tUrTLeS swiMmiNG

note to myself: neon trees, animal

boy have i searched for this song. it's the ad song for bones. you know the tv show. though i don't watch the show myself. i did happen to stumble on this when channel surfing.

ok adding the hawaii pics. just a teeny tiny subset.









lava flowing into the ocean


this house is trapped after lava flowed all around it! but hey! it survived dinnit?

nice pics aren't they?? HEY I TOOK THEM. everyone stop giving credit to K!! just coz he carries a huge camera around !! and he hasn't even posted those pics yet!

oPpoSinG pOLeS oN fAcEboOk

i know that everyone says opposites attract, but have you actually looked around you to observe it? is it true that opposites attract or do we just tune ourselves to oppose everything our.. umm 'better halves' say and do :P

think about it , right?
on the one hand we have K who's easy going, social, friendly, likes ppl, likes coffee, mebe not necessarily in that order; and on the other hand we have me, who's neurotic, paranoid and actively dislikes ppl AND coffee and prefers the company of dolphins instead.
add to all that narcissistic, egoistical and lazy and can we say hello-big-disaster-here?

its the same case, right. with R and her .. ummmm...."better half" < no seriously this has to be in double quotes. its the highest kind of euphemism to call her partner the better half... >
she's uber friendly and extrovertish and outgoing and he's umm... basically a more paranoid freak version of me.

makes one wonder. were we like this before we met our halves or did we just digress to this opposite points on the scale so that things could be in balance??? like some mystical yin yang thing??

K: "here, try some coffee. its amazing"
me: "i'd rather not thanks."
K: "but it's really good"
me: "no i don't want it"
K: "but it's really reaaaeaally good"
me: "i'd rather throw up" < that shud quiet you, you coffee pusher >

K: "you have to call ppl. keep in touch with them. login to facebook once in a while.."
me: "i hate facebook, i hate it. infact i abhor it. no, i actually loathe it. and while ur at it, i hate ppl too" < good, that should be enough to discourage any more talk about facebook. do you think that's enough? mebe i shud throw in a few more adjectives while i'm at it.. >

i find that, often with ppl, it's useful to NOT stop at politely declining a helpful suggestion. one has to smash it beyond all hope and grind it to dust to prevent it from ever being resurrected in the future again. or else you'll just end up saying "no, thank you" over and over and over again, and that too at the same suggestion. ha! as if 10 minutes later i'll find the idea of facebook appealing.

< now i better stop before i go on a complete bender and an entire 4 pages worth of facebook-hate-rant. No!! i do NOT wish to know how good your lunch break was. thank you very much my-highschool-classmate. and i absolutely do NOT wish to throw a cow at you. stop sending me requests, it confuses my poor brain as i don't know if i'm supposed to remember you and i've forgotten or if your some random psycho stalker >

dOLphiNs pLayiNG iN bLuE wATeRs

so ... i've been a away for a while ... hmmm well u know.. how it goes.. ummm... its not like i forgot you or anything. i mean.. i swear!! i totally remembered you.. like.. yesterday itself. when i was .. umm... buttering my toast. i mean ... i meant to write, but u know it was work, and then vacation.. and then...
yeah.. i know i know.. excuses excuses :P

so. here's the latest.
just got back from vacation. went to hawaiiii. oh it was awesome. the best part?
mebe its the red glow of the volcano, or the green sand beach or the manta ray. omg the manta RAY!! i snorkelled and came up close to this GIGANTIC MANTA RAY!! and in the pacific ocean!! and in the night!! and next to a japanese guy who kept squealing "manta is coming, manta is coming"!!

oh it was awesome. i loved snorkelling. i plan to do more of it. ok mebe not in portland. but somewhere, some day.
hawaii is pretty neat. everyone shud go there atleast once.

yaawn. i'm jet lagged. K is nice , took care of the whole trip. ok K is not only nice, he deserves a "K is Awesome!!"

will post some pics soon. mebe of the Maaaaaaaanta Raaaaaaay!! woooohooooo
< ok no more mai tais for me >

SpOkeN biTeS

it's hard talking to extended family on the other side.
i thought it was hard to get along old fogeys in my family before..

but after last dec, there are a few concepts i find hard to digest .. oh forget accept.

the notion that there now is my "side" of the family and his "side". really really hate that. i mean i cannot even begin to describe how much i hate that term and that concept. family is family and should be hated/barely tolerated/ignored equally.
:D

its a medieval very colloquial term, that we've heard ppl using all our lives and which seems to express literally what it's supposed to... but it also somehow conveys a division... or a partition if you will. which i really don't want to.
i mean i already was pretty busy, making fun of "my" folks, now if i have to make fun of "his" folks. then i'd like to make fun of all of "them".. toegther.
keeps it simpler for my brain, that way.
:D

( but you know what i mean .. just the idea of having to keep the... ahem.. "relatives" seperate and make fun of them seperately is gonna burn some extra cycles in my brain. which i don't wanna do )

so here's me banishing the sides and mashing them all up together. from now on, i shud refer to all the .. ahem.. relatives in some single group way. yet to be defined.

( i need to find a funny name but yet not too insulting , u know? coz some of them are really computer literate and might be reading this as i type.. ok not as i type.. but you know what i mean. and its really hampering my style < ya right! > )

so. getting back to the list.
what was i saying again ?
oh ya stuff i never get used to.

so you know how they say families are different , and ofcourse they are. but its not really that. all familias are wierd < that's not a typo > and yet we're just used to the eccentricities of our own. it's when we're faced with new eccentricities out of the blue is when we're blinking in a dazed way and wondering "what happened".
it's easier if you're the kind of person, who generally likes ppl .. like K.
but if you happen to be some neurotic, paranoid person like .. ahem.. someone .. then it's really hard not to smack someone sideways in the head, knock them unconcscious and make a run for it.

it looks like i'll not be completing the list today.
but another thing i wanted to mention, that makes me very hesitant to talk to these folks , is that my brain has to constantly kind of censor my thoughts and replace all singular references to K with the plural. now the reason i find it hard, and i only have a 50% success rate, is that brain isn't used to censoring anything. my traditional solution for censoring the brain, was to keem mum.
but now sometime's brain is forced to speak up and then you can watch me fumbling in all my glory.. stumbling over words, tripping until i don't know what's up or what's down anymore.

now it's not so bad when i talk about K , right? coz i can always make sure i never ever directly refer to K at all. < yes my solution, is to just omit the reference and continue with the sentence. ppl make the connection on their own .. the brain can be a powerful friend.. my.. uh.. friend > or the other option is to seamlessly break into english mid-sentence. < its these times that i really appreciate all that the brits have done for us >

but what do you do, when you slip up and refer to Their spouses in the singular.
oooooh now you've really done it.
if X doesn't refer to her own husband by his name, and refer's to him in the plural, how could YOU do it???
uh oh... major blooper. so then i hurry up and move to some topic that will take their mind off , off my foot-in-the-mouth moment.
now to go one step further, its more complicated if you have friends/colleagues with the same names .. which only means that the names come oh-so-easily to you and you just spill them every sentence..

"so how's M.. < ow >. did you and M go to that picnic you were talking about? < ow > i mean the other day K was thinking of calling M < ow , ow stop talking already. >"

ya i shud just shut up. maybe i shud switch languages to swahili. think that would help?

giFtiNg nAtUre

K's bday's coming up.. and while i troll the online world wondering what i can get him... i stumbled across this site... pretty funny!! and the comments are even more hillarious!! some ppl really don't get a joke.

Funny Blog someone else wrote.

it's true!! if i had to count the number of things K's given me on his own.. < that's without me saying i want it.. >

K: "lookout for the post, i've sent u a package."

me: "really!! what did you send???" < secretly thrilled. it's the first time i'm getting something from him in the post. >

package arrives

i open it

it's Alton Brown's "gear for the kitchen"

K: "what? you didn't like it?? it talks about how to pick the right shaped utensils and knives and equipment for the kitchen. and i read it the other day, and it was so technical..."

i reset my expectations of poor K. now i just tell him what i want and he gets it.. which is gr8 coz now i can go all "ooh i love it, you shouldn't have"

bAke mE a biTe

hey !!

i baked !!

and it was edible!!

incredible isn't it??

