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?

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, this is 'The Three Fishketeers". A story about three friends who save a damsel in distress (the purply fish) and try to stay out of the jaws of our beloved yellow-toothed villain - a barracuda! (Thats strange, only this morning, I was thinking about the song being used in the soundtrack of Charlie's Angels.. coincidences..)

The other cartoon on the tape (this one was a double-feature) was the one above - Mirthworm Masquerade. Doesn't it look cute? Its about these Mirthworms that put up a play for the Christmas Bowl.. (which is a stage set inside half a bowl stuck in the mud!) The heroine here is scared of acting, there's this villainess who grabs the lead role, but messes things up, the hero is a good friend of the heroine, and he helps her overcome her stage-fear etc etc. Its has a comedic background of sleeping beauty as the play. Preeety cute :)

This is a perennial favorite of mine.. one of Disney's first color features, nominated for an Academy too. 'Donald in Mathmagic Land'. Sounds nerdy, I know. But I'd love to watch this over and over again... Donald stumbles on Mathmagic Land where trees have 'square roots', he jams with the 'Pythagorean' band, learns what role math and geometry play in baseball and pool, gets drawn into a Chess battle albeit in Alice's wonderland. Its hilarious and extremely educative. And probably thats why Disney now sells these as special 'teachers edition' DVDs for 60$!!!!

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 :)

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!).

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!

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.

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?!!!!

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.

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.

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 :)

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.

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!

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..