The process of the author telling his story is getting more and more interesting for me. I am not sure why this is, but for some reason I feel more drawn into the storyline compared to the first part of the book. Maybe it's because I get to see him slowly developing into the economic hit man. As the novel progresses, John becomes more and more involved with his job.
"By 1977, I had built a small empire that included a staff of around twenty professionals headqueatered in our Boston office, and a stable of consultants from MAIN's other departments and offices scattered across the globe. I had become the youngest partner in the firm's hundred-year history. In addition to my title of Chief Economist, I was named manager of Economics and Regional Planning. I was lecturing at Harvard and other venues, and newspapers were soliciting articles from me about current events. I owned a sailing yacht...I was being paid an excellent salary and I had equity that promised to elevate me to the rarified heights of millionaire well before I turned forty." (Chapter 17 page 117).
As you can see from this quote, John is well on his way to becoming a top economist. He's living the life that seems only to be true in dreams, and he feels really satisfied with his decisions and what he is doing at this point. However, along the way he faces obstacles, or conscious reminders about how dark and evil his job really is. This seems to be the never ending battle in this novel, and it seems like every time he has made up his mind, something comes up to stir it all up again. I like how the author does this to keep the reader hooked on the book. I don't want to reveal too much, but this book is very enjoyable so far!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Senior Prom
So Senior Prom has come and past over the weekend and it has been the main factor to why I was so busy. The day started off early because I had to go and get my haircut. My dad drove me to Oakland, I got my haircut, he ended up getting a haircut and we drove back home after making a quick stop to the bank. By the time I finished showering and eating lunch it was around 1PM. I was supposed to meet the group at school around 3:30 so I had plenty of time to kill. I wasted most of it on the computer doing pointless things, or talking to my mom. I never seem to be able to do school work when there is still light outside, I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't feel right to me. Anywho, by the time it was 3:00 I started to get ready by getting dressed and everything. And then, the problem happened.
I knew that something was bound to go wrong today, but I was not expecting it. So apparently I lost my 2009-2010 school ID. I started to freakout for a good 10mins and spent the next half hour trying to find it. My dad had to resort to driving to the bank to get my passport so we could have some sort of identification on me. This really taught me a lesson. Instead of spending those wasted minutes just on the computer before, I could have been double checking everything. Also, it's important to check everything more than once, well ahead of the scheduled date to make sure everything will go smoothly and accordingly. So, to make a long, overstretched ordeal short: I went to school to meet up with the group bringing my school ID from last year and my passport with me, unsure about if I was allowed into prom.
So at school I took pictures, etc. and talked to people. It felt pretty unorganized since there were so many people in the group to keep track of. I ended up being one of the first people to Megan's house (the site where the party bus will be picking us up) and so people started arriving more overtime and a lot of pictures were taken during this time period. I was actually surprised about the size of the party bus, it was a lot bigger than I had imagined and it was nicely furnished on the interior also. So after an immense amount of picture taking, we all piled into the bus and headed off to Pier 29 (I think it was) to have dinner. On the ride there, we blasted music and just started having fun on the bus. It was a pretty nice ride there and I started to feel more comfortable, considering I didn't know more than half of the people.
So dinner was pretty good, I had prime rib along with potatoes and vegetables. It was a pretty interesting experience eating with people you don't know that well, but it was still fun nevertheless. After the dinner, we all got back onto the bus and started heading for San Francisco. Another round of blasting music and people going crazy on the bus. There was even a pole on there! hahaa. Well, when we arrived I was able to get in and the dance had already started. I saw a lot of crazy people 'dancing' and was pretty surprised when soem teachers didn't seem to mind. The dance overall was fun, they had refreshments and even two chocolate fondue fountains. So I got home around 1AM, crashed in bed and slept the day away.
I knew that something was bound to go wrong today, but I was not expecting it. So apparently I lost my 2009-2010 school ID. I started to freakout for a good 10mins and spent the next half hour trying to find it. My dad had to resort to driving to the bank to get my passport so we could have some sort of identification on me. This really taught me a lesson. Instead of spending those wasted minutes just on the computer before, I could have been double checking everything. Also, it's important to check everything more than once, well ahead of the scheduled date to make sure everything will go smoothly and accordingly. So, to make a long, overstretched ordeal short: I went to school to meet up with the group bringing my school ID from last year and my passport with me, unsure about if I was allowed into prom.
