So I haven't posted on this blog since May, although I've been posting like crazy on the Hyderabad blog. I just wanted to say that although the title of the previous post, 'return of the summer friend', may still hold true, my life has gotten much more enjoyable since that point. I've become really great friends with quite a few people here, and I'm going to miss them quite a bit when I leave. I hope that I can control my usual tendency to implode my friendships, since I'd like to keep in touch and see them in non-work contexts when we are all back in California. We shall see, shan't we? I'm only posting this because it now makes me sad/amused that a few months ago, I was sure that nothing crazy or fun would happen because my coworkers were too grown up. Either I was wrong about them, or my tendency toward insanity rubbed off on them--but either way, you can't pretend that the scavenger hunt or the trip to Hampi was anything but awesomely outrageous.
I don't know what's going to become of this blog when I come back from India; maybe I should start an entirely new one, but this one has a significant amount of my past on it. We shall see. Feel free to suggest new blog names--but don't expect more posts in this one until I get back to the States.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Friday, May 06, 2005
the return of the summer friend
I had a stunning realization tonight as I was taking out my contacts--I'm making summer friends! It was quite appropriate, since taking my contacts out was almost like having the scales fall from my eyes. India is the perfect place for summer friends--it's blistering hot outside, all the expats are living together in apartments (which is almost like living in dorms), we have a very isolated community that does not communicate with members outside the expat group or the Hyderabad office, and we do most things together. It has all the classic ingredients for summer friends, since we're being brought together by a unique experience in an isolated location, in a way that has never happened before and will never happen again.
For those of you who don't know what summer friends are, I shall explain one more time--they're those friends you make during a brief but intense experience, such as summer camp, that are so close to you at the time but drift away almost immediately after everyone leaves the camp and has a chance to interact with the outside world again. It doesn't diminish the enjoyment that you can have with your summer friends during the summer; but as soon as fall comes, the bloom withers, so to speak, and everyone returns to their previous selves.
I had a really fun time at dinner tonight; it was just me, Heather and Lauren, and we had a really good, relaxed conversation. Just like almost every other expat here, I really liked and admired both of them in Mountain View, but we never spent any time together outside of work. Now, thrust into an unfamiliar country, with little to do outside of work, we're becoming friends. However, having steeled myself for the eventual cruel death of summer friendships, I can enjoy getting to know the people here without feeling that awful uncertainty about whether or not the friendship will continue when we're not in the same location. I mean, to be quite honest, my current group of friends back home is enough to scare off all but the most tenacious of summer friends...and the tenacious summer friends usually aren't summer friends anymore by the time they meet the rest of my circle.
So, we shall see. I'm slowly prepping them to accept my insanity, since I feel kinda dead inside because I don't have any outlet for my imagination. The best way to prep is to work my flair for the absurd into the conversation. For instance, apparently the apartment where dinner is served (also the apartment where Heather and Lauren live) has a mouse problem. This is surprising, since the entire freaking thing seems to be made out of marble, but whatever. So Shankar, one of the houseboys or whatever, saw one and leapt up like a cat to try to catch it. He failed, but I had just been telling them about how once our cat back home got stuck under the house and ended up being found, covered in cobwebs, behind the little door in the bathroom through which the pipes are accessed. When one of them said that Shankar was like a cat, I said that I could now picture Shankar being found in the bathroom covered in cobwebs. It was not my best imagining, not by any means (see: Pyro/Gyro, Dec. '03 - present), but it's setting the background for the day that I finally flip out and turn completely weird on them.
It needs to happen soon, because I feel like my personality is dying. I'm too nice to people 98% of the time, and usually I use my caustic, sarcastic comments the other 2% of the time as a safety valve...but I'm not getting that safety valve here. It'll be great if my brain rewires itself to avoid the pain of knowing that I'm not as fun and creative as normal, and then I come back to California with a self-performed lobotomy. Alternatively, I may just grow up too much while I'm here, although I sincerely hope not.
FYI I've posted a lot on the Hyderabad blog, you should check it out. Goodnight everyone!
For those of you who don't know what summer friends are, I shall explain one more time--they're those friends you make during a brief but intense experience, such as summer camp, that are so close to you at the time but drift away almost immediately after everyone leaves the camp and has a chance to interact with the outside world again. It doesn't diminish the enjoyment that you can have with your summer friends during the summer; but as soon as fall comes, the bloom withers, so to speak, and everyone returns to their previous selves.
I had a really fun time at dinner tonight; it was just me, Heather and Lauren, and we had a really good, relaxed conversation. Just like almost every other expat here, I really liked and admired both of them in Mountain View, but we never spent any time together outside of work. Now, thrust into an unfamiliar country, with little to do outside of work, we're becoming friends. However, having steeled myself for the eventual cruel death of summer friendships, I can enjoy getting to know the people here without feeling that awful uncertainty about whether or not the friendship will continue when we're not in the same location. I mean, to be quite honest, my current group of friends back home is enough to scare off all but the most tenacious of summer friends...and the tenacious summer friends usually aren't summer friends anymore by the time they meet the rest of my circle.
So, we shall see. I'm slowly prepping them to accept my insanity, since I feel kinda dead inside because I don't have any outlet for my imagination. The best way to prep is to work my flair for the absurd into the conversation. For instance, apparently the apartment where dinner is served (also the apartment where Heather and Lauren live) has a mouse problem. This is surprising, since the entire freaking thing seems to be made out of marble, but whatever. So Shankar, one of the houseboys or whatever, saw one and leapt up like a cat to try to catch it. He failed, but I had just been telling them about how once our cat back home got stuck under the house and ended up being found, covered in cobwebs, behind the little door in the bathroom through which the pipes are accessed. When one of them said that Shankar was like a cat, I said that I could now picture Shankar being found in the bathroom covered in cobwebs. It was not my best imagining, not by any means (see: Pyro/Gyro, Dec. '03 - present), but it's setting the background for the day that I finally flip out and turn completely weird on them.
It needs to happen soon, because I feel like my personality is dying. I'm too nice to people 98% of the time, and usually I use my caustic, sarcastic comments the other 2% of the time as a safety valve...but I'm not getting that safety valve here. It'll be great if my brain rewires itself to avoid the pain of knowing that I'm not as fun and creative as normal, and then I come back to California with a self-performed lobotomy. Alternatively, I may just grow up too much while I'm here, although I sincerely hope not.
FYI I've posted a lot on the Hyderabad blog, you should check it out. Goodnight everyone!
Monday, May 02, 2005
merman!
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1373992.html?menu=news.quirkies
He doesn't sound as hot as Zoolander, but I'm still ecstatic. Trust the Russians to come up with some crazy shit.
He doesn't sound as hot as Zoolander, but I'm still ecstatic. Trust the Russians to come up with some crazy shit.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
i hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record
It's really late (1:42am) here, and I should go to bed soon, but I just wanted to say that it's hard to be someplace where I can't be as crazy as I have gotten used to being. Perhaps I'll reach that comfort level at some point in the near future...or perhaps I'll just snap and reach it regardless of my coworkers' ability to handle it...but let's just say that at this moment in time, I don't see myself developing such a strong relationship with anyone here that I can be brought to tears (of laughter) over the thought of the loch ness monster being able to animate a body of water so that he can use it as a vehicle to transport himself to the US and kill Tammy. If that didn't make any sense to you, don't worry, it apparently didn't make sense to anyone I was talking to the first time I brought it up either. Ah well, perhaps that's just as well.
But still, it's not like I'm having to bite my tongue to keep this stuff in; it just doesn't even start to grow, because there isn't fertile soil for such imaginings, and so they're all being stunted for lack of coconspirators. Sometimes I do think of random things and smile, but I'm kind of more shy than people think I am, and so it will be awhile before I feel really comfortable with my coworkers. And it will be way, way beyond comfortable before I'll tell them about Pyro and Gyro, or Thai prostitutes and blowguns, or any of the other myriad things that have formed the fabric of my life.
I will share one thing with all y'all, however. Today, I was looking out the window of the car (having a driver is weird, I'll write about it more at another time), and I saw a billboard with the Greek letter mu on it. Now, if we were to write out the pronunciation of 'mu' in English, it would be 'myu'...but on the billboard, it was written 'mju'. I thought that this was hysterical, because Vidya often says 'jou' and 'jes' instead of 'you' and 'yes' in IM conversations (although she actually pronounces them w/a j when the fancy strikes her in speaking as well). However, even writing it now for a bunch of people who don't know the in-reference behind it, it sounds lame--and I figured that the driver (Fazil...still no Habib) would appreciate it even less. But I thought it was funny, dammit! And I will go to my grave thinking it, and a million other things, were funny, even if no one else gets or wants to get the joke.
