As a teenager, I knew that I wanted to go away to college. I had dim hopes of meeting someone in the dorms who would become a good friend and whom I'd keep in touch with forever, just like in TV sitcoms. Well, it turned out even better than that. It turned out to be Kirsten.

I met Kirsten in the dorms at UCLA, and we were roommates for 3 years after that. She introduced me to wonderful things, like the Smiths and They Might Be Giants. She had much funkier clothing than I did, and we would drape ourselves in her scarves and haunt the UCLA campus late at night dressed all in black. The memory of her rendition of the Midnight Scream during finals week still makes me laugh. She dragged me with her to our first Enigma meeting, which was an important event in the lives of each of us. I fondly remember drives home to Northern California for the holidays, singing "Cowtown" while passing Harris Ranch off I-5.

Our undergraduate years are well behind us now, and Kirsten and I haven't lived in the same city for over 8 years! Argh! But we keep in constant contact and see each other every 4 months or so. She's the Art Production Manager for Bon Appetit magazine and has an office with a window on Wilshire Blvd and I'm incredibly proud of her. Every time I received the latest edition, I open it up to the masthead, point at her name, and scream, "There's my Kirsten!"

Love my Kirsten! See you soon!