I like to be missed sometimes...

I just came back from a trip with some of my friends. I thought that at least maybe somebody would have something to say to me or some reason to contact me over that past four days, but nope.

No one tried to get, call, or message me in any way. My family didn't even try to get in touch with me. I thought maybe even Charles would, but he did unfortunately did not (even though I missed him a bunch). The only messages I had on facebook were from my sister who had hacked onto my account and posted that she was the best sister ever on it.
I was actually happy to come back and see that people had looked at my blog. And it seemed to be more people than usual, which made me pretty happy.
Which that is actually kind of sad.
I've come to the point where I need technology to prove my worth and how much people need or feel for me.
It's really sad once you think about it.

Co-ed dorms for the better?

I went on a camping trip this past weekend with a few of my close friends who go to different schools. One of my good friends, Carly, lived in a dorm last year that had co-ed floors and wings and is going to be an RA next year. And I'm the total opposite. Our dorms were separated by floors and wings. The floor I lived on was especially more secluded than the others because there was no connection between the two wings, whereas the other floors below us did connect. This made our group of about 25 girls especially more separated from everyone else.

Any way, we started talking about our college experiences, mainly our living situations and learned that being in a co-ed living space (having guys living on the same floor as girls) seemed to have less drama than and floor only having girls living on it or only exclusively guys.

There was A LOT of drama between girls on my floor last year (something I really hope doesn't happen again). It wasn't any face-to-face confrontation, it was just a lot of things unsaid that created a bias and prejudice against a group of people that is not like yourself.
I basically got wrapped up into one group because of the fact that I'm more of a geek than a preppy outgoing guy-drama filled lifestyle.

I generally try to never cling onto a type of clique or anything of that sort. I'd rather remain unbiased and accept everyone for who they are. 

But unfortunately I was stuck on a floor that had people who were less accepting of the other. I barely even said anything and yet I felt as though I was viewed as being someone I wasn't.

SO ANNOYING!!!

And then I heard about Carly's experience. And it's what I would have rather had.

There seemed to be no drama and clique-like behavior from the people she lived with, even though there were some distinction between geeks and jocks. But they all got along. No one thought that they had to live up to some expectation of what society or others felt they had to. They were just themselves. 

And that's when I started to really think that separating men and women creates even more drama than keeping them together. You'd think it'd be the opposite, but it's not!!!!

Maybe men and women are natural balancers and help tone down the drama that exists in exclusively one gender. 

Having that co-ed living situation seemed to bring about enough diversity between peoples that no more than two people were alike. And that seemed really nice. 

Well, here's hope to a better new year! (even though I still have to wait like a month)

One of My Dreams

For a while now I've had this weird dream that I could be a writer. I'm not really sure where it comes from, but I've always wanted to make something incredibly captivating and something that I would be recognized and known for.
Sometimes when I get bored in classes I begin to think of stories, especially if they are connected to what we are talking about. Being a history and political science double major makes me really think about stories of the past and of the present. I LOVE combining the two!
Recently I can up with an amazing idea and I have not been able to put my pencil down, so many ideas have been coming to my head, and I may actually have an exciting interesting book at my hands!!!
Even though I've actually never gotten to the point of actually writing dialogue, I think I might be able to with this one!
Now all my friend needs to do is become an editor and I'd have everything set!

A Quote Relatable to the Present

"It would seem that around these centres of mass-movement, the powerful machines, the huge horses of civilization devouring coal and spewing flame, the polluted earth trembles and splits open to swallow up the ancient dwellings of men and allow new ones to appear."

-Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

I personally, along with this thought, think that it is sad how technology over runs everything that is older. It removes us from a reality and forces us to accept another one. I guess that's what progress is then. 

I think that's why I like to visit different areas of time. Because those are the realities that I'd like to live in as opposed to the one I'm living in now. 

Hartley's First Law

The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action

also

You can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float on his back, you've got something

The Little Things

For some reason, now more than ever, I have realized how important to little things are in life. It's not like I didn't know that they weren't important, it's just that their value has seemed to increase as I have grown older.
Maybe it's just because whenever I'm watching a movie or reading a book I feel as though everything seems to connect to my life.
But I guess that's what the authors, writers, and directors have in mind when they set out to create something.
Something that will reach the audience.
Some sort of theme that will make them think past the movie screen or the letters on a page.
What it truly means in their life.

