I feel really empowered when i just go to college or work. I feel like im really heading in the right direction in life and i feel like im taking the reigns and becoming more self sufficient every day. Being my own man is what drives me at the moment, and nothing helps more than that then going from no responsibility to every responsibility ive ever dreamed i would have at this point in life. 
Hey its Fran! Im Greek and Italian. I was born and raised in Queens, New York. My favorite color is Green. I like to eat food. I like Indian food and I like elephants. I love to dance. Music keeps me upbeat. I want a pet ferret when I get my own apartment. I will dress him in a leather jacket and little boots. I will carry him under my arm, while I’m wearing red pumps and a leather jacket because I said so. His name will be Fabio and he will go everywhere with me. I believe in karma… not like the kind they teach us in history class. One day I will be a world traveler. I will get paid by National Geographic to travel to every country in the world and tweet about it… When I become rich and famous off the book I write about my travels I will begin and run my own non-profit organization and donate to other good causes. I will also own some type of convertible and a spacious loft with a walk in closet… Hopefully I will achieve all of these things because otherwise I will be very disappointed. I’m kind of evil when I’m disappointed… Don’t disappoint me. I just wrote all this stuff in apps 8 minutes because I totally forgot about this assignment until literally the last minute and now i only have 1 minute and 45 seconds left to post it until it 11:59 pm ! So lets wrap this up by saying that my favorite quote happens to be ”See things how they are and not how you’d like them to be”. Let me also say that I am incapable of doing this.
When I think about the things that make me happy, the list is long, but then I have a tendency to talk simply for the joy of hearing myself speak… but I digress, the things that make me happy, I love bright mornings and late nights, birds chirping and leaves falling, a hot cup of good coffee, GOOD coffee not that cheap slush you find everywhere, or a nice red wine, Pinot Noir, Merlot or Shiraz all good friends of mine. I love sushi and making friends, God I sound vacuous, I love making friends? Who the hell says things like that? Oh well, I hate going out of my comfort zone though, and I despise change, guess that makes me a paradox, mmmmm paradox sounds mysterious, I like it. Speaking of paradox, the last time I was in a classroom I was teaching it, now I’m in bloody stupid Math wondering why x and y live in harmony with numbers, I just hate feeling so stupid. Thank god for all my other classes where numbers play a minimal role. I can write you a five page paper on writing five page papers but don’t ask me to factor something. When I feel stupid I can think about the moments in life that made me feel empowered. This is yet another copious list, worry not, you will grow accustomed to my circumlocution, it’s really quite endearing(LOL), now back to the topic at hand, I love to reference my time at high school, being Student Council president, peer counselor, or even that my High School was ranked number one in the English speaking Caribbean, these remind me of where I come from and what I am capable of, now more philosophically, every day I wake up, every moment I think of my parents love or my friend’s support, every hour that I am healthy I feel empowered, because my parents worked hard for me to have the opportunities that I do and I work hard not to waste them. I feel empowered every minute of every day because that’s just how it’s supposed to be. Back to the Caribbean thing, yes I grew up on the Island of Trinidad, yes I don’t sound like everyone else, but let’s get one thing straight, I don’t have an accent, all of you do, (HAHAHAHA), Here is something that’s new to me, “oh hey, where are you from, oh Trinidad? I love your accent it’s so exotic.” Exotic, seriously? Like what the hell man? If you ask me if I’ve ever been to a city I will punch you! It is cute though, personally I am as fascinated with everyone else as they seem to be with me, and that’s the beauty of Baruch I think, all of us from all over, coming together to learn completely immersed in the wonderful diversity of the student population. That is all, you may now return to your regularly scheduled lives 🙂 .
In my picture which was taken in 2011 I am in Israel for the year. It was a year that I will never forget. To give you a background on why I went to Israel for the year, it is what is normal for an orthodox religious Jew in America. After your senior year of high school, most of the kids decide to take the year off and go study and learn the roots of their religion. I went to a college in Israel called Bar Ilan University. During the morning I would take Judaic classes and in the afternoon I took secular subjects such as math, history, and psychology. On the weekends we would travel around the land which my ancestors first walked on and really got to experience the religion in a new light. This changed my life and made me a more mature person. Coming from a family that started i
n Syria then moved to Israel I truly got to experience how they lived. This is an experience that most people do not get to go through and I was truly grateful that I was able to experience such an amazing year. When I got back from Israel, I felt a connection with my religion and my country and I was now ready to start taking school seriously in Baruch College.
