My first memory? Age three, running up and down the supermarket aisles in the Philippines looking for where one could purchase baby brothers. My parents had informed me at the time, that I would be getting a little brother or sister some time soon. I had immediately made up my mind that I wanted a baby brother and couldn't wait to buy him. Nobody had told me the stork story so I just assumed that you buy babies like my mom would buy everything else. Unfortunately, as you can guess, I was out of luck. My baby brother (yes, I got one!) came from no where one day when I least expected it. I was upstairs coloring. We weren't even out shopping. My mom showed up with him and I just assumed she went shopping without me.
My time spent in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia is what I will always cherish for as long as I live. There are too many stories that happened in Saudi to talk about right now, but the friends I made there will never be forgotten. J From the prayer calls, to dodging the religious police (don't ask), to those sacred trips to the Red-O…nothing will be forgotten. As my friends from college know all too well… "What do you mean you don't know that? We learned that in Junior High in Saudi!" I've made several people sick with that comment and will probably continue to do so. From Saudi, we were all shipped off to boarding school. Yes, it sounds harsh but it's what we all had to go through since there wasn't any schooling for us past the 9th grade there. I spent a year in New York at the Emma Willard School before heading off west back to California. I spent my last two years of high school at the Webb Schools of California in Claremont. After graduation, I went to UC Santa Barbara where I completed my B.S. in Chemical Engineering (with a minor in Biomedical).
During my senior year at UCSB, I lived on the beach and would fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing off of the cliffs. (The waves were so loud they kept me awake the first two weeks.) I don't think I'll be living right on the beach ever again (without breaking my bank account), sleeping to the sound of the ocean or waking to the smell of the ocean breeze. After that, I dived right into the LA rush hour scene and worked for a year as a Chemical Engineer before attending UC Berkeley where I completed my M.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
I'm now working for PricewaterhouseCoopers where I'm a consultant in the Supply Chain Management practice. I hadn't really planned on becoming a consultant and was considering offers from companies such as IBM and HP. However, one evening when I was in the engineering building working late, I got hungry and was thinking of venturing back home to grab dinner. I saw a flyer that said PwC was giving a presentation a couple of rooms down in 10 minutes and that there would be pizza and soda. That's all I needed so I sat in the back and waited for the food. (Yes, I'm awful but come on…you ALL do it!!!) Before the food came (it was late) I started listening to the presentation and was really intrigued by what I heard. They weren't officially accepting any more resumes but I got lucky as an opening became available. I interviewed the next day…and I was in a couple of weeks later! I have this philosophy that everything happens for a reason…the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. I may have made a decision based on hunger…but it is a career choice that I'm very happy to have made.
My work has had me traveling up and down the California coast, which is not too bad. I'm really busy during the week which only leaves the weekend for me to spend time with my family and friends…and Raj! Though we both have job that have us traveling (me more than him), we always manage to find time to talk at least once a day no matter where we are. At the airport, in baggage claim, going through security, and of course, on the road.
Well, there you have it…my life thus far in 926 words. I've always thought about writing a book about all my experiences. I haven't even scratched the surface with all I've said so far. Not for national publication of course (who would read that???) but something I could share with my children and grandchildren one day. But since I'm more technically minded and have no skills whatsoever when it comes to writing coherently or succinctly (as this passage has probably informed you) I may have to hold off on that novel of mine. At least for now.
Smiles…