Another Saturday Night

Blah...Another day another dollar, -insert additional cliche's here-. Sometimes I just want to take my tent and go live in the woods. I try so damn hard to make things happen, but sometimes I just don't know why. And even if I did, I'm just not sure if I am cut out for this. I just can't seem to spark the fire in people that is burning in me. And I know the first thing some of you would say in response to that is I'm just bragging, but thats not the point. I just don't understand why I'm so inspired to do things to change the world into the great place it could be, and no one else gives a damn. Sure, they give their money to Greenpeace or Feed the Children and think they've made a difference in the world. Some of them even know that that doesn't do the job, but that is all they do anyway. I'm a mobilizer of people, and I have no one to mobilize! Not many things are sadder than that.

Well, I talked to my dad tonight and he gave me some great advice on managing my Amnesty International group. I think we will be a lot more productive once we implement them, so I'm a little psyched about that. I'm also having a meeting with the Full Belly Project people tomorrow night. I think being part of a successful, already established group will help motivate me a little.

Thats all for now, hopefully something a little more interesting soon. Stay tuned...

To be something, nothing, or everything?

Still a little slow on the blogging, finishing up finals today. Therefore, things should get better soon. I just finished watching I heart huckabees. Wow, that movies is awesome. It dives completely in to the whole existence and meaning issue, and does it with a great story. My favorite part is where Dustin Hoffman's character gives an explanation of how we are all interconnected. He basically uses a blanket to draw an analogy to space-time. All the ideas in the movie have been around for ever, since Plato and Aristotle, but the movies puts them together in a way that is completely entertaining, and makes a lot of sense.

So getting back to the inter-connected thing, its very existentialist/buddhist. I hate to use terms, but we have no other way to communicate. It's really cool if you think about it, we are all connected at least on the material level. Space-time is just one giant sheet, and there is nothing else "outside" the sheet. Everything is part of the sheet, you, me, my computer, everything. Everything is composed of atoms which are energy, which is what makes up the sheet. So we are all the same thing. The cluster of atoms writing this blog is the same as you, the cluster of atoms reading it. And it makes sense on a psychological level too. We all just want to be happy. Whether that means understanding the universe, being rich, having the perfect partner, whatever. We are all the same, we just want to be happy. Sounds pretty simple, but try to remember that when you are thinking about "them". You know, those who we blame for the bad things that happen. Those who destroy our world with polution and war. They are just like us, they just want to be happy. If we can really understand that fact, and we can really understand their point of view, then we can effectively change their minds.

Of course, then the question is, why change their minds?

To be continued...

I'm Back!

Well, I know you have all been eagerly awaiting my next post, so here it is. Sorry I've been out of touch, things have been crazy as usual. I'll try to give a run down on all fronts:

My Amnesty International project at UNCW (http://fire.bear.uncw.edu/ai-uncw/) is really taking off. We have 6 executive council members, 15 core group members, and 46 extended group members for a total of 67 members!! The core group and executive council members are actively engaged in working on projects, while the extended group members have requested to be kept informed of upcoming events. So we are off to a wonderful start! Also, our Hotel Rwanda event went well, obtaining 55 signatures on our petition, and distributing information about the situation in Darfur to tens of UNCW students. I would say we talked with at least 100 people.

My honors project has had to be extended yet again. This time we agreed that it will be purely to write the thesis though. No more additional work will be done, just finishing the thesis which I already began writing.

I'm doing well in class, will probably end up with 3 A's. Its been tough as two of the class were extremely disorganized. I'll be so glad to get into classes again with rigid structure that require straight forward knowledge. I'm tired of these classes where the prof. tries to make things interesting and instead makes the class really stressful. Their ideas would be great if they were a little more thought out, but since they aren't, it just makes the class really tough. I'm all for hard work when it yields results, but I'm working 4 times as hard as in previous classes and learning only 1/2 as much. Oh well, its almost over now.

I'm poor as hell, and if it wasn't for my wonderful parents, I would have to join the local Buddhist monestary and go out begging. Fortunately I just landed a job at CMS (http://www.uncw.edu/cmsr/) which should start bringing in some money soon.

I've met a lot of interesting people these past few weeks, so many that I've lost track. A new friend named Roey is a fellow activist that has his own magazine being published in Wilmington, and is doing a DIS at UNCW creating a biodiesel reactor which is used to make fuel that can power a diesel car out of used vegetable oil. He also introduced me to a bunch of other people, including a group of returned peace corps volunteers which have an awesome project going to end poverty in countries like Uganda, check it out at http://www.fullbellyproject.org/ I also learned more about a really awesome former UNCW student Adrien Lopez that I have become e-pen pals with. She is going to grad school in Chile and doing various philanthropic work there and in neighboring countries.

Finally, I got my lazy duff back in the gym this week. Back to working out steadily and doing the induction phase of South Beach again. I plateaued after losing that first 40 pounds, so now I'm trying to break through and lose another 10. I've gotten good at maintaining a certain weight, so I think I can use the 2 week period to lose weight, and then maintain that new weight for a little bit. Then I'll do another 2 weeks a month or so later. I figure I'll be at my ideal weight by the end of the summer. And its never been easier, because I've found so many great things to eat. In particular, I've developed a real love for sushi. I eat it all the time now. One of the best places is Asian Buffet, which is one of those big buffet type places. But its great because its cheap and they have a sushi bar as part of the buffet. So I eat just sushi and get the same meal I would at a sushi resteraunt, but for no where near the price! I've also become a fan of smoked salmon, but I try not to eat it too much. For one, I can only afford it when its on sale at Harris Teeter; and for two smoked foods contain carcinogens (cancer causing elements).

Alright, that should bring you just about up to date. I promise to continue regular blogging again now. At the very least I will post once a week. I'm also adding back the ability to put comments on my entries, so feel free to argue with me!

Peace and Compassion