Romy Skye's world

The Bus Ride

2012-01-25T23:11:00.000-08:00

Everyone has adventures on buses. That is a given. At some point in their lives, something will happen and they will be on a bus.

Now, I think I'm unique. How you ask? I don't have AN adventure, I have three. Three pretty embarrassing tales that of course provide you, the reader humour and me, something to blog about.

I took a bus yesterday and it was VERY crowded, so I stood at the head of the bus. I held on to a railing with my left hand and proceeded to text my friend that I was on the way to a place we were going to meet at. As I completed the text, the next stop arrived. Now, when you know you have to stop, you ease into the stop by SLOWLY applying the break. This is what all sane drivers do. Is our bus driver sane? NO. The moron swerved to the left into the stop and applied the break so suddenly, I ended up splattered on the windscreen! Gah! I proceeded to yell at the driver and went towards the back of the bus.

I found a place next to two railings and held them with a vise like grip. The lady sitting next to where I was standing was in the fifties and had witnessed the whole scene of me falling and me yelling. She looked up at me and asked if I wanted her seat. I was MORTIFIED! An elderly lady giving me her seat is a little ridiculous. With my cheeks flaming red, I politely declined and looked everywhere but at her. In this process, I glanced at a boy. This boy smiled widely and as a reflex reaction, I smiled back at him.

The journey continued and I finally got a seat when that lady got off. The next thing I know, this boy is standing next to me. he says hello, I say hello back. Then this is the conversation that follows...

Him: Where are you going?
Me: Brigade Road.
Him: Me also. You want to get some coffee?
Me: Huh???
Him: You are pretty. We can hang out. What is your phone number?
Me: No thank you.

I realise that this is rude, but dude, seriously? Ew. I then stared out of the window for the next 20 minutes, giving myself a nice crick in my neck. Finally my stop came and I got off and walked away really fast without turning back!

Adventures of Romy Skye in a bus. Le sigh.

2011 - the year of change and acceptance

2011-12-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year, about ten days till the new one begins, where you look back at what exactly this year has been. How you've changed (if you have), major events, the people, the places and everything else. This year has been like no other. I learned of love and loss for the first time. I learned of weakness and of strength, I learned definition and classification and planning.

For the first time, this year has been a year of uncertainty, where I'm just not sure and I absolutely hated it. I like knowing, and this unknown thing does not excite me, there is no adrenalin rush and there is no love for it. It's been this way right since January, when the SNAP results were announced. Since then, it's been a road of choices, and they were hard choices.

Big decisions - I decided to take the final step that would define my future. Doing an MBA in Communications. This is going to pave the road of my career and there's no turning back. This was huge in my book, because it's not just another thing that people do, it's something that you decide for the rest of your life. There is no room for mistakes and I needed to be absolutely sure, and I am. I'm happy that I took the decision, I'm happy that I know what I want and that my future is not a list of maybes or what ifs.

A turning point this year, I lost my soulmate. This is probably the hardest thing I will ever have to go through. I believe that a soulmate doesn't necessarily have to be of the same species. It's just two souls bound by this thing that cannot be defined. It's been ten years of intense love, something unconditional, that I didn't know I was capable of. I lost my best friend, my rock, my strength and a part of my soul on November 25th, 2011. It is decidedly the worst day of my life. What I gained from it, is the knowledge that though we are not physically in the same place, though I cant hug her or hear her, I know that she is with me, because who I am today is who she made me. Gypsy will ALWAYS be a part of me and she'll always have a part of me with her and I believe, with everything that I am, that we'll meet again.

On a personal level, I grew leaps and bounds. I learned a LOT about myself, some things I liked and some I didn't. Some things I'm going to embrace, some I hope to shed real fast. I exercise now. Regularly. It's an odd concept for me to understand, because I truly loathed it for the longest time. I guess it's like till you get up that hill, you hate it, but once there, the view is fantastic and you never want to leave. Believe me, the view is fantastic.

It's my first time in a co-ed school after like 9 years. Somethings have changed, and somethings haven't. I got roommates this year. I've never had to share a room before so this concept is alien and it's very educational! I am learning two languages (perish the thought!) and I saw a Wonder of the World for the first time! Going to north India was a massive culture shock to me, it showed me that though it is all one country, how massively diverse India is. It's positively insane! I made some fantastic new friends and caught up with a whole bunch of old ones (thank you Facebook). I learned to value my family and I'm still learning to live out of one closet (le sigh!).

So many things have changed this year, my life has literally been turned upside down, I've accepted and loved so many things about myself and have absolutely hated some others (which I'm in the process of eliminating). I unfortunately picked up the tick of shaking my leg when I'm bored or restless, which is so ugly. I'm definitely working towards shedding that! Relationships with various people have changed and taken on new forms. There are times when I just want to go back, before anything changed and before this year began, but a part of me looks at how much upheaval has happened this year and I can't wait for 2012 to begin, so that I can begin again.

2011, you have been a year that I have absolutely struggled with. I have grown and changed this year, more than any other year. 2012, I look forward to you now. Next year will be a year of change again, but this time, change on my terms.

One week

2011-12-01T18:12:00.001-08:00

It's been a week since you left this place. I miss you terribly, but I hope you're doing well and having a BLAST where you are! I hope everything is perfect for you and I hope you know no sorrow, no pain and you don't hurt anymore. I hope you're in a world where everything is sugar and spice and everything nice! I hope there are lots of treats, carrots, bananas and papayas. I hope there is no one to say "No" or "Enough" when you eat a little too much. I hope there is no such thing as "too much".

I hope you're with your mum and dad. Thank them for me for bringing you in this world and allowing me to live with you while you were here. I hope where you are is everything you and I have dreamed of, everything freaking fantabulous!

I promise to respect and carry on the legacy of everything amazing you've left here. We WILL meet one day and that is that.

Love you forever Gypsy!

Never bored!

2011-11-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, things happen to me and I go "Of course!", because really, it is so weird, I can't expect it to happen to anyone else. These are such instances. Only, the "Of course" comes after the instance, but during it, all I'm thinking is "Seriously? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?" Grey's Anatomy style.

There are some incidents that happen to you in high school, that you choose to bury deep, deep down and choose to forget, but we all know that you're lying to yourself, because it's right there and all you can really do, is hope like hell that you never have to relive that again.

Since it's me we're talking about, I have to relive it. Many times over.

There is this language called Kannada. I'm not very fond of it (or any other language), but I had to study it at school. On the last few days of tenth grade, I learned that I had an audience of teachers outside my classroom door, who wanted to hear me read Kannada, because I apparently do such a stellar job of it. With my exquisite accent and all. Oh who am i kidding? Let's just say it's unique.

This was a day that was rather embarrassing, and I would give anything to never relive this. But then again, it happened. All too soon. I wish that I'm an old woman with Alzheimer's if this incident has to repeat itself for the third time. Anyway, here's what happened, the second time round.

A child comes up to me and asks me to speak in Kannada so that he can show his friends my funny accent. I politely laugh it off and REFUSE. Now there are other people, important people, around me when this happens, and I have no intention of making a fool of myself. Now, any reasonable person would think that this child would go away. But noooooo. He actually pulls out a toffee from his pocket and offers it to me asking, if I would talk in Kannada for a toffee. Yeah, that's right. It really happened.

I, of course, have to oblige him. It soon becomes the comedy hour as I am made to speak in many different languages. Hindi being my weakest point. But, I have had years of preparation, and while someone else would want to drown themselves, I actually enjoy it! I then show them my uncanny Scottish, Australian and American cheerleader (always a winner) accents and we all have a good laugh.

But seriously, how come these things happen to ONLY me?? I have no other friends who recount such stories, at least not in the frequency that I do! Like everyday!

I now, have been told that I speak "cultured Kannada" as opposed to the Kannada that the ordinary people speak. To further illustrate this, I was compared to Gossip Girl (the second time in as many months that this has happened). Fascinating stuff. Really.

As if this wasn't bad enough, my geyser exploded this morning. Well, not exploded, but there is a nice crack on it! I switched it on in the morning and then went to make myself some breakfast. About ten minutes later, I heard a putting noise followed by a loud spraying noise and I go to the bathroom to see what the hell happened! The entire right side was drenched and it took me a while to figure out what had actually happened. The water was everywhere, and it took my keen deducting skills (honed by the copious amounts of Criminal Minds I watch) to figure out that it came from the general direction of the geyser. I look up and sure enough, there is a crack. My first word was "crap."

I am getting a little concerned though. Yesterday, the eggs exploded. Today, it was the geyser. I'm just hoping it's not my head that explodes tomorrow! The way things are going though, I wouldn't be too surprised if it's the shampoo bottle or something because I just jinxed it.

Life sure keeps me entertained.

Hope

2011-11-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is the first song I wrote... Feel free to critique and put into music if you feel the compulsion to :P Thanks!

Trudging up that massive mountain

The air is thin, the fog’s heavy and I’m thirsty for life

I’ve been the astrologer, I’ve done the predictions.

It’s the universe that stands beside me, my world againstme.

I escape the prison ofpeople and places

Go somewhere whereit’s just the universe and me.

It’s better there.

It’s only me I hopefor, only me I expect from.

Sometimes I wonder why I live in my world

I bet this is why I’m an escapist.

A non-conformist, a fan-girl, a fantasy geek.

Today, I look at the sky and see the rainbow.

I escape the prison ofpeople and places

Go somewhere whereit’s just the universe and me.

It’s better there.

It’s only me I hopefor, only me I expect from.

Light a candle, watch it blow out.

Forest fires only burn out.

Consume the world,

Make it a better place.

Hope, you bind me.

I look back and think it was easier back then.

Easier than this world I jumped into.

Shovels and dirt surround me, tunneling out.

Sometimes I have regrets, but mostly, I have hope.

I escape the prison ofpeople and places

Go somewhere whereit’s just the universe and me.

It’s better there.

It’s only me I hopefor, only me I expect from.

I promise you

2011-10-28T00:24:00.000-07:00

You force me forward,

Binding your strength with mine.

You’ve never let me lose a fight,

Fighting for me when I can’t.

You’ve been there, by my side,

Every minute of every day.

Holding me up, keeping me strong.

Making me the luckiest person to exist.

There’s never been a moment of doubt,

You taught me purity, what it really means.

You made me believe in goodness,

You made me believe that I was never alone.

I hold you when I weep,

I hold you when I laugh.

You save me when the world falls apart.

You keep me breathing, living.

How does one survive this?

Can one function with half a soul?

It comes down to one thing I can do.

I promise you, I will live and fight for you.

You only mean the world.

One down, three to go!

2011-10-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, if you had asked me if I would ever do an MBA, I would have vehemently denied it. Vehemently, in the sense, screamed "NO" so loud, that your toupee would have flown off, like in the cartoons. And don't even try to deny that even if you don't wear one, you want to at least own one.

But, here I am, sitting in my room, one day before the first semester of my MBA ends. Who would have thought that this would ever happen. I don't regret my MBA, because somehow, I found an MBA in Communications which means I can happily skip the subjects like macro economics, finance, etc. The sad part is that I am stuck with Design Technology, Audio-Visual Communication and horribly, Statistics.

Now the first two sound like fun, and I'm sure they are, if you have any aesthetic sense for design and a yearning for technology. Learning about Photoshop and (God save me!) Flash next semester, does NOT make me want to jump with joy. Instead, I'd like to start digging a tunnel to the centre of the earth because that would be easier.

Now, learning about different camera angles and different cameras, is fun. Give me an exam, where I have to write a treatment plan for a short film (based on some excerpt from a story), DRAW a storyboard, write a script (YAY!), make a shooting schedule, plan locations, equipment required and write casting sides in an hour and a half is rather ridiculous! Let's just say my boxes with stick figures and squiggles leaves a LOT to be desired. The only thing worth anything in that paper was the script.

A semester here has taught me a LOT of things! For starters, I was introduced to the concept of roommates. Yeah, I'm an only child and I've only ever shared my room with my dog. And she's small and sleeps under my bed, so it doesn't really count. I'm so not used to having someone around me ALL the time!

Another fun thing, boys in my class! I've never really had those! Girls' school and then girls' college for my undergrad! They really do mix things up!!!

I FINALLY met someone who is as big a fantasy geek as I am, and that is saying something. I won't mention who it is, because that person is a closeted geek! Needs to maintain an image and a reputation and all that!

My friends here are super awesome! I honestly didn't think I'd be lucky to have such fantastic, quirky friends!

There's Supriya, who reminds me of me, when I was 16 and thrown into a world that was so alien to me and I had to grow up really fast to catch on. I LOVE that she still has her innocence, cracks PJs and is wide-eyed at a LOT of things! She is also my tall and skinny buddy and my guard-detail partner (you know what I'm talking about!). She also helps me keep in touch with my super girly-ness and I still feel cool talking Meg Cabot and Nora Roberts with her!

Aloka is someone who I doubt I'll ever be able to describe! She lives on pure instinct, doesn't have a filter (ever) and always claims to be an "introvert" and a "good girl", which cannot be further from the truth. She is one person who can always make me laugh, no matter what mood I'm in and I love freaking her out when I read her mind! All she has to do is smile (Aloka style) and meow.

Shaliny is my literature buddy! She is the one who understands my whining about how it's just wrong to sit in a classroom and not be studying literature. She is also someone who gives me an immense amount of comfort during exams (Shalu, you know why) and she is the most fun to irritate! (Swaliny .......)

Anisha is the powerhouse singer. We all knew Anisha could sing, and then she sang. Shaliny and I were left gaping. She is someone I can talk to about life philosophies and theories, even though mine and her's are polar opposites. She always gives me a different perspective. Other than that, I love the fact that I can mention names like Yael Naim and she knows who she is!

Darren is my entertainment. He was put on this planet for this purpose! He's someone who "gets" me and who I can talk to about a lot of things! Our opinions are the same on a LOT of things which is awesome! We have somewhat similar tastes in music, but our TV/Books tastes match almost a hundred percent! Thank you for coming here dude! I don't know I would have survived Stats class otherwise!

I got luckier I think when it came to my roommates! They are seriously the best I could ask for!

Azmeen is wonderful! She and I have the same feelings about a lot of things. I vibe so well with her. She meows, not like Aloka though, and she doesn't share chocolate. She makes me give her my gulab jamun and tells me that I remind her of her eldest sister. She is someone who I can laugh with, whine with and share gossip with! I love it when she gets excited and jumps up and down and when she leaves notes on the mirror that no-one sees.

My other roommate Jayati is someone who is hyper-active and loud. But somehow she is endearing and I know that life would be rather boring without her! In the beginning, she used to be the one who woke up the earliest and now, she is the last one to wake up! She is someone who plays The Pretty Reckless, followed by Akon in the mornings while taking a shower. If there is music coming out of the bathroom, you know she's in there!

I love our late night talks that leave us rolling with laughter. We all are so different from one another but I can't see anyone else I'd rather live with! It's horrid, because I am going to miss them for the six weeks that we're gone!! And here I thought I would never, ever want to live with a roommate!

I did learn some language skills from people I've come across. Here are some phrases, every person from SIMC-B must have in his/her vocabulary.

"Ai Shappat"
"Sheri"
"You know"
"You getting it?"
"You understand no? You understand?"
"Lordy"
"Basically..."
"As I was saying..." (with gestures)
"Oye listen"
"My friend knows someone who...."
"Okkkay then"

Other valuable take aways include how to sleep with your eyes open, how to talk non-stop, without a breath, how to text in class, how to write emails, a lot of Hindi, how to hide while studying and how to play spy.

It's been a fun four and a half months overall, I've stayed up till 4am doing projects and gone to class at 8 the next day, I now feel like my knees have been reshaped, the amount of times I've rammed them into various tables, I've learned to sleep on what can only be describes as a slab of granite, I've lived in a grey and white building (after ALL my houses/rooms have been multi-coloured) and I've lived without Gypsy (that has been the hardest of all!).

I am so looking forward to going back home to Gypsy, my cupboards, my TV, my books, my alone-ness, my green walls, my posters and all that, but all said and done, I am going to miss this place and all the people in my life here!

Picture Perfect

2011-07-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

A smile on your face, maybe a dimple,
Absorb the sunlight, a cocoon of warmth,
The colours surround you, rich and bright,
Life is never picture perfect.

Sounds of laughter, Gypsy's barking,
Running in the wind, rain on your face,
Spinning until the world’s a blur,
Life is never picture perfect.

Pink fuzzy light up balls, pictures of butterflies,
Crepe paper, cartoons and caramel apples,
The colour purple, lava lamps and postcards,
Life could be picture perfect.

A roller-coaster ride!

2011-07-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

I would like to write an essay about how much my life has changed in the last month, but will put it in bullet points. A fair warning - some of the points are going to sound whiny!

1) I have roommates! They are fantastic (thankfully!) but I have never, ever shared space with someone apart from Gyp! And they are VERY different from Gypsy!

2) I am now a night person! I was ALWAYS a morning person and couldn't really stay awake past 10pm, but now, even if I can, I can't sleep before 12am!

3) I now speak in Hindi. Well, sometimes. Unconsciously. It didn't happen before!

4) I make PowerPoint presentations. I can see Excel in my future and I'm strongly considering rebelling!

5) I am living without an animal!!!! Feeding the stray dogs dog biscuits just isn't cutting it! I MISS GYPSY!

6) I do SuryaNamaskar in the mornings!!!! This is AWESOME because I can feel my stamina getting stronger! Whoopee! And I can do other asanas easily now!

7) I have GAINED weight! A good 3 kilograms! I'm REALLY hoping it's muscle mass!

8) There are boys here. After 5 years of girls' school and college, it's a change.

9) I sing. Out loud. And people don't run screaming for the hills!

10) I play basketball!!!

11) I study! Statistics. Never did before. Always skipped those five marks in the Psych practicals!

12) I WEAR FORMALS and manage to look GROWN UP and not awkward. Well, some of the times at least!

13) I attended the Art of Living course and actually liked it! See earlier blogpost for details on that one!

14) I make my bed EVERY morning!

15) I've learned to live without a hair dryer. Yes, I had a love affair with my hair dryer, but I think I'm okay with the fact that we broke up and that it's over.

16) I MISS TELEVISION!!!!! And all my TV shows, especially Australia's Next Top Model! :P

17) I question life. I could honestly do without that though! All it's done is leave me thoroughly confused!

18) I am learning to let people in my personal space, but it is HARD! In the words of Achmed, the dead terrorist, (who I am learning to imitate), "stop touching me!"

19) I drink iced tea at least once a day!

20) One thing that has stayed the same and that has kept me grounded, I still LOATHE the rain!

That's about it. I will update this as life changes and hopefully it won't be too drastic!

Dangers of sleep!

2011-06-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

So, I've had two major sleep events if you will so far! One happened in at the Art Of Living Ashram (which is now, my MOST embarrassing moment!) and one in my room, with my roommates as witnesses. I'm going to tell you the incident in my room, before the AOL incident. Need courage to share that one!

This morning, I woke up and did my Surya Namaskar, and went online, while waiting for the hot water to come on. My roommate Azmeen woke up a while later, and casually asked me if I talked in my sleep. I froze. I was like "Please tell me I didn't! Please tell me I didn't" in my head, but as luck would have it, of course not. I said that I did sometimes and it was the result of an over active imagination. She said that she heard me talking and called out "Saroma?" and I said "Huh?" and when she asked if everything was okay, I turned on my cell phone for a second and went back to sleep!!!! But she couldn't quite make out what i was saying (thank the Universe!).

I apparently really freaked her out! LOL! And I was, of course, mortified! And here are the perils of social networking.... I posted the fact that I talked in my sleep on Facebook and Twitter and then, proceeded to tell Azmeen and Jayati, my other roomie to not tell anyone! Like an idiot! It then occurred to me that I had already essentially told the whole world and not just my classmates. Nice Romy, nice!

I need to cut down on the Facebook and Twitter, but when something this funnily humiliating happens, I can't not share it! So anyway, lets just say that my roomies are now well aware of my sleep talking habits. I wonder if I should let them know about my sleep walking or just let them discover it themselves! (KIDDING!)

Now, the second incident, aka, my most embarrassing incident!

In the Ashram and the AOL programs, when we do the Pranayamas and the Kriyas, we are asked to lay down and relax, to ground yourself. Because doing the breathing exercises and meditating really stirs your body and mind and you kind of need to calm down. Now, this is for ten minutes, and I am usually awake and conscious. For some weird reason, I totally fell asleep. It wasn't even asleep, because I was dreaming, but I wasn't because it was SO realistic and I truly believed that I was awake. But yes, when the ENTIRE class of eighty people woke up, I still remained SLEEPING! I am so mad at Anisha for not waking me up!!!

I woke up to find the class and the instructors watching me and you can always tell when people are staring, so while I don't remember this exactly, i shot up and said "What's up?". That was just...... embarrassing to say the least. Apparently, four people were hissing my name to wake me up, because you're not supposed to wake a person up, if they "go to sleep" after the meditation and the breathing. I am using quotation marks, because I'm not entirely sure one goes to sleep. It's not a trance, but it's like looking at the world from a third person's point of view. Super weird, but cool. I wouldn't want to do it again though. They couldn't wake me up, because I am the girl who sleeps so deeply that I've slept through an EARTHQUAKE!

Anyway, to sleep and wake up with a "what's up?" in front of your class, that you've known for ten days, and the senior teachers at the Art Of Living Ashram, is something not many can boast about can they?

Sigh.

The Face of Hope

2011-06-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Big brown eyes, wet breath and a whine,
A smile, a pink tongue and white whiskers,
Brown and white fur and a black nose,
This is the face of Hope.

A paw on your face to wake you up,
A sharp bark and a doggie noise,
A wagging tail and a shivering body,
This is the face of Hope

An eager laugh and a wet lick,
Her entire weight on your body,
The warmth and comfort of her fur,
This is the face of Hope.

The smell that is essentially Gypsy,
The nudging of her head against your legs,
The indescribable happiness that fills your soul,
This is the face of Hope.

Art Of Living - An honest opinion

2011-06-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

So, as a part of the induction program, we were made to take the YES+ program the Art Of Living. I was honestly VERY sceptical about this, because I usually tend to run away from such organisations.

Our teacher was Arvind Bhaiiya who started us off with introductions and such like. We learnt Pranayama, SuryaNamaskar and a breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya. We also learnt about positive thinking and how to react to stressful situations and situations we dislike in a positive manner, without panic and just plain old bitching and unpleasantness.

It took me six days for this message to actually sink in. I was one of those girls who alternated between paying attention and making wise cracks and snickering at the back of the class. It was a mix of actually, truly agreeing with some of the points and wanting to look cool. One thing that Arvind Bhaiiya said earlier, but that struck home yesterday at the ashram, was that you don't have to be a cynic, to be dismissive to be cool. And that was EXACTLY what I was doing.

I think I had to come to terms with the fact that I agreed with what was being said and the part of me that didn't like the fact that it had to be told. I am one that fully believes that you need to experience life in order to learn certain things. Like, take for example, yesterday at the ashram, I felt like a total schmuck for not being sincere in the beginning, and I did learn that it's not necessarily cool to be the cynic.

