Work vs. School

Real quick, just some difference between work vs. school which makes me wish that I were in school:

• With regards to this wikileaks thing, there isn't a forum in which I can discuss this with people. If I were in school, I would probably at this moment be debating against other students who believe in the liberal political theory of transparency to keep the government accountable
• So there's a sale going on NYC to Barcelona for $260 roundtrip including taxes and fees. (Which is by the way HALF of what I paid ONE WAY to get from LA to NYC). If I were in school, I would so jump on this deal and take a random trip to Europe. Working doesn't allow me to do this :(

Wikileaks

My parents hate it when I blog about anything controversial, but I really can't help myself on this one.

I'm not a huge fan of the confidential reports being leaks on wikileaks. In my opinion, it is not only irresponsible, unpatriotic, it's also unethical. I get it, transparency is a good thing and the American people as well as people in the rest of the world have a right to know, but this is just airing out dirty laundry to the public. In America's democracy, there's a reason that our founding fathers left foreign affairs is in the power of the executive, and not congress (except in the matters of war). What good does leaking these documents lead to if the American people can't even locate Iran on a map. Those documents were not meant for the public, and were labeled confidential and such for a reason. This compromises not only the integrity and power of our country, but also the safety of people in the world.

To me, it's just someone scorned trying to get revenge and it's just plain dirty. Who ever leaked it deserves the condemnation of the international community and should be held personally responsible for any reputational harm of those who were mentioned in the leaks, as well as innocent people in countries whose lives will be impacted because of this. It was already bad enough that the site leaked the names of the Afghans who had worked with the American government. Imagine WW3 starting because of really sensitive materials in these leaked documents.

Can the governments of the world stop being pussies and just shut wikileaks down. Or plan a DOS attack on the site or something. It's the world's most powerful countries vs. this tool. Really? Y'all can't do anything about it? Clinton was right. This is an "attack" so fight back USA.

NY, I'm not cheating on you

So I got to go home to NY for thanksgiving and it made me come to terms better about being in LA. I also am able to appreciate LA a lot more. I wasn't escatic as I thought I would be. I was still irritated at the crowds and the subway. I thought literally I would just bask in and love the smelliness and the crowdness of the subway, just because it is NY. The weather was shitty few days I was there, and I thought I would appreciate cold rainy days just because of the variation in weather LA lacks. This wasn't true.

My main takeaway was that NY didn't change much, and NY is still there and will still be there. Sure there are a lot more cool new restaurants, but I bet half of them won't even be there the next time I go back since there's such a high turnover rate for restaurants. Maybe the location of hottest club changed from being on 17th street to top of the Standard Hotel, but it's really all the same. Still the "the same ignorant ass people in the same ignorant ass clubs" (as my friend would put it). Subways are still the same. People are still the same. My family is still there for me and still loves me. And my friends are still there and love me.

I think getting away from NY has helped me grow up. I've also experience another city, made new friends, have different experiences than I would if I had stayed in NY. I guess I was afraid to fall in love with LA the same way I love NY so therefore, I keep rejecting LA looking at the bad, rather than the good. I think I can come to terms better with enjoying my setting now. I can learn to love LA, but NY will always be NY.

California Love...

So instead of bashing on California, it's time to talk about some of the things I like about here.

• Driving. To me, driving is definitely therapeutic. I had to drive back and forth from Long Beach to Westwood 5 times on the weekend of my marathon (40 miles one way, 200 miles total). It definitely was an enjoyable drive, blasting music from my iPhone, singing along, thinking about my life, or not thinking about my life. It's also just more liberating to drive than to rely on the MTA. Albeit not as convenient in terms of dealing with parking or traffic, but it's better than the frustration of taking public transportation. Also, I don't have to lug around my life in a purse, since my car is essentially my purse.  
• Urth Caffe. I'm literally there 10 times a week. It's my way of filling the hole in my heart that Westville has left when I relocated from the West Village. Urth's green tea lattes are kind of amazing.
• Shorts. I wear shorts every single chance I can get, which is every Saturday and Sunday. Everyone knows I hate pants / jeans (haven't wore a single pair in more than a year), and I'm kind of tired of dresses, so being able to wear shorts despite the fact it is November is kinda amazing.
• Appeasement. People here aren't as aggressive, and they tend to appease others. i.e. When I drive, I can weave through traffic pretty quickly, since people tend to let me change lanes and cut in front of them. 
• Less sleazy guys. Maybe it's because it's so easy for guys to get some in NY, that they feel like they can treat women however they feel like. But men here in LA are definitely more like gentlemen (or relatively at least). Because of the lack of nightlife and therefore a lack of a hook-up culture, men actually have to treat women nicely to potentially be in a relationship to get access to any. Also, a date consist of the guy driving, parking, and picking up the girl from her house to go to the location and then dropping her off at her home.
• Movie sets. Walking around Century City or Beverly Hills, I recognize it as the backdrop of various movie sets. In NY, all we really have is 30 rock, law & order, and sex and the city. 
• Swimming. I get swim on my roof in the middle of November. 
• Things I have yet to fully take advantage of: the beach, surfing, hiking and wineries.

