Just Commenting And Some Notes

Please stay with me guys and gals. I'm doing school work and although theres a ton I really want to write about, theres not much I can do right now. School takes priority. I also will be leaving for Orlando with the South River High School orchestra and music department on Friday so unless I can get to a computer there will be 6 days of which I will not be writing. Please just stay with me though!


While I'm gone though, please comment on what you might want to hear from me and how I can improve on my blog. I'm alway up for any type of comments, just nothing with degrading and bad language.

I'll post some pics later of the trip and I have some things from DC that you can find later (if I have time) on my DC blog. When something's posted I of course say.
Let's hope that our country can fit with this new health care bill. It seems like there are some bad errors still in this bill, but hopefully it will be all worked out in time.
See (write) you later!

The Joys of School

Today was the first real day of school for me in a week. Last week was so, so easy. I had competitions for violin so I skipped a day, didn't bring gym clothes, etc. Now I have to buckle down and do some work actually. So after this and some other things and in 30 minutes I'm planning to start my homework and be finished before midnight. I feel that today, we are given way to much work and it really takes away from our learning and our lives.
Anyways, so I went to DC like I said, and of course the day we go theres a protest. About 100,000+ Latinos, Asians, Africans, etc (aka immigrants) came to march at the Mall and to the Capitol for immigration reform. So the perfect DC trip was not so perfect but rather a complicated mess of racket. It was actually quite fun though being there at a major protest. I'll post some pictures later today or by tomorow.
Can I have one of my 3 readers (I ACTUALLY have READERS), comment on what I could improve on in other future blogs? I really want some help to make a decent blog other than this one to start off with.
So, as I said, I will be writing on my other blogs soon and will notify on this one when it is up.

New Blogs

I'm trying to set up my new blog World Focus and later after my trip to DC I will set up that one. I need some time though and I don't have any.

Spring Time... Finally!

Spring's finally here! Not yet, but its just supposed to get warmer and into the 70's by the weekend. I can't wait. I'm finally getting back to my old habits. Winter totally messed me up. Everything changed from my eating to what I do each day. I feel so sick and tired from it all. I'm starting to relax with the warm breezes and feel like meditating again, or at least listening to some meditation music again. Despite my other stresses, I'm plugging through.

So I would like to expand my "territory of thought" now that spring has come. First off, lets go with music. There's this podcast called New World Kirtan. It has some of the best Kirtans and Bhajans out there and it advertises (kind of) local shows. At least for Westerners in Oregon and Washington. My favorite one is the most recent one called Ganesh Is Fresh.

On youtube the video Ganesh Is Fresh! is a song by MC Yogi thats really cool!

This weekend I'm going to DC for the Terra Cotta Warriors and also to just walk around. So I'll post something on my blog for DC that I just created @ http://exploredcnow.blogspot.com/. It'll be getting pretty busy during the months to come and later. I'm focusing on locals, and also far away peoples, to explore their community because I've come to see a lot of people don't know about what they have right in front of their eyes.

Also, I'll be sometime posting something on my blog World Focus soon @ http://globalculture-lawrence.blogspot.com/. The blog will focus on different areas of the world and their culture, music, tradition, life, etc, trying to debunk myths and prove facts to spread their culture to Americans and other people so that we can know that the world is not so scary right out of our front door.

Life's going to get interesting soon, as we aretrying to figure out this summer. Either a train trip from DC to Los Angeles on Amtraks Southwest Chief, Mumbai, Paris, or fly somewhere in the US (preferrably LA). Anything is fine with me though a train trip would be my first choice and then Mumbai.

It's Destiny.....

Middle East and the People

It seems that the Middle East is starting to open up to new ideas. All due to the famous words of Globalization. Shows like Oprah and other Western shows are bringing in topics that previously were not even allowed to be discussed in this Islamic majority area. Turkish soap operas are bringing in topics such as alcohol, being with the opposite sex, and sexuality. The shows are beginning to open up all generations to these topics which permeate underground throughout the Islamic society and are crossing boundaries which have never been crossed in over 1000 years. It has been found that these shows are changing how everyone views their society and hopefully will change for the better. It's becoming understood by the people that women need some 'role models' as World Focus put it to guide them. And the Turkic soap operas and Western shows are giving women role models by which to follow. Women are becoming aware that they can actively fight for their rights and men are becoming increasingly aware of this and respectful of women's rights.

