It was a good trip. Long drive up North on the 101 which is not the shorter way to reach Silicon Valley but is way less boring than the 5. Lunch in Pismo Beach, night spent in Santa Cruz. Then on Tuesday, all day long I was in the NASA Space Research Center in Moffett Field, close to Mountain View.
I was there to interview a group of A's graduate students enrolled in the 9-week summer program of the new Singularity University. All I had read about it made me eager to meet with the founders and some of the women who represent the 35% of the 40 students accepted this year. I will write the all story for the October issue of Elle so let's just say for now that I was impressed but also puzzled.
Surely the IQ of the people who surrounded me at the conference table was reassuringly high. But can you tell me why so talented people have to give in to the usual ego-boosting game that makes them repeat how talented they are every three minutes? Why do they have to dress and pose as models in a photo-shoot for a magazine that is already full of models and would not mind to offer his female readership a few different role models? Why serious scientists, entrepreneurs and futurists chosen among 1200 of their peers need this kind of reassurance? Why do they feel they have to look like models? If somebody knows the answer to my questions, please post a comment and explain.
Anyhow, the brainstorming was interesting and I enjoyed my visit to SU. Then it was back to Santa Cruz for the second night and back to Los Angels on Wednesday morning. But my coffee-break and walk with the dog before leaving SC got tainted by a "little" accident. A 34' huge moving truck that was not there when I left was now parked in the alley. A few minutes earlier the truck had crashed into the left side of my car parked at the curb on an almost equally huge street where it was hard to imagine anybody having problems maneuvering their vehicle. Wrong assumption, I guess, if the vehicle is a 34' truck and the driver just arrived from Mississippi, tired as hell being on the road for several days in a row. The guy was indeed very polite and apologized profusely. I acted kindly thinking how lucky it was that Moki had not remained in the parked car. And the car honorably made it back to L.A. It would have been even worse if I had to leave the car in a bodyshop in Santa Cruz to get it fixed.
So here I am, back in Los Angeles, with a clicking shackling car I cannot get in from the driver door. Monday, which is my closing of escrow date for the new house in Mt. Washington, I'll take the car in to repair. But WHEN will I be able to return, really return to LA LA Land, leaving behind all these "small" things and worries???
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