Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Last Words

This is a copy of a Skateboarding Magazine feature. So keep in mind that the questions were asked to a extreme athlete... It will be fun if people could cut erase my answers and plug in theirs and then post it back.

Mismo's last words

Last time you envied someone:
Hard question, I'd say recently I have envied a lot the way Jean Paul Sartre lived.

Last video you rented:
mmm... I haven't rented a video in so long.


Last time you went to the movies:
If I am right I went to see that movie with Jack (that's his name in Lost show)

Last CD you bought:
Ha haha I prefer not to answer that. Last song I downloaded was some sort of underground punk through emusic.com

Last time you wished you were dead:
I guess las time I fucked up really bad.


Last song you listened to:
2pac Changes


Last meal you ate:
Oatmeal


Last trick you landed:
Sadly enough it was an ollie


Last time you were inspired:
I have been deeply inspired the past few weeks.


Last meal you skipped:
I guess I have gone a few days without eating anything other than oatmeal


Last book you read:
Some sort of recap of Jean Paul Sartre's work


Last country you visited:
Mexico


Last time you felt out of place:
At a bar with some "friends"


Last fight you were in:
Two weeks ago


Last video game you played:
GTA LCS


Last time you gave money away:
I gave a cigarette to a stranger. Does that count?


Last time you were arrested:
Last fall, although it was an arbitrary arrest.


Last time you stole:
I guess I walked out of cub with a case of pop and I did not noticed until I was outside.

Last time you apologized:
Past monday to a girl


Last time you got ripped off:
By the response I got from Augsburg officials last Friday


Last time you were hurt:
Two weeks ago, I wonder why?


Last thing that changed your life:
Lots of that going on lately. I'd say the break up with my girlfriend and everything that went with it. Like reading some good material.


Last piece of clothing you bought:
I bought some lacoste items and RL T-shirt and a Hawaiian button up shirt.
I was trying to buy happiness but it did not last long

Last time you were prescribed drugs:
Antibiotics last December

Last time you went to church:
Like 2 months ago... I had fun

Last time you put on a suit:
To an interview to which job I was not offered

Last time you felt perfectly comfortable:
In the coffee shop across the bridge philosophizing and studying for the GMAT

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Like the old Enron ad said "ask why?"

why is it that people in the lower spectrum of the society or any hierarchy has to put up with all the crap that comes from the upper ends?
Why is it that I have to adapt to an schedule that is given to me in the last minute and at the same time school neglects my needs and gives me poor responses?
Why does people have to put up to a hold in the 401ks when a company is merging or going through financial hardship but when they show up late or sick employers don't give a shit?
Why do I have to be "morally" educated by the most dishonest people in this world, who think their actions are righteous?
Why do we have to live repressed by money, credit scores, and other public historial and ye when a major thief comes out of jail is still able to play in the market?
Why is adjusting to people's needs such a problem for people that have a position of power?

No time to eat

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I have been eating really crappy lately. I just don't have time to get a good meal and when I finally do it comes down to eating or working out and stupidly enough I choose to work out. I have lost some pounds in a very unhealthy way. On top of that i have passively turn into a hippie. I would like to say a different type of hippie. I shall call myself a radical alternative hippie. However I dunno if I am more alternative than radical or more radical than alternative or rather more hippie than any of those ha haha.

PS Please throw me a loaf of bread I am hungry

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Making your mind up

Generally it is really difficult for people to make up their minds when it comes down to big decisions. I am rather really crazy when it comes down to taking big decisions. I think I just give it as many cold thoughts and also try to forecast any possible outcomes that any given choice would bear. Lately I have been taking major decisions and even though a few of them have put me in a compromising situation I feel that I needed that to happen to open my eyes to a more concrete set of choices and repercussions. For instance I needed to know that something was not the way I thought it was, so now I can carry on and stop thinking about it. Tonight I took another big decision based on the outcome of my previous choice and a deep intro-retrospective exercise which took place in the way back from Duluth to MSP. I am happy with what I have accomplished so far even though is nothing material yet, I know it has a great potential to become a huge milestone of my life.



