#232: Procrastinating...

Ten things you do when you procrastinate.

1.  Watch a movie or a TV show. When I procrastinate, I even watch movies and episodes I've already seen so that I'm always occupied!

2. Sit and make little bookmarks for my best friends while they work. I work harder on these little bookmarks than my homework most of the time. Last year, I spent TWO hours making them little bookmarks with little stickers and quotes! I love making things when I don't have to make them. I always had trouble in art because we'd have to do an assignment and I always mess up on things that I HAVE to do. (art wise)

3. Read a book and comment on everything I'm reading. I like telling my roommate anything that I think sounds interesting. I think this habit was worst when I was reading a Chris Kuzneski book. Chris Kuzneski just has so many interesting facts in his book! I couldn't stop asking my roommate questions, especially because this particular book was set in Germany, and my roommate's German, and she'd been to almost all the places in the book! It was so cool!

4. Sleep. I like to sleep when I don't want to work. It helps me forget what work I have, even if it's just for a few hours.

5. Write in my journal. (Or read my previous entries.) I like writing about everything I've done, but that's only on special days when something really important's happened. I like reading my entries even more than writing them, because they're hilarious. I can't believe that I actually write such funny and lame things!

6. Make a paper crane for my roommate. Origami's fun, or just fun to look at it. I'm bad at origami, so the only things I can make properly are boats, airplanes, and paper cranes. I make paper cranes because they're more complex than boats and airplanes (and also because the way I make my boats is supposedly not the "right" way). Even making paper cranes can be hard for me, because I forget when I'm supposed to fold what.

7. Watch my roommate work while I'm lying down. Most of the time, I don't do much while procrastinating, so I just lie down and watch my roommate study. That way, I'm doing something productive (resting and observing), and I can always ask my roommate random questions about what she's doing.

8. Eat. I like to eat when I work because working makes me hungry. I still feel like eating when I'm not studying because it gives me something to do, and when I eat, my roommate eats too, and it's like having a whole meal again!

9. Do word search puzzles. I love word search puzzles. They're a good way to spend free time because they don't require much brain usage, and I like to believe that they help us improve our "searching" skills.

10. Cleaning. By cleaning, I don't mean cleaning everything. I don't have OCD. I just like sorting out my pencil box. I love stationery, and I like choosing which pencil or pen I'm going to use for the next day!

#218: NO super power

What super power you would choose

Can we make up a super power? Because I would want the ability to create new things from the original/initial form an object was in. I don't even know if it's counted as a super power, but I'm going to stick to this one.

Let's start off with a piece of garbage. If I did have my super power, I could turn it into food when I'm hungry, or a jacket if I was cold! It'd be so cool, and since garbage can be converted, we can turn garbage into food during famines and droughts, feeding millions and getting rid of garbage! We could solve starvation all over the world with this super power, and everybody will be happy! (Maybe not the people working in the disposal-type industry, but this super power could create a whole new industry!)

This super power could save lives! For instance, if there was a person falling from the top of a building and there was a car or any other object below, we could turn it into the big blown up cushion-type things, and the person would just fall on the cushion and not die! We reduce accidents and cases of suicides (that take place like this).

I'd be using my super power to save millions, maybe billions of people all over the world. Lastly, I'd be able to use the super power for myself. If I'm stranded someplace and I have nothing to eat but sand, I could turn the sand into some edible thing and I won't die! I would be able to use it if I'm so tired that I can't get up to get myself something. I could just create out of an object close to me.

While writing all this, I realized that this super power is actually bad, rather than good. We'd be able to create money, and if we always had an endless supply of money, I'd be a gazillionaire, and it'd be unfair to all those other people working to earn a living. I'm sure the world economy would suffer because of my super power too, and we'd have a great majority of the population being unemployed soon. In the end, the super power does not lean towards altruism at all, and I believe super powers should be used for the good of many people.
I'd probably use the power just for myself and become an evil mastermind.

I don't really need the super power, now that I think of it, and I don't want to use or choose ANY super power if it's just going to lead to bad results. (All super powers ultimately do.)

What do you do on a rainy day?

I really like rainy days. There's not really much you can do but stay inside. I like staying inside a lot. There's always so much to do! I like to sit or lie down next to a window and look outside. It's really fun, and with music, you fall asleep really fast! It's hard to watch television because you can hear the rain on the roof and any other sound is drowned out. I like reading on rainy days. It's actually very calming, and you can just alternate between reading and looking out the window.

I don't like studying on rainy days because rainy days are meant for relaxation. Studying is annoying and always takes up so much time! Reading does not count as studying because reading's fun.

I drink something hot when it rains. I don't know why, but I just do.

Lately, I've started watching movies and shows on rainy days. I've thought about it, and I've come to the conclusion that rainy days are the ideal time to watch things. You can't really choose to go outside, and you can just stay inside and watch something on your laptop. It works out well, and on sunny days, you can go outside and play!

Most importantly, I leave the window to my room open on rainy days regardless of what I'm doing. I like the smell of rain. You know how smells can remind you of something or someone? The rain reminds me of this one day, a long time ago. It was when I was in Delhi and it rained a lot. From what I remember, it rained up till my knees! Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure if it actually happened or if it was a dream, but it was fun. I stood on top of the slide in the park and watched and played with my cousins. I like remembering this day/dream.

Rainy days are basically days when I can be completely lazy and not be criticized. It's great. I'm glad it rains.

#226: a secret

When you had the desire to run.

It's ironic, really. The one time I truly had the desire to run, and I was wearing heels. I hate formal shoes, and heels, even more. I had the desire, but I didn't give in to it, so the shoes ended up being not as troublesome. This experience is a very embarrassing one, and one that I have not told anyone, so the whole incident will be very... general and unspecific.

It was a thing at school where everyone was dressed up, hence the heels. The event was just some small thing where a lot of people came and did stuff. I went for it, and I actually had fun through the first half of the event. I sat and talked to people, and it was fun. That is, it was fun until some very smart person decided to do something so that other people would do something, and it was awkward. I didn't like doing the thing, so I sat.

That was the moment I had the urge to run. I sat there and this very, very sad thing happened (it was sad for me), and I just sat there. I really couldn't do anything. It wasn't anything bad, but I just wasn't fine with it, and I felt the urge to run. I wanted to run far, far away until the whole thing ended. I wanted to go back to my room and sit there and watch something funny for the rest of the night, but that would have been wimpy, and not so smart of me.

