Alone in the world

Imagine waking up on a lazy Saturday morning and notice you're home alone. Puzzled, you stretch out and decide to sleep for a few more hours. After a solid snooze, you get out of bed and go downstairs. Nobody is home... strange. Assuming everything is fine, you turn on the TV as you eat your breakfast (or by this time, probably an early lunch). You call your best friend to see if he wants to do something today. No answer... strange. Whatever, you can just call someone else. No answer, no answer, no answer. Wow, this is really weird. Ok, I might as well call my mom and see where she is. No answer. Ok, this shit is just scary!! 

You run outside, ignoring the subzero temperatures and notice a particularly eerie silence. Where is everyone?  Now the rest of this could turn into a very odd and rather depressing short story, but the other day when I was in the library, I overheard a conversation between an obnoxiously loud man and an annoying girl. I tried blocking out everything they were saying, but this prompt stuck with me, "what would you do if you woke up one morning and were alone in the ENTIRE world?" Gives me the chills just to think about...

Pump up music

Everyone has a song that gets them going. Whether its for working out, playing a sport, writing an essay, or even preparing for battle, there are always tunes that get our blood flowing and get our neck hairs up. But my question as often said in this blog, is why? And how? How is it that despite some people being visual learners and kinesthetic learners, it is always sounds (music particularly) that has a common trend of motivating people? I realize there are several ways of motivating, but if you go to almost ANY locker room across the country, watch almost ANY impressive/motivating/inspiring video, and there is always music to introduce the spectacle. 

Reading vs. storytelling

Growing up in an Indian household, since we are children, we are told that reading books will make us smarter. Almost as though this is like a medicine: take it and you will be okay, if you don't you will get sick. The correlation seemed frighteningly positive, so there was no choice but to read and lose ourselves in the wonderful world of novels, autobiographies, journals, newspapers and whatever else can be deemed as educational. But why were we not encouraged to tell stories to one another? 

In the olden days (by olden days, I mean centuries ago) the concept of written text was rare, and story telling was the common form of both learning and entertainment. While taking this creative course, this idea has popped into my mind several times: the battle between reading vs. storytelling. Of course there are pros and cons to both, and of course I am happy that I have learned to read, and along with my health, consider this my deepest privilege and ability, but wonder what life would be like without that ability. 

Obscure talents?

Why is a talent considered a talent? I realize the wording off that sounds off, but why? Sure, there are socially acceptable "skills" that people have including singing, dancing, drawing, sports or anything else crazy. But what makes some of them socially acceptable and others not? For instance, why is someone who can urinate 20 times in an hour not a talent? Well despite the anatomical mystery there, probably because it isn't appealing to the eye. But for that matter, is art? Or is singing always appealing to the ear? Or is throwing a 95 mph fast ball?  

Again, I just wan to re-iterate that I have great admiration for people with these 'talents', but I still wonder WHY? What is so impressive that makes me, along with millions and billions of others, become awe-struck and often coughed up, by such acts? 

You wake up the next morning, tired from the game the day before, go to the kitchen for some breakfast and stop and think: holy shit, I just won one of the most prestigious trophies in English Football (soccer).

 I'm not sure if this is exactly what goes through sports players' minds the day after such a big milestone, but after my 5th grade team won a tournament in Barcelona, my freshman team won a tournament in London and my Varsity team won our region, the feeling took a while to sink in, so I can't quite imagine what it would be like to wake up the next morning.

I know I would certainly be thinking, was it all a dream?

Just a few inches away from glory

John Terry wins the Champions League for Chelsea! The captain, the heart and soul of the team, has lead Chelsea to their first ever European Cup triumph! 

Unfortunately, none of this was said.

With just one kick of the ball, Terry went from what could have been the happiest moment of his illustrious career to the lowest of lows. The idea I'm trying to get at here, is that the importance of inches, seconds and any other segments we may consider miniscule, cannot be underestimated. After all, these are what determine the best from... well, the second best. 

Service begins at home

When I lived in Poland, my mom was heavily involved in an organization whose mission was to help children with Cancer. Having no previous experience in volunteering, she became very passionate and a big advocate for these children, since in the mid 90s, the concept of volunteering in Poland was almost non-existent. But according to my Grandfather's beliefs, this was seen as "time wasted" when she should have been at home taking care of her own children. 

My brother was four, my sister was a few months old, and I was seven, but never once did my brother or I complain about what our mom was doing. We never had this idea, even at such a young age, that she was doing us a disservice by helping other children. In fact, it was during this time in my childhood where I realized the importance of helping others and being so grateful for what I have in my life. 

So while I agree with the fact that service begins at home, I also feel that by helping those in need, this sets a good example at home for the rest of your family.

"Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life."-- Anonymous 

Every now and then when I'm feeling down or just have one of those "what am I really doing" moments, I'll google quotes. As corny as this habit may be, I happen to stumble across a few that I really do like and that really do get me going. While this quote is not one that truly motivates me as much as the others, the first time I saw it, it definitely did make me think. 

This summer when I interned at Draftfcb, my account was Boeing, obviously a little different from your mainstream every-day consumer products. With Boeing, what was so impressive and what really stuck out to me, is their constant innovation in all aspects of their business. For some reason, when I saw this quote, I instantly thought, this is Boeing. One of their main slogans is "Shaping and re-defining the future of aerospace", which after extensive research on the company, was all done because of innovators who looked 'beyond the horizon' (another Boeing phrase) to come up with what many regard as impossible. 

Oh Churchill, not the Prime Minister, but...

...The cat

After visiting my friend in DC this weekend, and seeing him take care of his pathetic, but very cute kitten, Churchill (shown above), I thought to myself, what is the point of pets??

