Resolutions

I visited Miami this January with my three bff-s. No boys, babies or other such baggage- just unadulterated, much-needed girl-time. We usually meet by ourselves once a year, but skipped out last year because we were all busy popping out our first babies (domino effect- one got pregnant and then like clockwork the rest followed in 2-3 month intervals.) Like in every other trip so far, much was divulged, endless laughter ensued, an appropriate amount of tears were shed. But a welcome addition to the chatter topics this time, given that we met at the beginning of the year, was new year resolutions. We each ended up deciding on one resolution for ourselves, and had another resolution chosen for us by the rest of the gang. There were one or two shared resolutions that every one in the gang felt that they needed to work on. I've included the collective list below- not planning to divulge who belongs to what. The one that was chosen for me by the group is about writing at least once a month. Hence this post :) But I also want to try working on one or more of these goals over the course of this year, just coz I believe that if I even inch toward each of these goals, I am going to have a much more fulfilling year than I would have otherwise had.

• Write at least one article a month
• Read at least 30 minutes a day
• Explore how to make life in current city more interesting
• Spice up romantic life
• Diversify social life
• Work on moving jobs by mid-year
• Experiment with looks and outfits: Try to create one ensemble every month
• More travel this year
• Be less rigid. Practice less control, more spontaneity
• Perfect a cake/baking recipe every month
• Work on being more fit
• Only say what you mean. If you say something, do it.

In the spirit of making my life in Austin more interesting, I am sitting outdoors at Dolce Vita on this brilliant 70F day working, blogging and sipping on my Capuccino. And tonight the hubby and I are planning to visit Barley Swine for V-day. Killing two resolutions with one stone ;)

The girl with the dragon tattoo

I don't see what the fuss is about! It is just your everyday run-of-the-mill grisly action flick, with a healthy dose of sexual perversion and biblical references thrown in to satisfy the weird and the whacky. Luckily, the dry, factual style made the characters and situations feel distant and actively unevocative. The only part that drew any emotion from me was (SPOILER ALERT!) the sense of "yessss! take that, asshole!" at the ample response Lisbeth Salander doles out to Nils Bjurman. Otherwise, the book felt like it was intentionally titillating, pandering, sensationalising.

OK- I just wiki-ed the book and found that the reason Larsson's books deal with so much sexual perversion was that "Larsson, who was disgusted by sexual violence, witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. He never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth - like the young heroine of his books, herself a rape victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books." Now I feel bad. Ignore previous paragraph.

Reading

It's been ever so long since I opened a book- or clicked on my kindle. It feels like I was more literary in high school than I have ever been since! Is that a common thing? Or have my brain cells been slowly dying off since birth, and in an accelerated manner through college and after?

With my new resolution to do something for myself everyday firmly in place, I re-visited a book I started ages back: The girl with the dragon tattoo. A good book with which to ease my way back into the reading habit. I went from 6% to 22% of the book on the Kindle last night. Although the first chapter was a terrible drag, the book has really launched into action mode after that. I continue to read today at a furious pace. Will let you know where my resuscitated reading mode takes me next.

Great cheese, happy cows; great babies, happy moms

Ganesh told me a few days ago that longitudinal studies have proven that people who talk about their goals don't really accomplish them. So at great risk to my goal accomplishment, I am announcing my goal as a mom to my abandoned blog. One could argue that it's not such a great risk given that no one, including me, ventures toward this blog anymore. The digital equivalent of "even walls have ears" would be my withering reply. Anyways, long story short: here's my resolution as a mom- to do something just for myself everyday. So from this point forward, for as long as I have enthu, this blog is going to be about what I did to make myself happy each day.

Today, to make myself happy, I am updating my blog over a glass of wine. You may notice that I will be doing several things over several glasses of wine through the upcoming weeks. The wine is not the protagonist of this story, but plays a key supporting role. Later today, I also mean to go for a manicure, if at all possible. Since I go to a cheap, vietnamese joint for my manicure, there will be no wine involved in that process.

Mlogging...

