I'm incredibly fond of northern Jersey

There really isn’t a feeling quite like leaving New York. I’m on a bus right now heading home. I’m not the homesick type, but it always feels so good to go home. I’m sure there are many reasons why (see friends, see family, get away from work), but I think a decent part is just getting to live a life different from the day-to-day routine you’ve established. What I mean to say is that even though there are loads of problems and sources of stress in your day-to-day life, it’s incredibly refreshing to realize that there are alternate lives you could be leading where those things wouldn’t matter at all. I guess it just puts everything in perspective.

Anyway, I apologize if I haven’t ever really said much in detail about work – where to begin? Let’s try the bullet point format:

• I keep really busy and work long hours (but I’m used to it now, so no worries)
  
• Due to bullet point 1, I’ve gotten used to a loootttt less sleep than I got back in school; however, I still suffer from TV/movie-induced narcolepsy
• Starting work in the finance industry when I did was a crazy experience, but I’ve learned an absurd amount and I think in the end it’ll be a good thing
• I’m starting to get a lot more responsibility for a lot of new, different things
• Remember when I said I wasn’t doing it for the money? Well, I think this last year proved it. So ha!

I think that’s it for now, I’ll keep it short. Except one word of advice: Dean R. and I went to see a pre-screening of Transformers and it blew chunks. Don’t waste your money or time.

Report from the Battlefield

I’m officially reviving the title from my emails last summer – I think by now, you’ve probably all heard a bit about what’s going on in my corner of the world. If you haven’t, then you’ve been living under a rock or perhaps on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic.

I really haven’t posted about work yet? Wow. Well, I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

I started in mid-June with training – nearly two months worth of it. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s a hell of a lot of training, especially if I’m getting paid for it. It was good though, an easy transition from college to work – except we never had ten hours of class in a day on the same topic. Haha. I had fun meeting everyone else in my class though, and overall it was a fun and easy time (except maybe not for the kids who took the tests and homework way too seriously and stayed until 1am every night…). I will say though, if I hadn’t had a background in most of this stuff already, I don’t know if I could’ve kept up. I certainly don’t know how all the English and Poli Sci majors did it.

(Side note: I’m typing this on the Boltbus as I’m coming home this weekend, and we just passed a Mt. Tremblant shuttle. Nice.)

I was possibly more well-informed and up-to-date on current events during training than I ever have been in my life. Also, my crossword skills were honed a bit. We’ll leave it at that. =) Like I said, smooth transition from school – except for the daily 45 minute commute to Jersey part of it.

So after that we had a week’s worth of class to pass a certification exam (though now I’m sort of questioning whether it was necessary at all…I guess we can discuss that one offline). We had a teacher who reminded me of a cross between Fred Flintstone and Lewis Black – pretty funny, but in that angry and bitter sort of way. Maybe it was because he’d been teaching that same standardized test for over 20 years.

Then came a week of training for my specific department, then finally work! I’m all for learning, but I was seriously looking forward to actually doing something after being essentially a human sponge for two months. Started off pretty slow, but then shit hit the fan and you guys know the rest.

In some ways it’s the most ridiculous, irrational, messed up time to be working where I am, and in some ways it’s business as usual. I’m glad to see the feel of the place hasn’t changed – I slipped back into it pretty quickly, and my colleagues impress me every day as much as they ever did. Definitely less pressure though (I guess that’s in my head?), now that it’s a longer term thing and not a mad-cap race to land a job.

Still working hard even though I haven’t ramped up to my ultimate full work load, but part of that is because I’m taking the time to do things carefully now so that I learn them right. I don’t keep track of my hours – in fact, our timesheets are only to track the percentage of time we spend doing things – but if I had to take a stab at it, I’d guess I’m hitting maybe 75 per week right now? Something like that. My weekdays are mostly work, working out (the gym at work has a rock wall! I haven’t tried it yet though), chill out a bit at home, then sleep. I still take the time to do things for myself though – I’m learning now how important that is – and the work gets me going as much as it ever did. For all fourth year did to kill my motivation, work brought it back.

Man, okay, this post is too long already and I still haven’t really addressed the shitshow that is my industry (I just picked up that word, I think it’s really funny). I’ll save that for another time, because I don’t pretend to be an expert on everything yet.

