And time goes by so slowly… and time can do so much… I need your love!

I am so bored bored bored! This blog is also going to die on me but I’ve been feeling too bored to write even. I was so bored today I went and queued up for some time at this place called The Hub at my alma mater to try and get my long overdue Masters degree certificate even though I knew it wouldn’t be available at The Hub. The Hub was supposed to be this central hub of all student activity but I went there once to register, get my student card, one other time to get an extension for my student card and then maybe one or two other times to look at the bulletin board of stuff for sale… or maybe I did that in the same student card renewal time. I bought one item off that bulletin board – a chest of drawers advertised for $10 by someone named Eddie in Southbank. Oh boy, Eddie… he must’ve spent that $10 texting and calling me to coordinate picking it up and how to get to his house and what not… it was so funny… I’ll never forget Eddie… I had at least 20 messages from him on my phone and I didn’t even get to meet him cos I didn’t go on the actual pick up ride. And then Eddie threw in a computer table worth at least $40 for $5. I guess Eddie just wanted to feel good about making $15 even if he’d spent $10 of it already. I would’ve just thrown it all away. I believe I did throw the computer table away. The chest of drawers I still have but it’s hidden in a wardrobe and stores many papers and things.

But as always, I digress… what I meant to say was, walking through that university courtyard with all the cliques of kids hanging out and soaking in the sun made me feel incredibly wistful for student days long gone by. I wish someone would pay me what they pay me now to just go and attend class a couple of times a week and write a paper now and then… cos that was the only thing missing then… I was dirt poor… how I had to carefully budget things like meals out, haircuts, movies, clothes, and well I’m really fuzzy on the alcohol intake now… can’t remember how often I was able to do it but I’m fairly certain I wasn’t a poster child for teetotalism or anything. Ah, school, college and university… what a lazy race in the sun. But so on the one hand, I miss all of this and would love to go back to being 15, 16, 18, anything but mid-20’s if you like, but also realise it is quite impossible to ever go back. So then I think about the other side of the coin, right, getting older… and I think about this a lot because I have a lot of time to think on my 30 minute trek to work and back each day… man, it better be shaping my calf muscles and ass good cos it ain’t fun leaving work at 7 pm sometimes and having 30 long minutes in front of you before home even though home is barely 2 km away. But again, I digress… so yeah, getting older… you know how people do the whole moan and groan I am so old, I don’t want to celebrate my birthday business (and I have been one of those people on numerous occasions, except for the birthday celebration bit)… well I’m just not buying into it anymore and am consciously going to welcome each passing year until I reach oh, I don’t know, 37! Then I will return to moaning and groaning about how old I am getting particularly as I struggle to keep up with my rambunctious puppies and babies… note, how I say puppies before babies… I’m in no hurry to have a kid but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out against getting a puppy… so many obstacles such as time, space and money (to buy more space) stand in the way. Well that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

So as I was saying about my new aging process outlook… I just feel it’s a bit ridiculous to be calling myself old when I am always the youngest person in any meeting room and sometimes by at least 20 years and even with my current crew I am one of the younger ones at a sprightly 25. One of my favourite phrases for getting old is something like… well, I won’t be a spring chicken forever will I? Quite possibly not, but for here and now, I am most certainly a spring chicken and so proud to be one! Until I compare myself with my 8-years-younger-than-me sister and her peeps but I’m going to try not to dwell on that no more.

So that’s that. What else is happening? Nothing terribly exciting… I guess one of the reasons for why I am so bored bored bored… the weather has been too kind in the last couple of months and now a great foreboding has been instilled in my heart for the ferocity of the upcoming winter. Summer days went by too quickly and funly… But on the topic of seasons, Melbourne weather being as “dependable” as it is, apart from my love for the warmth of the sun and heat and humidity in the air, my favourite season really has to be Fall (or Autumn as it is more traditionally called but I really like calling it Fall better). Why, you ask? Purely because of the multitudes of brown leaves that fall from the trees and line the sidewalks in crisp earthy piles just inviting me to step on them and hear for myself that delicious crackling sound of my foot on a dry leaf. I don’t know what or why… it just makes me so happy and I make it a point to walk on as many leaves as I can… sigh… so great, I have that to look forward to. God, I am slowly going insane.

