>> You there‽

Another long free food session yet again last night, where else but at the rat-staurant! Looks like we hit a new record of 21k with over 200 individual dishes. Pretty cool, eh? Apart from that the day was pretty dull and boring. We had no classes but still had to go and check each hour. GRE preparation is trudging along, got just a bit left. The words in “S” are just nuts. Sagacious, scurillous, secession, it’ll all end soon.

We got back around 1am and I was sucked into the cyber world on the walk back to my room. Took me just a few minutes as I was extremely stuffed, and sleepy. Tucked myself into dreamland only to be woken up by the harsh clattering of my mobile around 30 minutes later. (I’m one of the few nuts who keeps my phone on extra loud when I go to bed – I got reasons). The message read, “U there?”. I mean where else can I be?!‽ I thought that was so weird. Alright, messaging me or pinging me on chat when I’m idle or away makes sense. Asking whether I’m around also makes sense. But – to my phone; at 2:30am?!‽ Exchanged a few random messages before being carried away back into dreamland. I wish I could get rid of this phone. I survived for close to 3 years in university without one.

Hasta manana.

>> Blinded and Distorted

What happens when stuff you have believed, things you have trusted, stuff you have forced yourself to accept, finally comes out from somewhere unexpected? And it’s a whole ton loada stuff you never wanted to believe. Things you thought were never possible, things you believed could never happen, things beyond the integrity you believed things possessed. A veil thrown over your head. A blindfold draped over your eyes. And suddenly, that veil is removed, the blindfold is torn apart, the curtains whished open. And there it stands. All of it. In it’s bare, unclothed, exposed self. Annihilating all assumed concepts, thoughts and expressions.

Something like that happened a while back. Now my eyes are wide open, the curtain shall not be drawn back. A new picture has been drawn and that will be immortal towards distortion or mutation. A couple of mistakes have been made, a couple of impressions formed. Things have changed, perceptions modified. All is crystal clear now. No more preconceptions, no more assumptions. Facts rule. Let the game begin.

Hasta manana.

>> Pizza and the Interrobang

So, today is Friendship day. I really don’t care much about it. To be honest it’s just another day and it kinda bugged me because of the rise in texting rates. Thanks to that my credit is now in a single digit. Sappy messages from people about sappy things, bleh! I mean, come on! I wonder if anyone would say these things if there wasn’t a friendship day? I mean, aren’t friends, friends everyday? Are we supposed to do anything ’special’ today? I’m not a guy who believes in very special occasions (Last part of this post). Anyways, just under an hour for this day to close.

One of my good friends got a great job today. The first one to get a dual job this year from our batch. Hurrah!

Random topic suggestion for today came from my evil doctor friend who tends to intimidate me with descriptions of her work and tools over chat – Pizza. I can live on pizza. Literally. Have it for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner and never get bored or bugged of it. This summer, almost every single day I had pizza for lunch. That’s a solid two month period. And sometimes for dinner/breakfast as well. Cheese pizza’s got this magical flavor to it. Whether my pizza is steamy hot or completely cold (not frozen please) they’ve got distinct interesting tastes. I like ‘em both; also keeps me flexible *grin*. Breakfast tends to end up as the latter variety since it’s last night’s leftovers. A diet Coke, some quality television programming to go with it and eating straight outta the cardboard box on a nice reclinable sofa; heaven. I already miss the pizza days.

Who’s wondering about the title of today’s post? Try taking a guess about it. Is it some kinda position.. or reference or..?! Alright, stop if your imagination’s running wild. You just crossed an interrobang. Are you asking yourself, “Huh? Where?!”? There you go, you just crossed another one! An interrobang is an English punctuation mark (I don’t believe it’s standard) which combines a ‘?’ and a ‘!’ to give you ‘‽‘. Pretty cool looking, eh? The name is a mix between an interrogation mark (?) and a bang or exclamation mark (!). So, the next time you go, “What the heck?!” to someone across a computer, they’d probably go, “Now what the heck was that ‽ thing?!”. You: “I just gave you an interrobang dude..”

Hasta manana.

>> That look of wowza!

