The Brilliance of Life, Understanding it... and other Shenanigans

I seem to enjoy posting at the most awkward of times it seems like. I mean practically most of you must be in hibernation mode with your nose stuffed into books as if they were providing you with life giving oxygen. Still it's been a while so I thought why not. Since the final term of university is upon us and with year one coming to a close I thought I'd look back at some of the things I've learnt and draw upon why they mattered.

For starters, I know for sure that this year I lost nearly half of my high-school friends to the unfortunate passage of time which slowly eroded any relationship that I might have had with them throughout our teenage life. It seemed saddening at first but then I realised that it was a necessary change to occur. We as individuals don't realise that sometimes we make friends to maintain the social convenience rather than actual mutual interest with each other. The so called 'gangs' we had as teenagers seems as if a thing of the past. Truth be told there was a lot of tension within those gangs and it seemed natural that after a while the ties which held us together slowly started to fade as we realised the insignificance of them. What was that irritating line in frozen ? Right 'It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small'. So with all of us so far away, the stress of trying to always fix things didn't come to me and I felt liberated by the fact that if things were meant to happen this way... then they happened for a reason. Not that I don't miss each and everyone of them though, the friends I made in highschool were a great bunch so it does sting that we've grown so far apart.

Making temporary snow cones - Like a boss

Another thing I feel I must point out is that university is a lot about balance. Honestly this lesson took way too long to learn but it felt good when I eventually did. I mean in all honesty it's all about bringing as much of your life's old routine back into your university life. Be it as simple as a game of football with your friends, or waking up early enough to actually have breakfast and lunch. Balance is an important part of our life even if we don't realise it. Bring back what was once good for you, take on those that improve you and discard those that don't. Most importantly I finally found a place where I can truly relax and feel as if I'm not simply living in a place that I'm here for temporarily but rather the potential for a permanent home. In all honesty I did rob that last line from one of my history lectures wherein the countries that the British invaded either prospered or collapsed depending on whether or not the migrants wanted to settle or simply rob the place of its resources. Funny how education comes up in the weirdest of places

Finally I felt humbled for the first time in my life to be a part of something so large and brilliant. University truly gives you the channel within which you can witness the world from a safe haven. Honestly I can come across as cocky, arrogant and even downright crude sometimes, but I'm learning to change, and one of the most important factors that caused that it is realisation that without the desire to improve, you're always going to be bested by others who do. You can sit on your laurels of the past and gloat about your glory days, but I'd much rather fall down multiple times, dust myself off and get right back up and face any challenge. Whether through life's successes, or personal development in the case of me, humility through gain and most of all a desire to keep fighting, this is a journey that I have yet to even reach the fork roads of. 

What I do believe though is that there's a lot more left to learn and I plan on cherishing every moment of it that I can. Summer is nearly here and there's a lot left to do. Till then...

When it hasn't been your day, week, month or even your year

Yes I know, I'm referencing F.R.I.E.N.D.S again but I can't seem to help myself. The more times I listen to their ridiculously addicting theme song, the more I realize how many lessons are stuffed into that tiny 3 minute piece of catchy music. So for now, like I say to everyone desperate enough to come to this place, "Deal with it", and sit back and listen to what I have to blabber about.

So being honest with all of you, this year hasn't been a particularly good so far. In fact it was downright crappy to be honest (wow never thought I'd be doing a TBH for myself) and lately I've come to realize that when life gets you all down and in the dumps getting depressed and whining about it won't actually do anything (like I'm doing so right now). Instead it's time to put on your black shades and show everyone that you're the boss of your own destiny. Wow I'm both gangsta and deep at the same time.

Yes this isn't one of my typical depressing morose ass posts mainly cause I've realized I've had enough of being down in the dumps. Now is the time to celebrate what's left of this memorable year, since if we don't, no one else will for us. While I get that what I wrote about in the previous sentence was probably the most retarded piece of advise I can ever offer you (and I've offered some pretty retarded advice), I still feel that it's valuable if you take it to heart.

Okay so now I know that summer vacation is ending quite rapidly and you probably don't have much time to read any of my weird thoughts, I'll just let you guys off easy and cut this one short. Remember though *Puts Shades On* it's time to get back and start living once again. I may have been partially high while writing this one, so come back later on this week for a nice little story.

So I had this brilliant little idea about the #ShadeChallenge. Basically take a photo wearing shades which proves that you're willing to make the difference to get better at life. Send me a pic and I'll probably write something I know about you.

Monica Ahuja [A.K.A Monz] The 'Bubble' is one of the newest additions to my friends circle (lol I need to have more than one to even make a circle) and has long been regarded as the bookworm with an edgy streak for partying. This year she showed her true colors as the fanatic wonder we've all come to know and love. Considering the fact that she's my slightly more sane sister, it's no wonder that I'm writing something nice since I know she'll get me something delicious for lunch tomorrow. Here's to the girl that still whines when we have a minute left one the parking ticket and put in a new one.This is her accepting the fact that it's time to put *DeM Shades* on.

