Good Days

Taylor Swift, one of my favorite singers, has a song called “Today was a Fairytale”. While my day didn’t exactly display the hallmarks of a fairytale, it was pretty awesome all the same.

I guess you could say that it actually started last night. I successfully finished my Bible study preparation the night before, and I had posted a link to my blog on Kimmi Smiles’ wall. I got a really good night’s sleep.

I woke up at a pretty normal time and caught a ride to school with my mom. While in school, I checked my blog stats, and found that I had a blog view from Australia, on the exact same post that I had linked the night before! My day went uphill from there. I found out that we once again had a working vending machine in the undercroft, found a cheaper way to print all of the scripture sheets for Bible study succeeded in actually studying Work Study. I had a wonderful Bible study, that finished right on time, so that I could get to class just as it started, without missing anything.

I would have thought that the good luck would have ended there, but it didn’t. I went to Solid Works, got paired with Justin, the drawing genius of the class, finished the tutorials before the teacher did (with Justin’s help of course) and even figured out something he couldn’t! And on my way home I got call saying that I was selected to chair the next IVCF general meeting.

Now I know that these things don’t seem horribly exciting. In fact you may be thinking “What the hell is this guy babbling about?”. But it doesn’t take winning a million dollars or hooking up with a uber hot girl to make a day awesome. It’s the little things that make life sweet. Like today.

So that’s pretty much it. No life lessons today. Just pretty happy to be happy. Let’s hope tomorrow follows suite.

I hope you guys are happy too. See you tomorrow!! :)

Keep Smiling

Now anyone who has read my very first post knows that I’m a big fan of Kimmi Smiles. She’s funny, beautiful and partially responsible for my inspiration to create this blog. Anybody who watches her videos knows that she’s a cheerful, upbeat and an all-round happy person. But I’d often ask myself, how could someone be so incredibly happy? We live in a harsh, mean and uncompromising world. No matter how hard we try, bad things are going to happen to us. We can be happy now, but something will come up and rob us of it. It never lasts. So why be so happy at all?

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to wondered that. So in a short note, Kimmi answered the simple question of “Why are you so happy?” with an equally simple answer: “Just because.” Why not be happy? Here’s a short excerpt from the note:

“There is no point to getting stressed out, worried, sad, angry, jealous, annoyed and so on. Of course we can’t control these emotions, but I personally believe there is a positive side to everything that happens.”

And you know what? She is absolutely right.

This morning, I re-read yesterday’s post, and yes, I do feel stupid. Why should I be mad that I have to stay up and write a blog post? You guys keep coming here everyday and keep reading what very well maybe the ramblings of a crazy guy. No one pays or forces you to read them, but you still do it. And then you come back to tell me how wonderful you think my writing is. You guys make me happy. So why should I be mad? I shouldn’t. It may make me unhappy if I have to stay up an extra half an hour, but the happiness I draw from your support clearly outweighs any ill feeling. That’s a clear positive right there.

So if you guys are reading this and you’re harboring some negative emotion, let it go and look for the positive. There always is one. Pain and suffering cannot exist without joy and happiness. Sometimes it's hard to see the positive, but just knowing that it's there help a lot. If you ever feel down and out, try doing this: Think about some time in the past when you were happy and remember how you felt. Then think that no matter how hopeless your current situation may seem, you’ll feel that way again one day. That always cheers me up. Our life is too short to waste it being gloomy.

If you want you could read the full note here.

So I’ll see you guys tomorrow. And like Kimmi says : Keep smiling :)

Happy Weekliversary!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen! It has been exactly one week since I started this blog. Does it seem like such a short time to you? Because for me, it was one of the longest weeks of my life. Looking back, I guess I didn’t really know what blogging entailed before this week. It’s not about just sitting in front my laptop night after night and typing complete randomness. Every time I published a post, it was like I was discovering a little part of myself that I didn’t know existed. Some of the things I wrote were things that I’ve always known, but never thought about with such sharp clarity. These self discoveries didn’t come easy, and I have feeling that they’re going to become even more difficult in the future. But this week has also brought some of the best experiences I’ve ever had. So I’m going to list some of them (the ones that I remember!) in this post

September 13th: The Artistic Engineer
This blog was little more than and idea, but a firm idea at that. That night, I agonized over what to name it, finally decided to stick with “Artsy Engineering”. I will never forget the out-pouring of support that came from my friends when I posted the first link of Facebook. My friend, Elizabeth’s comment boosted my confidence in my blogging abilities. I was on an emotional high for the rest of the night.