It’s always a pleasure to show someone something cool. It’s usually a little card trick if you’re me. Lazy afternoon, getting bugged studying old stuff, words piling up in my head, fan not rotating at the optimum RPM, what better way to chill out than to take out those 52 pieces of card. I have a new favorite effect. An effect I plan to use as an opener more often now. Or when I’m feeling lazy. Won’t tell you more about it though as it could spoil the surprise *grin*. Anyways,  I don’t touch the deck at all in the routine, you’re the magician and you perform to me. Getting some great mileage from it of late.

Lotta chaos being going on recently. And I’m also heading a committee with the same name for next year’s Pragyan. So, what happens when you have a set of individuals who are selected to head a big thing. And then you get another set of individual ’selected’ to head the same big thing. You have chaos. And that’s what I’m trying to figure out. It’s weird and I hope it all settles down quickly so that the real ‘qaos’ can start!

In the meantime, on a more positive note, great dining hall D seems to have improved. Ok, I’m not talking about anything spectacular but atleast now the grub looks better. I’m not a major eater, but I am a foodie so even though quantity is not a concern, quality is. Which reminds me to include this little something I had around 2 months. My cousin suggested I write something about chocolate. I visited the Godiva store at the mall. Everything was so chocolaty and delicious looking. But a choice had to be made. I patiently stood in the line looking across at the various things and concoctions on the big board behind the register. Tough tough. Then I saw the guy in front of me order something. Looked awesome. I got that wowza feeling. Decided to go with ‘what the guy in front of me just ordered’. It was dark chocolate decadence. What an apt name. This is the pic I took before feasting, I could put a different better pic but I decided to go with a personal touch (Clarity isn’t great as it was shot using my phone, click on the pic and you’ll be taken to their site where you can get some better images). Anyways, this drink isn’t for the people who are watching out for their weights. And neither does it come cheap. For $4.50 you get 12oz of some pretty awesome stuff (+~660cal). Indulge.

Hasta manana.

>> Who asked for it?!

It’s amazing the number of unsolicited calls and messages I get on my mobile. A couple of days back I had some problems with my phone and had to swipe cards with my friend. I couldn’t believe that each time I inserted the thing into my phone I get a message from the carrier. And it’s not something useful or sensible either. For example, I don’t give a ***t about astrology, love quotes, philosophy, tips on life on my phone. Add to it and now I start getting calls about all the rubbish. The worst part is that it’s an automated message and well you really can’t vent or scream at a virtual person (You can, and if you do you should probably get help). I have heard about a dnd option from some of the major carriers. Not sure if they really work, but who asked for them in the first place? (I think the pic looks sexy).

On the other hand, when I got a t-mobile connection last month, everything was super smooth. Everything could be done and activated online. The best thing was there was an option on how/whether I’d like to be contacted. A simple check box thing. Would I like to receive subsriber messages as calls, emails, texts or completely ignore, occasionally, time to time, or rare. That was clear and at first site I thought it was going to be just like any other useless system and that I’d start getting those deadly calls soon. Turns out that even though I didn’t chose to completely ignore and settled on periodical messages, I didn’t get a single random unsolicited call in the whole of two months. That was good. I wonder if I can look forward to more of those ’silent’ days.

Hasta manana.

>> The Butterfly Effect

Been crazy busy of late hence the lapse in the blog world. Have to take the GRE exam in around 2 weeks, I now know a whole bunch of crazy sounding words which I doubt I will ever use in my written or oral communication. What a waste of brain space (Not like I’m using what space I already have for better things, but yeah).

Well, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the butterfly effect – it’s a theory that something which seems innocuous like the flapping of the wings of a butterfly could have serious repurcussions later on. So.. what am I talking about? I need to make a couple of decisions in a few months which are for next year but the decision itself will affect things after either 6 years or 3 years. It’s a decision whether to go for an MS or a PhD.

You see, I have specific goals. I do not want to settle down in the US, I do not want to get stuck there; in the end I must come back home. Taking a PhD would probably require 5 years. I’ll be 28ish when I finish that. My peers who have taken jobs after their undergrad will be making big green bucks and well settled. It is not a big issue but something that may irk later on. I’ll be just starting my job hunt only after that! On the contrary, an MS is a shorter option, but there are other issues that come with it. Like lack of funding, et al. A bit apprehensive that such a decision will matter a lot after 10 years or so.

