I'm Good at Frisbee Starting Yesterday!

I went to the park with the family yesterday. We packed our dinner and drove 15 mins to a waterfront park in a neighboring town. It was a lot of fun! We played spud and we ate and then after dinner we threw around frisbees. AND I WAS GOOD!!! (I have NEVER been good at frisbee tossing and all of a sudden I was!) Ah, good times!

I drove to the library so many times today..it's kinda weird. I had to return some stuff that was due yesterday so I had to get there before they opened. Therefore, trip # 1 at 8 am. THEN I had to go back to take out the exact books I returned because me and my sister hadn't finished reading them. Hence, trip # 2 sometime later. Then I had to go to the park to pick up my brother and since the park is right across the street from the library, I stopped by to return the movie that was watched just before I left. That's a grand total of 3 trips to the library!

Speaking of reading, I am still working on Corelli's Mandolin. I really need to get some more reading in or I'll never finish! It is taking me forever because I keep doing other things around the house. And it doesn't help that my sister spends her days with her door locked so nobody even bothers to ask her for anything anymore. Everyone automatically comes to me with any question, complaint, or observation. Really, it gets quite annoying.


I just watched About a Boy with my siblings. They haven't seen it and I love it so it makes for a perfect night! That movie is really incredible though. I don't think a better part can be conceived for Hugh Grant. He plays the role extremely well and I find that watching it again and still believing the character underscores how naturally he fits the role. Simply amazing (and irresistible)! I think the story is such a beautiful one. No matter how many times it has been recreated, it is touching and heartwarming and really makes me think. I may get annoyed of the family but it's still a blessing to have company. I should really appreciate the positive more than I accentuate the negative.

Alright well that's about it for now! Time for bed =)

Catch-up on a hectic week

Wow! Definitely thought not having a job would amount to a lot more posts! Sorry for the long absence..I have been creating a makeshift job for myself. I am currently a 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, and 10th grade teacher! I am trying to help my cousins adjust to speaking English the American way...I make them watch movies, read aloud, do grammar drills, and write essays. (When I write it out like that it really seems like a lot of work haha..It's for their own good! I'm not being mean or bossy I swear!)

Mornings and evenings have been spent going to prayer and in between the two is when school is in session. The good thing is I'm getting used to having all these people around. I can tolerate the noise a lot better and the tolerance factor is definitely increasing. I played volleyball and cards and board games with the kids in the past week.

I think one good thing that comes out of all this is that my brother and sister are maturing. They weren't immature (at least not more than the average kid anyway) but they definitely had some growing up to do. I'm glad they're learning from having all these kids around. Now that's taking 'taste of your own medicine' to an entirely different (cruel and unusual?) level!

Our lawn mowing people that we hired ditched us. Our lawn is too much for them so they don't wanna do it anymore. So two days ago, I mowed most of the lawn and my uncles helped too. But then when we refilled the oil we put the wrong kind so the lawnmower got mad at us. Now there's a randomly located square patch of grass that hasn't been mowed. Oh well! Maybe I should've tried this with the lawn mowers:


My exercise lately has been a lot of sports. We put up the volleyball net for my sister's backyard graduation party so it's been up since. I play volleyball and badminton and soccer (who knew a volleyball net can be a soccer goal too?!) It's been a lot of fun. That's one of the benefits of having so many kids around...we can actually play team sports!

I've found that getting well adjusted to having so many people around is making life a lot better. I actually look forward to playing with the kids and helping the adults in the kitchen. I make jokes and I talk to them about anything on their minds. It's nice to have the company and I know I will miss it when I am buried in books in a month.

Oh so on the med school front...one of my roommates has decided to withdraw because she got accepted to another school. So now we are on the hunt again for a roommate. I'm not too concerned though cuz financially I wouldn't be responsible for her portion (I hope?)

Well now I'm gonna get some reading done (still workin on corelli's mandolin)..I haven't had enough time for myself lately so I need to take advantage when I get it!

