Vacation Jinxed!

Talk about over planning... All of last week had geeky me making up the perfect itinerary for the labor day weekend.. Actually about 10 days ago I started this madness. M obliged to my silliness claiming he will take a couple days off to oblige so that we can make an extended trip to the area. So we planned a trip that took us to Richmond, VA and onwards to DC, Baltimore and Shenandoah Valley. The trip seemed perfect. The imp was consulted to plan the DC Itinerary and the prospect of National Air and Space Museum, and Natural History museum not to mention the Chinese Panda's at the National Zoo were all part of our tour of DC.

I must digress here to mention that we have taken trips before. Touristy trips cramped into 3 days of long weekend. Trips planned on a whim, decided the day before we left and sometimes hotels booked after we landed at our destination. But since Cheeky's birth, we try to act like responsible parents, planning ahead and keeping things at a leisurely pace. As a result we have not made many long trips before. We stuck to the day trips here and there. So Cheeky and Mom were really excited about this fun event on the horizon.

Maps were consulted, friends were lured in and the plan was finalized. In true geekish fashion thrown into an Excel, tickets booked. We thought of it all except the Weather channel. So the day before the trip when finally the TV was turned on we saw images of Tornado's in the Carolina's, Gustav in the horizon and the effects of Hurricane Faye leaving its stamp on the North West.

This morning I lay in bed at 2:45 AM listening to the thunder rattling my windows and the lightning flooding the room and wondered if it was wise to go on. We had watched the weather channel all day yesterday and seen the predictions of showers in all the places we were visiting. Yet the spirit for adventure burned bright and that cast a foolish AllisRight light over our eyes! So the wee hours of the morning saw us braving the rain to load our car up and hit the roads.
But the saying goes when it rains, it pours and when it pours it batters. A few miles on the highway had us encountering torrential rains, poor visibility and the worst of all battered cars on the roadside. As we sat there struggling to hear each other over the batter of the rain, peering through the window like stiff necked cranes, our eyes wide and popped out to make out the tail lights in the front and still failing to decipher in the haze the flashing hazard lights nonetheless. Only to hear through it all a faint ringing sound much to our bewilderment (have my ears given up on me too?) and see more visions of cop cars, fire trucks and zooming paramedics frantically kicking us out of the lane we were in. While we were thus occupied, sanity finally kicked in.
We yelled at each other over the mayhem "I need to talk to you". We pulled out at an exit to sit parked at a gas station, rivulets of sweat running down our brows, the shortened breath as if we had run for miles. Finally we looked at each other and the absurdity of it all had us laughing at our foolishness, almost but not quite! After all we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in a gas station while the storm raged with thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure.Not to mention the 3 year old at the back all starry eyed and eager to get back on the road! We still had the good measure of sanity left to suppress that laugh and look serious!! We tucked our tails between our legs to apologetically call the hotel and say we are calling it quits. The lady on the other side seemed relieved and promised to refund our money back. The news was gently broken to Cheeky - Washington DC is closed due to rains we said and he of course bought it! I know you would say shame on us for fooling a child. If you are saying that you don't have one of your own.. so hold it till you babysit Cheeky for a couple of days without help! {wink}
We then started over, only headed in the opposite direction and at a snails pace high tailed it back home! A few miles later the rain stopped battering and slowed down to a downpour enough for us to see the looming clouds up ahead and the car with the axle broken next to us. A few more miles down the line, the sun finally peeked to give a watery smile. Back home at last and the sun shone down on us beaming to her hearts content. A conspiracy you think? Well at least this time I made it out the door and 100 miles closer to DC. Next time I will get there!! :)

(Note: At the end of the day, the rains have begun again as I sit here typing this up I am actually glad in a weird sense that it is raining)
Some snapshots from the road as the rain cleared up when my camera would click again!
And still later when the sun made a tentative appearance.. the sight of the evil looking black clouds over the horizon actually looked beautiful to us! Aah I can finally see again I thought!The comedy never ceases in my life does it?

Moi Yesterday, Today and Tommorow

A year ago on a whim I started my journey in unchartered waters.. I had too much time on my hands and fancied myself a writer , so I started a blog! To be honest I have a basic instinct in me shared by many Indians I have observed. The quality of being inanely competitive. We don't think, we just jump into the competition and do our best at survival, we have been born with this inherent quality. So when I figured that so many people (I knew) blogged, just for the sake of competition I began to blog too. What started as a whim triggered by competition, soon turned into an obsession and addiction. Then slowly the newness subsided and it turned into a more healthier hobby.
I started by bribing advertising and torturing people - friends and family alike to read my blog. I began every conversation with my blog url. I hardly ever chat. I have avoided going online (I do go on as invisible sometimes) since my college days. But suddenly people found me online with the yellow smiley beaming on the side. And I would call friends out of the blue to talk over the phone.. only to mention casually my blog! I distributed candy strips with my blog url on it... people just swallowed it without looking. On July 4th I ran a runner on a chopper just before, after and in between the fireworks! I distributed flyer's in the mall.. Printed the url on paper napkins and .... you get the drift! But now I am struck by complacence. With a complete lack of humility I expect people to read whatever I care to scribble here (Let us not delve into the fact that since this attack of complacence my readership has fallen drastically!)

