Posted 9:58 PM by Blah blah

I'm adding another smart, amusing girl to my list: Sharon. British-born Chinese girl in London. Finishing her PhD in pharmacognosy. Sounds like NOSY pharmacist. Means "the branch of pharmacology that deals with drugs in their crude or natural state and with medicinal herbs or other plants." Read her---I command thee. Her writing is the best prescription for getting out of bed and jump-starting that twinkle in your eye. Ha!

Bear Market Blues

President Bush came to my city today. Although technically, we are out of our recession, practically we are still stuck deep in this mud puddle. Unemployment here in Silicon Valley, 7.4% in March, is well above the national average. I know so many smart people and people close to me who are looking for work. My uncle, for instance, has been out of work for over a YEAR now, and his wife (who doesn't work) just had a baby.

At IBM, here in San Jose we are selling our historic hard drive division to a joint venture that will be mainly controlled by Hitachi. Lots of people at IBM and IBM Research are unhappy about leaving "IBM" the company. Although I don't work in this division, this is a big change and will affect me directly. Hardware and microelectronics in general have become very cutthroat and most companies are quitting the business. But IBM is unique. We INVENTED the hard drive. In fact, that's the reason why IBM came to Silicon Valley in the first place, in the 1950s. One of our scientists had this idea which he wanted to develop further outside of the lab, so the brass in New York decided to buy up a lot of orchard land in south San Jose and build him a manufacturing site.

When I graduated from college, it was amidst a recession here. Now we are again stuck wandering in the economic desert, with flat plains stretching far into at least 2003. I hate it. I hate how people (including me) feel so cautious, so unstable, so pressured to postpone their lives. They are just trying to survive.

Personal news:
- At home, my housemate and I, with some friends, are planning to start doing some IT consulting work together, part-time. We have the special DSL connection now, and we'll set up a home network. I'll buy a new laptop, and we'll set up a website to market ourselves.

- Also, I have decided that this summer I will start taking economics and other business courses. It's time for me to go for that MBA. Seriously.

Wish us luck, strength, stamina, and faith.

I HATE the recession. DAMN you, 9-11. The buried dreams. The shattered lives. It's like you are constantly down with a bad cold.

Montage of a Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?