wild times

whoa.. and i thought mondays are bad! but i think i have mentioned tuesdays have also had issues with me in the past.. this tuesday started off like all regular days, and little did i suspect it was going to do a Jekyll/Hyde and haunt me!

was up till 4 writing up the thesis draft for the first couple of chapters.. then finally passed out cos i had to submit that at 9 in the morning.. but when i got up at 8.. the faucet was dry! apparently the blokes upstairs had bust a pipe.. gah! showered and stuff at our new apartment (yes, we're moving.. more on that later!) luckily the meeting with the advisor went off very well.. he seemed quite impressed, it is a skill i have been developing over the years: making a little work look like lots!

the new semester has started, and since the weather has been decent (how i will regret those words later in the day!) all the girls are back from summer break in their teeny weeny clothes (can they really be called clothes when they seem to be made of random pieces of string?) showing off their suntans (you can really tell the ones that came out of a bottle!).. but before i can get carried away with oggling the eyecandy at the library, i have a million people asking at the Circulation Desk for books and papers and what not.. gah! alas, good old summer days when the campus is deserted like a strip mall on a weekday morning are gone..

hey! i got promoted to Student Co-ordinator! and a measly raise of $0.25 per hour (no snide comments please!!).. but here's the catch, because of a goof-up with some of my documents, i can't work after tomorrow! and the wonderfully efficient (note the sarcasm!) Kenyan embassy in DC haven't made my new passport and it's been two months now since i sent in all the papers!

so got home at 8 and we were working on finishing all the remaining packing and stuff for the move.. and then ka-bam!! Hurricane Katrina rolls into town.. actually this is her fading away, so she only brings strong winds and buckets of rain. prayers go out to all those in the South ravaged by the floods.

anyways, we did manage to move out all our stuff and clean up the old apartment last night.. just that we got soaked to the skin.. and only barely managed to keep everything dry while we moved it using tarps and plastic sheets! the house looks like an evacuation zone with everything in boxes all over the place.. i think i'm gonna use the whole Labor day weekend to sort the place out! and then i woke up in the morning and found that all the stuff we'd left out in the covered porch almost drenched cos the tarp on it got blown away.. *sigh*

mindblowing images

how many times have you come across a street painter, and stopped to think to yourself, "wow, this bloke certainly knows his colors"? what if you came across Englishman Julian Beever (hehe, cmon, you gotta smile when you come across a bloke called Mr. Beever!!) and his paintings, and saw that he'd painted this:


yes, this is a painting!! a 2-dimensional painting! go look again!! it's an artform called the anamorphosis view, whereby a 2-D image when viewed from the right angle looks 3-D! go to his site and check out how he does it!

NB: thanks Kavi for this one.. i see you've really been using the StumbleUpon!!

crazy dreams

yes, i have had some absolute mind benders in the last couple of weeks, and over time i have noticed that the harder i think, the wackier the dreams get when i sleep. short of the exam periods earlier on in college, i guess i've never used the mental faculties this much before.

this dream was quite interesting actually.. the scene was kinda like this, only a little foggier i guess.. i was with a few friends too. the water was very blue and very inviting, so we made our way down the side of the cliff towards the shoreline. as we got closer, i noticed a really strange thing - there were alligators swimming in the water.. some really big-ass ones!! and there were some folks in black scuba gear swimming around!! finally we descended to the water in a small sandy cove, and i saw that the scuba folks were all Japanese, and they had the words 'Crew' in white across their chests!

anyways, as soon as they saw us, they told us to step aside, and drew out these whistles, like the ones referees use. a couple of shrill blasts later, and wonder of wonders, all the gators started waddling out of the water, in organised single file, towards the foliage! holy crap!! and as they passed us, they gave us these mean and hateful glares, like when older kids get chased away from the playground by the teachers so that the smaller kids can play!!

other dreams i've had have involved rock concerts, liquid nitrogen, mexican food, and stuff i can't remember now, but all pretty wacky i must say! i'm really working too hard, i don't see what else it can be! here''s the thing, some of the things are stuff directly out of my life, but some of it is just way wild eccentric! hehe!

wait a sec, those of you thinking these dreams are all just chemical-induced hallucinations.. i don't do drugs! i quit the holy herb! a few months back!! unless these are residual THCs in the system.. hmm.. now that's a thought!

