I truly have a horrifying amount of personal possessions. This problem was brought sharply into focus today when my shipment from India arrived--and the bill of lading stated that the weight of the shipment was 326 pounds. I shudder to think how much that must have cost. This is yet another example of how having free storage/shipping has resulted in an explosion of property--from the summer after sophomore year 'til the summer after senior year, I had virtually unlimited, free staff storage on campus, which means that I never had to throw anything out.
Now, I have boxes stacked on boxes, with multiple rubbermaid tubs to protect clothes from high school that I no longer wear (since I'm trying to look all professional at work), and more shoes than will fit on my fully-expanded double shoerack even though I only wear my Adidas and my hot-pink Kangaroos. I have dozens of books that I've never gotten around to reading, a giant stuffed catfish that I have perhaps matured beyond, a megasized supersoaker, an antfarm that I never set up (but it was a gift, so how could I possible get rid of it?), a whole box full of grass skirts and plastic leis from junior year in-house draw, and another box full of costume objects that are rather unnecessary. Then we move to the kitchen, where I have casserole dishes, two bundt pans (most people don't even have one!), a pizza stone, a waffle iron, coffee and espresso machines, a george foreman grill, the biggest microwave I could buy (which I like to call by its given name, the 'genius sensor'), and a whole bunch of red Kitchenaid utensils, bowls, and cooking implements because everything *has* to be 'matching matching', as the Hyderabadi tailors would say. And then I don't even know what's in the storeroom downstairs--and none of that list includes the contents of the six boxes that arrive at my door today.
I have a serious disease that needs to be stopped, or else I will turn into everyone else in my entire family and have entire rooms devoted to storing things that have faded into the distant reaches of my memory (or, as in my younger brother's case, I'll have to buy a whole warehouse in preparation for a lifetime of major acquisitions). I've moved five times since I graduated from college, not counting the six months that I spent in India--and there are things that have stayed in the same boxes during all of those moves, only to be schlepped from one storage closet to another. If I'm going to accommodate and extra 326 pounds of belongings in my already-overcrowded physical and psychological space, some of the old baggage needs to go.
After that rant, you may think that I'm completely spent, but I will still give you a quick run-down. My boxes came today, and so I had to wait for them before going to work--this led to me strolling in around one, just in time to grab a deliciously-fresh salad from the cafe. Eating steak and salad is the perfect antidote to six months of slow poisoning via chicken-and-rice overdose. When I came home, Claude, Terry and I went out for sushi (another great antidote to the aforementioned poisoning), and then stopped at the Creamery because Terry wanted ice cream. I just finished reading a romance novel, which I realize will earn me much condemnation since I should be writing my own, not reading the works of others. You'll have to give me a break--I realize it's been a year since I started writing, but I need to get my life together before I can devote a lot of energy to imagining the overwrought, dramatically-romantic problems of others.
Now it's time to sleep, and to dream of which bedspread I will grace my bed with tomorrow. Goodnight!
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
victory is ours once we strike the source
I worked from home today because I had a doctor's appointment in Menlo Park in the afternoon, and so it didn't really make sense to go all the way to work, come back for the appointment, and then drive back to work again. There's nothing like working from home to make one feel rather unproductive, and so I'm excited about going into the office tomorrow (and that's not even meant to be as facetious as it sounds!). Later, I met Vidya for some weird fun--we went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. It has the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on the West Coast (and I think anywhere outside of Egypt or the British Museum), which is really strange since it's in the middle of nowhere in San Jose, which is a city that is not known for its culture. After, we had dinner at an Italian place that we found on The Alameda--the food was v. tasty, and encouraged me to share all of my secrets with Vidya. Not that I *have* secrets, mind you, but since I normally prefer avoid all serious discussions entirely, the food must have had a potent effect on me.
Since I worked from home and the only people I saw were my doctor, the doctor's receptionist, and Vidya, I have nothing exciting to share. The only thing I will say is that the Egyptians totally rocked, and I remain as much of a dork about them as I was in elementary school. I even remembered that the soul was called the 'ka', which is a rather useless piece of trivia, and so I found the museum quite exciting. On that note, it's time for bed!
