It started with not having anything blog-worthy. And then I was lazy. But soon, my blogging-self was having something of an existential crisis - why am I blogging? Is it merely because it's the thing to do these days? If that, will I stop once the novelty factor (or whatever) wears off ...the way it did with posting facebook status messages? etc. etc.
Honestly, I still do not know what I am hoping to achieve by blogging. In fact, it's more like I do not even know if I am hoping to achieve anything.
Reading through my past few posts though, it seems that I have been treating this blogging thing as some kind of popularity contest - trying so, SO hard to be funny, indulging in exaggeration and hyperbole, sacrificing the thought for the punchline... ugh! And here I was thinking that I had grown up and left behind the insecurities of my school and college days!
But let me not draw you into the murky waters that I should be wading into only with my shrink. To cut a long story short then, here are the things we know about 15 post-old me:
- Tends to ramble
- Tries desperately to fit in by trying desperately to be funny.
I have no idea if I will stop doing any of the above right away. For all you know, I might just default to inane chatter of assorted irrelevance in my next post. But in the fact that even these 15 random posts may have held a mirror to my soul and helped me look beyond the fluff of a confident smile and an assured walk, I have a feeling that blogging may have achieved something already. What do you think?
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
There is them, and then there is me
Now that I stay at home full-time and have become a total blog-junkie, I often wonder about people who manage to blog everyday. Every Single Day! And some of them have been at it for years now. How do they manage to do it? And does it not take away from the joy of blogging, making it a chore that needs to be taken care of everyday? Or is it that I have gotten it all wrong and these folks blog everyday because they enjoy it so much? In which case, blogging leads to something akin to an 'exercise high', a concept which I anyway have trouble wrapping my mind around.
I have even greater trouble understanding how daily-bloggers manage to be that and still lead normal lives. My point is that if you know in advance that you are going to blog about something (in the case of a daily-blogger, it has to be something from their day), then it'd be really hard to not let your reaction to / experience of that particular thing get coloured by this fact. Of course, it's possible that I again have it all wrong and the act of blogging might actually make people less passive - will I observe a sunset more keenly if I know that I have to describe how beautiful it was on my blog? Although, this still remains an example of when an experience might get altered because of the subject's blogging self.
And then of course, there are some people who will sometimes blog about anything, just in order to get it done for that day. I wonder if that is what I am doing right now?
I have even greater trouble understanding how daily-bloggers manage to be that and still lead normal lives. My point is that if you know in advance that you are going to blog about something (in the case of a daily-blogger, it has to be something from their day), then it'd be really hard to not let your reaction to / experience of that particular thing get coloured by this fact. Of course, it's possible that I again have it all wrong and the act of blogging might actually make people less passive - will I observe a sunset more keenly if I know that I have to describe how beautiful it was on my blog? Although, this still remains an example of when an experience might get altered because of the subject's blogging self.
And then of course, there are some people who will sometimes blog about anything, just in order to get it done for that day. I wonder if that is what I am doing right now?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The one where I give too much information
I keep getting this mild fever every few weeks that has had V worried for some time now. So, he finally dragged me to the doctor yesterday when the said fever returned.
The sweet doctor patiently listened to my long and winding story (yeah, this blog isn't the only place for those) about how I get a low, recurring fever every few weeks, how it starts in the morning and is almost always gone by the evening, even my feeble joke about how it was my "morning sickness" (again, this blog isn't the only place...); and then declared that what I was describing sounded pretty normal. Normal?! Really??!! I do not know anybody else who gets a fever every couple of weeks that does not stay long enough for their husband to come back home from office and see for himself that the thing which made them not do laundry (yet again!) was actually a fever and not laziness (ok, well... not JUST laziness)!
My indignation not withstanding, apparently this fever IS normal - it is my body's response to hormonal changes. Which, by the way, is another way of saying that the fever is my PMS (just in case you are wondering, I do NOT get PMS every 2 weeks. The cause of the fever alternates between PMS and ovulation, more on which later, hopefully never).
