hpayn103's posterous

The Future is Here.

2po31ns

Remember back in elementary school when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up?  That time is now.

It didn't really hit me until today that high school is over.  Not just high school, but an entire chapter of our lives.  Childhood is officially over, and we have to start growing up and pursuing those dreams we so fondly talked about at the age of five.

I spent a lot of my high school life being frustrated with a lot of the people around me, just waiting for graduation and college, but now that it's finally here, I'm not sure what to think. Yes, I'm still thrilled to finally be graduating, but I'm also really going to miss the experiences I've had at Oakland Mills, mainly with the music department.

It has been a rollercoaster, and yes, there have been bad times as well as good, but the good times very much outweigh the bad.  I guess the best word to use is 'unforgettable'.

I recently received confirmation that I am going to be studying with my top choice in horn professor at Indiana University, and that has made me more excited for college than I have been since I made my decision to attend the school, and has also reassured me that, yes, I'm going to be a horn player.  This is what I've wanted to do since seventh grade, and I'm finally getting there!

As exciting as it is, it is also frightening.  I've spent so much time dreaming of this that actually being here is almost surreal.

(Pic Unrelated: the word Unforgettable made me think of Unforgivable, that series of youtube videos. Hehe)

Unpopular Art

So I am sitting here at my friend's house voting for the Kids Choice Awards.  As I notice that in almost every category there is an option for Twilight, it makes me think about the quality of our culture's popular art.  The Twilight movies and books have no emotional depth beyond a silly romance between a whiny high school girl and a hundred-year-old vampire who sparkles.

And it's not just film.  Popular music is just as shallow, main subjects revolving around the club, sex, and... the club.  Years from now, when we are of retirement age, we will not find any nostalgia in this music, as current senior citizens find in the popular jazz music of their youth.

There's not much else to this, it just makes me sad.

Guru Harkrishan

Born on July 7, 1656, Guru Harkrishan was appointed the next Guru at five years old by his father Guru Har Rai.  His older brother and firstborn son, Ram Rai, was not appointed Guru due to his friendliness with emperor Aurengzeb of the Mughal Empire.

While in Delhi, Guru Harkrishan helped to heal many people who were infected with smallpox, and caught the illness himself.

Realizing that he was dying, he announced on March 30, 1664 that he would reveal the next Guru.  Before he died, he called for five coins and a coconut, waved his arms in the air and proclaimed, "Baba Bakala."  The next Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was residing in the village of Bakala.

Harkrishan was significant to Sikhism he represented the division between the Sikhs and the Mughal Empire.  He, as the second-born son, was chosen to be Guru over his older brother simply because of Ram Rai's ties to the Mughal emperor.

http://www.searchgurbani.com/gurus/images/ghark4.jpg

Life, Time, Postmodernism

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In english class, we've been learning about and discussing post-modernism, and I can't help but think about how some of its ideas apply to my life right now.

Currently, I'm practicing Horn for my upcoming audition at the Curtis Institute of Music, basically living at school for Urinetown rehearsals, keeping up with schoolwork to the best of my ability, and trying to keep in touch with the friends I don't see every day.  All for what purpose?  Because post-modernist ideas are telling me that there's really no big purpose in anyone's life.  We won't be remembered after a generation or two.  It's all meaningless.

If I'm really having a bad day, it's easy to start thinking that way.  But then what would be the point of living?  And that's a really cruddy idea to think about.

Life really is a great experience.  And whether we're remembered a century from now or not, we've been given a life, and we should make the most out of it.  Why waste your life wallowing in self-pity when you could just do what makes you happy?

Music: More Than Just Notes

Music

Most people like music because it's relaxing, because it provides them with a release from the every day stresses of life.  And it's true, music is relaxing... but half the time, I'd have to disagree.  Music is a lot of things: it is beautiful, it is ugly, it is exciting, it is monotonous, it is heart-breakingly joyful and agonizingly painful.

In 8th grade, I officially decided I was going to make music my career and my life, not just because I can play the horn, but because I feel a spiritual connection to music that I do not feel with a lot of other things in my life.  I could not even imagine having another career: everything else seems so boring.  Music wakes up this beast within me and makes me feel such emotional extremes that there is nothing else I find more amazing.