While watching something as simple as a zombie movie you would not exactly expect to have some sort of touching moral story. Nevertheless, there always is one.
Zombieland
I have to say that I really do enjoy this movie. There's not really anymore you could ask for in a movie. It really has everything.
Out of the main character's rules for surviving Zombieland, one Rule #32 is added.
ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS
It's something so simple and would seem to be something that people would easily forget in an apocalyptic situation. But too many people forget it in the real world today where there is less to be worried about other than the constant threat of a flesh eating disease that makes you have cravings for human flesh. Eww

Whether it is completely destroying a place

Or enjoying a twinkie

It is the little things that are the most important to value. It is those things that keep you alive and make you feel like you are living.

Crazy Nerdy Connection to The Great Gatsby:
Gatsby valued his grander vision of himself more than the little things. It wasn't enough to enjoy holding Daisy again. He couldn't appreciate the little things. That may have been the cause of his downfall.

So, Enjoy the Little Things. Don't get caught up in some grand vision. For it won't be what you remember and what you cherish.

I'm not telling you how to live your life. I'm only telling you of how I want to live my life. What I think will give me the greatest happiness.

A Quote to End the Day

This is a quote that I stumbled upon today. I feel as though it speaks some sort of absolute truth. Plus, I love statements that go against peoples' general expectations of the world. It shows that we don't have to conform to anything or anyone's idea of anything in order to be happy. We are the people who determine our own life and our own fate. Not those around us. 

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything the believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."

-Rick Warren

Another Little Quote

"Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. We can find it, we can live it, we can be carried by it, we can work wonders with it, but we can not utter it or teach it."

-Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

The power of love

Why is it that saying "I love you" is so dangerous?

Is it too much of a commitment that saying those three words drives people away? I love so many things and so many people, why can't I tell them? I mean, I can. But generally people would probably overreact due to the power that those words hold in society.

I think saying "I love you" is not something someone should be scared of. Why is love something so protected and avoided?

I love you 

All of you

Even those who dislike me

And those who don't actually read this

I love you.

Why does saying it to someone have to be so difficult and something so socially constructed as difficult? 

It All Makes Sense!

The more a more I look and think about The Great Gatsby the more it makes sense. I'm not really sure why. It may be the concept of hope and love. I never felt as though I knew anything about love until now. Now that I've actually experienced it with someone other than my family. I've learned about loss and about holding on to an extraordinary sense of hope.
In the end it is all about letting go and moving on. You can't repeat the past, but you can look upon it. You can only create a future.

Wallflower

I'm starting to believe that I am a wallflower.

I hadn't heard of the term until The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I only really recognize that term with the book and movie. (I hate the fact that I saw the movie before the book. It's one of the things that I criticize about people. Then again, I did the same thing with Les Miserables. Don't forget, I can be a hypocrite sometimes). I don't really talk a lot and I don't really like participating. Most of the time throughout high school I was alone, except for my friends. I'm alone now sitting in my room content with the way things are. I guess I like it that way. 

It's a pretty flower, isn't it?

 I didn't realize it was an actual flower that clings to walls, but I guess that makes sense. 

The thing that has most resonated with me though is the quote said about Wallflowers in the book, 

I feel the most connected to this. I always seem to understand people, even when they don't understand themselves. Even though I don't even understand myself. I guess it's hard for someone to understand a Wallflower, considering the keep quiet. 

I've never really told any of my friends about things that I have started to write here. And yet I'm trusting in a complete stranger. Kind of like Charlie. 

I guess even though it is difficult to understand the things men do, it is easiest when approached from the outside. 

I seem to notice everything. And I never tell anyone. 

Then again, I've never really seen anything too important or crucial to really tell. 

But I do have a lot to say, which most people don't seem to notice.

So here is where I am going to write what I have to say. 

Experiences outside of the computer

To those who wish to read this, 

Looking around at the people I know, and me myself, I wish that we would go outside more often. It's as if the internet and security of our homes has brought us into a life that is indoors.

