What do you eat before JASC?

Tomorrow, the eight American Executive Committee members will meet in Portland.

Tomorrow, there is no schedule yet, I am making it as I type this.

Tomorrow, we're going to figure out how we're going to divide 5 girls and 3 boys into two rooms.

Tomorrow, is the beginning of JASC 60. kind of.

So

Today, I had myself a feast.

Question: What does a vice chairperson eat before a huge conference like JASC???

Answer: 5 bowls of rice, 3/4 pound of sirloin steak, a bowl of salad with sesame dressing, and a bottle of Coronita.



I am now ready for JASC. What are YOU going to eat before JASC???

Jake Shimabukuro

Last night, I went to a Jake Shimabukuro concert. It was at the Dakota Jazz Club in Downtown Minneapolis. What a phenomenal performer!

For those of you who have not heard his name yet, read carefully! (especially you are a great fan of stringed instruments, jazz, etc.)

Jake Shimabukuro is the world's best ukulele performer. He is a 5th generation Japanese descent Hawaiian and started playing the ukulele since four years old. Now, you may think, "oh, how exciting, he plays some aloha music", but no, he is very experimental! He writes his own songs, and plays covers. Just imagine the ukulele playing classical, flamenco, the beatles, pop, techno, traditional japanese songs, lullabies, etc. He is, after all, known as the Jimi Hendrix of the Ukulele.

I bought two CDs last night, Gently Weeps and My Life, and got both of them signed with Jake's autograph. :) Shook hands with him three times, took a group photo, it was my first time chatting with a real famous musician. Apparently my "eyes were sparkling", according to my friends.

It feels good to watch this Japanese American/Hawaiian. He is just so passionate about what he does. He doesn't love himself, he loves the sound of the Ukelele. It is really quite astonishing with what he does with a four stringed 2-octave guitar.

You should all search for him on youtube. seriously. DO it. now! :D

Here is a group photo we took with Jake. I am on the far left. Jake is behind the girl in the middle (front).

PS and yes, I checked his tour dates to see if he was coming to any of our jasc sites this year, but no. we missed. darn. :( I asked him to come again to Minneapolis.

January Doldrums

If this blog appears sparsely populated at the moment, it is only because January is an odd mix of frantic and lethargic for all of us, and neither quite inspires an enthusiasm for blogging. I am in the midst of exams, after which I'm going home to bone up for the LSAT. Aya is adjusting to her life in beautiful Seville. And Josh is undertaking a series of social events, of which I only remember "casino" and "champagne" (I'm reminded of "Bond. James Bond").


This might all translate into exciting blog entries in the future. In the meanwhile, I share with you all a picture from a recent JASC 59 reunion in Tokyo. Let it inspire envy and nostalgia.

In Defense of Texas

I feel that Texas has an undeservedly bad rap. I'm not saying that Texas is a money-bush or something equally awesome. It's just that people think it's really, really awful. To wit: I was at my professor's, feeling full of nerves and trying to impress Her Highness. Her guests ask me where I'm from, and when I reply "Texas", they start laughing! When I failed to join in their laughter ("Yeah, you're right, it IS funny that I'm from the ass-end of America!"), they reluctantly stopped.

I'm very fond of Texas, though. I like the overabundance of Ford F-150s on the road. I like the generous cordiality that is so very much a part of the place. And I like that the "In Texas, we like it BIG" joke refers to everything from steaks to anatomical parts. The list goes on. More specifically, however, the Texas landscape can be breathtaking.

Over winter break, we packed ourselves up into an SUV and went down to Big Bend National Park, perched on Texas' southwestern border with Mexico. And this is what we saw:


I felt oddly inspired. It's difficult to feel unhappy or deeply burdened in a place that exited long before me and will continue to be here, unchanged, long after. Encounters with nature on a grand scale always leave me with a diminished sense of self-importance.


On this glorious camping trip, I also:

1) slept in a tent in below-freezing weather. My god I haven't gone to sleep whimpering and full of tears since I was sixteen, when my life was powered by teenage angst.

2) called 911 because we were followed by an aggressive man, who kept up an utterly unnecessary commentary on his ability to "kick ass" as he tailed us in his truck. A breathtakingly frightful span of time later, we lost him. I was gratified to note that he had a California license plate. Not Texan, then.

3) drove for hours and hours on a road that doesn't end. Kerouac, you crazy drug fiend, I get you.

To My Fellow AEC Members:

After our fall meeting in DC, I realized the importance of relating to each other as friends first and fellow AEC members second. So here is a blog -- which we had talked about, though never acted on -- that we can use to share our thoughts (joys, tribulations, all that good stuff). It's a way to present ourselves as individuals instead of the less approachable "AEC" entity. Most important of all, when the next conference ends (which, granted, I cannot imagine), this will become our souvenir of a year well-spent.

I urge you, therefore, to contribute to this blog. If I have to bear the lonely burden of being this blog's sole author, I swear I will hunt each one of you down and wreck terrible vengeance upon you. That said, here's a little memento of this past weekend, when the Boston career forum afforded us an opportunity for a little JASC 59 reunion: