Hi so today I wanted to post something interesting. This time it isn't an original work of mine! Today I Wanted to past the first chapter of my novel, Stargazers : The Deep Void. So this is a book that I spent most of the last year on. Essentially, it is a science fiction novel that revolves around a group of 6 friends. These friends initially think that they're going on a simple backpacking trip through Europe, but things slowly take a turn for the worst as dark secrets and a shocking death threatens to tear them apart.

So far I've written the first book, and am halfway through the second book, but I still feel like my first book isn't publishing worthy yet. Like I still want to do some hardcore edits on it to make sure everything runs smoothly. This is a project that is super close to my heart, so I Want to make sure everything is perfect before I formally try to publish the book. But anyways, enough of my talking, here's the first chapter in its entirety.

Cold. Cold winds shivered through my body. Something was there. I could feel its presence.

Rows and rows of dark spikes rose out around me...eerily like teeth. The deep pool of ink above me was shifting and tumbling, like a roaring ocean.

I was on the ground, a rough gravel that seemed like it was moving! But no, not moving, rumbling, as if a terrible beast was awaking from its slumber.

*Augustus...*

The shadows seemed to whisper as an ominous shape drew out of the rotted and stunted shrubs that dotted the area.

*Come to me...*

I could see its eyes, it’s horrifying eyes as the area around me, the shrubs, the gravel, the very air seemed to dissolve. And in that moment my very essence  was vanishing in a long and deep scream...

The sounds, the sounds I could hear of an... alarm clock?

I woke up the blaring noise of an alarm clock... no my alarm clock.

Actually a more accurate depiction would be to say that I literally fell out of my bed, screaming as the ground reached up to meet me.

“August! August are you ok!”, my mom yelled at me from downstairs.

“Aughhhh”, was the wittiest response I could come up with.

I pulled myself up from the soft carpet, and looked around, trying my hardest to forget the terrible things I had just seen.

“It was a dream, just a dream”, I thought to myself.

And  I looked around at my room, at all the comforting things I had, the poster from a movie I’d outgrown so long ago, like five years ago, the stamps my grandparents had given me, a poster from London that my friends had gotten me, and of course my world map.

Looking at the map made me feel confused. Soon I would be going, finally going on the adventure that I’d been planning for years. But after that I’d be leaving everything and everyone I’d known for all my life.

But on this wonderful morning, at the beginning of my travels, it was hard to be sad about everything, even though the malice of my dreams was still etched into my mind...

So that's it. That's the first chapter of my book. What you heard is the chapter from the perspective of one of the main 6 characters from my book, August. Essentially he woke up from a "bad dream".  Who knows, maybe the chapter is directly foreshadowing the main evil for my book, yeah I have no clue, definitely don't know. Oh wait, I'm the author, so I definitely do know. And it is definitely foreshadowing something in the future. Anyways, I feel like in the future I'll post more chapters from my book, or maybe before that a rundown of the main characters and their characteristics and motivations. Yeah that does sound like a good idea. But anyways, within this chapter I tried to stuff in a lot of metaphors and imagery. And definitely a lot of foreshadowing. Honestly the way I tend this story is by knowing where I want the characters to end up, and then just making up how it happens as I write. It's a very spontaneous approach, but it's honestly led to some great moments.

The funniest part about my writing process while working on this story was that I wrote most of the chapters at around 12-2 AM. Or during classes. Very little of it was written at a decent hour during my off times. I find that those not decent hours are when my craziest ideas are produced, which is definitely what this book is a product of. But anyways, next post will probably either be a short story or another traveling post. Goodnight everyone! Peace!

Hey all, what's up. So I'm back home after a long long time in college, so everything is just great right now. I'm definitely super super relaxed. Also guess what? Game of thrones is currently in session. 3 episodes have streamed so far and the next episode is this Sunday. Now I don't want to spoil anything for any of you who haven't watched the entire shows yet, but I just want to tell you it gets insane. Like so freaking insane. Definitely the best show in the entire world and if you haven't watched it because you think it's lame you're just wrong. And if you're scared because of the violence and stuff it really isn't as bad as you think.  But anyways, as you can guess from the title, today's blog is about my trip to Europe. So timeline of how this whole thing happened. 

