Thursday Thirteen #2 April 27, 2007

13 ideas I had for Thrusday Thirteen #2 before I settled on this one

1. My weekend in 13 steps (got stuck after step 4)

2. 13 things that influenced me as a kid (I was so overwhelmed thinking about it that I quickly moved on to the next idea)

3. 13 things I want to do before I die (turns out I really don’t have that many things I wanna do and when I found myself repeating ‘travelling’ for the third time, I gave up the idea)

4. 13 things about my family (some things are best left unsaid)

5. 13 food items I love (its almost impossible to pick out 13 and when I started cramming more stuff into one point category-wise.. yeah you are right, I gave up)

6. 13 steps to a good blog (didn’t think I was qualified to go on after point 6)

7. 13 blogs I read regularly (there are more than 13 and I didn’t want to pick a few)

8. 13 reasons why I love blogging (I got so excited while writing this that each point was a paragraph, didn’t have the heart to publish it)

9. 13 reasons why Google is the best! (Come on, everyone knows this anyway, we all love Google right? They even pay me at the end of every month so I really love them )

10. 13 things I want to do when I get my own apartment (this I think qualifies for a post. Needs more thought!)

11. 13 reasons why I can’t come up with a good idea for Thursday Thirteen.

12. 13 reasons why I love potted plants (??? this is when I knew it was getting out of hand and that I had to do something quick!)

13. And finally, I emerged smarter, funnier and more successful than you would have thought! Haah!

For The Cook In Me April 23, 2007

I don’t know how many of you noticed the new link on the top left corner. So here is the big announcement. How many of you knew I have a huge interest in cooking? Ah not many, I know Anyway, following that passion of mine, I have started a food blog!! (Drum rolls in the background)

Please do check it out here.

I am concentrating on simple and easy recipes, something like bachelor cooking. The only problem is, I only cook during weekends so updation will be a problem. And if there is anything I hate, its an inactive blog.

There are some really awesome food blogs out there and I feel humbled by them all. Maybe one day (read: when I cook atleast one meal everyday) I will have as much variety and activity as they do on their blogs.

I am really excited about this. Wish me luck! And yes, please do leave comments on the photos, even if you don’t really try out my recipes.

April 20, 2007

The most amazing thing happened just now!

I had created a website (using GooglePages, you should try that if you haven’t yet, its pretty awesome!) for new trainers that join our team. Had all the resources in one place and it took me around 5 days to do it (cuz I was doing other stuff too ).

I sent out the site to the team and I had even left provision for other teams to have similar pages linked within this site. I had sent it out yesterday asking for feedback and to point out anything I had missed out.

Today morning, after checking my email, I was casually wondering “hmm.. no one has responed to that thread? How come? Did I actually send it to everyone or..” There my thought was broken by Nitin who came up to my desk and said “Hey Nagalakshmi, that website was really good, we will see how we can add more teams into it” and I couldn’t even thank him for his complement cuz I was so wonderstruck how he came to me and said exactly the same thing I was thinking about!!

I mean, what are the odds?

I don’t care if you don’t think it is amazing, I do!! (What is it with me getting defendant at the end of every post? Sheesh!)

Thursday Thirteen #1 April 19, 2007

Lemon had told me a couple of weeks back that I am good with lists and should try the Thursday Thirteen. She also shared this nice banner with me to kick start it

What? A list of thirteen things that I post every Thursday. It may be a list of anything I choose (That’s what I like about it).

When? Every Thursday (Duhh!)

Where? Right here on my blog

So here goes the first one.

My Typical Weekday In 13 Points

1. Groggily wake up to the maid’s bell.

2. Get ready in half an hour, and then blog or read while waiting for the cab driver’s miss call (Ok, this is not entirely true, most days I don’t get time after getting ready, but still this is what I would like to do, you know)

3. Cab ride mostly spent listening to music (hot songs that I listen to every day in the cab are ‘Mallika I hate you, Bluffmaster theme song, Neruppae Sikkimukki from Vettayadu Vilaiyadu, Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera and Babuji zara dheere chalo’)

4. Commotion in the office cafe for breakfast and bigger commotion in my head trying to figure out what to eat – Indian breakfast, the continental snacks, fruits, toast, cornflakes are the choices. Yeah, Google totally spoils us I am telling you. Normally settle for the most unhealthy and most fattening. In short, fruits and toast are among the last choices.