But if being a grownup means that you end up spending all your time with people who don't encourage ridiculousness, I want to stay young forever. Alternatively, I'll make friends with people who are increasingly younger than me, so that by the time I'm in my forties I can be some weirdo taking community college classes w/the sole goal of meeting students in their early twenties. Too bad it's not the 1920s and I can't form a brilliant literary salon in Paris, attracting scores of bright young things to discuss any manner of scandalous, artistically dubious subjects.
Growing old and the end of all fun for me will apparently be marked by Hitler, in the form of all my friends' marriages, invading my salon and getting an endless series of wedding pictures taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. Now there's an entertaining image...the tyranny of adulthood and sobriety clamping down on my fun salon, isolating the individual and destroying the community in the method of all great totalitarian states, with the guise of 'improving' life through discipline, rigor, and the gilded safety net cage of marriage...and at the end I can take all the wedding pictures, recolor them, and turn them into one of those composite pictures where all the small pictures form one large picture...and the large picture can be Hitler in Paris. Ha!
Okay, I feel slightly better--I may be boring for the next six months, but my imagination will still be there. Maybe it will even flower more prolifically when I get back, like grapevines after a severe pruning.
Oh, and I've been writing like crazy in the Hyderabad blog, so all promises about letting you know here are out the window; if you're too lazy to check it, that's your loss.
But still, it's not like I'm having to bite my tongue to keep this stuff in; it just doesn't even start to grow, because there isn't fertile soil for such imaginings, and so they're all being stunted for lack of coconspirators. Sometimes I do think of random things and smile, but I'm kind of more shy than people think I am, and so it will be awhile before I feel really comfortable with my coworkers. And it will be way, way beyond comfortable before I'll tell them about Pyro and Gyro, or Thai prostitutes and blowguns, or any of the other myriad things that have formed the fabric of my life.
I will share one thing with all y'all, however. Today, I was looking out the window of the car (having a driver is weird, I'll write about it more at another time), and I saw a billboard with the Greek letter mu on it. Now, if we were to write out the pronunciation of 'mu' in English, it would be 'myu'...but on the billboard, it was written 'mju'. I thought that this was hysterical, because Vidya often says 'jou' and 'jes' instead of 'you' and 'yes' in IM conversations (although she actually pronounces them w/a j when the fancy strikes her in speaking as well). However, even writing it now for a bunch of people who don't know the in-reference behind it, it sounds lame--and I figured that the driver (Fazil...still no Habib) would appreciate it even less. But I thought it was funny, dammit! And I will go to my grave thinking it, and a million other things, were funny, even if no one else gets or wants to get the joke.
But if being a grownup means that you end up spending all your time with people who don't encourage ridiculousness, I want to stay young forever. Alternatively, I'll make friends with people who are increasingly younger than me, so that by the time I'm in my forties I can be some weirdo taking community college classes w/the sole goal of meeting students in their early twenties. Too bad it's not the 1920s and I can't form a brilliant literary salon in Paris, attracting scores of bright young things to discuss any manner of scandalous, artistically dubious subjects.
Growing old and the end of all fun for me will apparently be marked by Hitler, in the form of all my friends' marriages, invading my salon and getting an endless series of wedding pictures taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. Now there's an entertaining image...the tyranny of adulthood and sobriety clamping down on my fun salon, isolating the individual and destroying the community in the method of all great totalitarian states, with the guise of 'improving' life through discipline, rigor, and the gilded safety net cage of marriage...and at the end I can take all the wedding pictures, recolor them, and turn them into one of those composite pictures where all the small pictures form one large picture...and the large picture can be Hitler in Paris. Ha!
Okay, I feel slightly better--I may be boring for the next six months, but my imagination will still be there. Maybe it will even flower more prolifically when I get back, like grapevines after a severe pruning.
Oh, and I've been writing like crazy in the Hyderabad blog, so all promises about letting you know here are out the window; if you're too lazy to check it, that's your loss.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
let's make a deal
I've heard from a couple of people that they believe that checking two blogs is too time-consuming, when they could just check one. Please be assured that I feel your pain. However, the reason that the other blog exists is because I want to be able to tell my coworkers about my travels, but I do not want all of them to see my particularly ridiculous side. So, this blog will probably get a helluva lot weirder, since I won't have any outlet for my strange ramblings for the next six months.
To make it easier for you, though (since this is really all about you), here's the deal...whenever I post in the India blog, I'll endeavor to let you know about it here. Not that that's a guarantee that I'll always remember, but I shall try. In turn, I'm imploring any of you who blog to blog more frequently, and any of you who don't blog to start one up. I'm going to feel woefully disconnected from the goings-on in my friends' lives, and blogs help to maintain some semblance of contact.
In the meantime, if you want to read about Singapore, I posted my thoughts and a couple of pictures. I'll be in Hyderabad in seven hours!
To make it easier for you, though (since this is really all about you), here's the deal...whenever I post in the India blog, I'll endeavor to let you know about it here. Not that that's a guarantee that I'll always remember, but I shall try. In turn, I'm imploring any of you who blog to blog more frequently, and any of you who don't blog to start one up. I'm going to feel woefully disconnected from the goings-on in my friends' lives, and blogs help to maintain some semblance of contact.
In the meantime, if you want to read about Singapore, I posted my thoughts and a couple of pictures. I'll be in Hyderabad in seven hours!
Saturday, April 23, 2005
announcements ('administrivia', if you prefer)
Two announcements:
1) I updated the links to the side, removing people who aren't updating their blog and changing links for people whose blogs have moved. If you aren't on there and would like to be, or are on there and would like to be removed, please let me know.
2) I've started a new blog for India! The reason: I will want to share things about travels, experiences, etc. with coworkers, but may not want them to have access to my more personal thoughts when I return. This seems to be the best compromise. So, virtually everything I write will probably go to:
http://saradoesindia.blogspot.com
Yay for new blogs!
I leave in three days!!
1) I updated the links to the side, removing people who aren't updating their blog and changing links for people whose blogs have moved. If you aren't on there and would like to be, or are on there and would like to be removed, please let me know.
2) I've started a new blog for India! The reason: I will want to share things about travels, experiences, etc. with coworkers, but may not want them to have access to my more personal thoughts when I return. This seems to be the best compromise. So, virtually everything I write will probably go to:
http://saradoesindia.blogspot.com
Yay for new blogs!
I leave in three days!!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
the taste of silence
For those of you who wished to know, after two days and two trips to the city, I now have a new American passport and a business visa for six months in India. I leave in five days!
Monday, April 18, 2005
the killer in me is the killer in you
Never fear, gentle readers, I will be a much more prolific blogger when I am in India, mostly because I will a) be seeing cool new things, and b) will have no friends to amuse and distract me. I leave for India a week for tonight!
Or, I won't leave for India a week from tonight, if I can't get a new passport in time. I somehow managed to lose mine between April 4, when I used it while making a flight reservation, and last week, when I started searching for it in earnest. It got to the point yesterday where I realized I was compulsively searching places I'd already searched, so I started putting stickers on everything I looked through. The result: a room covered in gold stars, and no passport. So, I have an appointment at the San Francisco Passport Agency tomorrow at nine a.m. to beg them to give me a new passport. I have to have it in the next two days, because I then have to stand in another line at the Indian Consulate to get a visa. The Indian Consulate is closed on Friday, so I either have to get it Wednesday, Thursday, or Monday (the day of my flight). The passport office won't let you in until fifteen minutes before your appointment, and they won't let you in if you are more than fifteen minutes late. The Consulate only accepts visa applications from 9:30 to noon, and only gives you back your passport between 4:30 and 5:15. So, the next few days will be an entertaining attempt to meet relatively small time windows within two vast, creaking bureaucracies that will likely rival the DMV in their ability to frustrate and annoy. Yay.
In other news, we had our housewarming party Saturday night, although it was basically just my going-away party by another name, since I wouldn't invite people to my own going-away party. Actually, that's not true, I have no shame and I've been inviting people to going-away movies, barbecues, dinners, and activities for almost a month now. All the key people showed up, which amounted to forty or fifty people, and so the party was a smashing success. I think the two coworkers who showed up were amused, especially when Tammy told them we'd slept together two nights earlier and I refused to acknowledge it. And Vidya (she who ctrl-f's to find her own name in my blog, rather than reading it like someone who cared about me) asked them to define their position in my heart, which seemed awkward, but Durand was up to the challenge and said that the first tear I shed as my plane pulls away from the gate will be for him. Vidya appreciated that, I think.
I didn't have a lot of time to talk to anyone in particular, and I had to say the first of what will be a slew of goodbyes (to kids who won't be here next weekend and so aren't coming to Loro Special Dinner). Nevertheless, it was great, and memories like these will be very precious to me while I'm in India (how's that for sappy). I'm especially pleased that I *have* memories from Saturday, since we went through a lot of alcohol...the combined forces of the party finished off a whole bottle of mint julep (which is whiskey with some sugar and mint, so not really a 'mixed' drink), a bottle of kamikaze shots, a stock-pot full of sangria, a case of beer and a case of Smirnoff Ice. Pretty shocking, considering a lot of the people who showed up don't drink, or won't have more than one.