I looked at everything after that. Everything that was far from the place I was previously sitting at (I moved). I thought about it while I watched people, and I realized that I had to be prepared the next time it happened. I sat and thought. I knew that the next time the thing would happen would be at a specific time (I can't say when, because you'll probably be able to guess the whole thing), and that I would have to leave before that.
I kept looking at the time and I finally decided that it was time to go. I ran. I didn't exactly run, but I walked away, very normally, if I may so myself.

I felt relieved after I left, but a little part of me was still sad because I could do nothing to stop it. I had no power over the situation, and I'd decided to run. I don't know if I regret running or not, because I avoided the whole incident, but I also lost out on a chance to be stronger than my impulse.

I had the desire to run that night, and I finally ran. 

#205: Second Grade

Describe how you met your best friend.


I met my best friend at the school gate. We were there before or after the new student orientation, I don't remember which. We were the only ones left. She was with her parents, and I was with my sister and a family friend. I still remember what she wore that day. It was really funny. She wore this purple t-shirt with a pocket on the side with Ariel (from the Little Mermaid) on it. She wore matching track-pants. She had really, really short hair (for a girl) which was completely different from mine since mine was really long then. I remember what I wore, but my best friend's description of my outfit would be a complete lie, so I'm not going to describe it. Since we were both Tibetans, the old people started talking to each other. I know the first thing I said to her. Actually, I don't. I've always found it hard to speak to strangers, and she was a stranger then. 


I then walked up back to dorms with my sister and a family friend who had come to drop me off. I had already unpacked (my sister did it for me, actually), and I sat on my bed as I watched my future best friend unpack with her father. I just watched them and replied to whatever questions her father asked me. She didn't say anything to me. It was dinner soon after they finished packing. Her father left soon after they had finished, and she was crying when I saw her again. I'm really no good at comforting people, but I did comfort her because I still felt bad for her and I was also the only person around. I sat with her as she cried on her bed, and I think I told her about how my parents hadn't come with me and that I'd had my sister (who studied here too) do everything for me. I think she felt better after that because her parents actually came. 


I think we really connected after that moment, because we stayed together ALL the time (along with this other Tibetan girl who was in a grade above us). I remember talking to her that night when I was homesick (but not crying, or not yet, at least). We talked about really dumb things (cartoons), and we still do.


It's hard to remember every single detail that happened that day, but I guess the important thing's that we became best friends then, and we've stayed best friends till now! =)

#222:Library

Where you go to hide and why.

I hide when I'm angry. Or sad, bored, annoyed, or just tired, and when you have to hide, you have to find the perfect place. It can't be too dark, because the dark is scary and just very gloomy, and you can't hide in place that's empty, because you really don't have anything to do but cry, or remain angry, and there's not really anywhere you can hide then. As I said before, you have to have a perfect place to hide, and the perfect place for me is the library.

I really, really like books. I like reading even though I haven't read a book in so long. I like the library too. It has books, and I like books, and it has so many shelves! I like the way the shelves are placed. They always remind me of a maze. They always have nooks and crannies between shelves and in all those other places. It's fun sitting in a small corner and reading, and I remember doing it when I was in elementary school. It used to be really fun then, because I'd always choose the same books to read again and again. I read Enid Blyton's books or this other book, which I loved. It was a picture book called Who Took My Strawberries?. The library teacher read it to us when we were in second grade, and I loved it. I liked how they had pretty pictures and how the book smelled really new. I loved reading books in the library.

The two things I love; books, and the library. When I hide, I hide in the library. It's comfortable hiding in there and you always have something to do. I like sitting on the floor and looking through the books when I'm hiding  for any reason. Most people don't talk to you when you're in the library and looking at a book, so I don't have to tell people about whatever is troubling me. I can look through books and find books that I would like to read in the future. I can look at books, but not really look at them either. I can have a book in my hand while I think about something else and no one will ask me whether I'm daydreaming or not. Most of all, books help me forget my problems. I can always read a book and rely on it to distract me from things happening around me. I like the feeling. Sometimes, you get so tired of everything that you have to leave it all and do something completely different. Reading helps me accomplish that. And sometimes, books can enlighten you. It's not only the books, but the whole act of reading. I find that solutions come to me while I'm reading about something completely different. It's wonderful!

I love books, and you will too! You just have to go to a library if you're happy, sad, or lonely, and you feel all better all of a sudden. It's possible for objects to be friends, because books are a perfect example! Books make great company whatever you're feeling, and there are no expectations or anything. You don't have to give anything to sit and read to feel better, and you don't have to expect anything from a book. You just come and go. It's the beauty of it.

#203: A. A. Milne!

How a person can get along with an enemy.

It's actually really easy. To get along with an enemy, that is. We have enemies, and we naturally tend to avoid them. That way, we interact with them a lot less. The problem with this approach is that we don't realize that these people might not be our enemies. We have enemies after just one incident. It shouldn't work that way, but it does. It's hard to not base our opinions upon one experience, and these opinions create enemies.

The easiest way to get along with an enemy is to spend time with them. There's most probably so much we don't know about this person because we've spend all this time avoiding them. Spending time with a person can help us know more about a person, and most people have more to themselves than they let on. Your enemy might like or dislike something, but it's still possible to like a person more after knowing such things. You might realize that you get along with your enemy because of your similarities, or even because of your differences. It's like the saying, " Opposites attract."

You're friends with a person most probably because you enjoy being with them. It's almost impossible to know if an enemy could be your potential friend if you haven't given them the chance to prove themselves as friend material. You can't know a person if you've barely met or spent time with them. In this way, humans are a lot like books, because you can't judge a person by his or her looks, the way you can't judge a book by its cover.

A. A. Milne once said, "weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." We just have to know our enemies, because it's possible that they could very well be our friends. We get along with friends, and maybe, we can get along with our enemies then.

(A. A. Milne's can also be trusted because he wrote When We Were Very Young and the Winnie the Pooh books, and the Winnie the Pooh books are AWESOME!)

#199: Public speaking and Prunes

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing.


