Randomness (as usual)

Hmm...I don't really have any interesting updates haha. It's Deepavali season!!! A very Happy Deepavali to all of my Hindu/Sikh/Jain friends :-D The Hindu festival of lights, our New Year, a season of colorful decorations, happy get-togethers, new clothes, lots of yummy food and sweets!! If you're interested in learning about the basic traditions of Deepavali in different parts of India, as well as in the different religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism), you can check out this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali

Oh and Happy Halloween to everyone!! The days are getting colder and colder...not liking it very much! I've been somewhat under the weather lately, with a dry cough and runny nose, regardless of the fact that I have been wearing layer upon layer and never stepping out of my door without a warm jacket and a scarf! Ah well - the weather change always seems to get me regardless of how many precautions I take!

So UofM beat Northwestern on Saturday :-D and the Cowboys won yesterday 34-13!! Yayyy...ok so they were playing the Cardinals who suck, but still - I'm happy they won =) And then there are the Giants, who just totally whooped Washington's butts with a whopping 36-0. The most disappointing game though was Jaguars vs. Rams - Rams won 24-21 despite the fact that most of their star players were missing, AND they don't have their head coach Mike Martz this season due to his heart illness. I can't believe that the Jaguars basically had it handed to them on a silver platter, but they still managed to lose. Pretty frustrating.

Anyways, I can't wait for Thanksgiving to roll around - I really hope I get a chance to see my sisters (or at least some of them)...I miss you girls!! Anddd, my little cousin and aunt from California are coming! I haven't seen them since 2003 when I went to visit them, so that will be very nice. And Priya's engagement is during Thanksgiving too! My gosh, it will be an eventful break! Counting down the days... =D I can't wait for this year to get over...I want 2006 to come rolling in fast!!! It's soooo close! Pretty crazy how fast time goes these days. Do I say that a lot? Yeah...I thought so.

So I never realized finding a literary agent to help represent me and my book would be so difficult. I haven't even contacted anyone yet because I just can't seem to find a literary agent who would be "perfect" to represent me and the type of book I'm writing! I can't believe how much knowledge I've gained through this whole process though, and I know that it's only the beginning with far more to learn. I think I've learned more from doing my own thing and gaining experience on my own, than all the grade school and college I've gone through. Sad, isn't it?

I made my third oil pastel drawing, this time on canvas paper and it looks so cool - it's of Goddess Mahalakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. Only problem is that, when I scan it, it doesn't come out properly! Well, not like the other scanned drawings came out that well, but at least the viewer could get an idea for what it looked like. This one just came out so "crappily" that it's not even worth displaying. Yes, I just made up a word. Crappily.

All right, that's about it for now! Ciao.

New Delhi gets bombed...

http://www.cnn.com/

If you get the chance/time, go there and look at the breaking news item. A terror strike has occurred in India's capital of Delhi early Saturday morning US time, Saturday evening Indian time. At least 55 people have been killed, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh believes it is the work of terrorists. Of course, nobody knows at this time.

My first thought after hearing this news, was of my cousin - he moved to New Delhi and devoted his life to doing charity work and volunteer work. The thought that he may possibly have been affected by these bombings was just too much for me to handle. Unfortunately, I received no news about him all morning. Finally, we heard from him, that he was all right; the bombings had taken place just 1 kilometer from where he lives (for those who don't know, 1 kilometer is a little less than a mile...1 mile is approximately 1.6 kilometers).

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who were affected by these bombings either physically or emotionally, and I can only pray that the loved ones of those who passed in these bombings will, with the strength of friends and family, come out of this tragedy.

::sigh:: ... what's happening to the world? =(

Oil Pastel numero dos!

Oil pastel number 2! Goddess Saraswati: the traditional interpretation. It took me an hour to finish. I had so much fun blending all the browns for the veena ... hahaha I should've just studied art or something...I love it way too much!

It looks much better in person though; and the gold pastels actually shimmer when you are viewing the original.

Oh yeah, you can click on any of the drawings/photos I upload and view a larger version of it (just incase ya'll didn't know that).

All right, back to work! Adios =)

Close-mindedness?

Ah, I finally have a tiny breather in which I can catch up with people and update my blog properly haha.

I've been somewhat preoccupied by a conversation I had with someone earlier today. It amazed me that people could be so close-minded. I suppose I'm more of a liberal, who is much more accepting of things such as homosexuality and other pressing issues in today's social and political world. However, the person I spoke to this morning certainly was nowhere near my level of acceptance.