:D

i mean , i had a bite, and i didn't spontaneously combust or turn sick .. or .. or ANYTHING!

that's awesome.

i made date and cashew nut cake.

you your right, i'm completely awed by myself. ok ok so it didn't have as much sugar.. but it was chewy. and soft. and not like a brick.

that's awesome !

tO reAlLy waLk abOvE thE cLOudS

note to self : shontelle, impossible.


how does it feel to be above the clouds? how does it feel to be weave your hand through a cloud? i think i'll be pushing the limits of language to actually describe it.

the only way to truly experience the olympic national park is to backpack through the country. this time we tried a more sanitized view of the park. staying in the olympic lodge, and then going round to all the spots.
couldn't do the coast or the ferry to victoria.

but mebe next time.








i just heard. today my grandma passed away. may her soul rest in peace. and i don't want to talk about it anymore.

i'd rather just listen to the songs.
and just look at the stars..........

aCroSs bRidGe oF thE gOdS

did you know why Dog mountain is called that?

apparently coz starving pioneers were forced to eat their dogs when they did their pioneering thing through the mountains.

eeeeeeeeeeeEEEEsh!!

oh well. ppl do all sorts of crazy stuff.

like this guy who ran up and down the mountain. TWICE!! :O

lets not kid ourselves, this was a tough hike !! in the first ten minutes i was all .. what the $%##$@!! have i gotten myself into?? already feeling dizzy and nauseous. i felt like throwing up. i think i was mildly dehydrated to start with, and then the weather was a bit hot.

ok back up a little.

me and S, head out to hike. ok it's only the two of us. we can do it. ok here we go.. we're starting now..

5 minutes later i'm huffing and puffing like a smoker asked to run the 50k marathon. and i'm wishing i could lie down some place nice and cool and go to sleep forever.
so i ask S to go on without me, and i tell her i'll follow slowly and meet you when your coming down.




she leaves me reluctantly coz really its only the two of us. but i convince her and so she goes.

another 10 min later, i'm eating my protein bar and drinking water trying to hydrate myself. coz its so friggin hot. and i'm sweating buckets. and i'm thinking of going back. i'm taking breaks every 5 min. but everytime i sit down, someone comes up behind me and i start walking a lil coz i don't really want to look like a douche bag in front of them. so i walk a bit. and stop a bit and walk a bit and fall down a bit. my bag now feels like it weighs a TON. and i even try carrying it on my head like an old indian railway station porter. hey! there's a reason why frail ancient looking guys can carry our heavy luggage, right?

so the trail continues through the forest. relentlessly switching back and forth.

now, the overall trail goes like this. its approx 0.7 miles to a fork on the road. the right is more difficult and the left is most difficult. no, really that's how its labelled. and then they converge someplace and then its a common trail about 1.1 miles to the top. the more difficult path adds about 0.4 miles extra to your hike coz its not so steep; you know ( but trust me, you won't know it ) ... and the total gain is about 2800 feet ( ouch! i know!! )

anyways, so i decide not to be a hero; and hence take the more difficult path rather than the most difficult one; and i know that there's a viewpoint in the more difficult path, and i think. ok i can at the very least make the darn viewpoint. and then mebe i'll head back. you know. so i alternate between walking and collapsing sporadically.

after an hour of huffing and reeling about drunkenly i finally reach the first viewpoint. yaaay!! phew. now most of the time the only reason i got up from wherever i was collapsed was coz of a> the mosquitos and b> ppl coming up behind me and i didnt want to be sitting there like some kind of .. well you know.

i collapse on the bench. take a few pics and cast a wary eye over the next section of the trail. after about 10 min, i think. ok mebe not so bad. i dont feel like i'm dying, i could try as much as i could. the prob right now is i'm running out of water. poor S had given me half her water and i still had gone through it like a ... like a... very thirsty person. < grimace. ok so i can't really think of anything right now! >

now i know that this view point is atleast 1.4 miles away. at minimum. so i start trying to do the math and walk. and i meet some ppl coming down and ask them. and she says, its cooler on the top. and you clear the trees. so its nice. but its steeper than the way we came. coz the way we came also included some walks through the forest where i caught my breadth.

now i'm seriously consuidering leaving my bag somewhere so i can pick it up on the way back. and now i'm looking for a convenient hiding spot.
and then i reach this place. the point where the more and most difficult meet. couple of guys sitting there. and i ask them how bad is it. up ahead. he looks at this meter thing. and he says. well its 900 ft elevation. and another mile atleast. but its cooler. you should do it. i look at the trail. its a friggin mountain. i think its at that point i mentally started praying. i mean literally, doing hare ram hare ram. now these guys were sitting there, and i didnt' want to turn back in front of them, so i think ok let me walk to that point and lets see.

so i walk up and i almost come tumbling down, coz i mean its steep man.
but somehow i take breaks and keep walking. i'm down to a single user path and if i sit down, then ppl literally have to jump over my head. also there might be creepy crawly things. but rememeber she said i'd climb over the trees? so i notice that the trees are getting shorter and shorter. and i look for the tallest tree i can find. and i think; ok let me go to the friggin base of that tallest tree and see.
and i go.

so sometimes i look up, sometimes i look down just focusing on the next 10 steps. and sometimes i'm praying.
and then i come up to this path that's literally a very very narrow path through overgrown bushes. and that's where i get the call from S. she's reached the top and asks me where i am. i tell her as best as i can. and she says there's another viewpoint up ahead. pretty close, so mebe we should meet there, coz its even steeper after that. i agree wholeheartedly.

now armed with the info that its close by. i try to do the rolling hikers walk and put some energy into my steps.
when i'm almost ready to give up, i meet some ppl heading down and they tell me. the second viewpoint is right up ahead. at the end of my present climb. and then you got to turn and you climb straight up to the top.
i look around and i notice, i've cleared the trees completely !! yaay!!

so since i'm meeting her at the second viewpoint, i go lumbering on.

man the view is already great out here. i can see the whole columbia river. i can see cascade range. beacon rock looks so tiny. i'm amazed. and then i spot the sign. it says 0.4 miles to the top.
i sigh. man i made it this far. i cant turn back down now.
and anyways you can see the path all the way to the top. atleast you have hope of where it'll end. so i call S and tell her i'll meet her atleast at 0.2 miles. coz every foot i gain will give me a better view. i start climbing.

now the last stretch is all gravel. and slippery rocks. so she was coming down slower than i was climbing. i met her half way. and i was like how far is it from here. i look around, its amazing. she says u know you came so far. you shud go till the end.
ok i have 2 sips of water left and a subway in my bag. its 2:00. its not so bad. so i tell her i'll catch up with her. and i labor on.

but now i can see the end, so its not as bad. and i have a spring in my step. i come to this kind of clearing where ppl are sunbathing and look around confused. where does the trail go? and then i get it.

i reached the top !!!




woohoo!!
:P

well time to plonk down and have a sandwhich. and look at the amazing view !

so i sit there, for a while in the mud and grass. and the sun beating down on me. but the winds were amazing. and i look to my right and i can see st helen through the clouds behind the cascade range. and i look to the left and i see mt hood peeking from behind the cascade range too. and i'm amazed at the height and the river and the wind and everything!!

15 min later i remember S is waiting , and i head back down. full of energy and happy. ofcourse i went down faster. but since the path was soo steep, you literally have to jog down. and the knees kind of take a hit.
but since i knew she was waiting , i went at a brisk pace. only thing was the path just kept on going. it just went on and on and on.
by this time i was sooo thirsty and more than ready to take a dunk in the columbia river.

an hour later we were on hour way home and celebrating with gatorade and a litre of water :P

good times!

tHe sKeW oF thiNgS

if i ever needed proof of my potential for disaster, then i think i got plenty of evidence this month.

oh no, really. things are super fine here. i'm i n beijing and after all the circus to finalize my plans. they cancel the flight to get out of here on the 3rd. and now the brilliant morons, just rebooked one of my flights, without changing the connecting flight!! so basically my connecting flight is 15 hrs before my first flight.
oh brilliant.

and my manager got to know, what i did.
and was like.. aaah thats a no no. booking official trips through external websites.
ok boss.

i think next time, i'd decline the official trip itself.

more and more i feel like there are all these hurdles in my way. "i can hear you plotting you know! darn gollums"

went to this place called pure lotus. some cross over of buddhist and indian and arabian kind of place. pure vegetarian. but in the sense they make everything look and taste like non veg. but made from tofu. actually it was more like, the chinese understanding of indian. there were sculptures of camels around. and diwans and waters and waitresses wearing outlandish salwars. and lot of glitter.
and the serving plates were exotic. hey hang on, i got pics.



