1st issue- While watching that wonderful soccer game today, I realized that the name United States of America is just wayy too long. I mean U.S.A is almost like saying U.S.S.R. Why can't we just call it America? I mean it's not like South America even cares/matters? They have individual countries with individual names.

2nd issue- I've been looking at the cars recently and have realized, long gone are the days of speed. The fantasy cars I grew up with, the speed demons, lucifer's chariots, the Diablo SV, the McLarren F1 are just myths now. The days of thinking the red light was to rev your engine, yellow to rev your engine more, and green to let go of the clutch are completely over (in video games of course). The new car games are about running from the cops and being a gang member, rather than pure racing. Just watching F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton talk about how he owns a Merc GL and thinks of it as his "pimp cruiser" was just sad. All the kids are more focused about the ipod integration or bluetooth handsfree on their car rather than the engine. And it's not their fault. It's the price of fuel. It's the same reason why formula 1 races are slower, super cars are slower, and people are losing interest in speed. People aren't reluctant to buy expensive cars, they just hate filling it up every week and watching the numbers on the pump increase one by one and go all the way up to $60- $70 -$80. But how can car companies fix this issue? The quickest fix is to make smaller cars with more features. Till now all the smaller subcompact cars are completely stripped of any luxuries. Take the toyota echo for instance- crappy steering, plasticy everything, shitty stereo. Compare that to another small car with luxury features such as the bmw 3 seires or the Lexus IS. Clearly those sell far better and are much more profitable to the car companies too because people do not mind paying more for a smaller car as long as it has the features of premium bigger saloon cars. So give me a civic with laser guided cruise control, a decent engine, RWD, and a bang&olufsen stereo, and I will be happy to pay 30k for it.

The other day my roommate asked me why I keep songs on repeat on my Itunes playlist. I hadn't really thought about it ever but I came up with a decent answer and said it's because - A song is just a song for most people. For instance- "lolipop" by Lil' Wayne was just an excuse for a good rub down. However, to me a GOOD song is more of a moment. A moment in time that the song represents. They maybe moments of pleasure or pain, but most of the time the song is acting as the "drug" i'm using at that moment. So I keep the songs on repeat in order to extend that moment in time because 3-4 minutes just isn't long enough sometimes. My roommate replied by saying- "that's the gayest thing you've ever said" and went back to playing his video games.

I then went back into my room thinking about it and thought of the more salient reason for keeping my songs on repeat: I study each song I like. Study in the sense- every song has layers, the beat, the rhythm, the groove, the structure, the effects used etc. I try to dissect each song and listen to each element so I can learn from it and re-use/ re-implement those ideas when I'm working on my own music. Hopefully they're not too identifiable. And even though creativity is extremely present in the process, there are only 7 notes to work with.

Most people I know get through the "grind" and keep waiting for the weekend. They party all weekend and before you know it the weekend is over. This makes the weeks go by faster and your most precious time in college just flies by- week after week. So I suggest why not live day by day and make the weeks go slower? How about instead of waiting for the weekend weekly, you do something small/ interesting everyday of the week. For instance, rent a DVD for one night, make an amazing dinner for the other, go to the park for another... and you get the point. They don't have to be about going crazy everyday. Just about making everyday count a little bit more. That way the weekdays won't seem that bad either? I mean I understand with busy schedules full of tests and meetings it's hard to do so. But, lets be honest.. how much of that time do we just sit there pouting about how much work we have to do? I think that time can be spent making the week worthwhile and then celebrating the weekend also. This way the weeks won't just fly by waiting for the weekends to come.

Guitar is my high

It was sometime in February (around this time) about 10 years ago when I got the greatest gift of my life...

When I first saw my guitar teacher he wasn't anything that I expected him to be. He had a leather jacket on, well dressed- slacks, tucked in shirt, nice shoes. He didn't have long hair, cool swagger, or any other stereotypes you expect from an established guitarist. My ten year old imagination was actually a bit disappointed- he even spoke in an eastern European accent. I didn't expect much out of this and just went along with it because I really didn't have anything to do at the time, being home schooled and all. He asked us if I had ever touched the guitar before and if we even had one in the house. Soon he went with my uncle to the store to go buy one. An hour or so later he came back with an acoustic nylon string. I felt crushed at this point. I was expecting some blue flying axe that had electric sounds blazing out of it.. but no it looked like the cleaner version of the dusty one we had back in India that my dad had brought years ago. He then started playing something on it, and I remember how everyone in the room just froze. We had never heard guitar like that before. None of us knew classical guitar existed and how sweet (melodically) it actually sounded. He played a tune that I recognized from an old Raymond Suitings commercial from TV. He was excited to see that I recognized his tunes... the bond instantly formed and he became one of the greatest people in my life for the next 7 years in my life.

Honestly though, I didn't realize then what a great gift my uncle had brought me that day. Playing guitar kept my mind occupied and got me through the harsh side effects of chemo therapy for a year. Later when I went to real school and had to deal with the emotional challenges of never fitting in, I could always go back home in the afternoon and play my guitar for hours and try to jam with the latest blink182 songs after practicing some classical music. That went on for years as I sat in my room playing guitar while everyone else I knew went to the eighth grade prom, homecomings, sadies, and later prom. By that time I had at least managed to use my guitar in school activities and felt a little better to share it with other people. In the mean time though, I really believe a person who made a lot better is my uncle. All he did was listen to me play while he would come back from a tired day at the hospital and fall asleep listening to me play. He had his favorites too, and made me play them on repeat like a cd player. Guess it was his way of coaxing me to practice... Soon I was in college and in my lonely room at Dobie on the twelfth floor without any roommates I would sit in the corner and keep playing. I might have to add it helped me get some friends too once they heard me play. It was my biggest source of confidence when meeting new people. Months later, at the time heartbreak it was one of my greatest friends. My guitar teacher was right, it would always be by my side. I kept playing and used it as a crutch to get back up again, really. I started pretending to play in front of an audience in my room and later started playing at actual shows.

Today I was driving back from my brothers place in South Austin and it randomly came to me at the intersection of a freeway that the guitar was the greatest gift of my life. I was without a guitar for two weeks in Austin and I didn't realize what was wrong but something didn't feel right. As soon as I went and rented one this weekend, everything felt a lot better. Everyday when I'm walking through campus I can't wait for the day to be over so I can go back and pluck some notes or try to play a new riff of a new song. It got me through the roughest times and also gave me the greatest highs all my life. If someone ever wants to know me better, I'd know what to tell them- just listen to me play guitar for 20 minutes, it's my better half anyway. I don't care how cliche this sounds but the greatest gifts are only those that you realize are great after a very long time.

Thank you.

I just had my first show of the semester. Just like always I was nervous, like really really nervous. Specially because I was going after a really good singer. After I got off stage I couldn't muster up enough courage to talk to everyone to get their reaction so I started packing my stuff in the back. Finally I asked someone who would be a good judge of things about how the sound was and he said it was pretty good. Finally I took a big gulp and went into the audience and my friends surrounded me and praised me. Some other people liked it too.. I hope they were being honest. I looked at the video and was actually quite happy with my performance later that night. I have two more shows coming up, one this coming weekend and another the weekend after. This is my favorite time of the year when I get to do something I really appreciate and I get to take my mind off all the other pains of life. I still can't believe the things going around about me... here I've been trying to avoid something like this forever.

Organized closet

I returned to Austin today. My little cave was a big mess. it was as if a tornado had swung by and taken all the papers that I pretended to read before exams and scattered it across my floor to mock me as I walked into my room staring at the horror.

I have a new theory and outlook to get that perfect 4.0 this semester though. This includes:

1) Listening to blues and soul music. Don't ask.

2) Keeping things very organized. I believe If i keep things orderly, It'll motivate me to spend more time looking over things. If I make a militaristic schedule for my life, I'll probably be more productive. This includes taking timely showers, exercise, eating healthy, and keeping school work organized.

Keeping the organization in mind. The first thing I did was organize my closet. I feel like so much can be understood of a person just by looking at their closet. As it is, judging of what clothes they wear tells one a whole lot about their personality- the colors, the patterns etc. AND it really helps if the closet it organized. In fact, I say there's a different charm to an organized walk in closet. You always feel the urge to go in there, and just sit there peacefully. The clothes are there hanging and basically gawking at you. The same clothes that take you out, the same clothes that you wear everyday on the run, just hanging there peacefully.

Still organizing,

nK

People need to be more respectful of other people's time.

I'm really excited and anxious about my next two performances. There isn't enough guitar in the first one. But I like the fact that it's in an arena like environment. I need to nail those higher notes.. more practice is needed.