holiday weekend

almost done with the week, it hadn't started off too well, but got better as it rolled along. friday night i gotta go into work, and then am all set for the weekend. unlike 3/4 of the country we are actually working on monday, so that's kinda sucky cos then tuesday is a holiday again. oh well, that's life. most of the 4th of july celebrations are being held over the weekend anyways, so it's all good. there are all sorts of food and drink specials in the resturants around, and there is a fireworks show at the military base nearby on sunday night, should be a good time out.

you know how sometimes you don't feel yourself being too tired or anything, but when you finally do sleep you're out for hours and hours? i've felt that a lot this week, and i guess that's what happens when the adrenalin wears off and the body starts hinting not so subtly "I NEED SLEEEEP!!" am not really complaining though, cos after a hard night shift, i get home to find some good food and good company, some good soccer on tv, and hey, before you know it it's almost time to get up and go to work. ok now, no questions as to why i have been walking funny!!

a very good friend of mine has gotten back into theater recently, so i will be shameless and promote the upcoming play she is in. if any of you has read the classic satire by Nikolai Gogol "The Government Inspector", then this is for you. adapted into hindi, this timeless tale is one that anyone who has had run-ins with governement officials can ascribe to. if you are anywhere near California end of July, you have to catch this.

anyways, everyone have an awesome weekend! y'all across the border to the north enjoy the weekend too.. i know it's Canada Day up there. and if you don't have a long weekend where you are, enjoy what you have anyways!

the art of management

the last few days i have been working much more closely with my boss and his boss, and picking up lots of tips from them. work had been getting more and more hectic, and we felt that we had been working harder instead of working smarter, and that is a very irritating feeling. so we sat down and made out a few plans, so as to not fall in the 3-P trap.. piss poor planning.

thing is, i've been bombarded by so many cliched phrases which are actually very true.. "work smarter, not harder", "don't set yourself up to fail", "respect must be gained", "keep communication lines open always", "leadership cannot be taught" etc, but my favorite by far is
"you must be ready to kick someone's ass and buy him coffee, not necessarily in that order, and not always either"

not another work post..

apologies, but this will be yet another work post. i've had one of those monster weeks, being at the plant 11-12 hours every night.. and could not be more grateful that the weekend is finally here! but here's the thing, you know you're spending way too much time at work when..

• you turn to the babe basking in afterglow and half-asleepily smirk ".. and that is what a Line 1 changeover is all about!"


• you're talking on the phone with your parents and catch yourself using walkie-talkie lingo like: "what's your twenty?" and "ten-four, copy that"


• you are shopping at the store and every bottle in your cart has been carefully inspected to see if the cap went on right or if the torque needs to be adjusted


• on the weekends you find yourself staring bug-eyed at the clock at 4 a.m. cos the body can't adjust back to normal-people-time from nightshift-time


• you calculate and start drawing spreadsheets in your head every time you open the refrigerator and look at the food and drink, and their quantities, expiry dates and when you will need more

would you believe it?!

what's the worst that could happen? i was about to start telling you about a day not so long ago which was such a bad day at work that i was left shaking my head in disbelief that it could be so crappy! anyways, water under the bridge now, and i'm sure you've all had days where you didn't think that it could actually get any worse, when the fates combine to make it another step closer to purgatory on earth. work as we all know can become a trial in drudgery, so go ahead and tell me about your worst day ever..

after the fact

man i hate going back to work after such a long break! i always hated going back to school/college after a long weekend, and after starting work nothing's changed. the 4-day holiday was awesome, and dragging my sore/sorry self back to work on monday evening was one of the hardest things i've ever done! especially knowing the a.c and the comfy bed were awaiting..

gonna make you sweat

whew, summer has arrived and the heat is here! i guess it's a good time to be working out cos it's so easy to break a sweat, and burn some winter flab.. until i get an a.c. unit for the apartment i guess will have to make do with frequent showers and limiting physical activities to the cooler night-times, hehe!

time off

took the last two days off from work, and added to the weekend makes for a nice long rest n' relaxation period. work has been crazy hectic and i just needed some time away from the craziness. every night i step into work and there's always a huge pile of crap in the 'IN' tray and after chipping away at it for ten eleven hours i look at the pile and it has only been promptly refreshed! i guess better lots of work than getting bored, but still, it does tend to get overwhelming at times..

make no mistake, i love work and what i do, and taking breaks from it only makes me appreciate it some more.. i really need this thursday-sunday to just lounge about the apartment in shorts, drinking beer for breakfast and cooking fancy food and watching World Cup and doing absolutely nothing.. hope y'all enjoy your weekend too!

cosmic flash / third eye

yeah baby!!

anticipation

some people are willing to sit back and let the good things come to them

and then there are others who will step forward to grab the chance with both hands

like the Wizard of Odd, i didn't sit back and wait

i say..

.. happiness is not just a feeling..

it's a state of mind

and a sense of being.

it's unconditional acceptance

and a promise forever.

it's a purpose in life

and a hand to hold.

notes from the northeast

- the weather has been a bitch the last few days! it's raining like it's the beginning of spring! flood warnings are out and in place in most of the New England area.. it's pretty chilly too, and i'm not happy at being compelled to be wearing clothes at home! besides the rain has been curtailing all my plans of going grocery shopping and maybe going out to catch a beer or three!

