The Last Post

“You’re going to be graduating this year.. we’re going to buy some wine from France on your graduation day. We’re going to open it and drink it a little bit with your graduation cake. Then, we’re going to store it in the garage until you get married, and we’ll give it to your husband on your wedding night. That is what we came up with while you were gone the last four days. I think it’s good.”

OK, I’m ready to fight on now.
Ask relentlessly, seek earnestly, knock until the door is opened.
(Bye, starting new elsewhere.)

Post #176

I don’t know much about politics, but I feel this is bigger than another president in the White House and much bigger than politics itself. This is about people of all races and ages coming together and chanting in unison, hopeful and determined for change. This is about people caring for something bigger than themselves and their vanity. People are seeing beyond visual perceptions of political or racial affiliation. People are being selfless. It’s not about whether they voted McCain or Obama, and it’s not about a simple yes or no on a proposition. It’s them making an effort to promote a cause that affects something larger than their own lives, something that transcends the problems of the present. And to see such determined people registering for the first time, voting for the first time, and even risking their frail lives to fight for these hopeful pursuits is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen.

I didn’t live through any World Wars or Great Depressions, but when I’m 106 years old, I think I’ll have some pretty good stories to tell them.

Not all heroes wear capes.

This is a phenomenon. My brain has not engaged in such vigorous cerebral activity since last summer, when I was studying for SATs at Elite.

This past hour, I’ve had a series of “A-ha!” moments thanks to an influx of artistic creativity and ingenuity. There was a virtual light bulb switching on and off in my head. The fuse probably blew out because of the constant switches. I’m so inspired! There’s nothing I would rather spend my life doing than indulging in innovative arts. Anything witty, creative, intellectual, and humanitarian. And eco-friendly. Oh, I would like to attribute this cerebral stimulation and inspiration to my visit to the Genius Bar yesterday afternoon. (My Genius, Daniel, was really cool btw. And was it not completely serendipitous that he played soccer in Korea for 3 years? Yeah, soccer in Korea. I officially love .)

Here are some cool things (that compelled me to think, act, create):

This is a flip clock application that I just downloaded to my iTouch. It’s totally rad.

EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEMORY | Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
SLEEP | Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.
STRESS | Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.
SENSORY INTEGRATION | Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.
VISION | Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.
GENDER | Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.
EXPLORATION | Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.

Some brain rules to inspire you.

The perfect graphical representation of my senior year thus far. (Marc Johns has some serious post-it art I wouldn’t dare compare my post-its to.)

A reoccurring question: why is it so hard to be clever and creative? If I could, I would devote my life to being clever and creative. It’s just too bad that when I try to be clever and creative, it’s conspicuously contrived. (Sometimes my syntax alliterates on its own, btw.) I thought I could do anything if I tried, but in this case, effort is futile.

I just want to be somebody so bad! Will effort help me be somebody?

Charlie asked,

“Do we live in the physical world we can touch, or do we live in the world that we create?”

I watched a very philosophical movie called The Secret, and my mind is at a strange place of confusion. The movie seems half true and half mystically bizarre, and I haven’t decided what to believe.

According to the philosophers, thoughts become things and what you feel becomes what happens. If you think that you’re going to be rich, you’re going to get money. If you’re frustrated with your life, you’re going to hate it even more. Simple enough.

So they encourage the audience to think about the things you want. If you want wealth, success, and happiness, then think about them. Apparently, thoughts emit frequencies, and the law of attraction (the most powerful law governing the world), attracts what you want. It’s “scientifically proven”.

Not that I’m entirely skeptical, but I think there is an aspect to human existence that delves deeper than our desires. Something less doubtful. We all know wealth and success don’t necessarily mean happiness. But even if we reach that ultimate peak of happiness with the world and its circumstances, I know there will always be a corner that can’t be satisfied by anything terrestrial. And of course, this corner can’t be scientifically explained, which explains why you can’t just think about it hoping the thought will transform into something tangible.