I do not enjoy oral presentations. Public speaking's not my forte, and I get really, really nervous. A few days earlier, I had an oral presentation. I didn't choose to do it. I had to do it if I didn't want to fail English. So, I practiced hard, though that wasn't so obvious when I was actually presenting. I practiced for a long time, and I realized that I got nervous even while practicing alone! On the actual day, I went up and did my presentation and it sucked, but I finished it, and oral presentations didn't seem so bad afterwards. I enjoyed oral presentations, but just a little (about 0.05 percent). You can learn to enjoy something that you do not enjoy doing.
It was like prunes for me. I hated prunes. My mom made me eat them because they were healthy, and I came to school with prunes one year. I tried to eat one every day because I didn't want to waste it, and then I couldn't stop eating them! The school food was really bad and the prunes really tasted good, so I ate them all the time. I like prunes now. 
We don't enjoy a lot of things because we aren't used to doing them. You know how people say, "Don't judge a book by its cover"? It's just like that. We can't base our decisions or opinions on first trials. Doing things can become fun if we do them more than once, though we make assumptions after doing it just once.
Virgil Garnett Thomson once said, "Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not." The things we don't enjoy doing could be because of our fears, or just because, but we have to do it again. We can learn to do it, and then decide whether you like or not. It makes sense, and though it won't work for everything, it should work with most.

#91: the 30-300-30 challenge

Please write about a life experience that has influenced your intellectual and personal growth.


Does blogging count as a life experience? I don't know, but I'm still going to continue with this idea. In November 2011, I decided to take up a 30-300-30 challenge for my English class. We basically had to write one blog post everyday for thirty days with a minimum of 300 words, spending 30 minutes on each post. I took this challenge because I like challenges. Challenges are fun, especially when you accomplish them. So, I was writing blog posts everyday for a WHOLE month, and I had a lot of difficulties writing my posts. This was because all the questions offered were a lot about ourselves, and I haven't really written much about myself for assignments, or in general. My first posts were surprisingly hard to write and I spent way more than 30 minutes on them. I didn't know if what I was writing was too personal, and even though my English teacher told me to write spontaneously without worrying about editing and things like that, I couldn't do it. Most importantly, I couldn't do it without worrying about my posts because I've hardly let anyone ever read what I write. I find it awkward. This task was obviously really, really hard for me, and this time, I would have a lot more people reading what I wrote. It wasn't just my teacher. It was a lot of people all over the world. 
After around seven blog posts, I realized that I couldn't keep writing like I was. I was taking too long, and I really was overthinking about every little thing! I finally decided to take my teacher's advice. I wrote what came to my mind and it was actually fun. What I wrote after that was really truthful and probably told people more about me than usual. I even learnt to write faster, think faster, and be less awkward about sharing what I wrote.
Other people weren't the only ones who learnt about me. I learnt about myself during this experience. Doing all different types of questions ranging from making a mosquito catcher to falling of my bicycle showed me what was possible if I just spent time thinking about things I didn't think about usually. There were so many things I had learnt from so many different things, and so many funny and not-so-happy memories ( I wrote the funny ones because they're more interesting).
I really got to realize what was important to me and what I wanted to do. While answering all these different questions, I started thinking different from the usual me. Instead of thinking about the next episode of Vampire Diaries or what I was going to do after study hall, I started thinking of the whole world, and more importantly, my place in it. I wanted to make a change, and I still do. I thought about issues that I'd never really thought about before, like providing college-level courses prison inmates. This experience really got me thinking about everything, literally. 
During this experience, I changed. Actually, I didn't change. I just became the person I could be, and I had fun through it all. 
I remember wondering how people became philosophers. What did you have to do become a philosopher? The answer is that being a philosopher can mean being yourself, freely, because you can't have any restrictions on anything, especially your thoughts. A philosopher exists in all of us. 

A philosopher really exists in all of us because during my 30-300-30 challenge experience, I think I unconsciously became one. 


(Observation: The word "philosopher" sounds so serious and professional!) 

#37: The Scream

Describe how a piece of art, a work of literature, or a dramatic presentation has had a significant impact on your intellectual development and your appreciation of the fine arts. (Santa Clara University)


One of the weirdest pieces of art I've ever seen is "The Scream", by Edvard Munch. I saw it a long time ago when I was playing games on freerice.com (I even have an account for Free Rice!). The paintings and art I actually looked at before were by artists like Van Gogh and Monet, whose art I found was realistic and neat. My work during that time was realistic and neat, or at least neater than my work now. There's really nothing wrong with being neat, but the problem with me was that I thought that as long as my work was neat and clean, I would be guaranteed a better grade. The content didn't seem as important then. When I saw "The Scream", I actually got a little scared (because it reminded me of the movie Scream), but more importantly I was confused. How could a piece of art as messy and weird as "The Scream" be so famous? My insignificant confusion would be more understandable if I told you that I drew everything with a straight-edge ruler, including curtains, windows, and the grass. Neatness was everything to me, and "The Scream" for me was anything but neat. It had strange swirly lines and the sky was coloured weird and the man was all squiggly! 
As I looked at the painting more and more, I was, in some way, enlightened. I looked up the painting and what I read made me understand why the piece was the way it was. In the end, I liked the piece. It was cool, and it was more personal in an unexplainable way. It really wasn't perfect, but it made sense. I think its imperfectness made it all the more appealing. If it had been a person made normally with straight edges and lines, I'd probably not be as interested as I was. I'd most probably be able to find a million people who could draw "neatly" and "perfectly." 
I learnt from "The Scream". I didn't need to have everything look perfect and clean. I just needed it to make sense and to portray my ideas and thoughts to anyone who was looking at it. Perfect and neat don't equal to good. In fact, neatness doesn't really seem to matter a lot, as my Physics teacher also said last year. It's the content that makes the difference. The ideas in "The Scream" were more important, and if being "messy" got the point across, messy was good. 
"The Scream" also helped me understand other works of art. Works by artists like Pablo Picasso and Mark Chagall were easier to understand. I was surprised to see that amid all the strange colour combinations and overlapping shapes, there was meaning and symbolism. These artists could portray ideas in ways different from other people. In some ways, it is easier to draw a flower than to draw a completely different object that can still show an observer that thing drawn is actually a representation of a flower. In fact, you can find meaning in everything. We managed to make a few triangles represent Gabriel and arrow flaps represent determination and our goals and aims. (the arrow flaps thing is really funny, and it still makes a lot of sense!)
Neat is not always good. Messy is not always bad. Weird is not always bad. Weird is actually very good. "The Scream" might teach you that too.