I believe that people are representations of their selves, those who are around them, and the experiences they had. I pride myself in surrounding my self by people who I can take attributes from to make myself a better and more well rounded person. Whether its family or friends, everyone and everything can have some kind of contribution to you. A good or bad person, a happy or sad experience, everything stays with us whether we realize or not. My family teaches me responsibility, to be a good person, to care for those close to us, but they also can show me faults in families, things that I want to do different with my own family. When people who were my friends before, and get kicked to the curb, I realize what kind of people I never want to associate with myself and ways that I never wanna act. Good friends show me what kind of things I like in other people, things that without noticing I develop in myself, and am overall a better person. The places I’ve been show me where I want to be, or where I want to end up. Whether its a simple rooftop in brooklyn, or a lit up city at night from a country that is completely different then mine, in those moments I am just happy. Experiences show me what things I could’ve avoided, like fights and arguments, but I never regret it cause it changed me forever. And the best experiences of my life, show me what I strive for, and show me what keeps me content and happy at the end of the day.
This is a picture of me (middle) and my friends Rudy (left) and Brandon (right). This picture is basically the perfect way of describing myself. My friends and I are really random so we come up with these ideas and then they turn out to be awesome.
I decided to do a haiku for this blog post assignment:
monologue haiku,
perfect expression of me,
please hold your applause.
This haiku is a good representation of me because I’m kind of lazy and a haiku is one of the shortest forms of poetry. I’m also really sarcastic so the last line “please hold your applause” definitely suits me.
So this is a picture of me shaving. I shave around 2 times a week. I since I live at home with my family, I need to be shaven at all times. Another rule that I have is that I must shave on Fridays for Shabbat. Shabbat is part of the Jewish religion, where you are supposed to rest and not drive or use electricity. This tradition of shaving before Shabbat was passed down from generation to generation.
These songs describe my diverse personality in many different ways. I appreciate vacation that is why I chose Island in the Sun. Also, I have a strong connection with the land of Israel and that is why I chose “Viva La Vida”. “Beautiful Day” is an unique choice for me since my entire life feels like it “is [was] a beautiful day. “ New York is the best place in the world, where I live, and obviously where I go to school, so I feel that without a doubt, “New York, New York” should be on my list. Money is very important to me, so I feel that a song portraying the beauty of a million dollars spoke to me. Life is interesting and I like to live “loca” (Crazy) and adventures that’s why I chose one of my favorite songs, “La Vida Loca.” As many live their life trying to find happiness, I do the same, except, I use a song to guide me. “Pursuit of Happiness” is a great portrayal of my life and the universal strive to become happy. “Good Life” by Kanye West speaks to me for a pretty obvious reason, because I have a good life. I made sure to place this song directly after “Pursuit of Happiness” because I believe the once you find happiness, that is when you start your “Good life.” “Sing for the Moment” is one of the most special songs to me. This song reflects the beauty of moments in life. It brings out, in words, how special each moment can be, one should not take a moment for granted, rather they should view a moment and cherish it for “the rest of his or her life.” The last song I chose, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, means a lot to me, not through the words, rather through the melody. The melody constantly changes, changes key, and even entire music styles risking itself to the mainstream ear. This song revels my changes in life. My risks. Whether my risks are in business, on the sports field, or answering questions in class, they define who I am and will help me stand out to become successful. My life is interesting and can be viewed in different ways. Personalities are hard to describe, but the songs I choose give a clear view on my life, where it’s going, and what I will become.
It’s great we were allowed to pick ten songs that define different parts of who we are, or at least, different areas of music we enjoy because I certainly couldn’t come up with a stand-alone song.
I tried to pick ones both semi-unique and that mean different things to me spanning a few genres and time periods. A couple you may enjoy, all of them perhaps not… I don’t even listen to all of them together, anyway 🙂
So, here it goes:
Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure
Kanye West – All of the Lights
The XX Feat. Florence and the Machine – You Got The Love
Modest Mouse – Gravity Rides Everything
Josh Wilson – It Is Well (Instrumental)
Kings of Leon – Pyro
Hootie & the Blowfish – Only Wanna Be With You
Golden State – End This War
Nari & Milani – Atom
DJ Tiesto – Miami Mix
Until next time,
Zach
Young and Reckless???
People are probably going to wonder why i chose this picture but there are many reasons behind it. First off, i think its a cool picture, second i chose this picture because of the message behind it. In the background of the picture there are two young girls one smoking a cigarette and the other fooling around with a loaded gun. I thought about this picture and how it reflects my life and the conclusion i came up with is that this picture represents the stage in my life that i am currently living. The stage being titled as “young and reckless”, now im not saying that im a reckless person I am saying that at this time i may do things that will affect me later on in life. From smoking to not taking school serious this picture could be used for anyones daily life. I learned from this picture that even though we may think were young and invincible our actions will affect our own future. Best thing to do is to stop and think before you act.