Olympics in China

I'll admit I may have been caught up in all the media hype, but I am currently uninterested in the 2008 Summer Olympics to be held in China.

I know I should face the matter with a little more skepticism -- is all of the reporting about China true? Have human rights violations increased since they lobbied for the games 7 years ago? Was Tibet mishandled by the government? Is China censoring the web, its own people, and foriegn press by silencing any critics to put forth a message of harmony for these games?

As a result of everything I've heard, I just don't have any interest in the games. They've been marred for me. In fact, if the Chinese government is attempting to fix these problems, they're doing the opposite for me -- they're adding to my own indifference. Silencing critics is not a way to deal with their criticism. Fix what's broken or show how critics are wrong.

I suppose there's also an additional concern -- how do I know when media outlets are lying?

Anymore

I have always considered myself a guilty person -- not that I am always wrong or that I perpetually make mistakes, but I seem to carry my errors around with me. I loathe the past things I cannot change and feel, well, guilty. I was telling a friend that I always seem to be lost potential -- that I could have been good at so many things and a better person if I'd only applied myself. He told me that the past was never meant to be a record of our mistakes.

When I was growing up, I never wanted to grow up. But I wish someone had told me that it was worth doing, that we're always learning, always growing. That we get better as we get older. The "growing up" part can be difficult but that is what makes it worth it. Every day I can be a
better version of myself. I can look back on all of my past mistakes and flaws and say, See, I'm better than I was. For all the times that I failed people as friends and my seeming inability at times to communicate, the walls I build and my own self-consciousness, being judgmental and being afraid, avoiding conflict -- I don't have to be any of those things anymore.

This may not be an earth-shattering idea, but it's comforting nonetheless.

Green = Good

Apparently my blog is turning into a daily dose of things that I love or have started to love, but I guess that's the way it is. No apologies -- I am one of those people who wants to share the things I love with everyone else. What I love other people should love too, no questions asked.

And today the thing I love is Superfood. What is Superfood, you might ask?

According to Wikipedia (which we know is always right [note sarcasm]), "[a] superfood is a type of food believed to have health benefits beyond those of more common foods due to specific phytonutrient . For instance, blueberries are considered a superfood or superfruit because they contain significant amounts of antioxidants, anthocyanins, vitamin C, manganese and dietary fibre which are believed to provide important health benefits."

The particular Superfood that I love is by both Odwalla and Naked. Don't let the greenness fool you; I once was a fool who thought I couldn't possibly enjoy any beverage that was green. I was very wrong! Not only is it fabulous, it is sweet. It has the sweet of greatness.

The positive effects of so-called superfoods is still being questioned and studied by science. But who doesn't want a drink with grapes, blueberries, broccoli, apples, and all sorts of other things rolled int one that tastes good?

Future deliberations on the actual validity of the idea of superfoods to come at a later date.

**This superfood public anouncement was brought to you by the color green
and by
Air: It's Everywhere You Want to Be.

I love Starbucks

Say what you will about the massive corporation and coffee giant that is Starbucks, but I love it. I loved it when I was in high school because it was ellusive -- an alien place where I knew so little about coffee that it was impossible for me to order without the help of a friend.

I loved it my freshman year of college as the place where the Baristas were always happy and smiling.

I loved it that summer when I became one of those Baristas and learned not only the names of all the drinks but how to make them. I became an expert at steaming and foaming milk, pulling the perfect espresso shot, and how to talk someone into a drink that I think they should try. Coffee is a strange sort of love and it creates its own unique culture. When channel surfing, I can't help but stop on the Discovery Channel when it runs a special on coffee and where America got it from (Italy, in case you're wondering. Originally, the Middle East developed espresso and Italy stole the idea of the coffee bar and turned it into the culture that it is today.)

I then learned the love of a local coffee shop named Jittery Joes in Athens and became an employee as fast as I could.

And after graduation, when I desperately needed to pay off the last semester's debt, Starbucks welcomed me with open arms as an employer until the day I quit to work for TrialGraphix.

