Swift

Happy Cinco de M. everyone,

Just a very quick post to give you a fill in on the latest (in bullet format):

• US authorities are still happy to have me here, which is good news.

• Stanford draws slowly to a close (can't decide whether this is good news or bad).

• Few advances on the job front, but a few potential freelance gigs, which should be sweet.

• Improv is amazing; I thoroughly love it.
  

Other than that, more of the same: occasional excursions up to SF; the first of many wine trips; one proper mountaineering effort (Pyramid Peak - bloody incredible); and a lot of messing around on campus.

We've now got a pretty established supper club, meeting and cooking different shit every week (tonight, obviously, was Mexican). And I'm doing quite a lot of work with the Stanford stand-up society. 

But the main focus right now is improv. I just can't get enough of it. It's genuinely one of the most inspirational classes I've ever taken, and it's really challenging my way of thinking.

For example, one of the main tenets of improv is just putting yourself out there. Working with your partner, that is, to build a stronger narrative, and not just going for the punchline. This, I find, is pretty bloody hard. I'm always going for the punchline, even at the most inopportune moment. But this class allow you to not be the funny one, to just build on what your partner is suggesting, and allow them to be the one in control.

What's more, I'm less nervous about just putting myself out there. It's never really been a problem, but even outside of class, I now find myself volunteering for everything and stepping into the limelight much more than before, and I suspect the improv (or at least my desire to push myself as a result of the learning), is making all the difference.

Having said that, I'm a wee bit concerned about the next step after Stanford. Given the option, I'd be pretty keen to stay in the US. But I'm pretty certain once the year is out, that's my lot, Visa-wise. No word about jobs in the UK or Europe, but I'm sure something good will come up. I just hope I'm not being too optimistic. Fingers crossed, n'est-ce pas?