A Start

A new year is supposed to be a fresh start. Resolutions are made, changes are sought and old habits are discarded in favor of new ones (except for those obvious ones that die hard). It ushers in a moment of celebration in our otherwise "regular" lives - a celebration of human emotions, a commemoration of the joys and sadness of the past, a big "thank you" for the present and a blessing for the future.

It also marks a new beginning. A fresh perspective on life. A contemporary collaboration of ideas, thoughts, concerns and emotions. A reflection of the experiences of life. A quest to identify the human condition. The birth of an online entity.

I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now. As much as I was interested in joining in on the internet revolution, I lacked the inspiration and the energy and also ideas. I didn't know what to write about. I could perhaps write about idiots. They are everywhere. Or maybe I could clear my head on the topic of the constantly-degrading-and-now-sub-human quality of my college's dining hall food. But I don't see why the world should care. Besides, people are starving in some parts of the world. I'm not an unappreciative jerk- I worked hard to be where I am, and that gives me a whole new level of appreciation for life.

After traveling around and having the opportunity to live in different societies and experiencing unique cultures for the last few years, I've decided there were way too many ideas drifting around in my brain, and I needed a place to clear some thoughts. I thought that I would sit down and maintain a log of my experiential learning process, and perhaps gain some useful feedback and commentary on my ideas and outlook on different matters of the world and engage in intellectual discussions and debates. If there is one thing I've learned from my travels - it has to be my contention that there is nothing in this world that can replace the educational and inspirational value of human interactions. I know I cannot meet enough people in my lifetime, but I could certainly meet their ideologies, understand their attitudes on life and simply enjoy the benefits socializing. Globalization and the internet has made this world a much smaller place, and it is my intention to use these processes to reach out to the world and find my place in it.

So the effort begins, on the first day of 2008 in an apartment in Amsterdam, the city of freedom, a place which I've learned to call home in the past few months. I don't know which direction this blog will go, but hopefully I'll be able to balance my "real" life and my online life well enough to be able to post my thoughts and realizations as well as my two-cents on political processes, economic development, military engagement, technology, music or anything that sparks my interest.

I see this effort not simply as blogging, but as an adventure - a journey to meet new ideas, inspirations, and people.