Tag time

Joy has tagged me. Since she explicitly expressed belief that I would be a prompt and responsible tag-doer, I am doing it now (okay, Vishesh and Binaryfootprints, please to not burn hole on computer monitor - I have not forgotten your tags yet, I swear).

BTW, is it just me or does everyone think that everyone in the blog world seems to be doing this tag? Anyways, on to the question and answer session.

Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:
U, me aur Hum. As I already said, ugh.

What Book Are You Reading:
Very Good Jeeves, for the n+1th time. Ideally, with my current Jane Austen obsession, it should have been Northanger Abbey. But current status of affairs does not permit me to indulge myself in reading to the exclusion of everything else. And Northanger Abbey would have been too much temptation...

Favorite Board Game:
Cluedo. For some reason, I was quite good at this and always managed to detect the murderer before anyone else everytime we played. Scrabble is a close second (I am not that great there though).

Favorite Magazine:
Reader's Digest, though these days it is more a comfort magazine (like comfort food). I like reading Time.

Favorite Smells:
Love the smell of rain on dusty ground, the smell of fresh ground coffee, the smell of mom's cooking as I enter the house.

Favorite Sound:
Sound of waves crashing on the seashore.

Worst Feeling In The World:
Self-loathing, helplessness

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake? :
Mostly it is: do I really have to wake up right now?

Favorite Fast Food Place:
No place in particular.

Future Child's Name:
Archana 2.0 (if it is a girl) and Archie 2.0 (if it is a boy)

Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”:
...travel, travel, travel.

Do You Drive Fast? :
Not on local roads. On freeways I usually find myself doing around 10mph above speed limit.

Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?:
Yup - have a collection both on bed and bedside table.

Storms-Cool Or Scary? :
Cool.

What Was Your First Car?:
Is a Honda Civic.

Favourite drink:
Hot masala chai.

Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....” :
...do even more of nothing.

Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?:
Yup. Love broccoli either raw or lightly cooked.

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice? :
Coppery-brown. Yeah, I tried this shade once on my hair. Only time you could actually spot it was if you looked really hard when I stood under direct sunlight or a bright yellow lamp.

Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In
Pune, Thanjavur, Chennai, Calcutta, Karur, Madurai, Mumbai, Davis and now Bay Area.

Favorite Sports To Watch:
Used to watch cricket a lot. This later dwindled to watching World Cup cricket matches when India played. Now nothing. I love watching events like figure-skating, diving, gymnastics etc... though I start getting bored around the time contestant #3 makes an appearance.

One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
Have never met Joy but I feel like I know her well. We seem to think similarly about many things. Would absolutely love to meet up with you someday (coming to the Bay, anytime :-)?)

What's Under Your Bed?:
A box full of CDs and a disassembled shelf.

Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Definitely. Good or bad, I like me!

Morning Person Or Night Owl?:
Night owl to the core. I have no difficulty seeing 6am by keeping awake through the night. Waking up at 6am though usually qualifies for a spot in the "tough things I have done in my life" list.

Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?:
Sunny side up with lots of fresh ground pepper. Eat with toast. Yumm! (screw salmonella).

Favorite Place To Relax:
By the beach with a book, listening to the waves.

Favorite Pie:
Chocolate cream pie.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
Not much of an ice cream person. But will not say no to Baskin Robbin's Pralines 'n Cream ice cream. And oh, the fudge topping from Ghirardelli - yum, yum, yum!

Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?
Hopefully, Shilpa.

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Tag award ceremony:
Shilpa (keep up my trust, no?) and Pratap (pliss to do at least this one!).

That's all folks!

Ten year plan

At long last I am doing the tag Joy (do you even remember it?) passed to me ages ago. I am supposed to jot down my plans for the next ten years. Given my exemplary planning abilities, I decided to modify the tag a little so that I can instead list ten things I hope to do in the next ten years. I thought for a bit and here is my list:

1. Learn swimming well enough to be allowed to go on a class 4/class 5 whitewater rafting trip.
2. Bungee jump.
3. Learn to play the keyboard properly.
4. Visit Europe.
5. Visit Africa. (Don't worry, though I want to go everywhere, the next five points are not in the for (Continent c in continentList) { print "Visit " + c} list).
6. Switch careers.
7. Run at least a half-marathon.
8. Finish reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (people who have been observing my reading list on the right pane for a while now will understand).
9. Go on a round-the-world cruise with my family (one life - so many places to see).
10. Still be blogging.

Check back on March 12th, 2018 to see how I fared :-)!

This time I am going to bug (does anyone even care?) these folks to continue this tag:

- Shilpa (ah, you should have never told me you are relatively "free" this week)
- J (I don't remember seeing any tag on your blog)
- Saumya (hey, I have never tagged you)
- Vishesh (even after you add ten years to your current age, you will still be younger than what I am right now and I want to see whether I have done any of the things you want to do)

p.s. I just did a quick Google check on the world cruise thingie. The cheapest ticket for a single person for a 106 day trip is $54,000. Erm, I better get back to working.