Sometime last April when I went to an info session at my university, I learned about this summer program that has me study in Oxford. But that's not just it. The first five weeks are spent traveling around Europe, while the last six weeks are spent fully immersed within Oxford. So my itinerary for the summer is a bit insane.  It is...

Berlin, Germany
Leipzig, Germany
Prague, Czech Republic 
Krakow, Poland
Vienna, Austria
Venice, Italy
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy
Chamonix, France
Paris, France

and finally I'll be in Oxford. This trip is definitely gonna be the highlight of my entire summer given that I'm not doing much of anything else in the like 3 weeks I have remaining. But regardless it's gonna be a summer worth remembering, which I hope to be able to document in my blog as well. I've already done one city profile on Florence, but maybe I can do like one or two more before I leave in two weeks. I bought a European guidebook which I'm sure will be super helpful. But anyways, yeah I'm super excited for this trip, and I better start packing soon. By the way, I'm really not sure if these notes should go under thoughts or traveling, although I feel like this one is better put within thoughts, while the rest of the blog posts about the trip will be in traveling I guess. Oh wow, Aakash's blog, where he literally talks about organizing his blog. Yay.

But I also want to talk about a few more things, especially what I'm doing with the remainder of my summer break. Now it's been like 5 days, and I really haven't done much. I've spent most fo my time watching movies and playing video games. I've spent a lot less time on the blog than I'd rather have spent, something which needs to change. I feel like I should devote like at least an hour a day to just writing in the blog. That's not too much to ask I guess.

But anyways, back to the Europe trip. Like I literally couldn't say how exciting this is gonna be. Like I'm actually going to the be studying in the second oldest university in the world. Like wow what an experience, not to mention the other various cities I'll be exploring. I also have a few friends in Oxford and Berlin who I'll be meeting, which will be very cool.

But anyways, yeah. It is currently really late right now, and I just wanted to talk about a big event that's gonna be happening really soon. Tomorrow I'm gonna post about my novel! Peace!

Alright, so I feel like some explaining is in order. So yes, I've been gone for around 3 and a half months. And you're probably wondering what I've been doing? Have I been off exploring the foothills of the Himalayas? Cutting through the jungles of the amazon? Digging through the scorching hand of the Sahara? Nah I was actually finishing my first year of college. You know, last semester I felt like I had a bit more time on my hands. Like I could actually read books and write in the blog and stuff. But I feel like that just wasn't possible this semester. I was constantly swamped by work, and I felt like it was never ending. But that's all behind me now. We're not gonna talk about that. In the next few days I'm gonna try to write a couple blog posts. My trip to Europe is happening in a couple of weeks, so I thought it would be fun to write a little bit about what to expect. Apart from that I also want to continue my short story series. I have a few ideas. And two previous writing pieces I want to add into the blog are one, a piece I wrote about a man traveling across the silk road, and two the first two chapters from my book. Just to see what you guys think. But anyways, that's it for now. I'll see you guys all in the next actual blog of substance. See you all then! Peace!

Heyyyyy everyone, back again for another Around the World segment. So last week's short story was quite depressing and gloomy, as I noticed in retrospect, but I still feel like it was a necessary addition to the vast volume of knowledge they call my blog. Haha...no.

But anyways, I guess I was in a very reflective mood that day, who knows. But whatever the case, at the end of the post I said that the next post would be something that discusses the global conflicts that have shaped human history. And while that would be very interesting and fascinating, I think I'm gonna have to put a raincheck on that one. I mean, it's the holidays right now. It's a time of joy, peace, and prosperity in the world. Also today's Christmas...

It's not the right time to broach the subject of world conflicts and such and such. Although fun fact, did you know that during World War I in 1914 on Christmas, the two sides of the war called a truce and played football together and just completely stopped the violence! I just can't imagine what an amazing moment that must have been. But yeah, no conflict post today. But I promise that I will do research on that and eventually write that blog post, and it'll be freaking awesome. But anyways, I thought today would be a good time to do another Around the World segment. And this time, I thought I would start with a very historical city in one of my favorite countries in the whole world, Italy.

