November 30, 2009

NaBloPoMo: December

Okay I have decided to participate in NaBloPoMo even though the first half of December is very busy. But I am still going to try. Wish me luck!

For the people who are clueless: NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month. This means that I have to post everyday. Most probably you are going to see a lot of photographs or some stupid posts. I will try to write something meaningful but I can’t promise at least during the first half of this month.. Hopefully I won’t blow it.

November 26, 2009

The Bird

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday to ya’ll!

IMG_2744

Negotiations

Okay I can’t hold it in anymore. It is the main reason for my decreased frequency of posts in past few days. So here it is:

After weeks of being judged and being put on the spot (which are my verbose description for interviews), okay fine I exaggerate: it has been just a week so far and only three interviews, but it feel longer, I got a job offer (I am still going for other interviews)! Yay and all that.

Okay don’t take me wrong, I am very excited and happy and relived and everything else that goes with it. But as the initial excitement is subsiding, I am realizing the next hurdle that’s staring in front of me and that’s called Salary Negotiations. I have never done that. At heart, I am still that meek Indian student who never questions authority and now I have to push my limits (it is expected of me, everyone in industry tells me). Any suggestions from anyone who has done it before?

Seems I need a new button on the life’s keyboard:image

November 24, 2009

Faith

Few days back, I read this comment somewhere on the net (I don’t remember the source any more):

I don’t understand why new-born Christians and Atheist bully people to join them?bully

Tuesday Tag: Mera Bachpan…

I know I disappeared again but this time due to a good reason: PB tagged me to do a post on the childhood memories (for once I was actually tagged and not borrowed it!) and I was working on it. As the topic suggests, it will be a long long post. And very personal too. I am not very comfortable with that hence I am writing the post in a general tone and avoid any specifics. It’s just to make me comfortable writing about them.

First some background: The year I was born, my dad got the lectureship in a reputed university. We moved from my birth-town to my home-town. That also meant we moved away from our extended family in the area. So I grew up in a nuclear family with very few memories that involved uncles and aunts, cousins and grandparents. Another fact that you would need to know is that my brother is 9 years older to me which made for a very interesting experiences as a kid..

Ear Piercing: I was 2 years old when my Mom took me to Jewelry shop to get my ears EarRingpierced. I distinctly remember the day. There were two other ladies in the shop and as the shopkeeper readied the hot needle (back then that’s how we did it in small towns) to pierce my ears, they readied themselves for a kid to howl and cry. However they were surprised when I didn’t. I remember the pain and the fact that I tried my best to keep my tears from flowing out. For some reason those ladies challenged my control by expecting me to cry. It became an ego issue for me (yes at 2 years!) I remember my mom asking me if it hurts and me nodding (I didn’t trust myself to speak). She said that she will apply Boroline when we get home and it will be okay. I also remember the long time it took for us to reach home after that!

Primary School: I started school when I was 2.5 years old. I remember crying out loud on the day (I was a nuclear family kid with almost no other kids around me) and the Principal of our school offering me candies if I stopped crying. I immediately stopped and got my favorite orange candies. However, after the first day episode, I never cried when I went to school. I was a model student who never never disobeyed the teacher. Always did my homework and was the best in the class. I loved learning new things. This continued till I was in grade II.

I got briefly transferred to another school towards the end of my second grade. That 010-beating-the-boy-q75-380x500 school (it was in Bihar) was a very good school, however they used to hit kids with stick as punishment. So in the morning when we filed in for the assembly, teachers will hit kids in line if their boots are not polished properly or if their socks are dirty. I was never hit but I never liked that school. I went to that school for a month. Most of the time I was there I complained of frequent headaches and fevers. I remember I used to sleep in the class and wasn’t able to concentrate in class even if I wanted to, until one morning when my “fever” completely took over. I was unconscious (or sleeping, I don’t know and I don’t remember much except that I had high fever and I was vomiting every half hour or so) for most of that day. I am not sure how and what happened but I do know that doctors suggested that I should be taken off that school. So I changed school again.

