What is this life if full of care
All we do is type and stare?
We sit, all day, mesmerized by a CRT
Unless the firm joined the LCD party
We see in fluorescent light
Whether its day or night.
We breathe recycled air
Sit all day in a chair
Back breaking work without the sweat
Finding answers by surfing the net
Brown water that makes mockery
of glorious tea and coffee
Waist high cubicle wall
That really reveals all.
And just when we decide we've had enough
salary day comes with cash to buy stuff.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
How this idiot narrowly escaped watching 3 idiots 3 times in 1 week -or- No, this is not a review of 3 Idiots
Till a week ago, the only movie I'd seen twice in a cinema was Dilwale Dulhaniya le jayege. Then came 3 Idiots and usurped that pride of place.
Last week, the buzz around 3 Idiots was good ( that's what a marketing budget bigger than the actual production cost, or so I've heard, will do for you) and it turned out to be playing at a theater very close to us. So we went for 3 Idiots. Watched the movie, laughed a lot, cringed a little, agreed with quite a bit. There was comedy, romance, drama, even a little bit of action and mystery and a Message. All in all, a great time was had.
Then a week later, another group of mates decide to go for the movie. My roomie wants to go again and I love the movies so I figure I can get to the theater and catch another movie maybe Sherlock Holmes, "Its complicated" or heck even "The Princess and the frog." Alas, the timings kind of clashed and so I settled down to watch the movie a second time in the theater. The jokes seemed a little less funny. But then behind us was this girl with an awesome laugh that brought up the entertainment factor. My laughs followed her squeals and screeches of delight more faithfully than echoes. Thus it was that I saw the movie a second time and a decent time was had.
Come new year's eve. We are invited to watch a movie which was suppposed to be "P.S. - I love you" We reached the theater and guess which movie's playing. Go on. I settled down to sleep. When my roommate, the kind soul, informed me of a nearby library, I grabbed my coat and bag and fled. I do believe I would have started hating the movie if i had spent another 1 hour in that movie hall. And then I'd be hated by all the 3 Idiots fanatics.
Last week, the buzz around 3 Idiots was good ( that's what a marketing budget bigger than the actual production cost, or so I've heard, will do for you) and it turned out to be playing at a theater very close to us. So we went for 3 Idiots. Watched the movie, laughed a lot, cringed a little, agreed with quite a bit. There was comedy, romance, drama, even a little bit of action and mystery and a Message. All in all, a great time was had.
Then a week later, another group of mates decide to go for the movie. My roomie wants to go again and I love the movies so I figure I can get to the theater and catch another movie maybe Sherlock Holmes, "Its complicated" or heck even "The Princess and the frog." Alas, the timings kind of clashed and so I settled down to watch the movie a second time in the theater. The jokes seemed a little less funny. But then behind us was this girl with an awesome laugh that brought up the entertainment factor. My laughs followed her squeals and screeches of delight more faithfully than echoes. Thus it was that I saw the movie a second time and a decent time was had.
Come new year's eve. We are invited to watch a movie which was suppposed to be "P.S. - I love you" We reached the theater and guess which movie's playing. Go on. I settled down to sleep. When my roommate, the kind soul, informed me of a nearby library, I grabbed my coat and bag and fled. I do believe I would have started hating the movie if i had spent another 1 hour in that movie hall. And then I'd be hated by all the 3 Idiots fanatics.
Mad scramble to fulfill last year's resolutions
I don't really know how to use spreadsheets. I just use them to store values that I manually feed. Sometimes I might venture a "sum" or "if" but that's about it. Which is a shame because I see people use spreadsheets to do so many things. They truly harness the power of spreadsheets in their daily work. They also make all sorts of wonderful graphs and charts. And who doesn't like colorful drawings, ahem, diagrams? So I decided I'm going to learn me some graphs in excel. After fiddling around a bit and looking for data worthy of being represented by my very first graph, this is what I came up with:
While its a nice looking graph - its got symmetry going for it but the numbers that they tell are shocking, simply shocking. I've been slacking off in the blogging department. To rectify this, I've decided to try and up my previous high of 11 (back in 2008) this year. So I have 8 1/2 hours to complete 5 posts. But don't worry, unrealistic commitments is my forte and the pressure wont affect the quality *at all*. In subsequent posts, we could discuss such controversial questions as "How much chocolate is too much chocolate?" and the followup "Is there such a thing as too much chocolate?" And there is always the question that has haunted philosophers and which, truth be told, has become the 'summer of 69' of questions, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
While its a nice looking graph - its got symmetry going for it but the numbers that they tell are shocking, simply shocking. I've been slacking off in the blogging department. To rectify this, I've decided to try and up my previous high of 11 (back in 2008) this year. So I have 8 1/2 hours to complete 5 posts. But don't worry, unrealistic commitments is my forte and the pressure wont affect the quality *at all*. In subsequent posts, we could discuss such controversial questions as "How much chocolate is too much chocolate?" and the followup "Is there such a thing as too much chocolate?" And there is always the question that has haunted philosophers and which, truth be told, has become the 'summer of 69' of questions, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Vacation
I had taken a break, a leave of absence, a sabbatical, a hiatus if you will. [ You have to pardon all these synonymns. I'm out of practice and I cant figure out which word fits.] Anyway, it wasn't an ordinary vacation. I didn't go anywhere special where I could take pictures of landmarks.
