Never Settle v. Never Satisfied

At home in California...

It has been crazy at home. The days of normal vacations are gone. Well, its not that normal vacations are gone, it is that the days of full fledged childhood are gone… where everything having to do with the family was about me and me alone. Now there are babies and cousins and grandmas that might fall and new mothers and weddings… a twenty-two year old women doesn’t stand a chance in this crowd for being the bao-bei. Today there was a glimpse of this youth. It reared its head in the form of unabashed consumerism. It is as if consumption is our society’s form of a display of attention, of love; and somehow this is all linked to satisfaction.

A society that is taught to never settle, the protestant ethic,
has transformed itself to a society that is never satisfied, consumerism.

Today’s love is attempting to fill the insatiable void we have all created for ourselves to fit in. It is not cool to be satisfied. To not want to consume more, is then seen as not wanting to own more, which is seen as not wanting to work hard, which is seen as… ungodly?

How did these realizations come about? I physically felt uncomfortable until today, when my mother supported my ridiculous shopping spree. She “pei’d” me around Viejas while I greedily, speedily chose whatever I fancied. I had arrived home Wednesday night. I woke up Thursday, and we started spending. All Friday I was miserable… not spending. Wanted to binge… as if I was starving… FUCKED UP. Blech. Well, I suppose facing reality is the first step.

Step two: remember to be grateful for what I have, enjoy today, but never settle on improving my mind. It is not a paradox. The key is to remember... this is neither novel in concept to the world or myself. Remember.

Pimppad Goes International!

In Ottawa last week I sat with Kasha, an intern from Poland. She asked me about the United States... well it wasn't really a question, but she basically told me she believed all Americans to be ignorant. Can I get a woot woot. I asked her what she thought of me... she said: "Well, you don't seem very American. You have something different about you."

So strange. American is different things to different people. I suppose that's part of the fun. Well, its a country that is represented by civil rights, by democracy, by the majority... and given our wonderful gini coefficient/massive inequalities, the majority is lower class and relatively uneducated. Which doesn't make any sense to outsiders who, seemingly paradoxically, see the US as the world power, and the land of opportunities. Oy. Refreshing, though. Reminded me what this org I'm in is all about - our roots - and how it is not cool to assume the character of every individual from one nation from what you have learned from the splendid media.

Woot for random rambling. The initial point of all this rambling? This is the experience I have lived in the U.S...

ONE HOUSE. Senior year I lived in a house of 6 women and by September, this is where we will be living for at least one year...

• myself -- Toronto, Canada (AIESEC Canada)
• Bost -- Sao Paulo, Brazil (AIESEC SSGN Kellogg Foundation Coordinator)
• Aeshapir -- Buenos Aires, Argentina (AIESEC Conor Surl Leverage Team)
• McNulty -- Dublin, Ireland (AIESEC Ireland, MC VP OGX)
• Rachel -- ?, France (teaching English for French government)
• Kdwashin :) -- ?? No clue! :) Still waiting for assignment from Peace Corps! Likely Africa?

Bugger. no one in Asia. And really, we're not representing the other side of Europe, just the Western bit. Total crap, really. :)

Woohooters! The feeling I get from thinking about that list... both satisfaction and wanting more, is exactly what I've been thinking about lately... (never settle v. never satisfied)