The Inner Ring- from the eye of a College Student

      Today C.S. Lewis came to give us a speech on the Inner Ring.  Do you know who C.S. Lewis is? He was my favorite author when I was little! I loved his Narnia series.  I would read those books continuously.  He's an amazing writer and also a speech giver.
    So anyways he started talking to us about Inner Rings.  He suggested that EVERYONE wants to be part of the Inner Ring. I think Inner Rings are like cliques, or the different groups in middle school or high school.  I remember wishing to be part of this one group in middle school, but they just didn't like me.  I don't understand how EVERYONE wants to be part of a Inner Ring.  Not everyone does in my experience.  Some people like to stick out and not be a part of a clique.  He also stated in many places that this want or need is bad.  Being part of the Inner Ring is bad, but I don't see how it is bad.  Maybe he is just telling us about his experience and forcing us to relate to him? Well, I have no idea.  How could something like a clique be bad?
      Well although his speech was insightful I don't think I will be able to relate to it.  Maybe I will in the future, but my life is different then his life and I just don't think I could feel the same way about Inner Rings.  Maybe in the future? Who knows?  We shall see.

"Be sincere; be brief; be seated." ~Franklin D. Roosevelt, on speech making

Sattar Minute Speech (Hindi)
So the first speech is a speech from a Hindi Movie that I absolutely love! Here's the translation:
Sattar minute….sattar minute hain tumhare paas
70 minutes….you have 70 minutes
Shaayad tumhare zindagi ke khaas sattar minute
Maybe the most important 70 minutes of your life
Aaj tum achha khelo ya bura
Today, whether you play well or not
Yeh sattar minute tumhe zindagi bhar yaad rahenge
You’ll remember these 70 minutes all your life
Toh kaise khelna hai, aaj main tumhe nahin bataoonga
So how to play.... I’m not going to show you that today
Bas itna kahoonga ke jaao aur yeh sattar minute jee bhar kar khel lo
All I’ll say is go and play these 70 minutes with everything you’ve got
Kyunki iske baad aanewali zindagi mein….
Because after this moment, whatever happens in the future
Chahe kuch sahi ho ya na ho
Whether good or bad,
Chahe kuch rahe ya na rahe, tum haaro ya jeeto
Whether there’s anything left or not, whether you win or lose
Lekin yeh sattar minute tumse koi nahin cheen sakta….koi nahin!
No one can take these 70 minutes away from you…no one!
Toh…maine socha hai ki….
So…I think that…
Is match mein kaise khelna hai, aaj main tumhe nahin bataoonga balki tum mujhe bataoge….khelkar
How this match is to be played, today I’m not going to show you, but you are going to show me…by playing
Kyunki main jaanta hoon ki yeh sattar minute, is team ka har player zindagi ki sabse badi hockey khel gaya 
Because I know that if in these 70 minutes, each and every player plays the best game of her life,
Toh yeh sattar minute khuda bhi tumse vaapas nahin maang sakta
Then even God cannot take those moments away from you
Toh jaao! Jaao aur apne aap se, is zindagi se, apne khuda se, aur har us insaan se jisne 
tumhe, tum par bharosa nahin kiya…
So go! Go and from yourself, from life, from God, and from every individual who didn’t have faith in you…..
Apne sattar minute cheen lo
Go snatch those 70 minutes.


The Second Speech is in English: 2nd Speech: The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes
This speech just captured my interest! :)

"Good words are worth much and cost little." -George Herbert

Say (vb)-

1. to utter or pronounce; speak.
2. to express in words; state; declare; word.
3. to state as an opinion or judgment.
4. to be certain, precise, or assured about; determine.
5. to recite or repeat.
6. to report or allege; maintain.
7. to express (a message, viewpoint, etc.), as through a literary or other artistic medium.
8. to indicate or show.
9. to assume as a hypothesis or estimate.

Ex. Whatever you say, say it with conviction.