So now I have finished that one year of blogging and just gone over the 100 mark... and I have been struck by the lightning bolt called humility on this occasion. So finally after all the nonsense about the origins of this blog, I now thank all of you my fellow blogger and the others who manage to read this far and yet stay sane! And especially all the mommy bloggers with whom I share the solidarity and the sinking knowledge that we are all in the same boat (So as to speak). I have always been uncomfortable about internet stranger friends, but bloggers are different. I find their blogs have an entity of their own and that I seem to know and identify with the blog entities well enough. Alright now before I become teary eyed and sentimental like the Indian movie heroines.. I am going to stop and just say THANK YOU for reading and putting up with my momentary (/permanent) lapses of sanity!Now what better way to celebrate this than to do the tag specially designed by K3. She seems to have designed it especially for people like me who love to ramble on.. So here we go
The tag:
Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday (Kal)
Your oldest memory
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Today (Aaj)
Your first thought today morning
If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?
Tomorrow (Kal)
This year ….
What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

Yesterday:
My oldest memory.. entering into the world with scrunched up eyes screaming at the top of my lungs .. My mom smiles and thinks I am the best thing that ever happened to her. Her changing life did not flash before her eyes and no she did not think of asking my dad to take the baby away so she could sleep. That was me at my turn, drugged and sleepy!!

Well back to reality.. my oldest memory is a time in Kinder Garden (second year - UKG). I was playing on the jungle gym and I must have tried some lousy tricks with my uncoordinated body for I fell and bumped my head. I think there was some blood too. My teachers sent me to sleep with the LKG (a year younger) kids (The older kids never took the afternoon nap). I was mortified and embarrassed to be sent to the younger class.
Later my mom decided to use this embarrassment against me! So when I faired badly in the test. 9I am the only kinder gardener I have even known to get lousy marks in Kindergarten. All kids get 90's in kindergarten I got marks in 50's and 60's.) Anyway my mom decided to scare me and said I would have to remain in the same grade if I did not get my act straightened up! But the embarrassment had passed and I declared "good then my classmates would call me akka" (didi, older sister).

Ten years ago... I was in college.. probably conjuring up yet another hair brained scheme to torture our lecturers. Or doing one of the following during a lecture.. passing notes to each other, drawing (pointed hands on every page to represent PTO, portrait of the teacher, or a yawning mouth - my favorite pictures), writing poetry, reading some romance novel or writing in my diary. We were a group of busy bodies for sure!

Today
First thing in the morning - sleep? Thats the only thing I think off when I get up kicking and screaming to the sound of the alarm.. when after tossing it around and hitting it a few times it still wont shut off.. Or I am being kicked out of bed by the little imp who climbs in every morning and throws me out!!

Today the little imp is making playdoh creations. Here are a couple!

(The second one is a one eyed monster - notice the light green eye and horns , the monster also has a mush and a beard!)

My time capsule - can I fit in there? Its a time capsule and not a time machine? What is the point really?

Tomorrow
I am going to get a life!!! That is in the top order of things!!

14 years from now? No I don't want to think about it.. not teen years please!!!
Passing on the tag? Vish, Raysh, 2BM - why don't you give it a shot?

Coming up - Elephants and Poodles!

I have been doing what?

I am being accused of taking a break again... so I wondered how to make my come back... After all I need to come back with a bang so as to speak!
So what have I been doing while away from all the blog sites...
Being the model housewife - Cooking, Cleaning and Doing the dishes. Shush, lets just pretend there are no giant specks of mess all over the carpet, and the dishes in the sink have disappeared by magic. It seems to be a conspiracy.. I think every night all the dishes in my kitchen wait till I go to bed and then sneak up into the sink, getting loads of grease on them on the way to their destination. I then have to go at them every morning up to my elbows in suds. Yeah I kind of knew all along that no one will believe me.. so no its not the cleaning or the cooking that has kept me busy.

Hmm, how about the Gym? Like M says I have to go there for a length of time to claim that I am hitting the gym really. But what do I do? Go there for a couple of days and potter around.. and announce to the whole world that I am back at my workout routine. I have got the spreading the word down pat - I go online, lure my friends onto chat only to tell them a few minutes later "Hey got to go hit the gym.. talk to you later". Such lovely people that they are, they never call my bluff, although they must suspect something for I never chat usually! After all the loud declaration and the beating of the drums in announcement of my intentions I finally drag my suddenly heavy legs to the Gym.
Once at the gym - first things first, I briskly walk over to the TV.. flip channels and find the best program. Now I turn on the treadmill.. and start my warm up (yeah right.. slow walk its called), a minute and a half later I step down to turn up the volume on the TV. Back to the treadmill another minute and the ads run on the TV, and the gym has no remote much to my convenience. So off again to switch channels. Another attempt at the warm up and I need my Gatorade. So there stop again to consume some Gatorade. Meanwhile Cheeky wants to know how to write C. So stop again to help him do that. Meanwhile the 15 minutes for the treadmill is up, off to the elliptical bike now never mind that I did not get past warm up on the treadmill! Not to mention that every 5 minutes I am looking at the watch and I swear those are the longest 30 minutes of my day.
So no I cannot claim that is the reason I have been busy, even my conscience does not allow it! Especially because at the end of (the excuse called) a workout I am found hogging on Ice creams and cakes. Aside: Cheeky baked an almond cake for Independence day much to my amusement and later (when it ended up being a lot tastier than mine) bewilderment. Guess who finished it off in two days?

Catching up on my reading? I have been trying to read Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri for the past 2 weeks and not made much progress. All my magazines for the month of August lie unopened, not to mention those of June and July too!