First Friend: I was an extremely quiet, introvert and shy girl. I had classmates and playmates (oh yes I had two different set of friends as I was the only one in our colony who didn’t go to those big schools in our town) and while a number of them told me at different occasions that they consider me as their best friend, I never returned back the compliment. I usually smiled and felt happy about it but I never said the same to any of them (I was a weird kid). In sixth grade, a new girl was transferred to our class. For imagesome reason, I hit it off right away with her. She was a brilliant and hard working student. After my second grade, my grades took a nose dive and I had lost my interest in studies. It changed when I met her. She would insist on learning the lessons the day they were taught and would ask me to quiz her next morning. I wasn’t too willing but I complied. Two months later, we had our quarterly exams and I scored better than she did in one of the subjects. I had the highest marks in the class! I couldn’t believe it! And the best part: she was not a least bit jealous or offended! She was jumping up and down with me. I had never met anyone like her before that. She was my first friend ever. However I never told her that. Unfortunately, her dad got transferred to other city a month after the exams. I have no idea where she is. But I know she must be a doctor. That’s what she wanted to be and I know she is one girl who will and can achieve whatever she wanted. She was a great inspiration and a great friend.

Other thing that I got from my first friend was love for movies. It was the time when QSQT released and she was a big fan of Aamir Khan. For some unknown reason, I was not in touch with the current Bollywood till that time but her non-stop chatter about Aamir affected me and since then I had kept in loop with the current movies until I came to US. Now I keep in track with upcoming Hollywood movies, so in a way I still keep track of current movies even though not as much with Bollywood movies.

Bhaiya: I can’t end this post without mentioning my brother. As I mentioned my brother imageis 9 years older than me. It means that he was biking when I was learning to walk. He was reading the comics when I was struggling with alphabets. He was memorizing Kabir’s and Rahim’s Dohas when I was trying to learn the nursery rhymes. Do you see where I am going with this? As a kid I looked up to my brother for everything. He was the coolest person possible. That doesn’t mean that I never fought with him: far from it. We fought although I was the one who used to get whipped. No matter how hard I hit him, I couldn’t hurt him till one day when I was 10: I hit him and it hurt him. I was so shocked that I forgot what was coming once he gets over his shock and pain.

And then he has a great sense of humor. I remember how he could make me laugh no matter how down I was feeling. And that was another great thing about hi m. He was very perceptive about my moods and would know if I was upset about something. He never bothered me with the questions like why I am upset or whether I want to “talk” about it. He would simply camp in my room and won’t leave it unless I am laughing again. It doesn’t matter how much I scream at him to get out of my room or even if I throw things at him to get him out of my room. He won’t leave unless his mission was accomplished. Oh yes, he was the sweetest brother possible! Shhh…Don’t tell him that.

I also remember the day when for the first time I could snap back a smart reply at him. I remember the whole conversation word by word. He was teasing me as usual. On this fateful day, he was telling me how our mom bought me as a baby off the street for 10 paisa (Yes, 10 paisa!). And the reason she bought me was to serve him. And I replied back, “At least she paid 10 paisa for me. You came free! So you are the one who should serve me”. He never teased me again about that. I know it’s juvenile humor but it was a great moment for me.

I can go on and on about my brother and my bachpan but guess all these incidents describe my childhood pretty well. So I am leaving at that. As for tagging others: It’s a free tag. Feel free to borrow it and write your own story. :)

Credits: The last two images are made using Microsoft Clipboard 2007. The first two images shows their respective origin and if you click on the respective images you will reach the webpages they were taken from.

November 20, 2009

Life’s Keyboard…

…I wish I had one.

key  (Keys from Microsoft 2007 Clipboard)

Updated Keyboard as per Rachna’s comment (See comments). I know some of you will object to replacing “Coffee” button but since I don’t drink Coffee, so I would happily swap it with “Undo” button:

KeyBoard2

November 17, 2009

Tuesday Tag: How Dumb Am I?

Okay, I am not sure if this dumb quiz is worth anything. To me most of the things in this list can happen to anyone. I am not sure how is it measure of dumbness. But then most probably I will get the highest point in this one. I just wanted to give it a try. So here it goes. The rule says:

