The Cinematic Orchestra

Awesome stuff.

The Cinematic Orchestra is a 7-piece Electronica and Jazz outfit. I'm not sure how I'd categorize them, but they intertwine characteristics from a plethora of genres. They are known for their ability to mix together the samples of turntables with instruments such as a double bass, saxophone, trumpet, guitar and drums. In their live performances, they often improvise throughout a lot of their music between all the samples, but it's often difficult to tell where the improvisation starts and ends. For some groups, improvisation may mean complete chaos, but for this group, it seems so natural and fresh.

Recently, I picked up "Every Day". What sets this album apart from the rest of the music is the DJ and the keyboards. I love the samples that are in each song, especially the sample on the song "Every Day". I can't tell if the voices are sampled or are actual people, but about 6 minutes into the song (I know, it's a long song, but more than worth it.) There's a group of voices that sing and just blend in so well with the rest of the song. All in all, a very solid group with a unique sound that people should listen to atleast once.

It's worlds different from what you hear on the radio, but give it a listen and a little time. It's a little strange on first listen, but I think you'll find it worth it.

The video here is of the song "To Build A Home". It's a little different from the rest of their stuff, but I love it.

A Quote!

"It's because I can't sound like my heroes that I can sound like myself." - John Mayer

A Video: Boonaa Mohammed

This is a video from TED in Toronto. If you haven't heard of TED, TED is a forum of where people share ideas in Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Their stuff is really quite interesting, so you should definitely check out some of the stuff on their website if you have time. Check out the video. don't stop the video before it ends! I love it.

Lost In The Trees

Lost in the Trees is a band that I've recently discovered. They consider themselves a folk orchestra. I'm not really sure if that's what I'd consider them, but I do know that they sound pretty amazing. With 7 key band members, each playing their own instrument, you would think that it would be a little much. However, the band composer, singer, and guitar player - Ari Picker - is very good at layering each instrument on top of each other, which creates a grand sound in the end. Every instrument - from the violin to the accordion - definitely brings its own to the table. I haven't heard any of their EP's, but from what I've heard online through Myspace, it's pretty good music. It's something fresh and new - even for me. I'm looking forward to finding out what becomes of this band. Hope you enjoy them as much as I am.

Check it out:

Fireplace by Lost in the Trees

Growing up

Growing up in two places gets confusing, really confusing. You leave one hoping that the other won't change, but deep down you know you're just joking with yourself. You hope your friends will stay the same, but again it's something that isn't going to happen. When you return, you realize that you've grown in different ways, experienced different things and that your friends have seen drastically different things. It's crazy how that happens. It's like you're meeting someone new in a familiar body. Nevertheless, the person you once knew is in there and somehow you're connected through the events that were experienced together. You talk about the past and reminisce together. It's interesting to come back to a place that you used to call home, where you used to understand the colloquialisms.

I come back "home" - if you can call it that - expecting what I once knew, but it's different now. Not necessarily in a good way, but also not necessarily in a bad way. Just different. Time does that to things; it changes them. It's time to learn what to do with the change and how to react to it.

A Quote!

"You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket." - Frank Sobotka from The Wire. Season 2, Episode 11

So true.

The Tallest Man on Earth

Recently, I've gone to the grand old Amoeba Music in good ol' Hollywood. It's a great place.The place has everything - cassettes, LPs, vinyls, posters. They have everything you'd ever want in a music store. The employees are very, very knowledgeable about their music. It's the first time I've heard of requests over the store's speakers for "an expert in the White Stripes" or "someone who knows their LPs". If you're ever in the area, you should definitely drop by and pick up some stuff. It's bound to be an experience.

I hadn't gone to a music store recently, so I splurged a little on CDs. I decided to be daring and to get a couple CDs of artists that I had heard of, but never really took the time to listen. One of the albums I got was The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man On Earth. Although I wasn't really enjoying it on the first two listens, I am now able to see why people like his music. In fact, I would like to say I'm a convert.

