I hate days like today when I do not have much to do at work.I got a latte from Starbucks, checked my email and did a blog roll round-up all of which took less than an hour.I now sit at my desk in front my computer, fighting the strongest urge to go back home and plop myself in front of the TV and watch three of my most favorite shows on TV : Project Runaway , Top Chef and So You Think You Can Dance.Lord,I am so addicted to these shows!I can watch reruns after reruns without the slightest hint of boredom,a privilege that was reserved solely for M*A*S*H until now.Blame on it on the Direct TV recorder.
One thing that gets my goat is how the fact that three out of four of the final contestants on Top Chef are women, has created such a huge controversy.In the previous seasons,the male chefs have always dominated the competition although there has been one female finalist in all seasons.Scores of people from all over the country have been leaving comments on the official Top Chef blogs as to how the TV channel,by design,chose to have more women contestants in the last stage of show.I think this is utterly ridiculous.So if the women are outnumbered it is considered natural but if the men are outnumbered, it is considered improbable and an outcome of rigging?The fact of the matter is that these women are outstanding chefs and two out of three of them are clear winners by any standards.Such baseless insinuations are doing nothing but undermining their talent and capacity as a potential Top Chef.
My day started off with some bad news at the doctor's office.Apparently,they have discovered another bulge and this time it is my cervix.That explains the dastardly pain in my neck and shoulders.Like I did not have enough pain already what with bulges in two discs of my lower back.This saga of pain and discomfort has been going on for almost 1.5 years now with no relief in sight.I have tried everything that I possibly could but my situation remains unchanged.I must be doing something weird to cause so many bulges in my spine but I have no idea what and neither does my orthopedic surgeon.According to him, for now, the only thing close to a solution seems to be lot of physical therapy and strong anti-inflammatory medication.Lets see how that works out.
Oh and we went to Russell Peter's show at the Improv.This guy is good!In fact the whole show was very good as the guys who opened for him were really funny too.One of the them was Paul Verghese, whose act I had witnessed not too long ago and I wasn't impressed at all as he was overly abrasive and obnoxious that day.See the USP of these guys is to poke fun at all the different ethnic groups in this country.They capitalize on the misconceptions that Americans have about people belonging to different ethnicities and come up with hilarious material.And both these guys are of Indian origin so most of their jokes are about what it is like to be a desi.Sometimes they tend to go over the top but on this particular day,both guys were at their humorous best!Well Paul more than Russell.I guess Russell lost steam midway as Paul and the other Filipino comic,Edwin something, had done a superb job earlier and their material was very similar to what Russell normally does in his shows.This guy,Russell Peters is so popular that his shows were sold out even without any publicity or advertising whatsoever.And the tickets were fricking expensive at $45 a pop.Good fun it was!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
And then there were none
There seems to be a sudden dearth of "suitable girls".Well,how else would you explain the franctic emails and calls that I get almost every other day from my male friends asking for my help in getting them hitched.Initially I did not take their plea for help all that seriously.I assumed it was just one of those typical,casual conversations that you normally have with your single male friends which invaribaly involves them asking you to set them up with your attractive single female friends.But when the volume of emails that came my way increased and the plea started sounding more and more desperate and the said friends implored me to do something about their situation,I was forced to sit up and take notice.
A situation as precarious as this called for thorough analysis which produced some very interesting results.So there is this guy.Lets call him Specimen A.I have known him for a long long time and he has always been the flamboyant,good looking guy.The class flirt with a roving eye if you must.Of course it was all in good taste but the fact of the matter remains that this guy was the kind who loved to be associated with and seen in the company of pretty girls.He never did seem like the kind of guy who would ever want to settle down or worse,commit to one woman.So you can imagine my surprise when I was approached by him to help him do just that.I tell him exactly what all of us are thinking.Why would a guy like him need help in the first place?What happened to all those girls that he knew or dated or had a crush on or had a crush on him ?His answer?He has no idea.All he knows is that he is desperate to get hitched.And why is that?Because all his friends are no longer single and he feels awfully left out when with them.And he is tired of probing questions about when he was planning to shed his single status from his no-longer-single friends.And he is also tired of everyone assuming that finding someone should be a walk in the park for someone with a history as his whereas this was so far from the truth.I felt so bad for him that day.
And then there is Specimen B.Again I have known him forever.He is the quintessential nerd. Intelligent,hard working,soft-spoken,successful,rich.He has always been the kind who never showed too much inclination towards women in the romantic way.He seemed to be very content with his higher studies and later on, with doing well at work and moving up the corporate ladder.I am not sure whether it was by design or just a coincidence that he maintained his single status effortlessly.Now all of a sudden,he feels he is very lonely.He feels the need for companionship.He feels the need for the presence of a woman in his life.He wants a wife.And he wants to take the traditional route.Unfortunately for him,as hard as his parents are trying to match horoscopes and find the right girl,its just not materialising.
