12/15/07
My 2008 Wish-list
A new life, a new 2bd house, bookshelves, keyboard stand, a shiny new car, clothes and more clothes, travel to a loads of new places, long(er) hair!, over-stuffed plush recliner, fluffy boots, knock-out dresses, miracle face, to be continued..
11/15/07
Bleary afternoons
I'm so blah I can hardly open my mouth to say blah.
And to write that one line above (and the current one), I had to literally slap my fingers to move on the keyboard. Now that I have them moving, I should complain some more :)
I hate the smell that stuck to my dress at lunch today from JJs. Their sandwich bread smells so strong? Sick. My intern actually asked me if I'd been to some Indian restaurant for lunch since I smelled of food. Bah.
I have also been recently cursed with the 'Secondus Keyum'. To elaborate, the times when I want to get into my house quick enough, the first key I try in the lock will always be the wrong one. Why, O why do I not get one of those color-coded key-fitters that'll help my numb-with-cold fingers clutch the right one?
Other interesting things that have happened since my last post:
- I could feature on an Ekta Kapoor list?
- I have forgotten that I have art supplies at home. They were covered with a nice thick layer of dust when I brought them out yesterday (only to put them back!) while I was cleaning up.
- Did I mention I have become a nut-case?
- I have become a walking disaster target. Yesterday's cleaning ended with one paper cut, one miscellaneous cut, one gouged cuticle, one sprained foot-arch. This morning ushered in one screw-scratch and one stapler pin cut in the same cuticle area from yesterday.
- I haven't gone to Target in a while. MUST go today and waste some of the not-so-hard-earned dollars.
- I've become enamored with INSEAD. It is such a shiny new toy. I have to break out the books soon. I'm itching to do so already. Yeay!
- I'm gearing up for another mega-round-of-cooking soon. Maybe this weekend. Lovely.
- I'm also drowning in paperwork. Makes my bleary afternoons bleary-er (if something like that is possible!)
- Vin is leaving?!!
- I made that resolution to not screen calls anymore. I am actually getting good at it. Except the temporary glitch now and then. But come on, I can be pardoned. Atleast I'm trying!
And to write that one line above (and the current one), I had to literally slap my fingers to move on the keyboard. Now that I have them moving, I should complain some more :)
I hate the smell that stuck to my dress at lunch today from JJs. Their sandwich bread smells so strong? Sick. My intern actually asked me if I'd been to some Indian restaurant for lunch since I smelled of food. Bah.
I have also been recently cursed with the 'Secondus Keyum'. To elaborate, the times when I want to get into my house quick enough, the first key I try in the lock will always be the wrong one. Why, O why do I not get one of those color-coded key-fitters that'll help my numb-with-cold fingers clutch the right one?
Other interesting things that have happened since my last post:
- I could feature on an Ekta Kapoor list?
- I have forgotten that I have art supplies at home. They were covered with a nice thick layer of dust when I brought them out yesterday (only to put them back!) while I was cleaning up.
- Did I mention I have become a nut-case?
- I have become a walking disaster target. Yesterday's cleaning ended with one paper cut, one miscellaneous cut, one gouged cuticle, one sprained foot-arch. This morning ushered in one screw-scratch and one stapler pin cut in the same cuticle area from yesterday.
- I haven't gone to Target in a while. MUST go today and waste some of the not-so-hard-earned dollars.
- I've become enamored with INSEAD. It is such a shiny new toy. I have to break out the books soon. I'm itching to do so already. Yeay!
- I'm gearing up for another mega-round-of-cooking soon. Maybe this weekend. Lovely.
- I'm also drowning in paperwork. Makes my bleary afternoons bleary-er (if something like that is possible!)
- Vin is leaving?!!
- I made that resolution to not screen calls anymore. I am actually getting good at it. Except the temporary glitch now and then. But come on, I can be pardoned. Atleast I'm trying!
10/31/07
Follow your dream?
Yesterday, I watched the movie American Chai. I simply LOVED it.
The film was full of subtle nuances that made me relate to it on a whole other level. Sureel's passion for music, how he inspires Maya to follow her heart, his dad's dialogue when he meets him in the Green room after the competition, and so many other scenes. I loved the scene where Maya is performing and he stands side-stage, transfixed by the music and the elegant but crisp movements she makes as she fuses different styles of dance..
Oh well, I wonder what transpired between the actors and THEIR real-life parents before they were actually allowed to go act in this movie :)
But what does 'following your dream' entail, in reality? Shattering the dreams that others have/had for you? Carrying the baggage of your roots? Being bound to all the emotional ties in life? I wonder if it is an isolated phenomenon pertaining to desis.. do people in other countries feel bound to the dreams that their parents have for them? I do understand that parents have our best interests at heart. But these best interests stem from life experiences that they have had all along. Granted, they are wise, but how do those same rules apply to our lives, 10 years down the line? Are we trying to fuse two different subsets, that barely intersect within a wider universal set? I am all for 'freedom of choice/thought', or so I claim now. Will my mind also get polluted by the experiences I have along the way, and will I expend my 'wisdom' in an 'I know it all, you're not mature' attitude to my offspring? People tend to forget that they were also in the same stages of life, but in a different context, at some other point of time. Inertia affects people, they refuse to move on. They use the term 'generation gap' in a very broad sense. Whatever happened to the 'dreams' that our parents had for themselves when they were young? Don't they then work toward helping their kids achieve the same in their life? Isn't that why my mom enrolled me in all those extra-curricular activities, and helped me be the person I am today! But somewhere, the link snaps. At some point, the mind closes up and does not think about it from a different viewpoint altogether.
There is no use, however, in berating the older generation. They talk about experiences in a whole other angle, since the subtext of them all was set in a different time and era. Some things may never change, like the dread of the unknown future, the thirst for stability, and the age old rituals of maintaining your image in society. But, trying to force people to understand things out of context is like trying to tout the great taste of peanut-butter and jelly on idlis. Granted the PBJ is the best tasting thing you can slather on your breakfast. But you're talking about bread for breakfast, while your folks are looking at the idlis on their plate. And there-in, lies the jarring truth. Someone has to adapt. Which continues the vicious cycle of 'broken dreams' to avoid conflicts and confrontation, or the extreme opposite - the 'misguided rebel'.
