staying in the present...

is not something i'm good at. lately i focus so much on what has happened in the past and whats going to happen in the future that im completely missing the present.

some of this is due to my personality, but a HUGE majority of it is coming from environmental influences. both my roommates have jobs, and everyone who doesn't have a job is freaking out. up until about a month ago i was not worried about not having a job, but unfortunately now i've let my environment turn me over to the dark side. ive been getting a whole lot of "omg so you have no idea where you're going to be next year?!"'s and "you better get on that"'s, and its gotten to a point where people look at me with a mix of surprise and pity. but you know what...

fuck 'em. i know ill get a kick ass job doing something i love because a) i have a very unique and well-defined skill set, b) i have both a natural inclination towards and formal academic training in innovation AND sustainability, the "hot-topics" of the decade, and c) i won't settle for anything less. im not planning on starting my job until after the summer is over because, quite frankly, i have some unfinished business in ithaca that can only become finished once all the selfish, passive-aggressive, superiority complexed cornellians that dominate the culture here leave and start making an existential mess and reaping the world for all its worth (something that in the future i will be working to clean up). i can't leave ithaca on a bad note ...i need to experience the ithaca summers, when all the good-hearted cornellians stay and the awesome townies return and everything is just peaceful and worry free...

but back to the present. the past is done and the future is uncontrollable. not to be cliche, but the present is all i have. i have access to some of the most amazing minds in the world; professors, students, homeless guys spitting thought-provoking quotes and going porch-to-porch on friday and saturday nights collecting beer cans and saving the environment. [side note: if i don't get a job, i really could just collect all the beer cans on college ave every friday and saturday night and make probably a grand a week...something to think about] i'm in a city rich with nature, local music, plays, unique businesses, its own currency and so much more i can barely wrap my head around it...

moral of the story: buddha knows his shit-

::do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment::

yo creo en colombia.

ive taken a while to write my colombia post because honestly, i don't know how to do the experience justice through words and/or pictures. no form of communication can really do justice to this amazing country, this amazing community. i think i need more time for everything to marinate but ill leave you with this:
after less than 8 days i had never felt more cared for or more a part of a community, not even in the neighborhood in good ol' yorktown where i grew up.

check

in 48 hours i will be on a plane heading toward cartagena to visit this fine-ass woman.

can i get a hell-yea?!

i just finished my last aiesec conference.


to sum up my three years: no regrets.

a much-needed mental poop.

im at a breaking point. my academic, social, aiesec, work, applying-for-jobs-to-ensure-i-can-eat-in-5-months-and-enjoy-what-i-do, and familial lives are all so saturated at this point i can barely breathe. for the past week my life has been consumed by the following:
-consoling friends (i seem to know the "right thing to say" even tho im talking out of my ass half the time),
-planning nebeast roks sessions (which are going to be baller so get excited...23 cornellians baby :)),
-drawing chairs and attempting (yet failing) to make 3d models of them from cardboard,
-making a kick-ass and never-before-seen coverletter (which is WAY harder than doing a normal coverletter...believe you me),
-going to the cornell police station (im not that badass...i just have to redesign the dispatch area for a class),
-dealing with family issues,
-getting in that "last lunch" with necessary people before graduating and never seeing them again,
-planning graduation shizzle (aka im fucked if it rains),

and all i want to do is stare at the wall and think about nothing, but unfortunately (as i have learned from my meditation class) that shit dont work with me.

ok im done venting now.

my recipe for happiness.

i am never in a bad mood after watching this.

why my major is baller.

the following is a recap of probably my favorite project completed in my four years at cornell for a class called "dancing mind/thinking heart":

assignment: create a new book concept using the method of morphological forced connection.

i chose the following categories for book characteristics: shape, material, color, size and use.

after compiling lists of choices for each category, i had my roommate randomly choose one from each category. these are the characteristics i ended up having to use in creating my new book concept:

round, wood, warm color, humanscale, advice

i brainstormed for a while, randomly sketching on abandoned scrap paper from the mann library printers, and eventually came up with this sketch below:
the concept:

::the tree of trance::

when in need of advice it is natural to crave a nice quiet place to think. on the inside this "tree of trance" acts as a book itself, giving you the advice you may need (and places to write your own as you mature) along with that secluded thinking place most needed during times of self-reflection and contemplation. on the outside this acts as book storage for you to start your collection of the stories that inspire you. it stretches the concept of "book" to a whole new dimension.

for class we had to come up with a 3d mockup to be able to give a visual and tactile dimension to the project. i made mine a scaled down model (seeing as a week is not enough time to make a humanscale mockup) out of femo, plaster and wire mesh:
now imagine if we had a room full of these full scale "trees of trance" in every university library. maybe the soul-crushing that occurs during exam time wouldn't be so taxing if you could chill out/study/converse/nap in one of these babies. it would completely change the connotation of a library into one of comfort and mental restoration.

and this is why design & environmental analysis is the shit. the end.