So yes, back on topic. I am aghast! I used to pride myself in not ever getting a PMS. And now it turns out that not only do I do, I get it in the form of a fever!!! So, I don't even get to be cranky? I just get to lie in a corner and moan?
I tell you, life isn't fair!
The sweet doctor patiently listened to my long and winding story (yeah, this blog isn't the only place for those) about how I get a low, recurring fever every few weeks, how it starts in the morning and is almost always gone by the evening, even my feeble joke about how it was my "morning sickness" (again, this blog isn't the only place...); and then declared that what I was describing sounded pretty normal. Normal?! Really??!! I do not know anybody else who gets a fever every couple of weeks that does not stay long enough for their husband to come back home from office and see for himself that the thing which made them not do laundry (yet again!) was actually a fever and not laziness (ok, well... not JUST laziness)!
My indignation not withstanding, apparently this fever IS normal - it is my body's response to hormonal changes. Which, by the way, is another way of saying that the fever is my PMS (just in case you are wondering, I do NOT get PMS every 2 weeks. The cause of the fever alternates between PMS and ovulation, more on which later, hopefully never).
So yes, back on topic. I am aghast! I used to pride myself in not ever getting a PMS. And now it turns out that not only do I do, I get it in the form of a fever!!! So, I don't even get to be cranky? I just get to lie in a corner and moan?
I tell you, life isn't fair!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Funny in my tummy
Browsing through Facebook, something made me stop
it was a friend declaring that for lunch she had Bibimbop.
"I wonder what that is", I inwardly mused
till (as usual) by Wiki, I was rescued.
I am told that it is a Korean lunch,
and this rice-veggie medley packs quite a punch.
So what if the name sounds funny?
the taste will be worth your money.
Thus began thinking of foods with a funny name
although a blog about it might be pretty lame.
When has that deterred me, though?
And so I shall give it a go...
Long ago, when I was barely 3 feet tall,
mommy used to make this sweet dough ball,
and even though that was back in the day,
I remember calling them gulgule!
An old room-mate's mum used to make the same
and they had an even funnier name.
Like fat little brats going out to play,
they were called tuntune munmune!
If there ever was a food-name competition,
Bhatura would be my submission.
Another favourite is naan-khatai
and wonder if there might be a tie.
As I write this, I also wonder
if the namer's mind had gone asunder?
Why langda was the name he chose?
Had he never eaten mangoes?
Oh, but I ain't here to deride
so I shall no longer be snide.
In fact I stand and hail thee -
the coiner of a cute name like sushi!
And while at it, I also bow to you -
for coming up with shabu-shabu.
Puchka is also in the fray
along with its twin - Golgappe.
I am certain there are many more,
though I can think of only 4 -
lady's finger and eggplant are two
although they make a real nice stew.
And when have they failed to regale:
the names of, and the name cocktail?
Last on my list, though it isn't a hoot
I think the name wonton is quite cute!
I know my list is kinda small
but for right now, this is all.
So, gentle reader, I request of you
to expand my list by adding a few!
it was a friend declaring that for lunch she had Bibimbop.
"I wonder what that is", I inwardly mused
till (as usual) by Wiki, I was rescued.
I am told that it is a Korean lunch,
and this rice-veggie medley packs quite a punch.
So what if the name sounds funny?
the taste will be worth your money.
Thus began thinking of foods with a funny name
although a blog about it might be pretty lame.
When has that deterred me, though?
And so I shall give it a go...
Long ago, when I was barely 3 feet tall,
mommy used to make this sweet dough ball,
and even though that was back in the day,
I remember calling them gulgule!
An old room-mate's mum used to make the same
and they had an even funnier name.
Like fat little brats going out to play,
they were called tuntune munmune!
If there ever was a food-name competition,
Bhatura would be my submission.
Another favourite is naan-khatai
and wonder if there might be a tie.
As I write this, I also wonder
if the namer's mind had gone asunder?
Why langda was the name he chose?
Had he never eaten mangoes?
Oh, but I ain't here to deride
so I shall no longer be snide.
In fact I stand and hail thee -
the coiner of a cute name like sushi!