I mean, if we really think about it, we are not really shaping the future of humanity or the future of the world by brining these cuddly creatures into our homes. I'm not a hater, definitely not, I have a dog at home who I would die for, but if we really get to the core of the idea... what is the point??

When did this whole phenomenon of "pets" start? Definitely an ecological process that has domesticated these animals to be as timid and sheltered as well... humans. Where would they be without the millions of loving homes scattered across the country, and around the world? Wouldn't they be in danger?!?! Well, my thought is probably not.

Sorry pet lovers, but I'm sure they'd be okay out in the wild. After all, they poop in the wild, they sleep on the floor and have no quarrels about the weather. Seems to me like it would be an easy transition. 

Networking over the years

Between MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and the zillion other social media websites, which I don't even know about, the world is becoming a smaller and smaller place. Having travelled and lived in countries scattered across the globe, it is comforting, but almost scary to think that just by remembering someone's name, with one click of the mouse, I can easily "find them on facebook". 

It is crazy to think how technology has evolved not only over decades but even in my short 20 year life span. From sending letters to long distant phone calls to e-mails to "facebook stalking", re-connecting with people continues to become easier. But what if none of this was possible? In fact, what did businesses operate like prior to e-mail? Last week I was pondering whether I should call or e-mail a lady in HR at the agency I interned at this summer. Imagine if you met someone and they said "sorry, I don't have an e-mail"-- we would look at them as if they were crazy! 

This brings me to the idea of networking. How was it conducted prior to internet technology? Without convenient websites and laminated business cards with various e-mail addresses, it seems as though nothing could happen. This is probably just the Generation Y in me talking, and I'm sure 20 years from, my children will be wondering the same thing.

How to prevent brain drain

New York! Chicago! LA! Miami! Lights! Glamor! Fashion! Opportunity! Sure, all these words represent some of the nation's 'finest' cities, but here's my question: is it always good to promote these cities in small towns? Isn't this fastest and easiest way to cause 'brain drain'. I know, certainly on an international basis, this has proven to be the case. We look at the Asian powers of China and India and the wave of immigrants that fled west in order to seize more opportunities and make a better life for themselves and their families. 

However, what is important to note is that after realizing these dreams can also be acquired in their home land, these innovators are staying back, helping China and India boom at exponential rates, making the United States fear them more and more. 

So why not have this on a local basis? Why shouldn't we, as a society, promote the development of towns rather than flee to what may appeal to the Creative Class? Why not make our "brain drain" towns into those that after years of development, will be seen as the "place to be". This may sound strange as someone who has lived in London, New York and Chicago, but without decades, even centuries of development, these cities too may have become just a regular old town in fear of becoming "dead". 

Evolution of tattoos

After the horrific incidents of the Holocaust in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the world is certainly a new place. There is far more sensitivity towards religion, ethnicity and creed, and I believe it was after this tragedy (along with perhaps the years of slavery) that in middle schools across the country we hear the mantra "we learn history so that we do not repeat it". 

However, something which I have always wondered is the concept of tattoos. While artists argue that these are freedom of personal expression, and while my best friend has 15 various tattoos spread across his body, does nobody remember the significance of Jewish Holocaust tattoos? As far as I know, these were NOT self expression and certainly not insignias which these people wanted engraved on their bodies. However, decades later, we parade ourselves with symbols across our bodies. Again, I am not completely against tattoos, however, my personal link is always the Holocaust, and I wish to honor the millions of victims by not instilling something on myself which reminds them of nightmares from the past. 

Race, an interesting phenomenon

For my literature class we have been reading a rather depressing, but extremely interesting book. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. While reading this book, and even before, my roommates and I had an interesting and 'deep' talk one night. It was about race, but in particular, skin color. Why do we have skin colors? Scientists will go off on me and explain this in terms of biology or evolution, but really, I want to know WHY?

I agree that with different skin colors this makes us a more unique species, and we can certainly argue that this is a key element of diversity, but sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if we were all... blue?? Or green? You get the idea. Bottom line, what would a society be like where we all have the same exterior features? Same skin color, same hair, same eyes, even the same height? What if the only distinguishing factor was males and females, just so that we could procreate? When people say race doesn't matter, I think this is sadly a rather utopian idea, because if we picture life the way I just described, I'm sure things would be very different, meaning, that, well... unfortunately, race/skin color/exterior features really do matter (at least on a societal level). 

Celebrity status

We shave our heads, we spend ridiculous amounts of money, we basically sell our souls. This is essentially what we, as a society, tend to do over the rich and famous. I have been completely guilty of this as well, but why? At the end of the day, they're just regular people who happen to be better known than you and I. Just like my sociology professor said to me last year when I told him one of the best days of my life was meeting my favorite soccer player on my 13th birthday, "calm down now... he's just as human as you are". It seems silly, but before then, I NEVER thought of 'celebs' from that perspective: human. I looked deep into the mirror and thought, wow. Am I that shallow that meeting a regular person who breathes, eats and sleeps just like me, is that exciting? I certainly hope not... 

Roller coasters

Even looking at this image scares me a little bit. Perhaps it is my insane phobia of heights, or perhaps it is the fact that it looks like you are about to go over 50 mph down to the end of your life... I'm guessing it's a combination of both. We all know people who go on roller coasters and say something like "oh of course I was scared, but that's what makes it so fun!!!" My response to that is "what?!??!?!" Scared? Fun? In the same sentence? Having been tricked on to the tallest roller coaster at the Six Flags in Chicago, I can assure you that despite me almost having peed my pants, "fun" never entered the equation. I'm all for "living life on the edge", and that doing things out of your comfort zone definitely make a stronger character, but why do something that makes you literally scream as though you were about to die? Not my cup of tea...