One thing that he's very good at is conveying emotion. From the phrasing of his lyrics to the arrangement of the instruments, it is evident that his music is heartfelt and not the contrived emotions that are often heard on songs that fill the radio. In the darkest passages, you can hear the pain in his voice. Throughout the album, there are passages marked with joy, happiness, and laughter. Occasionally, his voice trails off into the distance, making the lyrics seem like an afterthought. Perhaps, these are a reflection of his emotions. At any rate, some may find that his voice is the most repelling feature, but it's the thing that attracts me the most to his music. With all that said, put his album on your record player for a whirl or two. Give a man and his guitar a chance.

Here's a video of a song that's not on The Wild Hunt, but is a song that I enjoyed a lot.

"With all this fever in my mind I should aim for your kerosene eyes
Oh, you're just a target in the sky
Where do my bluebirds fly?"

Concerts and Such

Alongside of 3,999 people, I got to see Mumford and Sons last night. It was quite spectacular. Most people were obviously fervent fans and had memorized the lyrics to just about every song. The crowd had an amazing energy and vibe to it. Lot's of people were singing and just having a blast. Thankfully, the people around me were quite melodic in their singing. A very fun, solid concert. I'd go into greater detail about what went on, but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

I do, however, have two complaints. First off, whether you're with your significant other or with a friend, there is no need to talk throughout most of the concert. Honestly, I don't care to hear your commentary on every song and the arrangement of the band members. Nor do I care to hear you explain to your significant other what instrument the musicians played at the end of every song. Second, I do not care to watch the concert on your iPod or camera. I mean if I wanted to watch it on some screen, I could just buy a DVD and hang out at home. It's really not necessary for you to tape the entire concert is it?

At any rate, if you have the chance, check out Mumford and Sons. Give it a listen.

[A suggestion for future concerts: Perhaps, we should have general admission coordinated by the height of the people. Ideally, the general order would allow the short people to be given priority to enter the concert venue first. I'm guessing this group would generally consist of Asians. I wasn't that short at this concert, but I did notice a few people that were just a few inches below the average height...]

A Quote!

Another useless fact that doesn't get you any farther in life, but you'll probably remember it...

"Unbelievable as it may sound, that keyboard layout was designed in 1873 as a feat of anti-engineering. It employs a whole series of perverse tricks designed to force typists to type as slowly as possible, such as scattering the commonest letters over all keyboard rows and concentrating them on the left side (where right-handed people have to use their weaker hand). The reason behind all of those seemingly counterproductive features is that the typewriters of 1873 jammed if adjacent keys were struck in quick succession, so that manufacturers had to slow typists. When improvements in typewriters eliminated the problem of jamming, trials in 1932 with an efficiently laid-out keyboard showed that it would let us double our typing speed and reduce our typing effort by 95 percent. But QWERTY keyboards were solidly entrenched by then. The vested interests of hundreds of millions of QWERTY typists, typing teachers, and computer salespeople, and manufacturers crushed all moves towerd keyboard efficiency for over 60-years." - Diamond, Jared in Guns, Germs, and Steel.

For the record, this book is not about keyboards...

Passion

Being passionate about your work does strange things to you. It's one thing when you don't really care about how your work reflects you, but when you do, things are wildly different. My work has become exciting in a strange way. Whereas most of the work I was given before was done to a degree that I knew would be sufficient, the work I do now, I'd like to think, is definitely done to the best of my abilities.

On the other hand, it's taught me something about who I am. Clearly, it's good when I don't put out my all - as it shows me in a light that isn't positive. Somehow, I have to motivate myself to do my best despite the fact that what I'm doing isn't what I'd want to be doing. I need to train myself to be able to give forth my best in whatever I do.

On Procrastination

Just an interesting quote I found online while reading this article (Later by James Surowiecki) in the New Yorker:

"The philosopher Mark Kingwell puts it in existential terms: “Procrastination most often arises from a sense that there is too much to do, and hence no single aspect of the to-do worth doing. . . . Underneath this rather antic form of action-as-inaction is the much more unsettling question whether anything is worth doing at all.” In that sense, it might be useful to think about two kinds of procrastination: the kind that is genuinely akratic and the kind that’s telling you that what you’re supposed to be doing has, deep down, no real point."

