3/19,2009

So today, I'm not feeling very Deep, and I'm having trouble thinking under the surface so instead I'm just going to write about something weird I've observed in my life in this last year. Vegetarians/ Indians! so suddenly they're cool. I remember about 5 or 6 years, those were the two things about myself I felt the most insecure about. When I was in preschool, everyone would make fun of me because I was vegetarian and they thought I was unnatural: like some kind of alien or something. And then the indian people- well indian people come in all shapes and sizes so it isn't really fair to generalize. But when I was a kid in a community full of white people, I always got the impression that Indians in general were kinda weird and nerdy so again I felt a little bit outcast.
But now suddenly everyone wants to be or is trying to be vegetarian and indians are cool ( probably a result of Slumdog Millionaire). Suddenly everyone knows what Bollywood is (the Indian equivalent of Hollywood if you were one of people who didn't know), and everyone likes Indian food, and people are interested in Indian fashion, when about a year ago all of these seemed nearly nonexistent to most of society. Now everyone's attempting to be vegetarian and it's like this near-to-impossible challenge if you can go all the way through with it. Being vegetarian is the new way of dieting and being natural. I guess all of this change is the result of society changing and trying to create new trends. I've also noticed that within this last year, where these trends seemed to have come up, I've felt much more secure about myself and being Indian and vegetarian.So in an attempt to be deep, I'm going to tie all of this in to demonstrate how reliant people are, emotionally, on the societies around them.

3/12/2009

So I just had my appointment with my counselor about getting into collleges and it kinda made me feel like having a breakdown. There's just so much stuff to do still, but absolutely no time. I have to get an internship, visit colleges, take classes over the summer, do volunteer work, do homework, relax so I don't freak out, be social so I don't become a hermit, take harder classes, comtemplate my future, and make life-determining decisions. SO much to do, but I just don't remember the rest, because it won't fit in my head, or I just don't want to think about it. And the best part is, getting into colleges is becomiing slowly more and more competitive, so there's slowly more and more credentials needed to get it. My parents and cousins are all confused about the workload I get in some of AP classes. My cousin whose a junior in college was telling me that even though these AP classes tell us that they're are college level or college preparation classes, she never had to work that hard or do that much homework in any of her college classes. But taking those AP's are necessary for gettting into college now. She was also telling me that her grades were relatively average and the only reason she got into a Berkeley was because of her 2300 on the SAT. But now that isn't enough. Being good in one subject area isn't enough. A person has to excel in multiple areas. All of this makes me wonder if colleges and teachers understand the amount of stress their placing on these coming generations. that is all...

 

2/27/2009

So the Oscars just happened. Woooh. And there was an Indian who won something. Woooh. Yea so the Slumdog Millionairre won something like ten oscars,which I guess is really amazing. I saw the movie I thought it was pretty good. I, being Indian, have also seen alot of other Indian movies. To me it didn't seem phenomenally different: an interesting or kind of different plot, but just like every other indian movie, it was secretly about a love story. Really though. Every single Indian movie I have ever seen in my life has a lot of singing and they're all romances and they're generally pretty cheesy. The crucial differences between the average Indian movie and Slumdog Millionairre was that they didn't burst into song and that, the movie was mostly in English and that the accents with the Indian people were for the most part understandable. Oh, and the kids were really cute. So, in India, the actors got a heroes welcome. Crowds screaming on the street, and flooding the actors. People crying. The Indian government even gave the kids new mansions or something. I don't know. Not saying the movie wasn't good, because it was, but a heroes welcome really? People crying? So it's great that an Indian won something in America, but Indians like to overdo things. Sorry, I'm slightly prejudiced. But I'm Indian so it's ok. Like Russell Peters. It's ok if Indians critisize Indians.

2/12/09

Perspectives. Everyone has their own and it's so weird that everyone's is different. Especially perspectives on selfs and how people view each other. Last night I was watching who wants to be America's Next Top Model or something and they made everyone strip so everyone was completely naked. The judges then went one by one and analyzed each person's body thoroughly marking it where they found excesses of fat, or in areas where there might need to some more. There was no one in that room who would be considered overweight, but they were being critiqued for the smallest ounce of body fat. It's funny how everyone on tv says their that being a looks don't mean everything and people shouldn't be judged on their looks, but their actions promote the exact opposite. Take Oprah for example. For years and years, she was known to be a little overweight and she accepted herself for that, calling out to other bigger women to be proud and cherish themselves and their bodies. Last year or something, I don't really remember she went on an extreme diet thing and became just like those models, who she would've looked down on as giving americans unreal expectations for themselves. Seems like everyone likes to act like they think objectively but they're actions speak pretty differently most of the time.

 

2/5/09

Yay so one unit is over and now we're moving onto the next one. It's really great because there's no more stress with narrative stuff, but great more stress. So new ideas. We just had an extremely long seminar on how to get them. It didn't help tons because the only things it made me talk about was food. I agree there's alot that can be done with food, but it's just not inspiring me right now. So I have a couple more ideas. I was thinking about going to a farm, where I had a farming internship last summer. But the thing is its winter. Not sure how much activity the farm is going to have right now. Other idea. Indian dancing. I know alot of Indians and a majority of the girls dance, so it kind of works out. The thing is I really really don't enjoy going to Indian events or gatherings where they are in packs. So here's the dilemma. Do I do a project where I am not happy with the content or don't like the subject or do I do something that might not have enough content or might not be interesting for something else? Ahh. Such a problem. So much stress. Hope I don't explode. Ok, I'm done ranting. Tell you what happens next time.. if i figuire something out.

1/ 29/09

There's always two sides to a story. There's always two sides to a debate. But what do you do when both of them make sense and sound completely logical. Which side do you take?
Obama was elected as president last week. I'm pretty sure a huge majority of the country was elated and celebrating about it, and I was too. Oddly one of my closest friends thought otherwise. He called me and started ranting about. At first I stopped him, thinking what he said was crazy, but then the crazy talk started making sense. He backed it up with stuff he found on the History Channel. Could the History Channel be wrong? I said but...but.. I'd heard so much that went contrary to his argument. My gut feeling just said he was wrong, but everything he said just made sense. I said no, I heard things on TV, praising him over and over again. The media is biased he said. Just a few months ago when his nomination as the candidate wasn't set, the media was spewing uncertainties and criticisms of Obama about his heritage and his faith. You can't trust what the media is telling you because it puts its own edge on everything. That made sense, but how could millions of Americans be duped by the media as you claim? Well you'd be surprised how much faith people put with the news and how gullible so many are. That made sense too- I would know.
So can both sides of the argument be right?There's always two sides to a story. There's always two sides to a debate. But what do you do when both of them make sense and sound completely logical. Which side do you take?
Obama was elected as president last week. I'm pretty sure a huge majority of the country was elated and celebrating about it, and I was too. Oddly one of my closest friends thought otherwise. He called me and started ranting about. At first I stopped him, thinking what he said was crazy, but then the crazy talk started making sense. He backed it up with stuff he found on the History Channel. Could the History Channel be wrong? I said but...but.. I'd heard so much that went contrary to his argument. My gut feeling just said he was wrong, but everything he said just made sense. I said no, I heard things on TV, praising him over and over again. The media is biased he said. Just a few months ago when his nomination as the candidate wasn't set, the media was spewing uncertainties and criticisms of Obama about his heritage and his faith. You can't trust what the media is telling you because it puts its own edge on everything. That made sense, but how could millions of Americans be duped by the media as you claim? Well you'd be surprised how much faith people put with the news and how gullible so many are. That made sense too- I would know.
So can both sides of the argument be right?

1/15/09

It's astonishing how some people can hide things. I feel like alot of the time, the bubbliest, happiest people I've encountered in my life have so much going on behind the scenes, that they'd never let on, unless through some unfortunat/unexpected sequence of events. Last year I met this girl who seemed like one of those people you meet where nothing could kill their 24/7 happiness and excitement in just about everything. Just one of those people who you suspect to have perfect lives and envy them for it. Until one day she came into class and it wasn't completely obvious, but her eyes were kind of red, so it made sense to assume she'd been crying. I didn't really know here too well until, but I got to know her alot better after that day. Turns out she hated her life at home, and she had alot of drama in her life that I never would've imagined for her.

Back to the hollywood examples, where you'd think the paparzzi would expose every aspect of an actor/actress's life. A place where actors made millionaires could spoil themselves and flaunt their enormous wealth; why would anyone complain. But take Owen Wilson. Not too long ago, articles everywhere were spilling shocking details about his recently attempted suicide. Yes the same actor, who played in tons of movies that millions of people had probably seen. Generally playing the role of the happy, lucky comedian, who hits it big. His acting was so convincing, no one imagined that his real life didn't hold a semblance to his on screen roles.

