Iron Man, Captain America, and I...before Iron Man got Captain America killed ;)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BOOK REFLECTION: You Majored in What? : Mapping your path from Chaos to Career by Katharine Brooks
Every wandering college graduate should read this book but probably never will - at least not until the disparity between how he or she thought life should be and how it actually seems to be turning out starts to crack through that invincible, college ego. For all those too lazy to read, here is a brief overview of what you could learn from this book (lessons you didn't learn in college):
Lesson #1: It is normal to be confused.
There are many people who subscribe to a linear theory of life. For example, if you like science, then major in biology and become a doctor. Or, if you play the flute well, then major in music and play in the symphony. End of story. Get married, settle down, pay your mortgage until you retire and kick the bucket. Sounds fun, right? Some people do have one interest and one passion and do follow it for the entirety of their lives with great satisfaction. There is no problem with that. However, for many people, life actually happens according to a phenomenon known as chaos theory.
Lesson # 2: A brief survey of Chaos Theory
In chaos theory, life unfolds as you follow different point attractors (people you like to be around, events that catch you interest, classes which inspire you, hobbies that interest you), so your actions don't often seem to make sense. You appear to be wandering about, confused, crazy, lacking in direction and purpose, working countless of random jobs, etc. In reality, to change one's mind and want to explore and discover oneself is human nature. Contradiction is the seed of consciousness, and not to ever wonder, doubt, question yourself, be confused, or make mistakes is to remain very immature.
The most important thing to note when discussing chaos theory is that chaos theory does not imply that all of life is destined to be a series of random, disconnected ventures. No, the heart of chaos theory lies in the fact that amidst all the chaos, an underlying pattern inevitably emerges. Systems ultimately reveal an order. It's science.
Lesson #3: Shit happens.
Pardon my French. Sometimes, you have a singular path that you want to follow, but obstacles will inevitably pop up. At that point, you have to decide whether you want this thing badly enough to keep going after it despite the obstacle or sometimes, you have to open your mind to the idea that perhaps the obstacle is there because this singular path you want to follow may not be the right one for you. In chaos theory, making this decision is called phase shifting. It's a fancy-pants word for evaluating a situation and then changing your mind based on the new information that you've gleaned. It's okay to do that. Not everyone can live out their childhood dreams of being Indiana Jones. It does not mean you are a failure.
Lesson #4: There is something to learn from every situation and sometimes it's just, "Wow, that sucked and I am NEVER doing that again."
What you are pursuing now may, "fall through the roof," three months later. Who knows? The reality of it is that we cannot predict the distant future with great certainty, but we can step back and evaluate our lives objectively by taking into consideration what we know right now, what we stand to gain, and what we are willing to learn.
As our lives evolve and as we evolve as people, we partake in that crazy, chaotic thing known as the human experience. In doing so, we fulfill our purposes here on earth, we find satisfaction within, and we are able to serve the world around us in our own unique way.
My boyfriend and I
POEM : She
I spotted her from across the room, radiating a smile, authentic with good cheer and crinkled eyes, two wide rows of strong, pearled teeth between caramel-pink lips.
Her earrings, creamy sea-pearls capped with antiqued sterling silver bows dangling near her cheek, lightly skimming her face as she moved to sip from her glass of white-golden champagne. As she sipped, her eyes flickered up at me for the briefest of moments, and in that moment,
I saw a shimmer in her eye and suddenly her past and future were blinking in brief flashes in my mind.
Although she wore the same green and white, plaid skirt and knee-high white stockings in high school with the rest of them,
staring listlessly at the ceiling fan revolving in repetitive rhythm while the nuns droned on about the cosmos,
she was different.
She didn’t need scrolled paper degrees to proclaim her abilities in the schmaltzy arts. She strolled the pebble-specked, dirt trail to happiness already.
She would not be one of them : predictable, pencil-skirt suits, tight-lipped mouths, Botox-still faces over-powdered with white, trawling to galas to gossip, a lavish existence of trips to Nicaragua and Tahiti, cruise ships and operas and nights out with three-hundred-dollar tabs of wine all to cover up an empty interior, attic-like with one moth twirling lazily in the air, home to unwanted tiny socks and pampers.
No, there was something about her that reeked of a dangerous lust for life, adventure, sunlight, salt and sea-soaked skin.
Something about her hair, the way she let her dark roots spin down into carefree split-ends wildly dangling at the tips of sun-lightened brown and caramel tresses.
Something about her laughter, an explosive release of Santa Claus-like jolliness, complete abandonment, followed by a bubbling energy of charmingly uncontrolled giggles.
She was everything that we, trapped in our starched-collar tuxedos and sequin-stitched gowns, wanted to consume, to own, to capture, to tie-down, if not out of lust then out of envy for the kind of unshackled joy that we, having spent so much time crafting constructed selves, could not possess.
POEM : Morning Coffee
How often you spoiled her with your
masculine, musky aroma,
slightly sweet like cinnamon cloves
yet rich like warm vanilla swirled with a teaspoon of forbidden rum.
The hem of her white T-shirt grazed her young thighs,
the tips of her toes pressed quietly into the dark-oak, wooden floors,
her honeysuckle perfume like candied pecans
lingering lazily in the air behind her.
Parted lips revealed her tiny goose-pimpled, pink tongue,
tracing the inside rim of your hardened, ceramic lip.
Heated essence of life, hot liquor rushing through her body like
fingers curling around, grasping the collar of a starched, cotton blouse.
Drowning in the scent of cedar and nicotine,
one intoxicating hour early in the morning while
the muted white-glow of dawn softly massaged the sheer window curtains
and the rest of the house still slumbered, obliviously unaware.
BOOK REVIEW : Musicophilia, Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
RATING : 3/5
MEMORABLE QUOTATION : "Most of us can hope that there may be some harmony, some alignment, between our desires and our powers and our opportunities, but there will always be those...whose abilities do not match their desires, and those...who seem to have every talent except the most important one: judgment or taste."
REVIEW : Written by a brilliant neurologist and author with a strong musical background, Musicophilia is a collection of short stories exploring the mysterious influence that music has on the brain. Most readers will enjoy the odd and entertaining real-life stories such as the man who got struck with lightning and developed an all-consuming obsession with Chopin. The book is, in general, as unpretentious as a genius neuroscientist could possibly make it. In fact, it is very readable; however, I wonder if the occasional medical lingo such as, "with a transient aphasia and hemiplegia," or casual references to gabapentin and levodopa (epilepsy and Parkinson's drugs respectively) might prove to be irritating to some. In spite of that, the book really does deserve bestseller-list ranking. It is a nice collection of true accounts told mostly in layman's terms that compiles plenty of interesting conversation-starting/trivia-type knowledge. In short, an excellent glimpse into the minds of those whose brains and lives are inextricably linked, more so than the average person, to music.
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