An Endless Journey

Today at 9 am, I and my friends began to make our five and a half hour journey to Disneyland. It seemed like it had been years even though it had only been a sad five minutes. However, when all of my friends and I started talking and listening to music, the time seemed to fly by. We spent time playing games, watching movies, and just talking in general. This strategy worked, but we still arrived exhausted. Our excitement however could not be tamed and we raced off to California Adventure after dropping off our luggage into our room. Again, we were faced with eternally long lines in front of every ride filled with people of all ages ranging from toddlers to their grandparents. But yet again, we were able to entertain ourselves and each other by just spending time with each other. I realized that by just making an effort to talk to my friends, our pain was less than halved. I look forward to the next three days using this strategy in all the lines that await us.

Living One Day At A Time,
Avni

Change in Emotion

I think it is very interesting how fast people's emotions can be manipulated. For example, today I was at a friend's house and we decided to watch a horror movie, through which we sat frightened behind a blockade of pillows and blankets. I thought I would never recover from the fright I felt after the movie. Ten minutes later, we decided to continue our movie marathon and watch a comedy movie. We laughed hysterically at the humorous material displayed on the screen. We had absolutely no thoughts about the gory and terrible things we had just seen. Tomorrow, we are going to Disneyland, and will not be effected at all by the movies we have watched today.

Living One Day At A Time.
Avni

Colors Everywhere

Though the Indian festival of Holi is supposed to by in early March, students at Stanford University hosted it today on their campus. People from all over came to celebrate this festival of colors. I decided to take two of my friends who are not Indian so that they would be able to experience the extreme excitement which I get every year. My mission was accomplished as they told me at the end that they wanted to attend next year as well. Entering the field where the festival was held, we were met by greeters who rubbed our faces with colored powders. Two men saw us and told us that "[we] looked to clean," and attacked us with the same powder. The vivid scene that surrounded us nvolved multiple people dancing, peoplespraying each other with a hose, an endless line of peole waiting to eat, and a flock of people almost climbing over each other to grab the many different colors of powder whcih were being passed out on the two tables at the back of the field. This experience was one that I know my friends will not forget.

Living One Day At A Time,
Avni

Just Like Kindergarten....

As I get higher and higher in my schooling experience, I wish I could move lower and lower. As a sophomore, I wish I was yet again a freshman. As a freshman, I wished I was in middle school, and so on and so forth. But the ultimate would be being in kindergarten. It is the perfect balance between home and school life. Wake up at 9:30 go to school for a very very short period of time, much of which was spent doing activities such as finger painting, snacking, napping, or playing. Come home and if you are a genius, do your addition homework, eat, and go to bed. That's it. Everyone is friends with everyone and their lives are filled with vivid colors and happiness. I want that life back, not the one where staying away until 2 am for a stressful test the next day is regular. I miss having a 9 pm bedtime. However, I do know that as I get older, life is not getting any better, so instead of moping about how much work I have, I should appreciate my life for what it is now, because next year I will wish that I had my sophomore life back.

"Remember in kindergarten, how you would meet a kid, and know nothing about them, and ten seconds later, you were playing like you were best friends?" -High School Musical

Living One Day At A Time,
Avni

Disease Disease

On Friday morning, I woke up with a tingle in my throat, but nothing could bother me since my mother was coming home for a ten day trip. All day I felt a slight scratch in my throat but took no notice of it assuming that it would just go away. I was mistaken, very mistaken. It just worsened up until the point where I could not go five minutes without letting out a cough or a sneeze. In frustration a pulled through the weekend and studied for a large chemistry test that was going to be on Monday in the incorrect assumption that I would be fine by Monday. Monday morning: just gets worse. I did not go to school for the first couple periods of the day put really wanted to get this chemistry test over with so after much begging I convinced my mother to take my to school. After taking the test, I rubbed my nose on the sandpaper which they call "tissues" at school for the rest of the day. Exhausted I returned home and tried to begin doing homework, at which point I decided that I could and went to bed at 9:30 after taking two pills that were meant to help me sleep, but were pathetic and did absolutely nothing for me. After a restless night I woke up the next morning with a headache and my mother told me I should take the day off and just rest or I would just get worse and not be able to go to the trip to Disneyland/LA I and my friends have been looking forward to for such a long time in the next week. Unwillingly I dozed off, but was awakened by five or six threatening texts from my best friend's whose birthday was unfortunately today. All I understand from this experience is that we should all just do our best to avoid getting sick. There is absolutely no silver lining to being sick. Sleeping becomes a challenge every night. My trash can is filled to the brim with tissues. I can only breathe through my mouth so brushing my teeth is an unwanted adventure. Though going to school is stressful, staying at home seems more stressful since I am lonely and bored. The lesson here: stay as healthy as possible. Do whatever it takes, because being sick is not fun. Just look at the word "disease." Dissect it and you get "dis" + "ease" because that is what being sick does to you: cause you to have a lack of ease in life.

Living One Day At A Time.
Avni

Thanksgiving Already?

On Sunday, before I left the house to do my community service hours, my dad called me outside in an extremely urgent voice. I assumed it was a deer or a rabbit which he saw and was very amused by so I dragged myself to the front door. To my surprise, there was a large turkey roaming through our front lawn! I was amazed and my eyes followed the large creature until it disappeared behind some bushes. My father kept making his joking comments such as "We should keep it until Thanksgiving so we can eat it!" I just rolled my eyes and continued to watch it since I have not seen a live turkey since I was around nine years old at a farm near my house. I kept wondering where it came from though since I live on top of a hill, which I personally hate to walk up, so I do not know why a turkey would want to do it.

Living One Day At A Time,
Avni

[http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Wildlife_images/turkey_Joe-Blake.jpg]

Alien?

In this past week, many, many Spanish students have approached me to inform me that the work "ovni" in Spanish means UFO. Wonderful. Some say it means alien. I think it is funny how in Sanskrit my name means "earth." Both are related to space!

Living One Day At A Time,
Avni

[http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/3459685/2/istockphoto_3459685_baby_alien_cartoon.jpg]