Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Atlanta recap part 3
Okay, I know that the recap was a bit patchy, but here's the rest. Unless I have to get off the computer before I can finish. Anyway, here it is. So after I found out that I passed my black belt test and everyone cheered and I was all psyched and I went to the bathroom and then came back and showed another girl at my table where the bathroom was and then we had to leave, but I had accidentally left my sweater at the table, but my other friend had gotten it. While I was going back to the table, I passed the table where the middle school chorus teacher and the high school chorus teacher were sitting, and I was still super psyched about the test, so I was like, "guess what???" And they were like, "what???" And I was like, "I PASSED MY BLACK BELT TEST!!!!!!" Then the middle school teacher was like, "yaaaay!!!" And the high school teacher was like, "yaaay!! how long have you known?" Or something like that. So I'm like, "I only found out like twenty minutes ago!!" Except that it wasn't twenty minutes ago because it didn't take twenty minutes for me to go to the bathroom. Anyway, the high school chorus teacher (the one for my choir) was like, "YAAY!" again, because he's awesome like that. Then we went back to the hotel and I was psyched the entire way back. Then I was all stressed because I was panicking because we had to pack and all my stuff was all over the place and so I was randomly throwing my clothes into my suitcase and hoping it all fit. I left my bathroom stuff in the bathroom, obviously, because I needed it the next morning. So then we went to bed. The next morning we got up and dashed around to make sure we hadn't left anything. Okay, it was mostly me doing the running, because I packed so much crap for some reason, and it was all over the place. Then we went to the band competitions, and then we ate pizza for lunch and hung out for a while. I went on another picture quest with two of my friends who were eighth graders but they were in one of the high school bands. Then I hung out some more and talked to the principal of my school for a while. He asked about the test and the passing. Not a lot of schools have principals nice enough to ask about that sort of thing, but ours does. Then our last band went and then we went to Six Flags. It was good, except for the part where it was raining. I went on a roller coaster called the Superman with some guy friends, and we got stuck just after it ended. I'm not sure why. I think it had something to do with someone messing up something for the riders in front of us. Anyway, I have to go, because my half an hour on the computer before homework for today is up.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Atlanta recap continued
I gave the teacher the hat. It was way too small but I don't care. It was awesome. Anyway, where was I with regards to Atlanta? Okay. So after we ate at Hard Rock Cafe, we went to the CNN studios and saw lots of awesome things, including riding on the world's longest free-standing escalator. Then we went on a tour and saw how they did all the newscasting and research and everything. It was rather awesome. We actually got to see what goes on during the typical day at the studios, which was rather cool. There's like a zillion computers behind the screens. And we saw how they do the weather stuff. It used to be a green screen, but now they use an actual projection. And the way they do teleprompters is really cool. I'm not saying here, because they would probably find out and sue me for all I'm worth. Which isn't a lot. Anyway, after that we ate lunch in the food court. They actually had some pretty decent places like Moe's that were the kind of places that use actual food but the people can put together the stuff really really fast.
After lunch we went to the Georgia Aquarium. Best Place Ever. I took seriously 97 pictures, but then I deleted some. The tanks were designed so that the fish could swim above you and it was really cool. I got some really cool back lit shots of manta rays and I think a whale shark. The aquarium was probably the coolest place we went to on the entire trip except for the world of coke. We also saw this 4-D movie that was really cute, but it was directed to the younger generation, I think. But before that I was in the gift shop and I got a necklace for my friend at school and a necklace for my friend who lives in Australia whose birthday was that day and a necklace for me. It was awesome. I was alone most of the time, but at the movie I hooked up with some people from my school and then afterwards I hooked up with the eight other people that I spent most of the rest of the trip with.
After the aquarium, we went to the hotel. The hotel was really nice. There were two double beds, and four of us, but it worked out alright, because two of the people in my room were willing to sleep in the same bed and another was willing to sleep on the couch (I did NOT, on ANY TERMS, attempt to force anyone out of letting me have a double bed to myself. I SWEAR!), so I got a double bed to myself. Then we hung out for a while and all took showers. That was the only shower I had on the entire trip, because there wasn't any time. After we hung out for a while, it was time for dinner, which was really good. The non-vegetarians got salmon and the vegetarians got a cool spaghetti sauce type thing over pasta. It was really good. Anyway, afterwards, since it was a dinner theater thing, there was a game show type thing. It was hilarious. There were people randomly picked from the crowd (all students until the last round), and they had to answer random questions about stuff, or heard the question and got a sound clip or heard the clip and got a question. There was a sound clip from The Lion King, and the question was, "who are the characters in this song?" and for some reason, the two freshmen who were up during that round, both of whom hang out with me, somehow didn't get it right, even though I seriously have The Lion King memorized. Seriously. Well, not memorized, but I can say the lines along with the movie. It's amazing. And awesome. And everything. Anyway, my favorite round was the last round, because the chorus teacher and the band teacher went up and they had to dance, like some people from the other rounds (the group the crowd cheered loudest for got the points, and obviously, the teachers, hilarious as they were, got the cheers for their round). I got a video of that. It was THE FUNNIEST thing EVER. Seriously. When I come back for the chorus concert when I'm in college, I'll remind the chorus teacher of that time on the Atlanta trip that he had to do the YMCA. I'm going to haunt him for the rest of his days. Not really.
Anyway, the next day we got breakfast in our rooms and then went to the World of Coke. It was amazing. I gave up soda for lent, but I made an exception when I got to the tasting part because, seriously, when ELSE am I going to get to taste coke products from Italy and Paraguay and Uganda? Really. But I'm not going to have soda again until like July. Or May. Or something. A couple of months, anyway. After the tasting portion was the gift shop. That was amazing. And I spent most of my budget on stuff there. I wanted to get this really cool messenger bag type thing, but it would have cleared out my budget, so in the end I got a sweatshirt, a tank top, a recycled bag for my mom, and one of those sprite-flavored lip gloss things. It tastes nothing like sprite, but what the heck. And I don't think it counts as soda, since it's technically lip gloss.