(I assure you, I'm not crazy. :D)

A world without music is just unimaginable to me, as a world without God is unimaginable to other people.  My love for music is almost like religion, but not quite.  Rather than worshipping music like a god, it's more like we coexist, the musicians producing music, and music providing itself to us, for us to do with it what we like, feel what we feel.

People and music have an inseparable bond.  Music can be found in anything, and even if some tyrant were to take away all means of musical organization (instruments, ensembles, and the like), it would still find its way back to us.

Chemicals Collide

 

I was out paying close attention
Or was I lost inside my thoughts
These days it's hard to tell what's outside from what's in my mind
And oh god, it's beautiful
Insatiable
The way our chemicals collide

I was out catching up to tomorrow
Or was I caught up in the past
These days it's hard to tell what's out in front from what's behind
And oh god, it's unforgettable
Unpredictable
The way our chemicals collide

I was sleeping in the lilies
Or was I up all night
These days it's hard to tell what's half asleep from fully alive

We were loving like a landslide
Or were we in a fight
These days it's hard to tell what's right from wrong and wrong from right

And oh god, it's beautiful
Insatiable
The way our chemicals collide
And oh god, it's unforgettable
Unpredictable
The way our chemicals collide

I think this song is sort of self-explanatory.  It's the spiritual feeling you get when you love someone, or just have a very strong connection with someone: that it makes everything seem like everything else, that it's confusing but simply beautiful at the same time.

Illegal Immigration is NOT a Race Issue.

Immigration

I've been reading Glenn Beck's most recent book "Arguing With Idiots", and within it is a chapter on the issue of illegal immigration over the Mexican-American border.  We know this is a problem: it's been covered on the news for ages, though not as much recently.  American law dictates that, without proper documentation, an immigrant cannot be here.  It is ILLEGAL.  And yet enforcing the law sparks such statements as:

"They are hiding under the American flag claiming to be good patriots but they are actually promoting racial hatred." ~Paul Martinez, LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) Chapter President

So, hold on... by enforcing a law, we are being racist?  Sir, there's a difference between Latin American CITIZENS and Latin American... non-citizens, who are here illegally.

It's the same as the article we read in class by Alan Singer.  Himself being Haitian, he accuses the United States of not allowing Haitian immigrants to enter the US because "The Haitians are all Black."  He later details that the Coast Guard "intercepted and returned over 100,000 Haitians trying to enter the United States without documentation during the last 20 years."

The key words here being 'without documentation'.

It's not just Mexicans, and it's not just Haitians.  Any immigrant regardless of ethnicity is going to be shipped back home without the proper documentation... or, at least, they should be.

A law was passed in Maryland that required everyone to provide proof of citizenship when getting their driver's license.  Subsequently, the amount of people getting their license dropped by a large margin.  What does that say?  For me, it says two things: 1. Someone isn't doing their job, and 2. These emotionally charged racial arguments are pulling at the guilt of our politicians and, in turn, our law enforcement.

So yeah, this is an issue.  But it's a much bigger issue than the media makes it out to be.  And it's most certainly NOT a race issue.

Dime

 

In the brown shag carpet of a cheap motel
In the dark and dusty corner by the TV shelf
Is a small reminder of a simpler time
When a crumpled up pair of trousers cost a brand new dime
Well you ask me how I made it through and how my mint condition could belong to you
When I`m on the ground I roll through town
I'm a president you don’t remember getting kicked around
I'm a dime
I'm fine
And I shine I'm freshly minted
I am determined not to be dented
By a car or by a plane or anything not yet invented
I'm a dime
I'm fine
And I shine
In the hiss and rumble of the freeway sounds
As the afternoon commuters drive their cars around
There’s a ringle jingle near the underpass
There’s a sparkle near the fast food garbage and roadside trash
I'm a dime
I'm fine
And I shine I'm freshly minted
I'm silver-plated I'm underrated
You won't even pick me up because I'm not enough for a local phone call
I'm a dime
I'm fine
And I shine
I'm a dime
I'm fine
And I shine
I'm a dime
I'm fine
And I shine

I particularly like this song because it clearly expresses not only the quality of human strength, but the belief that we are individually special.  Every human being (or most, or even just some) believes that they have one special quality, one talent, and that they can change the world with it, no matter what other people may think or how they may try to bring them down.

