Moon River

It's a known fact at work that I love chocolates. The boss knows, the colleagues know. Since yesterday, A has been getting me chocolates. I'd forgotten what it felt like -- getting a chocolate from someone else. It's been a long time since somebody did that, even M. He usually leaves me to my devices.

A told me her grandma brought her chocolate and since she won't eat much herself, she decided to share it. That made me pretty sentimental.

I still get that child-like feeling when I get chocolates instead of buying them on my own. The boss saw the expression on my face while A passed on a piece of heaven, saying, "Look at her face!" Guess somethings never change.

Here's the theme to today ending:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH_iOn88&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=MLGxdCwVVULXdzZYZF2ifmdxCl2zs-nzie

Life after snow?

The weather is beautiful outside. I mean, I could kill for this weather. Still, I can't seem to get my ass outdoors, I'm just that damn lazy/tired to do so.

Today was a good day. I interviewed a NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientist plus the co-founder of Kickstarter.com, a crowd-fundraising site for individuals with a creative idea. Genius, I say! I hope I can now produce a good Kickstarter story.

Lately, M and I have gotten so bored of eating Indian food that we didn't feel like having anything today. To keep our stomachs from growling loudly at night, we decided to have Maggi. Tomorrow looks promising. Lunch as well as dinner will be had outside. We were good kids this week. Waited all weekend for our turn to eat out, even on V Day! No, really.

The only thing that's not-so-good after all the snowpocalypse drama is the lack of motivation to exercise. Neither M nor I feel like it. At least, he's honest about it. But, that's the advantage (or the lack of on occasions) of being married. One can drag the other to do just about anything.

Also, puppy adoptions lined up for Saturday. Can't wait. Fayetteville really is my favorite town.

02.14.11

You love bubblegum pop music. I love indie music.

You love adding extra salt to everything you eat. I add a little less, every single time.

You're not a fan of reading. I can't stop.

You love fruity flavors. I prefer chocolaty ones.

You're a non-vegetarian. I'm a vegetarian. For life.

White chocolate. Dark chocolate.

You love to surround yourself with as many gadgets as possible. I like to keep it simple.

Commercial radio. NPR.

You'd rather drive than walk. I'd rather walk than drive.

Car. Scooter.

Desktops. Laptops.

You'd shut every window down and never let any light in. I'll open up every blind to let even the last ray of sunshine in.

I know there are more. But, they make life interesting and frustrating -- basically worth fighting it out for.

Happy Valentine's.

P.S. - The trash needs to be taken out :P

Writing vs. typing?

Just today hubby and me were discussing whether our children will ever write. Incidentally, a few days ago, I came across this blog post at theoatmeal.com. I'm reposting it.

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/handwriting

It's reassuring to know I'm not alone.

To be or not to be...Tales of an ISD phone call, snow days and kale!

My friend D called me up today. It has been quite some time since we last spoke for this long or spoke at all, actually. And then she told me something that made me very happy, for her and for my own selfish purposes. Before I say what she told me, I will provide a little back story for those who don't know her.

D, when I worked with her, never got angry. She never criticized people and tolerated just about anyone. She also seemed to have an infinite capacity to spend time with a boring/vicious/hypocritical person and never say a word against them, even behind their back. Where we feared to tread, she rushed in. This often puzzled me. After all, there has to be a threshold but it seemed D was above all of that. She belonged to the school of "there's-some-goodness-in-everybody" and "people-will-treat-us-how-we-treat-them." Even if people mistreated her, she was just as good to them as could be. Probably, a female Ned Flanders of sorts.

Today she told me that she has let go -- of these expectations that she and others have of her and she has learnt to be what may be called "imperfect." She said trying to please and be good to everyone was tiring. She's relieved and says her life seems much simpler when she lets reactions take their natural course. She doesn't try to like anyone who intentionally annoys/gets on to her nerves. I pondered over her words and put them up as my Facebook status --

‎"You do not want some people to like you because you don't like them either so stop being nice to all of them."

