Update Blog post. (May 2012)

Okay, I just thought that I could let you guys in-on a little bit of the Fun and Action that make up my life, this summer.
 ((Lol.))

During the beginning of May,  from the 5^th to the 11^th my family and I visited-Thailand (Pattaya and Bangkok). This was my first international trip and I had no clue what to expect- Which was basically the opposite of what my sister was, since she  sort of memorized the country inside out, with the help of the internet, and even printed out little booklets containing information -which I am yet to go through completely.
 We went with a tour group, which is fine, really- but I think that the point of travelling to another place with another culture, ought to be  about staying among the locals and the people who’ve actually lived there most of their lives. Going with a tour group is the safest bet-and definitely the most luxurious way to see a place. By this experience I’ve learnt that I’d rather travel in a non-touristy fashion from here on. In our tour group we got to go to shows and tourist places. But, there’s just got to be more to a place than what the people there want to show the tourists, is what I mean.
It’s a lovely place, and maybe I’d like to visit there again somebody, and explore fully-which might require months. I’m just sayin’.

Need I say any more? 

The next Highlight that pops-up, on returning to India-has to be the movie my sister and I watched.
“The Avengers (3D)”
OH MY GOSH, SO MANY SUPERHEROES AND SUPER-AWESOMENESS, ALL IN ONE MOVIE.
Unfortunately I’m not a Marvel Comic reader-but I don’t think you have to be in order to really enjoy the AWESOMENESS that makes up this movie. It comes as an added advantage, if you’ve seen any of the Iron Man movies, or The Hulk movies, or Captain America or Thor etc. because you feel like you already know the characters a little bit. If of course, you have a friend who knows these characters like he/she knows real-life people and if of course, you’re going to the movie with aforementioned friend,  that helps too.

 My favorite character? Besides “the Hulk” and “Iron Man” –it’s definitely “Loki”( the villain guy). 

Loki says : "Tee hee, don't you wish you knew what I wuz thinking" 

    

The last Highlight that I will be sharing with you today is a popular Korean Drama that my  sister made me watch, because a) I had nothing else to do and b) she likes to stuff Korean entertainment  down my throat (well, not literally).
But, I’ve come to find Korean Dramas and Music quite impressive and entertaining. So, thanks to my sister, I am going to tell you guys about “ SungKyunKwan’sScandal”. 

                       
There are about 20 “episodes” of 1 hour each, and I’m only in the 11^th episode- but, so far I’m really loving it. The story is set in Korea, in the olden days (a 'period' drama) – which is why I was a little reluctant to watch it in the beginning, because I thought it would be boring/ hard to follow, but, it turns out I was wrong- people then and people now are not so different after all. “Sung Kyun Kwan” refers to the institute where future officials are trained. It is extremely prestigious, and only smart scholars with an aptitude for academia get in. During that time period- none of these scholars and officials were women- and the only women who work are the vendors and the prostitutes. The heroine ‘Kim Yoon Hee’ belongs to a poor family, heavily burdened with debt, an aging mother and a sick brother and so- disguises as a man, and works in a place that sells “guide books”(and sometimes “Cheat-sheets”) to the scholars of SungKyunKwan. Her mother strongly opposes her ways of income telling her that she ought to behave as a “woman” – and even agrees to sell her to the person they borrowed money from, to be his concubine (all wives other than the first, legal one are referred to as concubines). The Heroine, unable to come to terms with her dimming future, decides to go the Wrong way, and help scholars cheat in order to get into SungKyunKwan- by which she gets paid hefty amounts. At this point she meets a Righteous Scholar- Lee Sun Jeon, who notices her literary talents, and helps her get into SungKyunKwan- unaware that she is a woman. And so, the plotline continues… The other two main characters includes a couple of seniors, one of whom suspects that she is woman, from the very beginning. Also one of the most famous ‘Gisaengs’ (prostitutes)-the object of affection of the villain (another senior at SungKyunKwan)- falls for the Heroine (dressed up as a man.)

Dear goodness, this is cool story and there are elements that need to be watched, in order to understand the coolness of it. This isn’t my first Korean Drama, and my all time favourites- include “You’re Beautiful” , “Boys over Flowers” and “Dream High”.

I feel like all of these things I’ve talked about above needs special blog posts of their own, but right now I needed to put them all in here together in this random bit of Update type-post.
And in other news, I received a padded package in the mail- and it had Lola Jaye's new book "Being Lara" in it. Book Review once I get the chance to read it :).

So what to blog about next? Aah it’s a world of possibilities. *rubs palms together in anticipation* :D

Love

-jeff    

Things I've learnt at the end of the 1st year in College :

1. With every project/ assignment/ test- it's better to be prepared early. No matter how thrilling it is to do , last minute. 
2. Friends matter. People matter. If ever you get vulnerable-these people you have around you can make or break you. So treat yourself with respect and pick out people who actually care about you.
   
3. I have some pretty amazing friends.
   
4. If something or some form of activity looks interesting-Go for it, try it out. Chances are v.high that you'll regret it later if you don't.
    
5. At the same time, you have to remember that you can't do EVERYTHING. Prioritize and don't be discouraged.
   
6. Also, this is the time for experimenting, you never know how much you like truly like doing something until you try. Follow your heart!
   
7. The quality of your notes is directly proportional to how much attention you're paying in class, and how fast you can write.
   
8. It is not okay to scribble all over the class room boards, just because they have all kinds of coloured chalk, in between classes. At least when the teacher is nearby.
   
9. To keep the Faith. And to Pray.
   
10. To Love.
    
    It's been a pretty packed year, and we've all done a lot of learning. We've also become people we weren't at the beginning of it. 

HOW WEIRD IS THAT. AND COOL TOO. 

 MORE COOL THAN WEIRD.

So here's to more such amazing, Blessed years for EVERYBODY :D yay! 

love

 -jeff 

Boys.

Hey,
 *big wave* 

Let's go back to when I was a young teenager.
 Let's just say I had all the wrong ideas and I wasn't exactly comfortable in my own skin.

 And let's just say it took me so long to figure out that...I was being very very numb-skulled about this particular issue. I'm not saying I've got them all figured out now- I'm no professional psychologist. But - I've come to realize that I was over-complicating things...and that they really are as simple as they seem. And also that girls are every bit as weird as boys , if not weirder : D.  
I used to try to be someone else. Either that,or I just FROZE in the company of boys (grown-up ones.)
And that just plain sucked. 

I used to think that you don't really need to understand them. Or get to know them.
 But that's just not Possible, in REALITY.
Where we all live in.( on the outside, anyway.)

In my Reality, back then, Boys-and Males in general- roamed the streets, lurked in coffee shops, workplaces, bus stops, other schools and colleges. They stared, up-and-down with stone cold gazes-gazes that had to be avoided at all costs.

Haha! : D

But worse than these unknown misters, were the boys that I supposedly knew as a younger person-and was forced to converse with. (yea, my mind used to be a scary scary place.)  When I was forced to say stuff to guys with whom I was practically best friends with when I was 5 or whenever, but then at the age of 13, 14 or 15-I literally just said nothing.
 And , OH MY GOSH, those horrible moments when one of them, came up to flirt.
It's not like I haven't seen other girls flirt (and back then, I was in absolute awe of their confidence)-But flirting is something that doesn't come naturally to me and I don't think it ever will.
And that's okay.
 At this point, I know it seems like I must've absolutely and completely detested guys. But that's not true either-Like every other teenage girl-I developed crushes and infatuations (that were based on absolute fluff) . Inevitably, they all came crashing down, and truth be told, I'm kind of glad now-that they did crash down, back then.
 Anyway, thank God I came to my senses. I was being sexist- and judging people based on their sex, even before I got to know them properly.

"Tangled" is an amazing movie. It's extremely fun to watch, and somehow conveys an awesome story line.
This video illustrates what I'm talking about :

P.S. Oh, and, to all you girls out there like me : It's OK. Chill. All boys are not CREEPY MONSTERS-and you will learn this Fact Of Life soon enough. Hopefully, by experience. In the meantime - don't force yourself to be more like others and don't be so hard on yourself.
 It'll work out. 

Love 

    -Jeff

Lola Jaye Poetry writing contest :D

      She Likes No Fuss. (By Jeffy S.)

She likes no muss, no fuss,

And she doesn’t like it when things are fake

she doesn’t care if it’s a blue bus or a red bus,

As long as it has four wheels and runs.

She likes no muss or fuss,

And she doesn’t care if her socks match

Being herself is what she’s all about

And who doesn’t like a little bit of mismatch?

