Day 19: Lunch on the Lawn

Julietta angelically backlit on the quad

Another friend-of-a-friend today, another ultimate frisbee connection. It's nice having outings and encounters planned. This one has been hopping around the calendar like a jumping bean, as Julietta and I try to mesh our ever-changing schedules. Finally, miraculously, it happened: we had lunch.

Choosing the venue was the first obstacle: Julietta can't eat gluten, and I'm a pesky vegan. She suggested a few places that are kind to the gluten-free crowd, and luckily one also had plenty of dairy- and meat-free options: San Francisco Soup Company. This is a campus lunch spot I don't think I'd ever have found my way into if it weren't for her, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The menus were electronic. The gazpacho was good.

Julietta is moving to New York next week, which she thought, at first, might disqualify her from the project. Her family lives around here, and who knows when she'll be back, so I decided it didn't. We had a nice conversation for a good hour and half, about healthcare reform, religion, science, and careers. She had a viewpoint on public service and jobs that I'd never heard before (and I'm sure to get it wrong in its nuances): she'd rather make her money off of something that's not a basic human need so that she doesn't feel guilty for making money. For example, making money as a doctor seems distasteful because it sucks to profit off of illness. Making money off selling luxury gadgets, however -- guilt free.

I never quite nailed down the issue of being able to provide service and not worry about money, but nonetheless it was interesting fodder for an afternoon lounging around campus.

Coming soon: more volunteering and a weekend in the woods!