The One with the Xbox Kinect

We ordered the Xbox Console with Kinect yesterday. After writing the last post, I did a quick check on Amazon and found that it was sold out and I was told that was the case in other stores. I also read that Microsoft was asking people to order one this week if they wanted to get one for Christmas, I was really down on reading it and I was all set to start blaming S for it (I like to blame him for all my problems in life, isn't that what all wives do?) Then someone told me that Best Buy had got some and I checked the site and viola! I quickly ordered one and we picked it up yesterday.

And the verdict - WOW! It really is amazing. It does a good job of recognizing arm and leg movements and as far as voice commands go, it doesn't seem to have a problem my accent. We didn't buy any game for the Kinect and we just played with the Kinect Adventures game that it came with. The game is very light and is just intended to let people know what the Kinect can do. The games are in 3D and I did face a little problem with mapping co-ordinates, but it's not overly sensitive and I managed to get the hang of it soon. The surprising thing was, I worked up a sweat in the 45 mins I spent playing this game. I am yet to check out the other games on Kinect - I want to buy Dance Central and Joy Ride. I hope the games live upto their hype, because unless there are good games there is precious little that one can do with the console. It was bit of a gamble to buy this new piece of technology so soon (I usually never buy any first generation product) But since the Xbox 360 is something that we can use without the Kinect, I am not very worried. And at the rate at which Kinect seems to be flying off the shelves, I think we will have more games on it soon.

In other news, I got a new pair of glasses and I spent the day thinking that I looked like Tina Fey. Then last evening we were watching The Big Bang Theory and S said "Look, Leonard's glasses look so similar to your new ones" and my bubble burst. However a couple of people at work said my new glasses look really good though. I have a 90 day period to decide if I like the glasses, so we'll see. What I really want is to get Lasik done so that I can be done with glasses, contacts and prescription sunglasses forever! Wonder how much it costs.

A Serious Case of the Gimmes

Like I discussed at length in my previous post, sometimes when I want something, I want it really bad. A few years ago, it was the iPod (you can read about it here and here) Now, everyone knows that I am a music ignoramus. And I hardly never listen to music. Even when I am at the gym, I watch TV while working out. If there's ever a person who should not get a 30GB ipod, it's me. And I knew all that and yet I wanted it. I imagined myself listening to music all the time and filling my ipod with new age music. Cut to 2010, I have less than 3GB of music in my ipod. The newest album on it is Vettaiyadu Vilayadu. I use for 30 mins each night to listen to Crazy Mohan/S.VE Shekar dramas.

My newest craze is the Kinect. For the uninitiated, Kinect is a sort of add on for the XBox 360 which lets you play games without a controller. In their own words, you are the controller. So they have a camera to track your actions, so that in a dancing game, it tracks your dance moves and you can see it on the screen. I really think Microsoft is marketing it really well. When I see the Kinect ad where people are having fun dancing, driving imaginary cars with imaginary wheels, I want one too. Again like the ipod, I don't doubt that the Kinect is an awesome game platform. It's just that S and I are one of the laziest people to roam the earth. We like our couch and enjoy the time we spend sitting on it. The only games we play on the Wii are the ones that we can sit and play. When we feel the need to exercise, we haul our rear ends to the gym and we both believe that exercise games on the Wii or Kinect are not very effective. So buying the Kinect is not really a good move for us at all. I am sure we will be all excited and play with it for a week and then let it gather dust till someone visits us and wants to try it (that's what happened with the Wii Motion Plus!) However since both of us are moderately interested in regular video games, I am sure that we would enjoy playing games like Halo on the XBox. The XBox 360 costs $199 and with the Kinect bundle it costs $299. Despite everything I've written here I am sure that we will end up buying the Kinect bundle (if we decide to buy the Xbox 360 that is).

While I am very free with my money when it comes to day to day things, ("Let's buy the more expensive laundry detergent", "Let's go out to eat, I don't care that we went out for dinner yesterday", "Tip the waitress 30%, she was really good to us") I am usually wise (or so I think) when it comes to big purchases. I still use the same laptop that I used in grad school and I have no plans to replace it anytime soon - even after watching the numerous MacBook Air ads on TV. Our TVs at home are really old and despite my initial love of the iPad, I don't plan to buy one ever. I know that I am not the most careful with money (like my father likes to point out every time I tell him we went out for dinner for 2 days in a row) but since I don't spend on these big things, I used to think that it cancels out. But the Kinect seems to prove otherwise. Since S is worse than me, I am sure that we are never going to leave our children houses, wealth and money. However we both have a zest for life and a desire to live our life to the fullest, travel widely, do crazy things just because we want to and this kind of people are never expected to have money in the bank, are they? :-)

PS People don't give me grief about people who save money and yet manage to live a full life. A girl is allowed to have her delusions right?

Junoon

When you talk to people who know me really well, they will tell you that I can be a very stubborn person. When I was young I was really known for my "pidivadam" - I am not able to find a good English translation for that. I have been told that when I was 1 or 2, I would start crying in the middle of the night for no reason and would not stop crying till my aunt (who was 12 or 13 years old at that time) would dance for me. I have never displayed any propensity towards any form of dancing, and I think I just wanted to get what I wanted.

Growing up, I remember throwing tantrums for a lot of silly things. Once when I was about 10, Kwality Walls ice creams had just been introduced in India. I bought an ice cream on a stick which had 3 flavors, so that it looked a rainbow. I was really excited about the ice-cream and all through school I thought about eating that at home. When I came home, I noticed that my mother had forgotten to keep the ice-cream in the freezer and had kept in the regular portion of the fridge. So all the 3 flavors had melted and fused into one. Instead of realizing that this is spilled milk and asking for a new ice-cream, I threw a big tantrum about it and refused to talk to anyone or eat. I think my biggest grouse was that my mother had not admitted that she had kept it there by mistake and insisted that she didn't know the ice-cream would melt if kept in the refrigerator outside of the freezer. (Many people tell me I inherited the stubborn gene from my father, but I really think it's from my mother! :-)) I doubt if my parents or sister remember this (btw, her ice-cream was safe in the freezer for some reason, which made me angrier at that time), but I wonder why I didn't attempt to resolve the issue and asking my mother for a new icecream rather than be upset about the other one.

I think the reason is, I tend to plan a lot of things in my head and when things don't go exactly according to the plan I freak out since I don't have a Plan B all mapped out. And many times, my plans would go awry when my father was involved. My father does not remember things and almost never reaches any place in time. I remember telling him the PTA meeting at school is at 3pm when it would actually be at 4pm so that he would get there in time. And my father hates saying no to anything that my sister and I ask for. So he would promise us whatever we asked for. And he would always mean to follow through with the promise, but sometimes he would forget. Like once he promised to buy us bicycles. For a 10 year old, that's a huge deal. Me being me, expected to get the bicycle the day after he promised it. I did not get it. After waiting a couple of days, I took matters into my own hands and started my usual tantrum "I want to get the bicycle today!" and refused to talk to anyone and locked myself in my room. I remember my father coming up to try and talk to me, but I refused to relent. I did not get the cycle that day (coz those days, buying a cycle meant going to Parrys and it simply was not possible to do that in the evening). But that weekend we did go and get the Street Hawk cycle I wanted.

