Thursday, December 25
SOWMYA HAS FOUND AN INTERNET CONNECTION
Hi Everyone! I'm in India! However, I do not have much time or battery life left to make a decent post, so I will just let you all know that we've been here for a few days now and it's all very, very exciting. I have LOTS to tell you, I promise, but right now I'm inside my tour car which is parked on the road in the middle of downtown Delhi bumming off someone's wifi. Bye for now!
Friday, December 19
Why sleep is so underrated
There was once a time in my life when "severely procrastinating" on a project or assignment meant staying up until 2:00 AM to finish it and then bragging about getting only 5 hours of sleep to awestruck classmates. This was in the 6th grade.
And then came high school, where all-nighters became the thing to do when I decided that I would skip sleeping altogether so that I could study/work at a leisurely pace throughout the night. The added benefit to this was that I could be wide awake when the alarm went off at 6:30 and completely avoid the whole annoying "waking up" part. Usually, a dose of caffeine in the form of Bru coffee (or just spoons of instant coffee powder) would sustain me through the night when I showed signs of nodding off.
And here we are now, in college. Our bedtimes are...wait...what bedtimes? We are so experienced at staying up that sometimes, it feels as if we don't even sleep anymore. We are so good at all-nighting that we don't even use caffeine. The training wheels have come off. We are PROS.
Here, now, is the greatest irony. I actually did NOT procrastinate in studying for my Physics 211 and Chemistry 112 test. I didn't. In fact, I was completely done studying at about 1:30 (a very decent bedtime) though I was in a room with Moksha, Ramya, Arthi, and Shivam. Tension levels were peaking at about 2:00 as the girls crammed formulas into their caffeine wired brains and poured information into their short-term memories, only to have it leak out 5 to 6 seconds later. Moksha was having several mental breakdowns about the physics exam (and talked in her sleep while taking a nap), while Arthi had basically just given up on life itself, knowing that she had 4 hours to study for 3 separate exams. Ramya and Shivam were just being themselves: loser and loserer respectively.
The irony is that while the others fought off sleep to continue studying, I actually tried to go to sleep and couldn't do it. Okay, maybe my sleep schedule was a little off at 2:00. I tried sleeping again at about 3:00. Nope. At 4:15, I shut off all the lights, made everyone in the room shut up, and sincerely tried to descend into slumber. Didn't happen. I was so desperate by 5:00 that I went upstairs to Arthi and Moksha's empty dorm room to try and sleep...to no avail!
As pathetic as it sounds, that's what happened. After trying to fall asleep several times, I ended up all-nighting (against my wishes) before taking my last two final exams. Fearing that I'd fall asleep during the Physics, I gulped down a double-shot espresso and had jitters throughout the entire exam, as if the tough problems weren't already making things difficult. So for the rest of the day, I suffered for that unnecessary caffeine with an upset stomach.
Moral of the story: Don't use caffeine. SLEEP WHILE YOU CAN.
You are probably wondering what I am doing making a blog post when I said that I probably wouldn't get a chance to make one before leaving the country. Well, my bus to Boston got postponed due to crappy weather until 10:00 AM tomorrow, so I am choosing this as an opportunity to rest and to give you all an update of my life.
On a much, much lighter note: my first real semester at Penn State has successfully come to a close. :D
And then came high school, where all-nighters became the thing to do when I decided that I would skip sleeping altogether so that I could study/work at a leisurely pace throughout the night. The added benefit to this was that I could be wide awake when the alarm went off at 6:30 and completely avoid the whole annoying "waking up" part. Usually, a dose of caffeine in the form of Bru coffee (or just spoons of instant coffee powder) would sustain me through the night when I showed signs of nodding off.
And here we are now, in college. Our bedtimes are...wait...what bedtimes? We are so experienced at staying up that sometimes, it feels as if we don't even sleep anymore. We are so good at all-nighting that we don't even use caffeine. The training wheels have come off. We are PROS.
Here, now, is the greatest irony. I actually did NOT procrastinate in studying for my Physics 211 and Chemistry 112 test. I didn't. In fact, I was completely done studying at about 1:30 (a very decent bedtime) though I was in a room with Moksha, Ramya, Arthi, and Shivam. Tension levels were peaking at about 2:00 as the girls crammed formulas into their caffeine wired brains and poured information into their short-term memories, only to have it leak out 5 to 6 seconds later. Moksha was having several mental breakdowns about the physics exam (and talked in her sleep while taking a nap), while Arthi had basically just given up on life itself, knowing that she had 4 hours to study for 3 separate exams. Ramya and Shivam were just being themselves: loser and loserer respectively.
