Unorganized (3-19-12)

I feel like my priorities aren't straight. I feel like my duties are met spontaneously, and randomly, and it needs to stop. I'm usually very hard headed but there comes a time where someone gives me a reality check and I clearly see my flaws. That person was my younger sibling, my sister Mitzi. She's currently attending Mount Saint Mary's and she's a physchology major. She sees how I'm always out hanging with the buddies and she constantly asks for my whereabouts. Today she finally told me she was dissapointed in me for "acting high school." She told me she hardly ever saw me working on school work or reading a book, and she's right. That's as far as she went but that's all I needed to hear.

Arsenal fc (3-16-12)

I've been supporting the north london based team Arsenal since I was a little boy. I remember the season where they went undefeated in 2002 and that solitified my love for the club. Arsenal hasn't won a trophy since 2006 and these last 7-8 years have been tough. On the bright side, we've always been contenders, we're still a big club, never been relegated and it is very conceivable that we will soon get passed our drought and win a trophy again. A lot of people in latin america opt for the famous Real Madrid, or Barcelona but don't know their history. They just know that those two clubs are big clubs, arguably the top two teams in the world. Plenty of those bandwagons make fun of me everytime arsenal loses, but I don't get insulted, if anything I feel bad for them. They don't know what it feels like to genuinly love one club. After all, it's easy to go for the best teams.

KONY 12 (3-15-12)

Ahhh propaganda, the beauty of propaganda. Its ability to brain wash naive civilians into adopting ideals that the government carefully choose. That is precisely what I think about when I hear all this kony 2012 talk, and by no means am I trying to be different. I myself have succumbed to advertisements and stuff but it has helped me get smarter over the years, because at least now I know when the governement is blatantly throwing bs in my face. Now, I must clarify and confirm that I do believe Joseph Kony is out there abducting children, and recruiting them into his army. I also think this is horrible. I just don't buy into all the advertisement, I think the way they are going about it is flawed. First of all if you want to support a cause or make a change, resorting to social networking sites for promotion isn't going to take you far. It will solely get you recognition, popularity...you will be noticed, but the incentives end there. Catching a war criminal via facebook just isn't possible. Now, regarding the packets one must buy to spread the word, that makes more sense but despite its coherence I still have a problem with it. It's easily attainable. Any clueless moron can buy a kony 2012 package and post posters, and I'm pretty sure morons are more prevalent in society. In order to be a politician, a nurse, a lawyer, one must go to school and get the proper training for it. When the goverment is serious about a cause they give you these challenges and prerequisites. Now for this Kony 2012 thing, they aren't even promoting education, all you have to do is watch a 30 minute documentary, buy a package, and you're set. Just like all the professions I mentioned as examples, I think the kony campaign should offer classes on crimes against humanity, war crimes, so people can understand why Joseph Kony should be pursued and captured. The kony 2012 slogan is "nothing is more powerful than an idea." I beg to differ, the people who carry out the idea, the people who spread the idea, are far more powerful.

io, zlatan (3-14-12)

So today out of pure impulse I bought "I Am Zlatan," a memoir of the swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic that was available on iTunes. I'm not too savvy with all the new technology but ironically I'm taking advantage of all the perks the iPhone offers. I bought the memoir via itunes on my phone and instead of carrying a book I have it in my pocket. What's funny is that within 6 hours I'm almost done reading it all when I know damn well I should be reading LMNOP for my English class. haha

SELFISHNESS (3-13-12)

I was reading some of Thomas Hobbes' work and I noticed how pessimistic he was towards humanity. What I was reading specifically about was the necessity of government and why it is legitimate. Hobbes has the reader imagine a world without any form of government, or as he likes to call it, us in the "state of nature." According to him, humas are selfish by nature, so in the state of nature we'd also be in a state of war. We would be in a world where everyone's selfishness would take over in order to survive and we would be in war with ourselves. This is how Hobbes justifies the existence of government.

dreadful week (3-12-12)

This past week has been terrible for me in so many ways. I'm not one to complain and I'm not pitty's biggest fan, but sometimes things are so evident that we're left with no choice but to acknowledge them. Last Saturday my patient had wax build up in his ears so his hearing was almost all gone hence I had to scream the whole day so he can hear me.  By last Sunday I had a fever and my throat was killing me. Monday I felt so bad physically that I wasn't able to make it to Italian class, but by the evening my fever had gone away so I went to English class. As the week went by I was getting better and better but when it's not one thing it's another.