Shirley D'Mello [Shirls/Shirlbombs] Easily the 'Wild Child' of the group, this is probably the only person who can match my ability for taking selfies. Body conscious but yet willing to flaunt it without a care, this lady and I have been through both hell and heaven (mostly hell since she's scratched me so many times). Completely willing to speak her mind, shirls may either be the most honest person I know, or the most insane (keeps changing). Weirdly unable to drive anything bigger than a nissan 'tida' this crazy african fashion girl plans on getting her 'Saudi in Audis' on very soon. Dibs on the first ride. This is her getting her photo-editing skills on with the #shadechallenge

Mahek Punjabi [Punju] was somehow a person who came into all of our lives through a weird turn of events. I mean normally I don't go to a school for just one year but I guess when you're as blonde as my friend above here, things like that tend to happen... not that I'm complaining. Now see when you're a person like Punju, you use your blondness to your advantage. Weirdly enough this girl is actually pretty smart. Like brainy with looks kinda smart. So definitely it's going to take some effort to get to know her. However once you do, you'll have her rolling her eyes at every corny thing you do (Come to think of it, I probably have a video of her doing that), and when she does, you know it's a sign that you've done something pretty stupid. Still when you're friends with her, I'm guessing that's okay. After all she can't even take a picture without it not being blurry ^. Still I wouldn't give up meeting her for all the kinder bars in the world (not sure about the opposite since she loves them). Anyways, this is her proving to all that she's as much a boss as anyone else and accepting the #shadechallenge while driving. Kids don't use that as a role model

Ruchika Bhatia [Ruch] The girl who's literally engaged to Tim Hortons, Ruch has always been that slightly weird friend that loves to party. As if being born with a multiple personality disorder wasn't enough, Ruch was given the enormous gift of not being a morning person. If you ever see her early in school during the week STAY BACK or she will attack. Apart from that though I'm not sure exactly how I feel about her. She's a curious individual in the sense that you can never know what she's thinking about. Maybe that's because she's not thinking about anything, but mostly it's some rather deep wordly issue. Oh yes she also prefers monkeys that look better than teenage boys. This is her going all gangsta and sending me a seriously cheesy pic of her accepting the #shadechallenge. Guess her and I will be doing this a lot in the coming months. P.S. if you ever get her mad, she WILL scream at you.

Misbah 'Ninja/Nundu/Potato' Mandai is a free thinking soul who is quite temperamental as she is rebellious. She's a lot like an uncorrupted version of someone I know, which makes her both entertaining and yet presentable to parents. Bit of a dare devil really, she's not afraid of bunking class once in a while if it's for a good cause. Weirdly though she and I have the most random of all talks imaginable, not to mention she sends me the LAMEST jokes alive. I mean it literally makes me face palm every time she whatsapp's me a joke. Still it's kinda awesome of how she's both good at Art and is going to culinary school to most likely become a chef. So long as the portions are large and crazy friends eat free, I'll be more than happy to visit her restaurant in the future.

Sydelle "Syd" D'sa. You must be VERY careful. It's not D'souza it's D'sa. Get that wrong and then she gets mad. First time I met her was in India this year where she randomly mentioned having a heart in her legs. However, she was more than happy to point out that she saw me while I was in my 'bulky' (okay I was a whale) phase and running around Zabeel Park. I swear to you she is in love with her cat. It's a fat, adorable, lethargic thing and I've got more pictures of it in my phone than I do of myself (if that's even physically possible). She's a rather shy girl at first, preferring to be part of the crowd rather than a headliner. However, she does open up once in a while and boy it is pure joy when she does; mainly cause she only talks about what she's passionate about, and if she does then she suddenly comes to life. Addicted to chocolate and a hard core non-veg, Syd dreams of a day when bacon salad is a thing. Still she's probably the nicest person I'll ever meet.

Raveena 'Ravs' Kriplani is seriously the gangsta with nerd goggles. So maybe I'm getting a bit exhausted writing all of these posts but I said I'd do it so here I am. Moving on, Ravs was weirdly a person I've always considered a lot like me but yet somehow different. For starters I don't call my car the "Ravsmobile" nor do I have the ability to run on 2 hours of sleep everyday. I also do plan on living for quite a while which is why I didn't do 6 whole A levels while in high school, yet Ravs thinks she can cope. Aside from the nerdy business Ravs is a person who loves to party, and when I mean party I mean party (emphasis on party). She's also quite the badass and is known to bunk a multitude of classes when she just isn't 'feeling it'. Quite the image conscious one, Raveena gets a bit upset if pictures of her go up that are less than 'perfect'. After all if that's what you're trying to be in life then every aspect must be as well. All in all, she's the kind of person you'll meet once but won't forget, sort of like me except you'll actually want to remember her.