and this is a serving dish of tofu that looks and tastes like shark fin.
to be very honest, it was ugh. how could ppl eat this stuff.



in chicago there's a vegan restaraunt that gives you tofu based food that looks and tastes like chicken and beef. this is the chinese version of that place. where food looks and tastes like authentic chinese food. for ppl who hate the smell and taste of non veg food, its a no win sitch. coz who would want to eat veg food that tastes like non veg. ugh.
for ppl who wish they could eat it, but cannot due to some moral upbringing and repressing themselves from doing it. hey! this is awesome.

another place we went to the day before was very upscale and even more awesome. i think i should wait till we get out of the country to post pics. though another thing is i had forgotten to take the camera with me for dinner.
well lesson learnt! now i don't step out of the room without my camera!!

it was al black and white and i had a cushion of purple feathers. and these 8 foot backs to the chairs. and some really fancy and wierd setting. there was this tree that was painted all white. might be fake and it was kind of the center piece of the whole place.

and the whole rest. was just one long table with these chairs around it. the chairs were pretty simple but had 8 foot long backrests... maybe these hotels should be a seperate piece by themselves!!

tHrouGh tHe LoOkiNg gLaSs

beijing is a humongous city. ok its dark out and i can't really see much. 12 AM. the city was bustling. i look out the 17th floor window of the westin, and all i can see are vehicles whizzing by.
4:00 AM and the city slightly calmer. i look out the window and see huge signs on buildings. lettering all of it in chinese. sony erricson says one. gateway says the other.. and unless i see the english translated sign on the other side, i really don't know what they're declaring to the world.

nice roads, short ppl. really short and tiny ppl. or mebe its just coz i'm on the 17th floor.. naah they really are a short race. if you moved from sweden to here, you'd totally get a culture shock.

ok here's the view from my window -
really really early in the morning at 4:00 AM:




and morning 6:00 AM


the lobby :).. aaaaw yes i know i'm being a total tourist!!

sTarT oF tHe NeXt

ok so i've started. blogging from vancouver as we speak.

the last one week has been packed! with a capital P. meetings , working lunches, more meetings and team dinners. listening to a lot of ppl speak, talking and getting bludgeoned. :-/

on the bright side, we had the meetings in a golf course on tuesday and it was gr8!
was on the driving range for the first time! :)
ha! it was hilarious.



omg i don't know what i was thinking when i booked my flights! 6 hrs layover in vancouver, 4 hours in seoul, and then reaching beijing 24 hrs after i depart.
on the way to india i have god knows how many hours layover.
something's wrong with my brain. it just doesn't convert flight timings, landing times and flight durations correctly. mebe that's why ive been telling ppl i land 2-4 hours after i actually land.
its a disaster if i have to be picked up.

its one of the main reasons i hate to book flights. have this horrid fear that i might have booked the wrong dates.
also i'm getting a creeping thought in my head. did i leave the gas range on??
how will i know?? i don't have any recollection of switching it on. but then i dont have very good recollection now, do i???
aaaaaahrgh.

vancouver isn't so bad. larger population of chinkis than i'm used to. but nice empty airport. and nice open spaces and no ppl around. ok so i admit that's what i like best about a place :D no ppl around.






ok now i hope they don't arrest me for taking pics of the airport! gtg!

sTop wATchiNg mUsiC aLtoGeTheR

have you ever stopped to wonder how the world has changed ?? i mean not since time began, but since the last 100 yrs or so? ok mebe from lil more before ??

i'm watching VH1, and i'm thinking to myself.. wtf??

ok so we came from being primitive tribal ppl, to some kind of .. normal looking ppl?? i dunno. ok then the victorian wierdo phase where everyone was covered up all over. ok ok am talking of the western world, not exactly "we" but its easier for me to tell a story this way, so hang on before you start spamming me about how i'm forgetting i'm indian. but i digress...

and now. NOW, we have something like lady gaag on tv, with beyonce, wearing bikinis and thongs and looking butt ugly and not caring. and prancing around ( helloooo that can't be dancing?? are you serious?? )
actually i like the song. don't get me wrong. but the videos???
:O

wat the eff!!
its all semi naked women, and outlandish wierd clothes. and man is she butt ugly.
and then all of them wearing wonder woman kind of costumes and...

oh man this is a sad sad century. don't think i'll switch on VH1 for a long long time !

nEw tHiNgs to tRy

Well what do you know, I'm blogging from the new iPad !!!!!


Aw shucks now I know what I said earlier.. But ....ok so I'm still on the fence a bit. It's very cool and all, and I can surf and type as fast as I can on a normal keyboard (ok let's go back and heck the typos :P) but I don't know if I really want to carry this around with me along with my laptop and phone and wallet and iPod. Phew thats a full bag.

But still its a really fancy we browsing device.

:)

Ooooh ooh btw I walked bout 6 miles today. Ran a little, walked a little.. But I feel good :)

Work is getting more hectic than ever. Actually, losing my mind is more like it!! Oh well. Oohh ooh btw off to china end of the month. Looks like it s happening. Found out I need a Canadian visa to transit through there. Which is stupid!!!!!
Ok Canada transit visa check.
Book hotel check.
Pack clothes check.

FAA. I wish I cud take my net book with me when I'm traveling. Wud be cool.



note to self: pure imagination, wonka

cOLoriNg foOd aU naTurALe

with my once neat house now looking like a gollum's nesting bed... well with it looking like a natural disaster survivor's zone.. i just want to hide under the bed.

sigh. made panneer bhurji ( ok what I call panneer bhurji) the other day. came out pretty nice. not so nice were the questionable chapatis that i made. admittedly, they were more than a few days old. and i was taking a 'risk'. but when they turned out orange.. well i was really skeptical. but what the hell. i'm going to china.

who knows what i'll end up eating there !!

so .. i ate the rusty colored orangy chapatis and well. its been 2 days. i'm still alive.

so good. no harm done.

:D

siNs oF tHe oRiEnT

speaking of peanuts, why the heck was i pouring milk INTO my peanut butter jar???!!??

oh wait, did i tell you that story already??

or about how, i was sending pictures of myself in my new clothes, that i shopped for yesterday and i started off, with one pic of me in my old clothes just so i could "baseline" the results???

:O

its very clear.. i'm losing my mind!

i might be going to beijing, but it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

its exciting, but what do you do when the universe makes the process as miserable as possible.
i mean ok, its I***** thats making me as miserable as possible.

sigh.. its a long story and i shall tell u now.

week 1 -
memorial day , a wonderful weekend for fun. family coming to pdx. plans all set. outlook is good.
next week going to india, booked the tickets, outlook is good.

week 2 -
manager comes with plan to go to beijing, says no other dates available.
think of cancelling which on hindsight i should have done.
but think of making superhuman effort and managing both beijing and india trip. really stretching my abilities here..

week 3 -
find out, now i need to cancel memorial day plan too. life sucks.

week 4,5 -
amex quotes 4k for new trip. admin will have coronary if i book it that way.
so do some searching find the best possible deal online and book it off. phew one big prob is solved.

week 6 -
book the hotel instead of reserving it. oops. didn't do enough research and ended up booking a hotel at thrice the price listed.
major ooops :(

week 7 -
find out that transiting through canada on my cheap ticket and need a TRANSIT VISA even if i stay on the darn tarmac. call the super expensive hotel and find out, i need to call china to cancel......
aaaaaaaaaargh......


sigh. ok the weeks may not be really weeks. more like my own timelines. but watever. u get the point.

i ask u one thing. when ARE the good times supposed to start?? shouldnt they have started by this time ??? huh? huh???

oh man, i am sooo living up to my name as the QoD
:(

fAcE oF thE dArK

i have seen the face of the kernel and let me tell you this...

IT'S NOT PRETTY!!

gaaaah. last week was so frustrating.
one side was P the abominable and the other side was V the weak.

let me tell you a story..
there was once a manager called P. and she was a lil.. ok a lot crazy. and then there was her minion V the one with the weak chin.

while one complained of the tyranny of the other, all i wanted to do was learn how to work and get it done. after lying dormant for 4 yrs, finally my workaholic self surfaced and wouldn't take "lets just chuck this and go home" for an answer.
late nights in the office, and many-many-hours-sacrificed-to-the-lab-daemon later...

well the work got done. and the daemon was satisfied.