Apart from that, what’s been happening. I hogged like a pig yesterday at the same rat-staurant. And for some reason I’ve been having some tummy trouble. Well maybe not just ’some’ reason; I suspect the great dining hall D a.k.a D mess. Had lunch yesterday there, tummy felt weird for the rest of the day including through dinner. But I slept over it and hogged anyways, how can you miss free food!? Then, lunch again today at great dining hall D. Tummy ache is back. I wonder what to infer. I shall conclude my experiment tomorrow.

The freshers are in, the campus is all lively and energetic. Won’t be long before the new blood gets to know about what this place is ‘really’ about. Alright, so that sounded like there’s some kinda urban legend which exists on our campus. Typical plotline of dumb flicks like Hostel, The Grudge, Shaun of the dead. Too much digression. Interesting to realize that GRE led to zombies. No pun intended. Or maybe.

Hasta manana.

>> Blackjack!

My last post being 20. I will probably be 21 before I finish this though. Well, this means I can get into Necto without an X on my hand, and for $3 less *grin!*. Who knows when I’ll be back there though. 21 is the legal age for many things.. Alright, so now I’m officially 21. I don’t really know what to write. I like the picture – it says alien. Weird. Just like me. There is no power in my hostel, I have escaped being whacked (for now). We shall see how it goes.

Hasta manana.

>> The invisible link..

Last year or so I read about someone being deeply impressed by something they had been shown by a certain somebody. I gave inputs on where similar stuff could be learnt and found. Didn’t hear anything about it after that. Yesterday, that same person brought to notice that that person had passed on. I believe he was a young guy and not only a great performer but a great person as well. A person who could inspire someone else to take to magic. I do not know this person nor the person who brought it to my notice. But for some reason I feel that there is this indirect link which affects me. I have read about him and he did seem to be a really nice person. The reason is unknown but probably some kind of pill overdose or something. That is irrelevant though. It upsets me to hear about young people having their lives stopped abruptly. And it’s more upsetting when it is someone who we can really relate to. I met a good friend of mine of a few years for the first time last month. And he told me that whether we like it or not, however cheesy it sounds, we’d always be brothers in magic. There is always some kind of ‘invisible link’ between people and when that is cut, it always feels like you’ve lost something. Ironic as it sounds – you cut something invisible but still something is lost. Something to think about..

I was also brought to light about another story. This time a bit different though. About a genius, a gifted one. Someone who grew really rich by starting stuff from the ground up. Unfortunately, money makes people go off a bit. Sometimes. Then came the drug and alcohol addiction. And when you have loads, everything is in excess. Even the bad things. Towards the end, intake was about a liter of vodka a day. He died after his liver exploded from the alcohol. A sad story but stuff can be learnt from it. The story was aired on A&E’s Intervention.

I do not really know any of these people directly (only the first one indirectly, but that too just bleakly), but I thought I would share it. I’m sure you will be able to pick up what you can from this on your own.

Also makes me think. Sometimes the worst things happen to those who least expect or even deserve it. It’s tough to generalize. I’ve seen it happen myself. What can we do about it? Probably nothing at all. Haven’t we all saved up stuff for ‘that special occasion’? Don’t we all do it? I gotta question: what if everything came to an abrupt halt? What if the world just imploded. When does this special occasion see the daylight? I have seen places where people save up dishes, exquisite china, rare items, expensive perfumes, etc for special times. But what are these special times? Maybe a fancy party or a wedding or a very important date or visitor? Are these times even guaranteed to come? I don’t think so. Each time we put off something for a ‘better time’, that’s just gonna keep happening. There’s always gonna be the thought that maybe next time will be better. In my own case I have an example. I have a couple of nice good looking decks of cards. All unopened and new. Some opened but still in new deck order. Cards are meant to be used. Personally ,I am not a collector. I used to save these ‘for special times’ but it’s been almost 3 years since I got that specific pack and I really haven’t gotten to it. So, last month I just opened them up, gave them a bunch of shuffles and really felt them. And yes, they did feel great!

