My Rocket Journey

My journey towards my dreams is like a multistage rocket heading out to space. First, I set my coordinates and then the path to get there. I made sure that my dream was higher up than many so that my trajectory would be more inclined towards the vertical than the horizontal. I would like my rocket to spend most of its journey heading up instead of horizontally.

Unfortunately, over the last years, I have uncovered that one of my rocket engines on the second stage are failing. A failed second stage prevents the third stage or any stage after that from firing. The spectators believe this is since I haven't fired my engines with full thrust. Since they are not the chief engineer in charge of the rocket design, they don't know that one of my engines is misfiring in the opposite direction of flight. Tired of trying to explain and not seeing continued results, I informed the spectators that I'll be taking a break from test launching rockets.

Instead, I retreated to my machine shop and thoroughly examined the malfunctioning engine. Previously, quick fixes were applied to satisfy the launch dates set by spectators. Now, I decided to work on my own schedule and repair the engine as much as possible before continuing. In the coming months, I hope to recover it well enough that I can once again launch.

Literature: Reading Taste

I just spent some time reading some short stories by Mulk Raj Anand, a famous 20th century Indian writer. There are many accomplished writers from other cultures that I do not read much. These authors, though appreciated by the literary critics and those who studied liberal arts, are under-appreciated by the public at large, even by those who read a lot. Nowadays, if I read fiction, I find myself mostly absorbed in science fiction or fantasy. They're typically very entertaining but not very deep or intellectually fulfilling. It's like eating ice cream or candy compared to eating rice or meat.

When I was younger, I delighted in reading kid's magazines such as Highlights, Boy's Life, and Cricket. I especially liked Cricket since it was a kid's literary magazine with stories, cartoons, and assorted articles. As I grew older though, my taste changed and the magazines I read shifted towards more worldly concerns such as the Economist and Times. However subtly, I relinquished my zeal of reading well-written meaningful literature and opted instead for news, politics, business, and science fiction.