She doesn’t like it when people fuss

over how many calories-cupcakes have,

In fact, I’ve seen how she likes digging into the crusts

Of crispy potato snacks.

Hey there,  

           So a few days back there was this Poetry writing competition held on Ms. Lola Jaye's Blog. She's just released a new book titled "Being Lara", and to celebrate- she decided to have this competition where her readers wrote a poem and posted it as a comment on her blog.
         

This is she-Lola Jaye   :D

 The rules were pretty simple - have fun, nothing x-rated or involving politics and it had to include the following words:   

•   Potatoes
•   Socks
•   Red Bus 
•   Cupcakes 

It sounded so silly and random and so, I thought "Why not??" So the poem above is what resulted :D
 And  GUESS WHAT?  I WON :D :D.  I was sent the following e-mail : 

        Dear Poet!  

Thanks for entering my competition to win a copy of Being Lara... Just a quick note to say... YOU HAVE WON!!!!

Being Lara is not available in the UK yet but is in US bookstores and online.

 Please send me your address and Harper Collins will post you a copy!!

 Thanks again!

Lola J

www.lolajaye.com 

I believe my reaction went something like this  : o___O ---> =0 ---> :D:D:D!!! 

well, I'm hoping you got the picture. 

The reason I landed up on Ms. Lola Jaye's website, was because of one of her books that I recently  read . It's called By The Time You Read This.

One of my friends actually read this first and then recommended it to me. ( THANKS DD :D)
   
            The story is about a girl, who receives a "manual" written by her father ( who had passed away when she was a toddler of about 5).  The manual, is like a collection of letters from her dad that she had to read on (and strictly not BEFORE) each of her birthdays-until she turned 30 (which was her dad's age when he passed on). 

          “Bad things always happened. People left, went away, and never came back.” 

                  ― Lola Jaye , By the time you read this.

            In addition to these, there were also random bits of advice, like " Boys " and "First Job"- and other topics which he wouldn't be able to discuss with her, as she grew up.   

        “Remember this, - where there is life there is hope. You're alive. Embrace this, because YOU CAN DO ANYTHING while there is breath in your body.” 

                 ― Lola Jaye, By the time you read this.

 The book was an easy read, and you could understand exactly what the heroine was feeling all the time. Her insights into life are pretty amazing as well :D. Definitely read it, if this is your kind of thing : ). 

Thank You, God.
And thank you-if you've read up to this point :D 

love 

  -jeff 

Angular Brackets #1

                               Okay, it's been a while, yeah? And I really want to post something.
                                                                 IREALLYREALLYDO.

                                                  And there's always something to be said.
                                                                       But

                just, not right now. 

 SO INSTEAD, I'm going to Post something that one of my friends and I drew, during this free English period when the teacher had to do something else.

                                                                       ENJOY! :D

 Heh, heh.

Yeah. 

Thanks for your time :D

Love 

   -Jeff 

Which is better? CO-ED or Single sex environments?

 Single-sex or Co-ed institutions? Which is better and why?
   Our reporter (me.) went around asking students of the Girls' University she goes to which they preferred and also, if they had the choice, would they switch over to a co-ed environment?
The opinions received went something like this: Some girls who've already grown up in a girls' school (such as myself) admitted that they don't really feel a difference and so don't really care about switching over to a co-ed or not.

Some girls : Why are you even asking me this?

Whereas girls who've grown up in co-ed schools (a vast majority) and also some from single-sex schools, are very clear about their opinion of this girls' environment we have here at College i.e. they hate it. They'd switch over to a co-ed environment (if they could) in the blink of an eye.

Other Girls: What?! Only girls? WHAT KIND OF A PLACE IS THIS?!!!!

  So, which is better? When we look at it- it is plain to see that the outputs of same-sex environment-institutions are "shier" than their counter-parts from co-ed institutions (Obviously this is a very general assumption-as there are a LARGE number of exceptions to this rule). Also, in the natural world, there are no "same sex" environments i.e. we are all meant to be in co-ed environments all the time.

Co-ed or single-sex? What would you pick?

  But, besides this, some girls said that going to co-ed schools (especially co-ed High Schools) made them highly uncomfortable and they actually like it better at College.
  And so, although, I myself have only been to girls' institutions and know that , that kind of an environment if great for us in a lot of ways - as seen in this awesome article- I'd have to conclude by disagreeing, however  (from all the personal experiences that I've heard about) that Co-ed environments are better.
Why?
Simply because. it is more fun. 