How cool is this- I can now blog using my mobile phone! Go here to find out how... http://www.blogger.com/mobile-start.g

Gotto love technology! :)

Mike testing 1 2...

All new improved blog!

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Austintatious living

A lot has changed in my life since I visited this space last

- I have had two bad haircuts
- I "twitter" now... just as sporadically as I blog
- I've stopped watching day time TV
- I've gained two pounds. plus another eight.
- And oh ya, I grew up, found another job, moved to Austin and bought a house.

I know, I know ... all that ranting about NEVER moving out of San Francisco, and I end up a couple of thousand miles away in less than 6 months. Imagine how Ganya worries about the "for as long as we both shall live"!!!

Ever since I've turned respectable and started working in an office from 9-5, I've been cut off (cold turkey, no less) from my daily dose of unlimited daytime TV and personal email. And since blogger is the only "personal" website that I am allowed to access at work, and given my propensity towards clandestine activities, you can expect to see me here more often.

Ganya and I went on a hike up Mt. Tamalpais yesterday

Here's the evidence

Movie week

For a while now, I've been off movies. Not consciously, but for some reason over the last several months I've just preferred endless re-runs of dusty sitcoms to even the best of movies out on DVD. Finally, I've managed to shake off my languor. And what a week it has been...! Five movies- one on opening day in the theatre. Here is my twopence in twenty words or thereabouts.

The Departed
Not that I liked ‘The Departed’ less, but I liked ‘L.A.Confidential’ more.

The Da Vinci Code
If you’ve read the book, don’t watch the movie; if you’ve not read the book, don’t watch the movie.

Music and Lyrics
No one other than Hugh Grant should act in romantic comedies! No really, I mean it!

Goodbye Lenin
Ich liebe Daniel Brühl! Er ist total ‘eye-candy’. Especially in ‘The Edukators’. Which ist also really gut!

The Last Kiss
Historical: The only chick-flick that Ganya liked and I didn’t.

Scribbling in Starbucks

7:25pm

I decided to lug my laptop over to the coffee shop and sit here for a few hours just to shake myself out of my TV-induced-stupor. I have my skinny gingerbread latte waiting patiently in front of me, while I engage in an animated conversation with the computer. More monoblog than conversation, I should say. ‘Narnya’ sits on the chair to my side, ready to entertain me, in case I should get bored of myself.

From where I sit, I can see the glass façade of the shop framing the world outside. The paper snowflakes stuck on the windows pretend as though winter is upon us… even in sunny San Francisco. The steaming coffee mugs and conversations fog up the windows from time to time. Through the fog, Christmas lights smile at me from the shop across the street. On the music system, a jazz saxophonist interprets ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’. Cars drive by to the music. Clingy couples coast by, to the music. A homeless man peers in for a long long time, to the music. A middle aged woman walks her Doberman in unnecessarily high heels, to the music. Short silent films set to a saxophonist playing ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’.

Someone opens the door, and a blast of cold air bumbles in through the door and snaps my reverie in two.

Been there, done that!

Ok... I am in love! San Francisco is charming, real, sexy, laid-back and ... has a great sense of humour! Been here for over a month now, and I am never moving out. I am going to pull a Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, if I ever have to leave the city :).

In the meanwhile, I am maintaining this spreadsheet with all the places - restaurants, pubs, bars, clubs, galleries- I want to visit in the city. As TO DO Lists go, it's the best- and each tickmark has given me genuine pleasure... and the next day, a brutal hangover. Anyways, here's the lowdown on my best city experiences so far- yummy lychee bubblies at Bar 821, can't-believe-it's-couscous at Medjool, addictive desserts across the road at Belganos (take my advice! no matter how much self-control you think you have, never ever live across the road from a gelato place), the best cocktails and the worst hangover of my life at Bissap Baobab, cheap-and-best Mexican food at Papalote, overly crowded on weekends but must-visit on a weekday to make up my mind abt Jade Bar- the list goes on and on. Each tickmark only creates more tickmarks to explore. And once I am done with all the bars and pubs and clubs, I am going to go out and get me some culture. No really, I am! For the time being, I am quite happy with my neighborhood bars on the weekdays, and the exotic far-flung all of 3 miles away kinda lounges over the weekends. The best part is, you can walk almost anywhere and hobble back to bed when you decide to call it a night! Have I already told you I am never leaving?

