So, Valentine's Day is done. Put down for another year. Kaput. Finished. All you guys out there, let's breathe a sigh or relief. Ready. One. Two. Three. Wwhhhheeewww. That felt good, now, didn't it?
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the holiday. The concept of spending a day out of the year with your true love and celebrating the relationship that you have is a beautiful and wonderful concept. Maybe you get to chill out. Get some Chinese take out. Watch whatever's on sports center and the latest horror movie to hit the shelves at blockbuster. Have a few drinks. Pass out on the couch with a chocolate mustache from the pink filled chocolates you picked up. Wake up the next morning and, at least this year, realize its Sunday and smile to yourself that the weekend's only half over. Awesome, right? While this may be a bit of an exaggeration of what I expected the 14th to be like, it's closer to the truth of what I expected than what actually happened.
You see guys, the females out there have a vastly different view of what Valentine's Day means from ours. From what I gathered this past weekend, your average female dreams of a day where you do all of the following at least once: wake up with her in your arms, make breakfast in bed and eat it while staring into her eyes dreamily, let her get dressed in the outfit she picked out after half a week debating between choices and tell her how beautiful she looks until she stops disagreeing with you and blushes, surprise her with chocolates, roses, and the most serious, mushy card that CVS has to offer (nothing funny), Usher her to the fanciest restaurant in town that you thought to reserved a month ahead of time, order her dinner for her, all fancy like, take her on a romantic walk that isn't windy, cold, or in any way, unpleasant, carry her back to the room. tell her your deepest fantasies in her ear, serve wine and appetizers while cooking her favorite meal for dinner, feed her dinner, all sexy like, give her jewelry or some other valuables, think of activities for the night to show you love her, that last ALL night, make it to midnight without crying.
Now, this again is an exaggeration. (I love those, because that's what real life feels like sometimes) Here's the problem with these two views on February's famous holiday. When they collide head on, what results are two very disappointed individuals. Let me give an example. This past Saturday, I went to a total of five restaurants, each of which had waits of between one and three hours to be seated for dinner. The reality is that if you want a seat on Valentine's Day and the pleasure of walking right by the other scowling couples waiting for a seat, you need to do some serious forethought. I know, guys. Forethought, really? Thinking about it beforehand, with our busy schedules of work, sports, beer, and sleep? Well, yeah, that's what I'm suggesting. In all honesty, every single guy that I saw waiting for a seat looked like the most miserable kicked puppy that got thrown into the doghouse, with their dates sitting with crossed arms and an "I can't believe you didn't reserve a seat!" look on their face. It got me mad. I was mad at a lot of stuff.
First, I was mad at myself. I was mad that I was stupid enough to think that Valentine's Day was going to be the easy, Chinese food, chocolate mustache day that I thought it would be... I was mad at being forced into the situation of waiting for a seat. I was mad at women for their putting their significant others into that situation.
The ultimate result of my Valentine's Day was not a bad one. It was very happy, for both me and my girlfriend. We were together, which is what we agreed mattered most, and we expressed our feelings for one another. That's what it's all about. But I was disapointed- in myself, in men in general, in women in general, and in Valentine's Day and what its become over the years of commercialization and pop culture.
So I started thinking of how to rectify the situation. As is the case in most situations, a compromise seems to be the best solution. Guys need to realize that Valentines Day, with its chocolate, hearts, theme of love, etc., is a women's holiday, as much as we want our chinese food day. We really ought to think about Valentine's Day ahead of time. Reserve a place for dinner. Go out and buy that mushy card and that sexy lingerie that you know she wants. Make it romantic for her. For crying out loud, if we can't put our nose to the grindstone and pull something like that off, we don't deserve the women we have.
Girls, maybe you need to give us a break. It's impossible to pull off the perfect date, although every guy wants to outdo the others on Valentine's Day to make their date happy. There will always be a broken high heeled shoe, a mistaken cancellation at a restaurant, or the car that breaks down on the highway on the way to the lobster house. Some things are out of our control, and we can't give you everything, as much as we would like to. After all, our money is finite resource. Just remember that we are trying, and that we love you, seriously.