Inform (vb)- 

1. to give or impart knowledge of a fact or circumstance to.
2. to supply (oneself) with knowledge of a matter or subject.
3. to give evident substance, character, or distinction to;pervade or permeate with manifest effect.
4. to animate or inspire.
5. to train or instruct.
6. to make known; disclose.
7. to give or impart form to.

Ex. “I seek to inform rather than amuse - it belongs to the greater to possess this”

Notify (vb)-

1. to inform (someone) or give notice to.
2. to make known; give information of.

Ex. The sale was notified in the newspapers.

Advise (vb)-

1. to give counsel to; offer an opinion or suggestion as worth following
2. to recommend as desirable, wise, prudent, etc.
3. to give (a person, group, etc.) information or notice.

Ex. The investors were advised of the risk. They advised him that this was their final notice.

Relate (vb)-

1. to tell; give an account of (an event, circumstance, etc.).
2. to bring into or establish association, connection, or relation.

Ex. We listened eagerly as she related the whole exciting story.

Recount (vb)-

1. to relate or narrate; tell in detail; give the facts or particulars of.
2. to narrate in order.
3. to tell one by one; enumerate.

Ex. The man recounted the story.

Narrate (vb)-

1. to give an account or tell the story of (events, experiences,etc.).
2. to add a spoken commentary to (a film, television program,etc.).

Ex. The author narrates her story in great detail.

Explain (vb)-

1. to make plain or clear; render understandable or intelligible.
2. to make known in detail.
3. to assign a meaning to; interpret.
4. to make clear the cause or reason of; account for.

Ex. I need a lawyer to explain this contract to me.

Reveal (vb)-

1. to make known; disclose; divulge.
2. to lay open to view; display; exhibit.

Ex. She would not reveal the secret.

Disclose (vb)-

1. to make known; reveal or uncover.
2. to cause to appear; allow to be seen; lay open to view.
3. to open up; unfold.

Ex. The company has disclosed that it will be laying off thousands of workers later this year.

Grunt (vb)-

1. to utter the deep, guttural sound characteristic of a hog.
2. to utter a similar sound.
3. to grumble, as in discontent.

Ex. The workers were grunting with effort as they lifted the heavy furniture.


Home : Oxford English Dictionary. Web. 07 Dec. 2010. <http://www.oed.com/>.

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." ~Burton Hillis

It's winter again, and people are hurrying off into the stores trying buy everything on their Christmas shopping lists with the best deals for everyone.  They are wandering here and there rushing into stores with a determined face upon them.  The Christmas lights have started to come up on houses and people have started to put up Christmas trees.  You can here the faint singing of carols from different corners and also smell the wonderful smells of delicious food.  I truly love this season.  I love the snow when it starts to fall slowly towards earth from the sky above.  I feel like a little girl during this season.  I want to catch the snow in my mouth like I used to, or make snowmen and snow angels in the snow for everyone to see.  I love the way how it's a family holiday and how families spend time with each other during this holiday. This time is definitely a time of joy and celebration!

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." ~Albert Einstein

       To tell you the truth, this wasn't the fist time I watched 2 Million Minutes, and this wasn't the first time that I didn't like the movie.  I find this movie inaccurate in it's perception on students in America and India, the two places on where I have visited or lived.  I think that the students that were picked for this movie were the most extreme cases in each country.  In the movie, the American students are portrayed as spending only an hour on homework, which I find inaccurate.  While talking to my peers, I know that we spend way more than an hour on homework.  Also it showed the study group happening while watching Grey's Anatomy, which I and some of my fellow peers do not do.  Also Indian students DO NOT study all the time.  When I go to India, my friends spend majority of their time outside playing with friends.  They are outside from 6:30 until 10:30 every day!  How do they spend majority of their time studying when they are outside with friends for 4 hours every day?

       I think that this movie does bring up a major point though, that the United States education system is starting to lack.  I think that in comparison to other countries, our education system is trying to help us for the future and instead of basing it on studies and education, it is trying to help us learn leadership and other important aspects to society.

