The Epic of Dramamine

O, Muse, guide my fingers as I attempt
To retell the courageous and intrepid event
Of three young women you have not yet seen,
To find the elusive elixir of Dramamine.
O, Muses fair, grant me your grace
As I now, without further ado, retrace
Past events of a most curious case.

The Three of whom I speak hailed from the
Same town dedicated to the Lord, the
King, most High. They were disciples at a
University and traveled that day
To the capital city of their nation.
They began early without hesitation
Ready to see great sights and have some fun,
Even though the clouds covered the morning sun.

The journey was not too long before,
Not due to any fault they might have bore,
To our dear, sweet heroines trouble came
When cruel Inertia decided to tame
Their excitement by attacking one poor
Girl. The others avowed to find the cure
For Inertia’s curse and have fun despite,
And thought it would be fun to try to fight,
Evil Inertia’s plan to have all men
Follow her laws of gravity. So when
Their ship arrived at the temple of the
Muses, they surely knew the cure must be
In one of the temples in the city.

Nevertheless, they thought it a pity
To be in the city and not visit
Abraham in his temple where he sits
In his enormous, white throne to ask
For luck on their quest because his great task
For the country had, too, been of a great
Significance. While their quick, sure gait
Led them to Abraham, the gods did side
With Inertia, so to slow their deft stride,
They commanded rain to fall from the sky
At such a force that they couldn’t get by
If they hadn’t come prepared with magic boots.
These boots kept them dry so they stayed en route
To their destination. On the way, they
Danced in the rain and they began to play.

Finally, at the temple, they looked at
Abraham and thought him to be at that
Moment quite grand. They then asked him about
This elusive Dramamine. He said, “Out
Of the Mall you need to go to the CVS.”
“Where do we find that,” said they in distress,
Because they were not familiar with the
Layout of the city and, of course, the
Angry gods would be unleashing their flood.
“Fear not, young ones, be brave and true. Your blood
Will not be shed. It is an adventure
And I’m sure you will do just fine. Venture
Out now. The rain has thinned. You should go toward
My old palace, nearby you’ll find your reward
For your seeking the precious Dramamine.”

They thanked Old Abe and left, running between
The rain drops above in the gray-lit sky.
Dashing through the streets while cars passed by
They spotted Abe’s old palace lawn and found
The street they needed which lead the three down
To the shrine of the Dramamine. In they
Went and found their prize and went on their way.

The rest of their trip was all fun and games.
They returned to tell their tale, stake their claims
On the bus, and road happily homeward.
With Inertia vanquished peace was restored.

Note from the poet:
I now have a newfound respect for Homer, Chaucer, and Moliere. Rhyming couplets are hard, especially if you attempt to place them in iambic pentameter. I know this poem is sort of silly and its structure is probably weak, but I feel a bit proud of myself for actually completing it. So I hope you enjoy!! :-)

Romance Novels

Ok so I bought two romance novels. I'm averaging about 100 pages a day. I know, I know they're silly and written on a 5th grade reading level, but sometimes I need a break from my scholastic and deep, thought-provoking pursuits. It's a guilty pleasure I suppose.

A Surprisingly Relevant Homily

Oddly enough today's homily was quite pertinent to what's going on in my life. In fact, it related to my last post. Father David spoke about interviewing and feeling as though we need to do more and the difficulty of knowing when you have done enough. He also briefly mentioned promoting your skills during an interview. He said to look at it not from an egotistical sense but from an sense in assurance of what you have accomplished. This made me feel a bit better but still I don't know which accomplishments are really pertinent. Additionally, he cautioned the congregation not to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to other people to think you need to be exactly like someone else to be successful.

Lot's to think about. Now on to researching for my interview tomorrow.

Thoughts about Interviewing I Had on Friday

Apparently, I have a problem selling myself. This is a problem, since interviews need to be a promotion of one's best characteristics or an embellishment of one's mediocre attributes into something with a semblance of importance. For some reason, this present both a mental and moral dilemma for me. First, my life and experiences have not been that exciting. Therefore, I am one of those people who are forced to make mountains out of the proverbial molehills that I possess for experiences. Secondly, I have a moral problem with "selling myself." To me, it borders the idea of prostitution too closely. Rather than a bargain of flesh, there is a selling of the soul. Additionally, I was always instructed to act with modesty. Modesty does not entail telling people how wonderful I am and what I can do to help you that no one else can do. I suppose I have a bit of an insuperiority complex. I know I am not the best person for the job. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people more well-suited for the position than me. Therefore, i feel neither comfortable nor confident about lying to an interviewer and telling them that I am the next best thing for their organization; because, in truth, I am not.