In any case, with a little bit of thought and a lot of effort, we can bring back Valentine's Day the way its supposed to be- a day to express our appreciation towards the people we love most.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
We're all Gonna Die... Wait
We're in a recession. There's no doubt about it, and most folks are getting tired of hearing it. You know the song and dance: It's only going to get worse before it gets better, the world is going to see some scary changes in power, the whole deal. Let's be realistic, however, before we swallow the shotgun whole before we can even pull the trigger. While nervousness is important in specific amounts, it is also a strong liability when we allow it to control our decisions. Because the United States was nervous, it got involved in multiple conflicts that it should not have. Because I was nervous, I missed that just because Prudentius' narrations sound like the Bible doesn't mean they're the same thing, and I ruined my Major Authors final last semester. Because the control guy in the sound booth at Saturday Night Live was nervous, Ashley Simpson's lip-syncing career was cut hilariously short. In essence, when we're nervous, mistakes happen.
Where the typical American is at right now, the world is a scary place, and nervousness is a typical, acceptable reaction to that. But lets not let that get out of control. We need to face the facts and actually look at the bright side of things over the dull.
These conclusions may seem a bit over reactive or unfair, but let me tell you where they came from. This morning, over a particularly delicious cherry danish breakfast, I was reading the free magazine that come with the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe, a truly fantastic publication, called either Globe or Boston... I can't remember. A particular article by a columnist named, I believe, Tom Kearns discusses the inability for people to better themselves during a recession. While I can agree that it is difficult for people to maintain the lifestyle that they maintained before the recession began, I cannot simply lose my faith in human beings to be able to better themselves in any situation. I find Kearns' conclusions highly insulting to the human race, as they seem to be reduced to beings with the inability to think as sophisticatedly as we do. For example, if a school of fish live in a bowl with plenty of room, and then because of thir owners inability to cope with the economy, leave them on the sidewalk, and the water slowly drains out of the bowl due to evaporation, then I would expect those fish to, once they have too little room to comfortably live next to one another, duke it out or panic and make their situation worse.
Now, of humans were in a similar situation, say, oh I dunno, their monetary system was draining slowly but surely, I would not expect to see them spasming and flopping their tails in panic. Rather, I would expect them to make the necessary cuts to their way of life and develop a workable solution to their issues. Defined by our ability to work together and to rationally work our way out of these situations, humans are some of the only living beings that deserve that destinction, but deserve it they do.
So rather than being so preoccupied with getting out of our troubles, I believe that we will have time to slow down our lives and to realize the good things that we have already. These are the good things that can come from a recession, and to imagine that the human race will behave in no other way than to panic and flail is to not have an accurate understanding of our cognitive abilities.
Where the typical American is at right now, the world is a scary place, and nervousness is a typical, acceptable reaction to that. But lets not let that get out of control. We need to face the facts and actually look at the bright side of things over the dull.
These conclusions may seem a bit over reactive or unfair, but let me tell you where they came from. This morning, over a particularly delicious cherry danish breakfast, I was reading the free magazine that come with the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe, a truly fantastic publication, called either Globe or Boston... I can't remember. A particular article by a columnist named, I believe, Tom Kearns discusses the inability for people to better themselves during a recession. While I can agree that it is difficult for people to maintain the lifestyle that they maintained before the recession began, I cannot simply lose my faith in human beings to be able to better themselves in any situation. I find Kearns' conclusions highly insulting to the human race, as they seem to be reduced to beings with the inability to think as sophisticatedly as we do. For example, if a school of fish live in a bowl with plenty of room, and then because of thir owners inability to cope with the economy, leave them on the sidewalk, and the water slowly drains out of the bowl due to evaporation, then I would expect those fish to, once they have too little room to comfortably live next to one another, duke it out or panic and make their situation worse.
