Rare Occurrences

today is february 29 -- in ian's words, a perfect day to do something i only want to celebrate every four years. i'm not sure what that might be, but i'll be sure to keep my eyes open the rest of the day for something fitting! (i missed the beautiful total lunar eclipse earlier this month... i'm sick of letting opportunities pass me by!)

in the meantime, it is worth mentioning that i spent most of this morning intensely stimulated by another most unusual experience: i sat in on a harvard business school class on corporate strategy. (yes, this is how i choose to spend my free time... bite me!) now, i understand that 80 minutes of class discussion on organizational and personal competitor analysis, payoff matrices, first-mover advantage, NPVs, pricing, and M&As could be terribly boring, especially if you haven't read the case beforehand or have no interest in british satellite tv penetration and media wars... but i understood most of it even with my bare-bones understanding of business strategy -- and i was even able to anticipate questions and make some sound decisions in my head as i listened. seriously, i enjoyed the punchy analysis, the professor's commentary and jokes, and the class dynamic (laughter! engaged participation! applause for prospies from the class of 2010! applause for the former microsoft employee who served as ad hoc tech support! applause for me, the class visitor! even applause for the "first yogurt analogy of the term"!) immensely.

maybe i should put aside my secret MBA and really apply to b-school. i'm sure i'd at least be able to write interview-worthy essays -- and hey, if things worked out, i'd get a terminal degree faster than the one i'm due from the program in which i'm currently enrolled ;-)

Vestiges

five years ago, on this day -- a cold february evening in boston -- a boy called to break up with me. (yes, on the phone.) i cried about him, the first time in a long time i'd done such a thing. i was heartbroken, because i was really in love. (yes, even at 19.)

i stayed in touch with him, and attracted to him, for a few years thereafter. it was hard to get over him, and it finally took a triangular disaster to make me realize i needed him gone. but it took me more years than that to be able to get rid of the valentine's day gift i'd bought him in anticipation of valentine's day 2003: the cutest little stuffed bunny i've ever seen.

this year, february 7 is sunny and warm-ish, and i'm in a different city -- although boston continues to lure me back every so often -- at a different phase in my life. and i am happy now, and safe, and no longer in love with him... but i think about that friday evening more often than would seem necessary.

perhaps that day was meant to show me how things cannot always be planned. or perhaps its purpose was to teach me how well i heal, despite despair. but the fact is that no matter what the lesson, and no matter how far life carries us from our starting points, these things stay with us. i'm glad this one did with me. so much came after... but it all began with a phone call, all those years ago.

today will be a reflective day, i can just tell.

Request For Communal Expertise

if anyone's out there reading, i'd be grateful for:

(a) tips on what to do on a week-long trip to rome
(b) that-hallmark-holiday-in-february gift ideas for a gregarious, sporty, itinerant, preppy boy, from a girl who thinks the usual array of store-bought stuff (pens, ties, even hiking gear) for guys is totally boring. (if the boy in question is reading, and feels so inclined, he can make suggestions, too!)
(c) suggestions on how to file away stacks and stacks of printed-out articles/readings in an aesthetic yet useful fashion. i'd like to avoid filing cabinets, if at all possible, which is to say that hanging folders on a frame, magazine boxes, and the like would be much more up my alley.

email [simphonatic at gmail dot com] or leave comments.