City lights

After, years and years of suburban living, ganya and me have decided to move to the city... San Francisco, to the uninitiated. Less than 45 miles from where we live, yet a whole world away! I am excited... and terrified. Am hoping that San Francisco will be the ear popping, heart racing, nostril flaring, eye opening adventure that it promises to be. The idea is to expand the horizons, challenge the thinking, push the envelope. If only, all that came with a washer-dryer in the apartment and a deeded parking space! Sigh!

Anyways, apartment hunt is on full blast. Today, we are going to see a one bedroom place in the famed Castro District. Ganya seems gung-ho about the place. Should I be worried? :)

Brand new day

I saw 5:15am today. And no, this is not my usual stay up all night and go to bed at 7am kinda 5:15am that I am talking about. I actually woke up at 5:15am! Like regular people. Alright... like regular OLD people, but like regular people, nevertheless. Through the 'skip-skip-jog-jog' of my jazzercise class in the wee hours of the morning, I got to thinking about the power of routine. Although I know it is terribly unsexy, I am in awe of the discipline it takes to create and follow a routine. In pursuit of this demmed elusive discipline, I have resolved to blog and floss everyday. And if that does not work out so great, I can always boss and flog. Which is not hard at all :)

Perspective!

Aug 22nd is Madras day!

Check out http://themadrasday.in/

In all my days as an ahem-ahem-'avid'-ahem-ahem blogger, I have never felt compelled to check out blogs on Chennai. For some reason, tonight, I was missing the home town. After talking to my friend who is getting married today as we speak, I found myself tossing and turning under the comforter thinking about home. So at 1:30 in the frikking am, I microwaved some takeout 'kotthu parotta' from the fridge and sat down to check out what's happenin' in the city! And I find that tomorrow is 'Madras Day'. There's going to be a live webcam transmitting glimpses of the city on the web all day. Can't wait! :)

Married women can't blog

I have racked the remains of my fried brain to figure out why I haven't been able to log some of the most eventful days of my life... and this is the best I came up with. Married women can't blog! How else can you explain that I have not found the energy to write in almost 6 months, in spite of the number of memorable things that I have to write about? Like the 300 bucks I won in Las Vegas, or the lonely waterfalls we scrambled up in Hilo... and what was that other thing that's slipping my mind... oh ya, my wedding?

Friends have been asking both Ganya and me whether marriage has changed anything in our relationship. I feel no different now than I did living-in-sin, so I tell them so. Well, except, as I already told you, I can't seem to blog. And I read more trashy chick-lit now than I ever did in my life. I can blame Ramiya for the neverending supply of the 'Shopaholic' books. Or my work that demands constant travel that demands long flights that demand mindless page-turners. Or Ganya, who bolts off to Alaska every other week, since the aforementioned marriage. But I shall 'be-a-man', and roundly place the blame on the strong square shoulders of the institution of marriage. Also, Ganya's ever increasing interest-in-Golf seems to have met his interest-in-me at the wedding and overtaken it at an alarming rate. How do I know? Well, when conversations and quiet times are punctuated with the swish of the seven iron, you kind of know. Mmmm... what else.... Both Ganya and me seem to be drinking more since the wedding. Now, the excuse is "what if we decide to have a baby next year? we will have to be non-alcoholic for a good (gasp!) two years atleast. let's make merry while we can".

So ya, come to think of it, really nothing has changed. Ganya and I travel on work. We drink. I talk, he listens. With Golf club in hand. There's a healthy amount of trashy chick-lit in the world. Ramiya and I read an unhealthy number of them. And I blog about once in six months.

TGIF!