After the World of Coke we had lunch at the CNN place again and then went to the the hotel so the chorus people could change for competition. Treble did well, I think, except for the part that you STILL couldn't hear the sopranos. It was annoying. Really annoying. Because ever since all the parts got switched around, all the loud people moved to the harmony parts and you can't hear the sopranos at ALL. Anyway, the judge who did critique with us told us to do everything that we had always been told NOT to do. And the pianist was really annoying. She wasn't that last-minute, and she had time to learn the music for everything (our normal pianist had to go to a wedding or something so she couldn't make it), but she wasn't amazing. On our French piece, she was four measures behind us the entire time and it was really annoying, because there's this one part at the end where we hold a note for a long time and then go quiet for a while and then sing a little bit. During the part where all was supposed to be quiet, she was still playing, and the chorus teacher was practically yelling at her with his hands to cut off, but she kept playing and it was really embarrassing.
That night, we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner. Our music department plus chaperons was huge, so we took up the entire restaurant. During dinner, a lot of people were bursting into cheers because some seniors were getting texts from their parents saying that they got into certain colleges. What would happen was that someone would get the text, and then they would cheer, and then their table would cheer, and then the entire restaurant would burst into cheering even though we had no idea why. My table was the group I hung out with at the aquarium, and we were sitting in the far corner. I was in the corner. It was fun. Not. Well, the dinner was fun, because for the first time since kindergarten I was able to hang out with mostly normal guys as friends and not feel awkward. But anyway, we were telling jokes, like epically long jokes, and I got a text message from my mom saying I passed my black belt test. So I scream-laughed, and showed the guy across from me the text, and then once the person telling the joke was done, I told the entire table, and then the table cheered, and then the restaurant cheered, and it was amazing. I have to go now. There's not much left to tell, but still. Class.
After lunch we went to the Georgia Aquarium. Best Place Ever. I took seriously 97 pictures, but then I deleted some. The tanks were designed so that the fish could swim above you and it was really cool. I got some really cool back lit shots of manta rays and I think a whale shark. The aquarium was probably the coolest place we went to on the entire trip except for the world of coke. We also saw this 4-D movie that was really cute, but it was directed to the younger generation, I think. But before that I was in the gift shop and I got a necklace for my friend at school and a necklace for my friend who lives in Australia whose birthday was that day and a necklace for me. It was awesome. I was alone most of the time, but at the movie I hooked up with some people from my school and then afterwards I hooked up with the eight other people that I spent most of the rest of the trip with.
After the aquarium, we went to the hotel. The hotel was really nice. There were two double beds, and four of us, but it worked out alright, because two of the people in my room were willing to sleep in the same bed and another was willing to sleep on the couch (I did NOT, on ANY TERMS, attempt to force anyone out of letting me have a double bed to myself. I SWEAR!), so I got a double bed to myself. Then we hung out for a while and all took showers. That was the only shower I had on the entire trip, because there wasn't any time. After we hung out for a while, it was time for dinner, which was really good. The non-vegetarians got salmon and the vegetarians got a cool spaghetti sauce type thing over pasta. It was really good. Anyway, afterwards, since it was a dinner theater thing, there was a game show type thing. It was hilarious. There were people randomly picked from the crowd (all students until the last round), and they had to answer random questions about stuff, or heard the question and got a sound clip or heard the clip and got a question. There was a sound clip from The Lion King, and the question was, "who are the characters in this song?" and for some reason, the two freshmen who were up during that round, both of whom hang out with me, somehow didn't get it right, even though I seriously have The Lion King memorized. Seriously. Well, not memorized, but I can say the lines along with the movie. It's amazing. And awesome. And everything. Anyway, my favorite round was the last round, because the chorus teacher and the band teacher went up and they had to dance, like some people from the other rounds (the group the crowd cheered loudest for got the points, and obviously, the teachers, hilarious as they were, got the cheers for their round). I got a video of that. It was THE FUNNIEST thing EVER. Seriously. When I come back for the chorus concert when I'm in college, I'll remind the chorus teacher of that time on the Atlanta trip that he had to do the YMCA. I'm going to haunt him for the rest of his days. Not really.
Anyway, the next day we got breakfast in our rooms and then went to the World of Coke. It was amazing. I gave up soda for lent, but I made an exception when I got to the tasting part because, seriously, when ELSE am I going to get to taste coke products from Italy and Paraguay and Uganda? Really. But I'm not going to have soda again until like July. Or May. Or something. A couple of months, anyway. After the tasting portion was the gift shop. That was amazing. And I spent most of my budget on stuff there. I wanted to get this really cool messenger bag type thing, but it would have cleared out my budget, so in the end I got a sweatshirt, a tank top, a recycled bag for my mom, and one of those sprite-flavored lip gloss things. It tastes nothing like sprite, but what the heck. And I don't think it counts as soda, since it's technically lip gloss.
After the World of Coke we had lunch at the CNN place again and then went to the the hotel so the chorus people could change for competition. Treble did well, I think, except for the part that you STILL couldn't hear the sopranos. It was annoying. Really annoying. Because ever since all the parts got switched around, all the loud people moved to the harmony parts and you can't hear the sopranos at ALL. Anyway, the judge who did critique with us told us to do everything that we had always been told NOT to do. And the pianist was really annoying. She wasn't that last-minute, and she had time to learn the music for everything (our normal pianist had to go to a wedding or something so she couldn't make it), but she wasn't amazing. On our French piece, she was four measures behind us the entire time and it was really annoying, because there's this one part at the end where we hold a note for a long time and then go quiet for a while and then sing a little bit. During the part where all was supposed to be quiet, she was still playing, and the chorus teacher was practically yelling at her with his hands to cut off, but she kept playing and it was really embarrassing.