Saturday morning we finished the first round of the Shrimp or Feet game; I won, although it was rather anticlimactic because Claudia needed two points to win, and what she got was only worth a point (and was decent...sesame balls), so I won by default. However, an amusing thing happened--we've been joking for months that one of the head waiters has a crush on me, and that I have a crush on him, and that the rest of the group could whore me out for recipes/special dishes like the pan-fried scallops that we used to get in Palo Alto. Well, Saturday morning we got to sit upstairs by the windows, and we hadn't been upstairs for about a month. So the waiter comes over and says 'you finally got to come upstairs! you can request to have a table upstairs if you want'. The thing that was weird about this, like always, is that he made eye contact only with me; he never talks to anyone else in the group, even though we are always together.
Tammy, Shedletsky and Claudia finally convinced me that it was now or never, so the next time he was nearby, I flagged him down and asked if he remembered the pan fried scallops that they served in Palo Alto (he used to work there before that branch closed), and he said yes and that we could order them off the special menu. Yessssss!!! They are the best thing ever; we call them bouncy scallops because they bounce if you accidentally drop them off your chopsticks, and they're scallops stuffed with shrimp, pan-fried, and covered in spicy sea salt. Mmmmmmm. They're also $16 for 8 scallops, so we didn't order them because we were already full, but we're going to go back next weekend for scallops and play some Tetris Attack on SuperNintendo afterwards. Awesome, simply awesome.
I also had dinner w/Claudia's mom on Sunday night, and dinner w/Claudia and Terry on Friday night. Tonight, some of my coworkers took me to dinner at Cascal's in Mountain View (tapas), and then I filled out my passport application.
I'm really annoyed about this whole passport thing; I'm usually pretty organized, and I was thinking that maybe I should get a masters in some sort of logistical science and then coordinate massive relief efforts (like the efforts currently underway to stop the Marburg outbreak in Angola, sounds like they could use all the help they can get), but then I lost my freaking passport. I understand that this does not prevent me from getting a new passport and going to Angola, but it's so embarrassing, and I hate not being in control, especially of things like this. Especially since it'll probably turn up as soon as I walk in the door tomorrow night after spending all day at the passport office. Oh well, my life wouldn't be my life if absurd things didn't constantly happen to me. I feel like I could write my memoirs and have them taken as a complete joke by anyone who read them. And really, would I want it any other way? I may have a different answer for that if I can't get a passport in time, but for now I feel pretty satisfied with the ridiculous twists and turns my life takes.
Or, I won't leave for India a week from tonight, if I can't get a new passport in time. I somehow managed to lose mine between April 4, when I used it while making a flight reservation, and last week, when I started searching for it in earnest. It got to the point yesterday where I realized I was compulsively searching places I'd already searched, so I started putting stickers on everything I looked through. The result: a room covered in gold stars, and no passport. So, I have an appointment at the San Francisco Passport Agency tomorrow at nine a.m. to beg them to give me a new passport. I have to have it in the next two days, because I then have to stand in another line at the Indian Consulate to get a visa. The Indian Consulate is closed on Friday, so I either have to get it Wednesday, Thursday, or Monday (the day of my flight). The passport office won't let you in until fifteen minutes before your appointment, and they won't let you in if you are more than fifteen minutes late. The Consulate only accepts visa applications from 9:30 to noon, and only gives you back your passport between 4:30 and 5:15. So, the next few days will be an entertaining attempt to meet relatively small time windows within two vast, creaking bureaucracies that will likely rival the DMV in their ability to frustrate and annoy. Yay.
In other news, we had our housewarming party Saturday night, although it was basically just my going-away party by another name, since I wouldn't invite people to my own going-away party. Actually, that's not true, I have no shame and I've been inviting people to going-away movies, barbecues, dinners, and activities for almost a month now. All the key people showed up, which amounted to forty or fifty people, and so the party was a smashing success. I think the two coworkers who showed up were amused, especially when Tammy told them we'd slept together two nights earlier and I refused to acknowledge it. And Vidya (she who ctrl-f's to find her own name in my blog, rather than reading it like someone who cared about me) asked them to define their position in my heart, which seemed awkward, but Durand was up to the challenge and said that the first tear I shed as my plane pulls away from the gate will be for him. Vidya appreciated that, I think.
I didn't have a lot of time to talk to anyone in particular, and I had to say the first of what will be a slew of goodbyes (to kids who won't be here next weekend and so aren't coming to Loro Special Dinner). Nevertheless, it was great, and memories like these will be very precious to me while I'm in India (how's that for sappy). I'm especially pleased that I *have* memories from Saturday, since we went through a lot of alcohol...the combined forces of the party finished off a whole bottle of mint julep (which is whiskey with some sugar and mint, so not really a 'mixed' drink), a bottle of kamikaze shots, a stock-pot full of sangria, a case of beer and a case of Smirnoff Ice. Pretty shocking, considering a lot of the people who showed up don't drink, or won't have more than one.
Saturday morning we finished the first round of the Shrimp or Feet game; I won, although it was rather anticlimactic because Claudia needed two points to win, and what she got was only worth a point (and was decent...sesame balls), so I won by default. However, an amusing thing happened--we've been joking for months that one of the head waiters has a crush on me, and that I have a crush on him, and that the rest of the group could whore me out for recipes/special dishes like the pan-fried scallops that we used to get in Palo Alto. Well, Saturday morning we got to sit upstairs by the windows, and we hadn't been upstairs for about a month. So the waiter comes over and says 'you finally got to come upstairs! you can request to have a table upstairs if you want'. The thing that was weird about this, like always, is that he made eye contact only with me; he never talks to anyone else in the group, even though we are always together.
Tammy, Shedletsky and Claudia finally convinced me that it was now or never, so the next time he was nearby, I flagged him down and asked if he remembered the pan fried scallops that they served in Palo Alto (he used to work there before that branch closed), and he said yes and that we could order them off the special menu. Yessssss!!! They are the best thing ever; we call them bouncy scallops because they bounce if you accidentally drop them off your chopsticks, and they're scallops stuffed with shrimp, pan-fried, and covered in spicy sea salt. Mmmmmmm. They're also $16 for 8 scallops, so we didn't order them because we were already full, but we're going to go back next weekend for scallops and play some Tetris Attack on SuperNintendo afterwards. Awesome, simply awesome.
I also had dinner w/Claudia's mom on Sunday night, and dinner w/Claudia and Terry on Friday night. Tonight, some of my coworkers took me to dinner at Cascal's in Mountain View (tapas), and then I filled out my passport application.
I'm really annoyed about this whole passport thing; I'm usually pretty organized, and I was thinking that maybe I should get a masters in some sort of logistical science and then coordinate massive relief efforts (like the efforts currently underway to stop the Marburg outbreak in Angola, sounds like they could use all the help they can get), but then I lost my freaking passport. I understand that this does not prevent me from getting a new passport and going to Angola, but it's so embarrassing, and I hate not being in control, especially of things like this. Especially since it'll probably turn up as soon as I walk in the door tomorrow night after spending all day at the passport office. Oh well, my life wouldn't be my life if absurd things didn't constantly happen to me. I feel like I could write my memoirs and have them taken as a complete joke by anyone who read them. And really, would I want it any other way? I may have a different answer for that if I can't get a passport in time, but for now I feel pretty satisfied with the ridiculous twists and turns my life takes.
Friday, April 15, 2005
maybe we should reevaluate our decision-making paradigm
The month of fun is rolling steadily towards its abrupt conclusion. My parents' visit was awesome; Monday, they came to work and got a tour/lunch, then we went out and got my camcorder (a Sony HC-42, yay, time to make overly-dramatic documentaries of my time in India), then my mom helped me pack up the stuff that I'm leaving here so that it won't be in the way. We went to Outback Steakhouse w/Terry and Claudia, which was great (and reminds that I have a small bit of prime rib still in the fridge that I should eat tomorrow). Tuesday, I took them to breakfast (at Peter's Cafe in Millbrae!!) before dropping them off at the airport. It was sad to see them go, since I had fun with them, but hopefully they'll come to India while I'm there. Then I went to work, and after work I saw 'Sahara' w/Zach, Terry, Ritu, and Maneesh.
I actually really liked 'Sahara', and even more surprisingly, Zach liked it too. Ritu and Maneesh were laughing hysterically as well, and I think Terry enjoyed it (although she wasn't quite as hysterical as the rest of us at certain points). I don't understand why it's getting such mixed reviews; it's not a masterpiece by any means, but it is very entertaining, it doesn't have pretentions of being more than it is, Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn (the surprisingly-effective, scene-stealing sidekick) work really well together...and let's face it, Matthew McConaughey is amazingly, ridiculously hot. I normally don't go for blondes, or for Texans, but he's gorgeous--and they played it up as much as possible, since he wore lots of sleeveless shirts, and his first appearance in the movie was of him emerging from the sea, wet and glistening, to rescue Penelope Cruz from some dudes who were trying to kill her.