First of all, some background on why I love Italy so much. In high school I took 4 years of Italian (Buongiorno persona!). Please don't expect me to write more right now, I forgot how to say person in Italian. Although now this means that I'm probably gonna revisit my Italian notes so who knows what'll happen in the future ;). But anyways, yeah I took Italian for 4 years, which was so cool. I can still understand some Italian as long as they don't speak too fast, and can speak haltingly. 

Which is not bad at all. But I've also spent years studying Italian culture and mythology, and have extensively studied the food through the many mouthwatering Italian restaurants close to me. 

But why Florence? Well this summer I'll be studying abroad in Europe, and while there I'll be visiting many European cities including Florence. So this research is as much for me as it is for your enjoyment too (I hope). But anyways... here we go!

 Ahh Florence, Italy...look at that beautiful European architecture. Some of the most well known places in the city include

The Piazza della Repubblica : The site of the old Roman Forum and one of the oldest sections of the city.

The Santa Croce Church : The church is nicknamed Temple of the Italian Glories, and some of the coolest people in the history are buried there, including Michelangelo, Galileo, and Dante.

Basilica di San Lorenzo : This place is one of the oldest churches in Florence, and it's also the burial place of the Medici family, one of the oldest and most powerful families in Italy, and also probably Europe. I will definitely do a blog post on them in the future.

Uffizi Gallery : One of the greatest art museums in the world, the Uffizi gallery houses many Renaissance art including works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Botticelli, Rembrandt, and of course one of my icons, Leonardo da Vinci.

Florence was the center for medieval trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of its time. I mean this city was seriously poppin. I mean, this city has been rated one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The city was a stronghold for the Medici family, one of the most powerful families in Europe and a precursor to the Italian mafia. This family was completely insane as I mentioned before. One could argue that they were the most powerful family in Europe during their time, and definitely the most influential. I would love to talk on and on about the Medici family, but I feel like their story is one best left for another blog. For now I'll just leave you with this, think of the Medici family as some parts CIA, some parts Illuminati, and all parts terrifying.

Anyways, another important part of Florence was that it was considered the birthplace of the Renaissance. And I kid you not, it was called the "Athens of the Middle Ages".

How funny is that. But its cultural significance cannot be denied at all. This was the city where all the ninja turtles, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael all did some of their famous work. It's where Dante created Divine Comedy, which interestingly enough was written in the Florentine Vernacular, which was a descendant of Latin. 

Florence still remains one of the fashion capitals fo the world. While Milan is a lot more well known, did you know that Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, and Emilio Pucci are all headquartered in Italian. Prada, Chanel, Armani, and Bulgari all have huge offices right now. Yep, it's kinda a huge deal.

Florentines were also one of the driving forces behind the Age of Discovery. It was a map drawn by a Florentine that our man Christopher Columbus used to sell his voyage to the Spanish Monarchs. Don't even get me on Chris Columbus. What a terrible terrible human being. I'm definitely gonna rant about him in another blog post, you can be sure about that. But additionally, Galileo and other scientists also "pioneered the study of optics, ballistics, astronomy, and anatomy." 

Florence was seriously an amazing amazing place. And yes, it was necessary to say amazing twice in that case. The last thing I need you guys to know about this place is the food. Oh...my...god.

The majority of the dishes are made of meat. Sliced bread and meats are typically also used as a sort on appetizer. Then, Tuscan bread is combined with certain soups to make up a part of the main meal. Other steaks are typically served with cheese and olive oil as well. All combined, these meals are to die for. And maybe you don't know too much about Italian meals. Well they typically take up several hours as Italians eat, socialize, wave their hands a lot, and drink lots of wine.

Florence was one of the most notable cities of its time. It was a major economic and cultural hub for most of Europe. If any of you are lucky enough to travel to Europe, please please try to stop Florence, or Firenze as they call it in Italian.