I loved that we did the SuryaNamaskar, because it's been almost ten years since I actually practiced yoga. I used to do it EVERYDAY till I was in the tenth grade and then I stopped. After doing the series for about three days, I attempted some Asanas, that I couldn't do before, but I could do now, with just a little bit of stretching. It made me SO happy and I know that if the Art Of Living and Arvind Bhaiiya hadn't come to my life, I would still be disappointed when I tried and it would hurt like the dickens.

So I thank him for that, and for enabling me to learn a lesson in life. I like that everyone at the ashram was so down to earth, including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, or Guruji, as he is called there.

There are a lot of things I'm hesitant to sign up for, but I can truly say that I acknowledge and respect his knowledge and admire the fact that he has helped MILLIONS the world over. I can also say that at this moment, I am not a disciple if Guruji. To me, I believe that life is the best teacher and you learn only if you live it! But this is me now, and I have learnt to not say "never" so who knows what will happen in the future.

Another thing that reaffirmed something that I've been trying is for me to look at the positive in all situations and to stop cribbing about things that aren't in my control. There are positives and negatives to every situation and I have to grit my teeth and bear the bad and focusing on the good makes this easier. Hearing this, everyday, for the last six days kind of made me take a decision to cut down on the whining and the bitching and just live life and enjoy it! I'm not saying that I'll never complain, because if I can do that, then I should start my own Art Of Living! I'm nowhere near that kind of peace with myself and life! I have ISSUES!

Another thing that truly touched me is that there were thousands of people in the ashram, just trying to get a glimpse of Guruji and we were just given the opportunity to meet him in an audience of about a hundred people and actually talk to him, just because we joined Symbiosis. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I am truly a lucky person!

For me, apart from all of this, the highlight of this was introducing JeetuJi to berries that grew in the ashram, meeting Maheshwara and Indrani - the elephants that live there and finding out that Rihanna, a teacher there was my neighbour and had seen me walk Gypsy!

All in all, it's been an interesting session, it taught me some things, reaffirmed things that I've been trying to do and opened my eyes to a different side of me. Thank you Symbiosis for this opportunity and thank you Arvind Bhaiiya for making this happen!

PS: I will get permission to post pictures before I do with this post!

When you just gotta go!

2011-06-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

I was at PVR cinemas today to watch the fourth installment of Pirates Of The Caribbean. Now, I ordered my usual coke-popcorn combo and settled in. Halfway through the movie, we broke for interval, but I chose to stay in my seat as I didn't really need to do anything. I sat through the crappy advertisements, that seem to air only in movie theatres and laughed at them with my mum.

About five minutes after the interval, I felt like I needed to pee, but it wasn't really anything urgent, so I was sure I could last the rest of the movie. I ignored it, to a point where it became un-ignorable and there was still about half an hour left of the movie. I excused myself, and ducking, so that I wouldn't disturb anyone, ran out of the hall and went to the loo.

Now, in the Gold Class cinemas, there are no stalls, only one loo. There is one for women, one for men and one for the handicapped. I made my way up the ramp, down the corridor and to the women's loo. I, very confidently, turned the handle, because I thought no one would really be in there. There was someone in there. I think I scared her because I jiggled the door a little.

I REALLY needed to pee at this point, so I debated between the handicapped loo and the men's loo. I then thought, what if some poor old dude who was handicapped needed to go, so I opened the men's loo. I peered inside, but there was only a urinal and I can't go on one, so I went into the handicapped loo.

Incidentally, here is some information for you guys. The men's loo smells nicer than the handicapped loo. I think they don't clean out the handicapped loo as often as they do the men's. So, I did wish for a millisecond that I did have a willy and could use the cleaner loo! Sheesh!

It was quite funny when I came out, because I looked under the door, if I could see any shadows that may indicate people standing outside. When I couldn't, I slowly opened the door and peeked and quickly ran out and stood in front of the women's loo, trying to act as if I had just come out of there. I kind of fled the scene, when I heard the door behind me open though. I didn't really want to meet the woman who was, I am sure startled, by the door jiggling earlier.

What would life be without adventures!

Rachel Nichols on "Lauren"!

2011-03-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Rachel was SUPER nice and gave me an interview about "Lauren"! Thank you so much Rachel!

Me: When you guys did the table read, did you guys expect how it would
end? Were there any theories you guys came up with before you got the
script?

Rachel: We wanted everything to be fresh...there was no discussion prior to the table read...or at least not on my part!

Me: What was it like with Gubler as a director? Did you start seeing
him differently after the episode was filmed?

Rachel: Gubler was a fantastic director. I was super impressed. I didn't start seeing him differently, but my respect for him grew exponentially. He did a great job and I applaud him. Wow.

Me: As a relatively new person, what was your reaction to Paget
leaving? What is it like without her now?

Rachel: I adore Paget, as did the rest of the cast. She is lovely, funny, and kind. I wish for her to return, but if she finds other projects that thrill her, then I want her to pursue them and be happy. She is fantastic.

Me: What do you think Seaver must have been thinking when Rossi forced
her to profile?

Rachel: I know what Seaver was thinking: she wanted to perform, but she was scared. She was unsure of her place, but knew she had a profiler inside of her. She's special, but she's new and young. She was insecure, but desperate to be bold. She wanted to say the right thing.

Me: Is it weird for you to play Seaver after playing Rebecca Locke on
The Inside?

Rachel: Rebecca was a kick ass character and she provided vital
information, while Seaver is still learning the ropes. I love both characters. I love both shows. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of both of them. Seaver will find her footing, gradually...she has the insight, she just needs the confidence...and the team will be an integral part of her metamorphosis.

Me: What was the atmosphere on set like during the filming of Lauren?
Was it a little more sombre or were there still a lot of jokes?

Rachel: I wasn't shooting every day...but I do believe that it was sombre, yet fun at the same time.

Me: What was it like working with AJ? A lot of Twitter people have been
up in arms about this, but was there any tension on set?

Rachel: AJ is lovely - exactly the person that every CM fan would think her to be. And she was so kind to me that I couldn't help wanting to hug her. She is stunning and sweet, honest and friendly. Working with her was fantastic. She's a cool chick.

Me: What was your favourite moment in the episode?

Rachel: Impossible question to answer!

Me: Describe each member of the cast in one sentence! :)

Rachel: In real life or on the show?

Me: Did you watch the episode when it aired and do you watch things
that you've been in?

Rachel: I did watch the episode. I don't have a TV, but I do get every CM episode on dvd before it airs. Some of the work I've done, I've never seen, but I tend to enjoy watching the episodes of TV that I'm involved in. I have seen every episode of "The Inside", "Alias", and "Criminal Minds"...

Disclaimer: This interview is the property of Romy Skye's World. Do not quote or reproduce this interview without my permission or providing the source.

Ten Kooky Things

2011-03-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

So this is a random list of ten slightly crazy things I’ve done in my life. Read, laugh and tell me things you’ve done!

1) When I was a child, I let my neighbour convince me that a dead rat was a squirrel and I picked it up and brought it into the house quite lovingly. That was the start of giving my grandmother white hair.

2) I have tried and failed, to put toothpaste back into the tube. Many times. I still am determined to do it!

3) Before I had my dog, I sniffed my neighbour’s dog’s breath voluntarily, because I wanted to know what dog’s breath smelt like.

4) I have had a cow pee on me. It was warm and didn’t have a pleasant smell.

5) I have fallen down on a stage, in another country, when I was NOT performing and in front of an actress I truly admire. (cc. Kirsten Vangsness)

6) I tell my dog bedtime stories sometimes. They, more often than not, involve pigs for some reason.

7) I have had geese, chicken, an elephant calf and cows chase me. This is other than the regular dogs.

8) I’ve been slapped by a monkey in fifth grade when I sat next in class, next to a window.

9) I am an expert in exploding eggs on the stove. Really.

10) Sometimes, I tend to announce the fact that I’m falling before I fall. This is because I trip multiple times before actually falling. It’s a warning system. I think I shall start shouting “Timberrrr” from now on.

I do understand that a lot of my kooky things involve animals, but they are just a huge part of my life, so yeah.

Kirsten Vangsness at The Theatre of Note Marathon!

2011-03-08T02:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first part of Kirsten's performance at the Theatre of Note Marathon! Sorry it's so late, but I wanted to make sure Kirsten was okay with me sharing it! She is gorgeous, super talented and downright amazing!

Ten Birthday Things!

2011-03-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

Ten things I am forever grateful for in my life!

1) My mum and my dog. My mum, who is so much more than my mother. She is my friend, my pillar of strength and my belief system. I believe in her. My dog is simply my heart and soul. She is my everything.

2) My grandparents. They are the reason why I believe in luck, because I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world to be able to call these two individuals that. From bickering with my gran about how I can still go out today, even though I went out yesterday and how I do not need to "rest", to eating her yummy food and watching her reluctantly love my dog SO much, it makes my heart swell with love and happiness. My granddad who has filled in so lovingly for my father, whose hands I used to swing from, whose car I climbed on, to climb a tree, who I argue with about philosophy. You are amazing and I feel so honoured to know you.

3)My aunt, uncle and cousin. Even though you guys are so far away, you are such an important part of my life. My aunt, who's been there since the begining, who's been my go-to person and just that never ending source of love, generosity and support, thank you! My uncle, who accepted me so easily and who taught me that not all men are douches, thanks! You also were the frist one who told me what a "rubber" was at 16. Yeah, I hadn't a clue, so thanks for that! My cousin. I don't even know where to begin! You are my only real sibling and we've been through a lot together! I am so proud of who you are today, and I, would like to take complete credit. Just saying! Thanks for being who you are!

4) Swathi. You will always and forever be my soul sister. You are someone who made high school bearable and who made life that much more special. You are my number one friend. I am so infinitely grateful for your support and amazingness through the years and I cannot wait to see what life has in stow for us! You are fantastic! Thank you for being a part of my life! I would also like to thanks FRIENDS, the TV show, because if it were not for that, I would have never found you!

5) Paget Brewster. You have taught me so much as a person and have been this constant source of inspiration. You taught me to go after life and be the person I am, no matter what people say. You are such an amazing role model and mentor and for that I thank you.

6) Lorelai Gilmore, Lauren Graham and Amy Sherman Palladino. Lorelai Gilmore has been a part of my life since I was sixteen. She was instantly someone who I liked and resonated with. I admired her independent nature and the fact that even though she was a single parent, she had it all together! She was the TV version of my mum, a perfect mix of my whackyness and her awesomeness! I thank Lauren Graham for bringing her to life and Amy for creating her!

7) Vlogging and Janie Haddad. I got to know Janie through her vlogs. I don't know if she knows how much she's helped me by sharing her journey, because she definitely has! She taught me to be honest with myself no matter what and to not give up, because things may not work out the first time round. I started vlogging because of her, to share my life and my story. Thank you Janie, you rock!

8) Rachel Nichols. You are new in my life, but I admire your class and dignity and how you've handled the Criminal Minds situation. Kudos to you. You are so kind and lovely and I am grateful that you joined the show so that I had the opportunity to get to know you! I hope, that should a situation arise, I will have 10% of your class to be able to handle it! Thanks!

9) Internet friends. You guys are lovely. Thank you for the unending amount of support. Thank you for being my friends and thank you for squeeing with me over EVERYTHING! And thank you for being who you all are!

10) This should just say it all - I am grateful for Bath and Body Works, Butterflies, Coca Cola, Chocolate, Cookies, Chips, Jam, Puppies, Kittens, Bandit Louise, Skype, Cell Phones, Twitter, TV Shows, Books, Vampires (NOT TWILIGHT!), LA, Thrilling Adventure Hour, Glitter, Shiny Jewelry and my blog!

My unexpected Theatre of Note marathon performance!

2011-03-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a little while since I've had any klutzy event, so I decided to regale you all with my epic LA adventure! This was literally on my last night in LA and lets just say that The Theatre of Note Marathon was treated to an unexpected stunt performance by Romy Skye. It was truly a treat for the eyes.

Let me remind you all that this is the stage that KIRSTEN VANGSNESS performed on. That I performed on, because lets face it, every one of my adventures is a performance on it's own. This just happened to be on a famous stage, with famous people. Yeah.

We had gone outside to watch the awesome fire eaters and we all trickled back. I waited for a bit till most people were inside because I didn't want to trip on them! Imagine the mortification of wiping out in front of Kirsten Vangsness and her friends right? Right. I didn't have to really imagine it. I just lived it in stead.

I made my way across the stage and saw Ella sitting there next to our stuff and I wanted to grab some money to get something to eat and drink. Except, I was so focused on the chair and my bag, that I didn't see the GIANT speaker nailed to the ground. And when I mean giant, I mean GINORMOUS! The thing came up to my knee and was a sold two feet wide, black thing. I walked right into it and WIPED OUT on stage.

I FELL DOWN, on a STAGE, that I WASN'T performing on in another country! Now really, only I can do that! One of Kirsten's very kind friends came forward to help me up, looking quite worried, because it was really, quite a spectacular fall. I just grinned tightly at her, smiled and said "Oh I'm fine!" to her and ran to the seat. I stayed still for 5 minutes, telling everyone how fine I was and then looked at Ella and said "OWWWWWWW!!!!!!"

We hiked up my pants and there was a gash on my shin. More than that, the corner of the speaker had nicely dug into my shin bone which hurt like hell! It was also bleeding, and if you know me, you'll know that I didn't even look to see how much and that I fought hard not to faint! I got me a band aid and Ella was kind enough to put it on me.

Then I went back to ignoring my pain because the lovely Kirsten came on and then the horror of all horrors, that yucky, no good, puke worthy ventriloquist act came on and I was too distracted trying to keep my sandwich in my stomach after!!

It was a night I'll never forget and I have a scar from my little gash! It was fantastic!

PS: The speaker worked after which was awesome! Thank you Universe!

Interview with Rachel Nichols!!!

2011-02-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

I got an ALL EXCLUSIVE interview with RACHEL NICHOLS, from CRIMINAL MINDS, who is simply made of sugar and spice and everything awesome!!!! My questions are in bold, her answers in regular font! Enjoy!

Did you watch Criminal Minds before coming on the show? Who is your favourite character?

I did watch CM prior to joining the show, but I never really had a favorite character. Actually, that's what I think makes the show great; there's something to like in every member of the cast.

Did you have to read the FBI manual or go through any training for the role?

As far as training is concerned, I was pretty well-equipped... Given my time on "The Inside" and "Alias" and "GI Joe", I had spent some serious time in physical training... but I'd love to see a manual!

Have you met or talked to the actual profilers who help out with the show?

CM has an unbelievable team of experienced individuals that helps the show be as accurate as possible. There is always someone on hand to help out and make our words and actions authentic. I'm extremely grateful for all of them.

Is there something from the stuff you guys deal with on CM that stays with you? Are you more wary now?

I'm so new to the show that I have not yet had the experience of something specific "sticking with me" although I'm sure it will happen. I've had dreams about certain episodes, but nothing that I haven't been able to recover from come sunrise.

What has been the most exciting scene for you to film on Criminal Minds?

It's impossible to talk about my favorite scenes without giving away crucial parts about future shows. The good news is that there are many great pieces to come... There is a lot happening this season and that, in itself, is exciting for me and, hopefully, the fans. Sorry for being vague... I just don't want to give away any sacred secrets!

Do the cast or crew play any pranks on you? If yes, could you tell us something they've done?

We do laugh a lot, but not necessarily due to pranks. If I get "punked" anytime soon, I'll let you know. I'm sure it has happened in the past!

What has your biggest blooper moment been so far?

I tripped. Nearly fell. It was awkward. Enough said. :)

From your tweets, we can gather that there are some klutzy moments in your life. What has been your biggest klutz adventure?

I am such a klutz. Unavoidably so. Guess I was born with that specific gene. As far as "biggest klutz adventures" are concerned... I once was a waitress on the coast of Maine during the summer and, one day, carrying a large tray filled with food I ran smack into the patio door... Guess it was so clean that I thought it was open! I smashed my head on the glass and dropped all the entrees and then I did the only thing fitting for such a situation; I took a bow, cleaned up the mess... and went to the bathroom for fear that I'd die of embarrassment! Not my best moment. Funny now. Horrific then. I never lived that down!

We can see that you've graduated with a double major in economics and maths from Columbia. With that background, what drove you to get into acting?

I was in the right place at the right time. Education always came first, but I had extremely supportive parents that wanted me to experience everything this world had to offer. Without their love and guidance, I never would've taken the chances that I did... and I wouldn't be where I am today. Their support enabled me to breathe and, in turn, discover a career that makes me happy. They always told me I could be anything I wanted to be (except a singer because I'm tone deaf) and that allowed me to trust my instincts and follow my heart. Yeah, sounds cheesy, I know, but it is the truth. I can only hope to be half as good a parent to my own children someday. They left some pretty big shoes for me to fill!

This is a list of favourites

a) Downtime snack on set: I should probably say something healthy, but, the truth is, I love Cheetos... because there's not always a barrel of cheese-balls handy!

b) Colour: When people ask me this question I always ask: "to wear or to look at"? My favorite color to wear is white. My favorite color to look at is soft, sunshine yellow... It is happiness defined by color.

c) Movie and TV Show: I couldn't possible choose a favorite movie, so here are a few: Silence of the Lambs, Withnail and I, The Sweetest Thing, Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, Despicable Me, The Little Mermaid, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, V for Vendetta, Beautiful Girls, Closer, To Kill A Mockingbird, and so many more. As for TV shows, the same goes, so here are a few; 30 Rock, The United States of Tara, Californication, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Alias, Law & Order, 60 Minutes... Good golly, I could go on and on...

d) Place you'd like to visit or have visited: Paris Paris Paris. All the time. Any time. Forever.

e) Award show: Impossible question to answer... :)

Disclaimer: This interview is the property of Rachel Nichols Online and Romy Skye's World. Do not reproduce or quote this interview without our permission or providing the source.

LA Vlog!!

2011-02-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

The Good Guys interview with writer Aaron Ginsburg!!!!

2011-02-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Aaron Ginsburg, who is a writer on The Good Guys was very kind and let me interview him! Since I am in Bangalore, and he is in Bogota, Colombia filming the Burn Notice prequel, this was obviously an email interview! Hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I do! Remember, The Good Guys premieres tonight on Star World at 9pm!!!

Me: How did you get involved with the show?

Aaron Ginsburg: Wade McIntyre and I were developing an original series with Matt Nix when he sold THE GOOD GUYS -- At that point, we stuffed that other idea in a drawer and jumped on board with the adventures of Jack and Dan. We were hired to write one of the first two episodes before the show was officially picked up by FOX. That episode ultimately became "SMALL ROOMS".

Me: What is the easiest part about writing the show, like did all the banter come easily?

AG: Don't be fooled by breezy, funny banter - it is handcrafted, each joke over-analyzed to within an inch of its life... The show was always fun to write - but creating the complicated chain-of-events that intersect in each episode took careful planning and many days where we wanted to smash our faces against the dry erase boards... That's writing!

Me: What was your favourite episode that you've written?

AG: I love all of the episodes, including the ones Wade and I wrote. We had a great staff and a show that we all loved. As for my own work... I am very proud of VACATION - which was an idea we had wanted to write for months... and it turned out exactly as I imagined. And our final episode, COP KILLER, was incredibly fulfilling to bring to life.

Me: How long does it take for you to write an episode?

AG: Trick question... As a dear writer friend of mine always says: writing is like a gas, it can fill any space. If we have a month to write a script, it will take us exactly a month... however, if we have only two days... we somehow manage to get it done in two days... On THE GOOD GUYS, both occasions occurred...

Me: How long does it take for you to shoot an episode?

AG: Each episode of THE GOOD GUYS was shot in seven days.

Me: What is the character you relate to the most?

AG: It should be no surprise that I relate to Jack. We have many similar qualities...

Me: Have you ever written something and then someone says, no it cannot be done?

AG: Sure. That is the process. Sometimes, things can't be done because of budget. For instance, once we wrote an opening for one of our episodes where Dan intercepts a slow-speed chase on the freeway (a bad guy going only 5 miles per hour, followed by a trail of cop cars)... Turns out, a slow-speed chase is incredibly difficult to shoot, and incredibly time consuming... So we re-wrote the scene and I love what we came up with... You'll just have to guess what episode that bit was originally attached to.

Me: Have you ever changed lines on the set, last minute?

AG: Absolutely. Art is collaborative, and when the actors get on set and work with the director, the scene often grows and changes - new ideas or jokes develop in the process. I am constantly on set (as were all the writers) to improve each and every moment. If a joke falls flat, we would be there to replace it with a better one.

Me: Is it verbatim or can the actors change the lines a little, so that it sounds more natural to them?

AG: We try to write the lines so that they are natural to the actors... That said, the actors certainly make the lines their own, changing words here or there. If they change them to the point of changing the meaning, or disrupting a recurring joke that plays in later scenes, I would occasionally work with them to keep the line's intention while making the actors happy with the words themselves.

Me: Is it challenging to work with other writers, and keep the dialogue and the feel of the show consistent?

AG: Not at all - in fact, I love working with other writers. The staff of THE GOOD GUYS was packed with smart, funny, talented writers - and when we put our heads together, it was endlessly fulfilling (and hilarious).

Me: Were you involved in the naming of the series? Some of the other titles were "Jack and Dan" and "Code 58", were there any others before "The Good Guys"?

AG: The show began as JACK AND DAN, and we originally switched it to CODE 58 (which is the Dallas Police Code for "routine investigation."). Then when we realized we needed a better title, we had a contest in the writer's room and everyone pitched their best titles... I believe it was our Co-Exec Producer who won with THE GOOD GUYS...

Me: Do you prefer writing movies, plays or TV serials?

AG: TV. I love creating characters and then watching them grow and change over time. With TV, you can constantly put your creations in new and challenging situations.

Me: Tell us a little about IN SIGHT, the movie you wrote with Wade McIntyre? It's out later this year right?

AG: IN SIGHT is a psychological thriller that Wade and I wrote a few years ago. The log line is: After the grisly murder of a young woman, the ER nurse who tried to save her begins to experience the victim's chilling memories of the attack. She desperately tries to avenge the terrifying homicide before the visions of it drive her insane.
Here is a link to the trailer. We are hoping it gets out into the world this year... details to come.

Me: Tell us a bit about the Thrilling Adventure Hour and how you got involved with that show?

AG: The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a monthly staged show performed in the style of old-time radio. I was brought in to direct the madness over five years ago, and we have finally figured out how to podcast the sucker... Check it out on iTunes. I could go on and on about this amazing show, but alas, I must rest - another day of shooting tomorrow.

Again, THE GOOD GUYS, starring Colin Hanks, Bradley Whitford, Jenny Wade and Diana Maria Riva premieres tonight, Feb 12th on STAR WORLD at 9pm! Aaron and some of the cast have Twitters and you can follow them too!

Aaron Ginsburg - DrLawyerCop
Colin Hanks - Colin_Hanks
Jenny Wade - Jenny_Wade
Diana Maria Riva - DianaMariaRiva

Theatre of Note marathon!!!

2011-01-16T02:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, this blogging with a glass of milk is becoming a thing that I do! I love it! So, this is my last night here in LA and what a better way to spend it by going to a theatre marathon right?

Ella and I were originally planning to hit up Edison in downtown LA and then I saw Kirsten Vangsness tweet about the Theatre Of Note (TON) marathon they were having and the Edison plan was never made. It was TON all the way!!!

