Hey! Remember me?
Wow! So where have I been hm?
Well, for starters, I just haven't wanted to write. That's OK. There hasn't been much of anything to write about. And yet, there is a lot to write about. There are a lot of changes, and yet things are always and everywhere the same.
My friends are leaving, but it seems like there is more of a rotation...a changing of the guard. The Shacks are off to Washington; Lady and Sir McM are going to Barcelona and then to Missouri. But I have new friends that in the past year have brought happiness and joy to me, and now I enjoy learning life lessons from these individuals while I embrace and yet mourn the physical distance coming between my "old" friends and I. In the same vein, while work continues to provide the same opportunites and setbacks, I am initiating behind-the-scenes change by continuing my application to graduate school. I will know by July if I will be getting into the Paul J. Merage school of business at UCI.
I'm applying to a competitive MBA program for fully-employed professionals, and though I am already a very strong candidate, a low GMAT score might kill my chances. So I am studying and making painful realizations about my intellectual strengths and weaknesses. Writing and reading comprehension, grammar and sentence correction = very very strong. Critical reasoning = average/slightly above average (getting better with practice though.) Mathematical reasoning and problem solving = poor, marginally below average at best. I'm good with fractions and simple algebra; however, I have a terrible mental block for anything beyond that. I remember learning this, I remember what the formulas look like, but I feel such despair and despondence realising I just am not analytically oriented. One day, I'll write a best-selling novel about math anxiety. It will contain nothing but the most perfect grammar. Until then, the GMAT is stressing me out.
I had been very down about my personal, romantic life. I had been a member of eHarmony for a while, paying a premium top-dollar for a service that paired me up with some very handsome, successful, and interesting men that I had absolutely no intention of ever pursuing a relationship with. The chemistry...it was just not there. The very last eHarmony guy I went out with seemed the most promising, and we actually made it to a 3rd date. But it petered out, somewhat unexpectedly, and yet somewhat predictably. I wasn't too into it, and I think I wanted to be into him a lot more than I actually was. He was good-looking, a medical school candidate and military officer, polite and Christian, and sweet and honorable. But if the connection isn't there, then it isn't there. So I quit eHarmony. And then I met someone. And I'm not sure where its going and nor do I really care; I'm not really one for hurrying towards a particular destination. But it was refreshing to realize that sometimes you don't have to pay a lot of money to meet genuinely interesting, attractive, intelligent, and - best of all - chemically compatible people. Sometimes, they just quite literally come to you. Like, sometimes, you don't even have to leave your house. So when you're holed up in your apartment and your friends attempt to call you out to the latest speed-dating or blind-date adventure with "You won't meet anyone if you never leave the house" you can just sort of say "Yeah, well, I'll take my chances."
I made a cake the other day that was an indication of the mad baking skills I am aquiring in my advancing age. On the bottom, it was a dark chocolate cake, then I covered that with vanilla cream cheese frosting. I then baked a vanilla cake of the same size, and carefully placed THAT on top of the iced chocolate cake. I then covered the entire thing in a layer of chocolate cream cheese frosting. Then I spelled out a nice well-wishing message to one of my coworkers, and dusted the whole thing with "fireworks" made from powdered sugar. It was SuperCake. And it was good. I have in the past made a Pink Cake for a Brazilian friend's 24th birthday (in Brazil, turning 24 means you celebrate your "Gay Birthday" and guys are feted with pink parties.) I also made Red Velvet cupcakes for Cinco de Mayo with vanilla frosting and green sprinkles. My next attempt is going to be a cake inspired by the famous black-and-white cookies you can buy in train station bakeries on the East Coast. I can't wait to have an occasion to bake it. Like, say, Thursday. I also want to attempt Petit Fours...I've seen it done on TV and I know I can do it, I just have to attempt it.
Baking, GMAT, dating, oh and I'm going to see the Arctic Monkeys on Saturday. Woosh! That's awesome. And I had sushi twice last week...and I made a whole roast chicken in my crock pot, flavored with carnitas and garlic. And I make the BEST eggs, if I can say so myself. And Steve from Trader Joe's works at the TJ's by work now...that's pretty cool. So, I guess there is a lot going on. I'll try to document more about how the grad school saga goes. I just hope upon hope I get in...because that would be awesome. Almost as awesome as a cake inspired by a black and white cookie, or meeting your next date just by not even leaving the house.
Well, for starters, I just haven't wanted to write. That's OK. There hasn't been much of anything to write about. And yet, there is a lot to write about. There are a lot of changes, and yet things are always and everywhere the same.
