A's for Awesome

Aloha to all! ッ I know I've been MIA for the last 24+ hours! I finally understood the reason for my insomnia! - Thanks to Nana Avenue - For those of you wondering, my sleeping habits are back to normal. So, fear no more dear loyal readers, I am back in full force with yet another exhilarating subject. - The degrees of compliment I give my own work is beyond you, right? Well somebody's got to do it! - Before I get into the subject of the day, I wanted to share with you yet another series of pictures I took in the last few days... Have fun! 

Erwin Blumenfeld, Sur la Tour Eiffel, 1938

A little about Blumenfeld...

Erwin Blumenfeld (1897 – 1969) was a famous American photographer of German origin.

In the 1930s, he published collages mocking Adolf Hitler. - Definitely worth checking out - 

In 1936, he emigrated to Paris. With the German occupation, he was interned in a concentration camp in 1940 because he was Jewish. 

In 1941, he could escape to the USA.

In the 1940s and 1950s he became famous for his fashion photography, working for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and also for artistic nude photography. 

In the 1960s, he worked on his autobiography which found no publisher because it was considered to be too ironic towards society, and was published only after his death.

♫ Paris Tour-Eiffel - Jacques Hélian ♪ 

  Un jour une jeune et belle Américaine

  Voulut voir Paris et les bords de la Seine.

  Elle visita les monuments, les musées

  Les grands magasin, les rues et les cafés,

  Mais, voilà qu'un soir, elle rencontra l'amour

  Et maintenant quand on lui demande à son tour

  Quel est votre avis sur Paris, franchement :

  Elle dit en rougissant

  Paris, mais c'est la Tour Eiffel

  Avec sa pointe qui monte au ciel

  La Tour de Pise, la Tour de Nesle,

  La Tour de Londres sont bien moins belles.

  On est toujours sûr avec elle

  De monter jusqu'au septième ciel.

  Paris ne serait pas Paris sans elle

  Avec sa pointe qui monte au ciel.

On my way back from school. Life is good ♥

There's something about that song that is so uplifting and kinky at the same time, - very French, I guess - but I love it! Especially because of today's subject. So let me put you in the mix... A couple days ago, I was completely taking over by a feeling of sadness, anguish and dullness towards myself and others. - Needless to say that I haven't felt like that since I got here, 6 months ago - I'm usually a happy-go-lucky type of person, but that day, I couldn't understand my empire state of mind. Finally, overwhelmed with my emotions, I decide to BBM text - Yes, you heard right! BBM a.k.a. BlackBerry Messenger - my very good friend - Sister from another mother - Sakoura. We finally decide to Ichat it! - The unkind use of a verb for a noun... Speechless are you? Get over it. - What a mistake that was friends... - I know you'll read this: Thank you and I love you - She was - if possible - in a WORST emotional state! Realizing that we are no way near helping each other but only digging the whole deeper, I decide to sleep on it. As John Steinbeck once said, "It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." So that is precisely what I did!

The next day, as I woke up, the only thing going through my mind is: "I never want to feel like I did yesterday." That's when I decide to cheer myself up! Immediately I thought of TED -No, he's not my lover or nothing to do with a person from the opposite sex - In fact, TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. - Are you thinking what I'm thinking? G-e-n-i-u-s! Lightbulb again... - Browsing and digging into the archives I land on this amazing video/conference of Neil Pasricha revealing the insightful and beautiful Story of Awesome. You NEED to watch this... When I was done watching this awesome video, everything was perfect again. - Okay, so mayyyy-be I'm giving this video wayyy to much credit, but you still have to check it out! It's worth it... - 

For those of you who didn't obey to my orders watch the video, here's Neil Pasricha's closing thought. Maybe that will persuade you to watch it. 

In his own words: 

"[In life, things] ain’t gonna go according to plan! [Still,] there are just so many things to be happy about! Architecture, agriculture, jewelry, democracy… We only have 100 years to enjoy it; that’s the sad part about it! Life is so great that we only get such a short time to experience and enjoy all those tinny little moments that make it so sweet. And that moment is right now and those moments are counting down and those moments are always, always, always fleeing. You will never be as young as you are right now and that’s why I believe if you live your life with a great attitude, choosing to move forward and move on whenever life deals you a blow, living with a sense of awareness of the world around you, embracing your inner 3 year old and seeing the tinny joys that make life so sweet, being authentic to yourself, being you and being cool with that, letting your heart lead you and putting yourself in experiences that satisfies you, then I think you’ll live a life that is rich and that is satisfying and I think you’ll live a life that is truly awesome."

After such an inspiring message, you owe it to yourself to at least check his website - Awarded the best blog in the world! - As he has so wisely put it into words, we should all start putting it into action and remind ourselves of those simple universal little pleasures that we all love and we just don’t talk about enough. On your sad days like your good, the whole concept of 1000 Awesome things that Pasricha suggests throughout his blog/website is somehow cheerful, funny and beautifully executed. This is most probably my favorite these days - I've been squatting second-hand libraries/book stores for the last few days... I bought like ten books this week only, go figure! - 

I second that: It's AWESOME!

Finally, always remember the 3A's of the Book of Awesome: Attitude, Awareness and Authenticity! So go on; Move on and move forward, stay eternally in touch with the 3 year old in you and most of all, be you and be cool with that. The truth is: There's only one of you... It would be a waste to deprive the world from your greatness! - We are all great if we believe in ourselves and in our capacities - 

Last but not least, ask yourself this: How can I make/turn everyday into an awesome one? - Don't look at me! The answer is within you... Oh! Look at that, we are all out of time! I'll see you next week... - 

Until next time, ☮, amor n' pAris...