On Thursday I get documents in the mail, and it's a lawsuit against me. I'm getting sued for 20,000 dollars because I got in a car accident and I wasn't under my mom's insurance. They're basically charging me for medical bills, car loss, everything an insurance company would cover and I'm so distressed.

On Saturday my voice was going away and sure enough I lost my voice as the day progressed. The whole weekend I had to work with my voice coming back and then losing it again, and my patient's hearing was just as bad as it was last week. Not to mention he also got pink eye so I had to be real cautious and wash my hands thoroughly in order to avoid getting it.

Today, I got picked up from work by my mother and we went to see an attorney for advice. When we were sitting in the waiting room my mom was caressing my arm and she pulled up my shirt sleeve only to see a tattoo on her eldest son's arm. There we were, confinded in a small waiting room with the whole accident problem conquering our minds, and suddenly one more incident was piled on top of all that. What's crazy is that it all happened so fast yet her prolonged shocked face haunted me. I saw disgust, disappointment, distress, and death in her eyes, as if I got disowned right there and then. I gave her a brief explanation (upon request) only because she's worthy of one, but I knew that it wasn't the adequate place or time to be talking about my tattoo, much less dwelling on it. We had another problem; a bigger problem to face, so this tattoo issue will have to be put aside, theoretically of course.

Reminiscing (2-29-12)

Today I work with one of my patients for only 4 hours. Interestingly enough, on this day exactly a year ago he got an important phone call from the doctor. I remember the smile on my patient's face when he hung up, the doctor had told him he was no longer considered terminally ill. You see, my patient had contracted a bacteria called MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) while he was in the hospital 3 months prior to this phone call. This bacteria is very good at avoiding antibiotics because it likes to live in artificial parts of the body where not much blood circulates. In my patient's case, the bacteria was living close to the hip replacement he had gotten, which is really close to his spine, thus qualifying him as a hospice patient (terminally ill).  For 4 months the infectious desease doctors were looking for an antibiotic that would kill the bug without messing up his kidneys. They tried 3 different antibiotics but the MRSA lived up to its name and was totally resistant to them. Finally they found an effective antibiotic that  was assisting his t cells to fight off the bacteria. Before finding this drug my patient was under the impression that he was going to die in about 6 months, but after the doctor's phone call of hope here we are, a year later and my patient is stronger than ever. No more MRSA :)

youtube whore (2-28-12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keXI8if7M8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rI85jH3F4U&feature=fvst

I'm always on youtube, sometimes I watch educational things like documentaries, cooking videos, interviews, but most of the time I'm watching videos like the ones above. I guess I'm a sadistic asshole who gets intrigued by these kind of videos, and let me tell you they are not hard to find. I don't feel like I've ever made an effort to look for them, if anything, they look for me hahaha as if some divine higher power lined them up for me to watch. Either way I get a kick out of it and apparently 6 million other viewers on the ipad video did too hhaha.

SLS (2-27-12)

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is perhaps the most dangerous ingredient used in skin and hair care products. After reading some reports and some articles, I learned that it is generally used for clinical testing as a skin irritant. Many labs use it to purposely irritate an animal's skin so they can later test their healing agents. I'm flabbergasted by all this information because as dangerous as SLS is, it is prevalent in the market. It's everywhere! Shampoos, lotions etc.. It is believed to cause cataracts, skin irritation, infection, and I use all these products! Instantly I asked myself, "How can corporations justify the distribution of their products that contain a dangerous ingredient like SLS?"

Celebration!!! (2-25-12)

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday , he turned 24 on the 24th hahaha. Some girl took him out to eat and shop and I dealt with my errands so we didn't spend time during the day. We met up in the evening and went to Northridge Mall to shop for nice clothes because we were going clubbing. Certain clubs have a dress code so we bought the adequate attire for this particular one and we took off at around 8pm. It was a great night, danced a lot met some new people (that I probably won't see ever again in my life haha) but overall fun experience. Now, I'm at work dealing with sleep deprivation, but I guess I can't complain about that because it's self-inflicted and because I had a good time last night. :)

Mexico? (2-23-12)

A good friend of mine told me, "Hey do you want to go to Oaxaca with me and my family, everything will be payed for." She knows how much I love my mexican heritage and she told me she knows I'd appreciate the trip more than any of her other friends. Unfortunately, I had to respectfully decline her generous offer for a couple reasons: 1) All the turmoil in Mexico with the whole drug trafficking and cartels business has gone out of line, 2) I would have to miss a week of school and a weekend of work. I don't know which one of those reasons influenced me more to say no, but what I do know is that I'm doing the right thing by not going. Plus, I've seen way too many decapitation videos on a mexico cartel blog at this point to not be traumatized hahaha