Though my father forgot a lot of things, he was far more understanding of my "Must do it NOW" attitude than my mother. She would just say "No" and go about her merry way. My father would really try to do or get what I wanted, but most of the things I wanted would involve going back in time to satisfy me. My sister threw tantrums too, but those would be doable, like she would ask for a huge bar of chocolate when we are out and though that was less from ideal, it was something that my parents could actually do. I know Karma will make sure when I have a kid, she/he would be just like me and ask for impossible things. I hope that I am able to have the same patience that my father had, towards my kids. (People who know my father personally would find it funny that I attribute a virtue like patience to him, but he has always been a different man when it came to his girls!)

I have read that girls subconsciously try to marry a man who is just like their father and I think I have completely succeeded in doing that. S could actually be my father's son. He has the same short fuse, the same generosity, the same attitude towards everything in life as my father. Sometimes when I talk to my mother about S, she is amazed at how much alike he is to my father. Like my father, he lacks in the "getting things done right-away" department. In the initial years of my relationship, we used to have a lot of arguments and fights about his lackadaisical attitude. I think my mother might have had the same arguments 25 years back with my father. We have now reached a implicit agreement, I try to add a buffer zone to my plans and he tries to actually do something rather than just wanting to do it at some point in time.

I guess there is no point to this post. It doesn't really go with the tone of my blog and seems more personal than my past posts and I might decide to pull this down later. But then like my sister says, it's just a few people who read my blog so I might just keep it. :-)

PS. The way I've written this post, my sister comes off as an angel. But believe me when I say I am the good one. :-) Her shenanigans will fill ten such posts. While I had just my father indulging me, she had my grandmother, aunt and uncle (who lived with us) twisted around her little finger.

Outsourced

For the past 3 weeks, my DVR has been dutifully recording episodes of "Outsourced" and I have been skipping watching these episodes even when I have absolutely nothing to watch. My first grouse against this show was that it was replacing my favorite "Parks and Recreation". The second and most important reason is that I am extremely sensitive to criticism (perceived or real) by people who know nothing about it. A year ago, a friend had suggested I read "Two States" by Chetan Bhagat and had insisted that I would enjoy. But about halfway through the book, I was seething with rage. I felt like Bhagat was making a lot of assumptions about Tam Brams and I found it impossible to finish the book. I didn't watch "Outsourced" since I figured it would make me angry and unpleasant and so I let those 3 episodes sit in my DVR and taunt me.

Last weekend, S & I spent the entire weekend rooted to the couch watching endless hours of TV. And then it happened, S refused to watch an old episode of Frasier that we've watched a a million times before and he wanted to watch some new episodes of Outsourced. I braced myself and started watching. And nothing. No anger, no wanting to throw a vase at the TV and I didn't even want to hunt down the phone number of the producers and yell at them on the phone! And I was even able to laugh at the jokes. Which is not to say that they have been kind or factual in portraying India. Which call center in India is located in a building in the midst of a market (with cows roaming around)? Hell the call center buildings in India are much nicer than the building that I currently work out of. And on the subject of cows roaming around, couldn't they have gotten a nice Indian cow rather than showing some fuzzy American cows? And when they want to show that we drink tender coconut water, we do not drill a hole into the coconut and sip out of a straw, we actually slice the top off. My biggest grouse have to be the way the actors talk though. They make the Indian actors say such American phrases in an Indian accent. As though the fake accent somehow makes it sound authentic. Why not just make the Indians use Indian phrases and slang instead? Or actually have an Indian writer, someone who has lived in India for at least a few years? I feel that someone like me could really help straighten things up in Outsourced, since the show has a lot of potential. So are you listening NBC? :-)

In other sitcom news, Running Wilde is in the danger of getting canceled! I am really really disappointed. I really liked the show and Will Arnett is terrific! I really thought that this could be a good replacement for Arrested Development (which is really the best show on TV ever!) Come everyone, we need good shows to stay on TV and which means y'all have to actually watch them.

Mishmash

As I begin to wet my feet in the waters of blogging once again, I find it easier to write posts that are just a bunch of unrelated thoughts. I don't know if it's a side effect of Twitter, but for now this will have to do. But fear not loyal readers, I will start writing posts dedicated to specific topics.

* For all the grief I give H about living in UK, I think a little part of me is obsessed with Britain. Most of my favorite authors have been British right from my childhood. And the I think there is a lovely ring to the English accent. I would love to tour through Europe, making sure to spend some time in the English countryside. All in good time. :-)

* In a lovely gesture, S got me a Coach handbag for my birthday. While the bag is very nice, I have come to realize a lot many things. My ratty wallet looks even rattier when ensconced inside the Coach bag. I need a new wallet pronto. Also I am now terrified of having a pen in my bag for the fear that I might get some ink in the lovely velvet interiors. Also, I don't have a zillion bags that switch in and out of circulation, I usually buy one bag, run it to the ground and when it starts looking nasty I get the next one and so on. I am terrified that this might happen to a bag that costs as much a laptop. I am now in a constant state of worry, I actually wiped the desk with a wipe before placing my bag on it. I think I am only cut out to carry unknown brand bags with a zillion pockets!

* In other news, S has finally taken the plunge and ordered a Nikon D90 DSLR camera. Which means that he will take longer than ever to take pictures. I kid you not, I stood in front of the Statue of Liberty for 10 whole minutes with the same plastic smile on my face while S fiddled with the various modes in his humongous point and shoot. So I foresee hours of posing for pictures in my future. Why can't the man be happy those small cute cameras that can fit into my pocket and have no buttons except the click button?

* We watched The Town yesterday. It was a good one. **SPOILER ALERT** But it was so obvious in the beginning of the movie that Coughlin was going to die. I kept bracing myself for that and tada as predicted at the end of the movie, he dies. **END SPOILERS** At the beginning of the movie, we saw a trailer for "Jack Goes Boating" and I immediately told S that we are going to watch this movie. I loved Little Miss Sunshine and Sunshine Cleaning and I am not about to miss the next movie from the same makers.

* Endhiran is being screened in Madison this weekend. When Padayappa was released, I remember my friends inviting me to watch that movie. But I simply had zero interest and refused to go. But I admit to watching Sivaji and will definitely watch Endhiran this weekend. I think Shankar is doing a good job of marketing the movies and creating a buzz or I guess my threshold for masala movies has decreased over the years. :-)

That's all for today folks.

On My Mind

A friend and fellow blogger recently emailed me and asked me update my blog. In true Indian style, I bargained with him that I would update mine if he updated his. I didn't expect that he would actually go ahead and write and now I am 2 days late on my end of the deal. :-(

So what's a better quickie blog than spewing what's on my mind onto electronic pen and paper? Without much ado, I present to you - thoughts that are running muck in my ADD brain right now.

I have this sudden hankering for the books I read as a child. I can almost smell the musty bookshelves of Eashwari Lending Library. Would love a pile of Enid Blytons.

The older I get, the more difficulty I have in justifying large purchases for myself. Whenever I spend money I literally hear huge alarm bells that remind me of my student loans and pitifully small Savings account. And after I bite the bullet and actually make the purchase, I tend to dissect it in my mind a thousand times and I make S return it. People who know me in real life will be greatly surprised, since I am somewhat known as the family spend-thrift! Though this new habit of mine is helping to reduce the clutter at home, it's still not helping in saving any money. This is because these alarm bells I talk about, seem to take a break when it comes to intangible things like planning a trip or going out to eat.

Having said so much about not speding money, I really have my heart set on buying another game console. I was sold solid on the PS3 and we even ordered one. But the day after we got our new PS3, they announced the new one with more memory for the same price. I immediatly returned the one we have. Now Sony has come up with a motion controller called Move and Microsoft has announced the Kinect for controller free gaming. Now I am all confused about which one to buy. Practically it makes more sense to go with Sony, as the PS3 would also be a Blue Ray player. But Microsoft has really captured my interest with the Kinect. Time to wait and watch before buying.

This weekend S & I caught this movie called Devil. It was pretty ok - had a good pace and a nice twist ending. We both really like supernatural movies, but I have one rule - no maggots or insects coming out of anyone's ears or mouth and no disgusting creatures. I remember this movie called Drag Me to Hell which had all of these and we left the theater about 10 mins in. I almost never do that, since I usually want to get my money's worth even if the movie stinks. I recently sat through the entire movie for Khatta Meeta - so go figure. :-) I am really waiting for Paranormal Activity 2 and this time I want to watch it in the theater.

When you get married or start living with another person, it's really surprising how much of the other person's personality rubs on you. The other day, I said something to S that was sort of a semi swearword in Thamizh and was surprised at how easily it rolled off my tongue. A few years ago I would have cringed if someone had said that in front of me. I think this just means that we have to go out more and talk to other people, lest we just become clones of each other. But on the good side, S is now familiar with all S.Ve. Sekar and Crazy Mohan dramas and fares really well in the Identify-which-drama-this-dialogue-is-from game.

There Srini, I kept my promise! :-)

Facebook

To People Who Ask Me Why I am Not Active on FB

1) I don't care about what's on your mind right now

2) I have already seen the cheesy youtube videos that you post

3) It's practically a punishment for me to look at 100 pics of your last vacation.

4) I don't want to look at pictures of your baby doing all sorts of things (unless it is my nephew A - seriously he is the cutest baby I've ever seen) If I thought babies were cute, I would have one of my own.

5) I have no interest in Mafia Wars, Farmvile or any other Loserville games

6) In the same vein, I don't care about any quiz you take and have no interest in know which Friends character I am like, or how well I know Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.

7) If I don't care enough to email you/ call you/IM you, it means I have no interest in your life whatsoever. And similarly if you had any interest at all in me, you would contact me in some way apart from liking my comments

8) On a more specific note, husband liking their wife's mindless FB update (and vice versa) is puke inducing. If S ever likes my comment of "Happy diwali/Karthigai/Pongal/.." I will kill him and then kill myself.

9) And what's with using a picture of you with your wife/gf as a profile pic. I know you are proud that you finally found some woman and managed to convince her to marry you. Are you so lame that you want to brag to the whole world that you finally got a woman?

10) If you are busy and post that on FB, I really wonder how busy you really are.

11) Most importantly, I have a life and have more important uses of my time. To quote Betty White in SNL "I would never say the people on it (FaceBook) are losers. But that’s only because I’m polite."

PS. Take this with a grain of salt everyone, I don't want a mob of torch wielding villagers picketing outside my apartment. This is just my pathetic attempt at humor - so humor me and get along with your lives . Also, I am just a little bit jealous that a hundred people comment on some guy's post about how he went out for coffee, but no-one reads or comments on the lovely, quality writing on my blog! :-)

PPS. To any family reading this blog, will send the West Virginia pics and video soon. If anyone is else is wondering about the WV post, oh who am I kidding! :-)

Whitewater Rafting and Crazy Mohan

Continuing with the trend of writing nonsense posts about nothing (a la Seinfeld) here's another one for your reading pleasure. Nothing new really to report on the home front. We finally bit the bullet and booked the West Virginia whitewater rafting trip. We are rafting on the Lower New River which is supposed to be more adventurous than the Upper New River. And while we are at it, we are also doing a zip line canopy tour. And because we spent too much time thinking if we should do the trip, all the cabins were sold out by the time we booked and we are going to be camping. Joy! Despite my love for adventure trips, I have never been enthusiastic about camping. I mean, I need a nice soft bed to lie on at night with no possibility of bugs and also set the temperature to what I want, precise to the degree. Is that too much to ask for? And thus, I have been avoiding camping successfully for the three years that I have been in the United States. I guess all good things must come to an end and S put his foot down at staying in a motel one hour away and driving in for all the activities. If I survive to tell the tale, you can be assured that I will put up a post with pics like I did for our Vegas trip.

Plans are underway to buy a PS3 Slim. But I am wondering if I should hold out till the Move comes out. Any thoughts here? Also I am pretty sure we will be buying an XBox after the Kinect releases, so Microsoft fanboys don't need to send me any brickbats. :-) Considering all I have played till now are Mario variants, some game suggestions would be nice. I am really interested in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - does anyone know if I can just pick it up and start playing, having never played any game in the Call of Duty franchise? Sometimes I have a feeling that even if I own every possible gaming console available, I would still end of playing Super Mario Galaxy! :-)

Talking about recent purchases, I have placed an order for "Marriage Made in Saloon" DVD at Kalakendra. I am a crazy fan of Crazy Mohan (notice my clever word pun here!) and I own all his available DVDs. But unfortunately, I have never even once seen his drama live on stage. All my family members, who are not fans, leave alone fanatics of Crazy Mohan, have gone his plays multiple times. In fact, H who openly claims that she likes S. Ve Shekar better and my cousins have had Crazy Mohan and Maadhu Balaji come upto them and talk while they were waiting for the car after the show! When I spent 3.5 years of my life in the desert that is Pilani, Crazy and his troupe put up a show there in the 6 months that I was doing a "project" in Bangalore. When I went to India last November, I was determined to watch one of his plays. But in perfect timing, they had just one show the day I arrived and another the day after I leave with nothing in between. You have no idea how incredibly jealous I am of this guy. He casually mentions that he is Crazy Mohan's relative. He then goes on to say that he asked Maadhu Balaji to introduce him to "Saloon Muthu". I would have been deliriously happy to have someone introduce me to Crazy Mohan and Maadhu Balaji just so that I can take a picture with them and show it off to everyone I know. Life is very unfair sometimes! But "Saloon Muthu" is one of my favorite characters too. The way he says "Rrramsamiiiii" is just plain awesome. But my favorite character in the one who plays "Munnusamy" in this play. He has a distinct voice and modulates it really well. "Mythili purushanama ni? Ipo ellam purinjurthu, Janaki oda amma saar oda mootha samsaram." Just thinking about it makes me laugh.