Salesman Pete

I've come across this video that's pretty entertaining. So here it is:

Salesman Pete from Salesman Pete on Vimeo.

Driving and Relationships

Having begun my job in Orange County, I've done one thing a lot and that is drive from point A to point B. It's pretty fun, I must admit. I've learned a lot though when driving. It's that you're given this sense of trust to have a vehicle by your family, your community, and ultimately the government. If you go out and do something stupid, it's your fault and you will have to pay for it through trust and, of course, money. At the same time, you give other people on the road your trust that they won't do something crazy that may cause you or anyone else any harm. However, you do look out and make sure that they aren't doing anything crazy. I think that's similar to the way that I see my friends and family.

I'm given this amount of trust that I do treasure and I hope that it never grows sour. I trust them and want to be a part of their lives. At the same time, if they are doing something strange, I'll be there to see what's going on. Hopefully, it will be help that is welcomed.

On Art and Critics

I recently read a great article about a critic - Greil Marcus - that wrote books about musicians and their songs. His style of writing is a little different from what you'd expect. He tries to get into the songs and feel them. His article was truly fascinating.

On his style of writing, Greil Marcus says, "To trace anybody's work, what they produce, what they put into the world, what you or I respond to, to somebody's life, their biography, is utterly reductionist. It's simply a way of protecting ourselves from the imagination, from the threat of the imagination."

A great quote that I found was this: "John Irving, the novelist, once said to me, "You know why that is? It's because people who don't have an imagination are terrified of people who do." I don't know if that's true, but we live in culture of the memoir, where we're not supposed to believe anything unless it's documented that it actually happened. Never mind that most memoirs are more fictional than novels. We want that imprimatur: "This really happened. This is really true." You can respond to it. You can feel "okay" about being moved by it. Whereas with art, whether music, movies, novels, painting, ultimately, to be moved by art, by something somebody has made up, is, from a certain perspective, to be tricked. To be fooled. You made me cry, and you just did it like you hypnotized me. I love that. Not everybody does"

If you have time, you should definitely check it out. Van Morrison's Moments of Disbelief

Being Offended

Over the past few weeks, I've struggled a lot with some stuff - two words, actually - that's been said to me. It wasn't anything that was said out of hatred or with malicious intent. It was just another comment - a comment in passing - that caught me off guard and, to some extent, offended me. I didn't explode or anything. Knowing me, it's pretty hard to offend me. It's just been something that I've held onto for a while. It's taught me something.

For me, when I get offended by something, usually that whatever it is means a lot to me. I never realized that it meant so much to me until now - after thinking about it for a good month. Whenever I do get offended, I hope that I become more introspective and see why a certain chord was struck - not just shrugging it aside as I used to. There's nothing to gain by just shrugging it off.

Sometimes, however, it may be wise to shrug certain comments that people make off - especially if it's not exactly constructive... At the same time, it's good to learn to see things from other people's perspective and see why they said certain things they did. When the comment that I mentioned earlier offended me, I realized that I was offended because I identified with those people. I called myself one of them. However, in the process, I've also learned that maybe there are issues with this group. What started as a comment in passing has become a learning experience for me.

Standards and Potential

There is always a standard in everything that we take part in. When I’m cooking something, for example, I expect things to be pretty good; you know, not inedible, but not like Emeril style. In some things, however, I expect perfection from myself – which I admit is a lot of pressure. In other things, however, I just take anything I get – in other words, I don’t expect myself to do too well and accept failure. I’m sure each and every one of us has preconceived notions of how we should do given a certain situation.

Thus, it’s clear that in everything I do, I have this idealized version of myself that I try to live up to or beyond. However, I feel like this is almost a depressing exercise. A lot of times, my opinion of myself is better than I actually am. So I walk away from whatever the task may be tired and defeated. It’s tough being the Ben that lives in my head [you know, tight abs, man boobs, the works… Haha… not really]. Often, it’s rather damaging to myself when this does happen.