I don’t mind working long hours at all – in fact, I’m not sure how satisfied I’d be if I weren’t right now – but it makes me realize how precious my free time is. When I don’t have my weekends planned out and I just want to plop on the couch and watch TV, I feel terrible! So, I’m trying to instill some sense of order to my free time – I was thinking about cooking classes? Learn a new language? What do you guys think?

I miss talking to you all, especially all the weird and diverse things we liked to debate about at IHOP or the College Inn. Post more often! Erik, I’m calling you out. What the hell have you been up to?

I’m settling in fairly well where I am, but damn if it doesn’t feel good to be coming home right now.

P.S. The Office season premiere last night, anyone? I won’t spoil it for anyone, but I’m just so psyched that it’s back.

Public Service Announcement

Guys, a motherly word of caution: watch out for your credit cards! I got a call today from the credit card fraud department saying that there were two $100 transactions made on my card down in Florida.

Care to guess where the perpetrator chose to go on his/her spending spree?

Circle K. And a BP gas station.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I were the type to steal credit card information, I would go all out. Not that those aren't quality institutions.

P.S. I love how this small event prompted me to post, and still I haven't said a word about work! Training JUST finished, so an update is forthcoming.

Mirrors

This will be my first real post about New York, but it will be (relatively) short on words. Work is going well (I'm still in training until after Labor Day though, so it hasn't been too strenuous), and I think I'm settling in fairly well. But more of that later! The only point of this post is to show you pretty pictures of my apartment, which I've been promising for far too long. Here we go!

A shot of our living room from the hallway. The wall that the TV is up against is the temporary wall that we put up to make Ye's room. And yes, we have a mirrored wall. In fact, I just went back and changed the name of this post from "New Apartment" to "Mirrors", because we have more mirrors than we know what to do with. It's impossible to avoiding seeing yourself. Soon, Ye and I will be the vainest people you know.

Shot from our living room. Ye's door is on the left, mine is to the right of that, and our bathroom door is to the right of mine. Oh yes, you can see part of our mirrored shelf on the far right.







Here's the door to our apartment, and the red futon that you will sleep on if you come to visit! Our kitchen's right behind that, and yes, there are blinds to cover up the window if you want privacy in the kitchen. We also have a rockin' (get it, rockin'?) swing door that goes into the kitchen.



Picture on the right, for variety. Here's our bathroom, replete with mirrors. Those lights are very intensely bright, and combined with the mirrors, they pretty much blind you in the mornings. Ye and I celebrated when that one light burned out.










My room, from the doorway.












Shot of my room from my bed. My dresser and another mirror are to the right of that desk. My closet is big, beautiful, and the best part about my room. Except for the view.







And here's the view!












Ye's room! You can see pretty much the entire thing, courtesy of the mirrored wall. In fact, he purposely arranged his bed that way so that he wouldn't have to wake up and stare at himself in the face. Also, everything in his room is black or white. Like that panda.





Kitchen!











Other side of the kitchen!
















So this is not really a super-exciting part of our apartment, but I had to post a picture. It's a mirrored shelf. Ridiculous. These are just souvenirs from Zambia - there's an ebony elephant on the left, and one made out of soda cans on the right. I throw my keys and my $2.50 sunglasses from Africa here when I come home. Also, for those of you who haven't seen me in a while, this is a self-portrait..of my legs.

View from our rooftop. We live on the 32nd floor, and the lower floor of the rooftop is on the 33rd. Upper level of the roof is on the 34th. I hope that made sense.








View of the Empire State Building from our rooftop. There are deck chairs, tables, etc. up there - it's just generally a good place to chill.














Nighttime view!
















Okay, I hope that was enough incentive to make you all come and visit. More posts about work and random life things to come!

First Celebrity Sighting

So I really should be posting about my recent move to New York, showing you guys pictures of my apartment or whatever...and I will! But. This is too big. In fact, it's so big that most of you who care already know, so this post is primarily for Amar's benefit.

Without further ado: On my first full day as a New York resident (that would be yesterday), I met Richard Blais. As in Richard from Top Chef Season 4. He gave me a popcornsicle - a ball of caramel popcorn on a stick, dipped in liquid nitrogen. Ahh!