Anyways, all this talk about traveling around Europe makes me want to share a project that I created for World History. It was essentially a journal of a man traveling around ancient Europe. I'll share a piece for the next blog, most likely. Anyways, yeah that's it. I really enjoyed researching for this one. See you all next time. As they say in Italy Ciao!

So today I want to write another short story. But this one will have a direct connection to my last short story. For those of you who don't remember it, essentially the unnamed narrator woke up in bed with the knowledge that in 2020, two years from now, the world will end. Now he's trying to figure out what exactly it could be. The story isn't going to be very long, but I think after I'm done I'm gonna share some of my thoughts. We'll see, here we go!

I went downstairs, still shocked over what I'd just seen. The images were still etched in my mind. The pure insanity of hundreds of human beings, stuck with nothing left in life. And I couldn't get over the idea that two years from now, it is all going to happen. Humanity will be wiped out. I mean, it seems crazy right now. We seem on top of the world. Sitting in the kitchen of my house in the middle of the suburbs, it seemed insane.

I looked around. How could this all go away? It just can't be possible. I looked at the porcelain plates in the wardrobe, at the bright granite countertops and the dark oak of the kitchen. There's no way something could happen...it just doesn't seem possible.

But is it really that crazy?

A voice nagged at the back of my mind. A world with nuclear missiles will never be a safe world. They said that the attack happened because of us, because of humanity. We caused our own downfall. It definitely doesn't seem impossible that two governments piss each other off enough that all of our nuclear treaties, everything to ensure that we don't destroy each other goes out the window. It's like our world is standing on a thumbtack right now. We're balancing on one foot. One sudden movement and we all come crashing down.

But even if it's not the governments, think about all the splinter groups and rouge organizations we have in the world. There's too many, all with conflicting ideas. And I'm sure that many would be perfectly fine with destroying our world. 

But no, that would never happen. For every insane person in the world, we have three perfectly sane people, who are in charge of our heavy hitting weapons. No, the attack wouldn't be through nukes.

I coughed slightly, wiping away the spit with a napkin. No, it would be through disease. Whether through bioterrorism or just through some sort of accidental epidemic, that's how it would happen.

I thought of all the public transportation systems, planes, trains, and buses. So many people in close proximity. One person starts to cough, and they're suddenly able to infect so many people. Airports are hubs of disease simply because of the amount of people in one area. It's kind of ironic actually that the people themselves are the carriers of the very thing that will destroy them. Really makes you think.

But no, while that may be a very plausible way in which humanity will go extinct, something about it just didn't seem right. 

As I took a shower and got ready for work I continued to think about it. I thought about the village from my dreams. They said that place was the epicenter, it's where everything started. Some sort of evil was released upon the village...

As I drove to work I looked out at the bright and cheery day. Somehow, the warmth and brightness just cheered me up. I actually forgot about everything from the morning. I started working, debugging a particularly nasty piece of programming. All my thoughts were focused on my task.

And as I sat down during my lunch break and surfed the web I actually started to relax. That is, until I heard a familiar chime from my phone. Looking down, I saw a notification from my news app, which read

HUNDREDS DEAD IN VILLAGE MASSACRE IN NEPAL


Alright, well there's the direct connection. So far the story hasn't started to speed up. That's all gonna change soon. But I also wanted to take this venue to discuss all of the violence within our world. I mean, it's a bit insane. We're all one species aren't we? I feel like sometimes people get all wrapped up in the different segregated groups they've create, based on race, religion, gender, work, or even interests. And this causes people to forget the we all are part of the same group. The human one. Next blog I think is either gonna be a discussion of the different conflicts we've had in the past twenty odd years, or it'll be another Around The World Segment. But yes, I have some ideas for the short story series. I think the next few ones are only gonna have subtle nods to each other. I think it's high time to delve into the past don't you think...

​See you all next time! Peace!

Ok, so I know I was supposed to write a short story today, but I had this idea last night literally right after I posted the last update. Basically, my idea is that I'm going to share some interesting things about one city or one location that I've learned throughout the years. I'm gonna share as much about the place that I want to. So in this blog post, we're gonna be discussing one my all time favorite cities in the world, Athens.