- the World Cup is on with a vengeance, and even though i should be able to catch most of the matches, it's becoming difficult to sit through all three games a day after being at work for some 10-11 hours! i do need my beauty sleep, so i catch my winks between slower phases in the game and in between matches

- i've been taking full advantage of Skype's free computer-to-phone thingy inside the US & Canada the last few days. anyways my Sprint phone never has any signal indoors, so i am doing all my catching up on the phone using Skype, and the quality is quite excellent! add me (id=soraystud) if you're on it too..

- spoke to the local Scion dealer about the latest model Scion tC.. he says the bigger better model should be out in early 2007, and it's worth waiting for! so for now i'll do my bit for the environment and keep my bicycle, but will get my tC baby and let 'er rip!

the beautiful game

hostilities shall cease, weapons shall be laid down
armistices have been signed, the games are in town
for the next one month, we will only talk football
the energy the passion, a time to stand up tall

the beautiful game is on its biggest stage
goals, tactics, saves will be all the rage
minnows will rise and heroes will be slain
yeah baby the World Cup is here again!


so you read that right.. four years of waiting are over and the World Cup has rolled around again. for americans, imagine super bowl meeting independence day for a whole month! for the rest of the world, i need not say any more about how huge this is! needless to say i am absolutely over the moon with my night shift work schedule, as it allows me to watch all 64 games.. a streak i have been carrying since the '94 championships. the first game starts in about 19 hours from now,

forza italia and viva brasil!!

NB:
if you see the hit counter on the right sidebar, it's creeping
steadily towards a huge milestone for this blog.. 100,000 hits!!

mark of the beast

you heard it before, that '666' is the number of the devil.. in fact yesterday being 06-06-06, a couple of channels were carrying lighthearted specials on satan, hell and and the ilk. the remake of the cult classic 'The Omen' also opened yesterday, the premise of which was the antichrist son bore the triple-six tattooed into his scalp! i loved that book, the original movie was the bone-chilling kinda scary, and this version should be just as baaaad!

not that i'm superstitious or anything, but i did think it would be best to tread gingerly on this day. half of a man's paranoia is based in his brain, and i try not to disturb that half too often! so i stayed in bed pretty much all day, which is what i do anyways, ever since i started working the nightshift. coming in to work i was hoping that whatever ills had to happen had already befallen whoever was slated to next face the wrath of the demons. strange how no politicans or lawyers die in bizarre accidents on such days.. tells you something about who their souls have been leased off to!

of course, when the bogeyman wants to get you he will find you no matter where you hide! he decided to sneak into the plant at 1.30 am when honest people are a-soundly asleep, the fiendish are plotting dastardly deeds, and the rest are busy working hard making sure you get your daily supply of cola and other cold drinks. a quarter-million dollar machine came to a shuddering halt, cos a link on a chain broke. and no surprise, the last spares we had were just used up the previous day!

things being the way they are, this happened at a time when no hardware stores are open, none of the plants in the immediate vicinity run that size of chain, the chain is too small and in too sensitive an area to be jerry-rigged, welded, mickey-moused, remodelled, or any number of ways we mechanics make things do what they aren't made to do.

as i left work, i marvelled how a piece of metal worth 10cts shutdown a line (that goes at the rate of 900 bottles per minute) for six hours.. you just know that bears the classic hallmarks of the devil dropping by.

maximum Maxim

it's been too long since i had some hot babes here on this blog! so before y'all stop coming here for your hot chick fix, let me remedy that situation! i got together with Maxim magazine to bring to you the 2006 Hot 100 Girls of the Year.. nothing like it to get you all heated up and ready for the up coming summer!

the Maxim Hot 100 is fast becoming a recognised barometer for who's hot and who's not in the world.. and Eva Longoria of 'Desperate Housewives' fame is #1 for the unprecedented second year in a row!

rounding out the Top 10 are Jessica Alba (#2); Lindsay Lohan, (#3); Angelina Jolie (#4); Stacy Keibler (#5); Scarlett Johansson (#6); Cameron Diaz (#7); Kate Bosworth (#8); Keira Knightley (#9) and Christina Milian (#10).

so get out there and pick up a copy of the new issue of Maxim, or else catch the show on VH1.. you know you want to! here's the full list..