My Glass is Optimistic

Ah so I have some good news that can also be considered bad news (half full or half empty kind of situation..Okay I have to say the thought that I'm tempted to say: Democrats think the glass is half full and Republicans think the glass is theirs hahah) Okay and now a funny, semi-relevant picture:


Okay so back to my news. I don't have a summer job anymore. The company I was working for realized that they aren't as understaffed as they thought and they don't need my help as much as they thought sooo I "can spend some time with my family before I go off to medical school".

I don't blame them for not keeping me...I mean I did have enough time to read two entire books all during work. I just wish they thought it through before hiring me because it's gonna be hard to find a job for a month now. I could've had a summer long project but one month is tough. I'm gonna start looking today though. I don't really care if it's a job or a voluntary type of thing but I just need to be doing something. I can't sit around the house all day with nothing to do. So here's to my search!

Today my brother started his internship at the state assemblyman's office. It's kinda weird seeing him grow up so fast. I can't believe he's already interning at places! I think having these India kids here really makes me see my siblings in a different light. How mature and grown up they are really strikes me when I have a bunch of preteens to compare them to. I think there is a difference in maturity in kids that grow up here and kids that grow up there. In some ways, my cousins are more mature than my siblings. They always know to help out with everything and they can understand a life of struggle better than we can. But in terms of decorum and emotional maturity, there's a huge discrepancy. Now on the decorum front, I completely understand that they don't subscribe to the same societal rules that we do so it's unreasonable to expect them to get the hang of that right away. But the emotional maturity---that one puzzles me. There are points when the 15 year old is fighting with the 6 year old and I'm standing there wondering which girl is which age. There are certain things you can tell those kids a thousand times and they will still never get the hang of it. They aren't as open-minded as kids here and I think that's gonna make it tough for them to adjust to life here. They have a huge transition to make and the more open they keep their minds, the easier it will be for them. I hope they are able to see that soon and able to make the necessary changes. Ah well, I guess whatever fate has in store for them..

Time for breakfast! More later (since I don't have a job or anything haha)

Refreshed!

Things are getting better at home. I am getting used to having all of these people here and I am able to tolerate them a lot better now. It's still loud and sometimes it can get frustrating. I don't think anything external has changed, but I have made a lot of internal improvements. I don't actively get mad at them anymore and I don't get annoyed by the little things anymore. It's a lot better now that I don't concern myself with every thing that goes on in the house. I only butt into things that affect me and the rest of it...I couldn't care less (hate when that phrase is used wrong haha)

Not much going on in life in terms of interesting stories. I go to prayer in the morning, go to work, come home, go to prayer in the evening, eat dinner, and then come home and hang out for an hour or so before I can't keep my eyes open any longer. It's a pretty straightforward routine with barely any curveballs. I have figured out that I can hang out with my brother and sister at night before I go to bed. That's pretty much the only time I have to spend with them since I'm not home during the day. And the best part about that time is that it's just us, not the other gazillion kids too. I really am glad I have that opportunity.


Also, I started reading Corelli's Mandolin. I REALLY like it so far. I forget how far in I am (it's been a hectic weekend) but the book is so interesting. I don't know how he does it but the author is able to include some of his more philosophical thoughts within the context of a fiction book. It's also very funny. The man is brilliant! More when I read more =)


Oh and I'm listening to Blink. I decided to try out the audiobook medium since I've never really done that and I have a long ride to work. It was kinda hard to keep paying attention at first. A whole track would go by and I'd realize I wasn't REALLY listening so I'd have to replay it. But I got the hang of it. I think it's a better alternative to the radio which, after a few days, REALLY gets redundant. Plus it doesn't help that I'm not a fan of that Pitbull song that every radio station has the urge to play, every 20 MINUTES!! Blink is an interesting book though. It's about the snap judgments we are able to make without our conscious processes even being aware of them. It's interesting because the 'sources' he uses are a marriage counselor who within a minute or so of witnessing interactions between a couple can predict the fate of their relationship, a car dealer who has met immense success in his line of work, paleontologists (that's probably not the right word but whatever) that can tell when an artifact is a fake in just a glance, and the like. It's an interesting concept and the different mediums presented are varied enough to keep it interesting.
Alright I'm really getting tired now. I'll write some more whenever I next get the chance!