Cheeky troubles? Cheeky troubles are in another direction.. they keep the rest of the world busy. I keep having to rescue everyone I meet from answering endless questions. Strangers are not exempt. The other day we went to the doctor for his Annual check up. While we waited for our turn Cheeky went up to the play table where another mommy entertained her son. Cheeky of course asked her endless questions about automobiles, correcting her when she managed to get a word in.. I am sure she is now one very worried mommy worrying about when her kid would reach Cheeky's age.

But most mothers with kids the same age understand. When I walk in looking all parched and tired with a Cheeky in tow.. and am subject to the endless hour of question and reasoning.. I get looks and smiles from women around and without exchanging a word I know she is a mother. We get talking and talk about endless summer vacations and how the little ones are such a handful. I don't need to know where she comes from or who she is. The solidarity we share by being mothers of 3-4 year olds is just unbreakable!

We finally made it past the reception the other day. But we had it coming... so at the Doctor's we were informed that there would be a vision test. I was asked if Cheeky could identify alphabets (to use the alphabet vision test board as against the shapes board). Momma never learns so I could be heard proudly saying "Oh yes, all of them". And the test began with questions and statements "Why do I have to stand at this line", "I don't like these glasses", "No I don't think they are cool", "Why cant I see with both eyes?". Finally Cheeky was convinced to stand on the line and look through the uncool glasses blackened on one eye and read the board. The first two lines of reading went by without much ado... and then he decided that was enough "I don't want to read anymore", "Whats that thing on that door , pointing away from the board", "See Amma the floor has so many colors" At the end of the vision test I had that momma look again.. but the nurse just smiled and assured me that he is just a regular 3 yr old! But Cheeky had to correct her "I am almost 4"!

Phew the doctor visit is over finally and I have stopped laughing since! In retrospect it is all very funny even if I get a little hysteric!

I have rambled on and I have digressed so far from the topic at hand, that I am sure you no longer remember what I am blogging about. I think I was talking about why I have not been blogging (I have a vague memory of wanting to write about that). The reason lies in an inherent quality of mine that I do not wish to disclose (just a hint it starts with l and ends with y and has two letters between).

Without any further retrospection into my absence and my lack of creative thoughts (the reason why my other blogs lie silent), lets just hope the silence in my head is gone and the voices are back for good again!

Coming up: Moi - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

To be (geek) or not to be?

I made a post yesterday and deleted it in response to the household censor board. But apparently it still appeared in some readers.. so if you do see it, just ignore it will you?
Meanwhile as promised I am moving on with my life.. and starting to turn my worries in the directions of Geek-dom!
I keep claiming about what a handful I was in school and hence non-geek. That is not true.. I was a geek alright, trying very hard at being cool. I tried to be the jock and tried my hand at sports.. but this is how the story went.

I enjoyed badminton quite a bit and even toyed with volley ball for a while. However around the time when it looked like I would get chosen in the school team, my hand started swelling up every time I played. For some unknown reason my fracture in both elbows years back decided to come back to haunt me! So that was the end to my claim to fame.

But I was unfettered. Every PT (Physical Training) hour would find me trying to learn a new sport! Oh yes I was trying to find the one I had real passion for.. So I tried my hand at table tennis (ping pong), football, hockey (no not the ice one thank goodness, imagine me fumbling around on thin ice!), basket ball (I have never made the basket in life), baseball and so on. My friends used me as a distraction but I turned out to be quite the opposite... and caused them a lot of stress as my coaches!

I decided to try athletics and started running - if you picture some one bouncing and flailing hands and gasping hard while trying to move, that is what I called running. We had sports teams/ houses as they were called. My team lived to rue the day they put me on their relay running team. Despite the fact that I was always placed conveniently in the middle (2nd or 3rd position) so that the other runners could make up for my fumbles and tortoise pace! Not one to be undone, I tried javelin throw, discuss throw, shot put, high jump , long jump ... you name it!

I keep listing this off to M every once in a while much to his amusement. Like all guys he has played cricket all his life.. from gully to college team to office team to US league matches. He is a weight lifting, ab crunching jock who makes my life hell by showing off his perfect muscles! However as I keep running off the mouth with my athletic proficiency, I have figured one thing to be proud off. I never feared failure. I took the center stage regardless of how well or badly I faired and my only promise was to have fun doing it or a good laugh.. whatever! Not anymore though, I keep looking around to see reactions when I walk even.. do you think those people are laughing at the way I swing my arm?

And this was not all.. there is more to the list of my failed attempts at school. I tried joining the school band, no cymbals or trumpet for me mind you, I wanted to beat the drum much to the amusement of my band master.. Do you think you can carry this around during a march past he would ask.. and I just brushed it away as that was the easiest thing to do. So along side the big able bodied boys learning to keep beat on the huge drums, I learned too. And then I tried the guitar. I went to the first day of class and the minute I learned I had to buy one to join I chickened out. If I had gone to my parents with the demands of a guitar I would have heard an earful for sure given my history. I tried to sing, even join the choir (lets just say I was not the only reason the teacher abandoned us). I tried my hand at art - my teacher gave up on me in despair, no sense of color she said lightly, cooking - my culinary skills are tribute to those classes. I would stand with a book in a corner and wait till all the others were done then I would push to the foreground and eat all the fun stuff {wink}. I decided I would try HAM - Amateur radio. I got tired of the dot and dash pretty soon - how boring, why would someone do that rather than pick up the phone and call? I asked the school founder and a big HAM fan this and he glared at me with such intense that I made a bee line for the door. I tried Karate but my body ached so much I never made it to the 2nd session. My parents held hope for me till the end, and encouraged me as I stumbled to one class after another! Or rather they pretended to encourage me (I can imagine my dad telling my mom "As long as they keep her busy")

Then I found my true vocation, talking.. now that was something everyone knew I would excel at and I did that for a while.. traveled around the city and district in search of something to talk about. With my history, my parents refused to let me go beyond that. Spent hours looking up quotations and cutting out interesting articles on the newspaper. But sometime in college, I saw all the fun I was missing out.. when my friends sat in the audience gossiping I was up on stage talking about something inane like "What came first - the chicken or the egg" .. honestly who cares! And that was the end of that!