That night, we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner. Our music department plus chaperons was huge, so we took up the entire restaurant. During dinner, a lot of people were bursting into cheers because some seniors were getting texts from their parents saying that they got into certain colleges. What would happen was that someone would get the text, and then they would cheer, and then their table would cheer, and then the entire restaurant would burst into cheering even though we had no idea why. My table was the group I hung out with at the aquarium, and we were sitting in the far corner. I was in the corner. It was fun. Not. Well, the dinner was fun, because for the first time since kindergarten I was able to hang out with mostly normal guys as friends and not feel awkward. But anyway, we were telling jokes, like epically long jokes, and I got a text message from my mom saying I passed my black belt test. So I scream-laughed, and showed the guy across from me the text, and then once the person telling the joke was done, I told the entire table, and then the table cheered, and then the restaurant cheered, and it was amazing. I have to go now. There's not much left to tell, but still. Class.
Atlanta recap
Well, I'm back from Atlanta. It was hilarious. And amazing. And awesome. And MY CHOIR GOT FIRST IN THE COMPETITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So first we went down on an overnight bus on Wednesday night. We had to sleep on the bus. It was hard because the friend that was sitting next to me is an insomniac, so he was up all night and I was like, shut up and go to sleep. Over there. No, nothing awkward happened. So in the morning, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast. I didn't eat a lot because I was tired. And I was talking to some friends. When we went to the bathroom, there were signs on the front of the stall doors that said something like, "no smoking or nuclear weapons allowed," or something. I forget the last part, but there was the no smoking/nuclear weapons part. Anyway, I have to go now. I'm making a hat for the biology sub that's been here for four months while the actual teacher is on maternity leave. So hopefully I'll finish it by the time that class rolls around. It's his last day today.
So first we went down on an overnight bus on Wednesday night. We had to sleep on the bus. It was hard because the friend that was sitting next to me is an insomniac, so he was up all night and I was like, shut up and go to sleep. Over there. No, nothing awkward happened. So in the morning, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast. I didn't eat a lot because I was tired. And I was talking to some friends. When we went to the bathroom, there were signs on the front of the stall doors that said something like, "no smoking or nuclear weapons allowed," or something. I forget the last part, but there was the no smoking/nuclear weapons part. Anyway, I have to go now. I'm making a hat for the biology sub that's been here for four months while the actual teacher is on maternity leave. So hopefully I'll finish it by the time that class rolls around. It's his last day today.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
one of my last rants for a while
The title explains the entry-today is going to be one of the last rants in the blog that I will be able to do for quite a while. I have a free block right now because my Spanish teacher has a class schedule that's hard to explain. But I have a free block. And I'm NOT skipping. So tonight I'm going to Atlanta. I said that before, didn't I? Oh, well. I'm saying it again. I get really bored really easily so I'm bringing like a bazillion knitting things and a sketchbook and a regular book and a book of stitch patterns and a book I have to read for History and some knitting magazines. My backpack is really big. And the balls of yarn are really small. It works. Anyway, we get to go to the mall and the world of Coke on the first day and I forget where else before we go to the hotel. But then we go to the hotel and hang out for a while and then go to a dinner theater thing. Or maybe that's the second night. I forget. But anyway, I have no idea what show they're doing. On the second day we have to wake up at seven and get out by eight, and then go to a Martin Luther King memorial thing, I think. Then we go back to the hotel and the chorus people change into their chorus things and then we go to competition. I forget what we do after that. Maybe that's when we go to the dinner theater thing. On the third day we wake up at seven again (EEK!!!!!!!) and then go to hear the band people do their thing and then go to Six Flags. Then we go to the awards thing and then we go home. Or something to that effect. It's going to be really hard to keep to my budget. I don't want to spend my emergency cash, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be sorely tempted by the time Saturday comes around because I'll have spent most of my budget at the mall and Coke world and stuff. But then again, my emergency cash is a really large bill (I'm not saying how much) that I got for Christmas. But then again, I might have to pay for more than one person in the cab if we get lost. But whatever. I'll have to carefully mark my spending just so I can spend a reasonable amount at all the places and still have some left on Saturday. And if I don't, I'm going to be very miserable at Six Flags. Especially if Six Flags is anything like Hershey Park. I've been to Hershey Park three times with Middle School Chorus. It was rather awesome. Eighth grade was the best because I was with friends who were actually willing to go on rides and not just walk around and do nothing. And on the Eighth Grade Hershey Park trip I went on a roller coaster for the first time in years. Seriously, the last time I had gone on a roller coaster before that was at King's Dominion the summer after fourth grade and it freaked me out so much that I didn't go on a roller coaster again until Hershey Park in eighth grade. And I think it was partially the fact that I was ten when I went on the roller coaster at King's Dominion and I was fourteen when I went on the roller coaster at Hershey Park that made the difference. But what is really awesome is that my mom isn't going to be there. There's just something about the fact that your mom is not going to be at a school trip that makes it that much more fun. Especially when you're going out of town with a bunch of people close to your age. Well, close-ER to your age than your mom is, anyway. So that is why it is amazing. And I want to go. And I am PSYCHED!!! But knowing me, I'm probably going to get bored an hour into the bus ride and not be able to sleep until like midnight or something. But that's probably just me.
again
I know I have not posted in a while. And I will not post again for like a week because I will be in Atlanta with my school's music department. Then I will be too tired to blog. So I will not blog. Then I will post again, and it will be awesome. Then comes spring break, and I will not be able to post again because I am doing life guarding training and I will be way too tired to do anything. Then I will post again. And it will be amazing. Because I posted. And I will actually have the energy to post. And it will be amazing.
