Seeking Truth and Happiness

Words and things are given meaning by their context. This page is for me to chronicle some thoughts in hopes of looking back at them to learn things that weren't so obvious before.

[thaddeuswrites]

I've had fun through 1L

So there's 3 weeks left until finals; leaving 6 weeks until 1L officially concludes. Its been one hell of a ride and its shocking how much has happened in what seemed like an instant. As the am hours tick, I just wanted to reflect that 1L hasn't been the total hellish nightmare I had braced myself for.

I've made friends - real relationships that I don't expect to dissipate anytime too soon. I distinctly remember explaining before I left that going to school would only result in "law school friends". That's definitely not the case and definitely something I smile about. 

I've learned a lot about my inner workings. How to stay motivated and driven. Putting in consistent hours and forgoing certain pleasures for a purpose on a grander scale. How to function independently. This has been the first time I've ever really been away from home and I think its safe to say I've been kicking ass. Been budgeting good and eating good.

Its scary how fast this year seems to have gone. While part of the reason is fear of not being 100% ready to massacre finals, a lot of it also stems from the fact that I can honestly say I've enjoyed this.

To cut off this block of words, here are some recent photos from the last couple weeks. Stay awesome, world.

I went to Sam Adams with the newly elected board members of Latin American Law Students Association for Boston Chapters

I tried a hardpart in my haircut for the first time for Law prom. Definitely one of the best nights I've had while in Law School.

Had my first Boston St. Patty's. Def something you should try

Cheers!

[thaddeuswrites]

Bike Quickie

Just wrapped up my 7th month in Boston. I feel readily prepared in saying that Boston drivers are some of the biggest assholes to cyclists I've ever seen. Ive lost count of the times where I'm in the bike lane (which drivers regard as merely a suggestion) a car will be in the right lane (to either go straight on turn right), the driver doesn't signal a turn nor bother to check for me, and I either get forced off the road or hit. To top it off, the majority of these incidents end with the driver yelling at me. 

I dont get it. To Boston drivers: You own a car, not the road. Go fuck yourself.

[thaddeuswrites]

Back to it

Freedom is not knowing about the chains. 

[thaddeuswrites]

Jammin

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Right now

Scared as fuck, yet invigorated. Wish me luck

[thaddeuswrites]

sprinkling a bit more vanity on this tumblr. In the process of giving SD&Company more reasons to remember this face

[thaddeuswrites]

Memento Mori

We all know how easy it is to get wrapped up in our own world and forget about everyone else at the periphery. But why waste such great reserves of knowledge just waiting to be mined.

Appreciate the certain somberness of train tracks drenched in darkness and lined with cigarette butts. Understand the pain of having a typhoon flood current rip away your 7 year old little brother. Breathe in the stench of what was your brother when you find his swollen and saturated carcass 2 miles down the road. Dwell on the background noise of a hospital as it fades because your mom's hand just went limp in yours. 

Take all of this, and rise up in spite of all the forces that can put you away. I say, laugh in the face of mortality and dedicate yourself to accomplishing something. Whatever that something may be, just go and do it.

Do it and relish in the fact that, right now, you have this chance.

[thaddeuswrites]

CLIQUE

Been spending a lot of time lately with some new friends, Sacrifice and Struggle. Pretty sure they'll be rolling with me everywhere for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully they can introduce me to their hot friend they keep talking about. I believe they told me her name was Success 

[thaddeuswrites]

Trajectory

My upbringing has afforded me with ridiculous amounts of opportunity. I currently stand with a lot of potential to establish myself as a professional and thrust myself into a class I never even got to see growing up. With all this before me, I'm left trying to find the balance between focusing on where I'm heading and remembering where I'm from. 

[thaddeuswrites]

Because the Internet

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Positive Feedback Loop

Feeling Inspired.

They say those who look for ghosts will eventually find them. This also applies when we hunt for excuses for our own underperformance. 

The desire to justify and rationalize things is sure to bring all sorts of excuses to light. By doing this, our minds store away a freshly created rule. It could be something like after reaching x level of tiredness, I’ll stop running or when I’m at x level of disgust for studying, I’ll put down the book. These rules are nothing but markers and they should be in our top priority to break. The result is a delightful cycle of self improvement. 

Bars are set to be raised.

Obstacles are found to be overcome.

Limits are created to be surpassed.

No ceilings. 

[thaddeuswrites]

Reminder

Set bounds for what you care for. Never constrain your considerations

[thaddeuswrites]

post for procrastination

I'm taking a break from writing a memo and realized these photos from the last couple days really captures a few essential points. This is pretty silly but here's some snapshots from a typical day for me.  Glance over at my prayer board (the strange creature at the bottom is actually a "dinosaur" my roommate drew during one of our eventful thursday nights)

Which gets me mad excited to kick some ass in a dialogue

Head out to catch the train, making note of all the honeys

Get slapped around in the law tower for a couple of hours

Chill out by the Charles

Head back home

Start some reading Get hella confused by some reading Take a break only to realize fridge is empty. Rappers told me to stay hungry =/ Smoke a stog in frustration Grind out the rest of my work Get real hyped when I finish and then proceed to rot my brain on worldstarhiphop. Well I've wasted enough time on this. Have a good day tumblr

[thaddeuswrites]

Visited my cousin, Justin, at Dartmouth this weekend. Here are some shots from a little autumn stroll in Vermont. We climbed a fire tower about 90 feet in the air. Many leaves were seen on the hike.

[thaddeuswrites]

Prison//Paradise

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One of my prayers

Have a habitual vision of greatness You have to believe in fact that you refuse to settle for mediocrity You won't confuse financial security with your personal integrity You won't confuse your success with greatness or your prosperity with magnanimity -Cornel West 

[thaddeuswrites]

Anyone want to join?

So I'm in torts class, learning about what can be considered negligent. The courts have a history for being very particular in how to decide this. Instead of a broad rule, the courts pay consideration to certain individual traits. For example, say a teenager is on a farm and two renegade horses escape their fencing. It wouldn't be negligent for the teenager to seek refuge somewhere away from the chaos. However, if a man of extraordinary strength (capable of controlling the horses) sees the same situation on the farm, he would be negligent if he did nothing. I like this standard and feel it should apply to all those with a certain level of income/notoriety. When you couple a voice with a substantial audience, you should be expected to utilize that responsibly. Theres a significant issue here of encroaching on individual rights and any definitive policy efforts in this direction would never gain any traction. Nonetheless, shouldn't this be balanced against the influence one has over their audience and the vast potential for grassroots improvement of society?  We as humans generally have an extremely narrow sense of the world. Few of us will ever experience the "Overview Effect". Without such a closed system view of the world, our narrow minded policy decisions will continue to tangle us in unforeseen implications.  A key concern with free market capitalism is its inherent indifference. If you want to make exploding bear traps, go for it. If you like lighting dolls on fire in your backyard, by all means help yourself. We in the western world honor the liberties of the individual so long as it doesn't detract from the welfare of others. But what happens when an individual brings rise to a system that directly detriments large numbers of people, without their knowledge. Lobbying and political finance is that system within America. Representation is supposed to work on the premise that certain beliefs of individuals will be heard, understood and acted upon by their representatives. But with infinite interests pulling constituents in all directions, aren't we doomed and destined to fragment further and further away from any central beliefs that a representative can channel? And at that point, who are they making decisions for?   If I had a solution for problems like this, I'd probably be famous. It seems impossible to find an agreeable standard without dictating to at least some people. Were just too different.  Sometimes I just wish I could start my own tribe. We could call it protoss