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! :-)

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.

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

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.

One of Those Days

I have a lot of things to rant about. Like about how my manager asks a co-worker to go home early coz she's just back from India, but I wasn't even asked how I felt when I came back from India. Or about watched phones never ringing. Or even about about how I spent all my paycheck in just 3 days. But S is here with me and everything is alright with the world. :-)

Happy Festivus, to the rest of us! :-)

Yet Another Sleepy Friday Afternoon

Since this blog has long lost its credibility and well written pieces, I thought I might as well make a bullet list of things on my mind right now.

• People who complain about bad roads in India, should drive in Madison in winter! Seriously, they can now give stiff competition to the mud roads back there. The slush and ice are driving me nuts and I feel like I am traveling on a maatu vandi. Atleast back home, your brakes don't stop working.

• In the same vein, could someone just take all the snow away? I am sick of it already and it's just December. There's about 3 feet of snow sitting pretty on my patio right now. My body is built for Madras - wearing even one sweater is a big deal for me. Oh I wish I lived in Florida.

• I've realized that I wear yellow gold earrings, a white gold diamond ring (thanks S), a platinum ring that somewhat resembles a wedding band (thanks Viji Athai) and a sterling silver chain. Nothing matches! I think I would do well to get a new set of everyday wear jewelery - preferably from Tiffany. Wow this is far cry from the girl I used to be - who hated jewelery of any kind.

• A watched phone never rings. You can add this nugget to the treasure chest of wisdom that I have bestowed upon all readers over the years. And also a constantly refreshed mailbox, never gets new mail.

• Despite not being a Christian, I love Christmas (Disclaimer To Appa : Except the Jesus part of it. I still firmly believe in Venkachalapathy) Well decorated trees, beautiful ornaments and gifts! What's not to love about it? I really wanted a tree at home this year, but then no-one visits me. And it would be pretty sad to throw a Christmas party by myself for myself. But I have been playing Secret Santa at work though. It's been a fun week, finding small gifts at my desk each day. And all so beautifully wrapped. All my gifts have been going in store bought gift bags.

• I wanted to write something about Super Mario Galaxy, but people are telling me that there' are too many obscure references to Mario in th blog. So I will refrain from talking about it. Except to say I only have 18 stars left to capture before I finish the game in entirety.

That's all folks. Have a rocking weekend!

A New Post

OMG! I just remembered I have not updated this since last month... You would not believe how insane my life has become. But I'm sorry you'll just have to take my word for it..

I am overwhelmed with finding Jesus (after someone told me he was lost), waiting for the onshore winds, just generally being a nuisance to my local police, my day goes from the second I am woken by murderous Teletubbies to I see my darling's 10000 text messages. I am not complaining though. life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

I won't promise anything to you but I will try to remember my blog password more often in future. Until I need your shoulder to cry on, this is for my ever faithful, devoted public..

From here