The bridging of the so-called 'generation-gap' is a long time coming...
The film was full of subtle nuances that made me relate to it on a whole other level. Sureel's passion for music, how he inspires Maya to follow her heart, his dad's dialogue when he meets him in the Green room after the competition, and so many other scenes. I loved the scene where Maya is performing and he stands side-stage, transfixed by the music and the elegant but crisp movements she makes as she fuses different styles of dance..
Oh well, I wonder what transpired between the actors and THEIR real-life parents before they were actually allowed to go act in this movie :)
But what does 'following your dream' entail, in reality? Shattering the dreams that others have/had for you? Carrying the baggage of your roots? Being bound to all the emotional ties in life? I wonder if it is an isolated phenomenon pertaining to desis.. do people in other countries feel bound to the dreams that their parents have for them? I do understand that parents have our best interests at heart. But these best interests stem from life experiences that they have had all along. Granted, they are wise, but how do those same rules apply to our lives, 10 years down the line? Are we trying to fuse two different subsets, that barely intersect within a wider universal set? I am all for 'freedom of choice/thought', or so I claim now. Will my mind also get polluted by the experiences I have along the way, and will I expend my 'wisdom' in an 'I know it all, you're not mature' attitude to my offspring? People tend to forget that they were also in the same stages of life, but in a different context, at some other point of time. Inertia affects people, they refuse to move on. They use the term 'generation gap' in a very broad sense. Whatever happened to the 'dreams' that our parents had for themselves when they were young? Don't they then work toward helping their kids achieve the same in their life? Isn't that why my mom enrolled me in all those extra-curricular activities, and helped me be the person I am today! But somewhere, the link snaps. At some point, the mind closes up and does not think about it from a different viewpoint altogether.
There is no use, however, in berating the older generation. They talk about experiences in a whole other angle, since the subtext of them all was set in a different time and era. Some things may never change, like the dread of the unknown future, the thirst for stability, and the age old rituals of maintaining your image in society. But, trying to force people to understand things out of context is like trying to tout the great taste of peanut-butter and jelly on idlis. Granted the PBJ is the best tasting thing you can slather on your breakfast. But you're talking about bread for breakfast, while your folks are looking at the idlis on their plate. And there-in, lies the jarring truth. Someone has to adapt. Which continues the vicious cycle of 'broken dreams' to avoid conflicts and confrontation, or the extreme opposite - the 'misguided rebel'.
The bridging of the so-called 'generation-gap' is a long time coming...
10/29/07
Playing catch-up
- I saw a cab getting a speeding ticket. There's hope for the world yet!
- I have been blah at work for quite a while, but am all caught up now. Almost.
- We had an awesome MeatFestXI. More on that sometime later, or never. Who cares.
- I got into the whole 'Skinny Pants' thing. And now, I'm addicted. But that darn grey one - so tight!? Sick.
- I'm sick of clothes-shopping. No more until Thanksgiving Sales.
- I haven't seen RubyLu in months now. Sob.
- I bought the Brita Water Filter thingie. Hmm, and now I'm supposedly drinking good, clean water.
- The Apartment is actually a pretty good place, since they have good music, but otherwise, the smoke! I'm so glad all smokers get diseased lungs and die painfully. What a wretched thing it is to have smoke up your nose, and in your hair and clothes?!
- Al&Pp should be back this week. We simply must upload some better songs to chill out to, the next time.
- I saw 'Jab we met', hmm.
- I wish I were an amoeba. Do amoebae have such trivial worries in their lives? I'm sure they're all happy and just go around floating with their pseudopods. Life would mean just me, my cytoplasm and my nucleus. Wow.
- I'm going to read Stephen Hawking's 'The Theory of Everything'. The closet geek in me is very happy. Maybe I should just become a nerd again, and life would be happier?
- Why isn't Brad Kelln writing the third book? I am losing MY sanity.. after all the time I spent reading 'Lost Sanity' and 'Method of Madness'.. Damn.
- Can I really truly have a career change? Turn around and start doing something which will wake me up in the mornings in a happy state, rather than the disgruntled person I am now? Does it snow in Australia? I know they have sunny Christmases..
- Who am I? Can you tell me?
- I have been blah at work for quite a while, but am all caught up now. Almost.
- We had an awesome MeatFestXI. More on that sometime later, or never. Who cares.
- I got into the whole 'Skinny Pants' thing. And now, I'm addicted. But that darn grey one - so tight!? Sick.
- I'm sick of clothes-shopping. No more until Thanksgiving Sales.
- I haven't seen RubyLu in months now. Sob.
- I bought the Brita Water Filter thingie. Hmm, and now I'm supposedly drinking good, clean water.
- The Apartment is actually a pretty good place, since they have good music, but otherwise, the smoke! I'm so glad all smokers get diseased lungs and die painfully. What a wretched thing it is to have smoke up your nose, and in your hair and clothes?!
- Al&Pp should be back this week. We simply must upload some better songs to chill out to, the next time.
- I saw 'Jab we met', hmm.
- I wish I were an amoeba. Do amoebae have such trivial worries in their lives? I'm sure they're all happy and just go around floating with their pseudopods. Life would mean just me, my cytoplasm and my nucleus. Wow.
- I'm going to read Stephen Hawking's 'The Theory of Everything'. The closet geek in me is very happy. Maybe I should just become a nerd again, and life would be happier?
- Why isn't Brad Kelln writing the third book? I am losing MY sanity.. after all the time I spent reading 'Lost Sanity' and 'Method of Madness'.. Damn.
- Can I really truly have a career change? Turn around and start doing something which will wake me up in the mornings in a happy state, rather than the disgruntled person I am now? Does it snow in Australia? I know they have sunny Christmases..
- Who am I? Can you tell me?
10/19/07
Lunch Drama
Friday lunches are festive. The hours leading up to the lunches, even more so. To illustrate:
a. My department goes to lunch every Friday to a G's. And we've been doing so since the beginning of time, so we just fax in our orders at 11.45 and our lunch is at our table the minute we walk into the restaurant. The fax part of it is usually a task assigned to the co-op/intern bakras. Rumor has it that at one point of time, since we did not have a co-op around, Rb picked up the job. Now that he isn't around anymore, the boss runs around for the same chore. Hence, at this morning's all important scrap meeting, we finish up with a solution. The Excel fax file is now on the company's shared R: drive, thereby enabling all the folks from different departments that join us to access it. They will get an Outlook reminder at a specified time in the morning that will in fact remind them to go to that file and add their order to it! Bingo, no one needs to run around asking people for their orders anymore. Aah, the marvels of modern technology.
b. One upping the whole arrangement above, is my little coterie of friends that does lunch so many times together that we do not go to the same place every week. We'd be brain dead by now if we did! So, our debates are usually about where to go. Case in point - today. Everyone is OK for everything. Our choices: Panini Panini, Ras Dashen, Indian. So, after a thread of about 10 emails, we decide to leave the decision to the point once we all get into the car. But, here comes the magic e-mail from JohnH. Read on:
Okay, we’re all engineers, and we’re all smart people. What we need is a quick, easy, and uncomplicated solution that is guaranteed to produce a fair outcome for all those involved. What I’m proposing is that I’ll write up a little FORTRAN code in my Argonne Mesa phase II PSCAD case study to simulate high frequency noise on a DC voltage line. Each of you will then pick a number between 0 and 1 and a multiple of .003 (the solution time step) and then I will randomly sample the AC component of the bus at that time to determine the AC voltage. I’ll average each of your respective voltages and if the final summation is positive, we’ll go to Panini-Panini, if it’s negative we’ll get Ethiopian. Clearly this is the best, easiest solution, and I should have something compiled and working for us to use by Monday afternoon. See you all at noon :-D
Blink, blink. And JohnG starts the number thread, and we all follow. We add two numbers each.. one between 0 and 1, and one that is a multiple of .003! Sabina sent a single number - Pi, as best as she could remember it. BUT, we were all wrong, WHY? JohnH wanted ONE number that satisfied both criteria!!! Oh well, another spate of emails unleashed..
And you say engineers are boring people? Not as exciting as investment bankers, lawyers and doctors?
Pooh-pah!
a. My department goes to lunch every Friday to a G's. And we've been doing so since the beginning of time, so we just fax in our orders at 11.45 and our lunch is at our table the minute we walk into the restaurant. The fax part of it is usually a task assigned to the co-op/intern bakras. Rumor has it that at one point of time, since we did not have a co-op around, Rb picked up the job. Now that he isn't around anymore, the boss runs around for the same chore. Hence, at this morning's all important scrap meeting, we finish up with a solution. The Excel fax file is now on the company's shared R: drive, thereby enabling all the folks from different departments that join us to access it. They will get an Outlook reminder at a specified time in the morning that will in fact remind them to go to that file and add their order to it! Bingo, no one needs to run around asking people for their orders anymore. Aah, the marvels of modern technology.
b. One upping the whole arrangement above, is my little coterie of friends that does lunch so many times together that we do not go to the same place every week. We'd be brain dead by now if we did! So, our debates are usually about where to go. Case in point - today. Everyone is OK for everything. Our choices: Panini Panini, Ras Dashen, Indian. So, after a thread of about 10 emails, we decide to leave the decision to the point once we all get into the car. But, here comes the magic e-mail from JohnH. Read on:
Okay, we’re all engineers, and we’re all smart people. What we need is a quick, easy, and uncomplicated solution that is guaranteed to produce a fair outcome for all those involved. What I’m proposing is that I’ll write up a little FORTRAN code in my Argonne Mesa phase II PSCAD case study to simulate high frequency noise on a DC voltage line. Each of you will then pick a number between 0 and 1 and a multiple of .003 (the solution time step) and then I will randomly sample the AC component of the bus at that time to determine the AC voltage. I’ll average each of your respective voltages and if the final summation is positive, we’ll go to Panini-Panini, if it’s negative we’ll get Ethiopian. Clearly this is the best, easiest solution, and I should have something compiled and working for us to use by Monday afternoon. See you all at noon :-D
Blink, blink. And JohnG starts the number thread, and we all follow. We add two numbers each.. one between 0 and 1, and one that is a multiple of .003! Sabina sent a single number - Pi, as best as she could remember it. BUT, we were all wrong, WHY? JohnH wanted ONE number that satisfied both criteria!!! Oh well, another spate of emails unleashed..
And you say engineers are boring people? Not as exciting as investment bankers, lawyers and doctors?
Pooh-pah!
10/18/07
Hello Panda
10/8/07
Surprise!
I could do a cart-wheel (if I could!) right now. I managed to lay my hands on 2 Kinder Surprise Eggs in Devon!!! Of all the places :)
I remember the number of boxes Nan & I managed to go through in Gizan, not for the chocolate itself, but for that magic yellow capsule. Oh, what fun days. I mean, I was almost completing high school, yet here I was, sitting and collecting those surprises.
Though they say 'Kinder' they aren't only for kids!! Obviously. The little 'surprises' inside the capsule can range from a little plush figure to figurines in porcelain and the best ones I like are the ready-to-assemble gadgets. These tiny little pieces fit together so well, and voila, you have yourself a little whirring toy that may be as big as your thumb (disclaimer: my thumb is a tad bigger than an average dainty lass!).
So, today over lunch, B got initiated into the whole school of Kinder Surprise eggs. I threw a couple at him when he was standing at the checkout, and he says in a bewildered voice: 'D, this one is making some noise on the inside! You sure it is a good one?'.. and like a maniac, I take the 'non-noisy' one from his hands and substitute it with one that makes quite a bit of noise. Quite delusional I must've looked to him.
