Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone has a fantastic 2021. 

Published Author

     Well, I did it. As of now I can call myself a published author. 

     For weeks, I was waiting for the news. I was disappointed so many times. So late at night when I checked my email, there it was. The first sentence of the email went, “Your story has been accepted for web publication.” Surprise was my first feeling then followed by more surprise and then euphoria. I took a screen shot of everything. You can’t know how much this means to me. I can finish the year being proud of the fact that now I can update my resume.

     So, what did I learn as a writer? I rewrote the story that got rejected and added poetry to it. I concentrated less on explanation, imagery, and technical aspects and added soul to it. It worked. I’m slowly learning what it means to be a good writer. So I’m off to rewrite my other stories. It just feels great. 

Left v Right, Quantum Magic Squares

     “Oh look, quantum magic squares,” squealed the right-brain.    

    The left-brain just sighed. "You just like it because it has the word ‘quantum’ in it.”  
    “I like ‘quantum’. Who doesn’t? It's practically a magic word.”  
    “Do you even know what a magic square is?”  
    “I got an ‘A’ in calculus. Of course, I don’t know what a magic square is.”  
    “Shouldn’t you.”  
    “I do now. It's in the second paragraph. Am I supposed to know everything, the sum total of human knowledge since recorded history?”  
    “Yes.”  
    “Why do I even listen to you. You’re always dragging me down.”  
    “What are you doing now?”  
    “Looking up ‘matrix’.”  
    “You should definitely know that word.”  
    “Get lost. At least I’m learning something.”  
    “You should have learned it the first time.”  
    “Yeah, and I should have paid more attention in spelling class but here we are.”  
    “Have you finished reading?”  
    “I am googling something called Birkhoff's Theorem. Oh, that helped a lot. Let me look up some more words and then I want to read it over again till I get it. Got it.”  
    “You really got it?” 

    “Yup.”  
    “It’s a complicated subject.”  
    “I got a lot of it.”  
    “So, what’s the purpose? Do you want to be a recreational mathematician?”  
    “No. There are other cool things to look at.”  
    “Too bad. You disappoint me. If we ever learned to work together, we could take over the world or at least star in one of those YouTube science channels.”   
    “I’ll tell you this Brain. I’ll bring it up randomly in a conversation making myself look smarter than I really am.”  
    “Not a bad idea Pinky”  
    “Thank you. I knew you would approve.”  
    “So, what do you want to do now.”  
    “Let’s have wine, chips, cookies, and watch a sitcom we seen plenty of times.”  
    “Sounds good to me.” 

The Brown Watch

     I get obsessed over a subject until I get bored with it and then move on to another. Well, this time I’m obsessed with watches so I decided to write about it. As I was fantasizing about being able to buy a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch, I remember my very first timepiece. When I was in grade school and whenever we went to the mall, we would pass by watches on the counter. Some of those children watches had Peanuts and Disney characters. You know the kind kids wanted. The kind I wanted, but I never asked for one. Then one day someone gave me a Timex watch for my birthday. It didn't have a Peanuts, a Disney, or any fun cartoon characters on it. Instead, it was a grown-up watch. Brown face with gold tone accents. It also had a brown strap.

     There was a tiny subatomic particle in me which appreciated a grown-up watch, but it was dark brown. Who would give a child a boring brown watch? I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I wore to school a couple of times to try to break it in, but it didn't do anything for me. Did I mention it was brown?

     As I grew older, I grew to value the watch. It was elegant, timeless (pun intended), and classic with a slight twist. It was a rich dark chocolate brown watch. I would even say that timepiece was me. It was even a wind-up watch. It’s a shame that they hardly make wind-up watches anymore. Sadly, I lost my brown watch. Last time I saw it was during my middle school years inside a box in the basement with white paint on it.

     I don't blame my younger frivolous self. I just wish I appreciated that watch more. I wish I took care of it more. I could still be wearing that watch now. 

     And then there was another Timex watch I got on my birthday. This was a quartz and it has a clear face that exposes the working insides. Again, it wasn't me and again I tried to like it, but no. Seriously, doesn't anybody know me at all? It got tossed in a drawer. And years later, I too learned to admire it. It brought out the engineer side in me and luckily, this one I still have. 

     I got me thinking about taste and how it evolves. When you're young, so much of us is underdeveloped. Personalities we haven't formed yet. Like a child who hates bitter vegetables, and then later learns to crave them. In time, we seek out complexities, depth, and subtlety. It makes you notices the nuances of sweet things more. Taste is a learned skill you have to grow into. I believe that we don't find taste, taste finds us, and it finds us if we allow it to. No, it doesn't change or alter the world, but it does change and alter us. 

     It would have been nice to still have my brown watch. It would have been like a reverse class ring. Imagine having that watch through grade school, middle school, and high school. Imagine wearing that watch during my first job interview. It was not to be, but I'm glad I did get a dark brown watch instead of a cartoon character one. I don't think I would have longed for it as I do the brown one. Taste takes time so we must be patient.

What's happening so far

     I had this blog for a long time, but I never wrote anything in it till now. Like everything else I have grand dreams but executing them seems to be overwhelming. I guess I am a typical INFP😄. The thing that was the biggest barrier was the pictures. It seems I couldn't have a blog without pictures but how to get them? There are so many legal rules 😕. So for now I'm going to avoid it until I'm more comfortable.

    I'm still waiting to hear if my flash fiction stories have been accepted for publication. I will get an answer between four to six weeks. It's been a month now and no answer yet. I'm hoping that's a good sign. It would be nice to end the year with me being an actual published author.

    So now I'm going to write my first official blog post😉.

    Hi , this is my blog and I am an INFP. I'm interested in science, art, and anything that excites me. I'm trying to be a writer. I don't think anyone will read this but I'm going to expand my writing skills. So let's get started 😀.