Hansag came back, mama went back...

Harshu Mama’s flight was at 10 something this morning. Mom asked him whether or not it was on time, but he did not bother checking. Papa and I dropped him at the airport by 8:30 (I believe), got back home, and went to sleep again. I got up at around 3 and found out that Harshu Mama’s flight was indeed late. He was cutting time at the airport.

We got Hansag from the camp yesterday. On our way there, Harshu Mama connected his iPod to the car and we listened to some oldies that he had. After reaching the camp sight, all four of us (Papa, Mom, Mama and I) were shocked to see what they had done to the kids. Girls were yelling, “hum Bharat ki naari hain, phool nahi chingari hain!” After their presentation, a couple of adults talked about some stuff. This one lady was really passionate about her Indian heritage and was trying to convince the parents not to be afraid of how their kids are going to handle India, but let them cope with it themselves. She was the only person whose words I could actually understand. All the others need major speech classes!

At first, Hansag was not behaving properly and was very disrespectful, but slowly it got better. After getting home, Papa went somewhere and the rest of us fell asleep while watching the movie “Taking Lives.” Harshu Mama woke everybody a couple of minutes before the bread was to be taken out. So, we started the movie again and had bread and orange juice.

My dear Hansag brother has changed quite a bit after the camp. I was surprised to see him sitting online and not reading sports news. He was reading about Lord Vishnu and other Hinduism related things. I am learning quite a bit from him :).

seven-day-yoga camp

We were supposed to get at that seven-day-yoga camp by 2 pm, but we started out at 2:45 and reached after 5. Hansag was to be dropped there, because Nana suggested it would be good for him. I was not planning to stay there because I wanted to rest and only rest during the 2-week vacation. After Mr. Pathak told us what they were going to do at the camp, I was really wishing to stay there. They were going to have a lot of discussions about Hinduism and India. First of all I love discussions and second, I don’t know much about either of these things and want to learn more about them. On asking papa whether I could stay or not, he simply said no. I decided to go sit in the car for the rest of the time we were there.

On our way back I did not say much. A few words that did come out of my mouth were all sarcastic. On papa’s asking, “When and where did you have Steak-n-Shake’s shake?” I responded by saying the word “no”. When we started out on the road I murmured the words, “acha hai, mujhe hi aur arguments mil rahe hain.”

aaj ka kaam kal karo, kal ka kaam parso
pralay-vralay koi hone ka nayi, thahar jao barso

After getting back home I played the movie “Dhoom.” Papa joined me, while mom sat in her room reading a novel.

I couldn't be on TV because Tech is what I care about

Saw Katrina in the morning outside of Mr. Lee’s room and found out that people in the study lab are going to be on TV. Janki told me about this last week, but it slipped my mind. Katrina asked me whether I would be there or not, but I had set and appointment with Mrs. Kasting to go over my essay. So, I missed the camera. While passing through the study lab I peeped in and discovered that everybody was doing his or her work very diligently. I was quite impressed!

I reached Mrs. Kasting’s door at exactly 8am. She read the essay and said that it was really well written and was very consistent, written in a chronological manner, and was not jumping around from one thing to another. She commented that I am a good writer and that I should have been in her AP class. hehehe… I told her what the problem with that was – I can’t analyze literary works :( She changed a few words and so did Marcel, whom I showed the paper during first period. All of it is coming out great, absolutely marvelous!

Hey, prabhu gyandata, admission humara karvayiye; garvit ho jan-jan Geetu ka naam sun, aisa kuch kar jayiye.

GaTech, here I come!

While giving the Statistics test I thought I was doing pretty well, but after comparing my answers and giving the reasoning for those answers I lost hope. Anyways…

Today was the day when I handed out the printed copies of my GaTech essay to a number of teachers, asking them to read it and make any comments they might have. I had two extra copies with me, which I was asking my friends to go over if we weren’t doing anything in class. All of them said that I had done a good job, a few pointed out some mistakes, and almost everyone thought that the sentence, “Most of the time… …that too with parents,” was too long and the idea stated was unclear. Katrina was the only one who analyzed the essay in great depth and made a number of things sound a lot better.

After coming back home I revised the essay for the fourth time. It’s less than sixty-five lines now and sounds pretty good. I will see Mrs. Kasting tomorrow morning and will get a response from Brew, Kirk, Roach, Shirley and Wright on Wednesday. Nana should send me his comments by tomorrow. My goal is to send the application by Friday, latest.

I want to attend Georgia Institute of Technology as much as I want Purely Gupt in my life. So, all of you who believe in the divine power of the sky (Mr. God), remember me in your prayers.
Aasman Bless!

bomb threat

There was a bomb threat at our school today. Even before school started there were signs that said something about a bomb being at school. Hansag told me that Police, Fire Trucks, and Ambulance was standing somewhere, I didn’t see them though. Over the intercom the Principal asked everybody to turn off their cell phones and radios. Everything seemed to be okay that’s why the school remained open. Many students were checking out though. All throughout the day students were being called to front and attendance offices.

Around second period they received a phone call saying something about a bomb threat. So, at the end of that period we evacuated to the football field and remained there for over two hours. Called up dad to let him know what was going on. By the end of the two hours three news helicopters – fox 5, channel 2 action news, and 11 alive – were moving in circles in the sky.

We missed lunch and half the student population had left. Remained in second period for the rest of the day and did nothing. Hansag’s and my name was also called over the intercom but when we went outside there was no one there. We asked the people standing there “who checked us out?” and they said they didn’t now and that we should find the person somewhere in the parking lot. Nobody was there, so we went back to class.

I was tired by the time I got to the bus and had an extremely nice nap. :)

While talking about this at home I suggested that this could have been the senior prank. I’m not really sure what time of the year senior prank usually happens, but this clearly was a hoax. One of the students in my English class even received a text message on his cell saying, “Bomb at school. Check out.” We tried to retrieve the phone number but couldn’t do so. There’s a definite possibility of this being a senior prank, and it was one I must say it was a good one.

PS: Btw, the only thing I was worried about the entire time we were outside was that – my lunch was in my locker!

tit bits

Things are going fine. I recently got an eighty-four in a Stats test, which is pretty good compared to I failed that last three tests. This time, however, I was fourth in class.

Mine was the second paper in the pile. Mr. Shirley gave John’s paper to him, who was sitting next to me, and after that just stood in front of me – looked at the paper and at me back and fourth. He said, “what?” and I replied, “Nothing, I’m just sitting here, waiting to get my test back.” He smiled a bit and mashallah he looked so cute at that point. Shirley’s not very tall, has grey hair, and a medium sized belly – chho cute! Anyways, after about 30-60seconds he put my test sheet in the back of the pile and kept on handing out the papers to others.

Today, during lunch I complimented on how I’m pretty impressed by Meha’s knowledge about India, Hinduism – basically her heritage. I was telling Nirali even I don’t know much about such stuff and I recently came from India, and am a so-called “Brahmin”. Then somehow we got into talking about swami narayan, religion etc. She asked me a question – who do you pray? My response… “We are not that religious. I don’t think there’s a specific deity we pray.”

Back to the House!

Got back to Nana-Nani’s and took some pictures (people must really love me, all of them are taking pictures – including me :P) Although, Papa wanted to leave right away (it was after 10) I asked him to stay a while coz I wanted to ask Nana a couple of questions about Math (I'll do some problems and see whether I get his way or not. He explained it pretty well though).

We headed home after that and gave Hansag a call when I could see Atlanta on my left hand side. It was 11:40 then in the microwave watch. Papa said it would take us 20mins to reach home, I said 30, and Hansag's prediction was of 40mins. We reached home at exactly 12:10 (I won!) even when, Papa drove at 65mi/hr (remember the morning? 55mi/hr!), once took the speed a lot higher to overtake a car and see the TV screen they had in the car, and didn't even check the mail (which is like his 2nd favorite thing in the world besides talking on the cell).

Hansag had Pizza and Pepsi, I shared his Pep and had a small slice of pizza myself and watched "Starsky and Hutch." Went to bed around 3, woke up after 1 in the afternoon.

Am gonna do some HW now, adios!

Kavi Goshti

Event: Kavi Goshti
Venue: Shiv Mandir at Global Mall
Date: September 25, 2004
Time: 7:00pm

We were 15 minutes late (surprising because Nana is very punctual). Not a big deal though, because we were one of the first one’s there. In the car I told Nana and Nani that I won’t recite anything just because I did not find anything good enough (when in actuality I was afraid how the older generation will react to my being so romantic at such a tender age – hehe!). I even told the lady that I wasn’t going to sit on the manch (stage) and I was only a shrota (listener) this time.

I was worried for no reason at all, because even the one’s up there were reciting some love poems (of course of a different level than my own). After listening to a few of theirs I decided to take the microphone in my own hands. I didn’t take anything with me, so I was looking at the audience while saying the words and not at a sheet of a paper or a notebook. I got everybody’s attention when I started and people were looking right at me (waah! waah!). I was trying to remember a few other poems of my own but couldn’t (which is sad, coz I was really in the spirit). Anyways, I recited a total of 3 poems (two four-liners, and one a little longer one) – khubsoorat si hawa chal jaati hai..., Adhoore Hain Hum!, and Ishq Cheez Hi Aisi Hai.

After everything was over and we started getting food a couple of people came up to me and said things like….
“It’s nice to see that the new generation shows intersect in such things (Hindi literature). Very well done!”
“Beta, I heard you last time also and I must say you are really good. If you write this well at this age, you are really going to do something when you get older. Don’t stop writing.”

A really old lady was also there who has met and worked with Shri Hariwansh Rai Bachhan and two other really well known Hindi poets. She called me up to her and told me that I was good and that I should keep on writing. It felt really good when she talked to me.

It always feels good when somebody says that I write well and that I should keep on writing. Yeah! Maybe I should.