Lately, talking with some people has opened my eyes to this. By comparing myself to this general standard of people, I will have achieved nothing. I will probably just let myself down, and not allow myself to perform as well as I could. However, the key to this is to compare myself to my potential. This is something I hope to teach myself over the next few months. It’s not about what others can do, but rather about my personal ability to do this. Similarly, I shouldn’t measure the ability of people against this same standardized measure of ability; to do so would just lead to disappointment in both parties. Rather, I should try to measure the ability of people against their own potential and praise them for achieving it. I think by doing this, the people I work with and myself will be edified.

So some questions I’m going to ask myself are: What is my potential? Have I reached my potential? What’re the potentials of people around me? Is it reflected in the way I deal with them?

We’ll see how it goes…

On Dreams

Speaking of dreams...

Generations

Each and every generation works differently. Our parents' generation was a generation that had to work hard to get anything that they wanted. As a child, if they wanted to go play baseball or something, they had to get on their feet and get a group together. However, they were used to working hard. Similarly, in college, many of our parents had to hold a job on the side to simply stay in college. There wasn't an option.

Our generation, however, is a generation that gets what they want. As a child, I grew up playing soccer and baseball and whatnot. My parents drove me to soccer practice and picked me up afterwards. There wasn't much effort on my behalf. All I had to do was be awake, put some clothes on, and walk out of the house and sit down in the car. In college, it's not really a necessity that I have a job, rather it's something that I'd like to hold onto to have that extra spending money. I know it's not necessarily the same for everyone, but as a general statement, I think it's true that we have it better off than our parents.

As a result, this influences the way we think. Yes, we may be hard-working - just like our parents. We may be just as ambitious, but one thing I lack is patience. I'm someone that wants to see tangible results. Immediate results that come as fruit from our labor. Thus, when I start a big project, it's just so easy for me to give up when things get difficult. I will have this giant dream to drastically change the world, but when troubles come my way, it's difficult for me to carry on. It's something that I believe is a shortcoming in me. I'm a dreamer, an idealist that dreams of utopia and saving the world. Unfortunately, all these dreams are too short-lived to be anything meaningful. Hopefully, however, I can dream long enough to make some of them come to life.

On Style

"it is virtually impossible for a man to dress well if he does not select his own clothing. With few exceptions, sophisticated dressers - be they men or women - rarely trust their wardrobe choices to a second party, no matter how respected or beloved that person might be. The man who aspires to cultivate a feel for stylish neckwear must be willing to immerse himself in the trial-and error process of its screening selection. A man can learn as much from a failed purchase - the tie that looked so smart in the shop but now rarely escapes his closet - as he can from one he cannot stop wearing. Confidence comes from being able to make the right decision, not having it made for you." - Alan Flusser, Style & the Man

As I was reading this book, I found this quote to be something that goes beyond dressing yourself. Interesting, interesting... I suppose it takes, at the very least, a little bit of faith to gain confidence.

Being Content

The other week, I was sitting at a booth in a pizza parlor with a friend. As my friend was getting food, I ended up talking to another man sitting in the booth right next to me. He sat there, reading his Bible with one of those neon yellow shirts that people doing construction wear. He started talking to me about his job and what he did. It was truly fascinating. This man worked for a power company. For a living, he turned off the electricity in the homes of people who failed to pay their bills. He told me about how people would send letters to him out of anger and hatred. All in all, it seemed like his job would be exactly opposite of what most people would want to do. To have to deliver bad news to people was his job.

I can't imagine doing that job - just the nature of the job would make it difficult for me to do. This man was someone that I had met for just a few minutes and had huge amounts of respect for him. I wouldn't be able to do what he's done. Perhaps, dealing with people and pissing them off was what he wanted to do, but I really doubt it. Perhaps, he had this job out of necessity, since he couldn't find work elsewhere. It was amazing how he could tell me about his job and smile about it - not in a smug way, but in a very genuine way. I could tell he was content with what he had.

