Lessons have been learned.

I have learnt magnificent lessons on a 7,000 mile voyage, and it is those who are uninspired that have inspired me to write this today.

A well-deserved break I’d say. After a few months of very hectic weeks and tiresome ordeals, I am very glad to say that I am returning to Atlanta today. Well, hopefully. I have gotten a seat on my standby flight, and am ready to board. The only problem now is that, well, the flight is having technical difficulties, and so it’s just a matter of waiting now.

I had a pretty interesting idea recently, and it was kind of a crazy one, but I wanted to take a year off at some point in my life, and work for an airline. I would preferably like to work for Delta for just one year and see how things go because I think that would be a very fun and entertaining experience. As I currently wait for my flight, I can’t help but think, how cool would it be to be on that side.

Amongst my travels in Sydney, I met a friend called Daniel, who is studying his masters in robotics / computer science at the University of Technology at Sydney. It was the second time I had talked to someone who was talking about something in my field, and I couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed at how little they thought of computer science as a field that would allow them to change the world. I saw little inspiration, and a fear of failure. I saw frightened souls who didn’t have the confidence to fight for what they believe in. I’m not sure if this is computer science specific, but I have seen a certain fear amongst our youth that I want to talk to everyone who gets the chance to read this about.

If you’re the logical type, then let me make a very logical argument. Opportunities that you don’t seek are opportunities that you will not get. If you don’t apply for every opportunity and get your name out there, then what’s the point? What’s the point of you sitting back on your ass thinking that you’re not good enough? Thousands if not millions of people have said it in hundreds of different ways, you won’t know what your limit is if you don’t hit that limit. Say it the way you want to, confidence is only an issue if you make it be an issue. It’s as simple as building a resume and applying to jobs. You have the power to succeed in this world, you have the power to reach your goals and make a difference.

If you’re less logical, and more emotional, allow me to explain. Not seeking your ultimate capability and not going for the best will make you feel worse about yourself. You are brilliant inside, we all are. It’s not about our mental ability, or whether we are smart enough, I’d say that’s maybe 10% of what matters. In truth, what really matters is how much power and will we have to change things in this world. Our greatness lies in the 90% of believing. It lies in the passion towards doing what we love, and achieve the ultimate goal, you will be happy.

If for you it’s about the money, let me phrase this differently. As someone once wisely put it, ‘Money does not bring happiness, but happiness and creativity will bring you money’. Having the passion and dedication to achieve what you want is what will not only bring you happiness, but make this world a better place.

We all have dreams, it’s a beautiful world out there, and many of us are out there to pursue what we always wanted to do. Whether it is three gorgeous children and a loving wife or husband, or the exotic wildlife of Africa and the inspirational deserts in Egypt, we all have that inner self that wants to achieve the impossible.

Let it speak for you, and let it take you to places which will change the way you look at this world. There is no point of sitting around and not doing what you dreamed of, you only have one life, so for the sake of yourself, live it.

I’ve grown very concerned of when people I meet are working in fields they are passionate about, but somehow don’t find the motivation to take that leap and try and go for their wildest dreams.
Yes, you will get disappointed. Yes, things will stab you in the back, and you will break down to unimaginable weakness. You will cry and you will face adversity like you have never faced before. Sometimes, fear will creep up on you on a 6 hour bus ride to the middle of the desert in Egypt that you were told only lasted 4 hours. Sometimes, you will be facing death, but for the hundredth time, it is these experiences that will take you from being alive, to living your life.

For once, trust me, follow your dreams and do as you must, because a fake smile and an imaginary happiness will only fill your heart with regret in 40 years when you look back and think, why didn’t I just do it?

So, on this final note, go out there and do it. Inspire yourself to change the world and keep in touch. I’d love to hear your stories, and I’d love to hear your adventures in the pursuit of happiness. It’s not an easy path, but its better than a fake path that you fill your mind with, in hopes that someone will somehow spot your creative wisdom without you fighting to show the world how awesome you are.

Go for it lads, it’s now or never.

Cheers,
qk.

How the future is going to work for me.

No, this isn't a post about some ridiculously futuristic idea, but rather what I have in my mind for the next few days, and the projects I have for the next few months.

So, on Friday I will leave for Sydney, and arrive promptly to my hotel around 3pm. I am very excited to see an old friend, Seref, who was part of my first official web design experience, when I was in THIMUN. After I spend two days in Sydney, I will depart for Panama in the longest travelling journey I have ever done. I will leave Sydney for Los Angeles, and then proceed from Los Angeles to Atlanta, and from there, I will continue onward to Panama, travelling for approximately 24 hours but experiencing only a 12 hour change in time, due to the time differences and etc.

