5. Ravoli 2025

Yesterday, my friends and I had an argument. Nothing serious, of course, but, shockingly, we are yet to reach a conclusion.  For some context, I was sitting in the backseat of a car with 2 of my friends last night. We were heading back home from dinner and deciding on a movie to rewatch at night, when we landed on a solid option, Elemental . But, listen to this, me and one of my friends vividly remember watching the movie together without the other friend, while the other friend claims that we ALL watched it together. Confusing, I know! But, the main gist of it is that we all have entirely different memories of the same event, at least one of us is wrong, and we still don’t know what actually happened! The same night, my phone, being the snoopy eavesdropper it is, recommended me an article about this weird thing called the Mandela Effect , which is basically a name given to the phenomenon of a group of people sharing the same false memory. Thinking that it was ironic and interestin...

One of my favorite memories as a child is one that I credit as the beginning of my huge passion for aviation and just planes in general. I don’t remember if it was at the age of 3 or at the age of 4, but I distinctly remember the first image that stuck to my mind. I had just gotten out of the car, and towering in front of me was this behemoth of a ship: the USS Hornet. Originally a post-WWII carrier that was used for a variety of purposes, including the recovery of astronauts after Apollo 11 and 12, before it was decommissioned and turned into a museum . Image from The USS Hornet Museum I walked towards the entrance, and off to one side was this massive anchor, almost double my height when I was standing straight, even when it was lying on its side. It was almost like a miniature playground structure to climb in and around, which I did. Attached to the anchor was a huge chain with links even bigger than my head. I saw my dad lift one a few inches, so of course I tried to do the same, t...

  Hey you! The one staring mindlessly at that glowing screen in front of you. I know what you're doing. Whether you're playing video games or on a grand doom scrolling session, you’re supposed to be sleeping right now! We all have done things similar to this, and for good reason. It is fun and adventurous to venture into the depths of the internet and while doing so, many of us overlook a key aspect of our lives: Sleep. A person will spend an average of 26 years or one-third of their lifetime sleeping. The average person needs this sleep in order to function. Every teenager has heard the phrase “You need at least 8 hours of sleep every night,”. However in reality many of us don’t even come close to that number. So what happens when you don’t get enough sleep? Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to mood swings, increase in stress, and difficulty focusing. Chronic sleep deprivation has also been linked to a greater risk of anxiety and depression. Physically, a lack of sleep ca...

I felt almost cartoonish during that flight, and I like to imagine the plane looked like this .  It was a week until Christmas Day. The house was decorated in brilliant colors of red and green, and I felt a surge of that commercial of Christmas cheer when looking down the lit up streets. I was taking a nap on the couch, my last week of school before winter break giving me an opportunity to leisure — that and I was eleven. I remember waking up to the sound of my parents' distress, and them going upstairs to tell my sister, who was a senior in high school at the time, the news. "The visa renewal got denied," I heard my dad talking in a state of pondering. I looked at him perplexed, but felt the sadness creep into my very veins as he explained what it meant: we had to move out of the country in the next week or two. In my wildest dreams, I never thought something like it was possible. It sounded too cruel that all normality could be taken away from somebody so quickly and fo...

  Photo by EMBARQ India Whenever I smell the pungent, chemical smell of gasoline, I am immediately taken back to my summers spent in India. I can almost feel the sticky humidity in the air and hear the distant hum of cars passing by on the main road in front of the house. But when I see gasoline at the gas station, it does not have the same effect– it's the scent that causes the memories to come rushing back.  The reason for this phenomenon has roots in our evolutionary history, according to Dr. Sandeep Dutta . Smell, which is one of our oldest senses, has evolved to help animals find food, mates, and assess danger. Our ancestors relied on their sense of smell to navigate their surroundings and these connections still exist in us today. Although our sense of smell has evolved over time, it functions in many of the same ways as it does in animals. The olfactory complex in our brain which helps identify and process scents is directly linked to our limbic system, which is respons...