Youth

As a student, I know that I feel the pressure to find a good internship/job and not mess around as I have in just about every summer before this. Having committed to a job in the fall, I’m at school trying to make up for the time that will be lost in the fall. I’m filling my time with classes and work. At the same time, however, I feel like freedom has been lost. I’ve come to realize that there is no longer a period of time where I can just hang out and lay around without a purpose. Summer is gone.

What I’ve longed for has finally come, but it comes with a price. I used to think that adults had the most amazing lives. As a kid I looked up to them and adored that they could go wherever they wanted to on a whim and simply go. There was no age limit or anything holding them back, but now that I’ve become a quasi-adult I now realize that there are responsibilities that come along with this age.

The age that I used to loathe because of its lack of freedom has suddenly become so attractive, but it’s gone. I suppose the moral of my story is that we should appreciate what we have while we have it. This youth isn’t something that we should attempt to hurry away, rather we should accept it as a part of who we are. We all have time to grow old. Let’s live for the now, with our eyes on the future.

Sports

As humans, I think we all realize how temporary we are whether we consciously think about it or not. It looms over us. In the grand scheme of things, we are nothing - just a few decades in the world. Lately, I've been getting into watching sports, supporting people that I've never met, probably will never meet, have only seen through the lens of the this black box I call my TV. I mean really, the winning or losing of a team has absolutely nothing to do with my well-being, nothing to do with the way I live my life from day to day, nothing to do with what I will eat for dinner tomorrow. I'm not going to eat green eggs and ham tomorrow just because the Celtics happen to win. Nor am I going to eat beets because the Lakers are winning. These things will really not affect our lives. I suppose it could a little by promoting the economy in your area, but if you look at the bigger picture of your life, I am doubtful that it will change anything big.

That being said, I think we watch sports and support things that really have no bearing on our lives because we want to become a part of something larger than ourselves, larger than we will ever become on our own. 10 years from now, people will still be talking about which team they supported for the 2010 World Cup and we will be there and say "I saw that happen! Wasn't that ridiculous when Green let in that stupid goal?" Cheering for the U.S. team involves us in something bigger, nationalism, saying "Here we are, alongside all of our people. I was there, I was a part of this (...however indirect that may be)." This is something that we all long to be a part of... something great, epic as some may say, monumental. Nevertheless, we are temporary and will fade. Thus, we grasp at the things we can to say we're more than just a speck of history and to attempt to attain this certain immortality you could say.

Perhaps this quote is a little off-topic, but I think it pertains. I love it.

"I have been told that it is common for people to mark exactly where they are when they learn of death on a grand scale. I have met Americans, for example, who can tell me in detail which suit they were putting on or what highway they were driving down at the time of the suicide jet attacks on the World Trade Centre.Perhaps it is a way to link our own small presence to the great bloodstained currents of history for just a moment. I suppose this is also a way of feeling a part of an overwhelming fatal event, a slight flirtation with the finality that awaits us all – a rehearsal for our own deaths, you might say" - Paul Rusesabagina

A Realization

The school year has just ended and my college career is about 50 percent done. I've learned life lessons outside of the classroom and learned lessons within them to carry with them.

A big lesson that I've learned and dealt with this past year is that in general we're all naturally self-centered people. Most of what we do is serve ourselves, if you really look at the motives behind much of what we do. When our friends say something great that happened to them recently, we try to top their story with one of our own to show . Or, when we fail to focus on our friends when we should. Often times, we don't give the people around us the attention that they deserve. It's difficult to put everything down when you have so much on the plate in front of you to look at the plate of someone else's. It's especially difficult for me, since when I become focused on something, it's very hard to pull me away from that.

I suppose part of this realization is me maturing and trying to understand others. I know that this is a life-long quest to truly be respectful of others by giving them the attention deserve, so why not start now and hopefully become real good when I'm at a ripe old age?

So I suppose I'll make my little how-to guide to follow:
1) Stop.
2) Listen.
3) Understand.
4) Speak.