The conversation started fairly innocently; as most of you know, I'm a disney movie freak, and happened to be watching parts of my Aladdin DVD while doing some other work (yes I know, I'm becoming obsessed) haha. So the conversation with him somewhat ended up along the lines of, if we had three wishes, what would we wish for. I was shocked at his first wish. It was to get rid of gay people and homosexuality and keep only straight people. I asked him why it bugged him so much if others were gay; it didn't affect his lifestyle personally, so why should it be an issue for him? Besides, who cares what sexual orientation a person is? I have many gay friends myself, and they are wonderful, intelligent, fun-loving and talented people, some of whom I even admire. He just said he didn't like it. He went on to say that he would tell his kids that homosexuals are evil, and that if one of his kids came home and said he/she was homosexual, he would disown them and then kill them. When I confronted him about that comment later, he said he was exaggerating, but he would certainly disown them, and teach them that homosexuals were "evil" (his exact word-choice).

I was entirely appalled. What surprised me even more, is that he himself is a minority. Minorities suppressing other minorities? There really is no end to racism, discrimination, hatred and prejudices, is there?

Instead of teaching our kids that we are superior to others, shouldn't we teach them that everyone is their own person? There is something unique and special about everyone, and we should accept them for their differences. Why teach our children to hate? If they, through their life, dislike someone or a group of people due to their own experiences or circumstances, then there is nothing we can do about that. But why raise them to feel hatred towards others?

I've just had a very frustrated and disgusted feeling all day, and felt it necessary to share so that I could get it off my chest.

Please share with me your thoughts on this!!

My first oil pastel drawing since 7th grade!

So, I just spent the last 40-45 minutes whipping this up. Raghuveer bought me this amazing oil pastel and water color set for my birthday, after finding out from me a LONG time back that those were two of my favorite art supplies to work with. The oil pastels were straight from Paris...the guy spent over 300 dollars on all this for my birthday! I was in shock....

But, nonetheless, I was so excited when I started using them...I LOVE them! I got so into it...

This is my first oil pastel drawing since 7th grade!! I made this mountain scene just now, and thought I would share...but I'm still trying to decide if I like it or not...I can't seem to figure that part out haha.

Granted, the scanned version doesn't do justice to the original...you can't see all the tiny details as well.

Anyways, guess what I should get back to? Yup! Writing! =) Adios!!

Seclusion

Well, I have decided to lock myself in my room and glue myself to my manuscript in order to finish the book (at least, the first draft of it). Like I mentioned before, the editing process will be a detailed and long one, but I am SO CLOSE to finishing the "basic" novel! And I really have to avoid all distractions (that includes AIM...and blogging haha) in order to be able to devote all my time and energy to completing the manuscript.

Please wish me luck (I need all the luck I can get)!! I am praying for the best, and I hope this all works out in the end. I have faith in myself. For now, I am just blessed to have been given the experience I have been given so far, and to have met the amazing and talented people I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with along the way.

I'll be back soon!!! But for now, adieu. It is time for me to cut myself off from the world. =)

Oof...

Andddd guess who's getting sick...AGAIN? Yes, not like a 102 degree fever was enough, now I need to get sick all over again. I think it's the stress. I really need to take some stress-management classes or something. I let too much pressure mount up, which pushes me further and further down. Has that ever happened to any of you? I'm sure it has.

Plus this week has just been ridiculous, with a lot of unnecessary junk which certainly added to the stress. But yay for me, I decided it's not worth my time. So that's one thing off my chest haha.

Well, the only thing that has been occupying my time and my mind lately, is my book (of course), which is near completion! Well, the first draft that is. Then I have to go through a long editing process (which Jyotsna Sreenivasan, a very well-known adult and children's books author, warned me may take as long as the writing process did)...I hope that is not the case! And then I have to work on finding a literary agent, and then a publisher, and goodness! My head spins just thinking about all the work I have ahead of me.

As I simultaneously work on publishing the book in paper form, we will be going ahead into pre-production of the movie! I'm quite excited about that - yet that too, has an overwhelming amount of work that goes with it. We will have to transform the entire book into lots and lots of dialogue...basically, turn it into a script. The we have to get the right actors/actresses (I have a couple of people in mind as I am writing the actual book, who's acting style and personalities I feel would definitely fit certain characters - but of course, they have to agree to act! So we'll see...). Then of course, working with cast and crew. Rehearsing. Finding a filming venue. Filming. Composing the music. Conducting music rehearsals with our three main musicians. Recording in a studio. Creating the soundtrack. Placing the music score strategically in the movie. Then comes the PR. Marketing/promoting the movie. Oh god, I know I'm missing so many things too, I don't even know what else this entire project entails.

It is so daunting sometimes when I sit down and really THINK about it. I pray everyday that the entire project comes out all right. And I do have faith; I know I will be fine, and I know I will come out of this successfully.

A quick note before I end this entry: If you are interested, I would appreciate whole-heartedly if you went to my website and signed up to be on my mailing list. It really would mean the world to me, so if you have a minute, please do so! I'd appreciate it =)

It's time to eat something because I need some energy!!! Till next time, ciao!