Jul 31, 2004

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.

Jul 30, 2004

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!)

Jul 27, 2004

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!


Jul 25, 2004

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!

Jul 24, 2004

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


Jul 22, 2004

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

Jul 19, 2004

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 !!

Jul 16, 2004

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!!
 

Jul 15, 2004

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!!