Goldman Interview Feedback

I find this very interesting (I emailed basically just asking if there was any feedback I could have going forward since I am serious about banking). Looks like it was a bad sign that I dropped that finance course at the School of Management, but it also looks like maybe something internal at Goldman made them decide not to take anyone from YLS their first time recruiting here, especially since he didn't say "you should try to take accounting and finance to get a job at another bank," but rather "you should try to get a job at another bank, and taking accounting and finance would help you when you reapply next year." :

Chunk - I would try to get a summer job at another investment bank -
that would help strengthen your resume for next fall. Also, taking
accounting courses and doing well at them would be very helpful.

Crazy Swiss

Check out the requirements for getting a drivers license there. I think it's hilarious that they make you get trained in first aid AND undergo a mental assessment by a psychologist before you can drive lol


Learning to drive in Switzerland

You must be 18 years of age to learn how to drive in Switzerland. The process begins with a 10-hour first aid course in which you learn how to give assistance to traffic accident victims. Then, you must follow eight hours of obligatory theory (traffic-awareness course).

Once you begin to drive, you must be accompanied by a person over 24 years of age who has had his or her license for at least three years. You must also attach a sticker (a white L on a blue background) to the windshield of your car to show that you are a "learner" driver.

You are not required to take driving lessons with a professional instructor to obtain your license, although it is recommended since the instructors know exactly what the examiners expect... It's at your own risk. Bear in mind that it will cost you approximately 75 Swiss francs an hour. There are extremely well-organized guilds of driving school instructors, who are applying increasingly restrictive measures to limit access to their profession and maintain their rates. Moreover, constant pressure is placed on the government to raise driver training standards for young drivers, in the name of road safety and to the great benefit of driving school instructors. Some see in this a pathetic example of corporate racketing, based on the "public good", as a means to capture its own profitable market. So grin and bear it, but don't let them walk all over you.
The temporary license allocation fee, the practical and theoretical exams and the highway code manual cost approximately 250 Swiss francs (although this varies by canton).

A book listing the 600 possible questions on the theory exam can be purchased for 10 francs from your canton's Automobile Service.

The Swiss driving test includes a written exam (that can be taken in English or in other foreign languages) and a practical test.

The practical test can be taken only three times. If you fail it three times, you are required to consult a psychologist who will decide if you are mentally fit to drive and who can offer you a fourth and final attempt... But you would have to demonstrate a real inaptitude for driving to get to that point.

Rejected at Goldman

Dear Chunk:

Thank you for taking the time to interview with the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. Unfortunately we’ve had to make some tough decisions, and we will not be pursuing your candidacy any further. We regret that we cannot accommodate everyone, but we wish you the best of luck in the recruiting process!

Regards,

The Investment Banking Recruiting Team

***

Feels weird because I thought the interview went really well. I guess I feel a little upset to get a rejection, but I don't feel devastated, either. I'm not sure if I should try for more banks, or just go with McKinsey and consulting firms. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but this really could be a blessing in disguise, because if I do consulting (or even the one law firm I interviewed with, which, incidentally, I have not heart back from even though another friend has) then I can split the summer with a human rights organization.

Off to the gym! :)

VC

PS: I *just* realized that they probably never took my candidacy seriously in the first place, which is why we just spent the 30 minutes talking and having a good time. They can't screen the candidates that bid on them, so they might as well make the best of their time with someone they feel certain isn't a fit. Too bad!

Underwear Kicking

Something funny I just realized I do (and have done for years without ever even thinking about how odd it is):

When I change my clothes, get in the shower, etc. and have to take my underwear off, I slide them off like any other person would, but then when they're around my ankles on the floor I step out with my right leg (still normal, I think) and then I kick them with my left foot up in the air (not high, just up to my arm height) and catch them with my right hand lol.

What's even more silly is that it's not like I'm catching them so I can put them in the dirty clothes or whatever, since usually I immediately drop them back on the floor until I actually pick up all the clothes I just took off.

How weird is that?

VC

Interview Update

I think my interviews went really well. They didn't ask me ANYTHING about finance or ANYTHING about Goldman Sachs! lol Good thing, since my "breakthrough" that I wrote about last night about valuation techniques was totally off. I guess I really didn't need to work until after 5am preparing lol Maybe I really am made for banking?

VC

Investopedia

This site rules.