After Panama I will return to go work in California around June 12, and then stay in California until August 20, where I will return to Georgia Tech for school and a lot of research.

I recently had an idea while I was in Melbourne about having a robot with a camera, and having it communicate to a Google phone so that you have an app that allows you to see what the robot is seeing. This way, you can move the robot around a room as if the robot was your set of eyes.

The other idea I had was using an EEG to control a robot, so that you can make the robot move, with your mind. I am equally excited for both projects and frankly, can't wait until I get to start them so that I can experiment all of these ridiculous ideas.

I'm getting kind of cold and its late, sorry I haven't written in a bit, I've been busy just relaxing and enjoying Melbourne. I am definitely happy that I feel ready to start 'working' again. I feel re-energized and truly ready for this summer to take off.

Cheers,
Daniel.

It's the little things that matter.

I'm really not ok with theft. It's just something I am not ok with because I feel it violates a lot of things that I fight for. One of my friends recently out of a bit of peer pressure and a bit of thrill and to save some money stole some potatoes from the supermarket. The argument went on for a bit because I really wasn't ok with it but that really wasn't what bothered me. What truly bothered me was more that It somewhat ruined my image of that person in my mind and I hated that because it was just a bag of potatoes. It was a tiny little thing that didn't matter at all, and yet it affected me so much. I don't know why I am writing this or why I should even care so much but it was just because I don't like when the image of other people is ruined for me and that did it. But oh well, it's so weird I just had to rant a bit because I am really not ok with what happened and this is helping me sort of, open up and express those thoughts.

I'm free to be whatever I want.

It's a beautiful thing to be reassured about what is significant and beautiful in this world. Coca-Cola recently came out with a commercial that warmed my heart ( see here. ). It's hard to not break up and realize how beautiful things are in this world because for all the stresses and difficulties that we encounter, its the difficulties that eventually make people realize that you are trying. And to all of those of you who feel you aren't being recognized, or like you aren't loved by any, I hope I make this clear when I say that there is hope out there, and that I, without even knowing you, or knowing what you have done, or knowing who you truly are inside, I love you. It was not an easy task to type that, but it's an even harder task to live up to it and yet, here I am assuring you that I care for you. We are all born as beautiful individuals and I firmly believe that a little part of that will remain with us forever. No matter who you are, or where you are from, or what you believe in, or the cruelties that you have done, or the times that you have done wrong, if we do not appreciate each other has human beings and we do not struggle just a tiny bit of discomfort for the greater good of understanding each other as human beings, then there is no point in life. It's all about empathy. It's the innate skill we are born with that allows us to understand other human beings. And that is at the very least, the most beautiful thing the world.

So, whether it is in inspiration, or something you have never done in your wildest dreams, here I stand daring you to do it. Whether its telling a loved one who you never thought would feel the same way how you feel, or whether its making a fool out of yourself amongst your friends, I'm here to tell you that its a truly beautiful world out there. Some people say, 'There is hope', a more famous and common Internet thing 'It gets better', which is a campaign towards helping the gay community have hope in their lives because of how difficult high school and sometimes college can be, and yet, so many of us happen to frown and feel sorrow in times where perspective couldn't make this a better place.

100 years ago, travelling to another place was an impossible life decision that would change everything, up to even never seeing your relatives again. Today, it's an easy choice.

Perhaps your 12, or 20, or 60, it really doesn't matter. There are some of us who are living in suffering and living in absolute torture and cruelty. My true and pure prayers for all of you, because I can only hope that things can change for all of you. I stand here writing this in hopes that something will change, in hopes that somehow the world will turn, and the happiness that we see amongst our friends, we will now see amongst the world. I hold it as my deepest desire that things will change, and even though I do not know if that will ever be the case, I still hold that it will happen.

Please enlighten me and let me know if I'm wrong, but the way I see it, sitting in a dining table across the world in Melbourne, Australia, 15575 km from where I study, and 14543 km from where I was born. Let me give you an idea of what that number means, that's about 35% of the Earth's circumference, the world has reached the point where things are better. There is a place for everybody in this Earth, and we are slowly but surely realizing that we are all human beings and that we must stick together through our hardships in order to truly survive our issues. It's pretty ridiculous how much stress is out there because we are trying to be successful in life, but its even more ridiculous how much we worry about these stressful situations when in reality, there is nothing to worry about. Yeah sometimes it can suck out there in the world, but in the midst of it all, there are people who care, and people who are fighting for us as human beings. If you are one of those people, thank you, and if you are not, do your best to change others in the slightest way, because once you have changed someone, you will realize how powerful the understanding of other human beings can be.

