Amazing how things can change. Last Sunday, I had no real plans for this past weekend. Now, I can recap several interesting and odd things that happened.
First, I decided to get a haircut on Saturday and I went to the salon where my next door neighbor works. Alysia works at an Aveda salon called Salon Tru in downtown Scottsdale, which is even more uppity than downtown Palo Alto. It was pretty cool to get to know her better while she was working on my hair. She's 27 and her dream is to do actors' coifs on movie sets. She reminds me of Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man because she's really skinny and her hair is currently colored bright red. She was telling me how hard it is to cut her own hair and the first thought that popped into my head was how the one person who has a hard time cutting his own hair is Superman. Scissors would break and he's got to use his heat vision and a mirror. I was about to say it, not as a joke, but as a serious comment, and then I realized "Oh wait, I'll truly cement myself as a dork in her mind." Definitely good to think before one speaks. Anyway, we got to know each other better and how often can you say your neighbor washed your hair and massaged your scalp?
Saturday night, I hung out with this girl named Marianne. I met her at a potluck I got invited to because of my connection to Sandy. It was just me and her at dinner. I was sort of nervous we wouldn't have anything to talk about. But we actually have a lot in common. I told her how it's my dream to one day live and work in Spain for a year because I spent a month there. And she asked where and I said "This little town called Salamanca." She was totally amazed because she had actually spent a semester there the same year I visited. Talk about a funny coincidence.
We went to a Borders Books later and were looking at this Asian American magazine called East West. This girl overheard us talking about it and said she freelances for the magazine. She and Marianne started talking (Marianne used to be in journalism too) and Marianne introduced me as an assistant with the AP bureau. The girl said "Oh, I think you have my old job." That's when I realized she was the girl who had the job before me and was abruptly "let go." Can we say awkward? She was really nice but the first thing she said to me was "How do you like it? It's really stressful, right?" I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't want to lie and say that my job totally sucks. But if I talked about how much I liked it, it would've sounded like I was implying that things not working out there was more her fault. Her husband was with her too. The vibe I got from both of them is that the experience was pretty painful for her and that I'll eventually grow to dislike the job. Before we parted, she gave me her business card and said to contact her if I had any questions or wanted to bitch about the job. Yikes! All I can say is that I'm glad I didn't encounter her my first week on the job otherwise I would've been even more of a nervous wreck, expecting the worst.
So, I'm cautiously optimistic about my prospects for a social life. Marianne invited me to this gathering at a bar Sunday night. Basically, a bunch of Asian American journalists who are all in their 20s formed their own social group. They all belong to the Asian American Journalists Association. I got there and did not see Marianne. Luckily, not too many Asians in Tempe. So, I just went up to the only table with a bunch of young Asian Ams and found them to be the group. It was pretty fun. It's been a while since I've been around people who talk about how there are so many brands of soy sauce and where the best Asian grocery store is. Although they started getting into a debate about whether Phoenix or San Francisco had better looking people. Someone said she thought people in the Bay Area were on the ugly side. Apparently, her friend once made a calendar of Berkeley students and none of them seemed to be pin-up material. At that point, I felt the need to chime in. San Fran has plenty of hotties! Though not sure how many of them are straight.
Anyway, I'm not sure how often I'll see them. But last night was a good start.
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