Since I worked from home and the only people I saw were my doctor, the doctor's receptionist, and Vidya, I have nothing exciting to share. The only thing I will say is that the Egyptians totally rocked, and I remain as much of a dork about them as I was in elementary school. I even remembered that the soul was called the 'ka', which is a rather useless piece of trivia, and so I found the museum quite exciting. On that note, it's time for bed!
you can run, you can hide, but you can't escape my love
I just got back from seeing 'Goodnight and Good Luck' with Vidya (congratulations to her for making it into my blog, since she only reads it for mentions of her own name), Claude, Sri, Adit, and Zach. For those of you not in the know, it's the movie about Edward R. Murrow's tide-turning coverage on the McCarthy hearings. It was v. good--an opinion that might be expected of someone who is fascinated by pinkos, people who fought against pinkos, and people who supported precious civil liberties despite the fight against said pinkos. It was also perhaps too intellectual to serve as my first movie outing in the first world--I'm used to theatres that are overcrowded, have poorly-timed intermissions, allow people to talk loudly on their cellphones, and do nothing about their burgeoning rat populations. I recommend it despite its intellectualness.
Last night was v. fun--I rather unexpectedly got a call on Sunday from Heather, who used to work in the convenience store with me in high school. She and her husband were in Palo Alto to take their youngest daughter to see some doctors at Stanford Hospital. Since they were in town for several days, I took them to a tasty Mexican restaurant last night, where we caught up on all the goings-on in our hometown. It was really nice (if a little surreal) to see someone from my hometown--the last person I saw from home was Lea in August, and before that it was when my parents visited in April. We had a great time, and I'm glad they looked me up.
I've been home from India/Sri Lanka for two weeks...and it feels like I never left. More to the point, it seems like India was some sort of weird product of my fevered imagination. By the time Christmas rolls around, I will probably be so reimmersed in my standard life that all of my Indian experience will be a vague and distant memory. Of course, if the marks from all of the mosquito bites on my legs don't fade by then, I'll still have about fifty visible reminders of my time in Sri Lanka :) Before I turn too contemplative, I think I'll go to sleep.
Last night was v. fun--I rather unexpectedly got a call on Sunday from Heather, who used to work in the convenience store with me in high school. She and her husband were in Palo Alto to take their youngest daughter to see some doctors at Stanford Hospital. Since they were in town for several days, I took them to a tasty Mexican restaurant last night, where we caught up on all the goings-on in our hometown. It was really nice (if a little surreal) to see someone from my hometown--the last person I saw from home was Lea in August, and before that it was when my parents visited in April. We had a great time, and I'm glad they looked me up.
I've been home from India/Sri Lanka for two weeks...and it feels like I never left. More to the point, it seems like India was some sort of weird product of my fevered imagination. By the time Christmas rolls around, I will probably be so reimmersed in my standard life that all of my Indian experience will be a vague and distant memory. Of course, if the marks from all of the mosquito bites on my legs don't fade by then, I'll still have about fifty visible reminders of my time in Sri Lanka :) Before I turn too contemplative, I think I'll go to sleep.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
brand new colony
Unbeknownst to her, the waitress at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge made a serious tactical error. Last week, during my first brunch there in over six months, she told us that a new Chinese restaurant had opened in Palo Alto in the same building that was once occupied by the PA branch of the Flower Lounge. She said that we should go and try it for her, because it was too expensive for her, and she had heard from others that it wasn't as good as the Flower Lounge. We could not understand why she would tell us this, although it was amusing that she told us about it because it meant that she knew that we come up from Palo Alto, which means that she remembers us from the glory days of the PA branch--and it closed eighteen months ago.
So, progress to today, when the four of us decided to try the new place in Palo Alto. It is significantly closer to us than Millbrae is, which is a huge bonus. It's obvious that the place hasn't achieved the Flower Lounge's popularity; if we had gotten there at almost noon on a Sunday, we would have had to wait an hour for a table, but this restaurant was half-empty (or half-full, if you prefer, which I don't). The decor was a huge upgrade from the old Flower Lounge, and the place just felt fancier and more upscale. This served to put a slight damper on our usual loud, obnoxious conversation. Another upside was that the Cokes were a) served in larger glasses and b) actually tasted like Coke, which is something that the Flower Lounge usually struggles with. The major downside, though, was that while all of the dishes were adequate, none of them approached the delectable tastes and textures of the Flower Lounge (or Opium Lounge, as we prefer to call it, because massive amounts of addictive drugs must be added to the food--it's the only way to explain why we've driven half an hour each way every week for over a year to eat there).
