It's so hard to get old without a cause, I don't want to perish like a fleeing horse,Youth's like diamonds in the sun, and diamonds are forever

So I've got to be as quick as I can... the laptop battery is so going to die in all of 15 mins and I'm so not braving the cold in the lounge just to freaking blog... I mean, this is spring and all but it's like mid-winter really... it's not fair, really, but there ain't much we can do. Anyway, enough about the stupid weather... I hope and I pray for warmer weather soonish!!

So the strange thing is, how that song from the last time still has a total hold on me... I mean, honestly, that's the only reason I'm even blogging tonight... if I hadn't had to listen to that song, I wouldn't even be awake right now. And I don't even freaking like Coldplay... as a matter of fact, I'll go as far to say I hate Coldplay...

That'll probably ruffle a few freaking feathers... but what can I say or do...

So anyway, I had the awesomest birthday... I think it always helps when your birthday is on the weekend... that means the whole world can party with you without missing work and feeling guilty for whatever reason. So my birthday began on Thursday evening when we prepared to go to the Steely Dan concert... it was full on... we had many drinks and tapas and then headed to Rod Laver and once the concert started, fully sipped on the hip flask and before I knew it, the concert was finished. I mean, I like Steely Dan and all but I'm not their biggest fan. I really love Dirty Work but they had some total Mary J. Blige type character sing it which just totally pissed me off and ruined it for me!!! Anyway, we all had a blast though and had many more drinks after the concert also. Friday was a total mess... recovering from Thurs night and attempting to clean the house in preparation for Sat night but not really making any progress. Anyway, Fri evening arrives and my lover and me go to dinner and have a couple of drinks and then he pretends like I absolutely have to go to this friends house to say Hi and way before I get there, I totally know all my friends are going to be there drinking away. So that's exactly what happens... and I have many drinks on my birthday eve with my best friends and we smoke cigars and all, just for a change. And at midnight, a home made cake comes out and champagne and all... and many overseas calls also arrive and it was just freaking awesome!!!

At about 5 am, we stagger back home and I open all my presents from my lover and try a few things on as well and somehow get to bed by about 5:30 am... alas, I am forced awake by 10 am thanks to many more overseas phonecalls... seriously, it is the only day in the year, I actually give a crap about my mobile and keep it beside me at all costs!! Anyway, there is no hope left after that and I still don't even have the energy left to clean and all... at about 6 pm, things are exactly the same and I am just many more phonecalls down. Finally, I force myself to get my act together and sleepwalk my way through cleaning the house and get ready and stuff and before I know it, it's 9 pm and my guests are arriving. And from then until 7:30 am, Sunday morning, who even freaking knows what happens. It was just madness all around. It was really awesome. And I got soooooooooo many presents, it was crazy. So much fun. And I think everyone really had a blast, that was really the best part. And the biriyani that I ordered totally got cleaned out in all of 2 hours... it was crazy... not even one grain of rice was left over. :-)

Absolutely nothing exciting has happened since then... I mean, obviously the week was completely crap and this weekend was supposed to be easy but with someone's birthday drinks last night and someone else's birthday drinks tonight, it's hard to slow down!!! So it's not strictly true that nothing exciting has happened, but for me, my birthday and all it's associated shenanigans are the eptiome of party time for the year.

The strangest thing... for a few years in between, life was strange... it wasn't as happening and I honestly wondered how smart I'd been with some of the choices in my life!!! But now, I can honestly say that I love my life more than ever and it doesn't really matter that I'm 26... I still feel 18 and my life is still as exciting as if I was indeed 18 :-) I mean, honestly, 18 till I die baby!!

Speaking of babies, my best friend's baby is almost 2 years old and obviously I still haven't met him yet but amazingly he's learnt my name... it's sooooo adorable... I spoke to him the other day and he's totally like Hi, Bye, Ithi.. awwwww.. sooo cute!!

But speaking of other babies, my baby sister is now 18... she still totally breaks my heart though!! I can't wait to hang with her in December and hopefully I can show her the way. Oh my god, did I mention the fact that she got a freaking Labrador puppy for her birthday... I'm so happy cos I get to hang with this puppy in a couple of months but I feel so sad that I can't get a dog of my own :-( And apparently, she looks like just like my beloved Holly... that figures... Christmas and New Years is going to be soooo weird this year. I'm not exactly sure why...

So I've decided to open up commenting again... haha... I'm really not sure why I stopped... but, whatever...

Sometimes when you take a step back and think about life in general, it's a bit frightening... because life is incredibly strange and it really takes you full circle... with the things you do and the people you meet and the way you change...

Also, this Forever Young song... I used to love the original by Alphaville until I actually listened to Youth Group and then it was totally like, oh my god, what were Alphaville thinking?! That just goes to show... old is not always necessarily best... this song I only like the remixed Youth Group version now... Alphaville is just yawn... but there are obviously other songs where this doesn't apply at all and old still rules!!!

