Sometimes we skip a few months at a time

A recent presentation about building a strong online persona has compelled me to start blogging again. Today is not the day I start, though, because it is the opening night of the show I am stage managing. In fact this blog entry is that of the "note to self" variety.

One salewoman above the rest

I went shopping yesterday and on my way between Bloomingdales and my car I walked into Movado. There, I encountered one of the most intrusive salespeople I've probably ever met.

Her: Can I help you with anything?
Me: Oh, I'm just looking around. But can you point me in the direction of the smallest watch you have?
Her: That would be over here.
Me: Oh yeah that's really pretty.
Her: Would you like to try it on?
Me: Um, sure...I guess...
Me: So how much does this go by?
Her: Let's see here....&584
Me: Wow..
Her: Do you want to buy it?
Me: No...I'm afraid I can't afford it
Her: Well I'm glad you can be honest with me. How old are you?
Me: 18
Her: No way!
Me: ...way!
Her: You know how old I was when I got my first Movado watch?
Me: How old?
Her: 42
Me: ...wow...
Her: Yes, and I was also 56 when I got my diamond earrings. I got my ears pierced just for them. See?
Me: Cool!
Her: So you went to Bloomingdales I see. Did you get any good deals?
Me: Yeah, very good deal
Her: Oh really? What's a good deal for Bloomingdales?
Me: Around $40
Her: What did you get?
Me: Oh just a sweater
Her: Can I see?
Me: Umm.....ok......
Her: Wow, that's really pretty
Me: Thanks. Ok well I think I'm going to go now...
Her: Ok, but if you ever decide to buy that watch it comes with a lifetime battery guarantee so you will wind up spending more money than you spend!
Me: Uh huh!
Her: So if you ever want to buy it come see me! My name is Barbara.
Me: Ok Barbara nice meeting you BYE!

Back at the same place where it all went down

What I mean is, I am back at work...the same place where I was when I started this blog. I don't have too many meaningful thoughts so far but I would like to comment on one point. I suppose, until recently, I never took into consideration how comparatively long our professional career is than our academic one. At the age of 18 I feel as though I have spent an icredibly long time in high school. However when I think of the time that I am yet to spend at the workplace, even after college and grad school, suddenly my long high school trek seems like childs play.
I thought about that for the first time on the school bus recently, and was reminded again today when I walked into the office and saw pretty much all fo teh same people as I saw in August and knew all of their names.

The facility of communication

I keep thinking of excellent blog ideas, but because I do not write them down immediatly I clearly forget what the ideas were. So this idea, which I thought of not 2 minutes ago whilst reading another blog, I will record promptly.

As the title would suggest, this entry is about communication. Namely how easy technology of the past decade has made it. I don't know how many of us I can speak for when I say that I certainly take for granted that I can pretty much talk to whomever I want whenever I want. But just now I noticed that the dynamic internet has taken "whomever" to a whole new level.
Earlier this year I was reading Freakonomics and I was just amazed by how smart the writer is and how he was able to make connections between phonomena that I would never even think of connecting. I won't go as far as to say that I idolized Levitt, but I placed him in the category of incredibly smart people who do not easily converse with the general public simply because they are in such high demand, and have so much of their own business to sort through, that they can not sit down for afternoon tea with everyone willing. But everyone willing can leave him a comment on his blog. As i was reading the blog entries and the comments it struck me how the people responding ARE the general public. They have the freedom to write whatever they please in response to Levitt's entries, and by no means shy away from accusing him of being "a moron, a traitor, or both". Everyone who wants to can give his/her two cents about the blog. Everyone can tell Levitt that he is an idiot, even though the book he wrote was brilliant. Surprisingly though despite the possibility of anyone commenting on the blog, seemingly only people who legitimatly know what they are talking about (i.e. the smart intellectual educated segment of the general public) decide to leave comments. This outcome can mean two things. One- Only the aforementioned sort of people read New York Times online (where the blog is currently located), an even smaller percentage of those are interested in the blog, and an even smaller percentage of those actually understand what Levitt is saying enough to argue or concur with his thoughts. Two- Not only smart people read the New York Times online and the Freakonomics blog, but the ones who do are not only awestruck by both the posts and the poster, but also are too shy and do not have anything worthwhile to say in response. I belong to the second group of people.

Now to resort back to the constantly (and annoyingly) repeating motif of forgetting the words that I was going to write, a little while ago I had an excellent closing statement for this entry, but seeing as I got distracted, I completely and tracelessly forget what I was going say.

Each to her own...except not exactly

Last night I visited my grandparents, and mostly we talked about my younger sister in the context of social standards and how she will stop at nothing to fit in. My grandmother was telling me that when I was younger, I was not as concerned- obsessed even- with fitting in by acting the right way, wearing the right clothing, watching the right TV and singing the right songs than my sister. My explanation to her was as follows. My parents and I are first generation immigrants, while my sister was born here in the States. I am mostly an introvert while she is mostly an extrovert. Though we look similar we are have very different personalities and characters, which explains why she is not exactly as I was when I was her age. The fact that she is in grade school also bears relevance. At her age peers are vicious! If she does not fit in, she will most definetly be looked down upon, and potentially ostrasized. And even though she has a pretty strong character for her age, her character is nothing without her support groups. I wish, though, that she would realize that rather have no friends at all than have cheap lame friends. When I washer age I did not have any close friends in my school and I was mostly fine with that because I realized that I am better off without these kids. So on the one hand I understand exactly what is going on with my sister, but at the it bothers me. That I am helpless to convince her of her flawed ways bothers me even more, seeing as she is so stubborn that even saying "No, you are wrong" leaves no impression on her. How different we are is ammusing. When I was her age, I would feel stupid at the mere suggestion that what I am doing might be wrong, whereas she is so convinced that her ways are wrong that she will not even listen to the critique of those who are older and wiser than her. However, her stubborn-ness is not all shortcomming. When she herself becomes older and wiser, she will be able to get people to do what is right because she will stop at nothing to have it her way. It's just a matter of how she uses this ability.