Whatever Works

One Friday evening, when life was easier, Reshma and I watched the movie Whatever Works. Although being a hilarious movie, it also underlines very important aspects of our society. Here is the opening. It will give you a better idea of what I am talking about and maybe the wish to watch it!!

So, what is you first reaction? Not bad right?!

Later in the movie Boris shares his opinion about life when he says: “I happen to hate New Year's celebrations. Everybody desperate to have fun. Trying to celebrate in some pathetic little way. Celebrate what? A step closer to the grave? That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works. And don't kid yourself. Because its by no means up to your own human ingenuity. A bigger part of your existence is luck, than you'd like to admit. Christ, you know the odds of your fathers one sperm from the billions, finding the single egg that made you. Don't think about it, you'll have a panic attack.”

And I have to admit, even if it is quite pessimistic, it’s true. Because our lives is filled with troubles, responsibilities and constraints (without even mentioning the pressure and expectations that we can all feel), and because our society is defined by horrific events, we should try to find happiness, love and relief wherever we can. So the conclusion we should come up to is whatever works!

... not so extravagant after all

So, to continue on my previous deep reflections about my future… Oh by the way you should read the previous post before reading this one otherwise it won’t make a lot of sense to you. A couple of weeks ago, I had a meeting with my guidance counselor to discuss my situation and college applications. During this meeting I learnt that I will not be able to receive any federal aids or any scholarship from universities because I am not an American citizen. After this very depressing meeting, I had what you can define as a panic moment. To not be able to get scholarships means that I will probably not be able to go to the college I want and even if I cannot admit it out loud that is the reality. So in the car on the way home, after having cooled down, I started talking to Reshma about my potential future. On a joking tone I told her that I would not go to college and instead open my first prestige hotel. And because this hotel would be so amazing and the demand would be so great, I would have to open another one and another one and soon create a hotel resort. I would be rich before the age of thirty, would have time for my personal life and would not even have to worry about working to earn money since the hotel resort would do so well, money would just flow in my bank account. Anyone interested in a potential partnership? Think about it, it could be a great business opportunity!! Even if I was saying that just to joke around, I realize that even if it can be dangerous, it is not completely unrealistic. After all, many people who did not go to college and dared to take risks ended up very successful and sometimes even more successful than some who went to college. To do what is expected of you is not always the solution.

To be continued…

What to do with my life?...

Hi, I am back!! Yes I know it’s been a while since my last article. But don’t worry Mr. Wilcox I did not stop thinking in the mean time. Actually, the past events have stimulated my mind quite a lot (that may be part of the reason why I feel so exhausted right now!!). But it is not time to complain. It is time to get to the topic that made me think the most these past few days. As everyone else, I am preparing my college applications. The other day, I was looking information up about the medical program of some universities when I stopped for a second to think. I realized that I was already a senior in high school, that next year I will be a freshman in college in whatever country I will be in at that time, that I will spend the next ten years of life studying medicine to finally reach my goal in fifteen years and become a neurosurgeon. I will then start working (in a hospital probably) at the age of thirty and that it will take make my about ten extra years to built a good reputation. And because I will be so concentrated on my work and my patients, I will not have any time to dedicate to my personal life and will wake up one day realizing that my life passed without me realizing it. I will not have realized any of my dream, will not have had fun and will have dedicated my life to work. I will die alone with tones of diploma and recognition that will bring me no comfort in the end. That when I started to depress a little. But when I think about it I don’t even know if my life will be different if I choose to rethink my goal of becoming a surgeon. And really what could I do except medicine? My art skills are inexistent, I don’t have strong enough nerves to become a lawyer, becoming a teacher is completely out of the question because I would not be able to handle kids who do not care enough to try. So that where I am at. I don’t know.

To be continued…

Genetic Diseases

I finished a chemistry project on Saturday. We were able to choose a topic of our choice to research. Each person in the class had a different topic. Mine was Wilson’s disease. It is a genetic disease (autosomal recessive), which cause an accumulation of copper in the body. The excess copper first attacks the liver, then enters the bloodstream and attacks vital organs such as the brain, the liver, the kidneys and the eyes. We did another project in bio about genetic disorders. I had Huntington’s disease, which basically is a progressive degeneration of brain cells. The patient looses his ability to control his movements, his peripheral vision and faces many other symptoms. After having finished my paper, I stopped for a second and asked myself questions. Since all these diseases are genetic, a person is born with the abnormality. So I thought, omitting the scientific explanation of the mutations, why does a specific person get a disease like that? I mean you are born with it and your entire life is then based on and shaped by it. Is God have a role to play in all of this? If so, why would he punish a baby who has done nothing wrong? I do not know. I did not find the answer to all these questions yet.