#81: Interdependent Global Society

 Optimistic futurists envision a world without boundaries; an interdependent global society. Write about your personal impression of this idea. (College of Notre Dame of Maryland)


The idea of a "world without boundaries" is optimistic, that's for sure. An interdependent global society sounds great too, like barter system. The only problem in a future like this is the fact that this future cannot exist, at least not now. I really, really like the idea, but it seems like this vision can never come true because our world cannot be changed. Our world has boundaries, and is reluctant to help and be depended upon from fear of having a loss. We have countries depending on other countries, and the only thing that seems to be resulting from such dependence is countries being pulled down from their full potential. Take the European Union for example. There are countries such as Ireland and Greece that have huge amounts of debts that are bringing down the other member countries of the EU. Member countries of the EU have to take responsibility for a debt that is not theirs, and everyone is suffering from it, especially Germany. (Germany has unfortunately been paying a LOT since the WWII) 
Mutual interdependence is not possible, at least not now. Our world wants to be anything but interdependent. The societies of our world are more like parasites. We are willing to take from others, but very hesitant and reluctant to give most of the time. If we want a world with no boundaries and an interdependent global society, the only way we can accomplish this future is by starting over. A clean slate. Maybe starting anew will give us an opportunity to build our world on a foundation that is smooth and clear rather than one that is uneven and rugged due to our previous actions.
Mutual interdependence has existing in the past. In the past as in long, long way in the past. If it was possible then, it is possible now. We say that we have evolved and learnt from our mistakes. If we've evolved, we can do what our "less evolved" and "less civilized" ancestors managed to do, we can learn if we've been given examples from all throughout time. 
We might not need a clean slate after all. If we learn and make extreme changes to the ways of the world right now, we'd probably be on our way to a interdependent global society with no boundaries.

#185: ?

If you were guaranteed a steadily improving standard of living (in terms of buying power, free time, quality of goods and services, etc.), would you be willing to give up your right to vote? Explain.


I'm 16 years old right now, so I can't vote, but I would give up my right to vote if I was guaranteed a steadily improving standard of living. The right to vote is important, but I've realized that we vote because we want something or someone who can do something good for us. If I've already got what I need the most, I think I would give up my right to vote. I do believe in human rights, but the only reason we need these rights is so that we can do what we want. In my case, my whole life seems to be  good enough. 
I've also realized that I don't vote much for school elections and things. Most of the time, I find flaws in every person, and these flaws cloud my judgement on these candidates. In the end, no one seems to be that great, and I decide not to vote for anyone. 
If I ever do give up my right to vote, I want to have the right to free speech. That way, I could freely express my opinions on running candidates, and maybe, my reasons could help some other person make a decision. I want to be like Boris Yeltsin, who resigned from his position in the Communist Party and managed to criticize the party without being killed (it was during Gorbachev's time). With free speech, I wouldn't be killed, and I would be able to say what I think about people. 
That was what I thought before I started writing this post. I've been thinking about me being happy, but the question doesn't give me an option for other people. If I'm the only happy person under a really bad leader, I'd feel guilty. My vote may have the power to alter the results of an election or change the future of millions of people, and I don't want to make the wrong choice. I don't want to make the wrong choice by having no choice at all when my decision could make an impact. It's not possible to be happy when everyone around you isn't. Sadness is like happiness. James Van Der Zee once said, "Happiness is like a perfume, you can't spread it around without pouring a few drops on yourself. Happiness is infectious, and so is sadness. My happiness will most probably not make a whole population happy, but their sadness will most probably make me feel really, really bad. I don't like having a guilty conscience, so I want my right to vote so I can make a choice that helps people. 
I don't need to have an improving standard of living given to me. I'd rather earn it. That's why I would work and study. What if I spontaneously decide to become a hermit or some nomad with a life completely different from the one being guaranteed to me? I don't need to be given this improving standard of living. I think I'll earn it on my own, so I can decide to adopt or abandon this way of life without having my right to vote being determined by what I want.
While typing the previous paragraph, I realized that I could still be making a big, big mistake. My vote could be what brings the whole thing down. My vote could be the bad thing. And now, I don't know what I would want, but I do know this much; I want what the thing that would benefit a lot of people, not just myself. 

#149: Delhi

Once you have completed your education, would you return to your hometown to begin your adult life? Why or why not? (William and Mary)


I'm not sure right now. My hometown is this big, dirty and VERY polluted city ( Delhi). I hate pollution. It's also really hot during the summer, and I can't find anything to do, ever. I can't stand the heat either. So, I don't think I want to come back, but my hometown would be the ideal place for me to start what I want to do. 
I've wanted to do something related to the environment. We're having a global crisis, and I feel like my hometown is not so concerned with any of the environmental problems we're having. The people don't seem to care much, and what the government does is not so significant either. I want to make a difference, even if it sounds very cheesy. I want people to know the impact of their actions. I want them to care about the problem just as I do. I'm not very religious, and I'm not a Christian either, but I remember this thing we read in the Bible once. It said, "And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?" (Matthew 7:3) 
This is very relevant to my case. I really, really want to make a change in this world, but I can't change the whole world when the place I come from is in an even worse situation. 
I want to start at home. If I succeed there, then I might go farther. 
As much as I dislike the environment of my hometown, I have to go back. I want to go back. And  I would go back. If the only thing I don't like about my hometown is the environment, I want to change it. That could be the only thing hindering my perspective and opinion of my hometown. I would also go back because I was born in Delhi. You know how they say that the apple never falls far from the tree? It's like that for me. I was born in Delhi, and in the end, I would go back. Truthfully speaking, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't live there permanently after my education, but I want to go back for some time before I move onto some new place.
People say that you might have to take baby steps to reach your goal. I know I will, and I plan to start by going back to my hometown and making my first step there. 

