Blog Day 2006

Pour out your thoughts. Inspire someone. Make someone laugh. Touch someone (not inappropriately please) with your words. And while away your productive hours.

It’s Blog Day 2006.

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Over-sleepers Anonymous

Hello. My name is sunshine and I am an over-sleeper.

Yes, I see the irony. But, it was my mom who named me. She is one of those early birds who wakes up at times that are technically the middle of the night. Little did she know that the apple would fall from the tree and land on a whole other lazy planet.

It started with a couple of hits of the snooze button. Just one or 2 a day, I swear! But then the habit accrued. I needed to hit the snooze at least a dozen times before I could start my day. And how this has affected my life!

I have been shaken - but I have not stirred. I have also been pinched, tickled and jumped on by toddlers - all in vain. I have been labeled a 'lazy-bum', a 'sloth' and even a 'lethargophillic' with complete disregard for my feelings. When it's hot, the fan has been pitilessly switched off and I have been left to suffer in sweat. When it's cold, my blanket has been brutally snatched away. I whined and cuddled back into bed. The maid yelled at me and hit me with the broom - only to elicit my appeals for just 5 more minutes of sleep.

When resorting to provocation, blackmail and terrorism and making a victim out of my innocent little snuggly bears also proved fruitless - my parents resigned (My mom, unable to digest these antithetic characteristics, speculated baby-swapping at the hospital). Every morning, my commute to school was an unsuccessful race against the clock.

Living with room-mates - once again brave souls attempted to awaken me from my slumber, only to be frustrated, baffled, overwhelmed and disheartened. One got so worried, she checked to see if I was still breathing!

My over-sleeping habits turned chronic. I had traded in my alarm clock for louder and more obnoxious sounding ones. And every time I hit the snooze button. When I finally did make it to class, my day-dreams featured visions of my bed and my pillow!

I made excuses of exhaustion. Tiresome, ain't it? I made New Year resolutions. But, I partied so hard on the 31st - I slept through New Year Day!

Lately, I have found that I hesitate when it comes to hitting the snooze. This could either mean that I'm improving or that my laziness has hit the stratosphere!

So, here I am. My name is sunshine and I am an over-sleeper!

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On Conversation...

On Conversation by William Shakespeare...

Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood.

Considering this quote... the only thing that I can think of talking about is the weather report that warned of thunderstorms and a flood watch. Any skepticism about this report was washed away when I saw ducks on the street!

Even so, the sky cleared up and the sun shone. And I guess we should be glad that the weather changes like it does. Otherwise, 4 of 5 people wouldn't even be able to start a conversation!

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Amused to the hilt!

I took a trip to the town built on chocolate. Milton S. Hershey opened the chocolate factory and with it a "model town" with all the trimmings. Hershey Park being one of them, opened in 1907. A treat all the way... it even smells of chocolate!! The place features a chocolate factory, a zoo, museums, gardens, and a whole lotta shopping. Sweet - ain't it?

Being the adrenaline junkie that I am - I made a bee-line for the most agressively rated thrill rides. Bring on the 'many unexpected, rapid changes in speed, direction, and/or elevation'.

The Great Bear - exhilaration machinified!


Riding below the track (instead of on it) and moving at a mile a minute, it lifted me 90 feet into the air, tossed me, flipped me, yanked me, and dropped me 124 feet - only to lift me up and do it all over.

All this on the first row with my feet flailing up in the air and leaving me begging for more!














Of all the rides I've been on, the Storm Runner takes the cake (along with the stomach)!


Before I could say "here we go" it has launched me from 0-72mph in 2 seconds flat - and that was just the beginning! It's a freak-show of a ride that romps down an action packed 2600 feet of steel track in 30 seconds. I rode in the first row of the second car and my stomach followed in the 2nd row of the 9th car.

I would've described how I imagined the coaster attempted to shoot me off to Pluto. But, after all the demoralization that the poor dwarf planet has gone through... I decided to leave it to it's unusually elliptical orbit and out of my description.


The coaster continued to storm up 18 stories and then drop down even faster. Before I could comprehend what I was looking at, the vision had already flashed past. After all the loops, rolls and dives... forget east or west... I had no idea which direction was up!

Among other activities like arcading, sightseeing, shopping and pressing pennies - I stood in serpentine lines (for rides, food, souveniers). It's lines like these that demand engaging company. And thanks to the fascinating company I had, conversations floated between making jokes (mostly at others' expense), discussing the perils of the rides and designing strategies to jump from one ride to another in mid-air... and I didn't realize when time flew by faster than the rides!

And I can't wait to do it all again!
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Orkomeos

Orkomeo - (Orkut+ Romeo) A category of the male Homo sapien who dwells in a virtual world of social networking. Usually on the hunt for ever-lasting virtual love, but is willing to stop by every suitable candidate and try out his flirting skills(?) and collection of miserable pick up lines. Has also been described as creepy, desperate and disillusioned.

Can be categorized as:

Narcissism personified -

The kind who's orkut album always contains a pic that he clicked of himself in the mirror. Dreamy eyes. Pouty lips. Shirt buttons half undone. No wonder he couldn't get anyone else to click that picture!

Our John Abraham wannabe bravely performed the task on his own.. and in a momentary lapse of both sanity and modesty, put it up on the public album.

Then, goes on to describe himself in various degrees of cool and sexy and also posts a link to a Yahoo! album (orkut's 12 pic album would never suffice to capture him in all his good-looking glory).