September 14th: Perfect Imperfections
I was afraid that all the initial excitement from the first day would die down, but to my surprise, the momentum kept right on going. I was even more thrilled when Elizabeth decided that her blog post for the next day was going to be based on mine. It's a really good feeling to know that you had inspired the person that inspired you.

September 15th: Slow Me Down
This post garnered a view from someone in Japan! Being a fan of all things Japanese, I was uberly happy over that one view.

September 16th: Fellowship
This was one of my shortest blog posts, and I thought that it probably wouldn’t have that much of an impact. That was until one of my friends messaged me on Facebook and told me how much the post had meant to her. She didn’t know it, but I almost cried when I read her message. I felt so stupid that I had underestimated the how much my writing could affect people. It was probably the biggest encouragement that I had had all week.

September 17th: Indecisive
This was one of those learning experiences that I was talking about above. I had to dig deep down to find something to write about. And in the end the answer presented itself in the most unexpected and novel of ways.

September 18th: Mythical Creature Saturday – Zombies
I was honestly worried that this was going to flop. But the general response I got was that it was ‘very entertaining’. I didn’t know that I could do ‘very entertaining’.

And today, one of my friends stopped me in one of the hallways at school, shook my hand and told me how much he enjoyed my blog and that I should keep it up.

I started this blog with the goal of letting others see life through someone else’s eyes. And after one week I realized that I was nothing only allowing others to see life differently, but I was also seeing life differently myself. So as I continue on this journey of self discovery, I ask you guys to come along with me. Without you, these posts mean nothing. I’m sure I left out a lot of the things that you guys helped me learn this past week and I want to thank you all from the depths of my heart. You have no idea how much your input and support mean to me. Hopefully as we continue, we’ll discover much much more, together. When I’m with you guys, I’m never alone.

“Blog = speaking out loud. Its like taking a megaphone louder than a bomb exploding and telling everyone your message.” – Gerard R.

See you guys tomorrow!!

P.S. I want to give special thanks to Shanu and Justin. You’re the best supporters a blogger could have!!

Fellowship

Today, I was invited to a welcome party/concert that IVCF Mt. Hope was throwing to invite all of their freshman students. Let me just quickly define two terms in the above sentence. IVCF stands for “Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship”, which is a local arm of an international organization which helps Christian youths in college to meet others of the same belief. Their motto is “To know Christ and to make Him known.” If I seem to know a lot about this organization it’s because I’m part of the executive this year as the Bible-Study Coordinator. And Mt. Hope is the a branch of the local university UWI (University of the West Indies) which focuses on the study of medical sciences. Now on to the blog.

The amphitheatre where the event was being held wasn’t very full, and some of the equipment wasn’t working or available, so it started late and some of the stuff had to brought in while to show was going on. It ran into overtime, so by the time it was over, most of the target audience had already left. Some people may have thought that all this would have meant little success for the event. Not for me however. I might as well been sitting in the front row seat of a concert thrown by some “internationally acclaimed” rock star. Everything was awesome. The music, the songs, the spoken word, the icebreaker games…everything was just wonderful.

I guess that the real reason behind my feeling so was the fact that I was with a whole bunch of people who shared the same beliefs and interests with me. We could have been outside in a field with no instruments or speakers and it still would have been awesome. I guess there’s no real substitute for being around people who are just like you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Christian or not, or if you’re religious at all. There’s a kindred feeling that comes with feeding off of the energy of those around you. If you have the time, you should join the local youth group, or club or sports team, or pretty much whatever interests you. You’d be glad you did.

I’d like to give special shout out the the Mt. Hope IVCF executive. You guys did great in putting on the show. I hope to see more like it in the future! :)

So, till tomorrow guys! Bye!

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!!