Holy Fermented Potatoes, Batman!

Harish "Vodka" Shivaram has a blog!

And he was inspired by Akshay "Axe" "Studmuffin" Anand!

The Lady Speaketh

Inspired by yours truly, the Lady has decided to start a blog of her own.

The link to the blog can also be found under the "Virtual Friends" list.

On (for) the fifteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ...

A stack of cards with lovingly crafted, handwritten messages ...

One small box of Godiva truffles ...

One photo frame with a photo of her ...

One Superman T-shirt ...

One Banana Republic sweater ...

One small bottle Banana Republic Fresh Nectar perfume ...

One C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries' Lemon body cream ...

One EA Games Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers videogame for the XBox ...

One Kenneth Cole watch ...

One Living Language Spanish learning course CD-ROM set ...

...

... And a partridge in a pear tree!

PS: I get it, alright. I need to groom up to her standards. And I so enjoyed my patented and finely-honed slob-of-the-year look.

PPS: The Superman TShirt was the best gift. I actually stood in front of a mirror striking heroic poses, or with my arms out in front of me making whooshing sounds while the theme music played in my head! Whee! :-)

One man's weirdness ...

.. Is another's ... umm ... saving graces! Yes! Graces! Mwahahaha!

Mike recently did a startling expose on himself, making many people cough in embarrassment (or in the case of one commenter, puke). Not satisfied with dragging his own good name in the mud, he proceeded to fling mud clods at others, including myself. Unfortunately, me being ... well, me, I must respond, which leads me to my first point:

1. I used to be a compulsive competitor. I blame my parents for this, and blame BITS for my current mindset of laisse-faire (or should I say, lazy fare). I constantly strove to be the class topper in ... any guesses? ... mathematics, and chemistry. Constantly. To the extent that ...

2. I regularly flunked English ... and the Indian school system being what it is, I flunked both papers (composition & lit.). I especially sucked at essay writing, which is rather ironic, given the fact I've maintained a blog (albeit somewhat sporadically) for nearly 3 years now. It's weird to hear the Lady describing me as "articulate".

3. I am a geek. No surprises there. But not an all-encompassing sci-fi/fantasy geek. I am a geek for PC gaming (in as much as I can be), movies & animated shows (of the humor or sci-fi bent). I also enjoy the occasional comic book, having grown up on a steady diet of Archies, Asterix & Tintin.

4. I almost constantly have music playing in my head. Radio WAXE is on the air from the moment I shower to the moment I sleep. Normally, it's just snippets playing rather than whole songs. Most of the time, the songs are those I recently heard on my iPod, other times, the songs are triggered by things I see or hear. For example, seeing a billboard ad for Superman will get the theme tune running in my head. WAXE sometimes takes breaks to provide a running commentary on my experiences ... a la JD from Scrubs.

5. I cannot leave the house without showering, even if I'm unwell. I simply cannot step across the threshold. I just feel ... icky (Dear gods, that was a girly thing to say)! The only way I'd cross the door without showering is if I were physically incapacitated, or similarly unable to wash. As an aside, I have my best flashes of inspiration, blog post composition, and other creative bursts, in the shower. I can't explain it, but a lot of my important thinking and planning happens in those 15 minutes I'm getting hosed down.

6. I love the taste of many fruits, but can't stand to eat the fruit itself. My mother will not-so-fondly remember the many times she had to force me to eat mangoes as a kid, but could stop me from wolfing down aamras.

In the spirit of passing on something contagious, I hereby tag Vee, Malz, Gowri, Dents, and Nikhil to cough up their list.

Happy Noo Yeah! ...

... At the time of writing, to those happy folk in ... Western Europe!

I'm at the Lady's apartment, helping her set out an amazing party spread. There's salsa 'n' chips, samosas 'n' dip, and a plate groaning under the burden on cheese & crackers. The main course has biriyani 'n' stuff. Mmm mmm, mmm mmm mmm! We gots the tequila (yuk!), le vin, da shtrung voodka, and sum Jamaican room, mon!

Seriously, my stomach is mentally preparing the bill right now.
Tomorrow morning, said stomach is likely to get in line behind my head to
demand full repayment for this evening's festivities.

Should have a guest contingent of about 15, including a few kids. Will be taking a few photos of the party, and will have DoPy (Dept. of Photography, to non-BITSians) take some photos of the Lady 'n' me (Hey Disney, check out this Lady & The Tramp!)

And so to all far and wide, best wishes for the New Year. Or as we say in Baahstun, New Yeah!