PHEW. now my head aches and i want to take a week long vacation.

whoa kernel level s/w debugging is hard. REAL hard. the rest of the stuff?? its peanuts!!

*********

wait a sec!! i just won a netbook in an office raffle. that is WIERD man!
i mean i'm normal! i've never won anything!!!

:O

what's happening ???? and why is the universe trying to screw with my head???

*********

was reading pibgorn comics over the weekend. as my love of books is rekindled.. then i feel... i feel like i'm meeting an old friend for coffee and chatting over all the past yrs we've spent apart.

^_^ yaaay!! i shall leave you ppl to do the exciting things like skiing and ... and... skiing. and dancing. leave me to my books and i shall be forever content.

nEw tEcH

i saw the iPad yesterday.

hmmm. i dunno. i'm still iffy about it. i still think its very cool. it was smaller than i expected. the only reason its bigger is coz of the screen size. i dunno how i would carry it around or hold it while standing to read.. i mean almost all the ads show ppl propping it on their laps right?

hmm well i still dunno.. mebe its just coz i expect so much from them. i really wanted to see holographic 3D projector displays this decade :P

now THAT would be cool.

but still right now its really cool to read magazines and comics on the ipad. ( i still think its a stupid name ) i can't wait to think of all the stupid variations that clueless men will come out with.. i mean the other companies, including the one i work for.
like smartpad. i mean "WHAT the Heck!!" can't u guys just pick a better name!!!

dO tHe jiGgY

these days i have a new pastime. ( oh my ADD does come in handy sometime )

its fun to learn something just becoz you want to or can. so i asked my mom what she remembered about my learning dance during childhood.
and she was like - "ummm.... your face was good"

uhhhhhh

"what!!"

"you mean to say i learnt dance, for 8 yrs and thats all that was good in the end??"

"my Face!!"

"i mean COME OOONNNN!! my face is usually just wierd smiling grimace or stoic in such dances. i mean what about the rest , like the hands or the legs.. aaah phooey. "

well A, has started a dance club. i'm like whoa! thats new. what do you guys do out there? and apparently the first class was all about the rules. how only A would put the steps and the rest would show no dissent, and how the rules would not be broken and everyone would be very dedicated....
I was vaguely reminded of high school or was it elementry school, when there would be the couple of popular girls and they would always... i mean ALWAYS start a group. and that group would be soo coool. and everyone wanted to join... yeaaaaahhh.. i think i'm a lil too old for high school again and playing dressup.

anyways its good, but i politely declined. besides its not my thing u know. the organized listening to a leader thing. :P and i know.. i JUST know.. i'd be itching to lead the first mutiny across ranks :D hehe

and A's bf bought a beemer. well!! apparently the red color Z4 which they flew to salt lake to drive back was quite the bargain at 24k.
i'm like... amazed!! he sold his honda civic and bought the beemer. brilliant idea, why didn't i think of it??

and now he has a yamaha bike, a set of skis, an electronic drumkit and a bmw.
lives in a nice independent house , with his gf and best friend.
hey, some ppl live lives, you know what i'm saying? life couldn't get any more perfect. ( touchwood ) and yes i am touching my head to ward of any evil eyes. ( oh reason! so easily defeated by dumb superstition )

bAbiEs mAkE YoU HApPy.

Note to self: Buble, haven't met you yet.

wonderful weather, lotta work, crazy days, beautiful skies, friends getting engaged/ falling in love, having fun, what more can one ask for?

Happy b'day R, and congrats on getting engaged.
congrats S on ur baby.
congrats M&D on ur new baby
congrats A on ur baby.
ufff too much happening around me. makes me feel like burrowiing myself deeper into my cave.

ok so i moved, and ok so it sometimes feels like a cave.
fffffpppffft

huff man this baby shower is going out of hand, ya know. baby showers are not really my thing.
i mean all the baby food tasting games ( uuuurgh ) and a whole afternoon of baby talk and baby stuff. its gonna be a very painful weekend.

sigh. ok. i shall brace myself. take a deep breath and somehow survive this weekend.

caBbaGe HeaDs aNd crAZy tV

have you watched TV lately?

is it me, or has there been a glut of ads showing women how to solve their bloating, gas, constipation, irregularity , etc etc problems.

why is the US suddenly obsessed with the ... uhhh.... regularity of women?? and what the heck are they trying to tell us??
its even more confusing coz it comes directly after an ad for hamburgers.

really?? activa. blah blah beano, and its all for women!! wat exactly are they trying to tell us???

:O

************
this part was supposed to be a full post wall by itself and it would have been called - why does my friend have 3 cabbage heads in his kitchen?
but mebe thats a bit too long. i mean really? why does someone who lives alone, find the need to go out and buy 3 std sized cabbage heads? ( i will not exaggerate, its not super large or anything, just normal sized)
isn't one good enough? this is just cabbage hell.

this is real life true btw. yup yup yup.

************

i am now completely integrated into my team. total intel person, team member. that's me. i look like a sleep deprived crazy person with my hair sticking in all directions.
and looking a little dazed and i'd blink in surprise if you pushed me out of the building into the sunlight.

************

yaaaaaaaaaaawn sleepy day at office.

hArd daYs aNd beST daYs

well heard it on the radio -
the script.
and i kinda like it.



its been a hard couple of days for almost everyone i know.
its been a hard couple of weeks for almost everyone i know.
its been a hard couple of months for almost everyone i know.
ok its been a hard couple of years for everyone i know.
sigh!

well here's to hoping the rest of 2010 isn't as crappy as the first quarter. and really if its just gonna get worse, then i can't take this till 2012!!!
u know... coz the world is just gonna end then.
:D

today even the security guard of my building noticed that i walk with my head down since the yr started. ofcourse its usually work and i'm thinking about how to solve my next thing on my todos or making a mental tally of what i have going on.
but since this is the second time, that someone has asked me to not look like i'm walking the last mile....

i don't really remember having carefree days, i guess i'm just not the kind of person to not have cares. darn cares!!
but then i wasnt the kind of person to be not smiling like a cheerful idiot either.

oh well till then we have music and mebe u should just go carpe the hell out of ur diem.

oh btw a russian guy sent me a rose today.

ok ok only a picture of a rose. but it WAS a nice rose.

***

honest to god, this was an ad on craigslist.


$40.00 OBO This TV stand made me popular, this TV stand changed my life, and I want it to change your life as well. When I got this stand I was a short weak little man... Now I am strong like Moose. Let this stand change your life... Invite it into your life and will will change you, put it down, put your TV on it, and watch the good times come rolling in. It has 3 amazing glass shelves that can hold anything... Like Glitter, DVD's, Hopes, Dreams, Wishes, Stereo Equipment...I will also include with purchase all rights of awesome that may come about due to purchase of this... But I will take no responsibilities for any misuse of it's powers, or ill ju-ju that comes from the purchase, like if your wife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, gardner, pool boy etc... start to love this more than you...

like seriously, wtf??
lol
*****

i have a few questions to my roomie. namely why are there 3 large cabbage heads in the fridge.
like seriously, wtf?? who's gonna eat all that cabbage???

puRrs LiKe a kiTteN

so i got my car serviced today. and after a reallly long time, it actually runs like how it's supposed to. in fact, to use inappropriate metaphors like Dan Brown, it's as smooth as dark soy chocolate milk flowing down your throat on a hot summer day.

ha! u thot i was gonna talk about K purring like a kitten. didn't you?? weeeellllll, i can neither confirm nor deny that rumour, and neither can i confirm nor deny the involvement of a large containment of chocolates that might or might not have exchanged hands for my silence on that matter.
oh ha! you'r not gonna get any info THAT easily.
but yumm these chocolates are deLISH!!

on another note. i DID get my car serviced, my ISP moved over. shifting is well under way. the total cost of me getting bored and moving out of my house is turning into quite a large number
200 to cancel verizon
400 for my car - ok its not really related. but i just like adding large numbers
300 for my tooth - wat exactly does this have to do with me moving again ?
xxx for new bed ?
xxx for new couch ? i wonder what's a good price. should i buy, shouldn't i??
aaaah decisions decisions.

i also signed up for a house on the ground floor. and all those who know my penchant for forgetting to lock doors, close windows.. [ mebe declaring this on a public website and one that's SO widely read isn't such a great idea.... ] wooops.