My friends are leaving, but it seems like there is more of a rotation...a changing of the guard. The Shacks are off to Washington; Lady and Sir McM are going to Barcelona and then to Missouri. But I have new friends that in the past year have brought happiness and joy to me, and now I enjoy learning life lessons from these individuals while I embrace and yet mourn the physical distance coming between my "old" friends and I. In the same vein, while work continues to provide the same opportunites and setbacks, I am initiating behind-the-scenes change by continuing my application to graduate school. I will know by July if I will be getting into the Paul J. Merage school of business at UCI.
I'm applying to a competitive MBA program for fully-employed professionals, and though I am already a very strong candidate, a low GMAT score might kill my chances. So I am studying and making painful realizations about my intellectual strengths and weaknesses. Writing and reading comprehension, grammar and sentence correction = very very strong. Critical reasoning = average/slightly above average (getting better with practice though.) Mathematical reasoning and problem solving = poor, marginally below average at best. I'm good with fractions and simple algebra; however, I have a terrible mental block for anything beyond that. I remember learning this, I remember what the formulas look like, but I feel such despair and despondence realising I just am not analytically oriented. One day, I'll write a best-selling novel about math anxiety. It will contain nothing but the most perfect grammar. Until then, the GMAT is stressing me out.
I had been very down about my personal, romantic life. I had been a member of eHarmony for a while, paying a premium top-dollar for a service that paired me up with some very handsome, successful, and interesting men that I had absolutely no intention of ever pursuing a relationship with. The chemistry...it was just not there. The very last eHarmony guy I went out with seemed the most promising, and we actually made it to a 3rd date. But it petered out, somewhat unexpectedly, and yet somewhat predictably. I wasn't too into it, and I think I wanted to be into him a lot more than I actually was. He was good-looking, a medical school candidate and military officer, polite and Christian, and sweet and honorable. But if the connection isn't there, then it isn't there. So I quit eHarmony. And then I met someone. And I'm not sure where its going and nor do I really care; I'm not really one for hurrying towards a particular destination. But it was refreshing to realize that sometimes you don't have to pay a lot of money to meet genuinely interesting, attractive, intelligent, and - best of all - chemically compatible people. Sometimes, they just quite literally come to you. Like, sometimes, you don't even have to leave your house. So when you're holed up in your apartment and your friends attempt to call you out to the latest speed-dating or blind-date adventure with "You won't meet anyone if you never leave the house" you can just sort of say "Yeah, well, I'll take my chances."
I made a cake the other day that was an indication of the mad baking skills I am aquiring in my advancing age. On the bottom, it was a dark chocolate cake, then I covered that with vanilla cream cheese frosting. I then baked a vanilla cake of the same size, and carefully placed THAT on top of the iced chocolate cake. I then covered the entire thing in a layer of chocolate cream cheese frosting. Then I spelled out a nice well-wishing message to one of my coworkers, and dusted the whole thing with "fireworks" made from powdered sugar. It was SuperCake. And it was good. I have in the past made a Pink Cake for a Brazilian friend's 24th birthday (in Brazil, turning 24 means you celebrate your "Gay Birthday" and guys are feted with pink parties.) I also made Red Velvet cupcakes for Cinco de Mayo with vanilla frosting and green sprinkles. My next attempt is going to be a cake inspired by the famous black-and-white cookies you can buy in train station bakeries on the East Coast. I can't wait to have an occasion to bake it. Like, say, Thursday. I also want to attempt Petit Fours...I've seen it done on TV and I know I can do it, I just have to attempt it.
Baking, GMAT, dating, oh and I'm going to see the Arctic Monkeys on Saturday. Woosh! That's awesome. And I had sushi twice last week...and I made a whole roast chicken in my crock pot, flavored with carnitas and garlic. And I make the BEST eggs, if I can say so myself. And Steve from Trader Joe's works at the TJ's by work now...that's pretty cool. So, I guess there is a lot going on. I'll try to document more about how the grad school saga goes. I just hope upon hope I get in...because that would be awesome. Almost as awesome as a cake inspired by a black and white cookie, or meeting your next date just by not even leaving the house.
posted by The Semi-Pro Chef at Monday, May 29, 2006
2 Comments:
Good for you, Suzanne. Here's hoping for someone to show up at my place too (or, move in next door; I have the apartments above me and next to me currently open).
Yes, praise most high more the multi-faceted aspects of your personal pursuits! I wish I could bake a cake. That would add to my list of interesting personal attributes, which right now only consist of an abiltity to unnerve research scientists with a single glare, AND frighten small children ---something of which I'm particularly proud, though the effect is becoming dubious on my daughter.
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