At Nana-Nani’s House

While on the way, I gave Nana-Nani a call, but no one answered. Found out they were shopping at Bombay Bazaar when tried on the cell. To pass time papa dropped by somebody’s store to talk to him while I sat in the car, bored.

To cut time, first I took some pictures of myself (which turned out pretty good, keeping in mind I was my own photographer), then talked to Hansag and Mom on the phone a little, and finally had the sandwich from the vegetarian box that I did not have before (it was pretty good).

Once we got to the house, Nani asked us to eat but I wasn’t hungry. While, Nana-Nani, and Papa had lunch I started watching “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.” It’s a time pass movie, and has some cheap jokes. Every now and then Nana was criticizing it. After a while I was left home alone when the three adults went to see an apartment. I finished watching the movie and then got onto watching the news. They came back around 6:15pm and we left for the Kavi Goshti at Shiv Mandir after everybody (except myself) had tea.

PS: Nani was pretty impressed with the suit I was wearing. Reason being I do not wear such things often and of course that I don’t own any!

4th Annual International Fashion Show/Luncheon

Event: 4th Annual International Fashion Show/Luncheon
Venue: 40 Courtland Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Date: September 25, 2004
Time: 11:30am

Although Mrs. Brew asked me to dress casually and change into my outfit once I got to the hall, I reached there wearing the suit, but with a long jacket to cover everything. For the first time ever I wore mom’s earrings and a necklace. I don’t own anything of my own when it comes to jewelry or even Indian outfits.

Papa drove me there at the speed of 55mi/hr (even when we were already late) because he was talking on his cell (something that he loves to do). I was looking at the speedometer again and again, trying to hint him to go a little faster. We reached around 12pm (sounds late, but really wasn’t). I went straight to the dressing room, talked to other models, took a few pictures, had pasta from the vegetarian box specially ordered for this Indian gal who doesn’t eat meat. While eating I remembered how that is what I ate everyday while at Valdosta (GHP). That was also because of Brew (she’s the one who nominated me, and I’m glad she did!).

There were a total of 5 International models, representing Africa, India, Philippines, Scotland, and Vietnam. I went out barefoot, because I did not have matching sandals. Mom did give me a pair that weren’t my size. They would have been fine if I had to wear them for a little while, only they were too high heels for me. I’m not used to wearing heels, I was afraid I’d fall down, plus, I’ve decided not to wear heels at all, reason being my Jahan :)

The description that I provided for what I was wearing wasn’t that long, but the Mistress of Ceremony was saying it real slow and adding her comments in the middle. So, I not only walked slow and turned around a couple of times, I also walked almost all across the room with taking long pauses. It was muy fun! After my walk I had a seat where Papa and other people known to Brew were sitting.

Took more pictures after everything was over and then left to go to Nana’s place.

Saturday's a busy day!

I've finally decided to go to that "kavi goshthi" after all. It's this Saturday (Sept 25) at Shiv Mandir. The last time I attended, I was the youngest one there, and the only one with poems of my kind (that's love-shove). I'm not sure whether I'll recite one this time or not (although I'm pretty sure Nana will make me). Will see which one sounds appropriate for the audience that are way older than I am.

Also, there's the Fashion Show that Mrs. Brew's Church organizes on the same day. Starts at 12pm. Last time I wore Himali's Ghaghra Choli, but when I was looking at the pictures today, I didn't like the way I looked in that. So, this time I'm wearing Mom's suit (which I wore for the first time last Diwali, and the pic looks jhakkas!).

Next week is our Homecoming. Hall decorations are this Saturday and the theme for our class is "Survivor" (we are doing reality TV this year). I won't be able to help out though, got other things taking place (as mentioned above). The days for next week goes as follows...
Monday - PJ Day
Tuesday - Twin Day
Wednesday - Tacky Day
Thursday - College Day
Friday - Spirit Day (Senior Toka Day)
Dunno, I'm not really excited this year (could be coz I wouldn't be helping out much). I'm sure our class will do a fabulous job on the hall. Era Langford is the Spirit Coordinator for the class, and she's very artistic with tons of good ideas.

Anyways, got a Physics Quiz tomorrow.

fall break

Although this week should have gone by real fast, it didn't seem like that to me. For those of you who don't know, we had our fall break this week. I did a bit of work on Friday and Saturday, after that I did bits and bytes of work, but most of the time I was in my lazy mode. Watched a couple of movies!

Went to Nana-Nani's place on Wednesday and had the usual - gol gappe - there (umm.. yummy!). Did a bit of math with NanaJi (wrote about that in my last blog). Wednesday night I watched Lakshya and I did not think it was a bad movie; I actually liked it (but the songs were all very, very, very crappy!!)

A number of schools were closed on Thursday, but not Mom's. Mom and Dad left together that morning and I woke up early. Mom was home on Friday though. It was a pretty laid back day, I did a bit of Stats hw, but not really.
Today, after taking a shower I got started on developing that website for the Henry Industrial Technology Education Association. It took a while; I'm not completely done yet because I do not have all the information needed. The site looks pretty all right; it's my first job on Dreamweaver, without anybody's help... I think I'm doing a decent job. I tried the tutorial, it kinda helps, but I don't like to read... so what I'm doing is completely hit and trial.

movies watched this week

English
13 Going On 30
50 First Dates
Ace Ventura
Brave New Girl
Big Bully
Drive Me Crazy
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Panic Room
Private Benjamin
Serendipity

Hindi
Lakshya

And probably more, but I don't remember :-?

Changed in one day!

Nana is not that bad after all. At first I was really mad that why in the world does he want me to come over to his place and get my "mathematical concepts" cleared. There was nothing that I needed help with; but after coming back I wouldn't say that I do not want to go back.

He is a Math Professor; he has taught at Delhi University and other institutions in the United States and Trinidad and Tobago. Of course, he knows what he's doing!

The first thing I thought right after he said his first word in getting started was - aah! He's pretty good. And this was way before we started talking about any of the things I'm doing or have done in the past two or three years.

I'm a changed person... and when it comes to Nana - it's a huge change!

What? No School? Again?!

Interestingly, there’s no school today either. I didn’t want my dream to be this long, but upar wala jab bhi deta, deta chhappar phaad ke! I woke up around 5:45am when my alarm went off, mom came in and said, “go back to sleep, Henry county schools are closed today as well.” I was surprised and couldn’t go back to my sweet, sweet dreams. So, I got up and watched TV for a while; asked whether any other school systems were closed or not.

After a while I dropped the idea of trying to find out why I had to sit at home for another day and decided on enjoying the moment instead.

Dreams do come true

I’ve always dreamed of not going to school. No, no, don’t get the wrong impression. I really like school and I would rather live at school than home but I’ve always dreamed of not going to school when every other school in the area is off. Like today, Atlanta area schools were declared closed due to the weather. Clayton County schools were closed as well, but not Henry County. I live in Henry and Clayton is right next-door.

Even when I was in India Xavier’s was never closed due to extreme weather conditions, when the other schools that were on the same road – Raj Niwas Marg – were often off. In US, Henry County schools have hardly ever been declared closed unexpectedly. Today was an exception.

Hansag and I got ready for school, but we both had been watching the news. Our eyes fixed on the bottom left hand corner of the screen where the names of schools and counties were being shown which had declared “no school” for September 7, 2004. As always we didn’t see Henry County Schools on the list. So, we got in the car and heard “Henry County” on the radio. Not sure what it was about we went to school and only there found out that finally my dream had come true.

Four day weekend, three-day week, and then an entire week off! Am thankful to god, because I still need to study for my Government test (which was today).

Kyun? Ho Gaya Na…

I saw a Hindi movie after a really long time and oh lord it was so worth it. “Kyun? Ho Gaya Na…” starring Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi is about two very different people – Diya and Arjun.

Diya (Aishwarya Rai) believes in love and does not want to marry somebody she does not know. She believes, “pyar ko waqt ki nahi, ek lamhe ki zarurat hoti hai (love does not require time, it requires just a moment).” On the other hand, Arjun (Vivek) does not have the words “love” or “defeat” in his dictionary (pyar and haar Arjun ki dictionary mein nahi hai). He is ready for an arranged marriage and has asked his mother to choose the right girl for him.

Diya falls in love with Arjun, and Arjun’s parents have chosen Diya to be Arjun’s bride. Neither Diya nor Arjun know about this. On Discovering that Diya loves him, Arjun panics because he never saw Diya that way. Diya, who had been living with Arjun’s parents in Mumbai and preparing for exams, decides to leave when she finds out that Arjun does not have feelings for her.

Arjun goes to Diya’s town to say sorry and he too starts liking her, but Ishaan asks Diya’s hand in marriage and Arjun is heartbroken. In the end all's well.

There are many funny parts in the movie, I often found myself rolling on the floor. There are many emotional parts as well. Aishwarya Rai is looking gorgeous; I love her hairstyle. Vivek is extremely handsome. They look really cute together!

Temptation 2004

Event: Temptation 2004
Venue: Gwinett Civic Center, Duluth
Date/Time: Friday, September 03, 2004; 9:00pm

It was very crowded when we got there. The line to get in was neither a linear nor a short one. Inside individuals could be seen talking on their cell phones, looking for whomever they came with or conversating with each other. While standing outside, waiting for Dad to get tickets, I was running my eyeballs around and caught a glimpse of Kavita. Once we got in I also saw Iqra and her cousins. These are just a few people from school.

All right, the hall was packed. We had $55 tickets, so we were way up in the air. You all know how punctual we Indians are… the concert started at 9:45 (not as late as I expected). It started out with everybody coming out one by one, dancing on some song tracks from their individual movies. First came Priyanka Chopra, then Arjun Rampal, Priety Zinta was next followed by Saif Ali Khan, and Rani Mukherji came right before Shahrukh did. Cheering could be heard for each of these stars, but the hall was roaring louder than ever when we saw Shahrukh Khan, the King of Bollywood cinema, playing his violin with his back towards us. He turned around and once again the hall went wild.

A small musical was performed by them titled “Kal Ho Na Ho, Parso To Hoga Hi”. It was about two girls and two guys dreaming about getting married to somebody rich and spending the rest of their lives in luxury – a typical Hindi movie type play. It was really funny at times.

Priyanka Chopra sang a few songs and mashalllah her voice is so good. I do not think she’s that great an actress; in my opinion she should try her hands at singing. Saif played his guitar and asked for a few ladies and a few girls to come on the stage and just dance to his music. Arjun Rampal did some of his Karate (or whatever it was) and called a girl up on the stage to teach her the same in three minutes. Rani and Preity did a dance on a remix of “Jiya Jale” and “O Humdum Sunio Re”. I really liked their performance. SRK was simply fabulous. He called two people on stage (a male and a female). At first Radhika, the female that went up, was a bit nervous but after that she started flirting with Shahrukh. Her facial expressions were priceless! The guy, Bhawesh, had a dream seven days ago that we would dance with SRK, on this Shahrukh said, “shouldn’t you be dreaming of naked women.”

We got out around 2am and reached home around 3 (I think). In the morning I woke up after 1pm and just read my “Wuthering Heights” for the entire day, with working a bit on my trig.

Bits 'n' Bytes (a novella)

Introduction
I have not written a blog in ages. There just aren’t enough hours in the day! If I stay up late for a couple of days, then to catch up on my sleep I go to bed early some day during the week. Yesterday (September 1, 2004), I fell asleep around 5:30pm, got up at 9 when Pavan called and then went to sleep around 12-12:30am. So much has happened between my last entry and this one that I don’t even remember all of it.

Chapter 1
The college-planning meeting was Monday, August 30 at 6:30pm. It was a complete waste of time. All that admissions person from Gordon did was promote his school.

If you have an 800 SAT score, you can go to a 4yr college. If you have a 600 SAT score, you must go to a junior college. Come to Gordon, you only need a 1.8 GPA to get in.

I hate that guy! He was talking to the wrong crowd. That idiot wasted everybody’s time.

Anyways, to reach the school for this stupid meeting somebody had to drive. My job was to be ready and get everyone in the car on time. What came as a shock was mom asking, “who wants to drive?” Papa wasn’t there, Hansag’s only 14 (wow! He’s 14 already?!), and I am the one who’s always after both the adults to let me sit on the driver’s seat every now and then so that I can get rid of my learner’s license and get a permanent one. I didn’t know what to say when mom raised that question, neither did I take it seriously. After 15 minutes, when we reached the school, Andrea’ exclaimed, “Geetali, you drove!” Yup! I ended up driving a car after 2+ months, and not just any car. I drove Mom’s Camry, which I had never driven before. That, dear readers, was a moment of sweet success.

Chapter 2
Failing a test means the student is not doing good. I knew I was not doing well in Statistics because every time Mr. Shirley got in front of the class and started talking, I just looked at him, comprehending nothing! Classmates asked questions and on getting the answer said, “oh! I get it now!” I, on the other hand, neither did my homework, nor did I read the chapter. The night before the test I ended up reading the entire 50 pages long chapter and saying, “this is really easy” to myself.

I failed the test by 2 points, but I felt alright because those students who said, “oh! I get it now” got an even lower score. I could have gotten a better grade, had I studied before and spent some more time actually working out the problems, but I chose the road less traveled by (less traveled by the other AP Statistics students at least) yet received a higher score. Hmm :-?

Chapter 3
No subject is difficult if you set your mind to it and study hard, but anyone who gets Lee for Chemistry or Physics is considered to be in big trouble because he makes these subjects difficult. This year Mr. Lee does not have a planning period, he’s teaching two Honors Chemistry, two AP Chemistry, and two AP Physics classes.

Right now we are covering Velocity and Acceleration in our (Physics) class. There are about three-five formulas used at least ten times in the solving process of a problem to get the final answer. I am briefly going to talk about one problem he gave us.

Osama Bin Laden is hiding in a tank. A US bomber plane is ###### feet above the ground, traveling at ### miles per hour in the direction of the tank. The horizontal between the tank and the plane is ## miles. The tank is moving in the direction of the plane at ## miles an hour. It it’s 12:00pm right now, at what time should the pilot push the button to release the bomb so that it hits the tank.

I knew how to do the problem and started working it out, but got stuck at one step. I just kept on looking at the paper, telling myself “I’ve done this before, I know who to do this, why can’t I work it out now.” I never got past that part, just sat there for the next 5 minutes and when Marcel worked out the problem on the board, I once again said, “I knew how to do this!”

Chapter 4
Okay, since I mentioned Marcel in the previous chapter, here’s what happened in AP Government today. We got to discussing (or rather arguing) about the most debated topics in United States politics – abortion, gay rights, drug use, and prayer in school. Although usually there are strong opinions from people supporting both sides of the debate, in our class not many talked about drug use or prayer in school, very little put their ideas forward about abortion and most of the time was spent talking about gay rights, more specifically gay marriages.

Mr. Dees asked, “What two groups are there when it comes to talking about abortion?” Everybody started yelling, “pro choice and pro life” but there was this one voice, which was louder than everybody else’s combined, and it said, “prohibition and anti-prohibition.” I have no idea what Marcel had in mind when he said those words, but it was something. We laughed, Dees walked out, and everybody just looked at Marcel.

About gay rights, I think our class was divided 50/50.

Peter: To me a marriage is between a man and a woman, and I do not agree with saying two men or two women are married.

Josh: Why should they be allowed to marry when it’s considered immoral.

Desoree’: You cannot help who you like and no body should be able to tell you whether you can marry the person or not.

Josh: What if I like more than one girl? I can’t go off marrying both of them, it’s immoral, and society doesn’t allow it!

Mr. Dees: No nation in the history of man kind has ever approved the marriage between the same sexes. Homosexuality was okay in the Greek world, but even they were never married. Then, how can America do something of such sort? We’ll be the first one’s do to so. How will the rest of the world react?

My response (which I did not share): 200yrs ago when United States became a
nation, it set up a type of government that no other nation had. They made three
branches of government, everything was on a trial basis, and it has worked perfectly fine till this point. Why can’t then United States be the first nation to approve gay marriages? I know it’s a whole lot bigger topic, but hey somebody has to take the first step and in my opinion more and more homosexuals are coming out of the closet. Now, it’s not something people are surprised to find out about, it’s becoming a very common thing. Ten-twenty years down the road, nobody will give a second thought to this topic.

About abortion, I’m pro-choice! I don’t believe in applying my beliefs on somebody else’s life. Everybody has the right to make decisions that best suits them. If abortion is the best thing for them, I say go for it!

Chapter 5
After today I hate Mr. Washington more than ever!! We had our first test in programming today. Everybody would have done perfectly fine if he had actually used the book when teaching because the questions that he did ask on the test came directly from the book. He used the technical language and asked the most outrageous questions. It was all multiple choice and on one of the question he didn’t even give an option for the correct answer, that too on purpose. He’s the most idiotic fellow I’ve ever met! I so wish Mr. Smith was still at this school.

Chapter 6
Now, going back in time a little.

Raksha Bandhan was on Monday. This year, for some unknown reason, Hansag actually wanted me to tie a rakhi on his hand. Not only that, he agreed to wear to school as well. So, him and I got on Papa’s back to go to the market and get a Rakhi for him (another reason was I just wanted to go somewhere and not stay at home, I was bored). Papa said, “I have one somewhere, I’ll get it out.” I asked Hansag, “Do you want me to tie an old Rakhi? If not then talk to Papa.” :) hehe… so after we achieved in our task of getting on Dad’s nerves we finally went out and got a rakhi that had GaneshJi’s image on it.

In the morning the whole Raksha Bandhan thing slipped our mind, though. When we reached the school Papa asked, “Kishu, did you tie the Rakhi?” and I just sat there with my mouth popped open. Finally, Hansag replied, “We’ll do that in the evening.” Surprisingly, he actually gave me some money. Not a lot, but he doesn’t have a job you know. That was very kind of him, I must say.

Chapter 7
I do not know where Hansag’s getting his money from but today he gave me $5 so that I could eat subway. We had the first FBLA meeting and Papa picked us up around 4:15pm. In the car Hansag bhaijaan started yelling and crying to get domino’s. I refused to eat another slice of a pizza with so much cheese on it. I’m more of a salad person, I like subway (eat fresh!). So, I was arguing with both, Papa and Hansag, about getting pizza every other day and in turn helping Hansag’s belly grow more and more. Hansag said I could have my sub and handed me a $5 bill from his wallet :O

Chapter 8
Yup, first FBLA meeting was held today, after almost a month of the school’s reopening. More than 60 people came and I think that’s a record. We have never seen so many people in the first organizational meeting (at least not in the past three years). All the basic things were covered, officers introduced, talked about last years national conference, and a slide show of photographs was presented. It was pretty boring.

Oh yeah, the Motivational Rally is September 30th and our homecoming day is October 1st (the next day). It seems like not a lot of people will be able to attend, so there’s a chance that nobody from our school will show up there. Personally, I don’t really mind missing the parade and the pep rally; it’s not that big a deal to me anyways. I’ve seen better in India!

Chapter 9
I have not seen any Hindi movies in ages! I don’t even know what’s going on these days. Nirali and Janki sit their talking about the stories, actors, and songs; I’ve never even heard of any of the things they mention. I don’t think I’m missing out on a lot though, because this is how their conversations goes:

Day 1
Nirali: Oh! Really want to see Lakshya
Janki: Don’t watch it, it’s
really bad!

Day2
Nirali: I saw Lakshya. It was so bad, a
complete waste of time.
Janki: I told you so.
Nirali: Yeah, but Preity
Zinta and Hrithik were in it. I had to see it!

The same thing goes for every single Hindi movie. My dear GHP peeps, the movies we saw, the movies our Kwanza dear loves, and the songs I often hummed around you guys are a selected few that were (and will forever remain) extremely good. Love me guys! ;)

Chapter 10
Tomorrow is a Bollywood concert in Atlanta area somewhere – Temptation 2004, Starring… Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mujherji, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, and Priyanka Chopra (Miss World 2000, I think). Well, it’s going to be bindas, and guess what? I’m going :O Yeah, yeah, with parents, and my brother, but didn’t you hear me – SHAHRUKH, RANI, SAIF, PREITY, RAMPAL, AND MISS WORLD CHOPRA and I’M GOING! Am excited!

Conclusion
I think I’ve covered pretty much everything in this novella (at least the main things have already been read by you). If I ever skip writing a blog for such a long time in the future, I’ll write a sequel to this one ;)

I miss my India!

Today, sitting in Trigonometry I realized that Harrison looks a bit like Renu aunty. Maybe it’s just because Renu aunty is also very fair, but well, just that one thing made me think about my India - the world that I’ve left behind. I don’t get a lot of time to think about the people living there, but whenever I do… I get lost in those memories and find a smile on my lips.

Everybody must be looking so different. Naman is in 7th grade now, I wonder how he is doing. Chiki is probably starting nursery. Ria, Shweta’s sister, must be in prep or 1st grade by now. Shweta, Ananya, Akhil, Nikhil, all of Hansag’s buddies are growing up, they are in 9th grade now. Over the summer I got a chance to talk to Shikhar and oh my ghosh! He has a mustache now! Kids are growing up man.

And then there are my friends. It’s their 13th and the final year at St. Xavier’s, Delhi. Right now they are having loads of fun. I talked to Kanika on her b’day and found out that school is just for fun :) I really miss them all. Each and every one of them, I still remember all the names, all the faces, and all the voices. Ah, those great days! I love them all!

Unforgettable memories! Beautiful melodies! Soothing fragrance!

I am ready for the world!

Lately, I've been missing GHP a little too much. I guess living at home is fun, but I prefer my own way of living now. I was more like myself when I was away from the people I've spent more than 17 years of my life with. As a kid I didn't know what I could expect outside the four walls of my house, so moving somewhere else or leaving for something better never really came up. Maybe it’s also a teenage thing – asking questions about self and trying to figure out what’s best for me, myself, and I.

At GHP we were treated like mature teenagers who had opinions and stood out from everybody else – unique, yet alike. Opinions mattered, everybody listened, and intellectual conversations were held. We had tons of fun, but it was very different, nothing like I’ve experienced before, nothing like I will experience anywhere else. People actually wanted to hear what I had to say. Whenever an argument was going on, all I had to do was raise my hand and as soon as everybody got my attention I would start speaking. They paid attention and respected me. I had my own style and there was nobody who had a problem with that.

At home the number one thing that has problem with whatever I do is my family! This family is merely a thing to me now. I have to yell in order to get heard, on top of that I often hear, “Why are you yelling?” If I ever ask or suggest something the very first response is, “Now, why would you want to do that?”

To them I am the same person who left this house on June 13, 2004 and came back on July 24, 2004. Nothing has really happened with me on a mental or intellectual level, but a lot has happened with and to them!! Even before July 13th I held personal beliefs that my parents don’t necessarily hold. I had thoughts and opinions before that too. The only difference in pre 6/13 and post 7/24 Geetali is that now I’m more willing to break free from the traditional way of “thinking” or “acting”.

I feel I am ready to live a life on my own. I am ready to walk on the road of life and not clutch onto someone’s arm anymore. I want to have my own experiences, learn from my own mistakes, and not rely on somebody else to tell me what’s right or wrong for me. I’m capable of making my own decisions and I want my number one problematic thing to understand that!

4 Hour Nap

I was working on my English project until late last night. Went to sleep after 2am. Surprisingly, I wasn't tired in the morning. Hansag got a little late because I took a while to get dressed, but other than that I was fine! After coming back home I fell asleep while watching TV. Didn't wake up until after 9:30. A four hour "nap".

Tomorrow the Key Club is decorating the senior courtyard. I should be able to get 3 or 4 service hours from that. Peer Tutoring is my number one source though. Nothing much is really going on. Just need to get started on STUDYING!!

Festival of India and Manna Dey Night

I told everyone that I'll reach the Gwinnet Civic Center at 2pm; instead I got there at 3:45. I got ready on time, but everything is to be blamed on mom. She took the longest time. I missed seeing Satyan, who waited for me for over an hour. I didn't even get to see him this morning because I slept until 12 (went to sleep after 2:30am last night). When he called this morning, papa asked him why he called and everything but never woke me up. Hmm...

Festival of India was all right, I guess. Nobody from GHP showed up other than Dev. I talked to Dilan, Teresa, Jakina, and Kwanza on the phone but all had HW and crap to work on. It's all good though, the program wasn't that good anyways. The only thing all three of us - Hansag, Mom and I - enjoyed was the Antakshari. The Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge team was the scariest one. The way that lady sang freaked me out.

After that we attended Manna Dey's live concert in Midtown Atlanta. I had never heard about him before, but found out that he has sung many famous songs. I liked the program but hated the seats we were sitting in. They were the most costly, but weren't comfortable.

Well, that's about it for the weekend. Sunday was slow and restful.

Week in Review

Am writing again after 7+ days. Today is Sunday, and the week starts again tomorrow. School is going great. I like all my classes and teachers. The only problem is am getting a lot of HW this year. Maybe since I'm actually doing the HW it seems a lot, but either way... IT IS A LOT!

AP Government - Mr. Dees
I like the teacher and I really like the class. We haven't gotten into any discussions yet, but whenever we do I'm pretty sure it's going to be real good. Over the first week we just went over the Amendments and had a quiz on Friday. I did well, surprisingly. Now we have a group project - timeline of the Amendments. It's a time pass thing, but as long as one gets an A it's all good.

English IV - Ms. Schernakau
I had heard that Schernakau is a bloodsucking teacher. I think I can see what they meant, but the first couple of days that I was in her class, I got a pretty good impression of her. She likes students to do work, and excel in studies, but she's a nice person at heart. A fun creature! In her class we are doing a "group" activity, which is more like individual work.
So far, I have to write two college essays, and a letter to my prospective roommate. Everything is due in less than two weeks. Another thing we are doing is projects on our summer readings. I'm working with Michael on one of those - creating a newspaper with 4 news stories, 2 ads, 2 editorials, and an advice column. For the other one I'm making a website for Robert Bolt (Author of "A Man For All Seasons").

Honors Trigonometry - Ms. Harrison
Harrison is pretty nice. We are just reviewing Algebra right now and have a test tomorrow. Have been getting practice sheets and questions from the book. I always make simple, silly, stupid mistakes. I had a few questions about a couple of things. I got them cleared after school one day. The "staying after school and getting something cleared" is unusual for me!

AP Statistics - Mr. Shirley
In this class we got started the first day of school. Graphing bar charts, histograms, dot plots and analyzing them is what we have been doing. Also, we are doing a lot of reading from the book for HW along with 6-10 problems every other day. I love the teacher though. And you know what, Shirley's color blind! I wonder what he sees when he looks at the different things. Man, I wonder!!

AP Physics - Mr. Lee
Lee is great. We only have about 15 students in the class, which makes this the smallest class I have. We are doing some basics right now - defining time and what not. One thing
I like is that some things that I was confused about last year, I understand them now. He explained it the same way in Honors Chemistry last year, but somehow they make more sense now. Got a quiz tomorrow.

Computer Programming - Mr. Washington
The slowest class I have. I really am interested in learning C++ (coz that's what they teach in the class) but I'm not really fond of the teacher. We go to class, do nothing for the first 15-20mins and then he teaches in his crappy manner and we get done 15mins before the bell rings. I wish Mr. Smith were still at this school.

Other Activities
I’m the Vice-President of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) this year.
TSA (Technology Student Association of America) is another club I'm planning to join this year. They have some really cool things planned for this year. I'm looking forward to that.
Other things that I'm involved in are - Beta Club, Key Club, and Peer Tutoring. There's nothing else that interesting. I am thinking about the Mock Trial and the Big Brothers and Sisters, though.

4 movies in 1 day

Today was a fine day. All I did was watch movies and do a bit of Government HW. Three movies in the theater and one at home. Surprisingly, I liked all four of them - Spider Man 2; I, Robot; The Village; and Princess Diaries. I will finish this blog by summarizing these movies, but before that I would like to tell you how I made it to the cinema hall at the first place.

The school is starting on Monday (that's day after tomorrow). Hansag and I still have a bit of HW to finish and HW is what we were doing all day yesterday. Mom and us had a deal - finish all HW today (Friday, July 30, 2004) and watch movies tomorrow (Saturday, July 31, 2004) - this is like the old days, parents bribing the kids to finish summer HW. So, Hansag and I were up until late last night (trying to finish the HW, but mostly watching TV and eating cereal once mom-dad went to sleep). Since we are used to waking up at noon (and in my case, 2pm) we denied to go to the movies after both our parents tried to wake us up at around 10am. My mother is very stubborn though, instead of knowing that we still had HW, she made us get up, take a shower, eat something, and go to the theater. Once there, we got 2 tickets to the 1:15 show of Spider Man 2 (which by-the-way I've been wanting to see since the day of its first trailer) and so the journey began...

Spider Man 2
Way better than the first one. For the first time ever I noticed that Toby McGuire is short :-? (I have this thing with people's heights, I would like a guy to be tall, but somehow I end up liking shorties. Hmm... anyways!) This one has more action and substance in it. I thought it was a little slow in the beginning since Parker was questioning his being Spider-Man and did not want to let go of his dreams, but he is a good man at heart and does care about the world, so he decided on being powerful and responsible (I love the line, "with great power comes great responsibility :D). Secrets are revealed in this movie, many people now know who Spider Man really is - "he's just a kid". At the end Mary Jane decides to love Parker and be loved by him, knowing that he is Spider Man.

I, Robot
Funny at times. Storyline was good. Will Smith was looking great and I even liked the Robot, he was cute :) The movie is all about Robots taking over the world. They are programmed to protect Humans but they start to think on their own - scary! The viewers don't really know who the betrayer is until the last 20 minutes of the movie. I would suggest go ahead and watch it, getting a glimpse of the "future" is always an amusing experience.

The Village
It's like any other Shyamalan movie. Makes you think! Some catchy dialogues (not really). I don't want to give out too much, would simply say that the villagers are kept in dark and way in the past!! This definitely is a must see, but you can wait until the DVD comes out. The Sixth Sense is still on the top of my list though.

Princess Diaries
Saw the first one on Disney Channel today. Don't have much to say about it besides one thing... I like the grandmother, she's so elegant, really like a queen. I wish I were one.

Open House

The Open House was yesterday from 3-5pm. I woke up late, like everyday, rushed in the bathroom, came out after about 45-50minutes, ate chhole-chawal (which tasted real good) and left for the school.

School looks real spacious with all those trailers gone from the front. The ROTC chaps were standing outside to welcome us and to open the doors (poor guys). I got my schedule after locating the 12th grade line and was relieved to see that I did have "Computer Programming" on the list. But it was with Mr. Washington. I was hoping to get Mr. Smith, since he was the only teacher who taught the class until last year. After meeting Washington, I found out that Mr. Smith moved to Dutchtown High as an Assistant Principle. Thumbs-up to him!!

The very first person we met was Hansag's Honors English teacher - Ms. Chapman. She is young and enthusiastic. The first question she asked Hansag was, "How's your HW coming along?" Hansag's response, "Do we have to do it?" You should have seen what Chapman's face looked like at that point. She was absolutely shocked! An honor student, on top of that - AN INDIAN - asking the teacher whether doing the HW is required or not. That's a classic "Sharma Family" moment. It's hard to find such a scene anywhere else. :D

Another "Teacher caught off-guard" scene occurred in Ms. Bouts' class. She is Hansag's Honors Geometry teacher this year, had taught me the same a couple of years ago. After the introduction session, Bouts asked me what classes I have on schedule this year. My answer was, "Honors Trig and AP Stats" You should have seen her face. That face simply said, "Have you lost your mind? Do you think you can handle those 2 classes/teacher the same year?!" Another one of those classic "Sharma Family" moments. It’s hard to get a glimpse of such a thing anywhere else. :D

I had to meet Ms. Brew to thank her for nominating me for GHP and let her know that I'm back (and willing to go back again, hehe!). She looked really nice with her new hairstyle. We got tons to talk about once the school year gets started. I don't have her as a teacher this year, but we will be working together for FBLA and a couple of different projects.

My schedule for this year, my final year, my senior year, looks like this...
1. AP Government - Mr. Dees
2. English IV 03 - Ms. Schernekau
3. Honors Trigonometry - Ms. Harrison
4. AP Statistics - Mr. Shirley
5. AP Physics - Mr. Lee
6. Computer Programming - Mr. Washington

Now, all I have to do is FINISH MY HOMEWORK. Am looking for the articles on www.georgebush.com (I never knew such a site existed - stupid me!)

GHP Links

Websites
2004 Governor's Honors Program Home Page
2004 Executive Management Home Page (My Class, Designed by ME)  
2004 Computer Minor Home Page (My Class) 
2004 Media Website (Designed by ME) 

Photo Albums 
My Albums 
Marleen's Albums

Short, Random Blog :-?

Living at home is different. The shower tub actually has enough room where one can stretch, where putting soap, or shaving does not make the elbows hit the walls again and again. At home I can watch a movie without actually worrying about a cool seminar going on. I can go to sleep late and wake up after noon. Food is definitely great, nothing like what palms had to offer. But yes, I do miss eating that Honey-Mustard with fried potatoes. That thing was soo good!!  Other than the comfort of the things I just mentioned above… I miss GHP like hell!!

There was so much to do there. Here I sit at home all day long and do nothing. I did start on my GHP collage today. It looks pretty all right. I have random things up my wall, including the cereal bowl (stolen from Palms), a souvenir from the infirmary, my ID tag, and the Prism II, Theater major’s, and Dance performance handouts (all of those were soo good, god!)

One thing is for sure. I don’t want to live at home after an year. I have experienced what life can be like if I’m away from my family and it’s a lot better. Not that I don’t like my family, but I’m sure I will appreciate them more if I do not come in contact with them every single day… and the same goes for them! For the past six weeks I was myself. I danced, I cried, I sang, I had fun… nobody stopped me from doing anything, but yes! somebody did say something while coming back. All I said was, “See, That’s why I love GHP!” I cannot tolerate what goes in this house!

You know what… even the songs don’t sound that great now that I’m the only one listening to them. They are really boring to listen to since Kwanza is not next to me singing along, or Maggie, Megan, Jakina, and Lindsey are not out in the hall dancing to this music. Nobody’s asking me to “sing an Indian song coz it sounds pretty.” Even when they didn’t understand what the hell I was singing, they enjoyed it! Sometimes we had random discussions about America in general, I ended up saying – “stupid Americans!” – and the rest agreed with me. Haha! Life was great… and the memories are with me forever!

Am back home

I am back home. It feels allright. While coming back we met somebody on the way and he mentioned something about Marrietta. The only thing I thought about on his mentioning that place was – “Amber and Chuck live in Marrietta” :) Thought the same when I heard a couple of different city names. Passed through Tifton, and wanted to visit Mrs. Suzie. Hehe! Am still stuck back in Valdosta.

The convocation, which was held yesterday right before leaving, was absolutely awesome. The slideshow, the speeches, the songs we sang, the dances we did, the cell-phones we raised – all were absolutely marvelous!! People started crying even before breakfast. I even saw tears in the eyes of guys. Felt bad since I didn’t have any.

Unpacked, took a shower after coming back and went to grandparents place in Atlanta. Was thinking about a lot of people who live in that area.
 I have dial up at home now, which is extremely slow. I hate it!!!! And I don’t really feel like writing right now… so bye bye!

Executive Management

It takes good management skills to run a company. Multinational or home business, without efficient organizational or managerial skills the company cannot be successful. Even when it comes to everyday life, we all need to know how to manage our time and work in order to get the best out of life so as to enjoy it to its fullest. Executive Management is all about planning today, for a better tomorrow. Learning is the first step towards success and as Executive Management majors we learned the techniques of planning, organizing, executing, coordinating, monitoring, forecasting, and exercising control in order to accomplish the desired goals.

All throughout these six-weeks we have worked on a number of projects, individually and collectively. Starting out with learning and researching successful entrepreneurs, we ourselves took the road of getting into a business with the writing of a business plan. To get a better understanding of the world of business and to learn how to climb the corporate ladder successfully, we read a number of books starting from The One Minute Manager and How to become a CEO, to Play like a Man, win like a Woman and Good to Great. Guest speakers came almost every other day, listening to their personal experiences was really enlightening. Talking about their careers, accomplishments, and the obstacles faced, they taught us numerous things about the economy, politics, meeting people and growing contacts, filling out applications correctly and without wasting much time, agricultural business, the music industry, and budget and planning. A visit to the dairy showed us a small, but important part of the market. A lesson in table etiquettes from Mrs. Suzie taught us the appropriate eating manners, and another explained the correct way of meeting new individuals and engaging them in conversation.

We learned how to play the game of stocks over a period of ten days. The stock market is a huge gambling arena. Shareholders actually own a portion of a corporation (sometimes they also own the corporation) and gain or lose money depending on the performance of the business. The buying and selling of the stocks takes place everyday and people can make money if they know how to play the game. After doing an extensive background check of the company and their performance, each group of four students purchased stocks worth $10,000. The goal was to make profit; and profit we made!

Working together in teams is one of the qualities that a business person needs to have. The Executive Management class worked along Technology and Design for the Brick Yard Race, which was held on July 10, 2004. Our job was to advertise the race in which the Technology majors and minor raced their solar powered cars on a track designed by the Design majors.

The open house was held on July 19, 2004. This is when we displayed our projects, researches, and finding to Governor’s Honors participants and faculty members. Project boards, posters, and slide shows talked about variety of topics such as agricultural business, compare of gas prices to other items, customer service, dressing for success, economy of India, entrepreneurs, Hispanic population in the United States and the effect on economy, inflation and investment, neonatology, top ten companies to work for, what makes a good boss, and women in workplace.

All of the sixteen Executive Management majors were proud to be a part of the 2004 Governor’s Honors Program. Living on a college campus, we knew it was a great opportunity to learn at a place where the top students from all over Georgia come. What we did not know was that by the end of these incredible six weeks we would have experienced so much together that we would have created an amazing bond between us. Working on projects together, listening to guest speakers, going on visits, laughing, teasing, and all the fun stories of Mrs. Suzie’s were not just a big part of the GHP experience, but they are, as a matter of fact, memories that we will cherish forever.

Geetali Sharma

No matter how long life maybe, it still is very short!

This beautiful moment is coming to an end. Today is Thursday and tomorrow Friday. We leave on Saturday. All the class materials are getting packed, tomorrow is the mandatory packing for us students.
 
It's hard to leave. Six weeks seem like a long time, but here they went by really fast. I wish the time had paused for a while, but oh well! All the people I have met here, all the experiences I've had with them. The nightly hall meetings; the daily lunch with Stephen, Teresa, Kyle, and Chuck; all the Saturday night dances; going to the concerts with hall mates and friends; working on projects with classmates; and having fun all the same... is something I will never forget. I have spent time with these people 24/7. We were strangers at first and now we are like a big family. I've lived with them; laughed, cried, and flirted with them. It's hard to leave, it really is hard to let go!
 
All of us are now exchanging each other's contact information - name, address, phone#, email, aim, birthday. More GHPers are caught with cameras in their hands than before. Everybody's trying to trap the memories, melodies, and the fragrance in their digital/disposable cameras. More people are spending time together. What's surprising is, we are still meeting new people. The questions that we heard the first week - What's your name? Major? Minor? - are still being asked and answered. 

Everybody is looking back to the first few days. What were the first impressions and how we have changed those perceptions now. A little scared, a little timid, we all were willing to meet the extraordinary students from all over Georgia. More confident, more self-assured, we are not at all willing to leave this magical place. Our GHP Myth did come true, but we do need to move on. As somebody once said, "The only thing constant is change." We need to learn to flow with the change, take the memories and the experiences with us, and be glad that we got a chance to be a part of this dreamland. Gotta smile coz it happened!!

I will say one thing though... No matter how long life maybe, it still is very short!

Geetali Sharma

The Open-House was great!

I did better than I expected. I was cheerful and excited. Gave an impression of knowing what I was talking about. People asked me questions, I made up the answers and they believed me!! Hehe.. okay, I'm going too far now.
 
Honestly, I kinda did know what I was talking about. And I did look very knowledgable in the area of my research. That's what many people said. I enjoyed telling them about the Indian Market. I'm very proud to tell you that I even convinced EVERYBODY, well... most of the people to go to India. :D I'm good!
 
A lot of the people really liked what I did. Many complimented me on the site I created, and I heard a lot of "wow's" on what I told them about. Two of the main things that I focused on was books and jewelry, also travel. Kyle took over my work when I went to see what the Design majors did. What he told the visitors was... "go to India, buy stuff, come back, and sell it!" Smart guy!!
 
Later, we had pizza. I had jalepenos, which nobody else could really eat.. hehe!! I was excited today, am not sad anymore.
 
Life is b-e-a-utiful !!

I wonder what's happening

Yesterday, I sat on the floor outside my room... and listened to "Tum Bin" songs which were playing on my boom box. Eating crackers, I was offering them to everybody who passed by me. Girls danced a little on the songs, while I just sat there... sometimes singing, other times thinking, and hardly ever smiling. Jakina asked me a couple of times whether I was doing okay. Of course my answer was "yes", but there definitely was something wrong with me. I do not know what though.
 
I woke up a little late today. Got dressed, went to Palms, had two bowls of cereals and headed towards my class. As I entered, everybody stared at me. I was a little scared, I looked at the time - yup! I was on time, a little early actually. Still, it seemed like every single person was just staring at me, for no reason at all. I was confused. Then Tiffany asked, "are you okay? you didn't go to sleep after the fall, did you?" I answered her by saying, "yes, I'm okay. Don't worry about me. And I hardly ever sleep during the day time." She surely was relieved. Not everybody knew what had happened yesterday, that I had fallen straight on the floor, hurt as well as embarrassed myself. So, everybody wanted to know about it. I told them the deal and laughed it off by saying, "It was hilarious though, just like in the movies." 
 
Not everything seems to be right at GHP. Something is getting into a lot of people. They are not acting like themselves. Something weird happened at lunch today. After analyzing the facts, Chuck made the statement that "society says men are not supposed to be emotional. If they show their tears in public, that means they are gay". What he said is correct, but it really shouldn't be like this. It's really bad when you know something is bothering the person, but he'll not open up or even discuss the matter. I am concerned and I hope that this person I'm talking about feels better tomorrow.
 
Teresa and I went to Bio-Chem after the minors to watch "Rear Window". It was a pretty slow movie, but by the end we all were sitting at the edge of the seats. Only the last 20-30 minutes of the movie were actually interesting. Even I thought to leave the theater at times, that's how boring it was for the first 1 hour and 30 minutes... and by the way, I'm one of the people who can tolerate even ghisi-piti Hindi movies.  Well... I think I should take that back because lately I've been refusing to watch such Hindi movies as well. I leave the movie in the middle now - I'm very proud of myself for that! This is what most of the copied, bollywood labeled movies deserve!!
 
I do not have much to do tonight. Even if I do, I'm not planning on working. I'm tired, and should probably go rest, but have decided to go to Bio-Chem for the 8pm show of "Men in Tights". Let's see what that movie is all about. The Bio-Chem seats are not at all comfortable, I have not found a comfy spot for myself yet. But just the idea of seeing a movie on a somewhat big screen, with friends convinces me to go sit in a dark hall and keep on adjusting myself. This is what the GHP experience is all about!!
 

Writing after a while...

I've not written anything for a while now. One of the reasons is lack of time, another... too much work to do, third... I just did not want to write because there is so much that's happening here that I possibly cannot write everything in just a couple of sentences or paragraphs. No matter when I sit down to write - after a couple of days or a couple of hours - there's always a whole bunch to write about. I don't even remember what I wrote about last. And I certainly do not have an idea as to where to begin. So, I guess I'll just start by telling you today's deeds.
 
I finally finished my Executive Management project on "Indian Market - Where to buy top quality items for cheapest prices!" It's the major project for the class and will be displayed during Open House on Monday, July 19, 2004. I created a website for the presentation, which I believe looks really good. I love it! It's user friendly and the surfer can never get lost.
 
The Percussion and Jazz majors had a concert today at 7:30pm. It was really good, but a little long. Towards the end I was not really listening to the music but actually thinking about the website that I had been working on in Computers. Honestly, I do not like it one bit. I have decided that I will re-do it. It will take a lot of effort, but I'm willing to put all that in. It's the one thing I was assigned and it is the one thing I'll refer my family and friends to see. It is the only thing that'll tell the outside public about the GHP Executive Management Majors of 2004. It has to look good! It has to be easy to use!
 
Today, the sky looked extremely pleasant. While walking, in the morning and in the evening, I was not looking straight, but was actually looking at the sky. All those clouds - ah! There are a few things that fascinate me... the sky and the clouds are one of those.
 
Oh! You will not believe what happened today right after majors. I left the classroom at 12pm, but then remembered that I had forgotten my camera and the USB cable. So, I started running back, only I was not lifting my feet properly. I ended up not only falling, but sliding after the fall and slamming my head into the door! Jaws dropped open and everybody around looked at me with their eyes wide open. A few ran towards me and gave me a hand. I remained on the floor for about 7 seconds, trying to accept the fact that I, a 17yrs old girl, had actually embarrassed myself in front of so many people. I couldn't walk properly for about 30 seconds, and heard the phrase, "Geetali, are you okay?" for the next 10 minutes. It was hilarious though. It's one of my GHP moments! I think I'm gonna put it on the website :)
 
The library is about to close, so I better leave. Wish me luck on improving the site. I'm gonna fix it... and I will fix it well!!

"Don't you think she has a pretty little face"

"Don't you think she has a pretty little face" said Miss Suzie all of a sudden while looking at me. Kristen, Emily, and Tiffany had just finished presenting the book Who Moved my Cheese. She really liked their board and wanted to probably suggest something for the display but couldn't really think of anything. Kristen sits right next to me and she had the board with her. While trying to put it on the table for comments, it covered a little bit of my face, and that is when Miss Suzie complimented. :D

Yesterday, an RA read my palm. According to what she saw, I'm very independent, I'm pretty sure in what I want to achieve, and I'll be successfull in whatever I do. My love line is also very solid, I do not jump around in relationships, and before getting involved I think about it a lot. Seems like I'm going to have a long life. In short, a pretty good life :)

The dance on Saturday was not much fun in the beginning, but by the end it got pretty good. Since it was boring at start, Kyle, Steven and I went to the Georgia Hall and just chatted until we heard the song "my heart wheel go on" play. We ran outside, started singing, and then Kyle and I slow danced. After that, we pretty much stayed outside and danced (basically jumped and yelled, but called it "dancing"). I must say though, by the end it got pretty good. They didn't have many good songs this time, I'm probably going to post some hindi/punjabi music CDs tonight for the next dance.

I woke up at 12pm on Sunday. Got dressed, and watched Devdas with the girls on my hall. They liked it. I left in the middle to work on a project with Andrew, but found out that he was out with his parents, so I tried to research some good hindi movies for next Hindi Film Session. I didn't get anything except - DDLJ, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?, and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai :-/ Later that day, they played Mouline Rouge. It was a pretty good movie. I did get tears in my eyes :(

My break's over now, gotta go.

I’m unnecessarily overstuffing myself :(

Food at Palms is not great, but I still overstuff myself. I had dinner 2+ hours ago, and even now I'm so full that my stomach hurts!! Today has been totally crazy. I decided not to eat at Palms because I was tired of eating the same thing everyday (Pasta with Marinara). So, I had bread-bhujia in my dorm. I had had a good amount when I walked out. Yet, when I saw Steven I went into Palms with him so that we could discuss our plans for the evening. Since I was standing in the line talking to him, I also picked up a tray and got corn, a piece of cake, some fries, a bowl of rice, and a glass of coke. The cake I had today is the best thing I've eaten so far at Palms, it was absolutely fresh! Simply loved it!! I didn't finish eating anything else. Rice wasn't good, fries were not very soft, and the corn was too plane. While walking out I got a cup of ice-cream just because it’s the only thing we can take out of the Dining Hall. That overwhelming feeling of actually taking something out makes me take that one cup of vanilla even if I don't have any space in my stomach.

I was full after my minor as well. Again, I didn't have any space for any kind of food, yet I had a bowl of spaghetti, cheese-sticks, another piece of cake, and coke. This time I did not finish eating anything! Still, I ate a good part of whatever I took. Overstuffed, AGAIN!!! This time I did not take ice-cream though, but I did take cherry coke with me. I tried it for the first time today, and it tasted alright. Keep in mind this was after I had already eaten, so that means it really is good!!