Sometimes is better to jump at it instead of watching the opportunity go by.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Basis to a new way of thinking

As promised a long time ago here is a bit of my work:

Circumstances vary which alters our existence in unimaginable ways.

First of all let me expose the basis of my own philosophical movement which adds to the existentialism of Sartre. I feel that the biggest problem of our society is that very few people are coming up with new ways of redefining what has already been defined. Fewer people are creating their own school of thought. Everything has been commercialized, even academia. There is no space for the few persons that have original ideas to expose them, because they get snubbed by society because they don't have the proper credentials. Moreover, the society in every corner of the world is turning its existence into something merely fake. Everything is about who has the "most" power over material resources when in reality people should be fighting over who gives the most meaning to their life by using money as a mean and not as an end. People have been heavily tricked by corporations during the last 50 years (Side note: When I wrote this I did not even know About Edward Bernays. Now I am absolutely sure of this fact).

My hypothesis is that since the death of Jean Paul Sartre there has not been a go to intellectual that criticizes politics from the basis of human existence. Of course I am not neglecting the work of persons like Chomsky that have a more objective purpose in their work. I am rather suggesting that intellectual agenda has switch more to the political side leaving the study of existence behind. If I am wrong, then can someone tell me who is re-associating the ideas of past philosophers, developing new ones, and making a reconciliation with the current structure of our society? All we hear from our intellectuals is how governments and corporations are destroying the world. While other Academics become the ultimate scholars in lets say Proust(or whoever they choose).

What do you think?

So what?

Today I got an e-mail in response to the letter I sent to the President earlier this week. Here it is so you can critique it:

"Good morning Luis,

Dr. Pribbenow gave me your letter that you had recently sent to him outlining your discontent about the summer housing credit. I am sorry to read of your difficulties in finding consistent employment on campus. We have not done cuts in work study, although you may be finding some departments reducing their summer hours to have more hours available during the academic year.

The purpose of the summer housing credit was to encourage students to work on campus by supporting their living on campus. We sometimes have trouble recruiting enough students to work on campus during the summer. this is, as you note, not an issue for international students because you can only work on campus.

Because of this rationale, we went with the 560 hour requirement and did not prorate it. We have made provision for those involved in McNair summer research, NASA/Physics summer research, and the URGO program summer research.

We will certainly take your suggestion of categories of summer housing credit as we review this for future summers.

I copied Dr. Pribbenow on my reply.

In addition, I'll sure pay attention to other work opportunities that may occur as summer continues and will contact you if I learn of anything.

Please let me know if you have questions."

I feel the response goes around my concerns. First of all I don't have a discontent with the housing credit but with the eligibility to get it. Second thing, they have not cut hours? I thought school is running a deficit... Anyway, the third thing I was pursuing in my letter was that fact that I want to see some action this summer not in 2010. Finally I am very upset at the fact that I directed the letter to the President and I got a response from Ann Garvey. The very reason I wrote the letter was because I already have talked to her and someone else about my situation. Which reply was about the same I got in the letter (no wonder why?). I am not trying to be the exception to the rules, rather I want to push for the benefit of anyone in a situation similar to mine... I am really frustrated with this. I kinda want to quit wasting my time trying to reason with the administrators.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Which kinda of Auggie are you... today

There is a marketing campaign which was launched by the school. As you can imagine it is regarding the different personalities you can turn into by being an Auggie. However, they make use of conventional, in my opinion overrated, ways of describing an Auggie. For example: The Achiever, The Athletic, The Musical, blah blah blah.

Here is my version of the Auggie you can be when you come here (or back here(right here is the idea basically)):

The Hippie
The invisible
The Quiet
The friendly
The know it all (aka air hog)
The nerd
The fashionable
The artistic
The creative
The screw it all
The melodramatic
The slacker
The polygamist
The monogamist
The yeallow house hater
The yellow house lover
The Writer (like me who only writes crap)
The Intellectual (we need more of those)
The Spiritual
The Adventurous
The party animal
The party pooper
... you name it

The coolest thing about this place is that you can be whatever you want whenever you want and campus community could care less. In other words they will let you be. Although if you don't find your niche, you might want to try a different kind of Auggie next day.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Roaches???