It was during this brunch, however, that the Flower Lounge lost us. Why, you may ask? The new place certainly didn't win us, and we may never eat there again. However, we realized that we could just as easily explore other types of brunches/lunches on the weekends, rather than always having dim sum--there's a world of options, especially in the Bay Area. We could just as easily have tapas, or steak and eggs, or crepes, or tasty Thai food, or Indian buffets (Shedletsky's idea, not mine)--these brunches are just as much about seeing each other as they are about eating delicious shrimp families. We will still go to the Flower Lounge, but we will start pursuing other options as well, in what is being billed as a new phase of our friendship.
After brunch, I cleaned my bathroom, then started to unpack (finally). Unfortunately, I lost interest in unpacking after I'd taken everything out of my suitcases, but before I had put anything away, which means that my room is a complete disaster. Instead of packing, I lured Claudia into a field trip to Crate and Barrel, where I bought a pie plate and a new set of canisters. The canisters have been coveted for over a year--I bought two v. cheap canisters at Ikea when I was first setting up my kitchen, and I've hated them ever since. Now I am happy. It also means that I can unpack the kilo of tea that I bought in Sri Lanka, and put part of it in a cool airtight container to preserve its delicate flavors. Yay.
After spending some time drooling in the store of my dreams, I came home and whipped up a Greek salad--yes, I have succumbed to eating vegetables. Shocking. Since these vegetables were drenched in olive oil and mixed with lots of feta cheese, I don't feel so traitorous about it. Claude and I also split an entire baguette, which we dipped in the leftover olive oil/vinegar/garlic dressing...mmmmmm. After all that domestic bliss, it was too late to call my parents, and so I watched TV instead. It's funny that the time difference between here and Iowa is almost harder to deal with than the time difference between India and Iowa. In India, I could call them anytime between around 5pm my time and whenever I went to bed; here, I can call them earlier in the day (when I'm not awake), or during dinnertime for them, or during dinnertime for me, and my window closes around eight pm. So sad! Rather than dwelling on all this guilt, though, I'm going to go to bed.
So, progress to today, when the four of us decided to try the new place in Palo Alto. It is significantly closer to us than Millbrae is, which is a huge bonus. It's obvious that the place hasn't achieved the Flower Lounge's popularity; if we had gotten there at almost noon on a Sunday, we would have had to wait an hour for a table, but this restaurant was half-empty (or half-full, if you prefer, which I don't). The decor was a huge upgrade from the old Flower Lounge, and the place just felt fancier and more upscale. This served to put a slight damper on our usual loud, obnoxious conversation. Another upside was that the Cokes were a) served in larger glasses and b) actually tasted like Coke, which is something that the Flower Lounge usually struggles with. The major downside, though, was that while all of the dishes were adequate, none of them approached the delectable tastes and textures of the Flower Lounge (or Opium Lounge, as we prefer to call it, because massive amounts of addictive drugs must be added to the food--it's the only way to explain why we've driven half an hour each way every week for over a year to eat there).
It was during this brunch, however, that the Flower Lounge lost us. Why, you may ask? The new place certainly didn't win us, and we may never eat there again. However, we realized that we could just as easily explore other types of brunches/lunches on the weekends, rather than always having dim sum--there's a world of options, especially in the Bay Area. We could just as easily have tapas, or steak and eggs, or crepes, or tasty Thai food, or Indian buffets (Shedletsky's idea, not mine)--these brunches are just as much about seeing each other as they are about eating delicious shrimp families. We will still go to the Flower Lounge, but we will start pursuing other options as well, in what is being billed as a new phase of our friendship.