Athens, named after the Greek Goddess Athena, is the largest city within Greece. Indeed, it's actually one of the oldest cities in the world, with a history spanning 3,400 years. Oh wow, I love the city so much. The most notable site within the city is obviously...

The Parthenon, temple dedicated to the patron goddess of the city, Athena. The temple was completed in 438 BC. To the ancient Athenians, the temple was seen as a celebration of the Hellenic victory over the Persian invaders. And to this day, the Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian Democracy, and Western Civilization. 

Sorry one last thing about the Parthenon, just cause I think it's a super cool building. Did you know that there was actually an older temple which the Parthenon replaced, an older-Parthenon if you will, or Parthenon senior. Well that temple was destroyed in the Persian Invasion of 480 BC. So the Greek chaps were all pissed when the Persians destroyed their nice temple. So what did they do? Absolutely destroy the Persians, and then build a second temple on top of the original one. Sounds like good old passive aggressiveness to me.

​Honestly I can respect that. But yeah, I should probably continue talking about the city.

This place, wow so much history buried within the city.

Other notable sights with Athens includes: 

Erechtheion
​

The Temple of Zeus
​

The Panathenaic Stadium and Olympic Stadium

This city has been known as the cultural epicenter of Greece, as well as much of the civilized world, throughout it's long history. During the golden age of Athens, Athens became one of the first societies to create a democracy. Notable people included the playwright Sophocles, the physician Hippocrates, and the philosopher Socrates.

Modern Athens remains a cultural hub for Greece. It's hosted the modern olympics twice, once in 1896 and once in 2004. The city itself is home to over 148 stages. Man that's a lot of theater, or as they say in Latin,  "homo, quod suus 'multus of theatra."

I'm not sure why I said that. But there you go. Athens, one of the most historical cities in the world, is truly one of a kind. I just want you all to know that when I visited the city with my family, I absolutely freaked out and visited every single place I possibly could in a single day. 

Anyways yeah, that city is definitely in my top 10. 

I really enjoyed talking about a city. I think that next time, I'll focus more on my personal experiences.

But yeah, next blog post will be back to our pre-planned scheduling. See you all next time!

​Peace!

Well I am still alive. Yes, it's been a whole month since I last posted. No, something terrible and tragic did not happen to me. Actually, that isn't entirely true. You see, I was abducted by aliens, who dissected by brain to see what knowledge I had. When they found out I knew nothing, I was promptly dropped back off to Earth. Just kidding.

For the past month I've been going through the terrible ordeal that is college finals. I spent two weeks studying for the finals, and then had to actually take them. Oh wow so much fun. I literally stopped taking care of myself in those weeks. And yes, I know that's very very bad. I felt the repercussions when I got extremely sick in the last week of my finals. That was great fun. I had a headache and chills, but somehow still woke up to study linear algebra. But yes, that is in the past now.

I wanted to spend this blog post talking about what I'll be doing in the next few weeks on this blog. Since I am now on winter break, I will be working on this blog post a lot. I'm thinking that tomorrow I'm gonna write another short story. I think that after that I'm gonna write an essay on the Indus Valley Civilization based on a research paper that I wrote a long time ago. Don't worry, I'll keep it interesting through my charisma and wit.

And after that I think I'm gonna check out another random writing prompt and write a short story based on that. It's looking to happen on Tuesday, but that might extend out to Wednesday. And after that I think I'm either going to talk about some guidelines I have for college, or maybe a funny story from my experiences so far. And after that, who knows what'll happen. I think I'll focus on short stories for a while. I also want to share some of my drafts of the novel I'm working on, Stargazers.  So yeah, there's a lot to look forward to for the next few weeks. Man, it does feel good to be home with nothing to worry about.

I'm really gonna enjoy these next few weeks. Peace!

Not to worry, for I am still alive. I'm sorry for not posting in a while, the past two weeks have been a blur of midterms and homework assignments that I've kinda been freaking out about.

