A Mumbled Jumble of Thoughts about the Week...

Here is a collection of random thoughts that have crossed my mind so far this week:


1) All the Christmas songs playing on the radio make me feel nostalgic... and it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But whatever... Advent starts on November 30th. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

2) MoMA

• Priscilla and I went there last Wednesday to fulfill the "In a New York Minute" assignment for FYSH (First Year Seminar @ Hunter), which required us to visit a place of interest and write about the experience.
  
  There were some fascinating exhibits, but there were also some that didn't really make sense to us. For one thing, some of the so-called artwork featured a virtually blank canvas and dubbed "Untitled." Another so-called piece of art was composed of a tall pink slab leaning against the white wall. How are we supposed to interpret any of these? These were just way too ambiguous.
  
  One artist, however, captured my attention. Josephine Meckseper made social commentaries using her photography and mixed-medium installations to "cunningly expose the links between politics and the consumer worlds of fashion and advertising" (http://www.moma.org/). My favorite piece is called "Kriegsstrasse," a mixed-medium shown here:
  
  The piece is separated into three parts: a clear mirror with a picture of protesters and political symbols, an opaque reflective surface with bathroom products, and a clear mirror with another photo of protesters.
  
  I like to think of it as a newsreel. Imagine yourself watching the news on television, seeing the world objectively at all angles. Then, a commercial break: you cannot focus anywhere else but on the advertised products and subconsciously envision yourself possessing that product. After a few minutes, the news comes back on, with more stories of the real world. Apparently, consumerism is a dark void that employs subtle suggestion to suck you into it. Or at least, that's my understanding of Meckseper's "Kriegsstrasse."

3) Last Thursday in Union Square: Liliana, Priscilla, and I cannot do mental math.

• Lily wanted to buy rice cakes for her family, so we went into Whole Foods. I wondered how much she would save if she still had her employee discount, and so I asked her while we were standing on line for the cashier.
  
  "Well, I used to get 20 percent off my purchases," she said. "Let's see... Priscilla, you take math, right? What's 20 percent of 3 dollars??"
  
  Pris didn't even bother. Meanwhile, Lily and I were standing there writing invisible numbers in the air with our fingers, stretching the muscle in our brains responsible for performing mental math. The seconds stretched on.
  
  Until someone next to us whispered, "6..."
  
  "OH," we all said, feeling stupid that we were stumped by such a simple calculation.
  
  And let me tell you, the voice belonged to a tall, attractive man with a suave, friendly smile on his lovely face. Of course, this just made all three of us blush and feel even more abashed. Were we that obvious in our quest to find the correct answer to our mathematical query? It makes me laugh and wonder at how people can eavesdrop on a conversation you're having with someone.
  
  Not that I minded Number 6 offering a helpful hint. Hehe.
  
  It's also a coincidence that we happened to see him on the L train on our way home, too. I don't think he saw us gawking awkwardly at him. The funny thing was that once we were on the train, we realized that 20 percent of 3 dollars is not 6 cents, but rather 60 cents. Looks like Number 6 was incorrect in his calculations... unless he was giving us a hint that it was in fact 60. Was he?
  
  Like it really matters. Oh well. Anyway, the whole thing was yet another hilarious experience that I just had to chronicle.

4) Yesterday:

• It was really nice seeing Amy and spending the day with her, since the last time we saw each other was in June. Amy, Pris, and I played "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" on her iTouch during Psych. She pretty much slept through the rest of the period, hehe. I tried paying attention but the lecture was kind of long and boring. But anyway, after class we met up with Lily, went to Applebee's in Times Square, and caught up with each other. We walked to Bryant Park soon after so that Lily could buy the hat she's had her eye on at H&M.
  
  It sounds absurd, but we were really excited to use the restrooms at Bryant Park right before heading for the subway. Once you walk in there, you feel as though you are transported to a lavish lavatory, as swanky and updated as a five-star hotel.

5) I started another draft for a story, redefining and reshaping the traditional ideas people have about vampires. Still have to work out the kinks, though. Not spilling the details just yet. For some unknown reason, I have the urge to use the word "iridescent" in my draft. ;)


6) Just today, I bought my own copy of Juno Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I probably should have bought a used copy online at Amazon.com, but I couldn't resist and instead walked into Barnes & Noble after philosophy. As soon as I was on the train, I cracked the fresh pages open and began to read. According to the back cover, it's the story of a man named Oscar, "a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love." But Oscar never really gets what he wants out of life. The cause? "Fuku - a curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States and back again." I finished the introduction and just started the first chapter of Part I. So far, the story looks promising. Diaz even offers sidenotes about Dominican history and customs throughout the book, so I feel like I'm being educated as well as entertained. The next time he comes to Hunter for a lecture or at a Barnes & Noble for a book talk, I'm definitely going to try to get it autographed.

7) Finally, last on my list of mumbo jumbo thoughts: Did you know that saying "Thank You" has it's health benefits? Jason Mraz basically quoted an article from USA Today entitled, "Gratitude is Good for Your Health."

Read it here:
http://freshnessfactorfivethousand.blogspot.com/2008/11/gratitude-is-good-for-your-health.html

Just something to keep in mind not just for Thanksgiving, but throughout life. ;)