The Rum Diary

I just finished reading the book The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. It was a pretty decent book and I think they're making it into a movie starring Johnny Depp soon. I wanted to share the last couple of paragraphs of the book with you:

"He leaned back and said nothing. It was almost dawn, but Nelson Otto was still lingering at his piano. The song was "Laura" and the sad notes floated out to the patio and hung in the trees like birds too tired to fly. It was a hot night, with almost no breeze, but I was feeling cold sweat in my hair. For lack of anything better to do, I studied a cigarette burn in the sleeve of my blue oxford-cloth shirt... Down on the waterfront I could hear the slow clang of a ship's bell as it eased against the pier, and somewhere in the city a motorcycle roared through the narrow streets, sending its echo up the hill to Calle O'Leary. Voices rose and fell in the house next door and the raucous sound of a jukebox came from a bar down the street. Sounds of a San Juan night, drifting across the city through layers of humid air; sounds of life and movement, people getting ready and people giving up, the sound of hope and the sound of hanging on, and behind them all, the quiet, deadly ticking of a thousand hungry clocks, the lonely sound of time passing in the long Caribbean night."

For some reason these words really hit me. I just felt like I was there sitting with them, sipping on rum and looking out into the blue, empty ocean. But then again it has a sense of hopelessness. Wasted time and youth. Maybe I just need a vacation..?

Citizen Journalism

Everyone knows that the media controls everything. It is the most influential source of information for people. Unfortunately, it is very rare to find a source that is completely unbiased. It is also rare to find a source that gives you all of the facts, not just the ones that they feel it is safe for the public to know. Citizen journalism gives people the opportunity to report the cold, hard truth to people at a more personal level.

Blogging gives citizen journalism the opportunity to reach out to more people in a more discrete way. By posting blogs and using the internet in general, you can conceal your identity which protects your family and most importantly, you, from any danger that people who don't agree with what you're writing and the government from causing you harm. Blogging also enables the citizen journalist to post images, videos, and to reach out to other citizen journalists who might share the same interests.

A well-known citizen journalist is Yoani Sanchez. She takes full advantage of the ability to blog. She reaches out to thousands of people inside and outside of Cuba and reports the things that are really going on in her country. The great thing about her blog is that she is very blunt. She states her opinion and isn't afraid of writing it even though the government knows very well who she is and where she lives. She reports the things that the government-run newspapers would never write about. As great as this is, it is also very dangerous. Because she chose not to remain anonymous, she made it possible for people to know exactly who she is and is open to any violence from people who disagree with her.

Because citizen journalists generally report on things that the newspapers don't, it is hard to rely on them. The "facts" might be embellished or sometimes even completely false. Because blogs are put on the internet, it is hard to say whether they really happened or if there is any validity in them. For example, there is no way you can tell that Yoani Sanchez's blog is completely exaggerated or even totally made up. It's really up to the reader to decide whether they want to believe in it.

Just shoot me.

I absolutely HATE group projects. Last Wednesday, I got sick due to this bipolar weather and missed class. Apparently, my professor assigned a group PAPER?!

I had to do a 30 minute presentation with my group in the beginning of November. The project was assigned the first week of classes so we had like two months to do it. Around the beginning/middle of October, I sent out an e-mail to all the members of my group and didn't get a response until the end of October and only ONE person responded. There were four members.. I didn't meet the other two girls until literally the minute before our presentation. Basically, it didn't turn out so great.. but luckily, the professor had only good things to say about my portion of the presentation (which was a surprise cause I SUCK at public speaking.)

So now.. I have to write a PAPER with these people? I sent out an e-mail to everyone as soon as I found out we had to write it and again, the same one girl responded.. but that was on Wednesday.. and now it's Monday and still no response (we have until Dec. 9th). WHY ME?!

Would it be wrong to ask the professor if I can write the paper myself? I don't want these people to bring down my grade... and NO I'm not talking smack about the group members... I'm just frustrated with school and this cold. Blah..?

I just realized how annoying/whiny I sound (or... seem?).. OH WELL

These streets will make you feel brand new.

I've always wanted what people would call the "American dream". Yeah, the white picket fence, big backyard in the suburbs, etc. etc. But on Thursday night (and I realized this Thursday in class actually) this idea changed.

Thursday night- I went out. Had a couple of drinks, good times, good times.. I dropped off my friend at her house and then after this, I usually pay the 9 dollars for a cab from West 4th to my house. But that night, I felt different. It was a nice, quiet night and I was feeling good. I decided to walk.

As I was walking at 5 in the morning, the streets were completely empty and the sky was a dark, dark gray with no moon in sight. The only lights I saw were in the windows of the office buildings I passed. I just walked. I kept telling myself that I'm going to grab the next cab I see but that never happened. As I kept walking further downtown, I encountered a few street vendors who screamed "Good morning" as they were setting up. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of my building. I don't know how long it took me to walk the 3 or so miles, but I did it.

Okay, yeah- I know some people might say that this was dangerous or whatever but I somehow felt safe. I felt like I knew the streets and they knew me and I felt protected. Where else in the world can you feel like this?

So in other words, yeah I could have just spent the 9 bucks for the cab and called it a night but I realized something.. I love the city. I never want to leave it and I'm glad I didn't leave to some university in carajoland for the "college experience". This is my home and I'm not going anywhere.

Conquering the world

I was supposed to write about the amazing Picadillo I was going to make on Friday but sorry, not gonna happen. I got lazy and ended up ordering some mediocre pizza. Anyway- exciting news: I'm going to Ecuador from January 12 till February 1st. Why? Because I can. No, but seriously- my boyfriend is Ecuadorian and has family down there that he hasn't seen in a while so we decided that since we both are unemployed (woopdy-doo) and have nothing better to do then we should take advantage of the free time. I'm really excited to explore some amazing places and meet some amazing people.

I want to see the whole world before I die. I know it's a pretty crazy goal but I'm going to make it happen. After I graduate (Dec 2010), I'm planning on backpacking across Europe. Now all I need to do is feed my piggy bank...

To begin..

I'd consider myself a pretty private person so my intentions for this blog are not to overwhelm you with random, uninteresting facts about me. I guess I'll start by saying that I'm a psychology major studying in a business school. It didn't start off that way, though. I wanted to study international business simply because it sounded "smart". I live on the dull streets of the Financial District. I say dull because everything is completely deserted after 6 pm; restaurants, stores, office buildings, and streets. But the streets pick up again after 10 pm with drunken NYU and Pace students and business people having extramarital affairs. I guess this all sounds pessimistic but I'm an optimist at heart, I swear. (That was a random, uninteresting fact about me in case no one noticed.)