Alright, can you hear me testing the mic again? We'll see.

Okay, it's been quite a while since I've added another note. A lot of things have happened since I've last taking notes. One thing is I got laid off in May. Spent two months out of work. Surprisingly, I ended up back at UC Berkeley with very little vacation taken. No break in service. But anyway, it was not an easy ride by any means. No one should ever have to lose their job after they've committed to a family and a role as a parent in that family. It's not right. It's not just one thing to be like a top performer. It's another thing to just be a provider. It makes me sick sometimes. So that happened. But then some more fun things happened. We got to take a Caribbean cruise. There are so many things about that that are cliche and overdone. And one might hear this thing that can't possibly be fun. But it actually is, especially when you watch your kids have fun. So anyway, what else? We just visited Houston. I came back early. I went out with Gerald and Andy. That wasn't interesting to the three days. And at the end of those two to three days after just seeing a 10-minute glimpse in the life of someone who's either on his third marriage without kids or third attempt at a marriage. Or trying to bounce all over the United States until you can find something he thinks is good at. Or someone who's just ended a marriage two years ago or a year ago. And he's trying to discover who he is. So when he has two kids too, it was a big eye opener for me. And my new job is really awesome. There's a lot of fun people in the university relations, university development and alumni relations office. And you see Berkeley and a lot of fun dynamic people in a different way than Haas. And what shall I say? I don't know. I got to go to lunch with a woman who read my story, Elena. And she thought it was awesome. I got to tell her all about my parents. Never realized someone who's almost a stranger would be interested in that stuff. But yeah. And in fact, it made me. It was probably one of the reasons why I wanted to start taking notes again. You know, I want to stay creative while at the same time. Productive at work. I know it's very hard, but we'll see how it goes. I think the new, if we were to call this a phase, one of the new features or impetus for this phase is definitely the fact that I see myself now at 44. As someone who's seen a lot of the journey, who's seen the good and bad of life, but he's seen more of the pattern and the rhythm. And knows that good times are never permanent, neither the bad times. And there are always new things that come along. I can say without a doubt, I've met enough people who unanimously believe my parents' story is a story we're telling. And it's really sometimes up to me to tell it. It's hard because I'm lazy. I like to tell it. I'm just lazy at putting the words on paper. So that's kind of a problem. But I've got to keep trying. I'm listening to the same old podcast these days as I commute from Padalu meant in Berkeley. And let me pause it here for now until the card noise goes away.