#129: Fifth Grade

How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be. (U of Chicago)


I was in fifth grade when I got caught. We had to go to sleep very early, and most of the time, we couldn't. After lights out, I would either read or play some game with my best friend. My best friend has done the weirdest things after lights out. Scaring me with a fake spider and making her own shampoo (by mixing in many, many different things) are just a few. 
It was after lights out and I was bored. I remember watching the floor for almost five minutes. I was that bored. I didn't want to stay in bed anymore if I wasn't going to go to sleep, so I went to my best friend's room. Not surprisingly, she was awake too, and she seemed very bored, so I went to her and we sat in her bed, talking. Talking got boring after a few minutes, and we decided to play a prank. 
I'm sure you've heard of making a person pee when they're sleeping by putting their hands in water. We didn't know whether it was supposed to be cold or hot water, so we went for cold (we couldn't find any hot water anyway). In Edgehill, you sleep in bunk beds. Right below my best friends was a Korean girl who slept a lot. 
We decided to play the trick on her. We got a bowl of cold water and knelt down beside her bed. My best friend tried to make her move so that I could get her hand out from below her blanket. After a few minutes, the Korean girl moved a little and we removed her hand so that it was dangling just above the water.
I held her hand steady as my best friend slowly brought the bowl towards her hand. Just as her fingertips were about to touch the water, she woke up. It was really scary. It wasn't because she was scary, but because she had opened her eyes so suddenly. She gave us a weird look. 
We told her that we saw her hand hanging out of her blanket and that we were trying to put it back in so she wouldn't feel cold. We didn't actually tell her that clearly because we were laughing too much. My best friend quickly hid the bowl behind her as we told her to go back to sleep. 
She did go back to sleep, and we didn't get to try the trick on her, or anyone else for that matter. We got caught, and we didn't want to risk anything. Ironically, just a few weeks ago, I had this great plan to play this same trick on her (after she scared me at midnight with a FAKE spider below my neck). 
I plan to carry out this trick, and I don't think I'm going to get caught this time. (I'm sure I won't. It's THAT good.)
I hope my best friend's reading this. HAHA

#186: Why I don't jog

Jogging has become extremely popular. Explain why you jog or why you don't.

I don't like exercise. I thought I hated it, but I don't hate it. Hate is too strong a word. Exercising includes sports, running, walking, and jogging. I've always found it hard to move about. I don't know how I did it when I was smaller. Maybe I've become too lazy. Just recently, I had to make a PowerPoint presentation for my biology class. The PowerPoint was on Marfan syndrome. I read through the symptoms and the effects, and I started to suspect that I had the syndrome. I most probably don't, but I plan to have a check-up this holiday, just in case. The symptoms could explain a lot about my "exercise" and jogging routine. I don't really have a routine because I don't exercise. I don't jog because I get tired super-duper fast, and then I start to breathe really heavily. I don't like the feeling of gulping in air after a long time. I feel like a dying fish. Maybe there's something wrong with my throat, because I also have trouble swallowing dry food like digestive biscuits.

That's actually not possible, because I eat through my esophagus and I take in air through my trachea.
I don't jog because I don't want to, but because I feel like I can't. I hate getting tired, and I hate coming last. I came last in cross country. Surprisingly, I don't feel so embarrassed about it because I tried. See? I did try. I ran. (I actually jogged and walked the whole way) And I came last. I try, but the tired feeling I get after running makes me sad.

I really don't like exercising. I don't like anything that involves moving. I sound very lazy, but I can't help it. It's who I am. Everyone has their own thing. Jogging's not mine. 

#126: Walking down

Describe a daily routine or tradition of yours that may seem ordinary to others but holds special meaning for you. Why is this practice significant to you? (Barnard)


I walk down from school every weekday. I get homework from school every weekday. I also struggle through school almost every weekday. That is why I listen to music on my walk down. I don't like walking with people when I'm going down to dorms unless there are monkeys. The moment the monkeys are gone, I don't need people walking with me anymore, especially people who talk a lot. It might seem very mean, and I may seem very introverted (I am), but it helps me. Walking down from school and listening to music helps me think about everything that has happened to me on that day. I even look at the nature when I'm walking alone. I see bright red leaves and birds that drop leaves all over the path (Lover's Lane).
Most people don't walk down to dorms alone, and they don't always listen to music on their way down. I don't know why people don't try it. It calms you down and it helps you focus on things that are NOT related to school. Many people don't seem to have some time alone. They don't want this time. Being alone, I guess, is something that can happen so often that people don't indulge in it much. In fact, they don't indulge in it at all. Many people can never be alone, and I feel sad for them. 
This routine is very, very important to me. I like doing it, and that's what makes it important. I walk down, listen to music (I listen to the same song for a whole day, like a Song of the Day thing), look around, stop, look around, walk on, go the long way to dorms, stop in front of the tree with branches shaped like a hole, try and throw three rocks in the hole (I miss most of the time), and go up the stairs to the basketball court outside of dorms. I do many things. I do many things that everyone can do. It's fun. I see, play and exercise (I throw rocks throw a hole), and I clear my head. I can't think of what other people would do when their minds are just not right.


Their heads must be very mumble-jumbled. Mine's not. At least it's not after I walk down from school as I listen to music. 

#140: Second Grade

Write about a time you found something you weren’t looking for. (U of Chicago)


I just took my sticker book of my shelf because I wanted to describe it for you. It's a bright pink colour, and it has "Mickey and Minnie" written on the front. I've had this sticker album since 2nd grade. I actually shared it with my best friend (who is still my best friend). I found the album last year, as I was packing again. I was actually trying to remove everything from my trunks so I could repack everything. I found many old things, and I found this sticker album. I wasn't looking for it. In fact, I had forgotten that I ever possessed such a thing. 


I opened the first page. It has Hello Kitty stickers. Ugly Hello Kitty stickers. They're bright and shiny and very optical illusiony. I can't believe we ever had such hideous stickers, but I guess we were different back then. The next pages had stickers that looked like Sailor Moon characters. They also look kind of like those Amazonian women we see in TV shows. The next five pages were filled with the same silvery, shiny Mickey Mouse stickers. Mickey Mouse with a surfboard. Mickey Mouse with dark glasses. Mickey Mouse blowing an orange bubble. Mickey Mouse jumping with Minnie Mouse. We really were obsessed with Mickey Mouse when we were young. After Mickey Mouse, there were square-shaped stickers with different bears and different things written on it. There's one of a white bear saying, "Let's Party!" There's one of two brown bears with "Yippee!" written on them. There's one of two pink bears that says, "You and I..." Looking at these stickers reminded me of second grade, when we HAD to write back home every Sunday. I remember taking these stickers out of my letter pad collection and sticking them in the album. I didn't really use them before. They didn't stick very well either. After looking through the whole album, I decided to keep it with me next semester. That's the reason why I had it on my shelf. We (my best friend and I), added more stickers to it. 


