The art of slowing down

Slow Dance
by David L. Weaterford

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don’t dance so fast

Time is short
The music won’t last

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask: How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,
Do you life in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your hast,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time
To call and say, “Hi”?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.

Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Drifting towards the easy

Did you ever know that you're my hero, and everything I would like to be? Those were the words that my 8th grade graduation class sung to our proud parents the night we received our diploma. Bette would have been impressed.

I used to love singing and did so at every opportunity. Unfortunately, everyone else around me hated it because, well, I'm fairly tone deaf. As a child, that never stopped me from singing. I knew I was bad, but didn't care because I loved it. Almost all children have this amazing gift. As we grow older, most people slowly lose this gift. We begin to neglect the things we love and drift towards things that we're naturally good at. Isn't this a recipe for unhappiness? I think so. Why does this happen? Perhaps it is because we care too much about what other people think. Maybe we believe that we're wasting our time. Whatever the reason, it's a pity.

Shouldn't our goal be to participate in activities that challenge us, even in the face of doubt, ridicule and opposition? Forget about finding work. That is only what you're good at. Forget about having a career. That will probably get your ahead and have prestige, but often lacks meaning. Shouldn't our goal be to finding our calling? Your calling will bring you alive. I've been asking myself the following question recently: 1) what are you good at 2) what do you enjoy doing and 3) does it directly or indirectly better your community.

Maybe wanting all 3 is asking too much. Maybe I'm being young and idealistic. Perhaps the realities of life don't always allow this. I'm still searching and it's not an easy or quick process. I may never find the balance. Yet, I feel it is a goal worth believing in.

So, what do you suck at, but absolutely love doing? Me…well, I’ll just continue to sing in the shower.

My search for the perfect mobile phone ringer

I was on the Sprint website when I saw, “Get a free ringer on us” flashing in huge, bold letters. Simple enough, or so I thought. Personalized ringers have become extremely popular over the past few years. It’s a fun, quick and easy, but not so cheap way to add personality to what is normally a boring device. With rates starting at $2.50 per ringer, the carriers are making millions.

Playing with all of the features of my new Centro Smartphone has taken up more time than I’d like to admit. What’s not to like with features such as TV (yes, tv), radio, MP3 player, internet, email, text messaging, voice recorder, games, calendar, task list…ok, I’ll stop. I’ve had the phone for only 4 days and I’m already addicted.

I clicked on the link and my search for a free ringer began. The number of songs available was overwhelming. I started browsing in the pop music category. 20 minutes later I had not found a ringer and was browsing in the “what’s new” category. Then the “indie” category. Then I discovered the search functionality and searched for all of my favorite bands and songs.

An hour later, I was no where closer to finding a ringer that I wanted. It’s clear that I put far too much thought into a free ringer. I liked some of the R&B ringers, but thought there vulgarness may cause some to stare. Then I found "Soul Meets Body", one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, Death Cab For Cutie. I was temporarily elated – that is, until I gave it more thought. I was cautious to select a song that I really liked; fearing that hearing it every time I get a call would induce ambivalence.

Still, after more thought, I decided to select a ringer from the house music section. I figured it would be more difficult to become bored of a house song. The house genera offered many tempting selections. I could have selected "Put Your Hands Up for Detroit" by Fredde Le Grand, but I would have thought about my friend Keyan every time I heard it. Nothing against Keyan, but that would be too much Keyan. I found “Love Generation by Bob Sinclar, but I was not certain if I could handle the intense memories it would be sure to induce. I heard it live at Infinita during my trip to Madrid this summer. That trip was probably the peak of my summer and I didn't know if I could handle the intensity of reliving those feeling with every call, nor did I want to diminish the importance through boredom.

In the end, I settled on “Exeeder” by Mason. It’s neutral, yet makes me think of my amazing experiences in London It’s not perfect, but it works.

What ringer do you have on your phone, and what does that communicate about your personality?

I mean, seriously

Below is my list of 3 items that should be banned from all clubs/ discotheques. Everything else is fair game.

Sunglasses - I smell a douchebag
Glitter – I do not want your pink glitter rubbed all over me when you inevitable bump into me. Oh, and you look like a fool.
Glow Sticks – Does this one really need an explanation?

What items are on your list?

Attachment Objects

It’s interesting how people can become so emotionally attached to old, dirty, ugly or otherwise seemingly unremarkable objects. In reality, it’s never about the object -- it’s always about the memories associated with the object, isn’t it?

I have what many people would consider an irrational bond to a very old pair of shoes and a messenger bag. Both are about to fall apart and yet I refuse to throw them away. I have many memories associated with both items and it has created a strong psychological bond. If they could talk they would have far far too much to say.

What possessions do you refuse to throw away and what memories are associated with them?

An update

I've been missing in action for the past few weeks because I've been sick with the worst case of the flu that I've ever had. I started feeling like shit while in Chicago and can say with reasonable certainty that it's behind me now. Oh, and I turned 25 recently, too.

1 year - by the numbers

Below are a few interesting numbers from the last 12 months.