After brunch, I cleaned my bathroom, then started to unpack (finally). Unfortunately, I lost interest in unpacking after I'd taken everything out of my suitcases, but before I had put anything away, which means that my room is a complete disaster. Instead of packing, I lured Claudia into a field trip to Crate and Barrel, where I bought a pie plate and a new set of canisters. The canisters have been coveted for over a year--I bought two v. cheap canisters at Ikea when I was first setting up my kitchen, and I've hated them ever since. Now I am happy. It also means that I can unpack the kilo of tea that I bought in Sri Lanka, and put part of it in a cool airtight container to preserve its delicate flavors. Yay.
After spending some time drooling in the store of my dreams, I came home and whipped up a Greek salad--yes, I have succumbed to eating vegetables. Shocking. Since these vegetables were drenched in olive oil and mixed with lots of feta cheese, I don't feel so traitorous about it. Claude and I also split an entire baguette, which we dipped in the leftover olive oil/vinegar/garlic dressing...mmmmmm. After all that domestic bliss, it was too late to call my parents, and so I watched TV instead. It's funny that the time difference between here and Iowa is almost harder to deal with than the time difference between India and Iowa. In India, I could call them anytime between around 5pm my time and whenever I went to bed; here, I can call them earlier in the day (when I'm not awake), or during dinnertime for them, or during dinnertime for me, and my window closes around eight pm. So sad! Rather than dwelling on all this guilt, though, I'm going to go to bed.
paranoia, paranoia, everybody's coming to get me--just say you never met me
I apologize for not writing over the past two days; I've been forcing myself to stay awake all day in an effort to clear the last remnants of jetlag, and that means that I've been ready to fall asleep v. early. At least, that's my excuse for Thursday--I was at work the entire day, then had a v. enjoyable dinner with Julie, then watched a little TV before crashing around ten. Julie and I ate in FloMo, which was a bit bizarre--since I graduated two and a half years ago, I shouldn't ever be stepping foot into a Stanford dining hall, but I find myself being lured back with alarming frequency. They had just the same weird 'Chinese' food, french fries, and strangely-addicting tapioca pudding, so I was quite satisfied. I also love hanging out with Julie, so all in all it was a fun night.
Yesterday, I had dinner at a taqueria in Redwood City with Claude, Zach, Terry, Sri, and Adit. It was great to see Sri and Zach, and I was maliciously pleased that, in my attempts to make last-minute plans on a Friday night, six of the seven people I invited were able to come, which means that they were just as lame as I was. Around 10:30, I went over to Shedletsky's because I had been suckered into playing mafia; Doug is using a large pool of his former freshmen to serve as warm-body replacements for all the people who have been driven away by the drama that is rampant in the mafia group, and so we had much larger games than I had gotten used to. Despite the fact that I pretend to be appalled about playing mafia, I had a fun time--it's not something that I'm as into as I used to be, but I still enjoy it. Patrick also showed up, which was completely unexpected and v. nice.
Today, I woke up at noon, watched some stuff on the Food Network, ate lunch, and watched three episodes of 'Lost'--I only have three episodes left in the first season! Then I spent awhile primping for Shedletksy/Tammy/Claudia's 'surprise #2'. I was expecting dinner at someplace other than Lucky Dhaba (home of the last disastrous surprise)--and it exceeded expectations by being a surprise party for me in Shedletsky's apartment, replete with steak, Hypnotic, and Hostess cupcakes (that were strangely purple because of a tie-in with 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'). I just got back, and I'm going to sleep because I'm too tired to go out with Claudia and Tammy again.
I wish that I had more exciting events to report, but I'm currently fresh out of stories and I'm practically falling asleep on my keyboard. Perhaps you'll get more out of me tomorrow--until then, goodnight!
Yesterday, I had dinner at a taqueria in Redwood City with Claude, Zach, Terry, Sri, and Adit. It was great to see Sri and Zach, and I was maliciously pleased that, in my attempts to make last-minute plans on a Friday night, six of the seven people I invited were able to come, which means that they were just as lame as I was. Around 10:30, I went over to Shedletsky's because I had been suckered into playing mafia; Doug is using a large pool of his former freshmen to serve as warm-body replacements for all the people who have been driven away by the drama that is rampant in the mafia group, and so we had much larger games than I had gotten used to. Despite the fact that I pretend to be appalled about playing mafia, I had a fun time--it's not something that I'm as into as I used to be, but I still enjoy it. Patrick also showed up, which was completely unexpected and v. nice.