but i'm excited. finally moving to MY space after ... uuhhh lets see. FOUR years. well that took awhile.
phew!

and finally have a proper kitchen for the first time in my life. [ i don't consider one counter, or a kitchen that i share with other humans, as a proper kitchen. ]
only I shall rule in MY domain. :D
muahahahaha
[ oh that's just something new i've picked up.. my evil laugh. hillarious isn't it?? i know !!]

ok so. i shall set this house in my image [ oooh not pretty ]
and i shall set this kitchen to reflect my food habits [ which means bread, jam and pasta in the pantry? ]
and the living room shall be a sweet haven of comfort [ currently have NO living room furniture except for a floor cushion. ppl who come to my house, be ready to sit on top of each other on the floor cushion. ]
and the bedroom shall soothe even the most tired person who will be lulled to the land of dreams... [ i don't like the thermostat, so its usually freeze-ur-butt-off-cold-ass freezing in my bedroom. ]

so when r u coming home?

hAVe a niCe wOrK daY

things i hear at work on a normal day -

"i'm in the midst of resetting my brain"

"you need to internalize this data and come up with better answers"
< while i'm at it, should i masticate it too? >

"you need to be a go getter"
< no i mean really, what do you want me to do? just tell me wat to do next man >

"we need a home run on this and you should hit the ball out of the ballpark"
< oh good lord in heaven, we've gone to sports metaphors NOW !!! >

LearNinG iT in bABy sTePs

maybe I envy you. you with your smiles and charm and the ability to say the perfect thing. or maybe you even care? i wouldn't know...
I was like that till the mid 2000's. with the usual. "oooh nice outfit", or "ooooh nice wall hangings" or "oooh nice pulao, you cook awesome food".

with the being polite, and the constant lying. all the time, white lies to make ppl feel better. and observing more and more ppl, doing that and getting disillusioned coz it was almost like second nature. it didn't even bother anyone.
a white lie here, a wihte lie in their day and they didnt even give it a second thought. so ingrained in their lives, and nature's that it came out .. all smooth as better and so what if it was just empty words that basically was just sound to fill airwaves??

ENOUGH.

and THAT's when i gave up, turned around, looked them dead in the eye, and said ....
"ugh, i hate coconut. no i wouldn't like to taste those macaroons."
"it doesnt look good on you." and sometimes the "you look ugly in pink"
"WHO made that swan crochet thingy??? its hideous!"

whatever came to my mind.

ofcourse it didn't make me POPULAR.
it made me a social nuisance. coz i wasn't playing the games anymore. all the stupid games ppl play. ofcourse i had awkward moments. and ok i didn't lose my sanity completely, so i didn't say EVERYTHING on my mind.

but i lost that natural ability to be charming and say those lil white lies. now it's natural to me to say the truth. and THAT's dangerous. coz no one wants to hear it. not even me from other ppl.

and since i can't bear to take the responsibility for any of my actions ( :P childish and immature, yes yes ) and yes, maybe its coz my tolerance for stupidity is really decreasing to new lows.... i completely blame this on all the ppl i was hanging out for the last couple of yrs. continuous exposure to fakeness and fake smiles and showing fake concern, i think THAT's wat really snapped my mind.

and suuuuuuure i embarrass myself sometimes. boy!! do i!!
i dunno if i really want to be like you again. i'm not sure i want to go back to uttering those crappy inanities. what i really wish, was i genuinely liked those things or genuinely cared about it.
N was like that, and that's why i used to like him. until he got a gf and she tamed him.
zero social skills. its a surprisingly light way to live. where your not bothered by the layers and layers of complex social skills, that we learn from childhood, so we can be one of the herd.

aargh hate being one of the herd.

but once again, i'm just rambling by now.

so anyways, i'll go back to at least controlling my truths to myself. i mean who really cares if i think ur center pieces are hideous. u didn't ask for my opinion right? and i need to make it an instinct to keep my mouth shut.
and i guess that's the next step. sigh.

so much to learn, so much time to goof up till i do!!

oFfiCe wOeS

poor S. trying to make me watch some show on TV, or read it online in the manga format for the last couple of months...

poor S, doesnt know that constant pestering and insisting i do something doesn't make me more inclined to do it but in fact WOULD make me more inclined to hiss, spit and claw some furniture...

dude, really give it a rest. i'm NOT gonna watch a show that has 400 episodes and has still not finished.

*****
gosh this has been a long week. and only coz i spent last week on stumpleupon; god's gift to procrastination. :P

got my yearly review back from M who as u all have already met is my manager. after the usual complaints, that i shud do this and do that ( less procrastination ) he said one of the main comments he had was my written communication skills were poor.

..
..

< awkward silence >

..
..

< crickets chirping >

..
..

< me staring blankly at him >

really? REALLY? my spoken communication is good? and my written communication is terrible??

sigh... i wonder where i can go to learn some written "formal" english.

ps: the only official stuff i've written in a yr out here is my status reports which goes like this.
today i did this. yest i did that. and the day before i tried this and miserably failed.

*******
i wonder how he can do it. the guy sitting next to me, i mean in the next cubicle.
How he can go from meeting to meeting repeating the same information to different ppl. so much for being a planner. ha! if he had planned it better, he cud have said what he had to say ONCE or put it clearly in an EMAIL in "very proper formal english".

really i might just stab him in the eye one of these days with this fork.right this very fork thats on my desk right here.

aargh, go to a conference room you... you... planner!!

:D

*******
its sunny out today. and seriously! its hard to stay in a foul mood, when its sunny outside. and while i blink slowly and turn towards the sun, like a sunflower, just so i can soak up some rays. i feel a little less like a vampire.

^_^

yaay sunny days are here again. i don't care wat mother nature says, its officially spring in my book and i'm packin away my winter gear!!

wHy sO seRioUs

many ppl , that is really many many ppl asked me many questions about the wedding. one of them was -
"whyyyyy aren't you smiling in any of the reception snaps??????? it's ONLYEEE once in a life time [ well we don't know that, and while chances are that i wouldn't want to go thru THAT again, it cud be arranged.. mebe a second reception !! :O ]! and you'll never get that day again!"

well, the short answer to that is - i was reaaaaaaaaaaaallly tired as the reception was the next day and i didn't have time to recover from the wedding.

the long answer is - i was actually frowning in concentration trying to decide if i was gonna faint, and if i did, the best angle to do that. see, now when skinny ppl faint, they look all airy and dainty and fragile. when .. ahem 'healthy' ppl faint - that too on stage, they look like a sack of burnin hot potatoes.
and then i'd have to field the inevitable questions, and wise ass remarks.
"i hope the stage didn't crack"
"i hope the earth didn't crack"
"did we just have an earth quake?"

haha very funny guys.
yes , so i was calculating many things in my mind. there are lots of logistics to fainting u know.. right side, left side. away from the crazy person who just grabbed my hand to shake it. back at my seat? falling towards K is surely a recipe for falling flat on my face as he seems to be busy shaking random person i dunno #447's hand. hmmm..

so u see, no wonder i wasn't smiling in any of the pics.

iSnoRe

so you saw the announcement. for the first time i actually actively refreshed my pages every few seconds to get the live blogging and live twitter or watever updates. now as a technophobe , i don't generally like dpoing that, but in this instance i reaaally needed to procrastinate in the office and pretend i was working.. but not actually work...

so iPad. hmm.. can't say i really like the name. i mean what was wrong with iSlate? that sounds so cool.. like some transformer robot. but iPad? reminds me of my ahem... crazy days of the month. [ yes yes my period, can we grow up? ]

iPad. iPad.. hmmm.

oh well. it still feels like a mutated iPod. iPad.iPod. egad. its getting worse.
i dunno. after seeing the stuff that i'm working on and knowing a bit about the future of this market. i'm ... hmm.. not really impressed?

i mean its ok? but guess i just have impossible expectations. and this isn't gonna change the world or anything.
its another step. doesn't feel like a major leap like the ipod was.
[ can you spell "w-a-l-k-m-a-n" ??? ]

looks like the kindle is out. boy on behalf of the trees, i thank both the maxiPad ...ooops i mean iPad and the kindle for saving our lives.

ps: and b4 u start screaming at me, yes the title was taken from some random comment i saw online about the iPad announcement. aargh i hate that name!!

