history.

to the knowedge of all people around the world.

i was pondering lately about some serious thing. hehe fun, uh?

we hear that some people in america and around the world follow the ideals of nazism praising Hitler and stuff.

To me that is stupid. Well first of all because they don't really know who Hitler was, second because I believe they don't really grasp the atrocity of what happened. In Italy nazism is uncostitutional and in Germany I believe to be illegal, anyway, it's sad that people follow such ideal.

Understanding what happened it's not that simple. Many people here don't understand or know.

I think I have been blessed to have the opportunity to study about European history and I got to go to two of the camps where Hebrews where taken as prisoners, awaiting to be killed.

When we think about these camps, often we think about pain and suffer. I have been to Mauthausen in Austria on a field trip at school. Well how can I express exactly the feelings of that place. Most of the knowledge we have is that people there were killed. True, but yet not accurate.

Imagine if someone took away from you everything you had. personal belongings. your identity, your dignity, you'll have a small idea of what those people had to go through. people were tortured just for the pleasure to inflict pain to another person.

all around were signs where was explained what happened there. they gave them numbers because they where not counted as people. less than animals. on a wall there was a written where a man wrote 3 times his full name saying that they will never take that away from him. he was killed 2 days after.

many argued on how many hebrews were killed during the time between 1939 and 1945 history says 6 million other say 10 million, skeptics say less than a million. no matter how many where killed. it was the way they where killed. the act of it. the idea of annihilate a human being just because it's different because of religion or political views.

sad to say that i didn't really understand this until i went to one of these camps. i couln't sleep at night. to me, with the knowledge i have of this now, i think people that are ok with or carry on this ideal ar just idiots.

i'm sorry if i have been so depressive with my post but some things must be let known.

History should be taught in schools so that mistakes that were made in past are not to be made again. this is the point of history after all.

less is more...thanks mies

as i have consistently contemplated my life in the future, i have set aside some thoughts and goals that i find fitting for the life gabriele and i will have with our family. i want a simple life. and that doesn't mean we have to barely make things work within our means because in all honesty, i don't think that will be the case. always seeing people with insatiable desires makes me want to have all the money in the world and still choose to live a simple life. why? because money or lifestyle do not make you happy. and those who seek to keep up with the jone's can never get enough of anything to be truly happy. and i want to be happy. another reason (and most likely the reason why i write this entry) why i want a simple life: i HATE clutter! my days are spent cleaning out our house. there are things we buy but never use or have never used. nice things sometimes, but useless. once you get a "big" house you fill it up. even when you're in a small place, somehow you end up acquiring a whole bunch of crap. where does this all come from? and paper? don't get me started about paper! i want to apply mies' less is more principle in my daily life. is that book cool? yes, but i don't need it. is that sweater 80% off? yes, but i have enough already. shoes of course will be my weakness. and i will love living with the satisfaction that no, i don't care what you have or how much you have and how much nicer it is than what i have, i love the little that i have. and because i have so little my house is clean! or my tiny apartment, whatever the case may be. :) of course if you love what you have too, then i'm happy for you, and most likely excited that you have what you want and that it makes you happy. ;)

and now that i'm just babbling...why do we get so attached to THINGS? i mean sometimes i hesitate throwing something away or giving it away because even though i paid 10 bucks for it it's worth 60. or someone gave it to me but i don't like it, but they gave it to me. obviously there is way too much that goes on in this head of mine. maybe my mind is what needs de-cluttering. (or whatever). in any case, part of this idea is really having power. the power to choose. i always think of that scene in schindler's list when schindler says that real power is having every justification to [do something] and you don't do it. i know it's a stretch, but i've always loved that scene because i think we can really change our lives if we see the power we have. i repeat what i said earlier: i would love to have all the money in the world and have every justification to live a lavish life, and choose simplicity instead.

p.s. i adore this picture of mies.

smarty pants

i was in alan's room today doing some cleaning/uncluttering. as i went through all of his ap assignments and tests, i got to thinking. alan and i are really smart. let me continue before you think this is a entry praising our God-given intelligence. what i thought about was the fact that alan and i always beat ourselves up for not doing as much as we could do with the brains we were given. we've never been bad students, but we haven't ever really been stellar either. our grades have generally been better than average, but they've had their run up and down the scale.

what kills me is that i had a nearly flawless last semester of college, and i didn't try as hard as i could have. if i tried, i would have had a fantastic college career! why do i write this? i guess it's to say that i'm ashamed of not taking advantage of being smart. and i have seen throughout my life that the concept that getting good grades isn't always about being smart, it's about knowing how to study/take tests/work hard, etc. is true.

i don't mean to come off like i'm super great because i'm smart, or conceited. i am the first to recognize and admit that there are plenty of people ahead of me when it comes to brains. i'm just saying we all have talents and great potential, and we can do so much if we choose to. that's all.

(as a side note: alan is significantly smarter than i am!)

Thoughts!!

must admit the past 2 weeks were wonderful.

Claudia came to Italy after about 4 months we didn't see each other. Needless to say it was beautiful to have her by me. We had the chance to prepare the last few things before our wedding, crazy, at this moment we have 84 days left till the BIG DAY.

We finally got to buy our wedding bands, and I must admit that they are pretty cool! special, UNIQUE. heheh. Most people will be so jealouse. They better be. They are just perfect and wonderful! To see the bands, though, you must wait.

Anyway we had the chance to be in Zadar for a day and even though the weather was crappy we had fun together.

Can't you tell? Don't we look so hot? hahh

well we didn't just go down to Zadar, we have been in Venice,

Verona

, Ljubljana, and other places, weird to say that we ate at McDonald's in every city we have been to except for Zadar, but just because Zadar isn't provided with one. They should though.

We have done so many things that I really can't write on this blog, it'll take too much time, we had a great time together.

These past weeks made me even more sure of my choice to marry Claudia because I felt so good around her. As a matter of fact, we were meant to be together and whoever saw us in these days may agree with me.

Seeing her leaving at the airport was hard but while I was driving home I kept thinking about the time we have left before marriage and truly it's not that much. Time goes by fast. It happened when she was here and I'm sure it will pass fast also the time that separate us.

Maybe I should stop with this absurde cheesyness. But then again this is my blog and I write whatever I want! haahha

Thanks to Claudia I'm happy and in love. The two most amazing feelings a man could possibly have.

Thank you darling. I love you!