Basically, people are complaining that there were too many unexplained coincidences in the plot--but who cares? The dialogue was pretty entertaining, the main guy characters were hilarious (like two overgrown boys--they just looked so *excited* when things exploded), and I felt like I had a good two hours of escape from reality. It served its purpose--although Zach said I failed, since I managed to pick a good movie instead of the crap I normally drag him to (think 'Chronicles of Riddick', since he was the person I drank with at that movie).
So 'Sahara' = thumbs up. Don't get too excited about it, but it was definitely worth seeing.
Wednesday, I worked for 12 or 13 hours. That sucked, but I had tons to do, and it was the only night I didn't have plans.
Today, I went to work, then had CPK with Renee. It was really good to see her--it's been several months since I saw her last (we think the last time we saw each other was when we saw 'Life Aquatic', so it must have been January). She had some entertaining stories, and it was good to catch up before she graduates/I leave. Then, I picked up Tom and Greg, and we went bowling, and then stopped at Pizza My Heart. So, I didn't get home until almost one, which is pretty late for me, and I should go to bed.
Revised social calendar:
Friday: packing
Saturday: finish 'Shrimp or Feet', housewarming party
Sunday: maybe hang out with Tom and Greg, packing
Monday: farewell dinner w/coworkers
Tuesday: maybe hang out w/Angela
Wednesday: get visa in city, lunch w/Allie, dinner w/John
Thursday: maybe finish 'Pride and Prejudice'/tea party w/Vidya and Ritu
Friday: Loro Special Dinner, hang out with Zach/Adit/Claudia
Saturday/Sunday: pizza/tequila/waffles/movies/etc.
Monday: airport party around 9 or 10pm, leave for India at 1:20am on Tuesday
Not much time at all! But I'm so excited...I'm ready for some new adventures.
I actually really liked 'Sahara', and even more surprisingly, Zach liked it too. Ritu and Maneesh were laughing hysterically as well, and I think Terry enjoyed it (although she wasn't quite as hysterical as the rest of us at certain points). I don't understand why it's getting such mixed reviews; it's not a masterpiece by any means, but it is very entertaining, it doesn't have pretentions of being more than it is, Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn (the surprisingly-effective, scene-stealing sidekick) work really well together...and let's face it, Matthew McConaughey is amazingly, ridiculously hot. I normally don't go for blondes, or for Texans, but he's gorgeous--and they played it up as much as possible, since he wore lots of sleeveless shirts, and his first appearance in the movie was of him emerging from the sea, wet and glistening, to rescue Penelope Cruz from some dudes who were trying to kill her.
Basically, people are complaining that there were too many unexplained coincidences in the plot--but who cares? The dialogue was pretty entertaining, the main guy characters were hilarious (like two overgrown boys--they just looked so *excited* when things exploded), and I felt like I had a good two hours of escape from reality. It served its purpose--although Zach said I failed, since I managed to pick a good movie instead of the crap I normally drag him to (think 'Chronicles of Riddick', since he was the person I drank with at that movie).
So 'Sahara' = thumbs up. Don't get too excited about it, but it was definitely worth seeing.
Wednesday, I worked for 12 or 13 hours. That sucked, but I had tons to do, and it was the only night I didn't have plans.
Today, I went to work, then had CPK with Renee. It was really good to see her--it's been several months since I saw her last (we think the last time we saw each other was when we saw 'Life Aquatic', so it must have been January). She had some entertaining stories, and it was good to catch up before she graduates/I leave. Then, I picked up Tom and Greg, and we went bowling, and then stopped at Pizza My Heart. So, I didn't get home until almost one, which is pretty late for me, and I should go to bed.
Revised social calendar:
Friday: packing
Saturday: finish 'Shrimp or Feet', housewarming party
Sunday: maybe hang out with Tom and Greg, packing
Monday: farewell dinner w/coworkers
Tuesday: maybe hang out w/Angela
Wednesday: get visa in city, lunch w/Allie, dinner w/John
Thursday: maybe finish 'Pride and Prejudice'/tea party w/Vidya and Ritu
Friday: Loro Special Dinner, hang out with Zach/Adit/Claudia
Saturday/Sunday: pizza/tequila/waffles/movies/etc.
Monday: airport party around 9 or 10pm, leave for India at 1:20am on Tuesday
Not much time at all! But I'm so excited...I'm ready for some new adventures.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
memories are films about ghosts
My parents are here this weekend, so I'm taking a brief moment of downtime in the month of fun. Actually, it's still v. fun, and I'm so happy that they came out to visit, but it's a different kind of fun (involving less alcohol and slightly more sleep). They got in yesterday, we hung out and had pizza, and this morning we had dim sum. We haven't finished the game yet, but I wanted my parents to see the Hong Kong Flower Lounge, which was entertaining. Then we went shopping for camcorders (I didn't get one, but I'll procure one tomorrow), then bought luggage, then had dinner at Celia's with Claudia, and then they went back to the hotel. My roommates and I watched some History Channel (showing tonight: 'High Hitler', which was about the possibility that Hitler was a meth addict). Good times!
My parents are leaving Tuesday morning, so they're coming to work to have lunch with me, and I'm taking the rest of the day off to buy my camcorder, do some preliminary packing (since my mom offered to help out), etc. Then I'll have breakfast w/them on Tuesday before taking them to the airport...and the month of fun enters its last, desperate days. On the slate:
Tuesday night: 'Sahara'
Wednesday night: I can't remember, I feel like something's happening
Thursday night: bowling
Friday night: Loro special dinner? checking w/Allie...if not, clubbing
Saturday: final round of the Shrimp or Feet Game
Saturday night: housewarming party
Sunday: probably packing
Monday: open
Tuesday: open
Wednesday: getting my visa in the city, dinner w/John
Thursday: open
Friday: alternate date for Loro special dinner, if not, clubbing
Saturday/Sunday: last weekend of fun (tequila, pizza, waffles, 'Return of the King', massive packing, etc.
Monday night, 9pm: go to the airport and have airport pizza if possible
Tuesday morning, 1:20am: leave for India!!!
Sheesh...no time left at all!!
My parents are leaving Tuesday morning, so they're coming to work to have lunch with me, and I'm taking the rest of the day off to buy my camcorder, do some preliminary packing (since my mom offered to help out), etc. Then I'll have breakfast w/them on Tuesday before taking them to the airport...and the month of fun enters its last, desperate days. On the slate:
Tuesday night: 'Sahara'
Wednesday night: I can't remember, I feel like something's happening
Thursday night: bowling
Friday night: Loro special dinner? checking w/Allie...if not, clubbing
Saturday: final round of the Shrimp or Feet Game
Saturday night: housewarming party
Sunday: probably packing
Monday: open
Tuesday: open
Wednesday: getting my visa in the city, dinner w/John
Thursday: open
Friday: alternate date for Loro special dinner, if not, clubbing
Saturday/Sunday: last weekend of fun (tequila, pizza, waffles, 'Return of the King', massive packing, etc.
Monday night, 9pm: go to the airport and have airport pizza if possible
Tuesday morning, 1:20am: leave for India!!!
Sheesh...no time left at all!!
Thursday, April 07, 2005
you're everybody's satellite...i wish that you were mine
I'm leaving for India on April 26!! That's so close to right now. I got my ticket confirmed yesterday, and promptly felt slightly ill because that is so close to now and I have so much to do before that happens.
So today I had a ton of meetings at work, and ended up talking for about 8.5 hours overall, which was simply ridiculous, and my jaw hurt as a result. Then, I hurried home, and John, Adit, and Zach came over for dinner. Claudia made this amazing eggplant parmesan, and an asparagus pasta, and bruschetta, and I made strawberry shortcake. Vidya also came over, which was entertaining, although she accused me of being cold towards her because I was busy all day and then was abrupt when she showed up. I like how I can never share what I do with my friends with 'normal' people; for instance, after dinner, the five of us (Vidya disappeared right after the shortcake) sat in the living room and Adit played us midi variations of popular songs that he found on the internet. This does not sound fun, but it really was. I'm trying to pack in as much fun and memories as I can before I succumb to India, and this was a nice evening to add to my collection.
Yesterday I had dinner with Waxman at Haus Mitt, and it was nice to catch up with him--hopefully it will happen again in a year or two :) Tomorrow I have a lot of work to do, as well as on Friday, and then I may hang out w/Zach and Adit Friday night. Saturday, my parents arrive! Yay for the grownup Wamplers, they're highly entertaining. They're staying until Tuesday, so this weekend will have to be relatively sedate.
I'm so excited about going to India, but it's looming rather dangerously now; buying the tickets made it more official (and more scary). I only have 2.5 weeks in the office here before I leave! Three weeks from now, I'll be hanging out in the Hyderabad office. Un-freaking-believable.
So today I had a ton of meetings at work, and ended up talking for about 8.5 hours overall, which was simply ridiculous, and my jaw hurt as a result. Then, I hurried home, and John, Adit, and Zach came over for dinner. Claudia made this amazing eggplant parmesan, and an asparagus pasta, and bruschetta, and I made strawberry shortcake. Vidya also came over, which was entertaining, although she accused me of being cold towards her because I was busy all day and then was abrupt when she showed up. I like how I can never share what I do with my friends with 'normal' people; for instance, after dinner, the five of us (Vidya disappeared right after the shortcake) sat in the living room and Adit played us midi variations of popular songs that he found on the internet. This does not sound fun, but it really was. I'm trying to pack in as much fun and memories as I can before I succumb to India, and this was a nice evening to add to my collection.
Yesterday I had dinner with Waxman at Haus Mitt, and it was nice to catch up with him--hopefully it will happen again in a year or two :) Tomorrow I have a lot of work to do, as well as on Friday, and then I may hang out w/Zach and Adit Friday night. Saturday, my parents arrive! Yay for the grownup Wamplers, they're highly entertaining. They're staying until Tuesday, so this weekend will have to be relatively sedate.
I'm so excited about going to India, but it's looming rather dangerously now; buying the tickets made it more official (and more scary). I only have 2.5 weeks in the office here before I leave! Three weeks from now, I'll be hanging out in the Hyderabad office. Un-freaking-believable.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
always...and never
Crazy weekend. It started on Friday, with dinner at Bella Luna w/Terry and Claudia to (belatedly) celebrate Terry's getting hired and all of us moving in together. The food was great, and the wine was very nice, and I think we all had a very enjoyable (if a little too grown-up-feeling) evening.
Saturday morning, Claudia, Ayla and I took Terry to the airport to go to the East Coast with her sister and aunt for a week. Then, we headed to Half Moon Bay, where I had a barbecue to kick off the month of fun before I leave for India. The barbecue was great--I grilled a lot of meat (steak, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs), and I ate steak with a knife/my bare hands straight off the grill, which probably horrified some but was so amazingly tasty that it was worth it. The day was as perfect as it could have been; it was a little windy and chilly, just like Northern California beaches always are, but the sun was shining, it didn't rain, and the waves were gorgeous. Almost all of my favorite people were there--some of the mafia kids (with whom I got to play 'Cooked or Dirty' again), some of my freshmen from Loro my senior year (I had a blast watching them terrorize children with their death-kite--they managed to clothesline a kid, which was hysterical), some of my friends from freshman year (well, actually just John and Adit, with the important, but much later, additions of Sri and Vidya), a few people from Mirlo (Shedletsky, Tammy, and Emma, as well as Peter, whom I haven't seen for at least two and a half years, but I invited him on a whim and was v. happy that he came), and some other people whom I'm probably forgetting. It was a fantastic, memorable day, and I'm glad that it happened before I go to India and several of these people graduate and move away.
I didn't get home from the beach until after seven, and I napped for a little bit. John dropped by for a quick visit, and then Tammy and Shedletsky came over. We'd intended to spend the night on the beach, but it was too cold; so instead we watched some Animal Planet until about two, and went to Denny's. We were so lucky that the time changed last night, since it was an hour less that we had to sit around and wait for the dim sum place to open. So we sat at Denny's until after 5am, drove to Millbrae, picked up some refreshments at Safeway and some magazines at Walgreens, and had second breakfast at Peter's Cafe in Millbrae. It's across the street from the dim sum place, and we always made fun of it because we can see it through the window and it looked like it had seen better days. However, it's open 24hours, and the food is surprisingly very tasty; everything we got was great. Around eight a.m. we realized that we were incapable of sitting there another two hours waiting for dim sum to open; so we parked my car half a block from the dim sum place and tried to sleep.
For those of you who have been in my car, you'll realize that a small 2-door Pontiac is not conducive to restful slumber. Claudia didn't sleep at all, although Tammy, Shedletsky and I each managed to pass out for awhile. We woke up at ten, only to discover that the place doesn't open until 10:30. However, we were all very glad that we woke up early, because we had just happened to park on the street where all the workers at the restaurant apparently park--and as they all arrived to work over the course of the next twenty minutes or so, they walked by us, much to our chagrin. We're sure several of them saw us, but judging by how quickly the place filled up, we probably looked like we were just waiting for them to open. Thank goodness they probably couldn't guess that we had actually slept there for two hours after staying up all night to get our much-needed shrimp fix.
Dim sum was tasty; we didn't play the game, since we only have Claudia's turn left before the end of the round and it didn't seem fair to make her play on a mostly-full stomach, since this was our third breakfast in seven hours. We drove home, and I promptly slept for about four hours. I had preexisting plans to see 'Sin City' with a coworker tonight, and luckily I was able to drag myself out of bed and get to the theatre. I really liked the movie, despite the fact that the plot was pretty loose, because the graphics were great and some of the characters were interesting. I also really like Clive Owen, for whatever reason; he's menacing, but he's also trying to protect what he believes in, and that's hot. I apologize again for encouraging a viewing of 'King Arthur' last summer, but I do like Clive Owen, and I can't regret it too much.
Next on the list for the month of fun--my parents are coming next weekend! I've also got a couple of people I want to have dinner with this week. Expect a screening of 'Sahara' in the near future, for those of you who are lucky enough to be on my movie list. India is only three weeks away!!
Saturday morning, Claudia, Ayla and I took Terry to the airport to go to the East Coast with her sister and aunt for a week. Then, we headed to Half Moon Bay, where I had a barbecue to kick off the month of fun before I leave for India. The barbecue was great--I grilled a lot of meat (steak, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs), and I ate steak with a knife/my bare hands straight off the grill, which probably horrified some but was so amazingly tasty that it was worth it. The day was as perfect as it could have been; it was a little windy and chilly, just like Northern California beaches always are, but the sun was shining, it didn't rain, and the waves were gorgeous. Almost all of my favorite people were there--some of the mafia kids (with whom I got to play 'Cooked or Dirty' again), some of my freshmen from Loro my senior year (I had a blast watching them terrorize children with their death-kite--they managed to clothesline a kid, which was hysterical), some of my friends from freshman year (well, actually just John and Adit, with the important, but much later, additions of Sri and Vidya), a few people from Mirlo (Shedletsky, Tammy, and Emma, as well as Peter, whom I haven't seen for at least two and a half years, but I invited him on a whim and was v. happy that he came), and some other people whom I'm probably forgetting. It was a fantastic, memorable day, and I'm glad that it happened before I go to India and several of these people graduate and move away.
I didn't get home from the beach until after seven, and I napped for a little bit. John dropped by for a quick visit, and then Tammy and Shedletsky came over. We'd intended to spend the night on the beach, but it was too cold; so instead we watched some Animal Planet until about two, and went to Denny's. We were so lucky that the time changed last night, since it was an hour less that we had to sit around and wait for the dim sum place to open. So we sat at Denny's until after 5am, drove to Millbrae, picked up some refreshments at Safeway and some magazines at Walgreens, and had second breakfast at Peter's Cafe in Millbrae. It's across the street from the dim sum place, and we always made fun of it because we can see it through the window and it looked like it had seen better days. However, it's open 24hours, and the food is surprisingly very tasty; everything we got was great. Around eight a.m. we realized that we were incapable of sitting there another two hours waiting for dim sum to open; so we parked my car half a block from the dim sum place and tried to sleep.
For those of you who have been in my car, you'll realize that a small 2-door Pontiac is not conducive to restful slumber. Claudia didn't sleep at all, although Tammy, Shedletsky and I each managed to pass out for awhile. We woke up at ten, only to discover that the place doesn't open until 10:30. However, we were all very glad that we woke up early, because we had just happened to park on the street where all the workers at the restaurant apparently park--and as they all arrived to work over the course of the next twenty minutes or so, they walked by us, much to our chagrin. We're sure several of them saw us, but judging by how quickly the place filled up, we probably looked like we were just waiting for them to open. Thank goodness they probably couldn't guess that we had actually slept there for two hours after staying up all night to get our much-needed shrimp fix.
Dim sum was tasty; we didn't play the game, since we only have Claudia's turn left before the end of the round and it didn't seem fair to make her play on a mostly-full stomach, since this was our third breakfast in seven hours. We drove home, and I promptly slept for about four hours. I had preexisting plans to see 'Sin City' with a coworker tonight, and luckily I was able to drag myself out of bed and get to the theatre. I really liked the movie, despite the fact that the plot was pretty loose, because the graphics were great and some of the characters were interesting. I also really like Clive Owen, for whatever reason; he's menacing, but he's also trying to protect what he believes in, and that's hot. I apologize again for encouraging a viewing of 'King Arthur' last summer, but I do like Clive Owen, and I can't regret it too much.