Old-fashioned-lover-boy -

The kind that scraps an ode to your eyes (stolen right out of Shah Rukh's luscious lips). Their depth, their color and their innocence. Doesn't matter if the only pic you have on display has you wearing shades.

Proceeds to scrap you with images of a teddy bear and tweety bird... closely followed by a request to start a long lasting sincere relationship with you.

Already? you don't want to pen a poem about my pancreas first?


Mood Swinger -

This is the kind that hosts an album with close-up pics in every mood and the most unimaginative captions. And scraps you to say "album updated just for you".

Me smiling in happy manner.
Me stepping out of house after snow-storm.
Me 60% sad and a 40% angry.
Me thinking (sometimes hee hee).

The next one should really be:

Me- dying of sheer embarrassment!

Couldn't feast my eyes on the rest as the server misbehaved... no donut for you!


Dude in Distress -

hi cutie... i'm new to orkut.. could you please help me out.

Sure didn't need help finding me through sam > Satan > aishwarya rai > badal...why does it rain > ramprasad doesn't want to study!

Needless to mention it's the lamest pick-up like since apna 70's bollywood hero mouthed the words 'aap ko pehle kahin dekha hai'.

Unfortunately for him, I'm old to orkut and opt to ignore such requests.


Active Return-Visitor -

The kind that waits with bated breath for his daily visitor activity and sends every female on the list a friendship request. At times these are accompanied by scraps like...

hi baby... so u visited my profile. what u decided? my friend? or something more ;) ?

kya dekhna chahti hai? milna hai tho email kar...

One click!... thats all it took to invite this calamity upon myself.


Several other types (including the hopeful hunk and the message maniac) and sub-types of the species are swarming the virtual world and there are new ones mushrooming as you're reading these very words.

As orkut continues to be my primary source of entertainment... I haven't deleted my account as yet and have prepared myself to endure a few orkomeos [:)] !

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The pursuit of beauty

I spent all winter in layers of clothing – hats, scarves, gloves… the works! Just exposing the little part of my face that contributed towards sight and respiration. But as the warmer months came along – hemlines grew shorter, necklines wider and sleeves disappeared. Natural beauty is suddenly in focus.

Confucius had said: Everything has its beauty but no one sees it.

Just like no one saw any beauty in the dryness of my skin from the extreme winter and in the eruptions on my face thanks to the developing heat. I guess wrapping yourself up for months just makes you forget about the existence of elbows and knees until other persnickety people point out how chapped they are.

I never fussed about my skin during my teenage years. (Was too busy climbing trees and falling off of them). So, instead of attracting herds of love-sick teenage boys, I drew to myself a large number of nosey aunties who offered me herbal remedies, mythical creams, unrelenting (and unsolicited) advice and even prayer! After the creams malfunctioned and the yagnas fizzled, I sought out a dermatologist. She told me how simple it was - drink more water, sleep peacefully for 8 hours every night and most importantly, stay away from any food that was oily or cheesy or junk. In the fear that my taste-buds would plot a mutiny, I proceeded to treat myself to some samosas and paani-puris!

Flash forward – this summer, I decided to enhance my beauty quotient and improve the business of Bath and Body works. Since it looked like I had missed out on the ‘pre-summer treatments’ – I had a lot of catching up to do! I undoubtedly belonged to the ‘misbehaving’ skin type (as the attendant pointed out with a dazzling smile and a quick scan of my face). I needed to super-scrub my skin, then lift it and then dramatically firm it. Then, of course, I had to get sea-swept-just-flaunt-it hair, an all-day perfect pout and 3x fuller lashes!

I couldn’t have said it better than Helen Fielding –

'Being a woman is worse than being a farmer - there is so much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturized, spots cleansed, roots dyed, eyelashes tinted, nails filed, cellulite massaged, stomach muscles exercised. The whole performance is so highly tuned you only need to neglect it for a few days for the whole thing to go to seed.'

Needing all the help I could get, I researched every skin-care and make-up tip that the fashion magazines and beauty pundits could scrounge up. It's ironical how beauty magazines make you feel terribly ugly. With models staring contemptuously out of those pages with their o-so-perfect air-brushed glow – my skin in comparison felt like an oil-field. (I could probably give Texas a run for its money). And then, I had the arduous task of deciding between a how-to-get-movie-star-skin-tones-in-20-days makeover and a transform-yourself-to-look-great-naked-in-1-month makeover.

In the meantime - until I have amplified my attractiveness and uncovered the 10 best kept beauty secrets of women who have never had a bad hair day – I have resorted to a bit of camouflage and large earrings and a larger grin to draw attention away from other flaws.

But, seriously, with everyone in the pursuit of perfection, I often wonder – isn’t the absence of flaw in beauty a flaw in itself?

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Seven green bottles standing on the wall

Seven green bottles standing on the wall
We drank wine from each of ‘em all
If another drink followed withal
There is no doubt we’d absolutely fall

Seven green bottles standing on the wall
Just a little sip had started it all
Then countless laughs and stories tall
And several moments to totally enthrall

The first green bottle stood on the wall
And camaraderie took over the hall
Guards and defenses were let to fall
The friendship element now firmly installed

Seven green bottles standing on the wall
Soon talk started to turn into a drawl
Writing looked more like a scrawl
And eyelids just couldn’t stay open after all

Seven green bottles standing on the wall
Hugs all around and bid adieu to all
And then followed an odd footfall
It’s now six green bottles standing on the wall

Adapted from Ten Green Bottles