Until today, I never thought that communicating among cultures was so difficult. But today, I discovered it is. There are so many subtle nuances we embed in our daily language that an outsider wouldn\’t understand. The sense of humor, the pop culture, the life is all different. And so is this is why America is still a mixing bowl rather than a melting pot?

Although maybe we haven\’t tried hard enough. What happened was that I met someone who was originally from Turkey…and he has a different style way of thinking. Despite the fact that we have similar beliefs, it\’s just so difficult to communicate. What I find amusing isn\’t what he finds amusing.

By the way, why doesn\’t anyone ever get the \”I have always loved u…nited\” seinfeld joke?!

I haven\’t been creative lately mostly because the semester has taken a drain on me. BUT! It\’s time for that moment of self-centeredness, selfishness…and although my readership of my blog has definitely dwindled since its early days…

It\’s time again. It\’s time for…my birthday wishlist. BIRTHDAY == MAY 22ND. I am growing out of my terrible twos! To be twentee FEE.

Disclaimer: I am really not that greedy. Really. :) I just like making lists (this seems more like a shopping list for myself). Also, I really dislike receiving presents. Yes, the thought counts, but I don\’t want to end up with a idontknowhattogetyoubutifoundthisinthegrocerystore5minutes ago type of thing.

In all cases, JENNISM #1 applies: PRESENCE > PRESENT Nothing makes me happier than having my favorite people present on my birthday. In any form!

• 2004 � 2003 � 2002 �

1. Presence, of course
2. Digital camera (because I just HAD to lose it two weeks ago) – considering the canon powershot s70 or the sony 5 megapixel
3. 512 sdram for my recently revived powerbook
4. Tiger! Go ROAR!
5. Desserts. Cheesecake, ice cream…
6. 6 lb burger? :)
7. mp3 player, which I have been shopping for almost 3 years!
8. a headset for my lg verizon phone (also lost this in January)
9. winter hat (lost one in february and lost another in march)
10. airport express
11. apple optical mouse!
12. magic!
13. mac mini!
14. a bed that does not fall apart
15. a trip to Boston or NYC!
16. an inspiration/impetus for my autobiography
17. handwritten letters from those that matter
18. and of course the always present CANDY to satisfy my sweet tooth

Time = money.

So I finally reformatted my laptop. I was able to back up everything for school, but the only thing that I missed was…my aim logs. The last time I had backed it up was early September 2004. So that\’s 7 months gone! In those 7 months, there was trauma, drama, desires, and rejections.

But wait. What kind of person would keep explicit logs for everything said?

Also, I lost my music. Coincidentially, I put my music list the day before my pb crashed. Is it a sign? Or is it a case of the Mondays?

God, why is my powerbook taking forever to load up! It froze during an amazing talk with a founder from IDEO. Right now I am using my desktop and in a frantic stressed out mode because I have something DUE TOMORROW and I don\’t have any files on my desktop. Fortunately, the pirate I am has installed all these programs on this computer.

So why is that I know how to bring Window machines back to life but I can\’t do the same for Macs? If I was six years younger, I would crawl in a corner and cry now. And rock back and forth in fetal position. But no, I have this silver lining in a gray cloud ability. If I buy a new powerbook in a week, I\’ll have tiger!

\”Jenn, you always meet the weirdest guys!\” was a common statement for the last few years.

Then today it was a \”TELL ME YOUR SECRET!\”

It\’s weird wearing a ring. I find myself glancing at it when the sun is out. Shipra and I bought each other a ring in the Portland Saturday Night market. [I was about to take a picture of my ring to blog, but I realized I have no camera!!! :(] It was two for five dollars. Hers is a simple ring while mine is a twisted sterling silver. I wear mine on my middle finger of my left hand. Now that I am 22, I am completely wary of being preyed on. A few weeks ago, I decided to see what would happen if I actually used a normal picture in a profile in a social network. (Social networks are my research interests, by the way.) And to my surprise, I received several messages that night. I didn\’t respond to any except one which was an innocuous \”hi\”.

Despite my many adventures of meeting people online, I have always found it extremely weird and creepy to meet people through such sites. Sure, I have met people through message boards, blogs and the like…but those start from a base of the same interests. A progression through hours of iming about random things establishing some kind of comfortable mutual friendships. And now…yeah I don\’t know.

And maybe that\’s naive of me. That\’s the real world. I wear a ring almost as a sign of defiance or a facade.

When I see Shipra and we feel sad, we would often yell, \”Ring!\” Then we would hold our rings together. \”Forever,\” we say!

The last pictures ever taken on my lost digicam…

To ease the pain of losing my digital camera (which feels like a breakup to me), I have been appeasing my sorrow with desserts. Yesterday when the professor I worked for took us out to dinner, I coulldn\’t help but eat many a dessert. A twist on the tiramasiu called Brewamisu. Then bread pudding. True happiness in my eyes!