Last night I went swimming because I was making sure I could do the prerequisites for the life guarding. And last night I was in a good mood for the first time in forever. And tonight I will be on the bus for Atlanta. It is rather annoying because we are leaving at like nine at night. But then again, it IS a ten hour bus ride. But it will be all right.
I have this bag that I carry around everywhere and my mom really hates it because it is all old and ratty and gross. But I love it anyway because I have carried it around almost every day for almost a year and a half. But my mom hated it so much that she got two new ones that look exactly the same except not ratty and gross and not broken in and all the seams were still intact. But I still love the other one. I am taking one of the new ones to Atlanta, but I am going to use the old, ratty one again as soon as I get back. To be honest, I love the old and ratty one. Plain and simple. And it is amazing because I had that bag when I got to go on Broadway for like five minutes. None of the NEW bags were able to go on Broadway. So there.
Anyway, I have to go eat. Because I have to eat sometime.
Last night I went swimming because I was making sure I could do the prerequisites for the life guarding. And last night I was in a good mood for the first time in forever. And tonight I will be on the bus for Atlanta. It is rather annoying because we are leaving at like nine at night. But then again, it IS a ten hour bus ride. But it will be all right.
I have this bag that I carry around everywhere and my mom really hates it because it is all old and ratty and gross. But I love it anyway because I have carried it around almost every day for almost a year and a half. But my mom hated it so much that she got two new ones that look exactly the same except not ratty and gross and not broken in and all the seams were still intact. But I still love the other one. I am taking one of the new ones to Atlanta, but I am going to use the old, ratty one again as soon as I get back. To be honest, I love the old and ratty one. Plain and simple. And it is amazing because I had that bag when I got to go on Broadway for like five minutes. None of the NEW bags were able to go on Broadway. So there.
Anyway, I have to go eat. Because I have to eat sometime.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
tired writing and annoyed rants
well, you probably know what this is about. If you said race and culture, I need to be more creative.
I hate the race and culture project. officially. it's easily the hardest project ever and I'm nowhere near good at it so i don't know why I'm bothering to continue with it because it is really not that fun. or informative. or anything. and I'm so mad and annoyed in general that I'm' not using the right punctuation. grrrrrrr. except all you readers won't see that because I'll have done spell check. but i hate this computer. i hate my bedroom light. i feel so confined. seriously. like i need to get out and See the world. and not be on this stupid computer that cant even type the way i want it to. and in the next room are my mom and her cousin and my cousin and they're laughing and having a good time and here i am being mad at the world. and they all just laughed epically loudly and made me even more mad that i can't be in there with them because I'm here and they probably don't want me anyway. and all you who are reading this (here meaning nobody) are all probably saying how i have depression issues and i should go see a psychologist. well maybe i do already. and maybe i do have depression issues. maybe the swim coach that i have a crush on won't reply to my facebook chat and maybe that really ticked me off. and maybe i will act like i don't care when i do. and maybe i just don't want to live like this anymore. okay i don't want to keep any secrets. i want to be completely honest. and being completely honest means that i have to tell my mom that i didn't know what i had to do for homework and stuff like that. being honest with myself means admitting all the stuff that I'll never admit anywhere else. and what do i say to that? i say I'm going to stop blogging and go write in my diary. not that's not what I'm going to do. what I'm going to do is stop blogging and go ask if i can join their game. no what I'm going to do is stop blogging for now and go to the bathroom and then ask if i can join their game. well now I'm talking to mom and she said i should probably plan on not playing tonight. and now she's saying that i should come and play for a while. this is really confusing. and now she's leaving to go back to the game. and I'm sitting here typing and crying and being a complete idiot, like usual. because that's just me. i'm going to go now.
I hate the race and culture project. officially. it's easily the hardest project ever and I'm nowhere near good at it so i don't know why I'm bothering to continue with it because it is really not that fun. or informative. or anything. and I'm so mad and annoyed in general that I'm' not using the right punctuation. grrrrrrr. except all you readers won't see that because I'll have done spell check. but i hate this computer. i hate my bedroom light. i feel so confined. seriously. like i need to get out and See the world. and not be on this stupid computer that cant even type the way i want it to. and in the next room are my mom and her cousin and my cousin and they're laughing and having a good time and here i am being mad at the world. and they all just laughed epically loudly and made me even more mad that i can't be in there with them because I'm here and they probably don't want me anyway. and all you who are reading this (here meaning nobody) are all probably saying how i have depression issues and i should go see a psychologist. well maybe i do already. and maybe i do have depression issues. maybe the swim coach that i have a crush on won't reply to my facebook chat and maybe that really ticked me off. and maybe i will act like i don't care when i do. and maybe i just don't want to live like this anymore. okay i don't want to keep any secrets. i want to be completely honest. and being completely honest means that i have to tell my mom that i didn't know what i had to do for homework and stuff like that. being honest with myself means admitting all the stuff that I'll never admit anywhere else. and what do i say to that? i say I'm going to stop blogging and go write in my diary. not that's not what I'm going to do. what I'm going to do is stop blogging and go ask if i can join their game. no what I'm going to do is stop blogging for now and go to the bathroom and then ask if i can join their game. well now I'm talking to mom and she said i should probably plan on not playing tonight. and now she's saying that i should come and play for a while. this is really confusing. and now she's leaving to go back to the game. and I'm sitting here typing and crying and being a complete idiot, like usual. because that's just me. i'm going to go now.