It's going to be another freaking awesome year... what else is new ;-)

Forever young, I want to be forever young

How does it feel? To be without a home... To be a complete unknown... Like a rolling stone...

So I suddenly realised we were almost at the end of August and I didn't have a post on record. I could blame my online presence on Facebook but that would be a lie cos I've only been on Facebook for about 2 weeks. And what a 2 weeks it's been on Facebook... in about 3 days, I had amassed some 100 friends and 50 wall posts and the number is still growing although obviously the number of Facebook notifications I get per day has depreciated slightly. Man, this Facebook... it's freaking mad. But anyway...

So what else has kept me busy since the last post... a lot, actually. I posted how I was dying the last time and then I went to my cocktail thing on Fri night and thought, let me stay away from the ice so I'll drink wine but it was free flowing spirits so I couldn't resist swapping to Bacardi and ice. Many drinks later, we stumbled home after dancing away and went to bed very smashed. I woke up the next day feeling not bad at all and so went and partied away that night too at the housewarmings and everything was all fine and wine. And then horror of horrors, I wake up on Sunday afternoon with the most god awful splotchy red rash all over my body. It itched and it itched and I thought I was going to die and obviously there are no doctors who work on the weekend and apparently I would've been laughed at if I'd gone to the emergency room with a "rash" and then called this doctor friend for advice and she's like oh well, if she doesn't have a stiff neck, it's probably not meningitis! So that of course made me start imaging a stiff neck and having just watched an episode of House the previous week where the patient develops splotches and they suspect meningitis, I was so sure I'd be dead within the week. Anyway, I went to the doctor the next day and she gave me an anti-allergy shot and all was well and I am obviously still alive but that was quite a scare. So I attempted to take it easy the next weekend by staying away from alcohol and I did but that was totally the last "easy" weekend...

4 weekends ago, headed out on a Fri night and had a few drinks and I'm not sure at what point things started getting out of control but pretty soon everyone was hammered and went to a couple of other places quite unnecessarily and the next day, absolutely no one could remember anything from after about 11 pm! The Sat was dreadful... I think we were still drunk in the morning when we made pancakes and called my aunt and uncle. Then, went wedding dress shopping and didn't find a thing but bought many other things instead. Then went to favourite Mexican restaurant for friend's visiting mom's birthday dinner. Drank a few margaritas to stay awake but didn't help much. Then played squash on Sun morning and went to Queen Vic market to buy meat and vegies and then fought time to get ready to go to friend's afternoon engagement party. Then ate takeaway pizza dinner, watched tv and went to bed. Then almost died of muscle ache on Mon morning since exercise was after about 5 months!

3 weekends ago, headed out for another Fri night on the town. All this Fri night business was to farewell friends going to UK and Darwin. Pub crawled a bit and got mildly buzzed but didn't go as mad as previous Friday. Saturday was still crap. Sat night was friend's birthday party so went to house with favourite labrador retriever in Australia and chased dog around all night but as usual was ignored in favour of food items. Again, drank Bacardi to stay awake but didn't help much and added complication of beginning to feel sniffly at about 1 am. By 3 am, feel like total crap and head home to pass out and pray I have somehow escaped throat infection! Sunday is easy but very painful because head cold I thought I had avoided from 2 weeks previously finally arrives in full form!!

Super crappy week ensues with not being able to take time off from work. It's always like that isn't it? That's why I use up my sickies when I just want to have a lie in... chances are I won't be able to take time off when sick anyway. Mid week farewell bbq helps to chase sickness depression away ever so slightly.

2 weekends ago, started tanking up on Fri evening in preparation of Bob Dylan concert! By the time we begin walking to concert, opening act is surely over but we walk faster and slam ready-mix in hope Bob hasn't started yet! But he has and for 1 hour we listen to songs we have never heard in our lives. Slam from hip flask in hope concert will start making sense but to no avail... finally, first song in encore is Like A Rolling Stone and heave sign of relief that I know at least one song from total concert! So night continues with more walking and more pit stops before arriving at official farewell party destination, The Order of Melbourne. Many more drinks consumed and one more bar and house visited before finally stumbling back home again. Sat is crap yet again! Sat night, dress up and head out to yet another engagement party... what a year for couples around me and me getting engaged it has been! Drink wine based punch and hang out for a few years but of course body can't handle yet another alcohol bout so take it relatively easy. Sunday is not so bad after a few weeks.

