Today was rather full. I met with four people, went to two meetings, and heard a really good speaker. Her name is Shelley Brindle, and she was the vice president of HBO. Then they tried to promote her to president but she wasn’t super interested and felt a little bit strangled so she quit and now she’s running for mayor of her little town in New Jersey. She was so cool and I really resonated with a lot that she had to say–if our political beliefs were more in line then I would’ve been freaked out at our similarities. The only sour bit was that the screen behind her the whole time said “Braking barriers” instead of “Breaking barriers”. I really couldn’t unsee it and it bothered me for an hour and a half.
Today is my second-to-last day at Mastercard. I’ve been getting to meet with some crazy influential people, like the girl who negotiates with the Chinese government and is actively expanding the free market. Or the guy who is pioneering QR paying technology in sub-Saharan Africa so that micro businesses can have a financial identity.
Second-to-last moments are my favorite type of moment. They mark the last time that things are normal–by the time it’s actually the last people are so preoccupied commemorating it that it turns into a totally different experience. Therefore, ironically enough, rendering the second-to-last moment the true last moment.
That being said, this week also marks the second-to-last one in my project at the second-to-last school I’ll be at. In a year of lasts, it’s refreshing to celebrate these instead. In a different turn of the phrase, I’ve gotten to experience a lot of seconds that felt like they lasted forever. Rushing to jump on a train. Talking to Pence on the phone. Watching a vote go through in the last seconds. I met a really cool woman in HR yesterday–we seemed to talk forever.
So today was good and stimulating and interesting as always, but I wanted to make a second last long enough to talk about these second-to-lasts.