Now, of humans were in a similar situation, say, oh I dunno, their monetary system was draining slowly but surely, I would not expect to see them spasming and flopping their tails in panic. Rather, I would expect them to make the necessary cuts to their way of life and develop a workable solution to their issues. Defined by our ability to work together and to rationally work our way out of these situations, humans are some of the only living beings that deserve that destinction, but deserve it they do.
So rather than being so preoccupied with getting out of our troubles, I believe that we will have time to slow down our lives and to realize the good things that we have already. These are the good things that can come from a recession, and to imagine that the human race will behave in no other way than to panic and flail is to not have an accurate understanding of our cognitive abilities.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
What a Day?
So. It's finally here. January 20th, 2009. Today marks the immense shift in power as former President Bush finally steps down to leave the office to Barack Obama. I'm sure I'll never forget this moment. It marks a shift that I, as a growing American and a strong liberal, have been eagerly anticipating for some time. I cannot claim to know more about politics than any other average 18 year old English major at Boston University, but I am certain that this shift has long been identified as a necessary one.
Throughout the eight year presidency of George H.W. Bush, the United States saw an immense reduction of constitutional rights and control of its actions, as power was jammed as fast and as innefficiently as possible into the late president's pocket. I continue to draw parrallels between the war in Iraq and the rule of the Emporer in the Star Wars Trilogy (obviously to an immensely lesser extent). In essence, as time has wore on, more and more of Bush's decisions and actions have become less and less clear in their purpose. The conflict between terror and the Bush Administration was used as an excuse to start a conflict that began because of the fear of the American people. After the dust has cleared, Americans are finally becoming aware of how they have been duped by the president. As a result of fear, Bush was able to steal power just as Senator Palpatine was.
Now, don't get me wrong. The connection between the two stories is hardly exact. I have no doubt that former President Bush is not and was not the epitome of evil in the world. He acted according to his world view and I can respect him for sharing my commitment to uphold the ideals and values of the United States in my world view. If there is anything that I am dissapointed in it is the integrity of the American people. It is because of fear that we are now in this pickle. It is because of our fear that we are now immersed in an international conflict that has dominated our lives over the past years and are steeped in a downhill economy pleading for rejuvenation. Our fear fueled what has happened. When I say our fear, I refer to the fear of a majority of American people.
Now we can look to the future. In the past months, our country has shown that it is no longer afraid to cower and hide behind one man. We are ready to work with Barack Obama and the government that we have elected to build the more perfect union for which we strive. I will never forget this day for those reasons.
On an entirely different note, my head remains a celebrating entity on this day, while my body is a different story. I find myself simply going through the same motions. I woke up this morning at seven o'clock in order to shower, eat a wholesome breakfast, and get to my differential equasions class by 8:30. Afterwards, I attended two other classes and headed over to the GSU for some lunch, just like any other day. It was then that I realized via the live CNN feed of the inauguration that President Obama had already been sworn in and had given his speech. I have since watched it in its entirety online, but I am still surprised that not one person to whom I talked before I saw it for myself mentioned the day's defining events. Here's my point. The fact remains that while the world is changing every single day, my life remains drastically monotonous in disposition. My high school United States History teacher, Ms. Kavanagh, pointed this observation out to me a number of years ago, and it has stuck with me. Tomorrow, the United States will begin its first full day with Barack Obama as president. And yet, the majority of Americans will simply do what they did last Wednesday. The economy will change, for better or for worse, and the world will change over time because of this inauguration, but I need to struggle to make these changes a tangible part of my life. My world needs to change because of the changes around me. Even if I simply read another article about the goings on of the world every day, or engage in another conversation than normal every day, I will be doing my part to be observant of the world and its changes around me. I believe that if we can all do this as Americans, our role can never be diminished as it was over the past 8 years, and we will maintain our influence on the world around us.
And so I say, emancipate your mind! Free it from the norm. Break free from cultural bindings and build your own views on the world. We will all grow as a result.