The irony is that while the others fought off sleep to continue studying, I actually tried to go to sleep and couldn't do it. Okay, maybe my sleep schedule was a little off at 2:00. I tried sleeping again at about 3:00. Nope. At 4:15, I shut off all the lights, made everyone in the room shut up, and sincerely tried to descend into slumber. Didn't happen. I was so desperate by 5:00 that I went upstairs to Arthi and Moksha's empty dorm room to try and sleep...to no avail!
As pathetic as it sounds, that's what happened. After trying to fall asleep several times, I ended up all-nighting (against my wishes) before taking my last two final exams. Fearing that I'd fall asleep during the Physics, I gulped down a double-shot espresso and had jitters throughout the entire exam, as if the tough problems weren't already making things difficult. So for the rest of the day, I suffered for that unnecessary caffeine with an upset stomach.
Moral of the story: Don't use caffeine. SLEEP WHILE YOU CAN.
You are probably wondering what I am doing making a blog post when I said that I probably wouldn't get a chance to make one before leaving the country. Well, my bus to Boston got postponed due to crappy weather until 10:00 AM tomorrow, so I am choosing this as an opportunity to rest and to give you all an update of my life.
On a much, much lighter note: my first real semester at Penn State has successfully come to a close. :D
Tuesday, December 16
Fasten your lungis.
^How cool would that be?In case I am caught up in the fervor of studying for Mechanics and Gen Chem,. I might not make another blog post before I take off to India. I will be going home on Friday, and I think we are leaving the country on Sunday, so the chances are also very slim that I'll be able to see my favorite Bedfordians/Westfordians. Therefore, I would like to:
1. Wish you all a fabulous Christmas, New Years, and winter break!
2. Laugh in your faces because I will be in a warm country
3. Let Sanjana know that her digital homemade birthday card will be ready soon
4. Wish Praneetha an early "heppy burthaday"
5. Inform everybody about the new transliteration feature that blogger provides. Observe:
"Namaste" becomes:
नमस्ते (hindi)
ನಮಸ್ತೆ (kannada)
നമസ്തെ (malayalam)
நமஸ்தே (tamil)
నమస్తే (telugu...duh)
EDIT: I completely forgot...I recently went to the HUB, took a survey, entered a raffle, and within 10 minutes, won a nice Penn State Rosebowl sweatshirt! And I was cold, too! I really like it when things work in my favor.
Another important update: I have decided to stay in India a week longer than was previously planned! Yes! I will therefore be missing another first week at Penn State (this has started to become a habit, hasn't it?)! What this means: more eating of fatty foods, more shopping, more seeing of beautiful sights, and less being at school.
And definitely keep checking back, because I will be blogging as much as possible (whenever I have computer access) during my trip. I know you all have nothing better to do. jkjkjkjkjk. I love you all! I'll miss you!!
Tata!
Tuesday, December 9
Sa Ri Ga Ma...
The below post lacks coherence because of the state of my brain at the moment. I apologize.
Music makes life beautiful.
Yes, it does.
Before I continue on that thought, I should highlight the past few days: the fruit and vegetable diet went remarkably well (but ended today after I started experiencing Nutella withdrawal symptoms) and I started working out again. I will even go practice dance tonight. And yesterday, I earned ten bucks participating in a Psychology study, where I was hooked up to a polygraph machine! Very cool stuff. Back to what I saying earlier:
Music.
Other things make life awesome, such as fruit (mainly pineapples), xkcd, and the Firefox addon which lets me write in Telugu all over my blog. But music? It's a constant. It's fundamental. It's essential (what would you dance to?).
Therefore, I am looking forward to Music Season in Chennai this December. I am also looking forward to shopping and sightseeing when it's NOT over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
Small anecdote: there was this one horrible summer day when I felt like buying shoes so my cousin took me to a mall in T. Nagar. Then, the air conditioner stopped working. There was an Aadi sale, so it was so crowded that it was impossible to see more than 1 feet in front me (I am not exaggerating even a LITTLE bit). It was packed, shoulder to shoulder, and everyone sweating like it had rained indoors. We were on the 7th floor when we found out that we had lost both my mom and aunt, and we didn't have a cellphone. Trying to use an elevator was impossible, so we had to use the stairs to search every floor multiple times for our moms. It was the most disgusting experience of my life. It felt so good to finally step out of the building into the pleasant 98 degree outdoors. Next time, I don't care if I don't have shoes; I will walk barefoot if necessary. I am looking forward to not doing that ever again in my life. This time will be much better.
Anyways, as I was saying, music is awesome and life would suck without it.
Again, sorry about the fragmentedness of that post. I'll make a better post after my Ochem and Psych finals.