Today, I woke up at noon, watched some stuff on the Food Network, ate lunch, and watched three episodes of 'Lost'--I only have three episodes left in the first season! Then I spent awhile primping for Shedletksy/Tammy/Claudia's 'surprise #2'. I was expecting dinner at someplace other than Lucky Dhaba (home of the last disastrous surprise)--and it exceeded expectations by being a surprise party for me in Shedletsky's apartment, replete with steak, Hypnotic, and Hostess cupcakes (that were strangely purple because of a tie-in with 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'). I just got back, and I'm going to sleep because I'm too tired to go out with Claudia and Tammy again.
I wish that I had more exciting events to report, but I'm currently fresh out of stories and I'm practically falling asleep on my keyboard. Perhaps you'll get more out of me tomorrow--until then, goodnight!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
i love the sound of you walking away
I think that I hit the nadir of laziness today; the only reason I was at work was to have lunch with some people for Joann's birthday, and I left soon thereafter. I went to Target to pick up some plastic drawers so that I could organize my closet, but I didn't find any that I wanted. Then I came home, and I intended to unpack, but instead I sprawled out on my bed and ended up napping for two hours. After that, I successfully roused myself and met some other coworkers at the Olive Garden for a going-away dinner for someone who was visiting here from the Hyderabad office. I'm hoping that someday my life will reach the point where I don't have to attend going-away dinners every three weeks, since they're getting a little old.
Dinner at the Olive Garden was fun--almost everyone had been in Hyderabad at some point while I was there, and it was good to catch up with them. I also didn't realize how much I like salad until I went someplace that doesn't have it--yet another addition to the long list of things that I once hated and now absolutely adore. I would never, ever have chosen salad over pasta before, but I did tonight, and it was lovely. There are still some things in my life that I doubt I will ever love (asparagus, ironing, and bats, for example), but salad can be scratched off my hate list. It was also clear that the rest of the former expats (now repats, I suppose) missed salad as well, since almost everyone ordered salad rather than pasta. Fascinating, eh?
Tomorrow I have to be at work at eight a.m. for a conference call, and then I have dinner plans in the evening, so I may be forced to stay awake all day. Shocking! I know it's good for me and that I have to do it if I'm ever going to get over the jetlag, but it's so much nicer to sleep whenever I want. And, if I'm not over jetlag, people are much more sympathetic towards me. I will eventually exhaust that sympathy, though, so I suppose I should start staying awake during the day. Lame. Right now it's nighttime, though, so I can legitimately go to bed!
Dinner at the Olive Garden was fun--almost everyone had been in Hyderabad at some point while I was there, and it was good to catch up with them. I also didn't realize how much I like salad until I went someplace that doesn't have it--yet another addition to the long list of things that I once hated and now absolutely adore. I would never, ever have chosen salad over pasta before, but I did tonight, and it was lovely. There are still some things in my life that I doubt I will ever love (asparagus, ironing, and bats, for example), but salad can be scratched off my hate list. It was also clear that the rest of the former expats (now repats, I suppose) missed salad as well, since almost everyone ordered salad rather than pasta. Fascinating, eh?
Tomorrow I have to be at work at eight a.m. for a conference call, and then I have dinner plans in the evening, so I may be forced to stay awake all day. Shocking! I know it's good for me and that I have to do it if I'm ever going to get over the jetlag, but it's so much nicer to sleep whenever I want. And, if I'm not over jetlag, people are much more sympathetic towards me. I will eventually exhaust that sympathy, though, so I suppose I should start staying awake during the day. Lame. Right now it's nighttime, though, so I can legitimately go to bed!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
the sound of settling
True to hypochondriac form, I'm constantly wondering if I'm coming down with malaria. Yes, I have 'malaise', and headaches, and general nausea, but it's not really any different than what I usually feel when I'm stressed and lacking a sense of purpose (since I have nothing to do at work and don't want to confront the domestic tasks awaiting me at home). However, since I have the fading marks of scores of mosquito bites on my legs, it's much more thrilling to imagine that I'm coming down with a dread tropical disease than it is to admit that I'm probably just vaguely depressed and unsettled by the transition between two vastly different worlds.
