Whatever happened to the notorious Illinois weather? It’s early February, it’s sunny, and there was a thunderous downpour yesterday – signs of advanced Spring? Well, no, the trees haven’t begun leafing yet. And weather.com predicts colder temperatures for the next week. But largely, it is going to be warmer in the coming weeks. Global warming, tsk tsk, has taken its toll on formerly spine-chilling-weathered states like Illinois. Apparently, last year, it was white all the way till late April! S left to India last year on May 4 for our wedding, and he said it was cold and white till the day he left.
Well Spring calls for a lot of cleaning – who’re we kidding, we’re always cleaning. I’m not complaining though, early Spring, early Summer, we get to go out and bask in the warmth, enjoy our outdoor routine and catch a cool-looking tan. While I dream about a green and luscious Spring and Summer, I’ll have to face the fact that it might snow this weekend in Chicago… there you go, the notorious, unpredictable, ever changing Chicago weather…
Here’s to a Happy Valentine’s Day, a heartwarming Spring, and beautiful days to come.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Drained Brain - Tried walking in a Sagittarian's shoes
I’ve been up at the computer for the last three days, downloading GMAT and PMP preparation material for S. Yes! Now that his work situation looks less hazy, and now that he’s joining a pretty renowned and fabulous American firm, I’m trying to push him into achieving his long term desire.
My brother is the most intelligent guy I’ve known since childhood. Mum boasts that he could spell ‘albatross’ at two, well I believe her, despite the fact that I wasn’t around to witness that miracle. Bro was always ahead of his peers with a double promotion during school. He is one of those who has a logical brain and can always think rationally and calmly. He moved on to IIT and then to the renowned ISB and is now sky soaring in his career and making me wish my kids take after him and not anyone else.
S is also very intelligent, but sadly, he thinks he digressed from his goals when he should have stayed put. S is finally getting all that he deserves, I’m sure I am his lucky streak. Hopefully, with all the pushing and prodding (and support) he gets to score well at these tests. A friend, Major K, who is with the Indian Army, recently scored the highest I’ve heard of till date, in the GMAT test. He shared his work material with us and that’s precisely what I’ve been downloading the last few days.
Besides that, S and I purchased Kaplan’s Math – we think that’s one area he’s going to have to work on real hard! I wanted to try my hand at the verbal section which was completely manageable. The math was alright here and there, but after a point, I thought my brain was hurting. This is basic CBSE 10th standard mathematics and arithmetic – papers I scored real well at in the past. But now, it’s completely different! Scary! Probably because of all the stress, the lack of practice, and being tired after endless ongoing mundane downloading … nice excuses, but I know even with a clear mind I can’t do this shit! Hats off to K, R and all the others who’ve managed unimaginable scores – I wish I had a little bit of each of your brains – that’s all that it takes, I’m sure.
Having said that, that’s why I want my babies to be Sagittarians, lol. Bro, Major K, Pa in law, Bro in law V… these are just a few of the people that I know who are November born Sagittarians that are laudably intelligent. There’s a good chance if we try at the right time, with double genetics working our way. Now, I’m proud I’m at least half a Sagittarian, whew.
Here’s wishing S all the luck with his tests, whenever it is going to be. This is going to be a new kind of trying time for us.
My brother is the most intelligent guy I’ve known since childhood. Mum boasts that he could spell ‘albatross’ at two, well I believe her, despite the fact that I wasn’t around to witness that miracle. Bro was always ahead of his peers with a double promotion during school. He is one of those who has a logical brain and can always think rationally and calmly. He moved on to IIT and then to the renowned ISB and is now sky soaring in his career and making me wish my kids take after him and not anyone else.
S is also very intelligent, but sadly, he thinks he digressed from his goals when he should have stayed put. S is finally getting all that he deserves, I’m sure I am his lucky streak. Hopefully, with all the pushing and prodding (and support) he gets to score well at these tests. A friend, Major K, who is with the Indian Army, recently scored the highest I’ve heard of till date, in the GMAT test. He shared his work material with us and that’s precisely what I’ve been downloading the last few days.
