Nina vs The World

Everything comes to an end. That's something life teaches us. From the best vacations, to the worst relationships, however interminable things may seem, they always end . And ends aren't always bad. Sometimes the end is jagged and sudden, jarring like a collision of two powerful forces. And sure, the connotation is usually linked with weepy goodbyes, hard feelings, bad blood, tension or just general sadness. But it doesn't always have to be that way, because.. Sometimes the end is subtle, parting away slowly and imperceptibly, like a younger age being replaced by a new one. And beyond that, there are also the pivotal moments in which we determine the "end". After all, there is no new beginning if something else doesn't yield its place. Fresh starts, new chapters- they never coexist with the past. This week is one of these "ends" for me. My last week sitting at this desk, staring at this screen, plugging away hour after hour with intermitten...

As most of you must have heard by now, Apple unveiled two new iPhones of sleek design and beauty on September 9 th . The phones have checked off some of the biggest complaints from current iPhone users and jeering Android users, whom are always close by to remind us they’ve had these features for years. (Thanks for all the free beta-testing, btw) And while it is true that Apple has included features that Android has had for a few years, the opposite is also true. Regardless of your phone preference, my purpose is not to bash Android, or Blackberry, or Microsoft or any other phone maker. I feel every phone and ecosystem has its own perks. I am perfectly happy with my Apple devices, and chose to continue the legacy with another addition to the family. With these latest models, came not only larger displays, but the ability to use NFC for payments, much better cameras, and overall- a better phone. Yours truly had been holding on to her faithful (now primitive and dwarf) iPhone 4S...

I'm quite sure everyone can relate when I say there have been some great pieces of advice I have been given that I wish I had taken. From saving money starting young, to fighting for something that may have been worth it, life is riddled with coulda, woulda, shouldas.. It strikes me as a phenomena that even though we can recognize at face value that the advice we receive is timely and appropriate, and sufficient conclusive evidence exists to support it, we may very well decide to do the wrong thing anyway. Then we suffer through it, build up our own awesome advice book, and try to convince a younger generation. So what's the root cause of this situation? I can only speak from personal experience of course. When my parents first told me not to open up credit cards and max them out, I nearly laughed. Of course I wouldn't do that. Wouldn't that be foolish of me? Yet here we are two years later and I'm throwing money every which way at those sharks to zero them out....

Every four years, the world stops for me. Well, in actuality, I just stop caring about the triviality of day to day even less than I usually do, and focus my attention and energy on the international, thrilling, unpredictable World Cup Games. Brazil 2014 has already given us some major surprises, which is in part why I love soccer so much. You can have the world's most renowned players, experience by the boatloads, but that does not guarantee you a win. Spain, World Cup 2010's winners, were witness to this as they were pelted 5-1 in their first match against the Netherlands. Yours truly was never expecting the upset between Uruguay and Costa Rica, the latter beating long-time South American favorite in a 3-1 final score. Yet, with two goals scored in four minutes, it was clear who was going home the winner that night. Portugal stood defeated and awe-struck in a national spanking of 4-0 against Germany. Even US, against rival Ghana, waged an intense battle on the field tha...

We recently watched this video at work.. part of an all-encompassing positive change to the company. At first glance, I thought the video would entail some sort of problem-solving or dealing techniques, a way to cope with life's pesky little problems. Instead, it was an hour long interesting discussion on how your brain is powerful and dumb, at the same time. That in a way, you can "trick" yourself to be happy and in doing so, become healthier, happier and more successful. And it all boiled down to the philosophy that happiness is a choice, and one we must make every morning. I listened intrigued, to the research that this Harvard graduate had combed over from years of observation and studying, finding what happy people have in common and how this relates to their health. And from that, he narrowed happiness down to five key factors; five habits that breed positive outlooks which in turn equate happiness. I couldn't help but smirk when he went through all five...

Well, I wish I had a more cheerful topic to ramble about as my first belated post of the year; but given as the weather has been anything but normal and the level of craziness has skyrocketed in my universe lately, you get what you get, and you probably will get upset. I've been contemplating a lot lately; (I always do when the world around me ceases to be a place of amazement and wonder) drawing inwardly to reflect on life again and the crazy paths it takes us on, willing or not. I wonder to myself: What if aging is just a disposition of the mind? It seems the older we get, the more negative our outlook becomes, and the grimmer reality becomes. If we boil down aging to its nitty gritty: I truly believe we'd find pessimism and dissatisfaction in its basic form. When we are children, most of us share a delusion of the world being bright and inviting; our "oyster" per se. As we grow older and run into concrete wall obstacles that are belittling and unrelenting; ou...