Buddhism & Meditation

I am not Buddhist, I'm actually a pretty devout Christian. I must admit though, ever since I saw the movie, 'Eat Pray Love', I didn't really see things about me and my life very clearly soon after. The first thing I told my mom after seeing this movie was "You know, I think I want that life, traveling, living, loving, no pressures or stress, just live and be." My mom ultimately thought I was crazy and she did give me a weird look, but that was my cue, the cue telling me that maybe that was my future. I've been meditating as much as i can lately, and i'm getting better at it. After all, being a student doesn't make it very easy to clear your mind. For sometime, all that was in my head while meditating were the faces of students at my school and my grades. Then i began to concentrate on the Zen Garden Buddhist meditation music playing and I found myself in a trance. I've decided that i'll be signing up for some yoga classes and possibly Ti Chi. The ancient arts of Asia truly are mesmerizing. Everything about all of Asia truly fascinates me. From the deserts of the west to the rice paddies of the east, Asia is a continent I want to explore and attempt to understand inside and out. From India to Mongolia, from Lebanon to Japan, there is so much to know that even the wisest haven't discovered yet. Buddhism itself is a religion, but to me, it's a lifestyle. To be honest, if I weren't such a devout Christian, my next prime decision as to which religion i'd want to practice would be Buddhism. Wether it's in the India, or the regions of the Himalayas, Tibet, Nepal, China, I want to live the life of solidarity, in which my mind and body are at peace. It sounds crazy, especially coming from an American living in a fast-paced world, but who wouldn't want a life as simple as that? I'd LOVE to wake up in Bali and know that my day only consists of meditation, yoga, adventures, and culture- and not to forget to mention eating my favorite thing in the whole world- mangoes, by the dozens.
To me, Eating, Praying, and Loving are all forms of art, believe it or not. My Great-Aunt, who goes to India just oh so casually whenever she'd like meditate, has inspired me. Grab life before it flies away, as corny as that may sound. I am wasting away in a brick building called school, as i've said many times before- but you, you have so many opportunities and choices when you're not in school, once you've graduated. You are lucky. Take advantage of you time and life and spend it wisely, because we all know it isn't long enough. My goal is to learn many languages fluently, and I'm almost half way there. You see? And I'm only a student! What i want in life, I'm not sure. For most people, it involves a heavy pay check, for me, it involves traveling and exciting journeys. I will literally want to spend my life Eating Praying and Loving, but as most know, that is almost impossible. I guess I could just work for a little bit, make enough money to live off of for a couple years, and start the money process all over again (humor intended). All I know is, I'm quietly deliberating over wether I should become a Buddhist monk to escape my school report card, which might not be the 4.0 I'm stressing for or just living the boring life I'm living no, as i practice the activities of my future; meditation and writing. I have many years to go, but it doesn't make life feel any longer.

Grades Are Not My Label

I feel like venting my frustration right about now because I've just realized that I have wasted about 5 years of my life studying irreleveant things. Yes, in school. It's almost like school is my one common enemy, but truth to the matter, school is a waste of time. It burns you, defeats you, kicks you when you're down, paddles you, LABELS you. You become a no one when your grades are low but you become a well respected youngster when your grades are good. What the hell is that? Is society trying to tell us that those who make bad grades are 'low-life slackers', as once said? I'll have you know, Forbes Magazine does not think so, as I skimmed through it to the last page full of quotes admired by Forbes himself, "The world is made up of C students." I couldn't have said it better myself, actually.
Tell me; what's wrong with being average? Why do people judge us by the grades we make? Why do kids with 4.2 GPA's do so well in school but if I were to ask them 'what do you think of the arab-Israeli conflict', they wouldn't even know about the country of Palestine? I do not understand!

I'll break my situation down:

A= Excellent (By foreign parents' standards, the only acceptable grade)
B= You were so damn close!
C= Um, are you asking to be deported?
D= You've been disowned and/or shunned.
F= Why are you still alive?

So now if someone were to ask me about my GPA and I were to tell them that I have a 3.9 they would look to me in admiration and respect. If I were to go to the same people and tell them I had a 2.6 GPA, I'd be a failure, not worthy of anything, and I'd belong in community college for not trying and being a disgrace.

My question is: Why are grades so important? Why is school so important?
Answer: You can become someone without school and make it big. Without school, you might have a harder time, but that's it. Why is our intellect meausred in letters? The same letters that can either make us or break us? Am i stupid if I make a D in a class? No. It means I'm not interested and I cannot be forced into wanting to learn about crazy quations that science lunatics made up in their basements for fun.
Which brings this along; Why the hell am i learning about some math problem that is SO irrelevant? I mean, when you think about it, some weirdo decided to play around with numbers and told us that it will produce the correct amount of whatever is needed for a solution.
Really?
REALLY?

Anyways, all in all, grades are not my label. Making a bad grade does not make me dumb or irresponsible. It makes me worthy of something better and more interesting other than chemistry or mathematics. Unfortunately, the best years of my life when I actually have the energy to do EVERYTHING, I'm spending those days in school. I could be doing something that'll actually benefit me, like traveling around the world, but instead, I'm locked up in a facility with others by law. I hate some laws.