Besides that, S and I purchased Kaplan’s Math – we think that’s one area he’s going to have to work on real hard! I wanted to try my hand at the verbal section which was completely manageable. The math was alright here and there, but after a point, I thought my brain was hurting. This is basic CBSE 10th standard mathematics and arithmetic – papers I scored real well at in the past. But now, it’s completely different! Scary! Probably because of all the stress, the lack of practice, and being tired after endless ongoing mundane downloading … nice excuses, but I know even with a clear mind I can’t do this shit! Hats off to K, R and all the others who’ve managed unimaginable scores – I wish I had a little bit of each of your brains – that’s all that it takes, I’m sure.
Having said that, that’s why I want my babies to be Sagittarians, lol. Bro, Major K, Pa in law, Bro in law V… these are just a few of the people that I know who are November born Sagittarians that are laudably intelligent. There’s a good chance if we try at the right time, with double genetics working our way. Now, I’m proud I’m at least half a Sagittarian, whew.
Here’s wishing S all the luck with his tests, whenever it is going to be. This is going to be a new kind of trying time for us.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
An inflated ego and a pin-prick
I cannot believe the attitude on some women, well, I should call them girls because they obviously aren’t grown up, smart, or mature enough to be called women. However, that doesn’t change the fact that they look older than they act. They are those girls who just grow old, but never grow up. Sad! Sad but true!
It doesn’t take a psychology degree to decipher that someone who is so damn obviously just an average looker boasts about being “hot” and flaunts unrealistic compliments (which probably were made up) in networking sites, is suffering from serious bouts of superiority complex. I feel so sorry for them.
What makes it worse is when they try to put down others. Typical expressions of jealousy – they so badly want your life and are trying to sound like they don’t. It just makes me wonder why we’re even dealing with such people in the first place – if you’re wondering why none of this makes sense, it is about someone I haven’t met or known for a long time, she’s just someone I know through someone I’ve met a few times. And I, along with several others, feel sorry for that ‘someone I’ve met’ for he could have surely ended up with someone better than this. Well, who cares as long as they’re happy with each other!
The other day, we were at some friends’ place and this lady asked me to guess her age. Since she was with two kids and some basic math was running in my head owing to some details I had gathered in our previous conversations, I assumed she was somewhere between 28 and 30. Then we figured she married immediately after finishing high school and she was just 26, a whole year younger than me! And she thought I was 22. No kidding, I’m three years away from 30 but don’t look that way. Every time I go out with my college going cousins in India, I’m assumed to be their friend, not older sister. Probably kids these days look older than they're supposed to, who knows. But this someone who hasn’t even met me goes “HA!”, and I think, “In your face, I know you so badly want that compliment but too bad it doesn't suit you. And you haven’t even met me, you narcissistic woman. Besides, you don’t even look hot and there’s not a single good feature in your face. So you should first try working on your attitude to camouflage that face”.
And then I realise I shouldn’t bother wasting my time and bandwidth on such wannabes. At least she’s a little more popular now than she claims to be – with this blog post and all.
I cannot understand what goes on in the minds of such narcissistic people. Another friend of mine very recently met a guy for matrimonial purpose and the narcissistic that he turned out to be for an overweight, short, average looking guy, he had a problem with her looks! How ironic… And everyone felt all the way long that she was making a compromise by willing to take things forward. At least in the first case, he is happy with her looks and attitude especially, irrespective of what the whole world thinks. I couldn't survive a day with someone who possessed an attitude like her - I'm glad no one I know and like being with is like that even if they completely had reasons to be proud of themselves.
I hope these people just realise what they’re worth and grow up someday, before it’s too late. Coming from a family of amazing achievers in various walks of life, it makes me want to laugh out loud seeing such people walk around with haughtiness when the ones who really have reasons to be proud of themselves and show it off are truly modest and simple.
It doesn’t take a psychology degree to decipher that someone who is so damn obviously just an average looker boasts about being “hot” and flaunts unrealistic compliments (which probably were made up) in networking sites, is suffering from serious bouts of superiority complex. I feel so sorry for them.
What makes it worse is when they try to put down others. Typical expressions of jealousy – they so badly want your life and are trying to sound like they don’t. It just makes me wonder why we’re even dealing with such people in the first place – if you’re wondering why none of this makes sense, it is about someone I haven’t met or known for a long time, she’s just someone I know through someone I’ve met a few times. And I, along with several others, feel sorry for that ‘someone I’ve met’ for he could have surely ended up with someone better than this. Well, who cares as long as they’re happy with each other!