The reason these shows are so important is because we as Westerners, as well as Arabs, are becoming aware of each others culture's and values. Globalization, while sometimes can kill culture, in this case is spreading culture and improving on the already bright society of the Middle East. It's necessary for everyone to accept everyone and accept that that is their culture no matter how strange it could be.

What would it be like if the Middle East was totally different than it is today? What would it be like if they did not have a majority of the terrorists in this world? What if we the Western world was, in their view, the enemy? What if the Middle East had peace and prosperity on all levels? I feel that these questions can not be answered thoroughly without an understanding of history of this area and also of how it fits in with the rest of the world and it's part in history.

This area, being between Europe and Asia, I believe was destined for trouble. It's between to very different views of life and life purpose's. The Middle East created a very important and respectable religion which has changed the way the world thinks and how the world works. Islam by no means is scary or bad. Just it has had a dark light cast upon it since the Crusade of the 1100's. Jihads then were created and are still occuring. Along with this, we have the disagreements and differences between Shi'a and Sunni Islam which split along the lines of who thought who was Muhammads successor. In this area, as many others, succession and 'booty' (goods) are very important and have dictated the outcome of this area of the world. Along with the sects of Islam, you also have the major religions Christianity, Judaism, and animistic beliefs.

And that's the end of the history lesson. But seriously, taking into account this new knowledge, how would you answer these questions now? How do they differ from your previous answer? I answered them pretty differently when I did this too. This is why it's so important for people to have some background before they talk about topics like this. Just as you never judge a book by it's cover, you never judge a person by what the news channels say. Which exaggerate everything and give false labels.

To end, a quote:

Religion in fact is not knowledge, but a faith and aspiration; it is justified indeed both by an imprecise intuitive knowledge of large spiritual truths and by the subjective experience of souls that have risen beyond the ordinary life, but in itself it only gives us the hope and faith by which we may be induced to aspire to the intimate possession of the hidden tracts and larger realities of the Spirit. That we turn always the few distinct truths and the symbols or the particular discipline of a religion into a hard and fast dogmas, is a sign that as yet we are only infants in the spiritual knowledge and are yet far from the science of the Infinite. - Sri Aurobindo

India Day at home

We made Tikka Masala today for the first time in like months. Along with that we had some tazo chai. I so miss that taste and want more. We didn't make alot and it wasnt exactly enough. But the naan and basmati rice made up for it. All we use is a jar of pataks tikka masala and add it to cooked chickens and vegetables. It's so simple. That's why m meals are so different from normal Americans as we have found that these foods are easy to cook and prepare. Michael Wood's The Story of India was the movie choice for tonight. Another regular occurance in my household. Really cool music and video. The scenes are breathtaking coupled with this music that is so typical Indian but has something special about it I can't describe. Lastly before bed, I need some ideas for blogs to wrote. I like this one as a start and feel I can improve. I want to make something on something I enjoy and that people will be inteested in. I like travelling but I don't necesarily go all the time. Washington dc I could do an insiders guide so to say. I also like tea so I could do a blog on all the different types of tea I find. So yea... The possibilities are endless. I'm off to bed to be ready for a competition tomorow with county orchestra's. I don't want to go but who Dan deny a chance to miss all day of school again!

Food and travel

Here are some videos of food and travel from the show Diary of a Foodie which can all be found at their website

http://www.gourmet.com/diaryofafoodie/video/2008/01/201_india_preview

http://www.gourmet.com/diaryofafoodie/video/2008/01/204_hongkong_preview

Health Care's Failure?

Well, just reporting on yahoo.com on the front page: Obama's new Health Care again! Yay! And everyone just loves his bill. The article angers me because how can we pay this with everything else going on (Iraq, Afghanistan, other countries with our forces in them, etc.) And it's going to ravage our old ages' bank accounts. When YOU'RE old, when I'M old, when they population of our country is mostly old and dying (which i think it is getting there right now), how are we going to be able to "get a seat at the doctors office?" Are there going to be lines and lists just to see the doctor for a simple cold?