I really intended to get a lot done today, but I failed. On the bright side, I didn't take any naps this afternoon, which is impressive since I awoke involuntarily at six a.m. If I'm lucky, I'll start getting over the jetlag--I've been home a week, so it should theoretically improve in the near future. In order to help the process, though, I should really go to bed!
I really intended to get a lot done today, but I failed. On the bright side, I didn't take any naps this afternoon, which is impressive since I awoke involuntarily at six a.m. If I'm lucky, I'll start getting over the jetlag--I've been home a week, so it should theoretically improve in the near future. In order to help the process, though, I should really go to bed!
precious, precious burritos
Today was Halloween, and I celebrated it in my typical style--misanthropically, by going to work, coming home early, and taking a nap rather than going to the Castro or other Halloween parties like other people my age. Claudia rescued me slightly from my misanthrope ways when she got home from work, and we went to La Costena for my first bona fide burrito since my return to the States a week ago. Mmmm. I love burritos...their guacamole-filled goodness warms me to my very core.
I do miss Indian television. The American shows that they air are, for the most part, good (with the exception of the completely-inexplicable 'Zoe', which starred Selma Blair and was on for a few episodes on UPN or WB or something)--and when you tire of American shows and outdated American movies like 'Rocky III', you can watch all sorts of music videos on VH1. Alternatively, you can watch Hindi or Telugu music videos, which involve male and female posses in crazy pseudosexual dance-offs. This contrasts sharply with American television, which seems to consist exclusively of reality shows and/or 'Law and Order' reruns. I am just longing for the day when 'Law and Order' becomes a reality show--that will be the day that American television truly reaches its artistic zenith.
Tomorrow is the first of November--and then there are only two months until the end of the year! By then I should know what I'm doing next at work, and I hope that it's exciting or at least motivating--I'm having difficult motivating myself to do anything right now. Granted, it's difficult when I want to go to bed at noon, and I've had a headache since I got back from Sri Lanka, but this little trend needs to stop soon. At the very least I need to unpack and do laundry. Inexplicably, my bed isn't made when I get home from work, and the pile of dirty clothes in my bathroom is just sitting there, rather than running away and returning two days later, cleaned, folded, pressed, and waiting for me in my closet. I need to regain control of all this before I end up living in true squalor. There isn't time for this now, though, so goodnight!
I do miss Indian television. The American shows that they air are, for the most part, good (with the exception of the completely-inexplicable 'Zoe', which starred Selma Blair and was on for a few episodes on UPN or WB or something)--and when you tire of American shows and outdated American movies like 'Rocky III', you can watch all sorts of music videos on VH1. Alternatively, you can watch Hindi or Telugu music videos, which involve male and female posses in crazy pseudosexual dance-offs. This contrasts sharply with American television, which seems to consist exclusively of reality shows and/or 'Law and Order' reruns. I am just longing for the day when 'Law and Order' becomes a reality show--that will be the day that American television truly reaches its artistic zenith.
Tomorrow is the first of November--and then there are only two months until the end of the year! By then I should know what I'm doing next at work, and I hope that it's exciting or at least motivating--I'm having difficult motivating myself to do anything right now. Granted, it's difficult when I want to go to bed at noon, and I've had a headache since I got back from Sri Lanka, but this little trend needs to stop soon. At the very least I need to unpack and do laundry. Inexplicably, my bed isn't made when I get home from work, and the pile of dirty clothes in my bathroom is just sitting there, rather than running away and returning two days later, cleaned, folded, pressed, and waiting for me in my closet. I need to regain control of all this before I end up living in true squalor. There isn't time for this now, though, so goodnight!
