Wednesday, August 31, 2005

SPAM!

aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh spam.

if this continues... i don't know what i'll do. I could disable comments, but I love comments. I hate spam. I haven't checked in here in a couple of days and just now, I saw 16 comments on one post and I felt soooo happy. Most of it was spam. Damn it. WHat do I do? Help!


and so i changed the "comments" settings to "add word verification"

plz don't be mad. hope this kills the spam.

sound of music

I saw sound of music again. Loved it. A friend came in during the puppet song and I made her watchthe song... she was very amused.. I can't imagine why people would go through childhood without watching this movie!? I finished it and then saw all the songs again.

I am on the lookout for My Fair Lady, Chitty CHitty Bang Bang and Bed Knobs and Broomsticks.

This term is coming to an end and a very hectic end it is too. I have 9 papers in 5 days; my exams are starting on the 8th, I haven't finished most of my assigments, I still have 3 presentations to finish before the exams and I AM GOING NUTS.

ANd I'm watching movies. I need to get my priorities straight.

Italian Job tonight. Damn my priorities.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

on good and bad plays

I love The Comedy of Errors. I read it a week ago. Macbeth rocks too. I found the Tempest very annoying. But not The Twelfth Night. And I like Oscar Wilde's plays; all of them.

Anyway, this is not about plays specifically. It's about one. And this is a sad story.

I got roped into doing a bit part in a play the dramatics club is doing. My part is not the problem. This play is doomed from the start. For one thing, we are doing "The Ghosts of Marvin Grange"; basically a bunch of people talking about a haunted place and a few fake ghosts thrown in. There are some flaws inherent to the play - the ghosts are actually people in disguise (the play is set in 1907, that itself is questionable. How do you fool people up close?? They actually say "She was attacked by strange and mysterious apparitions"! But the play is not the problem either.

The collective enthusiasm of the "actors" is negative. Except for one guy, the others would be quite happy to be rid of the who thing. The fact that the end term exams are creeping up on us does not help either. The last rehearsal saw a record low of three people turn up!!

Not that any of can actually act... but it is fun to pretend for a while. It would be "funner" if we weren't up to our necks in presentations and projects. And if we could find time besides midnight to rehearse. Anyway, I don't think this performance is going to see the light of day. Let's see.

Break a leg.

took an axe to my head...

...and axe oil burns. A friend told me of a time when she got axe oil in her eye by mistake!! I can't imagine the pain. It's almost 5pm and the weather is great, all of a sudden. The sun is completely covered by grey clouds and the wind's awesome.

There has been a spate of power cuts recently. Upto 4 or 5 times a day, but not more than 5 to 10 mins at a time. It's not so bad, except for the high pitched shrieks of the UPS.

Today, in Advertising Management class, the prof asked us which company was the leader in India for Industrial Advertising. It turned out to be the one my grandfather had started.. Imagine my embarrassment when the others figured out that R.K.Swamy was my grandfather! The kindly old prof asked me if he was my real grandfather; no, I just borrowed him when the others weren't available. I didn't say that; I nodded and said "my mother's father" to which he said "Nana?"; I guess. Thankfully, he stopped there.

I got a letter from amma today... a real letter, I thought. Snail mail!!! My father sent me one on Lufthansa stationary last year. Anyway, it wasn't a letter, it was a photocopy of an article in the paper about her. She looks too young to be 50.

According to Tom Clancy, the chinese Politburo is a bunch of randy, stupid old men, who can't see beyond their own ego and order executions, wars and nuclear ballistic missile launches at a whim. And America is all knowing, Russia is a cuddly bear, and they both drink lots of vodka together. It was an entertaining book, never the less.

Friday, August 19, 2005

big head

Isn't it funny how everything that happens around me boils down to me. Actually not funny at all.

And in other news, there is a mosquito that has been sitting on my computer screen for the past 10 mins. It dosen't move much, except to flutter its wings to show me that it's still alive. I wonder what it's thinking, or do mosquitoes not think?

The Bear and the Dragon is not all that bad, atleast the first 80 pages. Are there any Enid Blytons on the net?

phd

So my mom finished her Ph.D. Go Amma! I'm very proud of her, both for being Dr.B.P and for not quitting though she whined a lot about it. I always knew she'd do it. I feel like a big project of mine just got over, even though all I did was a bit of editing, and tell her best of luck every time she called. I do know a lot about Women's Self Help Groups and the like now. But I did 2 years ago too...

But lets get to the real problem here - MY MOM'S A DOC! No pressure at all.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

now I lay me down to sleep..