Music makes life beautiful.
Yes, it does.
Before I continue on that thought, I should highlight the past few days: the fruit and vegetable diet went remarkably well (but ended today after I started experiencing Nutella withdrawal symptoms) and I started working out again. I will even go practice dance tonight. And yesterday, I earned ten bucks participating in a Psychology study, where I was hooked up to a polygraph machine! Very cool stuff. Back to what I saying earlier:
Music.
Other things make life awesome, such as fruit (mainly pineapples), xkcd, and the Firefox addon which lets me write in Telugu all over my blog. But music? It's a constant. It's fundamental. It's essential (what would you dance to?).
Therefore, I am looking forward to Music Season in Chennai this December. I am also looking forward to shopping and sightseeing when it's NOT over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
Small anecdote: there was this one horrible summer day when I felt like buying shoes so my cousin took me to a mall in T. Nagar. Then, the air conditioner stopped working. There was an Aadi sale, so it was so crowded that it was impossible to see more than 1 feet in front me (I am not exaggerating even a LITTLE bit). It was packed, shoulder to shoulder, and everyone sweating like it had rained indoors. We were on the 7th floor when we found out that we had lost both my mom and aunt, and we didn't have a cellphone. Trying to use an elevator was impossible, so we had to use the stairs to search every floor multiple times for our moms. It was the most disgusting experience of my life. It felt so good to finally step out of the building into the pleasant 98 degree outdoors. Next time, I don't care if I don't have shoes; I will walk barefoot if necessary. I am looking forward to not doing that ever again in my life. This time will be much better.
Anyways, as I was saying, music is awesome and life would suck without it.
Again, sorry about the fragmentedness of that post. I'll make a better post after my Ochem and Psych finals.
Sunday, December 7
Blecchhh
What's disgusting, gets stuck in your teeth, and has fewer calories than water?
Yes.
Celery.
It's what I'm (literally) gritting my teeth for this week. I am on a mission to eat only fresh, plant derived foods this entire week. The worse it tastes, the better. Why am I going through this self-induced torture, you ask? To build enough character before the end of this semester. I'm hoping that this new and temporary diet, along with a healthy dose of stressful cramming for finals, will reestablish my self worth. I will feel truly great about myself again before I leave for India. Ok, fine. I'm trying to make up for all the crap I ate and the studying that I didn't do over Thanksgiving break.
This is why I ask that if anyone sees me slacking: watching YouTube videos, eyeing a piece of candy, or gambling with cards again, please reprimand me. If you are really my friend, you will do this. If you live too far away to do this, you should call and talk to me...for moral support of course ;D.
In other news, today was my first Sangeetham class in State College! It was terrific.
In more other news, I've been hunting down really old Telugu albums. By really old, I mean like in the past 20 years. I found Gentleman, Roja, and Narasimha, all of which are by AR Rahman, and it turns, out, they're ALL originally Tamil songs! What the hell! What happened to the good, original Telugu music? I will find it.
One more thing: I have decided that it is best for my studies and focus if I do not visit 109 Stephens for the rest of the semester. 109 Stephens is Ramya and Malinda's room, though now it is more like Ramya, Malinda, Moksha, Arthi, and Shivam's room. Every time I go there to "study physics", I am forced to play cards. After playing cards, if I ever express the desire to leave, I am pinned to the bed by multiple people and tickled. This happened yesterday as well, and I only managed to escape by slipping into the crack between the two beds and crawling out underneath. When I finally managed to escape the room with a cunning trick, I think someone started to chase me, so I didn't stop running until I got ot Porter Hall. The situation is getting to be very dangerous and I think I will confine myself to my own room and lock the door from now on.
Yes.
Celery.
It's what I'm (literally) gritting my teeth for this week. I am on a mission to eat only fresh, plant derived foods this entire week. The worse it tastes, the better. Why am I going through this self-induced torture, you ask? To build enough character before the end of this semester. I'm hoping that this new and temporary diet, along with a healthy dose of stressful cramming for finals, will reestablish my self worth. I will feel truly great about myself again before I leave for India. Ok, fine. I'm trying to make up for all the crap I ate and the studying that I didn't do over Thanksgiving break.
This is why I ask that if anyone sees me slacking: watching YouTube videos, eyeing a piece of candy, or gambling with cards again, please reprimand me. If you are really my friend, you will do this. If you live too far away to do this, you should call and talk to me...for moral support of course ;D.
In other news, today was my first Sangeetham class in State College! It was terrific.