I studied to be a computer engineer and enjoyed my work with geek-ish satisfaction! Working late hours, bringing work home and smiling through it all! But then I tried my hand at motherhood.. stumbling through the sleepless nights when I poured the water into the formula box and just anointed my baby with water when no one was around and claim "Oh I bathed him!"! Lets just leave out the gory details of my motherhood stumbles... there are many posts in this blog which are a tribute to my fumbling through!

At the end of it all, I do not want to do what I studied for, and we have figured that I wasted all my school days trying to figure out what I was good at and ending up empty handed. The only thing I am good at is talking and I get that out of my system by my long phone calls every day and this blog where I rant on and on. Geek or not? thats for you to say!

On Consultation...

While I have been tormenting myself about my huge crisis, I did not stop to ask my SeniorConsultantForMakingLifeChangingDecisions about what he thought.
Even when he said "I am going to make BMW cars"
I absentmindedly replied "Have your bath first"
Cheeky exclaimed "No amma, when I grow up"
"Good" I told him still looking like a woman with lost marbles.
So Cheeky decided to take things in his able hands "Amma what do you want to be when you grow up? A computer engineer" he asked making a face!
I know it is so distasteful even for him! So I asked him "Why? is that boring?"
"Yes" he said "do you want to be a firefighter instead?"
"mm no" said I
"I know you go make Yamaha bikes"

Still later ... we started our day dreaming.
Cheeky rattled off the cars he was going to buy for himself. I secured myself a Maybach and a Rolls Royce for good measure. Dad was going to get a Bugati Veyron and a Suzuki Hayabusa. I decided to take the dream further.. so do you intend building a house I asked?
I was told that the house was going to happen, but I was going to get the neighboring house while M and Cheeky stayed in the main house! I worked my way into the main house with a lot of cajoling and some groveling (well who am I kidding), but try as I might could not secure the Master Suite!
I then ventured to find out the secret for success.. so many cars and mansions... whats going to pay for this?
Cheeky said "I am going to be a power ball engineer"
Had I heard it wrong? Oh no he confirmed "I am not going to be anything when I grow up, I am just going to buy the power ball, there is lots of money in it"
M grinned and gave me the YouAskedForIt look!
I prodded him and said "You know they are going to blame us? " I had a vision of the people pointing fingers at me and whispering..
Cheeky ran across the room holding his hand away from his body with the imaginary ball in his hand... "the power ball has a lot of money in it" he yelled... I could hear the ringing in my head!

Still later M looked at me with that suspicious look in his eyes "You are not going to"
"What" said I "its perfect blogging material... everything is fair game" and then the trump card "Don't you want to remember this when he grows up?"
Do we want to really?
I consider telling him about Erma Bombeback "When it is Wednesday and I still don't have anything for my column, I break the deal and write about my family"
But this is no column and I don't get paid for it.. so there goes that argument.

Still it is difficult to keep a straight face when people think they have a secret peephole into my life through this blog... people closer to me know better.
I told a friend to read my blog, yes I have to ask people to read every time I make a post. She declared "If only you spent more time doing something useful rather than spinning all the melodramatic tales"
Me "Not useful? Come on its a good vent to creative energy. And by the way I was looking for sympathy.. I am going through a crisis"
Her "Bah.. write a book, at least you would get paid if it sells"
No that was just the voice in my head.. but I know it is right! But who would buy/read the book.. I have an average audience of 15 people.. and on good days when say 20 people visited my blog I bring out the champagne.. and god knows how many of them read it all.. they do not all comment for sure! So considering I do write a book.. chances are I never sell it!
Back to my crisis!
I told my sister about my crisis "I have been having one for the past 5 years" she declared. My best friend laughed in my face when I tried to tell her.
I lamented to M and he said "What you want people to take you seriously?" he asked with that impish grin!

My mom always warned me that if I grew up taking things so lightly I would regret it later in life! Kind of like the boy who cried wolf! Boohoo!
Oh well, might as well find something else to write about..
So the next on line.. To be (geek) or not to be?

[Edited to add : Power ball is a lottery as you have probably surmised. Every state in the US has a power ball. The jackpot keeps piling on when nobody wins so some months it can go up to 300 million or more. I think they recycle every month and start at a base amount of say 15 million or something. If you win the 300 million, you can choose to take the money in installments, or if you want cash up front you get to take 50% home, of course there is a heavy tax levied on it! There are a lot of success stories in the home page.
Links - Wikipedia - the all prevailing encyclopedia - powerball
Powerball home page ]

Am I experiencing...

MID LIFE CRISIS.