keEPinG a sTRaiGht FaCe

After years and years of brooding about marriages, poking fun at relatives ( yes including my mum ) and berating the system. now i'm a part of it.

and i always suspected that after the dooms day, i'd not have much to say.

well just as i supsected , hic, i was right.
i'm all out of.. hic, steam.

that reminds me of things that happened while i was back home..
it wasn't too bad. except for the endless line of instructions on how to sit. what to wear, how to stand, how to walk, what to eat. wat to say and what not to do.
it was a continous tug of war, between my free will to live and ppl who wanted me to be the perfect bride. a bridezilla.
yup the perfect bride is a bridezilla.

so i was supposed to take a head bath everyday in under 10 min and tie my wet hair up... to get a headache and ...[ hey! i paid close to half a grand for my awesome hairstyle. u show me the money, before i let u anywhere close to it... ]. but anyways i did.
so i was supposed to wear a bindi, wear bangles, wear a heavy chain and basically be a walking temptation to all thieves. so i did.
so i was supposed to be happy 24x7 even with ppl telling me that my husband would now be my god, and i depended on him for realizing my happiness. [ ok i did not/ could not do that, but i didn't hit them on the head either... so i think i'm even steven ]
so i was supposed to wear sari's every day. well.. ok. i did. but then they were like.. OMG, we can see ur stomach. HELLOoooo its like.. a sari??? and itz umm like HOT?? like a 100 degrees in here.. and helooo its my stomach. even u have a stomach. why the heck are you freaking out ??? heyy.. no touching me.. all hands off...you know shows less skin??? SALWARS or bloomin shirts and trousers... >_<... HEYY i SAID hands off of me!!!



so i was supposed to do this and do that.. and if not, the wrath of hellfire on my head. well mostly the wrath of this ONE aunt of mine.
and after everything was done.
"where's the flowers"
"what flowers"
"you are a bride to be. u gotta have half a kilo of flowers on ur head everyday"
so i did.

and after 3 years of living on my own, on basically being this social outcast and not caring wat ppl said i did and doing my own thing, i found it REEEEAAALLY hard to listen with a straight face and not smacking someone. so i HAVE to thank L, for being there so i cud vent to her. and for being my maid of honor kinds and letting me blow off some steam.

and so i walked around advising my younger cousin sisters to elope and generally trying to create other kinds of mayhem by not combing my hair like they wanted me to.. [ yaaa i'm a rebel, i refuse to plait my hair.. jeez man. haha u can't catch me.. ha! i refuse to eat rice.. i'll starve but won't give in. oh its the little things that make life worth living ]

but otherwise it was good.
note to self: never EVER get married again. or next time, just elope.

sWimmiNG wiTh tHe riGht cOmpANy

i don't understand twitter. i understand wanting to follow some famous personality through their day. yup i'd be interested to know wat AA had for breakfast and if i could have the exact same thing and feel good about myself.

ya riiiiight.

so anyways i kind of fried my computer yest. it started off with a virus ( i think ) or internet explorer. one of the 2. and i tried to fix it by installing something called bit defender. but after that my computer did like... nothing for an hour.. so then i tried to delete symantic.. and a bunch of other stuff. and my computer .. like crashed a couple of times... there was some ... swearing and some ppl got a lil upset ( me )
and finally i ended up doing something after which my desktop does not show up. neither does the taskbar or the quick launch. and then i tried somethign and now i think i deleted the network drivers.

what i REALLY think happened is that symantic and bit defender were having all out war and they fried my computer from the inside. had nothing to do with me going and removing files willy nilly.
oh no no no , not at all.

anyways its a good excuse for me to get ubuntu on my comp.



note to self: swimming with dolphins, sillhoutte. i just like the name of the group coz i want to swim with dolphins too.

sALtY sHorEs

note to self : saltwater room, owl city
nice lyrics.

saw a movie yest. ok i admit it i'm like REALLY behind on my movies.
luck by chance. interesting. its nice to see such movies if only for the fact that they're experimenting. and they found a realistic way of introducing songs into the movie, other than the usual dreaming sequence and sudden cuts away from the story line.

right now i'm thinking that i'm glad i haven't gotten into the habit of calling K , hubby. the word is too close to chubby and dubby. and really.. why wud u put someone u actually like through the embarrassment of being called "Hubby" in public?

i'm thinking i'm also glad that i don't call him "pooh bear"....
seems to be there's a lot i can be thankful for.. and it looks like K has even MORE to be thankful for.
;P

NeW wiSHes aRe ThE sAme WisHeS

yes yes i know i'm supposed to be wishing you a happy new yr.

i'm supposed to be doing a lot of other stuff too. like writing my '10 goals and writing this driver software thingy so that the other thingy works.

and i'm supposed to be finding some stuff i really really want, online. like a second hand guitar. < hint hint to anyone who wants to buy me a second hand guitar, here is my address... oh shush u know you'd like free stuff too >

but i don't want to specifically wish you a happy new yr. thats kind of like saying i wish all the ppl i don't know an especially crappy new yr. i mean why can't i just say, i wish the whole world a happy new yr and go back to sleep? makes it a lot simpler doesn't it.

pffft OFCOURSE i'm rambling coz i'm trying to find a way to kill time at work, after i'm done for the day.
get back to watever ur supposed to be doing willya?

oh and i guess i wish you an ecstatic new yr [ just cz u read till here :P ]

i HavE sToPpeD pOsTinG foR tHe paST seVEraL weEkS

laments a true fan....

true true. and while anything i say will just sound like a soppy bunch of excuses [ bunch of soppy excuses? ] , it IS true that the weather has been very very dreary, and i seem to be competing with local bears on how much more sleep time i can clock this winter ( 15 16 14 15.5 hours this last 4 days ).
Even actually managed to weather some pounding on the door from concerned roommate, several calls from ppl wanting to know wat i'm up to [ i'm SLEEPING. now go away ] and missed mealtimes. if that doesn't make me an hororary Oregonian bear, i don't know what will.

meanwhile on the topic of the climate, we have blah.. and just more blah heading towards us for the next 4 months. i toy with the idea of going to the coast to storm watch, even toy with the idea of setting off towards the west till i hit the coast and just throwing myself over [ for the sheer heck of it ].

on the wedding front. like i said last time , a whole bunch of ppl asking me how the wedding was. [ seriously? i've just blocked it from my mind as a traumatic experience. ]
i also made myself highly unpopular by grabbing hold of passing by younger cousins , looking at them with a crazed look in my eye and screaming at them "when its ur turn, for the Love of GOD, ELOPE. run like the wind when they come for you!!! aargh" this was right before they dragged me through another long and leg cramping ritual.

i also did my best to whine, sulk and in-general make my husband's life miserable during the process. just as a precursor to how his life wud be for the next 50 yrs... [ hey u drag me through 40 districts to various places in 2 weeks, i'll just return the favor and make it as unpleasant a journey as possible ]
so we have one month down and 49 years 11 months more of annoying-my-husband-out-of-his-wits-days to go. yaaay!!

aaah marriage... fun....

well so back to the India trip. i didn't keep notes and everything is now just a hazy blur... so i can't tell for sure.. but ofcourse there was drama. ofcourse there was an epic journey leaving tirumala, hours before a total Andhra meltdown, being sick ON that journey and being very filmy about it. and ofcourse there was suspense and comedy and drama and some women got all senti and cried in the wedding. [ i've heard women do that. get emotional i mean ] and ofcourse i almost cried too [ when they removed my headgear, i cud have wept for joy at the sheer relief of it ]

and ofcourse there are pics. and more pics and gifts and wierd pranks that cousins tried to play on us, and flopped unfortunately. [ for them i mean. i mean whoever heard of talcum powder over a fan. that thing disappeared like fairy dust dood ]

then there was the journey back. which was like some purgatory punishment from God, for HE knows wat reason. we stayed back in the darn airport for 24 hrs , i'm sorry am i repeating myself? well watever we got back.

and then i slept for a week and got up 8 days later.

ooooh i never told you bout my crazy uncle's one who dressed up as a very good looking transvestite and the other in a burkha and came to the wedding reception and freaked quite some ppl out. now we know where the crazy gene's come from.
that was fun!

tHe gReAT iNdiAn weDdiNg

well its almost done. i can see the finishing line. and as the dust of the past few days settles, i look back at amazement at all the travelling/ eating/ meeting and greeting that i've done.