Next on the list for the month of fun--my parents are coming next weekend! I've also got a couple of people I want to have dinner with this week. Expect a screening of 'Sahara' in the near future, for those of you who are lucky enough to be on my movie list. India is only three weeks away!!
Thursday, March 31, 2005
i love the history channel!
Claudia and I saw a truly awful sight tonight; we watched the end of an episode of 'The Conquerors' on the history channel, in this case about William the Conqueror, who as we all know conquered Britain in 1066. However, what we *didn't* know is that William the Conqueror fell heavily on his saddle pommel, which caused his intestines to rupture. He experienced internal bleeding, which led to infection, and his intestines started to fill with pus. Apparently, he spent about two weeks in agony as his intestines rotted inside of him, before finally dying in Caen, Normandy, at the age of 60.
All that is well and good, if painful, but it turns out that during the funeral, his body had swollen up from the rotting so much that when the priests tried to fit his body in the sarcophagus, it exploded. The stench was so unbearable that it sent the mourners running for the exits. Isn't the disgusting? Even worse is that the history channel, in true reenactment glory, had little splatters of 'pus' appear on the screen, and then start to run down the screen as they described the stench and the awfulness of what happened. Ew. Claudia and I could barely speak from shock, and we're not normally the squeamish type. Thank you, history channel! I love you!
Anyway, I worked a lot today, which was fantastic. Yesterday, I had a bunch of my coworkers over for a pot luck, which was also great. Plans for the rest of the week include dinner with my team at work tomorrow night, dinner in Sausalito w/my roommates on Friday, a barbecue at the beach on Saturday, dim sum on Sunday, seeing 'Sin City' w/a coworker and Claude on Sunday, and then starting the next week. And my parents are coming next weekend! It's quite the hectic time between now and when I leave for India (around the 25th of April), and I'm making the most of it.
But right now, 'making the most of it' means watching 'The Family Guy'. Yay!
All that is well and good, if painful, but it turns out that during the funeral, his body had swollen up from the rotting so much that when the priests tried to fit his body in the sarcophagus, it exploded. The stench was so unbearable that it sent the mourners running for the exits. Isn't the disgusting? Even worse is that the history channel, in true reenactment glory, had little splatters of 'pus' appear on the screen, and then start to run down the screen as they described the stench and the awfulness of what happened. Ew. Claudia and I could barely speak from shock, and we're not normally the squeamish type. Thank you, history channel! I love you!
Anyway, I worked a lot today, which was fantastic. Yesterday, I had a bunch of my coworkers over for a pot luck, which was also great. Plans for the rest of the week include dinner with my team at work tomorrow night, dinner in Sausalito w/my roommates on Friday, a barbecue at the beach on Saturday, dim sum on Sunday, seeing 'Sin City' w/a coworker and Claude on Sunday, and then starting the next week. And my parents are coming next weekend! It's quite the hectic time between now and when I leave for India (around the 25th of April), and I'm making the most of it.
But right now, 'making the most of it' means watching 'The Family Guy'. Yay!
Monday, March 28, 2005
they stuck me in a box in the ground (pt. 9)
The title of this post comes from one of the more memorable songs played by the Deathray Davies when they opened for Louis XIV at Slim's in San Francisco last Thursday. The Deathray Davies are a six-man band from Texas, distinguished from other bands by the presence of a bandmember whose sole goal is apparently to look retarded and shake either a tambourine or a pair of maracas. They occasionally set him loose on a xylophone, which he proceeds to beat into submission with little regard for melody. This is not to discount his prodigious talents in any way; he can keep a beat on both quarter notes and eighth notes, and he can drink a beer while playing, which is more than the drummer can say for himself. All in all, a worthy effort--however, since I had a headache before I even went to the show and my tetanus-injected arm throbbed every time someone brushed against it, I didn't have much patience for the opening act.
Adit somehow convinced me, Claudia, Ritu and Stephanie to see Louis XIV with him on Thursday night. I'm glad that I went, although I shouldn't have (I'd thrown up when I woke up Thursday morning, I think from a reaction to one of the shots I got, and I felt sick all day, and ended up throwing up again and staying home from work on Friday). Louis XIV wasn't at all what I expected; the lyrics were far raunchier than I was prepared for, and I guess I should have guessed that they would look like eyeliner-covered glam rockers, but I hadn't really thought much about them before I showed up at the club. However, I really liked their set, and I will probably buy their album; in addition to 'Finding Out True Love is Blind', which is getting a lot of airtime on the radio (and which I downloaded from the iTunes music store late Thursday night), I really liked 'Dominique' and several other pieces.
After the concert, we went to a diner and hung out, and so I didn't get home until almost two. As mentioned above, I woke up sick on Friday (and no, there was absolutely no alcohol involved, unless Adit spiked my coke at the club, but I'm sure he didn't) and so stayed home. Saturday, I had a nice brunch w/Terry at the Cheesecake Factory, then cleaned up a bit, then had dinner at home with Terry and her siblings before they went to church. I worked on my romance novel a bit last night, but I'm having trouble w/the next scene and so haven't published it to my other blog. I also drank a lot of tea; I bought loose-leaf tea on Saturday, which gives me an excuse to use the teapot I procured several weeks ago.
Today, I woke up late, watched some VH1 with Claudia, and then Ritu and Vidya came over to watch 'Pride and Prejudice.' (note: Vidya apparently only reads my blog so that she can hit Ctrl-F and search for her own name, so I'll oblige her: vidya vidya vidya vidya vidya). We turned the screening into a tea party; Claudia made really tasty cucumber sandwiches, and I made tea in a real teapot w/sugar cubes and everything, and I also made cookies and deviled eggs. Yummy! So we watched about three hours of 'Pride and Prejudice', and still have some left over so that we can have another tea party at a later date to finish it. I also hemmed two pairs of pants, drank some more tea, watched the last half of 'Steel Magnolias' on TV, and now I'm thinking that I should sleep.
Expect massive amounts of fun in the v. near future!
Adit somehow convinced me, Claudia, Ritu and Stephanie to see Louis XIV with him on Thursday night. I'm glad that I went, although I shouldn't have (I'd thrown up when I woke up Thursday morning, I think from a reaction to one of the shots I got, and I felt sick all day, and ended up throwing up again and staying home from work on Friday). Louis XIV wasn't at all what I expected; the lyrics were far raunchier than I was prepared for, and I guess I should have guessed that they would look like eyeliner-covered glam rockers, but I hadn't really thought much about them before I showed up at the club. However, I really liked their set, and I will probably buy their album; in addition to 'Finding Out True Love is Blind', which is getting a lot of airtime on the radio (and which I downloaded from the iTunes music store late Thursday night), I really liked 'Dominique' and several other pieces.
After the concert, we went to a diner and hung out, and so I didn't get home until almost two. As mentioned above, I woke up sick on Friday (and no, there was absolutely no alcohol involved, unless Adit spiked my coke at the club, but I'm sure he didn't) and so stayed home. Saturday, I had a nice brunch w/Terry at the Cheesecake Factory, then cleaned up a bit, then had dinner at home with Terry and her siblings before they went to church. I worked on my romance novel a bit last night, but I'm having trouble w/the next scene and so haven't published it to my other blog. I also drank a lot of tea; I bought loose-leaf tea on Saturday, which gives me an excuse to use the teapot I procured several weeks ago.
Today, I woke up late, watched some VH1 with Claudia, and then Ritu and Vidya came over to watch 'Pride and Prejudice.' (note: Vidya apparently only reads my blog so that she can hit Ctrl-F and search for her own name, so I'll oblige her: vidya vidya vidya vidya vidya). We turned the screening into a tea party; Claudia made really tasty cucumber sandwiches, and I made tea in a real teapot w/sugar cubes and everything, and I also made cookies and deviled eggs. Yummy! So we watched about three hours of 'Pride and Prejudice', and still have some left over so that we can have another tea party at a later date to finish it. I also hemmed two pairs of pants, drank some more tea, watched the last half of 'Steel Magnolias' on TV, and now I'm thinking that I should sleep.
Expect massive amounts of fun in the v. near future!
Sunday, March 27, 2005
The Search for John the Baptist
John the Baptist...or meaningless grafitti?
So the picture above is of this archaeologist who believes that he has found the cave that John the Baptist lived in in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem. The reason I know this is because Claudia and I watched 'Snatched' last night, and then afterwards got sucked into the History Channel. We watched the end of some documentary on the Shroud of Turin (it's Easter weekend, so there was a lot of Christian programming), then an hour of 'The Last Days of World War II' (basic premise: the show is new every week and covers this week sixty years ago; it's like 'Best Week Ever', only about the war. This week was the fall of Iwo Jima, and Eisenhower's decision to let Stalin take Berlin). After that, this show came on called 'The Search for John the Baptist.' I intended to go to bed immediately, until it became clear that the archaeologist believed that he had found John the Baptist's cave based primarily on the drawing shown above.