Another friend, H questioned the above wisdom and asked, "Wouldn't that reflect on us?"

H, here's my two cents. First of all, who's judging us? The image that we hope to cultivate through being nice to the people who intentionally hurt or are malicious in some way, what good does it do? We internalize the hurt and the feelings, trying to process them in a way that does more harm than good.

For example, somebody is mean to me without me having to instigate anything. I hear the words and then probably the next day or two are spent in processing why it happened. I try explaining to myself why the other person might have done it, the hundred reasons behind his/her behavior. I try to put my hurt away and not acknowledge it. The next time I meet the same person, bam! He/she does it again and there I go, yet again.

D acknowledged to having done all of that. I'm sure many who read this have tried all of the above, too. But, the cycle never seems to stop. Shouldn't we just acknowledge:

• that we give some people more credit than they deserve.
• there really might some very vicious people out there.

The above don't apply to all and loved ones totally deserve all the time and effort one puts into them. The above conversation is applicable to all the so-called expendables (an acquaintance, distant relatives, etc.).

On a separate note, no office today again! I tried calling up the boss and he wouldn't answer. I needed something approved by him and wasn't sure he was in office to do that; hence, I didn't go. The roads are still covered in slick and ice. The husband and me are bored so we are still contemplating whether a trip to Starbucks would be worth the risk. The temps are as low as -17 deg Celsius.

Another disaster was me revealing my plans of cooking kale soon. Kale is like spinach, only has more nutritional worth than anything else. But, I could see why that would flip the hubby off. Until I was responsible for two people eating healthy, I pretty much did that every single time I saw a green vegetable. Now I know what my mother went through raising us.

It's funny how you slowly become your mother, even when you swore you won't.

People take breaks.

People blog for several reasons but one of the most compelling reasons, according to me, was cited by another blogger. This blogger was a cancer patient. She wanted to blog for posterity, for her children who might never know what their mother was like. It’s a very dramatic reason but still makes a lot of sense. For me, blogging will also mean practicing writing. Ever since I finished my graduate thesis, I haven’t felt like it which I feel has led to a deterioration of my creative writing skills. Plus, it’s a good way to keep in touch with friends who are in a different continent and talking about the little things doesn’t really make sense on an expensive long-distance call.

So I’ve started writing again to just document everything that goes on when I feel like blogging. Just to indicate the timeline of the blog — the Egyptian revolution is on, I’m currently devouring a food blog on Slate called The Clean Plate by Ellen Tarlin and today was what was touted as the “biggest snowstorm” of 2011. I might have an opinion on the Egyptian revolution but that’s not on my mind right now. The food blog constantly is. Tarlin manically measures her portions/tries to meditate while eating/calculates the price of each meal/tries normal ‘new’ food and I like that. It helps me be aware of what I’m consuming too. After reading the blog, I realized that there wasn’t much fruit nor veggies in our diet. So, I try. Every single day I open the fridge and think what I can make today that will incorporate more veggies or fruit in it. I often run after the husband with a banana in my hand, coercing him into eating it. It’s not a pretty sight, ever. Tarlin has inspired me to try kale, celery and other veggies that I wouldn’t have thought of simply because they have never been a part of my diet.

The snowstorm I loved mostly because the power remained intact. We were well stocked with veggies, fruit, snacks, milk, etc. The husband and I were home all day. I watched probably a hundred episodes of X-files and the husband was firmly in his chair playing WoW. The X-files finally gave me a headache, a warning that if I don’t stop watching, I’ll be blind in no time.

That brings me to something else — finding a hobby that does not require staring at a screen or strains eyes at the very least. I’m thinking knitting mainly because I remember doing some with mum when I was younger and it was fun, didn’t require much effort and yielded results quickly. Or else, more volunteering is a good option.

I had to start somewhere. I’ll gain momentum in time.

P.S.- Thanks, Preeti for encouraging me to write again.