And then, he got to see what the fuss was all about. We ended up getting two little thingies, none mechanically-whirry though. *Pout*. One was an alien-race-vehicle (?) I named MuckB. The other was a pink little shy doll thing - not my happiest moment, but Oh well. It supposedly belongs to some cartoon series called PaintAll or something. Then different colored creatures which paint a magic land or something along those lines. Very confusing, but given a choice I'd have picked the red angry one with arms folded. It got named Figly - a non-harsh version of Fugly?!
I remember the number of boxes Nan & I managed to go through in Gizan, not for the chocolate itself, but for that magic yellow capsule. Oh, what fun days. I mean, I was almost completing high school, yet here I was, sitting and collecting those surprises.
Though they say 'Kinder' they aren't only for kids!! Obviously. The little 'surprises' inside the capsule can range from a little plush figure to figurines in porcelain and the best ones I like are the ready-to-assemble gadgets. These tiny little pieces fit together so well, and voila, you have yourself a little whirring toy that may be as big as your thumb (disclaimer: my thumb is a tad bigger than an average dainty lass!).
So, today over lunch, B got initiated into the whole school of Kinder Surprise eggs. I threw a couple at him when he was standing at the checkout, and he says in a bewildered voice: 'D, this one is making some noise on the inside! You sure it is a good one?'.. and like a maniac, I take the 'non-noisy' one from his hands and substitute it with one that makes quite a bit of noise. Quite delusional I must've looked to him.
And then, he got to see what the fuss was all about. We ended up getting two little thingies, none mechanically-whirry though. *Pout*. One was an alien-race-vehicle (?) I named MuckB. The other was a pink little shy doll thing - not my happiest moment, but Oh well. It supposedly belongs to some cartoon series called PaintAll or something. Then different colored creatures which paint a magic land or something along those lines. Very confusing, but given a choice I'd have picked the red angry one with arms folded. It got named Figly - a non-harsh version of Fugly?!
10/4/07
My list.
I know I'm pretty much the vetti-est person around when I make my fourth blog entry for the day! I decided to go on a self-indulging list of current favorites. In no particular order, of no particular category:
23 Prithvi Ave, Chicago, Baby Bee, Summers with Jan, her mom's awesome cooking, school picnics, 6$ sunglasses, witty posters & wall-signs, ARRahman, Pam's salsa (and Unilever, thereof), Chipotle, Dasa Dosa's Baked beans, CPK, BITS : R10D & Dance Club, my own paychecks, loud colorful skirts, yellow, Showcard Gothic font, yellow call-out stars, a game of doubles tennis on the PS2, GIFTS!, BR's vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, pineapple & jalapeno pizzas, Roti Canai & Kari Seyur, Fanaa drive, my Mazda626 (R.I.P), IITCCvsPeoria, my first job @ GiftShop, pretty earrings, SHOPPING!, living without roommates, Fall TV season, SYTYCD, comfort food, Blick, red shoes, weekends, rasam, Whole Foods, IKEA, cold water, music of most kinds, CSI, bright colors, my 5$ Tees, clearance sales, tres-leches, my cheap 27" TV, Vladstudio desktops, Photoshop tools, my stick figure Flash animations, gult blockbuster movies, Bharatnatyam, creative bursts of energy, eye-makeup, cute babies, a smart joke, slapstick comedies, animation movies, smart glasses, waterparks, Hugh Jackman!, dark mahogany wooden dressers, books to read, norukku-theeni, fridge magnets, emoticons, my comforter, microfiber recliners, the wave, FOOD!, RubyLu, impromptu parties, evenings with friends...
... and so much more! I should really update this often :)
23 Prithvi Ave, Chicago, Baby Bee, Summers with Jan, her mom's awesome cooking, school picnics, 6$ sunglasses, witty posters & wall-signs, ARRahman, Pam's salsa (and Unilever, thereof), Chipotle, Dasa Dosa's Baked beans, CPK, BITS : R10D & Dance Club, my own paychecks, loud colorful skirts, yellow, Showcard Gothic font, yellow call-out stars, a game of doubles tennis on the PS2, GIFTS!, BR's vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, pineapple & jalapeno pizzas, Roti Canai & Kari Seyur, Fanaa drive, my Mazda626 (R.I.P), IITCCvsPeoria, my first job @ GiftShop, pretty earrings, SHOPPING!, living without roommates, Fall TV season, SYTYCD, comfort food, Blick, red shoes, weekends, rasam, Whole Foods, IKEA, cold water, music of most kinds, CSI, bright colors, my 5$ Tees, clearance sales, tres-leches, my cheap 27" TV, Vladstudio desktops, Photoshop tools, my stick figure Flash animations, gult blockbuster movies, Bharatnatyam, creative bursts of energy, eye-makeup, cute babies, a smart joke, slapstick comedies, animation movies, smart glasses, waterparks, Hugh Jackman!, dark mahogany wooden dressers, books to read, norukku-theeni, fridge magnets, emoticons, my comforter, microfiber recliners, the wave, FOOD!, RubyLu, impromptu parties, evenings with friends...
... and so much more! I should really update this often :)
For laughs
I couldn't resist putting this one up here, found it online somewhere:
"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon. Need I say more?"
Hmm...
"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon. Need I say more?"
Hmm...
It all comes down to this!
Quite a different mood from what I was around the same time last year.. knock on wood!
Go IIT! And I think of all those crappy slogans we'd use when we were at inter-school cultural fests or campaigning for school-post elections.
"Jeethega bhai, jeethega, ------- hi jeethega"
"Pana marathula vavvala, --------ke savaala"
"Twinkle twinkle little star, -------- is a superstar"
"---------, ----------, clap clap clap"
OhmyGod, I'm mortified. Not about the slogans, about the fact that I can't remember others :) Ah, glory days!
9/24/07
Puff Sleeves?
I know I'm a psycho when all these thoughts intermingle in my head at the same time:
"Puff sleeves, how cute!"
"Can I get away with the Witches' Deathknots? Sounds so gloriously hateful and malicious!"
"Yeaaayyy! India-Pak final, and we win the very first T20 afterall, whopper. Lets celebrate.."
"IIT vs. CCI - what a match. Such a lovely performance by us. Its the best cricket week ever."
"Lal pahadi ta-tun-ta-tun.. Ikkebina blah-blah.. Gitang, ditang bole."
" Chipotle? Lunch, yes. Appetite, check.. where and what.."
"Can you really hold your breath and die? I tried it, but had to give up since I simply HAD to breathe"
"I should've continued reading up that Witches' Spellbook, it was really interesting.."
"Hmm, ISPs. Some more to revise."
"Good that we don't have any more air/cracks at the Wishbones."
"How about a Vegas vacation. Ooh, la la."
"Puff sleeves? I'm going so retro. What a buffoon I am!"
"Puff sleeves, how cute!"
"Can I get away with the Witches' Deathknots? Sounds so gloriously hateful and malicious!"
"Yeaaayyy! India-Pak final, and we win the very first T20 afterall, whopper. Lets celebrate.."
"IIT vs. CCI - what a match. Such a lovely performance by us. Its the best cricket week ever."
"Lal pahadi ta-tun-ta-tun.. Ikkebina blah-blah.. Gitang, ditang bole."
" Chipotle? Lunch, yes. Appetite, check.. where and what.."
"Can you really hold your breath and die? I tried it, but had to give up since I simply HAD to breathe"
"I should've continued reading up that Witches' Spellbook, it was really interesting.."
"Hmm, ISPs. Some more to revise."
"Good that we don't have any more air/cracks at the Wishbones."
"How about a Vegas vacation. Ooh, la la."
"Puff sleeves? I'm going so retro. What a buffoon I am!"
9/18/07
Ring me dead..
I wish my world had no cell phones.
I'd love to not hear that annoying ringtone when I'm asleep or on an important page in my book.
I hate the fact that I can be reached anytime anyone wants to. Granted, it is upto me to actually pick it up or not. But still, I hate the 'I-Owe-You-a-call' feeling I get once I screen calls. More often that not, that is the reason why I don't get flustered when I leave the house minus my cellphone.
The only times I appreciate my cellphone:
1. When I'm lost and need directions
2. When I need an alarm to wake me up
3. When I'm truly in the mood for gossip (few and far in between, I'm not your typical 'girl')
I hate:
- Confrontations.
- Conversations about me, what I'm upto, what I had for dinner and blah blah.
- Answering questions about my life if I haven't already volunteered that information. Face it, if I thought you had to know it, I'd have given it to you already!?
- Having to return a call and pretend I didn't pick up since I was 'busy', 'Out of range', 'forgot my phone at home', or any other reason I can cook up at that moment.
Why do we have cell phones? Couldn't we still live in an age where we could communicate by snail-mail? Where the letter that you were pregnant would reach your family when you were almost at full-term.. the news that you're coming home for a visit would reach after your 'circumstantial surprise visit' ends?
There'd be no explanations needed for lost mail (in truth, missing communication). You could always blame the post office?! 'Oh, the post office, aaarrggh, of COURSE I sent you that invite dear! Are you positive you didn't receive it??.. Oh, what a shame, never mind 'dah'ling, we'll catch up another time.. Tata'
That'd be it! End of conversation. A short one over the landline, since we don't want to run up a bill now, do we? Oh, the glory days. We just dig ourselves a deeper pit every time we 'improve' our 'quality of life', don't we? Why am I in such a grumpy mood today?
I'd love to not hear that annoying ringtone when I'm asleep or on an important page in my book.
I hate the fact that I can be reached anytime anyone wants to. Granted, it is upto me to actually pick it up or not. But still, I hate the 'I-Owe-You-a-call' feeling I get once I screen calls. More often that not, that is the reason why I don't get flustered when I leave the house minus my cellphone.
The only times I appreciate my cellphone:
1. When I'm lost and need directions
2. When I need an alarm to wake me up
3. When I'm truly in the mood for gossip (few and far in between, I'm not your typical 'girl')
I hate:
- Confrontations.
- Conversations about me, what I'm upto, what I had for dinner and blah blah.
- Answering questions about my life if I haven't already volunteered that information. Face it, if I thought you had to know it, I'd have given it to you already!?
- Having to return a call and pretend I didn't pick up since I was 'busy', 'Out of range', 'forgot my phone at home', or any other reason I can cook up at that moment.
Why do we have cell phones? Couldn't we still live in an age where we could communicate by snail-mail? Where the letter that you were pregnant would reach your family when you were almost at full-term.. the news that you're coming home for a visit would reach after your 'circumstantial surprise visit' ends?
There'd be no explanations needed for lost mail (in truth, missing communication). You could always blame the post office?! 'Oh, the post office, aaarrggh, of COURSE I sent you that invite dear! Are you positive you didn't receive it??.. Oh, what a shame, never mind 'dah'ling, we'll catch up another time.. Tata'
That'd be it! End of conversation. A short one over the landline, since we don't want to run up a bill now, do we? Oh, the glory days. We just dig ourselves a deeper pit every time we 'improve' our 'quality of life', don't we? Why am I in such a grumpy mood today?
9/14/07
Did I? Haven't I?!
Things I haven't done in a LONG time:
Bunk work
Watch Tamil movies (count Sivaji out)
Go to Gurnee on a shopping spree (aaah, Thanksgiving!)
Take a nice relaxing vacation
Puke on a flight and go green
Get a Mehndi design done on my hands
Make new friends
Do something crazy
Have a hissy-fit/meltdown
Cook an elaborate new dish (Rachel Ray's Not-sagna, here I come)
Read the Godfather!
Catch up with old friends
Spend a whopper on myself
Cry myself to sleep like a baby
Do an oil-painting
Perform on stage with a huge audience
On the other hand, things that I did end up doing, since my 25th birthday:
Go camping for the first time since GirlScouts
Scrape my knee (wow, 10 years and now?)
Eat a burger I fell in love with at Kuma's
Catch up with Jan
Join a little dance group for the Durga Puja (lal pahadi.. yawn)
Get inspired by Maria Pappas (no whining here!)
Fall sick (and still work the whole week - sans whining)
Finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in one sitting
Buy pacha pattani and karasev to last a whole week!
Bleach the crap outta my showerstall (i can still smell the fumes)
Watch the aforementioned 'Donald in Mathmagic land'
Think about bunking work every waking minute
Not bad, eh?
Bunk work
Watch Tamil movies (count Sivaji out)
Go to Gurnee on a shopping spree (aaah, Thanksgiving!)
Take a nice relaxing vacation
Puke on a flight and go green
Get a Mehndi design done on my hands
Make new friends
Do something crazy
Have a hissy-fit/meltdown
Cook an elaborate new dish (Rachel Ray's Not-sagna, here I come)
Read the Godfather!
Catch up with old friends
Spend a whopper on myself
Cry myself to sleep like a baby
Do an oil-painting
Perform on stage with a huge audience
On the other hand, things that I did end up doing, since my 25th birthday:
Go camping for the first time since GirlScouts
Scrape my knee (wow, 10 years and now?)
Eat a burger I fell in love with at Kuma's
Catch up with Jan
Join a little dance group for the Durga Puja (lal pahadi.. yawn)
Get inspired by Maria Pappas (no whining here!)
Fall sick (and still work the whole week - sans whining)
Finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in one sitting
Buy pacha pattani and karasev to last a whole week!
Bleach the crap outta my showerstall (i can still smell the fumes)
Watch the aforementioned 'Donald in Mathmagic land'
Think about bunking work every waking minute
Not bad, eh?
8/23/07
Back to basics
I'm back to my cartoons.. I actually managed to get a few shots of other VHS tapes I owned as a kid! Even Google couldn't give me much on a couple of them, and so I'm glad I even found some pics!
So, these are a few of the cartoons I remembered as seperate titles. Of course, I had 'collection' VHSs of ChipnDale, Laurel and Hardy, and some other stuff I don't really remember. But what a lovely trip downt he memory lane it would be, if I could watch these tapes all over again. I wouldn't even mind watching my sister's Nursery Rhymes VHS. They made it all look catchy in those dance and sing tapes with complete backdrops and costumes etc!!!
What would we be without our cartoons :)
8/21/07
Gigi.. Minky Momo
Today, I finally found that long-lost cartoon/anime memory that I've been itching to remember... "Gigi"Oh, it all started as a little bribe. My gramps would give me money everytime I was among the top three in class. Saving this, after every exam (inevitably, I was one) I would buy myself two VHS cartoon tapes for that summer. Running to the second floor of Vitan with that little dusty VHS section - full of Disney and other cartoons, I'd pick up one or two tapes.
One of those was this anime tape about this girl called Gigi. How wonderful it was.. It was my first and only anime, come to think of it! Gigi is this little girl who is actually a princess (of this land of dreams). To bring back hope and dreams to an Earth that has lost it, the King and Queen (Gigi's parents) send her to earth as the little kid of a Vetrinarian and his wife (Gigi's earth parents). And to help her is her motley band of pets - a shaggy dog 'Shindobook', a monkey 'Mocha' and a canary 'Pipiru' (ooh, that one had an attitude to beat!).
One of those was this anime tape about this girl called Gigi. How wonderful it was.. It was my first and only anime, come to think of it! Gigi is this little girl who is actually a princess (of this land of dreams). To bring back hope and dreams to an Earth that has lost it, the King and Queen (Gigi's parents) send her to earth as the little kid of a Vetrinarian and his wife (Gigi's earth parents). And to help her is her motley band of pets - a shaggy dog 'Shindobook', a monkey 'Mocha' and a canary 'Pipiru' (ooh, that one had an attitude to beat!).
She can transform into an adult with this gem-charm-thingie with a wand that resembles a candy-cane! Lo and behold, a flash of light, bursts and ribbon spirals, she's transformed into an adult who can be what she wants to be. And off she goes...
I've been trying so hard to get to watch this. But the thing is, this anime was actually a series in Japan in 1981-82. But the VHS tape I had was a single-story movie, and it is currently not being sold - what a pity!!! But if I do get the chance to actually buy a copy of this anywhere, I'm going to be there in line!
I've been trying so hard to get to watch this. But the thing is, this anime was actually a series in Japan in 1981-82. But the VHS tape I had was a single-story movie, and it is currently not being sold - what a pity!!! But if I do get the chance to actually buy a copy of this anywhere, I'm going to be there in line!
No one beats a fairy girl princess with bubble-gum pink hair.... and a power to transform :)
Oh, I'm really happy I found this website from where I got the pictures, and got to re-live my Gigi days. Check it out if you want to know more.
8/17/07
I like today, oh yes.
Why?
1. Its Friday!!!
2. Game-day tomorrow.
3. My living room looks good, no more hand-me-down couches anymore. Its all colorful, NEW stuff baby!
4. Sabra won... Wheeee, we love Sabra, don't we?! (And SYTYCD has been picked up for the next season)
5. Its getting cooler and less humid
6. I'm getting a nice colorful mani this evening on the way home.. maybe throw in a pedi too!
7. My bday isn't far off :)
8. I have only 2 more hours before I can go home!
9. I have a mehndi cone, yaaay.
10. Did I mention its a Friday?!!!!
1. Its Friday!!!
2. Game-day tomorrow.
3. My living room looks good, no more hand-me-down couches anymore. Its all colorful, NEW stuff baby!
4. Sabra won... Wheeee, we love Sabra, don't we?! (And SYTYCD has been picked up for the next season)
5. Its getting cooler and less humid
6. I'm getting a nice colorful mani this evening on the way home.. maybe throw in a pedi too!
7. My bday isn't far off :)
8. I have only 2 more hours before I can go home!
9. I have a mehndi cone, yaaay.
10. Did I mention its a Friday?!!!!
8/9/07
Freebie mania
What is it about the human mind (or is it only women?) that works overtime once it hears the words: Freebie, Discount, Sale, Clearance?
