Nina vs The World

There's a recurring theme in my classwork this semester that covers ground of whom we look up to, or down upon, for that matter, and whom takes up that middle chunk of not being wholly good or entirely bad, either. Heroes - the selfless amazing individuals that are loving, self sacrificing, humble and also non existent. Villains - the bad but irresistibly cool wardrobed person with bad habits and bad company. Vigilante - the dude who thinks it's okay to kill 1,000 people, as long as you save that one bratty child with the dopey looking eyes. Ahem.. so here's my $0.02. The vision people have of heroes have become so warped and the title used so liberally that everyone from Lady Gaga to your Mailman is in some form, a hero. And hey, we all want to aspire to be good people with good rapport, yes- I'm with you there. But where do we draw the line, people?! If we keep this up, in five years the President and Congress will be considered heroes! I'm going to focus ...

I know, I know, before you go klonking me on the head with the 5 Freedoms, I'm fully aware that the government allows the right to Assembly in a nonviolent manner. But you know what bucky? It also states this fun little right called the Overused and Abused "Freedom of Speech", so put a sock in it. Here's my protest against protesters : After hundreds and hundreds of pointless marches and walks down avenues holding catchy rhyming signs.. doesn't the purpose get lost in translation? And what objective does protesting have anyway, besides creating fantastic traffic blockage and making driving a horrible nuisance? Pardon my rain on your parade, but there's gotta be a better way to stick it to the man. Let's take this past weekend's protest on the Manhattan bridge. Did this protest impact me? Sure it did, as a commuting vehicle, the bridge was blocked the moment we were about to go on. Was it a positive impact? No, it was misery to drive in heavy traf...

Exactly a year ago, my passion for writing spilled over into blogging, and I (somewhat) formally began to organize ideas, rants and opinions into articles and posts. I was a lot more constant then than I was now, and for fear of churning out mediocre or repetitive posts, my sequence of blogging has constantly changed. But after a year of tries and fails, I finally have 37 likes on facebook! I started a year ago at zero, then five months later at 13, and then stagnant at 21 for some time, and finally now inching close to 40. What Have I Learned?  You have to want to blog for the right reasons. And what are the right reasons? Well that depends on your values. For some, it's entertainment, a writing exercise, or simply to make extra cash. For me, it's to practice writing, have an outlet to the ideas that sometimes become constipated in my mind, and to entertain my readers. If you don't have the right reasons to motivate your writing, you'll be out of gas soon. What...

There's not much that hasn't already been said about that dreadful Tuesday. Although the attack that changed history physically affected one city, the ripple effects are still tangible internationally. When going through heightened security measures, or seeing signs on public transport about suspicious activity, our mind immediately reels back to that Tuesday of September 11, 2001. Some Things Will Never Be The Same No matter how deep the wound, human beings strive to move on, to keep going forward despite the suffering inside. But sometimes the scars left behind redirect our lives in a way that will never be the same. Some people fell into a depression that they were never able to come out of, while others dramatically reshaped their lives for the positive. But every time we hear "Ground Zero" or drive by New York city, it's hard to pass up that void the twin towers left behind. Lessons Learned "It doesn't affect me" "It's not my lif...

Given the set up for this next post by spilling my guts out in the past one, I'd like to continue the train of thought by explaining what my following steps will be. In the past, (the last 8 months) I wanted to sell shirts and merchandise related to my doodles, and maybe in the future, I will. But now my career is taking a more serious turn in life. That's right- starting a business. I think I knew from a young age I was bound to be an entrepreneur at some point. My brother and I have always kicked back ideas of the best start-up business we could think of. My dad, whom ran his own successful window installation business for quite some time before moving to this country, always has it in him to see the business in every project. For me it began simple. In first grade, I was drawing watches on notebook paper with catchy designs and colorful straps. I would then cut out these paper watches, and sold them for a penny a pop. Not much profit, to say the least, but for a 7 year o...

It was three months ago as I sat preparing marketing content, researching the oil industry and finding innovative new ways to convince people natural gas is better, that I came along a quantum revelation . Of the personal kind. And in my life, which has proven to be anti-climactic since day one, quantum revelations don't come along as often as they should. But I finally realized what it takes other people years to find out: What I wanted to do as a career. Yes, I've always had a knack for writing, and I'm very people-oriented. It's the reason why ( all modesty aside ) the Design Print Ship center I worked at for Office Depot was number one in the district for customer service time and again. I helped customers who were stumped create attractive, yet simple business cards. I learn a thing or two about Photoshop. I even learned how to put up with prissy people that only wanted someone to argue with. And with those life lessons in my pocket, I feel inclined to say, I s...