Now we have smiley faces with weird sunglasses, rainbow colored animals, Chicken Little, Chip and Dale, and Lilo and Stitch stickers. I'm not sure if our taste in stickers became worse as we grew older. The album's full now (it didn't have many pages to begin with), and I don't really need it anymore. Maybe, I'll keep it back in my trunk so that a few years later, I can rediscover it while I'm looking for something else. 

#182: Antarctica

If you were awarded an expense-paid trip to any one place in the world, where would you go? Why?


I wonder how cold it would be in Antarctica. I know I can look up the temperature its lowest or highest recorded temperature, but my wonder goes beyond numbers. I want to experience the coldness. I don't know what they eat. Can they even grow food there? Antarctica, for me, is like space.   It's a place I don't know much about. A place where I might discover new things. I might learn things that I never thought existed, or were even possible. Antarctica is like my "New World", and I want to go there. When I was in eighth grade, I remember a woman coming for the Writer's Festival that is now held in Woodstock every year. Her name was Gabrielle Walker, an author who wrote about climate change and energy. At that point, I think she had written, or was writing a book on Antarctica. 
When it was her turn to talk (after some other authors), she told stories about Antarctica. There were rolling snowballs becoming bigger and bigger as they rolled down a hill. There were winds that were stinging cold, and there were icicles that formed in the freezing temperature of Antarctica. When you read it right now, all these things sound dangerous and scary, but as I sat listening to her tell us all these stories about Antarctica, I felt anything but scared. 
There seemed nothing to be scared of when she told us all this. Instead, it seemed so exciting. This was most probably because of her passion and interest in the topic, which made all her experiences sound like fun adventures.
She seemed to have learnt a lot, experienced new things, and most of all, she seemed to have loved every bit of it. After hearing her, I wanted to see and experience Antarctica too. I wanted to learn about this continent that many people don't think or care much about. 
I became more aware of the environment and the problems of the Earth. I wanted to help the Earth, because I felt that it was not something that needed to be done. It was something that should be done. As I help, I want to learn and have fun while doing everything. I would want to include "going to Antarctica" on my list of things to be done by me.
I don't want to learn and know about this continent only through the words of other fortunate people who have been there. I want those words to be the words I say after my own first-hand experience in Antarctica. I'm sure there are quite a few people who have been to Antarctica by now, and they might know almost everything they thing there is to know about this continent, but for me, this continent will still be undiscovered, and it will remain undiscovered until I go there one day. 

#167: Bicycle

Imagine you have written a short story, film, or play about your last four years. Briefly describe the moment or scene that you think your audience will most remember after they have finished this autobiographical piece. What will they learn about you from that moment? (Northwestern)


I'm riding my bicycle. I'm wearing my brother's brown Birkenstock slippers and I'm going round and round on a big, rocky field. There's dry grass everywhere except for the path, which is sandy and uneven. 


I've been going round and round for the past thirty minutes, and I'm bored of staying on the field. I keep passing this path that leads away from the field, towards the road. The path is even more uneven and rugged, and there are large rocks all over. My brother's complaining on the side since he's not allowed to ride the bicycle. If I look up, I see my grandmother peering out of the window of her room, and the guard watching over us from the stairs. If I look down, I see the downward path, even more dusty under the sun. 


I finally stop next to my brother and tell him to get on. He's actually quite heavy, but I can still carry him on the back. We go round the field about three times until I'm bored again. I stop just above the slope that goes down to the main road. I tell my brother that I'm going to go down, and that it'll be fun. He seems unsure of that, and for the first time, he's the one being cautious. 


I tell him not to worry. "I'll press the brakes if I think we're going too fast." He nods. I remove the Birkenstock slippers. They feel too heavy as I pedal, and I don't want the weight hindering me on the way down.


 We slowly go down, and I turn the handles of the bicycle so I can avoid all the pits and rocks. We're slowly gaining speed, and I can hear my brother shouting over the wind, telling me to press the brakes. I keep thinking, 'It's not so fast,' and keep steering left and right. 


The next thing I know, my hands are shaking, and I'm struggling to control the handles. As my brother holds on tight to my waist, I realize that I'm too scared to press the brakes. I might tumble forward, and I can't risk that. Even worse, I can't let my brother get hurt if I don't want to get into trouble. 


Suddenly, we go over a rock, and the handle swerves, making the front wheel of the bicycle go completely sideways. The cycle naturally falls, taking me and my brother along with it. 


My arm, foot, and even the side of my stomach starts to sting. I feel something heavy on my back. Luckily, my brother had fallen on top me, so he was unharmed. I see a little monk run towards us. He tries to help me up, even though I'm twice as big as him. It hurts all over, and I limp up the hill, barefoot, as my brother tries to help. He helps by taking the bicycle ahead, and the little monk helps me walk back up. As I slowly reach the level grounds of the field, I see my grandmother watching intently. I see the guard watching too, trying to be as inconspicuous as he can. 


I reach the place where I've kept the slippers and carry them in my hands. My brother comes back from putting the bicycle away, and helps me up the stairs. 


This scene would probably be most remembered. It would be funny, embarrassing, and most importantly, enlightening upon how my mind works. I've always been given options and choices. I find it extremely hard choosing between things, but I like to choose the more "adventurous" option because I'm scared of missing out on things, and also because I like to seem fun. You might guess from this experience, that I don't always make the best choices. In fact, I seem to be in more trouble due to the choices I usually make, but like this particular moment, even the bad end results aren't so bad. Falling down, hurting myself, and feeling embarrassed in front of a few people is not good, but I learnt from this experience. I learnt to never go down that hill on a cycle. I can even tell people this story, and I have the scars to prove it. 


I make a lot of weird and sometimes bad choices, but I like to believe that I've gained something from these experience. It's not all optimism on my part, but just me trying to make myself feel better. 


This moment reminds me of Mary Pickford's quotation. She once said," Failure is not falling down, it is not getting up again." Regardless of my really painful fall, I got up in the end, even though it was really embarrassing. I like to believe that my failures are like other people's, and that I've just got to try and recover from them. I got up of the ground with cuts and scrapes all brown from the dust.


Maybe I got up because I didn't want to seem like a failure, or I got up because I couldn't lie down on the path the whole day. It can be interpreted both ways, but I'd like to believe its the former one. 

#50: My List

Tell us about yourself. (University of California)

1. My favourite colour is yellow because it's bright and it makes me happy.

2. I love reading the "It Happened to Me" parts of a Tinkle comic because things in these stories never seem to happen to me.