In Computers we got started on HTML today. It looks pretty good, I'll get it easily. While working on my assignment in Computers I was listening to some desi songs online. When the class got over, Ms. Jones told me that she has a friend that owns an Indo-Pak store and keeps Indian DVDs. She asked me if I wanted to watch any, and if I did then I should let her know because she can easily get those to me :D. Isn't that great?! We are thinking about putting up a Hindi movie seminar with one or both of the Indian RAs this summer. I'll probably go talk to them about this serious matter ;)

After minors, we went and saw 2 episodes of friends along with some bloopers. I think living here at GHP has made me loose interest in TV as well. Yeah, I was laughing while watching the show, yet I did not really enjoy it. I wonder what's happening to me :-? Later, I played a little Table-Tennis and then began the journey to Palms (just explained the whole deal to you, don't even make me think about it!).

After eating, I decided on going to the Fine Arts building to see what the Theatre majors do there everyday. I liked what I saw, it's really interesting how they exercise and practice. I wish I was one of them.

I've asked Suban to get me some audio CDs that he has. I like the songs I have, but I'm really tired of listening to them. I may also ask Sylvia to let me borrow a few CDs from her collection. Lately, I've been listening to "Mere Khwabo Ka" from the movie "Jism". I've put my player on "Repeat 1" and the same song is played over-n-over again for hours in my room. I just love the words of the songs and the music is also really slow.

Mere Khwabon Ka Har Ek Naksh Mita De Koi
Sukhe Patto Ka Bacha Dher Hai Jala De Koi
Mere Khwabon Ka Har Ek Naksh Mita De Koi

Meri Pehchan Ka Ek Shaks Isi Shehar Mein Hai
Main Bhi Zinda Hoon Zara Usko Bata De Koi
Mere Khwabon Ka Har Ek Naksh Mita De Koi

Kuch To Tanhayi Ka Ehsas Mujhe Kam Hoga
Mere Saaye Se Agar Mujhko Mila De Koi
Mere Khwabon Ka Har Ek Naksh Mita De Koi
Sukhe Patto Ka Bacha Dher Hai Jala De Koi
Mere Khwabon Ka Har Ek Naksh Mita De Koi

Although the words are impressive when you read, they sound a whole lot better with the music and the sur that the singer uses. It's a must listen! I wish I could write something with so much dard in it.

"I just need a cough syrup!"

I caught a cold because the computer lab is extremely cold and the weather outside is extremely hot!! So, for my cold I had been using Vicks VapoRub and Vicks Inhaler, also I had been eating Halls. Since I was coughing so much I decided on going to the Infirmary and getting a bottle of cough syrup. This 2 second job took 20+ minutes. I went there and simply said that I need blah blah. The lady at the front desk asked me to fill out some papers and then to wait for the nurse. I tried to emphasis on knowing what's wrong with me and what I need, but NO, I had to see the nurse according to her. Anyways, so I sat there for 2-3 mins and the nurse came out and mispronounced my name (like everyone else). I corrected her while getting up.

Before going inside she checked my weight. As we went inside a series of crazy questions began that had nothing to do with me getting a bottle of the syrup. "Have you ever had surgery? Have you ever had a fracture or a concussion? Do you have any allergies? Have you suffered from asthma? So, why are you here? When did you catch this cold? Have you been taking any medicines? What type of VapoRub? What is an Inhaler? Do you need anything for the cold?" She also checked my ears and how my lungs were working and my blood pressure and temperature. WHEW!! Finally, I did get what I needed and I fled the scene of boredom and unnecessary delay as soon as possible.

While I was getting this check-up done, Steven was sitting outside waiting for me. I didn't exactly know where the infirmary was so he directed me. Later that day we went to Yoga and to the movie together. Yoga was a little tiresome; the movie, Young Frankenstein, was awesome. I think they are playing Three Triplets of Belleville today, am planning on watching that one as well.

One good thing about GHP is that no matter what you need, no matter how much it costs, whether medical supplies or stationary items or food, it's provided to us GHP students at no cost whatsoever. VSU gets $1.5 million for this 6week summer program from the state of Georgia. We are a bunch of lucky kids!!

Indian movies/music is very popular at GHP

Life's back to normal? Really?? Hmmm...

Weekend was alright. Parents came over on Saturday, checked me out and I spent the night with them. Watched Hum Tum, it was an ok movie, not very great, not very bakwas. I missed the dance on Saturday, but heard that It wasn't a big deal. Coming Saturday's theme is "Super Heroes". I'm dressing us as "Desi Gal" ;)

Today we have a movie playing, don't know which one though. Will be going there with Steven, Brittany, hopefully Suban, and anyone we meet on the way :P. The movie's at 7. Yoga is at 4:30, I think I'll go there today and see what it's like. Tomorrow there's this dating game at 5:30, I signed up for it, let's see how that turns out to be ;)

Other than that, I don't have anything planned. I got started on reading the second book, How to become a CEO. The chapters are really really short, and the book sounds extremely interesting. I think I'm going to enjoy reading this. The due date for this book is June 29. We are also supposed to present what we read to the class. Only Andrew Johnson and I are reading this book, so we'll be teaching the class. It shouldn't be a big deal, the language is easy to understand and so is the concept.

We had a presentation today, but since a speaker had to come in only 3 people went. Kyle Campbell and I (we are working together) will probably go tomorrow. We researched Ted Turner - how he got started, how successful he is, what all the things he founded/started/bought/owned/owns etc. The presentation should be easy-breezy.

Oh! for the last two days I have not been eating lunch at Palms, isn't that great?! I had SUBWAY both the days, but I will go back to eating at Palms from tomorrow. The fun thing about Palms is sneaking things out ;). We are not allowed to take food outside, except icecream and yogurt. I put fruits and crackers in my back all the time. The thing is I hardly eat breakfast in the morning, and usually I get dressed late so it doesn't leave a lot of time to go in, get food, eat it, and stant in the line to put the trays away. So, I get these things the day before and while walking to West Hall (where my major is) I just eat an apple. In the break, I either get out another apple or munch on crackers. Today I was eating bhujia though. Some students asked me what it is, so I offered them some. They thought it was spicy. Haha!! I said, "Oh yeah, maybe. I don't even realize that, since I am so used to eating it." Only a few liked the way it tasted, whereas a lot of people on my hallway liked it when I was eating in on Monday evening.

I discovered that Sylvia, my next door neighbor at my hall, is very much interested in hindi movies and songs. I was so surprised to hear that she loves Mohammad Rafi's voice. There's another girl, Kwanza, that really really liked the movies Devdas and Lagaan. She was singing the songs O ri chori and Radha kaise na jale. She knew the words to them!!! Sylvia has 15 cd's of Indian music. I gotta borrow some from her!!

I better get going now. Gotta get to the gym for Yoga. Chao!

Nobody knows and no one ever will...!!

Nobody ever knows what's going on in someone's head. Neither can this be guessed by how they act or what they write. I write a lot of crap in this blog when I have nothing to do and/or I'm bored, I just come here and start writing about things that I often wonder about. Only I know how I really feel about a certain situation or how I have changed due to a certain happening.

These days I'm back to writing "sad" poems, this does not mean that I am sad all the time or heartbroken. You know, the very first time that I wrote a depressing poem was not because somebody broke my heart, but was because I was about to do something of that sort to someone I knew. So, if after reading my poems you think that I am a "poor soul" then you are WRONG! DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING. If you want to know something, clarify it by asking ME and only ME! Ofcourse, there is a chance that I'll refuse to talk to you about the topic, but you can't believe something that you hear from a third person. And you really can't say that what the person is saying is something that he really wants, because many times we make decisions not to make ourselves happy but to satisfy someone else. Every once in a while we have to sacrifice something we love for the sake of somebody who loves us. This does not mean that we want to leave it.

Please do not ask me to write "happy" stuff just because that is how I need to be. THAT IS WRONG!! If I need to cry I WILL CRY! Crying and writing whatever keeps my system clean. This is how I get everything out from inside that is bothering me. That is why my shayris blog's subtitle is "thoughts of the conscience and the sub-conscience mind." Althought I do not think of those things regularly or on purpose, they still are hidden somewhere inside me. I'm just getting them out!!

Geetali Sharma

I need Halls!

I had two ice-creams today and my throat does not seem to be good. I need Halls, will ask mom to get me a pack when she comes down here to see me on Saturday.

The presentation went well today. Mrs Suzie liked each and everyone of those. She has been saying since the first day of the program that this year she has a really good group, she can feel it. While commenting on our performances today she said, "This is just the beginning, you'll give even better as move on, and I am going to say, I loved this one. None of my past groups have ever done such a thing before." She expects quite a lot of us. I think even I'm willing to do my best in this case.

I do not remember what I had for lunch. But I do know that I did not eat everything :-?

Minors started today at 1:30pm, I got into Computers. Yup! We got a lot to do before the end of these 6 weeks. Learn quite a lot and then apply all that in the making of the website. It's gonna be fun, I'm sure! In the class first everybody introduced themselves - name, major, background, why they chose this minor, and something that they like about GHP. For the rest of the period, we first "played" sort of a bingo where they gave us a sheet which had 25 some things written on it. We were supposed to walk around and find people whose personalities it most likely matched. Whoever finished first got a Chik-fil-A meal. After this "fun" activity we aswered a few basic questions about ourselves, typed them up, took a picture and put that on the paper aswell, printed it out, placed it in a folder and then left as the class got over.

Later I went to my dorm, dropped my stuff on the bed and stormed downstairs to attend a seminar. Decided on playing spades. Won 436 to 76 - hahaha!! I'm the Best ;) While I was playing, my cell rang, it was mom. So, I was talking as well as trying to concentrate on the game. It went fine, we still won! Wooohooo!! Haha, I don't even know why I'm excited about this, it's just a game... and so is life. Winning, loosing sab chalta hi rehta hai.

