May's Theme: Greed and Desperation

Hm, looks like our good sides got the best of us. Our un-greediness has prevented us to write a large amount of articles this month (although I was desperate to reach at least the 15 article mark). We've only landed 12 articles this month (including this one).

Without further ado, and as usual, the summary:

Scrubbing for my Dollar: Is getting everything you want a good thing?
The Way We Get By: Desperate times call for desperate measures...or so they say.
[Untitled]: Feelings of yourself and the world will collide.
Just One Moment, Frozen: Everyone grows up, at some point.
Help! My Favorite Place Has Been Invaded by Vampires and Now I'm Being Held Captive!: Wake-up calls to the things surrounding you everyday.
What's the Point?: Questions of the ever-expanding life.
Somewhere...Not Here: Traveling is never just an imagination.
Can't Change Me: No one else knows about you, nor do you know about someone else.
Can Something be Everything?: Nothing can be a something, can it?
the 'oh no' situation: A mistake isn't the end of the world.
The Day Before Tomorrow...Today!: Current world, TV, and music news talk time!

Going back through all of these articles, it's a nice pleasure to see all these great topics we, the Acquired Minds, have talked about. Yup, that's something only the Acquired Minds can write!

Cheers to next month's (June) theme: Letting Go. Have a nice, enjoyable summer beginning!

-the clam.

Can Something be Everything?

(credit to n.design studio for image)

Why does everything seem to past by so quickly? Why does everything seem to journey by so slowly? There's never enough time to do what we want. Frustration butts its way in, and then you just start to go mad. Then you start to get desperate, so desperate. Desperate for something real. But what defines 'real'? Nothing's 'real' in the world, right? If something is nothing, then nothing is something. Everything is a something.

At some point in our lives, we get what we want. At other times, maybe not. But greed...greed is a termite. A nasty, conniving, little termite. It will eat away at you and your life little by little, nibbling at every bite. But there's an answer. When you're able to grasp a hold onto that right moment, you should exterminate all of those greedy little termites. After you do, you'll feel a lot more refreshing, knowing that those termites won't be back to get you later on.

Yes, the world can turn on you at any moment. Everything may seem like a complete utter chaotic orb of betrayal. But unlike the termites, you can't stop it yourself. You need to holler for help. This may seem a bit oxymoron, but even though the world is being cruel to you, it will always be able to help you, too. Billions of billions of people surround you in this giant world, and someone—anyone—is bound to help you. All you need to do is to say something.

On that note, everything is brought back to where we started—everything is a something. Your computer is a something. Your pen is a something. Your pet hamster is a something. In fact, at times, something can be your everything. Such as the person you love. Nothing...is ever a nothing.

-the clam.

P.S. Just to remind everyone—us, the Acquired Minds, is genuine only to blogspot.com. Any other 'Acquired Minds' (ex: on livejournal.com) is NOT us.

Scrubbing for my Dollar

To start off the month of May, I’ll write a little something about ‘greed’.

Being my bored self, I took a look at my aunt’s bookshelf, and I spotted an odd looking book, titled “DUH! The Stupid History of the Human Race”. (hmm, maybe that’s true…). I flipped to a random page in the book, which led me to “Chapter 14: Dumb Things Famous People Said.” Wow…really, really interesting…is it?

Actually, it is. Coincidentally, this quote was on the page:

“I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.”
-Ivan Boesky, financier

I laughed to myself when I read that. In some ways, that’s true—because when you’re greedy, it’s always about yourself. Moments where you feel greedy are the moments where you feel selfish. Don’t take me wrong—you might not be a selfish person, but everyone has their own selfish moments, right?

I can’t even recall the countless moments where I’ve felt greedy. Ranging from video games to books to music, I’ve always dreamed of getting everything. I mean, if you have an amount of wealth equal to that of Bill Gates, you could just point to something you want and you’ll get it! How GREAT is that?

But then again, would you have the same feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when you buy the item? When you work extremely hard for your money, and you actually start spending it on something, you feel good when you get it, because you know you earned it really well. I mean, you also ‘earned’ the bunches of money you have (when you’re wealthy), but when you earn less, everything you buy will seem so much more valuable. Instead of saying “Oh, wow, the newest Guitar Hero is being released tomorrow. I’ll just go tell my chauffeur to drive me there tomorrow and get it,” it’d be much more satisfying in the end if you said, “Oh, the newest Guitar Hero is being released tomorrow. Let me work hard to earn the amount of money, and then I’ll go buy it!” That way, while you’re playing the game, you’ll have a warm feeling on the inside that you worked your butt off to get this time to play.

Dang! That was a long, random ramble. I’m just sittin’ here at my aunt’s computer in San Diego typing some random article because of this random spark of inspiration from this random book I found on her random bookshelf. Yeah…random.

-the clam.

April's Theme: Pride and Prejudice

Wow, talk about a big, big drought.

This month, April, we've had only 13 articles (including this one), compared to last month's 25. Oh well, 25 will still be the record for now.

Back to the subject. April's theme was: Pride and Prejudice. I was really hoping for a lot of good articles, but as it turns out, 'pride and prejudice' is just too much of a good theme. Both pride and prejudice are extremely strong and varying things, which made it harder to write about. Everyone has their opinions on what 'pride' and 'prejudice' is.

As usual, the following is a summary for April's articles. If you would like to view any of them, locate the article title under the month 'April' on the right side of the blog, under 'Blog Archive'.

Faux Pas: Feeling like reading something random?
HELLO, Greetings, Salutations...: One word, one world.
Hard to Explain: What's the real meaning of 'malaise'?
Hypothetically Speaking: Real-world, humorous dramatization of prejudice.
The Privilege of Childhood: We all had our good, young days.
A Matter of Life and Death: Life is simple...or is it?
Now There's Just No Point: Walking blind isn't the only problem in life.
And I'm the only one to blame: Pride can speak a lot for itself.
To Here Knows When: Who and what do you consider yourself as?
Pride's Gettin' in the Way: The little pest that gets in everyone's way.
Warning: Not for Cavity-Conscious People: All sweet-tooth s welcomed!
Pardon Me: Darn, give me a break, Pride!

Even though we had only a small amount of articles this month, they had strong messages in each and every one. Quantity doesn't always necessarily mean quality!

Thanks for voting in April's polls. Let's cheer for next month's theme: Desperation and Greed!

-the clam.