So, I am a huge fan of David Rakoff. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s a comedic essayist, a regular contributor to NPR’s “This American Life,” and a featured writer in publications like the NY Times, Salon, and GQ. I love his writing — he’s got a really unique blend of sharp-eyed, self-deprecating humor that’s endlessly fun to read. I have both of his books and I could probably recite some of the stories by heart.
Anyhow, I’m friends with him on Facebook. I know, I know . . . I don’t actually know him, but he was nice enough to accept my friend request. And on Monday, the day I got formally accepted to Harvard Law, he sent me a congratulatory Facebook message =)
I KNOW!!! CRAZY AMAZING RIGHT?!?!
He wrote, “I know we don’t know each other . . . but your post came up on my home page. HOLY SHIT! Harvard Law. Like Obama, and countless other stellar leaders. Mazel Tov, man. That’s incredible. A nice reason to feel thankful.”
I was floored. I’d gotten lots and lots of congratulatory notes from my friends and family that day, but to get a note from my favorite author . . . wow. Speechless.
I, of course, wrote him back to thank him for his note and as well to express my admiration for his impeccable writing ability =) So cool!
I’m flying back to the bay area this afternoon for Thanksgiving, but I’ll leave you with a video excerpt from his book “Don’t Get Too Comfortable.” Enjoy!
I got a call from Josh Rubenstein this morning at 9:15 . . . I am officially admitted to Harvard Law School! So exciting!
I had my application interview with Josh back in early November and I have been nervously waiting to see if I would get admitted. I feel so relieved. All year, my goal has been to attend a Top Three law school — Yale, Stanford or Harvard. Now I can rest easy, knowing that I will definitely be attending at least one of these institutions next fall. =) I’m also excited about taking a trip up to Boston (maybe in January) to take a look at the campus. Should be fun.
1. I still have not heard back from Harvard Law School . . . nervous, nervous, nervous! I hope I get some good news from them next week!
2. GO STANFORD FOOTBALL!!! Win the Big Game against Kal tomorrow and bring the Axe back home!
3. I am so excited — I pre-ordered Do As Infinity’s new single, Kimi Ga Inai Mirai. It’s the theme to Inu Yasha: The Final Act, which is the series that will complete the Inu Yasha anime. I love the opening theme and can’t wait to own the whole song! I got the First-Press CD/DVD version . . . you can get your own copy HERE.
4. Tomorrow I’ll be teaching baton all day long. Looking forward to it =)
5. As you know, I love Top Chef. It’s a great show. We only have two more episodes before a new Top Chef is crowned. Check out my recap of Wednesday’s episode on Box Office Prophets HERE.
Have a good weekend, guys! And KICK SOME BUTT, STANFORD! =)
So on Friday, Isidro and I headed to Sur La Table for our Romantic French Cooking Lesson =) It was part of the surprise that he’d had planned for our one-year anniversary back in Sept, but they didn’t have openings until Nov. Anyhow, the class was really fun . . . even if they didn’t exactly let us cook the hardest (and thus, the most interesting) parts of the menu. We didn’t get to make the dough for our leek and goat cheese tarlets, we didn’t get to cut/trim/cook the medallions of lamb, and I didn’t get to whip the egg whites into stiff peaks for our chocolate-coffee mousse.
But I still had a great time. Here’s a shot of the kitchen before all of the students made it inside.
We cooked a couple of really tasty dishes . . . here’s a shot of our Pommes Dauphine (scalloped potatoes in a cream and asiago cheese sauce) as well as our leek tartlet. Our table’s tart definitely came out better than anyone else’s =)
Here’s a shot of our main course altogether, including some lamb medallions and stewed prunes in the middle.
Isidro got a shot of me while I was supervising the mixing of our mousse.
And here’s the after-dinner shot.
Saturday morning, I woke up crazy early to drop Isidro off in DC Chinatown . . . he was headed to NYC to visit some friends that were in town. I had a full day of twirling on Sat, followed by a night full of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Then on Sunday, I headed over to Pentagon City to pick up the new Super Mario Bros. Wii game!!!
Isidro and I played a little bit last night and it’s crazy addictive. Super duper crazy fun. It reminds me of Super Mario Bros. 3, which is a total classic. I can’t wait to play some more . . . Anyways, Sunday night, before Isidro came back, I cooked a carrot cake. From scratch. I didn’t use a mix or anything . . . I even grated all the damn carrots. The only thing I took a little help with was the frosting, which I had to buy since we don’t have a stand mixer. Nonetheless, the cake came out yummy.
Last bit of news: I got accepted to the University of Michigan Law School! They are a top ten school, and they have a great record of Supreme Court clerkships, which is something I’m totally interested in. Fingers crossed for more acceptance letters to come!
Most of my friends and family know that I bleed Cardinal Red . . . I’ll be a Stanford faithful for the rest of my life. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever been as proud of the Stanford Football team as I was yesterday.
55-21.
USC got pwned. Big time.
It was only three years ago when our football team went 1-11, under the horrible direction of Walt Harris. Coach Jim Harbaugh has really turned things around. We’re not only bowl eligible for the first time since 2001, but we’re still in the running for the Rose Bowl! (Go Stanford and Arizona this weekend! Then we’ll worry about Oregon and USC . . . and yes, Isidro, we need USC to beat Arizona, lol).
After our walloping of Oregon last weekend and given the injuries that USC has sustained (McCoy and Williams out, Ayles hurting), I knew we had a chance to win this weekend . . . but I never expected a blow-out. Seriously. Let’s consider some of the accomplishments by Stanford Football yesterday.
- The 55 points that they scored is the most points any team has ever scored on USC in the history of their school
- It’s the worst loss by USC since Pete Carroll took over (and his first loss in November)
- USC has won 47 out of their last 50 games at home. The only times they’ve lost in that span has been when they’ve played Stanford =)
- Stanford is now ranked #14 in the AP Poll and #17 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll. They are the 2nd highest Pac-10 team. It’s the highest we’ve been ranked since 2001.
I know we have a really important game next week against Cal (BRING THE AXE BACK HOME!) but I’m going to take a moment to revel in the amazingness of yesterday’s game.
Then I’ll focus on sending good vibes to our football team so that we can BEAT THE WEANIES NEXT WEEK! GO STANFORD! =)