Starbucks strives to make itself your "third" place. (I apologize if it's a different number, I'm a bit hazy on the particulars) It's not work, it's not home, but it's the third place where you belong. In a way, it is one of your homes.

And, being a former employee, I know that they donate money to help save the rain forest and they pay their employees well. They also work to help small coffee farmers. It's a great company to work for and offers health benefits after three months of working 20 hours a week or more. It's one of the only companies I've ever heard of that lets you work part time and have health benefits. I know that the company truly cares about making good coffee and serving quality beverages, even if I do occasionally run into a negative experience at a store. Perhaps I drank the Kool-aid the management serve to me but I love the store.

I had registered a $25 Starbucks card online so that if I lost it I wouldn't lose the balance. I get e-mails from them every now and then about the company. And do you know what I found in my inbox this week?

A gift. The e-mail told me the next drink was on them. There was an additional $5 on my card, no action on my part required.

Starbucks gave me a free drink =)

Try to realize that Starbucks singlehandedly created most coffee markets that exist nationwide today and any local establishment is reaping the benefits of a coffee culture that Starbucks created. And it did it in the footsteps of Seattle's Best. Sure, coffee drinkers abound in the world with or without Starbucks. But the quality is amazing and with Starbucks came quality and the only reason that McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts no longer serve black sludge or bitterness in the mornings.

So you can think what you want about the massive, evil, giant corporation trying to take over the world. But I love it.

Music I think everyone should listen to

I won't lie - I think there is a part of me that is satisfied by stumbling across something the masses haven't discovered yet. An even biggest satisfaction comes from loving something that perhaps the masses never will, being sort of a patron of unloved things that should be loved. I can admit this though I also feel that I will not love something simply because it is obscure or unloved by many. But still, I can recognize my own pride in advocating the unknown. Perhaps it's the part of me that is in everyone else: the discoverer (or archaeologist, scientist, detective, or whatever your personal seeker is called.)

That being said, here is some music I have stumbled upon recently or learned to love these last few years of discovery:

-Regina Spektor -- Anything really, though in particular "Fidelity," "On the Radio," and "Hotel
Song"
-A Fine Frenzy -- Anything really, though in particular "Almost Lover" and "Near to You"
-Colby Callait -- Bubbly from the radio is good, also "Realize" and "Magic"
-Holly Brook -- "Like Blood Like Honey" Album
-Eric Hutchinson
-Marie Digby -- Not so much unknown anymore, thanks to MTV, particularly "Umbrella" by
Rhiana
-Butterfly Boucher
-Imogen Heap (largely known, largely not); she is also part of Frou Frou (also LOVE)
-Josh Joplin
-Hope foraGoldenSummer
-Carrie Ann Hearst
-The Wandering Sons -- they sound like they're from GA or TN but are actually from Appleton,
WI

So, since I love them, I figured I would share.

Something Joel sent me that made him laugh and think of me....

The link in the title is to an amazingly funny podcast that has 3-4 different clips of audio, perhaps 59 minutes long, that seemingly have nothing to do with each other but are listed under the subject "Tough Crowd."

I LOVED this podcast and am now fervently searching through the Americanlife.org website for more gems. I cannot thank Joel enough for sharing [Thanks Joely =)]

Scribbles on 2-8-08

Within me is the most exquisite poem
somewhere beneath the surface, just waiting to make you cry
It will burn you with its tenderness, its ecstasy, passion, paradox, heartbreak
Deep within me lie the words that you are waiting to hear
the very verses that your patient soul aches for
I am the one who understands
I am the one who can make sense of your madness,
give credence to your insanity
I have the words to soothe your troubled pain
your hidden dreams and your secret places
I hold you within me and I shelter in the quiet places of your life
I am in every breath of your silence
I am the wind talking
I am the jealous angel, a fallen demon
here only to protect, to forsee, to tell, to talk, to explain
I am your subtle poet -
you gave me your stars to hold