Goldman Prep Under Way

I'm working away! I think I'll stop doing finance stuff soon and start doing the "What's happening in the markets, what do I think affects the market, what stocks do I like, what are Goldman's values, what are its major recent deals, and what is its structure and performance record?"

I think I just had a breakthrough, though, as seen in an email I sent to a friend who worked in banking this past summer at Bank of America, met with me a little over a month ago in NYC to talk about it over Japanese desert, and who helped me on the phone earlier for almost an hour. The question/breakthrough is all about calculating NPV (net present value) using a DCF (discounted cash flows) model that incorporates WACC (weighted average cost of capital) and CAPM (capital asset price model) calculations:

Hey I'd call but it's 1am and I know it sucks to be like "hey I know I never call you except to eat Japanese desert and talk about finance, but I have a question" lol.

I just wanted to make sure that I have it right when to use CAPM and when to use WACC.

From what I can tell, when you want to decide whether or not to invest in a security, like a stock, then you would use NPV calculated on a DCF model that has a discount rate calculated by CAPM. If you want to decide whether or not a project is worth it, and we're talking about, like, purchasing a company or something and not just a security, then you'd use NPV calculated on one of the three models we spoke about, and if you elect to use DCF then your discount rate would be calculated using WACC (you couldn't really use WACC for a security because there is not issue about how capital is structured like with a corporation), and in that WACC calculation you could still, if you wanted to, bring back CAPM, but it would only be used to calculate the cost of equity component of the WACC sum?

Basically it looks like using CAPM for the discount rate in a DCF calculation is only a "complete" calculation if it's for a security, but if it's for a firm valuation or something then you need WACC, which can use CAPM or not depending on your preference/available info for how you'll calculate the cost of equity (either as CAPM or as dividends per share divided by share price added to growth in price).

Does that sound right?

Thanks!

VC

Insane Week

This week is one of the craziest I've had in a long time.

In addition to my classes, which I've done no work for, I have three job interviews (which will require a LOT of prep), journal and reading group meetings, student paper drafts to review (for the undergrad Computers and the Law course that a friend got me a position TAing -- this is also going to be intense prep because students are emailing me to set up appointments and I am not even going to get the course materials, lecture notes, and required readings from the prof until tomorrow morning!), law school events, etc. Oh, and the icing on the cake is that on Friday my preliminary findings for my Kenya research are due. The pre-icing icing is that the same day I have my Goldman interviews and my first meeting with a Computers and the Law student I *also* have an Arabic quiz lol.

I have decided to reconceptualize the week, though, as not one of stress but of opportunity lol. I mean after this week a lot of things that were formerly just plans will now be real activites in my life: Outlaws is having its first official meeting, the Middle East Legal Forum reading group is having its first meeting, I will have my first meeting with the Journal of Human Rights and Development, I'll have met with my students for the first time and read their papers (and read the class materials for the first time as well), I'll have held my first co-taught TA review session, I'll have interviewed for positions in investment banking, investment management, and transactional corporate law, have mastered the direct and indirect objects that come from each of the ten Arabic verb forms, have presented my preliminary findings on Kenya, and will have had a special meeting with some of the judges from the world's highest courts (and will have gotten tickets for a later lecture with one of the US Supreme Court justices).

Don't expect me to blog much between now and Friday (then again you never know!).

Oh, and just to brag lol: Since coming to Yale I've never exercised less than three times in a week :)

VC

FIP (Fall Interview Program)

I got all three things I bid on for Fall interviews (note that I only bid on one law firm because they're the only one hiring for Paris lol). My #1 goal this summer is Goldman investment banking, and if I don't get that then I suspect I'll want to go to McKinsey (and in that case split my summer between consulting and human rights, which you can't do in banking). The other stuff is just in case I don't get any other private sector offers.

Interview Date	Employer	Locations Interviewing For	Interview Time	Interview Location	Interview Room
Sep 25, 2007	Goldman Sachs & Company-Investment Banking (New York NY)	New York NY-Investment Banking	2:00 pm - 2:30 pm		TBA
Sep 25, 2007	Goldman Sachs & Company-Investment Management (New York NY)	New York NY-Investment Management	2:30 pm - 3:00 pm		TBA
Sep 27, 2007	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (London)	London;European and Asian offices	4:30 pm - 5:00 pm		TBA

Weirdest Thing Ever

Check it.

CNN Stupid Quote of the Day

"And now let's turn back to Afghanistan, still a country of beggars and burkas."