        The audience for this movie, in my opinion, was educators, such as teachers.  I think this because throughout the movie it talked about how the USA students weren't educated properly, and the way education is passed along can only be changed by the educators.  The film makers try to connect to the audience by adding in extra information such as in India the way the food was eaten, or in America the football game.  This helps connect the audience because the movie is becoming casual and easier to relate to.  This is an effective way to connect to the audience because it helps the audience become closer to the key points in the movie without them knowing it.  The movie maker's purpose of this movie was to educate the educators on how the USA is falling behind on education.  The film makers use when techniques, mainly logos and pathos, to help persuade the audience in their argument.

Modes of Friendship Answers! :)

Narration
Description
Definition
Example
Compare/Contrast
Process Analysis
Division Analysis
Classification
Cause and Effect
Argumentative/Persuasive

The Modes of Friendship

When I was 10, I met my best friend.  She was in my 3^rd grade class.  We did everything together from playing to telling stories.  I had my first sleepover at her house.  We would stay up until late at night talking about things.  She is the one who helped introduce me to Harry Potter.  We’ve had book clubs together and we’ve organized activities.  She knows when something is up with me and knows how to cheer me up.  She knows what to do when I am stressed and she knows how to calm me down.  She will be my friend for a very long time.

Two people were walking down the street in deep conversation.  You could see the glitter in their eyes in the autumn sky.  You could tell that one was teasing the other, because of the blush that was creeping up to her cheeks.  She shook it off and pushed her companion into a pile of leaves with a laughing smile.  They stared at each other and started to laugh picking the leaves off of each other in a laughing tone.  They looked down to see a couple of girls just like them playing with each other with their mothers looking down on them, and remembered how they used to play with each other.  They smiled and walked away together in a happy tone.

Friendship is when no one says a word and you both crack up in laughter.  Friendship is when someone is willing to be there for you no matter what, even though they know how crazy and weird you actually are.  Friendship is when you don’t have to say anything and you know what the other person is thinking.  Friendship is when you can talk for hours without running out of things to say.  Friendship is when you have millions of inside jokes that no one understands.  Friendship is when you disagree with someone and argue nonstop, but you still respect each other and joke around with each other.  Memories are the threads to the quilt of friendship.  Friendship is the basis to society and the basis to love.  If you have a true friend, they are there for life.

Friendship is like a patchwork quilt.  A quilt is held together by string and friendship is held together by memories.  Each patch on a quilt represents something, likewise a friendship is held together by different parts, whether it is good or bad.

The similarity and difference between enemy and friend is apparent.  They are similar in the way that you have a lot of feeling toward that person, whether it is good, friend, or bad, enemy.  The difference between them is the way you treat them.  A friend is someone who you treat with lots of respect and an enemy is someone who you treat with almost no respect.

To become one’s friend there are many steps.  You first introduce each other.  Then after that you become to talk and get to learn about each other.  Then you start to grow close after you have labeled your similarities and differences.  Finally when you grow closer and closer you will have realized that you can talk to that person no matter what, and that that person is your friend.

Friendship includes many dips and turns in life from surprises to laughter.  It involves not thinking, but feeling.  In friendship you use your heart to think, and not your brain.

When you think of friendship you think of the two friends who are most like each other.  You think of the two people who laugh in each other’s arms and enjoy each other’s company.  You think of those two people who are always fighting, but still see the good in each other.

Friendship is the result of mutual interests and common desires.  Friendship is the cause of getting to know other people and enjoying their company.  Because of friends everyone has someone to go to when feeling down.  Because of friends we can enjoy life even more.

Friends are good to have.  With friends you enjoy things even more.  You see the good in people and see life in a better way.  With friends you have mutual interests so you can talk about things to them.  Friends help you get through life when the path is bad.  Friends help you out for life.