It started at 3pm, but I could only go by about 6:30pm because I had to check into my flight, get some last minute packing done, etc. We started off with Stacy McQueen hosting the segment and it was hilarious!!! She had a Pomeranian, that she found on the street today and was adopting (she wins all the way through for this) and a crafts basket filled with cards, books on Alfred Hitchcock - An in depth analysis of only 5 pages! Or that is how small the book looked! She also had some things Gweneth Paltrow and some other books!

We started off the act with Vinyl Candy, which is a Modern Rock band. They had pretty good music and I found myself catching the chorus and singing along! It was not a bad way to start the evening! Each act was about 7-9 minutes long, so the band played about three songs. They handed out some free CDs and Ella scored one and gave it to me (I love being the foreign visitor! Whaaat??). After that, it was Bill Brochtrup, who was an essayist and read out his essay. It may sound boring, but it made me laugh, even though it wasn't as out there as the rest of the comedy. Betsy Salkind came on and she was a funny stand-up. It was a nice act and it was clean, which I applaud her for!!!

Then the most memorable act was Hiwa Bourne!!! She blew me away!!! She is a lovely hula dancer! The way she danced!! It was amazing, and it made me feel incredibly awkward, because the only dancing I do is bobbing and shifting from one foot to another. I have actually become quite adept at it! She talked about going to Tahiti and performing there. She loved the culture and they gave each of the American dancers a black pearl necklace, which she wore tonight. She then danced to a Tahitian song which was beautiful. The surprise of the night was when she invited her friends to come and dance and Kirsten Vangsness came out with some other people and they all did a group dance for us!!!! It was so awesome!

The other amazing performance of the act were the fire-eaters!!!! Oh my word! We all had to go outside, where they offered us glasses of wine and we had to witness a wedding!! Well, two of them in any case. This was a whole act of fire-eating and it was fantastic, how they did that! Ella and I got good seats, kneeling right up front!

We then had a fifteen minute break, before the next act which was hosted by the delightful Kirsten Vangsness!! She was super funny and so sweet! She started out by handing out candy, always a win, and then introduced Lemon Road, which is an acoustic rock group. They were awesome and had some really nice songs! After their performance, Kirsten came back. She started hosting and then went to the performance gear, because she was the next act! her act was delightful. It was faction piece called Mess. I related to this piece SO much, it was like she was performing my life out there! She started off by telling us what the piece was about where the first bit was a piece of fiction that she had written and the next was a little bit of reading from her one of her diaries that she keeps.

The fun part about her act is that the description of her piece was done to the tune of Poker Face!!! And she was spot on! I love that she keeps her diaries and read a piece of her fiction because I write fiction and keep diaries!!! I felt all "I do that too!" there. It was a cool feeling! I am cool now!

After her performance, it was the comedy duo Ten West! They were simply outstanding!!! I love them! They started off with walking onto the stage with a coffin and walked off it, into the loo! Then they made "No, no" faces and brought it back. They set it down to sad funeral music playing and then one of them went to the mic at the back, turned around and started "We are all gathered here today to remember the diseased.." and the other member ran to him and whispered something and he started again "the beseeched" and went on, till it even became "split peas" till he finally got it "the deceased" and then the show went on about how no one would say something about the deceased and they collected donations, which ranged from actual money to the candy that Kirsten passed out, to candy wrappers, to jewellery and then to purses, that were not willingly donated!

After that, they made all the single women stand up and handed us their businedd cards, miming "call me" which was hilarious! After that act was the awesome Tom Lenk!!! If you are not a Buffy fan, shame on you! He was insanely funny, and talked about Nerdgasm, a play he did in London and Rock of the Ages, which he did in NYC. He also talked about some of his childhood, being a drama nerd and Shemar Moore's hot abs. Yeah. You read it right!!! Can this night get any better???

After Tom Lenk, Kirsten's hostessing duties came to an end. It was Alex Boling's turn!! He was super funny and some of the cool acts that performed in his act were Amy Stiller, from Meet the Fockers, and was funny. She did stand-up and most of her material was about her being an actor in LA (duh! Cause that's what she is!). I really fell in love with the folk band Ampersand. The singer was fantastic and so talented and the guitarist was really good too! She had such an amazing voice! The next act was Jimmy H, who is a magician. He did some cool tricks like mind reading, like he guessed cards that some members of the audience got and then got us to guess a card that an audience member had, which was awesome!!!

The sour note of the evening was Karl Herlinger, who is a ventriloquist. Oh my God, his act was so not to my taste and something that I would have gladly skipped!!! It was dirty, disgusting and vulgar to the extreme! I do not want to describe what it was on my blog because it is bad enough that it's burned in my brain, it does not need to be in yours! Oh well, I covered my eyes for the most part of it. Let's just say that.

To end on a good note, meeting Kirsten was lovely! She is such a sweet person and so freaking friendly!!! Loved it and she wore the cutest outfits on the show!!! Here is a picture of us!

The Thrilling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour!

2011-01-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in front of the laptop, drinking a glass of milk and I really want to write this post, but I don't even know where to begin, the night was so epic! I'm usually not one who's at a loss for words, and those who know me will attest to that, but Oh My God!!!

Ella and I reached Largo at 6:30pm and waited in line, hoping for good seats. It was kind of cold, but under my oh-so-stylish sweater and jeans, I had thermals on, so I didn't feel the bite. Such a good thing. We got our seats (row E, because even though we were early, there were about 30 odd people ahead of us) and then wandered a bit and then went in. I said hello to Michael, who is the stage manager at Largo and was very kind to me and it was only because of him, that I got to hang with Paget backstage in July! I then got something to drink at the cafe and we (Ella and me) sat at a table and chatted.

Ella, who was facing the courtyard saw Jonathan Reilly, who is the official TTAASSH photographer. He and I were Twitter buddies so I went up to say hello. He was very sweet and it was lovely meeting him. He even scored some of Nathan Fillion's cookies from backstage for us :) That was cool!

Then I met Busy Philipps from Cougar Town! She is absolutely lovely in person and so sweet. She signed my card and took a picture with me. She was so funny on stage and I really do not understand how she is able to keep a straight face.

It was incredible to meet the Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, because they are show, all said and done. I got them to sign my poster and they are such an inspiration for comedic writers. I hope, that at some point in time, I will have an iota of their talent. They are both very nice and took time out to talk to me, even though they were so busy.

We also got to say hello to Hal Lublin, who is an brilliant voice actor. If he has done audio books, I want to know!!! He has that voice that is so freaking smooth! I feel like he should move to Bangalore and get on Radio Indigo there!!! Pronto!

(Hal, Ella and me)

I got to say hello to Samm Levine, whose work on Freaks and Geeks I have admired for a long time. He is such a great actor and was awesome on stage. Just before we went in, Paul F. Tompkins came out to say hello!! It was surprising, because I didn't know that he was going to be there! I was glad to see him in person there finally after all the tweeting and the video chat on Yowie.

We went inside for the show. The show itself was hysterically funny, with the usual bit with Sparks Nevada: Marshal On Mars and some other stuff including Captain Laser Beam (the funniest bit in my opinion - Captain Laserrrr Beammmm) and Jefferson Reid: Ace American. Since Paget Brewsterwas working and couldn't make it to the show, the Beyond Belief segment had to be dropped.

I don't know how much I can really say about the show because I don't have permission to review the actual show. What I can say is that, if you cannot go to the actual show in LA, listen to the podcast (itunes and non-itunes), because it is the best thing ever!

I got permission to tell you guys what the play is all about, kind of. Aaron Ginsburg, the director, basically told me that I didn't need permission :P So here gos my review!!

The show started off with Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars! It stars Marc Evan Jackson, Mark Gagliardi and Busy Philipps. This was so funny and it had Yvette Nicole Brown as the "troubleshooter". The episode was where Red, Busy's character, had broken up with Sparks Nevada (MEJ's character) and chose Croach instead. It seemed as if Sparks had created a simulation of the two of them, where Red told Croach that she had chosen wrong. Then, the simulations needed an upgrade, where they developed minds of their own after Sparks approved the upgrade. To shut them down, The Troubleshooter had to be called. After trading multiple jibes, they were finally shut down.

The next act was in my opinion, the funniest thing ever! This was the Adventures of Captain LaserBeam! This brought out the talent of John Ennis and Hal Lublin. Hal was hysterically funny with his drawl of "Captain LaserBeammm" and "Richarrrddd" (who was played by Matt Braugner). I laughed so much at this bit that I actually got a cramp in my tummy!

In this episode, Captain Laserbeam had to face-off with his third worst enemy King Mammalwith the spirit of the Adventurekateers egging him on and eventually saving him! This was when the King Mammal (played by Nick Kroll) stole the Platypus and another animal that I cannot remember from the zoo. The episode was brilliantly enacted and written!

The third and final act was Jefferson Reid: Ace American - starring Nathan Fillion as Jefferson Reid, Annie Savage as Agent Abby Adams and Samm Levine as Brownie Finn. In this episode, Brownie was kidnapped and changed into a monster by the evil, dirty Krauts. Then Jefferson Reid was called in, to save Brownie and Agent Adams. The best part about this act was the way Annie Savage said "Dirty Kraut" in this voice. It was laugh-out-loud funny. The other things were the expressions on Samm's face whenever they were talking about Brownie. Nathan Fillion pulled off a cool superhero expression, but it was somewhat reminiscent of Castle's expressions. I guess, it's more a Nathan thing, but he did look adorable!

The entire show had advertisements from the sponsors - WorkJuice Coffee and Patriot Brand Ciggarettes. These were little snippets and jingles. The show ended with the cast singing the WorkJuice Anthem, which I've had stuck in my head for the last three days. (I'm editing this on January 11th).

There is a segment with two cops that I cannot remember right now, but when I do, I will put it in!

After the show, we came out and stood near the stage door, waiting patiently for Nathan Fillion, like good little children. He came out and then ran upstairs, just smiling at us. It was like all the people collectively went "Whaaaa?" until we heard that he went up for an interview and would be back for pictures. Phew, right?

He came back after his interview and we took a picture and he signed my card for me. He was so sweet and stayed for quite a while signing things and taking pictures with various people. He's one of those people who you just know you're going to like and have fun hanging out with. He actually is a LOT like Rick Castle.

We said a quick hello to Yvette Nicole Brown from Community, who was sweet enough to take a quick picture with us. She also had such a fabulous hair-do and was awesome on stage! She told me she did it herself!

We also got to hang out with the very cool Annie Savage. She has an incredible voice and is just so lively that you feel so excited being around her!!! I also found a lucky penny (you all know how I am about those) while I was chatting with her which just ups her cool factor! She also had the cutest little hat on!

(Marc Evan Jackson and me)

Then we went to The Little Room where we hung out with the funny and talented Mark Gagliardi, Marc Evan Jackson (who IS Sparks Nevada) and Andy Paley who's orchestra does the music for the show. It was incredible getting to know these insanely talented people and truly humbling that they took the time to chat with me.

All in all, it was an amazing show and evening!! Now all I need is for them to bring the show to Bangalore! We have a really cool theatre culture if anyone who can make this happen is reading this! Until then, I shall blog about Thrilling podcasts! HA!

Meeting Mesha

2011-01-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

While hanging out in LA, I've met some really cool people, who I hope to keep in touch with when I get back to Bangalore. One of them is Ella's neighbour Mesha. I had heard of Mesha for a while and how she liked shiny, glittery things and she made art out of them. Me, being me, who LOVES shiny, glittery things, couldn't wait to meet a fellow magpie.

The minute I met her, I instantly liked her. You know how you meet some people and you just click? Well this was one of them. All I had to go by was that she like shiny things. I got to hang out with her yesterday and Ella, Mesha and I sat for hours making her art boxes. The process that goes into these is insane and she is so dedicated to her work.

She takes the time to go through yard sales and take little toys or trinkets that no one may want and make something arty and meaningful from them. She takes the time to find messages that makes a person think. She gets inspiration from Buddhist philosophy, which I found interesting, because most of the Buddhist messages are universal.

She makes her boxes for adults, people who are just starting out in life (like me) and for kids, who just like fun things! It does take a lot of time and energy because she has to find the right background, the right pieces and the right amount of things to fill the box. She also takes custom orders and will make the boxes specially.

This is one that I absolutely love. I love the simplicity and the message with it.

This one is something that simply stands out. I can't really explain why, but I am attracted to this piece. Say hello to Buddha :)

This one is the Unicorn Disco, which is just so cute and fun.

I think Mesha's work describes her personality and her depth. I think it's amazing what she's doing and how she goes about it. Here she is in the process of making a pre-historic box.

It is fun watching her work and helping her, because it inspires me to get on it with my craft. I may not make pretty boxes or paint pictures, but my craft is writing and I haven't been doing enough of that lately, so this actually inspired me to write my stories and poems! So, thank you Mesha. If you ant to see some of her work, she also has a blog.

Falling down at The Grove and coming home with Portia de Rossi's autograph!

2010-12-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

First, contrary to popular belief, I did not fall on Portia de Rossi, knock her over and have Ellen DeGeneres's people beat me up. No matter how many times that has been suggested.

It happened like this. It was a sunny day, so Ella and I planned on hiking up to the Hollywood Sign. I was very excited until I found out that there was a HUGE fence around it. I had already seen it from Griffith Park, so we decided to go to the walk of the stars thing and then hit the Grove.

The Grove is a mall, but it's not really in a building. It's got a Farmer's market, stores, apartments and restaurants. It's this little area with roads and side walks (footpaths) and stuff, but no actual cars are allowed. It does have a tram (trolley) in there though. So while I was crossing the road, I tripped and flailed for about ten freaking seconds yelling "I'm falling, I'm falling" repeatedly till I fell and said, "Oh, I fell." Luckily, because I was flailing, I was also leaning forward and running (trying to gain balance), my fall was not from the epic five feet, ten inches it usually is, but a mere two feet high. So I ended up bruising my knee a bit and scraping my hand. But in case no one had noticed, a scraped hand hurts like hell!!!

So, to make me feel better, Ella and I decided to go shopping. We went to Barnes and Nobles where I really wanted to get Portia de Rossi's book "Unbearable Lightness". I went to the back to ask a store clerk where I could find a copy because the store there is three stories tall and I had never been there before and I had no intention of walking up and down trying to figure out how the store was structured. I was still in pain and by then, my knee was telling me that I had hurt it also (the scraped hand was burning, so I didn't really realise I had hit my knee).

The clerk told me that someone had just returned a copy and asked it I would be interested in it. I really didn't care as long as the all the pages were there and it wasn't in a bad condition. So he led me back to the sales desk and gave me the book. I opened it to check if everything was there and it was a freaking SIGNED copy!!!!! Some doofus called "Susie Lee" had returned a personalised signed copy!!!! Of course I took it! My name is not Susie Lee, but really, what are the chances that me, a girl from India, will go into Barnes and Nobles in LA and get a signed copy of Portia's book?

I went to get it billed and actually asked for a discount because it was a returned copy and they gave me one!!! So I basically got a discounted, autographed book! I think it balanced out the falling in the Grove, in front of a LOT of people thing.

That day was a very good day in my book. Now all I have to do is actually meet Portia and get it readdressed. Anyone know someone who knows someone who knows her? Or anyone know her?

The Hollywood life!

2010-12-27T01:57:00.000-08:00

So, I am in LA. Reached here in one piece, even though my plane got struck by lightening while landing after a seventeen hour flight. No biggie. Whaaaa???? YES biggie!!!! It was insane! After seventeen hours of flying non stop, all we wanted to do was get that plane to land and feel the ground beneath us! I was concentrating on not having to use the barf bag because I was feeling pretty ill. Suddenly, there is a loud bang, the lights flicker, the plane shakes and you look outside the window to see sparks!!! You're like what the hell?? And then the air-hostess makes an announcement saying that we were hit by lightening but there was nothing to worry about. It happens apparently. Let me tell you, I freaking worried!!! It doesn't HAPPEN!

Anyway, I went out of the airport, bags in tow and was welcomed to LA with ice cold air, some rain and the biggest rainbow I had ever seen!!! It was MASSIVE! And so beautiful! I could only manage to take a really bad picture of it though. I pretty much passed out at Ella's place out of sheer exhaustion.

Thursday was nice. We explored Studio City, which is the next locality of where she lives and I ate Greek food for the first time. Then it got dark, cold and started raining, so we decided to come back and plan the rest of my stay here. We managed to get tickets to see Jimmy Kimmel Live with Cameron Diaz and Scott Foley as guests.Don't really care about Kimmel, but the guests are cool!!! Unfortunately Ellen is on hiatus and her show is full. Oh well. We also made chocolate covered gummi bears after Aaron Ginsburg tweeted that Steve Damstra made it. I suddenly wanted some too! The first attempt was a disaster, but the second attempt was very successful!

I hiked to the observatory at Griffith Park on Friday. It was an INSANE hike! I didn't expect it to be this bad and I'm not a real fan of walking uphill. The view was gorgeous though. We could see the Hollywood Sign and the city. The city view was foggy. There were a lot of dogs being walked there which was awesome. It did kind of make me miss Gypsy a lot though, but there is no way in hell either she or I would be hiking up there on a regular basis. Another cool part about Griffith is that it's not a manicured park. It's pretty much wild vegetation with a winding, uphill pathway. There are also mountain lions living in that area, but they come out at night when there are no people. It is fun to say I walked where mountain lions walked though :D

Christmas was awesome. We spent the day at home, with a Christmas lunch and then headed out to eat in the evening. We ate at a restaurant in Studio City. We were supposed to go to Hollywood but it looked like it was going to POUR, so we stayed near by. After dinner, we went out of the restaurant to find a dog that had run away from his owner. We kind of held on to him till his panicked owner came running to find him.

I actually teared up a little when I saw dog and owner reunite, because there have been times when Gyp has gotten away from me and I've literally had a heart attack! The dog is a Rottweiler mix called Riley and he is so sweet. The owner, Jasmin, asked us to come down the road, a few buildings away to a new club called P71. Apparently her boyfriend owned it, and I really wanted to experience LA night life so Ella and I went. It was SO much fun, and we stayed there for a couple of hours. It was loungy, with a nice dancing area. The DJ who was spinning that night actually spins for the Roosevelt, so that was pretty cool!

Sunday, the day after the partying, was like a day after partying. I woke up at 8am, went back to sleep at 11, woke up at 2pm, ate a little, hung around, then went back to sleep at 8pm, now waking up at 2am on Monday, blogging! HA!

Today, we plan on hiking to the Hollywood Sign, because it's warm and clear (warm for LA - 20C!). I'm a little scared for NYE, cause the temperature is supposed to drop to a lovely 4C!!!! I have never been in temperatures that cold. The club where we're going should be heated though, otherwise I'll be celebrating Halloween late, by going as an Eskimo!

Will blog more as I explore LA! And if I meet the fancy celebs!!!

PS: I am now not apprehensive about cats! Thank you Bandit Louise!

Doggie love!

2010-11-20T02:46:00.000-08:00

First, I'm definitely going to try and vlog this for you guys to see, but here is the written version.

It started about a little more than 2 years ago when I took Gypsy for a walk. We met a Pomeranian. It's the one breed of dog that I really dislike! The are noisy, yippy and just unfriendly. Anyway, this is the one breed that Gypsy seems to ADORE. Of course it would be that way. We met Sunny and there was instant attraction! She fell in love. She remained loyal to him no matter who I introduced her to! A beagle, a Labrador, another cocker spaniel, nothing. She is fiercely loyal. It sucks.

Her interactions with Sunny are the funniest thing to watch. Usually dogs sniff each other's behind and when they are courting and the female is in heat, they definitely go for the behind. Not Gypsy.

Every time Sunny tries to sniff her behind, she turns away and never leaves it open. She is a good girl that way. She has a fascination for his ears though. She is very content to smell his ears and go crazy, wagging her tail and bouncing about. She would like him to sniff her ears, he apparently has other areas of interest. I've never seen dogs interact this way and it's the weirdest, cutest thing ever!

The one thing that I'm supremely not supportive of is the fact that when Gyp is in heat, she likes to look for him. At 4am!!!! It is dark outside, cold outside and downright scary on the dark, empty streets. But no. She doesn't care. She whines and whines and then barks if you ignore her! You must take her out! It's ridiculous! This lasts for about 3-4 days. I hate it, but I love her more, so I'm trotting about at 5am (because there is no way I'm stepping outside earlier than that!), in the cold and pretending to talk on my cell phone, keeping my eyes peeled for anything untoward. It borders insanity, but you do what you gotta do I guess.

So we walk for about 2 hours, till Sunny comes out so that she can do some ear sniffing and tail wagging and go home. You'd think that would be it. Oh no. About half an hour later, she'll want to go out again and again and again. This lasts form 4am to about 10am. You are bloody tired after this! She sleeps during the day, so she's up for this 6 hours worth of walking and she gets something out of it. I however, do not. I don't really want legs like Arnold Schwarzenegger, so I can live without this.

But yeah. I love my dog.

And thankfully, this is over now.

Unemployed, Maths and LA!

2010-11-20T02:31:00.000-08:00

Ok people, it's been a while since I blogged, probably because I vlogged my last day at work and send off and then nothing of much interest is happening. I am now unemployed. I don't really miss waking up in the morning and rushing and dealing with the hours of traffic. I do miss getting out of the house though.

I am currently studying for my Masters. My exam is in December, so I have to learn general knowledge, maths, data interpretation (percentages and ratios) and brush up on my analytical abilities. Here's the fun part, I don't particularly excel in any of these fields, which is why I now spend my days doing maths, reading random facts and doing about a dozen IQ tests. Do you know with practice, you can increase your "IQ" on these tests? HA! I was a 145, now I'm a 156!! Soon, I'll be a freaking genius! Jeez. The stuff you get online! I truly do love the Internet.

While I study, learn my times tables and increase my "IQ", there are two things that are happening in my life. The most exciting thing is a trip I'm planning. A trip to LA!!! I'm going there for Christmas and New Year! I'm so excited about this! I'm going to be meeting Ella and Michaela there and the three of us are going to be up to no good! I'll eat fries and apple pie for breakfast at a diner in the mornings and maybe nap in the afternoon and go for a comedy show at the Laugh Factory in the evening! I dunno, these are the pretty castles I'm building in the air. I'm not so sure that diners serve fries at 8am. If they do, I will eat them for breakfast. It's something I've not done, but have wanted to do for a while now.

I'm also going to the Thrilling Adventure Hour in Jan, and I hope to catch Paget there. It would be lovely to see her again, since Ella, Michaela and I are friends because of her. That's how we all met!

If any of you reading this in LA and have suggestions of things for me to do or see, let me know! I'm up for anything that doesn't involve heights or roller coasters!

The next thing that is of importance in my life deserves a whole blog post of it's own. It just does. I'll write it soon. Just after I hit the publish button below this post!

A whole bunch of random stuff!

2010-11-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

Rain, I hate you!

2010-10-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I hate you rain,
You woeful thing!
Why are you such a pain,
You really need to go away!

My hair is always perfect
When you decide to pour.
It's proven that everytime it rains
The milk always turns sour!

It's gloomy, dull and cold
Whenever you show your dirty face,
However hard you try, I can't be sold
On why everyone else seems to enjoy you!

You go and steal my favourite shoes,
You leave my dog muddy and wet!
You try to make it up to me with the rainbows
But, against you, my heart is already set!

