Random Day

So, this morning I send Vic an email that I'm craving cookies - replete with picture of Cookie Monster. Suddenly we decided that we needed good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies - a la America. They don't sell such vulgar things here in Austria. All the elegant cakes and lady fingers that you could want - but nary a chocolate chip cookie in sight. So humble, yet so desirable. So, we made this random run to the grocery store during our lunch break and subjected ourselves to the hilarity of trying to sort out what all this stuff was in GERMAN (is it baking soda or baking powder? Do we just try it or not? No chocolate chips? What about chopping up a chocolate bar? We settled on M&Ms). We scrambled back to my place and whipped up a batch of what ended up not being half bad M&M cookies. We used gelbzucker (yellow sugar) instead of brown, vanillianzucker (vanilla sugar) instead of vanilla extract, and baking powder instead of soda, but all around - a success!

I emailed my high school about a visit while I'm home in December. They've totally renovated the building and I'd like to see it. I'm not keen on reliving the so-called glory days (ha! You couldn't PAY me to go back.). The assistant superintendent, who was principal while I was in high school, emailed me back and invited me to call him while I'm home and they'd give me a tour. Then he indicated that perhaps I could share my experiences with the seniors. Oh boy. Am I qualified for such a thing? I am delighted to oblige, but yikes. I admit, considering the whole of what I've done in the 11 years since I graduated, it's certainly been a unique path and I think I'm on the right track - but am I qualified to tell 174 students what to do with themselves? Do I even know what the heck I'm doing with myself yet? I spend more time trying to figure that out than I do anything else. I hope some day I look around and realize I've finally become the success I want to be and I'm no longer just thinking about it, hoping about it. I keep taking stabs at it. Until then, I guess I'll go tell a bunch of high school seniors that it's not as big a deal as they think it is - not to think that your life ends the day you graduate, to care less about what everyone else thinks and work hard for yourself. Spend less time trying to fit in and more time chasing what you want. In 10 years, no body gives a damn what the popular kids did or are doing - probably sweeping floors or flipping burgers somewhere. In 10 years, everyone in your life will be different and there will be very few constants. Everything is a variable number. There is no such thing as y = mx + b. It's all more like ax^5 + bx^4 + cx^3 + dx^2 + ex + f = 0 where a to f are rational numbers.