Thursday, January 31, 2008

Bust that Cycle

Last night I watched video clips my favorite internet guru Ze Frank, a video blogger whose known for his intelligent (yet sometimes crude) sense of humor and philosophical discussions. In this particular video, during Happy Week (in which Ze is forced by the League of Awesomeness to not talk about current events and talk about happy things), he discussed the process of "busting cycles", things we do to break our usual routine. He explained that if we bust the right cycles and routines we might able to see the world in almost a wholly different perspective and see a whole new realm of possibilities. One of the things he would do to bust his cycle would be to walk around town at five o' clock in the morning to see it slowly .

Ze's advice had me thinking about what would happen if I woke up at an extremely early time of day and walked around the city. I've been wanting to do this ever since I started living in DC anyways. So today I woke up at five o' clock, got dressed, walked to the nearest Metro stop, and rode the train to DuPont Circle.

Of course, the illuminated streets of DuPont were ghost-like, save the occasional jogger. The purple-rimmed indigo landscape was filled with cool morning air, making the trip worth it. I walked around DuPont for around thirty minutes trying to find place to eat a nice breakfast. It's amazing that throughout this metropolitan area full of nightclubs, chic cafés and sushi bars I could not find a single diner that cooked pancakes and scrambled eggs. I ended up finding a "French" café called Au Bon Pain. It was somewhat hilarious because the place sold itself as an authentic French café but everyone who worked there were middle-aged Hispanic woman (unexpectedly ironic yet overly obvious at the same time). After I bought a egg sandwich with a cup of coffee, I looked through the large window and watched the morning blue slowly ooze across the dark skyline. As the sky brightened, the streets gradually filled with people. The classical music flowing throughout café made the scenery more amusing. The people outside looked as if they were walking in rhythm to the rushing violins.


Even though I had a good time, it was also a great learning experience. Today I learned how quickly DC comes to life, from joggers in the wee hours of the morning to businessmen with newspapers bumrushing the coffee shops when the sun comes up. I also learned that given five minutes of post-sleep and a hot shower I can pretty much be active at any time of the day. I advise anyone who wants to a quick escape from the daily hustle to observe your routines, shift them, bust them. No only will it be fun but you'll also learn a lot about yourself along the way.

To watch the Ze Frank video, click the link below: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/09/092006.html

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Momma, Guess Who Came To My School!?



Yesterday, political rock star Barack Obama passed by my school (guess where that is) with Ted Kennedy to announce that the Massachusetts Senator will have his support during his campaign. I hardly ever get excited about politicians talking to the masses, but I couldn't help but get a little excited, especially with everyone else I knew almost falling on themselves trying to see the presidential candidate in person. Unfortunately, I had to work hat day so I couldn't go to the event.

On my way to work there was a line towards the entrance of Bender Arena, the place where the rally was being held. The line reached to far for my eyes to see the end and I was beginning to second guess going to see. Besides, the school's library, where I work, presented the event on television and told us all to take a break to watch the rally. The main lobby was filled with people, probably more than the amount go to the library building daily. I was amazed at the turn out of people who wanted to see the speech on television. I could not see this ever happening to a candidate like Mitt Romney or even Hilary Clinton.

I tend to shun my ears whenever a politician talks in any situation. Usually when a public figure talks, it almost always falls under the lines of "If you elect me as President, I will…" or "The liberals/conservatives in office are hurting America!" There is something different about this Obama guy. When I heard him speak about coming together regardless of race, religion, sex, or even political ideology, I felt as if I actually believed him. As cliché this may sound, there was something in his charismatic words that restored a dying sense hope and inspired me to do better as both an individual and as a citizen of this country. Rarely do I get inspired by a public speaker. Rarely do I see someone grab the attention of the people of my generation as Obama did. Who knows, perhaps there is a change in the way our government works.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Gradual Dissent of Social Action, Responsibilty, and Public Discourse

My roommate is at it again, this time by stamping a large pro-life sign on our door for everyone to see. The sign has the picture of a baby with the phrase “Face it, abortion kills!” Not to my surprise, the responses from other people were more than negative. One person has gone has gone so far as to place the words ‘outlawing’ over the sign making it say ‘Face it, outlawing abortion kills!” and to add more shock value, this person placed a clothes hanger over the sign as well.

My friends advise me that I should counter my roommate’s poster with another that follows what I believe, assuming that I am against abortion (or am I?). I feel that it is pointless for me to expound whatever political belief that I have, there are enough people in the world who do it as it is. People wear t-shirts that say ‘Impeach Bush’, people go on cable news channels and scream at viewers to follow their way of thinking. And in this battle of media, nothing in a real sense seems to ever get done. There are still people in this country that still can’t pay for health care, let alone eat. Education continues to deteriorate as many children can’t even point out the United States on a world map.

Wearing your ideology on your sleeve does not make you a better person than the one you oppose, nor does it make the situation any better. It is this polarized version of politics and public discourse that continues to tear our already dull-minded country apart. To really make a difference is to commit to action for others, anything lease is a form of meaningless posturing.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Black-Winged One

White, not the colour of purity and innocence,
but the colour of absence, nothingness,
the blank page of a book,;
not the colour of my God.

My God is dark,
the colour of morose night,
colour of the infinite unknown.
Known to me as the black-winged one…

He allows me to suffer
and to feel pain
since to feel pain, I believe
is to truly be alive, to be human.
For when your soul is finally presented to the Divine,
it will be shown exposed, naked,
ripped from the garments of original sin,
scarred yet spiritually veteran.

When I pray to my God,
I do not entreat during my lightest times,
but, silently, through my darkest times.

When I pray to my God,
I do not pray for Him to fix my problems,
But for Him to give me the strength,
to survive my own dark crisis.

And as I lick my tender wounds,
quietly waiting for them to heal,
I do not show anger at Him, and should never.
After all, we are the ones who inflict our own scars,
and inflict unto others…