The story? I was walking with Erik on 5th Avenue, a few blocks from my apartment. I saw a popcorn shop with a big sign saying "July 15-17, Richard Blais, 11:30-2:30". Of course I had to go! I almost completely forgot about it later, but then (at the urging/online screaming of Dean R), ran over and met the man himself.

The surprising thing is that I think most of the people there didn't know who he was! Sure, there were people with cameras (I'll post the pic from my phone at some point), but I think most people just saw a line for free food and joined it.

And yes, the popcornsicle was good.

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7/19 update: Ye and I suspect that we saw LaVar Arrington leaving Sean John today, though we can't be sure. But, as Ye said: "Who else looks like LaVar Arrington, goes to Sean John, and gets driven around in an Escalade limo?" As we walked home and discussed the validity of our celebrity sighting, I started singing the Eastern Motors jingle.

Solitary Travels

I just walked in the door to my house a few minutes ago, and damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.  Uh, I mean, it feels good to be home.  Haha, I'm sorry, that was awful.  We'll see how long I last today until jet lag comes crashing on, but here's a post that I wrote up while bumming around London earlier today (though it really feels like that was yesterday).  I was in Zambia less than 36 hours ago, and I've been in 4 countries since then - I think I've had my fill of flying for a while!

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I know I just posted (via Le-Anh), but I'm sitting here in Heathrow with nothing to do but kill time, and what better way to do that than write a new post!

No overarching trip post yet - far too much has happened, so I'll need a little time to organize my thoughts on that.  Mostly, I wanted to write a bit about my experiences traveling alone.  If you were previously unaware, I spent the last 3 or 4 days in Africa traveling on my own, since Amar was due back in Namibia for a Fourth of July party.  Coming into the trip, I had no intention of wandering Africa on my own - in fact, I didn't really want to do it until it happened.  But, the alternatives were to follow Amar to Namibia (a long, difficult trip) or stay by myself in Jo'burg (where I likely would have been mugged), so I somehow found myself on a plane to Zambia.

Let me first say that I have traveled on my own before - but never in an unfamiliar continent, and never just for pleasure.  People don't tend to take solitary vacations, and a young, foreign woman wandering around Africa alone is especially unusual.  I had several people comment on what a "cool" and "phenomenal" thing they thought I was doing, and in retrospect, I have to agree.  Even now, I have to think "I can't believe I did that!"

The most striking thing about it is that when you travel on your own, there's no one else there to share the experience with you.  The impressions and memories of places and sights are completely your own.  Sometimes, I would walk down the street and feel my nerves charged at that thought - or maybe that was just adrenaline from thinking about the possibility of being mugged.  But sleeping alone in a tent in Botswana, hearing the howling hyenas and thinking that you're hundreds or thousands of miles away from a single soul you know - some people would call that scary.  I would too, if I hadn't felt it myself.

I saw some of the most amazing things while on my own - Victoria Falls, The Boiling Pot (every word of Amar's description is true), and nearly every wild animal imaginable.  Sometimes I just had to stop and laugh at it all.  Crossing the Knife's Edge bridge at the Falls, wearing a raincoat and still getting soaked from the mist, seeing unbroken circles of rainbows all around - how could I not laugh out loud at that?  It would have been just as beautiful if others had been with me, but my senses were so heightened from being alone that I couldn't stop smiling.

I'm sure that this won't compel any of you to take vacations on your own, but if you're ever faced with the possibility, just take a deep breath and do it.  Especially you, ladies.

Okay, back to waiting around in the airport - I've become especially good at this.  On this trip alone, I've flown 7 times (8th time coming up), been in 6 countries (excluding the U.S.), and waited countless hours at bus stops and airports.  That last part is one that I won't miss!

P.S. I'll actually be back on Monday afternoon - I plan on contacting you all immediately to hang out!  If the thought of seeing me again isn't enough to tempt you, I come bearing bribes - I mean presents.