Religions Project: Sikh Festivals

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A brief background: Sikhism was founded in 1469 by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, born in modern-day Pakistan.  He preached against the caste system, animal sacrifice, and fasting, things that were normal for society at the time and a part of two major religions already practiced in the region: Hinduism and Islam.  The religion progressed mostly through the "Guru Period", encompassing about 239 years.  There were 10 gurus, beginning with Nanak and ending with Guru Gobind Singh Ji.  Before his death, he nominated the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh holy scripture) as the eternal Guru.  By the end of this period, the Sikhs had their own language, places, baptism ceremony, code of conduct, and marriage.

Sikh festivals are called Gurpurbs.  Such festivals include the Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, The Martyrdom Anniversary of Guru Arjan (the fifth guru), and Diwali.

*Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji*

Guru-nanak-dev-ji

-Date of occurrence varies based on the traditional Indian calendar, but usually falls in November.
-Lasts for three days: two days before the birthday, Akhand Path, or the forty-eight hour non-stop reading of Guru Granth Sahib) is held in the Gurdwara (the place of worship for Sikhs).  One day beforehand, a procession or parade is organized.  On the day of the birthday, celebrations begin around 4 or 5 am with morning hymns, hyms from Sikh scriptures, poems in the Guru's praise, etc, which goes until about 1 or 2 pm.
-Some gurdwaras hold night sessions, whose celebrations end around 2 am.  The actual time of birth of the Guru is said to be 1:20 am.

*Martyrdom Anniversary of Guru Arjan*

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-Occurs in India's hottest months (May or June, depending on the traditional Indian calendar).
-Guru Arjan was ordered to be tortured to death by Mughal Emperor Jahangir on May 25th, 1606.
-Celebrations consist of Kirtan (call-and-response chanting), Katha (verbal explanation of the utterings of the Guru's), lectures, Karah Parshad (sweet vegetarian pudding that is said to be a blessing from the Guru) and Langar ('free kitchen', where people sit in rows and eat the same food; a celebration of equality)  in the gurdwara.
-Due to the heat, a chilled sweetened drink is passed around in the gurdwaras, and among neighborhoods regardless of religious affiliation.

*Diwali*

Diwali-festival

-Also known as the Festival of Lights, it is significant to not only Sikhism, but Hinduism and Jainism as well.
-Sikhs first celebrate Bandi Chhorh Divas (Day of Freedom), which marks the return of Guru Hargobind Ji  from Mughal Emperor Jahangir's imprisonment along with 52 other political prisoners.  His arrival on Diwali day made the holiday even more significant.
-This festival lasts for five days and is so diverse among the entire world that there is no specific way to celebrate it.  Mainly, lighting Diyas (clay lamps with cotton wicks and dipped in oils) and setting off fireworks is common.

Sources:

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of... a Career.

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While growing up, I was constantly told that the main goal in life is to be happy.  So.. why are most of my peers so stressed about their future?  Yes, applying/being accepted to college is a huge workload, and incredibly stressful.  But until this year, I had been excited about the prospect of going to my dream school to study my passion and eventually gain my dream job.

But where do we go from there?

I feel as though our society has been conditioned to think that a successful career = happiness.  And in some cases, it does.  But our society has also been conditioned to need constant success, i.e. after our main career goal has been reached, we will need something else to work toward, and because our 'big life dream' has been achieved, there's nothing left to give our full concentration to.

There's also another big question: "Is this REALLY what I want to do with my life?"  I feel like a lot of people my age struggle with this.  The prospect of putting in all this effort to study one major for the next four years only to find that it is not where our passion lies is, in a word, SCARY.  Incredibly scary.  Because then what happens?  We start all over.  More applications, another student loan, more debt, and farther in the hole, and then what if the cycle starts all over again?

Sometimes I think it would be easier to be a housewife, but that's my frightened side talking.

I don't really have answers to any of these questions.  All I know is that Mr. Smart was right in saying to keep your personal relationships intact.  If something falls apart, your friends and family will (hopefully) be there to back you up, and if things get REALLY bad, they may be all you have left.