1 weekend ago, plan a quiet Fri night with a few people and a couple of drinks at home and maybe a round of poker but things don't go according to plan and quiet night becomes rowdy poker session and at 1 am people insist we go out! So out we go... back to the scene of the 4 weekends ago crime and who even knows what happens for about 2 hours. Vague memories of agua shots and jagerbombs! Stumble out of the bar at 4 am and have crazy adventures on the streets because the boys are outta control... somehow bundle everyone and souvenirs from the street into a maxi cab and drag everyone home for more drunken hi jinks before thankfully everyone finally goes to sleep. This Sat is the crappest yet and everyone is definitely still wasted at 11:30 in the morning. Head to breakfast and eggs benedict are not helping the cause at all... Great news, Sat is free for the first time in months and can finally sit at home and do nothing for a night. Sunday is also relatively peaceful after a great night's sleep and amazing 22 degree weather and bright sunshine and sipping Coronas in friend's backyard.

Happy weather days are here again... however, slightly deceptive it's been since last weekend... blue skies, low twenties temperatures, light winds... and then today, we were blasted with total winter weather again, just a reminder from Mother Nature that today is still the last day of winter and spring is absolutely no guarantee of sunny skies!!!

Two farewells were also said :-( Sad, but such is life...

This weekend... absolutely no plans... but you know what they say about the best (non) laid plans...

Cold rain down on my face, buses hurry on... Work's out, here comes the race... People heading home...

So we are now officially past the halfway mark of winter but this is absolutely no guarantee of warmer happier weather in approximately 45 days.

I miss the warm sun... it feels like forever since she went away...

I even miss the 16 degree days and the 12 degree evenings... we are barely making it to double digits these days

This week we celebrated (or rather, commiserated) the coldest week in years... it rained and it hailed and it snowed (nearby) and the wind, oh dear god, the wind... such a cruel, bone numbing, brain freezing wind.

Waaaaaaaaaaaah... I feel awful... after weeks of subjecting my poor body to its usual rituals of cold drinks and harsh smokes, the added inevitable exposure to the elements courtesy mother nature in all her winter glory, has made my body screech to a grinding halt and scream enough is enough... you are now going to pay in slow, excruciating pain for what you put me through on a weekly basis and which I normally take with nary a complaint!!

The worst part is, this is like the calm before the storm... so I'm rather concerned about what's going to happen after this weekend... since Sunday night, I've had this severe pain in my sinus area and some desultory sniffling from the nose but no disgusting yellow phlegm or horrible pain in the throat which is always the harbinger of that most dreaded of winter afflictions, the mighty throat infection and flu requiring trips to the bathroom every 2 minutes to spit out all the phlegmy mucous and self-prescribed antibiotic tablets all the way from India every 6 hours. But anyway, all that I can deal with... it's awful and it sucks for about 4 days but then I'm always well on the road to recovery. This time, I feel like crap, I'm nowhere near 100% and yet, I have none of the usual cold, flu symptoms except for the heavy head and occasional drippy nose. But if I like do something, like walk from the couch to the kitchen or from work to home, it totally exhausts me which is why I know I am not 100%. So anyway, I am not medicating myself and have been waiting for improvements hopefully the whole week but absolutely nothing has changed since Sunday night and I am almost looking forward to the excesses of the weekend to act as the catalyst to bring on the storm... this false lull I just cannot handle anymore!

What a full weekend I have in store for me also... I have a work cocktail thing tonight and it's very unnecessarily black tie so I have to wear one skimpy cocktail dress now in the middle of winter... if I am not drowning in my own phlegm by Monday, but still feeling sick, I will be very very concerned. Tomorrow night, two housewarming parties to hop between and both are at some opposite corners of the world but such logistical issues will never deter such a hard core part"ier" as me... in the middle of all this recovering from tonight's hangover, getting wasted and party hopping, I must absolutely make it to Borders sometime tomorrow to pick up my new Harry Potter book. I pre-ordered of course but I fear if I go too late, I will miss out on the complimentary stuffed owl Hedwig... hehe! And also, I must make some time to read the damn book this weekend although I will fully savour the book and not read as fast as I can just to get to the end so by Monday, I will probably be the only one who has no idea who is going to die and will have to avoid all media like the plague because already the spoilers are spilling out in the thousands! I do not expect a non-Harry Potter person to get why this is a big deal at all. As much as I will miss the magical Harry Potter world, I read a rumour that next she is going to start writing mystery novels... sniff... my favouritest genre ever... good god, she will kick ass! And to round off this Harry Potter week of mine, I went to the movie last weekend at IMAX because the last 20 minutes had some 3D action... the movie was ok, couldn't come close to the book, but who really cares, Harry Potter is Harry Potter. The 3D was pretty lame.

Then, I'm trying to think if anything of great import happened to me since the last time I posted... I don't really think so... just the usual weekend shenanigans... ooh, one Sat night, we played poker and I kicked ass... we played with money for a change and I doubled my initial $10 kitty. Then, last Sat night, we went clubbing... just the weekend before I had noted that it had been a while since I had gotten to one of my total wasted stages where I am heaps of fun to be around but chances are I will not remember a thing the next day. So that was last Sat night... it could account for my feeling ill this week too!