The other day, we were at some friends’ place and this lady asked me to guess her age. Since she was with two kids and some basic math was running in my head owing to some details I had gathered in our previous conversations, I assumed she was somewhere between 28 and 30. Then we figured she married immediately after finishing high school and she was just 26, a whole year younger than me! And she thought I was 22. No kidding, I’m three years away from 30 but don’t look that way. Every time I go out with my college going cousins in India, I’m assumed to be their friend, not older sister. Probably kids these days look older than they're supposed to, who knows. But this someone who hasn’t even met me goes “HA!”, and I think, “In your face, I know you so badly want that compliment but too bad it doesn't suit you. And you haven’t even met me, you narcissistic woman. Besides, you don’t even look hot and there’s not a single good feature in your face. So you should first try working on your attitude to camouflage that face”.
And then I realise I shouldn’t bother wasting my time and bandwidth on such wannabes. At least she’s a little more popular now than she claims to be – with this blog post and all.
I cannot understand what goes on in the minds of such narcissistic people. Another friend of mine very recently met a guy for matrimonial purpose and the narcissistic that he turned out to be for an overweight, short, average looking guy, he had a problem with her looks! How ironic… And everyone felt all the way long that she was making a compromise by willing to take things forward. At least in the first case, he is happy with her looks and attitude especially, irrespective of what the whole world thinks. I couldn't survive a day with someone who possessed an attitude like her - I'm glad no one I know and like being with is like that even if they completely had reasons to be proud of themselves.
I hope these people just realise what they’re worth and grow up someday, before it’s too late. Coming from a family of amazing achievers in various walks of life, it makes me want to laugh out loud seeing such people walk around with haughtiness when the ones who really have reasons to be proud of themselves and show it off are truly modest and simple.
In Absentia
I haven’t posted anything since December 15th and I have some excuses for that. S and I have been through trying times and now things are looking brighter and better.
So in the last couple of months, here’s what happened –
Finally, our prayers were answered and Satyam allowed rebadging as an option for S’s client. So S is joining a new vendor, an American company, on Feb 19th, and is resigning from Satyam on Feb 18th. Whew! Good times are surely ahead.
So in the last couple of months, here’s what happened –
- We went to Richmond for our nephew’s first birthday
- Travelled to Washington, DC and stayed at an expensive star hotel in the 11th floor, a room with a gorgeous view indeed. Had a wonderful time turning 27
- Had our flight to Richmond re-routed through Detroit and landed in DC, and drove all the way to Richmond! Our flights were cancelled due to a so-called ice rain that never happened, in our opinion. At least not while we could have still flown out.
- Took a bus to Chicago, and flew out of O’hare instead of our original flight, and we stood in the cold since the bus was late. A nice university cop opened up one of the university halls and we waited there. School was closed for Christmas at that time
- Went to Excalibur, Chicago, for New Year’s and gave up drinking and non-veg since then – no, they aren’t directly connected, it was just a resolution
- Woke up on the 3rd day of the new year to the worst possible and most unexpected news ever and have been in stress since then – the Satyam fiasco
- Began a food blog with cousin and mom and have been blogging there more regularly than here.
Finally, our prayers were answered and Satyam allowed rebadging as an option for S’s client. So S is joining a new vendor, an American company, on Feb 19th, and is resigning from Satyam on Feb 18th. Whew! Good times are surely ahead.
Monday, December 15, 2008
"You guys make a cute pair"
I've noticed this phrase in many couple's albums. I might have blurted this phrase out myself many a time. Lately I've been wondering, what the hell, everyone says this to each other irrespective of whether they mean it or not!
"You look great together", "You make a cute pair", "Sweet looking couple", "You guys are the perfect couple" - jeez, what a bunch of crap, especially when the guy has six packs and the girl has a double chin, or when the girl is a skinny short middle-school looking person and the guy is tall and mature. Sometimes it's an obvious mismatch, yet you hear people say "Ooh you look so good together".
When I recently blurted this out to a couple I know (they definitely did look good together), I was wondering out to him, and he had a good theory. People are mind-washed into saying things especially when the couple is a newly wed. Makes sense. But hey, I've seen some pictures of people well into marriage, and there again I find the same old hypocrisy - lies.