One other tiny point to make… people in Madras suck! I could be wasting away here of a depressive sadness and loneliness and they wouldn’t even know or care! How hard is it really to drop a 5 line email?! I understand now why both my aunts just went off to the US and never looked back except to their immediate family… can you imagine anyone ever keeping in touch via snail mail? I mean, it happened, and sometimes we did but so sporadically. And only in recent years they’ve gotten back in touch with a lot of people because of email. But what’s my generation’s excuse huh? Could it be any easier than email? Oh wait, yeah, instant messaging! So now there’s no going back to email since IM is no longer available. Shame on my so called friends… I am so pissed off and feeling so unloved from that quarter!

I think I am going to go home now and finish with this painfully boring week at work. Oh I didn’t write about the various concerts of 2007… there’ve been 2 already which is cool. I actually wrote an incredibly drunken 10 page thing about Roger Waters but didn’t end up posting it and I think I will soberly edit it and post it later. I am so glad Feb is such a short month… only 7 more months until September which is when the year generally becomes exciting again.

I have this version of Unchained Melody by U2 – it fucking rocks! Bono just sings I need your love very coolly. Why is he such a cool rocker for such an old one? What am I talking about… all the cool rockers I like are old. So I guess the question is why are there no cool young rockers?! I just remembered that Sista T and I sang this once at college... it was sooooo lame, unlike our I Will Survive of the previous year... Well, you can't win 'em all! But you can certainly try...

It’s been a bad day. Please don’t take a picture. It’s been a bad day. Please.

I hate starting out my day in a black mood but sometimes it just can’t be helped. There is no real reason even. Just vague irritations creeping up on me from all corners. Maybe it is the mild hangover I am nursing. No, that’s not it. I never get hangovers. What does bother me is less than 8.5 hours of sleep because then my contact lenses are torture. So right now my eyes feel like poached eggs. I don’t really know how I know what poached eggs must feel like but surely this is it.

I was in a much better mood last morning. That was mainly because I received notice that U2 has FINALLY rescheduled for November. First Paul McCartney cancelled on me all those years ago and then U2 postponed on me earlier this year… it was quite a pleasant surprise indeed to find out they are coming back as promised. But I’m soooo not getting my hopes up again. Oh, and Billy Joel is also coming to Australia in November. But I think I plan to be in India then… it can’t be helped Billy ol’ chap… you’ll have to sing me a song another time. Speaking of Billy Joel, I heard Uptown Girl the other day after so long and I fell in love with it all over again.

Mmmmm… my morning toast and jam has helped ever so slightly. Although, it is some 0 point WeightWatchers fruit spread and it doesn’t taste all that wonderful. I don’t know why I even bother really… I know I don’t care enough about my weight and health. I still eat unhealthily and I quit gymming a few months ago. The 24 inch waist was a lost cause the minute I started drinking copious amounts of coke with alcohol. So now, as long as I don’t go beyond a 27 inch waist, I don’t give a crap. But I am trying to get back to breakfast everyday because we all know it is the most important meal of the day. I think you’re supposed to eat as soon as you wake up though – not 2 hours later. Well, it cannot be helped… my morning routine leaves no room for such luxuries. I have a real problem with waking up. Quite often I have a problem with falling asleep. But my real problem is waking up. I know that no one likes waking up early but you would have to get inside my head to understand just how intensely I dread it… and there’s no escaping the fact that I have to do it every freaking morning. Saturday is my only relief. Sunday I can’t take the chance of sleeping in because then falling asleep on Sunday night becomes an issue and Monday morning is that much worse. Yawn…

So anyway, I’m really enjoying my new food stash setup. Every couple of weeks I go to the supermarket at lunch and stock up on fruits, nuts, and chocolate, and breakfast items. Breakfast items include cereal, bread, and Marie biscuit type biscuits. I messed up on the cereal though – I bought some healthy looking Kellogg’s Special K thing with real fruits and it tastes horrible. I should’ve just followed my instincts and gone with Cocoa Pops… sigh… See, this comes back to the whole health thing. I don’t have it in me to eat stuff I don’t like just because it’s “healthy” so why am I even trying when it’s just going to sit in my desk drawer until next Christmas!? But my absolute favourite breakfast item is dunking my Marie biscuit type biscuits in hot coffee and having them melt in my mouth. I still can’t “drink” hot coffee, but I imbibe it through the biscuits and it is to die for! I hope I don’t get addicted to coffee though… there’s no room at the inn for more dependencies!