This is my ode to this horrible, hateful thing called the rain! YOU SUCK! I also wrote this in 5 minutes, so it isn't something awesome but the feelings behind it are true!

3 days of Madness!!!

2010-10-17T07:28:00.000-07:00

The longest lift ride ever!

2010-10-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

Holy jeez (insert cuss word I was actually thinking about!), this was torture!

I am deathly afraid of bees. I would rather hold a roach in my hand than be in the same room as a bee!

My lift (elevator) has a mirror in it, great to preen one last time before stepping out or whatever. I finished walking my dog and was in the lift when I saw through the mirror that there was something at the back of my tshirt. I yanked it around to see what it was and shrieked! It was a freaking BEE! On my tshirt!!!

I shrieked and alternatively squeaked but the bee couldn't care less I guess, because apart from making odd noises, I was flailing and saying "getitoffgetitoffgetitoff" over and over again! Finally I realised that I had to get it off me myself and used the head of my key to get it off me. Now did it drop dead? no. It buzzed and flew around the lift!!!!! NIGHTMARE! trapped with a live bee in a 3 inch box! At least it felt like that!

I squat on the floor, hugged my dog and whimpered for dear life! When the lift door finally opened, I scrambled out and finally breathed!

Lets just say, while going to work, I took the stairs!!!!

Cows, Chillis and cows again!

2010-10-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

I dunno why it's so pixelated :( I tried uploading it thrice!!! Stupid YouTube! I apologise!

Cows, dog tricks and street food!

2010-10-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of those mornings - times a thousand!

2010-09-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

This morning can clearly be described as one of those mornings where *everything* goes wrong!

My morning routine was messed up because I let Gyp sleep in. She was on my bed and was fast asleep and I just didn't have the heart to wake her up for our walk. I decided that I'd get ready for work and then take her. We went for a slightly longer walk and I had to pretty much rush out. I put her breakfast in her bowl, kept fresh water, grabbed my bag and ran out the door.

There was no power, so I raced down the stairs. I live on the fifth floor of an apartment building. As I ran down the stairs, I felt something digging into me in my pocket. When I reached the lobby, I found some money folded inside my pocket. I opened my bag to put the cash into my wallet, only to realise that I had left my wallet behind! I raced back up, to get my wallet and then ran back down the stairs. While I was getting out of the building, I realised I was wearing shoes that I walk Gypsy in!!! Not meant for office wear. I had to run back up and put on my shoes. Then I raced back down, by this time quite tired!

I made it to the bus stop and caught the bus. It was empty and I scored a seat that makes you face the rest of the bus! A couple of stops later, a cute guy walks in and sits some rows away, but we can see each other because his seat is elevated. I'm smiling and he's smiling and it's all going well. Then, a guy who is totally not my type sits next to him and the next time I smile at cute boy, he thinks I'm smiling at him and grins back! EW! I was like, no freaking way, in my head. I then just put my head down and didn't look up at cute guy or not so cute guy.

The lady sitting opposite me got off a few stops later and then, to my horror, not so cute guy comes and sits in her seat!!!!! Ack! Now while I'm panicking, I am running what a horrid morning this has been, when I realise I didn't put any make-up on!!! I totally forgot to put my trademark eye-liner!!! It just feels weird without it. Kinda like forgetting your cell phone.

Then, when Vishwa and I went for our walk, we almost got chased by a cow and we saw a bull with one ginormous testicle! It was the funniest sight ever! I forgot my camera so I couldn't vlog this or take pictures! Will always take my camera when I step out from now on. Lesson well learnt!

Also, while walking into work this morning, our access turnstile whacked me on my behind as I moved it! It's looks like this -

A day in Romy's life!

2010-09-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

I love my hair today :P

Auto driver rant

2010-09-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

So many things irk me about auto drivers! First, they almost never come where you want to go! And if they come, it's never by the meter! It's always 80, 100 and 150 rupees! And it will be some ridiculously low amount like 60 rupees! Or it's ten rupees extra on the meter! Really? Why the heck won't they just come with the meter??? Is it so hard?

Then, I LOATHE chatty auto drivers!!! Ugh, ugh, ugh! Just drive please! I've been lectured on how I shouldn't go to my boyfriend's house in the evening (I don't even have one! I was going to Shubha's house!), about how it's good to be bilingual and today, he chatted about the roads, the traffic and thinking we were oh-such-good-friends, he asked for ten bucks on the meter! HA! Really?

If they get chatty, I'm just going to speak in accented English! I have to put the accents I've mastered to good use right? But if I do that, those fools will think they can rip me off by quoting an exorbitant price or by taking me on a nice long trip around Bangalore so that they can hike the meter up! Argh! How is one supposed to deal with this?

Another thing I hate is the perverts! They actually shift the rear view mirror so that they can stare at you! Buncha losers!

Okay now that I am done with my rant, they *all* aren't that bad. A lot of them do come on the meter, but they do provide for bad auto stories at parties! Oh well, it's a Bangalorean's life I guess!

Exercise and barbecues!

2010-09-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, I found out that my favourite pair of jeans didn't fit me. This literally broke my heart and I went into shock cause it's never happened before!!

I decided to cut back on the junk and start doing crunches, and increasing my walking quota for the day. After a week of exercising, morning and evening, I now fit into my jeans!!! HA! Take that! I also think I'm gonna keep this pattern. I'll still exercise and walk as much as I do now (about 6km a day) and keep my junk-ing to the level I'm at now, which is a little lesser than before. It was a crazy week. I've always said I want to put on weight, but no one wants a protruding belly, do they? No matter how small it is.

In other news, I went to my first ever barbecue. It was Suri's birthday and I was really excited about this! What an adventure though!!!! It started raining about 15 minutes before I had to leave and rained for about 45 minutes. It rained so heavily that the roads were flooded, buses were submerged, there was about 2 feet of water flooding the roads near my house and when we were about halfway there, the car got flooded!

The car went into a low laying area and the water came into the car!!! My poor friend's amps were on the floor! I dunno what happened to that, but I hope it's okay. It was crazy!!! It took us 2 and a half hours to make it across town! Which is about 25km or 15 miles at the most!

We finally reached Suri's house! I realised that I made a big mistake by wearing white to a barbecue. So not a good idea. Also, I was veggie! I had a very healthy barbecue spread of tomatoes, potatoes, mushroom, corn and onion. And LOTS of salad!

That was an adventurous day!

I FIT IN MY JEANS!!!!! BOO YA!

Weekend Vlog

2010-09-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

When the unthinkable happens!

2010-09-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

I believed it was untrue as a child. In high school, I scoffed at it. The other's were doing all kinds of things to prevent it, I ignored it. In college, they all envied me. I laughed and thanked my good fortune. I knew it existed, I had seen proof, but never experienced it. I used to pray for it, hoping, that one day, I too would experience it.

Now, after two years of working, in my 20s, I have experienced it. I am in shock. I never, ever thought this would happen to me. It is unsettling and a part of me is moving away from shock and into mourning.

I didn't fit into my clothes this morning. Not because I grew taller (which is what has happened so far), but apparently because I grew wider. I raced to the weighing machine looking at it, bewildered. I have definitely put on weight. It feels odd saying that. I'm not looking for you to scoff at me, but I've never really said that! I've always grown taller, eaten everything (vegetarian) under the sun, and never cut back on anything. I have also never set foot in a gym in all my life, nor have I "exercised"!! Sure, I've run and done some yoga, but that is just for stamina. Never with an agenda to "get in shape".

It was my favourite pair of jeans I ripped this morning as I tried to tug them on. They had pretty pink rhinestones. I also discovered that I don't fit into 4 other pairs of pants, but I really LOVE those jeans!!!! So many awesome things have happened when I was wearing those jeans! I've had them since I was 18!! I've always fit in them!

It's like now, I'm one of 'them'. I have to start watching what I eat, how much I eat and I have to start EXERCISING!!! To "get in shape"!!! I'm mortified, confused, mournful and supremely pissed off all at once!!!! It's not fair for my metabolism to do this! Without warning! If it wanted to break up with me, it could at least give me a few warnings! It didn't have to break up with me through my favourite jeans! Stupid little piece of nonsense. That's it. It's nonsense because this makes no sense to me! :(

Metabolism, please come back! I miss you terribly. Lotsa love, Romy.

First ever live chat with Paul F. Tompkins

2010-09-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

I was on Twitter this morning after my walk with Gypsy, just checking to see what people were saying. I saw Janie Haddad's tweet saying her husband Paul F. Tompkins (One of the funniest men I know) was going to do a live chat at 7pm. That meant, that this was going to happen at 7:30am my time. It was 6:45am then and I looked at the website and decided to go on for half an hour before I had to leave for work!

I registered or RSVP'd as they called it and got ready before 7:30am. I had no clue how this would work and the website kept asking me if my web cam was working and if I could hear! I said yes to both!

By the time I figured all this out, Paul had already come on and was answering questions. I saw the "Ask a question" tab and clicked on it. I asked my question and then tried once again to figure out how it worked and when my question would be answered. Suddenly, my web cam came on and a pop-up said that my question was voted to the top and that I had to get ready to answer it! Then I got a little nervous!

I mean, I was going to talk to one of the world's funniest people, and I certainly didn't want to sound idiotic! I rehearsed my question in my head and then my face filled the screen! Paul recognised me from Twitter (We've had our conversations!) and said "Ah, Romy Skye from Bangalore! How are you? It's good to finally see (or meet?) you!" (I have a somewhat eidetic memory) and I said "It's great to see you too" and then proceeded to blurt out my question, jumbling words (of course this would happen)!! Luckily Paul was kind enough to blame the great distance between us for static and I repeated the question slowly and he got it! My question was "What is your favourite worst food combination?" Mine is a jam, ketchup and cheese sandwich. He said something about a Philadelphia specialty with the leftovers of a hot dog and eggs.

At least that is what I think he said, since I am not American and I am a vegetarian and have limited knowledge of meat and eggs! He then said that Janie liked boiled peanuts and made fun of wet peanuts until I told him I loved them too!!! I died laughing at his pained what-is-the-world-coming-to expression!

For those of you who don't know, boiled peanuts is a VERY popular snack here! It's boiled in salt water and sometimes people put some lime, cut up some onions and tomatoes and eat it as a snack with beer!

I found out that you type a question, the other people online vote for it and if it's popular, you get lined up and get to ask Paul your question. I asked two more - "What is your favourite TV show right now?" and "Describe your first stand-up performance". My TV show thing was picked up and I asked him. He said that it was Mad Men and Breaking Bad on the drama side and The Colbert Report on the comedy side.

I have to say that I do not watch Mad Men or Breaking Bad - they don't air here (But I have watched Panel discussions with Janie Haddad! HA!) but I have watched The Colbert Report (YouTube) and that is just amazing!

As I was running out of time and a lot of the video chatters were asking multiple questions, I asked if I could ask another question and he said that I could. I asked about stand-up and he said that he didn't remember anything about the actual show, but he remembered everything before (feeling nervous/excited) and after - the exhilaration of having done it!

Then I had to leave as it was 7:57 and I had to be out the door at 8! The funny thing was that just as I was leaving, the website asked if I was ready to have my stand up question lined up!!! HA! I didn't feel bad cause I asked him two questions then!

It was such an amazing Thursday morning!!! Thanks so much Paul for doing this and I really hope you can come to India one day and thanks Janie for tweeting about it!!

Saying goodbye...

2010-09-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

As you grow up, there are very few people who grow up the same way as you do. Most of the time, you and your childhood friends grow into different people, with different interests and they stop becoming your best friends.

I transferred to a new school when I was twelve, where most of the people belonged to the Jain community. As a result, people were more comfortable speaking in their own language (Marvadi). I didn't know this language and was finding it very hard! I also had a new language to study - Kannada, which I had never studied before and was doing an advanced version of this. Let's just say, there wasn't a lot going for me.

In a Kannada class, the teacher made me sit next to a girl from a different section (The school had each grade/standard divided into 3 sections. I was in Section B.) so that I wouldn't talk. I sat next to this girl who's hair was cropped as short as a boy's and we didn't talk the whole period. After the class, she introduced herself as Swathi. I introduced myself back. Did I know that this was the start of a lifelong friendship? Nope!

We were made to sit together in the next Kannada class and this time, we talked. We found out that we were the only people in the whole school that watched Friends and one of the very few who watched English TV and movies and were fluent in English. Friends became the base of our conversations and our friendship.

There are so many memories, like getting out of Kannada class by going for yoga practice (She was as flexible as I was, so we put that into good use!), competing in various inter-house competitions, competing in Dumb-Charades (We actually won a few inter-school competitions!), her playing table-tennis while watched disdainfully (It was only because I sucked at it! I had no eye-hand coordination!), sitting at the back in Kannada class, memorising passages that we were supposed to read so that we could sound fluent in them, watching a couple of boys go wide-eyed at a copy of Cosmo that they had bought and playing tricks on the poor unsuspecting teacher (Remember the "dandruff" and the jamming of the bolt?)!

Some of my favourite times together are flicking paper balls at my friend Nikhil at a bowling alley, her coming over and me making her watch b=Baywatch (Yes, I was obsessed with it, and till today, I don't understand why!!), her waking my mum up at 8am on a Sunday because I was never at home, her playing the accordion and my dog going behind the sofa whining (Oh that was hysterical!), my grandmum and her cracking jokes and laughing at my expense and most of all, our Goa trip!

It's hard to believe that it's been more than ten years and we're still the best of friends. Swathi's literally been adopted by my family as my sister, and sometimes, especially at various family events, my mum actually prefers her!!

I love that I can say that I taught her not to be afraid of dogs and she taught me not to run away from the ball while playing throw ball! I still remember Gypsy racing through her garden, literally tearing it apart! I'll never forget her holding the 6 week old Gypsy going "Saromaaaaaa" and then being totally comfortable with the 6 month old Gypsy jumping all over her!

She's off to London to study and this is the first time where I can't pick up the phone and meet her randomly to discuss my latest boy issue or whine about how hard my life is (not). It's going to be strange not having her here, but I think we'll survive!

Here's to an awesome year ahead, where we're both gonna go through some serious adventures and here's to a LOT of Skyping! Like everyday!

How to explode an egg!

2010-08-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

If you follow me on Twitter or know me personally, you know my eggsploding escapades. Well, this is a post teaching one how to do it perfectly, from start to finish, with helpful tips!

First, this method must be done by boiling eggs in a saucepan over the stove. No fancy egg-boiler machine thing will work.

Now, you set the eggs to boil and your timer for 8 minutes. You then leave your kitchen and take said timer with you. Then, figuring you have 8 minutes to kill, you can watch a YouTube video or the start of a TV show before the opening credits... Something.

The timer goes off. You march back into the kitchen and look at the eggs. Now, the water hasn't really decreased, so how boiled can they really be right? So you go back to your video / playing with your dog / reading your book / talking to your friend / whatever it was that you were doing.

Then suddenly, you hear some thudding noise and the smell hits you. You squawk like an inelegant chicken and run into the kitchen, switch off the stove and look in dismay. The saucepan is black and charred, egg pieces are ALL over the kitchen and the smell that causes you to literally rush back to the loo and hurl!

Once you're sure your stomach is emptied, you open all the windows in the house and put on the fans! This is because, in a matter of seconds, the burnt egg smell has taken over your house. You have to use room freshener to mask the smell. Here is a tip. DO NOT use lavender. It makes the smell so bad that you have to take a very long walk! Use freesia and ocean breeze. These work well. I speak from experience. trust me.

Then you put the saucepan under running water to cool it down and then you scrape off the eggs with a plastic spoon, which can be ditched. Once that is done, you pour water into the saucepan and leave it there for a few minutes while you go egg hunting. Which basically is finding the pieces of exploded egg around your kitchen. Then you get back to the saucepan, scrub it like there is no tomorrow and it is done.

Another round of room freshener, some water for you to hydrate yourself after this ordeal and then you swear to yourself, never again!

Then, just like it says on the shampoo bottle - lather, rinse and repeat, you boil, explode and clean.

The supernatural or the paranormal.

2010-08-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

For the longest time, I've debated the issue of ghosts or spirits or whatever you want to call it existing. I swing back and forth, finding the topic fascinating. I've never personally had any encounter with this kind, so have never been able to say anything for sure.

This morning, the unexplainable happened. I was asleep and was startled awake by a loud crash and my dog barking. I was unsure as to what it was, but grabbed my trusty rolling pin and went to check it out. The crash came from the kitchen. The last time this had happened, there were pigeons trying to nest there! But the windows were boarded up now, so it could not have been a pigeon.

I found 4 Tupperware boxes on the floor and nothing else. It couldn't have been rats, cause we don't have a problem, the windows were shut, so it wasn't the wind, no cats, Gyp is too small to push the containers down from such a height, no loud noise to shake the shelf, no minor earthquake. There is nothing that I can think of that would cause the containers to fall!!

It is truly the weirdest thing ever! By the time I finished checking the whole house, I had the brilliant idea to try and see if Gyp would come with me into the kitchen, because I've read that animals can sense spirits or anything unusual, but I found her asleep on my bed. So that was a no go.

I'm a little weirded out by this. It totally brings up the topic of the supernatural for me. Do you guys have any thoughts about this particular incident or any thing that may have happened to you?

Mission: Paul F tompkins in India.

2010-08-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

Lets talk Paul F Tompkins! A lot of comedians are coming to Bangalore (FINALLY!). A couple of weeks ago, we had the guys from "Whose line was it anyway?" come in - Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie and we also had Russell Peters come. They both came back for a second time because the demand was so much!! So it's not like no one's going to see the show!

I really want Paul F Tompkins to come here! I spoke to a bunch of people at work and a lot of my friends and they have heard of him here and would definitely be interested to go for this! Paul told me that he wants to come here too. Now I wish it were that easy! A lot of event management has to go into this and I'm a green girl in this field! I've never done anything like this, I have no clue how to go about this or what to do.

I think it would be a hoot if he came. I've seen all possible videos of him on YouTube and now I'm looking at the stuff on funnyordie.com. He is a laugh riot and I got to see him live for the 3 minutes he performed at The Thrilling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour, just before the show.

I just need to find an event management company who would be willing to, well, manage this event. It's just not as easy as it seems cause you need one of the bigger companies to handle this. I've spoken to some people who know some people in these companies, so let's see what happens. Cross your fingers and hope we get to see him here! It would be so awesome!

That thing you tell yourself not to do.

2010-08-18T01:40:00.000-07:00

You know how there are some things you tell your self not to do, but then do it anyway? I'm not talking about some major life changing decision, but about the little things. Let's take me for an example.

Today, I had a craving to eat McAlooTikki from McDonalds. I don't know why, but when I passed the McDonalds on the way to work at 8:45am this morning, I had this sudden urge. I wanted to get off and wait till it opened and get the burger. I shook my head, hung on till 1pm and decided to get it. Now I need to take the bus to get to mcDonalds. So I went to the bus stop and stood on the curb. I was standing close to the curb, because when it isn't rush hour, the bus doesn't really hang around till you amble into the bus.

As I saw the bus approaching, I reminded myself that I was close to the curb and that I mustn't fall off. Now I should have realised that once I reminded myself not to, it was going to happen. Sure enough, the bus came to a stop and I went crashing into the side, because my foot sliped off the curb! Luckily there were only about 20 people on the bus who laughed at me. This was only because there were 20 people on the bus. I shook my head and went in.

Has this ever happened to you? There has been a time when I've been walking on a footpath (which is elevated) that is next to a gutter type thing. I've told myself that I must not walk into the gutter and promptly fallen off the footpath because I simply walked away from the gutter, not realisng that the footpath is only 5 feet wide! (I think I may have mentioned this earlier)

Or, while walking, you see cow poop a bit ahead and go "Oh cow poop! I must not step in it" and then forget and step right in it when you approach it! The same principle is applied with a rock and tripping over it!

It also works when I'm carrying something and someone else says, "don't drop it" I'll drop it. Or if someone (by that I mean my grandmother!) says "Don't fall down the stairs, go slowly", guess who's at the end of the stairs with a very painful bottom?

Please tell me this happens to you guys too and I'm not the only person who's wires are mostly crossed in the head?

Weekend adventures with Gypsy

2010-08-10T02:28:00.000-07:00

If you live in Bangalore, you will experience this thing called "load-shedding". This is basically controlled, planned (but not informed) power cuts. Sometimes, this follows a routine, which makes life easy as you can plan around it, but sometimes, they appear random (I really need to make friends in the electricity department of Bangalore!). This happens because we don't have enough power for the 8 odd million people to use. Yeah, there really are that many of us.

This gets worse in the monsoons. This is because the rain just affects the wires or something like that, not sure about the specifics, but it does get bad in the months between June and September! Anyway, I live on the 5th floor in an apartment building. Now in ALL the apartments that are there, mine is the only one that has a dog! Shocking, I know. On the whole, the community kinda only tolerates the existence of Gypsy. They are pretty much fine with her, as long as she doesn't poop/pee on the premises and bark. Now, we've lived here for a while, doing pretty okay with these conditions.

Now that you've gotten the background, here is what happened on Saturday. There was no power. My dog INSISTED that she go out now. I tried in vain to make her pee in the bathroom, but that so didn't happen. So I decided to take a chance and make a run for it. We raced down the stairs and on the third floor, she peed! At least a bucketful or something close to that much!!! I immediately dragged her back home, grabbed toilet tissue, a plastic bag, newspaper, some Lysol and shut her inside. She started barking up a frenzy - obviously! She still wanted to go out!!

I raced back down the stairs, to find that the pee had dribbled two flipping floors! I ran down, lay the newspaper down to catch the dribble and ran up and cleaned! I spent half an hour cursing the power and just generally and cleaned! I went back up, a little tired after all the racing up and down to be told in a very snide tone by some random person "The dog is barking a lot, no?" I grinned and said 'Oh. Yeah." like she was telling me a fact and not trying to tell me to keep Gyp quiet. Whatever.

So we finally went the 5 floors down, went for a walk and then climbed back the 5 floors. At this point, I was exhausted! I ate ice cream and watched TV.

Sunday, was another fun day. Usually the power goes out at 5pm, so I like to take gyp out at 4, so that I can use the lift! This Sunday? No chance! I took Gyp out in the elevator at about 4:15pm, the power was out because it started to POUR, the lift got stuck! I was in there for about 15 minutes, before the rain could lessen a little and the security people could turn the generator on so that the lift can move to floor level and Gyp and I can get out. here's what I discovered. I'm not claustrophobic at all. My dog is!!! She whined, pawed at the doors, paced and then just started barking and wouldn't calm down fully till the doors opened!! Now I know. That she is claustrophobic.

This was my weekend adventures with my dog. Did you have some adventures?

The CPU fell on my foot

2010-07-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

What exactly happened with the CPU at work. If you follow me on twitter, you probably saw the tweet about the CPU falling on my foot and wondering how on Earth did I accomplish that. Here's the whole story.

I have a corner desk at work. Now at the end of this desk, there are drawers fitted in for me to use. My CPU is on the floor, right next to these drawers with about 2 inches of space between the drawers and the CPU. Now, I also sit in a roley chair, with a tree like structure. It has five wheels.

It so happened that a wheel got stuck between the CPU and the drawers. Now any other person, would have gotten off their chair and moved the CPU to roll the chair out. Not me. No way. Why should I get off the chair when I can just move back with a little force and get the wheel out?

