Cradle to Cradle
Yesterday was one of those days that made me think… think not only about the nature of corporations and business plans, but about what I want to do with my life. Here’s why.
In my Sustainable Global Enterprise class yesterday, we had a guest speaker. He was a CEO of this company that made organic fertilizers from worm poop. The concept was that they take (even get paid to take in) natural wastes and garbage, feed them to worms, and liquidize their poop to convert them into fertilizers that can be sold and commercialized. And to make this business plan ultimate eco-effective, he used recycled plastic coke (and other) bottles for packaging, as well as misprinted boxes from other companies for distribution. In another words, everything from the product to packaging were made out of wastes. It’s cheap, effective, and environmentally friendly.
Pretty impressive, don’t you think?
What was even more impressive (at least in my view), was the fact that he started this business when he was a Freshman at Princeton. He then decided to take what they call an “indefinite leave”, to concentrate on the business. He’s currently 24 years old.
I guess I’m always amazed at the Entrepreneurial spirit people have here in the states, and this spirit people possess at such an early age. It’s hard to imagine such a story to take place (both in terms of the idea and action) in Japan, just simply because the society is not ready to accept them. I always thought it’s more wise to gain some professional experience when you are young, and wait until you get older to start something on your own. But the guest speaker said something interesting that had a contrary view:
It’s better to start something new and take risks when you are young, because it’s easier to make mistakes. The society is more likely to accept mistakes when you are young.
I guess I’m starting to realize that I’m not as young as I thought to be.
License and Registration Please
So Natster wanted to go get coffee from Dunkin Donuts, and since the closest one was in Horseheads, I agreed to go along (who names their town Horseheads??? but that's a totally different discussion). She told me it'll be like a 30 minute drive, so I thought it won't be that bad.
I was soo wrong.
So we passed Wegmans and headed South on Rt 13, when a cop pulled her over. Apparently, one of her brake lamp was not working. The cop asked for her license and registration, but turned out Natster didn't have her registration in the car! In addition, she didn't have the license plate in front of the car either. That's three tickets right there.
Natster: "Sorry, my friend gave me this car and I forgot to put the registration in the car."
Cop: "So is this car registered under your name?"
Natster: "Yeah yeah, it's registered, but I still have the paper in my room."
So the cop was like, "ok I'll be right back", and went back to the police car to write out the tickets. Well we waited, waited, and waited... and finally he came back with the tickets.
Cop: "Ok, I'm suppose to write out another ticket, but I'm starting to get a cramp, so here you go. Make sure you plead guilty."
And on that note, he let her go. Poor guy, he just stopped her for the brake lamp, and he ended up having to deal with more papaer work than he had expected. He must have been tired, or plain lazy, coz he wrote down Natster's year of birth as 1988. Does she look that young??
Well, it proved to be a good experience for me, because I've always wondered what registration was when cops say "License and Registration Please" in movies and tv. But now I know, thanks to Natster!
On a side note, I think it should be a prerequiste for PhD candidacy to have registration and license plates properly in place.
Sushi Samba!
So I've been feeling some peer pressure recently to update this, so here you go. I don't have much to report, so I'll share my experience this past weekend in NYC.
I met up with some of my friends from high school in the city, including one girl who flew in from London. It was good times catching up, and getting updates on our other fellow classmates. Seems like everyone is getting engaged and married. Shows how old we are getting...
Anyway, we went out for dinner to this restaurant where they served a fusion of Japanese, Brazilian, and Peruvian cuisines. We had crazy sushi rolls such as "Neo Tokyo", "Rainbow Dragon", and "El Topo", none of which you'll be able to order in a typical sushi restaurant in Tokyo.
At first I thought the concept of Japanese/Brazilian fusion was weird, but then I realized that there is a huge Japanese community in Brazil, and vice versa. So it's all good, and the place has a really cool ambiance.
Ironically, when people ask me once I'm back in Tokyo what I miss the most in the states, I might just say Sushi.
25
２５歳という自分へ、
「不可能」 とは、自らの力で世界を切り拓くことを放棄した臆病者の言葉だ
「不可能」 とは、現状に甘んじるための言い訳にすぎない
「不可能」 とは、事実ですらなく、単なる先入観だ
「不可能」 とは、誰かに決めつけられることではない
「不可能」 とは、可能性だ
「不可能」 なんて、ありえない
Impossible is Nothing
２５年後の自分は、今の自分をどのように振り返るのだろう。
新たなスタートライン。そして、新たなる一歩へ。
