Collect Experiences. Not Things. :')
Blog Highlights
February 29, 2008
My "Rosebud"?
The first book, "My Side of the Mountain", is a story about a young nature-loving boy who runs away from his home in the city to the Catskill Mountains to live off the land. His moutain home was a hollowed-out tree and his hunting partner a young peregrine falcon. My uninhibited youthful imagination was engulfed by this story, when my fourth grade teacher read this book outloud to the class. I wanted to be that kid. I wanted to run away from home and live off the land. The book precipitated endless hours of playing in the woods, making wigwam frames and animal snares, exploring nature, wading through streams, catching tadpole and minnows, identifying plant and animal tracks, and countless overnight camping trips. I’ve thought about this book many times since fourth grade. It spoke to my sense of adventure.
Another book that I became obsessed in my youth, or rather book series of books, was the "Foxfire" Book Series. The series documented the lore of the Smokey Mountain sand Appalachian culture. I spent hours reading and fantasizing about homesteading, building log cabins, snake lore, faith healing, moonshine, basket weaving, quilting, ghost stories, wild plants, and so on. Most of the lessons to be learned from these books are transcribed from monologues and stories told by old-timers to preserved their methods and living style for future generations. When I was introduced to the books years ago, they continued to fuel my nascent, youthful desire to my live off the land. While exploring in the woods, I started searching for edible plants, roots, nuts and berries (e.g. sassafras root, violets, acorns, hickory nut, walnuts, raspberries, black berries, etc.).
A third book that gripped my imagination was "One Acre & Security: How to Live off the Land without Ruining It", a forerunner in the back-to-earth movement. After skimming the book’s pages, my scheming and plotting shifted from the woods to living self-sufficiently off a hypothetical acre of land. The book provided the “how to” details to plant and maintain a vegetable garden and fruit trees, and raise small scale livestock. Instead of living in hollowed-out tree in the woods, I was going to be a homesteader. Not much more realistic, it wasn’t all fiction, either. I started gardening, canning and freezing the produce. My small scale livestock enterprise eventually comprised of a hundred chickens, a steer and a couple of piglets. To complete the "daydream", I learned how to bake bread from scratch.
The naive magic of my childhood.
February 28, 2008
Bush says U.S. is not headed for recession
As for the economy, in the short-run, it may or may not sink into a recession, and if it does, it will be short. Personally, I don’t believe that the housing slump and credit crisis is as bad as the news media portrays it. Nevertheless, is seems like the financial institutions and the administration has convinced the news media and Fed that the crisis is epic. Their motive seems to be straight forward, to get the fed to lower interest rates and in turn, reduce mortgage losses. And the fed has conceded and done so, hopefully avoiding a imminent recession or making it as benign as possible, the real recession is about a year or two away.
The rub is that the Fed has lowered interest rates in an environment of raising inflation. This deviates from the fed’s price stabilization policy followed religiously under Greenspan. Why? I'm not sure. Possibly Bernanke doesn't have the political clout to resist pressure from the financial institutions and administration.
Nevertheless, it seems plausible that by cutting interest rates the Fed can bypass an imminent recession, by mitigating the severity of the housing slump and credit crisis, but it seems to be only a temporary fix. The lower interest rates (i.e. easy money policy) will continue to fuel the already rising rate of inflation. Eventually, the Fed will have to resort back to price stabilization polices, which should be their primary objective anyway, and get inflation back under control by increasing interest rates again. Remember back in the early 80’s when Volker’s (previous fed chief) in an effort to get inflation under control tighten the money supply so rapidly that interest rates rocketed to 20% levels, which pushed the economy into the a 16 month recession from July 1981-Nov 1982? It’s the late 70’s stagflation all over again: high gas prices, stalled economic growth and rising inflation. A recession most likely will follow.
Winners: The Bush Administration, sub-prime borrowers/home owners, and financial institutions that invested in the sub-prime mortgage (their mortgage losses will be minimized).
Losers: The Obama Administration and the remainder of the public. The Bush Administration and Fed are delaying the recession into the next administration.
This means, the Obama administration, and the Fed serving him, will most likely have to tighten the money supply immediately upon entering office and get inflation under control quickly and get the economy growing again. Obama will be up for election again in 2012. A further delayed recession could affect his re-election.
Dança do Créu Is The New Macarena?
Whitney Houston
New Regiment
February 26, 2008
"African-American" or "American of African Descent"?
Update: A recent Op-Ed NYT article proposes: "It’s time to retire the term African-American and go back to black."
February 19, 2008
Newark Goes 33 Days Without A Murder
Newark marked its 33rd day Friday without an official homicide, a startling fact for a city that has averaged about two killings a week over the last few years and saw homicides spike 50 percent from 2002 to 2006."
