Intro to Me.

Hi friends! This post’s goal is to introduce myself. This also, I’ll admit, is a class assignment that I’m writing this to complete. This was submitted late. I guess that tells you a lot about me. I mean, it seems to peg me in a hole till you check the email the professor sent us and realize that it’s not as distinctive as initially assumed, seeing as the Professor’s email update yesterday told us half of us hadn’t submitted it by the due date. I see you, and I call to you, kindred spirits! Still, the idea remains that it narrows the field. I am, in fact, as the day I sent this in suggests, absentminded and disorganized.

Caught.-age 7 approx.

Ouch. 8 sentences into “be honest, be brave, and be willing to expose yourself”, and it already hurts. Thankfully, it’s not all bad. So let’s dig further, and figure out exactly who I am. My name is Arul, which sorta sounds like “I rule”, which all my friends point out (it might actually be a requirement to be my friend), and I definitely enjoy.

Literally 2 seconds later.

They told me people died standing there.

Yes, I’m a bit disorganized and cluttered in how I choose to go about my day, but within my head, I make up for it by keeping things neat and tidy. I’ll show you what I mean. I like to keep things in boxes, label them, and put them in easily accessible places for later. So when I was asked to introduce myself, I immediately went to the box that kept all the things relating to introducing myself to other people, and found it completely empty. Oh. I hate introducing myself to people. That didn’t work. But…. we do have a box of questions I ask people when they introduce themselves, such as “What kind of music do you listen to?” or “Do you read books?”. After that, all that's left to do is to transition into the conversation the questions spark.

It would make sense, then, if I answered these questions about myself to elucidate a workable image of myself. What kind of music do I listen to? All kinds, except metal. Really it varies, but generally it centers around various indie bands, currently very involved in 50's-70's country, and modern-day bluegrass with a splash of the 80's because the 80's were happiness and it was in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. Am I ashamed of the any of my music phases? Maybe my "strictly classical music", from 7th grade. Here are a couple youtube links to songs I'm currently listening to.

Dearly Departed by Shakey Graves, ft. Esme Patterson

The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie by Colter Wall

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac

A friend and I after a school concert. The roses were for my music teacher. -age 10

Do I read books? Boy. What a question. Of course I read books. I am a reading addict. I read literally anything, books, magazines, board game instructions, Shoprite Coupon small print, etc. It’s bad. My parents used to force me to play with friends, and take away my library books when I misbehaved. Either that, or they’d refuse to take me to the library so I couldn’t get more. I’ve missed assignments because I was reading a book I couldn’t put down. When sitting at a dinner table at a new person’s house, I generally feel the urge to go through all the condiments they decide to place on the table and read through the ingredients list. I rarely remember what the label said as to exactly where in the Himalayas their salt was sourced from, but I still find myself reading it. I’ll read it every time I sit down at that table. I don’t forget all of it though, like my favorite quote from To Kill a Mockingbird, when Atticus Finch is describing the cranky, old, recently deceased Mrs. Dubose. “She died beholden to nothing and nobody.”, he says. I think that’s a beautiful quote. A dying wish to have all the ends tied. To make her life the final end that needed to be tied within her story without any intervening influences from elsewhere. What’s more, she accomplished her goal. 

 It’s unfortunate, seeing that as I get older, it’s harder to get into the flow of reading as fast, where you’re entirely absorbed within the tale, right there with the characters. It's one of my primary fears, losing my ability to enjoy reading as I do and did.

I think it’s worth answering one question that doesn’t seem so overtly “small talk-esque”, as the last two were. I’m of the opinion that there’s no such thing as small talk, and that all questions have the potential to be the topics of an enriching conversation, but I think, “You can tell the entire world one thing. What is it?”

He's been sitting in my bathroom for 12 years.

Also in my bathroom. Didn't realize my bathroom is winter themed.

I think my answer would be to tell everyone to find a person and look them in the eyes. I think that’s all I’d bother saying. Anything longer and I think most people wouldn’t do it. This seems to be a good idea because it emphasizes the existence of another human. It reminds those who’d do it of something important. That there are other humans out here, and they aren’t the only ones around. And eye contact itself is rather powerful. As a neuroscience major, I’m keenly aware of all the heavy-duty machinery your brain has to track, recognize, recognize, and process gaze. A study noted that staring into another’s eyes for just a minute could induce an altered state of being that involved hallucinating strange faces like deceased family members and those of animals. Another possibly less scientific study made men and women stare into each other’s eyes and realized that often in the months after the study the participants were getting married. I.e. there might be stuff happening in that lump of flesh in your head when you look at a person. Maybe you’re supposed to be staring at eyes instead of your phone. But I’d only tell the world to do it for an instant. I think that just the reminder that they are a human, with other humans, on this planet would do us as a species some good. I think that, with this short glance at someone's eyes, instead of falling in love with the person they chose to look into, maybe they fall in love with all of us. They might fall in love with the idea that we’re a species of 7 billion on a planet who all aren’t that different and have wants that everyone wants and needs that everyone needs.

It’s the sort of idea that humans require if we plan on continue as a species. We’re facing issues that can’t be solved by one person, or even a generation of people. Issues like global warming and inequalities in the way resources are distributed in the world will probably take a multigenerational concerted effort to solve. I think that by using such an opportunity, like being able to speak one thing to the whole world to encourage this sort of thought, I allay that tiny spark of existential dread that we all hold in us to a certain degree. I mean, what else would I use it for? Taco Bell?

I'm on the Rutgers Sailing Team! You all should join.

Sorry it was late!

This smile has got me out of a lot of trouble, gonna keep milking it.