lunchtime
I know, I know, I haven't posted in weeks and weeks and weeks and i've forgotten all about this. Not. Well, not for the last part anyway. I've been really busy. I auditioned for a one-act at my school. I took my black belt test. It was the hardest physical test I have ever took and will ever take and I don't want to do it again until I have more endurance. Seriously. I had a chorus concert. It went well, I think. We were first. And I nearly tripped and died because I was on the top row and our dresses are really long and I was wearing heels and I failed. But otherwise it was okay. Today I have robin hood rehearsal. Tomorrow is Districts for chorus. On sunday my cousins came over. They're leaving on Saturday. Yesterday we celebrated one of the cousin's birthdays. It was awesome. Even though it was Wednesday, it was awesome. And I finally finished a glove for Robin Hood. And I have all of two minutes to finish this post and get to chorus. Hopefully the teacher has the CD from the concert so we can hear it. I really want to hear why my dad was so obsessed about our first song. Anyway... My favorite song was our second one, partially because it was the only one we actually had memorized, and partially because it was just an awesome song. I have to go. I REALLY hope he has the CD. I mean REALLY. I actually have to go now.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
English stuff
Okay, I know, more freaking English. But this is important and I never thought that there would be an actual law about this, but I don't care, because the million dollar question could be when the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 went into effect, and I could say that it was April first, 1930. Anyway, that's not the important part. The important part is that there is actually a LAW. And if a guy, underage or not, marries an underage girl, the penalty is three months in solitary confinement and a fine. If the person who is in charge of the minor arranged the marriage, then they could be arrested as well. But the weird thing is that, and I quote, "Provided that no woman shall be punishable with imprisonment." WOAH!
English conclusion
So, from what I've researched, there are no real problems with Indian Americans getting married from love, just so long as the other person is of Indian descent. So now I'm finding quotes and stuff about love and marriage. I need 3 "artistic representations". I already have the book. I'm going to also do quotes about love and marriage from Indians and from Americans and from Indian Americans and also some poems about lord knows what. But there is an awesome poet that I can't remember the name of and his name is really hard to spell, but he's really good and he's Indian American so I'm going to use some of his poems, along with poems by Vikram Seth, who's also Indian American. So yeah.
Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.~Rabindranath Tagore (the poet with the really hard name)
As far as I know, if you take your time, write a good script and make a good film, then give the audience time, they will accept it. ~Anjay Devgan (Indian Actor) it relates to arranged marriage because that's the same sort of attitude that the parents have about the marriage.
My family is my strength and my weakness. ~Aishwarya Rai (indian actress)
Okay, my real problem is initiative. So when I get home, since I'm going to tae kwon do an hour later than usual, I'm just going to go in and do an epic powerpointing session, and it will all work. Somehow.
Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.~Rabindranath Tagore (the poet with the really hard name)
As far as I know, if you take your time, write a good script and make a good film, then give the audience time, they will accept it. ~Anjay Devgan (Indian Actor) it relates to arranged marriage because that's the same sort of attitude that the parents have about the marriage.
My family is my strength and my weakness. ~Aishwarya Rai (indian actress)
Okay, my real problem is initiative. So when I get home, since I'm going to tae kwon do an hour later than usual, I'm just going to go in and do an epic powerpointing session, and it will all work. Somehow.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
English, again
Well, this seems to be my official English-class-note-taking place. Honestly, I will be SO glad when this is all over. Really. With the black belt test on Saturday and Mom freaking out more than me about this and giving me a really hard time about it and school and the fact that I have low C's in three classes and whatnot, I'm out of it. To the extreme.
But on the upside, my parents aren't here. But I still have to do homework for the duration of their not being here. :(. They're going to my brother's basketball game/buying stuff for dinner. And I'm here. I would love this time if I didn't have this project and a mom that would hunt me down and kill me if I didn't do my work, because she KNOWS whether I've done the work or not. I'm serious. She always knows. It's really annoying.
Well, today I'm going to continue the note taking from yesterday. Wait, no, scratch that. I'm going to do the plot summary for the book I read. THEN I'm going to do the note taking. I'm going to purposely draw this out so I don't have to note-take. Anyway...
