Took that

I was never the type to cover posters of my favorite stars with lipstick kisses or imagine that Leo DiCaprio was my boyfriend. However, I did catch up on this particular phase of adolescence on Friday, when my roomie and soon-to-be bride Aglai and a gang of her ladies celebrated her engagement with High Tea and a Take That concert.

When we arrived to pick up the tickets, the saleswoman informed us that Howard Donald wasn't going to be performing tonight because he was hospitalized with a chest injury. Howard who? Yes, I asked that, too. The looks I caught for that one were sharp as daggers.

Anyway, we had a fabulous time watching the remaining three "boys" (who are almost in their 40s) put on a fabulous show, singing along to "Relight My Fire", "Never Forget" and "Everything Changes But You" like there was no tomorrow, and enjoying the giddy happiness of an average 13-year-old.

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

This is creepy. For a long time I stared at the dancer as it was turning clockwise, and didn't understand how anyone could see it turning counter-clockwise. Then I focused, and it switched!


So, apparently I use more of the right side of my brain, which has the following functions:

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling -- check.
"big picture" oriented -- check.
imagination rules -- hmm ... check.
symbols and images -- check.
present and future -- mostly, check.
philosophy & religion -- check, indeed.
can "get it" (i.e. meaning) -- check.
believes -- check.
appreciates -- check.
spatial perception -- most definitely NOT. Ask anyone who's watched me park a car.
knows object function -- ??
fantasy based -- Don't know.
presents possibilities -- impossibilities, mostly.
impetuous -- check.
risk taking -- Not really.

Interesting... it pretty much hits the nail on the head. The one left-brain thing missing on my list is "words and language".

Which way did the dancer turn for you?
(Thanks to mydogischelsea for the link)

Microfinance - do it yourself

Since Mohammed Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for giving the poor access to bank loans, microfinance has become a buzzword. The idea is simple: Microfinance institutions lend small amounts of money ($10-$500) to individuals or groups of people, usually women, in developing countries who in turn use the money to start their own little business and earn an income for their families. At a time where half the world lives on less then $2 a day, services like this one are sorely needed. Also, they are more than simple charity - they encourage people to take their lives into their own two hands and use their own ideas and resources to make a living.

Where there is one innovation, another one is soon to follow: KIVA.org started a website that enables everyone to be a mini-Yunus, so to speak. It lets individuals to pick from a range of different micro-enterprise initiatives in countries around the world and lend money directly to the entrepreneurs running these businesses. Ten dollars are enough to start, but you can go on to build an entire portfolio of businesses that you support.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times uses Kiva and went to Afghanistan to visit his business partner, who runs a bakery in the heart of Kabul. Here's a video of his adventure.

Playing it safe!?

A friend of my mother's who lived in the States for several years recently traveled back to New York to visit her sister. When showing her (European) passport at Immigration, she was told to follow an officer into one of the rooms for a separate interview. Surprised, she asked why they thought she needed to be questioned.

"Your first name is Eleanor, ma'am. That's an Arabic name."
"Arabic!? But I was born in Europe to European parents!?"
"Al-noor is Arabic for light, ma'am. I'm sorry, we will have to conduct a special interview."

Now that's what I call real dedication to Homeland Security.

The power of an image

"For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke a sense of humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war and if it is used well it can be a powerful ingredient in the antidote to war. "
- James Nachtwey

I saw a documentary on the war photographer James Nachtwey last night, and it really struck a chord. If you can, find a good video rental in your neighborhood, watch it and let me know your thoughts.

Update

I just realized that I stop reporting on my actual life whenever I am home. Somehow it just doesn't seem all that spectacular, and it probably isn't.

Everyday life at the Skypad (version 2.0, obviously) involves loooooong hours of staring into books and sifting through piles of paper on a quest to fill the digital pages of my thesis with words that stick. So far I've finished about a quarter of the paper, which is shockingly little given the fact that it is due in December, but I know that I can write, and I do it best when the pressure is on.

While having spent my college years in the glorious absence of the need to work for a living (thank you, mom and dad!!), bills are starting to pile up, and for the first time in my life I find myself working in actual, paid, non-volunteer student jobs: translating at conferences, hostessing (is that even a word? I know waitressing is), and - believe it or not - my first paid gig as a journalist. I am writing a feature article on Ashoka, and it's turning out to be a lot of fun. An odd detail: I've become so used to writing in English that I sometimes need to consult an online dictionary to find the perfect German word.

The quest for a real job is also on - and I am finding it tricky to overcome my good old technique of not even trying things that seem improbable and only going for safe options. The future is wide open - who know where in the world I will be six months from now?

Weekends are often spent at the Mill, trying to satisfy my newfound hunger for fresh air and nature. I guess that happens, especially if you've turned into a full-time nerd. There's nothing like a walk through vineyards, watching the leaves change color (and stealing the occasional grape or pumpkin, shame on me), to clear your head. I suppose "normal" students would prefer dancing the nights away at clubs and sleeping through the days, but in that respect - except for a crazy and fun spell of party fever in Madrid when I was seventeen - I was never normal.

Most of my good friends are married or engaged now, and life has become more quiet, but I like it this way.

PS: I have decided I will use my last semester at school to take Arabic classes. Don't know how much I will learn, but I've always wanted to get beyong haggling at the bazaar and explaining the way to taxi drivers (left, right, left, straight on, here is good, how much?).