So this is what I did. I planted my left leg, right next to the CPU to give me better leverage and shoved myself backwards. The wheel came free, except, knocking the CPU over onto my poor foot in the process. The CPU may not weigh a LOT, but when it falls on your foot, it flipping HURTS!!! I squealed and grabbed my foot.

Of course, my computer got all messed up cause the wire came out when it fell and we have all kinds of security protocol against a hard shut down (which is essentially what happened), but forget about all that. It was so cold in my office, that my hands were like an ice pack on my foot. They were cold and they felt good on my throbbing foot.

I still haven't figured out what's worse. The CPU falling on my foot, or my hands being cold enough to use as an ice pack.

Oh here is the cherry on top - My bus was parked the farthermost from the building, it was RAINING when I left to catch my bus, but guess who couldn't run, but had to freaking limp in the rain??? Yeah. Me. And those of you who know me know how much I despise the rain! Glad yesterday is over.

I've also moved the location of my CPU, so this will never happen again! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! (Who gets this reference?)

6 weeks and going

2010-07-26T01:09:00.000-07:00

I still have to write about my US trip I know. Kate Walsh and Paget Brewster were definitely the highlights, but there is a whole lot of middle that I still need to write, but that will be the next post I promise. For now, I'm going to tell you guys what I've been up to since I got back home.

First off, I got back home almost dehydrated because I spent the whole way from London to Bangalore crying. Well, not really, but I was incredibly sad. It's hard saying bye to a vacation. I had zero time to get back in usual mode because my cousin from the States also came back on the 13th. It's been a non-stop activity ride. I've loved every minute.

I got back on Tuesday (13th July) morning, watched Airbender in the evening. Collapsed, woke up at 2am on Wednesday, hung out with my dog, watched TV (nothing interesting is ever on at that time!) and finally got ready and went to work at 8. Left at about 3 because I was exhausted and went back to sleep at home. Woke up, went out for dinner, came back slept some more. Then I cannot remember what I did on Thursday, apart from work, but on Friday, we headed into the Jungles in Masinagudi. An 8 hour drive away. Spent the weekend there, with activities like a mid night safari (SCARY!) and playing table tennis at 2am. I also beat everybody at snap. I also learned I get shrill when I get competitive.

Came back on Sunday night, slept and somehow made it through Monday and Tuesday, before accompanying my grandmother on a temple trip to a place called Dodballapur, that is about 3 hours away. That was exhausting, but it was interesting. It had been about 5 years since I visited a temple. I'm still sceptical about the concept of God and I find it hard to believe, but it was different feeling the energy of that place. There is something to be said for a place like that. So many people with intense faith and belief in the same place does something to the atmosphere.

We also watched inception. Such an amazing movie. Watch it!!!

I had Thursday to calm down a little before going club hopping on Friday night after a full day at work with my friends and cousin. Came home at 1am and crashed, before going to brunch at my Gran's sister's place on Saturday. After which we went to the worst mall in Bangalore, called Mantri Mall. If you are in or visiting Bangalore, STAY AWAY from that place if you value your sanity.

The only good thing I did there was try the Apple and Cinnamon milkshake from Booster Juice, which was quite nice, if you're into liquid apple pie. Then, we went out for dinner at a friend's house and ended up coming back home at 3am.

Sunday (yesterday) was not a day of rest either. We went to get a haircut for my cousin at Spratt and then to the movie Salt. My cousin was up to doing stuff in the evening, but I just shushed him and passed out.

He leaves tonight, which is sad, because I did enjoy having him over! My activities for this weekend are an audition on Saturday (wish me luck!) and a day at the parlour on Sunday! I'm soooo looking forward to that! I need so many things done!

I also have to get my pictures with Kate and Paget printed out for my room, a farewell on Thursday for a colleague and need time to actually meet my friends!

Oh well, I'm out now. heading to lunch. Will blog about US trip over the weekend.

It doesn't get better than Paget Brewster!

2010-07-11T00:23:00.000-07:00

Paget Brewster. So much to say! There are certain people in a person's life who help mould the person they become. These people may knowingly or unknowingly influence a person. Paget Brewster is one of those people for me. She is a role model.

She taught me the most important lesson I've ever learnt - to not wait for life to happen, but to make it happen. To put yourself out there and do what you want to do. To experience life, and not just live it. Paget Brewster experiences life. She also taught me to be myself, and just have fun and not constantly worry about what people think. She's been a part of my life since Criminal Minds. I loved her as Kathy and did watch her on the Andy Richter show, but it was Criminal Minds that had me youtube-ing interviews and videos of her.

I had the most amazing opportunity to meet her on Saturday, July 10th. It was the best experience ever and meeting her has given me new drive, courage and determination to do what I want to do and live my dream. Here's how it happened!

I found a penny in the car as I was getting in, face up, so that was a really good sign. The family and I headed to the beach in Orange County, played in the water and the sand for a little bit and then headed to LA for my play.

My uncle and aunt dropped me off at Largo, where it was happening and went to hang out in the city. The show is called "The Thrilling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour". I first heard of this when I saw an interview that Paget did with Kevin Pollack. It sounded fascinating and I always wanted to see it. When it coincided with my trip so perfectly, I booked my ticket!

The show itself is a variety show, with some singing, some jingles, some acting and a ton of laughter! It's modeled after the 1930s radio shows. I laughed almost continuously for an hour and a half! My "smile dimples" are definitely deeper! She is in the second half of the show where she plays a character called Sadie who is married to Frank. They are a rich, 1930s couple who live in the Plaza Penthouse and drink martinis. She used the word "Horse" which she demonstrated in the Kevin Pollack Chat Show. Her partner in crime is Paul. F. Tompkins, one of the funniest comedians around. This time, the story revolved around a Spanish love story and it involved goats, witches, a prince and a Chupacabra!

At the beginning of the show, I asked Michael, the person who gave me my ticket and was the stage manager at Largo if he could give Paget a little something I had for her. He said that he would take it to her immediately and went backstage and gave it to her. He came out about 5 minutes later and told me to meet him at the courtyard after the show, so that I could meet Paget!!! I nodded eagerly and jumped up and down when he turned around! I'm pretty sure I looked like a fool, but who cares!

I went out to the courtyard after the show, cursing myself for leaving my shawl in my uncle's car. It was slightly chilly, but not the go-blue variety (Yay!). I hung around there, with the other 200 play goers trying to catch his eye. It really helped that I was wearing bright blue cause he called me over when he saw me. I went on over and he told me to wait. he went inside and then came out and motioned to follow him through the stage door. I was entering sacred space. A part of me wanted to look around and take everything in, but the part that respected an actors space won and I looked down and walked.

I think Micheal must have sensed my klutzness, because he warned me of every step, preventing every chance that I had to fall on my face, for which I am eternally grateful. We went outside to this little area where Paget and a bunch of other people were standing around laughing and joking. I waited patiently on the side, quite intimidated to join this group.

She finally looked in my direction and went "Oh! Are you Saroma?" and at my nod, hugged me and thanked me for the stuff. I was a little shocked cause I did not expect this kind of openness! I hugged her back and told her that I was glad she liked the stuff. We hung out and chatted outside for about 20 minutes! I asked her for an autograph and a picture and was quite embarrassed by my shaking hands, partially due to the cold and mostly because I was so excited!!!

We talked about her "restroom thing" where she wants to say "hello!!" to a person when they accidentally walk in on her. She laughed at that and said that she had tried it at all the airports - London, Paris, Milan, etc. She said that she was currently working on a cartoon where The Simpsons originally filmed (?) and there was one stall that does not have a lock. Three guesses to which one she said she uses :P Conan flashback anyone?

Someone saw the bling on her ring finger and asked if she was engaged to Steve! She laughed at that and said "Oh no! If it happens, you'll be the first to know!" It was the bling for the show - cause her character Sadie is married to Frank Doyle!

When we admired her dress from the show, she told us that it was from ebay, and that she got it for $12!!! The entire group was in shock cause it fit her like it was stitched for her! She said that if you knew your exact measurements, you could get awesome stuff from there.

After hanging out for a few more minutes, where she revealed that she collected handbags and actually had a showcase like thing for them (Like the showcase where people keep their fancy china), we headed back indoors (Oh! Finally the shivering stopped!) and she gave me another hug and kiss, still totally blown away by her down to earth-ness, and we said goodbye. She asked if I was coming again and I told her that it would be cool if they toured India!

Paget Brewster is amazingly sweet, funny, so freaking beautiful and just everything you've heard. She is so easy to talk to and you totally relax and have fun around her, no matter how shy and intimidated you may be.

My lucky penny totally came through for me!

I dreamt I met Kate Walsh. No wait. It was freaking REAL!

2010-06-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

June 20th, 2010 dawned hot, muggy and sometimes cloudy, but mostly sunny. It was about 32C and 90F. I met my friend Adrienne in Times Square at 1pm and we took the subway to 330, 16th Street West, where the Atlantic Stage 2 theatre was. We went to 14th Street and then walked up to 16th. Then very confidently we walked in the opposite direction, before realising that the numbers were reducing!!! Then we marched up the other way, a long walk, to the theatre. We went inside to sit in the lobby because it was hot outside to wait for my aunt, who had my ticket. We took a couple of pictures and I went up outside to ask where the stage door would be, so that I could go early in case there was a rush. The theatre attendant said that they don't tell people where the stage door was!!!! What was that? Getting a little angry, I marched back in and vented a little to Adrienne. We chatted for a while and suddenly, she nudged me. I looked up to see KATE WALSH walk past us and go to the lift! She pressed the button and waited. It literally took five minutes for the lift to come up! I would love to know what was going on in her mind, because everyone was talking and then we all shut up when she walked in. I wonder if it was awkward for her or if she is used to it or if she just doesn't care. Anyway, she was wearing a blue lacy top and denim shorts. she drummed her fingers on the wall while she waited. It was a total I do that too moment. Now while I was looking at her, with my jaw on the floor, I was also FLIPPING out! I kept saying oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! And I may have been audible! I hope I wasn't though!

Then the lift finally came and she got in. The door wouldn't close. She was running a little late and you could her her mutter in frustration as she pressed the buttons repeatedly. The door closed and everyone at in the lobby was going "Oh my God! That was so cool" or something like it. Even the 60 something old ladies. Just saying. Kate has that effect on everyone!!!

I flipped out cause Kate was five feet away from me!! Adrienne had to calm me down and then my aunt came. We all went inside the lift and I told her about what happened, willing myself not to jump up and down like a freaking lunatic. it was already bad enough that a girl tweeted about me flipping out in the lobby. The usher at the entrance warned us to switch off our cell phones and referred to the incident that Kate tweeted about - an old dude's hearing aid. Adrienne and I laughed at that story and we all took our seats. At 2:30pm, the theatre grew dark and suddenly the light came on and there was Kate! Holy crow, I was seeing her act up close! It was THE best play I've ever been to. I'm not gonna say too much, because if a person reading this hasn't seen it, I don't want to give it away. I just want to say that she is incredibly articulate for a person who puts Lorelai Gilmore to shame and has an unbelievable memory! Also, she has the ability to cry on cue! WOW!

The lady in front of me - her cell phone rang!!!! Everyone looked at her, Kate and Paul paused the play for about 30 seconds, but there was no outburst. I cannot imagine how distracting it was for Kate, who had so much dialogue!!! She managed to stay on track and continued the play.

The play got over, we all applauded. My hands were numb. I'd like to say thank you Amanda for prepping me. I did not wear a skirt like I had planned and I carried a jacket. It was cold in the theatre if you're from a tropical country!

I raced out of the theatre and opted to use the stairs, because the lift obviously took forever and I think there were about 12 of us in the whole theatre under the age of 60! Seriously. So I raced up thinking it was only one floor, to realise that the theatre is actually a good way down. About four flights of stairs down!!! I ran up the stairs, thinking, I will definitely have Kate Walsh legs after this and finally reached the door where I came out. I stood directly in front of the door, prepared to shove anyone who got in my way. Not really, but anyway. Adrienne also came out and all the old people went away, so it was just about 12 of us waiting for Kate.

Paul Sparks came out first and was walking away when we kind of ambushed him for autographs and pictures. He was pretty sweet and took pictures with us. He is a really good actor! His performance was understated and a perfect match for Kate. he's cute too.

After about 10 minutes, KATE FREAKING WALSH came out. My heart stopped! She looked at me and totally recognised me!!!!!!! She walked up and said "You're from India! thanks for coming!" I stood there like an idiot for a few seconds before my brain kicked into action. being dumbstruck never had happened to me, but it's happened now. I handed her my playbill and postcards. I got her to sign two postcards for Sabine and Summer and then asked if she could personalise mine. She said "Sure! do you spell Romy R-o-m-i?" I think I almost fell down. She knew my name. SHE FREAKING KNEW MY NAME! I belatedly said "With a 'Y'" and she grinned and said "Oh yeah I remember" I handed her the present I got and asked if I could get a picture. She said "Oh sure!" and took one with me. While the entire exchange was going on, she rubbed my back and said "I didn't have to" when I handed her my present. Then she went on to sign other autographs and I hung around, wanting to just be around her till the last possible minute. She looked at me and said "I like your jites!" I flipped out again. a person who wears such incredible clothes, complemented me on mine! OMG! A person gave her some four pictures to sign and she joked "Guys, I have a life! My brother's in town" We all laughed. She finished signing, shook my hand and thanked me again for coming (though I should be the one thanking her for simply existing and being who she is and just for everything. There is so much that I have learned from her!) and went. I said bye and skipped the whole way back to the subway station. I don't know how my heart lasted.

Oh I would like to apologise to the boy who made me take his picture with Kate cause I'm so sure it's blurry! I was shaking so much!!! I made it back to my aunt's house in NJ and saw two texts from Adrienne. She said Kate had personally tweeted to me! I went online to see the tweets she left me. It was the sweetest thing ever! She is an absolute sweetheart. there are no words. A writer like me and a person who talks a LOT has officially run out of words!

Kate, if you ever read this, thank you so much for everything. Thank you for making my dream come true. Thanks for reading my letter. I meant every word and I apologise for the handwriting!

June 20th, 2010 is going to be the best day of my freaking life. The end.

When it all becomes too serious

2010-06-10T03:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you look back at your life and want to kick yourself for either making those colossally bad decisions or for not seeing stuff coming. You look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you are really that naive or if you're stupid (Then you take the IQ test and get an IQ of 141 which reassures you. A little.).

Today I'm in a stage where being in a said relationship matters, knowing what you're doing in life matters, knowing who you are matters. To me, only the third thing really matters. I don't know who I really am, I change, grow and things that were of earth shaking importance yesterday, is worth nothing today. I think I'm in a position to say that I'm okay with the kind of person I am, the values I have and the life changing decisions I've made so far seem to be ones I can live with, even if some may be mistakes.

A while back, I had my first real crush. Up till now, I've never really wanted to hang out with a boy or been comfortable around one. I've grown up in an all female household, full of very strong female presences, have had various female role models and went to a girls' school and college. Is it any wonder that I'm not particularly comfortable with the male gender? I didn't know what to talk about, what was considered cool and definitely didn't / don't know the art of flirting (At the age of 23, yes.)

It was weird when I became one of the girls I laughed at, waiting for a call or a text, wanting to meet and hang out or something and then analysing everything he ever said or did. Luckily I'm not a patient person, so this lasted all of 2 months. I am done and now all I can think about is that poor boy was subjected to many a discussion with my friends. Some of whom hadn't even met him!! HA!

I've sworn never to do this because I was moody and miserable and definitely not good company. I'm usually fun and have a wide range of interests, but all I ended up talking about was this boy! Like get over it already!

In other news, I'm spending quality time with Gyp cause I won't see her for a whole month soon. I think I'm gonna miss her above all else. If you don't get my relationship with my dog, then all I'm gonna say is that I feel bad for you because you've clearly never been the recipient of unconditional love. So yeah. I'm gonna miss her the most!

This trip is going to be different because I'm only at my aunt's place for 10 days and for the rest of the month I'm on my own! YIKES! I've never holidayed on my own, but I'm looking forward to this trip. It's going to test my independent nature (I've proved that I can't live with another person and I'm okay living alone) and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared. Mostly about how I'm going to lug my beeeeg suitcase around the various airports and between various hostels and houses! I remember the last time I travelled to the States, I had 2 suitcases of 23 kilos each (50lbs) and I had to use everything I had to get it of that baggage runway thingy. NIGHTMARE! And then, when I had to run to the other side to get my other bag, some doofus tried stealing my trolley! I think I'm just gonna be glad that it's only one piece of luggage right?

In other news, I haven't fallen off anything, hit anything or be hit by anything. An achievement, considering that it's been two whole days since I last blogged :P Anyway, my next post will probably be me squealing just before I leave for the airport.

I'm sooooooo looking forward to meeting my family, Kate Walsh and hopefully Paget Brewster! This time next week, I'll be racing through Heathrow Airport to make my connecting flight! WIN!

Oh, oh, my recommendation for this post is a blog I recently discovered. It's a fun read. It's called "I wont make you eggs in the morning" and I had a fun two hours reading it all. Check it out!

Coke with the CEO of Logica, India.

2010-06-08T03:28:00.000-07:00

It started when I was waiting for some work to be done before I could begin work on something and had sometime on my hands. Nandini was going up for lunch and I decided to tag along to give her some company. We met Niraagulan Murugan upstairs and joined him. Since I had already eaten, I got myself a coke and was talking to them about what Logica, Bangalore did for World Environment Day and about the Emission Testing they had planned.

Halfway through, we were joined by Abhay Gupte, who just happens to be the CEO of Logica in India. No biggie right??? Yeah. Start the freak out! For me, a fresher, my first job out of college, it doesn’t get bigger than this!! I sat staring at my coke, listening to everything he said, because it just seemed unreal. Who has a coke with the CEO casually? Really!

He talked about Logica’s CMMI appraisal (Level 3!!!) and things that need to go up on the intranet. Business-y stuff. Then he talked about the Environment Day plans and we talked about planting trees on barren ground. Like a hillock. How cool would it be to be travelling say, from Bangalore to Chennai, and find a green hill and a Logica sign? It seems to be a good idea and I hope it can be done.

I started contributing to the conversation when Mr. Gupte brought up Logica sponsoring an animal enclosure at the local zoo (Bannerghatta Zoo). This had all my attention the minute I heard Logica + sponsor + animal. I told him about a Non-Government Organisation called People for Animals who I volunteer for. For those of you who are interested, PFA is an organisation that deals with wild animals that are displaced due to the encroachment (of Bangalore as it expands). They rescue these animals and then rehabilitate them into the wild. They work closely with the Forest Department of India and work out of many cities across the country. They have a program where you as an individual or a company can sponsor these animals (medical and general maintenance) for a specific period or till they are released into the wild.

We discussed the work Infosys has done with the Mysore Zoo, where they sponsor enclosures and considered doing something similar with the Bannerghatta Zoo. The point that I raised was that Logica would look like we were sponsoring captivity, which is honestly not cool.

We branched out to talking about the oldest zoo in India which is the Vandalur Zoo, just outside Chennai. Mr. Gupte told us about a lecture he attended by S. Muthiah which was about how Chennai (or the then Madras) is the first city of modern India. Some of the facts that Mr. Gupte shared with us were fascinating.

There is a building called The Ice Room and the reason it’s called thus is that when the British established the East India Company, they would ship massive amounts of ice all the way from England to be consumed by the British here. All this ice was stored there! Another fact he talked about was the initiative taken by Colonel William Lambton, who started the Great Trignometrical Survey of the Indian sub-continent in 1806. Unfortunately, Lambton died by the time they made it to Nagpur and the survey was taken over by his assistant, Colonel Sir George Everest, who was his assistant then. At the end of the Survey, the Colonel Sir George Everest had the highest mountain in the world names after him, but the poor Colonel Lambton, who started this survey only has a tiny hillock in Salem, Tamil Nadu named after him!!

I found Mr. Gupte to be extremely approachable. After my initial freak-out, I wasn’t afraid to open up or voice my opinions as I would have otherwise been, when in front of someone so senior. He is so down to earth and I love that he took time to chat with his employees, no matter how junior they may be. Not something you’d expect from someone so high up! I truly appreciate it. Now, getting back to my narration.

We talked about the origin of the city of Bangalore, or now, Bengaluru. The name of the city came from the Kannada name Benda Kalooru which literally translates to the city of boiled beans. The story goes that in the year 1120 AD the Hoysala king, Veera Ballalla lost his way on a hunting trip. After a long search, he met an old lady in the forest who offered him shelter for the night and boiled beans to eat. To thank her for her services, the king built a town and called it Benda Kalooru.

It was only later in 1537, that Kempe Gowda helped design the town and give it its modern shape. It was fun to realise that we all knew the story, but none of the specifics. We didn’t know when it happened or who the king was! I’m hoping that now, after my research, I can wow people about my awesome knowledge and then say oh yeah, I chatted with the CEO about this, nonchalantly. How cool will I be!

It was the most interesting coke I’ve ever drunk and I’m quite grateful that I had some free time on an otherwise busy Tuesday. I’m sure this was probably a regular lunch for Mr. Gupte, but it’s definitely one of the highlights of my Logica life. The other one was riding in the lift with Craig Boundy. Just saying. Till next time then.

PS: I’d like to thank Google and Wikipedia for a whole lot of history information.

Freaking Fighter Jets!

2010-06-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

So if you know me, you'll know I LOVE fighter jets. The Jaguars, MIGs, Sukhois, Valkaries, you name it, I love it! I work near the HAL airport in Bangalore, which is the defence airport now that BIA has come up. It's a total treat with jets taking off and landing. Yesterday was super cool. I got to see two jets simultaneously take off and land. Like the > sign!! They were two MIG 27s. A common enough sight but it totally made me all excited inside.

I think it's the adrenalin rush, from knowing that it's so fast and powerful. My favourite part of going on a plane is the take off and landing. The speed the plane goes at to lift off and the force with which it lands, the speed and the need to slow down fast, before we overshoot the runway. It's so brilliant!

Anyway, when I saw the two jets, I totally started jumping up and down, squealing, before realising that I was in front of my office and I looked like a lunatic. I stopped slowly and looked around to see if anyone had caught my moment of weakness, where I wasn't the perfect corporate employee like I always am (yeah right!) and sure enough, some two guys were looking at me quite weirdly. I'll bet they were debating if the rumours that if you admit a person to NIMHANS (the mental institute) you get a fruit basket and a rug were true. lets just say that I quickly made my way back to my desk.

This was my adventure for yesterday.

(Jets in the image left to right - Jaguar, Mirage 2000, Sukhoi - 30K, MiG-27, MiG-21bis)

Dragonflies

2010-05-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

It's less than a month to my US trip and I'm literally counting down days. This trip is going to be EPIC. I still have to do so much like book hostel stay, find transport options, find passport, etc. Oh well.

I'm that person that believes in that thing where you start your day out on a good note, the whole day is going to be good. Some days I'll eat chocolate or pizza for breakfast, watch Lauren Graham / Paget Brewster / Kate Walsh on Youtube, play with Gypsy for some extra time or listen to some of my favourite music. You can't get better days than those. For those who contest this belief, I simply rely on psychology and will the day to be good. If you simply don't let the bad stuff register, your day is automatically good right? Right.

