Scholars 4 Life

Yet another lazy Sunday, and I'm still sitting around in my pajamas at noon. I just had a chunk of the giant Hershey's Symphony bar that's been laying on the countertop all weekend, tormenting me. I gave in to the choco-rapture, at long last. It's a bitter sweet Symphony, this life.

Last night my sister accompanied me to the MSU McNair/SROP Scholars Alumni Dinner in Lansing. We celebrated 15 years of McNair at MSU, and got to meet scholars who were in the program when it first began in 1988. I was a scholar in both 2001 and 2002. I saw a lot of old school people: Trinh, Carl, Soh, Tanya J., Erica, Terrence, Ernest T. Caldwell Jr., Charles Wells (HOT-Lanta!), and several others. It was wonderful to connect with these amazing people again and to hear where they are in their lives. And as always, it was great to see Tay. All of the alum got to get on the mic for fifteen seconds and talk about what they've done since leaving McNair. I used my air time to make a 15 second plug for Fulbright. I even brought promotional brochures with me. OK, I know I'm a nerd, but I really think Fulbright could use a more socioeconomically diverse applicant pool.

I also got a phone call from John today. He'll be home from China in seven days! It's frustrating that we can't spend very much time together in the U.S. before spending another 4-5 months apart. He's returning to the PRC Sept. 2nd. This is the lifestyle we've chosen though, and with both of us heading for internationally-oriented careers, we have to learn how to tough it out and spend time (as Richard Marx once said) "oceans apart."

Hope you have a great week.