It's Friday afternoon and I'm watching an episode of 'Mad about you' in which Jamie loses her job and drives Paul up the wall by being in his face all the time. She spends all day watching daytime TV, buys stuff she doesn't need from infomercials, invents chores that she would otherwise have never touched with a barge pole, and calls Paul several several times during the day. Somehow, the image seems vaguely familiar. Except that I work from home and I don't buy stuff I don't need from infomercials... I buy stuff I don't need from the internet. And I don't call Ganya without reason. I mean, I absolutely do have to call and tell him whenever he gets a telemarketing call at home, don't I? How would he know, otherwise? And I do have to call him when I'm eating lunch. And it's out of the sheer goodness of my heart that I call to give him the summary of that day's Gilmore Girls episode. Sometimes they are repeats, but that's hardly my fault! Ofcourse all those calls after 2pm are just to remind him that it's ok to leave the office if he doesn't have that much work that he is picking up my calls :) I'm not really all that bad, but seeing that episode on TV made me re-resolve that I will find a regular job, which requires going to a normal office and watching the clock like normal people do on work days, rather than watching TV (which frankly is not that much more entertaining than the clock during the day). And yes, it also made me thank god it's friday. Finally.

"And I have to live with a boy!"

I spent the better part of yesterday mourning the Colts’ loss in the playoffs. It was just incredibly sad to watch Vanderjagt’s lopsided last kick and see Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy mouth ‘He missed it’ in slow motion. And I’m not even a football fan! At least I wasn't, the last time I checked. I remember a time not too long ago when I couldn’t understand football… couldn’t stand football!

What living with a guy can do to the best of us!!!

New Year. Same old story.

The first day of 2006 felt much like the first day of 2005. And the first day of 2004. And I made the same resolution this yr as I made the yr before. And the yr before that. "I WILL NOT drink... ever again!!!" You know the feeling. It lasts for about 2 weeks... and then you forget what a hangover feels like and in a moment of weakness reach for that fateful glass of wine again. Another new yr resolution dies a silent death.

And then there's the other resolution I make every year- I will brush my teeth every night. In the past coupla yrs, it also includes a sub-resolution- I will floss every night. And I've been going real strong on that one this yr. 2 nights down. Just 363 to go! I know how this one will end as well... in roughly about 2 weeks, I will reach for that fateful glass of wine, get drunk silly, and end up crashing without flossing. Or brushing.

Then there's that eternal favorite... I'm gonna get fit this yr. Ha! At least no one can blame me for not believing in myself :)

Well this half-hearted post is the result of yet another resolution. To be good about blogging regularly. Well its 2 resolutions really. To be good. And to blog regularly. But I do know my limitations. So will try to blog regularly.

Happy new yr!

Nebrrrrrraska

The last two weeks have been kinda unkind. I've been tossed from shore to shore... from sunny San Jose into bitter cold Omaha and Lincoln (free beer for anyone who can point it out on an unmarked map) and then onto a snow storm in New York. Now, while I may grudgingly go along with Ganya to the occasional skiing holiday, I'm no polar bear. Gimme sun over snow, and rain over sun anyday!

But I'm finally beginning to understand what people see in this ... snow. So my colleague and I arrived in Omaha at noon and we didn't have to be at the focus groups till 6. We had a good 4-5 hours to kill in hip-n-happening Omaha. And we did what any hot blooded woman would do on a cold cold afternoon with boyfriend not around and 4-5 hours to spare. We shopped! By the time we got out of the mall, it was dusk and the evening had a weird golden glow from the heavy air and the flood lights.

It was then that it started to snow. Little flakes of white nothingness wafting down from nowhere. As we made our slow progress towards the car- clutching each other and taking cautious short steps in our high heeled boots on the iced ground - it started snowing harder. Millions of glowing snow flakes were making their way carefully towards the ground. And even in the drone of the mall, if you looked up into the sky, it was silent night. It was, at the cost of sounding cliched ... magical!

I remember thinking then that rain and snow couldn't be more different from each other. Rain falls. Snow parachutes and lands gracefully. Rain is loud and sensuous and smells of sex. Snow is Ssshhhhhh. Rain is of the earth, belongs to the earth. And standing there in white Nebraska that day, I got the distinct impression that snow isn't.