Hotlanta

Just got back from Atlanta visiting 1/2 of the P-Unit!! I am such a jet-setter, I have 3 homes in the US: Atlanta, Chicago and New York, it's actually time to start collecting ones in the West Coast.

Anyway, before I left I wrote Molly a free-writing excerpt on my take of Atlanta and here it goes:


'ok, one more week!!! ahhhhhh survive and then ATL w/papa and mila and slava and harvey and oysters and crab legs and yoga and rollerblading and frantic shopping sprees and homemade cappuccinos with homemade steamed frothy milk and fresh juices in the morning and home cooked dinners and barbeques and brunches on sunday and crazy russians being rich and wearing dolce and gabbana and yelling kind words to each other while drinking vodka and smoking [anything that will burn]'(Substituted text courtesy of Esthero).

Pretty much on point save a few additions and substitutions. For example: rollerblading was substituted by me putting on rollerblades for 2 minutes and then realizing that I will break my neck on the slippery slopes of the Atlanta landscape of Chestain Park and then taking them off for a nice stroll around with Slava working on my business endeavor: Dance Walking, (it's 'C-circled' aka  © ) [Taking on new clients soon!!! Message me, or my business associate: Slava, and we'll talk---A great way to shed those pounds while having fun]. . . . . Not mentioned in the above free-write: the G-parents: Fanya and Arcadiy who made bomb gefilte fish with beets, carrots and potatoes  (oh yea, uh huh) and zigi-frishti-matzi for our very very non-denominational sedar.

I was also accused of being a "foodie" by Slav and when I was forced to look up the definition I found:
A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation. A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie. 

And I must say that is pretty accurate=) Anyone who has come out to have a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice with me will attest to this description.


Some pics from the trip. (Note to self: take more pics!!!!!!!!!!!)

Sunday Brunch a la NYC with unlimited Mimosas (only $5 extra)

Passover

 Harvey after the Dentist (aka Vet)

Rumi's Kitchen: Beware of Food Overdose!!! (those will KILL you temporarily)

 Biggest Tree I've ever seen...it was 500 years old!!!!

 (give or take a few hundred years)

Zuma Restaurant
Lesson Learned (I hope): Listen to your Gut instinct and the goals set before you get there ("Hey guys let's order 2 orders less than we want") and then listen to everyone else's wise recommendations once you're there looking at the menu!!! Greedy eyes make for a very uncomfortable stomach and a guilty conscience. In theory, very smart! In practice? Well, still practicing on the practice.

Food Babies!!! Gilbert!!!

At the Bach Pad

 

Jealousy is . . .

Unused Inspiration

The Bard of Disease

 What if I cracked you open and let your ignorance bleed out?

What kind of person you would be
  when the protective shell is broken and you are left exposed

to be the person that you truly are?

When I Grow Up . . .

. . . I want to be a Fairy

Two Options

I am starting to see that in this life we have two options:

You can change the world, or you can let the world change you.

It's a really simple credo but it takes a lifetime to master, if that. There is always a choice to be made in any interaction. You can either accept or deny whatever is being presented to you. Everyone of these interactions is an opportunity to 'change the world.' You do not have to go along with something if you know it's wrong or goes against your values, even if 'that's the way it has always been done.'

Every problem has a solution. The difficult part is to find the solution, or the options of solutions available. I believe that it is best to find a productive one which helps everyone involved. Productive, to me, means that you choose to contribute something that helps another person while also benefiting you. Instead of blaming someone else, you take the responsibility to voice your concern and then figure out how you can help the situation. Productive also means that you allow someone a way out. When you criticize someone and don't give them a way to learn how to make that better, then you are doing everyone a disservice (and look like a jerk). Getting mad at someone for something is unproductive because you have not done anything to change the situation for the better. So in reality, you're actually the one to 'blame'.

I am beginning to see how beneficial this all is. If I am aware of this, then there is really never a moment for me to be upset at anything or anyone. I am in control to make the situation better by finding solutions to the problem. I catch myself getting mad or upset about what someone has said or done to me. But it's unnecessary because I have the option of changing the situation or my reaction.

I think it's much harder to be positive, it takes a lot of energy (to change the world). You need to be resourceful and resilient which takes time, effort and patience. It's much easier to be negative and let others take charge of your decisions (to choose to let the world change you). However, the benefits reaped from being positive are more worthwhile in the long run.

Where would we be if everyone chose to change the world for the better? If everyone worked to this full potential? It's an overwhelming thought . . .

Jealousy

Jealousy is unused inspiration


When someone does something fantastic, it is a source of inspiration, allowing you to open your eyes to what else is possible in the world and to learn to use it to develop your own work. It is an invitation to do something even better instead of hating on someone for doing something amazing.

That is why I am scared of people idolizing and revering other people, like celebrities. Those people have reached amazing feats, but it is not an excuse to say that I cannot possibly do anything like that. It is an opportunity to make the world even better because what you have to say is unique and different than anyone else.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I am pretty sure everyone has experienced at one point or another the murky feeling that creeps up on you on Sundays. It's hard to describe the feeling exactly, but it sure doesn't feel pleasant. This feeling, has a name and its called: Blood Sausage. This term was been passed on to me by my father (Papa =P). Whenever you have that feeling, it can only be described as blood sausage.


The first time it was told to me to describe these feelings, I had no idea what my dad was saying to me. What do you mean you feel like Blood sausage? But now, it's a part of our vocabulary and we both understand as soon as any of us says those words to describe our mental/physical/emotional state we need to adjust our actions towards each other and act accordingly because it is a very sensitive state that the person is in.



Sundays do not have exclusive rights to this term, but this feeling is usually more prevalent on Sundays. You can use this term however you like, it is so obscure anyways, that you can use it any way you like, as long as you say those two words together, people who know of it will understand your whole sense of being at that present moment.

Common usages:

Person 1 asks "Hey, how are you?"

Person 2 mumbles "Eh"

Person 1 "Oh, blood sausage?"

Person 2 mutters "Yea"


Although there is no cure for blood sausage, there are some remedies that have been known to help with this illness:

• Sunday brunch with good food, good people, good conversation and of course: good drinks, has been known to hide its effects
  

• Taking a walk, rollerblading, yoga, any other physical activities can sometimes get that bloody energy out.

• A Sunday night movie sometimes does the trick--this is usually a non-thinking fluffy fluff of a movie that lets you happily sink in to the story while turning off your brain and spoon feeding you some Hollywood opium.

If you have other suggestions that will help with this situation, please let me know. Together, we can fight for a cure against this awful sickness.

Harvard Business Review

So, some of you may not know this, but I am a writer at the Harvard Business Review. Most of you don't know this because I am a very humble individual and I do not like to talk about how brilliant I am (well, that you already knew). But I feel like it's time that this secret has come out.




Ok ok, "April Fool's" haha blah blah. But seriously, I wrote that "failure entry" over the weekend and on Monday when I was at Grand Central running to catch my train, I walked past a bookstore and I managed to spot this in the window as I was passing through:





Um, has Harvard Business Review been reading my blog and getting ideas? Should I sue for copyright infringement? Where are my lawyers? Any help?

So anyways it made me smile because I was in sync with someone else in the universe.

Here are the table of contents just for fun: