Tag: Life

A New Chapter…

Collecting Memories

Who am I? What is my purpose?

For as long as I can remember, I have contemplated the measure of these questions, and yet it is in their stubborn company, that I’ve discovered the foundations of my future ambitions, and dreams. It is a journey that I’ve recounted with great enthusiasm, and vigor in Our Last Summer, and of recent, in Agent X.

Thinking back over the 25 years that have comprised my existence, I’m grateful for all that life has offered me. It is an experience that I liken to a blissful dream or even a pensive reverie (no pun intended), and one that is yet to end. To cherish the memories of the past, to live the present to the fullest, and happily anticipate the future; this is my motto, a personal philosophy that I’ve maintained throughout the countless adventures, and memorable experiences that have made me the man I am today.

And yet, despite all my progress, life still manages to surprise me at every end.

 On Love

What captivates me the most is the peculiar nature with which we carry ourselves; each of us dictated, and bound by what we accept to be true. But, truth is merely a vague concept. At times, it is a fact that is provided to us by the institutions that we are born into, or the ideologies that we digest from the surrounding environment. Ultimately, the reality that we find in its promises may all be a mirage, a world that is conceived by nothing more than our individual beliefs, and thus leading us to wrongly judge others based on our own preconceptions, and by their appearances.

It is a struggle that resonates in the very fabric of human communication, and yet it is in its assured reality that we also discover our greatest freedom. A freedom that is constituted by our ability to accept the same, and move forward with goodwill, and faith; a freedom that prompts us to accept our inhibitions, and misgivings, allowing us to find unity amid the differences that set us apart in an emotion that we call love.

It takes great courage to fall in love, for by falling in love we also admit to our greatest fears, and learn to rise above them (at least, that’s how it turned out in my life). I found the answers to my questions in love. As such, I’m thankful for the support I have received from my family; I’m grateful for the acceptance I’ve found among my friends; and I’m happy beyond words in the fulfillment of the bond I share with my partner.

Life, as it is…

Much of what I’ve learned has revolved around the complex, and diverse rituals of relationships that constitute the flow of daily life; a fundamental theme that forms the basis of my work in Our Last Summer, and Agent X. Now, as I venture upon the horizon of a new chapter, I can’t help but sift through the pages of my past in what has been a humbling experience from my childhood, to my teenage years, all the way to where I’m now contemplating, drifting amid the warm winds of a summer night, the wonders of life, as it is…

“A man is but a product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Contemplating at Home…

Hi everyone, so here we are, already a month into 2017!

I’m now one week into my two-month vacation in Bangalore, India. Arriving on the wee hours of January 17th, my break got off to a rough start as I was sick for a week, not to mention the jet lag, and the time difference. Thankfully, I made a full recovery last weekend, and have been enjoying my time with my family.

Bangalore ain’t necessarily my hometown, which is actually further south at Madurai. 

Prior to my departure, I had worked my ass off content editing Agent X, a two-week challenge that left me fatigued, and deserving a brief hiatus from the computer screen. While falling sick didn’t necessarily make for a great experience, I can confidently say it did the job of keeping me away from my laptop for long enough that I’m now refreshed, and ready to continue.

Apart from the rudimentary rituals of daily life at home, I also had the chance to embark on a wild-life safari with my family where I visited my fellow animal friends in tigers, lions, zebras, bears, and many others from the crocodylidae, and aves families at the Bannerghata National Park.

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What are you looking at? 
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Too tired to give a damn.

But, amidst all the entertainment, I discovered occasional pockets of silence that helped me contemplate on the roller-coaster of a ride 2016 has been, both personally, and on the grander scale of events that have “rocked” the world.

While completing my second book has followed on the success of my Masters degree, I still found room for improvement in my life, and my ambitions for the future; a future that seems to be rapidly changing in concert with the events that have occurred in 2016. Though many such events did not affect me directly, I felt compelled to wage a healthy debate on said occurrences, and their direct implication for the future of the current generation of youngsters.

I’m referring to the recent establishment of a new leadership, the breaking of an alliance, the carnage of war, the mass exoduses, and the various other events that have displaced the state of the world extensively over the short duration of a single year. Buried among the various differences that set these events apart, there remains one lasting impression: the monotonous manner with which the various bureaucracies of the world, have monitored, and administered the lives of its citizens, and those of others; governments that have embezzled peoples’ beliefs, leading them along a misled, and deceptive path of life colored with extravagant rhetoric, but vacant promises.

Now in an age where we find limited invitations toward discussion, and recourse, there certainly are many youngsters, just like me, pondering their individual circumstances amid a changing world. A world filled with barriers, the least of which involves a great divide in communication. We either get bogged down in communication to the point where we are incapable of action, or vice-versa. But this inability of ours is also a daunting characteristic of human nature, and one which we must learn to overcome or make amends with if we are hoping

All of which brings me back to this pensive reverie, where I’d like to believe that by writing brief posts about the state of the world, my personal interests, and adventures that I may be contributing, at least a small bit, to a common desire of a generation that wishes its voice to be heard amid the swift tempest of the world. Now, I know this piece may have sounded quite out of sorts among the previous posts that I have uploaded on the blog, but it is a first step towards the greater plans I have in 2017 to branch out in the discussions I wish to provide in the blog. More specifically, it was just a play of words on the thoughts that came across my mind during my daily ruminations. Next up on the list, and certainly a tad different from the subject above, “Why is snow so bright?”

 

So What’s Been Happening So Far?

Hi everyone, I’m back! Sorry for the delay in uploading the post. I’ve been busy with the merry season currently in full swing. I had promised that I would provide an update of my two week season of sickness, and I will stay true to that promise with this post, which will basically cover what has happened in my life so far, and what I’m really looking forward to with 2017 just around the corner. Now, I may be four days late for one, and two days early for another, but I would first like to wish all my readers,

Let’s begin! December 9 was the beginning to a memorable end of the roller-coaster ride that has been 2016, and it started with me falling sick. What started out as a mild cold became a sore throat followed by a week of quality time with my good old friend, the bed. While physically bedridden, mentally, I was primed. Aside from pondering the purpose of my existence as I lay in bed, my mind was overwhelmed with an insurmountable wave of creativity helping me set up the groundwork for 2017 regarding my plans for forthcoming writing projects, my career (as I will begin my PhD studies in September 2017), my work as a budding manga writer, building on the developments for The Pensive Reverie etc.

So many ideas! Why did I have to fall sick in the first place for this to happen?!

Thankfully, I was not alone in this wonderful exodus as I was accompanied all the way by my ever gracious partner who also fell sick. This meant some quality time together doodling about, playing board games, binge-watching TV shows, further discussions, now, on the purpose of our collective existence, and pretty much waiting for time to pass just so that we can feel better again.

Jenga (check), TV (check), fast-food (check), tissue-box (check), Are we both sick? (check).

But in the end, we were both able to make a complete recovery right on time for Christmas allowing us to round up this past weekend by celebrating the merry season as well as our four year anniversary together as a couple!

These four years have been a wonderful adventure, and I can’t wait for many more to come. Thanks so much for bringing so much joy, and happiness into my life.

To my partner Leina,

あなたはわたしのゆめのじょせいだ。

はじめてあたときからすきだた。

いつまでもいっしょにいたい。

愛しています。

Now, with 2016 coming to a close, I have successfully completed my robotics internship, and am currently going through a rigorous course of content editing Agent X [my second book!] I hope to get this done by January 15, 2017, and moving forward from there, set in motion my plans for publishing the book, as well as promoting my work on this blog! At about the same time, I will be traveling to India to visit my family on a much needed vacation.

Can’t wait to see you all very soon!

It’s been eight years since I last visited my hometown so I’m looking forward to returning home. In the meanwhile, I intend to keep up with my weekly blog posts, and discuss my daily adventures. I will keep you all posted in case of impending delays or absences.

And, that basically all there is to it! I wanted to keep this blog post short, and simple. I will soon be posting my analysis on Chapter 1 of Dragons of Eden where we will discuss the cosmic calendar, and have a brief adventure involving interesting theories, and discoveries in the field of cosmology!

 

Falling sick was no fun!

Hi everyone,

I apologize for my brief absence. I fell sick with a severe cold coming into the first week of December, which pretty much brought my progress on a bunch of things to a stand-still. I’ve just made my recovery, and am now back on track to get the ball moving.

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Being sick is not fun!

I will begin by writing the next post on my read along of The Dragons of Eden, which will be up by the end of this week. I will also provide a comical summary of what I had been up to while I was sick. Though I was physically out of it, I was mentally surging with ideas, and with the approach of 2017 around the corner, there is a lot I have planned for, and which I will provide a brief summary of as well!

