Update

THIS IS A SHORT UPDATE:

I have actually decided not to put my novel up on a blog for privacy and protection reasons.

Thank you.

Decisions...

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to start a new blogspot for my NaNoWriMo 2010 novel...

I think I probably will. It'll be nice to just see what people think of my random rambling novelling.

So, it's a decision made. I'm going to make a new blog just for NaNoWriMo 2010. Woot!

NaNoWriMo Time!!!

Well, it's almost the end of October. And that means several things.

One. My birthday is coming up! Halloween night will mark my eighteenth year of being blessed with a life on earth.

Two. NaNoWriMo will begin! For all of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is (shame on you!) it's short for "National Novel Writing Month."It's basically when you write a 50,000 word novel in the thirty days of November. I tried it last year and failed miserably because I became disgustingly lazy and let it taper off into nothingness. It was rather sad, actually. But I'm determined to succeed this time (or at least not fail as badly as I did last year). This will be my second attempt, seeing as I didn't know NaNoWriMo existed until last October.

So, wish me luck! Let me know who else will be taking part in NaNoWriMo!

Screenwriter's Lament

Flash of a camera,

the red carpet beckons

with promises of glory

and renown.

Yet it's an unfair world,

pitting brother against brother

and wife against husband

in a battle for recognition.

And 'tis only the actors,

the directors and producers

that gain the fame

so coveted by many.

What of the writers?

The thinkers? The dreamers?

What glory have they,

save one line in the credits?

'Tis a world of

superficial moonlight

and sea winds from the

giant fans off the set.

Trying to portray

the real with the unreal

until the boundary

is smudged to nothingness.

Journaling - A New Hobby

I have officially started a journal.

I already have a shoebox journal where I keep all of my ideas and poems that haven't yet been posted (or shown to that many people, to be honest). I keep all sorts of treasures in that shoebox. Pictures, theater programs, tickets and other things that trigger memories for me. I also keep the loose leaf scribbles I come up with and accounts of interesting days. It's probably one of the top ten things I would rescue if my house...well, dorm room was on fire. I keep ideas, emotions, memories, hopes, dreams, and so much more in that shoebox. It's very, very dear to me, and I think it would be fun to go through it when I'm older (much, much, MUCH older) and see what was running through my mind when I was seventeen.

Anyways, back to my journal.

I always wanted to start a journal, you know. I just never got around to it. I'd start diaries, but leave them because I had no time or I got bored.

But I'm determined that this journal won't be a failure like all the rest. I want this journal to be bound (which it is) to protect it from losing anything. Because everything that I put in there (and will put in there in the future) is extremely important to me. It's the start of new stories. Character sketches. Thoughts about the sky. People watching notes. Random scribbles. You name it! Perhaps I'll put excerpts from my journal on my blog. We'll see. But most of it will be for my eyes only.

I love the fact that my journal has no lines. It gives so much more freedom! Now I can write sideways, in shapes, in squiggles, or in a jumble of words that come together to make an image! Just THINK of the possibilities!

Anyways, that's all for now.

Ciao!

First Ever College Classes

So, yesterday I had my first ever college class. Just one yesterday. That was nice. It was a Creative Writing class for Poetry. I need to write a poem a week for nine weeks, something that I won't have any trouble with. And the best thing is? I'll get to post up the poems I write on here!

I was back from class pretty early. At nine in the morning actually, which felt good. I had nothing to do after that, so my friend and I just biked around, looking for other classes we had to make sure we wouldn't get lost (a feat I have, so far, succeeded in) and we went all the way to Cuarto.

Now let me tell you something. Cuarto? It's pretty far. For someone who hasn't been on a bike for that long, anyways. It was manageable, but MAN am I glad that I don't live in Cuarto. I truly feel for the people who have to bike all the way from Cuarto to campus.

"Did she say to campus?"

Yes, reader. I did. Cuarto happens to be off campus, unlike Tercero and Segundo. Thankfully I reside in one of the latter two. Which one, you ask? Not telling. Don't want a possible stalker now, do I? Let's just say that I can get to my classes on time and leave it at that.

And then today I had two classes. Something I wasn't looking forward to at first. Chemistry and then Calculus. My two least favorite classes. But then I met the teachers, both of whom are very interesting people and are very enthusiastic about their subject. I always think a good teacher is enthusiastic about the subject he or she is teaching. And these two seemed to truly love their subject. I think I'm actually going to like these two classes. I know, I know. Crazy, right? It's true. I guess a good teacher makes for a good class.

And now, I'm going to be going back home for the weekend to see my family and to pick up some stuff that I, being me, forgot at home. I get to spend the rest of today the whole of tomorrow and most of the day after at home, and I'm thrilled. No, that's not sarcasm that you sense. I actually am looking forward to seeing my family. I miss them. I admit it. But life goes on!

I'll update you guys soon.

Ciao!

College!

Well, it's final. I moved in, and UC Davis is now my home away from home. My roommate is pretty awesome (we have a lot in common) and I've met a couple of floormates. This in particular is pretty new for me, seeing as I'm pretty introverted. I like the feeling that there are new people to meet. I just have trouble getting up and meeting them. Some of them made it easier. Like these three guys who knocked on our door. I invited them in (surprising myself in doing so) and we talked for a bit. They seemed like very nice people and they told my roommate and me to just drop by whenever we felt like it.

Maybe I'll take them up on that offer. We'll see, I suppose.

I also got a feel for the university today when I went biking with Parichay and Sarthak. At first I didn't intend to go biking, but I met up with them, and they convinced me to bike around with them, so I did. It was so much fun! I didn't realize that their dorm building was so close to mine. I met Pranaya later on, too, and we want to visit the Arboretum tomorrow.

When my family left to go back home, I felt a little sad. I've never been good at showing my emotions or talking about them, so I don't know how I'll deal with homesickness, which has already started to settle itself down in my heart. It will soon be evicted. Thrown out and replaced with a sense of belonging, hopefully. I have two homes now, so I'm happy for that.

Tomorrow is another day, bringing with it new surprises and (hopefully) friends, as well.

Ciao!

Welcome to the World of Technology

Welcome, my children, to the world of technology. I caution thee to severely watch thy step, lest ye get swept away by the new technology wave that doth hover 'bove the nation. Nay! The world! New fangled contraptions like computers hath taken the place of the omnipresent parchment and quill. Instead of the letters we often send to our lovers and kinsmen, we now send cold, unfeeling text messages. The sweet, poetic English language hath been compressed excessively and hath been forced to bend down to the will of the new tyrant.

Wires and cables doth choke the land, and metal carriages race across nations within days. The ways of the old have disappeared to make way for the damnable new. I, too, have been swept, my children, and I have come to warn thee not to commit the same error that I hath foolishly made. I, once naive, believed in that technology could solve many problems that doth vex our world. Folly, I say! For instead of offering assistance, this new tool strangled us and kept us in chains, forever bound to its damnable head.

Yet, I do not say to avoid this new tool completely. Use it, but use it well. Lest you sweep away and drown in the future. And from there, my dear children, there be no return. Once thou hath entered that labyrinth of obsession, thou hath lost thyself to the demon puppeteer which keeps all on a leash, relishing in each usage of its charms.

Moving Forward

Well, in ten days' time, I'll be taking the next big step in my up-to-now quite brief and uneventful life.

College.

Most high school seniors regard this word with a mixture of apprehension and excitement. And for me, it's no different.

I'm scared. I admit it.

But, that shouldn't hold me back. SO, I'm going to blog about the things I'm looking forward to to [a] make myself feel better and [b] actually put something up on this blog for once.

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. New friends
2. Learning new things
3. Being independent
4. Going through the exciting and life-changing (or, so I'm told) "college experience."
5. Getting new writing material
6. Trying horse-back riding
7. Trying fencing
8. Trying new things in general
9. Working on the literary magazine at college
10. Finding what I'm TRULY passionate in and pursuing it
11. Discovering new things about myself
12. Discovering new things about life
13. Discovering things in general
14. Biking across campus
15. Being able to visit Sacramento whenever I want (hey, it IS the state capital)
16. Being free to go where I want when I want to
17. Being able to make my own decisions without having to ask anyone else
18. Being able to visit the animals on a regular basis
19. Truly living

I suppose life at college won't be that bad now, will it?

Keeping up with the Kardashians?

So, I tried watching the hit show "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" today, and I have concluded that  it is...a complete waste of time. I know, I know. It's my fault for watching it and yadda yadda yadda. BUT, I just wanted to see why it was so popular.

I still don't know.

Why?

Why do people love seeing how the Kardashian family lives? What makes them so interesting? It just strikes me as pointless. There are so many TV shows like that. Where it's like an hour of "Oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-interesting-I-have-my-own-show-just-to-mass-blog-to-people." It's like...mass vlogging. Except, you know, it's not as nice and "private."

Kinda strange, right?

RIP Pappa Ajoba

For all of you who don't know what "Ajoba" means, it means "grandfather" in my language. My mother's father, whom I called "Pappa Ajoba" died last year from cancer.

When I went to India this summer, I went to a memorial ceremony for my Pappa Ajoba. It was exactly one year (Hindu year, not the 365-day one) since he died. In my culture, we believe that it takes a spirit one year of cleansing to be reborn as another person. We were having a ceremony to acknowledge that Pappa Ajoba's spirit has finally moved on.

When we got the call saying that he had died, I couldn't cry. My sister cried buckets, but I didn't. And I don't know why. Surely I should have cried, right? I feel guilty for not shedding a single tear. Maybe it's just because it hasn't hit me yet. It didn't sem possible for a person to be alive for one second and then just be a corpse, a shell of their former self the next. But it is possible. I mean, it happens everyday. Every second, right?

I suppose Death isn't that scary though. I know it's morbid, but I'm actually curious about what happens when a person dies. Is the white light real? Do you hear voices from your past? Does your life really pass before your eyes in fast forward? And what about after you take the Big Step? An afterlife? Heaven? Hell? Or just nothingness? Does everything just end there? Go blank? Maybe we humans have just added romance to death. We needed something to...spice it up or we just couldn't care if someone died. At least not as much. I know that sounds cynical, but it's true, right? We always need something interesting attached to everything, or we just don't care. Or maybe we do. Just not enough.

Diving in Feetfirst

Well, this is it. My upteenth attempt at blogging. I've seen the other attempts get washed down the drain, swirling amongst the sewage. Hopefully, this attempt won't end up in the same way. I intend for it not to, anyways. I'm going to try and devote this blog entirely to my writing, occasionally punctuated by rants and random rambling thoughts that roll around in my mind.

I have decided to try doing the Sunday Scribblings every week (starting today).  Wish me luck!

Also, I'm shouting out to my younger, wonderful, beautiful sister. Happy birthday, sweetheart! I love you so much!