So, to answer Charlie, I guess the world we create will become the world we can touch if we think about it hard enough. But let me just tell you, Charlie, that’s only 9.8% percent of the story.

“This is no Grade 13″

This woman from Western Career College came in to talk to my government class about our future. She gave us a cheap clicky pen that had a cheesy phrase (refer to title) plastered on it in a totally middle-school font. An incessant clicking parade began. Most vexatious freebie ever.

She said there were so many options for us to pursue various careers, like massage therapy or surgical technology. Then, she said she is going to talk about everything in averages since most of us will grow up to be the average person. So after pursuing our passion and our long-strived dreams, we were going to become an “average person with an average car, an average family, and an average life?” Most likely.

After that, I stopped listening and chose to exploit my unwanted ball-point pen because, well, I don’t want to be average. I want to be a somebody. Really badly.

Overwhelmed, in a good way.

If you want to make God laugh, make plans.
They will never happen.

Musicians.

July 12, 2008: Sara Bareilles (+ Raining Jane) at the Fillmore.

July 26, 2008: John Mayer (+ Brett Dennen and Colbie Caillat) at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

July 29, 2008: Jon McLaughlin (+ Jason Reeves) at the Great American Music Hall.

I have officially had the best first 3 concerts. Ever. Not only were The Fillmore and the Great American Music Hall amazingly quaint and intimate venues, but all these artists are insanely unique and worthy to be quoted. They were incredible live. Whether they sang old classics or fresh songs from their new records, my heart just stopped beating and melted away to the melody of their beautiful voices.

I can’t say which one was better than the other because they are not comparable. Each was its own, connecting to the audience in its own down-to-earth, passionate way. I mean, these are people who have an unbridled passion for making music. Their feet prance upon the piano pedal. Their sweat rains down in endless droplets onto the keyboard. Their legs make weird movements, too engrossed in the pursuit of their music to pay attention to physical appearances. Their hands become nearly invisible as they move relentlessly up and down the guitar.

Read John Mayer’s blog about Chicago. Is his selfless pursuit of music not evident enough?

It just makes me think that whatever it is we’re good at and have a passion for, we should pursue it and impact the world with what we have to give. Ambitious? Why not? As long as its earnest and we’re determined to seek it, why shouldn’t we strive for it?

Quotable worthiness:

“I would hug you all, but you are a very wide expanse of human.” – S. Bareilles.

“I was watching the last scene of Cinderella, when she leaves in the stage coach with her Prince, or whatever. And my OCD-self was like, “Where is her suitcase?” “She can’t sleep in THAT.” “And, where do they vacation? Where do you go from Never Ever Land?” “The Bahamas? Western Europe, maybe?” I mean, what happens if the Prince, you know, puts on some poundage in a couple of years. What happens when Cinderella becomes saggy, old, and unattractive. You know it’s true. These are real, daily issues! So that’s where this song came from.” – S. Bareilles. (from Nicole’s blog.)

“To all you numnuts out there, stop being numnuts!” – J. Mayer.

“Is it still considered dream cheating if halfway through the dream, the face changes?” – J. Mayer.

“You know when you dream, and you walk up to somebody and you’re like, ‘Don’t even talk to me, you have no idea what you did to me last night.’ ” – J. Mayer.

“This is a suggestion for everyone and to myself. If someone tells you they like you and you don’t like them back, don’t say ‘Let’s just be friends.’ Just tell them the truth and be honest and say ‘I don’t like you back.’ or ‘Please don’t like me.’ ” – J. Reeves.

“This is a song about monsters in the night. Sometimes they just take people away while they’re sleeping, and you don’t know why. So if have someone you love, frame them and bolt them tight because you never know when they’re going to disappear.” – J. Reeves about the song Photographs & Memories.

“Are there any high schoolers here tonight? Well, this is a song I wrote about high school. Just know that those four years aren’t everything. I mean, I loved high school and it was great, but there’s so much out there. It really doesn’t matter what you wore during high school.” – J. McLaughlin about the song Four Years.