I'm sorry blogspot, I don't know why I was entertaining the idea of betraying my loyalty to you to succumb to the powers of tumblr. You have comforted me through the gut wrenching twists and turns of life's rollercoaster and I can't thank you enough. With that said, I come back to enjoy your love!

I realized I need to get into the habit of developing my ideas rather than letting them marinate in my brain. I'm going to put forth my best effort and write in here at least once a week.

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I realize school isn't for everyone. Just like religion isn't for everyone; to each his own. But you know how some people get a runner's high? I can honestly say I get a learners high. I thoroughly ENJOY anything and everything about the process of learning: the classroom experience (which in law school, is an entirely different learning experience from undergrad), the collaboration with other people who are learning, and the long hours of reading on my own. I honestly get excited about everything I read because it's an opportunity to feed my brain. And my brain is always hungry! Today I was eating a kiwi in class and my friend asked "don't kiwis have a high concentration of vitamin C, more than oranges?" and I replied "hmm, I'm not sure, but let's find out on wiki..."

Come to find out, kiwi's ARE a rich source of vitamin C! :) In that moment I just remember feeling a great sense of peace and satisfaction and I can't really tell you why. Maybe a satisfaction of knowing what was otherwise unknown? I don't know, but I truly live for moments like these.

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein

I'm writing this entry as a response to a post from my good friend Jefferson who comments on the age old cliche "everything happens for a reason..."

I'm always skeptical about cliches. They are helpful to the optimist, but don't provide the same comfort to the realist. I agree, it's a good way of thinking for those who wish to remain hopeful: it's not the end of the world, your situation will turn around someday, have faith and trust in the universe, etc. etc. I can identify with this way of thinking when shit hits the fan and everything doesn't go as expected.

But to what end? Notice the "reason" that the thing "happened" only becomes clear in retrospect. It makes sense only when you think about it among other things that have happened in the past. Let's assume everything does happen for a reason. So what? Does it matter what the reason is? When things happen for a reason, that reason stays within the realm of thought and doesn't provide much room for action. It doesn't give the person enough inspiration to DO SOMETHING with that "thing" that happened. It's not really enough to know that things happen for a reason. It's not enough to be hopeful. Hope only gets you so far. But what are you going to DO with the reason why you think it happened?

Things happen, and they will continue to happen - that is just the way the world works. You assign value to the things that happen. The way I like to think about this saying "everything happens for a reason" gives agency back to the person that the "thing" happened to. Everything happens for an opportunity for something else to happen, opportunity being the operative word. Phrased this way, I think it satisfies the concerns of both optimists and realists - there's still a reason to hope for the future while also giving the person the ability/responsibility to create "things" to happen in the future. You are in control of your own destiny! (A cliche to make sense of another cliche!)

This was a really lengthy and pointless philosophical discussion to make my point that being an optimist means nothing if you aren't also an opportunist.

And now back to studying. Thanks for the study break Jefferson!

Head banging in the library all day everyday...