I had a chat with Rayshma yesterday. I told her I was considering going on a camping trip and rough it up, spice it up a bit, live life on the edge (yeah right, where did I think I was going to Jurassic Park?). No I said something along the lines of experience nature, be a little adventurous! And the lady wanted to know what was wrong with me! M wanted to know too.. lets go camping he said.. but lets first rent one of those bus like RV's and bring the conveniences of home with us! Yes I have finally decided to call him M in an unimaginative way, DH is too tacky for me.. hubby dearest? really? Geek does not suit him well enough and Cheeky's dad gives him an identity crisis... Koff was a good option, but would throw everyone a curve ball if they were encountering it for the first time.. so I decided to stick with M.
Anyway, I am digressing.. so back to Rayshma's question. Whats with me? I have been thinking too.. what is it? Mid life crisis?

You bet Rayshma wanted to know "how do you know u've reached the middle of your life?"
My response ...
"When you go berserk and want to give up all that you worked for and believed in you are in the middle of something!!

wanting to run away counts too :P"

I had a mid life crisis when I was 15, my mom called it the teens .. whatever potato, potaato.. same thing! But then I thought being 30 was end of the world.. who would want to be that Olddd... I asked.. so then 15 was mid life for me! And I had some of the biggest crisis of my life alright..
Deciding what to wear, every morning I would empty the contents of my wardrobe on my floor and dive in...
A clean room.. as long as the rodents don't invade, my room is clean.. My mom of course did not agree and had a fit every time she walked in..
Privacy .. huge signs on the door asking my parents to keep away proclaiming DANGER.. right like that would stop them!

Look I am digressing again... Back to my current mid-life crisis (lets talk about the bygone times later, shall we?) ...
(pict courtesy: www.musicalhome.com)
1. Every time someone suggests going back to work I get that glassy eyed far away look and start hyper ventilating! (Refer previous post - When I grow up!)
2. I have forgotten the geeky me, and am trying to pretend to be cool! (refer next post .. coming soon!)

3. When the doctor asked me "Do you eat a lot of chocolate", I sucked in my tummy and asked her "Do I look like I do?"

4. I am so scatter brained I keep running off track and digressing from the current topic at hand!
5. I clean up my house like my life depended on it!
6. When people need advice they call me.. be it about raising kids or what rug to use in the living room, or running away {wink, now we know where that one came from}. No one has still asked me about recipes, when that happens I know I am over the hill!

7. And when the doctor told me "you know when you near the 3 O ...", I asked her "How did you know?".. "Its right there" she said pointing to the ominous computer screen with my name on it... I ran out with a pained expression on my face!
8. I want to invite everyone home and feed them. "Oh your husband is going out of town, come here". "Oh you don't have plans for the weekend, come let me make dinner". Really whats with that? I need to get a life!

9. I want to buy roller skates (In mid life crisis terms - the convertible). Cheeky has acquired one, and now I want one too!
10. {edited to add} I have stopped crying for all the sentimental scenes in the movies. M recently noticed this... I have become worldly wise!
11. I spend way too much time thinking about myself and my crisis

So while I go mope around.. have fun with your non-crisis life's!! And just a bit of advice to all of you out there from M "Don't take the silly momma too seriously"

By the way here is what Wikipedia has to say about mid-life crisis
"Individuals experiencing a mid-life crisis have some of these feelings:

• search of an undefined dream or goal
• a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished
• desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness
• need to spend more time alone or with certain peers"

Boohoo... I am going to go and lament a bit more to anyone that will hear!

When I grow up...

What do I want to be when I grow up? Rather late to ask the question you think! But a very important question in my life now! I have all I need in life, credit cards, drama and entertainment. In a moment of insanity Hubby Dearest provided the first. Cheeky makes sure the other 2 aspects of my life are provided for. But apparently the two men in my life have tired of all my melodrama and are on the verge of kicking me out and send me rolling to a job!

I sat on the couch and asked "So what do I do?" with a painful expression on my face. "Is the thought really that painful" DH asked. I dug out the lego block from under me and yelped... After putting away the blocks and straightening up the house, doing the dishes and burning some stuff on the stove, I was back to resume my position on the couch. Amidst smirks and giggles I grouped my audience/ think tanks.

"I really want to know, what kind of job do you think I should take up?"

Now it was DH's turn to look pained. I explained "I am tired of being a computer engineer" {smirk smirk.. I have been on a break long enough to drive everything that spells software out of my brain, but lets not disclose that}

"Aah" said DH "you could stick stamps at the post office"

I perked up "Now we are talking... I could do that.. I would love to say next please, how can I help you today"

A pause later DH said "I think they would kick you out, if you keep making conversation with every one who comes in"

"Oh" I said in disappointment, so that rules out customer service I suppose.

"I could be an interior designer" I started

"Right, you watch too much HGTV" DH said with a smirk and a look of grimace at the new shiny pillow cases.

"Hey they were on sale" {besides they looked lovely in the packaging, but on adorning my bed the gold satin pillow cases look tacky.. how was I to know?}

So I guess Interior design is out of the question. Sigh.

I eyed the book I have been reading ... "The other side of the story" about authors and agents, behind the screens of writing a book. I could be an author,but the closest I have got to writing a story are the tales I spun at school to my teachers. And I assure you they are not novel material!

I could be an agent though.. sounds like a fun thing to do. If only I lived in Newyork, and lived a pub swinging, disco dancing lifestyle! Now all I have to do is invent time travel and go back in time to my single status.

Hmm what about acting thought I. No please dont laugh, I know that me in all my pot bellied beauty would just rock the screens. But Cheeky just informed me that I would look gross in a two-piece and asked nicely "Amma dont wear that please" So that rules out acting,

Teaching too is out of the question, after a taste of my teaching skills Cheeky declared "Amma, you be my mom dont be a teacher please!"