I have been advised that promoting myself is a necessity as well as a fact of life I need if I wish to be successful. Those sources are of the mindset of "why not me," as if the world owes them something. The world owes me nothing for I have done nothing for the world. Hence, my problem...

The Economics of Love

Love is one of life’s funny paradoxes. Everyone wants to be in love even though logic would probably advise against it. In a purely economic sense, that is the measuring utility or happiness, being in love is probably inefficient.

The Economics:

***It is important to note that these observations only hold true under the assumption of ceteris paribus that is “all things being equal.” Therefore, I restrain from taking into account the many different religious views of love where simply loving your neighbor should give you sufficient happiness. In the current model, I am using man as if he is in some very unrealistic testing facility to try to simplify this complex working of human social interactions.***

Let’s look at a simple supply and demand curve, which is a basic model for all economic theories. On the y-axis we have our Price of our good which is how much love you give to the world. On the x-axis is the Quantity which is how much love you receive.

Our personal demand curve for love is downward sloping. The downward slope shows that we would all like to be loved with none or very small amount of work like when people want love at first sight. However, we know that this is all very nice in principle, but it is not very practical. Love takes work: as the old saying goes “You have to give love to get love.” At first demand for love is pretty inelastic. Elasticity means you still want a constant amount even though the price increases. But as you have to give more and more, the less you are going to want it. For example, many people would not go as far as to kill off the enemies of their beloved just to gain approval. That is too extreme of a sign of devotion.

Following the demand curve, comes the supply curve. Our supply curve is upward sloping which shows that people would rather give the most of their love if they are receiving love in return. For example, if no one is nice to you, you are less apt to be nice to others. Conversely, if everyone is nice to you, you would be more apt to be nice to them. This is just human nature.

Let us also assume that the more love you receive the happier you are and you are better off for it. Therefore, if you are supplying a large quantity of love and your actions and sentiments are not being returned in at least the same amount of you supply, then your loving of that person is irrational and inefficient because you are not maximizing your utility. Just as a reference, you maximize utility where your supply and demand curves intersect. That point is called the equilibrium point.

The Life Application:

Most of the time love gives you heartache. Heartache does not pertain to simply romantic love, which the Greeks named eros, but also philos, brotherly love between family and friends. How often do your friends and family give you anxiety because you are concerned for their wellbeing or because you wish to be in their good graces after an argument? Your worry and concern shows your output of love. If your loved one doesn’t seem to care then it would appear as though they are not giving you the same amount of love. Yet, we still go on loving even though those we love can make our lives miserable.

As for romantic love, it lends itself to more pining, angst, and less utility than its sister philos. For those of you who have experiences unrequited love, why is it that the person you love never seems to share the mutual affection? Additionally, for the one person who does like you, why don’t you have interest toward that person? Seriously, why does love always seem to form a sordid love triangle that continues on and on in a vicious cycle which has no end in sight? No one in this situation is maximizing and giving their love in the most efficient way possible.

Eventually, some escape and find the elusive “one” who is the second half of their soul and the two half souls are united ad they become a whole soul. The infamous “they” inform us that in this love there is true happiness which makes all the waiting, heartache, and strife worth it. Apparently, that love is so highly valued and potent that the utility, happiness, is like no other. I sure hope it is, because I’m one of many people still waiting for love and that elusive Prince Charming, whose lateness has definitely exceeded fashionable and has now moved on to rude.

But I digress…

In spite of all of these problems why would we rational people still willingly opt to drive ourselves crazy in the pursuit of love? To this question I can postulate only one logical answer: True love must truly be greater than all of the pains of getting to it. For eros, the cost of finding that perfect person is worth the love they end up receiving in return. For philos, the companionship and friendship must be worth more than the angst to justify its being efficient. This is the reason why we keep on loving.

O Muse, How Fair Thou Art!