That's odd

I have written 28 (20 + 8) specific things about myself on this blog already. But this tag which Joy passed on to me asked me to list weird things about myself. So in this time's exercise in narcissism, I shall list 7 weird things about myself (pretending that none of the other 28 things about myself were in anyway weird :-P).

1. Whenever I eat cereals/oatmeal, I *have* to wash the bowl as soon as I am done no matter how much of a hurry I am in. I will not leave the place till the bowl is clean and dripping on the dish rack. Note: this obsession only extends to cereal bowls.

2. Similarly, before I leave my room in the morning I always fold the blankets/comforter irrespective of how lazy or rushed I am. Everything else can be nowhere near tidy but seeing messy blankets/comforters irritates me a lot. By extension, I automatically fold any bed linen lying around when I visit other folks too.

3. Many of my most favorite (current and past) songs are melodious but sad. I can listen to them at anytime, regardless of my mood. Somehow I connect with sad songs in a way which leaves me feeling blissful (!?!) and at peace. Some songs which have been on the list: Engey enadhu kavidhai, Laakad jalke, You'll think of me, Poongatrile, Tadap tadap, Linger, Pesa madanthai ... The most recent addition is Jag soona soona from OSO - the song is just so beautiful.

4. Though the above point might have lead you to believe so, I am usually not a morose person. I am optimistic to a fault, trust almost everyone whether warranted or not and generally think the world is a beautiful place. Kinda like the kid who, when given a crate of worthless manure as a christmas present, starts digging through it enthusiastically, “Because there’s gotta be a pony in there somewhere!”. You can imagine how easily I can get conned :-)!

5. I love croutons. All my plans of having a healthy lunch by hitting the salad bar are nullified by me topping the salad off with a whole lot of croutons. I am pretty confident that I can happily finish a "salad" having nothing but croutons in them.

6. Sometimes, when I am really enjoying something at current time, I start dreaming and longing for the next time of such enjoyment. I know, duh! Some living in the moment I do!

7. I tend to worry about completely running out of essentials and so, like a boy scout, I am always prepared. At my house, you will always find at least two extra cans of salt, tubes of toothpaste, boxes of tea, bottles of moisturizer (ya, that is an "essential" according to me) etc. in addition to the currently used supply. In case of an emergency, I think the grocery store can come borrow from me :-)!

Done.

No, this time I am not passing the tag to anyone. Only one soul (you rock, SK :-)) I passed the last tag to did it and I am now hurted *pout* *sulk*. Okay, okay, pipe down the celebration, will ya!?!

Update: Just realized that this is post number 250. Yaay :-)! I am too lazy to hunt for dancing numbers this time.

Me me me

I got tagged. Since I can't think of any great topic to write about right now, I am happily taking the easiest escape route (with good karma for being a prompt tag-doer thrown in as a fringe benefit :-P) and am doing the tag pronto :-D! Okay, to all people who spotted the error in the previous sentence: I do know the rest of the posts here do not contain great topics either. What I actually meant was that I could not think of *any* idea at all :-P. In any case, be nice and let me have my occassional delusions of grandeur :-D!

Anyways, onto the tag. The rules are as follows (copy & paste from here):

Rules of this tag:

1. Name the person who tagged you.
2. 8 things about you.
3. Tag 6 people.

Here is my entry:

1. Thanu tagged me.

2. Sometime last year I wrote 20 random things about me because of a tag. I am sure you got a whole lot more information about me in that post than you bargained for. However, it's almost a year since that post and it's time to add eight more things to your fact-file (hahahahaha) about me:

1. I love dancing (definitely not to be confused with "I am good at dancing"). However, I can dance with abandon only when with people I am very comfortable with or when I am by myself. Otherwise I can be spotted shaking my hands and legs nervously with a "I-am-trying-to-have-fun-but-I-would-probably-be-happier-sitting-on-a-hot-stove" look on my face.
2. I love being near water. I can sit at the beach for hours together, just listening to the waves. Perhaps it can be attributed to me being a Piscean - I don't know!
3. I think I have a compulsive need to feel liked by *everyone*. Yes, including people who irritate/annoy me. Which is how I can spend hours obsessing over how come person XYZ does not like me even though I do not like XYZ (duh).
4. I listen to music through headphones almost all the time at work, whenever I am at my cubicle. This is one of the reasons why I turned my computer to face the cubicle entrance. Before I did that, I have sometimes almost jumped out of my skin when somebody tapped on my chair or addressed me from behind!
5. I have never believed in ghosts. It is a good thing because I have no issues staying by myself or going to sleep after watching a scary movie (I do have nightmares, but can usually get over them when I wake up).
6. I am a compulsive email checker/writer. I usually reply pretty promptly to all emails I get. Of course, this applies only to personal emails. For work emails, I have a different set of rules :-P!
7. The only way I can sleep properly is when I am lying down horizontally on any surface. This prerequisite rules out sleeping on buses/cars/aeroplanes etc. The good part is that I am always awake to give the car-driver company on overnight journeys. The bad part, the next morning, I look like something the cat dragged in while the others look daisy-fresh :-(. Note: The have-to-be-horizontal-to-sleep condition becomes null and void if I am extraordinarily tired.
8. I know probably no one is particularly interested in knowing all these things about me. Still, I am gathering good karma for being a good tag-doer and hence am thinking about the eight thing. Ah yes, the eight thing about me is hum good karma gather karne ke liye kuch be kar sakthe hain (I can do anything for gathering good karma) :-)). Yaaay - finis :-D!