"I rant, therefore I am." -Dennis Miller

What I Find Annoying...
1.  The annoying feet tapping or pencil tapping during a test- Can't you stay quiet? Other people around you are trying to concentrate and take a test! You don't have to make an obnoxious sound to do well on a test!
2.  When movie directors leave parts out in movies- Have you read the Harry Potter books and compared them to the movies? The directors leave out so much in the movies! I wouldn't mind to watch a very long movie! I mean they left out so many key details in the past couple of movies like Winky and other details!
3.  When my brother doesn't accept my help when he clearly needs it!  He's too proud of himself and he thinks that he doesn't need my help at all even though he doesn't get the problem at all!
4.  When people repeat something over and over again.  I heard you the first time! No need to repeat it over and over again!
5.  Cliffhangers.  I know that they are there for a reason, but still!
6.  Commercials.  Out of a half hour Indian tv show about only 13 minutes is actually the show! No one pays attention to the commercials anyways!
7.  People talking on a cellphone nonstop during a movie.  Seriously, if you need to talk to someone get out of the movie theater!
8.  Babies crying on airplanes.  Please be a good parent and actually pay attention to your kid!
That's all I can think of for now...

"If it's called the USA Today, why is all the news from yesterday? BAM. Busted!" ~Stephen Colbert

To tell you the truth, I really didn't understand the first part of the movie.  It just went way too fast for me to comprehend what Noam Chomsky was saying.  Sure I'd pick up a fact here or there, like the main underlying fact was how the media was 'censoring' what they showed us.  When they asked the question in the movie: "How do they get the new?", I started to think.  I never really thought about how and where they got the new from before.  From that point in the movie it started to get interesting, especially when they showed the two very different tours of the newspaper companies, The New York Times and the small paper from Media.  I found it so amusing that The New York Times showed about two clips before saying that is all we could see.  They were so secretive! Why should they have to be secretive? We will learn about things sooner or later! Then we saw the small paper in Media and they were completely welcoming and glad that the movie people were interviewing them for their movie.

When they showed the clips from the war and genocide in East Timor I was just shocked! How could the media let this be silent! It wasn't right! We SHOULD HAVE been informed and we SHOULD HAVE known what was happening! They had NO RIGHT to cover this up from people.  After all, we do live in a free nation, correct? I found this quote from a website: Were the atrocities that took place in East Timor in September-October 1999 on a "genocidal" scale? The consensus position of internatonal commentators has been "no" -- that in fact, the deaths amounted to no more than a few hundred people, perhaps only "dozens," as an Associated Press report claimed in mid-2000. http://www.gendercide.org/case_timor.html
Only dozens?!?! MORE THAN 102,000 DEATHS HAVE BEEN REPORTED! Out of that there are STILL people missing, disappeared, and the deaths that we don't know about.  The Associated Press was lying, and why you ask? It was because the UN was too late in acting against these acts, so they didn't want what was happening in East Timor to be considered a 'big deal'.  What goes around in the heads of media people? No one will know.

"Cousins are people who know who you are, but still love you."