-P.S. But this doesn't mean that you have to feel bad if you have to go to a girls' (or boys') college - because everything happens for a reason and there are plenty of cool things that happen here, as well :D. Good Day!

love
   -jeff

Love?

Why do people get to feel happy, if it’s all going to go away one day and be replaced with a horrible empty sadness?

Why do people meet other people who totally know them, will stick with them and Love them- ONLY to lose them at some point?

why do we love if it can never last? 

Why do we even bother with love?
Why do we even bother with making friends?

 I know it makes the journey worthwhile, and I know it’s foolish to think that we can make it on our own, all alone.
Because we can’t do that, we need other people. No matter how independent a person we are.
[We know this to be true because : as kids, I'm sure, we all either had to go without any real, faithful friends for a while- or at least had this period of separation from them-that made us feel bad. Just plain bad.]
But, no matter how many people we do end up having in our lives…it doesn’t matter if we don’t even Love ourselves. 
and even if we don't learn this ourselves, God has a Way of putting people in our lives to teach us these things, and hopefully lead us out of our own misery. But it's up to us to accept it.
Because the most helpful ‘other people’ can be, is to show us the way, and to let us know that they are there.
It’s up to our own self to pick ourselves and go that way. It’s up to us to let them be there for us. 

Life is weird.

But, there’s always something that keeps me hanging on.
Hope creeps up ever so often, and things sometimes make sense.
Most times,  it's confusing, very confusing.

Sometimes, though, I think it's enough to know that you're not the only one out there, feeling this way. (this is where you click the play button to the following video :) ) 

(all video credits go to Paramore.)
OH, and Thank You Christina Roshini Samuel- for reading the previous version of this post, giving your awesome constructive criticism and for showing me the important thing that was missing in it. : D
love
 -jeff

Why people write

11/2/2012,
    Why do people write?

 In my opinion, people write when we get get bored and to keep ourselves from going insane.
Why this extremity in my thinking, you ask? It's because I'm waiting here, alone, wanting to do other things, wanting to be in other places and wanting to see other events. I'm sitting alone, with no appealing sources of entertainment, but myself, and so- before I (as I usually do) start over thinking and confusing myself, or, not thinking at all and boring myself flat.-I pull out this notebook to write.
 To keep myself from going straight down insanity lane .
And that is why I think that writers write-to keep themselves from going insane.
Just sayin'.
--
(I'm exaggerating of course.
I can't possibly know why everyone who writes, write. People usually do it because they have stories to tell-and writing is a means by which they can share these stories to other people.
And besides, I know a lot of perfectly "non-insane" people who don't write all that much.)

Things you never thought you'd do someday.

Hey there,
       There are probably millions of THINGS you could do.
Mostly, in our minds we decide, we plan and we wait for the perfect moment to announce itself; and sometimes we actually do the things we want to do. And along the way, we end up doing a LOT OF NEW THINGS, that we never thought we'd be doing someday.
We may end up :
1.dyeing our hair a different colour
2.breaking a world record
3.holding a silk worm

yep, today, I actually held one of these guys/ girls :D
Er.
To those of you who find this gross/ weird/ wrong, here's a picture of a puppy:

YAY!
 : D 

Swiftly moving along,
 besides the things that you are forced to do  do because you have to, there are some things that you can actually choose to do, if time permits. 

AND OH MY GOSH, IT'S ALL UP TO YOU TO PICK OUT THESE THINGS AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY DOING THEM . 

(I'm exaggerating of course, it's not so difficult to pick out the things you like to do-sometimes- And in retrospect, God chooses what we'll be doing and who we'll be meeting.) 

 I'm still trying to figure these things out, really.
The things we choose to do, sometimes accidentally-without giving it much thought, turns out to be things of great SIGNIFICANCE, later in life.
And how different would Life have turned out to be if we didn't do the things we did or did do the things we didn't?  

If this is what your reaction was to that last sentence, I totally understand..
It was mine,too, after I wrote it..
Read it again, and feel better about your brilliance :) 

 We'll never know how it would have been. All we know is : HOW IT IS.

That's all.
And that's all we need, so it's okay.
I don't have all the answers, to all of the WHY?s the HOW?s and !@$#%$^$@^&**(?s

But.