Add to that, the weather is totally getting me down and there ain't no silver lining in sight... severe case of the winter blues... the fun weekend will hopefully drive them away temporarily!

Cold rain out on the street, I am all alone
With cold rain down on my face
I am heading home

Happy Anniversary to Me... Happy Anniversary dear So Called Life... Happy Anniversary to Me

I would now like to congratulate myself on one continous year of blogging... even if I have been averaging only about 2 posts per month, at least I have every single month since June last year on record. I look at my 2005 archive and it shows 65 posts... how on earth?! I must've been super freakin' jobless... especially considering the average length of my posts and it was only over a period of 6-7 months. This last year, I haven't even reached half that. Anyway, we have reached the end of one month of winter and it has been horrific... I am ready to kill myself... really... it hasn't been this cold in June the last few years... too depressing!

On the work front, I moved to a different client and project 2.5 weeks ago and that has accounted to my slackness in updating but it has been great working here compared to my old project. Probably another 2.5 weeks here before I move on to the next client.

On the personal front, last time I touched briefly on the citizenship thing so to elaborate, yeah, after two years and some of being permanent residents we were eligible to take up citizenship so we did! I still have to apply for my Australian passport and then I have to get one of them Overseas Citizens of India cards and I believe I have basically lost my right to vote in India which I never gave a shit about anyway but now have to vote here or you get fined and stuff so that'll be rather annoying although I think they have online ballots and all which should be convenient. The ceremony was ok... we took a pledge of committment and then our names were individually called out to receive our certificates and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for my name and of course when it was called, I almost tripped and fell because my heel had gotten tangled in my handbag strap but made it to the stage and off without incident. Then we all sang the National Anthem which is not that hot an anthem and we were given native plants which I have promptly killed with neglect as always. The citizenship interview that we went for before all this ceremony jazz was actually funnier because they just look over your application and you have to mug up these rights and duties of being an Australian citizen and we mugged and mugged on our way there and since we both went in together, we were competing with each other to give the right answers when the officer asked us for them. Anyway, I really don't like at it as a betrayal of the motherland because the motherland will always be home but at the same time, this country in all it's 'bogan'ness (Australian slang for red neck type people) and 1980's atmosphere has taken me into it's warm embrace and for that I will always love it.

Then what else has happened... a good friend has left to work in the UK and travel around Europe for 2 years so that was a bit of a bummer... he's been our friend since our first day in Australia and we've had some fun times. It's not fair that I should bid goodbye to people and move to another country and start from scratch to build something similar to what exists at home and then people should go and ruin it by bidding goodbye themselves. Ah well... we now have accomodation in the UK!

So there were a couple of smashed as farewell parties... at one of them, we booked a karaoke room for 2 hours and they said we could hang out longer since no one else had booked it so we hung out for 4.5 hours in total and sang for all that time. It was really insane... I've never karaoked like that in my life. At the end, the departing couple (she's actually still here for another couple of months) gave prizes to best female and male singers. I won female which if I hadn't, deep down I would've been most upset... haha... but the prizes were these awful naked men and women playing cards. The naked men are sitting on my coffee table... they look super freakin' fake though!

Then, I've been for a couple of shows in the last week... last Sat night, we went to Cirque du Soleil - Varekai... it was unbelievable. Cirque du Soleil is this global company of human circus performing artists and they perform crazy as acrobatic stunts on ground and in the air and tell a story at the same time... some great music too. It was very unique and breathtaking. Then on Tue night, I went to watch a production of the musical Miss Saigon. It's about an American GI who falls in love with a Vietnamese 'woman of the night' just before the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. It was tragically beautiful... some great songs!!

My gig calendar for 2007 has been pretty good so far and I've still got a few shows to go. At the beginning of the year, watched Roger Waters live in concert and Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys and various other artists and DJs at a music festival. This month was these two shows. In August, I've got Bob Dylan... I hope he plays the songs I know and love. And in September I've got Steely Dan whose music I've got to get more familiar with and a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera which is my favouritest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

So that's been it pretty much... weekend ahead to look forward to. Oh, also went wedding dress shopping and that was pretty overwhelming. Most are Cinderella type with these fairytale stiff skirts with hundreds of layers and we were joking how my fiance could hide under there at the wedding and light up a spliff and hotbox it... it would also create this fantastic smoke effect of me walking down the aisle! Anyway, I don't think I'm going down that path so will have to keep looking.

Until next time and the next year of blogging, adios!