Subconscious

I'm pretty obsessed with the intrigue of the subconscious. I really believe that everything we do, feel, think, is all the result of our subconscious. Our personalities are dictated by our subconscious. There is an overarching theme on how we will behave in all situations. Small things are also dictated by our subconscious, whether we realize it or not.

Yesterday morning, I decided to go running. Right before I went running, I thought to myself that it would be nice if I got new sneakers. I've kept them in good shape, running through the streets of west side highway in NY, Sunset blvd in LA, and during a half marathon at Long Beach. I didn't necessarily make an effort to keep them clean, but they just were. During my run, for no reason, I decide to run through a giant puddle, getting mud all over my sneakers and my legs. Thinking back on it, it wasn't for no reason. I had the subconscious thought that I wanted new sneakers and by running through the puddle, I was destroying them, and therefore HAVE to get new ones. Obviously, this didn't go through in the front of my mind, since it was literally a split second between when I saw the puddle and then decided to run through it.

Of course, there are more examples. Every single time I think about getting the new iPhone 4, I somehow drop my iPhone 3GS the same day and break the screen. Granted most of the times this happens is when I am drunk, but that may just illustrate that we rely even more on our subconscious when we are intoxicated.

So why does this even matter? I guess it's because to other people, I seem to make rash decisions. Decisions on who I like or not on first impression. Decision on school I should go to. Decision on what job I should take. Decision on moving across the country.

So I told everyone my decision to move to LA to work was based on Miley Cyrus' song "Party in the USA"and Entourage. Obviously, this is a joke. I may not have articulate reasons or I may not even consciously know the reason why I chose to do this, but I know that my life is dictated by certain overarching themes - which aren't all that obvious to me at times. This includes my pursuit of success, my inclination to take an unconventional road, and my attraction towards challenges.

Problems with California....

Don't like to see myself as a judgemental person, but here's what I think is wrong with Los Angeles, or California that I've noticed since being here:

• California is very provincial, or regional. The UC school system fosters students that have no that have no wordly knowledge. This is what happens when 90% of all UC students are from in-state (the other 10% being FOBs from Asia who pretty much do not interact with the rest of the student body anyway). Essentially, the whole student body is all the same people. How much of a learning experience can you really get from your peers from that? I met some kids that went to UCLA, and in the middle of the BP oil spill, they managed to not know a single thing about it. Because California is such a big state, in some ways it is self sufficient (maybe not fiscally....). People especially from Southern California, live in a bubble. The weather is always nice, and there's no reason to look outside of the state, or even the city for anything. Apparently this applies to current events.
• Los Angeles' strong reliance on the Entertainment Industry. It's kind of ridiculous. Everything is centered around "the industry." I couldn't attend a church lunch session because I didn't work in "the industry." What? Honestly, people in NY are not elitist about finance, why are people in LA so elitist about working in entertainment? I'd rather not get a Stanford MBA just to work in the copy room at Ari Gold's agency... As a result of being so obsessed with Hollywood, people are way too concerned about how they "look." Just chill out. If you were in NY, no one would take you seriously. Still don't understand the need to drive a $10,000/month leased car that is 5x the amount you pay for rent....
• Things are just inefficient... i.e. Traffic. I can drive down the west side highway in NY for about 100 streets in heavy traffic flow and not run into a single red light. Because of there, there is heavy traffic flow, but the cars are all moving at a decent pace. In LA however, I run into a red light at every intersection on Santa Monica Blvd. I don't think the traffic is that bad in it of itself. It's just the inefficient lights and the bad drivers that make it horrendous.
• The need to VOTE for every small thing. Prop 1, Prop 2, Prop 3, etc etc. Seriously? What's even the point of a federal government if there's going to be state exemptions on federal legislations anyway. California should just be its own separate country. Oh wait, it can't. It's about to default. The reason why California is in such a bad debt problem is because they are essentially letting the masses run the state. I'm not for a dictatorship, but when you have people voting for everything, it just simply doesn't work. Obviously people don't want to pay taxes, yet they want to reap the benefits of a big state government.
• The weather. I must really hate it here to be able to turn beautiful sunny weather into a problem with California. But here goes. I alluded to this in my previous point, but the weather in Southern California has made people oblivious to any of the world's problems. I think because it is always 70 degress and sunny, people lose perspective on life. No rainy days to sleep in just to be introspective about.... life. The lack of seasons make people lose track of time. New Years resolutions don't mean as much when the New Years Day seems just like a regular summer day. No time to reflect over the year that has gone by as the trees lose their leaves.