Italiano! (2-22-12)

I went to Italian class and I got my first quiz of the semester back. I got an A+ and only missed half of a question (if that makes sense haha). I'm not as ecstatic as one would expect after an A+ due to the fact that I already speak and write Italian at a basic level. I was expecting 100% but oh well this will do for now. I studied Italian when I was in Utah due to boredom and for the sake of self-enrichment. The reason behind me taking this class is because I'm starting to forget some things since there isn't anyone here I can practice with. One of my roomates in Utah was Italian-American and he helped me a lot with the language. Now I'm just anxious to take my next quiz so I can redeem myself and get that 100% :)

My hobbie and my downfall (2-21-12)

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a soccer class from 11:25am to 12:45pm and usually it's a pleasant hour and twenty minutes; Not today. Today we did some extra drills that we had never done before and the coach skipped group stretching in order to let us scrimmage since the drills were so time consuming. I thought we were going to stretch like in group like always so I didn't stretch on my own, big mistake. About 5 minutes into the scrimmage I suddenly felt a pinch on the upper part of my right hamstring as I jogged. As soon as I felt that pinch I wasn't able to jog anymore and I've been having this pain on my hamstring all day. So much for indoor soccer tonight, my friend wants me to go anyways to spectate, but for a guy like me who loves soccer, that's just torture. I'd rather just stay home.

Sigh of Relief! (2-20-12)

So the SB trip was a success and to add a cherry on top no class today ! (hhahahaa sorry professor! ;)
We didn't end up going to the beach because it was so cold but we went to a party and had a good time in the city. At first my biggest concern about going was figuring out what motel we were going to go to, but turns out a bunch of my friend's floor roomates went home for the 3 day weekend so there were 2 empty rooms. We obviously felt relieved and very fortunate because renting a room in a motel would have been one more thing to worry about financially aside from gas (which is by no means cheap >;/ )
Now I'm home, safe and sound. It was nice to get out of the valley and go to a city I've never been to, but now it's back to the daily grind.

Mini road trip (2-18-12)

So work wasn't so bad, my patient and I got some sleep last night (rare hahaa) and work went smoother than I expected so now I will get ready and head to Santa Barbara. Actually, our destination is Isla Vista (north of Santa Barbara). We're going to visit a couple friends that go to UCSB and we'll be staying there for this long weekend. I hope it isn't all just hype and we actually get to go to the beach, to a party, and to downtown SB. Either way, this will all be a new experience for me so how about that for optomism :)

Thank God It's Friday? TGIF? (2-17-12)

Usually I'll say thank God it's Friday but not today. Today I'm stuck at work, doing a 24 shift so I expect the rest of my day to be dull. I work on the weekends for a health agency that sends me to a patient's house for home live-in care. I've been taking care of this senior every weekend for about a year now, and it isn't one of those jobs where I can just call in "sick." The life of another person depends on my availability so I hardly ever take a weekend off, but this weekend is different. I got invited to hang out in Santa Barbara for the weekend and I need my sanity so last week I requested this weekend off. My co-worker made a deal with me and he will be working this weekend for me, but in exchange, I'm working for him today, FRIDAY!! lol I just want this day to be over so I can go to Santa Barbara for the first time! :)

Morality pt.2: Nihilism In Today's Society (2-16-12)

Who ever read my previous post "Morality pt.1" is probably thinking, ok how is Nietzsche's work relevant in anyway? Can his philosophy and view on morality help us in anyway in today's world? Why did you post this? Some people can give two shits about it, either way I must share his theory of morality in order to expose a couple of society's biggest weaknesses.

Unlike many philosophers in the enlightenment era, Nietzsche criticized religion in a very clever and cunning way using his theory of morality to attack instead of advocating atheism. His problem wasn't with God nessesarily, it was with the state of mind that people who followed religion were in. He discovered a pattern in these people. Words like "sin," "repentance"and among others are words that for Nietzsche, only fueled the "slaves." He claimed that slave morality is perpetuated by religion, and that the majority of people in the post-enlightenment era created values in negative reactive way instead of a positive active way. According to him the Masters were a dying breed and were beginning to be outnumbered by slaves. People were prematurely accepting values that the church had to offer, instead of creating their own values. He said too many people in the post-enlightenment era were following and valuing the church out of guilt and resentment, but slave morality wasn't even his biggest fear. He greatly feared that eventually there would be a world were people would be unable to create values, a world full of nihilists and cynics, who wouldn't value anything. 