I know that it's important to enjoy the little things in life, to make the tiny moments count-not just for yourself, but for others as well ( and in doing so, you're back to making it count for yourself : D !) and we don't really need to know the answers to all these questions about life, in order to LIVE.  

love

   -jeff

   

Book Review #1- The shining (written by Stephen King)

        This is a story, quite simply put, of what happens to a little 5 year old boy(Danny Torrance) who has psychic abilities ( or has "the Shining" as Mr.Hallorann from the story puts it), his father (Jack a.k.a John Torrance- with an abusive past) and mother (Wendy Torrance) when they move into 'The Overlook Hotel' which sits on top of an icy mountain in Colorado, for the winter. Jack lands the job of a Caretaker at the Overlook hotel-which Danny realizes (on premonition) is haunted.                                           

Cover Design by Keenan
Title : The Shining
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
No. of Pages: 512
Price: Rs. 350/- (M.R.P-India)
Language: English
Publication Date: 31 May 2007
Genre: Horror

 (Here's the not so simple version):
 Jack Torrance's character, is depicted in the beginning as a normal american husband/father who is out looking for a job to support his wife and child. Once the plot moves further along, a few flashbacks-in the form of stray pieces of conversations and thoughts- reveal that there is more to this man, who was once a raging alcoholic and had broken his son's arm in a fit of anger. Wendy Torrance, is almost constantly torn between her desires, of wanting to run away from her husband and wanting to stay because of her love for him-which is growing thinner by the day.
Mr.Ullman, Manager of "The Overlook" is unwilling to hire Jack Torrance because he came with a family, just like the previous Caretaker, Mr.Grady, who had ended up murdering his wife and kids before shooting himself due to "cabin fever"- a slang for the reaction that resulted from Claustrophobia.-irrespective of which Jack takes the job.

I am ze OVERLOOK HOTEL and I plan on TERRORIZING YOU , until you lose your mind. 

Danny Torrance is warned several times, by his "imaginary friend"-Tony- of the dangers that lie ahead if his father takes this job. But, not wanting to disturb the peace that had come upon the family after a long time, he says and does nothing about these premonitions. The family drives up to The Overlook as it is closing up for the winter on the last day and catch glimpses of it's last visitors. Here, they meet Mr. Hallorann (who also "shines" i.e. has the ability to know and feel certain things that not everybody does.), staff at the Overlook. He, privately, mentions to Danny that he has the biggest 'Shine' out of all the people that he'd ever come across. Also, that if anything went wrong, to call for him ( telepathically) and to stay clear of room. 217 and the playground.
Everybody soon leaves, and the first few "snow-less" months go on pretty smoothly, apart from the time when  the animal-shaped-hedges out in the lawn by the playground, try to attack Jack Torrance (which he brushes off as hallucinations) and Danny's nightmares and general uneasiness because of the things he begins to come across as well.
Once they are snowed-in, and have no where else to go, the hotel seems to be teeming with monsters of all kinds.
The worst of the lot being the Ghosts of Jack's past that were beginning to catch up with him-and making him relive them all over again.

Just found out that they made a movie out of the book. So here's some of that stuff: 

Being the first Stephen King book that I've ever read, I didn't really know what to look out for- and it was definitely nothing that I could have imagined. I admit there were some parts that were boring, especially in the beginning when the plot was just warming up.The middle, was when I was starting to get creeped-out and truly getting to know Jack Torrance. Towards the last hundred pages, however, things were quite the opposite to how they were in the beginning, and the suspense of what exactly happens to Jack, Wendy and Danny Torrance is (quite amazingly) kept up to the absolute end. Definitely worth a read, if your looking to read up some good horror or just to try out something new. Not for the faint-hearted.

I haven't actually seen the movie, yet, but what I get from these clips is that the book was waaayyy scarier.
I could be wrong though. Perhaps sometime I'll actually watch it, and add an update :)

This video, I did actually find pretty cool:



(I take absolutely no credit for any of these videos)
Have a great day you guys!  Have you read "The Shining" and/or watched the movie?Would you recommend it? ALSO, are there any other Stephen King books/ Horror books that you'd recommend? (although I don't think I'll be reading horror for a while...) Thanks! :D
love
     jeff

hello, HELLO!

P.s. It's 12:30am. I just felt the need for that to be told. kbye.