So, until the next post, toodles!

 

What’s new for the coming month?

Hi everyone,

This update comes a little later than I had originally planned. I’ve been quite productive over the last two weeks. Having recently completed my second book, I have been content editing the story, while organizing my agenda for the upcoming year, involving everything from independent course studies in Robotics, setting up my next three writing projects, traveling back home to visit my family in India, and a lot more. Just like I had mentioned in my previous post, I’ve also followed up on the changes I proposed for the blog. You should now be able to see a menu at the top of the blog’s main page, where I’ve categorized the blog’s contents accordingly as follows:

(1) About – A short introduction to the author of the blog, me, as well as a description of the blog’s purpose.

(2) Contact – Here is where you, my readers, can contact me, by filling in the contact form.

(3) General – Blog updates, and promotions.

(4) A Slice of Life – Here is where my posts concerning my daily adventures will be archived.

(5) Book Reviews – Here is where I will post reviews of the books I have read. So far, I have done two including The Silmarillion, and Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan.

(6) Read Along – Apart from book reviews, I will provide for summaries, and analyses on the contents of selective books I read.

(7) Let’s Get Thinking – Critical discussions with relevance to literature, science, philosophy, politics, and just about anything that can wrack my brain.

(8) Learner Space – I’m still yet to decide on how to go about this, but as of now, I feel the Learner Space will be an archive for posts where I intend to provide for detailed tutorials on various subjects. Unlike the prior category, these discussions will be a lot more involved, and will closely resemble one of my earlier posts on Electricity: Principles, and Applications!

All the blog posts will appear as usual, on the main page, but will automatically be archived among the above categories. This will provide a structure to the blog, as well as allow for easy access to specific posts you wish to read. Further changes I wish to implement in the coming days include:

-A link to my Goodreads account, which will keep you all well-informed on my current reading list.

-I’m trying to set up an autograph widget on WordPress for Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir. I’m hoping e-book autograph sites like Authorgraph will help set this up, so that I can provide free autographs for anyone who has purchased  my e-books!

-Commentary spaces on my posts which will help you all to personally interact with the blog, and its content. A comment policy will be announced in the near future.

Altogether, I hope that by 2017 the blog will be a busy haven for discussion, learning, and fun! I will keep you all posted on everything! On the other hand, I will upload a new post this week, analyzing the introductory chapters of Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden (the first of the many books that will be a read along with you, my audience).

It is done!

Great news everyone! As of yesterday, I have successfully completed the first draft of my second book (Agent X, as we decided to call it on my last post).

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It took a few hours…Well, actually, an entire day of exhaustive writing, and by around 10 p.m., I was typing the last words of the epilogue. The rush of emotions that accompanied the completion of my second work was exhilarating, and in a way, bittersweet. I spent the rest of the night reminiscing about the two year journey over the course of which I had written the book.

Of course, there is still much that remains to be done. I will now proceed with the most arduous task of content editing my work. On the other hand, the end of this project brings up the excitement of various future prospects. Apart from the accompanying art work I intend to do for Agent X, I will now slowly make my transition into Manga school, while brainstorming my next three writing projects.

I will also be making a few changes to the content presentation on this blog. The purpose of this blog is to provide a free space where I can express my thoughts, as well as share my knowledge with all of you. To further help facilitate these discussions in an interesting manner, I intend to go about categorizing my daily posts. I’m hoping that a few months from now, I will have set up several categories of posts in subjects ranging from:

(1) Critical thinking

This will primarily involve weekly discussions on an interesting article of my choice in science, politics, philosophy, and just about anything that can wrack my brain.

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(2) Teaching & Problem-solving

This will be a two-fold approach that would help complement my current duties as a student tutor at the university, where I typically face the following scenarios:

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 and which I try to resolve in due fashion, with ample flair,

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Let’s get this over with.

 I have yet to decide on how to organize this part of the blog, but it may predominantly involve discussions or solutions to the most interesting questions I encounter with my students on a weekly basis, or any other cool puzzles that catch my eye!

(3) Book reviews/Read-along

This is something I have always wanted to do. So far, I have done one book review (Star Wars, The Old Republic: Revan), but I would also like to try something new where I would provide a summarized read-along discussion of sorts of the books I read. An immediate choice that I will provide posts about in the near future is Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden, which I’m currently parsing through.