Oh well... I need to be 'ze mozt sook-cessful pear-son in ze worlid' and follow in the so called footsteps of my family and be a worthy relative/daughter/friend/person in general... and apparently, that'll only happen if I make the good grades that will label me.

What I Do When I've got a Low Patience

So basically, the title breaks it down pretty well. It's spring break- right now, and it's been going on since last friday and will end right after Easter. Most people are out of town, in some tropical place, most likely not thinking about school. Where am I? I'm at home. I'm the most exciting person you will ever meet in your lifetime. I keep wondering to myself, 'what's holding me back from going some place this year?' It's not school because to be honest, I don't give a crap about holiday assignments- and that is EXACTLY why I've got a low patience. My crazy AP World History teacher thinks it's OK to assign 3 essays and 2 chapters over spring break. No ma'am, IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT. I've already got things to do. If she doesn't have a life, it doesn't mean she should drag her students down with her! I have a friend in Cancun right now- at this moment, who is probably on a beach or on a boat or on a horse, i don't know- but one thing for sure is that she is definitely not lugging around a humongous history textbook as she builds her imaginary sandcastle. I really do hope that my teacher realizes that no one is putting in a 100% effort over break. The woman is actually crazy though, that's obvious. Mrs. L***y is like a literal mood swing to me. One day, I just wanna be BFF's with her (that was sarcasm at it's extreme), and other days, I want aliens to abduct her and never bring her back (I had worser scenarios in my head but it felt weird typing them out so I stuck with the alien story). Point is, spring break is almost over and I haven't touched any schoolwork AT ALL. Right now I should be doing those 2 chapters, but here I am instead. I'm dreaming of going back to Monaco, where everything is just... chill. Maybe going back to Tuscany, Italy- people there have a longer life span because they have nothing to worry about; no politics to interfere with their farm-ful lives, no taxes, no pollution, no health risks, all they do is eat the food they grow and make, drink wine, farm/trade, and have huge get togethers. Then they sleep and the cycle starts again. I wish my life was like that, where I wouldn't have a care in the world, maybe I wouldn't even have school to stress over. Everything I'm doing now, is for college (minus writing this). College drives people insane, unless they know how to just not care. But by 'not caring', where will you be?
So this all is what I do when I've got a low patience. When I'm frustrated or bored. I just write it out (but not here because I doubt anyone's interested in how much I dislike school related things). Tchao for now...

An Education

Yes, I am aware of the fact that there is a movie coming out called 'An Education' but that's not what I am referring to. I am referring to a more realistic view of an education. What is it exactly? Getting an education isn't really something that can happen only in school or in a certain type of class. The best education you can get, in my opinion, can be attained on the street. I've learned loads of different things off the street. I don't live on 'the street'. Bien sur pas! You know what I mean though, as I've let myself assume. When you walk around, you hear other people's conversations involuntarily. It can be extremely annoying, especially when they are speaking of ludicrous and conceited things. Sometimes though, on special occasions, you may pick up a fact or two you find beneficiary, something you could never learn out of a text book or hear about during a lecture. You can honestly live by the quote, 'Learn something new everyday'... oh yes... it just depends on what you have heard and from where. Time for you to grow out of 'in-class stupidity'.

1. If the person you have just heard/learned something from seems well educated, that can be a plus- but be careful, these people are most deceitful to the eye- don't believe everything you hear. 

2. If the person or group talking/conversing around you (that you are not a part of), seems to be down to earth, speaking articulately with great verbiage, you've most likely come across the jack pot. Go for this conversation- LISTEN.

3. Before you jump to conclusions, I am not telling you to be an inevitable stalker/ creeper/ brown- noser/ freaky outsider. Oh no. I am simply (and merely) explaining to you the many ways to educate yourself outside of the cliche classroom.

4. OK. Go. Gooooo! Go to the nearest college campus and find some random people. These people can only be useful if you are at a top ranking school though. Don't go to your nearest community college because you never who you run into there... they might not even be a student. 

5. Walk into a random classroom. Kidding. Apparently that can work in some large universities though- so I have heard. Actually... don't even consider this. You have reached complete insanity if you even think it over. You don't need to be THAT smart...

6. Read. Yes, that requires a book. You know... that 'thing' you don't touch...

7. Watch some informative, artistic Indie movies (you'd be surprised by what you can learn in certain films).

8. Produce art. I don't care what type. Be it painting, writing, dancing, you have just broadened your perspectives on everything just by doing one of the above.

9. Be yourself and do not conform to society. Society should always conform to you, on the most peaceful of terms possible, obviously. (Stop carrying around guns, by the way. It's creepy).

10. Get a life and walk around. Get out of the suburbs, move to NYC or even London, perhaps.

Those are pretty much my guidelines to my utopian state of mind that you can experience too, for a very small, limited time offer of a price: Time.

Have fun?