I'm really not sure where I am going with this but I had to babble on about different thoughts in my head, I hope that if you read this, it somehow changes you in a very small way, and that in some small way you go out there today or the next day, and change somebody in the smallest of ways, because the feeling, the feeling of giving back and helping others is greater than most if not all other feelings. I am positive that we can change this world because we already have. Things are looking good, and this second decade of the new millennium we will see remarkable things.

Cheers, to a bright and prosperous future present,
Daniel.

Lets not think.

I originally thought of making the title, let's think of nothing, but it was then I drew the fine line between not thinking, and thinking of nothing. I urge you to stop thinking.

Have you ever sat in your bed and attempted to stop thinking? If you haven't please do so. It is a ridiculously difficult task which will probably take you a few nights to accomplish. I finally did it last night and it felt spectacular. My mind blanked, I had successfully eliminated every trailing thought that flew by my head as I thought, hmm, and almost got carried away. I even thought of nothing, of the concept and the idea of what nothing meant, but then realized I had to go [no pun / reference intended] deeper. I had to understand the way my mind worked in such a way that I could meditate and relax. It was a great sensation.

I met Cat while [and I am still here] in Melbourne, Australia. She is a great girl and has an absolutely fantastic character. Even more importantly though, she has taught me a thing or two about meditation and relaxing that I have gladly embraced. It has tempted me to plan and go on an adventure, sometime in the future. My plans are amongst the craziest I have had to date, and I am not entirely certain what they are at this time, but they will most likely involve mountains somewhere in Asia. That's for the future, but for me, and now, I think cheese, chocolate, and wine will most certainly have to do.

I am a more relaxed man than I was 5 days ago, and most certainly a better man. It is nice to free yourself of everything, and although I have not at all freed myself entirely, it feels nice to finally be on a path which relaxes my soul.

Sorry I have not written much this week, it has been an interesting process of finding myself and simply enjoying time with friends. I have come to realize yet again that you do not need much to find true and simple beauty in life, and I have found it time and time again in a cozy apartment that my friends have in Melbourne, Australia.

All the love and a certain touch of relaxation my dear world,
Sincerely,
Daniel.

The beauty of mundane tasks.

I washed the dishes today. It was beautiful. I did some cooking yesterday, and it was also amazing. My friends didn't quite understand what my obsession with trivial tasks were, but allow me to elaborate.

I live in a society at Georgia Tech that is very work oriented. All we do year-round is work. A semester is a single driven intense experience where all you do is quite literally work non-stop. It's hard to explain how difficult it is to survive at Georgia Tech.

This morning, I woke up at 7am after a long time sleeping, and took a shower, came down to the kitchen and cleaned it. The satisfaction I derived from this is difficult to explain but it was truly brought back life to me. I hope to continue this every day, and continue to simply be at peace and do nothing because it is those tasks that bring warmth to my heart and help me re-energize before I go back to hard work.

I will now go make breakfast, and get creative. Then, i'll go out and maybe just take pictures of the world. Who knows.

Cheers,
Daniel.

1964.

Do it. I’ll explain the title later, but I must reiterate a point that I find is tremendously important in life. Often, if not always, you’ll find quite a few movies about those few characters that want to do something, but have some sort of life plan, or expectation from the world, their family, their friends, or somebody else, to do something different. The world tells them you ought to be successful, but the truth is, all they want is to pursue photography. I was watching this film where they mentioned an old Arab proverb that said, “Throw your heart out in front of you, and run out to catch it.” Although it is nice to live life with some type of assurance, and although its definitely nice to have some sort of certainty in what will happen next, and what you will do in the future, I am here to argue that perhaps it isn’t worth it.