The more [x]’ s the “dumber” you are.
[x] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were talking
[ ] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were NOT talking
[x] You have run into a glass/screen door
[x] You have jumped out of a moving vehicle
[x] You have thought of something funny while walking by yourself
[x] Laughed, then watched people give you weird looks
So far: 5
[x] You have run into a tree/bush.
[x] You know that it IS possible to lick your elbow
[x] You have tried to lick your elbow… a few times
[x] You never knew that the Alphabet and Twinkle Twinkle Little star have the same rhythm.
[x] You just tried to sing them.
So far: 10
[x] You have tripped on your shoelace and fallen.
[ ] You have choked on your own spit .
[x] You have seen the Matrix and still don’t get it.
[ ] You’ve never seen the Matrix.
[x] You type only with two fingers.
So far: 13
[ ] You have accidentally caught something on fire
[x] You tried to drink out of a straw, but it went into your nose/eyes.
[x] You have caught yourself drooling.
[ ] You have fallen asleep in class and fell outta your chair
So far: 15
[x] Sometimes you just stop thinking
[x] You are telling a story and forget what you were talking about
[ ] People often shake their heads and walk away from you
[ ] You are often told to use your “inside voice”.
[ ] You use your fingers to do simple math
So far: 17
[ ] You have eaten a bug
[ ] You are taking this test when you should be doing something more important
[x] You have put your clothes on backwards or inside out, and didn’t realize it
[x] You’ve looked all over for something and realized it was in your hand
[x] You have ran around naked in your house. (What's so dumb about that?)
So far: 20
[ ] You repost bulletins because you are scared that what they say will happen to you if you don’t.
[x] You break a lot of things.
[ ] Your friends know not to use big words around you.
[x] You tilt your head when you’re confused
[x] You have fallen out of your chair before
So far: 23
[ ] When you’re lying in bed, you try to find pictures in the texture of the ceiling or wall
[x] The word “ummmmm” is used many times a day.
So far: 24

Total: 24/37

So I am 65% dumb. Who knew?

Again a free for all tag…

November 16, 2009

Big Brother

Over the years, I have heard my Indian friends complain about how unfair and stock-india-pakistanpartial US is. How it keeps giving aid to Pakistan even though Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in India! How blind-sighted US is when it comes to Pakistan! After 9/11 attacks, we all sat up and thought that, now US will realize how stupid it has been in providing aid to a country that sponsors terrorism. But to no avail. And then as terrorist started concentrating inside the Pakistan border, we thought may be now US support to Pakistan will stop. But no. Then Taliban started raising its head in Pakistan. And US gave yet another aid to Pakistan! We think that US is blind-sighted. It’s being stupid in giving aid to Pakistan. But is it so? Do you really think US is that stupid? Honestly?

Well let’s take a step back from Indo-Pak relation and see the world politics from US perspective. Let’s start in 1940s. As we all know (or I am assuming), after World War II the world was divided in two super powers and we ventured into era of cold war between these two super powers. Coincidentally, at the same time Indian partition took place. If you have seen a world map, you will notice that we are geographically very close to  former USSR which made our stand in this power balance of the world a bit crucial. China was already a communist state. Next big state in Asia was India. Now our leaders in that period started favoring USSR over USA, which made USA start looking for allies in the region. Someone who can cause trouble for us and disrupt our progress (remember Vietnam war, West and East Germany, North and South Korea?). And it found one in Pakistan and with that started the influx of financial as well as military aid to Pakistan. The ties strengthened when USSR attacked Afghanistan. US was simply looking out for itself. It didn’t have any personal grudge against us. It was simply wary of our relationship with Soviet Union.

Now let’s come back to present. There is no USSR anymore and Russia doesn’t pose as much threat to USA. However, the two fastest growing economies of the world are still in the same region: China and India. As much as I understand world politics, US is more threatened by China than it is by India. However, India does remain in its watch list. Add on to it, its past wariness of India as a friend of communists as well as all the outsourcing issues and migration of businesses to India.

Now tell me, do you sincerely think USA is going to stop aiding Pakistan any time soon?

And here we are thinking US is blind-sighted, and even stupid, for supporting Pakistan. For some reason, we want the Big Brother to be fair. We want it to support us as we are the good kids and Pakistan isn’t. I think, it’s high time that we grow up and stop expecting US to put world peace above it’s self interest. It has never done that and it never will. That’s what we call capitalism! So let’s stop whining about what US should or shouldn’t do. Let’s start thinking about what we should or shouldn’t do.

Disclaimer: This post is not about Americans but US government’s policy. I personally know Americans who are against these policies. And quite a few who has no clue about US policy in the region. I am criticizing US policies here and not American people who are indeed fair and honest.

P.S.: I  know that US is now feeling the burn of terrorism themselves. But again they think they will be able to handle it. They created that monster so they can kill it too. Plus the fight is so far away from their home, they don’t suffer the daily killing of their civilians on their own soil.

November 15, 2009

Ice Skating and Desi Dance

A must watch, if you haven’t already seen it:

(Link via Varun)

Missed

Well I didn’t post anything yesterday and most probably won’t be able to for next week. I have a very stressful week ahead and it’s toll started even before the week began and hence the missed post of yesterday. I have few queued posts for coming week so hopefully it won’t be a complete dry week but I won’t be able to keep up with comments at the moment but I will read them and moderate them even though I won’t be able to reply to them. So please do leave a comment if you find something interesting. I will catch up with you guys next week…

November 13, 2009

Criticisms and Insults

I don’t get it. Why do commentators who disagree with you choose to insult you, instead of defying your logic? And when they do so, why do they need to use the term “gay” as an insult? I mean, I don’t get it. Let’s say I am gay or whatever other insult they want to use, how does that prove my point wrong and theirs right? And then they have audacity to comment again and tell me that I don’t have a backbone as I can’t handle criticism! This is from someone who chose to comment anonymously! Really?

I know I shouldn’t get upset by bonkers like that and that’s the reason we have comment moderation system in place but still they do get your blood boiling. No matter how cool you are, these irrational, irrelevant, foul-mouthed comments do pinch you somewhere and usually spoil your day. It’s easy to preach that these random people are not relevant and they need to be ignored but it’s not easy to do so. 

The difference in opinions I can tolerate. I might tolerate some polite criticism, as long as it is sugar-coated. I might get defensive (all of us do that) if someone raises his or her voice while criticizing me (*Disclaimer: Advisors are not included in ordinary people. ;P ). But if someone starts throwing insults at me instead of criticizing my opinion or my work, it’s gets a bit hard to deal with…

imageI am sure a lot of bloggers must face these issues and hence most of them uses comment moderation. And I know, one is supposed to ignore them and get on with one’s life but I am curious to know how do you deal with the rage and frustration after reading such comments? I went and bought a Snicker bar today along with a coke bottle early in the morning. I have been refraining from either for past few weeks. And I guess, I am still angry hence this post. 

What do you do?

P.S.: For those who know I don’t like chocolates: Snicker bars don’t taste as bad as chocolate. Its main flavor is peanut (which I absolutely love) and not chocolate. So yes, Snickers are my weakness…

November 12, 2009

True Christian

This is brilliant:

image image 

No this isn’t the middle ages. Landover Baptist Church is  a fictional church based in a fictional town. Though the first time I went to the page I wasn’t sure that it was a parody. You never know the religious zealots. For example, look at this news item: Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum (thanks Jeff). The Church says:

"The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem."

Honestly! They can’t provide social services funded by the city, following the city laws. For some reason it reminds me of Bal Thackeray and his brand of politics.

November 11, 2009

I can’t think

Honestly. My mind has drawn a blank. I have been working non-stop for past 3 weeks and my mind has finally given up on me and I still have things to do. Anyway, as I can’t think at all today, I thought of posting another photograph today. This one is from an year ago taken at Grand Canyon. I guess it’s a typical Grand Canyon shot..

Grand_166 BTW, can you see the people at top of the peak? No? They are tiny dots at the top. Look closely. Now you get the scale of Grand Canyon. It is really Grand! It’s a breath taking beautiful and still very depressing place.

November 10, 2009

Tuesday Tag: In a word

I stole, er I mean, I borrowed today’s tag from PB.

There is only rule for this tag. You have to answer the question in one word. So here it goes:

1.Where is your mobile phone? Bed
2.Your hair? Shoulder-length
3.Your mother? Psych-Major
4.Your father? Lecturer
5.Your favorite food? Home-made
6.Your dream last night? None
7.Your favorite drink? Coke
8.Your dream/goal? Happiness
9.What room are you in? Bedroom
10.Your hobby? Varied
11.Your fear? Breaking-neck
12.Where do you want to be in 6 years? With someone I love
13.Where were you last night? Home
14.Something that you aren’t? Inhuman
15.Muffins? No thanks
16.Wish list item? Hasselblad
17.Where did you grow up? Roorkee
18.Last thing you did? Checked mail
19.What are you wearing? Clothes
20.Your TV? Normal (?)
21.Your pets? Pleo
22.Friends? Life-line
23.Your life? Complicated
24.Your mood? Varies-by-the-minute
25.Missing someone? Always :)
26.Vehicle? Toyota
27.Something you’re not wearing? Newspaper
28.Your favourite store? JC Penney
29.Your favorite color? Blue
29.When was the last time you laughed? Today
30.Last time you cried? Last week
31.Your best friend? Puja
32.One place that you go to over and over? Stanford
33.One person who emails me regularly? Administration
34.Favorite place to eat? Home