Now, any child with a stick could make that drawing; in fact, that's what most of my drawings look like even when I'm trying my best. To me, it looks like any ol' stick figure...but to the archaeologist, it is incontrovertible proof of the cave's provenance. He says that the upraised hands were symbolic of baptism, and that the figure's robes resemble John the Baptist's traditional outfit. I don't really see any distinctive outfit other than that normally worn by stick figures, but okay. The only other stuff on the walls were a bunch of indentations that the camera kept focusing on, although I could never tell what they were supposed to signify, and three very rough cross-shaped things that the archaeologist said was a clear representation of Jesus' crucifixion.
In his defense, he did get a bunch of slave labor from some archaeology students over a spring break, and they dug to the bottom of the cave and found lots of pottery remnants from several periods in history, including 1st century AD. That does signify that the cave was in use by a variety of people. However, the archaeologist believed that the cave was used for religious services related to John the Baptist, and a helpful computer simulation was provided of some priest standing in the middle of the cave using the 'illustrations' on the wall to illuminate John the Baptist's role in Christ's life. If this were true, couldn't they have, at some point in the millennium between the crucifixion and when the cave was abandoned during the onslaught of the Crusaders, found a freaking artist who could do better than one stick figure and three crosses? There is no writing on the walls and no other illustrations. In fact, I would not be surprised to learn someday that the stick figure was actually made possible by a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.
Okay, I've said enough. I should go to bed!
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
oh, my, starry-eyed surprise
I feel silly for getting addicted to a song because of a commercial, but the Diet Coke commercial featuring Paul Oakenfold's 'Starry Eyed Surprise' has me surprisingly hooked. I love it! And it is most definitely better than the retarded Burger King commercial w/the Hootie and the Blowfish dude singing some ridiculous song about the Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich, while technicolor people do stupid things in the background. I told Claude and Terry that we should have a party before we leave in which we reenact that commerical, but that was promptly quashed.
I worked a lot today (it was painful to be in the office by nine, since I didn't even get back to California until after eleven last night), then came home and did a load of laundry, ate some chicken pot pie, and watched Terry watching the Stanford/Utah women's basketball game. She's quite impassioned about basketball, and so I had a bit of mild fun teasing her during the game. The game was never particularly close, or I wouldn't have taken my life into my own hands by interrupting her :)
I meant to finish chapter six of my romance novel tonight, but I got caught up in the TV instead, and I also spent a considerable amount of time coordinating my calendar w/Terry and Claudia so that we could set the dates for the major fun things that need to happen before I leave. Expect housewarming parties, beach barbecues, and Loro special dinner to come your way in the next five weeks!
I'm really quite chipper, considering that I'm packing up to leave for a third-world country. I'm just excited to have some adventure again; nothing particularly insane had happened to me for awhile, so I was definitely due. I have to get my shots and my malaria pills tomorrow, and perhaps the pain will make this all seem a bit more real and sobering. For the next few weeks, my mantra will have to be 'work harder, play harder'--I have tons to do at work to get ready to transition, and I have even more to do at home. Between packing up all my stuff for the trip, putting away my clothes and souvenirs so they don't get dirty while I'm gone, settling all the change-of-country things like insurance, visas, doctors, and dentists, and buying clothes that may be comfortable in the 100+ degree heat, I could fill the next month with work and errands alone--but I have massive plans for fun, and I want to do as much of it as humanly possible. Let's see how much work and fun I can pack into every hour between now and my departure!
I worked a lot today (it was painful to be in the office by nine, since I didn't even get back to California until after eleven last night), then came home and did a load of laundry, ate some chicken pot pie, and watched Terry watching the Stanford/Utah women's basketball game. She's quite impassioned about basketball, and so I had a bit of mild fun teasing her during the game. The game was never particularly close, or I wouldn't have taken my life into my own hands by interrupting her :)
I meant to finish chapter six of my romance novel tonight, but I got caught up in the TV instead, and I also spent a considerable amount of time coordinating my calendar w/Terry and Claudia so that we could set the dates for the major fun things that need to happen before I leave. Expect housewarming parties, beach barbecues, and Loro special dinner to come your way in the next five weeks!
I'm really quite chipper, considering that I'm packing up to leave for a third-world country. I'm just excited to have some adventure again; nothing particularly insane had happened to me for awhile, so I was definitely due. I have to get my shots and my malaria pills tomorrow, and perhaps the pain will make this all seem a bit more real and sobering. For the next few weeks, my mantra will have to be 'work harder, play harder'--I have tons to do at work to get ready to transition, and I have even more to do at home. Between packing up all my stuff for the trip, putting away my clothes and souvenirs so they don't get dirty while I'm gone, settling all the change-of-country things like insurance, visas, doctors, and dentists, and buying clothes that may be comfortable in the 100+ degree heat, I could fill the next month with work and errands alone--but I have massive plans for fun, and I want to do as much of it as humanly possible. Let's see how much work and fun I can pack into every hour between now and my departure!
Monday, March 21, 2005
productivity!
Iowa State lost today, 92-65, to a North Carolina team that seems poised to go all the way. It was sad to watch; while most of the ISU kids are freshmen or sophomores and so have a great chance to build an excellent team over the next couple of years, they kinda got spanked today, and it was Jared Homan's last game as a senior, so that was a little rough. But, I got steak for breakfast before we left for Des Moines, and then we checked my bag early and went to my aunt's house to watch the ISU game, which means that I watched the bloodbath right before I got on the plane.
For those of you who have been waiting patiently for my romance novel, however, take heart--since I read the books I took home with me while I was in Iowa, I had nothing better to do than write some of my own novel on the plane. I wrote Chapter Five and part of Chapter Six; happy reading!
For those of you who have been waiting patiently for my romance novel, however, take heart--since I read the books I took home with me while I was in Iowa, I had nothing better to do than write some of my own novel on the plane. I wrote Chapter Five and part of Chapter Six; happy reading!
Saturday, March 19, 2005
devastated demon deacons
More NCAA basketball tonight; the game between West Virginia and Wake Forest was fantastic, going into double overtime before West Virginia finally came out on top. I didn't see that much of the actual game, because my area of the country was shown the Kentucky/Cincinnati game, but I saw the last five minutes of regulation, as well as both overtimes, which seemed to last for an eternity. I was sort of cheering for West Virginia, since they were the underdogs (and who doesn't cheer for the underdog when there is no clear allegiance to either team?) but I've always loved the name of Wake Forest, and I also love that their team name is the Demon Deacons. I just think that's great; so much better than a Hawkeye (Iowa) or a Golden Gopher (Minnesota) or a freaking tree (...).
I didn't do much of anything today; I was retarded last night and started reading the romance novel I brought home with me, and of course I stayed up until four a.m. to finish it, which means that I didn't get enough sleep last night and now I have nothing to read on the plane. Sadness. However, the romance novel was probably the best romance novel I've ever read, dialogue-wise; it's another Georgette Heyer, called The Grand Sophy, and it's one of those classic ones where the girl comes into a dysfunctional family and saves it from itself by reordering everyones' lives, simultaneously comes into contact with a very headstrong, domineering male with whom she bickers constantly, and ends up marrying said domineering male when they realize they're a perfect match (hmm, I know a girl who's domineering and desires to reorder everyones' lives for the better; I think I know what kind of dude she should be looking for).
I think I'll order a whole bunch of Georgette Heyers to take to India with me, since I can read at least five of them on the plane ride alone, but it's a shame I have nothing to read tomorrow on the flight back. Maybe I have a book left on my already-scavenged bookshelves upstairs that can hold my interest for the trip back to California. I'll be home Sunday night late, and then I'll have a whole week to start to put my affairs into order before spring break ends and my last amazing month of ridiculous fun can begin. Yippee!
Any 'Napoleon Dynamite' fans out there will be pleased to note that my mother used the word 'flippin' tonight, in reference to an uncomfortable article of clothing. I was quite amused. My grandmother, as well as Aunt Becky and her boyfriend, came for dinner tonight; we had a v. traditional midwestern dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes (aka potatoes au gratin), baked beans, asparagus, and five-cup salad (made w/marshmallows, pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut, and I think sour cream? a cup of each of five different things, I can't remember the details...I just know that despite its name, the salad does not contain any lettuce or other vegetables, which is what a midwestern salad is). My grandmother also got someone to bake a small white cake, frosted w/yellow and white flowers to mimic my parents' wedding cake, and my mother dug out the knife and server that they used at the wedding to cut the cake, and also had napkins leftover from the reception that were printed w/their names. Now, does that explain my packrat tendencies or what? To still have enough napkins from your wedding that you could use seven on your 25th anniversary and still have a whole bag stashed away in your cabinet for future use is a clear sign of an obsessive compulsive, and I've inherited it from both sides in spades. Yay.