Morning

i lie here awakened by the muted rays of the morning sun peeking gleefully through the blinds, dancing across the ceiling boards. you sleep on peacefully, nonplussed in your quiet dreams. i almost stop breathing so as not to disturb you tucked in cosily against the curve of my shoulder, arm draped across my chest. your naked arm is gently sculpted, more wax than stone, muscle tone slightly defined and skin velvet to touch. i raise my hand and run the outside edge of my thumb slowly up your arm, the back of your hand, the little bump on your wrist, sliding up the arm and the curve of your elbow.

is it so strange that when everything flies by us so fast and furious, that we seek each other to anchor in reality? when my crazy ideas have threatened to run wild you have reeled me in to see sense. when your unbounded ambition has started to soar away i have grounded you down to be real. is it really so strange that two people can understand each other so perfectly, yet not get along?

this morning is unique, yet mundane in its unprecedentedness, for there shall be no dawn like the one after the first night. in this light of daybreak we shall never see each other the same way again. you will forever be my first, and i always yours. and in that passage of night, we knew that everything had evolved, and yet nothing had changed. dare we really say that let whatever come, we will be one? who gives us the right to make such sweeping pronouncements of interminable proclamations with faces aglow and hearts alight?

you imperceptibly nudge into my thoughts, your serene face nuzzling into my neck and your sleepy lips whispering unintelligible words to the pillow fluffed up under me. like polaroids of life, the scene becomes a snapshot confined to history. i slide my fingers through your hair, unlocking the tangles of life's mysteries the night comes and hides as you sleep. as your eyes start to flicker with awakening, i wonder what dreams have been unfolding on the picture screen of your mind. but most of all i stare at your still-closed eyes, hoping to see your first look as you awaken.

every day we meet people, sometimes we meet new people, sometimes the same people. and in each meeting, like bodies in space swirling about and whirling with gravitational fields, we influence each other. we go through life looking to revolve near a planet that spins with us, whose moons sow the least discord and reap the most joy amongst our moons. i hold you tight, hoping that our moons have asserted themselves and come to an accord. so brown they must be true, your eyes slowly open. a reflection understood; one day there'll be no will left to fight, but for now we're gonna be alright.

NB: for the newer readers, this is the 13th in a series of the so-called blue post collection.

The Constant Gardener in Kenya

ahh, finally a movie set in Kenya that has actually been shot in Kenya! John Le Carré's novel 'The Constant Gardener' has been adapted for the large screen, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. i watched her talk to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, and she was talking about how they shot the movie in Nairobi, and then in the Turkana desert while living in tents and stuff..

my biggest gripe with movies shot in Kenya, or anywhere in the Third World for that matter, is that the natives are made to look like a bunch of befuddled idiots, and nothing can be more galling!! this kind of colonialist mentality has to go! be it 'The Ghost And The Darkness' and 'Out Of Africa' [Kenyans], or 'Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom' and James Bond's 'Octopussy' [Indians], or 'Dances With Wolves' and 'The Windtalkers' [Native Americans].. the local people were in some form or another made to look either uncouth, uncivilised, or the villians or a combination of all the above!

we await to see how Hollywood's latest offering treats Kenya when the movie releases on Aug. 31st.

it's always sunny in ..

i'm starting to really like this show on FX Network.. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.. it has more than its fair share of inappropriate humor! catch it at 11pm Eastern on tuesdays!

haven't cooked anything different in a while, so decided to try out some new stuff today.. baked lemon pepper chicken and baked veggies!