The article does spell out some doom in the first page, but later it describes in relative detail how it will affect different groups of people.

What I find interesting is this:

"For example, a family of four making $44,000 would pay $2,763 in premiums, or about 6 percent of its income.

But a similar family making $66,000 would have to pay $6,257 in premiums, close to 10 percent of its income. That may be less than a mortgage, but it's more than a car payment."

Now I know people who make more money, under Obama's bureau, should give more to the government. But, has anyone realized that there's absolutely no way that a lot of people in this country, in this economy, can keep this amount flowing for health care from their bank account. My mom and most of my family makes around the first figure. We would definitely not be able to pay $2,763 in premiums! And we definitely do not live a wasteful life. We keep the house at 59 degrees year round, turn it off sometimes even during the summer, never go out to eat (which I really don't mind, eveything at restaurants we can make at home and its full of things that we don't want in our bodies), barely drive anywhere, and never spend things shopping when we don't need to.

The link, again, for those who don't know, to the article, is the title.

Now onto something more happy. I have started a yoga programme at home. I just go onto iTunes and find podcasts. It's really nice. Also on sanatansociety.org you can find everything related to the more hippy, spiritual side of Hinduism and Indian living. They have a really good Chai recipe and some cool pictures. Though Harish Johari looks like he's staring you down.

Ravi Shankar is probably the best Indian musicien (ha, sorry French) in the world! ravishankar.org His daughter is coming to DC at the Kennedy Center sometime in a programme called "maximum INDIA". I can't wait. http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/newseason/?videoname=10_india&autoplay=true#IND

Check out the websites! Especially the Kennedy Center.

Lastly, my (yours too) Hindi.
मैं  संगीत खेल से पैसा बनाना चाहते हैं

UnPredictable Predicaments

Well my mom is making me do a concert at church on the violin. I don't want to and am nervous. I just want it to be over with. And I'm sick so am staying home.

One more word before bed and maybe a sentence for beginning.

house- घर : ghar; home- मकान : makaan
मैं घर जा रहा हूँ लेकिन सिर्फ मेरे बाद ही मंदिर जाता हूँ
Main ghar jaa rahaa hoon lekin sirf mere baad hi mandir jaataa hoon
I am going home but only after I go to the temple.

New Things

New York Times has one of the best travel sections. I find everything there. And World Hum gives and excellent source for "hip" travel atricles written by people who love to travel and know how to find the best experiences of the country. Along with this is the magazine Afar and BBC World News on PBS for up to date information on world issues.

Food:
For anyone living near DC, theres a really nice place to eat called teaism. They have a website so look it up in google. It has a mix of Asian and European food and is quick (like fast-food) and healthy. Theres a store near the one at the Naval Memorial. They sell a large array of teas and other things (chocolate!!). Whenever I go to DC I stop there for lunch before going on. Theres nothing better.
If you want to, learn Hindi with me. It'll keep me going with my study as well as helping me teach others. So lets start with one word:

फिर मिलेंगे : Romanization- phir milenge. you have to do a short i sound in phir and "mi-" of milenge, and speak through your nose (nasalize) to do the "-e-" in "milenge". it means "Good Bye" or literally "We'll meet again".
I could put up a website so you can learn the letters. Its really good and makes it easy. It takes some clicks to get there and for me it doesnt work if you put in the URL for some reason.
http://avashy.com/

So.... फिर मिलेंगे!!! मेरे बाद  में लिखू...........

The Beginning

I want to put something up just to start off. I can't always be writing and right now I'm doing an article for our schools newspaper, while listening to music and writing this. Yes, its hard so I'm "multi-tasking". But anyways, I put up my travel blog website in the link (which I have found is the title, oddly). Right now it has nothing in it, but I want to finish my Australia blog (in the making for 2 years and counting) and maybe organize Los Angeles. I might be going to Mexico City this summer, Italy, Quebec, and maybe Hong Kong if money is allright. My parents are divorced so I get double the amount of trips. But in 2011 I am going to India which will be awesome! We're so excited (mom and I, that is). So I love traveling to far off places and finding things out of the way. Even when things go wrong, I think it was meant to be that way so I make the most of it. I'll be posting more later this week hopefully, and can't wait to find something cool.