This is were I found a bridge between Nietzsche's work (the little bit of work I read of course haha) and today's world. I see nihilism almost everywhere I go, in the theatres, in the mall, social networking sites. It feels like everyone is a hipster, part of this subculture that refuses to like whatever is in or whatever is liked by the majority. This is their drive to buying clothes, listening to music etc ...it is as if these hispters say to themselves, "I'll like something completely different from everyone else likes." It feels like everyone is too focused on being "unique", "different" when they should be focused on creating values for themselves. You see, what ends up happening when you're too concentrated on countering what everyone else likes, you forget what you used to like, and if it goes on long enough you forget how to value something for yourself, without caring about what anyone else thinks. I know how this feels because I myself briefly suffered from this disease after graduating high school. I was in search for my own identity but it became an obsession to the point where I was destroying my identity. I was falling into an abyss of nihilism but luckily I got an opportunity to leave my comfort zone and move to Salt Lake City at the tender age of 18. My Utah experience was wonderful and I feel like it helped me grow up.  I lived on my own out there for 6 months but it was out there where I remembered how to value in a positive active way.  Now, if I like something or value something I don't care how many other people like or value the same thing I do. I only care about my own values. Nietzsche said we must imagine our selves as a work of art. Art is beautiful in various ways, and we must paint our own picture.

Like Nietzsche, I also fear that eventually we'll live in a world where humanity will be impaired from their human essence which is; creating values. After reading his Geneology of Morals I feel relieved.

Morality pt.1 : brief summary (2-15-12)

After reading some of Friedrich Nietzsche's work, "The Gay Science" and "The Geneology of Morals" are the ones that really tripped me out. To briefly summarize what I got out of the Geneology of Morals I'll start off by explaining how Nietzsche perceives morality. For him morality is split up into 2 : master's morality and slave morality. Masters morality is for him, the way to go, the way we should value things, because they create values in a "positive active" way. For example, in midieval times Monarchs, the nobles and other rulers would geniunely value something and make it seem like a moral truth to the public, so master's morality derives from free will. Slave morality is a metaphorical term that Nietzsche used to describe the peasants', the workers', and the innoble's way of creating values. They created values in a "negative reactive way." For example, they deemed bad what ever the nobles were doing and created values that opposed the master's morals, so slave morality derives from resentment, guilt, and animosity.

yolo? (2-14-12)

Throughout my adolescence I've heard of all kinds of excuses to justify wreckless fun, but none as cliché and irrational as the rapper Drake's now famous motto, "YOLO: you only live once," (It's hard not to be harsh on this phrase to begin with due to the number of times the song "the motto" is played on the radio per hour.) Although it does sound appealing at first, I refuse to succumb and live by that flawed philosophy. You see, the premise to this statement is valuing an unpredictable life, and considering the fact that we are all mortals. With that being said, "y.o.l.o." has been used to justify actions way before Drake's song came out so by no means am I trying to scapegoat him, but he is pushing it hard so it is fair that he at least gets mentioned hahaha. Seldom, if ever, do we know when, where, or how we are going to die, all we know for sure is that death is inevitable. This solid truth is the foundation of the "you only live once" mentality, yet I still think this way of thinking is absurd. "I don't know how long I'll live so I'll have fun now, and party hard," are some of the things I've seen people write on facebook. I happen to think that because my life is unpredictable and because I don't know when I'm going to die, I must value it more by taking care of myself and being prudent. Just because I only live once doesn't mean I'm going to challenge the dangerous rigors of life; sometimes it's better to choose our battles wisely. If, no, when I have to face difficult situations I'd rather know they're not self-inflicted. It's ok to have "fun" and party here and there, but when it becomes a priority or an obsession, that's when I consider it a problem. The crazy thing about the whole party scene is that the obsessions I've witnessed all had a pattern. Friends and acquaintances of mine all started by saying what I'm fond of saying "It's ok to have fun here and there," so they would party occasionally. Unbeknownst to them, they would later fall into an abyss of wreckless fun and they would later try all kinds of drugs. So when I say it's ok to have fun here and there, I'm conscious of how dangerous that phrase really is.