So I'm beginning my third month in the Bay Area and a lot has happened. After the new year, I returned back to the Bay Area after spending the holidays in Portland. It was nice seeing family and returning with a greater sense of independence, but I'd be lying if I said that my time here in the Bay hasn't been trying. It's hard to believe that I've only been here for 2 months, but I suppose that's what happens as you get older: the passage of time catches you off guard. I had gone to Portland in the midst of talking with multiple places about the possibility of employment and actually ended up receiving an internship offer, which came as a huge relief. It's encouraging to see some sort of by product and receive validation rather than just continue to feel as if I'm toiling away. But once I returned to Oakland, I learned a few days into 2015 that I would have to move out of my place at the end of the month due to some housing issues. I guess I never wanted life to be boring. A majority of January was spent weighing my employment options, imminent future, and housing options. As someone who does not enjoy a lot of uncertainty I believe I handled January well. I reached out to anyone and just about everyone, started volunteering with the Bay Area Disc Association to try to network, and even looked through Craigslist for potential housing and employment options.
I suppose the take away from January is an increased appreciation for my own grittiness, resiliency, and understanding. I've kind of known my whole life that worrying is typically moot and not constructive. Despite that I've always seemed to be a worrier. But January I found myself feeling calm and confident things would work out. I ended up accepting an internship with Equilar in Redwood City, which in turn determined where I should move. In the end it seemed as if my sequence of events actually ended up leading to a ideal situation. I now live in Burlingame, a suburb of SF that's about half way between SF and San Jose. I'm currently renting out the room of this woman's son while he's away at college. The fit has been surprisingly good as she works as a waitress in SF at nights, I work during the days. In a way we trade off shifts at the apartment.
To explain the title of my post, I recently went on a tinder date with a girl from UC Berkeley and the internship I accepted in Redwood City is focused on researching executive compensation trends of top companies through their filings with the SEC. Both the date and the internship are reasonably ordinary events/things, but even after my first week and a single date there are some memorable moments that are guaranteed to lead to some laughs.
I matched with this girl and we started talking through tinder. She told me that she was into sustainability and development. She genuinely seemed down to earth and we had some great discussion about sustainability, shared what seemed like a similar sense of humor, and enjoyed similar foods. As we talked about foods naturally some suggestions came out and she mentioned she had never been to a place in downtown Berkeley that serves Cajun food, but heard positive things. I used the opening to suggest we check it out together, which she surprisingly agreed to. We met up on Friday night, her idea not mine, and as I sat outside on a wooden bench I was nervous. I mean I had never done this before! As the agreed upon meeting time came closer and passed, I got nervous about the idea of being stood up. It really wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but being stood up is never good for one's confidence. When she finally showed up, only 3 three minutes (read: eternities) late, we proceeded to have an awkward meeting, followed by an awkward meal.
The restaurant was dimly lit, suggesting a romantic ambiance, but boy was I in for a treat. I will admit she was attractive and definitely seemed like someone that'd be worth getting to know, but I would not be so fortunate. In a way, we both didn't really take the date seriously, the food was good, but our conversation and similar interests failed to produce a faint spark or even hint at an ounce of chemistry. The awkwardness wasn't the highest, but the silences or unsure glances were in peak form. We ended up doing a short walk around Berkeley campus, which is bonkers beautiful, and I walked her back to her place. The whole time, like high schoolers on a first date, it was like we didn't know what to do with each other. I ended the date by saying, "Welp...I'll see ya." Don't worry fathers out there your daughters are safe with me.
As for the internship story, the place where I work is pretty cool. We collect and report executive compensation data. While that might sound ambiguous or not too exciting, what's cool is what comes out of it. Information about how companies are paying their CEOs, CFOs, CAOs, etc. How those same people are being paid, when those people are coming into the roles, if you've ever been interested in what the top 1% does, here's a window into that world. Anyway, the story comes from the first company meeting, held on my 3rd or 4th day. So I'm still brand new and have only met a few people in the office. We gather in the lounge, an open room that has a foosball table, ping pong table, refrigerators, coffee maker, arcade, tv. A generally pretty cool place. As I enter the room I find out there are various snacks and drinks. So the meeting begins and I'm making my way through snack line. I grab some goldfish and go to reach for some chips on the back of the counter. Suddenly, right by my feet, there's the sound of a Costco size bag of gold fish pouring as quickly as possible onto the floor. And that's because that's exactly what happened. Apparently as I reached for the chips towards the back, the weight shifted just enough in the goldfish bag to tilt it enough to fall off the counter. Needless to say many first impressions were made expertly.