3. I don't hate math even though I suck at it.

4. I like reading crime fiction most of the time, but I always try to read books of a different genre.

5. John Nash became my idol after I read Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind. It gave me hope. Maybe, I can still be good at math even though my grades might not reflect my skills.

6. I like to walk down from school while listening to music because it clears up my mind and allows me to look at nature. I hate thinking that I'm missing out on nature when I live in a place like Mussoorie.

7. I always try to do sports even though I hate exercise. I even ran cross-country and came last. Exercise actually makes me feel healthier even thought I really, really dislike it. (I actually do not hate it)

8. I like collecting stationery. Just having a full and organized pencil box makes me feel organized and studious.

9. I really, really dislike criticisms, which could also be why I do not allow most people to read my work. (I've actually gotten two different people to edit my work this semester!)

10. Living in a city like Delhi has made me very aware about the issue of global warming. The place I live in has thus shaped my dreams and goals.

11. I hate the grading system and the way schools work. I find the system unfair, because I've realized that grades cannot reflect on a person's intelligence and knowledge. Some people with the highest grades didn't even know what the Holocaust was. The Holocaust was quite a big thing. (The grading system is deceiving.)

12. As much as I hate the grading system, it is still very important to me. A lot of my future seems to rely on it, sadly. The grading system is also very competitive, and I hate thinking that I’m behind other people.

13. I count the excessive use of a thesaurus one of the biggest lessons I've learnt. I can't just go to a thesaurus and choose the biggest word I see. It makes it hard for me and it makes it hard for the reader. Big words don't equal a good essay. Sometimes, big and complicated words make your work very, very, very hard to understand. I try and avoid the thesaurus now.

14. I really like learning about new things. That's why I know a few very random facts. I also get annoyed when I can't understand something I'm learning. VERY annoyed. (My roommate's proof.)

15. I like doing things that most people don't always do. I play badminton (a sport that only lasts for two weeks a year). I've taken up the tabla (which I'm very bad at). I do my tick signs from right to left. (The opposite way. The common way is more convenient for right-handed people) I still read Archie comics. (It's not a good thing, and the stories are the same, but they're still funny!) I like eating my ice cream scoops in cups with the cone thing crushed on top (or taking a bite of an empty cone with every spoonful of ice cream).

This might not be the "right" way to answer this question, but I feel that this list might tell a lot more about me than my usual background and life story. 

#74: Winter

Write about something that is important to you. (Hope College)

Almost every year, I used to go to Bodh Gaya for monlams, or prayers. These monlams are hosted by high monks of different sects of Buddhism, and every year, people from everywhere come for these prayers/teachings. Bihar is really not far from Delhi, so I've found it quite boring going to Bodh Gaya almost every winter holiday until a few years ago. A few years ago, I started to not go for these teachings every year. I didn't think it would make much of a difference. I was not very religious, I didn't know much about my own religion and all the complicated rules of society that seemed to come with it, and I couldn't understand any of these teachings because I wasn't good at speaking or understanding pure Tibetan.
Back to a few years ago... I started to miss going to Bodh Gaya. I missed the large crowds of people at the main stupa every day. I missed reluctantly going for daily circumambulation at the stupa everyday. I missed going for teachings that I couldn't understand much, sitting on the grass with my old uncle. I missed it all. I don't know how it happened. Maybe it was because of my mom telling me all the time how lucky I am to be living so close to a religious place, or because I understood everything better.
Truthfully speaking, it can't be any of those things. I still am very lost when it comes to behaviour and procedures when meeting a high monk and doing all these different things, and I've always known I was lucky. Maybe not always, but recently. It appears that the former reason could be playing a part in my sudden change of attitude.
After I started missing going to Bodh Gaya to do things that I embarrass myself in, I thought about how I could miss such a thing. I thought about it long and hard, and I realized that I missed it because it was important to me.
This annual event thing we had was very important for me. Every year at Bodh Gaya has held some special memory for me, whether it be seeing all my cousins together for the first time (that was... when I was 6 years old), meeting my best friend every morning at six o' clock to go for rounds around the stupa, or seeing people I know and don't know randomly. It was important for me because these events made me a part of my heritage and society, regardless of how untuned I was to this society.
Habits die hard, and this habit can't die. Going to Bodh Gaya every winter has become very important to me. It's not because I've become more religion (I have not), but due to a multitude of reasons I could probably tell you about if you were ever to talk to me. I can't go to Bodh Gaya this winter, and I actually feel sad about it, but maybe next year's possible?

#183: Good parent

Do you think that you have the qualifications of a good parent? Discuss.


If I was a parent, I think I'd be the perfect parent, with perfect being according to my standards. The most exciting part of being this good parent would be teaching my child/children things that aren't on the same track as our society. Being young myself, I think I'd be able to understand how they think, and the reasons for everything they do. I've learnt that there is a certain limit to what we do. If these children were taught the limits to their actions, they would know not to go beyond it without me being a mean and annoying parent. 
I've realized that parents can't force their children to study. Forcing a child to study makes it less likely that they would listen to you. If you want your child to study, you create an environment that encourages learning without pushing these children. For example, rather than throwing books and textbooks on a child, just bring them up in an environment with lots and lots of books. They might just learn on their own without being told. 
Parents tend to talk a lot, and not listen much. I can listen, and I listening to people when they talk about things. Children tend to keep to themselves when they feel that no one cares about what they think and the problems they have. Listening helps them open up and be themselves. I would listen, and I really like giving advice, so it would be fun listening to a child's problem and trying to help them. I also find some of their "problems" and stories funny, so I'd be getting a good laugh out of it too!
Some children are disobedient regardless of how you try to help them nicely. I can be harsh and very serious sometimes. Sometimes, scaring a person helps them obey, but I won't be intimidating my child every second of their life. Intimidation and sternness is only for when these children are being annoying and extremely hard to deal with using normal methods. 
There are some beliefs I have that could qualify me as a good parent. A good parent tries to teach their child the right thing with a reasonable amount of freedom. I believe that everyone needs some personal space, so I won't be stifling my children with my constant presence. I also believe in causes such as preventing global warming, deforestation, and other environmental issues. I think a good parent will teach his or her child about personal values as well as more global issues. The degradation is a global issue. A good parent child will teach their child about global issues to at least some extent. 
I also have a pretty good sense of morality. Actually, my moral values and principles are ones that I've learnt from my family and the teachings of good leaders, so I can rely on my virtues to be intact and really, really good (that's what I think). As a parent, I will be able to teach morals and virtues that would make my child a good global citizen and a great person. If my child is a good child, I'm a good parent. (I don't plan to be a bad parent who motivates my child to live a life different from mine.)
If I actually had children, not now, but in the future (far, far in the future), I think I would most probably want to have had these children. To be a good parent, you have to care enough to make an effort. I'd want these children, and that would motivate me to be a good parent to them. In the end, I think my feelings for these children would make me a good parent, and I know I'd care for them. 