The days get shorter and the nights get cold, I like the autumn but this place is getting old

Dear me… this isn’t a very happy time of the year at all. Blustery winds, cloudy skies, shorter days but longer hours of darkness, average temperatures of 14 degrees, the cold, always the cold… one can never escape the cold… while walking to work, at work (that goddamn central air conditioner… temperature control, my ass… controlled for polar bears and Eskimos perhaps!), walking back home, the living room because the balcony doors are kept open when making dinner, the bedroom because of the low temperatures all around… some relief is achieved when finally one curls up under the quilt to go to sleep… but then of course, there are the extremities to warm up… there is something about hands and feet in cold weather – they refuse to get warm and even when they do, expose them for 2 seconds and they become ice cold to the touch again. Goddamn weather! And it is only today that we are officially in winter which means the past couple of weeks were just an affectionate prelude…

There’s another thing about these crossover months before and after winter… fucking what to wear… in the last two or three weeks I have delved deep into my closet and pulled out all the layers I own and have worn 4-5 layers at a minimum on workdays. I may seem a tad bundled up compared to other pedestrians on occasion, but tough… I value my comfort over feeling like a chronic pneumonia patient with all the layers. Anyway, they aren’t some big fluffy layers… I wear a regular cotton top (sometimes two), cover that up with a light cardigan or v-neck sweater, my suit jacket next and finally a winter coat. All this means that come this time of year, my laundry load triples and as I am such a huge fan of this delightful household chore to begin with, it adds to the overall cheer and wellbeing. On the rare occasion that the sun does shine however on my way to work, I get slightly bogged down by the layers and resort to carrying them by hand. BUT… they will definitely be required when I leave work after 5:00 pm and all is once again dark and chilly. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the gloves… I fished them out prematurely a few weeks ago also and did wear them on a couple of days when I walked home in a mild 12 degrees.

At least if it rained all the time… it would add some sparkle to the bleakness… but the drought continues and showers are few and far between… and boring at that… no thundery lightning filled storms bringing big fat drops of rain and hail, falling fast and furious. Perhaps I should move to England to gratify my desire for cold rain. Of course I can also just move back to India where the warm monsoon lashings would also make me so happy.

But going back to my clothing issues… soon I will have to start carrying the beanie in my handbag for days when the wind chill has the potential to cause you a brain freeze. My ears are normally covered by headphones and then there is one final item in the normal winter ensemble, namely, the trusty scarf… I am not, however, a big fan, because I find my hair and earrings always get in the way so I sometimes use one when my hair is tied up and so my neck is normally the only body part exposed to the cruel weather, and face of course. Oh yes, that other extremity… the nose… it sometimes feels like an icicle extension of human flesh and the only solution to combat face exposure is a ski mask or balaclava but even I am not that vulnerable to the cold to resort to such measures.

For the lower body, one wears stockings and closed shoes and if wearing a skirt (although I wear skirts less and less in winter and tend to bring them back into my daily wardrobe only in far off September), knee length boots help ever so slightly. Having said that I was wearing a skirt on Tuesday with stockings and shoes and nearly got knocked over on my way to work with gale force winds of 70km per hour… so very droll! I was dreading my lunchtime venturing out but I had no choice because Tuesday was the day I gave up my Indian citizenship and took up my Australian one… sob sob… my body, mind and soul will of course always belong to the Indian motherland but my passport will now declare I belong to Australia and help me to cross most geographical borders with ease and zero visa costs. But more on this later…

Then there is the issue when stopping off for a spot of shopping on the way home. Freaking layers… if you’re lucky you get two hooks in a change room and its impossible to hook all your layers and the clothes you want to try on all on the two hooks not to mention the added time it takes to take everything off and put it back on again so you take in as many items as you possibly can the one time because there’s no way you’re going through the process of undressing and dressing more than once and this of course makes that tiny little cubicle look more like a disaster zone than a change room.

And then, how about the total lack of leaves this “fall”… remember how I wrote about the wonderful falling brown leaves and me delightfully skipping through piles of them… obviously the city and Southbank are not all that tree lined or maybe it’s more they have a higher percentage of city workers collecting and getting rid of the leaves because not ONCE have I spotted a single healthy pile of leaves… a stray leaf here and there on the sidewalk because it’s probably just dropped off the tree but nothing more. So much for that little autumnal joy of mine!