Since this post is pretty disjointed anyway, let me talk about the movie we saw yesterday "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". I have been heaping a lot of praise about this book, so much that even S picked it up and managed to finish it. So when I saw that the movie was playing in Sundance Theater, we both wanted to watch that. It was everything that you would expect from a book made into a movie. It was well made and mostly faithful to the book. The movie matched the dark tones of the book. But why did they have to pick awful looking people to star in it? Blomkvist was supposed to be a handsome man in his forties (with a boyish charm if I remember right) Nyquist (who plays Blomkvist) looked alright (in parts) but definitely not boyishly handsome. And Salander was alright, but she somehow didn't look lean or young enough. And while she did a good job in most parts, I never saw her do the "lopsided smile" described in the book. Worst of the lot was Erica Berger - the classy, distinguished Erica was reducing to being a 50 year old bimbo wannabe with unfortunate blond hair. Why why why? But all said and done, it was a good movie and I am glad we watched it.

Vegas, Baby!

Here is the promised Vegas post just one week late.

So I am back from Vegas with the accompanying buzz. To say the trip was amazing is an understatement. For one thing, this is the first trip that we are taking after getting married, where we both travelled together. Usually, we get to the destination alone and meet up there. And of course Vegas is a fabulous destination, which ensured that the trip itself was fabulous. But lastly, we stayed at Bellagio. Best decision ever! While booking the hotel rooms, I was leaning towards some cheaper options, but S had insisted that we stay at a really nice place and for once I am glad that I had listened to him.

We were overwhelmed right from the time we walked into the hotel. I think Bellagio has some sort of deal with a glass company, because the whole place seemed to be done in glass. It is a big deal to me, because I always love works of art with glass. While in Hyderabad, I took a glass painting class and the painting I did still hangs at home. During my last vacation in Door County, I made it a point to go to an art gallery that dealt primarily with glass. I promptly fell in love with the whole place and bought this for the end table at my apartment.

So you can imagine my delight when I looked up from the registration desk and saw the ceiling.

After collecting the room keys, we walked down towards the room and saw a freaking glass flower garden.

Despite the fact that we had just landed after a 7 hour journey and lugging 2 bags, we stopped right then and spent some time looking at them in awe.

We went up to the room and were in for another surprise. We hadn’t asked for a room with a view at the registration since the hotel was really full. But we still got a room that overlooked the dancing fountains.

I know that this looks like a commercial for Bellagio and I swear I have not been paid to say all this, but this is the best place to stay in Vegas. The only negative thing that I can think of is that, all the restaurants inside were super expensive. We dined there about 2.5 times during the stay and two of them were breakfasts. The half meal was ingested on the night we landed when we were too hungry to venture out. We found this place and had a savory crepe that tasted just like masala dosa. It was just what we needed after a long journey.

We found cheaper dining options in the other hotels like the Ventian. Being vegetarians, I had figured we would have trouble finding good places to eat, but surprisingly every place we went to had vegetarian options or were happy to substitute.

We spent most of our time in Vegas gambling. And predictably we lost all the money we had budgeted for gambling and then some. We gambled the cash we had kept aside for cabs and lost those too. Initially I had planned to play the slot machines and only that. But then S had downloaded this blackjack game on my iPhone and I had spent the whole of April and May playing that and started thinking of myself as a blackjack pro. So we won some, lost some, won some and lost everything. Like S. Ve. Sekar says in Kaatle Mazhai, "Uttada pidikaren nu pidichidayum uttiye ba". Finally when we had just a couple of dollar bills left, I put them in some slot machines and won $15. Losing all that money gave me a really nasty feeling at the bottom of stomach and I was bad company to S for awhile.

After losing all our money, we discovered that there are other things to do in Vegas and went to a night club and danced our worries away. We also took the NY Roller Coaster ride at the NY NY Hotel and I think it's one of the best roller coasters I've ever been on.

We also went to the Stratosphere Hotel and waited in line for more than an hour to go on the ride called Insanity. We were so irritated that we didn't even think to take a picture of the ride.

Oh yes and how could we forget the show, considering that leaving Vegas without catching a show amounts to sacrilege. We did some research about a lot of shows. I wanted to watch The Lion King, but S vetoed it right away. We considered the Blue Man Group, but people told us it was very low brow and more of a family thing than a couples’ show. We zeroed in on Cirque du Soleil just because it was a very Vegas thing to do and got tickets for Zumanity at the NY Hotel. It started out alright and we were ready for some classy and sensual fun. But it turned to be very burlesque and not at all what we imagined. If all we wanted to see were topless women, we would have gone to some of the other infamous shows. The banter was very unfunny and middle school. I thanked my stars that we had just Balcony seats so that we wouldn’t have been pulled into the inane audience participation skits. To be fair, we enjoyed some parts of it. But S and I are not the type of people who enjoy watching people twist themselves into impossible postures. I remember last year when we accompanied our friends and their son to a Ringling Bros Circus show and I was bored out of my mind and couldn’t wait to leave. So the next time I think we will skip all this and catch a comedy show instead.

When Monday dawned, we were in no mood to come back home. In fact S called the airlines and tried to get us onto a later flight, but of no avail. We came back home tired and partied out and I can't wait to go back there again.

PS - All photos are courtesy of S. If you like what you see in this post, do visit his flickr page

Filler post

I have nice post written about my Vegas trip - complete with pictures and all. So till I get that one ready, here is a filler post for my faithful reader(s).

* Friday afternoons are the longest of all afternoons!

* The reason that this afternoon seems really long is because I was up half the night reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" It's one the best books I've ever read. Stieg Larrson knows how to tell a tale. I encourage all my readers to pick up the first book in the series "The Girl with the Dragan Tattoo" Even S is reading it, which is saying something! :-)

* I had a very private confession typed out here, but then I realized I don't want y'all to judge me. :-) Maybe another post another time

* I am trying to plan out my trip to West Virginia. The flight tickets are so insanely expensive. Ironic that I never had the urge to go WV while in Raleigh, 'coz that was so close. Now it's too far to drive, too expensive to fly.