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Addendum: I just wanted to pause and thank Amar for being such an awesome trip buddy!  I essentially relinquished all planning control to him (you all know how difficult that can be for me), and he did a wonderful job.  So Amar, don't be put off that I enjoyed my time alone - traveling with you was so much fun!  Also, I think the fact that we saw each other 24/7 for two weeks and managed not to kill each other is fantastic.  However, I'm sorry that I can't walk in a straight line, and I'm sorry that I overreact to non-crises.  =)

One Fine Day

Just a few sentences from me before I give you another Africa post from Michelle! I'm about to start my 4th week of work, which is still kind of unbelievable. I've been enjoying it for the most part, and I really like almost all of the people I work with. I have some entertaining stories I wish I could share with you all, but I hesitate to do so in such a public place because they involve specific individuals (ask me some other time and I'd be happy to tell); I also can't talk in much detail about the nature of my cases. However, I will say that I went for 2 weeks and 2 days without wearing the same pair of shoes to work, and due to the wonder of billable hours, I now think about my life in 6 minute increments.

Ok, on to Africa. PS formatting this from gmail took foreeeever, so I hope you all enjoy.

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Hello friends!

I've been woefully remiss in updating you on my Africa adventures - I actually wrote this update twice a few days ago, but my BB deleted it both times as I tried to send. Since then, I've been in Zambia and Botswana with no internet access - no data signal up there, and the power went out both nights that I was in Zambia. So Amar, if you're reading, I meant to text you when I arrived, but I couldn't! I'm alive though, sitting in the JoBurg airport and gnawing on some biltong.

So the strategy that Amar and I had decided on for our posts is that he would give broad strokes, while I would provide the detail. My trip is nearly over now, and I'll do more when I have a proper keyboard, but I just wanted to tell you all about one fantastic day we had.

After Cape Town, we flew to Durban, then decided to travel south to the Wild Coast - specifically, Coffee Bay. It's a beautiful, undeveloped stretch of coastline along the Indian Ocean. We decided that it would be the perfect place to learn how to surf. We woke up at 8, met our dreadlocked instructor Rayno, and headed to the waves. After what seemed like 2 minutes of instructions, Rayno tossed us out to sea. Amid many belly flops and nose dives, we each managed to stand up a few times - it was exhilarating when we did. Exhausting too!

Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel and met up with a group to hike to the Hole in the Wall. It's only 9km, but going up, down, and around hills that plunge into the sea stretched the hike to 4 hours. We saw whales and dolphins breaching, rock hyraxes, waterfalls, cows, pebbled beaches, and a handful of local children fishing.

I'd like to digress briefly to mention our tour guide, Joseph. Joseph was born and bred in Coffee Bay, and was awesome for the following reasons: 1) he did the hike barefoot, 2) he was funny and gregarious, and 3) he had the best repertoire of signature sayings ever! Every speech was precluded with a booming "GOOD PEOPLE!" and concluded with a satisfied "sweet!" (pronounced "sa-WEET!"). However, his (and our) favorite by far was "GET IN THERE!" It's a versatile phrase, used for such purposes as encouraging soccer players to score, telling people to drink, and shouting at kids to get out of the way of an oncoming car (modified to "GET OUT THERE!").

We finally made it to the Hole in the Wall, where we devoured grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches toasted over a fire. The hole itself is a hole (duh) that runs through a mountain that juts out of the water just off the coast. Wow, most poorly constructed sentence ever. Anyway, the waves come crashing through and are amplified - it's really a wondrous sight. After a bit, Amar, Abhay, and I decided that we had to do the jump - hardly anyone else in our group dared. We swam out, climbed up on a rock ledge at the top of the hole, and at Joseph's signal ("GET IN THERE!"), leapt out and plunged the 3 or 4 meters into the sea. I was terrified, but so glad that I did it.

At night, we visited the local village's headman. The Xhosa people of the area live in round green huts with thatched grass roofs, and his was the largest. Kids met us on the road and chatted with us as we walked, and we all settled in for an evening of food and dancing. Amar and Abhay sat on chairs, but I had to sit on the floor because I'm a woman (I endured some ribbing for this - more discussion at a later time). Girls performed traditional dances while other children sang and clapped. We ate samp and beans, mealie pap (for those of you who have been to The Shebeen, it's not quite cheesy grits), and soup with cabbage. We washed it all down with shared buckets of maize beer – it was called something like ung(click)oboti. There are so many different clicks, and Westerners can't really hear the difference, but I'm proud to say that I attempted to repeat the word while in Botswana and I was understood! Woo.

It was a fun evening - one of the village dogs came and plopped into my lap, we exchanged questions about culture with the villagers (typical dowry is 10 heads of cattle), and at Joseph's urging ("GET IN THERE! SHAKE THAT BODY!"), joined the villagers in dancing. Later, when we had left, the three of us went stargazing and marveled at the shooting stars and the unfamiliar southern sky.