I am sick of those damn bugs! I swear we try our best to keep it clean, but they always come back. While I was Luther Hall's facilities coordinator I noticed that we had a roaches plague problem in the hall. We called the Godfather exterminator services a bunch of times during the year. The problem is that the freaking bugs will not die if they don't spray the entire building. I mean how hard is it to kick everyones ass out of the hall for a day or something. I am sure that there will something people can do to entertain themselves for a few hours while they get rod of the nasty bugs. Agrhhhhhhhh I hate them to death.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Scams

I hate when I get tons of e-mails from unknown senders. Many of them are regarding sexual stuff or wait losing pills, or the other kind of pills. With the years I have gotten used to them. However, I was reading one just a few minutes ago about getting a green card to come to America and it says the following:

"Imagine sitting in your front porch, on a Saturday morning, watching your kids play in the back yard. You smile to yourself and remember that crucial moment 2 years ago - the moment you decided to enter the US Green card lottery."

If anyone that falls into the traps of this scam was a little intelligent, this person would realize that it is highly unlikely to be sitting in your front porch while you watch your kids playing in the back yard. I mean why don't they just write "imagine yourself enjoying dinner while you take a crap in your master bedroom?" I guess that is more mentally graphic, but it is as unlikely that you can enjoy doing that, because it is impossible.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Somewhat old but still cool

I think fall semester of 07 I ran into this podcast called ask a ninja. I thought it was kinda stupid at the time, but after watching a few episodes I turned into a fan of the show. As a blogger I feel it is my duty to be aware of what is out there in other blogs (I know that is completely unrelated for now, but wait there is a connection). I regularly visit a blog which is based in DF aka Mexico City, and I was really surprised that Ask a ninja was among there featuring videos. Anyway here it is the link to ask a ninja... looking forward to killing you all





disclaimer: The last statement is just a gag. If you check ask a ninja you'll get it

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Summer housing issue

I have been trying to work out my situation to be eligible for the summer housing. After talking to a couple people I have not found any empathy, so I decided to write a letter to the President of the College. Here it is and let me know if you are in the same situation maybe we can gather some signatures to make it more serious.

Dear President Pribbenow,

I am writing you to express my discontent about the eligibility for the summer credit contract that is offered to students that work on campus. I am aware that you are not in charge of deciding who gets it and who does not. I just thought that I could make my voice heard through you because I have talked to other people and they don’t show any empathy when I tell them about my situation. I feel it is really unfair the way the credit is offered. First of all the student worker hours have been cut, so it is really hard to find a position that would fulfill all the requirements to get the credit. As right now, I am working for three different departments on campus. As a result my work schedule is scattered throughout the day, which has affected my other summer activities. In addition one of my jobs shuts down for a few weeks during the summer, which will make impossible for me to get the required hours at the end of the summer. The second thing I find to be unfair, is that I will not receive the credit just because I am slightly below the quota stated in the contract. I am really frustrated because it is just three hours a week that will make the difference but there is no student work out there because the recent cuts. On top of that my immigrant status does not allow me to work off campus, which constrains the amount of income I can make and it obviously makes me dependent on the student worker hours offered. I know you are trying to help students who stay on campus for the summer, and I am glad that someone came with the idea of the credit. What I am not happy with is the fact that students like me are not getting that aid due to something that we cannot control. I would understand if the credit was denied to me because I am being lazy. The truth is that I get up to work at 7:45 AM and after a shift during the day I go to work from 5pm to 9pm. I am also aware that it will be unfair for students who do get the 40hrs a week to get the same reward as someone who puts in 30. My suggestion is that the credit can be granted by categories from most hours worked to least. I know there has to be a point where the hours may not be enough to be eligible for the credit. I think that thirty hours a week should be enough to receive some sort of credit towards summer housing. Furthermore, who really knows what else the students are doing that is keeping them from working those extra hours. Maybe some are doing volunteer work, an internship, taking classes, getting prepared for graduate school, etc. I hope there is something that can be done about this issue. I believe there are a good number of students that are in the same situation as I am.

-Thanks for your attention.




Luis Lopez Monterrubio




Disclaimer: I will turn this in on Friday, so hurry up! I am also opened to suggestions and corrections. THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!