* When I was young and in school, I was really into public speaking. I used to sign up for every debate and such. Something happened since then and that girl seems to be missing. I had to give a demo to some customers today and when I learned of that in the meeting room, I froze for a minute. In the end, I think I did well, but it was not something I enjoyed. In a similar vein, I used to be an introvert right from the time I was kid, but I seem to have gotten worse now. To the point that I have stopped going to team lunches and parties because I am so incredibly bored. Don't get me wrong here, the people at work are really nice, but I feel I have very little in common with them, since I am much younger and at a different stage in life. I have been in Madison for more than a year and I don't have a single friend. I would like to remedy this, but I am at a loss about how to go about this process. I have started going out with the people at work for lunches and parties - so that's a start. Any suggestions would be welcome

Don't have the enthusiasm for writing more today. But check back again folks, the Vegas post will be up soon

The next time I write a sappy post like the one just below, just slap me hard ok. S and I have been arguing and fighting the whole weekend after I wrote that one. So never again am I chronicling any lovey dovey stuff on the blog! Never!

No Point to it Post

My initial idea for a post was along the lines of "Love is driving 7 miles to lunch at Chipotle with the husband, while there is a Chipotle a couple of blocks from my work" But after writing a couple such lines, it made me gag. I mean we had been going out for 5 years before we got married and this makes it our 6th year of togetherness. And even in the first year, we never did coupley things because we knew each other since we were kids. It's really hard to flutter your eyebrows and nod shyly at the guy with whom you played in the mud as a child. So why flaunt the love now I say.

However Project Move In Together has been going along well, thank you for asking. There is something to be said about having another living soul in the house to share conversation and food with. Though the cooking has increased significantly, I am not complaining (yet) since I am getting some help (sort of) in that department. S really does a great job cleaning up after I finish cooking. He gets into action the minute we finish dinner (and some days I am too lazy to even drop the dinner plates into the sink. And also if anyone in my family is reading this, no I do not mix yechai plates with the other utensils. We wash them in the special faucet outside the kitchen.) He is a mean cleaning machine, armed with his Windex and trusty sponge. In a whirlwind, he transfers all dirty dishes into the dishwasher and cleans the kitchen surface area before coming to bed. But he almost always forgets to turn the dishwasher on and I am subjected to a nasty surprise in the moning while hunting for a bowl for my cereal. But still the man tries and I and confident that I can train him to my system of cleaning pretty soon.

I know that I have been writing a lot about not living with my husband and now living with my husband. I think that's because that thought seemed to consume my entire being. And everyone who talked to us would end the conversation with "You guys should start living together soon." That comment used to drive me insane. Like we weren't trying! If all they wanted to do was sympathize, I would have welcomed something like "I know you guys are trying to get together in the same city, I hope it happens soon for you." The result of so many frustrations and yearning was that, we sort of built a pedestal of living together. We would prefix a lot of things with "When we start living together" - to buy a PS3, eating better, going somewhere etc. To the point where we felt we couldn't be happy living apart and that life would be heaven once we start living together. Again, living together has been awesome. But it has been a different kind of awesome, more of a being there for small moments awesome. We haven't done most of the things we planned to do when we move in together. But it has been nice to just lay on the couch and talk before going to bed. Going to the grocery store together. To be home when S gets home from work. I could go on and on.

I know this post is winding and pointless. But seeing as this blog is becoming my diary, I just want to record my feelings for posterity

This and That

Greetings, gentle readers of the blog. I would like to bring it to your attention that this blog has been complaint-free (well relatively atleast) for quite some time now. Since this blog has been painstaking built on a solid foundation of whine, cribs and unadulterated vitriol, I want to assure you that I am not straying away from my ideals. It's just that, in an effort to make this blog seems as well read, I have been self promoting my blog to everyone I know and thus I am out of people to complain about. I have often wondered why I didn't start this blog anonymously. I think I loved seeing my name on the screen too much and I am now paying the price. And there was this certain person, whose blog I idolized and since he didn't blog anonymously, I guess I inherently assumed that the "cool kids" signed their name to their blogs. Sadly the said idol has given up on his blog now, and I am now left with this.

Now that I have managed to fill an entire paragraph complaining about my inability to complain, lets move on. In other non-complaining news, my husband S has now moved lock, stock and barrel to Madison, WI (for the next 2 months, keeping fingers crossed that it gets extended beyond that) and you all can stop calling me the sad ol lady of Wisconsin. You know, I can actually go to movie on a week night now. Or go to a fancy dinner on week night. Or even go bowling on a week night. Or play Monopoly on a week night. The possibilities are endless. And I am hoping this move will end the huge DVR fights that plague us on weekends - the I-will-not-watch-The-Office-Again, You-should-have-seen-Modern-Family-on-Hulu-if-you-care-so-much etc. But on the other hand, he must start watching Desperate Housewives with me and I must learn to endure 24. Talking about 24, does anyone else think that Jack Bauer has been heavily influenzed by our own Gaptain Vijayakanth? When I am feeling a little more inspired, I swear I am going to dig out youtube videos where they both do the same thing. And I wish I knew what sort of batteries Bauer's cell phone runs on. I never see him charging it and yet people page stuff after stuff onto that phone. I do nothing with my iPhone except talk, check my email and play the occasional solitaire, but come 8pm, it's begging to be recharged.

Yet another blathering post brought to you by yours truly. Read, enjoy and comment!

Snippets

* Let's talk sitcoms first. I know I have raved about many sitcoms before, but I don't think I have mentioned "Rules of Engagement" before. The show was kinda B+ or borderline C the first couple of seasons, but the writing has really picked up. I started watching the show because of David Spade and Patrick Warburton, but now that Adhir Kalyan has joined the cast, I am loving the whole ensemble. I wish this would get picked up for a full season. And talking about shows that do get picked up for a full season, what's the deal with Community? I watch the show because, well Joel Mchale is so hot. And the show is ok, but I can't stand Danny Pudi. There are people who can pull off deadpan and Danny Pudi is not one of them. Wish they would lose him or atleast tone him down a bit.

* Talking about people I don't like, here's one more - Sarah Jessica Parker. Hate her hate her hate her. But I watched Sex And The City through all the seasons and watched the first movie and I know I will be dragging S to the next one. What can I say, I am a girl :)

* This weekend was spent alone in Madison, hopefully for the last time. Next week, S and I will be driving back and it will be a mini road trip. So yay! I have always loved road trips - motel stays, gas station restrooms not withstanding. I really love diner food and cheap pizza that you get by the slice. I know, I am rather weird this way.

Oru Chinna Romance*

She clutched her books in one hand and caught the railing of the bus with the other. The bus jolted along the many bumps of the uneven road and she had trouble maintaining her balance. Yet she couldn't help returning the looks from the guy in the red shirt hanging on the foot-board. She told herself that she wasn't . Yet she wished she had one hand free to smooth down her frizzy hair. She tried to keep an austere face while inwardly giggling to herself, as she caught him steal a look at her one more time.