Again, it’s free for all tag. :)

November 9, 2009

Claustrophobia

I don’t remember having claustrophobia. I never liked elevators though but it had more to do with motion sickness, rather elevation-change-sickness, that made me uncomfortable. I place it in same category of my air sickness symptoms. I am not comfortable moving up or down an elevation. However, I am not afraid of heights. I am not scared of roller coasters either. I think it’s simply the unknown force moving me up or down an elevation that makes me sick (not scared but sick).

Anyway, that isn’t point of the post, is it? I was talking about claustrophobia. So I never had any incident of claustrophobia in my life. However, few months back I had my MRI done. I spent around 30 min in the machine for that. And ever since then I get slightly anxious if I see anything enclosed in small space as someone being buried alive or such. I don’t like to think about me being in any situation like that anymore. As it turns out there have been a study that indicate that people actually become (okay 30% of them) claustrophobic after an MRI exams. You know they should have this as a warning for this exam.

Anyway, my recent discovery of this new fear make me wonder why aren’t we all born as a claustrophobic, after all a fetus has to spend 9 months of its life in an enclosed space? How can spending 30-40 min make me claustrophobic then? Was I braver when I was a fetus? Or maybe I was simply dumber to realize the fear. Either way I don’t fancy being a fetus or, for that matter, being Anarkali at the moment. The idea sends chills down my spine now..

November 8, 2009

Nothing to post today…

…so I am posting a photograph. I took this one recently, well, it was taken in Stanford so it is at least 3 weeks old. The subjects are two daughters of a friend of mine. They were playing when I took the shot…Jolene_118-2 P.S.: It’s 10 min to midnight and I can’t come up with anything to write in 10 min.

November 7, 2009

If I were a baby again

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 4; the fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
Well since everyone is doing it, I thought I should write something about it too. But honestly I don’t like the topic. I don’t understand how and why people are writing about this? You see, if I was a baby again, I would have no control over most of the things I do. Even toddler don’t have as much control, how can you expect a baby to know what he/she is doing? As a baby, I would have a very short term memory. Though I think my attention span hasn’t change much since I was a baby, so hopefully that will remain the same. As for my daily activity, I would lie on my back whole day and wait for my mom to guess correctly what’s making me cry. Rest of the time I would sleep. Hmm…on second thoughts, I guess I wouldn’t mind being a baby again.

Anyway, I digress. So I don’t get the point of this topic, “If I were a baby again.” I understand if they have said about being a kid (age 4-12) or, even more relevant, if they asked me if I was a teenager again. That's one time of life that everyone would like to change one way or the other, but as a baby, as I said, you have pretty much no control over any of your functions. You are completely dependent upon your parents. You don't even have any memory of that time, then how can you change it? You might have some memories of being a toddler or the first day of school (I remember how much I cried!) but you aren't baby then. The term baby technically defines an age of 0-1 years old. Once you start walking you become a toddler. At least, that's how I understand it.

And then the blog says that we need to publish the post on November 7, 2009 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs. Do you see the problem in this? No? Oh okay, here are my problems:

- There is no time zone specified! I couldn’t find any indication about which part of the world this site belongs to (this is the first time I have visited the site. Sorry if I am being ignorant). How am I supposed to know?

- Second problem I have: I can change the time of posting manually, so would it matter it I cross the time limit and still put it there? okay may be when I comment on their post with the link, a time stamp will show. But again which time zone do they (the comment's time stamp) belong to?

Having said all this, I have read quite a few creative posts on the topic and admire the bloggers for being so imaginative, innovative and artistic. Well,all I can do is to be sarcastic or rather I should say, all I can do is complain so here I am complaining about it. Though I do wonder if anyone else thought about these points too? I mean about the relevance of the topic, and not my ramblings about the time zone.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

P.S.: 1. I am not sure if I should put this in their comment section as they might consider it malicious.