But as the Thanksgiving holidays come around the corner, I'm definitely gonna try to put more focus on the blog. But then, once again I'll have to take a break as...finals come around.

Ugh.

Let's not think about that. 

Anyways, what I wanted to write about today was finally, another short story. Now, this story isn't gonna relate too much to the first one that I wrote at first, but I promise, eventually, maybe not in this story, but eventually it will all make sense. Oh boy I'm excited. Here we go.

Long after humanity has gone extinct, Earth is visited by extraterrestrial explorers, archaeologists and paleontologists all seeking to reconstruct human history. What they find is both intriguing and horrifying.

So there were many different paths I was thinking about going with this story based on this prompt, and all I know right now is how it's gonna start, so let's get right into it.

***

Star-Date 5674, estimated time since extinction...currently unknown. 

I read the information firing in from the analysts down on the planets surface, fascinated by what I was hearing.

Unknown cause of extinction, but based on scans could be caused by a variety of factors including radiation or pathogens.

The people that lived on this planet had built great things. Their constructions reached towards the stars, and some of their monuments were seriously impressive. But perhaps most impressive of all was their vast storage of knowledge in the electronic storage unit they had once called the internet. 

You're probably wondering how I know so much about this species. Their information banks have been quite useful in helping me understand who and what they were, but I already knew about this species before even reading through the internet. 

Ahh yes, we've investigating this species for quite sometime, since far before they went extinct. Yes, something about the beings that lived on the planet they called Earth has always fascinated us. But now it's time for us to dig deeper, to truly learn about what this civilization truly was.

And today is that day.

 "The biggest flaw in their species", one of the researchers told me as we headed to the surface of their planet, "was that they were incapable of truly bonding as a society. Sure you had those short lived nations, but those never lasted for more than a couple of millenia. For some reason, the biggest enemy to humanity was always itself."

"So that's how they finally went extinct...?", I said sadly, "Some sort of nuclear or biological warfare?"

"Not at all actually", the researcher said, much to my surprise, 'Come, I must show you."

Once we landed on the surface of the planet he took me to a huge mountain overlooking much of the barren landscape. Where I'm sure there had once been lush overgrowth, all that was left was a sad reminder of the past.

"It was here that it started", said the researcher again sadly, "They allowed a dangerous enemy to walk away unhindered."

I looked around at the mountain and checked my scanner which noted that the area had once been a peaceful village.

"What happened to the people who lived here?", I said fearfully.

"A great evil, something they could hardly understand, completely destroyed them. And it didn't stop there. No, it continued to spread, nation after nation, until there was no one else."

"But what could've caused this?"

"Like I said, their worst enemy was always themselves."

My throat grew dry, "It was one of their own."

The researcher laughed, "Not at all actually."

He continued to laugh and laugh and laugh as his face grew hideously disfigured. It was like someone had stretched skin across the empty shell of a corpse. It had no reason to be alive.

I blinked, and suddenly the callous ruins of a village were everywhere around me.

More people started to laugh all around me. The insane fragment that had outlived everyone else. They were far beyond help, too broken to be saved. They all started to laugh in unison. 

I blinked again, and lying on the ground in front of me was a torn scroll, the kind that these people hung up on the wall as a calendar. Written in bold script on the front was the last year that any living fragment of this species had ever flipped to. The year of the apocalypse. 

2020.

I dropped to the ground as the whole world began to swirly, the insane face of the broken society still etched into my mind.

*
*
*
I woke up in my bed sweating.

I looked at the alarm clock and calendar on my bedside.

2:38 AM, November 24, 2018.

But that wasn't the only date on my mind.

I remembered the date of the events I'd seen play out in my supposed "dream". And it didn't make sense. There's no way it could have been a dream.

The year that my dream took place was 2070...

*
*
*

WOOO
That was a ride.
I feel like the end is a little unstable and rough, which I promise you I will smooth out over time. But read the first short story before you read this one, and I hope it will make a bit more sense. But there's so much left to uncover from this storyline, first being who our mysterious 3 narrators have been.(3 counting one from the first blog post, one from the future, and one who just woke up a little freaked out).