Whew! Third time's the charm, hopefully this goes through. I have many, many more things to tell you all, but hopefully this will tide you over until I get home to a proper keyboard (typing a long email on a BB is hard enough, but I also haven't been able to cut my nails in nearly 3 weeks!). I'd love to see you all when I get home on Tuesday!

P.S. I met a TJ girl in Cape Town and a UVA kid in Zambia. Small world!

Still malaria, hepatitis, and AIDS-free

A slightly belated post on Michelle's behalf:

It's Thursday, around 7:30PM in Cape Town right now. The weather hasn't been so great - rainy and a little chilly. It just started being rainy yesterday though, and the weather is supposed to get better tomorrow.

We were supposed to go to Robben Island today; it's famous for its prison, since political prisoners were held here. Nelson Mandela was held there 17 years out of his 28-year long imprisonment. Tours are given by former prisoners, and you can also see a lot of penguins there since it's a good place for them to nest. It was too rainy today though, so the trip was canceled b/c the boat ride would've been rough from the increased water level and resulting swells. We're going on Monday instead.

Since the trip was canceled, Amar, his sister, and I went to the District 6 museum. District 6 was an area where a lot of blacks and coloreds lived; during apartheid, the gov't declared it a whites-only zone, evicted everyone, and demolished their homes. Now they're attempting to return some of the land to the original residents. It's famous as one of the great tragedies of apartheid; we were going to take a picture of ourselves on a bench that was labeled "Europeans only", but we forgot due to our next misadventure, which I will describe below.

We had a scare in the museum that's funny in retrospect; I saw this guy lingering around us and thought he was weird, so I was a bit wary of him for a while. Later, Amar wanted to take a picture of something so I took out my camera. Amar saw the guy looking at the camera intently, then he disappeared. Given the high likelihood of muggings here, we thought he was waiting outside to steal our camera! After plotting ways to NOT get mugged (ideas included switching clothes, hiding the camera in Ami's pocket, and running across the street to the police station), we made a break for it and got safely back to the car. There, we proceeded to reinstall the CD player in the car (Amar had put it in his pocket so that the car wouldn't be broken into, haha...the rental car company suggested it). We drove back to the hostel in a very fogged up car with poor defogging capabilities. Lots of wiping windows with hands, cranking down the windows, and relying on backseat drivers to check blind spots ensued.

Oh yeah, and in the museum, some girl asked if I went to TJ. I didn't recognize her, so after checking myself for TJ paraphenalia (there was none), I asked if she went there. Apparently she was the grade below us and recognized me? I wasn't a complete loser in high school after all! Haha.

Later in the afternoon, we went to explore a chocolate house we had heard of. It was...amazing. We walked in and were immediately greeted by a nice elderly woman who opened up every single case of chocolate for us. We were awestruck; it was like we had won golden tickets to Willy Wonka's factory. After seeing the stunned looks on our faces, the woman just gave us paper bags and tongs and told us to take whatever we wanted (she neglected to mention prices at first, but it was worth it). We got chili truffles, champagne truffles, chocolates with fresh cream, marzipan...pretty amazing. She told us to sit and eat for a while, and ended up telling us a story about how Sheik Abdullah from Saudi Arabia had called once after tasting the chocolate (Swiss Slices, specifically...I had them and they were excellent). Basically, he wanted the chocolatier to move to Saudi and make chocolate for him! I have to admit though, if I were an oil tycoon, I would try that too. Amar ate his whole bag sitting there. I'll try to bring some home!

So last night, Amar and I went on a fish adventure. We were going to attempt to cook dinner with some girls in the hostel. Specifically, we were determined to find snoek, a local fish. After some hijinks involving the purchase of kingklip (a local fish that is sort of expensive and therefore is NOT snoek) we found some braai snoek (snoek for barbecuing) for 20 Rand a kilo! That's like...$2.25 a kilo! For fresh fish! We triumphantly brought it back to the hostel, fried it and ate it with rice and veggies. Actually we first showed it to Mama Fefe, who works here, and informed her of our plans. She looked...skeptical. After staring at the unskinned fish chunks in the kitchen, we ran to her for help and she sent us fish spices, flour, and instructions. We're meeting interesting people at the hostel, they're all very nice and social.