Waise, life's not bad. Yeah, there are a few days that don't go well, but if one just continues to think about that and does not try to come out of his depression then he is hurting himself. Because sooner or later, everybody has to move on. Life changes man, and we need to change with it. Nothing stays still, 'cause if it did then there's no point in living. Not knowing what to expect in the future is what makes life exciting and adventurous. Plus, everything that happens, helps us learn a lesson. It may take a while to understand the meaning behind it, but it will come to us! Just keep smiling, and "hoping for the best".

Don't cry because it's over, but smile because it happened.

I simply love this saying. Gotta apply it too. It happened yaar, and it did happen for a reason. Yes, I did learn something, am not sure what, but I know I did. Do I want to move on? - NO! But, do I need to? - YES!! Do I want to forget what happened? - YES! But will I be able to? - NO!! ... So, remember it and cherish the memories forever. Yes, I will "<<.........>>" every now and then, he will too. IMH : jaane kyun.

I wrote another sher yesterday. I like that one too. Interesting, huh?? and man, you know, these are the sad sort of shers. Wow! dukh bhare geet hum phirse gaane lage. :O I just wrote another one, took me 4 mins, I like this one too. You know, even if I'm not sad or not smiling at the moment, I can still write something of that sort. Please don't think that I'm depressed and can't find to do anything, 'cause this happens with me all the time. Split personality sort of a thing, hmm :-?

Anyways, back to today. I will be going to the bedtime stories seminar today. Wear my nightsuit and walk to the Mezz in my slippers and listen to them. So cute na. Then I'll go to bed, probably wake up early in the morning. By the way, Nana-Nani are coming to see me tomorrow. So, right after my major I'll give them a call to see where they are. Oh my god! This means no Palms meal tomorrow... WOOHOOO!!! Nani's bringing me bhujia, yippy!! I love eating bhujia with bread, kya bindas maal hai, kasam se. Try it sometime!

Ok man, I better get going. Gotta get ready for the stories :D
Good Night! Shubh Ratri! Shabba Khair! Buenos Noches!

GHP = nothing like school

Life at GHP is great! It's nothing like school. Yeah! we do get assignments and projects and classwork and dormwork and we do try our best to go above and beyond, but we do not get a grade for anything! All this for no grade, no scolding, no nothing!! Just being here marks us apart from everybody else. They keep on repeating that the 675 students present here at the Governor's Honors Program are the TOP 1% of Georgia's High School students. This is a great honor in itself. I'm thankful to Mrs. Brew for nominating me. and I am proud of myself that I made it through both the interviews. GO ME!!

Today at my major we made Stress Balls. We also had to come up with an advertisement for it. Amber and I are working on it together. The presentation is tomorrow. We'll be doing a skit. Also, I have to read The One Minute Manager tonight. I have only read the first page so far. The book is not long and at most should take only 1:30 hours. I will finish reading it if I choose not to play games or attend any seminars.

I met couple of other GHPers today. They are really fun. We started out playing Egyptian Rat Screw and then moved on to Uno, making up our own rules and eliminating whoever and however. Nick, Tarun, Robert, Derin, Steven, Joey, Emily, Kristen, Merissa, and I had pizza at The Loop in the University Union after the crazy game session. Pizzza was not that good.

The Faculty Recital that was held yesterday was so-so. My eyes were trying to fall asleep, but I had to keep them open. After the Recital I met a few other desis. Sameer Gupta, a guy with glasses and some other dude. The guy with the glasses is really polite and respectful, he's majoring in Theatre. Sameer and the other dude are Soc Studs. Today, I met 2 desi gals - Pooja (Math) and Sheila (Soc Stud, I think). The ABCDs here are so much nicer than the one's back at the school. I guess it's the "Top 1%" thing, who knows.

I finally signed up for Computers, Soc Stud, and Math for my minor. Desided on Computers because they'll be teaching Flash, Macromedia and all that sort of stuff, plus they'll be designing the GHP 2004 website. I'm kinda interested in all those things, plus designing the website is like leaving an impression. Students, Teachers, RAs, Faculty, Parents, everybody will check out the site from this year. Students who get nominated next year will also try to see what GHP is like through the site. So, I want to be a part of it :)

This Saturday we are having the Twin Dance. I haven't decided who I will be pairing up with. It doesn't really matter as long as you go there and have a good time. I'm hoping to meet great guys ;)... by the way, TP looks really good, so does SG and there's this other desi dude who looks kinda nice and seems to have a quite personality, I hope to talk to him soon :) and about TP, I didn't even see him until today, but pretty good for a first day meet :D

Nana and Nani are probably going to come see me on Friday. I'm gonna ask them to bring me some Bikaneri Bhujia and Haldiram mixtures. Other than that I'm not sure yet, but I will think of something soon!

I haven't been getting up early in the morning like I planned to so that I could run in the morning. Hmm.. let's see how tomorrow goes. I think I'll be attending the Yoga session tomorrow, just to see what it's like. The students who went yesterday said it was pretty vigrous and that they're not sure about the next time. Hmm.. interesting!

I guess I'll get back to my dorm now. Gotta read that book!!

Complicated life + Day2 at GHP

I am a little down today. Yeah I do know the reason. Nope! I’m not homesick, that’s never the case!! Anyways…

Today I did not do much, and I’m not planning anything either. I was late for breakfast, just had 2 bananas. Ate pasta and salad at lunch, & put some crackers in the pocket ;). Talked to mom and Hansag. Haven’t yet attended any of today’s orientations, am about to leave though. After the orientations I’m just going to read the book The One Minute Manager, which will probably take an hour and then I’ll go to that faculty recital. I know it will be fun, the only thing I’m concerned about is whether I’ll be able to enjoy it or not.

Why is life so complicated? I know we ourselves make it this way but there’s no way to straighten everything up either. After a really long time I wrote a 4 liner, and I actually like it. I like it! And it’s NOT about Mr. Flattered… it has nothing to do with Nem, and I like it, huh!

I just feel like listening to slow, sad, songs/gazals/oldies. If anybody who reads this blog has any such numbers in mind please leave me a message with the song name and singer/album. I’ll appreciate it a whole lot!

Oh, by the way… the library at Valdosta State is just awesome. In case you don’t know, Governor’s Honors Program is held at Valdosta State University in Georgia. This is really like a college experience and I’m glad I’m here.

Ok, so what is GHP? Hmm… tell or not to tell :-? How about this – you check out the official GHP site for now and I’ll explain it on my own if I feel like it, or if I have time, or if I’m not down, or some other time.

All of the students here are so smart god! I feel so stupid. I did get a compliment that I “sound” smart… well… hmm… interesting! And my roommate is great. Her name’s Katie urf Kate and she is majoring in Piano. Woohoo! I know a musician ;) and you all know a future Business women – Geetali Sharma who is majoring in Executive Management.

I attended the orientations for Fitness, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Technology yesterday. They all sound really fun. It’s really hard to decide which one to pick, but I think I’m going to put Soc Stud as my first choice, Tech as second, and Math as the third one. Science is also great. They’ll be doing Genetics, Forensics, Ecology, Anatomy, Chemistry, blowing stuff up and a lot more! Soc Stud is mostly discussion of a number of things such as Philosophy, American family life, the 1960s, Criminology, and the rest I forgot. In Tech we’ll be programming robots, learning AutoCad, making t-shirts and a few other things. Math is more on the fun side, well so is everything else, but in math they’ll teach us writing programs, doing mental math (and I mean LARGE numbers), playing chess, drawing tessellations, and you get the idea. Fitness is kachra!

Ok, gotta go now… later!

Governor's Honors Program

I am finally at GHP and believe it or not I’m having loads of fun. Today is just the first day… and seriously there’s so much to do here. I have a feeling I’m going to have a bindas summer.

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on Sunday and we left at 6-6:30 to get here. Arrived here at 9:45 although my check-in time was 9:30 (but you know us Indians are always late!!). Okay then, checked in and unpacked all my stuff (btw, although it’s a dorm, it looks really good :-?). Parents went to an orientation and after that we had lunch at Subway. Students had their orientation at 3:30pm (mom-dad left then) and right after that we had dinner (which was ok) then dorm meeting, then another student meeting, then gender meeting, then another dorm meeting…whew!! It was very, very, very tiring. I hit the showers after everything and at 11:30pm lights were out. I slept pretty well.

This morning I woke up at 6:30 and left the building around 7:40. Had breakfast, and was later for my class :-$. After the 4 hour class I had lunch. Since then I have been attending orientations for minor courses.

Whatever I just told you won’t make sense unless you know what this GHP is. Unfortunately, I don’t have time right now… maybe tomorrow.

Okie-dokes… see ya later!

Learning Spanish from Bernal

Ok, it’s not like I hate Spanish. It’s a pretty fun language, and I would love to learn more of it, but that teacher! AAAAAAHHHH!!!! :((

Mrs. Bernal’s really nice at heart; I don’t have anything bad to say about her as a person – HONEST! But her teaching style GHOSH!! I am there to learn the foreign language; this does not mean I understand what she’s going on and on and on about in that anjani boli. She stands up there, blabbing something for 5 minutes, ends with the word “comprender” and her work is done. Then she gets busy with whatever. As soon as she is out we start looking around and the entire classroom fills with – “What did she say? What does she want us to do?” and not a single person knows what our task for the particular day is!!

So we just do something (mostly engage in “mature, academic” talks) and when she asks for the work (hahah.. here comes the fun part), our response usually is, “you never gave us an assignment.” Then, she tells us what to do. This time, finally, in Ingles!

Then we start working on that 15 MINUTE assignment; don’t do anything else for the next 2-3 DAYS!! :D …now, this is what I mean by saying – “Learning Spanish from Bernal” Am loving every bit of it! ;)

Hasta La Vista!