It's a little disconcerting that this is actually NEWS. But I don't think the news is going have a run on rents in the neighborhood, not imminently.
February 17, 2008
Which book am I? The book quiz says...
You're Siddhartha!
by Hermann Hesse
You simply don't know what to believe, but you're willing to try anything once. Western values, Eastern values, hedonism and minimalism, you've spent some time in every camp. But you still don't have any idea what camp you belong in. This makes you an individualist of the highest order, but also really tired and lonely. It's time to chill out under a tree. And realize that at least you believe in fairies.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Prophetic or just coincidental, once upon a time I did believe in fairies, but I've lost touch with them. Similarly, I've read and reflected on ALL of Herman Hesse's books, including Siddhartha. And I'm exhausted by wandering, both literally and figuratively. Someday, I believe, I'll believe in fairies again. I hope.
And while I am, and probably will always be, addicted to wandering, especially the romanticism aspect of it. I need to slow it down a bit.
February 16, 2008
February 10, 2008
What’s next?
• Why am I wasting my time writing screenplays? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not a good writer. I don’t particularly like writing. I HATE re-writing and proofreading. I have no attention for detail. I know all of these things, yet I choose to ignore them. Yes, it's all about denial. It’s worked in the past when pursing education and employment opportunities that I wasn’t the most qualified or didn’t have requisite experience, but forged ahead anyway. Then again, without denial, I probably would not have pursued such opportunities, or pursued more realistically opportunities. Maybe it isn’t such a bad thing.
• I’m also starting to get bored with what I’m writing. Maybe it’s just the cold weather. I don't know. I hope spring brings with it some enthusiasm and will help motivate me. Spring generally has this affect on me. Or maybe what I’m writing is just boring? It's always a possibility.
• My current goal is to re-work the two screenplays that I’ve completed and subsequently received feedback from two professional script analysts via the Slamdance’s Coverage Service. For the most part, the feedback was very constructive and beneficial. My only complain is that they’ve failed to see the underlying genius within my screenplays, but I not going to hold it against them. Genius is often difficult to identify, anyway. After re-work these two screenplays and finishing a third, I’m going to submit all three of them to Slamdance’s Feature Screenplay Contest by the first of June, then wait for the results, and then decide what the next move will be.
• During the summer, I’ve contemplating taking an intensive, six week Editing class at NYU. I already own the Final Cut-Pro software, but never used it. But why do I need a class? I can just read the manual or complete the online tutorial. Why pay $5000 for a class? I’m not sure. I was hoping the class might provide access to other filmmakers, albeit most of them will probably be a lot younger than I am. I suspect a lot of undergrads will enroll in the class, being summer and all. Then again, I don’t have air conditioning in my apartment and I’m sure the school does. I’m going to hold off on a final decision. Global warming my play a factor in this decision.
• I was considering signing-up for a Story Analysis for Producers class during the current Spring Semester. Then I recalled the classes I took two years ago, which were very similar. They were mostly comprised of non-matriculating students. Non-matriculating students have a wide-range of intellectual levels, but heavily populated on the clueless end of the spectrum. The discussions in the classes were dull and did I learn much. I decided against enrolling in the class.
• Instead, I decided should volunteer my services to a filmmaker and gain some practical filmmaking experience. There are various internet sites where filmmakers post help wanted requests. The problem again, however, most of these filmmakers are young just learning the craft themselves. I’m not sure I’d learn enough from them to justify my time and effort. What I’d really like is an intern with an established film producer. I’m starting to realize a greater interested in producing, than say cinematography or screenwriter. Then again, I have nothing to base that statement on either. It’s pure conjecture. Okay, I decided when I finish the three scripts and submit them to the Slamdance Contest, I’ll make an effort to look for a film producing internship. This is something I will most likely do, maybe.
• Then again maybe become filmmaker is just a hopeless pipedream and I should be searching for gainful employment elsewhere, say in the field of data analysis. There seems to be a plethora of jobs in this field and expanding daily. I could seek employment with a web advertising/marketing/monitoring firm in NYC. Current, on-line web advertising is about $40 billion per year and it’s expected to grow to $80 billion by 2012. Salaries seems reasonable with a lot of upside. I’ve always enjoyed working with data and statistics and building predictive econometric models. The downside to this plan, however, is that I’ve have to get up in the morning, go to work, do work, report to a boss, finish my work, return home at the end of the day and do it again the next day. I'm not sure this is such a good plan.
• Maybe, if I can’t an overachiever (e.g. an entertaining, yet thought provoking, award-winning, east-coast filmmaker), I should just thrive to be an underachiever and become something like, say a nurse. Nurses help people which is a good thing. And generally they seem to be thoughtful, caring and nurturing people themselves. But, on the other hand, they work with sick people and I’ve never really worked with sick people before, I'm not sure I want to work with sick people. Plus, I’d have to go back to school. I have no desire to go back to school.