But the reality that I realized after finding person after person like this is that everyone has something going on behind the scenes. Kind of depressing, but it's interesting that in day-to-day life, everything seems so perfect.

 

12/18/08

Holidays really can bring out the best and most eccentric aspects of people. This is a fact that I didn't really notice until just this year. Unfortunately I learned that because I generally spent them with other people and other people's families this year. Not saying anythingbad about my family, but being Indian, American holidays don't mean as much and are much less cause for celebration and rejoice. Waking up Christmas morning was basically the same as every other day, except there was a huge fake tree in our living room. But presents weren't really a big thing either. There's this Indian tradition,or at least in my family,where we generally give gifts, like money and stuff back, because we don't want people to have to spend money on us and its a sign of respect to give the money back or something. Unfortunately that means less presents for us. Spending the holidays with people outside of my house gave me a pretty different perspective though. People were excited and singing and putting up christmas lights and having huge families parties with huge amounts of food. Must say, they're actually pretty fun, when they're celebrated right.

12/12/08

For the past 5 minutes I've been looking up other peoples opinion pages, being at a loss for what write for this one, and everyone so far has been commentating on their current lives and everyone seems to be talking about their ever looming stress problems. It's crazy how much stress can drive someone over the edge and cause them to panic about the slightest things.

 

12/4/08

So basically I live for the weekends.. They are my reprieve and they keep me sane and allow me to stay at least semi-social. So thanksgiving just went by, and that was a pretty fun, much needed break. I had about three thanksgivings, which means a lot of food, which is always a good thing. I had the first Thanksgiving at my house. Seventy or more people there. Pretty crazy right? There was a lot of Indian food, which wasn't really the best part, but there was a lot of desert so it made up for it. Though I had to spend three hours of that time at my super exciting SAT class, but it wasn't that bad because they give you food when you win candy whenever you get something right. I've always believe that candy was the best movitation to promote learning in children. So anyways Christmas is coming up pretty soon now or at least the break is, and I'm dying for it to come soon, but the weeks are going by pretty fast anyways so I don't think it'll be that big of a problem. Back to the Christmas thing. So I'm really hoping this Christmas I can go to Disneyland with my friend and his family. Maybe not on the Christmas day, but sometime this break would be nice. I've realized I'm not so big on Christmas because we stopped with presents when I was about 7 or 8 when we realized that Santa doesn't exist. It's pretty sad, but I'm pretty over it. Just hope that there will be good food.

 

11/17/08

So today I’m just going to rant about some of the frustrations of my life at the moment. School, homework, band, eat, sleep. My average day-to-day life has consistently been some arrangement of the 4 listed above. It’s reached a point that all I know between the times I wake up till the time I fall is asleep is work.  I fall asleep doing homework and I wake up still doing it, and I still feel like there’s a long checklist of things waiting on my To-Do list. I admit that there’s a lot of time in the middle of the day that I waste on the pretense that I’m doing homework; going in the library to study but instead getting lost in conversation; taking the computer away from my brother, insisting that I need to check on my homework, but quickly becoming sidetracked by the distractions of the Internet, i.e. instant messaging. But those sidetracked instances are the only ones that keep me sane; when I’m being drowned in the things I need to get done, I need some kind of reprieve. Though, I’m finally beginning to get the hang of it. Finding the best hours that I work, that no one will be online, where I can focus; finding method in the madness. So after all that, I’m happy to say things are getting better.

10/1/08

Today I feel like commenting on the pressures of society and how much they suck. Well of course, they can be used for good, like when it comes to pressuring sumone to achieve or pushing themselves, but I'm talking about when its used for evil. Take for example, the infamous Miley Cyrus, the teenage pop actress singer from the Disney channel show, Hannah Montana. She started out innocent enough; just a young, up and coming, country singer who thought she could make it into the business, especially with the help of her well known father, Billy-Ray Cyrus.But it didn't last. Before you know it, the media was already leaking scandandalous stories of her nude internet scandals, and the starts of her party days. When she came into Hollywood, I doubt anyone would have looked at that girl and said that she could be corrupted so easily, but many could've predicted her fate seeing the trend of Hollywood stars. She's been in the business for barely a year now, and already the predictions for her career are of her spiralling into a life of sex and heavy drugs. Though without the pressures of the Hollywood industries and environment, that wouldn't have been her predicted fate. Fears of peer critique and the criticisms of the people around you, or the ones watching you, can make people do things that are out of their own persona