Throughout the eight year presidency of George H.W. Bush, the United States saw an immense reduction of constitutional rights and control of its actions, as power was jammed as fast and as innefficiently as possible into the late president's pocket. I continue to draw parrallels between the war in Iraq and the rule of the Emporer in the Star Wars Trilogy (obviously to an immensely lesser extent). In essence, as time has wore on, more and more of Bush's decisions and actions have become less and less clear in their purpose. The conflict between terror and the Bush Administration was used as an excuse to start a conflict that began because of the fear of the American people. After the dust has cleared, Americans are finally becoming aware of how they have been duped by the president. As a result of fear, Bush was able to steal power just as Senator Palpatine was.
Now, don't get me wrong. The connection between the two stories is hardly exact. I have no doubt that former President Bush is not and was not the epitome of evil in the world. He acted according to his world view and I can respect him for sharing my commitment to uphold the ideals and values of the United States in my world view. If there is anything that I am dissapointed in it is the integrity of the American people. It is because of fear that we are now in this pickle. It is because of our fear that we are now immersed in an international conflict that has dominated our lives over the past years and are steeped in a downhill economy pleading for rejuvenation. Our fear fueled what has happened. When I say our fear, I refer to the fear of a majority of American people.
Now we can look to the future. In the past months, our country has shown that it is no longer afraid to cower and hide behind one man. We are ready to work with Barack Obama and the government that we have elected to build the more perfect union for which we strive. I will never forget this day for those reasons.
On an entirely different note, my head remains a celebrating entity on this day, while my body is a different story. I find myself simply going through the same motions. I woke up this morning at seven o'clock in order to shower, eat a wholesome breakfast, and get to my differential equasions class by 8:30. Afterwards, I attended two other classes and headed over to the GSU for some lunch, just like any other day. It was then that I realized via the live CNN feed of the inauguration that President Obama had already been sworn in and had given his speech. I have since watched it in its entirety online, but I am still surprised that not one person to whom I talked before I saw it for myself mentioned the day's defining events. Here's my point. The fact remains that while the world is changing every single day, my life remains drastically monotonous in disposition. My high school United States History teacher, Ms. Kavanagh, pointed this observation out to me a number of years ago, and it has stuck with me. Tomorrow, the United States will begin its first full day with Barack Obama as president. And yet, the majority of Americans will simply do what they did last Wednesday. The economy will change, for better or for worse, and the world will change over time because of this inauguration, but I need to struggle to make these changes a tangible part of my life. My world needs to change because of the changes around me. Even if I simply read another article about the goings on of the world every day, or engage in another conversation than normal every day, I will be doing my part to be observant of the world and its changes around me. I believe that if we can all do this as Americans, our role can never be diminished as it was over the past 8 years, and we will maintain our influence on the world around us.
And so I say, emancipate your mind! Free it from the norm. Break free from cultural bindings and build your own views on the world. We will all grow as a result.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Cold: The Nuisance that Humbles
It doesn't take a meteorologist or even an especially observant Bostonian to say that it is flippin' cold outside! Let's be honest, its starting to get to even the grittiest of us over here in the Bay State. The past few days have seen temperatures below the zero mark in single and double digit varieties multiple times. The long walk from dorm room to class has elongated itself considerably with the addition of frozen ears and fingers to the strain of muscles over hill and dale.
Sure, we can all agree that the cold is a nuisance. That much is a given. Even the most acclimated, warm blooded person out there can get awfully uncomfortable when the temperature hits that specific low, and boy, has it hit it.
It doesn't come with surprise that most every conversation with anyone these days contains some reference to the cold. This phenomenon got me thinking. If all we can seem to do is complain about the cold, there must be something incompatible between us and the frozen world around us. This seems simple enough, but lets go further with it instead of just tossing it aside as just another observation.