Music and Passion

Photo by John Vettese

Just this past week, I got the chance to see Jonsi, the singer of Sigur Ros, perform his solo album. It was simply amazing. They performed their music and had an amazing visual show to go along with it. Despite the fact that this tour was to promote his solo album, this concert was not about themselves, but about the music they were playing. Throughout the concert, numerous people cried and laughed. It's just an amazing thing what music can do to people.

I have never seen musicians so passionate about music before. Each of them looked like they were having so much fun playing music. At one point during the concert, I saw the bassist look at the drummer, smile, and then look back at his instrument and smile again. At times, my mouth would just be hanging wide open and I wouldn't realize till a few minutes or maybe ten minutes later when it was dry. Something on stage would happen and you'd feel a surge of joy rise in your heart, or pangs of sadness. This is what music should be; something that performers and concert-goers can enjoy together. It should not be just something created for economic reasons, rather something created that can be enjoyed by everyone. It was something so surreal, so many people in the same room experiencing the same emotions conveyed.


At the end of the concert, the band applauded the audience for coming along on this musical journey. I must say this was a trip for everyone that was there. It was amazing. I hope other concerts are like this. As I stood in the concert, I realized if I were to make music or do anything, I'd want it to be something that everyone can take in and enjoy.

Photo by Alan Michael Goldberg

Morals and Pride

It's interesting that as we grow up, we grow up with morals and standards etched on our souls. What our parents teach us, what we learned in school as children; these are the things that influence the way we think and shape us into who we are years later. Whether or not your childhood was good, the things that went on in your life have influenced you to this day - whether it's for the positive or negative. Thus, we grow up thinking that this is right, this is what we should do and how other people do. Then, we reach a stage where we're released out into the world and given freedom to do as we please. This is when people decide what happens with the value system that has been etched on our minds. Some people disregard their morals and upbringing, while others hold onto them knowing that if they let go, they will be lost. Then, there are those in the middle ground, the people who pick and choose what they want.

I find myself to be someone who holds these morals and ideals near to my heart. Perhaps, it is a good thing. However, it can occasionally deter you from understanding people. It is not the fact that we uphold these morals that distances us from people, but more so the self-righteous pride that comes along with it. When people with different morals come along, we look down on them and see them as inferior people. Thus, we become distanced.

This does not always happen. There are people with different morals than me that I respect and am able to have good relationships with. I hope that I am able to do the same with everyone else in the world. I hope that I will learn not to shove my ideology down the throats of the people around me and respect them. At the same time, I hope to be able to learn from theirs and still maintain the roots of my very own moral skeleton.

Nostalgia

Hammock - Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo from the soon to be released album "Chasing After Shadows...Living with the Ghosts"

There is just something about this video. It makes me nostalgic about my childhood. You know, those days where you could do whatever you wanted without a care about what the future had in store. Sometimes, I wish I could do that, but perhaps it is a sign of maturity.

At any rate, I enjoyed watching this. Perhaps, you will too!

Comics

Lately, I've taken a liking to graphic novels, comics, things with pictures. One of my favorites is the series of the Green Lantern. It is about a society of green lanterns as they are called who are chosen to govern the universe with their rings. They act as the "policemen" of the universe. The most intriguing part about them is the rings that each of them have. The rings are powered by the will power of the bearer. These are sometimes described as the strongest devices in the universe. If fear is found in their hearts, it will not be as powerful as it could be. This reminds me of myself and everything I do. The outcome of everything I do - whether that is work, hobbies, or anything - is a product of the effort I pour into it.

Coming to college, I've realized that it doesn't matter how smart/stupid you are. What does matter is the amount of effort, and how much I actually care about something. This is what sets everyone apart. Sure, the background which you come from may set you apart from the get-go, but you can still catch up or fall behind. Not all hope is lost just because you've done something stupid. As one of my professors has said, "Tenacity is the most important part of becoming successful".