So at school I took pictures, etc. and talked to people. It felt pretty unorganized since there were so many people in the group to keep track of. I ended up being one of the first people to Megan's house (the site where the party bus will be picking us up) and so people started arriving more overtime and a lot of pictures were taken during this time period. I was actually surprised about the size of the party bus, it was a lot bigger than I had imagined and it was nicely furnished on the interior also. So after an immense amount of picture taking, we all piled into the bus and headed off to Pier 29 (I think it was) to have dinner. On the ride there, we blasted music and just started having fun on the bus. It was a pretty nice ride there and I started to feel more comfortable, considering I didn't know more than half of the people.
So dinner was pretty good, I had prime rib along with potatoes and vegetables. It was a pretty interesting experience eating with people you don't know that well, but it was still fun nevertheless. After the dinner, we all got back onto the bus and started heading for San Francisco. Another round of blasting music and people going crazy on the bus. There was even a pole on there! hahaa. Well, when we arrived I was able to get in and the dance had already started. I saw a lot of crazy people 'dancing' and was pretty surprised when soem teachers didn't seem to mind. The dance overall was fun, they had refreshments and even two chocolate fondue fountains. So I got home around 1AM, crashed in bed and slept the day away.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Confessions of an Ecnomic Hit man [Part 1]
The New York Times Bestseller, Confessions of an Economic Hit man by John Perkins is what I'll be reading for my Literature Circle. I remember first hearing about the basics of this book from Mr. Sutherland when he first introduced the class to the whole concept of literature circles. While he was giving his brief summary on the book, it started to peak my interest. Words like scheme, globalization, hit man, etc. really caught my attention. My first thought after hearing about the book was the movie Zeitgeist which talks about related topics. I didn't enjoy the last book I read, so I figured I would finish the year strong with a book that I will hopefully find satisfying.
After reading the first few pages of the book I was quite surprised at how this book was written. It's a much harder book to read and follow than I had originally thought, but it's still manageable. The first part of the book starts off as an introduction to the author's life, how he got into the business and how he felt about it. The part that I read in which I really enjoyed was when he was situated in Indonesia and instead of living the rich and fancy life of his co-workers, he decides to spend a night out with some locals which changes his views on things. Another part of the book that was touching is when he starts to have a change of heart.
" It shook me to the core. I stomped out of the room and headed for Charlie's office. Halfway there, I stopped, uncertain about what I intended to accomplish. Instead, I turned and walked down the stairs, out the door, into the afternoon sun...A huge lump grew in my throat...I fought hard to hold back the tears; I needed to figure out why I felt so miserable. You're in it for the money. I heard Howard's words, over and over. He had struck a raw nerve." pg. 37
This passage is really emotional and shows the author's conflict in fighting to believe in his morals and gut feelings versus his job and nationalism. As this book progresses I am interested to see what happens. One thing that caught me by surprise is that it's not as action packed as I thought. For some reason I expected him to be an actual hit man at times too, but I guess not. Well, so far so good.
After reading the first few pages of the book I was quite surprised at how this book was written. It's a much harder book to read and follow than I had originally thought, but it's still manageable. The first part of the book starts off as an introduction to the author's life, how he got into the business and how he felt about it. The part that I read in which I really enjoyed was when he was situated in Indonesia and instead of living the rich and fancy life of his co-workers, he decides to spend a night out with some locals which changes his views on things. Another part of the book that was touching is when he starts to have a change of heart.
" It shook me to the core. I stomped out of the room and headed for Charlie's office. Halfway there, I stopped, uncertain about what I intended to accomplish. Instead, I turned and walked down the stairs, out the door, into the afternoon sun...A huge lump grew in my throat...I fought hard to hold back the tears; I needed to figure out why I felt so miserable. You're in it for the money. I heard Howard's words, over and over. He had struck a raw nerve." pg. 37
This passage is really emotional and shows the author's conflict in fighting to believe in his morals and gut feelings versus his job and nationalism. As this book progresses I am interested to see what happens. One thing that caught me by surprise is that it's not as action packed as I thought. For some reason I expected him to be an actual hit man at times too, but I guess not. Well, so far so good.
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