Muku Musings

  To preface this blog, nowadays it takes all my energy to read a book instead of scrolling reels because I can't get enough of that sweet sweet dopamine, but I have resolved to read more books to make my brain less fried. brain off reels brain on reels So, without further ado, here is my list of 10 books I hope to read in ten years. Syllabus for 10 years: this list of required reading for the next ten years of my life serves 3 purposes to get me off my technology more by entertaining me, to improve my critical thinking capabilities, and to actually educate me on things I wont learn in college Book 1: The Odyssey This book is first on my list because it has been on my bookshelf for 5 plus years and I have never read it. I have read the Iliad but not the Odyssey, which is kind of crazy. This book is like my White Whale from Moby Dick (also a book I haven't read) and I need to cross it off my list. Book 2: Rich Dad Poor Dad This is interesting because I have no money to save up o...

  Blog's Music Piece:  Prayer by Kendrick Lamar , switching it up with some rap music, which is relevant because this blog is about Kendrick being the best poet of the modern era.      Most people don't consider rap music art, and I agree with them on most accounts. When you have "artists who can sing," like NBA Youngboy, with lyrics like, "I got my green mask on. It's time to get active. What's happening?" I 100% agree that it is not art. Artists who can sing But on the other hand, you have Kendrick Lamar. This man has the most artful lyrics that can rival any poem that we read in English. Growing up in Compton, Lamar has a view of gang culture and African American culture as a whole that is so nuanced and interesting coming from an outsider. One of my favorite of Kendrick's songs is Prayer, in which he personifies himself as Michael Jackson and Martin Luther King Junior and explains their accomplishments and their controversies. The overall mes...

  Blog's Classical Music Piece:  Yellow river Piano concerto This was a random one off the playlist.    As I grow older, I realize I have become more cynical. I mean, this is the natural order of things. You go from a wide-eyed kid to a jaded alcoholic over the 4 years of high school (not that I'm an alcoholic; that stuff is bad for you).      How it feels showing up to school day after day Especially after COVID, which was one and a half straight years of playing Minecraft with friends. Of course, going to school every day, doing homework, and talking to other humans makes me hate the world. But I think I am reaching a turning point in my life where I am sort of reconnecting with some of the things that a child Muku would do. To elaborate on this, there are a bunch of stories, traditions, and prayers that come along with the Hindu faith that, when I was an elementary schooler, I found to be the coolest things ever. Learning about these things was like...

  Blog's Classical Music Piece:      The classical music piece for this blog is Handel's Messiah . I chose this piece because it is probably the most famous piece of religious classical music of all time.        What are you most grateful for this year and why? How do you express that?     Now I'm going to pick the corballiest of cornball answers. As the self-proclaimed 3 time-hating champion of the world, I need to protect myself from the cornball allegations that will be put on me after this blog goes out. Now the thing that I am most grateful for this year and all previous and subsequent years are my parents. As a moody, hormonal teenager, I know that I can be an a-hole from time to time, and it takes infinite patience to deal with my shenanigans. My parents have that infinite patience, and I am infinitely grateful for that. I know that if someone acted like I did to my parents, sometimes I would start swinging like George Forema...

       Blog's Classical Music Piece: Beethoven Symphony Number 9      The classical music piece for this blog is Beethoven Symphony 9 . I chose this piece because it deals with Beethoven's finding his Identity after becoming deaf. In the beginning, the piece shows Beethoven's struggle as a musician who can't hear his music. Still, it slowly evolves into Beethoven discovering a new meaning to his life and achieving pure elation. He has aura                                 Who are we? There are many interpretations and answers to this question. Are we a collection of atoms created from the vastness of space? Are we a combination of all our past experiences? Are we beings made in the image of God? Or are we a mixture of all these, simply finding our way through the world?      The quest for Identity has been a driving quest for humanity throughout...

  Blog's Classical Music Piece: Symphonie Fantastique      The classical music piece for this blog is Symphonie Fantastique . I chose this piece because the storyline is about a man who is so obsessed with a woman that he overdoses on opium because he cannot be with her and that summarizes most of my obsessions.            The first piece of crispy, pillowy yet soft pita bread enters my mouth slathered in the best garlic sauce this side of the Atlantic. The second piece of bread dipped into the most perfectly seasoned lentil soup I have ever eaten. I then turn my attention to the falafel sandwich which is jam-packed with a sauce that is so addictive it might as well be cocaine, perfectly fluffy and crispy falafel, lettuce that gives a satisfying crunch, and pickles that give an acidic zing that ties the whole meal together. This meal is nearing a religious experience. LaMarsa is fire!!