In more other news, I've been hunting down really old Telugu albums. By really old, I mean like in the past 20 years. I found Gentleman, Roja, and Narasimha, all of which are by AR Rahman, and it turns, out, they're ALL originally Tamil songs! What the hell! What happened to the good, original Telugu music? I will find it.
One more thing: I have decided that it is best for my studies and focus if I do not visit 109 Stephens for the rest of the semester. 109 Stephens is Ramya and Malinda's room, though now it is more like Ramya, Malinda, Moksha, Arthi, and Shivam's room. Every time I go there to "study physics", I am forced to play cards. After playing cards, if I ever express the desire to leave, I am pinned to the bed by multiple people and tickled. This happened yesterday as well, and I only managed to escape by slipping into the crack between the two beds and crawling out underneath. When I finally managed to escape the room with a cunning trick, I think someone started to chase me, so I didn't stop running until I got ot Porter Hall. The situation is getting to be very dangerous and I think I will confine myself to my own room and lock the door from now on.
Thursday, December 4
Slavery
Penn State again. Homework again. Studying again.
YEAH RIGHT. As if that's possible here. Slave day started on Tuesday (Remember when I gambled away my freedom during that Hearts game before Thanksgiving Break?) so Shivam and I were forced to shift over to Ramya and Malinda's room. Moksha and Arthi also came, just to complicate things further. We thought we would be made to do chores, but instead were forced to play card games for four or five hours. This was very cruel because I wanted to study for Organic Chem but I was forced to gamble with cards instead. Later, I did manage to finish an entire chapter of the textbook when people went to eat dinner and I chose to stay inside and eat carrots.
Later, we thought it would be fun to subject Shivam to all sorts of embarassments, like making him wear a sari and heels. I'm not sure if I want to put up pictures of this. He might murder me. I did not have to do any of these horrible things though I was also a slave because I am strong willed and nobody dares boss me around. The two masters (Ramya and Malinda) did however make us eat spoons of hot pickle to see if we would burn our tongues. The pickle was very mild and even tasted good, so that was an utter failure.
Soon it was time to sleep. Shivam slept on the hard floor using a newspaper as a pillow. I, however, squeezed onto the double beds with four other girls. Ramya and Malinda slept on one bed, Moksha and I slept in the other, and Arthi slept in the crack between the beds. We only slept, of course, after forcibly spilling our deepest and darkest secrets.
The next morning, I tried to get some work done. I really did. Ramya told me to go to OChem lecture because it was really funny. Indeed it was: Maslak, to boost his ratings on the SRTEs, talked about antioxidants. He donned a chef's hat, fried some beef and liver, and stuck them in hydrogen peroxide to demonstrate what happens. Have a look:
(Oh! I found an old digital camera at home that was supposed to be broken but it actually wasn't. So it's mine now)
Slavery ended up being awesomer than expectecd because Ramya and Malinda were not able to take full advantage of me. I am a natural master.
YEAH RIGHT. As if that's possible here. Slave day started on Tuesday (Remember when I gambled away my freedom during that Hearts game before Thanksgiving Break?) so Shivam and I were forced to shift over to Ramya and Malinda's room. Moksha and Arthi also came, just to complicate things further. We thought we would be made to do chores, but instead were forced to play card games for four or five hours. This was very cruel because I wanted to study for Organic Chem but I was forced to gamble with cards instead. Later, I did manage to finish an entire chapter of the textbook when people went to eat dinner and I chose to stay inside and eat carrots.
Later, we thought it would be fun to subject Shivam to all sorts of embarassments, like making him wear a sari and heels. I'm not sure if I want to put up pictures of this. He might murder me. I did not have to do any of these horrible things though I was also a slave because I am strong willed and nobody dares boss me around. The two masters (Ramya and Malinda) did however make us eat spoons of hot pickle to see if we would burn our tongues. The pickle was very mild and even tasted good, so that was an utter failure.
Soon it was time to sleep. Shivam slept on the hard floor using a newspaper as a pillow. I, however, squeezed onto the double beds with four other girls. Ramya and Malinda slept on one bed, Moksha and I slept in the other, and Arthi slept in the crack between the beds. We only slept, of course, after forcibly spilling our deepest and darkest secrets.
The next morning, I tried to get some work done. I really did. Ramya told me to go to OChem lecture because it was really funny. Indeed it was: Maslak, to boost his ratings on the SRTEs, talked about antioxidants. He donned a chef's hat, fried some beef and liver, and stuck them in hydrogen peroxide to demonstrate what happens. Have a look:
(Oh! I found an old digital camera at home that was supposed to be broken but it actually wasn't. So it's mine now)
Slavery ended up being awesomer than expectecd because Ramya and Malinda were not able to take full advantage of me. I am a natural master.
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