I guess that is about the largest response I have had in this space. Thanks a lot "anonymous" for your insightful comment. First let me say that English is not my first language either, it is Spanish. I totally get your point and I could not agree more. It is completely worthless to live a year that you would not carry memories to the future. I guess in my point of view the biggest thing in stake is the amount of things a person can learn both in the introspective and extrospective spectrum. So yeah that was an awesome response to the tricky question. Does someone else has something to say?

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Tricky question

Ok I am going to put this out there to see if anyone responds to it.

If you were offered to have the happiest year of your life in all aspects imaginable with the only exception that after that year goes by you would not remember anything, would you still take the offer?

Let's see who has something to say...

Concerts in MSP or MPLS

I have been just to two "concerts" which I actually will say were more like a private "tokin" (that is the word in spanish for small concert). Anyway, I have been to tokines of Arctic Monkeys and more recently the Kooks and I have gotten a little disappointed after both of them were done. In both cases I expected to find a much different public (fans) on the spot. This past Saturday I wanted to rock a little bit. I know it is just the Kooks and it gets mellow to often, but still it explodes a little to head bang and jump. Unfortunately, I was surrounded by lame people that were just standing still. I had a grandma and her granddaughter in front of me, a small girl on my right, another small girl behind me, and my lame brother on my left. I really wanted to be more active , but the circumstances stopped me from doing it so. I was kinda disappointed that there were a bunch of people just standing still. Why can't they move the fuck to the side and be lame there? I understand that they want to see the band play, but why can't they move somewhere else and let people rock the shit out for the night. Seriously if you are going to see a band that plays a little faster music to stand still and cross your arms, you might as well stay home and watch some of their videos online.
The other thing I highly disliked was the opening band. At both of the performances I have been the bands that opened SUCKED. I can't understand it...

Monday, June 2, 2008

Completely screwed

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I was calculating if it was possible for me to get the credit that the school offers for students who work 560hrs in the summer. I just realized, it is highly unlikely for me to get that many hours in. It freaking sucks that they cannot make exceptions. I mean I am not being a bum because of personal choice. The school is running a deficit and now I am a victim of that too because no one has budget to offer me 3 more hours a week so I can get this done. I usually don't swear in this blog, but this time I have to say FUCK ME! I hate to be in this kind of situation...

Imagine accepting the truth

I guess it is time to accept it and face it, I broke up with what so far has been my longest lasting girlfriend.
Despite the "mature" talks we had to attempt a smooth transition, in my opinion we have failed miserably. Now I also think it is natural that this happened, but I thought it was going to be somewhat nicer than it is. The truth is relative and lets have that in mind when I say that I don't feel the other party assumed responsibility for many of the things which in the end took us to where we are. Let's also be aware that I am not claiming to be Mr. perfect, the truth is that I am not. I am a dirt bag every now and then. Despite the bad things I did, I feel I tried to make up for a lot of them. It is kinda weird talking about this, but I guess is a good way to get it out (plus the audience levels have to be at a lowest record). Bottom line, this post is just to victimize myself a little (ha haha) because I feel that at the end it seemed that it was all my fault. Turns out that I really have no remorse about what happened anymore. Regarding the current status of transition with my EX, I feel I am taking it the right way... I swear I am not attacking her, but I feel she is acting a little to inconsistent sometimes she wants to talk sometime she does not... anyway I am just waiting to see if that is going to reach an equilibrium soon.

So what's the plan Mismo?
I thought I had a plan turns that at least portion of it has failed miserably too. I am close to unemployed working funny hours and eating one meal a day. It sucks hard core but I'll bear the downfalls of this summer (which by the way also seems to be shittier than the past ones... at least in MPLS). I still have some personal projects that I can work on that may just turn my life upside down... more on that coming soon.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Bring the beat back

It's been a while since I posted a song, so here it is. This is the song info Sam_And_Gigi_Bau_Au_Disc_1_Track_2_Bau_Au_Markus_Enochson_Remix_
It is some sort of experimental music which I happen to find by mistake while I was looking for patchworks material. Anyway enjoy!