Here I am, dreading the weekend's end like usual.  My cousins from Chicago just left about 5 minutes ago, and already miss them! It was nice that they decided to show up for the weekend!  This weekend was amazing from Friday to now!  On Friday there I was sitting on the couch staring at the clock every five minutes just waiting in excitement for my cousins to arrive from Chicago, which they finally did at 11:30 at night. After they arrived we started to chit-chat about college, since my cousin, Mansi, is a freshman this year at UIC.  (BTW, College discussions are not one of my favorite one's right now.  The whole discussion about the future is not one I like to discuss, because I have a very vague idea about what I want to do, but anyways...) We would then go up to my room to look at old vacation memories from post-cards to pictures (we've been on 13 different vacations together), and start jamming out to Taylor Swift at a very high volume at 3 in the morning, to then fall asleep at 4ish.  The next day we rushed to get ready for my sweet sixteen.  We had an amazing time there, although nobody was dancing, so I decided, on courtesy of Ishan, to ditch my own party! I know you must be thinking how stupid I am to ditch my own party, but we were given an okay from our parents to go to a garba, an Indian dance!  We would arrive there at 10:30 pm and start to dance our hearts off.  I danced until my legs started to hurt.  We then gathered all 8 of us in a mini-van and started the 30 min ride home!  We put on the radio to KDWB, and just started to sing along loudly, which my cousin LOVES to do.  We would reach a Redbox at 12:45 am and debate what movie to watch: Paranormal Activity or The Box.  We would decide on the latter because of my 12-year old brother.  We then got home at around 1 am after dropping off my friends at each of their respective houses.  We then decided that since The Box looked stupid, that we were going to watch The Ring, which was a pretty good movie.  My brother lasted about 10 minutes into the movie before he decided he was too scared and goes to sleep.  He insists that he was 'tired', like he was telling the truth.  About half way through the movie, around 2:30 am, we decided that we were hungry, so we went on a snack break.  We ransacked the fridge and found some samosas to eat.  They were very delicious at 2:30.  We would end up finishing the movie at 4:15, and then slowly walk upstairs to sleep at around 4:30, only to be awoken a couple hours later stating that we had to get up and get ready to go to someone's house for lunch.  Well we did eventually get up, but at noon, so we rushed to get ready and drove to a friend's house for lunch.  Over there we would swap stories and just enjoy the last moments together until they leave.  This weekend over all was super-duper fun from singing at the top of your lungs to being frightened of a girl crawling out of the TV.

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page."

Traveling is a passion of mine.  I have a lot of experience with traveling and living in other countries.  I travel out of the country at least once a year with my family. My family loves to travel all over the world!  We’ve traveled to India every other summer since I was born. I’ve also traveled to Mexico three times, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, six more of the Caribbean Islands, India, the Amsterdam Airport, and Singapore. 

When I travel with friends or family, we usually check on the Internet what is there to do in that country before venturing there.  We aren’t the type of people to just jump head-in without knowing what’s there.  In the Caribbean area we usually go see the lush green rain forest to learn about what is happening to the environment or go to the sandy beaches to play in the water all day. Traveling to the Caribbean can be a blast!

When my family travels to India, we usually travel there for about two months! I get to stay with my cousins who I hardly get to see! We usually go and visit three cities, Pune, Nasik, and Bombay (Mumbai).  Recently I went to New Delhi and Agra for the first time since I was little, Mysore and Banglore where I’ve never been to before, and Ajanta Ellora a group of caves and artifacts in Central India. Traveling to these new places was exciting and fun!

When I stay in Bombay, we usually visit the famous stars of Bollywood. We travel to the India Gate and watch the waves hit the walls.  Even though it is raining non-stop, we have a ton of fun! When in Nasik I get to drive the kinetic Honda scooter and watch my uncle throw biscuits to stray dogs on the street, which he loves to do. We go and visit my uncle’s six stores, and then just walk across the street to watch a movie. In India everything is within walking distance of the house: a grocery store, a movie store, clothing stores, and work!  Also in India, fresh milk is delivered to your doorstep every day! People usually live in flats, apartment buildings, or they retreat to their bungalows, houses but bigger. In India, the whole extended family lives together or within walking distance of one another! It's a ton of fun, because my uncle usually has dance parties with everyone, and we end up dancing all night! I love to dance in India.

After visiting Nasik, we travel to Pune, one of my favorite cities in India!  Pune is my favorite city, because it is the city where I can go out by myself and do whatever I want without the fear of that something will happen to me, because my family in India lives in an enclosed society with security and guards. Also I love Pune because all my friends live in Pune! I have over 30 friends in Pune.  With them I usually stay out until late at night, even though they have school, playing games and having fun. We have played cops and robbers at 11 at night to playing soccer in the rain when it's barley morning! They are amazing friends, because even though I live half way across the world from them, they keep in touch with me just to see how I'm doing. In Pune, my aunt owns a boutique, clothing store, where she makes me really pretty Indian clothes! I always have a blast when I go there!

