Cosplay
I was on the bus on my way to work when it hit me that I wanted to go to Baltimore this summer for Otakon. It was just an idea, and so I asked Eno and Ronnie and they both said they were down for going with me. And from there on out, it was the plan.
There’s still a lot of time between now and Otakon, but today Eno, Ronnie and I had a silly little thread on facebook going about cosplaying. We were sharing images and ideas (Ronnie rping Jaks Briggs and Eno as Felicia xD). The whole thread felt like summer, if that makes any sense. I was hot, leaning back on our computer chair fanning myself while having this funny little thread. It reminds me of my old roleplaying days in the summers past.
Anyways, I stumbled upon this beautiful female cosplayer who was doing an amazing Felicia cosplay. I sent it in to Eno and then went further into researching this female cosplayer. When I found her deviantart site, I was amazed at her works of art. Cosplay is an art form and she’s done an amazing job interpreting characters and their designers.
On her bio, she talked about being paid for her hobby and it made me realize one of my dreams. To become an amazing cosplayer and gain some popularity…
One step at a time though. I’m learning how to sew and I plan on going to Otakon to get a taste of the Cosplay-community (Tora-con ‘09 wasn’t enjoy).
Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell
So today I finished my first book of 2012, Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell. Found the book in a diamond in the rough gold mine in downtown city. Right on St. Paul in the middle in downtown, in the store I’ve seen so many times when I tried to get on the 24 or 50 bus routes before everyone else, I found this book. Lucy brought it for me, we’ve kind of called it my birthday present.
Anyways the book is fantastic and it really gives some great insight as to how successful people become so successful. It’s opportunity! As Malcolm Gladwell puts it:
“It’s not the brightest who succeed… Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities— and who have had the strength andpresence of mind to seize them.”
So glad I got the chance to read this book. It’s helped me connect the dots because I knew privilege was a driving force that lead many successful people to where they are now, and the book confirms that with it’s various studies. What I didn’t consider was cultural legacy and birth dates also played a major role in people’s lives. For example, being born to a Jewish seamster/seamstress in beginning of the 20th century really helped pave the way for Jews in the U.S because Jewish immigrants had meaningful work where hard work and effort went hand-in-hand with reward/gain. This was something that was passed down to the next generation, and so-on and so-forth until now where we see Jews dominating the world of business/law/medicine.
I was even able to use/cite information from the book in an argument. On facebook, someone posted a image with the number figures displaying the disparity between the wage increase of CEOs and labor works since the 1975. The CEO’s pay went up like 425% since then while everyone else’s was about 5%. The comments looked like this:
Excuse the errors/typos I made, I didn’t proofread my post enough. I didn’t feel the need to respond because someone like him, a white heterosexual male CEO of a software company in Mexico, would never understand where I was coming from. But this book has definitely lit a fire in me. It definitely reaffirmed my previous beliefs and changed the way I look at success.
TESOL.
Ever since I discovered the GAP year during my senior year in high school (and TESOL for that matter), I’ve been interested in getting the opportunity to go abroad and teach English as a Second Official Language.
So I’ve been wanting to do this for quite sometime but today I’ve taken some steps towards that goal. I purchased an online TEFL 120 course earlier today on Group. Saving 87% on the deal, which is fantastic. Whether it’s legit or not, I dunno but I hope it is and I’m sure I’ll take something from it. Maybe I’ll improve my grammar as I go along.
Let’s hope my $79 won’t go to waste. :P
Work of Art
So I recently discovered a new song that truly inspires me. I’ve been listening to in on repeat for the last half an hour or so and it’s really just getting creative side of me going.
No longer can I just sit around idly doing absolutely nothing. I’ve got to do good with the time I’ve got. My productivity levels need to skyrocket and I need to start seeing progress. My dreams are just dreams if I don’t put in the time and energy to make them a reality.