Fashion Designing is ruled out too, sigh.. I in all my hastily thrown together wardrobe am the perfect target for the show "What not to wear"

With a heavy heart I dragged my feet to the library and brought back a big fat book on DotNet Architecture. My dreams of chaging professions seem to be futile and in sheer defiance I have picked up the pencil and paper to scribble away and dream of being an artist. DH shakes his head at a loss for words of reason and decides the topic of me returning to the work front has to be tabled for later.

Phew and I will live to blog another day!

Quite a Handful

I am nearing the one year completion as well as the 100th post celebration for my blog. Not yet but will be there soon, if I decide to start posting anytime now. Time to dust my brain and shake off the writer's block (I can call myself a writer can't I?) I told myself. If I don't get off that couch and start typing.. I will never reach the 100.
And then I read Prats blog. Prats seems to be a constant inspiration/fodder for me these days. She had written about being Nerd Momma... and I went on a trip down memory lane.
And I thought

• About the time in first grade where I was asked to write words 10 times each and I wrote 1,2,3,4,6,8,10.
• About the time in first grade when I flicked a 5 paise or some such thing off the living room table to go buy a Popsicle on the sly. (I of course could not keep a secret and ended up telling my mom the tall tale over dinner.)
• About the time in 5th grade when my hand just would not heal from its fracture because it was time for the exams.
• About the same time when my mom would ask me questions to see how well prepared I was for my exams. I would stand behind her asking to play with her hair and read the answers right off the book. Duh (I think my mom knew all the while, and the ploy was to get me read at least that once).
• About the times I put my comics and novels in between my school books and read to heart's content! (My uncle caught me once, but was trusting enough to let me go if I promised never to do it again. As if!)
• About the time our biology teacher would give us assignments to draw each diagram 5 times. She would send us all out of class and then would stand at the door and mark out books as we walked in. We always made sure we had a pencil and exchanged notes through the window right behind her. (I have never been known to do these imposition assignments).
• About the time my history teacher in 6th grade made me sit in the front row unable to put up with my non-stop chatter.
• About the time I refused to do the steps in my math problems claiming "Amma, I am sure my math teacher knows how to get the answer" (Prats are you listening)
• About the time I wrote on my answer paper "refer to answer 10b" when the teacher had the audacity to repeat the same/similar question in 2 sections!

Seriously the list could go on.. this is just the tip of the iceberg like they say! But as the spirals of flashback start fading away and I take a look at Cheeky seeing a bit of me already peeking through! What did I get myself into? I could be a nerd (first try, the bullets for the list above) and stick to the rules and give out high sounding advice like my mom did! I know Cheeky is going to be rolling his eyes and going "What a nerd?" or I could let Cheeky have fun but fail to follow all the rules in school. You know what I will go through every time I need to meet the teacher! The same thing my mom went through "Your daughter studies well and her marks are good, but I want to talk about how naughty she sometimes is"!! Like she did not know already, hey she got to take me home!!
Sigh!! I do have a really tough life ahead as the Imp grows up!!
Meanwhile here is how we have been expending our energy these past few days... Painting.. Now remember I am a beginner but here it is for you to see. (A watercolor by yours truly)And this one by Cheeky. I drew the Pooh, but Cheeky decided the picture needed some clouds.. so thats what you see, Pooh lying under a blanket of clouds!Now I am off to go mope about how I am going to set the right example for Cheeky. Post Facto? And I cant even get the bullets to stay!! Boohoo!

A trip down memory lane...

No fodder for blogs.. or so I thought as I sat at my computer this morning. So time to vaccum the house, and clean the tub and finally iron some clothes - I cant remain in PJs forever can I? But no, I had to turn on the computer, and go to blog lines and read other bloggers...
This has sent me down memory lane.

UTBT wrote about Kootanchoru. It took me back in time to the vacations I spent in my grand parents home as a kid. I would go there every vacation as both my parents worked. Sometimes mom would join me too. In December my uncles and cousins who lived abroad would gather too. Summers were spent with my aunts, uncle and grand parents. On such occasions we would gather around my grandmom and she would mix the rice and give it to us in our palms for us to eat. She would make one big bowl of rice for all of us. Summer vacations when no cousins were around, we used to do this with my mum, aunt, uncle and me. As I was the only kid I got fed by mouth while the others would get the food in their palms. Then my uncle would always lie down put his head on my grandmom's lap and claim she was his mother first and my grandma next. I would argue till blue in the face about how I was younger and hence got exclusive grandma rights!! Such mean relatives I had, torturing a little kid like this.. but I think thats why I remember my vacations so fondly.. All the banter is truly unforgettable! Grandmom was so much fun.. she would play Pallankuzhi with me (an age old Tamil board game played with tamarind seeds for coins and thayam kattai for dice). Pallankuzhi is similar to Mancala (African board game) or Pits and Pebbles game. Summer vacations also meant, story time. Grandmom would tell me stories tirelessly till I fell asleep every night from exhaution.

