Love.

There are different categories of love. Love for your family. Love your friends. The tricky one: romantic love. The one that baffles me the most.

What is love? There are 28 definitions listed on dictionary.com. The first: "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person".

Better question: how do we identify love? Sure, we can feel affection towards someone or something but does that really constitute as "passionate"? Can it feel passionate and not be love? Can't it simply be lust?

Love isn't like any other emotion. From the moment we are born we are already feeling cold, hungry, tired, warm, uncomfortable. People won't question you when you say "I feel happy" but will ask you 20 questions if you say "I feel in love". How can you be sure you are "in love"? What makes you feel "in love"? Are you sure you are old enough to be "in love"?

Is it like hunger that you can physically feel it or is it like happiness that is mental? Is it both? Perhaps.

Well, if it were that simple, I wouldn't be contemplating on it. Neither would the other millions of people on this earth looking for the same thing.

Why do so many of us feel other emotions due to love: jealousy, sadness, happiness, disappointment?

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that love does not cause these emotions. But, if you didn't care about someone, why would you feel anything towards them? Wouldn't one just be apathetic? Love, I believe, does have these consequences.

Why is it that we crave love, even if we know the headaches, the heartaches, the stomachaches it can give us? People spend a lot of time questioning whether they are in love or not, looking for love in all sorts of places and many times leaves us drained.

In a perfect world, I would imagine love to be this pure, strong, resilient bond between two people in which they could agree to live their lives together, either for a moment or forever, because they feel they complete each other and make each other happy. Rereading this, it sounds cheesy. But isn't that what everyone wants: a cheesy, fairytale ending?

I ask many questions in this entry. I can't answer any of them properly. Only experience will, I suppose. And even then, everyone's response would be different.

Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? We will all find out, sooner or later.

Love is one of the greatest joys of life. Despite its repercussions down the road.



It takes no time to fall in love. But it takes you years to know what love is.

Commuting.

One of the top reasons I love living in New York is the facility of transportation. Yet, it is the top reason I despise living at home. It's a paradox.

Four trains and an hour and fifteen minutes to get to school. Two trains and forty-five minutes to get to work.

Without it, I wouldn't have a life. Without it, I would have gotten a license by now.

It's a hassle. It's a convenience. It's a struggle. It's a breeze. It's a killer. It's a lifesaver. It makes we weep. It makes me smile. It makes me cringe. It makes me laugh.

It makes me clutch my bag closer to my chest. It makes me proud to call myself a New Yorker.

The MTA. As dynamic, spontaneous and ridiculous as its riders.

Edit 12/4/08: Today was the day I finally got my license. So really, the MTA was not the sole factor to me not getting one. Because I actually did.

Diction.

"Unearthly calmness". How can one know what unearthly calmness is if we have never inhabited any other planet? What defines unearthly? Anything we have not seen, felt, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard before?

But then, would that be considered simply learning? How can one individual know everything that is on our planet before they can judge an expression as "unearthly"? Unless you are talking in terms of science fiction, which I personally am not fond of. Each to his own.

Using the term "unearthly" is nonsensical. It is simply a device some writers use to dramatize their characters when in actuality are making their readers confused. What if it isn't science fiction? Is the word " unearthly" supposed to suggest that the character is not actually from earth? Who is this author to say they know all about earthly calmness? That's pretty audacious. Readers don't like arrogant writers. This reader doesn't.

Why not simply say "disturbing calmness" or "unsettling calmness"? "Unearthly" suggests something unfamiliar, something uncomfortable. It has the same dramatic effect. An emotion I actually know. But as a reader I don't know what unearthly is supposed to mean. I have not experienced every possible emotion, seen every possible thing there is to see, heard every possible sound on this planet.

Word choice is my favorite aspect of writing. Well, writing is word choice. Subtle changes can completely redefine entire works, entire speeches, entire constitutions. Our own red-blooded constitution: "All men are created equal" has been an item of constant debate. What defines men? Who were considered "men" in 1776? Property-owning white people with male genitalia. Today? All 300 million people, regardless of color or anatomies.The term "men" has changed since the American Revolution. Had the Founding Fathers written "Property-owning white people with male genitalia" our entire history would have been different. Might have sparked some controversy. Diction is incredibly powerful.

To all my fellow writers: please don't use the word unearthly. Unless you are writing sci-fi. Use something we know what it means. It makes you look like an audacious prick who is attempting to sound intelligent. You are not fooling anyone.