The Day to Day

so the boss, senator baucus (democrat of montana), is taking lead on health care reform this year. luckily for me, as an eager and idealistic product of the obama generation and policy-ilk, i have been fortunate enough to be on the health team of the senate finance committee working on putting together the bill. the hard work and insane hours, piled upon school work, has definitely had its drain on me these days. but the end game is key...if we pass this, i will have been a part of the largest health reform legislation in 40+ years. that would be a milestone and huge career achievement.

but the real reason why i put up with it isn't for the inspiration to lead or to participate in the process or to give back for the public good...no, it was a vanity exercise to see how many times i can get caught picking my nose during hearings or how many magazine articles i can make it into.

if you're bored enough to catch some of the finance committee hearings on cspan, you probably haven't had a chance to see me beyond this brief moment in a press conference, since i don't usually sit behind the senator during the hearings. and if you're REALLY bored, you can catch me behind senator rockefeller during one of the health subcommittee hearings (its the 3-18-09 one).

but beyond that, you probably won't notice me too much...until last week's edition of the national journal where they did a nice big profile on the boss and his plan for health reform. in the lead intro photo to the piece, you get to see yours truly splashed across the fold.

so there it is folks...i've made it to national journal fame, with a circulation of over 12,000 and who knows how many online readers (though no images of me will be seen there). they say decisions are made by those at the table...and look where i'm sitting...

...though of course i'm not really making any of the decisions, but no one really needs to know that.

*and yes, i do realize my hand position looks odd...but i was flipping through my briefing book!

Notte Sento

so i've been feeling like i've been drifting lately...busy with work, disgusted with school, singularity at home...it seems that i just haven't gotten my feet down firmly on the ground in a while. maybe i'm just burnt out, maybe it's the anxiety of graduation...but i haven't felt like myself lately. but every once in a while, you come along something that just lightens the mood and injects a tiny pin prick of spirit that can bring a smile back to my face...and this little italian short did that for me tonight. maybe it'll give you what you need.

Notte Sento (English subtitles) from napdan on Vimeo.

Dethroned

after months of talk and buildup, we finally had our curry cook off this past week. 4 cooks, many friends, tons of curry, one friendly competition. it was quite a gastronomical feast.

sadly, i didn't take any pictures of the evening, that probably would've helped conjure the images desired of delicious curries. for our competitors, we had two south asians (gowri and nafis) throwing together their native indian and bangladeshi curries, and two east asians (carolyn and myself) throwing down on some thai curries.

as for my curry...i created an amalgamation of two recipies. after a trial attempt last week, i was fearful that my dish would not have that oomph to make it in this battle. but after a week's worth of thought, i did come through with the perfect balance of spice and sour. after making the curry soup itself, i only had one more ingredient for completion...the shrimp (the essence and also the downfall to my dish).

unfortunately, i made the very dumb amateur mistake of cooking my shrimp too early...leaving it chewy and overcooked when the competition actually began. so with that gigantic and completely avoidable mistake in hand, i sadly did not win this inaugural food competition (more disappointing is that my dish was thought to be in tight competition had it not been for the shrimp). that title, curry champion, went to my good friend nafis...who's one goal was to dethrone me as top chef. and though he probably wouldn't challenge me to anything else, i do tip my hat at him for taking me down this instance.

Waiting For Spring

maybe it's the five months of winter or the frenetic nature of the senate or the consistently drone of school...not sure what it is, but i've been dragging lately. the constant cold, the pressures of impressing the boss, and oppressing senioritis might have finally broken my spirits.

i used to drown it all out with lots of liquor, but after months of unbalance and "stress drinking", my once physically toned abs now have a doughy consistency to them that i find unappealing. yet even this has not motivated me to find time in my schedule to actually exercise...what i need is a gay best friend to bring the criticisms and drive that once pushed me (i'm looking at you po).

but this latest snow storm, which though brought a nice powder and clean shine to the city, has really got to wishing for spring. so many things will happen this spring, maybe it's the anticipation, but it seems to have dragged these past few months into vortex of time where the end game just gets pulled further and further away. with spring, the temperature might actually break 65, gray and brown will be replaced with the greenery of the flora and the pink of the cherry blossoms, a finale of 18 years of schooling, and hopefully a clean escape from past vices.

so yes...though the fresh blanket of snow may be appealing for the day, i'm really hoping for the sun to shine on a new day and a new story...a rejuvenating spring to cleanse the palate of an over-extended winter.