What I'm suggesting is that perhaps mankind simply wasn't cut out or designed to deal with as large a temperature scale as we do. While the human race is infinitely original in its ability to develop solutions to the problem of hot or cold temperatures, before the evolution of these solutions, humans were far less successful in the extremities of the world. This is the reason why human life began in the fertile crescent, simply because of its mild climate. It was that set of background characteristics that created human life and thus that sort of climate and background ought to have been the resulting environment in which the human race could grow, just like any other developing organism of this world. It was at this point that mankind, for some reason, deviated from any other course of life ever seen before it. In essence, it grew to inhabit the entire world, and eventually, to seek the ability to survive on other worlds.
In following my train of thought, you may be rolling your eyes at this point, realizing my eventual destination. I only ask, however, that you refrain from judging my conclusions before I am able to explain their meaning.
It is true that I am questioning the dominance of human life over this world, despite our ability to, without outside influence and assistance, survive in a majority of this world's climates. However, the fact remains that I am simply questioning it. I am not judging the human race, as much of its development simply has occurred as a result of necessity and the intent to better human life. On the other hand, as a human being, I feel that I ought to be humbled by experiencing the sort of environmental characteristics that I shouldn't be able to survive.
So, why us? Why wasn't it the fish that found a way to breathe on land or the cheetah that developed the coat to stay warm in colder climates? I don't have a comprehensive answer. Hell, in my opinion, humans haven't done too too much to deserve the name we have. As the top producer, by far, of the world's pollution and the least efficient users of its natural resources, we haven't given too much back for our amazing gift.
Again, I don't write in attempt to chastise mankind for its dominance, but rather to humble the next person to complain about the cold weather. We must strive to realize that the reason for our discomfort is because we were meant to be uncomfortable, and the only one to blame for it is ourselves. Lets be humbled by nature. If we can do that, maybe we can begin to give something back to the world in which we live, a place that deserves more respect than we give it.
Sure, we can all agree that the cold is a nuisance. That much is a given. Even the most acclimated, warm blooded person out there can get awfully uncomfortable when the temperature hits that specific low, and boy, has it hit it.
It doesn't come with surprise that most every conversation with anyone these days contains some reference to the cold. This phenomenon got me thinking. If all we can seem to do is complain about the cold, there must be something incompatible between us and the frozen world around us. This seems simple enough, but lets go further with it instead of just tossing it aside as just another observation.
What I'm suggesting is that perhaps mankind simply wasn't cut out or designed to deal with as large a temperature scale as we do. While the human race is infinitely original in its ability to develop solutions to the problem of hot or cold temperatures, before the evolution of these solutions, humans were far less successful in the extremities of the world. This is the reason why human life began in the fertile crescent, simply because of its mild climate. It was that set of background characteristics that created human life and thus that sort of climate and background ought to have been the resulting environment in which the human race could grow, just like any other developing organism of this world. It was at this point that mankind, for some reason, deviated from any other course of life ever seen before it. In essence, it grew to inhabit the entire world, and eventually, to seek the ability to survive on other worlds.
In following my train of thought, you may be rolling your eyes at this point, realizing my eventual destination. I only ask, however, that you refrain from judging my conclusions before I am able to explain their meaning.
It is true that I am questioning the dominance of human life over this world, despite our ability to, without outside influence and assistance, survive in a majority of this world's climates. However, the fact remains that I am simply questioning it. I am not judging the human race, as much of its development simply has occurred as a result of necessity and the intent to better human life. On the other hand, as a human being, I feel that I ought to be humbled by experiencing the sort of environmental characteristics that I shouldn't be able to survive.
So, why us? Why wasn't it the fish that found a way to breathe on land or the cheetah that developed the coat to stay warm in colder climates? I don't have a comprehensive answer. Hell, in my opinion, humans haven't done too too much to deserve the name we have. As the top producer, by far, of the world's pollution and the least efficient users of its natural resources, we haven't given too much back for our amazing gift.
Again, I don't write in attempt to chastise mankind for its dominance, but rather to humble the next person to complain about the cold weather. We must strive to realize that the reason for our discomfort is because we were meant to be uncomfortable, and the only one to blame for it is ourselves. Lets be humbled by nature. If we can do that, maybe we can begin to give something back to the world in which we live, a place that deserves more respect than we give it.
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