I haven’t eaten breakfast in four years. At home I sorta used to, especially when I was in school and college. Here, as a student I never woke up for breakfast, and as an employed individual, the snoozing has always been more important than the eating. Also I’m not into the whole Indian breakfast thing. I’m not a fan of idli vada dosai sambar… I know… and I call myself a South Indian! Indian food at lunch and dinner any day but the English and the “Continent” really have the breakfast thing down pat. Pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, muffins, bagels, waffles, fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice… need I go on?! So my favourite breakfast/brunch activity is going to this place called Amici on Chapel Street… Amici means friend in Italian… just a little non-handy trivia… and they make the most unbelievable hollandaise sauce and the yummiest milkshakes. So that is a fortnightly routine… eggs Benedict on crispy bacon and freshly made toasted sourdough bread covered with a generous serving of hollandaise sauce and 1 chocolate thickshake, thanks! It’s all about the poached eggs today, huh? But seriously, handy travel tip… if ever this side, Amici on Chapel Street is a must-stop (and I’ve tried the same meals at other places and its never up to par)… and on a Saturday or Sunday around noon, look out for a rowdy bunch of people who quieten down considerably as soon as the food is served :)

Well I think I have bludged enough for one morning. Ha, the US dictionary does not recognise bludge but trust the Australian one to… and here I always thought it was slang. It means faffing, wasting time, etc. Ha, neither of them recognises faffing. I think I need to stop playing with the dictionaries and get back to work now. Goodbye!

Of Hotel Rooms, Bathrobes & Business Plans

How lame… I am in party town Sydney for one night on work and what am I doing with myself but sitting in a bathrobe in my hotel room and watching The OC… even lamer, I already watched this episode of The OC when I was in the US… oh, how I wish I was there again watching The OC with the kids, vegetating in the basement fighting for space on the couch, arguing about who’s hot and who’s not… but anyway, I am not there so let’s move on! Getting back to lameness… I actually prefer chilling by myself in my hotel room over the option of calling some random acquaintance to show me the town… If my best friend or a close friend or even someone I vaguely hung out with at some point in Madras lived here, I wouldn’t mind catching up with them. But there is no one… so instead I spent the evening with myself. It was very enjoyable I might add… I’m quite happy to entertain myself… I did it for eight years or whatever when I was growing up and had no one to play with around my neighbourhood and until I started being able to meet my friends from school more often… Someone like poor S on the other hand would just be miserable on his own… he like thrives on conversation or something… So anyway, I finally got here to my hotel after a long long day (woke up at 5:45 am… its criminal I tell ya) and ran myself a bath, poured myself a glass of wine, hooked up my laptop in the bathroom, switched on iTunes and just slipped away… I was just thinking how we are never truly alone these days because we always have something with us that reminds us of who we are and who we love… well, I guess in the old days there’d be a letter or a lock of hair or a faded photograph… but today its all so much more accessible thanks to our mobile phones and laptops and palm pilots and iPods… whenever I leave Madras, while I’m waiting at the airport I open up my mobile phone inbox and re-read all the messages I received while I was there… some of them are pretty random and some are them are really sweet because they say things like ‘it’s so awesome that you’re back’ or ‘it sucks that you have to leave’… whenever I’ve left Madras so far I haven’t had a camera phone but now I do so, Yay, this time I’ll have pictures of my favourite people to look at too… that’s all I did in the US whilst waiting at the airports… looked at the photos of some other favourite people over and over again… So anyway, my point was that even though I was alone this evening, I am not really alone because I have all these messages and photos to look at on my phone and all these photos to look at on my laptop and all my music to listen to…

I'm down half a bottle of wine now and I must be really tired because it hasn't even come close to hitting me so I think I will just go to bed now. What I really want now is a bloody cigarette... like an idiot, I forgot to bring any and the prospect of going out into the cold scary night to get some is not overly exciting... I wish I could just dial-a-smoke... I remember that the most talked about business plans anyone ever came up with in Madras were the dial-a-boom ones. There were promotional strategies, quality assurance mechanisms, procurement and distribution plans, branding exercises on whether dial-a-boom, dial-a-spliff, or dial-a-joint sounded better... Fun times! Sadly no one's dial-a-boom enterprise took off... we were probably too stoned to really do anything about it.

So anyway, it was good to be by myself tonight... no one to complain about high I keep the temperature, no one to tell what to watch on TV (not that anyone does that really, I pretty much rule the remote at home)... but yeah, it was nice... even if I did spend a lot of the evening looking at photos and things that will never leave me alone ;)