I have to finish The Firm and then I'm going to start on The Bear and the dragon. I saw a guy reading Of Human Bondage in class today. I read a long time ago but I don't remember anything. sob sob. I couldn't show off my superior knowledge to him beyond 'hey, great book, give it to me after you are done with it'. Or something.

I had puliyodarai today, rice from the mess and pulikachal mix out of a plastic bottle somebody had brought from chennai, along with uncle chips, aloo and Omfed Plain Dahi. Yummy. They were also making jalebi tonight, but it was too hot and too sweet so I retreated after a bite, though it was quite good.

Bed calls. I have class at 2 pm tomorrow but I'l probably bunk that and read for a test that I have in the class after that. I should probably study now or in the morning but I don't think I'll get up before 11 and I have to read 4 chapters. Why am I trying to justify bunking? I don't have to give you excuses.

I got the least mark in a part of a project report in my class and my group had spent the most time on it. Life sucks. Moral of the story: hard work doesn't pay, smart work pays. So I'll have to figure out how to do better in the next submission. I am so sick of projects and submissions and presentations. Sometimes I feel like I'm only biding my time before the next prof gives me a load of work to do. Why do they all wait till the end of the term?! Why can't I start work early? Why do I whine so much? Anybody who gives me an interesting or amusing or innovative or all of the above answer to those three questions will get a coffee bite the next time I meet them. Or you can go and buy a coffee bite for yourself from me. Don't under estimate the power of a coffee bite. It not really coffee and it dosen't really bite but it's yummy and that's all that counts and I need to go sleep now.

Sleepy. Gnite.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

books

I'm reading The Firm again... I am surprised at how much I am enjoying it. I thought I had grown out of Grisham; apparently not. I have just grown out of bad Grisham novels like The Brethren and others of that ilk.

I met a guy today, for whom we are doing a demand estimation (for his hotel, not for him). He was the most wooden faced guy I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. He didn't smile, frown, nothing. He didn't even crack a smile after we left (I did look back). Weird. When someone had told me earlier that "We can't ever tell what he's thinking.", I thought he was one of those guys who smile even when they are angry. But no; this is anyday more annoying.

I have a meeting in a few minutes and then somebody's birthday is going to be "celebrated" - cakes, kicks and general humiliation. Good fun to be had for all. And then another meeting. Yippee. Then I can sleep till 2 pm tomorrow.

Bye bye.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

HP 6

I re-read The Half Blood Prince 2 days ago and something struck me as a little weird - Dumbledore shows Harry a memory in which Merope, Morfin and Marvolo speak to each other in parseltongue (does Merope speak P'tongue? I don't remember); what I don't get is, how does D'dore understand them?? There are only 3 ways he could have understood them : 1) He asks Voldemort what they were saying, 2) He has a parseltongue-english dictionary, and 3) He used a Babel Fish. All three options are very unlikely... so how does he do it? JKR, Please respond.

I liked the book 2nd time around too... it has passed the test of time.

I had 6 classes today - that is 6 * 1.5 = 9 hours of class; and another 9 hours tomorrow and 7.5 the next.... not even the Independence day free!! Sacrilege!

No news... just classes and more classes. Save me!

Apparently, a local hotel is having a South Indian Food Festival.. dare I risk it? How will my weak stomach react??

Saturday, August 06, 2005

what's new? I'm ill again.

I'm bored. So bored that I read Pigs Have Wings twice in one day, in two consecutive classes yesterday.

I'm ill again - fever and sore throat. I'm feeling so bad for myself. I want hot mushroom soup with lots of pepper and toast with honey, but instead I had soggy cornflakes for breakfast and roti and some random paneer subzi for lunch.

I met one of my profs today for a project discussion along with my group and he said that I participate a lot in class. (This is one of the statements that require a smiley after it, but I'll resist.) I'm so cool - I can make sleeping in class look interactive; Needless to say, the others in my group looked weirdly at me after we left his room.

Nothing else seems to be happening to me. Lots of people are falling ill. It seems very unfair because the weather is awesome most of the time and instead of revelling in the cool breeze and enjoying the light drizzle, I feel cold and uncomfortable and I want to sleep all the time and my whole body hurts.

I complain too much.
The dean attended one of our classes (we had complained about the prof) and after the class he said that we needed more collar mikes! We weren't complaining about audibility, it was his entire teaching method we had an issue with! ugh... More to bitch about.

One more class to go for. (or is it go to?) Bye. Be nice and write to me.