Thursday, November 29, 2007

Bored? No. Blessed.

I'm dead bored.

I've been on the first shift for the last two months. My work gets over at 2pm, after which I have a heavy lunch at the office cafeteria and head back home.

This is where the problem begins. I finished my last book, one by James Herriot, yesterday night. Now I have nothing to do. No book to read, no computer to tinker around with ( on account of my laptop's motherboard having given up the ghost ), and worst of all, no company as everybody else is off at their jobs. I'm just lounging around on my bed, playing mp3s on my phone in the background while I tap away this post. My tennis classes don't begin until Saturday and I can't buy my next set of books until I get my salary at the end of the month, which is in another two days. So I guess I'll have to rough it out for two days.

You know, I've wished many a time, to be able to spend time like this. Where my time belongs solely to me. No deadlines to meet, no chapters to cram, no work to finish. Just to be able to sit lost in thought and allow your mind to wander along any path of its choice. Its a luxury really. But unfortunately, when we ARE able to do that, we call it boredom. So I believe I should be savouring these moments and filing away these memories in my memory palace, available whenever I want to reexperience them, a lot like Dr Hannibal Lector in the Silence of the Lambs ( the book, I've never seen the movie ). I shall proceed to do that now. And if you're reading this post, now is a good time to step away from your computer/cubicle/desk and go to a window and look out. At the wonderful sky, with its billowing clouds, at the trees, the birds. Close your eyes and hold that image in your head a moment. Take a deep breath and realize how lucky you are, if you're able to forget your worries, atleast for a moment. It means that no matter what, your life isn't too bad. There are many who can't put down their worries for even a moment, so you're blessed indeed. Amazing isn't it?

PS: I just realized how my mood changed as I was writing this post. I started off feeling bored and have ended up feeling like I'm in rapture! And I think this post reflects that change. Now I better get back to enjoying the sheer feeling of being young, alive and active.

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Sent from Amit's Motorola A1200, one helluva phone!

So its been some time...

Life, for me, has changed a lot since I wrote that last post on how I managed to sleep during my night shifts. I did 2 months on the general shift after that and am currently at the fag end of my 2 months on the first shift. I bought a lovely little wonder machine called the Pulsar 200, learnt that you can have fun in Chennai too if you know the right places, got a salary hike after my confirmation appraisal at work, renewed my acquintance with VC++ and have begun to read voraciously. I've also learnt a lot in these past few months, and perhaps, become slightly more cynical and sarcastic as well. The rose tinted glasses of a naive young man fresh out of college are definitely off for good.

My bike is a wonderful little darling. Fast and ready to cater to my every whim at the slightest hint. And stylish. Very very stylish. Being able to pull out of a traffic gridlock with little or no effort, while leaving everybody else behind is definitely good for the soul, not to mention the ego. And then there's the stoplight phenomenon. People come up to you at the stoplights and want to know everything about the bike. I dispense knowledge with a condescending look on my face and then, when the light turns green, leave them to breath my engine exhaust. Its a lovely feeling, to be able to do that.

As for reading, I've decided to spend around 1000 to 2000 bucks a month on books. This is something I've dreamt of doing from my school days, and I've managed to accumulate quite a library now. And I'm trying out new authors as well as buying some of the classics I've always wanted to read, but never got around to.

Then of course, there's my guitar. I bought one when I was in Hyderabad and I like to think I'm steadily improving, though my room mates might say otherwise. I can play Hotel California pretty well now, though of course, if my room mates hear it one more time, they'll probably puke ;-)

I played tennis for two years at the Trivandrum Tennis Club, back when I was in high school. Even though I never did learn to serve properly, I still love the game and I brought back my old trusty dunlop racquet when I last visited Trivandrum. A friend of mine and I have been going around all the Tennis Clubs here in Chennai trying to decide which would be the best place to join, and I found a place today, that holds much promise. So, if that works out, thats one more thing I can strike off from my list of things to do.

Yes, life is good at the moment. The only dark cloud on the horizon is the untimely demise of my heavyweight HP laptop. But I'm trying my best to get it fixed, so THAT cloud might vanish soon enough. I thank God that I'm a happy and content man. Work is good, social life is good, I wear informals to office on most days, I get good food and am able to manage a good night's sleep most times, even though I have to be up at 3am in order to get to office at 5, when my shift starts. And I've found a good church to go to. I'm definitely counting my blessings!
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Sent from Amit's Motorola A1200, one helluva phone!

Monday, November 26, 2007

The ground I walk on..

Testing if photo blogging will work..

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Sent from Amit's Motorola A1200, one helluva phone!

Its alive!

Count Amicula : Muhahahaha! It works Igor, it works! Now onward we march, to world domination and free pizza for all!

Igor : Yeth mathter. I want mine with werewolf topping, do you think we'll get that mathter?

Count Amicula : Indeed, Igor my faithful friend! The world is our oyster, which we shall pry open with our Mings!

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Sent from Amit's Motorola A1200, one helluva phone!

MoBlog

The Blindfolded One, one of my fellow brethren of the EZX cult ( Don't know what EZX is? Go google. ) told me yesterday that he's begun to blog from his Moto Ming. That got me all fired up, so I spent around an hour getting the native email app on my Ming to work with GMail. And this post is the first fruit of my toil. Now, pardon me while I keep my fingers crossed and hit 'Send' while muttering my prayers to the god of the GSM..

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Sent from Amit's Motorola A1200, one helluva phone!