at the environmental implications of having to chuck out this tip with a computer chip every single time you run out. Its not environmentally friendly at all. Better run out of cartridges than having to buy a new Zeno every time you run out, I guess, but I wish there was some way you could trick it to reset, like the way you trick HP ink cartridges into thinking it's brand new so when you fill it with generic ink, it doesn't notice.

When I was looking for a job I had my heart set on living in NYC. The lights, the hustle and bustle, the endless flow of creativity manifesting itself in small underground bands, street artists, and musicals. The city was home to food, music, and art from all over the globe, a patchwork of the new and old world. I was looking for the change and creativity that the city promised, the grime and grit that came with living in a cardboard box because I couldn't afford the rent, and I couldn't wait to be in the middle of it all.

Instead, I got Washington DC, the land of collared shirts and dry-cleaned suits. And politicians, government employees, and military personnel. I have never seen a city whose residents are just so... I don't know. Not what I was looking for? Granted, I'm sure there are still artists and musicians and all that, but I feel like this isn't quite what I was expecting. I feel like I clicked my heels three times while whispering "There's no place like home," only to end up in yuppie paradise. On the other hand, I'd rather be in DC than some other small, random city [cough SYRACUSEcough].

I know many who love DC, who came just to be able feel close to where all the political decisions are made, but I am not one of those people. While I am not disinterested in politics, it is just an area I try not to become too involved in. How did I end up in DC, and how did I end up working for the federal government? God knows. But besides my surprise of ending up NOT in NYC, I am actually very excited and happy about my new job. I guess I just need to suck it up and get used to living here. I'm sure I'll find great and fascinating things to do in DC.

The three of us sat silent in the car, waiting for the light to turn green. Flickering street lamps illuminated the otherwise dark and deserted road. It was almost poetic, how we were waiting at a wide intersection, with dim blurry nothingness as far as the eye could see.
A year has come to a close, and here we were, three graduate students clinging desperately to the last remaining minutes before tomorrow arrived. Tomorrow meant Jay had to find a way to pack his two electric pianos into his car and drive 8 hours back home to Chicago. For Ritesh, it meant watching people he had finally gotten to know leave Syracuse, and having to make new friends again. For me, it meant the closing of another chapter of life to step into the world without the safety net of school.
It all seemed anti-climactic, ending the semester with just the handful of us watching the Advertising program graduates getting sloshed and teary eyed. Somehow our program just didn't have that have cohesive bond, but we were sad all the same now that the year was really finished. Deep inside I wanted the whole group of us, our whole program, sitting around a bonfire, singing songs we knew, sharing jokes, reminiscing the year gone by. That was how I wanted to close my chapter, the same way I wanted my high school and college chapters to close. But the bonfire never happened then, and it wouldn't happen now. Most of the people in our program had already gone their separate ways. And even if they had stayed, few would have come to hang out. Our program was never really close, and it was only in the past few months a few of us really got together and bonded.
If only there was more time; deeper friendships could be established, conversations fleshed out. There were places to be seen, stories to be told. But not this time, and no matter how much we tried to stave off tomorrow, tomorrow was already here.
When the light changed, we zoomed down the wide open road, the three of us contemplating what we could have done differently had we known the end would come so fast. It’s good to know although we’d be going our separate ways, our roads will most likely intersect one way or another. Til then, my story in Syracuse has officially come to a close.

After a month of interviews, meetings, writing, and practicing, our group finally presented our capstone project to the NY State Fair/ Empire Expo Center. Man oh man oh man. While our project turned out to be much easier than I could have anticipated, it was still a really really big pain. Specifically because we came up with all these great suggestions but we were having difficulty finding hard numbers to back them.

After an insane morning scrambling to practice our presentation and rewrite our note cards, we ended up getting to the center much later than we had planned. In the hustle and bustle of things, I didn't think of checking my email; if I had, I would have seen the email from the person we were presenting to, letting us know he couldn't find us a projector and we should borrow one before we do the presentation. WELL. When we got to the center, our client was no where in sight, and there was no equipment in the conference room we were presenting. And for some very awkward reason, none of the people in my group brought laptops [awkward because we always brought them]. Then my classmates and professors started arriving, and there we were, without anything to do our presentation with, and our client still missing.

Then there was a giant flash of light and smoke, the sound of a thousand bells chiming, and suddenly our client was there, there was a projector and a laptop, and we were able to present our findings. Magically.

No, not really, but thanks to the events marketing coordinator, who we had interviewed for our project, she somehow was able to make a ton of phone calls and conjure up all this equipment from seriously nowhere before the start time of our presentation. Talk about close calls. Our client was STILL missing, but we had the marketing person and the events manager, so we started without him. He managed to drop in after we only started for a few minutes; he was stuck in a meeting with the director of the center, but good thing he made it.

Anyways, from what I could tell, the presentation went well, and the Expo Center people seemed to really consider our suggestions. They were nodding in agreement during some points of the presentation, which really boosted our confidence [well, it boosted mine at least]. Now lets just hope I get a nice fat A on my capstone. It'll be pretty vital to whether I make it into an MBA program if I decide to apply for one.

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And goodbye to Syracuse. Monday I am off into the great horizon of uncertainty, living out of a [very large] suitcase and offering myself to any opportunity for me to grow.
I can't believe I survived friggin Syracuse. Tromping through thigh-deep snow for 15 minutes to get to work, rolling out of bed and wrapping myself in layers upon layers before going to class. I can comfort myself in the fact that after Monday, I will never have to worry about ever being as cold I was here all winter long. Its summer and its STILL kind of chilly.