and yes, i've been getting the questions, how is married life. when is the wedding ( its been 10 days AFTER the wedding ) , how is it being happily-married, how is s*x, how is... the great indian tradition of asking questions. of asking wierd questions, embarrassing questions, of funny , mundane, leading questions.

and the great indian tradition of eating. eating eating eating, feeding and eating.

well the wedding was good. chaos as only i cud make it. i was confused & dazed as only i cud be.
and mebe i surprised more ppl than u or i cud count, bout how disinterested i was in some aspects of the wedding. like the eating part. and the dressing up in 3 kgs of gold for a week after the wedding part.

but i'm just being a whiner. it wasnt all that bad. i'm sure there were plenty of fun moments... umm... gimme a min while i try to rem.
:P

oh ya. there are stories, and a good lot of posts after today are gonna be updates on the stories. and mebe i shud start at the very beginning so i dont miss stuff. but then i suspect my true nature is gonna takeover and its gonna be a hodgepodge mix anyways..

but trust me. the stories when they're finally out... they're gud ;P

dOiNG iT riGhT

they shudnt have put me in charge. i mean i really am not the best person to be doing this.. but ya... ur right.. it IS my wedding...

but wat can u do, when ppl tell u so sorrowfully that they can't make it.
heyy, dude its totally ok. i mean have you ever attended one of our weddings. can you SPELL B-O-R-I-N-G??

well if ur coming u better come with ur posse....thats the only way u'd ever have any fun. and also that cask of blue gin rum watever.
now even though I know everyone there, I'M reconsidering attending. shhhhhhhh don't tell the groom.

but ya. so here it is. it's my wedding. yaaay. ^_^ and i'm inviting ppl. friends. yada yada yada. and some of them really can't come, u know.. and i started turning into a classic bridezilla and sulking, but then i think to myself.... come ON. this person doesnt even KNOW anyone else in the wedding party. they will be SO TOTALLY bored. so mebe we shud have this las vegas party thing after all.. but then half my friends are teetotallers.. gaaah

lets think about it next yr.

here. i'm getting married on dec 2. see if u can make it. and if not, i'll see u around?

tHe fATs iN tHe fiRe

well... ahem... yeah.


yeah... u probably already heard.

hmm well ... i meant to tell you. i mean i thot i did. didn't i??

yeah i know i know i've been very tardy.. and really busy.. no no i havent been blogging someplace else. i mean i cud hardly betray u that way, cud i? wat do u take me for??
yeah i know i haven't been around. but i promise, its all gonna be different now!!

well anyways, here's what i've been working on, all this while.... and really!! u gotta believe me, when i say it took me 2 months to recover from the brain damage caused by someone visiting me.. staying with me... driving me literally up the walls....
:P

but see here!! what i got!!
the most exciting link of em all !!
New and exciting info

so consider urself invited. and mebe we've never met. and as long as u promise to play nicely, with the rest of the ppl there, u can come too ^_^

yaay. it feels good to be back!!

iF yOu haVEn'T heArD

so...
watsup..

looks like my creative spell has passed. u noticed it too???
ever since a certain someone landed on this continent say.. oh i dunno.. like 1.5 months ago???
i haven't been writing so much??

coz u know..office has been busy. and at home, then certain ppl insist on reading this and then u know... uhhhh.. like THAT's not happening... not like when i'm still alive .. and kicking... i mean its not like i'm 7 again and i write on the first page of my journal.. my personal journal mind you.. that 'WHOEVER READS THIS IS A DOG'
and yet ... this certain someone [ how pesky ] person will read it. and since i knew that this someone would read it, i spent the next 40 pages writing how bad this person was and how much like a witch in wizard of Oz and cruella from the little mermaid cartoon.. and so on.. but its not like those days u know..
and this time i got passwords and stuff... to protect myself :D

but other than that, uve noticed it too?? huh. the lack of posts these couple of months? well partly its coz its summer. and partly its coz i've been running around a lot.

ooooh did i tell you how awesome crater lake was??? ooooh it was AWESOME.
and so was the top of multnomah falls. u shud def go there if ur ever in this part of town!!

For that hour after lunch when you're sleepy and bored

oh buck up. winter is almost here. and the blog will be up and running full speed again very soon, when this certain someone leaves on the ... well lets just say very soon. and soon the insanity that is the wedding will start.. and soon you'll end up hearing all about how i have to wear freaky head gear on a day that now looks to be not a day for me at all.....

oh btw reminder to self. gotta give an Ankur 3 min talk tomoro. at this fund raiser.

LosiNG yOuRseLf

i'll admit. i've lost a lot of things. phones, watches, spectacles, myself.
now dang it. i've gone and done it. i've lost my mother.

well so here's the thing. we were supposed to go on a walk see?
and she wanted to walk slow. meander almost and i wanted to test my new awesome seinheiser headphones. see?
and so we agreed. we agreed that in some time i'd meet her near this bench.
and we went in opp directions.

and an hour later, i come back and ofcourse she's not there. and i'm like yeah... i'll just wait here and she'll be along any second. and yet she's not here. so i think.. hmm mebe if i follow the path she took, i'll find her. and i go.. and i keep going and i complete her mile and by now i'm exhausted and i'm thinking to myself. gosh i know, just know where she is, she's gone back home and its getting dark and i daren't go back without her.. and i wonder if i should be calling 911... hmmm and i wonder if she's lost and wandering around by herself..hey wait isn't that her out there?? coming from my house???
i KNEW IT. she HAD gone home and was EATING HER DINNER!!

and i've been wandering around for the last 45 minutes searching for her !!
:O

tO LiSten iS sAcriLedGe

some ppl just don't know how to keep secrets. now wait. that's a bit harsh.... i mean they don't know how to shut up... i mean.. ok here's wat i really mean.

so its a sad sad day when i got to listen to ... ahem ... tips from my mother on how to spice my ... ahem ... life. and yet thats precisely wat she insists on doing!!
:O

and if THAT isn't bad enough, now i gotta listen to hearsay bout the lovey dovey phone conversations, my neighbor's daughter has with her fiance. apparently i need to learn a lot!! :O
now i don't understand how my mom even KNOWS wat that girl talks with her fiance. lets call him F.

so S talks with F and comes and tells her mom everything. and i mean EVERYTHING. and this mom picks and choses the less racy stuff and tells my mother. who finds it hilarious to share it with ME and watch my face slowly turn an interesting shade of puce or purple, depending on the time of the day.

"oh haha, do you know wat S says to her F everyday? u shud do the same... let me give you a few tips on what you should be doing ..."

me: " oh good lord. heavens above. my ears. my poor ears. they're gonna explode. what have i done to deserve this? to listen to such stuff from my own mother..." [ me getting a lil over dramatic, hoping she'll stop. nope. no such luck ]

"oh u HAve to listen to this. apparenlty he's even suggesting that they elope! can u imagine. he must have got the itch" < her laughing hysterically at my expression >

me: "aaaaaargh my poor ears. my pooor brain."

"ohhh haha, see the moon. its so nice. do you feel romantic coz of the moon. u shud call him up and talk romantic stuff. do u already do that? wat do u say? why don't u tell me, i'll tell u if ur doing it right"

"!!??? are.... u......sputter..... sputter..... INSANE!! leave me alone. that's the last thing i need. a bunch of middle aged women in mlore, sitting around and discussing they're daughter's love lives and the conversations they have with theire fiances or husbands or anything!!!"
[ aaaaaaargh i need my noise isolation headphones ... like 10 minutes ag... aaaah blessed silence ]

i look at her , she's still saying something. but now these headphones are great!!! mebe i can like permanently fix them to my brain or something. i smile at her. nod show her a thumbs up and walk away. whistling merrily.

man! i shud have thought of this sooner !!!

ps: S. STOP TELLING UR MOM EVERY DARN THING U TALK ON THE PHONE WITH UR F. are u crazy!!! have some pride girl. really. the rest if us have zero interest in listening to ur coochie cooing. ugh.

gRumBLing BeE

aaha !! did you know??

at a rate of 1 drop per second, a leaking faucet wastes bout 900 gallons per year.
now extrapolate that information to calculate exactly how much I'M LEAKING.

i'm leaking at the rate of ... 9 litres per day !!
:O

ok ok.. i'm not gonna be leaking ALL day.. pffft. but still... i think i'm entitled to feel sorry for myself ... sniff...