graduation party

hehe, yeah i know y'all are waiting to hear about mine.. but this post is not about mine! this one is dedicated to my buddy gprx.. this is a man who totally partied and slogged his way through UB.. he got a great job and finished his thesis too - buddy, you are an inspiration to us all still left here!

he came back from his posh job in Raleigh to defend his thesis today.. and threw a great party too! butter chicken, naan and jack n' coke - very nice! well done dude.. here's to good times.. and even more ahead!

in case you haven't noticed.. this is a pretty drink-fuelled post, and only strengthens my resolve to finish what i started.. bring on that goddamn thesis, there hasn't been much that s! has started that he hasn't finished in style yet.. see you all soon at my graduation party soon!

football season ahoy!

after slogging my ass off as i have been, decided to take a break and chill out at Buffalo Bills first home game of the pre-season. we played the Green Bay Packers and steamrolled them 27-7 too!!

got there in the early afternoon for the tailgate parties happening, only to find that people had started in the morning for what was a 6pm kickoff! that's us just starting off, the stadium is far off in the back.

playing catch, the more we drank the better we kept getting!

knocking back the last few before gametime..

welcome to the Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, full house 72,000!

the Bills (in blue) about to score a touchdown.. (click image for video) by the way, that is my hoarse voice calling the running play too.. man i'm good!!

even the cheerleaders were having a great time! (click image for video)

and here's the post-game tailgate..

this weekend turned out become one helluva alcohol-fuelled party.. friday night: Jamaican Juice, Embolism & Dewing The Captain cocktails, beer then tequila shots.. and then saturday's tailgate, and going pubbing later at night.. and sunday a couple more beers to wash away all signs of hangover.. now back to work and the thesis tomorrow!

NB: bonus points for identifying me in the pics!!

levelling out

with the hard earth rushing up to embrace the jet in a crushing hug, the pilot flicks the cover off the ejector button, and mulls over the option of just bailing out. it would all be so easy, to just check out of reality.

well, if people were willing to get rich or die tryin', our inveterate optimist pilot wasn't really gonna give up this plane so easily now was he? kicking back on the pedals, he toggled the joystick to the left to correct for the weight loss and the damage to the flaps. and just in time too, as the plane skims the tops of the trees as it levels again. he might still salvage this one, let's see.

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so it's been a good week. i got a lot of work done, and even though i had the option of ditching the thesis, converting it into a project and getting out of college, i chose to stick with the thesis.. i know i can do this!

one of the original brownies, vip started work in detroit this week.. he's coming down for the weekend, that should be a blast! the Buffalo Bills play the Green Bay Packers tomorrow.. and yes, the brownie boys will be there in full voice - yeeha!! and sunday we're gonna have one of those huge-ass barbecues too.. so stay tuned for lots of wanton pics and hedonistic stories of Girls Gone Wild.. umm, boys gone wild i mean!

thanks folks for all your support over the week, it was very heartening to come back to the blog today and see so many comments, and would you believe it, the stats tell me that most of the faithful readers were here everyday! i *heart* you all!!

shot down..

the F-16 wings through the skies, the last afterburner spurt almost emptied the gas tanks, but now it's all secondary, as there is enough altitude and spare jet fuel to carry the fighter plane back to the home base. the azure is unbroken from end to end, dotted with woolly puffs of white cloud. the sun has gone down enough that the brightness doesn't cause the eyes to water.

"this is homebase calling yeahbaby.. come in yeahbaby. we see you on our screens, have you home in a bit!"

the pilot leans back and exhales slowly, the last couple of hours were tense, weaving and ducking past the enemy fire. he lets himself smile, and think about after the war. get a decent job, travel some more.. BEEP! BEEEEEP! the tracking alarm goes off as by instinct he throws the plane into a roll with a flick of his wrist. enemy missiles have homed in on him and locked into place! he raps his LCD display with his hand, and tries to look over his shoulder.. where, who, what the fuck?!

he pulls up the joystick and gains altitude, trying to get rid of the persistent BEEP! that tells him that there is serious hardware headed his way. again he tries to peer round when WHAM!! the plane cartwheels on its nose and spirals downwards in a mad tumble. pieces of the fuselage sail downwards as, numbed by shock and fatigue, the pilot can only think about how close home seemed. the wind wails as the plane goes screaming down, the windshield of the cockpit no longer showing blue skies, but hard brown earth rushing up to meet him.