He didn't usually travel on the foot-board of buses, much less oogle at college girls inside the bus. But he saw something in her eyes and he couldn't help himself. And then he realized that she was looking at him too and that was all the elixir he needed. He decided to hang around on the foot-board for some more time and added a sly smile to his glances. He caught her eyes once and when she blushed and turned her face away, his heart raced a little.

She walked up the stairs of her apartment giddily, still on a high. She was greeting by her husband carrying their wailing baby. He heaved a sigh of relief and promised her that the next time she wanted to go to the library, he would gladly drive her there as long as she didn't leave him alone with the baby. She bounced and cuddled the baby and saw that her husband hadn't cleaned the house like he promised. But today she didn't mind.

He walked into his son's school and his wife met him at the gate and admonished him about being late for the PTA meeting. He would have usually flared up right then and the situation had "Big Argument in a Public Place" written all over it. But today he surprised her with an apology and a hug.

* - A Tiny Romance

Public Service Announcement

I have been recently informed that my recent tweet "My cup of happiness overfloweth! :) Sunshine and smiles all around" has caused some unnecessary excitement and people have been assuming a lot of things.

That was a premature message I posted on learning that my darling husband S is now moving to Madison for good (or so we thought). However since then we have come to learn that it might be temporary thing. However it's been all celebrations here, coz you know now I don't have to be alone and all that. Can you believe that I am actually excited to be packing lunch for S, ironing his T shirts and doing other wifey things :) It feels like we are getting married all over again.

Love Letters

1990

She was busy clearing out her late mother's house. She was going through her mother's things to see if there was anything important or valuable and donating the rest to charity. In the attic, she came across a small box of carved wood. She opened it gingerly and came across a bunch of letters tied in a satin ribbon. She broke into a smile and realized that these were the letters that her father had written her mother when they courting. She was amazed that her mother had kept them safely as they moved across multiple cities and houses. She carefully set the box among the things that she was taking back to her home.


2060

She was busy clearing out her late mother's laptop. She was going through her mother's files to see if there was anything important to be saved or deleted and was donating the laptop to a charity. In her D drive, she came across a small folder marked "Personal". She gingerly clicked it open and found a bunch of emails in a zip file. She broke into a smile and realized that these were the emails that her father had written to her mother when they were dating. She was amazed that her mother had saved the mails as she moved to different mail servers and laptops. She carefully copied the folder into her memory stick among the other files she was taking.

Commercials - Does Anyone Love Them?

I often think about what I miss most about India/Madras. Obviously, I miss my immediate family. I also miss my extended family - aunts, uncles, cousins and most recently my darling nephew. And I miss Thamizh - hearing it all around me and seeing it on billboards. I would be amiss if I didn't mention the food - the wholesome goodness filled homemade food and the various restaurants that serve a wide variety of Indian food. I am officially sick of the crap that is served at most Indian restaurants (and yet I keep going back, because sometimes the heart wants what it wants) The movies - there seems to be a slew of good Thamizh/Hindi movies these days and I hate having to drive over 100 miles to see it in a theater.

The above paragraph should not come as a surprise to anyone, coz God knows I have written about this several times in this blog. Lately I have come to realize that I miss something that I never thought I would miss - I miss the ads on TV. I always believe that however long I live in the United States, I would never fit in completely, because a lot of cultural references from their childhood would just go right off my head. And I think advertisements are big part of that. Though I had given up on Indian programming while in India and lived entirely on sitcoms, it feels like I have severed all my ties with Madras. I spend a lot of time hunting for new ads on Youtube. I feel that it might help to have some Tam channels at home. But again, I have no interest in watching any serials, I am not a music lover, I hate star interviews of any kind (except when Kamal Hassan is interviewed) and the lesser said about Indian reality TV the better. So S (rightly) feels that it is not a good idea to pay double of what we pay to Dish Tv to have Sun TV and Vijay TV! Besides S dislikes these channels more than I could ever do and I don't forsee him budging from his stance, unless my parents or V Athai visits. Hmm, maybe it is time for someone to visit. :-)

I know that I always give an impression about missing India and absolutely hating it here. While I do miss India, it's not that I am having a bad time here. I guess it's a case of the grass being greener the other side. I am sure I will have plenty to complain when I do eventually move back. So till that time, lay back and listen to my gentle rants about this topic :-)

Also I would love to hear about your favorite ads. Drop in a comment (with a YouTube link if possible) Thanks everyone - you guys are the best!

The Girl - Part II

Read Part I here.

Rukku’s heart stopped and the proverbial thunder and lightning went off in her head. She started having visions about Vatsan bringing home a White American girl clad in skimpy clothes. She cursed the day that she had allowed her darling son to go to the big bad USA and wished that he could have stayed home with her. She screamed for Ananthu and started babbling incoherently on the phone, with tears streaming down her face.

It took a minute for Ananthu to understand what his wife was telling him. All he could make out was words like “church”, “grandkids”, “America”, “Janaki Maami”, interspersed with chants of the Lord’s name and try as he might, he could find nothing in common between all those words. He grabbed the phone from his hysterical wife and tried to find out what had actually happened.

Vatsan repeated the sentence to his father and Ananthu’s heart did a double leap as well. But before his father could react, Vatsan started talking again. “Her name is Sandhya, Sandhya Krishnamachary. She had come to the US to study and is now working in the same place I work.” Ananthu’s face relaxed. And then Vatsan said the golden words “She is also an Iyengar Vadakalai.” Ananthu couldn’t contain his glee and beamed happily at his wife. Rukku stared at Ananthu with dagger eyes, but as Ananthu explained, she heaved a sigh of relief. She started seeing everything in color again and said a silent thanks to Venkatachalapathy.

When the initial rush died down, Rukku diverted her attention to the Krishnamacharis. She pried their phone number out of Vatsan and made plans to contact them immediately. The initial phone call was made and she invited them home.

Rukku liked Mr & Mrs Chary. They had seemed genuinely happy at the alliance. They were impressed with Ananthu’s modest home and said the right things about Rukku’s filter coffee. They even agreed with Rukku that the marriage must be held as soon as possible. When Mrs Chary showed a photo of Sandhya to Rukku, she decided that Sandhya was much prettier than Janaki’s daughter. She reasoned to herself that even though she hadn’t arranged the alliance herself, Sandhya was a very good match for Vatsan. She was also working, which means that Vatsan could buy a flat in T.Nagar in no time. Also Mrs Chary had told her that Sandhya was tall, 5’ 7” to be precise. Since Vatsan was over 6’ tall, they would look good standing on the reception pandal. Rukku decided that she would become modern and accept the love marriage without any fuss. Anyway, since Sandhya was Iyengar too, she could always tell everyone that it was a “love-cum-arranged” marriage.

Saturday finally rolled around, Vatsan informed Rukku that he was planning a vacation to Madras in a couple of weeks and that Sandhya was coming with him. Rukku’s joy knew no bounds.