And while at it, I also bow to you -
for coming up with shabu-shabu.
Puchka is also in the fray
along with its twin - Golgappe.
I am certain there are many more,
though I can think of only 4 -
lady's finger and eggplant are two
although they make a real nice stew.
And when have they failed to regale:
the names of, and the name cocktail?
Last on my list, though it isn't a hoot
I think the name wonton is quite cute!
I know my list is kinda small
but for right now, this is all.
So, gentle reader, I request of you
to expand my list by adding a few!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Mother no longer keeps the solar system in order
I have always been a sucker for mnemonics and memory-aids in general. The good thing is that when I was growing up, I used to make them up instinctively and with a natural ease, and boy! did I have an elephant's memory.
I am sure pretty much everybody used the Pandit Badri Prasad Har Har Bole mantra to learn their trig ratios back in high school and the nifty little 'VIBGYOR' for the spectrum. I still remember memorising the top half of the reactivity series of metals using this sentence: Kalu Ne Baba Ka Magga Almari se Zameen par Fenk diya (K, Na, Ba, Ca, Mg, Al, Zn, Fe). Thanks to this mnemonic, I not only remember that something called a reactivity series of metals exists and I had studied it in school, I actually remember the series itself (well, ok -- the first half of it). And it's been more than 10 years!
My favourite mnemonic though, has always been something I came across when I was much much younger - the nine planets mnemonic. Not only does "My Very Earnest Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets" work like a charm in memorizing the names of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in the right order, I used to totally dig the fact that it actually contains the words 'Nine Planets' (you know, just in case you get carried away making up mnemonics and need help keeping them straight!). Which is what brings me to why I started writing this post in the first place (took me a looong time getting here, didn't it?). I was listlessly surfing channels this morning when I came across some show about the solar system, making me remember this mnemonic. And then, it suddenly dawned on me that poor Pluto's having been stripped of its planetary status renders this gem useless! Wikipedia tells me that the new version goes - My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos. I suppose you could use this...but the 'nine planets' was the best part :(
To make matters worse for the generations of students to come, the "new" solar system contains not just the 8 planets but also the 3 dwarves - Eris, Ceres and Pluto. So, the cool new mnemonic ( courtesy Wikipedia) is: My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
I liked it and was just about to commit it to memory when I scrolled down and discovered that since this new mnemonic was coined (just over a year ago, btw), two more dwarves have been dicovered: Makemake and Haumea. The new(er) mnemonic? It's not coined yet.
I suppose that is just as well.
I am sure pretty much everybody used the Pandit Badri Prasad Har Har Bole mantra to learn their trig ratios back in high school and the nifty little 'VIBGYOR' for the spectrum. I still remember memorising the top half of the reactivity series of metals using this sentence: Kalu Ne Baba Ka Magga Almari se Zameen par Fenk diya (K, Na, Ba, Ca, Mg, Al, Zn, Fe). Thanks to this mnemonic, I not only remember that something called a reactivity series of metals exists and I had studied it in school, I actually remember the series itself (well, ok -- the first half of it). And it's been more than 10 years!
My favourite mnemonic though, has always been something I came across when I was much much younger - the nine planets mnemonic. Not only does "My Very Earnest Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets" work like a charm in memorizing the names of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in the right order, I used to totally dig the fact that it actually contains the words 'Nine Planets' (you know, just in case you get carried away making up mnemonics and need help keeping them straight!). Which is what brings me to why I started writing this post in the first place (took me a looong time getting here, didn't it?). I was listlessly surfing channels this morning when I came across some show about the solar system, making me remember this mnemonic. And then, it suddenly dawned on me that poor Pluto's having been stripped of its planetary status renders this gem useless! Wikipedia tells me that the new version goes - My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos. I suppose you could use this...but the 'nine planets' was the best part :(
To make matters worse for the generations of students to come, the "new" solar system contains not just the 8 planets but also the 3 dwarves - Eris, Ceres and Pluto. So, the cool new mnemonic ( courtesy Wikipedia) is: My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
I liked it and was just about to commit it to memory when I scrolled down and discovered that since this new mnemonic was coined (just over a year ago, btw), two more dwarves have been dicovered: Makemake and Haumea. The new(er) mnemonic? It's not coined yet.