Tomorrow, Ami's going back to Namibia, and Amar and I plan to drive around the winelands (mostly Stellenbosch) and get drunk. No, really - South African wine is supposed to be stronger since the tropical weather makes the grapes sweeter. We'll be joined by a couple we met at the hostel, so it should be a good time. What will we be eating? Kingklip, of course - seriously, we paid too much for that fish to let it go to waste. We'll cook it tonight and bring it along tomorrow. The plan is, during wine tastings we'll ask the proprietors for wine that they think pairs well with kingklip...haha.

One last thing about Cape Town in general - it's a very beautiful and diverse city. So far, I find myself thinking that it reminds me of so many different places. Some smells from bakeries remind me of Taiwan, the winding roads around hills remind me of San Diego, and the way it's tucked into a mountain reminds me of Puerto Vallarta. The sloped streets are like San Francisco's, and of course the Afrikaans is a lot like Dutch. Still though, it's very different from anything I've seen or anything I expected, and I think that's partially because I came here knowing next to nothing about the place. But I'll learn more and continue to write profusely later!

Friends and loneliness: or, An emo post

Though I haven't gone on any trips or started a job since graduation, I thought I'd write about my state of mind right now.  Jed's post about being lonely in Charlottesville really struck a chord with me, so I'll be a little self-indulgent here.  

The DC suburbs can be just as lonely as Charlottesville.  My parents are in Shanghai again, and my sister works full-time.  It's just my dog and I home alone every day.  I never could handle idleness well - sometimes, when I have too much time on my hands, I feel a little lost and adrift.  It's not a novel feeling, but I think these days the effect is amplified because of all the changes happening around me.

Right now I'm sitting in my room with nearly all of my worldly possessions spread out around me; I need to sort through them all and decide what to take to New York.  I've been putting it off because a) I hate packing more than any other chore and b) though I am excited to be working in New York, I'm just a little overwhelmed right now by the thought of everything I'm leaving behind.  Wow, am I being dramatic!  I think that's accurate though.

Some of the loneliness I feel now is temporary - after all, I'm meeting Amar in Africa in a few days!  However, the deeper part of it is that I'm still kind of scared that our friendships might fade with time or distance; it's a little of that sentiment/insecurity that makes me urge you all to write in this blog.  Anyway though, a lot was done to alleviate those fears yesterday, so I just wanted to acknowledge it.

Last night, Le-Anh, Bryan, and I did Tanked Tuesday (yes, I know it was Wednesday) in their new apartment.  Long story short though, I haven't had an easy time of things lately and ended up being sort of a party pooper.  Le-Anh and I have never, ever been the hugging types; we hug other people, but never each other.  I think we just decided long ago that for us, it's awkward.  But after knowing each other for ten years and not hugging the whole time, she broke the rule yesterday when I needed it the most.  That's when I knew that regardless of time, distance, or overly sentimental gushing, our friendship would be okay.

Enough.  My next post will be cheerier - after all, the next time I write, I'll be in Africa!

Hello, world!

Welcome, authors, to Diasporatic: the blog of our lives. We are about to embark on a journey which will change us all and the world for the bester. This blog is being founded upon the classical belief that true virtue can only be achieved if one accurately remembers and reflectively considers one’s past. We hope that this blog will be an instrument to that end for all of us collectively.

Ask yourself: what does the bestest of all possible worlds look like? Ask yourself: how am I working to bring that bester world about? Ask yourself these questions, and when you find the answers, write them in this blog. That is our vision. Will you join us?

~ Jed

In all seriousness, we started this blog for two simple reasons. First, we love you all and want us to stay involved in each others’ lives! Even now, it’s clear that college has marked a turning point in our lives; the friendships we’ve developed are far too important to let slide. Please write freely and often – sometimes, just sharing bits of your everyday lives brings people closer. Secondly, we’re all embarking on wildly diverse career paths – thus, we’ve been presented a unique opportunity. We’re fully confident that everyone will rise to the top of their chosen fields; can you imagine how exciting it will be to continue to trade ideas years in the future? We’ve all contributed to each others’ successes thus far; let’s keep it up!

~ Michelle

P.S. We are drunk. But that doesn’t mean that this shit isn’t important!

Love,
Jed and Michelle