I have a job interview with a internet marketing company that has been called a spam company by someone I know. While I do not really know what my ethical stance on spam is, I don't know how to tell if the company is responsible for spam. As I was trying to argue on my other blog, internet marketing isn't all spammy. It depends on how its carried out and whether its directed at the right people. I guess I'll find out next Wednesday.

So you know how life manages to pull the rug out from under you when you least expect it?

WELL. about 4 days ago I realized I only have 2 weeks left to get a new job otherwise I'll have to be in Syracuse past July. Then that train of thought lead me to realize that, Gee, I better have somewhere to live for July. So I call up the dude who I'm currently subleasing my studio from to see if the room is still available for July. What do you know? He rented it out 2 days ago 0.o SO. I have to find a place to sublease just for the month of July, that is close enough within walking distance to News 10, within 2 weeks. And after searching frantically in craigslist, orangehousing, and every other apt listing.... I've realized the possibility of me finding a place is very, very slim. That lead to the realization that I had exactly 2 weeks to give my 2 weeks notice.

You know how life manages to force you to quit your job and pack all your bags and boxes within 2 weeks and move to Philadelphia when you least expect it?

I don't even know how to talk about all this coherently. It was just.... I don't even know. You know the thrill and awe you feel when you walk into a real television studio or news station for the first time in your life? When you see all the cameras and lights and the sound boards, and you realize this is the place where they create things they make on TV? Multiply that thrill, that eye-opening experience by 100, because Turner is universes beyond local news and public television stations. Towering buildings housing full production capacities, with thousands of people dedicated to bringing your favorite shows through networks like TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network. Bringing you CNN, for crying out loud.

And Cartoon Network. I don't even know how to describe it. You take the elevator up, and the door opens to a whole new world like I've never seen before. Cubicles filled to the brim with multicolored stuffed animals, anime posters, marvel comic figures, beautiful artwork, digital and hand drawn, spilling on to the outside walls of the cubicles. Giant full color statues animated characters every few feet. Posters, flyers, things dangling from the ceiling. People walking pass with piercings and tattoos and wearing Ben 10 jackets and jeans. Tiles of carpet removed and replaced and pieced to look like 8 bit computer graphics from different shows. Public sofas decked with bright purple squids, random pillows all over the place. Everyone had their favorite Cartoon Network/ Adult Swim character artwork, stuffed animals, figures, squishy dolls scattered cubicle to cubicle. It was like I had walked into a different dimension of a corporate building. The walls of the stairwell were covered in multicolored sketches obviously penned by the animators. There was not a book in sight. Just papers, magazines, computers, and toys. Toys as far as the eye could see. And you could tell everyone loved Cartoon Network, and were very proud of their work. If you offered them a job at Disney or Nickelodeon, they would laugh in your face.

I don't think I was allowed to take any pictures... But wow... Just...Amazing...

before I have to go to work...

The day after I found out you had died, the sun was streaming through the clouds, the air was thick with humidity, heavy with the nectarine scent of flowers. The wind blew hard, ravaging the trees, and in the distance dark, boiling clouds loomed closer. Yet the sun shone on, breaking through the dark, so the world around me flashed bright and dim, raindrops falling through beams of glistening sunlight. And then it was that I knew how precious it was to be alive, and through sadness there is still happiness, and in darkness still beauty and light. As in death, there is still life. I didn't know you well, but you touched my life enough for me to truly appreciate what it is to live, and for me to question, again, what am I searching for and how do I find happiness.
Thank you.

Who would have thought finding a nice, cheap hostel with no frills could be so difficult? Tom was trying to book a hostel in Harlem, but even that was filled up. All I wanted was a nice, quiet place to sleep with a roof over my head so I can get to my interview the next morning. I mean, if you're planning to have a blast and enjoy NYC to the fullest, who needs a TV in their room?

So Summer has finally come back, after it left for a good 2 weeks or so. [Sigh] Syracuse, the city of retarded weather. It's almost June, it should decide to be WARM by now, or at least stay that way. With the change of weather, and my moving to a new apartment just for a month to finish up my master's capstone, I have the urge to just peel away all this stuffy dullness that enveloped me all winter long and still clings despite Spring. I want a new hair style, new clothes, new expensive shoes, a new change of furniture and decorations and scenery... I want the person inside who's dying to get out to come out. A shiny, beaming, excited Me. Still buried under months of cloudy skies I've managed to internalize. Booo. This is what I get for being so easily affected by weather.

I'm also trying to learn how to style hair correctly. Some how, no matter how much time I spend primping and smoothing and ironing, my hair just doesn't look like what it's supposed to look like. I would label it a lost cause, but I figured if other people can do it, I can do it. And YouTube has all these fantastic tutorials from hairstyling to how to apply make up. The only problem with the makeup tutorials is that everyone's eyes are different, so what one girl does doesn't necessarily mean it will look good on someone else.

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I've got two interviews coming up in June, both which are really exciting and fantastic opportunities. I made it to the final round for the T3 program with Cartoon Network for Marketing and Programming [still in shock and very giddy] and I have a group interview for the NBC page program. I'm being flown into Georgia for the interview at CN HQ [squeeeeeeee!!!] and I have to get to NYC for the NBC interview like 3 days later. The excitement is dizzying...

Today I celebrate with sushi. Spicy tuna, avocado eel, and white salmon crunch, dipped in a delicate blend of poignant wasabi and savory soy sauce. I celebrate the things of the past, the things to come, and above all, I celebrate right now. Resting on the eve of a storm of not knowing what is going to happen next, where I am ending up, and what I'm going to do. I celebrate because every day should be a new day, a new beginning, a new gasp of fresh air.

Today I'm seeking felicity. What are you seeking?