And the very specific time I wrote coming from the alarm clock is the time right now, so I'm gonna sleep. But I definitely like where this is going. A lot more to uncover. Next is going to be something travel related I believe. I need to get out of this dark stuff for a while. Also yes, I'm sorry this story got really dark too. The next short story will be a little less heavy on the mind. Hopefully.

Peace!

Wow sorry about the ominous title. But yes, today I am going to be answering a writing topic on what I would do if I had 10 years left to live. 

Alright, you're probably wondering where in the world this idea came from. There I was just sitting in my freshman seminar class, it's about mindfulness by the way, when all of a sudden my professor tells the class to take out a piece of paper and spend five minutes writing what we would do with 10 years left to live our lives. 

So naturally I spent an entire minute thinking about this question. What would I really do?
​

Yes it was very perplexing. If I had ten years left to live I would try to do everything that I have to put off right now because I'm worrying about my future. 

So with that idea in my mind I quickly wrote this out. Just bear in mind, I only had four minutes to write it...

And the countdown begins. 10 years left to live. Suddenly, everything I'd once thought about life went out the window. No longer was it about preparing for the future. No, it was now about living in the present. Honestly, I would spend the last 10 years of my life fulfilling all the things that I've always wanted to do, as one naturally would do, that I've always pushed off to the future. I would finish editing and publish my book, and then do the same for the sequel. I would work on having weekly blog posts, and I would buy that dog I've always wanted. I would spend the first few years of the decade just staying in this equilibrium, also working to save up money for the last few years. I would walk the beaches of my hometown as frequently as possible.

Next, using the money I've saved up, I would first spend sometime traveling to visit all of my relatives in the US. Then I would buy a plane ticket to India and spend sometime visiting more of my relatives. All of the long forgotten promises would be fulfilled as I connected with these parts of my family. Lastly, I would buy one last plane ticket to Kathmandu, Nepal, where I would go back to working in the monastery where I've spent so many summers. That's the place where I would want to take my last breath. High up in the Himalayas, overlooking the world.

So yeah, there you have it. I know it's a bit cheesy and kind of boring, but I know that this is exactly what I would want to spend the last part of my life doing. I wouldn't do anything crazy or stupid, like buy a jet ski or something. 

On a side note, why are jet skis the examples people use when talking about buying something stupid? Right? I mean, look at it!

Wow. Maybe I would want to buy a jet ski. That's honestly a work of beauty.

...

Aakash's blog, where you can go from deep philosophical questions to a nonsensical discussion about jet skis. Let's steer back to the deep parts.

It took me a while, but I finally understand why my professor had us do that activity. For each person, it allowed us to see what we truly want in life. It showed us all what our deepest goals are at the moment. And maybe that will change. I know mine have changed drastically in the past few years. 8 years ago if you'd asked me what I'd do with 10 years left to live I would've told you I want to drop out of middle school and just eat pizza and play video games all day.

Yeah really classy Aakash.

But anyways, at this very moment, with 10 years left to live, I would want to finish this huge creative undertaking that I've been working on for the past few months. I would want to be consistent with this fantastic and amazing blog, no bias, that you are currently reading. And I would want to get out of the hustle and bustle of our fast paced lives and spend a few years really connecting with myself in a peaceful environment.

If my deepest goals in life do change in the next few years, which they're bound to do, the biggest question I'll be asking myself is why? Have I matured in some way?

So many interesting questions from this topic. I'm actually glad I decided to take that freshman seminar class, mostly because it makes me think about life in very different ways.

And that's very refreshing.

Next post is gonna be something travel related...

I'm not saying specifics, but it might have something to do with summer study abroad plans.

That's all I'm saying for now. Also, I will do a part 2 to my short story very soon as well, I just have to find a good idea or writing prompt to stem from. Thanks for reading! Have a good day!

Peace!

​In junior year of high school I took the AP World History class, which I absolutely loved.