So For Matrimonial Purposes is about this girl called Anju. She was born and raised in India, and the entire book is about her trying to find a good dude to get married to. The story starts out when she's 33, and she's at some relative's wedding (I think it's her cousin), and there's this guy who looks interested in her. Her mom is all psyched about this because most girls are married by the time they're 25, usually younger, so the fact that Anju is 33 and attracting someone is the best thing ever to her mom, because most of the okay guys are already taken. So her mom arranges to meet the guy and his family, so they do, because that's what they do in India. Well, they meet and the guy seems like a total jerk, even though his prospects are great and Anju's mom is happy and very pleased that Anju might FINALLY get married. But Anju does have some say in it and she puts in that she really, really, really, really, REALLY doesn't like him, and she doesn't want to move to Africa with him, either, to which her mom is all like, "oh, but you went to America, why not Africa?" And Anju's like, "HELLO!!! Africa is like eighty bazillion times less developed than America!!!" So anyway, her mom and dad insist that Anju take another week or two off work in America to look for a husband in India. Anju's mom looks everywhere, including the classifieds. They have dating classifieds in India that seem really similar to those in the US, except it's more like, okay, here's my info, here's a picture, call me, and if they get the picture of the candidate and don't like them, then there's no second call. Kind of like in the US. Except without the multiple dates between meeting and marriage proposal. Anyway, Anju gets a picture of a guy who seems all right, and her mom calls, but there's no second call. So that's the end of part one. Part two starts when Anju is in her early or mid twenties, and she tells you all about how all her friends have gotten married and she was the outsider and everything and her mom was really desperate to get Anju married because of Anju's brothers, who were in the prime years of marriage (they were like 21 and 23 or some way early twenties like that), and the can't get engaged until Anju is firmly set to get married. So Anju's mom sees everybody from seers to swamis to everyone. One astrologer says that Anju's luck and star chart would have it that the planets were aligned in a way that would only allow her marriage after the age of 26, which is the equivalent to mid-forties in terms of marriage in India. So eventually Anju gets fed up and asks if she can go to New York and get a second degree at NYU, and after much complaining and denial and whatever else, her parents let her go. There she meets a girl kind of like herself, but the difference is that the friend has a white boyfriend (scandalous for India), and the friendship eventually wanes. Then Anju meets an okay white guy named Jeff, who she likes, but he turned out to be an idiot, ad then he ditched her. Then Anju finishes getting her degree and gets an apartment of her own (she'd been staying with her aunt and uncle), and then she gets a job in fashion advertising and does rather well. After a while, she gets to go all over as a representative from her company agency thing, and her first job with that is in Paris. She manages the Paris show really well, and soon she's going all over the world and having a load of adventures, and freaking out her parents with all this traveling because they think that the outer world is dangerous. So around that time, Part Two ends and Part Three begins. Part one was a lot of setting up Anju's situation, Part Two was Anju figuring out who the heck Anju actually was, and Part Three is Anju finally finding the right guy. And yes, she does, eventually, find the right guy. Part Three zooms forward in time, back to when Anju is 33 and *still* single. She meets an okay guy when she flies over to India *again* for some family or friend's wedding. He lives in London, but after a couple meetings, her dad asks his friend in London to investigate his background, and he learns that the guy has a girlfriend and is living with her and is expecting to pop the question any day now. With the help of an astrologer and her friend in the US, Anju convinces her parents to let her go back to the US. The friend looked up some decent Indian guys in the US, and Anju paid the astrologer to say that Anju wouldn't be able to find the right guy in India, she had to go off into the world to find him and she had to find him on her own. So they let her go. Later on, Anju goes on some Indian dating/marriage websites and finds some decent guys. One guy seems all right, and they email each other and arrange for him to call her. He calls, and they talk, and they seem to be getting on okay until Anju says that she's living ALONE in New York, not with her parents, as he is doing in Texas. After that, he doesn't call back. Then Rohan comes into the picture. Rohan is a friend of a friend, lives in LA, and an hour away from his parents who call him a gazillion times a day, and he overall seems like a nice guy. Anju flies out to LA, partially to meet him and partially because her boss was thinking of opening another branch of their company agency thing in LA. So Anju flies out and meets Rohan, who is extremely awesome. When she flies back to New York, she thinks that she might actually have found the right guy. Rohan doesn't really want their parents to be controlling the relationship, so he asks that she tell her parents as little as possible. So she says that there is a guy, but that's it. So Anju's boss decides that yes, indeed, she WILL open that second branch in LA, and Anju is qualified enough to go lead the operation. So Anju goes, allowing for plenty of evenings to go out with Rohan. Eventually Anju has to go back to India for some other wedding or something. Rohan calls a lot, and all Anju has ever told her parents is that there was a guy and yes, he was Indian. Well, a couple nights into her stay in India, Rohan calls and they talk and then he proposes. Over the phone. She says yes, her parents are happy, her brother gets married two weeks later, she gets married two weeks after that, and all is well. The end.
Well, I succeeded in what I set out to do. I am aware that I included every detail that I could remember about the book, even though we were only supposed to do a plot overview. So the overview is that Anju is an Indian girl living in America and trying to find a decent guy, whether in India or America (but most defiantly Indian), to get married to. She tries and fails many times. But she eventually finds an okay guy. The climax is the Paris fashion show. Or when Raju (the dude who lives in London) is found to already have a girlfriend. I'm not sure which. But probably Raju.
Funny how that works. I spend 45 minutes typing up a summary and then summarize the summary in 2 minutes. Wow. But I did what I set out to do, and now I'm pretty sure this is one of the longest entries that I've ever written. I like writing. But I am not going to post any of my stories because all my stories are really bad and are completely irrelevant to the topic that this blog has come to represent. But I don't care. I'm still not going to post any stories, though. Just because. And also because last year's English teacher still has my journal. Last year's English teacher is really nice. This year's isn't.
Anyway...................
What I have concluded about the topic I am researching is that the main issue that Indians living in America have with love marriages is letting their parents down and not living up to what they seem to need to live up to. That's what I see in this. Well, I'm going to go now. An extra 20 minutes of freedom! Whoop!!
But on the upside, my parents aren't here. But I still have to do homework for the duration of their not being here. :(. They're going to my brother's basketball game/buying stuff for dinner. And I'm here. I would love this time if I didn't have this project and a mom that would hunt me down and kill me if I didn't do my work, because she KNOWS whether I've done the work or not. I'm serious. She always knows. It's really annoying.
Well, today I'm going to continue the note taking from yesterday. Wait, no, scratch that. I'm going to do the plot summary for the book I read. THEN I'm going to do the note taking. I'm going to purposely draw this out so I don't have to note-take. Anyway...