At least we still go out at night and people are still entertaining with house parties now and then… this of course opens up a whole other can of worms when it comes to what to wear! You want to look hot and sexy and some 5 layers are not very conducive to this but you also want to feel warm and toasty without having to compromise on how you look. It’s really hard I tell you… I’m taking it one weekend at a time. I guess it also depends on where you’re going. If it’s a house party, we take a cab there and back so skimpy clothing is tolerable except for stepping outdoors to smoke but as I only ever need to smoke some 5 cigarettes in a row when I’m down some 6 drinks, the odds are the rum has gotten me quite warm and toasty by that stage anyway. If it’s going out for drinks in the city and general pub hopping, you want to be sure to have a jacket at the very least over the skimpy top because there tends to be walking to the bar, walking between bars, maybe having to stand in line at a bar, and finally walking back home but again by this time I’m probably too warmed up by drink to care. But all this means of course that your jacket ends up smelling like an ashtray and as if laundry wasn’t enough, there’s extra dry cleaning in winter too. Having said that, all licensed premises go completely smoke free come July 1 so no more hair and clothes smelling like an ashtray. This means of course that I will probably cut down drastically on my smoking while drinking habit but since I am not some chain smoker to begin with, I wonder if it will have any effect on the totally addicted ones. But finally, sweater dresses have made a huge comeback this season and I have stocked up on a few and I have to say they help one look hot and keep warm all at the same time so there is hope yet for this winter. But since I can’t wear them every single weekend, I will have to endure some level of discomfort at some time or another.

But enough of cold weather and fashion… recapping the events of the last two months… various birthday parties and housewarming parties and farewells and general drinking events… some good ol’ sake to warm the bones and the faithful Bacardi standby. One Saturday, we also hosted a small engagement party at home for all our friends here and was heaps of fun. I decided we must have at the very least, a colour theme, so since I had this black & silver sequined skirt I’d been meaning to wear for months but never got around to, I made the theme black & silver and I have to say was rather impressed with the turnout. Of course there was more black than anything else but it was still quite amusing. As someone put it, it looked like we were all hanging out at the funeral of someone we were really happy had died… hehe. Here’s a picture of the invite designed by sister Rat… I composed the poem.

Here are the ladies in a group picture… what a svelte bunch we look like

Here are the men in a group picture… what a posh lot they look like

Then, last weekend my fiancé organised a go-karting event and about 13 of us raced. It was mad. There was only me and another girl and the rest were boys but I only came third last as I managed to beat one boy too. Unfortunately he was a friend of a friend so I couldn’t laugh at him and taunt him appropriately about being beat by a girl!! Just my luck! All this racing was done in some 12 degree temperature and the track was super slippery cos it was so cold and it was at night. When we finished, I thought my fingers would fall off in numbness… if I briefly took my hands off the steering wheel, it was hard to position them again because they were so freaking frozen. So we had about 10 minutes of qualifying and 15 minutes of racing and it quite crazy. By the last few laps, I was craning my neck most eagerly around the last turn in the hope of seeing the chequered flag. After, we went to the city for many drinks and dinner.

So that has been my so-called life for the past two months. Also, any teeny weeny itty bit of motivation I might have ever had to visit the gym in summer has vanished without a trace what with the cold weather and getting home in such complete darkness. Days until daylight savings time begins: 149… sigh!

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...

Can you hear me when I sing… you’re the reason I sing… you’re the reason why the opera is in me…

So November has also passed. I honestly can’t account for how quickly the days are flying by. It seems like just yesterday I was shopping for my trip to India but that was a whole year ago. And this year, there will be no India. There will most likely be no India next year either so that kinda sucks.

The other day was the first day of December. It was also the first official day of summer and at least the last evening in November provided a warm welcome to this season unlike the so-called spring which was really just a horrid extension of winter this year. So that evening at a balmy 30 degrees, we sipped Coronas on the balcony and then took in Borat at the cinema. I don’t know how to comment on this movie… it certainly had its laugh out loud moments but mostly it was just crude and well, if you’ve watched a lot of the Ali G shows with Borat clips, you know exactly what’s coming like when he goes to a formal dinner party and what kind of polaroids he’s going to show of his life back home.

But getting back to November, time really flew because I had way too many things on with the concerts, changing jobs, slacking off at home in between concerts and jobs, etc., etc. So to the concerts, I was left with Pearl Jam and U2. Pearl Jam was awesome in a very oh-my-god-he’s-so-insane kind of way. He started off all normal concert-like but by the end he was not even pretending to be sober anymore and just fully skulling straight from a wine bottle and jumping all over the place and at one point he fell really badly but just jumped right up again. Oh, it was truly entertaining. People say the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are mad to watch on stage but I watched them live in 2002 and they don’t even come close to Eddie. I have Jeremy recorded on my phone from that evening!

