The engineering student who prevented a disaster in the middle of Manhattan
This article goes out for the architects and engineers out there, who sometimes don’t realize how important their work is, but also for everyone else, to point out how doing your best can be enough to make a substantial change in this world. It is about the Citicorp Center Tower building (now called 601 Lexington), which you can distinguish in New York’s skyline, from the triangular shaped top, in the picture above. In 1978, an undergraduate student in the Civil Engineering and Operations Research Department of Princeton University wrote her thesis, titled, “Implications of a Major Urban Office Complex: The Scientific, Social and Symbolic Meanings of Citicorp Center, New York City”. In her thesis, this initially mysterious student, addressed in detail...
Read MoreDear old friend,
You know, I’m not an equal parts naïve and shy teenager anymore. I grew into a man, with a backbone. I don’t idealize you, nor do I pretend to know everything there is to know about you. But I know enough. Enough to care, enough to love. If I give you different shapes, doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize the real you, the real deal. You were there for me when no one was. Beyond that, you were where no one could be, even if they wanted to. We are out of sync now, when you write long, I can’t put two words together, when I’m burning, you’re cold. Yet, I know, it cannot be a coincidence, the time we feel each-other, the time we write. I don’t harm myself on purpose anymore, I’m still hooked to hard medicine and...
Read MoreFever Dreams and Phone Conversations…
Just listening to your voice, from the other side of the world, makes me sleepless, nostalgic and turns me into a chronic smoker. How can none of them be healthy, yet then is the only time I feel alive!? Aren’t we taught that unhealthy -> less life!? I wrote you so often, but only in unsent papers Name(required) Email(required) Website Message Submit Δ . Sometimes, in tissues left behind on restaurant tables, served by Japanese smiling robots and self serving drink bars, when all human contact was devoid. Left behind, the tissues, smeared with ink and words of affection, looked like artefacts of lost times. As I closed the door to leave, I imagined the confusion on the virtual face on the robots’ screen. Sometimes I wrote in third person, not...
Read MoreLost & Found!
You are not lost, you are just misplaced! Sometimes we can’t find things and we start believing that they are lost forever, but one day we find them again and realize that we just changed their place. Similarly, we often feel lost in life. Our jobs, our lives, don’t seem to have much meaning. If you feel lost, I’m here to tell you that you are just misplaced and one day you will find yourself again. Keep searching for the light....
Read MoreSecret Forest
Reading, writing, dreaming. I think I can call it a good day. I started my day with teaching a bit of Algebra to one of my students, who needed an extra hand. I enjoyed reading a little detective story, and I was fairly productive working on my owns little fictional writings. Now, walking through this mad, lonely town, I take a little detour and start climbing the forest. It seemed to me that no one had walked this path for a long time. The tall trees are whispering under the slow breeze. I set my place of rest deep into the forest. Just me, my thoughts, my books, I feet the presence of God and I’m gracious for it. To an audience of trees, broken branches and leaves, I sing Amazing Grace and then get lost into my novel. Despite all the hardship, life, after...
Read MoreHappy birthday, miss Sugar!
“Heaven is a place on Earth with you”, Lana Del Rey (“Video Games”) It has been almost a year now. We met in a lovely summer evening in Nishi-Funabashi station and walked down the road to a coffee house. After texting for about three weeks, I finally had the chance to meet the beauty queen, gorgeous, very well spoken and intelligent Japanese lady. Going up the escalator, I was getting a little nervous, but managed to push away insecurities. I just had to be myself and hoping that who I am, is enough. Her train, coming from the opposite direction of mine, had arrived a couple of minutes before mine and she was already waiting by the gates of the South Entrance. She noticed me pass and waved me over. She was stunning, her eyes shining...
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