• Miles traveled: 38,000 +
  
• Cities visited: 23
  
• Countries visited: 11
• Passport stamps received: 16
• Flights missed: 3 (London, Madrid and Ibiza)
• Website entries posted: 221
• Unique visitors to this website: 6,500 +
  
• Average time spent on site, per visitor: 5 minutes 32 seconds
• Photos taken and saved: 7,500 + (with many more deleted)
  
• Videos taken: 239
• Months overstayed my tourist visa: 8 (whoops!)
  
• Total apartments: 5
• Total roommates: 12
  
• Percentage of money "evaporated" due to the dollar to euro exchange rate: ~33%

What an amazing year...

New RSS Feed

If you use a feed aggregator to read my site, please update your address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/chrisrako.

Do you have no idea what I'm talking about? You should. Please read below. Feeds are cool. Think email in 1997.

Most of you probably check this site (along with a lot of others) with a set frequency of whatever (X). The problem doing it that way is you never know if you're wasting time due to no new content. Likewise, you may visit my site only to see 5 (or more) new posts causing information overload. Constantly checking multiple sites is difficult, time consuming and easily forgettable.

There is a better way. You can "subscribe" to my site and any other site with a feed. It's simple. "Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper." Once subscribed to a feed, an aggregator is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update. The aggregator provides a consolidated view of the content in a single browser display or desktop application. Such applications are also referred to as RSS readers, feed readers, feed aggregators, news readers." - Wikipedia

Want to get started or get more info? Go here. Then subscribe to my feed. :)

Ads in Europe

Advertisements in Europe are notorious for being more "edgy" than those in the U.S. I don't pretend to be a lawyer, but I'm fairly certain that the ad below, plastered all over Barcelona, would never make it past the lawyers in the U.S. Honestly, what is Kellog's trying to portray? Then again, perhaps I'm just an overly sensitive American. I'll let you decide.

Otro

Cava Rosado is amazing.

People that are clueless of nonverbal signs are doomed. Get a clue.

The ability to proficiently engage in small talk is important. More than you think.

Life is good.

I'm coming home July 31st. The ticket is bought, which is why my visa bill is over 1,000. Loving it.

Speechless

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Lost in America***

I recently read a shocking article by Douglas McGray in Foreign Policy magazine entitled “Lost in America” (free registration required). Through multiple examples, it is a demonstrates why people throughout the world consider Americans clueless and suggests some corrective actions. It's pretty clear that we have a lot of issues that need to be addressed.

The article begins by noting that, “Americans represent something of a paradox: surrounded by foreign languages, cultures, and goods, they remain hopelessly uninformed, and misinformed, about the world beyond U.S. borders.”

America the Ignorant
We've all seen and read similar statistics, so they should not be a surprise, yet the following facts should be extremely embarrassing to any American.

• Although half of all college bound Americans say they hope to study abroad, only 1 percent actually follow through on those plans. And nearly half of those students travel to just four countries in Western Europe: Britain, France, Italy, and Spain. In 2004, Italy attracted more American students than all of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East combined.
• 85 percent of 18- to 24-year-old Americans surveyed by the National Geographic Society could not locate Iraq on a map.
  
• Sixty-nine percent failed to fine Britain, 29 percent could not find the Pacific Ocean, and nearly a third believed the U.S. population to be somewhere between 1 and 2 billion.
  

Corrective Action???
Earlier this year, President George W. Bush finally revived some of the ideas in Strength through Wisdom, with a new National Security Language Initiative. The modestly funded measure encourages foreign language study as early as kindergarten, and requests new money to train and certify foreign language teachers, particularly in so-called critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, and Russian. It also promises to subsidize foreign study for high school and college students, and bring native speakers from abroad to teach in U.S. classrooms. Yet, the president’s language initiative may promise $24 million to promote foreign-language instruction in K-12 schools, but that seems pretty paltry compared to the $206 million he requested to fund abstinence only sex education.

Conclusion
Some people may equate this post as me being an "America hater". In reality, living in Europe has simply allowed me to see the U.S though a fresh lens. It has confirmed that much of what I grew up accepting as fact was based on localized values, not universal truths.

*** Yes, I do realize that the United States "does not own the whole hemisphere" known as 'the America's' as so many Europeans love to point out. Point taken, please don't email me over it.

The Shamship

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about recently are interpersonal associations. I've come to the conclusion that people are connected through three types of associations.

Friendships > Relationships > Shamships

Friendships are almost effortless. My best friendships work like a strong, perfectly oiled machine, needing very little maintenance and can continue to run even if you forget an oil change occasionally.

Relationships are more likely to breakdown if you don’t perform the necessary regular maintenance. They have mutual benefits for both parties which is why they are worth “investing” your time and energy to sustain.

Then you have the shamship. Disguised as a friendship or relationship, a shamship is any personal association lacking meaningful substance. Everyone has had one of these relationships at some point in their life. Unlike a real friendship or relationship where both people benefit, the shamship almost always benefits one person a lot more than the other and are normally based on superficial things such as power, wealth or sex appeal.

Thankfully, these relationships are very easy to identify: they take a lot more energy to sustain than to continue, which is why they often fade (thankfully). Get rid of them.

The shamship...you heard it from Rako first.

Does Age Quash Our Spirit of Adventure?

In a recent NPR interview, distinguished neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky answers the question, "Is there a certain age when the typical American passes from the novelty stage to utter predictability?"

It's a fascinating look into the complexity and oddities of human nature. Very much worth the listen.

Listen via NPR.