I say that technology has ruined us, and has taken me along with it. (obviously because I now started a blog that I've been working on all day). 

Biologically, humans are not meant to sit inside at a computer all day. Why is it then that we do it? Why does the internet have to be so captivating? 

I don't want to live my life around a computer. To me, that's not living. 

The friends I made my first year of college would every weekend sit around the tv and look at their computers. It was probably fun for a few weeks. But eventually I realized that we weren't having an experience at all. We didn't even know what was going on outside of our college life. Our life of sitting inside a dorm and doing basically nothing. I missed intellectual conversations I used to have with my friends at home. I felt as though I hadn't learned anything about myself or anyone other than the fact that they liked sitting around the computer and tv all day.

Do all people do this? What has happened to society? (Then again I can't really say much because I have been raised into this developing technological world). 

The majority of them had smart phones, whenever we were at dinner they would just go to their phones if nothing was being said. I don't even own a smartphone, and yet it is now a common assumption that everyone has one. I have to say, my life is definitely better without one. 

It wasn't until my last weekend of my first year of college that I realized what a waste that my "friends" were putting into their college experience. My college is absolutely beautiful. There are numerous outdoor recreational activities to do, I had done none and my "friends" weren't even interested in seriously committing to an outdoor activity. They would have rather criticized the world from the security of their dorm than go out and see the world. My current roommate, who is also in this group of friends, and I were the only ones to really seem to understand this. We went on a walk to go see a movie one night and as we were walking back to campus we realized that we didn't want to walk back up to our room and just sit there. It was too beautiful of a night to do that. So, my friend (being well educated in the constellations of the sky) suggested that we should just go lie somewhere and stargaze. 

And so we went. 

It was beautiful. Where I am now, the city lights would cast a haze over the beautiful night sky. It was only there that I was able to see its beauty. (Not that I haven't seen it before, because I have, it's just that I hadn't seen the beauty of the night sky in a long time). The farther that we went from the lights of campus, the closer we got to seeing the wonders of the night sky. My friend pointed out the constellations that we could visibly see. We talked about our up coming finals, how frustrating some of our professors are, and how we wish we could just stay where we were and be at peace. But that's the thing. You can't just hide forever with your head in the clouds and your heart among the stars. Yet you can. Only for a moment. But it was that moment, where time didn't matter and all stress went away, that you really find something about yourself. I can assure you that is something that you will not experience from a computer or a movie. You won't learn anything, or have any stories to tell unless you step outside and live. 

That night we vowed to go outside and do something different every Friday. To get away from the stress and live. 

I'm sure we'll keep that promise. 

Time is to Clock as Mind is to Brain

The quote, "Time is to clock as mind is to brain" is found in chapter 4 of Dava Sobel's Longitude. I had to read this during a college course, and even though generally everyone found the book to be dull or boring, I found it interesting. Again, adding to my reasons of why I don't understand people. I guess it's just because this book made me think about the impact of the clock and longitude on today's society.

The previous year I remember having a discussion about how our lives are ruled by a clock. We go places depending upon the time that the clock on the wall or on our wrist or on our phone. I always end up looking at my phone to see the time, even when I don't need to. It's strange to think how the phone has replaced the watch. I even know friends who look at their phone for the time even though they are wearing a watch. It's absolutely crazy. And it's something that we do intuitively. Why? Are we really independent of time? It consistently rules our life. 

But what is interesting about this quote and this book is that it made me realize that time is not constant. It is continuously changing. Ever hear of "Time flies by when you are having fun"? To different people, time can speed up or slow down. Ever been in a meeting or a class that seems like it has gone on for an hour, but when you look up at the clock it has only been two minuets? It's because time is continuously warped and changed. If this invisible entity is continuously changing, then how is it captured within a physical object? How is it that our mind is trapped by our brain? It is the invisible versus the physical. Everyone's mind is different, but everyone's brain is the same (or at least close to the same, excluding brain deficiencies, etc.). Similarly, time is different between people, but the clock is the same (or at least as similar as each clock can get). It's just interesting to think about.