#181: Yes to College-level courses

Should prison inmates be allowed to take college courses? Explain why or why not.


Prison inmates should be allowed to take college courses. It is not very helpful to allow prison inmates in prison for the rest of their lives to take college courses, but the ones leaving should be. Countries all around the world want a better economy and a higher number of educated people. The world is struggling with growing rates of unemployment, especially people at lower or more menial jobs. At this point, the last thing the world needs are people with a very rudimentary level of education who after getting released from prison, can't find any jobs. 


People who have a higher level of education are generally more likely to find jobs. If all these prisoners are released with barely any college-level education, they are most probably not going to get jobs that require degrees and higher education. Even if these prisoners were to not get jobs after taking college courses, they would still have enough education to start their own businesses and become entrepreneurs. With jobs and earnings, prisoners would be able to live reasonably stable lives.


Many criminal acts are carried as a last resort to a specific problem. For inmates to be released, it would mean that murder was the unlikely crime. This narrows down the crimes to stealing, robbing, etc. Many of the crimes in this category are to do with taking other's things, which is most likely due to the fact that these people do not have the same resources (unless they're kleptomaniacs who can't stop stealing). If such prisoners have a jobs and a stable income, they could build a life which has the basic necessities, and these people would not turn towards desperate  
acts of thievery, etc. due to their needs. 


This would keep most prisoners away from crime. It would allow these people to live reasonably good lives. It would decrease unemployment rates. Governments wouldn't have to spend money on unemployed people anymore. Allowing prison inmates to study college-level courses could change the lives of "criminals" (they might not all be criminals), and it could change our world, little by little. 

#174: Amazon rainforest

If money and family obligations left you entirely free, how and where would you spend the summer before college?


I would go to the Amazon rainforest. It has always been my dream. It has trouble with deforestation and logging right now, and environmental issues are important to me. I remember telling a teacher this, and they told me that it would be impossible to go alone because I wouldn't survive, so I would go with an experienced team. The Amazon is very diverse, and is known for having many species of animals and plants that haven't been discovered yet, so I would spend time walking around, looking at different plants and keeping my eyes open for animals. I'd actually be looking at bugs and insects, as they exist in large number of species.
We would live on little boats on the river, though it might not be very possible. If we could, the boats would be tied to trees on the bank of the river. Attempting to look for waterfalls like the ones we see in movies like Pocahontas and King Kong, I would walk everyday, almost everywhere. I would have most probably read something on edible plants in the rainforest, and I would try looking for them. If I find them, I'd like to taste them. 
I might even see natives, though that would be very unlikely due to deforestation and relocation of tribes by the government. Even if I did sight any tribes, I'm not sure if it would be a good experience or not. They might be friendly like the ones in most movies, or they might not.
I would have brought a lot of books, so I would read in a safe and quiet place I find anywhere. I'm imagining the sounds would be different, making reading a completely different experience. 
It feels like I'm asking for a lot out of my experience, but it would be so cool if it actually happened.
If I ever get to go there, the real thing might be very, very different, but I hope it goes somewhat along those lines. 

#97: Mt. Rushmore

If you were to develop a Mt. Rushmore representing the 20th century, whose faces would you select and why? (William and Mary)

The 20^th century was the most active period in history (at least according to me). This period is full of iconic figures from all over the world. The events of this period are also numerous, with World War I and WWII, the Cold War, the Apartheid, the control of Communism and so many other major events. The influential figures of the 20^th century are a long list, but the chosen people would be Adolf Hitler, Charlie Chaplin, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and Agatha Christie. There are actually four faces on Mt. Rushmore, but each of these five people have made and impact in their own fields, thus none of these should be eliminated.

Adolf Hitler is most probably the most famous dictator in history. A major individual in World War II, Hitler changed the world, directly and indirectly. The instigator of WWII, Hitler impacted the major superpowers of the 20^th century and involved them in a war that changed many of these countries. Great Britain and France lost their wealth during this war. America became stronger and richer from the war expenses (they supplied most of the weapons). USSR became stronger because of its alliance with the winning side. Hitler also started the Holocaust, an event that killed more than 10 million people. World War I took lives of soldiers living all the way in Africa and Asia too, as they fought for the countries that had colonized them. Hitler was essential in the course of history.

Albert Einstein brought us the equation e=m(part of the theory of relativity), the atomic bomb, the theory of relativity, and many other concepts and ideas that contributed to science as it is today. His invention played a big part in wars, and his ideas and theories are applied in science and math often.

In the field of language and literature, Agatha Christie would most probably be one of the most famous. A writer during the 20^th century, she wrote numerous books that have been translated into more than 100 languages. The genre of her books also make her a great writer (opinion might be biased). Agatha Christie was a popular female author that wrote in a genre that wasn’t very common.

Charlie Chaplin was one of the most famous comedians of the 20^th century. His movies, his costume, and his iconic toothbrush moustache are all widely known from Asia all the way to North America. His movies are classics that have entertained people during times of depression and troubles. Chaplin was one of the greatest symbols the film and entertainment industry during the 20^th century.

One of the most influential characters of the 20^th and the 21^st century, Mahatma Gandhi promoted ideas that during the 20^th century were rare. He was a pacifist who brought the concepts of ahimsa and satyagraha, or non-violence and non-violent resistance. He showed the world that it was possible to get your point across without killing and taking revenge on the enemy or opposition. His influence spread to other great leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.

The representation of the 20^th century can be done effectively if the chosen figures can relate to a large group of people. This compilation of important people represent groups of people from quite a few regions of the world and connect to people whose interests lie in many areas, for example, science, math, and literature.

This version of Mount Rushmore shows the diversity during the 20^th century, and this diversity makes these people the ideal representations of the 20^th century.