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i met with my advisor today. he very grimly informed me that i was doing nowhere nearly enough to get things done in time. i had thought that i would be finishing this thesis very soon, but he has very solemnly squashed any such possibilities. so i guess i will be reading those 50+ papers after all, and will be writing a dozen rough drafts to every chapter of the thesis, and will be spending a few wintry nights in the lab as buffalonian blizzards rage outside. the story above is a pretty accurate reflection of what is happening.

of course, all this means that you will see a reduced presence from me on your blogs, and your IM screens. i will not have forgotten you, nor will i have forgotten The Outlaw Torn, through which i met so many of you.. but i really need to fix up my life and get over this. take care, and thank you everyone for all your support, and i'll see you soon when i level out and come humming in over the hedges and fields to land this plane of mine!

monday miscellania

sometimes i feel my advisor is completely cuckoo.. he's asked me to write the Introduction and Background chapters to my thesis and the literature review should include at least 50 references and citations, which i must have read myself! evidently he still doesn't know me well enough.. i haven't read 50 papers in 6 years of undergrad + grad engineering!! oh well, either he'll give up and let me use references to papers i haven't read, or i'll give up and read the papers.. what do you think?

watched the new movie 'Four Brothers' this weekend.. i actually liked it, though it did involve a bit of a suspension of reality. mark wahlberg was at his gritty best here, and this movie definitely gave you a very different outlook of the mixed-race suburbs of Detroit that '8 Mile' smartly avoided. the acting was definitely the strongest point of the movie, but the chases and shootouts were pretty awesome too!

those idiots who made 'Sideways' have a lot to answer for. the movie was not bad, but they singlehandedly killed the Merlot range, thanks to all the wine connoiseur-wannabes who are drinking Pinot-Noir and sneering at merlot lovers.. bleeding idiots! apparently merlot sales dropped over 20%, and as a result Bully Hill and Robert Mondavi (two of my favourite vineyards) are looking to cut down merlot production.. grr!!

after 2 years in Buffalo, i still bow down to the unpredictability of the weather here.. it was a pretty chilly weekend in the mid-50s, and the fall jacket made an early appearance. well, the rain and cloudy weather ensured i stayed in and got some work done.

have a great week y'all!

joys of weekends

here is one of the reasons why i like weekends, a big and unhurried self-made breakfast..


just for the record, i like my bacon half-crispy, egg yolks unbroken, mushrooms lightly salted, toast lightly done, orange juice with some pulp and coffee milky and sweet. now you see why i said self-made?! hehe!!


*buuuurp* and now for a midday nap!!

press 'Shuffle'

do you ever feel that you meet or talk to too many of the same people in a day? are you the kind of person who takes pains to remember little things about relative strangers and good friends alike so as to make them at ease when you converse? when does it all become too much to take? have you ever felt like completely swopping a whole set of acquaintances like you exchange tiles in Scrabble?

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went downtown today for Thursdays At The Square.. Irish band Stand opened with a pretty good set, guess they can be called pop-alt.rock.. they did look like a bunch of talented blokes, and should end up with a couple of Juno Award nominations at least.


the main act was Canadian band Great Big Sea, who play a very folksy, Celtic based kind of music.. and as they came on stage we discovered that they are an annual Buffalo fixture.. in the huge crowd there, we started feeling a tad bit outta place cos we were the only ones who didn't know the lyrics to 'The Night Pat Murphy Died ' and 'Yarmouth Town'!! but they did have the half-Canadian crowd in raptures.. i gotta say it's the Canadian contribution to the Buffalo population that gives it the laidback and chilled out feel.. break out the bottles of Labatts & Molsons, aye!