I’ve gotten a few different things since then and now everything is open and I use them regularly. EVERY DAY is special. Don’t ever regret that. Don’t save it waiting for that ’special’ time. It’s not gonna come. If you think it’s worth doing, or watching or experiencing, do, watch or experience it now. Who really cares about that special china you have that you plan to use when the president comes home? Nobody. Use it now, make every day special.

If everything was to change suddenly tomorrow – would you look back and regret that you were never able to do, watch or experience something you always wanted to just because you believed the time wasn’t right? If you say yes, then it’s probably not too late. Get out there! Wear that designer perfume to the grocery store . Use your black ghost cards for practicing in your room. Someone is probably gonna get mesmerized watching from behind the corner. Got a snazzy looking coat that is lying in your closet? Get it out and wear it to a friends place.

Destroy ’someday’, ‘when the best time comes’, ‘that very special occasion’ from your vocabulary. Every day, every morning you get up is truly special.

Hasta manana.

>> Rat-staurant

Alright, so my weekend has started. Unfortunately I really have nothing planned or interesting to do. Tried for a company today, got bummed and I’m actually kinda happy that I didn’t get through the first round. For some reason all jobs seem boring to me. I should study further, but there’s a lotta confusion in another area regarding all kindsa areas. I do not wish to write it all down as I know it would be overly verbose.

So, I went out for lunch yesterday at one of the fancy places (Trichy standards) and guess what we saw in the restaurant? A rat. Luckily me and my friend were just done eating and I was checking the bill when I saw this rodent scurry across the backrest on the seat opposite to ours. Both of us were like, “What the.. that was a RAT!”. And we were instantly reminded about Ratatouille and what happens to places where rats are found! But yeah, it was quite a sight and fun. One very fun day indeed. Caught up on a bunch of stuff and also got more first hand experience on girl shopping. Over the last few months I have come to realize that girls have a penchant (probably lust sometimes) for footwear, handbags and clothes. The last thing I don’t mind since even I like shopping for them. But – having 50-100 pairs of shoes, slippers, or anything that goes on your feet, is in my opinion a bit overkill, right?! Wow.

A while back I took a few people shopping to a mall. Problem is that they really didn’t have anything much in mind. One of my friends asked me if I’m one of the guys who has something in mind and just goes to the store and picks it up or do what most girls do and go mindlessly and try each and everything on and still come out all confused. Well, I told her I’m a mix of both. I go with a little purpose but pretty much get carried away once I get there as I start looking at other options, etc. BUT – I don’t try on everything in the world *grin*. AND – I can hurry up if needed.

Anyways, getting back to yesterday, both of us were unable to find good, impressive footwear either on the roadside stores or in the popular branded store. Was a bust but was no big deal. I saw some really tiny hair clips and I still wonder where those things can be worn. The ones that are shaped like claws where you press and they open up in a menacing way. This one was probably smaller than the size of my little finger phalange. Trying to make the store personnel understand what we were looking for was hilarious. A menacing claw like gesture with my fingers was all it took to get the point across *grin*!

Hasta manana.

>> Goats?

For some reason I thought goats were pretty adorable creatures for quite sometime. I thought they would make good pets. I have no clue why.. But now, I think they’re pretty stubborn creatures which fart and snort all the time. Not so adorable. Wondering why I’m writing this? Keep wondering, I have no clue why. Maybe because I am back to campus and there have been an unusually large number of goats in my vicinity of late.

Kinda took a few days off wordpress because I was forced to. Just got back to campus, settled in, sat for my first interview. It was pretty fun to be honest. But I think I was rejected because of my resume hinting about higher studies. I should probably change that and remove my Ann Arbor project. Oh well, no regrets.

A few days back someone made a comment about my networking. Mainly regarding the fact about me meeting up many of the guys I talk with online. Especially from our magic circle. It’s actually pretty neat, I met up quite a few of them this summer and when I met them for the first time, it was like we had known each other for ages! And of course it was great catching up. I guess networking really rocks. Makes the world seem a smaller place.

Hasta manana.