What has struck me recently when we go to India is how much poverty there is.  Wherever you look there is people either begging on the streets or sitting there sick looking. It’s really sad, and I wish I could do something for them.  

India is one of my favorite places ever! Traveling with friends and family is a wonderful experience; you make new memories with them that are hard to forget, whether it is laughing until you throw up or dancing all night you always have a blast!  Wherever I travel and with whomever I travel, I always learn new things and have new experiences! I just love to travel!

Why I Write...

I write for many reasons.  I wrote for pleasure, to inform, to understand something more, to have fun, to let my imagination run, to process my thoughts, and many more reasons.  I write when I need to, usually for school or when I just feel like writing in a Journal.  I write when I am disappointed or really happy.  I write at home and I write at school.  When I write I usually feel a sense of calmness and happiness.

When Orwell writes, he writes for everyone, his general audience.  He tries to make it relevant towards everyone.  In his essay: "Why I Write", he states four reasons why WRITERS as a whole write.  When Didion writes, she writes to herself.  She writes for herself.  She talks about specific moments where most people can't relate to.

Most people write to an audience as a whole, but some people like Didon, like to write about specific things and personal experiences.  I like to write to make it relevant to everyone, but some of the works I have are more personal and irrelevant to most people as a whole.

There aren't enough days in the weekend. ~Rod Schmidt

Here I am on a Sunday night, busily studying away and TRYING to finish my homework with a ton of distractions surrounding me...Maybe I should try to actually start my homework before the weekend is over...I like most people suffer from a little disease called PROCRASTINATION....It is a very DEADLY disease if caught..... Procrastination+Distractions like Facebook and the Internet=A very long Sunday night....

Well on the plus side my birthday is now in ONE week!! I'm really excited, and yes! I am going to be counting down EVERY single day this week! It's really fun to annoy people like that...:)

Every time I watch the 7th Harry Potter Movie Trailer it gives me goosebumps...Does this happen to anyone else? I'm really angry at the directors for splitting it into 2 movies! I doubt that I or a bunch of other people would care to sit through a 4 or 5 hour long movie in one go! I mean the first movie is coming out in November, and the 2nd is coming out in July! That's EIGHT whole months! It's quite depressing! BTW I absolutely LOVE the movie poster for the 7th movie! It's scary and enchanting at the same time! I can't believe that the movies are almost over! I KNOW that I will be crying throughout the 7th movie! I don't want it to end, but at the same time I can't wait for the movies to come out!!

Well I guess I should continue with the rest of my homework...So I'll update some other time....


Quote of the Post:
Professor McGonagall: The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you, in one night, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons! 
Fred: [whispering to George] Try saying that five times fast. 
George: [whispering] Babbling, bumbling band of baboons. 
Fred: [whispering] Babbling, bumbling band of baboons. 

Hey!! IT's my FIRST post!

Hey Everyone! It's Ayesha here! I still can't believe we are back in school! It was just yesterday where I was sitting in the sun rays enjoying life, but here we are now. So ANYWAYS some things you need to know about, well I LOVE TO LAUGH...and LAUGH...and LAUGH some more! My cousin's think I'm pretty crazy when we go on vacation together, which is about 13 different vacations! I LOVE TO TRAVEL! Traveling is my passion! I've been to around 27 states and like 12 different countries! My parents are from India, but I was born and brought up in Plymouth, MN! My birthday is on September 19th (I'm turning 16!!!) and I can't wait, but I won't be able to get my license until December, because I got my permit in June... I have a younger brother who goes to middle school.  I love reading books! In middle school, the librarian memorized my ID #.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HARRY POTTER! I read the 7th book in 2 hours and 15 minutes (my cousin timed me!).  After my brother read the ending of the 7th book, I was furious with my brother for telling me what happened!  I can scare people away really easily.  I'm in Mock Trial, Future Problem Solving, National Honors Society, and I was in Math Team & Nordic Skiing.  I just got a job at Kumon, which I'm really excited about! Well the bell just rang so I'll continue this when I get home!