my spring social contract

so Mark Albion, an entrepreneur, business man, motivational speaker of sorts came to give us a chat last quarter. one of the things he talked about was making a social contract with yourself. tell your friends or your family your goals for yourself for the next few months, years, whatever. this is a social contract that you put out into the open and that other people can call you out on and this will help you stick to your goals without getting too sidetracked. "Remember when you said that five years from now, you were gonna quit your high-powered job and become a teacher?" "Remember when you said that no matter what, money wasn't going to take over your life?" "Remember when you said that next quarter you weren't gonna be a drunken lush anymore?" Well, somethings can change...

so here's my social contract for this quarter before i graduate, so i can make sure to try and do them:

• COOK MORE! playing host is fun and when you have more time and are addicted to the Food Network, it's even more fun. biggest accomplishment will be perfecting mom's famous burmese dishes.
• LEARN HOW TO SWIM. yes, i know i know. i grew up in california. i took lessons at the Y. but REALLY (why doesn't anyone believe me?), i don't know how to swim. i even won a set of swimming lessons at the charity auction ball. but my nice friend Baby Corn is giving me free lessons at the gym. yay for not drowning. at least spring brings better weather and i will be in better shape too.
• LEARN MANDARIN FLUENTLY. okay, so i'm chinese and i can technically speak it. to maybe 3rd graders. or my boyfriend's grandma for about 3 sentences (then she starts to look really confused). but i can speak in my dialect fluently (but no one speaks my dialect, so it's like being a shoe salesman in a city filled with people with no feet). i'm planning to take chinese lessons if freaking Berlitz would ever call me back and give me that darn placement level test. i'm trying - you have to give me credit for that.
• GET TO KNOW CHICAGO BETTER. there are so many things i've wanted to do over the last couple of years in the city and i've just been too busy or a lazy ass to go check it out. but now, time is short! architectural tour. funky plays. neighborhood brunch and shopping. jazz clubs. the weird old guy who sits in front of whole foods everyday. whatever, i'm game!
• DO WELL IN MY CLASSES. so it's not that i haven't done well in my classes. but let's just say that i don't necessarily read all of the assignments. or put my 100% in all the projects. this quarter, i'm gonna try and really learn. i'm gonna read before class. i'm gonna participate. i'm gonna be the student that my professors have always wanted. yeah - it's only 2nd week (or is it 3rd?), so i'm still feeling ambitious...
• BAY AREA PEOPLE UNITE! organize an SF happy hour for all the people in my graduating class who will be working in the bay area. i think there's 30-40 of us. why not get the party started now?
• REGULAR HANG OUT TIME before we all go our separate ways. it's hard, but we're trying to do regular brunch things and dinner things and i've now ventured into this whole new world of couples dinners. apparently people have been doing this all year. who knew? i wanna get in on dis.
• GET TO KNOW PEOPLE I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED, but never gotten to know before we all graduate. you know those people. you always have great conversations when you bump into them. can tell they are great people and totally likeable. but you guys swing in different circles and never make an effort to get to know each other better. i like them. these people are not to be confused with the ones i've tried being friends with for a year and a half now and have come to the sorry conclusion that, no, i still don't like you after all that. don't worry. it's you, not me.