anyways..
after 3 days of ... wait a WEEK of feeling like crap. and after the horrible escapade of the mad b'day bash.. and after sleeping for 26 hours straight all of yest. i finally feel... remotely that is....... human.
hey hey HEY. i know i know. i'm NOT human. we all got THAT part.

but i feel human. isn't that enough?? can't you give me that much also???

got a busy couple of weekends ahead... yes yes
wildwood park was gr8. amazing. the water was freezing cold. yes yes. the person who said the water wud be too cold. foudn that the water was too cold. the person who said naah the water will be fine, stripped and got in and had the time of they're lives.

apparently attitude is everything. and u pretty much decide how much of a wuss u wanna be in life. also apparently all humans are annoying pests.

esp when u've all left for the picnic. everyone is on they're way to wildwood recreation site, welches OR, 2 hours behind schedule and you get this call from the other car, with an annoying pest telling you "heyy are you sure bout where we're going?? aren't we supposed to go to SALEM?? are you sure we [ meaning me ] booked it in the right place???
and then you can spend the next happy hour freaking out.. that mebe you've just booked one spot and paid 60 friggin dollars to boot and then ur taking 20 people to another county !!!

ooh ya. happy days aren't they.

finally turned out , i had booked the right spot and was taking everyone to the right spot. why she thought we were supposed to go to the county in the opp direction is beyond me. why she decided to screw my happiness all of sat, is also currently beyond me.
and why some ppl who are the fussiest and most difficult to please insist that you make their plans and then proceed to happily change everything.. is sooooooooooooooo effing beyond me... it makes my eyes bleed.

right.
right. need to calm down. stress is doing my leaking no good.

neither is ending up with 12 green bell peppers and 6 colored bell peppers.
will someone please tell me WAT THE *&%&!@ i'm supposed to do with 12 large bell peppers, 15 large tomatoes and an entire lettuce head and WAT in the good lord's name was i THINKING when i got so many???

i hate b'days.

i hate humans.

i hate humans who have b'days



ps: weather was gorgeous. forest was gorgeous. if not for the weather and eternal cooking, even the trip wud have been gorgeous.

pRepARatiON mArAthoN

so guess what. we're having an INTERNATIONAL air show. in hillsboro, OR.

dude.. its INTERNATIONAL man... how AWESOME is that !!
>_<

this 2 cent doo hicky town is having this amazingly awesome show :P

I LOVE IT. i'm soooo buying the tickets. actually i can just sit in my office and see it... how cool is THAT !!!

so we're having this BBQ picnic, tomorrow. booked this place and all.. woodland... wooops i mean wildwood picnic/recreation site. one thing is i hope ppl turn up.
another thing is i hope we have fun. another thing is i hope the weather is awesome!

and yet another thing being.... phew too many things.

man my manager is gassing too much man. i kid u not.. wats with all the phrases.. like u need to step up. hit a home run. i mean really wats with all the sports metaphors???
ok ok to be fair to him, ive hardly been working hard. [ just coz i haven't been blogging so often recently... dood i got other things on my mind dood ]
and just coz ive been catching up on my comics collection...
dood.
yeah.. sigh.. i need to work a wee bit mroe..



here's to gr8 weather tomorrow... hic ... tomorrow.

oNe of THosE daYs

if you've been wondering why i've not been blogging... well don't. wonder.
just be thankful you've been spared me ranting and raving about those blooming idiotic moron.. "friends" i have around me.

well hi. yes. yes. am all glad to see you too.


hufff. yes i'm annoyed. and if you were in front of me, i'd bonk you on the head. why? juzt COZ i NEED to bonk someone.

so i went on 2 hikes so far. aaha !! didn't know that did ya? and i went running... ok ok walking [ who am i kidding? ] a couple of times.. last days of summer. gotta catch those last rays of sunshine.

other than that its just A and her gang who've been driving me up the wall. and then the PMS. yes. mother nature is visiting me. and boy do i wanna kick her in the behind. ok she's not yet visiting. she just sent her calling card. oh btw my mum is back this friday. from cali. yes. 14 subway sandwhiches and 2 weeks later i'm ready to have her back and eat awesome idlis. [ obv i'm exaggerating doofus. or... mebe not ] its unfortunate. how the palate gets used to this crappy food and ur going along happy in ur life thinking. oh wow this canteen food is gr8. this sandwhich or this brown rice with stuffed chille is gr8. but then u eat 2 weeks of home cooked meals and then ur like. oh crud this tastes like a horses behind. [ its called a METAPHOR .... or mebe not ]

so a few days ago. A tells me. she , her bf P and H are planning to move downtown so i gotta make some plans about where i'll stay. yes!! finally!! am rid of the crazy energizer bunnies.. ok so by itself this is a gr8 plan. but wait. they wanna go there only for a month. so that they can try it out and see how they like it.

exactly. huh?

and then they're gonna come back and move into a 3 bhk in the suburbs and since i'll be leaving to india anyways in a month after that. [ nov 19th btw which is another madness... ] then i gotta move in with em to save on rent.. and then after i'm married and back in hillsboro i can find a place on my own.

huh?

riiiight. and meanwhile. ive been the personal maid of 2 spoilt kids who refuse to clean up after themselves or throw the trash or vaccum the house.. so ur saying i shud move in with one more like u and become wat? unpaid nanny of the century no wait, this eon??
riiiiight.

uh uh.

then ofcourse its my mum's b'day this week. and since she's obv gonna wait for some insane party, am thinking.. well lets have a picnic. u know. thats not too hard to arrange. i can do it. this is easy. and i'm in my own lil world. la di da searching for parks , right? and stuff. and looking around and am thinking no big deal. if we don't find any place. we just gotta go to the library park and have some fun out there... right. a whole bunch of ppl. some cake. some games. will be good.

and then i get this ping from H or someone i can't rem and this person says, since its the last days of summer S wants to go camping.. so is that ok... and am like.. ok.. am not sure who that person is, but i think my mom will like to camp.. i think so.. so u tell me where we're going and i guess i'll just get a cake and rest of party stuff out there.

and ofcourse the most logical thing happens the next day.

K. not my K , another K pings me and starts asking me about the details of the camp and where it is and if he can get someone else along.

I KNOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
WTF.

here i am not even sure who S is.. and wondering if i'm invited to that camp and then, out of the blue i'm the sucker who's arranging the whole circus.
WAT ARE U GUYS??? ALIEN FREAKS. no wait. i'm the alien. ur the HUMAN FREAKS.


aaaaaaaaargh. my poor head will explode. how did it turn from a 2-3 hour picnic into this whole 3 day FEST in another state?????????

aaaaaaaaargh. i just feel like kicking someone. hard.

>_<

STOP LAUGHING WILLYA??? ITS NOT IN THE LEAST FUNNY. HUFF!

eLaboRate iS a wHoLe diFf wOrd hErE

A. my roomie. had her b'day yesterday

so we rented the club house of one of the appt complexes
and we had a bollywood bash night
and everyone came dressed up in ghaghras and cool clothes and stuff
and we had music
and a fog machine
and colored lights
and the smoke alarm went off
and the firefighters came
but before that we had her blindfolded and got her there
and cut the cake
and everyone danced
and my mom and kaushik's mom danced
and we ate pizzas and stuff
then party was over and we cleaned up
but the firefighters came and we had to switch off the fog machine and they left after making sure
everyone was ok.

then we went to the friends place who lived there in that appt
wait not over yet
and then while everyone was having the rest of the pizzas
and wine
oooh we had plastic wine glasses and wine
and while everyone was eating
i went back home
and set up another cake for midnight which A's bf had got
and then ppl left from S's place and came to our place
and he got her in the end
and S had to make it before P [ A's bf ] even though she had to leave after him !!
and she did
and we waited and when A walked in
there was another cake for midnight and some gifts which i wrapped 3.45 minutes before
and we cut that cake
and the whole of next day she got gifts all day long in installments
and the next day when she reached office
H had decorated her cube with 100 flowers and balloons
and a soft toy
and then i went to drop my mom at the airport in the evening [ cali trip ] and when i got back
we all wore nice clothes and went for dinner
but all places were closed
so we reached exactly 10 minutes late to 2 places and cudnt get seated
and went to a 3rd place
and there wasnt much as the kitchen was closing
but we ate some awesome appetizers
and filled our stomach
and came home
and collapsed in a heap
and so i was late to office today


phew