Because I spent half this morning thinking about the tee-shirt you sleep in.

The title is a reference to a song by Birdy, every single word of which is resonating with me right now, which is a situation I'm not too pleased with. Can you please just go away, feelings? This is not working out for me. I need a break. Go away, go party in Hawaii or something. Lust after some hot lifeguard. Just stop feeling so much, god, stop being so aware of him every moment of every day, stop thinking about what he might be doing, stop looking at his facebook profile, the same pictures over and over again, stop thinking about that god-awful smirk of his, stop it, stop it, stop it.
And if you can't stop, at least get some decent writing out of it, what the hell is this crap? Just quote some nice song by someone else, and that's it, you're done expressing yourself? Come up with something original, jeez. Write a bit of angsty poetry. A future classic about the hardships of love, or whatever in the hell this is. Obsession, I think, would be a better description than love. [Would also make a better story.] Love is so different. Right? So much purer. So much less moony, or at least I hope so- unless the mooning is reciprocated, in which case, all is okay. Love has to be reciprocated, right? You can't just fall in love with the twirl of someone's hair, the poise of his hands and feet (did you even know feet could be poised?), the intensity and laughter of his gaze. Can you? Can you be in love with someone who isn't even here, in whose life you don't even feature, except maybe some extra who moved across the screen that one time in that one scene? Can you be in love with someone who exists more in your mind than in your life?
Oh shut up, you aren't in love with him. A week of vacation, when your mind isn't desperately trying to get away from thinking about work and other things actually relevant to your life, and you'll be over him like a frog over a puddle.
At least I hope you will. Don't fall into that puddle, frog. Don't let the pretty shimmering entice you into it. That light is deceptive. That puddle is not good for you. Jump over it, and hop away as fast as you can. Or better yet- jump over it, and forget it ever existed in the first place.
Is this writing good enough to make up for all of the feelings? I certainly hope so, because it's all I got right now.

I shall stop talking to myself now.
Goodnight folks. (Ha, like I'm sleeping.)

Love or whatever,
~Sam

PS: This is our 300th post! Yay! 

A New Year

Hello, non-existent readers. Today I will be blogging about everything I want to say. Before I begin, I just want  to say that I personally think that New Year resolutions are overrated. But I feel like I'm at a point in my life where I need to start taking charge of my life. I keep complaining that I need to get my life together. I say that I refuse to live a mediocre life. I can't just sit there and whine. It will not be handed to me. I have never been lucky. I believe I never will (to all of you who have been favored in this aspect, I say to you-Lucky Bastards). So in order to start getting things together I have compiled a list of.....stuff.

-First of all, a big 'YES' to everything Sam said about New Years resolutions. No more thinking that I'm not good enough, or skinny enough or pretty enough. More confidence. Hell, I should be. I can do a lot of things. I will not be placed under the norms of vanity. I am my own person. I have my own style. I will not think twice about what I want to do. I will wear make up if I want. I will keep my nails neat and manicured if I want. I will eat 6 slices of pizza if I want. I will make efforts to look good if I want. I will play video games for hours straight if I want. I will listen to whichever music I feel like. I will to go college with bedhead. I will have days where I don't give a fuck. I will do everything; and I will do nothing.

-I told myself that I will try harder this year. I will try not to slack off. That is not going very well. Being lazy comes so naturally to me; I can't help it, but I shall try.

-This one has been my goal for the past three years; exercising. I've come around to it during September of 2013. I kind of slacked off in November. All I did in December was eat(IT WAS HOLIDAY SEASON IN MY DEFENSE). I should really continue working out this month.

So that's it for this year. I guess. I'm not really good at planning but you gotta start somewhere right?

This is Malko saying maytheforcebewithyou

Issues

Philosophy is not distant, is not abstract. It's real, it's every day, every act.
Something I've realized as I've grown older: there are issues everywhere you look. Every single act is propelled by a philosophy, whether you realize it or not. Feminism, religion, nationalism, liberalism. Ideas, issues, philosophies. They permeate not only politics and college classrooms, but everything. The reason you're okay/not okay with the weird girl being weird. The reason your mother doesn't work. The reason it's okay/not okay for your brother to wear pink. The reason being gay is a big deal/not a big deal. The reason you can/can't get a haircut. The reason that music video is okay/not okay. The reason you follow/don't follow the rules. Every single opinion of yours.
Reflects your philosophy. 

~Sam

The Quantification of Need

I'm an avid follower of Humans of New York, which is run by this dude called Brandon Stanton in New York. Recently, something Brandon did made me smile more than his page normally does.

A bit of background here: Humans of New York is essentially a photoblog of random people in New York, whom Brandon stops in the streets and speaks to. The pictures are then uploaded with captions which reveal a little bit of their lives: stories which are witty, funny, touching, moving, sweet, sad, and just plain human. It's a great way of showing us that everyone we pass in the street has a life, a story and of bringing people together. The people who comment on these threads are some of the most accepting and amazing people I've found on the internet. ANYWAY little fan outpouring aside, what happened in this instance was that Brandon came across a mother and her son, Rumi, selling cowboy supplies on the pavement, in order to save up for a horse, because "Rumi's biggest dream is to own a horse."

Now most of us, if you guys are anything like me, would just smile at this piece of absolute adorableness, and the hope, and the maternal love, and the general awesomeness reflected in this picture and story and move on.

Not Brandon.

He decided, since owning a horse in New York is a little difficult/expensive, to send Rumi on a Wild West Adventure, and asked followers of his page to donate some money. The goal was $7000. It was raised in 15 minutes. A total of $32, 167 have been raised, and the rest is going to the New York Therapeutic Riding Centre.

Which is all wonderful (SO MINDBLOWINGLY WONDERFUL OH MY GOD I LOVE PEOPLE), but that is not the point of this post.

The point is that some of the people who have commented in places where this story has been reported seem...upset. Because Rumi is not a starving orphan. Because going on a Wild West adventure is not a basic need. Because he has a house and a loving mother and therefore does not deserve to have strangers spend money on him to fulfill his little first world wish.

Excuse me?

I understand that the world is in a bad way. There are people suffering for the food I'm snacking on while typing this post. There are people dying for the most basic amenities. There is, after all, this picture.

But does that mean we cannot help anybody who isn't that far gone?

Must we hunt down the most despairing soul to give our charity to? Must we feel guilty every time we buy a new phone, because someone is dying for lack of a morsel, or every time we help a Rumi instead of a homeless man because his need is less than that of a man on the street? Should I feel bad that the person I helped wasn't as bad off as the next one?

Must need be quantified?

It would be great if the world was a utopian socialist heaven where everyone had all they needed and could get down to the business of wants. It is not. It is probably not going to be. It is not even heading in that direction.

But when we do decide to help somebody, whether it's by driving a kid down to Six Flags and watching her leap for joy, or donating to Greenpeace or Blue Cross, we shouldn't be told that we didn't help the right person.

What does that argument even mean?

That we can't help someone until every person worse off than them has been helped?

That we can't fight for animal rights until the rights of every human have been granted and guaranteed?

That your need/want is not important as long as there are needier people?

Please. Their needs may exist, but so do these. Yes, there are people who need a lot more. Yes, we should help them. Yes, you will get more moral brownie points for helping those people.

But when someone is in front of you, and they need something, and you can help them, you do that. And when someone else does that, you don't diss them for it. People help those they want to help, support the causes they want to. Because even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have.

~Sam