The days after that passed in a whirlwind with Rukku being busy prepping the house. Dust, cobwebs and dirt were hunted down and cleaned. The bathroom tiles were scrubbed till they started to look like once white. She made visits to various electronics stores and decided on a spilt AC that had to be installed in Vatsan’ room. The big TV that had adorned their drawing for more than a decade was replaced with a thin LCD TV. This was Vatsan’s first visit home and she wanted everything to be perfect. Also she wanted Sandhya to see that they lived in relative luxury and she would face no trouble as the daughter-in-law of the house. They had decided to have a formal engagement ceremony in the next week, and Rukku got out her jewels from the bank locker. She picked out a beautiful diamond necklace that her mother in law had given her during her wedding and decided she would give this to Sandhya during the engagement.

The day dawned bright and clear. Vatsan’s flight was supposed to land at ten in the morning. Rukku was bright and ready at eight and nagged Ananthu to get to the airport in time. They met with Mr and Mrs Chary at the airport and waited with them. After what seemed like an endless wait, it was announced that their flight had landed. Rukku squinted at the crowds and tried to spot Vatsan. Slowly people collected their bags and trickled out to meet with their waiting families. Rukku carefully scanned them and finally saw Vatsan pushing a trolley. And then Rukku she saw Sandhya.

Rukku and Ananthu looked at each other in confusion. The Charys shrugged their shoulders and nodded apologetically at them. If words like “gothic”, “punk” or “emo” had been a part of Rukku’s vocabulary, she would have used them to describe Sandhya. She was wearing tattered jean and a “well fitted” tank top. Her hair was as straight as sticks and was streaked with pink highlights. Her eyes had dark makeup around them and she was leaning on Vatsan casually.

To say that Rukku was taken aback was an understatement. In all her 55 years of existence, Rukku had never seen someone like Sandhya from close quarters. Before meeting Sandhya, Rukku had invited the Chary family home for a quick coffee and brunch and they had accepted. And now they were on their way home.

Rukku felt that she could think better with caffeine streaming through her body and brought out her famous filter coffee. Sandhya refused and said she was vegan. Rukku was perplexed until Vatsan explained that she did not drink milk and as of Jan 2010, neither did him. He went to the kitchen and brewed some watery tea sans milk and they both seemed to enjoy it. Conversation was minimal at the table and Rukku wanted them to pack up and leave.

No sooner than they stepped out of her home, she turned to Vatsan and begged him to reconsider. He was adamant and tried to convince Rukku that Sandhya was a “nice” girl. He refused to listen to any argument and Rukku knew she had lost the battle.

Things didn't go well between Rukku and Sandhya. She did not want to have any engagement ceremony and said that she had already accepted Vatsan’s proposal and was hence engaged. She refused Rukku’s gift of the diamond necklace and said that she didn’t want any “blood” diamonds. She was against silk sarees and gave a spiel about silk worms that Rukku didn’t understand a word of. She told Rukku quite emphatically that she hated all religious ceremonies and had planned to get married by the beach. When Rukku gasped, Sandhya was kind enough to say that they would definitely be invited.

Rukku remembered a wedding that she had attended an year ago. One of Ananthu’s friends' sons had married an American girl. She fell in love with Indian culture and had insisted that they have a traditional Indian wedding and had even worn an Aandal kondai. Rukku stared wistfully at Vatsan and wished he had brought home a nice American girl.

Concluded

The Girl

Rukmani was busy in kitchen, making the usual lunch-for-two. She minced and sautéed in silence today, so that she wouldn't miss the phone ringing. You see, today was Saturday and this was when Vatsan called home usually.

Srivatsan was Rukku's youngest son and the constant cause for concern for Rukku and her husband Ananthapadmanabhan. Their eldest daughter Vaidehi had done her Bachelors in IIT, Madras and her PhD in IISC Bangalore and now worked as a Associate Professor there, alongside her husband, also a Professor in IISc. They had 2 kids, who seemed to take after their parents' academic genes and were forever winning something at school. They called their Paati every other day and told her about their exploits at school, which Rukku promptly broadcast to the entire neighborhood. The middle child, Rangan (named Rangaswamy after her father) had decided to go the commerce route. After passing the SBI clerical exam, he had gone on to write all possible promotion exams and was now a Manager of the Siruthozhil Branch in Nungambakkam at the young age of 32. He lived with his wife and son in a 2 bedroom flat and visited home frequently.

Vatsan was a whole other story. He had always been a problem child at school. When Vatsan started school, Rukku and Ananthu had been shocked that teachers were actually complaining about a child of theirs, rather than heap accolades. He got into fights frequently, talked too much in class and wasn't the brightest bulb in the room. While Vaidehi was an accomplished Veena player and Rangan an avid quizzer, Vatsan had not shown any interest towards extracurricular activities. Ananthu tried to drag a screaming and kicking Vatsan to Mrudangam class for a few months, but gave up when he realized Vatsan had neither the attitude nor the aptidue. Vatsan finished his schooling with less than stellar grades and thanks to Ananthu's friend, who knew someone, who in turn knew someone at Akilandaparameshwari Engineering College, Vatsan got admitted for Bachelors of Engineering, Computer Science, aided by a sizeable dent in Ananthu's retirement savings. Rukku and Ananthu heaved a sigh of relief, thinking they had 4 years until they had to worry about Vatsan again. But Fate got other plans and in his first year, they got a call from the college saying that Vatsan had been caught drinking. Rukku gave a wail that put ambulance sirens to shame and promptly fainted. Ananthu prayed to Venkatachalapathy in anguish. They pulled Vatsan out of college for 2 weeks and took him to Tirupati, Srirangam and Kumbakonam, hoping that the Gods would knock some sense into the head of their prodigal son. It seemed to have some effect, because they never received another complaint about his drinking again. After graduating (with 3 arrears), Vatsan roamed the streets looking for a job and finally found one, after 6 long months, in one of the bigger IT companies in Chennai. Rukku liked to think that her prayers had something to do with it. A couple of years passed in relative peace and it seemed as though Vatsan had mellowed with age.

As with most companies, Vatsan was asked to go to the US for a yearlong project. Ananthu liked the idea, and felt that staying away from home would give Vatsan a sense of responsibility. Rukku had initially protested, but later gave in when she realized she would now have something to say to the NRI Maamis who gathered at the temple to regale stories about celebrating Diwali in Fall. After a tearful farewell at the Anna International Airport, Vatsan began his sojourn to the United States.

Life ambled along and Rukku realized that she missed her trouble making son. He called frequently the first couple of months. And then Rukku started talking about suitable girls and the call frequency dropped to once a week. Rukku tried in vain to convince him that he needed a nice Iyengar girl to take care him, to make filter coffee in the mornings, to wash his good shirts by hand, making sure the collar is squeaky clean. She didn’t like it that Vatsan always tried to evade the topic and was non committal about the whole thing.