3. Six people I tag (in no particular order):

• Floridora - I am not sure if you do tags - I don't recall seeing any in your blog. It will be really great if you take this up :-)!
• Archana Bahuguna - I remember that Shilpa tagged you for the 20 random things about yourself tag. But I doubt you did it. So, here's your second chance *evil laughter* >B-D!
• Prasanna - Welcome to the tag world :-D!
• Prabhu - I just want to check that you still remember enough about yourself after your "world-changing" trip to India :-P!
• Rads - Based on the totally random but entertaining posts on your blog, I think eight things about yourself will make an interesting read :-)!
• Ginkgo - Let's see if the tag inspires you to post something on your blog :-)!

And all ye tagged souls, better do the tag. I have heard that not doing it will bring lots of bad luck. For e.g., Steve Medonotag of Wichita, KS did not do this tag and the next time he walked under a tree, a giant bird pooped on his head. Be warned :-P!

As for the untagged souls, you have escaped - this time. *menacing background music*

I am 'It'!

Last week, Shilpa was very generous and tagged me. I am supposed to write twenty random things about myself. So here are twenty things you wanted to know about me and were too afraid to ask ;-)!

1. I am the ultimate book-worm. I can read almost anything. Once, in hostel, when I did not have any other book to read, I actually read the college calendar (containing rules and regulations, course-list, college statement etc. etc.) from cover to cover.

2. I love taking walks. Besides the exercise, it also serves as a cool way to ward off depression, confusion or anxiety.

3. My oldest brand-name (Titan) watch was bought for me by my parents in 1991. It still works and I use it!

4. My face is a color-coded, cross-referenced index of my mind. At any point, my face plainly shows what exactly is going through my mind. The more intense the emotion, the clearer the reflection. Unfortunately, I always assume this is not the case till I see the person across my reacting to something I was just thinking.

5. When I was small I was pretty sure that I would become a famous author one day.

6. I once won the first place in a drawing competition. This event happened in my 3rd standard and has never been repeated since.

7. I can't stand body odor. I am not thrilled with the over-perfumed either.

8. I have a thing for moisturizing and moisturizers. As per today's count I have enough stock of moisturizing lotion at home to last me till the summer of 2007. This does not include the opened bottles I have in every room of my house. My friends tell me that in case I am faced with some disaster situation, the first thing I will do is start using moisturizer. Apparently, my motto in life is, "even if I die, I shall die moisturized". The scary part is, I am not entirely sure myself that they are just joking.

9. I cannot snap my fingers to make the clicking noise. Somehow I missed learning it in childhood and in spite of many attempts by various people to teach me, I still cannot produce any sound by snapping my fingers together.

10. Similarly, I cannot whistle. But that hasn't stopped me from puckering my lips and blowing air through it from time to time in hopes of producing some sound.

11. I have never put up posters of any movie-star in any room I lived in.

12. I love drinking tea. In fact, I think I like the concept of drinking tea even more than actually drinking tea. How else can I explain the immediate craving for tea that I feel whenever I see even actors on television drinking tea??

13. Good weather makes me happy.

14. Corollary to the above: bad weather makes me irritable.

15. I don't like going to shows which feature performing animals. Somehow I always wind up picturing myself in the place of the performing animal and that image fills me with horror.

16. The word "sale" to me used to be like a red rag to a bull. Any shop displaying that magical word could count on me to join its list of shoppers. The alarming drain on my credit cards stopped when I realized that every store has some sale or the other every single day.

17. I was born with a phone attached to my ear. Given the right companion, I can talk for hours together on the phone. Nowadays though, I dont spend that much time on the phone anymore (hurrah for Cingular Wireless).

18. The first time I tasted wasabi, I felt like throwing up for a whole day afterwards. I have not touched wasabi since.

19. After reading The Da Vinci Code, my top place to visit has become the Louvre in France. The Louvre has pushed Switzerland to the second spot.

20. Thinking of the random things to make up this list has been one of the hardest things my brain has had to do recently.

To those who managed to make it to the end: Man, you really DO have it in you :-)! Now for the awards ceremony. I nominate Saranya and Spark to continue the tag.