Chalk up another one.

Another good. day. I'm wondering if I can maybe string enough together my body will transmogrify into rays of light. I have a pretty good feeling about this plan.

I started out by going to school to check out this informal discussion group that was going on with some local diplomats. A friend of mine who was working at the Irish consulate recommended me for an internship there this summer. I did well enough at the first interview I was invited to a second. The second interview was very interesting but not as fun as the first which had been held at one of the cooler bars in San Francisco, a former speakeasy from prohibition times. When your future boss is buying you beers at your first interview, you know you're on to something good...Anyhoo...

So the round table discussion was actually really very interesting. It was super cool to be around people who actually made or influenced decisions which in turn influenced millions of people's lives. Listening to them talk I was fascinated by the social nature of international relations; "Most of the decisions get made after office hours" Yet the lack of attention sociological approaches to politics get from the actual politicians themselves.

Post-meeting I spent a couple hours in the library working on my endless paper. I did get a little writing done which contributed to my good day, but I also got to hang out with some great classmates in the process. So even though I didn't get as much done "practically" as I feel like I should have, it was enough that I could get any feelings of guilt out of the way!

I left the library for Chinatown. My friend Mark decided to come out to my Kung Fu studio to do some punching and kicking. It was a good man-date. I was really surprised how wussy he was!

See, Mark is kind of a dick. He is tall, smart, and young and he is always giving me shit about how old I am. He is also a bouncer at a club. So, I mistakenly thought he would have skills, imagining that he was backing up his ball-busting with some substance.

But I was wrong. Fucker couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag! Ha!

Not to get too much into it, but he lacks flexibility and he needs to relax to get power into his punches. End of jock talk.

After I caught the surprise in his eyes once I had him hold the pads for me and did some punching and kicking (150 pounds of dynamite, motherfucker!!) I realized, to my surprise, that he had been giving me shit because he was impressed with me. To his credit, he said as much after we finished up. I happen to hold Mark in some esteem, and so I was very touched by this.

Networking, schoolwork, and sweating out of the way, I walked a couple blocks to where Johanna was performing her second night ever of stand up. It was great. But there was a tinge of sadness to it all. See, as soon as I met up with Jo, I could tell she was on fire. She was riffing off of everything, and she was in a really good mood, which was a welcome change, because she has been having some really hard times lately. This is how I knew she would not do well on stage.

Again, not to get into too much detail, but she tightened up as soon as she got on stage. She was so on top of things and energized before she went up she thought she could just wing it. But you have to have a structure to wing off of. She still got enough laughs to make it worth while, and I'm completely proud of her, so I don't want to give the wrong impression. We did have a great time though and we did get loaded on cheap bourbon.

It was a good day. I'm glad I could share it with you.