I suppose that is just as well.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Marching forward!
Yippee, April is here!
Somehow, it seemed that the month of March would never end - could it be because I started going to a martial-arts class last month and the 4 hours I spend there every week seem like 4 days? Anyhow, jokes apart, I have always found the month of March a little tedious. No offense to those who have special 'March-associations', I don't mean it personally: my best friend was born in March and I got engaged in March - so it's a perfectly nice month.
However, after 14 years of Indian schooling, the first thought that March still brings to the mind is the dreaded final exams. April on the other hand brought relief, a new academic year and the hope that the wrongs of the previous academic year could be set right by working hard during this one ( I am ashamed to report, though, that during those maggu days, this simply meant that this year I will come 1st, instead of an ignominious 3rd). Of course, during college, April became the dreaded exam month. Although, I suppose I had become more thick-skinned by then. Plus, 14 ( years of school) > 5 (years of college). All in all, the exam-associated trauma inflicted by March is definitely more deep-seated (deeper-seated?) in my psyche.
Plus, March is the month of Holi - which is definitely not my favourite festival. I remember how, by the time February came around, I used to be already dreading getting pelted by those water-balloons. Anyone who has been hit by one of them even once will vouch for how painfully they sting. Little surprise then, that for the times when I used to have absolutely no alternative but to step out of the house during that dreaded phase, I even had a mental algorithm of the various route and time combinations with their respective 'pelt-probabilities'.
In later years, March started bringing bonus-anxiety: How much will it be? Can't be as bad as last year's? And so on... By April, on the other hand, you had come to terms with your paltry bonus and were sort of enjoying the temporary increase in your bank balance.
All taken into account, therefore, April has always been a darn good month. Plus, it definitely doesn't hurt that "April Fool" is a perfectly reasonable explanation to all sorts of pranks played during this month, especially on the 1st.
This year, April comes with one more special milestone - this is my tenth post on this blog! The beginning of the double digits - isn't that something? :)
So, here's wishing a happy All Fools' Day to all! I hope nobody fools you today.
Somehow, it seemed that the month of March would never end - could it be because I started going to a martial-arts class last month and the 4 hours I spend there every week seem like 4 days? Anyhow, jokes apart, I have always found the month of March a little tedious. No offense to those who have special 'March-associations', I don't mean it personally: my best friend was born in March and I got engaged in March - so it's a perfectly nice month.
However, after 14 years of Indian schooling, the first thought that March still brings to the mind is the dreaded final exams. April on the other hand brought relief, a new academic year and the hope that the wrongs of the previous academic year could be set right by working hard during this one ( I am ashamed to report, though, that during those maggu days, this simply meant that this year I will come 1st, instead of an ignominious 3rd). Of course, during college, April became the dreaded exam month. Although, I suppose I had become more thick-skinned by then. Plus, 14 ( years of school) > 5 (years of college). All in all, the exam-associated trauma inflicted by March is definitely more deep-seated (deeper-seated?) in my psyche.
Plus, March is the month of Holi - which is definitely not my favourite festival. I remember how, by the time February came around, I used to be already dreading getting pelted by those water-balloons. Anyone who has been hit by one of them even once will vouch for how painfully they sting. Little surprise then, that for the times when I used to have absolutely no alternative but to step out of the house during that dreaded phase, I even had a mental algorithm of the various route and time combinations with their respective 'pelt-probabilities'.
In later years, March started bringing bonus-anxiety: How much will it be? Can't be as bad as last year's? And so on... By April, on the other hand, you had come to terms with your paltry bonus and were sort of enjoying the temporary increase in your bank balance.
All taken into account, therefore, April has always been a darn good month. Plus, it definitely doesn't hurt that "April Fool" is a perfectly reasonable explanation to all sorts of pranks played during this month, especially on the 1st.
This year, April comes with one more special milestone - this is my tenth post on this blog! The beginning of the double digits - isn't that something? :)
So, here's wishing a happy All Fools' Day to all! I hope nobody fools you today.
