Life speeds on

#4
Sitting in class
Pretending to be busy
Wow is this boring.

#5
How do I write this?
Every word must be perfect
Incompetence sucks.

I've taken to writing haikus and other forms of poetry when I'm bored in class, as opposed to stalking away on facebook. It's actually quite therapeutic and makes class go surprisingly even quicker than the aforementioned time-passing tool.

So the last two weeks have been a back and forth, up and down decision process as to whether or not I will choose to go abroad again next semester, to Chile. After weighing all of the pros and cons, I've decided that I'm gonna stay in Miami for the academic year, and then try to attend this 6-8 week program, which I think would be more beneficial for my career and social life here in Miami.

I also watched the movie Zeitgeist, which succeeded in turning me into a conspiracy theorist and general paranoid schizo. Obviously writers should not be swayed so easily, until checking up on sources and being an informed critic, but sometimes that's not easy.
The film is split up into 3 parts, the first of which hypothesizes that Christianity is nothing more than a sun worship religion derived from Ancient Egyptian religion that was around 2000 years before Jesus Christ was supposedly born. According to the film, there are hundreds of different sun-based gods and deities that fit the same mold, including birth on December 25, known as "Lamb of God", "Alpha and Omega", born of a virgin, and that performed miracles. Horus, an ancient Egyptian god, according to the film's sources, was, like Jesus, crucified, dead for three days, and then resurrected. The film later explains that this is the migratory pattern of the sun, due to the winter solstice. On December 21, the darkest day of the year, the Sun sets to its lowest point, or "dies", and stays there for three days. Then, the sun rises, or is "resurrected". The film argues that the "Son of God" is really the "Sun of God" and did rise- every day since the beginning of life on Earth.

Interesting? Huh? Watch the rest.

CAREER RAM-PAGE

OK, so this whole journalism idea is beginning to pan out in a way that I'm beginning to like. I've gotten my second article assignment, which is pretty awesome. I'm going to be writing about the new GRE and the differences between the old versus the new exam. Not that interesting, but field/vital writing experience, nonetheless.

The first official meeting of 'Canes Gone Crazy took place today. I landed a spot as "main talent," which means that my beautiful face will be gracing UMTV quite regularly. I will also be writing my voice overs, which = MORE WRITING EXPERIENCE, wooo hooo! Excuse the hyperactive typage (is that a word?) but I'm just super excited and had a caffeine infused chai latte earlier, so you can imagine my craziness.

Gandhi is right around the corner...
and so is MY BIRTHDAY!

Quick serious commentary: Today was September 11, 2007. 6 years later. Such a depressing thing. We really should never forget the events of the day. But don't you get a hint of a warm, fuzzy, feeling knowing that in our minds we're getting away from that event that did so much harm to so many people? - as if you to say that you outlived it by this or that amount of years. Although I will never forget that day, I would love it to be as far in my past as possible.

love love love love love love love.

post-SAS life blows

I want to make this blog a blog that talks about important issues and different crucial topics, but I can't help but to write about things that are important specifically to me and things that are going in my life that are constantly affecting what I think and the person that I am.

To me, this semester does not feel like my first semester back at UM, but rather the semester after Semester at Sea. All I do is sit around all day and wish for the days of the summer where I was surrounded in Semester at Sea kids and look forward to all the things that we would do together. And the reason why I was so close to them was not because of something so shallow, but because of a legitimate love and appreciation for the people I was surrounded in. I miss the feeling of belonging to that kind of a close knit family, and honestly, it pains me that in Miami, I don't feel that I have that right now. What is it about me and many others that I need to have people around all the time? The problem with me isn't having "people" around, because that's not too hard to find, but having QUALITY people that I care about a lot. Having that same kind of closeness and togetherness that was so common in my summer and on Semester at Sea, and kinship and bonds that were formed from it are not as tight here.

I know other SASers are not this distraught about the whole experience being over and feeling a little lost, but I guess I was just a part of an experience that I never want to let go of. It kind of threw my old social life uspide down and made me sort of a completely different person that has grown up so much.

An update on my post-SAS semester is coming very, very soon. I just have to get my head together. I have a lot of aspirations that I''m working on and I would love to share.

Also, without Coli, I would be pretty lost this semester.

Reporting live from, um, Indiana (it's not as bad as it sounds, I swear)

"Never tell anybody outside the Family what you are thinking again". - Uncle Frank Minerva (originally Don Vito Corleone, and yes he did quote the Godfather in one of our "talks")

What I love about family is that you can be away for a century and come back and everything will be exactly the same as it was when you left. I guess that's the same thing with any close relationship you have. And then once you're separated for a while, and fall out of touch, and then reunite, you pray to God that you didn't change so much that you don't connect anymore. It's kind of like we're all puzzle pieces that are constantly changing, and our life experiences are the forces that foster that change. Ideally our life experiences make our pieces fit closer and closer to the ones we love, and unfortunately that doesn't always happen, and that sucks. What really amazing life experiences can do though is make our pieces more universal, and able to fit into more and more other pieces. On an experience like traveling the world, for example, one is able to find things in common with a whole new web of people.