Whether you’re mathematically oriented or not, it doesn’t take a brilliant man to realize that if our life span is 100 years, and you will, most likely, spend your first 20 years through school and uni. That’s already a good 20% of your life at most. Now, let’s take out the 30 years that you will spend (from 70 to 100) not being able to really function all that well, and living a more calm and relaxed life. We’re at 50% and half way there. So that leaves the time span of from when you are 20, to around when you are 70. That’s a good 50 years. Want to have children, and get married? Alright, that adds on another 30. Let’s say it’s a few years for finding your loved one, getting married, and a good 25 years for 2-3 children, depending on how separated apart you have the kids. Now, this requirement has a bit of a limit, because I would argue that you don’t want to take care of your children from when you are 60-70, because you are a bit too old to do so. Alright, so that leaves from when you are 30-60 as the time you will get married and take care of children. Makes sense, so assuming those are all things you want to do, as it is for most people, this leaves the age from when you are 20 until you are 30 as what I’d like to call the ‘prime time’ of your life. Now, don’t take any of the divisions I said previously as true, or hold me to them, because I think that’s bullshit. I’d like to argue that you can and should enjoy your life for the entirety of it, but it helps to start the argument about what you should do with your life. My point from here on is that perhaps you have seen a commonality in many movies where there is somebody in a very common day job, doing nothing with his/her life, who finally goes out and takes a chance and goes crazy. You do something spontaneous and that changes absolutely everything. To give a few examples, perhaps you’ve seen the movie 21, where Ben Campbell, soon to be graduating from MIT and accepted into Harvard Med, has no idea what to do to impress the scholarship that will give him a full ride into Harvard. Then, one of his professors sees potential in him, and invites him to count cards, and long story short, it wasn’t too much of a brilliant idea, but it was a life changing experience that truly made him live. More evidently, the movie Cemetery Junction truly hits the topic hard on, as three blue collar workers are doing nothing with their life and finally realize the importance of simply living it the way they want to. The imagery of a rich and bored husband who doesn’t even say thank you to his wife hits you to the core, as you realize that it truly is important to take your chances and go out there because a life that is secured and a life that has lots, to say, its question mark, is a life that has lost its excitement. What’s the point of living a life in which you have fully planned out and a life that is secure.

Maslow argued that security is a necessity in life, and that having that security is something you need in order to feel true happiness. I agree, but I think we have taken the definition incorrectly. Security does not mean knowing what you will do in the next 20 years. To me, security means having the confidence to know that because of what you know and who you are, the next 20 years will be truly amazing, because you feel confident and secure in who you are. That’s the true feeling that gets you happiness. No doubt, thousands of others go around and panic because they do not know what their family will think of them in a few years because they don’t have the confidence to believe in themselves. They are strong enough to hide away their dreams, and strong enough to hide their true desires in life because of the fear they have for what others will think. Well, if your strong enough to hide your beliefs, I can assure you that you are strong enough to follow them. I hope that if you are reading this, and you have something you have always wanted to do, you go off and do it. I hope that you don’t put it off another day, because even if it is dropping out of college for a semester and flying out to the middle of nowhere to find your true self, you shouldn’t continue to put it off because of your fears. Convince yourself that these experiences will change you and that you will become a better person, because only then will you have the courage. I know that sometimes it is really difficult and that sometimes we simply don’t know what will happen, but rest assured, it will be better than knowing what happens. You have the opportunity, and you have the ability to do everything you have ever wanted. Believe in yourself for the sake of a better world, because if we all didn’t tremble and give excuses for why we aren’t living, we would have a better world. It’s the nay sayers and those who don’t have the passion because they fear how others will look at them that make this world slightly more difficult to live in. I urge you very strongly to change the way you live so that you are satisfied with it, because once you do, you won’t be thanking me, you will be telling everyone else to change their way of life too.

So what is 1964? It is the year he stopped saying thank you for his morning cup of tea. It is the year in which she could have changed her life but didn’t. It is a moment in the movie Cemetery Junction, where the wife of a business man recalls how she didn’t take her chance in life, and didn’t live it, for the desire of having security. She made the right choice in wanting security, but the wrong choice in understanding what security was. The beauty of the movie is that she knew and acknowledged her error. She did not know how she lost it all so quickly, but she knew that her daughter wouldn’t go by the same path. It is a beautiful moment in the movie when she frees herself and leaves everything behind for a life of uncertainty and a life she has always wanted to live. So there’s a lot of significance to 1964, because it was the year he didn’t even notice his wife anymore. I hope that we will all seek and go towards any means necessary to find what we truly care for, because only then will we be successful in life. There’s a saying I think I watched recently that says, money doesn’t bring you happiness, but happiness and creativity does bring you money. People don’t find it amusing for those who walked the path that everyone thought they’d walk, they love those who discover a new path, and make something of it, because that is the most impressive and most successful feeling you will ever get.

So, my life, quick update, I am currently on my plane flying in Business Class to Australia, thank god I got to sleep a good 8 hours in their truly comfortable beds, and am ready to get off in Sydney, fly myself to Melbourne, and get ready for an experience of a life time. I must say this experience was truly wonderful, and I must applaud them because it seems in Business they appreciate blueberry as much as I do. Lots of love, and an exciting future ahead,

UPDATE: Alright cool so I made it alive to Melbourne and I’m at the Cooklin residence now =] and we had a wonderful walk around Melbourne and a fantastic dinner including dinner and amazing cheese, and wine.

Take care,
Daniel.