Then 1.5 days later, it was time for U2. Numerous die-hard fans began queuing at the venue in the wee hours of Saturday morning. We knew we had no chance of competing with that so we got pretty drunk and stoned instead at my house and only got there about 6:30 pm. We found ourselves a whatever spot (I say, whatever because it was no great shakes and I couldn’t directly see the stage, only the screens, but seriously, as much I enjoy U2 and all, I have no desire to be crushed in by some mad people...) and made some trips to bar/bathroom before Mr. Kanye West got on stage. Of course, everyone sang along loudly to Gold digger and then fully lost interest… haha. In between Kanye and U2, there was some 45 minutes of set up and I went to the bathroom in all this and was in such a tension that I’d miss their opening song which I knew would be City of Blinding Lights but anyway, all was good and I got back well in time. And then they were on…

Fuck, it was awesome! I don’t know what else to say. I just didn’t want it to end… I knew every single song except for one song but the videos for that song were so tripped out, it didn’t even matter. It was such a perfect night – there was U2 singing the bestest songs, all the ones I wanted, and it was a warm night so the dome of the venue was open so I alternated between looking up at the screens and up at the stars… Bono was a dream, The Edge was brilliant, Adam Clayton was the furthest away from me and rather in the background, and there was Larry Mullen Jr. beating away at the drums with a really sweet smile on his face the whole time and with his military cut blond hair looking like a poster child for the Germany Army. He is my current favourite of the band – he has two Labs who he has dedicated albums to… so sweet. So anyway, I had goose bumps most of the way and shed a tear or two here and there and just remembering it now is making me feel all funny… was just so good. Obviously I was very happy with City of Blinding Lights, Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own and One, and then he played With or Without You and I swear there were shivers running down my spine the whole time. The final song was Kite and it was sooooo good… and I knew it was the last song so that made it extra poignant and he kept singing, I know that this is not goodbye… I sure hope it ain’t… come back U2, come back! So, that was that… I have City of Blinding Lights and One recorded on my phone from that evening.

So the next big milestone was that I started my new job and then that weekend we went camping to Wilsons Prom which is the southern most tip of mainland Australia. Never been there before and never been camping before and both were great experiences although our roughing it could hardly have been considered roughing it. Still, we did the whole tent bit and it wasn’t our fault toilets with hot showers are conveniently located 200 metres from all campsites and that Big City Dude brought his beloved bbq along and kept us happily supplied with hot dogs and rissoles for all our meals.

So we also attempted these hikes to some beaches and up some mountains and all. One of these beaches is called Squeaky Beach because the sand allegedly squeaks when you walk on it, and it actually does. It’s awesome! The second day we hiked up some Mount Bishop and a dreadful little black snake crossed the path in front of me… now, it’s hard to fully express how absolutely I detest and abhor all things reptilian but snakes, in particular. And so, it was my greatest fear something like that would happen and of course it had to. So next time, I will say come on out, snake and meet me if you have the guts to and then maybe I won’t have to face it. But on Saturday night, when I was walking back from the toilet with a trusty torchlight in hand, a wombat crossed the path in front of me and that was pretty cool. We spent Sat night singing loudly around the lantern (unfortunately it’s bush fire season and campfires are a strict no no so we had to make do) and then went to bed relatively early cos of exhaustion from previous night drinking and early morning start and wilderness trekking. But the stars that came out that night were a sight to witness… Starry starry night only!

In other news went for a Jamaican themed birthday party last weekend and I have to say I was very hopelessly dressed and looked most un-Jamaican but birthday girl had done much decorating and had some horrid looking dreadlocks for extra measure. But the bestest and funniest part was the batches of special brownies that had been prepared and oh my god, it was hilarious. The thing is we’re used to it and we still got so fucked and laughed so much and there were all these other people who never smoke and went a bit mad (in a hilarious manner) and then apparently there were also people who ate nicely and had no idea they were special. Far out man, haven’t laughed so much like every 2 seconds in so long. So, today is her birthday and since she reads this blog apparently, Happy Birthday Ms. Jamaica and welcome to blogworld… hehe!

This week I decided to take another health and fitness stand and went to my apartment gym for the first time in 3 months and worked out a bit. And then last evening I went rowing, my second time in Oz, and arms and back are feeling slightly fucked and the constant friction from the oar has torn a sizable chunk of skin off my thumb… ouch! But seriously, I compare the Yarra with the Cooum and they’re not that different… perhaps one just smells a bit less than the other.

And finally, a moment to reflect on Christmas which is fast approaching… this year I will be here of course and will have two members of the family with me apart from my boyfriend and it should be really good and I know it’s going to be a bumper year for presents cos my aunt always buys me awesome clothes. And I get to trim the tree again and I’ve gone out and bought lots more Christmassy stuff and I have my work Christmas party on Friday and various other Christmas things planned and it should be great!

Tomorrow I start at a client site so I don’t know when I’ll be back again but I thought I’d better update it before it died on me fully for the year.

I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams

I'm so love in love with you...whatever you want to do is alright with me...Coz you make me feel so brand new...And I want to spend my life with you

So after all that anticipation, I’m finally here and haven’t had even a single moment to really take it all in with everything going in. It’s been brilliant so far. We started partying as soon as we got off the plane and I think I must’ve slept for about 15 hours in total from the night before I left until Sunday night. Of course now I am making up for many months of insufficient slumber and it’s incredibly peaceful.