Specimen C.The die hard romantic at heart.One of the warmest guys I have ever known.He is quirky, funny, full of energy and a lot of fun to be with.And someone who beleives in a fairytale romance and that he will find The One in a manner that he has always dreamt of.Sigh.He asks for my help to make all this come true.As hard as I try to break the bubble and bring him back to planet earth, he seems to be fixated on his idea of romance.And he is getting really impatient that his dream is taking forever to come true.And then there is Specimen D.He is your everyday guy.A wonderful friend.Helpful,polite.A really good guy who is the most practical person I have ever known.Perfect husband material.And yet he is finding it very hard to find the right girl.
They are all so different from each other and want very different things from life.And yet they want the same thing too.A suitable companion.The right girl.The One.I have always maintained that things like marriage and relationships and having kids are very personal and individualstic. There is no right age or wrong age.There are no rules.There is no pattern.But look at these guys.Isn't there like a semblance of a pattern?They are all turning 30 this year.Maybe that has something to do with the desperation?
When M and I got married at the age of 25,we got a lot of raised eyebrows,friends wanting to know if we were sure this is what we wanted,friends wanting why we did not want to play the field some more,friends wondering if we were too young to take the plunge.The fact of the matter is that both of us just knew.Period.And boy am I glad that I am not in their shoes today.Ironically these days,we get a lot of I want what you have and I envy you guys.
Serendipity.
And it dosen't help that none of my girl friends are single.And the ones that are single are involved in a relationship.Where did all the single women go??!!!
You know,this is serious fodder for thought for people of the likes of that idiot doctor that Chandni wrote about a while ago about the extent to which female infanticide is affecting society.
Oh and what do we have here!An award.My first one!This space supposedly has Nice Matters according to the lovely SnippetsAndScribbles. And following the blogging-world tradition of passing on the said award to those I think are worthy recepients, I choose DotThoughts and Silvara; two of the most honest and sophiscated women I have come across.And they write very well too!
A situation as precarious as this called for thorough analysis which produced some very interesting results.So there is this guy.Lets call him Specimen A.I have known him for a long long time and he has always been the flamboyant,good looking guy.The class flirt with a roving eye if you must.Of course it was all in good taste but the fact of the matter remains that this guy was the kind who loved to be associated with and seen in the company of pretty girls.He never did seem like the kind of guy who would ever want to settle down or worse,commit to one woman.So you can imagine my surprise when I was approached by him to help him do just that.I tell him exactly what all of us are thinking.Why would a guy like him need help in the first place?What happened to all those girls that he knew or dated or had a crush on or had a crush on him ?His answer?He has no idea.All he knows is that he is desperate to get hitched.And why is that?Because all his friends are no longer single and he feels awfully left out when with them.And he is tired of probing questions about when he was planning to shed his single status from his no-longer-single friends.And he is also tired of everyone assuming that finding someone should be a walk in the park for someone with a history as his whereas this was so far from the truth.I felt so bad for him that day.
And then there is Specimen B.Again I have known him forever.He is the quintessential nerd. Intelligent,hard working,soft-spoken,successful,rich.He has always been the kind who never showed too much inclination towards women in the romantic way.He seemed to be very content with his higher studies and later on, with doing well at work and moving up the corporate ladder.I am not sure whether it was by design or just a coincidence that he maintained his single status effortlessly.Now all of a sudden,he feels he is very lonely.He feels the need for companionship.He feels the need for the presence of a woman in his life.He wants a wife.And he wants to take the traditional route.Unfortunately for him,as hard as his parents are trying to match horoscopes and find the right girl,its just not materialising.
Specimen C.The die hard romantic at heart.One of the warmest guys I have ever known.He is quirky, funny, full of energy and a lot of fun to be with.And someone who beleives in a fairytale romance and that he will find The One in a manner that he has always dreamt of.Sigh.He asks for my help to make all this come true.As hard as I try to break the bubble and bring him back to planet earth, he seems to be fixated on his idea of romance.And he is getting really impatient that his dream is taking forever to come true.And then there is Specimen D.He is your everyday guy.A wonderful friend.Helpful,polite.A really good guy who is the most practical person I have ever known.Perfect husband material.And yet he is finding it very hard to find the right girl.
They are all so different from each other and want very different things from life.And yet they want the same thing too.A suitable companion.The right girl.The One.I have always maintained that things like marriage and relationships and having kids are very personal and individualstic. There is no right age or wrong age.There are no rules.There is no pattern.But look at these guys.Isn't there like a semblance of a pattern?They are all turning 30 this year.Maybe that has something to do with the desperation?
When M and I got married at the age of 25,we got a lot of raised eyebrows,friends wanting to know if we were sure this is what we wanted,friends wanting why we did not want to play the field some more,friends wondering if we were too young to take the plunge.The fact of the matter is that both of us just knew.Period.And boy am I glad that I am not in their shoes today.Ironically these days,we get a lot of I want what you have and I envy you guys.
Serendipity.
And it dosen't help that none of my girl friends are single.And the ones that are single are involved in a relationship.Where did all the single women go??!!!
You know,this is serious fodder for thought for people of the likes of that idiot doctor that Chandni wrote about a while ago about the extent to which female infanticide is affecting society.