A Burgerville restaurant (Cassidy). California has In ‘n’ Out, but Oregon has Burgerville. After watching Moana 2 in a crowded old-timey movie theater that had rows of seats spanning further back than I had ever seen, Andy, Jenny Unnie, the boys, and I stopped by the nearest Burgerville for we had all been craving a bite (we had been left popcorn-less both because of our [un]timely arrival at the theaters as well as the sheer popularity of the concession stand—who knew the movie’s opening night would be so popular!). As we walked in, the retro-ness of it all blasted my face, with the cold air lingering above us all despite us being indoors now. The fog clung to the windows in the form of condensation, so much so that we could probably write through it both inside and out. The scene felt straight out of a film: it made me nostalgic over  Stranger Things which I had never even watched before. An inherent American-ness to the restaurant was evident: the fluorescent lights reflecting...

  Do you only recall very specific moments in your childhood and forget the rest?  I’ve pretty much forgotten everything that happened to me prior to the age of 5. However, there are very random and specific memories that I still can recall.  1) My dad taking a broken bracelet of mine and tying it back together. 2) Eating green eggs and ham for the first time in daycare on Dr. Seuss day. After reading this article , I believe that I have an explanation as to why these specific, random, memories are the only bits I remember from my childhood.  One defining feature of the longevity of a memory is the circumstances in which you obtained the memory. If a memory involves a traumatic event, that memory will probably stick with you for a long time. Veterans who suffer from PTSD likely witnessed or experienced a traumatic event on the battlefield, and suffers in day-to-day life from unwanted memories of that event. These memories unfortunately tend to stick, making them “me...

My first diary entry from three years ago In eighth grade, one of my teachers assigned everyone in class to keep a journal and frequently write in it for a few months. Reluctantly, I did the assignment, usually rushing entries the day they were due (clearly not much has changed). I didn’t find the value in writing about my day, about my thoughts, but something changed. I found my journal at the end of last year, and with eager excitement I sped through all of my entries. I found it really interesting to look back on my life and thoughts at the time; I found a weird sense of both joy and awkwardness in it. With only about twenty pages filled out, I decided to get back into journaling, but for fun, following off of my last entry. Since I started writing again (January 6th), I’ve managed to write nearly everyday, only missing two or three. I usually just write about my day, what I did, and it’s actually really helped me recall certain events when talking to people. I don’t have to pause m...

  I would like to relate a memory to you, dear readers, but I am neither sure of what it is nor of its very validity. I remember, one day at my preschool, a wide net cast across the playground floor, the neon mesh glowing like thin lines of lava against the wood chips. What for—to catch preschoolers? After all, preschoolers are difficult to catch, and I’m sure our teachers despaired of us at times.  Ignoring the idea that using a net to catch preschoolers doesn’t make sense, what I remember is something equally as odd. The net was there for the sparrows. Our teachers, in fact, laid out the nets to encourage us preschoolers to catch the sparrows who would always flock upon our playground (much like the notorious seagulls of American High—and, oh, why did we have sparrows at our preschool? Back then, I liked to think that the sparrows wanted to eat the sequins that were mixed into the wood chips [I also do not know why those were there], but more likely they wanted to eat the pi...

Just a few days ago, I rewatched one of my all-time favorite movies, Disney’s Inside Out , with my mom. For years, the movie’s been a family favorite; I’m not even kidding when I say that we went to the theaters three times to watch it right after its release, and we still watch it at least once a year.  Usually, what stands out to me is Riley’s character growth, the funny emotions in her head, and, of course, Bing Bong, my favorite character. But this time, as I watched, I had our quarterly theme of memory in the back of my mind, and some of the commentary on memory in the movie specifically drew my attention. Image Link In Inside Out , memory is portrayed as a collection of orbs, each one stored in a library of long-term memories and tainted with the color of the emotion it is associated with. And what’s particularly striking about the portrayal of Riley's memories is that they are not static; these memories change color (emotion) over time and some can even fall into an abyss, f...