JB says microlending is cool. www.kiva.org.

JB, you are SO right.

Micro lending is cool. Maybe even on the verge of bad ass.

For those who might be wondering if micro lending are midget bookies on a seedy lower east side corner lending cash for horse races, you are wrong.

Micro lending is in fact something that is not absurd, but actually very helpful. They are loans for those who are unemployed, live in impoverished communities or cottage industry workers who just need a leg up to buy supplies or something as simple as a sewing machine. These individuals typically lack collateral or a credit history to take out traditional loans from larger banks or institutions and thus they are stuck in a rut. And more over, they are not seeking large sums of money, but just a handful of bills to get them started.

Kiva in particular is a program that connects YOU to small-scale entrepreneurs all over the world to help them gain economic independence. As a lender, you can choose an entrepreneur you'd like to donate to and through the course of 6-12 months when your loan is out, you can track loan repayments or even keep up with their progress through email journal updates. Once you've received your repayment, you can lend back to another entrepreneur and keep the cycle going.

Pretty cool, huh?

Maybe not as cool as seedy midget bookies, but probably better for the world at large.

MC has returned. Today will be like any other day. It begins. It ends.

In case anyone is confused, MC doesn't stand for Master Confucius. Though MC's words have an Eastern philosophical edge to them, he is more a master party-er. So much so that I found him one morning, passed out at work with his suit on from the night before—he was partying in the neighborhood and lucky for him he had his company ID to let himself in for a nap.

Today will be like any other day. It begins. It ends.

Armed with these words, a day is blank canvas that is built up then torn down. What relief! No more baggage, or worries or anxieties that tag along from day to day, or even week to month.

I'll take that.

And so will MC—cuz there ain't no way to party until the sun comes up and the day is DONE.

AK misses Teddy Ruxpin

Although I didn't personally get to know Mr. Ruxpin as he guided himself along his adventures to find the Treasure of Grundo, I hear good things.

He was polite, and furry, and was good at conversation. He hung around when Mom was in the kitchen or at the bar. And he even secretly taught you to grow your imagination and shit.

But personally, I was a bit disturbed by a couple of things. Namely, the deception. He looked pretty cuddly and wuddly, like a good bear should. I mean, he wasn't "Gund" bear quality, but he looked as though he was giving them competition.

And right when you thought you'd go in for some love with your soft, cuddly bear, something went horrible wrong. He stabbed you right back at your heart with a 3x2 piece of plastic, as if he was really saying, "this is business kid. don't get too attached."

And it was that cassette, that held all his stories, and secrets and mysteries that was the same cassette that was a technological barrier between him and my unabashed childhood love.

Maybe he was right, or maybe he wasn't to be packing that kind of technology for us kids. Some kids would say they're truly grateful for the companionship, and some would say, 'get away creepy half robot bear.'

But one thing we can't deny was he was ahead of his age. A talking bear. W. T. F.

PVK is back

Bloggers apologies accepted here?

There are a litany of excuses for why I have stopped writing and essentially creating a lie out of my 'about me.' It said that I was a writer day and night. Bleh HumBug. That, was a lie this past year.

During the day, I wrote sentences after paragraphs after ad for websites and online banners you like to click 'no' to.

And in between banners, I was suffocating on wedding ribbons from months of planning (hence the new addition K for Kamath to my initials). It was all great and beautiful and a wedding that was more awesome than I could have hoped for, but it's over! And that's the greatest hallelujah.

And as of last week, I joined the crumbling economic front lines and was laid off from this aforementioned banner shop job.

So, this means that I need to find someway to keep writing everyday, so selfishly, I'm back. And this time, sabbatical-free.