Friday, March 27, 2009
When your head becomes the neck (of the bottle)
Yes, I did it! I further legitimized my claim to being a full-fledged member of the bloggers' club by going and getting myself a "blogger's block".
I started writing the previous post, the one on upbringing, on Thursday, March 26 at 5:13 PM (which is what the time-stamp on the post says). I didn't get around to posting it till about 15 minutes ago - which makes it just after 4 PM on Friday, March 27. The intervening 24 hours were a really hard struggle to put 2 (or for that matter, even 1!) coherent sentences together. It was like I had been asked to write in Spanish! My only solace during this time was that my google search on "bloggers block" yielded 142,000 results - clearly, I am not alone in this state of "all engines are firing, but nothing is moving".
Hopefully, the weekend will help me unclutter my mind. A few glasses of wine always do the trick :)
Btw, what do you do when you want to blog but the mind goes blah?
I started writing the previous post, the one on upbringing, on Thursday, March 26 at 5:13 PM (which is what the time-stamp on the post says). I didn't get around to posting it till about 15 minutes ago - which makes it just after 4 PM on Friday, March 27. The intervening 24 hours were a really hard struggle to put 2 (or for that matter, even 1!) coherent sentences together. It was like I had been asked to write in Spanish! My only solace during this time was that my google search on "bloggers block" yielded 142,000 results - clearly, I am not alone in this state of "all engines are firing, but nothing is moving".
Hopefully, the weekend will help me unclutter my mind. A few glasses of wine always do the trick :)
Btw, what do you do when you want to blog but the mind goes blah?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A slice of pi?
Living in the Silicon Valley is not without its side effects. Take, for instance, the fact that I happen to *know* that today is pi day (pi as in the number 22/7 or 3.1415xxxx...) because today's date is March 14 (3.14).
Now, the piles upon piles of useless trivia in my head are feeling extremely uncomfortable sharing neighborly space with this pearl of information which has the word 'geeky' written all over it.
Anyhow, the tradition apparently is to smash some pies to mark the occasion. Loath to the idea of wasting good food, especially dessert, but still wanting to uphold the spirit of things, hubby and I have decided to eat pie and get smashed ourselves, instead.
Might even be appropriate to sing: Thodi si jo pi li hai...
Happy pi day!
Now, the piles upon piles of useless trivia in my head are feeling extremely uncomfortable sharing neighborly space with this pearl of information which has the word 'geeky' written all over it.
Anyhow, the tradition apparently is to smash some pies to mark the occasion. Loath to the idea of wasting good food, especially dessert, but still wanting to uphold the spirit of things, hubby and I have decided to eat pie and get smashed ourselves, instead.
Might even be appropriate to sing: Thodi si jo pi li hai...
Happy pi day!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Jinxed? No Way!
I just realized that I have jinxed myself right at the outset by choosing to do the much delayed 'ribbon-cutting' of this blog on Friday, the 13th.
My eyes, which seem to have a very different perspective of this dark cloud from behind their silver-tinted glasses, try to calm the rest of me : Look at it this way, you are doing your second post of the day *because* it is Friday, the 13th. That can't be a bad omen! Having failed to refute this water-tight argument, I am nodding sagely. Plus, I am thinking, these western superstitions don't apply to us desis. As long as a kali billi did not kato my rasta, I should be safe.
What makes me really smug, though, is the thought that if this blog gets neglected/abandoned due to busyness (read laziness), we all know who to blame! :)
My eyes, which seem to have a very different perspective of this dark cloud from behind their silver-tinted glasses, try to calm the rest of me : Look at it this way, you are doing your second post of the day *because* it is Friday, the 13th. That can't be a bad omen! Having failed to refute this water-tight argument, I am nodding sagely. Plus, I am thinking, these western superstitions don't apply to us desis. As long as a kali billi did not kato my rasta, I should be safe.
What makes me really smug, though, is the thought that if this blog gets neglected/abandoned due to busyness (read laziness), we all know who to blame! :)
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