So For Matrimonial Purposes is about this girl called Anju. She was born and raised in India, and the entire book is about her trying to find a good dude to get married to. The story starts out when she's 33, and she's at some relative's wedding (I think it's her cousin), and there's this guy who looks interested in her. Her mom is all psyched about this because most girls are married by the time they're 25, usually younger, so the fact that Anju is 33 and attracting someone is the best thing ever to her mom, because most of the okay guys are already taken. So her mom arranges to meet the guy and his family, so they do, because that's what they do in India. Well, they meet and the guy seems like a total jerk, even though his prospects are great and Anju's mom is happy and very pleased that Anju might FINALLY get married. But Anju does have some say in it and she puts in that she really, really, really, really, REALLY doesn't like him, and she doesn't want to move to Africa with him, either, to which her mom is all like, "oh, but you went to America, why not Africa?" And Anju's like, "HELLO!!! Africa is like eighty bazillion times less developed than America!!!" So anyway, her mom and dad insist that Anju take another week or two off work in America to look for a husband in India. Anju's mom looks everywhere, including the classifieds. They have dating classifieds in India that seem really similar to those in the US, except it's more like, okay, here's my info, here's a picture, call me, and if they get the picture of the candidate and don't like them, then there's no second call. Kind of like in the US. Except without the multiple dates between meeting and marriage proposal. Anyway, Anju gets a picture of a guy who seems all right, and her mom calls, but there's no second call. So that's the end of part one. Part two starts when Anju is in her early or mid twenties, and she tells you all about how all her friends have gotten married and she was the outsider and everything and her mom was really desperate to get Anju married because of Anju's brothers, who were in the prime years of marriage (they were like 21 and 23 or some way early twenties like that), and the can't get engaged until Anju is firmly set to get married. So Anju's mom sees everybody from seers to swamis to everyone. One astrologer says that Anju's luck and star chart would have it that the planets were aligned in a way that would only allow her marriage after the age of 26, which is the equivalent to mid-forties in terms of marriage in India. So eventually Anju gets fed up and asks if she can go to New York and get a second degree at NYU, and after much complaining and denial and whatever else, her parents let her go. There she meets a girl kind of like herself, but the difference is that the friend has a white boyfriend (scandalous for India), and the friendship eventually wanes. Then Anju meets an okay white guy named Jeff, who she likes, but he turned out to be an idiot, ad then he ditched her. Then Anju finishes getting her degree and gets an apartment of her own (she'd been staying with her aunt and uncle), and then she gets a job in fashion advertising and does rather well. After a while, she gets to go all over as a representative from her company agency thing, and her first job with that is in Paris. She manages the Paris show really well, and soon she's going all over the world and having a load of adventures, and freaking out her parents with all this traveling because they think that the outer world is dangerous. So around that time, Part Two ends and Part Three begins. Part one was a lot of setting up Anju's situation, Part Two was Anju figuring out who the heck Anju actually was, and Part Three is Anju finally finding the right guy. And yes, she does, eventually, find the right guy. Part Three zooms forward in time, back to when Anju is 33 and *still* single. She meets an okay guy when she flies over to India *again* for some family or friend's wedding. He lives in London, but after a couple meetings, her dad asks his friend in London to investigate his background, and he learns that the guy has a girlfriend and is living with her and is expecting to pop the question any day now. With the help of an astrologer and her friend in the US, Anju convinces her parents to let her go back to the US. The friend looked up some decent Indian guys in the US, and Anju paid the astrologer to say that Anju wouldn't be able to find the right guy in India, she had to go off into the world to find him and she had to find him on her own. So they let her go. Later on, Anju goes on some Indian dating/marriage websites and finds some decent guys. One guy seems all right, and they email each other and arrange for him to call her. He calls, and they talk, and they seem to be getting on okay until Anju says that she's living ALONE in New York, not with her parents, as he is doing in Texas. After that, he doesn't call back. Then Rohan comes into the picture. Rohan is a friend of a friend, lives in LA, and an hour away from his parents who call him a gazillion times a day, and he overall seems like a nice guy. Anju flies out to LA, partially to meet him and partially because her boss was thinking of opening another branch of their company agency thing in LA. So Anju flies out and meets Rohan, who is extremely awesome. When she flies back to New York, she thinks that she might actually have found the right guy. Rohan doesn't really want their parents to be controlling the relationship, so he asks that she tell her parents as little as possible. So she says that there is a guy, but that's it. So Anju's boss decides that yes, indeed, she WILL open that second branch in LA, and Anju is qualified enough to go lead the operation. So Anju goes, allowing for plenty of evenings to go out with Rohan. Eventually Anju has to go back to India for some other wedding or something. Rohan calls a lot, and all Anju has ever told her parents is that there was a guy and yes, he was Indian. Well, a couple nights into her stay in India, Rohan calls and they talk and then he proposes. Over the phone. She says yes, her parents are happy, her brother gets married two weeks later, she gets married two weeks after that, and all is well. The end.
Well, I succeeded in what I set out to do. I am aware that I included every detail that I could remember about the book, even though we were only supposed to do a plot overview. So the overview is that Anju is an Indian girl living in America and trying to find a decent guy, whether in India or America (but most defiantly Indian), to get married to. She tries and fails many times. But she eventually finds an okay guy. The climax is the Paris fashion show. Or when Raju (the dude who lives in London) is found to already have a girlfriend. I'm not sure which. But probably Raju.
Funny how that works. I spend 45 minutes typing up a summary and then summarize the summary in 2 minutes. Wow. But I did what I set out to do, and now I'm pretty sure this is one of the longest entries that I've ever written. I like writing. But I am not going to post any of my stories because all my stories are really bad and are completely irrelevant to the topic that this blog has come to represent. But I don't care. I'm still not going to post any stories, though. Just because. And also because last year's English teacher still has my journal. Last year's English teacher is really nice. This year's isn't.
Anyway...................
What I have concluded about the topic I am researching is that the main issue that Indians living in America have with love marriages is letting their parents down and not living up to what they seem to need to live up to. That's what I see in this. Well, I'm going to go now. An extra 20 minutes of freedom! Whoop!!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
agjaleij ;waoejrwa;oi j
Serously, I give up. I can't do it anymore. I'm not going to the black belt test. I can't break three boards like I have to for one technique. I can't even break one. I can't even come close to breaking one. And my dad was absolutely no help. I can't do anything. I know my life shouldn't revolve around my capability to break boards, but I honestly thought that I was stronger than this. Seriously. I mean, I could always break boards before. Why stop now? Now I'm a lame teenager who has no muscle to speak of and everything to complain about and can't see the worth in life because I'm too blinded by the sullen acceptance of my own lameness. Black belts aren't lame. Black belts are on top. And since I'm nearer to the bottom rung, I shouldn't go to the test.