Appreciation

Having just come back from Spring Break, my brain is currently on a hiatus from all this school work. It seems to bring up every possible excuse when I attempt to do work. That's how we (college students - maybe even people in general) are. I am blessed with so much more than so many people, yet complain about how I have to do this assignment or that assignment. I'm given the chance to go to college, so I can be more knowledgeable. I'm given so many more opportunities to do things with my life and I treat it as just another task I'm called to do.

As Spring break has reminded me, there are people out there who aren't given the same opportunities that I have. After all, how many people have traveled to so many countries, lived in so many places, met so many great people in 19 years. I should take advantage of what I have and appreciate the fact that I am given this opportunity. I should do things that are given me and do them to the best of my abilities; however, more than this, I am to appreciate the fact that I do have the chance to be here, to learn. Otherwise, there would be no point for me being here in college and the sacrifice my family - especially my parents - made for me to be here would be for nothing. In the end, it would be a waste, not only for myself, but also for the people that care for me if I do not learn to appreciate it.

Professors and Jobs

One thing I hope everyone else will do is that they will do something they enjoy. As a college student, I enjoy class. Yes, I do enjoy class, especially the good ones. I mean I pay like a couple hundred for every hour I spend in class. However, the thing that makes me angry is when I get professors that not only suck, but hate their job. It sometimes makes me wonder why they are still teaching for their profession if they dislike it. I sit in their class, endure their monotonous groans about what the subject is about. They waste their time, and I waste mine. It's just annoying.

Sometimes, however, it's alright if they are bad at teaching, but enjoy it. They seem more approachable and want to help you. They aren't there in this case just for the sake of money, and attempt to get by through as little work as possible. Instead, they are there cause they genuinely care. One of my professors is like that. Every class, his class is just so bad; so I sit myself down in the classroom and proceed to sleep through to the end of the class. It's a pretty terrible class. However, it is good to know that the professor genuinely cares about how you're doing in his class. Every class, he reminds us that he's there to help. That makes his class so much less painful.

Of course, being proficient at what you do is important. However, whether you are or not, at the very least, for the sake of the people around you, enjoy it. So my lesson for myself is to find something you want to do; it makes everything so much better for yourself and the people around you. Don't do it for the money, don't do it for anything else. Do something that you would enjoy and find fulfillment from.

A Bargain

Life is just a giant game of monopoly. We go around and around the board till we become bankrupt. Then it's all over. Some people lose, some people win. The question is how do we win?

For me, winning would be considered knowing that others know I'm a real people. There are a lot of people in this world who have led lives and were just false people. They weren't real, legitimate people. I don't necessarily mean that they were frauds. More so, they weren't personal people. They were just sort of in people's lives but they weren't a part of them - much like a drive-thru. [You drive in to grab what you need and you leave.] However, I suppose that's what I don't want to be. I want to be able to say that I have influenced people for the better, I have been able to help those around me. When I die, I want to be able to know that I wasn't a mere wanderer in the lives of others, but a support. I want to be able to say that I've truly done something with my life. Sure, this is idealistic, but I hope I can do it. I hope people will look beyond my short comings and allow me to be this person. After all, it's not a one way thing. We've got to give to receive.

Blemishes

Each and every one of us has characteristics that we're ashamed of. We all want to remove these and somehow make them leave us. Some of them are more obvious than others. Some of us suffer from being selfish, heartless people, while others from being inconsiderate and inattentive. Other people are stubborn, prideful people. Of course, there are so many different unwanted personality characteristics that we may have. It's difficult to get around these personality traits. Our natural tendencies - our behavior - naturally pushes us in that direction to be... well, what's natural to us. We don't notice it, or rather by the time we do - the chance to redeem ourselves has already passed. Each of us has our own problems.

However, I do not think it's something that we should have to suffer. It is something that we, as individuals, must learn to live with. Just because it is something that is natural to us doesn't mean that it is something that we must hold onto. We should attempt to accept it, cope with it, and attempt to fix it. We must avoid striving for perfection, because this will only lead to failure... ultimately to self-destruction. Knowing that it is a problem and recognizing it is the best cure for such things. It may not be easy, but it is something that we should do - if not for ourselves, but for the people around us.