I for one, perk up. "Ah! To think that those retailers have been upping the prices in the blink of an eye, and trying to hoodwink us into buysing overpriced crap. And now, we get them at a discount? So, even the discount must be more profitable than the actual cost of them making the item. Wow, how overpriced are things anyways?"
I LOVE freebies and half-priced stuff. I think they're cool. And though I'm a Monica-style freak about my living spaces, a freebie sure sounds lovely. UNTIL... until I get the Craigslist experience that is. The second hand couches, which have been through who-knows-what. The end tables that have been glued together by the previous owners only to fall apart once you put them in your living room. The itching and scratching that starts once you pull the slipcovers off (they were hideous to being with!). The musty smell that shows through only after one month of your owning that "insanely comfortable overstuffed" chair thats a "must-have".
The people who do put up these CL posts know how to use their words for sure. And when you turn up at their doorstep, you see the "bright retro yellow must-have couch" is a sagging, ink-stained, heavy-as-hell couch from the 70s. And that "beautiful shabby-chic wicker accent chair" is nothing but shabby, forget the chic.
I've learnt my lesson. I'm getting rid of those two couches I got this time when I moved, and driving to IKEA and buying that damned futon. Or ordering something online, if thats what it comes to. I am DONE with the freebie-phase. I'm going to channel all my OCD energies into being repulsed by those couches, and marching over to buy a new, un-used, no-pet-hairs, not-on-display piece of furniture. Thats that.
I for one, perk up. "Ah! To think that those retailers have been upping the prices in the blink of an eye, and trying to hoodwink us into buysing overpriced crap. And now, we get them at a discount? So, even the discount must be more profitable than the actual cost of them making the item. Wow, how overpriced are things anyways?"
I LOVE freebies and half-priced stuff. I think they're cool. And though I'm a Monica-style freak about my living spaces, a freebie sure sounds lovely. UNTIL... until I get the Craigslist experience that is. The second hand couches, which have been through who-knows-what. The end tables that have been glued together by the previous owners only to fall apart once you put them in your living room. The itching and scratching that starts once you pull the slipcovers off (they were hideous to being with!). The musty smell that shows through only after one month of your owning that "insanely comfortable overstuffed" chair thats a "must-have".
The people who do put up these CL posts know how to use their words for sure. And when you turn up at their doorstep, you see the "bright retro yellow must-have couch" is a sagging, ink-stained, heavy-as-hell couch from the 70s. And that "beautiful shabby-chic wicker accent chair" is nothing but shabby, forget the chic.
I've learnt my lesson. I'm getting rid of those two couches I got this time when I moved, and driving to IKEA and buying that damned futon. Or ordering something online, if thats what it comes to. I am DONE with the freebie-phase. I'm going to channel all my OCD energies into being repulsed by those couches, and marching over to buy a new, un-used, no-pet-hairs, not-on-display piece of furniture. Thats that.
8/8/07
Dance baby, dance.
Ok, I've just had it.. my first overwhelming, goose-pimple-ing, stunning SYTYCD show. For the very first time this entire season, I've watched routines open-mouthed. What dancing.
I simply LOVED Sabra and Neil tonight. Can anyone else even think or hope to compete in the show after their Jazz and Pasa Doble? But yes, you've got to hand it to Pasha and Lacey too. Of all the three, I might have to say Danny and Lauren impressed me the least today. To think that the next show will lead us to the finale!
Woohooo, Mary's 'Hot Tamale' train is HOT for sure. They just KILLED it today.
OMG.
I simply LOVED Sabra and Neil tonight. Can anyone else even think or hope to compete in the show after their Jazz and Pasa Doble? But yes, you've got to hand it to Pasha and Lacey too. Of all the three, I might have to say Danny and Lauren impressed me the least today. To think that the next show will lead us to the finale!
Woohooo, Mary's 'Hot Tamale' train is HOT for sure. They just KILLED it today.
OMG.
8/1/07
Kya swad hai.. zindagi!
The Cadbury's ad with the girl running onto the Cricket field..
Classic, timeless, heart-warming, sweet.
I don't think I even need to elaborate further on this post :)
Classic, timeless, heart-warming, sweet.
I don't think I even need to elaborate further on this post :)
7/26/07
What happens if?
What happens if..
I am not who I am "supposed" to be?
I don't really want to just live life as I'm "expected" to?
I suddenly realise that life's too short to wonder about the 'what ifs'?
I'd rather be smart than try to look pretty?
I'd rather lean on someone though I'm generally independent..
I think life isn't supposed to be a rat-race all the way to the finish?
I don't give a hoot about being "serious" all the time?
I do indeed make a mistake once or twice?
I am more interested in living in euphoria than living long & just so-so?
I consider my happiness very important as long as it doesn't kill anyone or isn't evil?
I don't care about the superficial crap?
Too philosophical. I'm going to shut up now.
I am not who I am "supposed" to be?
I don't really want to just live life as I'm "expected" to?
I suddenly realise that life's too short to wonder about the 'what ifs'?
I'd rather be smart than try to look pretty?
I'd rather lean on someone though I'm generally independent..
I think life isn't supposed to be a rat-race all the way to the finish?
I don't give a hoot about being "serious" all the time?
I do indeed make a mistake once or twice?
I am more interested in living in euphoria than living long & just so-so?
I consider my happiness very important as long as it doesn't kill anyone or isn't evil?
I don't care about the superficial crap?
Too philosophical. I'm going to shut up now.
Sick.
I'm officially sick.
Sick of work, sick of preparing lunches and dinners, sick of watching CSI re-runs (Grissom, sorry to say this, but it's true..) sick of reality TV, sick of being mentally tired, in fact - sick of being sick!!!
I try to plan a vacation and what happens:
- Places I want to go do not fit into my vacation schedule
- Its playoff time
- The long weekend is also my bday.. fancy that!