5. Laden plate and me move towards my desk where I dock the laptop and log in. Same old Firefox, same old bookmarks that open in the same order every day (I think I am too organized sometimes, almost to a boring extend) and I always check Gmail first. The comments on my blog, scrap and friend request notifications from Orkut, one spam from astrology.com which I just can’t seem to unsubscribe from.

6. Work starts the moment I check office mail.

7. Meetings

8. Trainings

9. More meetings

10. Ah lunch! Almost always eat with roomy and friends. Again dilemma of choosing what to eat. Buffet lunch, subway sandwiches and salad, fruits again (again last choice) and I choose and eat and head back to desk.

11. Its difficult to keep off the sleep at this stage. Come on! Its afternoon, I am full and office is always freezing. I sigh and keep working.

12. Sometimes dread the office hours ending. Not because I am a workaholic (I work just enough, no extra, no deficiency and I enjoy what I do so no issues there) but because I don’t want to go back to an empty house (damn! I had to bring in senti stuff just when I was doing so well)

13. Head home anyway cuz I have to sleep, right? Take one of the last cabs possible and I hit the bed.

Important Note Below : I might sound boring in here but wait for my Thursday Thirteen for weekends. You are going to be oh so jealous!! Haah!! I am not a going-out-and-partying-on-weekdays-after-work kinda person. So jail me for that!

Are you ready for this? April 17, 2007

There are two things you can do when you are in a crappy mood.

(1) Blog about it

(2) Blog about something else.

For once, let me try option 2.

Have I cribbed about my hair yet?

Oh, I don’t think I have. Ok, so I have horrid hair. Or, let’s just say I hate my hair. Its dry and frizzy and always breaks, which leaves it looking all the more frizzier. My mom has straight silky hair and so does my sis, to some extend. Though I look like my mom most, Something decided to do a lil bit of mix and match, so there I was.

The third month after I started earning, I straightened my hair. It was one of the best moments of my life. I had nice hair! I went through a lot of mixed emotions about ‘natural beauty’ and ‘too much money for nothing’ and ‘blah blah blah’. In the end, I decided I didn’t care. I got a lot of comments right on my face saying I looked better the other way, I didn’t care about that too. I loved it!

Lesson 1: Sadly, though they call it ‘permanent’ straightening, it is not really permanent in the real sense of the word. Nature is stronger, right? So now my hair is back, well almost back, to its old self. And I am back to giving jealous looks too all those people with naturally straight hair. Hate them all (except mom and sis, of course)

To make the disaster look less horrid, I went to Fery’s beauty salon for a haircut. Since it was the beginning of the month and I was arrogant after all that annual bonus amount hit my account, I decided to go all the way and also get an oil massage done. An hour and a half later, there I was, with shiny hair and a squeaky clean scalp. Feeling all pretty, I paid the ridiculously high bill and went home, not wanting to put down my head on the pillow, though I had changed the cover just then.

Lesson 2: (aka Reiteration): I have curly/wavy hair. And if permanent straightening only held for a year, blow drying won’t go beyond two days. On the third day, to my utmost horror, there I was with locks of hair twirling around my ears. It was a complete disaster and it was too much to stay behind my ears and too frizzy for me to put slides on. It had to stay there and tickle my ears, AND make me look horrendous.

Consolation: The Panasonic straightening iron I bought from Singapore airport (where, btw, you get really cheap electronics. I am sure you will get it cheaper in the city but ah what the heck!). Sunday evening, I washed my hair and took out the bright new shiny hair iron of mine that’s going to me look oh so pretty.

Sad truth: Straightening irons need a professional hand at the other end (even if this end is my stupid head). My hand is certainly not professional with an iron. Sigh. There goes my dream of beautiful hair every Monday morning. Life is unfair? Anyone?

I haven’t given up yet. I am going to focus on getting good hair. I need to look pretty for a few more years. Then I can take it forward from there.

