A second degree does not help you focus

and am I really trying to prove anything? (No.)

So maybe I will just take this book my friend gave me and see what I can do with it.

Lately I'm in that ultra planning mode that results from thoughts going too fast. You can plan a thousand different things and not actually do any of them. I'm gonna join the athletic's club tomorrow. Maybe swimming will clear my head ;D

Computer Science

requires a LOT of math, and I never really took most of it. And even if I had, it was in high school. If I can test out of elementary algebra, I will be really excited. I'm hoping that I'll be able to take Math 860 Tuesday/Thursday and the Intro to Programming M-W in the morning. Then I could even take the Asian American Experience Since 1820 on Saturday and maybe LGBT Studies or Economics. I need to remember that I also have a full-time job and tap-dancing lessons and a Japanese tutor ;) I think, though, that I will not get a gym membership if I decide to do school. I'll be biking so much. That and the Ocean Campus has a pool that I could probably use if I were a student there!

Not out of the woods

I'm frustrated because I have a lot of things I want to do and a lot of catching up do to before I can do them. Actually, a guy gave a speech about this at work yesterday -- "yak shaving" -- don't things that don't relate to your ultimate goal, but are necessary before you can proceed. 

Everything is going fantastically well right now, but I have to roll out my new plans in stages to avoid, well...running out of money, basically. How disappointing. Why does it always have to be about that? Well, it is, so...*sigh*

The thing I want to squeeze into the budget as soon as possible is Japanese lessons. I've been recommended a tutor, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how that goes. It looks like I will be ok to start next month. 

Actually, next month might be when it's ok to start tap dancing, too. (Yeah, I'm gonna learn how to tap dance, I decided.) We'll see...

I AM WASTING TIME

once again, trying to figure out how to fit all of my hobbies in. And I forgot trumpet. Damn.

Well, there are just so many things to do. I've inadvertently found myself in the middle of way too many books, which I have collapsed down to two, but one is in desperate need of attention. There's also my completely neglected GoogleReader, which contains things I really do want to look at. Let's not also forget Twitter. I'm thinking of starting one in Japanese (and Spanish?) I guess maybe to go along with my blogs, but more just for practice. I can follow Japanese people, too. Although that could end up taking a lot of time, especially since I'm already going over the Twitter.jp site for vocab, etc. so I can be useful at work when Japanese support tickets come in.

I've been actually managing to stick with those three anime shows I have been watching, even while watching another one for work. I think my goal will be to finish the box I am working on this week. That doesn't seem impossible.

I dunno, though. I have a lot of goals. Like picking back up the push-ups and crunches. Not to mention tennis. Not to mention bicycle commuting. (Yeah, I've had a cold, so it's been less cycly around here than normal.)

I guess I'm just wondering if I have time for everything.

Push-ups/Crunches
Tennis
Cycling
Japanese
Spanish
Anime
Freelancing
Videogames

It seems like the only freelancing I do anymore is for Otaku USA, which I guess is fine. I'm clearly off in Twitterland, anyhow, and Otaku USA is fun, pretty low-key, etc.

Emo "lifestyle" post, ahoy! Like, how do I fit all my hobbies into my day and still make the number of support tickets go down? This is where I go all schedule crazy and try to make a table or something like this

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY
push-ups
japanese
bike to work
work
bike home
shower
spanish
work
read
freelance
sleep

TUESDAY-THURSDAY
tennis
shower
bike to work
work
bike home
japanese
spanish
work
read
freelance
sleep

SATURDAY
anime
tennis
shower
japanese
work
spanish
videogames
read
work
freelance
sleep

SUNDAY
cycling
shower
work
anime
japanese
work
spanish
videogames
read
work
freelance
sleep

Theoretically that is all totally possible, even with food, and some social interaction, but of course, the age old conundrum that has come up time and time again IN THIS VERY BLOG is that you just can't do that unless you are a robot, which I sometimes wish I were... There needs to be more flex room.

I AM SO BAD AT THIS!

This is about where the post started (two attempts) to go off the deep end, so I'll spare you the outcome. Rest assured, I still have no idea how to budget my free time, or perhaps it's that I haven't learned that free time shouldn't have a budget. We'll see. Stay tuned. I promise to post something more interesting next time.

I work for Twitter! :D

I think the whole world knows about it now except this blog. Poor blog! Even the bike blog got the news before you!

Let's see, though. It's funny, because it's not as if I was expressingly looking to escape Cryptic or something. No, I loved my job! And the commute was treating me as well as it could have. I just saw the posting on their site over the three-day weekend, wrote what I considered to be a kick-ass application, and apparently someone at Twitter was a) reading applications on Memorial Day b) agreed with me, because they requested a phone interview between the 1st and 12th.

The 1st worked for me, so we did that. I was locked out of my house at the time, so I took the call in Dolores Park, which was fabulous. It went very well -- so well that I had my second phone interview that afternoon (from my friend, Daniel's, living room). Then they wanted me in the office -- asap! So I went in on Wednesday and met six people, all of whom seemed really cool. Biz Stone and I talked about random life stuff (in addition to Twitter). It was so chill, haha. The next day I met two more people, and that was that. It really was, too. Got the offer that afternoon, bing-bam-pow, start on Tuesday.

I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, even though I feel like I just explained it.

Quite excited about the whole thing. There are less than 60 people who work for Twitter and now I am one of them o_O Can't wait to start!

If you ever want to learn Danish...

check here. The free resources listed there are pretty much incredible, and include all-important (especially in Danish) audio samples.

How cool would it be to help rewrite the California constitution?

"First, delegates to the convention should be chosen through the general jury pool to ensure that the whole population, as opposed to partisans or voters, is represented." ("The Ungovernable State" The Economist)

Post-Eurovision: Top Three

Surprisingly, I managed to pick the winner. HOW did Norway win? I have no idea. As I tweeted, it must have been all teen girls voting or something, because he was certainly the cutest, and his whimsically emo (as I FB'd) song surely stole more than just MY heart ;p

My top three:

Moldova (from the 2nd semi-final, but obviously they did a decent job to make it through)



Armenia (video from the first semi-final)



and finally, Norway -- w00t

Fairytale Official ESC 2009 Video


I'm part Norwegian, although I don't speak it...yet. How cool would it be to study for a year and then go to the freaking Eurovision finals? I dunno how I would make enough money for a trip like that, but boy it would kick ass.

Edit: Wow, apparently no country has every scored as many points as his song did: 387. Way to freaking go, man.