Business Casualty

Business. Busy-ness. The state of being busy, like happiness or blandness or strangeness. It's one of those words that is part of nearly every human being's vocabulary in whatever language one speaks. In the world I live almost anything can be a business. Almost everything is. At what point, though, do the highly esteemed precepts of business in our society go from being socially constructive to socially destructive?

I think American society and several others have already passed that point. Business as usual is, and has been, a destructive force to the society and environment in which we live. As a student at the free market capitalism-loving, Milton Friedman-worshiping, Communism-fearing department of Economics at UCLA, I was consistently fed the traditional 'maximize production-minimize costs-government stay the fuck out the way' formula. To be honest, in theory all of it sounds really good.

Then I took an Environmental Economics course and realized that business as usual (economics at UCLA) is in large part the reason why human-inhabited areas of the planet are a complete dump. Though Milton Friedman's main assertion was that free market policies were the best way to set free, politically and socially, a state under totalitarian or central control, I find it hard to believe that the United States is a politically and socially 'free' country. What Milton Friedman didn't bank on was the insatiable greed of humans. That thought is curious, because one of the first thing you learn in economics is the very concept of human greed. Essentially, economics is the study of how to curb human greed from threatening our survival. Hence the morbid fear of monopolies, oligopolies, and the Prisoners' Dilemma.

Though I clearly haven't refined my thoughts in this post yet, my point is that capitalism as it stands is a dangerous force. It has given dominance to those countries that have adopted its ways, but a truly inequitable world has been created as a result. And the scary part is that the countries which are sowing the seed of their economic future today (China, Korea, India, Brazil, South Africa...) are pursuing the same ends that the early-industrial countries did. Eventually these countries will reach a peak like the US and some European countries and then what? For all the dislike of America around the world, there are few countries (are there any?) that have the fortitude to break away from following its lead into an unsustainable future.

...keep it fresh

- neil

Memories

Do you trust your memory? Is what you remember to have happened two years ago on July 4th or graduation night from high school or your first date really what happened? What about that argument you had with your friend, your parents, your boy/girlfriend?...

I have this unusually miserable habit of second-guessing my memory's accuracy. It is not something I voluntarily do because I enjoy it, it is because there are periods of my life that I just can't remember. Therefore I have a hard time trusting whether some of the things I remember are really what happened and if they are in fact my own first-hand memories. For instance, I moved to India when I was 7 years old and lived there for three years. I know that. Because it happened. And I remember selected specific events throughout the time I lived there, but if you asked me to describe a typical 24-hour day in the life of 8 or 9 or even 10 year-old Neil I could hardly get past 3pm (which is when I got out of school). Not only is my memory sparse, but some of what I do know about my childhood isn't even my own first-hand memory. Home videos and accounts from family members make up a significant amount of what I know about my past. To the point where I'm not sure if I actually remember where I slept every night or I know it because I'm told where I did.

Everyone has been through that moment in life with friends, family, or complete strangers that feels so surreal in its awkwardness, greatness, or warmth and we all say, "I'm never forget this moment, this day, this feeling." Well, I've forgotten some of those moments. I know that because in my memory I can see myself saying that line, but in an empty black space, and I can't paint a picture of my surroundings or my feelings or who I was with. It saddens me to think that I am losing those moments in the past that felt so unforgettable in the present. More than losing single moments though, I feel like I can't account for whole periods of time in my life. Not just temporally, but periods defined by relationships, schooling, or travel.

My inspiration for writing about this, you might be wondering, was going through some old photos and greeting cards that I have kept in my wildly unorganized top dresser drawer. Looking at those things triggered emotions about some of the relationships I've had with people that I don't feel right off the bat when I think about them today. In other words, my gut emotion when I am reminded of some of the relationships that have faded away or ended is so different (sometimes) to what I feel when I start digging into some of the "things" I have that remind me of those people.

I guess its great to have a computer which doesn't have a faulty memory system like I do. I truly will never forget that I wrote this because it will perpetuate in 60gb of hard drive and the seemingly unlimited world of cyberspace for all time!

More on the computerization of our lives later.

keep it fresh...

- Neil

Mix Meister

So my moms 50th birthday is coming up and we have decided to throw her a party in celebration. At first we wanted to throw her a surprise birthday party but knowing our mom, we decided it would be better if she knew about it and helped plan it instead. So, as per her wishes, we are having a dance party because she loves to dance. When it came down to logistics, we figured that getting a DJ for a couple of hours to play some music we liked and some we didn't wasn't good enough, so I was put in charge of music. The restaurant that we are having the party at has a system already with 2 CD players, so the only option was to play CD's or hook up an iPod.

Well, what we were giving up in not getting a DJ is her/his ability to mix music smoothly which is the most important element for a successful dance party. So in the absence of a real DJ, I had to integrate the 'DJ' into the CD.

I've always been interested in DJing and mixing music and have tried my hands at turntabling as well as countless computer DJ programs to be my very own "bedroom DJ." Most interfaces of computer DJ programs have turntables in them that are overly sensitive to the movement of the mouse as its control. Add to that the complex EQ controls and it was very easy for me to get discouraged. Enter Mix Meister Studio.

More than a DJ program, this is music editing software so the controls are different. For mixing it is alot easier to cut, fade, and mix songs together. I've been gathering all the songs that my mom wants us to play (mostly 70s, 80s, bhangra, and hindi film) and adding a little flavor of my own to the mix and its coming along great. It is so much fun! Yesterday, I spent nearly 6 hours mixing music and for the rest of the evening I had that ringing in my ears like when you come back from a concert. Anyway, I have one week to finish this mix and then I can start on mixes that I've always wanted to put together. If anyone has a request, let me know a genre and a few core songs and I'll put together the rest of the mix.

...keep it fresh

- Neil

How do you pick yourself up?

Everyone has their own way of managing their energy. I'm not talking about physical energy, I'm talking about your overall vibe and the way you feel about you, your surroundings, and your place right at this moment in time. I haven't ever kept track of it on a daily or even weekly basis, but I feel like my energy goes up and down in cycles. For a week or so I might feel lethargic and lazy when I wake up in the morning and carry on like that for the rest of the day. It really feels terrible. Especially when I've got stuff to do like wash my car or go to the bank or make a phone call, and I just put it off all day even when I know I will regret not doing any of those things before I go to bed. I wake up the next morning with the burden of what I didn't do yesterday plus what I need to accomplish today...and like that the stress on my energy compounds. Now, I don't know how well I explained this feeling but I know that in some capacity everyone gets it at times. Personally, the best way for me to raise my energy level is by exercising or going outside and taking a walk. Just today, in fact, I was able to come out of a funk when I exercised earlier in the morning. I also believe that some of my habits or lifestyle characteristics perpetuate this negative energy. For one, I hate the fact that I have gotten used to waking up late again. Not that I was ever an early-riser, but before about two months ago I was waking up at a reasonable time for about a year. Now, I get up no earlier than 8:30 and usually around 9:30 feeling just as tired as before I went to bed. Waking up early itself isn't the answer, its the mindset I wake up with that helps me maintain my energy through the day. Anyway, I feel like I'm rambling so this will end here.

...keep it fresh

- Neil