I only wish I can stop feeling absolutely and completely jealous of all those people with naturally straight hair. Grrr!! And if you like curly hair or think my hair is fine the way it is, I don’t agree!! I like straight hair. Period. (Yes, I can be stubborn. I am a Leo!)

The one where I don’t know what I am thinking April 13, 2007

Sometimes I feel life is unfair. But then we all think that right? We go through tough times and its good cuz it makes us stronger to face bad times in the future. Right? Wrong! Why do we need to be strong if there are no bad times in the first place.

I hate whoever made life a mix of nice and bad stuff. I would have been really happy with just the good things as I am sure most of you would agree (and let’s all ignore those fools who seem to be saying ‘no, its better this way’).

I am just feeling a little low right now. Like I am away from everything that matters. Everybody who matter. My life is more mechanic than a machine. No greasing, no oiling, no maintenance. I just load on more and more and keep going. Where every day is same from every other. Sometimes I ask my roomy which day of the week it is. Then I feel, does it matter? Its all the same. Only difference is the meetings in my calendar, the lunch menu and the email topics.

I don’t blog as often. I have stopped reading completely. I have no idea what Grey’s Anatomy is and I don’t know which season of ‘Friends’ is airing on Zee Cafe. I last went home in December. I don’t know if Kottayam has changed, if the roads have gone from bad to worse, if there are power failures during summer, if Icy Aunty has repainted her billboard, if Anns has raised the price of their pastries, if Baker School has changed their uniform colour, if YMCA has a cotton saree sale, if Omana Paul still makes those yummy chocolate cakes, if the giant wheel is back in the fair this year, if parking on KK Road has been allowed again, what movie is running in Abhilash theatre, if Parthas has picked up sales after the lull.

I want to know. I want to see and be there when things change. All these things made me into the me I am today. I don’t want to give them up. What am I doing here?

And then.. life goes on..

The New Blogger Feature! April 11, 2007

Blogger has added two new page elements that we can play around with. First one is boring – adding news clips to your blog from Google News and its updated real time or something. Blaaah. But my friends, the second one is cooool. Adding video clips to your blog and if a reader clicks on one of them, it plays within your blog. I love it!

I have added some ‘Friends’ clippings and its really neat! You just need to click on one thumbnail and it starts playing within my blog!!

Try it out in yours. You can use any keyword according to your interest.

Sigh. I love Google. And of course Blogger

April 10, 2007

I don’t have time to blog anymore.. bawl!! And I never thought I would say this. Really! And I can’t keep posting lists right? I have to have sentences too. Its almost 9 now and I have been in office over 12 hours. I can work overnight and still have pending stuff to do tomorrow morning.

I do enjoy it though. Yea yea, I am one of the rare lucky people. Let me know if you wanna join Google. Its a wheee place to work in

Promise to have some stuff in here as soon as I can. I dislike un-updated blogs almost as much as missing someone I love (which is my most despised thing, in case you didn’t know)

More coming up..

April 9, 2007

Excitement
Happiness
Heat
Family
Friends
Fun
More fun
Dinner
Baskin Robbins
Home food
Nice evening
Great weekend

The Special One April 4, 2007

You know how there are some people in your lives who make you feel like the most special person on earth? (If you don’t have such people in your life, well.. I am really really sad for you and hope you get to know the feeling some day). I have a few of those in mine.

VJ was an intern at office last year. I have mentored him at work and since I was quite friendly with all the interns, we have spoken too. He is the quiet, creative type. Soon we caught up online (courtesy: orkut and gmail), talked and then talked some more (by talked I mean online talking-I dont like the word chatting).

One day we started talking about some paranormal stuff, psychology, power of the mind, etc etc. And VJ tells me there is this Reader’s Digest issue he read long long back that has a very interesting article on these. He has boxes full of RD mags at home apparently (like my grandfather used to do. Boxes and boxes and boxes of RD!). He told me he would have sent that one issue to me if only he could spot it among the pile. There ended our conversation.

I got the courier today. The RD mag and a DVD to boot! Of snatch.

Thank you VJ! And all those people out there who make me feel like the most special person. Love you all.