Slow Me Down

Walking around campus, it's pretty easy to identify all the freshmen students. It's as if someone took a Sharpie and wrote "NOOB" across their forehead. Something about them is just so different. Maybe it's that joyous look they have on their faces that they're finally in college- a look which goes away quickly enough when they start going to classes. Maybe it's the clueless look they have when they're trying to figure out if Engineering Lecture Room 1 and Engineering Lecture Theater 1 are the same place. Whatever it is it makes it pretty easy to notice them.

Their most defining characteristic-for me at least- is their age. They all look so much like little kids walking around in adults clothing (especially the really small Indian girls! Some of them are so tiny!!). I know fully well that they are most two years younger than me, and that there is a chance that some of them may be in fact older than me, but it doesn't stop them for all appearing like children to me. And to be honest with you, that scares me a lot. It's only been a little over a year now since I start university, and yet already I see a such a large gap between myself and the new entrants to the school. It's as if I walked around the corner and BAM! - an entire year just slipped past.

We are often asked the question "If you knew you were going to die soon, what would you do?" People typically answer by saying that they'd do all they things they wanted to do in life, but never got to do. Things like flying to France, climbing Mt. Everest, eating at a special restaurant, swimming the Atlantic Ocean, and even less noble wishes like getting laid or robbing a store. You see it all the time on the news and on various other media, where people are doing daredevil crazy things because their doctor gave them a couple of months to live. I, however, really don't see the point in that. We spend our entire life rushing from one thing to another, going to school, work, home, church and many other places. We engage in as many sports as we can, learn to play several instruments and hang out and party for as long as time allows. Why is it that when we know we're going to die that we do the exact same things?

Like I said above, time is flying by at an unbelievable rate. Soon we'd look back and see exactly how small the footprints behind us are. But it doesn't mean that we should try to pack our every waking moment with activities so that never feel like we're doing 'nothing'. If we do that, in the end, all we'd have to look back at are the things we didn't get to accomplish. Sometimes doing nothing is good. Just to take one day, every once in a while, and do nothing at all. Perhaps watch some TV, listen to some music or take a walk. To just stop rushing through life for a moment and just live. I'm not saying to be lazy, but not to be so obsessed with your life that you miss it.

Tomorrow isn't guaranteed, so technically, we all don't have much time to live. If I were to find out that I were to die soon, I wouldn't rush around trying to accomplish a bucket list of goals. I'd do what I've always like doing. Watching loads of anime. Reading science fiction novels. Hanging out with my friends and laughing till our eyes run water and our sides hurt. Spontaneously going on long excursions to buy Japs. That way when the end comes, all the memories I have of my last days, would be of the things I love. The name of this post comes from a song by Emmy Rossum, which pretty much captures the entire idea of the post. There's one line that stands out though. It goes "All that I've missed I see in the reflection, passed me while I wasn't paying attention." Don't let that be you. Learn to slow down.

P.S. OH OH OH!!!! I need to tell you this. One of the persons responsible for inspiring this blog, Elizabeth Thræn has written a blog post in response to yesterday's post!! I'm am soo excited!!! You can read it here!

You can also listen to the song mentioned in today's post here.
See you guys tomorrow!!

The Artistic Engineer

Hey. I'm Jeremiah Oji. I'm 21 and I'm in my second year of Industrial Engineering. First things first :Why exactly am I blogging?

Last night, before I fell asleep, I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about all the stuff I spent my day looking up on the internet. I thought about how teenagers and young people, my age and younger, were all over the internet, showing off what they did be it comics, videos or blogs just like this one. Some were were awesome, some were stupid, and some were just plain boring. But whether or not they succeeded in what they had intended to do, they all succeeded in one thing: they got someone, somewhere in the world, who otherwise didn't even know they existed, to hear their story. To see the world through a new pair of eyes. And so, as a someone whose burning passion is to write -any and everything-I thought that I would join this train. That I would write a daily blog on pretty much anything I felt that I need to write, post it here, so that someone elsewhere would get a little glimpse of me and what's it like to be me. To see the world with new eyes. So starting today and continuing as long as God spares life (or until I get bored and lose interest), I'll post little something from my writing.

As for the name of the blog, that's still up in the air. Some of my friends said that it was good, some said that it was boring, and said that it was alright. But here's the reason for the name:

There's a rumor that goes around campus-and I daresay, the world at large- that engineers are good at only two things - science and math. And unless you have some inherent fascination with either of those, you tend to find them both rather boring. Well, you see that's not true. Despite my current academic trajectory, I am very interested in the more artistic side of life, especially writing. I'm the artistic engineer. And this is my domain. But let me know if you guys come up with any better suggestions.

So until tomorrow, farewell.



Oh, I almost forgot. As I mentioned, my inspiration for the idea of a blog came from young people across the world, but I really must give credit to two people in especially:

A beautiful YouTuber named Kimmi Smiles
check out her channel here http://www.youtube.com/user/kimmitalks
Her zombie videos are full of win!

The other person is a fellow blogger/writer/playwright/artist/generally awesome person Elizabeth Marie Thræn. Support her daily blog here http://ersatzeloquence.blogspot.com/

Well, bye!