2. On second thoughts, they never specified what people can or can not write. I simply chose to complain about it. So I am putting it up…

November 6, 2009

Un-Indian

I recently had lunch with couple of newly acquainted Indian ladies. As I don't have a car, these new friends have been very sweet and have been taking me out for lunch and while coming back, we take a short Indian grocery trip. They have really made my life here so much easier. Anyway, I was talking about this particular lunch that we had in a Gujararti restaurant. BTW, I don't like Gujarati cuisine, especially the fact that they add sugar/jaggery in everything including daal! For me, it's beyond scandalous. But I digress again. So we went out for lunch and, obviously, started talking. At some point, for some reason, I mentioned that I donate blood. The reaction to this statement reminded me how un-Indian-lady like I am.

A typical Indian born shudh desi bhartiya nari doesn't donate blood. She doesn't play sports. She will never ever join a martial art group. She doesn't climb stairs, if there is an elevator available. She doesn't go for a run at any odd hours. Arts mean sketching, painting and handicrafts to them and not photography. She won't ride a bike for 10 miles to reach office if there are other mode of transportation available, especially a car.

Like my friend Rachna (she is my high school friend) once commented on this blog and I quote:

"You have lived too long in the US- pata nahi vilayat mein rah kar chhori kya kya sochne lagi hai ;) ”

I didn't think much about it then but now I realize how different I have become since I landed in US. Though I think all these changes have been positive (at least that’s what I think). The environment here gave me freedom to try and realize my full potential in all direction, just not academically. I am far more active, far more social and far more happy. No more inhibitions about what people will think or talk. No more inhibition in trying anything new, whether its physically or artistically or academically challenging. I don't get embarrassed now, I don’t even get annoyed at people on sideline pointing at me (figuratively, of course) while I try something new. I pity them now. I used to be scared like them once upon a time but not any more. 

All these realizations made me wonder about other things as well, like: how different I would have been, if I had grown up in US? How would have my life turned out to be then? Did any of you ever thought about it?

November 5, 2009

This is hilarious!!

May be you have already seen this one but I found this on FB (thanks Subhash) today. It’s simply hilarious. I never thought about these names before this. It’s brilliant. 

P.S.: 1. I am too tired to blog today so enjoy this clip today.

2. BTW, Condoleezza Rice used to be a professor in Stanford before she joined Bush administration.  On March 1st, 2009 she returned to Stanford as a political science professor!

3. I think the famous “Stanford Arrogance” has finally started to have it’s effect on me. Guess it’s time for me to graduate, I have now acquired the last ingredient! ;)

November 4, 2009

I am not bad

In past few days, I have met quite a few people (all Indian: just getting demographic right, that’s all) who call their family almost everyday. Every Single Day.

I call my parents once in a fortnight or so (sometime it has been once in month) and it’s usually after my mom gives me a missed call or send me an email asking me to call. So I have been wondering if something is wrong with me? And then I saw this comic strip (see below) and realized that almost none of them did a PhD! The one with PhD have kids of their own, and hence, don’t belong to my demographic.

phd102109sImg from : "Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham, www.phdcomics.com

(Click to enlarge)

My demographic, you ask? I am a single female student working on my Ph.D. and the above strip explains all the reason why I don’t call my home as often as others. Phew. What a relief! Thanks Jorge Cham for this strip!

P.S.: BTW, did you know Jorge Cham is a Stanford alum? Just saying…

November 3, 2009

Tuesday Tag: Innocent or Guilty

Okay! I am back with some more tags that I “borrowed” from all over the net. Today’s tag is stolen from here. The rules are:

RULE 1- You can only say Guilty or Innocent.
RULE 2- You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks!
RULE 3- Copy and paste this into your notes, delete my answers, type in your answers and tag to your friends to answer this.

Asked someone to marry you? Innocent

Ever kissed someone of the same sex? GuiltyBlindJustice-large.gif

Danced on a table in a bar? Innocent\

Ever told a lie? Guilty

Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back? Guilty

Kissed a picture? Guilty

Slept in until 5 PM? Guilty

Fallen asleep at work/school? Guilty

Held a snake? Guilty

Been suspended from school? Innocent

Worked at a fast food restaurant? Innocent

Stolen from a store? Guilty

Been fired from a job? Innocent

Done something you regret? Guilty

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Guilty

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Guilty

Kissed in the rain? Innocent

Sat on a roof top? Guilty

Kissed someone you shouldn’t? Innocent

Sang in the shower? Always Guilty

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Innocent

Shaved your head? Innocent

Had a boxing membership? Innocent

Made a girlfriend cry? Guilty

Been in a band? Innocent

Shot a gun? Guilty

Donated Blood? Guilty

Eaten alligator meat? Innocent

Eaten cheesecake? Guilty

Still love someone you shouldn’t? Innocent

Have/had a tattoo? Innocent

Liked someone, but will never tell who? Guilty

Been too honest? Guilty

Ruined a surprise? Guilty

Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn’t walk afterwards? Guilty

Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty

Dressed in a woman’s clothes (if you’re a guy) or man’s clothes (if you’re a girl)? Guilty