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(4) My daily adventures & lots of writing!

This is fairly simple. It is what I’ve been doing so far, and will be the primary form of my communication with everyone. There is a lot to life, and everyday proves to be a grand adventure!

And that’s basically it for my update. The purpose of this post was to keep you all informed. The changes will be gradual, but I hope that you will all come to enjoy the myriad selection of posts this blog will host in the coming days!

Memories of a Forgotten Summer

Hi everyone,

Firstly, this post doesn’t pertain to any discussion On the Nature of Knowledge. I’m still piecing together my ideas for that post, and will post it later this week. I’m here today to simply talk about the fun I had this weekend revisiting old memories! Just this Saturday, I attended a series of events celebrating Indie Author Day at the Edmonton Public Library.

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The experience was a lot of fun, and was a motivational reminder on my aspirations to become a successful writer. Having attended a few sessions ranging from discussions on self-publishing, marketing, to friendly advice on just getting your stories heard, I was thoroughly enthused to get back on my writer’s bandwagon by the time I returned home. For those among my followers who may not know, I’m a self-published author. My first book was Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir detailing my experiences in Sudan where I completed my secondary education. The book is dedicated to my closest friends, in memory of our time together at Khartoum American School (K.A.S.), as well as my loving family.

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I started writing the book back in 2009, and it was published around the summer of 2013 after having undergone a tedious but highly enlightening process of editing, book binding, and marketing with the assistance of iUniverse, a self-publishing company. My original intentions were to continuously promote the book afterward and hopefully help in its sales. My earlier blog, ourlastsummer2013, was meant for this. But, life happened, and following the publication of the book, I became quite jaded about writing and myself. I was also enmeshed in my personal identity crisis. Consequently, my promotional efforts were cut short, and I took a break from writing.

Three years down the road, I found myself sitting in a room filled with Indie authors, spending a few hours re-reading the passages in my book, and revisiting many forgotten memories of my past. I had recovered from my identity crisis thanks to my friends, and family, and am now close to completing a second book that has been in the works for two years. By revisiting said memories of a forgotten summer, I was able to reassess my growth as an individual during the last seven years of my life, ever since I commenced my post-secondary education at the University of Alberta. I was also able to recognize the significant influence writing Our Last Summer had in my life, and felt sad that the book never got the personal recognition it deserved from its own author.

Ever since my childhood, I’ve been passionate about two things: learning and asking questions. These two attributes contribute to my personality as an autodidact and have been the main benefactors towards my motivation for higher studies, and academic pursuits in various fields from astrophysics, biophysics, plasma physics, and in the near future, robotics. My academic interests were also complemented by my love for writing, music, and art. Throughout my life, I’ve been able to engage and enhance my creativity and skills in these different subjects.

Having completed my Masters, and on the verge of finishing my second book, I’m now motivated to unite my interests toward a unique career. I have no idea what exactly it will be, but it certainly will have a mix of everything from being a scientist, writer, and an artist. It will be an infusion of the freedom and happiness I’ve found in my writing, engaging my imaginations and bringing them to fruition through my art and music, and sharing my comprehension of what I learn about the surrounding world to my friends, family, and to all of you! Part of that effort will now involve my dedication toward revamping the promotions on my first book  Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir. I will use The Pensive Reverie (and the Facebook group) along with my Twitter account to provide for promotional materials every now and then ranging from tidbits from the book, to free e-book passes, and reviews.

I sincerely ask all those who follow this blog to help and support my efforts by spreading the word as much as they can and getting others to tune in to the blog as well as my book. The book is available online (just Google it), as well as on popular bookstores (Chapters, Barnes and Noble, Kobo etc.) I will provide more info, including some promo materials, and sneak peeks on Our Last Summer along with my next post On the Nature of Knowledge. 

 

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Until then, thanks so much everyone, and have a great day!

Next up: On the Nature of Knowledge

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to send out a brief update on the topic I have decided to discuss for my next post. It took a few days of deliberation and careful thought, and given my recent completion of graduate studies, I felt it would be ideal to discuss On the nature of knowledge. 

I’m well aware of the various intricacies and the large volume of literature dedicated to this subject (it is in fact a field called epistemology.) As usual, my treatment of the topic will revolve around my personal experiences albeit with some casual references to quotations and critical analyses provided by professional savants.