We sometimes talk about this in biology class and I always find myself without any answers. People with that kind of genetic disorder usually have a 50-50% chance of having the disease (like with Huntington). If you knew you had a chance of having such a disease, would you want to know in order to get treated and live with the fear of the disease getting worse with time or would you prefer to stay in ignorance and live your life without worrying about it (with the risk of dying younger and transmitting the gene to your children)? It all comes back to the same question: is ignorance bliss? It is certainly easy to give an opinion when not actually experiencing a situation like that. But if I were in that position I think I would prefer to not know and live my life as I want and enjoy every second of every minute of every day. We all die after all (does it remind you of somebody?).

Designing a ideal school… not that easy

Reshma and I just finished the project consisting in designing our own school. Well, I do not know if it was the all point of this project but it is VERY hard to do. At first, when we were assigned the project, I thought in my head, “Oh, it is going to be an easy thing to do. There are so many things I would like to change in the current system…” I am sure of one thing. I was wrong. In the current system, especially as a student, we feel that many things could be changed, which would make the school day way better and less stressful. We would like to make classes and school day shorter, lunch breaks longer…. But when we think about it, many of these ideas are very hard to apply to real life when we take into consideration the curriculum to cover, bus schedule, safety of the school and plenty of other factors. When Reshma and I were designing our ideal school, we realized that our ideal system, when thinking of all these factors, was very close to the current one. So students, we complain a lot about an educational system that is not so bad. Of course, there are some things that could be improved to make the system better and when reflected that in our project but there are not as many as we thought there would be. And also, I thought it quite hard to think of an ideal system different to one (well actually two) I have known my all life. I just thought that would be interesting to point that out since we will present our project pretty soon. And I have the feeling that we (Reshma and I) will not be the only group having an ideal school strangely close to the current system we are used to.

Reliquias encontradas (¡en español!)

Yo no lo sé porque pero me siento en una humor de escribir un diario en español hoy entonces es lo que va a hacer (¡ya empecé si no lo nota!). Entonces voy a hablar de un tema de actualidad que se pasó esta semana o la semana pasada (yo no ya había decidido) que me interesaba o que era extranjero. Leí un articulo la semana pasada en el periódico español El País sobre estatuas griegas antiguas que habían volado y que se encontraban entre las manos de contrabandistas.

La policía griega recuperó dos estatuas que representan a dos jóvenes que datan del siglo VI antes del Cristo. Estas estatuas fueron volados por dos contrabandistas de antigüedades. Las autoridades griegas recuperaron las estatuas el lunes pasado antes que los contrabandistas las vendan. Ahora las estatuas son en seguridad en el Museo Arqueológico de Atenas. Los expertos afirman que es le descubrimiento más importantes de los últimos cuarenta años en arqueología y las estatuas son prácticamente intactas. Pienso que este descubrimiento es fantástico y que es una gran suerte que nosotros podemos contemplar reliquia tan antiguas. También es una buena cosa que las reliquias son en seguridad en el Museo de Atenas en lugar de el los manos de contrabandistas. Espero que los arqueológicos encontrarán más reliquias en el futuro.

Economy and furniture

Yesterday, I went to IKEA to buy some furniture for my bedroom. So after two hours in the car, we finally arrive to IKEA in Pittsburg, PA. When we arrive on the parking, the number of cars astonished me; we hardly found a place to park! The first interrogation that came to my mind was “do all these people have money to buy furniture during this economy downturn?” Apparently yes! While we hear everywhere that the economy is very bad, that layoffs are more and more common, that people are losing their jobs, … so I was surprised to see that people still have enough money to spend it on new furniture, something that is not fundamentally vital. Do not misunderstand me. I think it is great to see that people are spending money. It indicates that they have the financial means to and it helps the economy in a way. I am just wondering if some sectors on activity are very damaged by the economy crisis while for some others the crisis does not have any impact on them. In any case, it is a very good sign that people continue to spend money. I am just hoping that they spend money because they have the financial mean to and can afford it and that they are not making a tone of credits that they will not be able to pay off later (plunging us all again in a economic crisis).