Je-Nay

I couldn't tell you how many times I have heard my name in a Forrest Gump style 'Je-Nay' since I have been in America!

Soccer season is over now and although I have been playing leisurely, I have also been running to keep my fitness levels up. After a lazy break I felt the need to act like Forrest and run last night, I usually decide before I run how far I will go, a mile or two is typical. But last night I just ran. No lap counting. No nothing. Just me and my iPod. I loved it, I'll do it more often. Things are usually more fun when you don't have a set plan. I hope that's the case with graduate life too, as I'm still not 100% sure where I am going and what I am doing.

The Ice is this Thin....And you're Skating on it Laddy!!

A huge fan of the Mighty Ducks Trilogy, (the third was somewhat of a let down but I'm letting that slide) I got into roller blading when I was 9 or 10 and subsequently ice skated once or twice.

Over the Thanksgiving break I went ice skating again, the feeling of going on to the ice was unpredictably strange. No longer as confident in my skating abilities, I was slightly nervous as I stepped onto the ice. Scared...but of what? falling? failing? It didn't take long until my apprehension subsided, in fact, just one collision with the ice and my confidence flooded back. Before long I was skating backwards, and traveling at much higher speeds.

I guess the point of this blog entry is to express my feeling of relief, after making a mistake, I learned from it quickly and became much more experimental and free as a result.

Black Friday

It is a tradition in America for big sales to take place on what is referred to as 'Black Friday', the day after Thanksgiving. Many malls opened at 4 or 5am, enticing consumers with great deals and persuading them that they NEED this TV, handbag, dress or whatever other material object you may choose.

I'm all for a sale. But isn't it interesting how stores have managed to convince us that it is so important to buy their products at such ridiculous hours? So materialistic is the world in which we now live, that it's scary how we easily neglect the more pressing issues.

A tragedy occurred in a Long Island WalMart store when Jdimyati Damour was trampled to death by a stampede of shoppers. What kind of people trample on others just to get a sale item? I think this incident says something about society and our need for change. Barack...sort it out will ya! ;)