!

VC Going to Kenya

I was given my project for the human rights clinic, today, and I was given my second choice project, which was one relating to the rights of Nubian children in Kenya (I can't, like, totally talk about it until I have permission from our partner organization). My top choice was a women's rights/access to justice project in Bangladesh, but I'm still happy that I got on this one which was surely in high demand. I'm a bit sad, because Swissy was planning a trip to NYC for my October break, but now it looks like I'll be in Nairobi (mostly) from 20-28 October (although with human rights people you NEVER know if these trips will happen).

I still haven't contacted the ICTJ about ongoing work that they wanted me to do, but I think I will just do stuff for them as they need it and not make it a clinical project, since that seems easier (not only because clinical projects have team hierarchies, but also because Yale has to approve everything we do BEFORE it goes to the partner organization, which I think would actually be sort of a step back for me as far as how much autonomy I have in my work with the ICTJ).

It will be my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa, so that's pretty cool. The project is also one that I think will be interesting to research from a legal standpoint (of course the fieldwork will be interesting).

VC

CONGRATS JUSTINE!

I *love* Justine Henin. Check out this great article about her and her second US Open win, and note the rather biting (and true) remarks by the British press re: American tennis.

Justine Henin unfazed by lack of recognition

By Mark Hodgkinson

Last Updated: 2:08am BST 10/09/2007

Twice Justine Henin has won the US Open, and twice they have got her name wrong. In 2003, an executive for the main sponsor congratulated "Christine", and this year it was the turn of Dick Enberg, a television anchor man and the on-court master of ceremonies, to make an unforced error by calling her by her defunct, pre-divorce married name, "Henin-Hardenne".

Oh, her, Justine Henin, the world No 1. The stumbling over her name made it sound as though she is a 'Who's that again?' player, when she probably has a gold-embossed entry in the 'Who's Who' of tennis, and rightly so. Recognition, and getting your name up there in neon, is everything in the celebrity-obsessed United States, but you have to wonder how many times she has to be champion at Flushing Meadows before she is referred to by her correct name on this side of the Atlantic. And the dinky Belgian could hardly have played better during the fortnight here, as she did not drop a set, became the first woman to beat both Williams sisters on the way to winning a grand slam title, and scored a seventh career major. Still, if people were having problems remembering Henin's name afterwards, perhaps that was because the final had been the sort you would want to forget, as she easily achieved a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the disappointing Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia. The Arthur Ashe Stadium contained a few wannabe amnesiacs. Where was the drama? The colour? The emotion? The most entertaining part of the proceedings was actually when Enberg got his racket strings in a twist. And that was another pointer to the undeniable fact that Henin is hugely underappreciated in the United States. No one would expect her to be on the same level as the Williams sisters. But Maria Sharapova, who has one US Open title to Henin's two, commands much more attention. And it is all about image, and providing a bit of bling and zing. Indeed, it could be said that Sharapova's red evening dress had more pre-tournament publicity than the world's leading tennis player. A dress putting the world No 1 in the shade, that tells you all you need to know about achieving tennis fame in America. So the television executives would have been disappointed that the final did not feature one of Maria, Venus and Serena - players who have reached that level of fame where they are called by their first names. It had been hoped that Henin and Kuznetsova, although not Hollywood tennis players, would produce a good match. But it was not to be, and that was mostly the fault of Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion, who never got her game moving. Even when Henin hit three double-faults as she served for the title, Kuznetsova was unable to take any advantage. And the match did not even have a clean ending, as it finished when Kuznetsova was unable to chase down a shot before the ball bounced for a second time. Henin put her arms in the air in celebration, but those in the top sections of the huge Arthur Ashe Stadium were unaware that she had won the title until the umpire said it was "Not up", resulting in a delayed reaction from the crowd. The match left most cold, which was a real shame, as it was a fantastic achievement by Henin to have beaten Serena in the quarter-finals and then Venus in the semi-finals. She fully deserved the title. Other champions would have been peeved to have been called by the wrong name. But not Henin, who has never been in tennis for fame, chat-shows and red carpets. She has not always felt that comfortable in New York, a loud city that doesn't suit her personality. "But tonight I love New York. But sometimes I hate New York," she said, laughing. "No, New York takes a lot of energy out of me. ''It's probably the hardest grand slam to win because it's a crazy city, it's a big show over here. I wasn't used to it before. It's not in my personality. But I started to enjoy every moment of it this year. It was a great atmosphere. I will have some great memories." Serena Williams won this year's Australian Open, and Venus was Wimbledon champion, so they have one slam each, but this was Henin's second of the season. Henin missed January's Australian Open to come to terms with the divorce from her husband, Pierre-Yves Hardenne, but then reconciled with her previously estranged blood family, and won the French Open. At Wimbledon, she was undone by James Bond, with French player Marion Bartoli taking inspiration from the watching Pierce Brosnan to beat her in the semi-finals. Of the current generation, only Serena has won more majors, with eight. So Henin could possibly move past the American and end up being the most successful player of her generation. Justine Henin, remember that name.

