Dear Socrates

So I was on my way to class the other day, when I discovered this rather provocative existential conversation happening on a chalkboard in the hallway of the physics building. The next day I came back to find additional responses to the statements from yesterday. I have uploaded the pictures I took of them, and i would like to respond to them in a few ways. First I want to respond to the from that this conversation took: anonymous contributions on a public space. It's almost like a physical version of the "cloud". It speaks to me that technology doesn't shape human behavior more than behavior shapes technology. Next I want to respond to the initial statement that sparked this conversation: "The unexamined life is not worth living." It's my oppinion that unexamined life does have it's merits. There is value in learing to act naturally, not accorinding to the standars that are imposed by anayzing behavior. The second statement takes a fatalist stance, claiming that even the examined life is not worth living due to its lack of permanance. Rather than obsess of what meaning ones life has in the world as a whole, one must find meaning in his own life as an individual, and then work to make a difference in the world. The response to this on the board: "The examined life is worth living. Don't hang out in Plato's cave too long. You might forget where you are." suguests a balance analyzing life and living it. I think this sentiment is summed nicely by Mark Twain's quote: "The unexamined life may not be worth living, but the life too closely examined may not be lived at all." Live the overexamined life, and you won't see the forest for the trees, live the uneximined life, and you'll run blindly into a tree.

Happiness

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.” -Marcel Pagnol

To me, happiness is an internal emotion. And by internal, I mean, we are responsible for our own happiness. External factors can add or subtract from our happiness, but in the end, it is a state of mentality we must create and overcome within ourselves.

There are people that I constantly see searching for their happiness within other people. They look for boys and relationships to fill a void deep down; only to soon realize the only void they're filling is in their vag. They continue to remain unhappy with not only the phony relationship, but with themselves as well. You're digging a hole, deeper and deeper, burying yourself alive. It's easy to pretend like you're happy in a relationship, because afterall; you have a "special somebody" in your life, but you're only lying to yourself. A commitment like a relationship should not feel obligatory or suffocating; it's a special bond that should enhance your life and bring upon further happiness.

How can we look into someone else for happiness when you are not happy with yourself? Life is what you make of it. With every fleeting moment, we continue to age and progress through time; never will we ever be able to reverse time. Live in the moment and make everyday memorable and enjoyable. It's no use looking back on the past and desperately trying to hold on to memories. We seem to remember things how we want to remember them, not in its actuality, atop of remembering only what we want to remember. We remember the really high points, the really low moments, but forget all the insignificance in between. Funny how memories and stories change. People have stopped living in the moment and worry about the future. Chasing tomorrow, forgetting today; forcing the everyday to become mundane and insignificant. Take a breath, pause and enjoy every moment. There's no rush to get to tomorrow.

So, to me, happiness is enjoying every moment of life. Being happy with who you are and where you are in that moment. If you can't enjoy your life on your own, what makes you think someone else can make you happy? Or what makes you believe that you will find happiness in your future?

Red Hook Design Museum.

I went to Red Hook Design Museum last weekend. Yes, I went to IKEA. IKEA is not only a furniture store, it is also a great place to experience Swedish design. I am not that interested in furniture design but this place was fascinating. I liked the simplicity of northern European design. I recommend anyone to come to this place to learn about Swedish design.

Dan Gulino #7 Family History

Pictured above are my mom's parents, Edward and Frances Reinold, newly married in the mid 1950's. Edward (my grandfather) was eleven years older than his new wife Frances (my grandmother). They moved into a small three room apartment together in the Bronx, on Castle Hill. Roughly 5 years later my mother, Margaret was born. Although my grandfather Edward had a decent city job fixing elevators, he never moved his family out of this three room apartment.
I believe my grandfather never moved his family out of this small living environment due to his days growing up during the great depression. His mentality was that his family was fed, housed, and safe, which was a great standing for any family during the time he grew up. However, I feel that being so deprived of the many privileges many people enjoy (including myself) shaped her to be the appreciative woman she is today.

Procrastination zzzzzz....

Too difficult to restrain myself in the face of work and projects to not procrastinate. If procrastination was a disease I'd say it's a positive for me. It's something that can't be prevented and pretty much spreads onto many others as well. The cause of it? I would like to say one's laziness but rather I feel that I have Attention Deficit Disorder or something. Perhaps there's just way too many interesting things in the media that I can't seem get my interest away from.

I remember I had a 7 page essay to do and I managed to pull it off in one night after procrastinating for 4 nights. Sites like facebook and youtube or the cloud as we call it perhaps needs to purged for one day so I can concentrate on my work. Whenever I write an essay I visit facebook or youtube every 10 minutes. When I'm on youtube I watch a video and end up opening related videos as well thus taking up 1-2 hours. Sometimes I even end up gaming after feeling the need to take a break from only writing 1-2 paragraphs.

Although I realize I shouldn't be procrastinating it seems it is something I can't fend away from. To actually find a comfort zone to do your work is a difficult task but to ignore all the wonderful luxuries provided by the media that one can easily access is an even harder. I feel that there is no way to stop procrastinating and although students procrastinate I feel that perhaps teachers are no different.

Nintendo 3ds

I don't know if you guys have heard of it yet but Nintendo is coming out with a new hand-held called the 3ds. Nintendo is famous for is gaming consoles such gameboy but nowadays with the technology at hand Nintendo is creating an even more extraordinary product. If you guys haven't seen the previews for it already WATCH IT NOW!! Whats so unique about this new DS? The displays are all 3 dimensional and you don't even need glasses to experience it. It is due out on March 27th, 2011 in the United States and will be revolutionary in the gaming industry today. It will cost a bone-crunching 250 bucks that will put a dent in any college student's wallet so don't buy it just ask for it as a gift from the parents, or unless you have a sugar daddy/momma.
Some of the features include an activity log, which tracks both game play and physical activity, counting every step you've taken while carrying the 3ds. It will even include a messaging service with Wifi already built in. It can even play 3D movies, but most importantly games!! Here's a link for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83GoGHBkdyg

smartphones

There are lots of contrasting things in society that are not as apparent as ones such as old vs young. One of the most prominent binaries that exist in society is the classic iphone vs blackberry debate (classic in the sense that this debate seems like it has been going on forever but in reality it is a relatively new debate stemming from the past several years).

I think that this binary is actually pretty symbolic and does a good job of representing people in society. This may be stereotypical to assume that a phone can represent someone but this is the reality that we live in today. The reason that I would classify this iphone vs blackberry debate as a binary is because these 2 smartphone categories are actually very different from each other. On the one hand, blackberry smartphones are usually representative of a business like approach. They are usually for people who require a device for more organizational uses, emails and communication. On the contrary, iphones are usually classified for people who are more taking life as it comes at you, rather than being overly prepared. I know that this is probably a stereotype that is not always true, but it is something that goes on in society. This stereotype is getting narrower in narrower because these phones are becoming more prevalent in society, thus appealing to a wider audience.