Why everything is awesome

Ok so all the time people ask my why I can possibly be THIS happy, THIS excited and THIS frickin' JAZZED UP about life.

To put it simply, it's pretty much because stuff really just IS THIS AWESOME.

It's hard to believe that I just got an email from one of the head writers at the Daily Show, one of the most important (and hilarious) shows of my generation. Then I wrote back. And he answered me with a super funny/kind email today. Are you frickin' KIDDING ME?!?!??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So much of this cool stuff happens to me all the time. I walk around, and nice people on the street say Hi. I line up for certain opening parties at certain Jewish Contemporary Museums in certain San Francisco-like California towns, and crazy/nice people come up to me and already know me because they are friends with my friends, and then we hang out and they are awesome. Great friends come to visit from Canada, and make time in their super busy schedules just to hang out with me. Work is freakin' amazing, there is soooooooo much cool stuff going on, I am getting lots of responsibilities, and I absolutely LOVE it. Oh yeah... AND I'm going to New York City with my sister to go eat tasty Pastrami Sandwiches, Cheese Blintzes, maybe a Latke or two, and go ride the Ferris Wheel with my sister in the huge Times Square Toys R Us. And yeah I'll buy a couple bazillion Cars and Wall-E toys while I'm at it.

And them I'm going to SOUTH AFRICA, which is going to be amazing in of itself. We're going to an artist village/craft show to buy amazing wooden carvings by African artists, we're going to a game park, and I'm sure there will be plenty of boerewors sausages, bbqs, appletiser, grapetiser and biltong in South Africa, and it's going to be amazing. And not just the food, also we're going to see our family and extended family and I can't waaaaaaaaaaait!!!!!!

Oh yeah and I got 2 Dave Matthews Band tickets for the Berkeley 8,000 person intimate concert series... one of them for the last concert of the Summer 2008 concert season.

Did I mention I love my job and my apartment and my friends and just about everything else?

Oh yeah, and I saw Wall-E and my 2nd credit EVER is on there, and this time it's "Michael Jutan" (rather than "Mike Jutan" like in Ratatouille) which is super cool, and I'm in the Sets Department credits so it's like a real Production credit which is freakin' glorious too.

Well friends, I hope you are all well too. I feel like I know so many people who get stuck in the day-to-day stresses of real life, and forget to ever step back and realize how great everything is around them. Some people I've met clearly think that my attitude is just plain naive, that I'm not worn down enough by the world yet to realize how crappy things "really are". To that I say blarrgh. (or something to that effect). :) My excitement, and the effect that the world has on me is reflected in turn on the people I meet. I hope that this is a good experience for people, and I can make a little bit of difference in someone's day to turn their day from sad to happy, from bad to good, from dark to light. :) In a way, this is the Jewish ideal of "Tikkun Olam" - literally healing the world. And by the way of your positive action, you can lead others to do positive things. Like that Ghandi quote that I love, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world" - this is a profound idea, and is not just for major world issues and matters of war and peace. I think we can change the modern day perception that it's somehow cool to be angry or impatient or argumentative, and that this is a display of your "adulthood"... I say my Cars toys and talking Homer Simpsons Spiderpig sculpture at my desk are clear signs that my "childlike" attitude is here to stay. This whole "becoming an adult" thing ain't too shabby... I never realized that you could become and adult while still being a kid. Seems to be working out well for me. :)