Top 5 Qualities I Need in a Partner

(in no particular order)

Discussive

Ethical

Loving

Sincere

Reliable

[I didn't say "honest" because I think that is built into my conception of ethical, sincere, reliable, AND discussive]

It Would Not Come

If I make a lot of tinsel then people will want to
If I am hardened no fear of further abandonment
If I am famous then maybe I'll feel good in this skin and
If I am cultured my words will somehow garner respect

I would throw a party still it would not come
I would bike run swim and still it would not come
I'd go traveling and still it would not come
I would starve myself and still it would not come

If I'm masculine then I'll be taken more seriously
If I take a break it would make me irresponsible
If I'm elusive I will surely be sought after often
If I need assistance then I must be incapable

I'd be filthy rich and still it would not some
I would seduce them and still it would not come
I would drink vodka and still it would not come
I'd have an orgasm still it would not come

If I accumulate knowledge I'll be impenetrable
If I am aloof no one will know when they strike a nerve
If I keep my mouth shut the boat will not have to be rocked
If I am vulnerable I will be trampled upon

I would go shopping and still it would not come
I'd leave the country and still it would not come
I would scream in riddle still it would not come
I would stuff my face and still it would not come

I'd be productive and still it would not come
I'd be celebrated still it would not come
I'd be the hero and still it would not come
I'd renunciate and still it would not come


Alanis Morissette

Intermediate Arabic

I PASSED :)

[totally composed this several days ago but forgot to post it lol, sorry!]

DONE WITH ARABIC EXAM

I'm back!

I was raised to believe in competence, not luck, so I can say this without "jinxing" myself:

I totally think I passed!

I do think the exam was different, and perhaps more difficult, than last years, because this exam seemed very well thought-out, since with the exception of an overly-easy reading comprehension section each section was pretty full of tricks and layers of complexity. I definitely probably didn't get more than like 60% right, but I think that should be enough, plus my fake essay rocked ;p

The results will be posted tonight. Fingers crossed! (for comfort, not superstition ;p)

VC

Counting the Hours

Well it's just after 6am and in 5 hours I'll be totally done with the Arabic exam and probably rushing back to my apartment to take a cat nap before the first meeting this year of the Middle East Legal Forum (a fancy name for the YLS student group that focuses on Middle East and Islamic law stuff).

Less than 3 hours until the exam starts, so I need to get in the shower and get some coffee so that I'm physically sitting down reviewing with two hours before the exam. I will be really embarrassed and mad at myself if I don't pass into intermediate Arabic, but I'm also worried that the exam won't be as easy as last year and that, now that the professors administering the exam has been here for a year, she'll use an exam more like the one at Columbia (in other words: I haven't memorized the 10 verb forms that WERE tested at Columbia last year but were not tested at Yale).

Ok no point in stressing :) Results will be posted tonight, so I'll let you know what happens!

VC

UPDATE: 7am and I totally know the 10 verb types and how to derive the past, present, and gerund for each form: Teal Muff IfA Tough Nuff Fat Lal Stuff!

My Fake Arabic Placement Essay

Here is the essay I hope to write tomorrow (fingers crossed that it's somehow related to the actual essay topic). I'm keeping it short because I think you don't need to demonstrate proficiency, you just need to demonstrate "not in need of more alphabet work." If memory serves from when Desi took it last year, the Yale exam is much less intense than the one at Columbia, but even so I think I'll be in a better position than I was in last year because (hopefully) this year I studied smarter.