Joined a pageant? Innocent

Been told that you’re handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty

Had communication with your ex? Innocent

Got totally drunk on the night before exam? Innocent

Got totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty

The final scores are: 25/42. Not bad! I am over 50% mark. Yay! It proves that I am not a total nerd. I have done stuffs in my life!

Again as always, the tag is free for all. It is a fun tag, trust me. And as for questions about some controversial questions in the tag, remember curiosity killed the cat. So don’t ask anything that I can’t answer. If I answer, I would have to kill you…

November 2, 2009

Random questions…

..that has been popping in my head recently.

- Why do people who walk fast expect other people to keep pace with them? Some of us have back problem and can’t walk fast.

- Why do people who are willing to work overtime don’t understand that other people might have commitments after work like picking up their kids from day-care?

- Why do Maggi sauces have those caps that 1001625-main_Fullcan be only opened by the bottle opener?

- On that note, what is those metal caps are called?

- Continuing on the same topic, why don’t an extended stay hotel studio have a bottle opener in the room when they have a wine opener and a can opener?

- What is the difference between a motel, a hotel and an inn?

- Why do administration or whoever is responsible, keeps the temperature at sub human level in a centrally climate-control office buildings? Don’t they freeze in their offices too? Or is it an outsourced job hence the perpetrator don’t have take the consequences?  Or the person responsible always belong to either Canada or Alaska or Siberia?

- Why don’t the TV in the hotel room have A/V output? (I know I have blogged about this one but I couldn’t resist)

- Why don’t people try to knock instead of sneaking up to you and start speaking to you while you are working on your laptop? It’s very annoying.

- Why do people look so smug when someone else’s mobile starts ringing in the meeting? They must have forgotten to switch off their mobile too, some time or the other.

- Why do I people I know have birthday on exactly the same day? For example, I know three people with birthdays on 29th Oct, four on 3rd November, four on 10th November, five on 6th September and so on. Why can’t they have birthdays one day before or after? And surprisingly I don’t know anyone whose birthday falls a day earlier or late for any of these birthdays. Weird, huh?

That summarizes my day. Don’t have an ending line and as I am already late for bed, I will simply say ciao. See you tomorrow…

P.S.: I am too tired to check the post for obvious mistake. Hopefully everything makes sense. If it doesn’t then ignore that question and proceed to next  :)

November 1, 2009

Blog readers

..and their feedbacks are very important. I am realizing that yet again while writing the WPW blog. Unlike this blog, WPW blog is focused on a very specific audience and for some unknown reason, they don’t comment (or may be they don’t even care about the blog). And it makes writing on the blog difficult and highly un-motivating.

This blog, on the other hand, has been a personal blog and hence the friend’sblog_logo feedbacks through personal communication had been enough to motivate me to keep writing over the years. Plus, I never focused so much on the reader while writing on this blog. It has been more of a venting place for me than writing for an audience. I guess that’s why I find it so difficult to write on the WPW blog. I have never written for strangers!  

The reason I am ranting today about this is because I spend hours yesterday writing and queuing up posts for WPW blog for the next two weeks. It was easy to pick out the pictures I wanted to put in the post but it was so hard to write about them or anything else. I am not entirely satisfied with the posts I have written there. They seem to be missing the soul. I have written for sake of writing. I think it would have been so much easier for me to write, if I knew at least few of the readers (if any) of the blog but guess that’s not gonna happen! :(

In any case, I have 5 posts queued up on WPW to be published in next two weeks excluding the one I posted yesterday for Halloween. Hopefully one of those Alumni will care to comment or even check out the site. Am keeping my fingers crossed.

P.S.: Please don’t get offended, I am simply ranting. The feedback I get on this blog is very important to me as well. It motivates me to take time from a busy schedule and write. :)  You guys are very kind to tolerate my endless ranting and complains, and support me through difficult times. In a way, I know you and hence don’t feel like that I am communicating with strangers while writing on this blog unlike WPW.