Prats wrote about street vendors who come knocking in India. I would hang on to the balcony rails to peer at the street vendors calling out their wares in sing song tunes on the road every summer vacation. "Paper Pazhaya Paper" was the most common... The man who collected old paper would walk down the road many times every day. Today I haul the paper to the trash every once in a while. I finally stopped buying paper in fear of the disposal!! I remember the vendors who would bring stainless steel dishes and plastic ware to the door step. They wanted old clothes in return. How convenient. Rambler wrote about how he had a tough time getting rid of clutter.. and here was a great way to do it. And you would get these dishes/ plastic ware in return. When I started working I went to live with my grand parents for a year. I came home one day to my grandmom proudly displaying a plastic bucket to me.
"See does this look good" she asked.
"Did you carry it all the way from the store? You should have told me I would have got it for you!" I said
"No the pathrakaran gave me this" she said (the plastics vendor)
I knew there had to be a reason she was beaming so much
"What did he give you this for free?" asked I in all my naiveté'
"Oh no I just gave him one of your old jeans and he gave me this big bucket in return"
Old Jeans? I did not have any old jeans lying around.. I ran to my room and rummaged through my stuff and confirmed the gnawing suspicion. She had exchanged my brand new expensive stone wash jeans for a plastic bucket. And she stood there proud of it, beaming with happiness. I did not have the heart to tell her that was one expensive bucket!!
Cheeky had his first sighting of a street vendor when he was a year and a half. I hide from these persistent vendors. We were on a vacation to my parental home and were both playing in the car porch. I spied the vendor and tried to lure Cheeky to the back of the house, so that the vendor would call out and then leave disappointed! The vendor called out "Amma, Amma". Cheeky escaped my clutches and ran to the guy and pointed to the turn in the wall where I was hidden and said "Anga" (Over there) and He came back to me to say "Amma unna yaaro kupdara" (Amma someone is calling out to you). I had to come out of hiding shame faced and buy the stuff I did not need as the poor guy had not sold anything all day and I wanted to stop him from convincing me and let me go back to my playing ball with my now restless son. So I bought the jug and cups that he sold and it still lies in a forgotten corner in my dad's house!

Now thanks to all my fellow bloggers I am on a never ending trip down memory lane while my house lies in a complete mess!

Cheeky Rules!

It all started with one innocent phone call to R one evening! We were thinking about the July 4th weekend and deciding whether we wanted to make that trip to DC. Meanwhile Cheeky had been asking endless questions all day and I was truly tired. So I suggested to the geek to call R and find out what they were doing for the long weekend. After all I am always in the quest of finding more people to answer Cheeky's questions.

So we called R and Cheeky ran into the room. Once he heard Uncle R on the phone, it was his turn on the phone now! "Uncle R I moved to a new house. The house is called North Carolina" Uncle R remembers Cheeky of a few months ago, a Cheeky who quietly played with his daughter A and was so excited about cars that was all he could think about!
So the poor guy said "You know that is so close to Tennessee! "
"Really" went Cheeky his voice going over the edge and getting very squeaky in delight!!

The geek and I knew then that we had lost our chance to see DC. So after figuring out that uncle R could not come here, promises were made to drive to TN for the weekend. With a Cheeky bouncing off the walls excitement the details for the trip were finalized!

What details you ask? Well a few days ago I had gone ballistic and purchased all the ingredients for making a cake. Dottie is to blame of course, for she made it sound so easy - here. So I went to the store and got all the ingredients, despite all the sarcastic looks I got from a very amused GD (Geeky Dad). Now the persistent Cheeky wanted me to bake a cake to take to TN. Yeah Right, subject them to the tortures of my culinary skills!

So on the morning of the 3rd the cake was mixed and baked, cooled and frosted and even iced on! Then I had the flashing bulbs on my head..so it was tasted too..It seemed to taste okay, Cheeky was called on for confirmation and the verdict was given. So the cake was covered and kept away.

On July 4th lil A had planned a picnic lunch by the lake and after a romp in the water park (with all the fun fountain features), we went to sit by the lake and the cake was cut and dug into. It was declared yum.. by all the important tasters (the kids) and the beam on SM (Silly Momma)'s face was enough to light up the place!

But the fun was hardly over.. the evening brought a firework spectacle. We sat in the back yard watching the fireworks and next it was our turn to tune it up.. So we brought out our personal stash and dug in.. Cheeky had a blast while playing with the fireworks and at the same time being the firefighter with a stick for a hose!! He ran around extinguishing fires all evening! A bunch of tired kids made it to bed that night!

The next morning dawned with promises for yet another fun day. The boats had been spotted on the lake the previous afternoon and July 5th had been declared a day for boating by the unanimous vote of the kids. Parents of course were not consulted! Unfortunately after a morning of running from one boat club to another, it finally dawned on us that July 4th weekend was either very busy or closed! We could not find a single boat to rent! But not wanting to disappoint these little imps that rule our life, we went to the caverns at Lost Sea. The Lost Sea is part of an extensive and historic cave system called Craig head Caverns near Sweet Water, East Tennessee. The specialty is however not the crystalline formations in the caverns, but here is where you will find the largest underground lake in America (according to Guinness Book). We even got to go on a boat ride in the lost sea!! So the kids were appeased and brought back home after yet another tiring day of walking in the cavern on steep pathways!

The vacation was short and sweet, for after lazing around at home the next day we started home that evening, dragging a reluctant Cheeky along with a long face. And with the promises to meet up again soon! But the vacation was good fun, and Cheeky got what he has been longing for ever since the return from India. People!

Now Cheeky has another plan "Amma can you call Santa and tell him I want a steam engine with cars behind them?"
Amma "Its not yet christmas"
Cheeky "Thats ok you call daddy and tell him "
Right till its time for Christmas, Daddy can be Santa!!

