More often than not, I feel like engineering school is making me dumber. I fear that this co-op has been especially contributory to this feeling. I'm finding it more and more difficult to focus, even on the simplest things. How can I stop this?

Why isn't one's contribution to the advancement of society positively, linearly proportional to one's salary? It's really upsetting to know that Rick Pitino makes over two million a year, while a teacher is lucky to break $40,000. As far as corporate giants go... need anything be said? Does this not seem the slightest bit twisted to anyone else?

The next time you consider insulting someone because they like such-and-such music, remember this: music has the power to take us back to where ever we were when we first heard that song, or that band, or that album. It is full of meaning on its own already, but connects so well with memories and old frames of thinking. Without "Christie Road," or Insomniac, or Nimrod, my memories of Melanie would be slipping away far more quickly than they already are. And no matter what, even if I forget her face and her voice and most things about her, the second I hear "The Grouch" or "Platypus," I remember her laugh. Her smile. The feeling of acceptance.

Just remember, even the insults you think are lighthearted can sting. Try to be mindful of that, and I will, too.

I've had a lovely day. There's a new monthly event downtown, called the Flea off Market. I went there with Alex; we enjoyed a lot of great food, awesome company, and explored a lot of vendors. It was really neat! I like Alex time. :)

It really upsets me when people accept responsibilities they cannot uphold. Why would anyone agree to do something time-consuming when it's clearly not of priority to them? I'll never understand.

The process of realizing I've actually already done something that I previously thought I had forgotten to do:

1. Freak out (i.e., "Crap! Why didn't I do ___? I really should have. I'm so dumb.").
2. Investigate later, and find that I've already done it (i.e., "Wtf, it's already done. I worried for no reason. Yay!"); be pleasantly surprised.
3. Be extremely unsettled by my utter lack of memory retainment (i.e., if you want something from me, you better count on reminding me a lot)

I know that I'm far from being an optimist, and this post will probably be full of hypocrisy... but why not? This is something that's been bothering me for years and perhaps seeing it all written out will inspire me to change more, too.

I hate seeing people project negativity, particularly through sweeping generalizations about the state of the world or the decline of humanity. Posting thoughts on social networks about "losing faith in humanity" is especially unproductive. I agree that the world is pretty fucked up in plenty of respects, but nothing is perfect. We might be shitty, but we're still so young! There's still so much room for growth, so I don't know why people give up so easily.

Furthermore, each of us has the ability and the duty to improve this place we call home. So many people seem to have this mindset of, "I'm only one person; I can't possibly make a difference." That's just stupid. It's this mentality that could really destroy us-- not the declining health of the environment, not the uneven distribution of wealth, not hunger, not nuclear warfare, but the idea that one person can do nothing to help. Sure, one person might not be able to stop global warming alone. One person might not be able to discontinue all wrongs in the world. But, one drop of rain can work with many to turn a weak stream into a raging river in a matter of minutes.

If each of us just focused on a single task that was helpful to a few people-- just one task-- so much more could be accomplished! Let's say about 75% of the world's population is over 14 years of age, and about 10% of people suffer from mental illnesses (I'd say that leaves plenty of room for error); that still leaves 65% of the world's population-- or approximately 4,550,000,000 people-- to make a difference. 4.5 billion is a big number, and to say that that's an understatement would be an insult to your intelligence. It's such a big number, it's difficult to imagine or conceptualize it at all.

That alone should give many people at least a little hope. Yes, there are plenty of those people that have horrible intentions, or maybe don't have the mental capacity to do much more than support themselves. There are plenty of other statistics that could be turned against me in this argument. But everyone has the capacity to do at least a little good.