Dear Readers,

    Is it just me or does it seem as if primary school, middle school and even high school went by in a breeze? The homework was frustratingly long, but never excessively hard to wrap one’s brain around?

    Our procrastination stemmed from periods of intense boredom and not from the need to take many deep breaths after using our heads for too long. We were lazy but not overwhelmed with complexity. Perhaps I’m exaggerating, perhaps I’m justifying my useless yet fun hours away from work… but I’m definitely getting writer’s block as I attempt my three-page essay on livestock mobility in pastoral Africa.

    I’ve been working on this essay for 5 days now. That includes time spent on compiling data, finding relevant literature and thinking about the structure of the essay itself. Needless to say, I’m being very inefficient. But, hey, what can I say? I’ve got writer’s block, the process in which no progress is made when writing and all ideas stop flowing.

    Apart from the essay, a conference I’m overseeing is finally scheduled to “happen” this weekend. The financing and logistics have been a nightmare! Sponsors, speakers, students and other things have been extremely time consuming, but let’s hope it all pays off. Quite frankly, we would all rather be prepared and fail, then prepared to fail, right?

    This week is also another week of networking sessions with the “elders” in the finance world, aka Wall Street. Clad in makeup, suits, high heels and the occasional pasted-on smile, many Princetonians will be milling around executives waiting their turn to ask an intelligent or curious question about the markets.

    At least this week I have a more exclusive dinner with the aforementioned executives, however. Although the setting is formal and a bit uncomfortable, I’m sure it will be much more fun and insightful than the other networking sessions.

    That’s all for the recap of my week. Hope yours are just as productive and rewarding, if not more so.

    Sincerely, Laiyin