Oh and what do we have here!An award.My first one!This space supposedly has Nice Matters according to the lovely SnippetsAndScribbles. And following the blogging-world tradition of passing on the said award to those I think are worthy recepients, I choose DotThoughts and Silvara; two of the most honest and sophiscated women I have come across.And they write very well too!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The big 3-0
I turned 30 on Saturday.And it was the best birthday ever.The husband frisked me off to a 4-day weekend to Hot Springs,Arkansas and we had a ball of a vacation.This birthday will remain etched in memory for a long time to come for several reasons:
1] It was a fantastic trip and we had lot of fun doing simple things like a long hike and paddle boating in the lake.There was this one particular zen-like instance when we hiked up the mountain at the national park and all we could manage to do was sit there in silence and take in the breathtaking visuals.
2] I got several phone calls all day long from all corners of the world....from my parents and in-laws and cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents....from friends whom I hadn't spoken to in ages......folks that I met through my blog and are now friends for life....from people who married my buddies and are now an integral part of the gang and close to me as ever.It felt really nice to talk to all of them and know that I have them in my life.A couple of these calls were extra special though.Like one of my best friends way back from high school who called all the way from Budapest,Hungary and we spoke for almost an hour,catching up effortlessly from where we had last left off.
3] The husband actually agreed to go on a spa session with me! The session itself was amazing as it was at one of those ancient bathhouses.The fact that M played along and ended up enjoying the whole experience was a bonus.
4] I got "drunk" drunk for the very first time in my life.And what better day to do so than my 30th birthday!! It was completely unintentional of course.We went to dinner at this really fancy place and we ordered some wine.This place apparently doesn't do wine in a glass and we ended up with an entire bottle of Chardonnay.And the waiter kept topping off our glasses after every couple of sips.So by the end of the evening,I had consumed close to 3 glasses of very good and ridiculously expensive white wine and was drunk enough to know it but not be able to do anything about it!So I was chatting away nineteen to the dozen and giggling after every sentence in the loudest of voices.A voice in my head kept saying "Dont talk.Stop talking.Sssshhhh.Be quiet.Now." But I just could not stop talking.I insisted that the husband run over some of the pedestrians who were a little slow in crossing the street.I composed a silly poem for the husband which he thought was very cute by the way.And several other things that I cannot remember too well.It was fun though and my husband was thoroughly entertained at my expense.
I have been getting a lot of "How does it feel to be 30?"I did do a lot of thinking and introspection just to see if I feel any major change within me.Honestly,I feel no different than I did when I was 29.It is just a mere coincidence that I felt I was ready to take some big decisions a few months before my birthday.Decisions that will change both our lives.Hopefully things go as planned and it all works out well.
This year and the next looks to be one hell of a roller-coaster ride and I can't quite wait for the party to begin!
1] It was a fantastic trip and we had lot of fun doing simple things like a long hike and paddle boating in the lake.There was this one particular zen-like instance when we hiked up the mountain at the national park and all we could manage to do was sit there in silence and take in the breathtaking visuals.
2] I got several phone calls all day long from all corners of the world....from my parents and in-laws and cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents....from friends whom I hadn't spoken to in ages......folks that I met through my blog and are now friends for life....from people who married my buddies and are now an integral part of the gang and close to me as ever.It felt really nice to talk to all of them and know that I have them in my life.A couple of these calls were extra special though.Like one of my best friends way back from high school who called all the way from Budapest,Hungary and we spoke for almost an hour,catching up effortlessly from where we had last left off.
3] The husband actually agreed to go on a spa session with me! The session itself was amazing as it was at one of those ancient bathhouses.The fact that M played along and ended up enjoying the whole experience was a bonus.
4] I got "drunk" drunk for the very first time in my life.And what better day to do so than my 30th birthday!! It was completely unintentional of course.We went to dinner at this really fancy place and we ordered some wine.This place apparently doesn't do wine in a glass and we ended up with an entire bottle of Chardonnay.And the waiter kept topping off our glasses after every couple of sips.So by the end of the evening,I had consumed close to 3 glasses of very good and ridiculously expensive white wine and was drunk enough to know it but not be able to do anything about it!So I was chatting away nineteen to the dozen and giggling after every sentence in the loudest of voices.A voice in my head kept saying "Dont talk.Stop talking.Sssshhhh.Be quiet.Now." But I just could not stop talking.I insisted that the husband run over some of the pedestrians who were a little slow in crossing the street.I composed a silly poem for the husband which he thought was very cute by the way.And several other things that I cannot remember too well.It was fun though and my husband was thoroughly entertained at my expense.
I have been getting a lot of "How does it feel to be 30?"I did do a lot of thinking and introspection just to see if I feel any major change within me.Honestly,I feel no different than I did when I was 29.It is just a mere coincidence that I felt I was ready to take some big decisions a few months before my birthday.Decisions that will change both our lives.Hopefully things go as planned and it all works out well.
This year and the next looks to be one hell of a roller-coaster ride and I can't quite wait for the party to begin!
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