• Okay, I’m exhausted and it's only 11 AM. If it wasn’t 11 AM, I’d make a large vodka martini, straight-up with olives. Hopefully, the mail will arrive soon with a new Netflix DVD.
February 09, 2008
Scanner Works
Playing with the scanner. Procrastinating. Looking for an excuse not to write. In the photo second to the bottom, I'm furthest on the left.
A Toilet Diary
Update: Countries I've Visited (kinda)
If I traveled to Russia and Greenland this would be an accurate portrayal of all the counties I've ever visited. Without ticking off Russia and Greenland, the map wasn't really all that impressive, so I've included them. It's my blog.
MisAdventures
The following summer, still meandering, I cycled across the U.S. from West to East with bike4peace.org and then visited Poland with my father. His parent emigrated from there post-WW1 and never returned.
The spring of 2007 inspired another cycling trip from South to North along the Underground Railroad Route. The logic being why not, I already owned the bike and the gear.
During the fall of 2007, I escaped to South America for four months, visiting: Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
Now I'm back in NJ. Doing what? As Joseph Cambell would say "I'm following my bliss". I'm TRYING to be a screenwriter/filmmaker. What does that mean, exactly?... In a year or so, I'll be looking for a job in Financial Modeling again!
2009 included a Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Garden Trip to Cuba. A goal of mine was to visit Cuba before Castro died and I achieved it.
2010 I visited my final continent, Antarctica, along with a trip to Russia with my nephew.
In early 2010 the BLISS was almost over, as I set out to find a real job once again. Actually, I started looking forward to some structure back in my life (aka like a "normal" person, but perhaps not that normal).
In 2011, I traveled to Iceland to scuba dive, and to Norway, Greenland and Iceland (again) aboard a Arctic Cruise and one additional scuba trip to Belize.
In 2012 while still working full time I squeezed in dog sledding trip to Ontario, Canada, a scuba diving trip to Palau, Thanksgiving in Florida and a climb/hike up Mt. Aconcagua, plus a side trip to Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
Working full-time limited my adventure time. Only 3 trips in 2013: a trip to Japan, the Red Sea specifically to dive, and Spain with my niece.
2014 included trips to Paris, Central America and scuba diving off of Socorros Islands, Mexico and numerous weekend trips to Ivy Universities.
2016 included a trip to Paraguay and Uruguay, a weekend in Nashville; a Maine Summer Trip; mountain climbing/hiking up Mt.Elbrus in Russia; Great White Shark Cage Diving, Guadalupe, Mexico; Thanksgiving in the Pacific Northwest and a trip to Jackson Pollock's studio. 2016 also included a helicopter flying lesson, sky diving, a Mary J. Blige concert, and Rihanna concert.
2017 will be the start of a two years travel adventure, starting with Southern Tier Cross Country Cycling, Eastern Europe, Sailing the Greek Islands, Mongolia, Silk Route, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Middle East, UK, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and a Trans Africa Trip, which will continue until July 2018.
The Trans Africa Trip finished early August 2018, afterward I returned to the USA, then headed to my friend's Alfred's wedding in Nairobi, Comoros, Djibouti, South Sudan, Silk Road (Western China), South Korea, Toga to swim with the humpback mommy whales and their babies, South Pacific, Singapore, Myanmar, cycling in Vietnam, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste (for Xmas), Bali (for New Year).
2019 starts out with trips to Borneo, Brunei, New Zealand, Iraq Cyprus, Malta, Libya, Tunisia, 4 Small European Countries, Algeria, Cabo Verde, Somalia, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mauritius, Afghanistan, Seychelles, DRC, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Palestine, Yemen, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tomé & Príncipe, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Trinidad & Tebogo, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Columbia.
2020 started out strong, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Mali, Burkina Faso, Maldives, Chad, Central African Republic, Niger then COVID HIT!!! New Jersey and Connecticut!
2021first trip during COVID was to Yemen, Mexico City, Isle de Mujeres, Idaho, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia.
2022 starts with back to Africa - South Sudan, Timbuktu, Liberia - then Philippines were I finally caught COVID, next Spain Degustation "Foodie" Tour, hopefully Venezuela and Jamaica.
Adventure plans for 2023, swimming with Sperm Whales in Dominica, the back to back trips to Haiti and Dominica Republic.
Other highlights of this blog include: Toilet Diary ; Seven Wonders of the World; my other interests Art, Horticulture, Broadway Shows, Aquariums and Scuba Trips; highlights of family and friends Undergrad Friends, DC Friends, Reine Family, and hanging with T'Shawn.