Once again, mention of "The Real World" came up today - I would like to think that people are talking about my blog, but no - my blogs namesake was the intention. This evening I attended a short seminar on Financial Planning for the future. Really I went because I figured that now that I'm making money (not very much, but money it is), I should learn what to do with it. My financial vocabulary and knowledge are somewhat basic, and therefor a lot of what I "learned" at said seminar was a bit beyond my realm. Sure, I understood that saving is important if you want to retire, and in order to be able to do so, you must earn more than you spend. However, when it got into the Bull and Bear markets, as well as certain investment outlets, I suddenly found myself focusing on other things in the room (such as the fact that it was really warm...). It would have been one thing if they were teaching us about these terms instead of just throwing them around, but that wasn't the case, so I felt my spacey-ness was legitimate. Anyway, reoccurring in the PowerPoint presentations that were shown to us was comparison between an ideal situation and "the real world," often in relation to the way the markets move. Obviously as soon as it first showed up I gave a little chuckle, but it proves to me once more that the whole notion that there is anything BUT our reality, or "The Real World" is comical. When do we ever live in the fake world or in hypothetical situations? The real world is all we have! Fantasy is great for a little mental escape (I would be lost without TV/movies and books!) but crazy-enough things happen in our day to day life that all of it is part of reality, and anything is a possibility.
For all you running fans ad followers of new york culture, Im sure you know the ING Annual New York City Marathon was this past Sunday. I've always been a fan of the Marathon - when I was younger I would go with my dad to the house of a business associate of his where we would watch the start of the race on TV while eating a spread of bagels and coffee, and then we would walk a couple of blocks down (he lived in Brooklyn) to watch the runners in real time running by. It was always so exciting! I even got to help give out little cups of water for which I was rewarded with a Marathon raincoat - first to protect me from spillage and secondly as a souvenir. Nowadays I still like to read up about it and follow some of the pre-run media (I was following the "Idiot Runner" who is a staff writer for AM New york - my main source of news - and trained for the first time for this Marathon). While it seems quite lofty right now, its on my bucket-list to one day complete the NYC Marathon - I urge you to follow up with me in 20 years to see if Ive already done it or have specific plans to do it! While I didn't run this past Sunday, I did have a very busy day which brought me to 4/5 boroughs (no Staten Island), not unlike the Marathon, so at least in that way I got to channel it and keep it on my radar! At around 3pm I found myself on W.66th street in New York where many runners were hanging out after having finished, and aside from randomly wishing people congratulations, it was really exciting to be in that kind of atmosphere where sheer physical ability and determination were so evident - I found it inspiring and it made me smile.
There doesn't seem to be a real connective thread in this post, so going with that idea, I have one last thought to share. If there's anything that Ive learned from the movie The Social Network and previous professional work experience, it is that anything you put in writing either on the internet or through e mail has the ability to come back and slap you across the face. During the last semester of my senior year of college I interned at a big PR company in NY. There was a lot of blogging as well as professional drama surrounding the CEO of the company. One main instance that he will never live down is having verbally abused his former HR director who he had fired because she was had allegedly helped one of the employees leave this firm and start somewhere else. As a PR "pro", he should have known that cussing her out in e mail, as well as calling her a vulgar term for the female genitalia was bound to leak to the internet and add to his already bad name. What I learned from this (other than the fact that I shouldn't continue to work there, and I should be weary of listing that work experience on my resume) was that writing negatively about anyone on the internet will almost certainly get back to them. Not to get up on a high horse, but I don't like to talk negatively about people in general (we all slip up every so often), so it shouldn't be too hard not to put it in writing either, right? However, recounting funny work stories is certainly a temptation. I don't have anything particularly bad to say about people at work, but when something notable happens, I urge to want to share it with others - but I dare not put it in writing! Characters at work remain comedic relief on the work place and not on the internet.
And on that note, I leave you with the following:
This "song" or comedy sketch never ceases to make me laugh, and if I may say so myself, i do quite a good impression if it - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! (I HEART you, Andy Samberg!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu5Uv0JH828
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