I found this picture online while looking through fine arts posters. If I may be so bold, I would like to offer up the opinion that the girl in this painting resembles me slightly in profile. Of course now my hair is shorter and not straight like it is in my picture, so in currently I probably resemble the painting more than my own picture.

This painting, Juliette, was painted in 1898 by an English painter John William Waterhouse, who is one of my all-time favorite artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Era. After further research I discovered that Waterhouse was actually born in Italy and lived there for a few years in the mid to late 19th century. Just to make things interesting, I will note that I still had ancestors in Italy around that time.

So I suggest that since the image in this picture closely resembles me and seeing its Italian subject, Juliette was from Verona, I’d like to propose that the model for this image is a distant relation of mine. Of course this is completely fictitious and has no historical evidence to back up my claim, but nevertheless, I would like to create a small history in pieces for her.

The sun was low in the sky that morning as I head out with my older sister Maria to the market. The humidity in the air clings to our clothing as the fog has not yet been cleared by the awakening sun. The city is already awake as we enter the main thoroughfare. Shopkeepers, merchants, farmers, and fishermen have their shops set up along both sides of the street. As Maria and I proceed down the road, the crowd thickened with people.

I like the hum of the streets. The smell of them not so much, but the movement and energy I love. There are so many things to see and hear. I would like to stop and look, but Maria drags me along next to her. Guided by Maria, I let my mind wander down pathways to the spice tents and over the seas to their birthplaces in the Far East.

We finally stop at our first destination, the Convent of Santa Cecilia, to drop off our packages to the nuns who dwell there. Our mother bakes about half a dozen loaves of bread. All of them go to the sisters of Santa Cecilia. Mama says that God smiles on those who give food to those who have little. God must have a huge grin for us, because everyday rain or shine, Maria and I make our pilgrimage to the convent to drop off the bread.

By all means, please do not think that I am being disrespectful. I have no qualms about bringing bread to the sisters. In fact, I enjoy the walk and the convent. Inside the walls, there are fountains and rose gardens to which the sisters tend. It is cool and refreshing, especially in the hot summer months when the entire city bakes in the cruel and unrelenting sun.

Today the roses are beautiful. Their sweet perfume permeates throughout the piazza. I bend over to smell one, taking a deep breath to draw in their scent. Then, as if evaporated from thin air, Sister Pietro Maria appears. Sister Pietro Maria never speak, she has taken a vow of silence like a few of the other nuns in the convent. Nevertheless, she is always kind to me and says more with a smile than many people can say in an hour long lecture, hint, hint Gianna Cavelli.

I would like to stay and walk with Sister among the roses for a bit, but my real sister is giving me that “come here now, we’re ready to go look” followed by much snapping and gesticulating for me to follow her. I sigh and shrug my shoulders at Sister Pietro who smiles a little knowing smile. Before I leave, she snips a rose from one of the bushes and gives it to me. I thank her and hastily pursue my extremely impatient sister.

We make the remainder of our stop around the city. Bargaining, buying, and trading with different merchants and shop owners. Around noon, we stop to rest near a wall that was once part of an ancient Roman building of some sort. As I stand, mulling things over in my mind smelling the rose that Sister Pietro gave me, I notice that I am being watched by a strange man. I look around to see if maybe he is looking at something else. But no, he is definitely staring at me. Apparently he does not know that it’s rude to stare. My eyebrows draw close together and my lips purse in displeasure. I mention the man to Maria. She doesn’t like him either, and we decide to move and continue our chores.

Later we return home to help Mama with dinner. Papa and our brothers come home from the shop. With them, they have a guest: it’s the man from the street who was so rudely staring at me today!

Fall Fashion

Okay, so this fall I am very much in love with suede boots. Call me crazy, but I'd really like high, high boot...dare I say over the knee?!? :-o I have this theory that with the right outfit I can transform them from Pretty Woman to classy. In the words of Tim Gunn, I could "make it work."

Tonight I really feel like overhauling my entire wardrobe. Having a credit card almost began my online shopaholic problem, but perhaps the finance major in me advised me agaisnt that decision. I don't know about that, but what I do know is that if I had an income of any sort right now, a pair of shoes would have been purchased tonight!!!

Tomorrow is going to have to be a mall day. I won't necesarily buy anything, but I do need to look and try stuff on.

Level Update

Due to my observations and further reflecion interest level moves back to passe. Original excitement is calmed and logic rules once more.