So today, just before entering the office building, I saw two dragonflies going at it like there was no tomorrow! They flew low, one firmly attached to the tail of the other and flew around quite fast. There will definitely be more dragonflies in this world. My problem with this is that I can't decide if this is a good omen or a bad one. My dilemma for the day, people.

I've also decided to come up with theories for all things that puzzle me. These theories will be hypothesised by me (I have a psych degree which makes me semi-qualified) and it will be up to you to prove it or just nod your heads and agree. Whichever is easier.

I'd like to mention this web-series called The Subpranos. It's about these two singer/songwriters who meet in NYC and move to LA. it's funny and quirky. It stars Cyrina Fiallo and Chrissy Fit. Check it out!

Another thing I'd like to mention is this band called Folded Light. It's a rock duo - Steve Damstra and Jaffe Zinn. They have some funky music, and they describe themselves as Dutch Pop. I can't tell cause I'm not familiar with Dutch Pop, but I love their stuff! Second album called Kelly is out!

And, and, and you guys must check out Janie Haddad's vlog. Super funny. And a really cool insight to life as an actor in Hollywood. It's so much more than what we imagine. What I love about her vlogs are that there are no retakes (it's not some rehearsed stuff) and it's candid!

I will shut up now.

So many opinions!!!

2010-05-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is what happens when I don't blog for a while!! Nothing of real interest has happened, but I have so many tiny things I need to share with you guys!! Should I list them? Yeah. Easier to read!

1) There is a gym in Bangalore called "Jesus Body Builders" I can't get over that. I told Swathi this and she said "For the God-like look"! I cracked up!!

2) I got carded!! At a freaking movie. I needed to be above 18 to watch this movie. I'm freaking 23! Jeez.

3) The Back-Up Plan. DO NOT WATCH IT. If you want to have a baby, please don't. Planned parenthood should use this movie as a PSA. Seriously. I have no clue what the Director and Screenwriter were thinking. If it was their aim to make the audience throw-up, they succeeded!

4) Have you ever rubbed lotion on your hands and then eaten finger food? Did the food taste a little funny? Yeah. You just ate food with a lotion dip.

5) It's been storming like crazy here, which means Gyp and i spend most of our evenings on my bed all cuddled up with my windows closed, while my mum sits in the balcony, taking it all in. It's things like this that makes me wonder if I'm adopted. At least Gyp and I are on the same side.

6) I've noticed that when I go grocery shopping, my groceries consist of 5 kinds of cookies, some noodles, chips, chips, more chips, butter popcorn, cheese and maybe some coke. It's a little weird when the lady in front of me gives me dirty looks because she had slim milk, oats and protein shakes in her cart and a gym membership card in her wallet.

7) I almost got pick-pocketed (is that a word?) on the bus. They caught her because she was trying to unzip my bag. Nice. So glad she didn't get anything. Now I clutch my bag like I'm carrying Pandora's Box in there. Not taking any chances dude.

8) I watered a fake plant. Yeah. I think my mum should stop having a mix of real and fake plants. I can deal with only one kind.

So all this has happened. Argh! Oh oh, so things that are happening around me. Bangalore nightlife deadline has been increased to 2am!!! Partay! um, Criminal Minds spin-off has been picked up! It stars Forest Whitaker and the delectable Matt Ryan as Mick - who is totally hot for Prentiss! I'm looking forward to watching it!

Neil Andrea has a blog!!!! You guys should check it out! He talks about his work and it is a whole new world for a land locked hydrophobic like me! It's fascinating reading about things like an under water cemetery, green flashes, sharks, dolphins and so much more! He includes pictures and videos :)

That's it for now.. I'll update soon.. oooh - less than a month to USA 2010! :D I can't wait to see Kate Walsh and Paget Brewster!

When you use twitter to recollect what's been happening

2010-05-07T03:46:00.000-07:00

Life has definitely not been uneventful! I wonder if I should write everything here, cause my mother reads this thing sometimes I think... It's not adventures beginning with "I went to a party and got smashed" but more stories that will make her (or any person) rethink her insurance policies...

So, now I have my tweets in order, let's start addressing what's been happening (yes I'm that lame, deal with it!).

Are you guys junkies? Do you do something to get that high? That thrill? Most people go bungee jumping or do some other horrific activity for that rush. I, let deadlines get really close and then go nuts trying to meet them!! I love that rush, the stress, the fast pace!! (This is why I would love NYC if it weren't for the frigid weather!) Anyway, I'm doing that right now! Oh well!!

I also finally acknowledge that I'm a cheese-sleeper. I feel so freaking sleepy after I eat cheese!! Then, I saw the Parenthood episode, that had Lauren Graham dancing freestyle! So funny!!! I love this new show. I'm not as passionate about it as I am about Criminal Minds or Bones, but it's fast becoming one of my favourites. Private Practice is now slipping in my opinion. It's getting harder to watch as we go along. I'm hoping the death of a character will be for the good of the show (KILL PETE OFF PLEASE!!!). I've also started watching Castle, which is airing now in India. It's interesting... Let's see what happens.

I got my appraisal at work and it's seriously good which is awesome!!! I get a better bonus, which means more spending money in the States!! Whoop! The big thing that happened in April was that Julia came to visit! We had a BLAST when she was here and I made her try all kinds of fruit and some Indian food! Was fun! She liked most of it I think! And she didn't find Bangalore's 38C hot after spending time in Delhi's 44C!!! We met my friends clubbing, shopped a little, saw some sights and sounds.

A special shout out to my friend Sabine, who sent me the best marzipan ever!! SO FREAKING YUMMY! Loved every bit of it!

This week has been BIZARRE!! One bad thing after another!! Let's start with Monday, where I hit a bus. yeah. I hit the bus. It was stationary and I walked into it. how does one not see a bus I have no clue. Then spent the rest of the day getting so many mails, that I started seeing imaginary blue email pop-ups! Scary!

Tuesday was literally shit. I woke up with an awful headache, feeling sick and finding out that my doggie had pooped on the living room floor!!! And it was the loose variety! Cleaning smelly poop while already feeling nauseous... Not fun.

The better part of the day was actually talking to Neoshia, who I'm meeting in LA in July!! We're going to Paget's show together!! I'm super excited about that!

Wednesday fared no better. I had a MASSIVE headache on Tuesday so I slept at 7pm that night and woke up to a flooded house! Slight exaggeration, but water was in my room and my mum's room!! I've slept through earthquakes, so I didn't hear the storm outside and the rain had come in through the open windows. I feel awful for my baby who hates the rain as much as I do! I was out cold, but she wasn't!!!

I also heard Paget sing for the first time.. OMG she is freaking awesome! Didn't think she sang this well. It's on YouTube. Search for "Paget Brewster Common Rotation". She sings the song Diamonds are Forever.

Thursday (yesterday) was so much better!! I went out to Woodstok for lunch. Amazing food and very nice place! And I saw Chris Phieffer, the world number one stunt biker perform. It was super amazing!!! Suddenly, I want to marry a stunt biker!! :P

Today is uneventful, apart from the fact that I counted a lady's tires!!! 5 freaking tires!! I have no issues with weight, but dude! Dress according to your size! Wearing lycra when you are not on the skinny side is NOT COOL!

Hope you have fun reading this!! I had fun writing this!!!

Skills on my resume

2010-04-27T00:26:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at my resume the other day and decided that there was a lot of skills that I could add. I, in my usual style, have made a list.

1) I'm an expert at walking into inanimate objects - walls, doors, plants, vehicles, desks. Even on stage, while acting in a play, I walk into things. That is true skill.

2) ACTING! Not to be confused with the movie and stage variety. I can act interested in things that would put a kid with ADHD to sleep! This is a strong skill for me.

3) Reading code - Not Morse or anything, but I have become an expert at reading text with typos. For example - Ti would tkae a presno a whileo t redat his but I can read it at normal speed. This is a useful skill to have I'm assuming.

There are more skills which escape my mind, but I will add them as and when I remember.

Paget Brewster facts and suggestions

2010-04-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

So I went through a phase where I saw a lot of Paget Brewster interviews on Youtube. Here is what I learned -

1) She worked in a whore house for 3 days as a person who answered the phone. She didn't "whore". This grammatically incorrect sentence was corrected by Conan O'Brian.

2) She does a sexy robot accent - which sounds exactly like one of those call centre people from Bangalore! (sorry Paget!)

3) She can speak French, but mimics Russian in an accurate accent.

4) She can do Arabic, Russian and German accents apart from her "sexy robot" accent.

5) She was a photographer for SuicideGirls.com

6) She was a bartender in San Fransisco.

7) She was a singer in the punk rock band Sleeping Pills.

8) Had her own TV show - The Paget Show that aired at 1:30am in San Fransisco.

9) She used to write the sex-advice column for 'Femme Fatales', a pinup fan mag.

10) She dissed Kimmel on the Kevin Pollack Chat Show

So these are some facts about Paget Brewster, here are some suggestions she has, that I have tried/would like to try!

1) While being picked out for a random security check, step out of the line and get really excited screaming "I won! I won!!" - I haven't tried this, but I will one day. Only in India though, cause otherwise there is the whole terrorist thing!

2) When the door to the loo doesn't get locked, and someone walks in on you, instead of freaking out and telling them to back out, give them a really enthusiastic hello! - I tried this yesterday!!! It's hysterically funny!!! The person was so shocked, she totally didn't know how to react!

I will add more as I remember them! You should try them also!

Fangirling!

2010-04-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Most people who know me know I'm a crazy fangirl. This means I'll squeal and get excited when something fun happens. And talk about them a lot. For example I'm so so so excited that Paget Brewster joined Twitter!!! I love her work and think she is such a fun person! If you want to get to know her a little better, follow her or see the Kevin Pollack interviews! They are on you tube in 2 parts. It's a little more then an hour and she talks about hosting a talk show that aired at 1:30am, bar tending, being a photographer, how she started off acting, her band and SO much more! (See what I mean about being a fangirl?)

Also.... I GOT TICKETS TO SEE KATE WALSH!!!! It's really happening! The play is called Dusk Rings a Bell and is in the Atlantic stage 2 theatre in NYC. It runs from may 19th (previews) till June 20th. You can get tickets at www.ticketcentral.com It's a small theatre with 99 seats, so hurry up and book your tickets!

This all happened last night and my mum leaving for SF so yeah.. I'm excited. Oh oh oh, Julia is mostly going to be here next weekend!!! That is so freaking cool! I still can't believe Jasmin was here. It's all so surreal! I'm meeting so many Walshies and we share fandoms which is super cool.

Now that I have blogged about this phenomenon that puzzles many of my "real life" friends, I hope somethings are clearer. Also, I take comfort that there are other fangirls out there whom I'm meeting so I know I'm not alone! :D

Superstitions

2010-04-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

This morning, I found myself frantically looking for a person I could bump into so that I could pass my "sorrow" on and have a good day. I did find a person, and as a result of passing on my sorrow, my boss isn't in today. It's always a good day when your boss isn't in, unless he is extremely good looking, or you need something from him/her.

Anyway, how did I get this "sorrow" you wonder? Well, how many of you believe in that childhood superstition about ravens? "One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, four for a boy (depending on how old you are)" I totally believe in this and I saw a raven eating a dead rat in the morning, just as I stepped out of the house to go to work.

I decided to make a list of superstitions that I believe in and that some friends and people I know believe.

1) The Raven thing - The way to make yourself immune to the curse (?) is to have your index and your middle fingers crossed. This morning, I didn't have my fingers crossed. You may also pass on your "sorrow" by touching another person and you must share your joy by getting another person to uncross your crossed fingers.

2) The mail van - If a person sees a mail van, s/he must make a wish and cross his/her fingers. S/he must not talk until s/he sees a black car. At this point, the fingers may be uncrossed and the wish will come true. I have no clue if this works, but for some reason I believe it!

3) Vishwa's superstition - If you wear new clothes on a Wednesday, you get new clothes.

4) Matthew Gray Gubler's superstition (which I have adopted) - It's good luck to wear two different socks instead of a pair.

If you guys have any you'd like to share, feel free to comment! :)

Fanfiction!

2010-04-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to this world about a year ago. Since then I've become obsessed with it! I love the idea of a fan coming up with their own stories, interpretations of characters and situations! So far, I've written for Gilmore Girls, Private Practice and Parenthood. These are all dramas and I enjoy writing them.

I really would like to write a fic for Criminal Minds or Bones, but I have no clue! most of my stories have dealt with couples or family units that have already been created (Lorelai&Chris; Addison&Kevin; Addison&Sam and Sarah&Amber/Drew), so writing something that is so new and not created by the show's writer is going to be hard. Writing for Bones is going to be very, very hard because I need, at least, preliminary knowledge of forensic anthropology and I have NO clue. They have a pairing that I can work with though - Booth/Brennan.

Criminal Minds would be a challenge as they all function effectively as a team and at the end of the day, anyone can be paired with anyone. I don't know if I should write a ship (pairing) or just leave it as a team. A ship would be easier to write as the focus is on 2 characters instead of the usual 7! Plus you get to not really include characters you aren't too fond of (read Hotch.)

The other challenge is the case that they need to work on. I can take them on a vacation etc, but how absolutely boring! I need to find a good case for them to work on! I need to finally put my psychology degree into good use.

So it's kind of official. I will be writing a Criminal Minds, ship driven fic. Right now I'm also writing a Addisam fic and my first and only Parenthood fic. I hope i can do a good job to the CM fic. Wish me luck!

This post is like, to all the people who like, use the word like.

2010-04-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

Must be read in an American accent. Preferably in the movie - cheerleader accent.

So like, the other day, I was like, texting a friend and he was like, making fun of me cause I use like a lot. I like, totally didn't get it cause like, I was kinda busy while texting back and like, it was only later, that I like, figured it out. It was like, kinda stupid that I didn't like, figure it out. But like, I think I had an excuse. Cause I was like, busy.

Then I like, stared being conscious of like, my usage of like. It was like, kinda bad so I decided to seriously like, stop using it. I tried for like, three days, till I like totally gave up, cause I was like, talking real slow. So like now, I just embrace my usage of like, though I still kinda like wince when I catch myself using, like, the word like.

And my friend, like wont let me forget, and I like, made the mistake of like, telling my mum, so like now, even she like, uses like to irritate me. Then she like, told my best friend, who like, also uses that word, but like, she figured out that it bugs me so like, she uses it too. This is like, sooo not done.

My dog has a boyfriend.

2010-04-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

I was awoken by a whimpering at 5:17am. This whimpering came from the corner of my bed, where this white furry creature stood, asking to come up. I leaned over and yanked at her halter as she jumped up. I turned to my side and immediately fell back asleep. Three minutes later, I was pawed awake. I started to take a deep breath and I managed to inhale a lungful of dog breath before I quickly turned my face away. My dog was sitting opposite me and panting into my face. I knew this was it. This was how it started. The waking me up at ungodly hours to look for her boyfriend. Why the hell don't dogs have cell phones? They can text while I sleep!

I took my dog out at 5:45am and we were out till 6:45am. We saw her boyfriend, where they smelt each other adoringly and I yanked the leash as soon as I was uncomfortable with the areas they were smelling. till the shoulders ONLY! I hate being this person. God, my mum has had it easy. I've never put her through this.. Dating inappropriate men. I need a tattooed, biker boy now. It's only fair that my mum gets to experience what I'm going through.

I'm happy that my baby is happy, but does it have to be that filthy, awful, nippy, barky breed??? A mongrel would be perfectly fine. Even those rats that masquerade as dogs - what are they called? Chihuahuas. Those would be ok also. A pom just doesn't cut it! EEEEWWWWW!!!

In other news, my mum managed to explode eggs in the kitchen, we have lavender tasting cereal and there is never enough ice cream!

Oh Oh Oh!!! Highlight of my week! I got light up candy!!!! :D Going to see Clash of the titans. Hoping it doesn't give me a headache like Avatar did and isnt a waste of my money like avatar was. Yeah I didn't like the movie.

And another note: Someone said that they get annoyed when Asians sit on the train next to her and talk in their language. And another person agreed with her. I feel so sad there are such intolerant people in this world and I am sad to say that I knew them. How is it their business what language people who aren't associated to them talk? I know name calling wont change things, but it's so tempting.

Continuation :)

2010-03-31T04:20:00.000-07:00

So small wrap up of Jasmin's visit... She came on a Sunday, we went grocery shopping and my mum did the actual shopping on the list while Jazz and I picked up whatever we liked (read - candy, chips, huge bags of Doritos and salsa!). We shopped like crazy people (well like me, and to her it was crazy!), we saw a play that was associated with a German theatre (total win), got matching t-shirts, she met my friends, saw two movies (one next to a bunch of squealing tweens.. Advice: choose death by butter knife rather than watch a movie next to tweens.), went to really crowded shopping places in Bangalore (yes, shopping again.), went to a jungle, got buzzed on beer (me, and she thought it was shandy - sprite and beer. Clearly Indian Beer doesn't cut it.), ran errands, walked my dog (an event in itself), played games where she slipped into German, fully forgetting that I don't speak it (funny!), lunched at my grans place, ate Japanese food, ate a LOT of Indian food... Now if I'm tired telling you, you must be tired reading.

Oh she was also on watch duty twice. I will not explain this. And Jasmin, you will not explain this in a comment either.

On local animal adventures, I think the bats may have taken over from the cows. This is the second bat thing I've had in a month! We were at the theatre, generally talking after a play when the bats, yeah, plural, kept swooping in on us!!! Pesky things!

Nothing else has really happened. Jazz and I met two "sniffers" at the vet. It was was like it was their life's mission to sniff at every dog's ass while at the vet! And those things were massive doggies! Let's just say they got no where near my baby!

Aaaannnnddd.... ARCADE GAMES! Dude, so much fun! I loved it! I think we'll play some tomorrow also. Just cause. I love winning tickets and getting stuff that is one tenth the price we paid for the games in the first place. But who cares! Also a squeezy stress buster that is long and cylendrical... Draw your own conclusions! Tee hee!

Air Hockey is the best ever! :D

And end scene. Now I go to celebrate Wednesday at Hard Rock Cafe :D

Note: When you go to the theatre, do you ever see these "Arty-Farty" people? These will be the people dressing oddly, have this air or fake snobbery (I know oh-so-much about theatre), will comment on tiny things using big words to come off as so smart while in reality they are spouting a bunch on nonsense? Have you? We spotted tons of them yesterday. Just saying.

We also had a competition about who can use the word "Arty-Farty" in a derogatory manner the best. I forget who won. We each had 3 tries. Much fun!

And then... the jungle

2010-03-31T02:35:00.000-07:00

It's two more days till Jasmin leaves already!!!! The last week and a half has FLOWN by! We've had some animal adventures, not too many though. The cows have left me alone, which is awesome. I'm still wary and cross to the other side when I see one on the road. Self preservation, gut feeling, instinct.. Whatever.

We went to the jungle last week. We got to see tiger cubs, which was ah-mazing! Another jeep spotted them at a water hole and radioed our safari jeep which hurtled through the forest with branches almost hitting our faces to get there. It was such a high to shoot through the forest, in a squeaky jeep, on something that can barely be called a road, with a steep drop on one side and hill on the other. We did make it to the water hole in one piece. Our heads were slightly swollen from all the knocking on metal. I dunno if that was good luck, but it seemed to have worked. I also wore two different socks, after I heard that it was supposed to be good luck from Matthew Gray Gubler. Now I believe it too!

The campsite was such that the electricity was available from 5:30am to 8am and from 6pm to 10:30pm. It's not fun being woken up at 5:30, going to the loo and finding a huge spider staring at you! Now you were also about to sit on it. Start screaming now? That is what Jasmin did! When she came out running and told me this, I mocked her thinking "It's a wee lil spider. Come on." and went in. It was no wee spider. That thing was the size of my palm!!!!! I went out to get my shoe and when I went back, the thing was gone!!! Disappeared! Crazy ass thing! We hunted high and low, found two other tiny spiders (which were quickly done away with) but couldn't find the big one. We shut the door to the loo real tight and went for the morning safari.

Coming back at 8:30am meant that there was no electricity, and also the loo had one tiny window which didn't help with the light as there were huge trees next to the window! Shining the torch, we both went in, holding slippers in out hands. We saw the big thing sitting next to the comode! It seemed to have had a rough few hours, as now it had 5 legs. Four on one side and one on the other. That didn't hinder it's speed as I chased it. I managed to chase it onto a towel which I carefully picked up, cause I didn't want to startle it and get it to run on me, threw the towel outside and it ran away. (I just shuddered while writing this!)

Jasmin opted for a quick wash while I was determined to not let that Thing scare me and get clean. As I was showering, I noticed some movement from the corner of my eye. I turned to look at a frog and a lizard staring at me. Gee, isn't that a pleasant sight? Let's just say, my shower was really quick and I got the hell out of there.

Our next animal adventure was with an elephant. I had gone to this jungle about 3 years ago, where I was chased by a baby elephant (who was decidedly bigger then I was) and wasn't looking forward to meeting him again. He wasn't around when we went to the elephant camp, but there was a magnificent tusker tied to a tree. I love elephants and I think they are really awe-some, in the literal sense of the word, so I convinced Jasmin that it was a good idea to take pictures of this animal. We went up close and started to take pictures. I walked closer, quite confidently. He was tame after all. He turned and looked at me and I grinned at him, thinking oh, he's saying hello or something. Me, the fool, still didn't move when he took a step towards me, but when he took the second and third step, I walked away real quick. I learned later that he wasn't exactly tame :P

Our jungle trip after that was pretty much uneventful. We fed a few monkeys at the nearby temple which was fun, but that's about it. We reached Bangalore at about 3pm and at 6pm we left to go to a friend's house for a well, not a party, but a get-together that's fun.

I don't know how to end this, but yeah. I'll post more later :)

Roaring rants.

2010-03-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

So, an update to my earlier post - more animals that hate me and that I hate right back!

Bats - You little shrieking morons! Just because I walk under a low tree, does not give you the right to flap all around my head, scaring 10 years off me! I'd like to live till I'm 60 thanks! Me squatting on the street, holding a petrified dog and screaming is not how I'd like to start my morning!

Pigeons - Just cause they are worth another mention. Cooing rats with wings! Birds of the devil. Ever wondered why they are prime sacrifices in black magic? Losers!

That's it for now. Check back for more additions.

In my regular life, Jasmin's visit is 2 days away!!!!!!!! She'll be here early Sunday morning (like 2:55am), so It's Friday and Saturday! I still need to dust my room and make some space for her stuff in my closet. Or she can experience "Living out of a suitcase!" No? I thought so. Never fear. Space will be made.

I think I was the only person who celebrated St. Patrick's Day by wearing green and a bunch of shamrock themed jewellery! In a company of 3000 people, I was the only one who wore green. And no, green inner clothes don't count. Just saying.

Also, something I've noticed off late is that people are so enamoured of alcohol! Like when was drinking cool? It's cool to lose self control? To laugh at the smallest thing and frankly look like quite the idiot? Then, I'm very uncool. I'm also quite scornful when I see those rowdy people on the streets. Like they have nothing better to do in their lives. And what's up with the "Oh I've had a bad day, lets drink!, I got a crappy review, lets drink!" Um, no. It does not change things! You want to forget? See a funny movie, go bowling, take a walk, read a book, listen to some music, dance it out! Eat freaking ice cream! Like really, alcohol is not the answer!

