A list of words I'd like to use

Scintillate
noun
1. To throw off sparks; flash.
2. To sparkle or shine.
3. To be animated and brilliant: dinner conversation that scintillated.
verb
To give off (sparks or flashes).

Mamihlapinatapai (Ma-MI-luh-PEE-na-TAH-pie)
in Yaghan, spoken in Tierra del Fuego, South America.
noun
A meaningful look between two people, expressing mutual unstated feelings

Effigy
a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture); "the coin bears an effigy of Lincoln"

Haiti

I just finished watching the Help for Haiti Now concert and I'm finding it hard to go to sleep, even though it's probably a good idea. There's few reasons why. Last week alone I talked to probably few hundreds university alumni asking them for donations. I made couple of hundred pounds of the school and the organization I work for raised in the amount of thousands. This money would have been better spent on antibiotics and food. I know that the biggest problem in relieving disasters like this one is not the money, but its distribution. I still cannot feel right about going to work this Wednesday and asking people to donate. Part of the reason is that I myself am using several thousands of the school's money on my scholarship. For a degree I am not sure I want, towards a career I am almost certain I will not enjoy and that has little value added towards the economy in general, albeit the fees it attracts, and for an education I put suboptimal amount of time into. I had a friend from Haiti couple of years ago. We never spoke after that summer. I hope his family is well.

Training Contract Applications

aka the bane of my recent existence. Two curious observations in relation. Firstly, all graduate brochures are identical. The last sponsored article about a law firm I read actually listed great training, international offices, and approachable partners as their main perks. Ok then, my perks should be intellectual aptitude, global mind, and team player. Written just like that. Distinctive enough for HR? I should think not. What hypocrites.

Secondly, the stomach sickness I get from talking about myself in these applications has pushed me to blogging as a tool of procrastination. Not my most creative move.

Work in progress

I have two projects to finish these days, and they are as different as my plans for the future. I am writing a magazine article for Boxcar Bertha, the famous Hobo heroine, and inspiration for one of Scorsese's early movies. It is going to be part of series of articles on the Underground Culture. It's kinda cool, giving that the apartment I live in now is a stone throw away from where Orwell used to live in while pretending to be a Hobo in London, the "background research" if you will for his Down and Out in Paris and London. The area has improved, needless to say. So have rents. Anyway, the other thing I'm writing, or I should have written 2 days ago if I was not too busy perendinating, another great word I learned today, is an essay on insider trading. Quite a sexy topic when it comes to economic justifications, quite dull when it comes to enforcement and regulation, which is what I have to write about. Ugh.

Fool's Gold

I found a great new word today. Borborygmos. It's the Greek for stomach rumble. The word is far better than its semantics I think. It was my great, useless, unpronounceable word for entire 30 minutes. Until I googled it. Then I realized that other people already have such blog sections, additional to thousands unpleasant images associated with it.