My aunt showed up this afternoon with a red sticker on her forehead in honor of my move to India, and she and her boyfriend gave me a whole package of red stickers so that I would 'fit in' when I moved there. I only mention this because Aunt Becky said that her boyfriend occasionally checks my blog and would love it if he got a shout-out. So, Brian, here is your name immortalized in print :) I hope you're happy.
I didn't do much of anything today; I was retarded last night and started reading the romance novel I brought home with me, and of course I stayed up until four a.m. to finish it, which means that I didn't get enough sleep last night and now I have nothing to read on the plane. Sadness. However, the romance novel was probably the best romance novel I've ever read, dialogue-wise; it's another Georgette Heyer, called The Grand Sophy, and it's one of those classic ones where the girl comes into a dysfunctional family and saves it from itself by reordering everyones' lives, simultaneously comes into contact with a very headstrong, domineering male with whom she bickers constantly, and ends up marrying said domineering male when they realize they're a perfect match (hmm, I know a girl who's domineering and desires to reorder everyones' lives for the better; I think I know what kind of dude she should be looking for).
I think I'll order a whole bunch of Georgette Heyers to take to India with me, since I can read at least five of them on the plane ride alone, but it's a shame I have nothing to read tomorrow on the flight back. Maybe I have a book left on my already-scavenged bookshelves upstairs that can hold my interest for the trip back to California. I'll be home Sunday night late, and then I'll have a whole week to start to put my affairs into order before spring break ends and my last amazing month of ridiculous fun can begin. Yippee!
Any 'Napoleon Dynamite' fans out there will be pleased to note that my mother used the word 'flippin' tonight, in reference to an uncomfortable article of clothing. I was quite amused. My grandmother, as well as Aunt Becky and her boyfriend, came for dinner tonight; we had a v. traditional midwestern dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes (aka potatoes au gratin), baked beans, asparagus, and five-cup salad (made w/marshmallows, pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut, and I think sour cream? a cup of each of five different things, I can't remember the details...I just know that despite its name, the salad does not contain any lettuce or other vegetables, which is what a midwestern salad is). My grandmother also got someone to bake a small white cake, frosted w/yellow and white flowers to mimic my parents' wedding cake, and my mother dug out the knife and server that they used at the wedding to cut the cake, and also had napkins leftover from the reception that were printed w/their names. Now, does that explain my packrat tendencies or what? To still have enough napkins from your wedding that you could use seven on your 25th anniversary and still have a whole bag stashed away in your cabinet for future use is a clear sign of an obsessive compulsive, and I've inherited it from both sides in spades. Yay.
My aunt showed up this afternoon with a red sticker on her forehead in honor of my move to India, and she and her boyfriend gave me a whole package of red stickers so that I would 'fit in' when I moved there. I only mention this because Aunt Becky said that her boyfriend occasionally checks my blog and would love it if he got a shout-out. So, Brian, here is your name immortalized in print :) I hope you're happy.
Friday, March 18, 2005
the lure of the east
[disclaimer: if you work with me, please do not say anything about this in the office; it will be announced officially on Thursday]
Dear friends,
For the past week or so, I have harbored a secret that has become increasingly hard to maintain. However, I only have a certain amount of time left to me on the sunny shores of California, and so I wanted to share with everyone as soon as I had let my family know about a recent abrupt change to my life. I told most of my family after coming back to Iowa, and so now I can make it official for the rest of you:
I am moving to India.
That's right, I'm moving to India. This is quite the shock, I'm sure, since I a) love beef, b) hate vegetables, c) have a stomach that does not respond well to curry, d) just moved into a new apartment, etc., etc. However, I found out last week that I might have the chance to work in the office in India for six months, and it was made official on Tuesday. Things are moving v. fast; I think I'm projected to leave around May 1, although I haven't finalized the dates or booked my flights yet. I'm probably going to stay at least six months (i.e. through October), so my intentions of grilling all summer in California are very much out the window. However, this is going to be a much hotter, more intense experience than Coachella, for example--average temperatures in May are 104 degrees Fahrenheit, with an average humidity of 70-80 percent.
It also means that Scotland is out, which makes me v. sad, but I'm so excited about the chance to go to India. I'll be in Hyderabad, which is in the middle of south India, working in our office there and living in a company-sponsored apartment. Hopefully I shall get to travel, since there is a multitude of places in India and around Asia that I would like to visit.
Anyway, this is why I intend to have the most insane, amusing, fun-filled six weeks in recent memory; you can think of it as though I have a terminal illness called 'India', and I have to live each day like there's no tomorrow until I go. So, expect some fun plans in the near future! I'll be back Sunday night, and then the planning can begin in earnest.
For those of you who are curious, I'm not abandoning Claudia and Terry; I'm leaving all my stuff in the apartment and paying rent so that I can move back in as soon as I return. This means that you are still welcome to come over and watch TV, although you'll probably find it in your best interests to befriend at least one of my roommates. I will also blog religiously, and will hopefully post lots of pictures to keep all y'all informed of my exploits. I'm so happy that I'm going on a new, grand adventure; it's the best of both worlds, since I get to have a crazy new experience and yet still come home to all my friends and my apartment and everything when I'm done. So yeah, I'm excited...watch this space for more updates as the time of departure approaches. My first adventure is getting all my shots and malaria pills on Tuesday...I can't wait!!
In other news, Iowa State beat Minnesota in the NCAA tournament today; I had fun watching the game with my mom, and she was v. happy that they won. I think they'll have a great team next year, since with the exception of their biggest player, all of their main players are freshmen or sophomores. This slightly mitigates the disaster they experienced in 2001, when they became only the fourth 2-seed to ever lose the first-round game against a 15-seed (ISU vs. Hampton College; I watched the end of it in Stern latenight, and apparently made a spectacle of myself, since most people were cheering for the underdog, of course). So, that was great too; all in all, my trip home thus far has been wonderful. It was completely fortuitous that I came home this weekend; I got my tickets a month ago, long before I knew about India, but it was nice that I was able to tell all of my relatives in person.
Happy spring break, for those of you still in school!
Dear friends,
For the past week or so, I have harbored a secret that has become increasingly hard to maintain. However, I only have a certain amount of time left to me on the sunny shores of California, and so I wanted to share with everyone as soon as I had let my family know about a recent abrupt change to my life. I told most of my family after coming back to Iowa, and so now I can make it official for the rest of you:
I am moving to India.
That's right, I'm moving to India. This is quite the shock, I'm sure, since I a) love beef, b) hate vegetables, c) have a stomach that does not respond well to curry, d) just moved into a new apartment, etc., etc. However, I found out last week that I might have the chance to work in the office in India for six months, and it was made official on Tuesday. Things are moving v. fast; I think I'm projected to leave around May 1, although I haven't finalized the dates or booked my flights yet. I'm probably going to stay at least six months (i.e. through October), so my intentions of grilling all summer in California are very much out the window. However, this is going to be a much hotter, more intense experience than Coachella, for example--average temperatures in May are 104 degrees Fahrenheit, with an average humidity of 70-80 percent.
It also means that Scotland is out, which makes me v. sad, but I'm so excited about the chance to go to India. I'll be in Hyderabad, which is in the middle of south India, working in our office there and living in a company-sponsored apartment. Hopefully I shall get to travel, since there is a multitude of places in India and around Asia that I would like to visit.
Anyway, this is why I intend to have the most insane, amusing, fun-filled six weeks in recent memory; you can think of it as though I have a terminal illness called 'India', and I have to live each day like there's no tomorrow until I go. So, expect some fun plans in the near future! I'll be back Sunday night, and then the planning can begin in earnest.
For those of you who are curious, I'm not abandoning Claudia and Terry; I'm leaving all my stuff in the apartment and paying rent so that I can move back in as soon as I return. This means that you are still welcome to come over and watch TV, although you'll probably find it in your best interests to befriend at least one of my roommates. I will also blog religiously, and will hopefully post lots of pictures to keep all y'all informed of my exploits. I'm so happy that I'm going on a new, grand adventure; it's the best of both worlds, since I get to have a crazy new experience and yet still come home to all my friends and my apartment and everything when I'm done. So yeah, I'm excited...watch this space for more updates as the time of departure approaches. My first adventure is getting all my shots and malaria pills on Tuesday...I can't wait!!
In other news, Iowa State beat Minnesota in the NCAA tournament today; I had fun watching the game with my mom, and she was v. happy that they won. I think they'll have a great team next year, since with the exception of their biggest player, all of their main players are freshmen or sophomores. This slightly mitigates the disaster they experienced in 2001, when they became only the fourth 2-seed to ever lose the first-round game against a 15-seed (ISU vs. Hampton College; I watched the end of it in Stern latenight, and apparently made a spectacle of myself, since most people were cheering for the underdog, of course). So, that was great too; all in all, my trip home thus far has been wonderful. It was completely fortuitous that I came home this weekend; I got my tickets a month ago, long before I knew about India, but it was nice that I was able to tell all of my relatives in person.
Happy spring break, for those of you still in school!
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