Rukku decided that today she would convince Vatsan to talk to Janaki’s daughter. Janaki was one of Rukku’s oldest temple acquaintances. On the occasions that she had gone to Janaki’s house, her daughter Priya had been hospitable and chatty. She remembered the chocolate, eggless cake that Janaki had proudly served, saying Priya had baked them. Chocolate cake was no badushah or mysore pak, but she was sure that Priya would learn. And Janaki had been receptive to this idea as well. A girl like Priya was just the woman Vatsan needed! Rukku waited for the phone call, practicing what she would say to convince Vatsan.

Tring, tring. Rukku ran to the living room to pick the phone, yelling at Ananthu to turn off the gas after the cooker had given 2 more whistles. Ananthu looked up from his newspaper with a small smile and continued reading. He was used to the weekly drama, and he didn’t think today would be any different.

After the initial formalities of asking about his health, his cooking and satisfied with his answers about if he was eating well, Rukku jumped into the topic. “Vatsa kanna, I really think you should get married soon.” To her surprise, Vatsan didn’t try to cut her off and agreed with her. And then he said the fateful sentence “I like a girl here and I would like to marry her”

to be contd...

PS1 - Will post Part 2 if all of you comment

PS2 - Just kidding! (Sort of!)

General Rambles (aka I am Offically Out of Sensible Titles)

I love visiting used book stores. I have written about this in the past as well. I love the smell of freshly minted books as anyone else, but I think that old books have more character. Also the smell of old books take me back to Easwari Lending Library, where I spent many happy hours as a child. Yesterday, I went to Frugal Muse, a new used book store that I had been meaning to check out for a couple of months now. And it was really different than the second hand book sellers that I had been used to in India. All books were in very very good condition. Everything was neatly categorized and sorted alphabetically (which makes me think that more than half the cost of the book is the cost of identifying it and placing it at the right spot) But I missed digging through the piles of books and finding a hidden gem. Or just picking books that looked interesting. I remember when S and I were kids, we went to the platform book sellers near ESI Hospital in KK Nagar (this was back when my husband actually used to read for pleasure!) We spent nearly an hour and I was so happy to dig through piles with S. Once, during my final semester at Pilani, I went to Rungta House to sell the textbooks I couldn't carry home. And digging through the ginormous book stacks filled with textbooks in all editions, I came across a Wodehouse! I was thrilled beyond measure and incredulous that someone would actually sell "Righto Jeeves!" Long story short, that book cost more money than I got from selling my texts, but I still have that book (that is if my mom hasn't thrown it away or donated it very generously).

You all know best that I love watching sitcoms. Back in Hyd, my sitcom watching was whatever was on Zee English and Star World and the DVDs from the US sent by S to me and by K's brother to her. When I landed in the US, Grad living did not permit the time and cash for TV and satellite/cable. So I caught up most of the shows on hulu and other sites on my trusty laptop. Going to Florida to visit S would equate to a TV wonderland for me and I would be loathe to stir out of the sofa to actually go out somewhere in Tampa. Naturally when I got a job and my own apartment, the first thing I did was to buy a decent TV and a get it hooked to Dish. You would think that all is for best and that the reason I don't blog is because I am too busy watching TV. Well you are almost there, except I am watching the same shows over and over and over. I have 15-20 shows that are set to record on the DVR and barring the the current ones which have new episodes almost every week, I always end up watching staples like Seinfeld, King of Queens, Frasier, Will & Grace etc. And I have watched every episode there is of these shows and I am too lazy to try and find reruns of some interesting old shows. This wasn't a problem when I was using my laptop as my primary entertainment device. Since there was no schedule of any sorts, I would dig and find a lot of new things to watch. So gentle readers, do you see my dilema? Since I pay an obscene amount of money to Dish each month, I feel a moral obligation to watch my money's worth of shows on TV. But digging through hundred channels trying to find something new is not easy. This is where you, the readers of this blog who have excellent taste in TV viewing, come in. Suggest shows for me to watch. Doesn't have to very good - these are shows that I would see while cooking or have in the background while getting dressed for work (I know I watch too much TV) etc. So it has to be new content and at least slightly interesting and funny. So suggest away!

Traveling J

Hello my lovelies! How is the new year treating you so far?

I would like to announce that after 2.5 years of stepping foot into this country, I am finalllly going to visit the other coast! (I know I live in the Midwest and not the East Coast, but then the West Coast is still the other coast, no?) I leave tomorrow afternoon and have stuff to do on Friday. But on Saturday, I will be in LA, living it up Hollywood style. R has told me that I wouldn't really spot any celebrities, which does leave me a little upset. But I do get to go to Universal Studios though! I know people usually complain about going to theme parks, but me I just love them! Love love love. And R has very graciously decided to drive down 7 hours, just to meet moi and S. Is he a friend or what! So this weekend is going to be all about fun.

The next weekend will find me in Toledo, Ohio, where I intend to stay until Tuesday, assuming my manager lets me work from home for 2 days. Keeping fingers crossed! So we are planning to go to Detroit, eat at a "good" Indian restaurant and then watch Aayirathil Oruvan - the good Desis we are :-)

Also we are planning an anniversary trip in March (since Feb will not work for S due to work related reasons) Right now sunny Florida is on our radar. When I visited Daytona Beach a year or 2 ago, I remember seeing this hotel that was right on the beach. Too bad I didn't make note of the name of that place. Anyhoo I would like to stay at someplace where we would get a view of the water from our room and would have to just walk out to step into the water. Hopefully we will find someplace soon.

I guess I have rambled enough about my upcoming travel plans. If you are going to take just one thought away from this post, it should be this - this weekend I am going to be in Sunny California and you aren't! Maybe if you guys behave well enough, I might post some pictures. Keep watching this space.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to all my reader(s)! I hope 2010 brings all your dreams to life.

Personally, 2009 has been hands down the worst year of my life so far! With the the exception of getting married, there has been a dearth of good significant events in my life. And even for the wedding, the days leading to it were horrendous, with everyday being a marathon scream session with my parents. All because of one single person! And that said single person is yet to call/mail or even know if we are still alive after the wedding. But I digress. Now that 2009 is behind me, I would like to think that 2010 has begun on a better note. It is not that, I don't want to face any problems in 2010, but I would like to have some normal problems in 2010. You know, the kinds I see my friends and others complain about!

And yes, I have some resolutions for this year too. The usual ones - a healthier lifestyle and pay down debt. And I would like to have a more positive outlook towards life. People who know me in real life, know that I am pessimist. And S is even more so! My parents feel that this sort negativity might add to our misery and maybe if we wished good things for ourselves instead of wallowing in our self pity, something good might actually happen. So I've decided to be thankful what I actually have and start believing in myself. In that note, I am thankful that we can afford for S to fly down every weekend and I believe that we will be together soon. :-)

So gentle readers, what are you looking forward to the most in 2010?