I think the difference is I haven't been building up the shoulder muscles that I need to do the breaks and that's why I can't do it. Not only that, I haven't been practicing. And now I'm not going to the test. It's my desicion, not the instructor's, not dad's, not mom's, not Lydia's, mine. And I choose not. I can't learn to break three boards in a week. I can't do anything well. Knitting is easy and anyone can learn. Singing also. And I could never really act. I only got lead roles over the summer because all the other people were like ten. I know most of the forms, but so what? I know most of the one steps, but who cares? Board breaking is probably the most useful thing that could come out of tae kwon do, and if I can't do that, it's not worth going to the test. Really.
I feel really lame saying this, but it's true. I mean really. When am I ever going to need any of the skills I know now except for typing? I should probably just go and get a job at McDonald's and then fail at life because I was never worth anything. I don't WANT to work at McDonald's, but I'm the lame one in the family, so it's okay. While everyone else is out having a career and a life, I'll be stuck behind serving people meat ground into chemicals to make it taste right.
I know that people who read this (here meaning nobody) would be like, oh, no, you have potential, go out and amaze the world, or something, when I get all depressed like this, but then they wouldn't come up with anything when I ask how I'm supposed to amaze the world. Well, how? Knitting sixty stitches a minute? I can't do that. I can't do anything. And all of you know it.
I think the difference is I haven't been building up the shoulder muscles that I need to do the breaks and that's why I can't do it. Not only that, I haven't been practicing. And now I'm not going to the test. It's my desicion, not the instructor's, not dad's, not mom's, not Lydia's, mine. And I choose not. I can't learn to break three boards in a week. I can't do anything well. Knitting is easy and anyone can learn. Singing also. And I could never really act. I only got lead roles over the summer because all the other people were like ten. I know most of the forms, but so what? I know most of the one steps, but who cares? Board breaking is probably the most useful thing that could come out of tae kwon do, and if I can't do that, it's not worth going to the test. Really.
I feel really lame saying this, but it's true. I mean really. When am I ever going to need any of the skills I know now except for typing? I should probably just go and get a job at McDonald's and then fail at life because I was never worth anything. I don't WANT to work at McDonald's, but I'm the lame one in the family, so it's okay. While everyone else is out having a career and a life, I'll be stuck behind serving people meat ground into chemicals to make it taste right.
I know that people who read this (here meaning nobody) would be like, oh, no, you have potential, go out and amaze the world, or something, when I get all depressed like this, but then they wouldn't come up with anything when I ask how I'm supposed to amaze the world. Well, how? Knitting sixty stitches a minute? I can't do that. I can't do anything. And all of you know it.
English notes part 2
Just so I don't forget later, here's the link for this note session:
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:RwVihkdEIm4J:listserver.njit.edu/pipermail/ais/2002q1/000064.html+arranged+marriage+for+%22indian+americans%22+in+america&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
Traditionally in an Indian marriage, the woman moves in with the man for a joint family situation, and many Indian American females don't want to. Many parents forsee this and pressure their son into an arranged marriage. The author of the link I'm researching said that his friend from home got married to an Indian girl and explained that his mom introduced them and they started writing and then got married a while later. Apparently, the story behind these trends are all based on Hindu concepts of love and marriage, because apparently Lord Krishna loved Radha but married Rukmini, because he believed that love was different from marriage because in marriage it wasn't just the two individuals getting married but also the two families joining. Then the author of the link I'm researching says, and I quote, "This concept does not justify Indian male behavior in America." ??????. A law student who had been in the US for quite a while noticed that the Indian guys were dating Indian girls in the US but going back to India to get married to a different girl. So they fulfilled all their hopes and dreams about girls in the US and then went home and found a nice, docile wife. Well that's pleasant. Many Indian-American guys thought that their female counterparts were too independent and liberated and not interested enough in culture. They just aren't used to the attitude of the girls and want a person closer in personality to their moms.
Well, I am most certainly not done with research, so I'm going undercover and researching this week during my free block. Right now, however, I need to have some time to myself where research and mothers aren't involved. Later.
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:RwVihkdEIm4J:listserver.njit.edu/pipermail/ais/2002q1/000064.html+arranged+marriage+for+%22indian+americans%22+in+america&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
Traditionally in an Indian marriage, the woman moves in with the man for a joint family situation, and many Indian American females don't want to. Many parents forsee this and pressure their son into an arranged marriage. The author of the link I'm researching said that his friend from home got married to an Indian girl and explained that his mom introduced them and they started writing and then got married a while later. Apparently, the story behind these trends are all based on Hindu concepts of love and marriage, because apparently Lord Krishna loved Radha but married Rukmini, because he believed that love was different from marriage because in marriage it wasn't just the two individuals getting married but also the two families joining. Then the author of the link I'm researching says, and I quote, "This concept does not justify Indian male behavior in America." ??????. A law student who had been in the US for quite a while noticed that the Indian guys were dating Indian girls in the US but going back to India to get married to a different girl. So they fulfilled all their hopes and dreams about girls in the US and then went home and found a nice, docile wife. Well that's pleasant. Many Indian-American guys thought that their female counterparts were too independent and liberated and not interested enough in culture. They just aren't used to the attitude of the girls and want a person closer in personality to their moms.
Well, I am most certainly not done with research, so I'm going undercover and researching this week during my free block. Right now, however, I need to have some time to myself where research and mothers aren't involved. Later.
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