i would totally want to get a drink with...

bob greene. reading his articles just puts a huge smile on my face. hes so...zen in such a non-zen environment. i think we all need someone like bob greene in our lives. let me think if i have one...

another example...

of the importance of design.

i know nothing.

i realize i have absolutely no idea how the economy works and how this mortgage crisis is the way it is. i understand the very VERY basic concept of the mortgage crisis and why we´re in it, but my semester in high school of "gordonomics" and summer online economics course through tompkins cortland community college just haven´t given me the background i need to really comprehend what the fuck is going on. i need some suggestions on articles, books, and/or people to talk to, and though i dont know how many people read this, i would appreciate ANY advice, either through comments or email (sydney.malawer@gmail.com).

i would also appreciate any resources on our country´s international affairs history as well. i realize after reading this and subsequent comments that i have a lot ot learn on foreign affairs as well.

utilizing this strength

i have a very salient personal strength...im really good at convincing people to take action. im not saying i can convince anyone of anything, but i have a very provocative way of talking about things i like and convincing people to give what i like a try to see if it fits their needs. ive probably wracked up thousands of dollars worth of sales for moleskin. i know im the reason that about 30 people actually joined or went abroad through aiesec over the past 3 years and at least 200 people went to info sessions about it. i know about 8 people who over the past year got up the courage and did something they normally wouldnt do (dropped 700 bucks on a ticket to argentina, applied for that internship they are barely qualified for and got it, told that boy/girl the truth about their feelings, chose cornell over other colleges) because of something i said to them (i couldnt even tell you what i said, but obviously it pushed a button).

now that i can identify this strength, its time to use to my personal benefit. the next few months im going to try and figure that out...

august and everything after

i have this great feeling flowing through my veins. its that same feeling i get when i see a room clad in distressed leather furniture and 25 years worth of stolen library books. when i think of my dad's parents through the perspective of his stories. its a comfort, a release of oxytocin that i so wish to sustain but at the same time dread knowing it cannot be sustained. its the same feeling i get when i see pictures of people in love looking at each other when they think no one's looking. when listening to august and everything after. the feeling i got as a child when driving back from long island at night, new york city talk radio in the background, the window cracked to keep my dad awake, being half asleep listening to the rhythmic bumps of the tires hitting the throg's neck bridge. 

god i love this feeling. 

history

"The candidates are thinking about, and running for, history. While what they’re also running for, in a seldom-mentioned but curiously moving sense, is to become permanent signposts in the lives of millions of people they will never meet . Something, years from now, those people will use to recall where they were at different junctures in their own lives. Remember that trip we took to the football game, and you lost all your luggage? Oh, I haven’t thought about that in a long time– wasn’t that the year Obama and McCain were running for president?" (bob greene)

we´re living history here. this election is a make or break deal in so many ways, but what this article is talking about is putting politics aside and realizing this is history we are living in. it was future, is now present, and in some years will be past, a past some will look back and say "yea, i lost my house a few years back...when obama and mccain were running for president" and others will say "the first year i got to exercise my right to vote was when obama and mccain were running for president". it just goes to show that life goes forward, your present becomes your past, and your future becomes your present. its almost comforting knowing that this moment has now come and gone, bringing with it highs and lows, and will the next moment do the same.

as for me, i will say "i lived in colombia back when obama and mccain were running for president." now thats just cool.