Monday, October 31, 2005
my wonton is better than yours
I wasn't able to sleep until six a.m., which made getting up at 9:30 to go to dim sum a little painful. Dim sum, as always, was well worth it--Tammy, Shedletsky, Claudia, and I had a v. fun, v. leisurely brunch, replete with all the favorites (har gar/shrimp dumplings, egg custard buns, shrimp in bean curd, deep fried shrimp w/mayo, pork buns, etc.). We had a long discussion of various issues facing us in the near- to mid-future, leading to Tammy declaring that she was going to have to take matters into her own hands and become my life coach. This is extremely ironic, since I'm already her life coach, and I don't think that such things can be reciprocal. Also, Tammy/Shed/Claude expressed annoyance that the staff at the restaurant only seem to notice them when I'm with them; they've gone several times while I was gone, and always gotten mediocre tables and complete apathy from the waiters, but I showed up and we got a great table near the second-floor windows, and one of the women came over and had a five-minute conversation with me/us about a new dim sum restaurant that has opened in Palo Alto. That made the whole experience sweeter, if not more ridiculous.
I don't think we're going to play a second round of the Shrimp or Feet game; Shedletsky often refuses to try whatever we end up with, and since there isn't a prize of any kind, there is no incentive to keep eating tripe or pigs' feet. I'm sad, but I'm also pleased that I will be able to eat tasty dim sum for the next year without worrying about whether I'll have room to eat whatever nasty stuff shows up on the cart of sadness.
When Claude and I got home, we both succumbed to the shrimp coma and took naps for a couple of hours. I went out tonight and bought the first season of 'Lost', but I have yet to finish it off; hopefully I'll find time to watch this week. I did some desultory tv-watching and internet-surfing, and now I should try to sleep. I've had a queasy-feeling headache ever since I got back, probably due to jetlag, and I'm hoping that it will go away soon. Goodnight, everyone!
I don't think we're going to play a second round of the Shrimp or Feet game; Shedletsky often refuses to try whatever we end up with, and since there isn't a prize of any kind, there is no incentive to keep eating tripe or pigs' feet. I'm sad, but I'm also pleased that I will be able to eat tasty dim sum for the next year without worrying about whether I'll have room to eat whatever nasty stuff shows up on the cart of sadness.
When Claude and I got home, we both succumbed to the shrimp coma and took naps for a couple of hours. I went out tonight and bought the first season of 'Lost', but I have yet to finish it off; hopefully I'll find time to watch this week. I did some desultory tv-watching and internet-surfing, and now I should try to sleep. I've had a queasy-feeling headache ever since I got back, probably due to jetlag, and I'm hoping that it will go away soon. Goodnight, everyone!
Sunday, October 30, 2005
jetlag is my enemy
I woke up at seven a.m., decided this was silly, and went back to bed for what I thought would be an hour or so. Instead, I slept uninterrupted until nearly five p.m. I have no idea how that happened--I went to bed before two a.m. last night, which means that I slept for fifteen hours. Even better, it's the end of daylight savings time tonight, and so the clock is very unfairly changing yet again.
Anyway, welcome to my pseudo-new blog; I can't promise that I will post every single night, like I tried to do in Hyderabad, but I will do my best. I've been home less than a week, but I need to start figuring out what the next step is--I'm excited to take on different projects at work, and I should definitely unpack and put my life back in order at home. To encourage this, I baked chocolate chip chewies tonight, which should earn at least a little bit of love from my roommates (who suffered the same chocolate chip chewy drought as I did, although mine was exacerbated by the vast quantities of Indian food served in the cafeteria at work). I also read part of a romance novel, and so the combination of those two activities indicates that I am almost fully reacclimated to my American life.
Anyway, welcome to my pseudo-new blog; I can't promise that I will post every single night, like I tried to do in Hyderabad, but I will do my best. I've been home less than a week, but I need to start figuring out what the next step is--I'm excited to take on different projects at work, and I should definitely unpack and put my life back in order at home. To encourage this, I baked chocolate chip chewies tonight, which should earn at least a little bit of love from my roommates (who suffered the same chocolate chip chewy drought as I did, although mine was exacerbated by the vast quantities of Indian food served in the cafeteria at work). I also read part of a romance novel, and so the combination of those two activities indicates that I am almost fully reacclimated to my American life.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
i love my broken sideview mirror
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.
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.
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!!
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