1. Eva Longoria 2. Jessica Alba 3. Lindsay Lohan 4. Angelina Jolie 5. Stacy Keibler 6. Scarlett Johansson 7. Cameron Diaz 8. Kate Bosworth 9. Keira Knightley 10. Christina Milian 11. Kristen Bell 12. Katherine Heigl 13. Kelly Monaco 14. Rachel Bilson 15. Vanessa Minnilo 16. Christina Aguilera 17. Rachel McAdams 18. Jessica Simpson 19. Jamie-Lynn Sigler 20. Eva Green 21. Mischa Barton 22. Mariah Carey 23. Kristin Cavallari 24. Kate Moss 25. Charlize Theron 26. Cindy Crawford 27. Eva Mendez 28. Mandy Moore 29. Jennifer Love Hewitt 30. Uma Thurman 31. Emmanuelle Vaugier 32. Veronica Varekova 33. Natalie Portman

34. Jamie Pressly 35. Avril Lavigne 36. Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) 37. Emmanuelle Chriqui 38. Paris Hilton 39. Nadine Velazquesz 40. Alicia Keys 41. Daniella Alonso 42. Sienna Miller 43. Gabrielle Union 44. Kelly Ripa 45. Beyonce Knowles 46. Rebecca Romijn 47. Mila Kunis 48. Nicollette Sheridan 49. Brittany Murphy 50. Sarah Silverman 51. Naomi Watts 52. Sara Foster 53. Moon Bloodgood 54. Heidi Klum 55. Venessa Marcil 56. Jessica Biel 57. Autumn Resser 58. Joss Stone 59. Jordana Brewster 60. Shakira 61. Joanna Krupa 62. Nicky Hilton 63. Kelly Carlson 64. Poppy Montgomery 65. Emilie de Ravin 66. Sarah Shahi 67. Evangeline Lilly

68. Cinthia Moura 69. Kelly Clarkson 70. Leeann Tweeden 71. Roselyn Sanchez 72. Anna Kournikova 73. Teri Hatcher 74. Michele Merkin 75. Maggie Grace 76. April Scott 77. Ciara 78. Bree 79. Halle Berry 80. Rachel Nichols 81. Penelope Cruz 82. Venessa Simmons 83. Rachel Perry 84. Amerie 85. Carmen Electra 86. Aubrey O'Day 87. Jennifer Scholle 88. Tila Tequila 89. Tami 90. Chilli 91. Kim Smith 92. Elisha Cuthbert 93. Grace Park 94. Brooke Burke 95. Tricia Helfer 96. Bridget Moynahan 97. FSU Cowgirls 98. Yunjin Kim 99. Jennifer Aniston 100. Natasha Bedingfield

six weird things

i was tagged both by aparna & sanny.. six weird facts/habits about yourself. now this is a tag that is sure to raise hackles as i pass it on, so i might as well make you laugh before i piss you off!

the rules:-
- Post six weird facts/habits about yourself. These cannot be used against you later on .
- At the bottom name the six people you will tag next.
- Leave them a comment to let them know they've been tagged and to read your blog.

here goes:

1. i'm a control freak, and a bit of a perfectionist. things have gotta be done a certain way, usually how i like it, i find security in tried and tested ways. luckily though, i'm mostly open-minded enough to listen to and try new things.
2. the girl should be on my left side. whether we're walking in the rain or rolling in the hay, i always like the girl to be on my left. i think she 'fits' better there, like the right piece in a jig-saw puzzle.
3. planning is everything. most things are screwed up cos of the 3-P's (piss poor planning). i always like to take a few minutes to sit back and think things over, getting a plan of action before starting to do it.
4. it's a secret dream of mine to have a stand-up comic act. i love stand-up comedy, and always wanted to do it. who knows, i might yet give it a shot. can you imagine me doing the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and the rest - how much of a hoot would that be!
5. my sleep patterns mimic my state in life very directly. i can sleep 8-12 hours a night when stable and satisfied, and sleep in short shifts when tense and worried. often i look at my sleep cycles to ask myself how i feel about things!
6. i used to be very interested in 'astral projection'. not so much in it's classic sense, but more so where i like to pick a spot anywhere and imagine what the field of view would be from there. kinda like looking down upon myself, a bird's-eye view.

so that's that, and now i start to tag! sassy has enough weird material for a book! i know resh will hate me for this, but you should hear hers too! the-think, step up to the stage willya! nick, you know i was gonna hunt you down buddy! Kfarmer - we wanna read yours too! and finally, GND, i wanna hear yours too! enjoy people!

two down, many to go..

this weekend marks the two year bloggiversary of The Outlaw Torn.. and what a period it's been. y'all have seen me here at the heights of happiness, and the depths of desperation.. agony and ecstasy have gone hand in hand, as they do in life too. it's been a wonderful journey, and it's not about to stop here either.. thank you all for being here with me throughout, thank you for your support and thank you blog for introducing me to so many wonderful people! :-)

windy ain't it?

i love windy days, sample this conversation..

Guy: Wow, isn't it windy today?
Gal: It's thursday actually.
Guy: Thanks, i just had some tea.
Gal: Oh you went to the sea?
Guy: What do you want to see?

thank God for the rain and breeze, it's been really hot and muggy!

what does it mean?

i have this recurring dream, where i am playing soccer.. sometimes my fellow players are friends and family, sometimes it's a professional big-league with some of my idols. and in every dream, usually at a crucial juncture.. my legs turn to lead and i can't run fast enough, as if my feet were stuck in wet mud, and the ball rolls further and further away.. hard as i try to chase after it, it's all to no avail.

waking up from this dream always leaves me despondent, and a dark foreboding always clouds my mind as i start the day. can anyone help me out with a few suggestions as to what it might mean?