Here's the essay lol IT IS NOT TRUE lol

This summer I was living and working in New York City. I worked at the International Center for Transitional Justice. I am a specialist in political science and the Middle East, and I graduated from the American University in Cairo where I received my master’s and was a graduate fellow. I am now busy with work for the ICTJ and I am also working to obtain my doctor of law. After getting my doctorat I will move back to the Middle East, inshallah. I want to live in the Middle East because of the crowds and weather in New York (where it is very cold in the winter), but I will not live in Cairo. I want to live in Beirut or Amman where I have many friends and colleagues.

Arabic Tenses Made Easy

I think I am actually in decent shape for tomorrow's Arabic placement exam, as it's only 4:30pm and I can mostly devote myself to vocab, since I think I have grammar or or less under control. The following notes are totally irrelevant to almost anyone reading this, but they make me feel good.

Present Tense (Al-Mudaar3)

There are three forms of the present tense, the "default" being al-marfoo3. Al-marfoo3 takes the damma ending except in the forms where it ends in nuun, in which case it takes fatha.

The second form, al-mansoob, removes all the nuun endings from the marfoo3 conjugations and replaces the damma endings with fathas. In addition to being used when negating future tense verbs (see below), the mansoob form is also used after "li" and "an" in place of the gerund to communicate intent or act as an infinitive.

The third form, al-majzoom, also removes all the nuun endings from the marfoo3 conjugations, but it replaces the damma endings with sukuun.

Past Tense (Al-Madi)

The past tense reverts to the root of the verb and adds certain endings (both suffixes and short vowels) to match the different personal pronouns.

The past is negated EITHER by adding "ma" before the past tense verb, OR by adding "lam" before the present tense verb in majzoom form.

Future Tense (Al-Mustaqbal)

The future tense is created simply by adding the prefix "sa" (or the whole word "sawaf") before the present tense verb in marfoo3 form.

The future tense is negated by deleting the future prefix and by adding "lan" before the present tense verb now in mansoob form.

Arabic Pneumonics

Tuff

Nuff

Fat

Stuff

(Don't ask lol)

Best (and Worst) Run Yet So Far!

Well I went today for the first time to use the enormous Payne Whitney gym (the oddly-named "Israel Fitness Center" to be precise) and I had my best and worst run yet so far!

It was the best in the sense that it was my best combination of speed and distance, as I ran 5 miles at an 8:30/mile pace (significantly faster, and almost a mile farther, than the Heads of State run I posted earlier), but it was also the worst in the sense that it TOTALLY sucked running on the treadmill. It was kind of torture. The 43 minutes I was on the treadmill felt like eternity, whereas the 39 minutes I ran outside 5 days ago felt pretty easy.

Anyway, I'm really happy with my fitness level, and I also had two other workouts this week (weights, and isometric stuff with abwork each day) that were good (but pretty easy compared to running).

I can't believe orientation started on Wednesday -- it feels like a week ago. I also can't believe that my AMAZING new Origins "Have a Nice Day" moisturizer totally turned my badly-abused skin around in 48hrs. I'm tell you this stuff is amazing.

VC

The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name

By GREG HARDESTY

The Orange County Register

LAGUNA WOODS - Loraine Barr placed the typed, four-page essay in an envelope, sealed it, and then, for three days, wondered if she had the nerve to send it.

"Am I really ready for this?" she thought.

For years, Barr had enjoyed the "My Turn" reader essays in Newsweek magazine.

Now, she figured, was her turn.

Still, she wondered: What if they publish it?

Barr's essay was about a 44-year love affair she had kept from her parents, her relatives – even her dearest, closest friends.

"For heaven's sake," Barr said, recounting that day in May when she finally decided to mail off her essay. "I'm 88 years old. What difference does it make to anybody? It doesn't make a difference to anybody now."

Barr's essay appears in the current (Sept. 3) edition of Newsweek.

All week, the calls have been coming in – several dozen messages of overwhelming support from friends, relatives and strangers who looked up Barr's listed telephone number.

"I loved your essay," one man said in a recorded message. He said he was 81 and from Salt Lake City.

"It brought tears to my eyes, and I congratulate you," he said.

The man started crying – the sobs of a stranger, reaching out to another stranger whose story moved him, for a reason he chose to keep private.

Barr is amazed at the reaction.

After all, she didn't write the essay for her friends or relatives.

She didn't write it for strangers.

She didn't even write it for her lifelong partner, who died nine years ago.

She wrote it for herself.

FORBIDDEN LOVE

To the outside world, they were roommates – keeping separate bedrooms for appearances.

To each other, Barr and Mary Frances Piercey were the loves of each other's lives.

