When the Almond Tree Blooms

Happy Holidays! I wanted to give a little update to all of you who’ve been reading my blog posts this fall. I’m going to drink some tea, write a little and listen to Drake’s Take Care . The album brings me back to the beginning of 2012, when I’d drive on I-5 into Sacramento, away from the loneliness of the rice farm where I worked to my unlikely haven, a financial accounting class at Sac City College. Winter Wheat at Sills Farms, January 2012 (I disced this field) I first started blogging in 2008, the heyday of blogs. I didn’t use social media much at the time, I had a facebook account I hardly ever checked and I didn’t get a smart phone until four years later. Blogging was a hobby, I’d post a few photos, write a paragraph about pupusas one week, or a blurb about The Wire or hiking in the Bay Area. I had fun with it, interacting with random people who stumbled across my blog and checking out their blogs. Uncle Marc's Christmas dessert, 2009 My blog morphed into a...

My long break from blogging began in March 2013. At the time, I thought I had figured it all out. Things were looking good in the world: Obama had just begun his second term, the U.S. was recovering from the Great Recession, and California had not yet entered the depths of multi-year drought. I was incredibly optimistic about my life. I was thriving in my Master of Accountancy program at UC Davis and had accepted my first real professional job at the California State Auditor. I began cultivating my community garden plot in Davis and was at the beginning stage of my dance addiction. What happened between now and March 2013? Among the usual things—work, life and failed romances—I danced, a lot. I’ve always liked to dance, but for most of my life I thought I was bad at it. Back in high school, I’d look forward to dances in the cafeteria, where I enthusiastically but awkwardly shuffled around to all that great 90s music. Many years later, after I’d finished college and was living in ...

I want to share some news with those of you still read this long-neglected blog: I got a job.   After I finish my Master of Professional Accountancy at UC Davis this June, I’ll be working full time for the California State Auditor in Sacramento.   I received the job offer and accepted it back in February; I meant to share this sooner but was deeply involved in my classes until I finished finals last week.     UC Davis Sunset When I took my first accounting course over two years ago, this isn’t where I imagined I’d end up.   I became interested in accounting through agriculture.   At first I knew little about what a CPA does and whether or not that’s what I wanted to become.   I figured I could take a couple more accounting classes and find a job at some farm business in the area, where hopefully I’d get a little hands-on accounting experience.   At the beginning of 2012 I realized I needed to leave the farm.   I’d had enough...