Wringing the Sponge

I like to talk. About almost anything. At length. When I come across new ideas or have important decisions to make, I need to talk about them. Luckily, I have lots of friends and family who also like to talk, which leads to lots of very interesting (to me, at least) conversations. What it doesn’t lead to is a record of all these ideas and conversations. Hence, a blog. Why now? Because I once again find myself in sponge mode. Let me explain.
When I left grad school: round one, I had a shiny new degree in theoretical math that employers found impressive on an equally theoretical level. They were less impressed with my practical skills, so I ended up temping as the administrative assistant in an office of executive suites. During the month I spent there, I got pulled in as a mock-interview subject for a workshop on DiSC profiling. It turned into such a lively conversation afterward (I told you I like to talk) that I ended up meeting the workshop participants for dinner and drinks that evening.
One of the participants was a consultant in change-management and I spent a while talking to him about the transition from grad school to whatever was going to come next. I found that I was totally in love with the world and its infinite possibilities. I wanted to read every book, newspaper, magazine, website and even fortune cookie that I came across. I wanted to listen to the radio and watch movies at the same time. I wanted to hear everyone’s life story from beginning to end and then turn around and tell everyone else what I had just heard. The consultant laughed and me and told me it was normal. At a time of transition, I was turning into a sponge and trying to soak up as much of its potential and promise as I could before committing to a new path.
Unfortunately, I didn’t write anything down then. I had spent the last five years studying math and essays did not come easily. Now, as I leave business school - which I affectionately refer to as “writing boot-camp” - I find myself in sponge mode once again, but this time I’m keeping a record! This time, I am meeting way too many fascinating people doing huge, wonderful things not to share the conversations. So here it is, a blog. I can’t promise I will update as much as I should, but this first post is a massive victory for me. And I am an optimistic sponge…

[I posted this two days ago on a Tumblr blog of the same name, but then I decided I like the blogspot setup better.]