No, I turned up to office every weekday (and one weekend), I worked and I ate like it was normal. But I stopped thinking. I ate and watched junk. I tried reading a good book but gave up after a few pages. I tried solving crosswords. Tried Klueless 5 and gave up at level 18 because it was becoming too taxing. I ate more junk food. On my Netflix instant queue, I have amazing movies lined up. [No, this isn't a plug]. Movies that I could watch, literally, at the click of a button. Instead, I've watched addictive serials and movies that are uttelry meaningless. I'm too ashamed to list them. I'm not one of those people who watches Discovery channel or National geographic. Far from it. Though I'm a T.V. addict, I've always maintained some standards. And the stuff that Ive been doing lately is rubbish. It's just to while away the time. When I really should be thinking and making plans and doing things. I've been suffering from Well-if-the-Deer-closes-its-eyes-maybe-the-oncoming-headlights-will-disappear. But they wont. And there will be a sickening thud.
Its time to come back because I dont know how much time I have left (well, no one does). Ira and Abby better not be the last movie I ever watch and I should not compete with my one-year old nephew for the Chubbiest Cheeks in the family.
Exercise for the mind and exercise for the body, here I come. Just after I finish this bag of chips.
No, I turned up to office every weekday (and one weekend), I worked and I ate like it was normal. But I stopped thinking. I ate and watched junk. I tried reading a good book but gave up after a few pages. I tried solving crosswords. Tried Klueless 5 and gave up at level 18 because it was becoming too taxing. I ate more junk food. On my Netflix instant queue, I have amazing movies lined up. [No, this isn't a plug]. Movies that I could watch, literally, at the click of a button. Instead, I've watched addictive serials and movies that are uttelry meaningless. I'm too ashamed to list them. I'm not one of those people who watches Discovery channel or National geographic. Far from it. Though I'm a T.V. addict, I've always maintained some standards. And the stuff that Ive been doing lately is rubbish. It's just to while away the time. When I really should be thinking and making plans and doing things. I've been suffering from Well-if-the-Deer-closes-its-eyes-maybe-the-oncoming-headlights-will-disappear. But they wont. And there will be a sickening thud.
Its time to come back because I dont know how much time I have left (well, no one does). Ira and Abby better not be the last movie I ever watch and I should not compete with my one-year old nephew for the Chubbiest Cheeks in the family.
Exercise for the mind and exercise for the body, here I come. Just after I finish this bag of chips.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Cooking
"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams
Cooking is a lot like that too. Especially for beginners. DO NOT think about the picture in the recipe book or package while cooking.
Think about the day in the office, that Simpsons episode, make your wishlist, convert 30 degree centigrate to fahrenheit, make weekend plans, trace your family tree.
Somewhere between calculating the value of PI to the 5th place, coming up with a fitting reply to that colleague's remark and cursing the person who jerked the hand that held the open garam masala packet, somehow
the food becomes, oh, not like the picture in the recipe[it *never* becomes like that. Those are air brushed] but something quite edible.
Cooking is a lot like that too. Especially for beginners. DO NOT think about the picture in the recipe book or package while cooking.
Think about the day in the office, that Simpsons episode, make your wishlist, convert 30 degree centigrate to fahrenheit, make weekend plans, trace your family tree.
Somewhere between calculating the value of PI to the 5th place, coming up with a fitting reply to that colleague's remark and cursing the person who jerked the hand that held the open garam masala packet, somehow
the food becomes, oh, not like the picture in the recipe[it *never* becomes like that. Those are air brushed] but something quite edible.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Choices
Chocolate or Vanilla. Arts or Science. Bus or cab. Regular or Diet. Free Will or Destiny. Organic or artificial. Attend or bunk. Evolution or Creationism. Some are easy. Some are obvious. Some determine the next few minutes. Some, that you can look back and know that those were the choices that made all the difference. Some that freak you out before. Some that will haunt you long after decision time.
Of course, as people point out sagely, its not all black or white. There's a massive grey area. But, sometimes, choosing the middle road only takes you so far.
Of course, this has all been done before and, as a small comfort in times of conflict, we get to use the Bard's most popular (and easiest to remember) quotes "To be or not to be, that is the question"
Of course, as people point out sagely, its not all black or white. There's a massive grey area. But, sometimes, choosing the middle road only takes you so far.
Of course, this has all been done before and, as a small comfort in times of conflict, we get to use the Bard's most popular (and easiest to remember) quotes "To be or not to be, that is the question"
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)