bookend encounters

a drizzly february morning.
1st task of the day: purchase snacks for a meeting in sf.
i'm early, and trader joe's is still closed.

alone, i wait, earbuds in, somewhat dazed,
not fully recovered from the spell of sickness
that kept me in bed for half the day before.

8:50am
a man rides up on his bicycle and waits too.
we begin with pleasant small talk,
but the conversation quickly turns
and he starts to vent his
frustrations and anger with
unemployment, hunger, homelessness, authority, life...

our discussion never actually ends.
i don't quite have the right words to say in response.
he trails off and shuffles among the crowd
that is making their way through the store's open doors.

ash wednesday mass that night
i say a little prayer for him.
for better days.
for his peace of mind.
i forget about all this until...


last night.
it's almost 10 o'clock
and i'm just leaving good friday service.

the next bus is in 27 min
so i opt for a less direct route home.

sneaks, jeans, backpack with
hood up over my head
to thwart an unexpected chilly breeze.
i feel like a student again
walking past people's park
reminded of this campus's strange coexistence of
privilege and poverty.

hello. you were sitting next to me at church, right?

yes, i was.

in half a block we exchange niceties & names:
the typical
how do you do?
where are you from?
where are you headed?

then the inevitable
(and these days often touchy)
what do you do?

i give my standard answer
then hesitantly ask him in return.

i'm not into anything at the moment,
but things are just starting to come together for me.
i was homeless for a few years,
but now i have a roof over my head.

we come to the corner of telegraph & dwight
where we are to part ways.

i'm headed in this direction now.
i'm glad to hear that things
are starting to look up for you.

thank you.
what was your name again?

camille.
in case i don't see you,
happy easter.

i extend my arm out for a handshake
and receive
a hug.

the working woman edition!

a short blog to conclude "the unemployment edition" of the camilleeon chronicles.

a few months, many online searches, a dozen applications, one bite, a pair of interviews, and wa la..."the working woman edition" begins!

some details: commuting to downtown oakland via BART and working for a cool nonprofit that does planning and transportation policy work across the bay! how perfect is that! (not the long commute) but really happy to find a first job that fits my interests and ideals.

suddenly life is on "busy" mode again, and while work has been chill so far this is truly a great first weekend to be excited about: getting paid on friday (for my first 4 days of work...haha), multiple birthday celebrations, and harold & kumar 2 screening (w/ an appearance by mr. cho himself)!

low valleys and high mountains

...and it finally feels like i am slowly making my way up.

round II interview went well, so here's hoping i'll soon be part of the downtown oakland crew.
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i'm looking at my calendar and it has a lot of race day registration dates on it.

yesterday was the first day to register for the nike women's marathon random drawing. holla back ladies who wanna run the half! (although guys can run it too)

prices for the sf half see their first increase after the 15th.

and last day of early registration for the bay to breakers is the 31st!

is it weird that i wanna spend my first pay check on new running shoes and race registrations? o_O
----------------
random ending note:
last night, i watched american idol for the first time in a LONG time. it was alright...nothing too impressive. used to always watch it with the parents back in high school. even though i have the mp3, watching this moment from season 1 still WoWs me.

equal opportunity employer

"people of color and women are strongly encouraged to apply"

damn, i'm both!

wouldn't it be cool if instead of a man of color or a woman for the democratic nominee, it was a woman of color?

one day...

i can't take this any more! i had to break some of the silence on the blogging front.

saturday night was truly enjoyable. hilarious moments at dinner thanks to the loud and eccentric italian waiters. not to mention, all you my fun-loving company of family & friends who dared to venture out in such dangerous weather conditions (foreal it was a risk: the car in front of us on our way into the city hydroplaned, swerved right doing a 180 across 3 lanes and finally hit the wall on 280). but after that ordeal...good times fo sho! sip was an odd little place. didn't they play huey lewis & the news at one point? haha. honorable mention "moment of the night": as lock jaw survivors, wally and i pledge to organize a 5k run for tmj! details soon to follow.
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feel good track of the week: herbie hancock's "stitched up (featuring john mayer)" off the possibilities album. not a new song, but i just recently came across it. hh's cool piano playing plus playful vocals by jm make jazz still fresh today. i love it! (i'm tempted to write about how much i love jm, but i could write a WHOLE other entry on that...maybe next time)

anywho, this is part of the soundtrack to the job application process. motivation is up these past two days, so i gotta keep riding the wave!
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2007 was personally exciting in so many ways, but 2008 is gonna be big too. ballots are out this week people, so rock that vote. barOck that vote if it moves you to. i don't quite agree with some of his voting record, but damn...he knows how to make you feel for this country and government again. my take on leadership: the person on top does not single-handedly change things, but rather sets a tone for the work to be done.

dear santa,

what it do!? haha j/k, santa. hope all is well in the north pole with all the preparations for christmas eve.

i just wanted to drop a line this year to let you know that i would really like one of the jobs i'm applying for. if you could hook that up, that would be awesome!

until christmas eve, peace!

~camille

p.s. some of my friends also want jobs for christmas. they have been good this year too!

p.p.s. throw in some new running shoes if possible ;D