- Places that I can manage to go to don't seem all that interesting
- I wonder if I even need a vacation
- I'd rather mope around the house than go someplace to mope around!
This is one of my slumps, and it seems to only get deeper. Today has been the ultimate - reminds me of the time in boring History lessons in HighSchool, I'd turn to the last page in my book and write 1-40. Then each minute I'd strike one number and go all the way till the 40 minutes are up, and we can thankfully shuffle our feet and move our behind - only to start counting down over the next boring class. Unfortunately a work day spans 9-10 hours and counting those down is insane.
I'd like to wake up to one of the following things tomorrow:
- I'm suddenly one of the richest folks around, and don't have to do any work to stay rich!
- I work as a party planner in Mauritius
- My brain starts co-operating with me to get some stuff finished at work
- The world stops spinning, but I'm the only one left on it alive
- I get into Hogwarts (by the way, I'm dying to read the new book)
- I'm a famous & adored rockstar (who is completely drug&booze free, by the way)
- Everyone else disappears
- I disappear :)
Oh well, wishful thinking!
Sick of work, sick of preparing lunches and dinners, sick of watching CSI re-runs (Grissom, sorry to say this, but it's true..) sick of reality TV, sick of being mentally tired, in fact - sick of being sick!!!
I try to plan a vacation and what happens:
- Places I want to go do not fit into my vacation schedule
- Its playoff time
- The long weekend is also my bday.. fancy that!
- Places that I can manage to go to don't seem all that interesting
- I wonder if I even need a vacation
- I'd rather mope around the house than go someplace to mope around!
This is one of my slumps, and it seems to only get deeper. Today has been the ultimate - reminds me of the time in boring History lessons in HighSchool, I'd turn to the last page in my book and write 1-40. Then each minute I'd strike one number and go all the way till the 40 minutes are up, and we can thankfully shuffle our feet and move our behind - only to start counting down over the next boring class. Unfortunately a work day spans 9-10 hours and counting those down is insane.
I'd like to wake up to one of the following things tomorrow:
- I'm suddenly one of the richest folks around, and don't have to do any work to stay rich!
- I work as a party planner in Mauritius
- My brain starts co-operating with me to get some stuff finished at work
- The world stops spinning, but I'm the only one left on it alive
- I get into Hogwarts (by the way, I'm dying to read the new book)
- I'm a famous & adored rockstar (who is completely drug&booze free, by the way)
- Everyone else disappears
- I disappear :)
Oh well, wishful thinking!
7/25/07
Make-Over begins.
My poor TV finally gets to sit on something that isn't ugly, huge, heavy and blue! The monstrosity that was, has now been removed and stowed away in a corner of the kitchen. Man, that blue table was indeed ugly. Oh well, goes to show what 'FreeStuff' does to you. Now the TV has its good-looking TV stand with all the wires stowed away in the cabinet and nothing peeking out. Seriously, that corner of the living room was a mess with all those wires all over the place... Nasty stuff.
Next project: get rid of those ugly couches, and bring some decent furniture in. So, what do we do?!.. Hmm..
Next project: get rid of those ugly couches, and bring some decent furniture in. So, what do we do?!.. Hmm..
6/29/07
Rat-a-too-eee...
Okay, this is it! Ratatouille is finally here. And I'm back to the Davis theatre today to catch it on the first day itself. Yippeee, am SO looking forward to this. So much so, that I've even got the rat as my desktop. That should explain it all.
But Selmarie does NOT find favor tonight for dinner, last time was once enough.. though I should say they more than make up for their dinner menu with that delectable Black Forest cake. Ooooh, melty chocolate-y heaven. It takes you back to those days in HotBreads with their yummy Black Forest cake n Vanilla ice-cream. Aha, today I'm definitely getting myself a couple of slices and taking them home to my dear BR Vanilla Choco-chip pint.
Ky's Bday yday was so much fun! Made me realise how long I've gone without a big crowd around the house. And these people were smokin' insane.. the noise, the food, the 'punch', the wasted Coconut-Caramel cake, plus everything that followed. Oh well, those were the days :)
Alrighty, the next update: the movie, what else!
*Update: I'd kinda over-hyped the movie, but it was fun nonetheless.. Very nice animation, a cute rat, and well.. the funny French accent. A 'must-watch-atleast-once' category for animation fans :)
But Selmarie does NOT find favor tonight for dinner, last time was once enough.. though I should say they more than make up for their dinner menu with that delectable Black Forest cake. Ooooh, melty chocolate-y heaven. It takes you back to those days in HotBreads with their yummy Black Forest cake n Vanilla ice-cream. Aha, today I'm definitely getting myself a couple of slices and taking them home to my dear BR Vanilla Choco-chip pint.
Ky's Bday yday was so much fun! Made me realise how long I've gone without a big crowd around the house. And these people were smokin' insane.. the noise, the food, the 'punch', the wasted Coconut-Caramel cake, plus everything that followed. Oh well, those were the days :)
Alrighty, the next update: the movie, what else!
*Update: I'd kinda over-hyped the movie, but it was fun nonetheless.. Very nice animation, a cute rat, and well.. the funny French accent. A 'must-watch-atleast-once' category for animation fans :)
6/26/07
UKW?
That does it.. I've been lazy long enough.
I just HAVE to start yapping again, else I'll just have one of those 'existential meltdowns'.
To think that it has been 6 months since I last blogged! Sigh. Let's forget those six months... Pooh-pah, and gone!
Rebooting...
I just HAVE to start yapping again, else I'll just have one of those 'existential meltdowns'.
To think that it has been 6 months since I last blogged! Sigh. Let's forget those six months... Pooh-pah, and gone!
Rebooting...
1/2/07
New!
It is actually 2007! The December sabbatical is sadly over, and its back to the bump and grind now. Tomorrow I join the legion of the workhorses :) Wake up at six, get back home by 5.30 or 6 in the evenings. But all said and done, its kinda nice to finally get that full-time job going after so many years of studies. So, here's to the new year and the new job.
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