Literary Characters - Top 10

The tag read Top 10 literary characters. It sounded like a blast, and I had to do it.. just then K3 tagged me to do it as well.. so here I go.

1. Scarlett O' Hara - Gone with the wind is one of my favorite books and despite her obstinacy I adore Scarlet. She is quite a girl. Many a times I have known to quote "Tomorrow is another day" and I have this picture of Scarlet standing at the stoop of Tara in my mind. I even read the sequel "Scarlett" but unfortunately the book tries to mellow her character and she loses her personality. So my advice don't read the book Scarlett. (pic courtesy: http://www.tonnerdoll.com)

2. Kundavai and Nandini - These are characters in Kalki's book Ponniyin Selvan. I read the english translation of this book and absolutely fell in love with it. It is a must read, the book is so beautiful and these are two strong women who rule the roost! The tamil version is available as an ebook at Project Madurai. Unfortunately I was not able to find an ebook with the English Translation. The translation has been done by Karthik Narayanan and he has managed to keep the original beauty of the book intact. I loved it, hope you will too - it is a series with 5 volumes.

3. Elizabeth Bennet - She needs no introduction. Anyone who reads Pride and Prejudice would fall in love with this character. I have read Pride and Prejudice about a dozen times and every time I think of Elizabeth Bennet I want to read it again. The Geek presented The complete novels of Jane Austen to me for our last anniversary (Now I know why I married him!!). Keira Knightley played the role of Elizabeth in the movie, she fit very well I thought! (pic courtesy: http://www.theage.com.au/)

4. Portia - Thanks K3 for the reminder. I had all but forgotten Portia and K3 reminded me! We had Merchant of Venice as part of our Syllabus in our 7th grade. Later that year, we enacted the play and I got to play the role of Portia. I really love the fact that she is a strong woman from Shakespearan times! And am really proud that I got to play the role! Now its been a long time since I read Merchant of Venice, I am going to find a copy soon and read it again! (pic courtesy: http://www.antique-print.com)

5. Jeeves - I have devoured every PG Wodehouse novel I could get my hands on. And I really love the smug, all knowing butler Jeeves. He does manage to put Bertie in his place doesn't he! I love the way he manipulates the Clueless Bertie while keeping him unaware that he is being manipulated!! In the novel Ring for Jeeves, he appears without Bertie when he is on loan to some Earl! (pic courtesy: http://bostonist.com/2007/07/21/snotty_yuptown.php)

6. Sherlock Holmes - How can you not like this detective? I especially love his flair for the dramatics, his theatrical acting and even his arrogance! I am also rather fond of Watson! "Excellent" cried I, "Elementary" said he!! A display of Holmes off-hand arrogance right there! In the movie Shanghai Knights (Jackie Chan) an English Inspector is called Arthur Conan Doyle. He loses his job and claims he is interested in writing detective novels more than his job as an inspector!! (pic courtesy: http://www.jewishmag.com/51mag/sherlock/title2.gif)


7. Charlie Chaplin - The movie Shanghai Knights brought to mind Charlie Chaplin. An English urchin in the movie is called Charlie Chaplin. How can we not fall in love with the greatest mime/ clown of all times? Charlie Chaplin acted in, directed, wrote the script and produced his own films. He was quite a genius! (pic courtesy: http://www.pembrokeshirevirtualmuseum.co.uk/)


8. Friends - Usha gave me this idea. I love the soap friends and watch it over and over again. I love all the characters there for a different reason be it Phoebe's shoot in the air idealism, Rachael's naivette, Monica's obsessions, Ross's nerd-ness, Chandler's sardonic humor or Joey's blundering on!! I just love them all.. they have made me laugh on many days when I have felt so blue! (pic courtesy : http://www2.warnerbros.com)

9. Ford Prefect - Long back my cousin introduced me to the Hitch Hiker's galaxy and I fell in love with the book. The book is described as "a trilogy in five parts". Ford Prefect is the alien and the roving reporter for the whole book. He has been late getting home due to some transportation issues (late by 15 years). So he boards the space ship that arrives moments before the destruction of Earth (Earth needed to be destroyed as is was in the path of the new inter-galactic highway.. Earth was informed ages ago but of course paid no heed!). (pic courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org)


10. Tracy Whitney - The heroine of Sidney Sheldon's novel "If tomorrow comes". Like all his heroines she is young, beautiful, and very smart! She is wrongly accused of murder and sent to prison! Once she is surprisingly released comes the story of the woman scorned! She avenges the wrong and turns into a con-artist, falls in love with another con-man and enjoys the life of scam and the thrill of a life of crime! (pic courtesy: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/sidney-sheldon/if-tomorrow-comes.htm)

When K3 gave me this tag I don't suppose she thought I would get carried away like this! Well I adore books and I could go on and on ... However, in lieu of time (yours not mine) I will stop with just the two more. These are my favorite cartoon characters. They would have to be Calvin and Hobbes, and Dennis the Menace. They need no introduction, so I will leave it at that! I absolutely adore these characters and have a similar one at home (maybe pay back for adoring these characters so much and devouring all their cartoon strips for years!!) (pic courtesy: http://www.migrantweb.org)

This was a fun fun tag. I pass this on to
Vish from Fantasies of a lifetime
Suma from Alochaane
Prats from Retrospections
Noon from Wonder Noon
Friendly Stranger from Colors of Life
Akshatha Kamath from Life is a Cool Breeze

Have fun doing this tag!