I wish to focus, in particular, on the role of knowledge, and how it is integrated and implemented in current educational trends at schools and universities. As an aspiring PhD student, and as an autodidact, my views on education vary from the classroom to my personal work-space at home. I have often questioned the purpose of the knowledge that I have accumulated throughout my life, both in social and academic contexts, and how to appropriately and selectively apply said knowledge in my daily adventures as a foundation towards a healthy lifestyle. Such a thought has also widely influenced my methods of finding means to an end when it comes to my dreams to be a multi-talented and well-rounded individual.

Having successfully completed another major phase of education in my Masters degree, I felt it would be entertaining to discuss a question that has been quite significant in my daily life, and is pretty much a common occurrence in almost everyone’s daily lives and careers.

I should have the post up by the end of this weekend. Until then, toodles!

 

Finishing Grad School

It has been over a month since my last post. My absence was of necessity as in that time I successfully defended my Masters thesis, and completed my graduate degree in Physics. The whole ordeal has kept me busy for over two months, and I’m now happy to return and engage everyone again on this blog.

Just yesterday, I received official confirmation of my thesis’ approval. The reality is yet to sink in but having spent the afternoon clearing up my desk space at home, and organizing a large pile of scrap including research papers and calculations, I can say I’m thoroughly enjoying this new reality that is Ajay Peter Manuel, MSc. Physics.

Leading up to the thesis defense, I was surprised that I wasn’t nervous at all. My classmates and supervisor attributed this to my hard work over the past two years, and consequently, a collective boost in confidence concerning my research. The defense began somewhere along the lines of,

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“Friends and strangers from distant lands…we are gathered here today to discuss my research on the Single Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator over the past two years…” 

and ended along the lines of,

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Where are all these questions coming from?!

Jokes aside, it was an engaging and wonderful learning experience, as I thoroughly enjoyed jousting with the audience and the committee’s questions. I then spent the following week making the necessary revisions (a short and easy process) for my thesis, format it according to the rules and regulations set by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, and finally got it approved yesterday!

And now, I’m all set to embark on a new adventure in my life. While working part-time as a student tutor, I will be studying in preparation for my PhD in Robotics on September 2017. The year long transition will allow  me to relax, and sink back into my writing, music, art, and just about enjoy life everyday. Meanwhile, this will also provide me ample time to consistently write posts on The Pensive Reverie. I thank everyone for being patient so far! Look forward to an update very soon on my next post!

Also, a big shout out to my loving parents and sister, my wonderful partner, and all my friends who have supported and helped me make it this far. Thanks so much!

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Still can’t believe I made it this far! It’s just the beginning to an even bigger adventure!

 

Completing my thesis

Firstly, the title is a misnomer.

I’m yet to successfully defend my thesis before the supervisory committee, and as such can make no claims to having completed my thesis. Nevertheless, this won’t stop me from relishing the relief that follows having “hammered” out a 100 page first draft detailing my work over the past two years.

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My friend here knows what I mean about accomplishments via “hammering.”

My personal treat on the eve of this achievement was to go to my first movie premiere. It was a Tamil movie, titled ‘Kabali.’ The movie features the actor Rajinikanth, who is possibly one of my favorites among  various others in the South Indian film fraternity.

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Along with Leina, and a good friend, we attended the premiere last Thursday. While we enjoyed the movie, our night ended with partial deafness, and loss of hearing, from the raucous cheering, and entertainment that the audience (about 300 other Tamilians) provided throughout the outing.

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The entire event was reminiscent of the chaotic fun that results in the premiere of every Rajinikanth movie in India, and it was a once in a lifetime experience for the three of us.

All of which leads me back to where I am now. Come September 2016, I will have lived in Edmonton for a total of 7 years. Time has certainly flown by! It still feels like yesterday when I was sitting in an old lecture hall, voraciously digesting the lecture notes for a Physics 101 course.Having recently turned 25, I feel an even greater sense of responsibility, and ambition that I intend to carry over to the next phase of my life.

Much of August will focus on editing my thesis, and making the necessary preparations for my defense. I’m hoping that everything will go according to plan. And now, I shall leave you all with this brief update, as I contemplate the subject of my next blog post. I intend to have it up by this weekend, along with an “info” sheet on the various new additions that will be made to the blog, and its structure. Until then, toodles!

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