They felt incredibly grateful to have found each other, and incredibly lucky to have spent more than four decades together.

Barr and Piercey also felt that theirs was "the love that dare not speak its name."

Both grew up at a time when people didn't talk openly about their sexual orientation. "Coming out" as a lesbian just didn't happen back then, Barr said.

So she and Piercey never talked about their relationship – and no one asked.

"It was not an issue," Barr said. "It wasan issue, but it was buried deeply."

Some people knew the nature of their relationship – but nothing ever was verbally acknowledged.

Everything was subtext.

Barr's father, a salesman, once asked a cousin, a doctor, if his daughter might be a lesbian. The cousin said he didn't know, and that was the end of that.

In the 1940s, a man on leave from the war got serious about Barr. One night they danced at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

"Can you imagine?" he told Barr that night. "I wanted to see you more than I wanted to see my mother!"

Although he knew Barr cared about him, he got frustrated. He asked Barr to see a psychiatrist – "to see if anything was wrong with me," Barr recalled with a smile.

The psychiatrist told Barr, "As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with you."

There would be other men.

"I dated men a lot; I wanted to be popular," Barr said. "But it was never fun."

Barr's mother hoped she would marry and have children.

Sometimes, she would show friends a picture of Loraine holding a male doll and say, "That's my grandson."

HIDDEN LIFE

Barr, born in Chicago, spent most of her life in Southern California.

"There's a wonderful line in (the movie) 'Victor Victoria,' where Julie Andrews said to Robert Preston, 'How long have you been a homosexual?' And he says, 'How long have you been a soprano?'

"I always was the way I am – as a child even."

Barr was 28 and a student at UCLA when she fell in love, for the first time, with another woman – a teacher who was married.

They kept their relationship hidden. Barr also was dating the woman's brother, and the four would sometimes go dancing.

That relationship ended after a few years, when the woman's husband intervened.

About a decade later, Barr met Piercey, who had a 6-year-old son from a brief marriage.

Both women were working at the L.A. County Probation Department – both as probation officers (Barr also has been a teacher and employee counselor).

"And so it grew," Barr said of their relationship.

She and Piercey mostly spent time with heterosexual couples, but they had a few lesbian friends.

One time, around 1975, Barr and Piercey came close to coming out, when they were having dinner with a straight couple.

Just as Barr started to tell them, the couple changed the subject.

HAPPIEST MOMENT

Piercey died in 1998 of liver cancer at age 79. Barr organized a memorial service for her.

At the service, the minister eulogized Piercey as a quiet, bright listener who gave off a "warm and gentle glow."

He told of her love of art and calligraphy and sculpture, and gardening and shuffleboard.

As she said her final goodbyes to Piercey, Barr did not tell anyone about their relationship.

But, she figured, a lot of people knew.

After her Newsweek essay was published, her assumptions were confirmed. Several friends and relatives said, "We knew all along."

On her deathbed, Barr's mother, Ethel, acknowledged what had remained unspoken between her and her daughter for years.

"I never understood your way of life before," Ethel Barr, 70, told her daughter, "but I do now."

Barr calls that the happiest moment in her life.

"She (was saying), 'It's OK. It's OK to be who you are.'"

FEELING OF GRATITUDE

Basking in the positive response to her coming-out essay, Barr feels energized.

She hasn't heard much from the community at large at Laguna Woods Village, where she has lived for 19 years.

She's not sure she will. The senior community of about 18,000 has an active gay and lesbian organization, the Rainbow Club. Barr is not a member.

"Only the people who know me have responded so far," said Barr, who has two cousins who live in Laguna Woods Village.

Barr's house is filled with pictures of her and Piercey.

They traveled a lot – to Israel, Ireland and to Scotland. To Italy, Alaska and Spain. To Mexico, France and England.

Barr pointed out a favorite shot of the normally reserved Piercey.

In the photo, Piercey is sprawled out on a sofa with their black-and-white cat, Genny, looking silly and happy.

Barr is not in a romantic relationship now, nor does she expect to be. Her heart, she said, always will belong to Mary Frances Piercey.

She thinks about her every day.

"You know," Barr said, "it doesn't get any easier. Somehow, it's harder now than it ever was.

"But I don't think of her with sadness. I think of her with gratitude, and about how lucky I was – how lucky we were."

Contact the writer: 949-454-7356 or ghardesty@ocregister.com