Have you ever noticed the thoughts that invade your mind, when you should be doing other things? Such interesting thoughts… that forsake you when they would be helpful.

The worst time to make a decision is during the evening.
During the day we can occupy our minds and avoid the inevitable yes or no. But in the evening there isn’t nearly enough time to tire ourselves out and fall asleep with a clear head.
In the morning we can busy ourselves with the rest of the day, and by the time we hit out beds we’re out cold.
In the evening, we ease ourselves into bed, worried about responses and the opinions of others. We toss and turn, not really letting our minds come to terms with the decisions that we’ve made. Our minds race through thousands of impossible scenarios a second, and our dreams are littered with self doubt.
As someone that is learning from experience, always make your more difficult decisions during the day, so you can sleep at night.

Sometimes you forget.
Not important things, just aesthetic properties of yourself.
I was born into a Indian family in Yonkers, New York, early one February morning. It’s never really weighed on me before, but suddenly I see how much it weighs on the people I meet. The first thing they see isn’t the image of me that I have in my mind, but an Indian woman, that probably doesn’t know English. In fact, until age 5, I didn’t.
My entire life, my English skills have been tested, my speech patterns, my writing habits. I progressed meteorically, but it wasn’t enough. By age 6 I was fluent in all Punjabi, Hindi, and English. I was in a special education class for only 6 months of my educational career. Only removed when the teacher said it was holding me back. After first grade, I never received any special treatment.
But imagine my surprise when I learned that the state of California’s educational board had required my teachers to send in a writing sample until my senior year of High School.
By then I was already on the path to becoming a full fledged writer, I had first drafts of 13 different novels under my belt and no idea I was lacking in any sort of way.
I wasn’t; but because of a six month stay in special education I was “looked after.”
Really? I had kids in my class that needed actual help and I was the one they concerned themselves with? And why English samples? Why not the catapult my Physics partner and I designed senior year? Or Math tests?
Was I special just because of who I was born to? So will my siblings and I live with the “stigma” for the rest of our lives?

So, I got the Blogger app for my iPod Touch. This is me using it, so I don’t feel bad about not using it.

BRIGHT SIDE! New blog post. Yeah!!!

Writers willingly confine themselves to an enclosed space for a dedicated amount of time every day, and then torture themselves by writing even if they have nothing to write. But they enjoy it.
The real fear comes when they have to present that work to you. The public. There they are judged on everything. From execution to their names. To push something that personal out into the world takes a special type of courage that only a few people have. I’m not sure I have that type of courage; so I rationalize it.
Even if people hate my book now, it will become a cult classic in twenty years, like every other hated book.

We are born alone, we will die alone; but while we’re here we will surround ourselves with others like us. Others that think like us, dream like us.
We’ll shun and ignore those that don’t. The ones we don’t understand, nor care to, because it’s easier to fear that which we don’t understand than it is to comprehend it.
When the whole gathers, we will separate ourselves into smaller clumps. Suddenly, we ignore the rest, and in that moment they do not exist. They are the out-group, and they don’t matter.
We’ll do anything for those we consider our “peers,” die for them, kill for them. We will do anything to the ‘outsiders.’ They aren’t like us, therefore less than human.
This is how entire nations find justification for war.
In their glory, in-groups can be expanded. In a nation every patriot is a member of the in-group. Everyone else is the enemy.