Here's an example. One day I decided to ride the Staten Island ferry into the city one beautiful late afternoon in the beginning of the summer. Feeling a bit touristy I stood at the bow of the ship, outside, and enjoyed the breathtaking sunset, the perfect sea air, and the amazing New York skyline. Suddenly, an older but handsome man, completely grey, randomly came up to me and said something cliche and typical, like, "This weather is great, isn' it?!". I, of course, nodded and smiled, and continued gazing into the horizon. After a few more attempts on his part, I eventually obliged his conversation starters, and I gathered that he lived on the Upper East Side near the Gracie Mansion, and that he rode his bike every single day down the West Side Highway, and today decided that he wanted to ride the Ferry. I was bored with the conversation, and just wanted him to shut up and let me enjoy the sounds of the wind blowing and the birds flying overhead. But then he said something that clicked with me and instantly had me intrigued. He said "I've been around the world three times and New York City is the only place I could ever live." From that statement on, I was hooked on Ryan (that was his name). We laughed, joked, and instantly felt a kinship instantly surface. And after we parted ways all I could think about was how much I wished that he was 50 years younger, because he was that awesome.


(AND FURTHERMORE...)

What's strange about being nineteen years old is that we are like in between generations. We're too old to be kids, yet we're still teenagers, but we're not old enough to legally drink or do many things that adults are legally allowed to do in the United States, but we can vote, and drive our cars anywhere we want to by law. On my Dad's side of my family, I have 11 first cousins. Most of them are younger than me, and they all act like I'm their age, ie: wondering I'm not sitting at the "kids' table", and asking why I'm allowed to drink beers. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty immature at times, and like to do things that are spontaneous and juvenile, but in no way do I feel more connected to my ten year old cousins as I do with my 50-something year old aunts. So the younger generation treats me like I'm one them, and, so do the aforementioned 50-something aunts and uncles. So where do I fit in? Where do any of us fit in? Maybe I shouldn't dwell on this. Maybe in five years when I'm 24 years old and the kids no longer consider me brethren I'll miss this disjointed feeling.

3 kinda-haikus

#1 Oh Shit! I'm running late I hope I don't miss this train There in the nick of time #2 Cruisin' in the Volvo Singing to cheesy radio songs With four smiling comrades #3 Sitting here wishing Waiting for the show to sart Wearing something cute.

I am whatever I say I am

I was walking around the city today, after getting stoned with the owner of a company I work for, and got this sudden urge to write down all the crazy and obscene things that I was thinking about. Not necessarily because my thoughts are any more spectacular than the next stoner's, but because I had this insatiable hunger to write. Ever since I declared this journalism major thing, I've been thinking about writing quite regularly. And I always like to throw into conversations that I'm a journalist, or rather, a journalism major. Today when I was asked what I was studying in school, I mentioned "journalism", and my new aura-photographer* friend replied cheerfully, "oh! so you're a writer", and I responded eagerly "yes, I am!". Here's what's kind of silly about this whole matter. I never considered myself a writer before declaring "journalism" as my major. I always talked of enjoying writing essays, and I did truly enjoy my creative writing class two semesters ago, but never was I writer. Then, BAM!, one day I write to an advisor at my school, get signed up for COM classes, and from that day forth I was a writer. So maybe I'm a poser for now until I actually start writing stuff that people read. Or maybe I just never properly labeled myself. Whatever the case may be, calling myself a writer gives me a greater sense of meaning and purpose. I'm going writing for the public again-- and seeing where it gets me. I'm going to force this blog into the faces of those around me and become a huge part of the blogging community. Hold on people, this is the beginning of a self fulfilled prophesy. *aura-photographer - someone who has a special camera that takes pictures of people's auras.

I'm trying to write about Semester at Sea life at home, but I guess since I haven't written in a while it's really hard for me to get my thoughts down. The thing is that I miss it so much and I guess I'm just upset that I will never experience that opportunity again. It was so easy getting off the ship at the time, but it's like, now I would give anything to be back on that ship with everyone at pub night. At this point it's like I'm living for our reunions. First I had Diana's, which was amazing. Coli's this past weekend. I'm only happy around my friends who were on SAS with me. I know that sounds really bad, but it's true. Maybe it's because I just can't let the experience go. Or maybe it's because I made a dramatic transformation and the people I was with grew with me. We all came from our different backgrounds and locations and united on a Ship. Then, they took us around the world. Made to live in tight corners, and learn about the different places we were visiting together. We were forced to eat, live, and breathe together. Now it's like we can't get away from each other. The people I care to spend my time with are people from Semester at Sea. I don't want it any other way. In fact, I'm even living with a fellow SASer next semester and perhaps for the rest of college education. Coincidence? I think not.

Because of these friendships I've made and people I've met, a part of my heart will always be lying on the deck of the MV Explorer (or, simply the "MV") catching rays. Or at pub night. Or sleeping through Global Studies. Or smoking Bidis on the Smoker's Deck.

Call on me. Call on me. Call on meeeeeeeeee. Call on me. Call on meeeee.