I've been drunk once and it's total mortification. If I could take it back, I'd take it back in a second! Now, I either skip the drink or have a few sips of the rare cocktail at a dinner and the end. I just realised, that I've never been able to finish a drink (from beer to a shot) in sooooo long. That day (May 16th, 2009) was the only time. Yikes.

Now we are done with my rant about alcohol. Lets move on to cigarettes? No? Ok. I shall spare you.

I just heard that Sandra Bullock and Jesse James split!!! I feel so bad! I actually liked them! What the hell is going to happen to Sunny I actually wonder. I'm exploring new blogs, which is interesting... most of them drop the "F" word a LOT! I need to check if I've said it, but I know I've used some mild bad words in my rants, but I don't think I've used that word. I don't know how it adds to a sentence if you say "That flower is f****** beautiful". It's the same as saying "That flower is very beautiful." And the second sentence doesn't hurt your ears or make you cringe. Also one thing that irks me is that comedians use cuss words and think it's oh so funny! Dude, it's not.

I feel bad cause apparently Kate Walsh also uses cuss words to express her enthusiasm. That is sad and something that I totally disagree with. Oh well. End of rant 2.

Jasmin's visit! We're going to the jungle!!! The same one where I was chased by the baby elephant. Should be interesting at the very least. I cannot wait to see how she reacts to everything that is normal to me and so strange to her! This is also the first time we're meeting so I hope she has enough patience to handle my jumping hyperactivity that is fueled by the copious amounts of sugar I ingest!

If you've actually read all this I congratulate you. Good for you!

PS: ALINA!!!!! I LOVED your present!!! Thanks sooooo much!! <3

My animal grudges!

2010-03-11T01:44:00.001-08:00

1) COWS - They have conspired to hate me. I have been chased, butt, peed on, stepped in their poop and have been held hostage behind a car for 10 minutes! It all started when I was 12 and brushed a cow while volunteering at an animal shelter. Good deed gone bad? Bitches the lot of them are. Oh yeah, butting a car that I was in is uncool also.

2) Cats - The way they rub against you is frankly creeptacular! And you cannot predict their emotions. Once scratched, ever shy. Kittens are cute though!

2) Hamsters - Cute as hell, love them except when they cling to the pad of my hand with their teeth. I'd rather they perform their acrobatics elsewhere. Preferably where I wont bleed.

4) Pigeons - They are filthy rats with wings. I do not appreciate their shedding, their coming into my room and pooping all over the place, their incessant cooing or the allergies I have! Ugly lil shits! become extinct!

5) Elephants - I dislike the fact that you let a lady get on you without any qualms and put up a fuss when I tried to get on. I was 1/52389705818034612785th her weight! I also don't appreciate the fact that your baby, who was taller than I was, chased me round the paddock into the bloody jungle where I was scratched.

6) Chicken (hens) - They chased me when I was 2 months old and was in a pram!!! What the hell did I do to them??? And over the years have clucked at me viciously every time I passed by! I don't even eat them!

7) Geese - So did not like them damaging my luggage when I walked by them at a resort. Hie! That is mine! Go find something else to attack!

That's about it for now... I'll add to this list as and when things occur to me. And there will be more!

Birthday week, trees, reunions and hamsters!

2010-03-09T01:32:00.000-08:00

Wow. This has been an amazing two weeks. I have some of the most amazing friends ever. I had an amazing time as I turned the dreaded 23 and realised it wasn't so bad, until I discovered my first white hair. This is when I curse being born a brunette. If I were blonde, I wouldn't even have noticed. Oh well.

I met some classmates, some of whom I hadn't seen in 13 years! I left that school in 6th grade. It was super fun to see what people were doing. I was shocked to know that a classmate worked with another friend at KPMG! Two of them are doctors now (it's so unreal cause I still remember the 10 year old them!) It was cool that i could recognise them, though they looked a little different.

What was funny was that apparently, some people who had seen me through the years at various places had said that I was really tall. The organiser asked if I was as tall as him, he is 6'3". I said no (horrified that someone thought I was that tall! If I was, I'd have packed my bags ages ago to live with Norse people who descend from the Vikings!)

The thing that rankled me a little were comments about me being skinny. I'll say it one last time - I have never been remotely not skinny for the last 23 years, and from the looks of it, I will be this way for the next 23 years. GET OVER IT! And done.

My birthday week was everything it promised. It started on Saturday, the 27th of Feb, with a nice lunch at the Leela (Citrus) and 12 kinds of dessert. I had to forgo dinner that day. So freaking full! Monday was super busy at work, so that went by quickly. I also donated my birthday clothes money to charity, which made me feel good. I was a little upset that I didn't have new clothes on the day, but I got over it. Maybe cause it was a human charity :P Tuesday was again semi busy and was filled with anticipation for Wednesday which was "The Day". Wednesday dawned early, at 12:30am to be exact with a call from my best friend. I caught snatches of sleep but was too hyped up to actually fall back asleep. I ended up playing with my doggie for a couple hours which was perfect.

I went to my gran's place for breakfast, which was awesome cause I got 3 flower arrangements! All purple flowers which kicked ass! Then I headed out to visit the Air Force (HAL) museum with Vishwa, which totally rocked. Let's just say, Freud would LOVE me and my fascinations with airplanes! At work I was given presents which were ALL purple! It was awesome! I was even wearing purple! I also took my mum and my bestie (Swathi) to dinner at a new restaurant called Fireflies. Didn't realise it was a seafood and grill. Fun when all three of us are vegetarian.

My TV obsession has been recognised by whatever force it is that runs the universe! Wednesday (India time) was the premiere of Parenthood, Lauren Graham's TV serial, Thursday was Matthew Gray Gubler's Criminal Mind's directorial debut ad Friday was the release of Kate Walsh's movie, Legion. Like really, all this is too cool to be just a coincidence!

If you believe that if you fall on your birthday, you will fall for the rest of the year, then you will agree with me that I made sure that the klutz events will continue this year as well. I had to run to catch a bus to the museum, so while running, I tripped and smacked my entire left side into a tree!!! A freaking TREE! Can I say OW? The only good thing about that was being able to call people back and say "Oh I'm sorry I didn't answer your call, I was too busy running into a tree."

With animal adventures, these two weeks have been cow-less. My hamster, Addison Lorelai, though has made it her mission to wake me up for the last 3 days at 3am!!!! How? First she climbs to the top of the cage and falls down with a thump, then runs on the wheel, then rips up the newspaper on the bottom, then chews on the bars of her cage, making twanging noises!!!!! This all after buying her various hamster teething toys so that she can stop chewing on those bars!!! all this starts exactly at 2:30am and I'm up at 3!

My life is definitely interesting. I can say that.

Birthdays!

2010-02-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

Until now, I have always looked forward to my birthday, adding that extra candle on my cake, hopefully not getting carded at the movies (what the hell, I'm waay over 18!) and the presents. It starts on January 3rd, the countdown leading up to March 3rd, which is the big day. I plan everything in advance, let people know to block a particular day around that day and go crazy with anticipation.

This year, I turn the magic number of 23. It's not exciting at all!!! Nothing big about turning 23. At 22, you've just graduated college, you are officially a contributing member of society, it's a fun age to be! Everyone says "Oh! I wish I were 22." Clearly good things happen. I got on Twitter, made a whole host of very nice friends, "talked" to Kate Walsh (She tweeted a couple times) and Amy Brenneman (more than a couple times), Spent New Year with Jasmin and Summer (quiet, but fun), modelled, acted and generally had a blast. There were downs like me not being able to go to NYC to see Lauren Graham on Broadway (I really really wanted to go), literally not stepping out of the city and something that is on my mind, my birthday party being a bust cause a lot of people very unkindly didn't show up, and told me they weren't coming after I called them to find out where they were. (Yeah, I'm holding a grudge cause that is just really, really mean).

This year, I am not really planning much for my birthday, just a dinner with my family and best friend. However, the 23rd year of my life seems quite promising. I have learnt to wear heels, which I will wear on Wednesday, Jasmin (my German penfriend) is coming to visit me and we are going to have SO much fun, I will be going to NYC, LA and SF this year, Parenthood (the series with LG), Matthew Gray Gubler's directorial debut on Criminal Minds (both on my birthday!!) and just chilling out. I am really looking forward to this year, except the turning 23 bit. That is a real downer.

I was going to not do anything at all and generally sulk through my birthday, but I am happy that I was born, I love the life that I live and the people in it, I adore my doggie and I must say I could do a LOOOOOOTTT worse. So, I am not going to sulk, but I'm going to be happy and celebrate the small things in life.

Now that you have gotten through my rambling, here are the funny things that happened. I was going in an auto-rickshaw (google it) with Gyp and as we were going round a big circle, the auto went real close to a cow. Yes a cow. It was flicking off flies with it's tail and essentially wagging it for lack of a better word. Gyp was leaning out, her head out of the auto's side and suddenly she got whacked on the face by the cow's tail!!! She was stunned! She froze for a Milli-second before rushing back inside the auto and then sniffing the entire auto for the smell (of the cow)! It was so funny! I feel bad for her, but I cannot stop laughing.

That's it for now. I'll be back with a birthday update.

PS: Happy Birthday Alina!!! <3

An animal life

2010-02-15T10:40:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had adventures with animals. They are a part of my life. The first animal encounter I can remember is me and a dead rat. I do understand that this sounds quite weird and disgusting, but it's true. We, my maternal grandparents, my mum and me, lived in an old house in Shankarapuram, in south Bangalore. It had a big garden with a Litchi tree and lots of "wild"life. It was in this garden that, while playing with the neighbours, that I discovered the rat. Let's call him Rattie shall we? Now Rattie was lying in the mud waiting to decompose, as all dead creatures do, when I picked him up. I must have been about three years old, as I was physically big enough to hold him, yet young enough to not understand the concept of death. I must have thought he was asleep or something.

I could never catch a squirrel or any other small animal, so this was a major achievement for me. I took Rattie to meet my grandmother, like I would any friend I had made, and I remember her horrified shriek. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she was screaming. As far as I knew, she was pretty fond of animals herself, so I must have been confused. I don't know how, but somehow Rattie went away to a place I cannot remember, probably the dustbin down the road. My hands were washed till they were a bright red colour and I suddenly became a Red Indian in the literal sense.

Today, thinking back, knowing what I know, I shudder to think of all the diseases I may have caught, the ants, the smell of the decomposing body, the fleas and ticks that may have been on the rat and everything else that makes you run to the loo and empty the contents of your stomach.

Maybe as a child, I was forgiving of the smell and the various insects. As for the diseases, I was thankfully ignorant. I have been told that my life has revolved around animals even before the Rattie fiasco. I would apparently yell, as a baby, when I heard the jingle of the bullock cart as it went down the street, and quiet down only when I saw those majestic animals – the oxen. My first animal attack though was from chicken apparently (if you know me, you’d have guessed a cow). Those infernal birds, for some strange reason, took offense to my grandfather and me walking down the road. I was in the pram and it was my poor grandfather who had to fight off the nasty squawking, pecking birds and save me. I think that is quite heroic. If I had to choose between my legs and a baby, I sure as heck would choose my legs!

Spring at my grandmother's house was always greeted with the arrival of the monkeys. They would go straight for the Litchi tree (taking away all the yummy fruit) and this resulted in my grandmother and me yelling at them while running a stick on the veranda grill, making as much noise as possible. As you can imagine, to a child of five or six, this was good fun! Even to a young woman of 23, this is good fun, I must say. I would secretly pray that the monkeys would come, even though I knew this would upset my grandmother.

Because our house was an old one, it retained the charm of having many lofts. These lofts were often next to windows, which could only mean squirrels. I would do my best to not alert anyone of the squirrels nesting, until it was too late. This would upset my family, I knew not why, but they would not move the nest if there were already babies in it. Today, looking back, I get where my family was coming from, because a nest meant things like cockroaches and all kinds of other insects, not to mention the fleas and ticks.

When I was about seven, I think my mother realised, that no matter what she did or how hard she tried to keep me away from all the stray animals, she would fail. She then got me my first pets. I had a pair of love birds. I cannot for the life of me remember what they were called, so for now, let us name them what I would call them if I had them now - Addison and Kevin. This was a great source of joy and entertainment to me. They were green and blue.

Unfortunately, the neighbourhood cat learned of these birds and decided to try to make a meal out of them. If you've seen old houses in Bangalore, you will know that there isn't really a peephole at the door, but a sort of slit in the wall next to the door. This slit was big enough for the cat to jump in and out. After catching the cat near the screeching birds a few times, my mum came up with a solution. We put an empty tin can in the slit, so that the cat would knock it over when it came in. This worked for a while, until I came home to find one of the birds dead. We released the other bird into the wild and I said bye-bye to pets for a few years.

Some more things that make me..... me.

2010-02-09T01:40:00.000-08:00

So the other day, I decided to eat a bon-bon sweet. Well, at least that's what I call them . It's hard candy, it's round and kinda big. This was cola flavoured and since I was craving Coke, it worked out very well. You will never, ever, not in your wildest dreams guess what happened. Did you guess that I eventually finished the sweet without any mishap? HA! Are you wrong! I choked on the thing! It lodged in my throat and I couldn't swallow! You can still breathe painfully when you're choking, but you cannot see on account of all the tears. Anyway, this has happened to me as a child (it was a strawberry bon-bon then), so I knew what to do. I went to the microwave, heat up water and very, very painfully swallowed, so that it would melt the sweet and I could swallow it. It took forty-freaking-five minutes. Anyway, that was finally done. You'd think one choking incident would be enough for months together wouldn't you? Yeah so would I. But I don't have that kind of luck.

I was running late for work one day (as usual) you see, and I live on the fifth floor of an apartment. I usually take the stairs up and down, as exercise, but I decided to take the elevator that day. When the elevator came up, I remembered that I had forgotten my phone(which I cannot live without. I'm a total phone addict) at home, so I rushed back to my door, opened it, grabbed my phone and ran back, thinking that the elevator door would still be open. No such luck. I figured this out by running into the elevator and scaring the crap out of my neighbour who had gotten in, in the meantime. Ah! I now AVOID him. I need to pretend that I have some dignity left, though I don't see that happening since I'm sharing this with you guys, but oh well.

Oh oh oh!!! I got my ears pierced again!!! It doesn't hurt now which is a total WIN! And no pigeons have come home! Though my nails seem to be a permanent shade of blue, which is not polish! I really do not like the AC. I cannot wait for summer to get here! Anyway, hope I've given y'all some laughs!

The ramblings of an idle child

2010-02-03T01:47:00.000-08:00

So, I know some people who are like me in this aspect, and then there are some who frankly think I'm weird. The thing I'm talking about is to become obsessed with something. For me, it's authors, poets, TV shows and some people. Those who know me, know that I love Oscar Wilde (absolute genius!), W. H. Auden (a brilliant writer), Gilmore Girls (my life on TV, except my mum and I alternate roles), Private Practice - well Addison (strong and yet insane character), Matthew Perry (again a comical genius - cannot wait for his new show) and off late - Matthew Gray Gubler who is awesome. I love his work on Criminal Minds and his site - http://www.matthewgraygubler.com/ is super cool! Who draws their entire site? Anyway, I thought you'd like to know these things about me. I look up to all these people and they in some way or the other influence my life.

Lauren Graham - I really admire her ethics and morals. I like that she doesn't let Hollywood get into her head.

Kate Walsh - One day I hope I can have her guts and determination to pursue her dream. She never gave up and that is the hardest thing to do.

In other news, I am inviting friends over, in order to make myself clean my room, which can give any bachelor pad a run for it's money. This is my motivation. And pizza is a cool reward. I'm jazzed cause I've gotten nice feedback for my work so far, which is cool. I'm looking forward to Parenthood (March 2nd, 10pm on NBC if you're American or streaming live for the rest of us.) and the new PP episode which airs on Thursday. Addisam!

I need something that will motivate me to write HotCop. Maybe Season 2 needs a re-watch. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, watch Private Practice now. I wrote my first song the other day. It needs a LOT of tweaking before I put it up here. I have not set it to any music because I'm musically challenged, but I'm hoping someone I know will offer (HINT!) to write music for it.

Gyp is still being a bum and refusing to get up in the mornings, but I don't blame her cause it's bloody cold for Feb here. Hate that biting wind. Oh well. Okay, this was basically a real rambling post, not my usual style at all, but I have nothing to say! my life has been surprisingly eventless, which is not good!!! Gah!

Ten things that you do to cause you pain and embarrassment.

2010-01-28T23:49:00.000-08:00

1) Push your roley chair too far back so that when you sit, you end up sitting on the floor. This - while you are on the phone with your boss. It's entertainment for the rest of the office.

2) Walk on the elevated footpath, with a gutter next to you and think to yourself "I must avoid the gutter" and then walk off the footpath unconsciously (because you are walking away from the gutter) and end up on the ground in a heap of limbs. Yoga helps when you untangle yourself.

3) Walk into so many table corners, that they now fit perfectly into your hip. Like your body made the space for the table corner. It's a medical marvel I tell you.

4) Choose to subdue hiccups with coke, swallow it while hiccupping and have it gush out your nose. Classy I say. Boys will be lining up outside your door. If done at work, you will be the most popular person there.

5) Convince your half asleep self, that there is room on the other side and turn - off the bed. Then, be too sleepy to get back up, so sleep on the stone floor and crib about aches, cricks and bruises the next morning. Always a crowd pleaser.

6) Walk into a wall. This, especially done when not texting, not on the phone, not talking to anyone else, basically giving the wall your undivided attention, is always guaranteed to cause the most amount of embarrassment. But be aware that this must not be done on purpose.

7) Pick up a sleeping hamster. Make sure that the said hamster is fast asleep, wake it up, then put your hand in the cage to agitate it some more. Then when the hamster is clinging on to the pad of your hand, shake the hand violently so that the puncture wound rips further. Then be puzzled as to why your hamster bit you and why it's bleeding so much. Oh yes, one must not forget to faint and hit your very bony joints hard on the floor.

8) Trip. While walking, make sure you choose the uneven bit of the concrete ground, carry your 14 kilo dog and then tip forward. When falling, avoid injuring the dog by falling on your elbows. This will make sure that the dog escapes unharmed, but will leave you with bloody, bruised elbows. Movies must be made of this techniques. I do not volunteer.

9) In a bus, sit on a seat that has no handles on either side, almost like a cushioned stool nailed to the floor. Then be so focused on your Ipod that you do not notice the bus's movements on the road. When the bus breaks, follow Newton's first Law of Motion and fall on the floor. Then laugh so loud at yourself that your neighbour asks another person if you're mentally retarded. And is serious.

10) Now the last point - When talking to a cow, be sure to look it straight in the eye and smile. This will make the cow chase you and tell all the other cows about you so that they too will chase you upon sight. If you are not fast enough running away, make sure you have padding on your back because you will be butt.

All these methods have been tried and tested. But make sure you understand the repercussions and the ramifications of the above actions.

Note: No animals were harmed in the activities mentioned above.

Them bumpy rides!

2010-01-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

After being scared witless by my mother (she appeared behind me in the mirror and said my name out real loud), I was officially running late. As I ran out of the house, I called my bus-mate (is that even a word?) and told him that I was indeed coming and asked him to get the bus to wait for me. I ran up the kilometer or so to my stop to realise the bus was late. Ah Murphy. How I hate you. Anyway, the bus was full so I had to get a seat in the back.

If you are like me, then you also hate those back seats cause every pothole, every bump is magnified. After being thrown up in the air about twenty times, I realised that trying to jump on a trampoline is off my life-list. Ive already done it on the dang bus. It also reinforced that I do indeed have the Bony-Ass-Syndrome. It hurts.

Oh well, in other news, my doggie didn't meet that Pom so yayness! I also did something stupid and forgot my wallet at home. I am now penniless for the day. Hate hate hate when this happens! I'll keep you all updated about the many adventures today promises. To start with, I have a presentation to make. I dunno who to wish good luck, me or my audience!

The disapproving mother

2010-01-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

There are only ten zillion TV shows about the disapproving mother and only a hundred zillion stories about disapproving mothers out there. I sometimes identified with these stories, muttering "what right do they have to judge! As if they are perfect!" Well, for the last few months, I've shut up about them. See, I've become one of them! The "them" is now an "us".

My baby, my beautiful baby, is now very much in lust/love with a Pomeranian. Yes! Those nippy, yippy dogs!!!! What the hell! See, it's not that he wears a studded collar and rides a bike, or is too old or young for her. He is just really annoying. And honestly, I'm not sure I'm that comfortable with someone sniffing around my baby girl. I am always this close to sticking my leg out, in the direction of that dog.

I definitely do not approve of him. He is most disapproved of. I feel like if I say this a lot of times, then somehow, he will get the message and back the hell off. it makes me cringe to see how excited she gets when she sees him! She gets all waggy, and excited. Darn cute, if it was some other dog. Any other dog. She had such a cute beagle running after her, but she shunned him for this nasty piece of fur. Ew.

Now, I shall hope that I have put this message out in the universe, and that dog will get it! Until then, the plan is to wake up freakishly early on ALL days, yes even Sunday, and take her out when *he* is not there. Gah. The lengths a mother goes to protect her baby!

The rat with wings

2010-01-16T01:33:00.000-08:00

There are sometimes in life when you think you have the best life ever. You get to go to your grandmother's house where she makes food that you adore. You get to relax, catch up with her and generally enjoy the pampering. After a nice two day stay, you come home. You turn the key, push the door open and enter. It's always the best feeling when you take that first step into your house. The "I'm home" feeling. Your dog rushes past you and checks the house, as if to make sure that the kitchen is still there and it hasn't gone away or something.

You go to your room to dump your bags when you notice something green on the ground. It annoys you because you recognise it. It's pigeon poop. You take a deep breath because you are in a good mood and you would like to retain this mood. You walk around it to your bed when you find the poop there also. You nice mood is all gone. You curse the pigeon with every curse word you know in multiple languages. You say "saala kutta" not knowing what it means, but you know people curse with it.

You walk out and inspect your entire house to see where else the damn bird had inflicted itself, but can find nothing. It is only your room then. It's haunting you. You call your friend meaning to tell her of your woes and how you must clean the mess and as you begin with a sarcastic sentence, you turn around to see one beady eye looking at you. You squeal when you realise the offender is sitting atop your curtain rod staring. Like it's some creepy bird from hell. You get flustered and squeal some more then go into a panic. Your friend calms you down and asks you to call your mum's driver to help. You hang up on her and look for his number. This is when the touch phone is curse worthy. His phone is unreachable. The pigeon now starts flapping at you, like it's taunting you.

You look at it and you channel in Rachel Greene. If she can do it, I can do it you say to yourself. Now you like your pots and pans so you do not want to use that, but you remember the empty trashcan in the utility. You go fetch that and the step ladder. It still sits there and gives you the "You can't so this" look. Yeah right, is what you think. You climb up the ladder gingerly and you use the trash can lid to push it into the can. After it flies to sit on top of your ceiling fan you realise that it's not as easy as it looks on TV. You try the number of your mum's driver again, this time he answers. you beg him to come up and in 2 seconds, he has caught the rat with wings and it is now safely outside your room. All is well, except for the massive clean up job in front of you. Good luck with that.

People have adventures, I have them cowventures.