No offense to anyone, I sure have meant every compliment I've given, but if I haven't given you a compliment, then you know what I mean! *wink wink*
"You look great together", "You make a cute pair", "Sweet looking couple", "You guys are the perfect couple" - jeez, what a bunch of crap, especially when the guy has six packs and the girl has a double chin, or when the girl is a skinny short middle-school looking person and the guy is tall and mature. Sometimes it's an obvious mismatch, yet you hear people say "Ooh you look so good together".
When I recently blurted this out to a couple I know (they definitely did look good together), I was wondering out to him, and he had a good theory. People are mind-washed into saying things especially when the couple is a newly wed. Makes sense. But hey, I've seen some pictures of people well into marriage, and there again I find the same old hypocrisy - lies.
No offense to anyone, I sure have meant every compliment I've given, but if I haven't given you a compliment, then you know what I mean! *wink wink*
Memoirs of a part of me
It's gloomy and cold. The eerie silence is broken by the sounds of sleet and hard rain against my window. I close my eyes and see visions of home, back in India. Beautiful summer vacations at my maternal grandmother's home. I imagine the aroma of hot fried "medu vadais", a staple snack at Paati's home, made especially for me. I relive those precious moments of laughter and playing with my cousins at Paati's terrace.
I can clearly see a younger version of my grandfather travelling all the way from Tambaram to Besant Nagar to spend time with us. They never had the comforts of luxury and always travelled by bus. I'm stricken with guilt that we never visited them often when we should have. There's a tear drop in my eye for all the times Thatha came home in a crowded Chennai bus.
And I open my eyes to the present, where my mom warns me over a Yahoo! chat window that they're getting older and older and that Thatha had fainted in his living room. How I wish I could visit them! I haven't forgotten a single beautiful memory with my precious grandparents. My grandmother is the most amazing woman I've ever known - gentle, kind, generous, and so hard working. At this age, they still live alone - she cooks, cleans, shops... and she's so kind hearted she couldn't wish the worst even for an enemy... of course, she has no enemies.
I miss them so much. Married and now in the US, when I can't fry a "medu vadai" properly, or when I don't want to venture into deep frying "bakshanams", or even when I'm just generally getting accustomed to this new role in life, I always think of these wonderful people who passed down everything they know to my mom, and she in turn to me.
We love you thatha and paati, and we'll pray you won't give up on us and will be around when we come visiting India next time around.
I can clearly see a younger version of my grandfather travelling all the way from Tambaram to Besant Nagar to spend time with us. They never had the comforts of luxury and always travelled by bus. I'm stricken with guilt that we never visited them often when we should have. There's a tear drop in my eye for all the times Thatha came home in a crowded Chennai bus.
And I open my eyes to the present, where my mom warns me over a Yahoo! chat window that they're getting older and older and that Thatha had fainted in his living room. How I wish I could visit them! I haven't forgotten a single beautiful memory with my precious grandparents. My grandmother is the most amazing woman I've ever known - gentle, kind, generous, and so hard working. At this age, they still live alone - she cooks, cleans, shops... and she's so kind hearted she couldn't wish the worst even for an enemy... of course, she has no enemies.
I miss them so much. Married and now in the US, when I can't fry a "medu vadai" properly, or when I don't want to venture into deep frying "bakshanams", or even when I'm just generally getting accustomed to this new role in life, I always think of these wonderful people who passed down everything they know to my mom, and she in turn to me.
We love you thatha and paati, and we'll pray you won't give up on us and will be around when we come visiting India next time around.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Noisy Neighbours!
No one, not anyone out there, can have noisier neighbours than us! Having a fireplace is a nice thing, but the biggest con is having to sit in your living room listening to all the muffled crap that goes on downstairs - predominantly Hindi crap. As I type right now, they're being atrociously loud. I wonder how none of our American neighbours have complained about this to maintenance yet.
Sometimes, S and I feel like banging on their door and asking them to keep it low. Sometimes I just feel like rattling at the fireplace and scare the living daylights out of them...
Just to get some payback, I'm going to have a baby and make my kid jump all day long, giving them a perennial headache... watch out noisy neighbours, my kid's going to bring you down. *muahahahhahaha*
Sometimes, S and I feel like banging on their door and asking them to keep it low. Sometimes I just feel like rattling at the fireplace and scare the living daylights out of them...
Just to get some payback, I'm going to have a baby and make my kid jump all day long, giving them a perennial headache... watch out noisy neighbours, my kid's going to bring you down. *muahahahhahaha*
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