My Symphony

My co-worker and friend, Alaina, is a harpist. An excellent harpist I might add. The reason I mention her is that I discovered a poem through her - it's lovely. She said that it described her life.

To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not, rich;
to listen to stars and birds,
babes and sages,
with open heart;
to study hard;
to think quietly,
act frankly,
talk gently,
await occasions,
hurry never;
in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common
...this is my symphony.
WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING


I wish I could say the same. But I feel like I don't study hard enough (not consistently in any case), nor do I act frankly, or talk gently. And if I were to say that I'm never in a hurry, I will burn in Hell for a lie so big.

I suppose I could work towards being that kind of person. I'm sure this William Henry Channing guy was very happy being who he was. By which I do not mean that I'm not happy being me; but I would like to have some admirable qualities in me that others, and I personally, would like.

I love music majors - they have this easy, dreamy aura - it's very calming.

Turns out Chioma was right about me being an earth element. I took an online test that gave you your 'element composition' . I didn't try to figure out the scoring deal - but I got a 5 on earth, a 1 on fire - every other element had a negative score.

Chioma couldn't stop laughing when I told her.

Elements and Dreams

A few days ago, my friend Chioma got a henna tattoo on her back that said 'water' in chinese. That started a discussion about elements, and what each person's element was. I, apparently, am an 'earth'. I interpret that as being grounded and practical. Chioma said that many earths ended up living vegetable-like lives, and the secret was to know when to stop.

Huh.

I guess that's all right. I can take criticism. And when I have time, I will probably come up with 10 reasons why earth elements are superior. Just like I came up with 10 reasons why it was good to be short. I'm listing most of them...the others were too dumb to put down here.

1. Being tall makes you rather high headed. And let’s face it. Who likes being with high-headed people?
2. If you’re tall, you’re closer to the sun. So you feel hotter in the afternoons.
3. Tall people have difficulty breathing, because higher up, the air gets thinner. So there’s obviously less oxygen.
4. Tall people occasionally get hurt while walking into a room. Doorways are designed for normal people, you know.
5. The centre of gravity of a tall person is pretty high up. And if your CG is high, you’re bound to be more unbalanced than the others around you.
   
6. Imagine a tall person being a criminal on the run. If that person tries to disguise himself/herself, he/she will be highly unsuccessful. Their height will surely give them away. That, of course, is not the case with people with normal heights.
7. Tall people are slow. In any situation, if quick action is the requirement, then tall people are the most unsuitable. Because of their long limbs and extremely long body, electrical impulses from the brain will take longer to reach the motor organs, and hence slow down physical activity.
8. Last, but not the least, when tall people die and have to be buried, they need more coffin space. And if the family is not very well off, the height that was admired throughout their lifetimes does lose most of its grandeur, doesn’t it?

Getting back to the topic I started out with (although digression is good - it reminds me of P.G.Wodehouse, or perhaps Dave Barry), I realized that there is hardly anything else I want to say about it.

I ran into my friend Bharathi after a long time yesterday, and we talked about everything ranging from Aerospace Engineering drop-outs ('the smart ones', as she called them) to the awesome rapping at the Forty Acres fest. And then, we talked about dreams.

'Dream without expectations', she said.
'I can't do that', I said flatly.

Because I can't - not yet anyway.

There's a lot to be said about dreams, and I will get to all that - after I check off a few things on my to-do list.

Which, at the moment, would scare Santa Clause if he thought it was a Christmas wish-list.

Blog names

It took me all of 30 minutes to come up with a blog name. I remember that it was the very lack of creative ideas that prevented me from creating a blog 2 years ago. They need to come up with a better system...."They" from here on refers to a nameless, formless creature, who I will blame it all on.

Brainstorming led to the following results...
1. Warped wisecracks
2. Nimisha's blusterings
3. Batty chatterings
4. I-don't-give-a-damn-about-the-blogname
5. Batty musings
6. Batty insights
7. Batty wisdom
8. Batty brilliance
9. I-should-be-doing-my-homework-really!
10. Why-are-you-reading-this?
11. Procrastination-is-a-necessity