HNT-8

for all you football fans, the season is upon us.. let's go Buffalo!!
NB: i apologise for the poor light in the pic.. you might have to adjust the brightness on your monitors.



for newbies, this is what its all about.. and here is where you can see all the entries for the day!!(scroll down till you see Hiding Half-Nekkid This Week in the Back Row on the right!)

my favourite corner

this is my favourite corner of the room.. apart from the kitchen of course!


aka what not to do on just another tuesday night.. hehe!

using your brain?

so you must have read somewhere or the other the statement that humans use 10% of their brains during the average lifetime? well, apparently the brain has 1012 neurons, and mapping these has found that an average person uses only approximately 10% of the total brain capacity. of course, it is widely debated if scanning these neurons can actually be directly correlated to brain usage.

it has also been documented that Einstein used upto 17% of his brain capacity. my question is.. is 'useful' usage of the brain the only way of maximising its potential? i think a lot too.. i think about whether i wanna have a milkshake or a coke with my burger.. and i like to think about whether the grunge revolution out of Seattle had anything to do with the closed-environment influence of the northwest.. and i also like to think about whether Laetitia Casta looks better in pale lingerie or in flowery swimsuits.. so who's to say that i am not using more brain than the average?

what do you think?

odds n' ends

rapcore is a very interesting genre of music.. it incorporates nu-age rock and hip-hop/rap.. blame Nine Inch Nails for introducing rock bands to the turntables and mixers! Beastie Boys and Rage Against The Machine were the pioneers of this.. and later picked up by Limp Bizkit and Slipknot, and highly popularised by Linkin Park.


other bands like Disturbed, Snot and Papa Roach stayed true to their rock roots, and incorprorated rap-like lyrics and sound effects with jarring distortion riffs and thumping bass beats. for the uninitiated.. try any of the above bands, and also Ill Nino, P.O.D, HED p.e for a feel of it.

i dunno much about christian-rock bands, but have heard Jars Of Clay.. otherwise not too many of them get into the mainstream. and now there's a rapcore christian-rock band called Thousand Foot Krutch, whose new album actually merits a listen, cos they aint bad at all! their genre is a tonguetwister (christian-rock rapcore!!) but the song 'Move' is a headjarrer!

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i came upon Doc's blog a few days back.. he has some magnificent pictures, and a great idea too, and i ask for all of you to chip in with this one. could all of you, wherever in the world you are, take a picture of an innercity alley where you live, and send them to him.. just for kicks, let's see a different side to all the cities, and let's see how many pictures we can rustle up?!

fight the good fight

spent the whole saturday in the lab.. this thesis had better be worth it!

Ignorance is spoken..        Confidence is broken

Sustenance is stolen..        Arrogance is potent

What I see is unreal..        I've written my own part

Eat of the apple, so young..        I'm crawling back to start

"Rotten Apple" - Alice In Chains

photochromatic window blinds

we had one of the worst days of summer yesterday.. not a gust of wind all day, and the temperature into the 90s. airplane vapor trails high up in the sky vanished within minutes, leaves on the trees drooped down as if they'd given up all semblance of life. even the normally high-on-crack squirrels were lying under the trees belly-up, wearing shades and sipping ice cold margaritas.. haha, no.. that was me seeing things as i walked home at lunch time! :-)

the night was just as bad.. there is seriously a need for air-con in buffalo, especially during summer nights. but then again, buffalo has blink-and-miss summers, so i guess it's fine.

so as i lay there trying to invoke the sleep goddesses to bear me away.. i looked at the window blinds.. and the yellow neon of the streetlights falling on them, and was quite irritated! damned light! when i wanna sleep, i want the room to be pitch dark, and just the ambient chillout playing. but then again.. this is summer, and once its past 5 in the morning.. the room starts lighting up and by 6 it's so bright i could hold a freaking convention in there! damned white blinds!

how about blinds that are programmed, so that at night they shade darker.. and at a certain waking hour (for example, 11 a.m. on weekends) they slowly start turning lighter?! that's an idea i really gotta think about.. will post all the technical details in the idea blog! have a great weekend everyone!