One of the topics that we discussed immensely in this class was the Silk Road, a collection of trade routes that connected two ancient civilizations, and worlds together. It stretched from China, throughout most of Asia, all the way to Western Europe.
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​The most fascinating part about this trade route was how it created a huge cultural syncretism and impacted much of this part of the world. In fact, it's impact can still be seen today, which I will discuss later.

But first, let's discuss how it began.

The Silk Road began roughly around 114 BCE, and lasted until about the 1450s CE. So for around 1500 years we have this massive trade route where all sorts of goods are being  transferred between different civilizations. As you see in the picture above, there were so many diverse civilizations that were connected by the silk road.

But anyways, I'm getting side tracked. The Silk Road began, and got its name mainly due to the Han dynasty. See during this period guess what was an extremly lucrative trade good for the Chinese...

I'm gonna assume you guessed it correctly. that's right, it was Silk. So the Han wanted to bring in more profits and they began to expand their trade throughout Central Asia. The Han were the real deal. They expanded the Great Wall of China just to protect the trade routes.

But anyways, after that, like an organic spiderweb, the trade routes began to grow, crisscrossing throughout all of Asia.

And I think I need to give a clarification here. I bet that most of you assumed, when I first said the Silk Road, that it was like an actual road.
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But without those yellow lines of course.
But no, roads like that can be found in Texas, not Asia. The actual silk road was more like a route directly through the desert.

The trade on this road also led to significant developments in a few civilizations. Yeah not too big of a deal. Want me to read them off for you?

Yeah just, China, Korea, Japan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, the entirety of Europe apparently, the Horn of Africa, which is a peninsula that juts out on the eastern portion of the continent, and Arabia.

Yeah...not that significant huh.

For those of you who don't get that by the way, it is actually sarcasm. Yes this was extremely significant. It led to the development of most of the Old World (Eurasia if you will), which in turn led to the development of most of the rest of the world.

And this leads us to the significance to our modern world.

Ahh, but first you want to know what type of goods were traded on the silk road?

Yes, I'm asking myself questions. Don't judge.

But anyways, there was a huge variety of goods traded.

Some key items of note include :
Europe : Silver Wool, and Figs
Egypt : Glass
Arabia : Incense
Persia : Indigo and Glassware
India : Slaves, Spices, Gems, and Perfumes
China : Silk, Gunpowder, Paper, Grain, and Ivory
and just for the heck of it
Japan : Camphor (whatever that means)


So there you have it. The Silk Road caused a massive exchange of people and goods, but also ideas.

Religions, such as Islam and Buddhism, spread on the Silk Roads, brought by missionaries. Artwork, music, and dances were also spread to vastly different cultures. There were so many people from completely different cultures all sharing this one drive, to make their fortune through trade along the Silk Road. As such, a part of each person's culture involuntarily spread to new lands.

Oh by the way, Camphor is like a waxy leaf, which has oils that can be taken from it which help with like headaches and stuff.

So cool.

But finally, I want to talk about the legacy and influence of the Silk Road in our modern world. The Silk Road was a huge driving force in cultural interactions between vastly different groups of people. Like I mentioned before, it led to a huge cultural syncretism, which essentially means a blending of different cultures. The Silk Road definitely led to the formation of diverse societies all throughout Eurasia. One can also argue that this was almost the first steps to a truly global society. It was a time where people were open to accepting new ideas. Religions spread quickly on these roads for a reason. But it was also a time where two different groups of people, completely distinct in their own religion, language, and traditions, could exchange a piece of themselves. Our world is truly a global society now, but sometimes people forget that we always were one society. Forget about all of the societal problems affecting the world during the time of the Silk Road, but just remember there was a time when different people mingled in relative peace.

This was an essay that I wrote for my english class. We were assigned to write about anything we wanted, so naturally I decided to write about the silk road. Also, in one of my seminar classes we were also assigned to write about a very interesting prompt which I will post in the next few days. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this kind of crash course on a topic from history that really interests me. This was really fun! I definitely think I'll do it again! Oh yes, also next part of the short story will be coming soon! I'm probably gonna write it sometime after my midterm! Peace!