what a night

As I type this post, the unmistakable aroma of my roommate’s stomach acid and the alcohol he consumed last night stings my nose.

Wild night in the 607.

All summed up by Nob at about 5 AM.

“. . . majored in spoon, minored in fork." This might have been funnier at the time, but I thought it was noteworthy.

Insane week coming, but I think I’m ready.

insight

". . . reward creative success, while being careful not to punish creative failures."

A solid evening

Tonight was a truely solid evening. Great conversations even though some were drunk and incoherent, great atmosphere, and great potential for outcomes all across the board. Did very little school work, which is a trend, but all around I feel positive.
Can't wait for tomorrow.

negative affect

I have realized something noteworthy about myself in the past week. I am someone with negative affectivity (if that is the word). This realization came from my management class, whilst my professor was rambling on about the distinction between people with negative and positive affects.

I am someone who generally looks at the world with a glass is half empty approach. I am skeptical about almost everything and extremely critical of myself and those around me. My mood is always somewhat controlled and never bubbling with enthusiasm. This is clear to me through my day to day activities, my involvement with AIESEC at all levels, and many of my social interactions.

If I could change this I would, but there are so many factors associated with this personality trait. For one, I have been socialized by two of the most anxious, skeptical, worried, glass is ALWAYS half empty New Yorkers that I have come across. It is hard to break this mentality because that is how I have been taught to think. The other aspect is that I like my critical mind in many ways because I feel as though it lends itself well to analyzing situations and problems in a scientific context.

I learned this weekend at MLDS that science focuses on the negative side as well because of the concept of the null hypothesis. Running experiments to disprove a statement that you hope is wrong in many cases focuses our attention on the negative rather than looking towards experimental designs that focus more on finding out solutions rather than just disproving the null. The Michigan professor made that sound a lot more profound, but the point is that having negative affect has its benefits, but those who focus on the positive aspects of life clearly have more fulfilling lives and even live longer on average. This statistic leaves great doubt in my mind because my grandparents were some of the most negative people in the world, but both lived to be 90.

Anyway, one of my goals from now on and for the summer is to try to become more positive and focus my thinking on my strengths and uniqueness just as the professor suggested. What I haven’t figured out is how to do this and still find a way to develop weaknesses into strengths.

I think I will email this person.

Stream of consciousness over now.

1998, what a year

So I was looking at Insight, wasting time as usual when I started to check out the exchange records for all LCs in the US. It seems from 1998-2003, there was a very large amount of exchange done with extremely reputable clients. I'm not sure if the outsourcing trend has destroyed AIESEC's market in the US or if the debt AIESEC US went through rendered us unable to deliver on these accounts but a few things are clear. AIESEC US LCs are weaker in many ways than they were three to four years ago. The demand or the sales competencies have significantly decreased over time, and out partnership base has dwindled.

My recommendation is that al LCs research what they were a few years ago and contact former partners. They invested in us once and they are more likely to do it again. This seems more effective than starting from scratch. If only insight was around when Cornell was opened before.

I also think AIESEC US needs to what an LC is more concretely because I sense that we only have a few true LCs and there are many which are wasting resources and not delivering on the brand promise. Harsh I know, but there are so many remanants of the past struggling to stay alive today. Maybe it makes more sense to build from a strong foundation rather than repairing the damage of debt and downfall.

Ponder.