What have I done in five days and six nights apart from drink and smoke… I’ve hung out with all my favourite girls and boys and I’ve just laughed and laughed. Some things will never change… (and thank god for those people). I’ve bonded with parents and sister and dog Chocolate met the new dog in my family Rusty… he is sooooo handsome… and such a sweetie… when we first met, he went a bit psycho, but now he’s used to me and is such a darling…



Madras is the same and so different at the same time. So many new places and buildings but instinctively I still know my way around and if I were to close my eyes on a drive and open them five minutes later, I’d still know where I was… She has taken me back so willingly in spite of me ditching her all these years…

Driving here again has been a real trip as always… the way even the slowest autorickshaw will refuse to move out of the right lane and you have no choice but to overtake rather recklessly from the left… Love it… And the noise and the traffic and the potholes and the smells… it’s just all so very real… so very home…

The rain of course has been crazy. I love it and all but it was promising to be a real dampener on the trip. Now I understand all those depressive Bay of Bengal statements… she’s been good today though so there’s hope yet.

And the absolute best part is that S is here with me and its been three years since we’ve been back together… back to where we started and where we had the absolute best time of our lives… Since we've been together, loving you forever is what I need... let me, be the one you come running to... I'll never be untrue

Anyhoo, don’t know when and where I’ll have the time to blog again. But the thing is I want to write as much as I can so I can read it three months from now and remember how awesome it was. So we’ll see…

Cheers to Rat, Sista T, Lavi, Snoop and all my other non-blogger buddies like N, S and all the boys… please continue to entertain me in the same fashion for the next four weeks… Woohoo!

Life I love you… all is groovy…

"Wednesdayitis"

They have this stupid “A Current Affair” thing after the news every evening. On this show they provide us average viewers with shocking revelations about how supermarkets are ripping us off by filling 50gm tins only with 49.99gms of content and sometimes they answer the questions that keep us all lying awake at night for hours on end, such as “Is butter really better than margarine” or “Is salt a silent killer”!!

So anyway, there was once a segment on a new phenomenon being noticed in workplaces all around Australia – “Mondayitis”!! Essentially there are a lot of employees who take Mondays off as sick days when all they are really suffering from is “Mondayitis”. I can’t remember if they ever provided a solution to the deadly disease of “Mondayitis” striking down able workers left, right and centre, but I don’t take Mondays off and I don’t take Fridays off. I believe that I am afflicted by “Tuesdayitis” and “Wednesdayitis”.

I hate Mondays like every other self-respecting employed individual but somehow I drag myself in and heave a huge sigh of relief when the hands hit 6:00 pm and I can get out of here.

Tuesday mornings are do or die for me. I have a history of sleeping in on Tuesday mornings and calling in late on Tuesdays more than any other day.

So if we have somehow gotten through Tuesday, the next milestone is Wednesday morning. As I am writing this at work, I have managed to survive another Wednesday morning.

Then we are left with Thursdays. Even on a Thursday morning I begin to perk up considerably and by a Thursday evening I’m positively jumping with excitement at the prospect of the impending weekend.

On Fridays we all heave a collective sigh of relief and say Thank God its Friday and really mean it. Fridays involve long lunches, lazy afternoons and social drinking evenings. I love Fridays.

Alas, it is still only Wednesday and Friday is TWO whole days away.

I suppose another thing is that lately I’ve been feeling the whole “Different day, same shit” thing. It is important to have something to look forward to all the time (for me, at least). There has to be some kind of reward so to speak or happy/exciting event in the offing to get me through the daily drudgery.

Last September there was all the excitement of becoming a permanent resident of Australia and my birthday was a lot of fun. I could also begin planning my trip to India after 1.5 fucking years.

October passed in a flurry of shopping and wedding madness (not mine).

November and December were a blur of Christmas parties, drinking, Christmas shopping, Christmas carols and did I mention, drinking.

Then we had the New Year and I had a fun trip to the Gold Coast the end of January

The end of February saw a good friend from Brisbane visiting as well as a honeymooning couple from Madras. That was an insane 10 days!

March and April were focussed on being terribly excited about my trip to the US (to see my grandparents after 6 fucking years) and shopping and some fun birthdays as well.

May was of course my trip to the US and simply one of the best times of my life in a really long time.

After I got back, I could still bask in the glow of an awesome holiday for a while. There were pictures to look at over and over again, and all the fruits of my shopping to be worn, displayed, etc., I continued making drunk phone calls to my cousins and sister for a while even, just so they wouldn’t forget the madness of me.

But now the glow is wearing off big-time and there is nothing to look forward to in the next couple of months.

The cold doesn’t help of course. At least if it snowed, we could engage in such fun activities as building snowmen and having snowball fights. As it stands, the city taunts us with cold wind and rain and tells us to have a fucking blast with these elements alone!! Bah humbug is all I can say back!