2010-01-13T01:41:00.000-08:00

So, here's a piece of advice - Do not take pictures of cows. Especially of the do not like you. They will chase you across the street. I wanted to take a nice picture of a cow scratching it's ear, but apparently it had other ideas. Suddenly it's ear wasn't so itchy.

So, for the past 10 days, I've been eating one bag of potato chips a day. I think it's safe to say that I am indeed addicted to this stuff. Oh well. We'll just put it on the list. I have some things that annoy me to no end. One thing that I feel so mad about is people telling me that I either have an eating disorder (read anorexia/bulemia) or that I look like a person who has one. I'm going to say a few things. When telling me I look anorexic, do not pronounce it anoreCZic. Learn how to pronounce it first! Have any of you ever seen an anorexic person? S/he is not skinny. They are gaunt, literally skin and bones and unhealthy, like diseased. Now, do I compare you to a oozing pustule? No. I do not. So why are you comparing me to something equally disgusting? I'm skinny. Deal with it!

My next New Year resolution. Anyone who says crap about me being skinny, get ready for some very rude comebacks. I have a LOT of them. They have been repressed far too long. I really don't get how it's okay for a person to go "Oh my gosh you are so skinny" while it's considered beyond rude to say "Oh my gosh you are so fat" Why? We are still commenting on body size. I think I shall do that from now. When someone says "Why are you so skinny?" I will say "Because you are so fat. The universe needs balance."

Now I am done with my rant. Thank you for reading. Do comment. I enjoy reading them. Your comments that is. In case I wasn't clear. :D

10 things...

2010-01-06T02:15:00.000-08:00

So my friend wrote this in her blog, that is so freaking funny and true that I simply felt that I must share -

1: Microsoft Word and Excel. Piece of crap! Especially the older versions, as they're almost impossible to format.
2: People who don't put the toilet paper on ready and rearing to pull.
3: Those who chew gum. Can not stand the chomping and POPPING! Plus I don't want to see the dang thing rolling around in your mouth!
4: People who eat noisily! Can not stands slurping and sloshing, or licking of fingers! That is a big NO, NO!
5: Cough Etiquette! PLEASE do not give me your change after having a royal fit into the palm of your hand. You have a shoulder. Use it. Cough into it. And for goodness sakes turn your head. I don't need to be contaminated with your fungal infection.
6: People who tail gate me when I am already illegally driving above the speed limit! Damn brother. You push my buttons. It is flipping annoying!
7: Those who decide to get their lawn mowed RIGHT ON 7AM!! Lord it is always the day I can sleep in!
8: Smokers...urgh when I get a massive whiff of your ex-inhaled smoke. It sits in my lungs and I can feel the tar sticking.
9: Bus drivers! So many of them are such arses, and their always late, or freakn early! I swear the amount of time I have wasted waiting for buses.
10: Telephone calls. We get 20+ at home. And they're ALWAYS FOR MY BROTHER or some retard trying to sell me DRAIN REPAIR!

Here are mine -

1) I detest people who sniff!! Go blow your nose!
2) People who cannot hang up! The whole "You hang up first" thing makes me want to chuck your phone into the loo!
3) Oye you noisy chewers, shut your mouth! I do not want to hear that smacking. I do not want to see food rolling about! I'd like to keep my apetite!
4) People who curse cause you think it's cool! It is not cool! It is crude and rude!
5) People who stare. What, you've never seen a woman in your life? Yeah I'm tall and thin, get over it!
6) Do NOT pet my dog without asking me! I will get my other imaginary dog that rival Cujo and set him on you if you pet my baby without my consent.
7) The loud talking on the phone. I do not want to know what's going on. Your life is of no interest to me. Either lower your voice or go to a soundproof room!
8) You lil kids, don't call me aunty because I'm taller. I am not related to you and I am not old!
9) Please get that if I do not answer your call, reply to your messages and tell you to get lost, I mean it. Do not call me, text me, wave hi on the road, because I want nothing to do with you. Get it?
10) Finally, the thing I hate most is a recorded call in the middle of the afternoon when I'm napping! Stop calling me! Harrassment.

There. Not as funnily written, but I do have 10 things! My friend is at http://alinatherantingllama.blogspot.com

Sourroundings

2010-01-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

The last 2 weeks have been agony for some people, well a lot of people. Everyone around me maybe.. And sometimes I feel like the negativity is smothering me. Yeah, I'm really sorry your lives suck, but unless it's something serious, please shut up! Like I don't care if your mother wont make you food when you get home, like get it yourself! Whatever!

It's frustrating when people whine about asinine issues in the same volume as people with real issues! I've heard stories about being locked out of your door for an hour, and this was said in the tone that the world is coming to an end, while a really good friend saw her dreams come apart in one long blow. That is something important, not being shut out of your house for an hour!

Sorry, I think I've been whined to too much and my life is going perfectly well!!! I have nice things to look forward to and I feel myself sinking into a depression cause EVERYONE around me is a freaking whine-o!!! Pick your issues people!

There I needed to get that out! Now, I spent NYE at home, rang it in with fresh strawberry daiquiri and my mum and friends from Germany and France (Go msn/skype!!!). Now this was a really nice way to ring it in, but I did get the wierd looks, the "maybe she doesn't have friends" and whatever. All I can say is look at your life before judging mine, just because I do not want to spend it with people I don't know and drink myself comatose, does not mean I am not cool. Boo!

My German friend is coming in March!!! I'm super duper freaking excited for this!!! I cannot wait for her to come! Then, in less than 2 months I will officailly be one of them oldies! Not looking forward to that. Gonna let my birthday slide and then kick it up in NYC and LA :D

I fell quite badly on Sunday. It was a funny thing. I was carrying my dog, talking quite animatedly to her (which I do often) and I tripped. if I wasn't carrying her, I could have easily recovered (year of tripping training, I now possess God like recovery skills), but since I was carrying a 14 kilo dog, I tipped forward and tall me came crashing down. I skinned my elbow real bad and happily fainted at the sight of blood. The fun ended there.

Now, though the wound is much better and doesn't hurt, it BURNS like the fires of hell, or how I assume the fires of hell would burn, when stretched or if anything comes in contact with it. I also know how my elbow will look if I put on about 20 kilos. It's swollen and I keep forgetting this so I keep hitting my desk at work! Ouch!

My coworker got a tattoo! I really want one, but no way am I willing to go through any pain! When laser tattoos are invented, I will be the first to get it! Till then, henna is my best friend!

I think I've rambled, ranted and entertained enough for this post. Happy New Year folks! <3

Been a while

2009-12-21T23:17:00.000-08:00

Hey all! It's been a while yes. Well, the Universe decided to be upset with me for a couple of weeks. I was actually graceful! Imagine that! Shocking! But, not to worry. One morning I came to work and tripped over a chair falling smack onto a wall. It bloody hurt, but nothing was broken. More than being upset about this, I was thrilled! I was back! the Universe was not mad at me anymore! Whoop!

Since then, there has been some minor things where i've fallen off my bus seat and generally gotten tangled in my dog's leash. It was her fault though. The funniest thing happened when I visited a friend's house. This friend had a kitten called Kit. Now I am not a cat person. They scare me and creep me out. I was told that this was a shy cat and wouldn't come close to strangers. Now guess whi decided to climb all over me and literally put her face next to mine. My squealing for help didn't do anything and I was scared to hiss or meow incase she scratched my face. Oh well. It finally got distracted when my friend came. Wow. That is as close a cat has ever been to me. That will never happen again. Well, at least for a while. It then also jumped on me!!! Holy ow it's claws! and then rubbed itself all over me, creeping me out to the max. Yeah, I'm a total dog person, even if large dogs like to um, you know, me.

I modelled! As a goth lesbian! LOL! It was for an ad that will be competing in international competions like Cannes and One Show. Here's hoping it wins! I channeled Kate Walsh. The Walshies will know what I'm talking about. Today I also complete a year of working fulltime! Whoop! So excited!

That is about it. Happy Holidays all!

Good Girls Go Bad

2009-12-02T02:31:00.000-08:00

Do you good people have hamsters? If you do, then you'll know that those things have real sharp teeth! I wanted to clean out my hamster (Addison Lorelai) cage, so I attempted to pick her up. I did pick her up, but not the way I planned. See, she bit into the pad of my hand (the ones at the base of your fingers)and proceeded to cling on when I drew my had away! Bloody hell that hurt! I was literally trying to shake off a hamster clinging onto my hand with her teeth!!!! Doofus puncture wound wouldn't stop bleeding and I promptly fainted at the sight of my gushing blood. What's new there huh? This was a while ago, but I am telling you now. Oh well.

The other supremely funny thing that happened was that I got into work about 15 minutes early the other day. Now I sit in this enclosure with a door. This door is usually open and I didn't even know they locked it. I found out they did. How? Well, It's one of those automatically shutting doors so you have to use force to shove it open. I am small, so I pretty much have to use most of my energy to push it open. Guess who shoved herself into the door trying to get it open on that early morning? The security guy was laughing when he unlocked it for me! Embarassment much? It didn't hurt as much as the wall though.

Another thing I remembered was that when you use public transport, you end up having to run after busses quite a bit. When you do so, you scream things like "Stop!" or "Wait!". No, no. When I run after a bus I scream "Excuse me! Excuse me!". I realised I was doing this after the first time this happened, and I smacked myself on the head thinking how stupid I was. The next time it happened, I'll give you 3 guesses to guess what I screamed. Yeah. Excuse me.

Ringtones are another issue for me. You all have heard "Good Girls Go Bad" by Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester yes? Well, that is my ringtone. Now, it's a workday. I am my desk, typing away, and all is quiet. Now my phone goes off, "I make them good girls go bad" and I answer "Hey mom! What's up?". Let's just say my colleagues had a real good laugh!

In other news, I saw the new Parenthood promo with Lauren Graham! It's so kick ass!!! I love it! She literally growls and charges at her daughter when she says "Oh her bark is worse than her bite" Love it!!!! Now if only she'd join Twitter like all the other good celebs!

Best beats the worst!

2009-11-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you have the worst days, where everything goes downhill and you need just that one tiny bit of something positive. Then it comes. Only it's not a tiny bit, it's the whole freaking dinosaur sized bit of positive!

Kate Walsh tweeted to me. TWICE!!!! It is 12:58am now. I am not the least bit sleepy! I am that hyper! I have an unpleasant thing to do tomorrow, but I know that this will tide me over. It will tide me over anything!

I think I twisted my knee (is that even possible?) and it is now in a soft cast. A binding if you will. My leg is straight, I cannot bend it. I really don't know how my friend Alina went through a knee surgery! I'd have died. Anyway, how did I twist my knee, you wonder?

I took my doggie out at 4:30. On the road she decides to suddenly stop and sniff something. I walking fast try to avoid her, but end up tangling my legs and falling flat on my face! Then I have to hobble after her yelling at her to come the eff back cause she decided that sniffing another pee spot is more important than her mum lying on the road in pain! It does not help that instead of helping you up, or helping you catch your dog, people around you point and laugh! Well not point, but they did laugh.

Well, I came home and nursed my wounded pride with Blueberry Cheesecake and Red Velvet cupcakes. I have been eating these cupcakes for the last 3 days, and at least 4-5 a day! This along with ice cream (It's hot here), chips and cookies make my daily diet of junk.

Today I ate cake, ice cream, a pear, some carrots and pasta for dinner. Am I 900,000 pounds? Nope. It is a medical marvel.

I also discovered the joys of Skype. Thats a fun thing!!! Had a 3 way conf call with Germany and Netherlands! It is just cool to say that! Also Amy Brenneman tweeted to me, she was the first celeb to do that! Sent spasms of joy through me! Then Tim Daly also tweeted, but he kinda dissed me! I was a wee bit annoyed till I was like dude, it's Tim Daly.

That's about it. Haven't walked into anything or been chased by anything either. Why do I feel that this is inviting trouble?

HotCop!

2009-11-20T03:46:00.000-08:00

It was a busy Monday for Addison,
She had patients that numbered nine,
So for breakfast she grabbed a bun,
And headed out into the sunshine.

Her glasses were on cause of the sun,
And she wore black heels and a purple dress.
Her really hot cop and she were done,
She wasn’t missing him less and less.

She decided to play hookey cause she was done.
She missed him so much her heart would ache.
She flipped her phone and called that hottie with a gun,
You see, she had lots of sprinkled doughnuts to bake.

He answered the phone while on a run,
When he heard her voice, he was pleasantly surprised.
She said she wanted some fun
And he felt something rise.

He was soon on his way over,
She greeted him with a big smile and a “Hi hun!”
He grabbed and pulled her closer
She was the best thing he could have won!!!

A cookie poem cause I needed cheering up! Lol!

Just me. Only me.

2009-11-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

So, incase you guys don't know, it's a 2 hour journey from work to home every evening. Now there is a traffic signal at my dog's vet which provides for entertaining animal sights. If you are indian, you will know what an Auto is, if you're not, google it. There was this guy who was trying to force his dog, a great dane, into an auto. The funniest thing is that after he finally coaxed his dog to get in, and he got in, the dog jumped out from the other side and he was forced to run after his dog screaming! LOL!

Another thing that happened is that I fell over the plant at work only twice this week! This is a huge reduction from my usual, but I do think my knee has had it with me. It hurts! :(

Also, I woke up this morning to find money under my pillow when I reached to turn off my alarm on my phone. I got so excited and checked my teeth to see which tooth had fallen off! I mean, the tooth fairy left me money right??? It was only when my brain actually woke up, I remembered putting the change from my pyjama pockets under my pillow before falling asleep! Also that I was 22, and if my eeth were falling out, there was would be something wrong with me. aah! Early mornings are the best time!

OMG! My phone ring tone is the song "Good Girls Go Bad" and I was listening to the radio with my earphones (on my phone) and the song came up. I just tried to answer my phone, not understanding why even though I'm "answering" it's not ringing for a good 15 seconds. One must not function on no sleep.

Why no sleep you ask? Well, it is apparently a bad idea for you to eat a triple layered fudge cake at 10pm. It keeps you up. All that sugar.

Oh on the bright side, i set up SMS alerts for Kate walsh's tweets so I get texts from Kate Walsh! Woot!

My life ladies and gentlemen. My life!

Things just seem to happen to me.

2009-11-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

So, one good thing that's come about from my dog having boys in her life and making me take brisk hour long walks is that I have great legs! Whoop! A lot of people know me as a klutz. It's such a given, that I'm introduced as "This is Romy. She is a klutz." You accept it and move on. It's when you start hanging with new people that this character trait becomes glaringly obvious. I have no spatial judgement. I cannot walk in a straight line and more often than not I will walk into the person walking next to me. Another thing that goes on in my head is me spotting a stone a way ahead. Me telling myself "Oh look. Stone." Me walking further and forgetting where the stone was/is till I trip on it and then go "Oh there it is!"

Another super funny thing happened yesterday. It has happened to cartoons, to Mr. Bean on occasion and apparently to Kate Walsh, Jessica Alba and me. It's the walking into a wall thing. Going smack into a solid, big, cream coloured, opaque brick wall. Walking into glass doors have been done by many, but how many of you walk by the same brick wall for 10 months before walking into it? No one? I figured.

Even the staff at work have noticed this particular trait of mine. The guy at the door asks me to watch my step outside, the inside guy tells me if the door is open or closed, though they are wood and glass doors. There were some pretty potted plants on my floor. After I fell over them a few times, they aren't there anymore. They have been put inside closed doors.

It's like these things happen only to me. Really. Spilt food? Check. Fallen down the stairs? Check. Walked into walls - glass or otherwise? Check. Been chased by cows? Check. Been chased by dogs? Check. Fallen off a horse while climbing on it? Check. Been caught dancing at your desk at work? Check. Singing? Check. Gotten locked in the bathroom? Check. Been stuck up a tree? Check.

Need I go on?

Pigeons + hour long brisk walk = jelly legs

2009-11-04T03:26:00.000-08:00

I am fast asleep. Possibly even snoring. I'm at a nice party with Kate Walsh, Ellen and Matthew Perry. We are discussing a broadway play I wrote. Suddenly Matthew is a dog and he growls and barks. I look around at the pitch dark and realise it's not Matt that is a dog, but it's Gypsy that is growling and barking. There are weird banging noises coming from the kitchen. Then something falls. I get out of bed slowly and quietly, grab the rolling pin next to me and my Reebok shoe because I'm pretty sure I'm being robbed. With one hand on Gyp's halter I make my way to the kitchen. I'm ready to clobber anyone who is inside. My fight face is on and there is a scream in my throat.

I scream when I go in to find 3 winged rats flapping about. They are more commonly called pigeons! They are flying about shedding their dander and feathers, not to mention leaving me green presents - an early Christmas present if you will!

Annoying!!!! I shoo them away and then I'm forced to clean the damn mess! And of course my dog decides that this is a lot of excitement and so she needs to go for a walk. At 5:30 in the morning till freaking 6:45!!! I'm exhausted, my legs feel like jelly and this is from the dog who previously would bite my hand off if I tried to get the leash on her and I had to wake HER up at 6 for a walk!

This is what happens when the 2 year old beagle comes for a walk only at about 6:30. She WAITED for him and wouldn't let me take her back to the apartment untill she saw him!

Man. There are cougars and then there's my dog! Nice. This is also the period when the 22year old me has NO men in her life while the old doggie has not one, but 3 suitors! All under the age of 5!

This is very good for my ego. Really.

A Kate Walsh weekend

2009-09-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Emmys weekend. Monday morning at 5:30 was when the live telecast happened and though the red carpet was missed, there were tweets, youtube vids, fanforums all reporting live!

Kate Walsh from Private Practice was one to watch. She wore this gorgeous gown, an amazing hairstyle and an Aldo bag!!! I have Aldo shoes!! Which is super cool cause I live in India, and Aldo isn't really the brand we get here.

Another thing was Kate's McHottie!!! Eek! He is a mystery guy so far, but will post the deets when I get them. Also chack out www.katewalsh.com, her official site.

Other than this, I wedged, ate and slept. Also I started sorting out my closte, which means I'm sleeping on the floor cause my double-bed is filled with my clothes!!! Argh!!!

Will post later~

Gatorade/Pulpy Orange/Coke?

2009-09-17T01:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah I've been a bit busy. I was busy at work pulling in 14 hour days, but not complaining cause, hey, I have a job!

It's Thursday and I cannot wait for the weekend! We have 3 long weekends in a row which totally kicks ass! This weekend is going to be spent doing up my room some more (more wall papering with pictures), rehearsal, 2 movies (Dil Bole Hadipa and Ugly Truth) and the Emmys on Monday morning 5:30 am!!

Season 5 of Grey's premiered yesterday here and it only reinforced my love for Christina and boy did I want to SLAP Meredith! My God she can go on and on bout Derek! Jeez get a grip you weirdo!

Is it funny that I get so invested with these characters and TV shows? Gah! I like Private Practice better honestly. Also, on Tuesday is a new series, America's Most Smartest Model. This should be interesting!

We go fast internet finally at home! The funny thing was that I started to type REALLY fast trying to keep up with the speed! Stupid! This also makes Youtube my good friend!

Vishwa (friend from work) and I made ourselves a list with various nicknames and we both take turns to "focus". I just finished a report that made me go through ALL of the collateral at work and pick out the things that were outdated. Boy was that hard! I took breaks updating my Lorelai and Chris fanfic :D

I also watched some Season One GG and now I want to meet Max Medina. And I listened to Roswell Soundtracks - Destiny by Zero 7 is awesome!

At work, now I am creating wiki pages. Quite confusing if you aren't in tune with Wiki Markup. Yes that is the wiki language. But it's fun and I'm learning.

I also need to make my choice of prefered drinks - Gatorade, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange (sounds dirty huh?) and Coke. Help?

Argh!

2009-09-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first ever rehearsal for my play! It's called Comically Incorrect and I play the assistant/secretary - Pochatkin. It was so much fun. We did some table reading before actually acting it out. I am the novice in this bunch and at first I was soooooo stiff. It was funny cause it was like a robot secretary! I think I got a little better with time, and some more run throughs. I cant wait for practice again next weekend.

Um, also, yesterday was soooo not my day! It pretty much sucked. I got it pretty bad from my mum in the morning, and things didn't get better when I continued to be stupid and thoughtless the rest of the day. All I can say is that it's hard to have a nice day when you are out to get yourself! Even when you really don't mean it.

I don;t know how today will be, but it started off with my mum and dog waking me up at 6:35 on a Sunday and me having a black cat cross my path when walking Gyp. So not fun. The cat was gorgeous though!

Welcome

2009-09-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

Someone once said to me “You are 22 years old! You have no worries! Go live your life!” I sat and thought back. Yes, I’ll admit I don’t have a mortgage or any loan I need to pay off, big bills to pay, a marriage or some other adult-y thing. But, I will also admit I have my 22 year old worries! I have stuff I need to do.

Now I write this blog as a sort of diary of my life now. I had a blog, which was well used in my school and college days. This is a little grown-up but, at the same time, it’s me, which makes it not grown-up in the classical sense either. I don’t know if I’m making any sense at all but whatever.

Here is what’s going on with me. Lets start of with today, September 10th, 2009. It is my baby’s eighth birthday! She is my heart and soul and I am sooooo happy to be her mommy (mother sounds too serious). I watched her since she was a baby, staying up all night, cleaning up after her, making sure she knows her manners and going to high school the next day. Man, I’m glad I’m beyond those days of being woken up in class! Plus making cerelac is not exactly how I pictured my evenings at 14.

To those who don’t know me and are having palpitations at a girl being a mother at 14, my baby is a dog. But we don’t call her that because it’s demeaning. She is my baby in every sense except, we don’t share the same genes. Whatever. Her name is Gypsy. I named her thus because my mum and I move a lot. We haven’t stayed in a house for more than 3 years tops. So Gypsy is definitely a Gypsy.

Other than her, I am an animal lover times 10, addicted to junk food, candy and coca cola. Every person’s nightmare I’ll guess. I have a huge advantage where I’ve got a super high BMR which makes it almost necessary for me to stuff myself with cheese. If it is on top of a pizza or melted and drizzled on Fries, then so be it. I am a vegetarian but not a vegan. I cannot live like that! It’s insane! Kudos to those who manage it! Plus it’s kinda hard to be vegan living in India.

There are 3 things in this world I’m petrified of. Bees, cows and water. I’ve never been stung by a bee, but they just freak me out, almost drowned a couple of times and there is something about breathing water that is unappealing and the cows and I go waaaaaayyy back. Lets just say – I’ve been butt, peed on, stepped on, chased by and held hostage behind cars by cows. It’s because of them I totally believe in conspiracy theories.

This month, I make my big stage debut. As a secretary. It’s a small part, but I would not have wanted anything else honestly. It all happens on the 29th at a supper theatre. Eek is all I can say. I love writing and right now, I write fanfics. For Gilmore Girls. Oh, if you met my family, you’d see that we are the live version of Gilmore Girls and thus I relate to that show like nothing else. I also have a day-job. A fancy corporate day-job with my title being Knowledge Content Analyst. You don’t get fancier than that.

I want to get into the entertainment industry as a writer, so I am exploring the how’s and options. I also will be writing about my journey there and my life in India living with my mother, my baby and not too far from the grand parents. Stay tuned.

Also, if I don’t update soon, please feel free to assume that I have been killed by a cow