Hanging On...

Well, 7 days left until winter break! About time! So much has been going on lately...school-wise, I mean. There are all these due dates for the graduation project and then other projects and essays and tests coming up to finish off the...well, the time before winter break. Because the semester ends later...confusing. 7 days left feels like 7 weeks left.  It looks like the teachers are working us right up to the last day before the break. I'm not surprised, just annoyed. 

Forgive me if this is random and nonsensical...I am writing at a late time, and am half-asleep, but felt like updating. Because my last post is from early November, and is about fall. Speaking of that, today it was 70 degrees! 70! In December! And tomorrow we could have isolated tornadoes? Weather is strange. I heard that scientists predicted that the upcoming winter would be colder than usual, which is awesome but a little hard to believe right now. 

I talk about weather alot on this blog, don't I? And seasons. I probably talk about weather too much in general. Its one of those small talk topics that are always mentioned in Jane Austen books.  Isn't it? Weather and architecture...those were the cliche topics in that time period. Interesting. 

Anyway, I'll post when I have something more interesting to say! Tootaloo, kangaroo!

On Fall (or Autumn)

Finally, it is fall. The past week, where I live, it has been warm for November, around 70 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. And a few weeks ago, all the trees were still bright green in color.

Now, finally, there is that fall crispness in the air. You know? I mean, I am all for warm weather, I love it. Spring and summer are probably my favorite months. But...fall needs to feel like fall. A chilly breeze, beautiful panoramas of trees with leaves of burnished oranges, antique reds, bright yellows, and even some browns. And all of that accentuated with a backdrop of crisp blue sky. There's that word again. Crisp. That is, for me at least, the word to describe fall. It makes me think of shiny, firm apples, and the colorful leaves in full focus. Crisp. Sharp. Vivid. That is fall.

I really do like fall, even though it may not make my top list of seasons. But there is a time for everything, and I generally enjoy fall for some time, probably early and mid fall, where everything is so bright and the leaves have not all fallen off the trees. The main reason fall does not come to mind as my favorite is because of how it is the transition of nature from being awake to being asleep. It is nature going dormant, preparing for sleep. Its nice, but once you look forward to the cold winter, a little daunting. Though I guess I can't say I hate any season; there are times when I like each of them. Winter gets old really quickly though, unless there is snow. Summer probably gets old too, but being out of school overrides that.

Anyway, fall is really quite awesome if you appreciate it. I know that if you go to the Appalachian Mountains in fall in the United States, they are just magnificient, with all the colors.

And I love Thanksgiving. I really do. Its a North American thing, but I know every culture and country has various festivals where they get together and eat awesome food. The food is great. In my family we have the stuffing, the turkey, the cranberry-orange relish, the mashed potatoes, beans, and pumpkin pie (and maybe other stuff). Cider is good too.
I am quite glad I am just half-Indian (my dad is from India), and my mom is white (well, english/scottish/puerto rican heritage), from New England, and knows how to make traditional and less traditional Thanksgiving foods, and has certain traditional recipes from her family. Because...I don't know, my dad wouldn't know anything about the various foods. I do know some Indian families who make curry turkey, though, which is cool.


Anyway, back on fall. There is a description for you of fall in the U.S., to me.

One more thing. Which do you prefer, autumn or fall? I am used to saying fall, but I feel like autumn is prettier and more elegant. It sounds like... a leaf falling gracefully to the ground. Do you get that? Autumn. It is a nice sound.

OK, this was a long post. But I felt like it. Anyway, have a nice fall and be happy!

Change is Coming! A new president-elect!

I shouldn't be political on this blog, but I cannot help it. I'm in the Teen Democrats Club in my school. Sooooo......YAY! Obama won!

As many of you know, yesterday, Barack Obama was elected to be the next President of the United States. I think that this is the best thing to happen to America for a long time. It is a great moment for our country, and I am ready for Obama to become president and for us to start fixing the problems in the country!!! He is a uniter, a mediator, and he can inspire Americans to get things done. That is what we need, and thankfully, he has been elected!

Its Buzz Lightyear!

Sorry, I posted like ten minutes ago but I have to just show this to you guys.

Today, there was this Swiss adventurer who flew (yes, flew!) across the English channel in record time! He had these jet propelled wings attached to him so that he could control where he goes through only movement of his body. I think the wings were run by fuel but...its so awesome! He seriously looked like Buzz Lightyear flying up there.

Here is a picture:
See? Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story all the way!

Here is the link to an article about it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26901489/

There is a video of it on that link, or probably other news sites like the BBC or CNN or something too.

I know the National Geographic Channel is showing a show on this flight tonight as well.

So...yeah. Just wanted to post that! Its interesting!

I'm back!

Hey, 

I am back, as you can see in the title. After a really...intense and tiring week of school. High school is just like that, I guess. I had so much homework and studying to do, its crazy. But anyway, you probably don't want to hear about homework any more than I do. 

I was thinking about high school recently (yea, thats all I think about nowadays...haha not really), and about junior year. By the way, junior year, at least at my school, is really intense and known for being hard and quite busy.

So, I think this year of high school is like a hurricane. Seriously. We (my peers and I) were warned long before junior year that it was the most difficult year. We were warned not to take too many AP(Advanced Placement, college level) classes and stuff, just like the National Weather Service warns states about hurricanes. But we thought 'how bad can it be?'. Or at least I did. So I took a good amount of AP classes. Then, from the beginning week of school, we were suddenly pounded with homework, overwhelmed with it, just like a hurricane that comes suddenly, wind howling and waves crashing.  