HNT-7

keeping with the research/thesis which has taken over my life these days, welcome to my lab!


for newbies, this is what its all about.. and here is where you can see all the entries for the day!!
(scroll down till you see Hiding Half-Nekkid This Week in the Back Row on the right!)

lazy summer days

Intellectual Property Of PhD Comics

yes, there is a downside to being in school over summer, and trying to finish up by September 1st!

detachment

Act 1 - small high school chapel. boys in blazers fidgeting on the rigid wooden pews, trying hard to keep awake. the smell of incense fills the air and the soft glow of candles and ambient bulbs bounces off the myriad colourful pieces on the stained glass windows.

Father: ".. and finally gentlemen, to conclude today's talk, we must remember that non-spiritual attachments are fleeting. Luke 18:18 tells us that we have to overcome our attachments, as these bring about weakness in character.."

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Act 2 - deserted canteen in college dorm. crickets chirping fill the still, humid night, as not even a breeze rustles the crisp, dry leaves of the tree under which three boys sit. a hazy cloud of a sweet-smelling substance hangs still over them, enveloping them in a ghostly glow.

Boy 1: ".. dude, psycho class was interesting today.. all about balancing two major inner senses: conscience, and desire. too much of either kills the other, unless.. unless you detach from one. at that point then you can fully indulge in the other, as much as you want.. y'know what i'm saying?"

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Act 3 - front porch of town-house type apartment, somewhere in western new york. sounds of revelry carry in the air from the pubs not too far away. two boys sit on rocking chairs, the only other sounds the clink of glass, and a sharp hiss as another bottle gets opened

Boy 1: ".. relationships seem to have become 'smash and grab' affairs.. you smash the window, grab what you can and get out before the other person smashes and grabs whatever you have! detach, feel no guilt, it's self-preservation.."


***PS: i was just trying to talk about detachment and its forms,

and the different levels it comes out in at different stages in life***

beat your monday blues

if you think monday blues is either a brisk jog in the park on moday morning, a food or drink, or an item of clothing, then please read no further.

right, now that we've got rid of the riff-raff.. let's talk business. read this article on 5 ways of beating the blues.. if you have any other tips, please feel free to add them in the comments

1. Just get out - The best thing to do on a Monday morning is to get some exercise or go for a walk that gets your feel-good hormones working. Ah, exercise makes you cringe does it? Never mind then, just find a green spot (lawn or nearby park) to stroll or even just sit down. Fresh air, sunshine and greenery are tremendous mood uplifters
2. Turn on the music - Once back from your exercise/ stroll, nothing works better than blanking your mind out with... some music. Take your pick — peppy numbers, lilting instrumentals, chants or whatever else works for you. Turn on your music system and let the notes set the tone for the day
3. Wear your best - Make Mondays your look-my-best day and should be strictly for wearing the clothes you like most. Even if it means wearing that red shirt you were saving for a special occasion. Instead of the greys and navys, go for bright colours, some of that sunshine yellow or fiery red is bound to rub your blues away
4. Just hog it - For all you foodies — grab your favourite chocolate and eat it all by yourself, right in the morning. Nothing is better than the guilty pleasure of early-morning-chocolate. A high for sure. You're on a diet? Then make Monday your binge day. Believe you me, food is the best way to beat the blues
5. Make your Monday Hater club! - If you're really down, call up a friend — in all probability, he might be equally blue and would love to hear from you. Or mail your pals and bitch about your blues. As all of them crib about Mondays (this does work!), you'd know you aren't alone and will feel better. Those not big on mails, read something funny, start the day with a smile!

i kinda like the sound of #5.. which is why i'm blogging about it.. feel free to join the club, drinks are on the house!! ;-)