And its been crazy ever since, more and more work as time goes on.  I'm guessing there'll be the little break, the 'eye of the storm', during winter break. And then the hurricane will come again, harder than ever, and sooner or later the dreaded AP tests (oh my!). Wow. Not looking forward to those.  Then it will be over, after finals, and we'll all assess the damage. The stress. And begin repairing and stressing even more about college applications! yay! 

So there's my analogy. 

It seems like I'm complaining a lot in this blog. Sorry about that. 

Remember that Hari Puttar case that I mentioned in my last post, with Warner Brothers suing this Indian movie company for making a movie called "Hari Puttar" because it was too similar to Harry Potter? Well, Warner Brothers lost! I was very happy when I read that, because I think thats stupid to sue a company over an Indian movie that just sounds similar to an English name...so yay! 

Anyway, got to go and edit the most recent episode of my friends and I's podcast: The M.A.D. Podcast! Check it out! 

I'll try to make my posts more exciting in the future, maybe incorporating pictures somehow?! OK, see you later, alligator!

A couple interesting topics

I have a few interesting news stories that I'd like to talk about...I didn't want to post it with my school post, so here it is, separate.

Firstly, I checked Mugglenet, a Harry Potter news site, yesterday and saw a really interesting story. Apparently, Warner Brothers, the company which produces the Harry Potter films, sued an Indian film company named Mirchi Movies, because of the title of their soon-to-be released film "Hari Puttar", just because the name is too close to "Harry Potter". Warner Brothers hasn't released much info about it, just saying "Warner Bros values and protects intellectual property rights. However, it is our policy not to discuss publicly the details of any ongoing litigation."
The Mirchi spokesperson says their film doesn't have anything to do with Harry Potter.

First of all, I looked the movie up and its not that similar to the Harry Potter story. Its about a 10 year old Indian boy who moves to England and becomes involved in a battle to stop criminals from stealing a secret formula invented by his scientist father. The only similarity is that it is a young boy in England.

What Warner Brothers has to understand is that "Hari Puttar" is not a first and last name...its NOT the Indian 'version' of Harry Potter. Hari is a popular name in India and Puttar means "son". I mean, I'm sure that they picked the title as a kind of take-off of Harry Potter (The second part of the title, Comedy of Terrors is a Shakespeare parody), to get publicity, but it doesn't mean the same thing. Bollywood film companies are like that (by the way, I'm half Indian - thats why this story caught my eye). I don't think the movie "Hari Puttar" is going to take away from Warner Brothers Half Blood Prince release in any way...firstly, its Indian, doesn't seem like it will be a hit movie (though alot of Indian movies are cheesy and elaborately dramatic like this seems to be) and is coming out around 10 months before their movie does. WB is just trying to flex their muscles I guess, and its stupid.

So thats one story. My other is the Democratic convention. I think it went off very succesfully. Bill Clinton gave an epic speech that endorsed Obama fully and which I think probably converted some of the disgruntled people who still support Hillary for some reason.
A quote I liked from that speech, about U.S. foreign policy, "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." I really agree...I thought that was a great line.

Obama also gave a great speech last night, in that huge stadium. It ended the convention nicely, and made everyone revved up to make sure he is elected. In case you haven't already noticed, I support Barack Obama for president and am very liberal. Just to get that out there. I can't vote yet, anyway. I'll talk more about the election at other times, and how I think McCain and his newly picked woman VP, Sarah Palin, who is a pro-gun, pro-life (anti-choice), pro-drilling in wildlife reserves, against equal pay for equal work governor of Alaska with pretty much no experience, are obviously not the ones to change America. Sorry about that sentence; its not the best grammar. Anyway, this was a long post. Had to get it out there. Talk to you later.

School...here we go again.

Hey! Like my friends at Toss the Apple and Knit Gangsta, I went back to school this week. Bleh. This first week has felt like the longest week ever. Its was rainy half of the time and I was just tired and I guess really shocked that school had already started. Summer always goes by in a blur.

And I can already feel this is going to be a long year with too much to do. A "Long and Winding Road"...thats what high school is. By the way, in case you don't know (You should know this, though) , that phrase in quotes is a Beatles song...get used to my mentioning them...I am a big fan.

So, thats all for now. I don't have much to say about school yet...and I know its not that interesting, but...whatever. Hopefully each post will get increasingly better, like podcast episodes. Talk to you later!

I'm new to the whole blogging thing but...

Hey! As you can see in the title of this post, I am new and sort of skeptical of blogging. Its not that I am technologically ignorant, because I know I'm not. But I just never thought to try blogging. Don't know if it will work out for me, but I have seen my friends' blogs and thought I would try it out. You have to be open to new things, right? So, here I am.

I guess the sort of things I'll be blogging about will include current world events, maybe some new music and movies and books, pictures, the 2008 U.S. presidential election, which I'll talk about later I guess, and maybe the podcast I participate in with my friends, and which I also edit, called the M.A.D. Podcast...And then whatever else I feel like. I don't think the life of a US highschool student is that exciting, but whatever.
I guess this is all for now. Not that exciting, but I promise it will get better. I think. See you later!