This weekend like the last several, I was doing nothing. Sitting at home and just expecting to watch a couple of movies and some football. Lazy mornings and afternoon and ofcourse early to bed. Or atleast as early as the time that I do go to bed these days. Which is by 11 pm.

However I finally got off my ass and cleaned my desk. I bought this desk and got it delivered in the first week of december and now 3 months later it was dusty. In fact it has been dusty for a while and week after week I kept putting it away. Today though, I decided to just do it. I waited till 10:30 pm, post breakfast and 2 cups of coffee and took everything from the top of the desk and placed it on my chair or my bed.

I then used some wet tissues and an old cloth to wipe the dusty top of the table. That took about 20 minutes to make sure that I got all the dusty stuff off and then a dry wipe with the cloth. I also cleaned the desk mat and then place everything back on top of the desk. It looks and even feels so much better. Weekend job done!

It actually makes me surprised as to how much my sleeping and waking habits have changed. I have mentioned this before on the blog that ever since I moved back to working from home, I have changed my sleep schedules but it is surprising how much that has changed. From a person who used to come home by 3 am or 4 am (depending on which shift I was doing) and then watching tv for an hour or so, that has changed. A lot!

I am in bed between 10:30 pm and 11 pm almost every day and I try to wake up by 7 am. Every morning! Some days I wake up by 6 and relax for a while before it’s time to brush my teeth and go get coffee. Most mornings I only go get coffee by 8 am. Sometimes I will watch some tv show episodes at this time of the morning between 6 am and 8 am if I do wake up early. I relax with my coffee and see if anything needs to be done for the home. Groceries to get or maybe order breakfast in.

After breakfast I usually do go to the bathroom and freshen up. I will get another coffee by 10:30 am and wait till 11:45 am to go shave and take a shower. Work starts at 12:30 pm so I can afford to have a relaxing morning and enjoy my coffee in peace and leisure. A pint of cold water at my side, I then turn on the work laptop.

I’ve got major USB woes! This is so not fair and I hope this can be sorted by Thursday 1pm. So I did buy a new tv, the Redmi Xiaomi 32 inches Fire Tv, and it was delivered to me 2 days ago on a Sunday. I started watching it that same afternoon, even managed a full movie and streamed some episodes of Star Trek Voyager as well. However the next morning I was checking something and I noticed that something was off.

You see, I still watch a lot of my tv shows and my movies via a USB stick after I download them online onto my laptop computer. And this tv comes with two USB 2.0 ports and I plugged in one of my USB drives to it but the tv wasn’t reading the drive. I then tried the other USB port but I had the same problem. I quickly went online to check and see if there was a different way to view files from a USB driver – as this was the first time I was using a Fire TV having only used Android previously – and I checked the steps and followed them accordingly but still got nothing. I called the Amazon customer care at night and spoke to a tech support person but he wanted to connect me to someone else but it was taking a lot of time and I was tired so I said that I would call in today.

Fast forward to this morning and I tried something that I thought might work after reading about it on a forum, though I was sure that wasn’t the problem. I formatted the drive in eFat format once again and then copied some wallpaper images and a few movies onto it. Still nothing. So I called Amazon and I got connected to a Fire TV tech support and after speaking to me and then checking, she said that she would arrange for someone to come in by tomorrow. If they can’t fix it they will replace the tv. Ugh! I hope they do fix it!

I wish I had enough money to…

Having just settled and bought a tv, let me tell you what I had to do. Thinking about the money to spend, I actually went down on the brand and the size. Don’t get me wrong, I love the new Redmi Firetv that I bought but I wanted either Samsung or LG and I wanted it to be 43 or 55 inch! Ofcourse money is the problem and hence I went for the Redmi and 32 inch as it is much lower in price.

I wish I had that big bank account. I wish I could afford to go and spend big money on the latest and biggest tv, laptop and mobile phones and then go shopping for clothes. And not miss a beat! But I can’t. I am thinking of saving money now for a new phone and hopefully a new laptop next year. Spending money on things that I want is tricky.

So I wish I had enough money to get all my wants and needs fulfilled. When I want a new electronic device, I should be able to buy it and enjoy it. 2 days later, I want another one; sure just swipe the credit card and it comes home to me. And have enough to buy my folks and relatives some things as well.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

Not the ideal start to the weekend. I tried to go to bed at 11 pm last night. After work, I shut down my work laptop, had a quick dinner with my mom – dad already having had his and gone to lie down in bed – and then I took an orange and some grapes and went back to my room and sat at the laptop till 11 pm. With the tv not having any sound I didn’t have anything to watch; I could have watched something on my laptop but I decided against that and just thought of watching some Instagram reels before I fell asleep.

I ended up falling asleep within minutes, which was a good thing. For some reason I ended up waking up at 2 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I did what I usually would do, that is get up from bed, as I wanted to pee anyways. I went online and watched videos, played some games on my phone, played some music till about 5pm. Sleepiness caught up with me and I went to bed and managed to sleep till 9:30 am. I hate when this happens as I would like to sleep for 6 to 7 hours atleast and then wake up at 6 or 7 am.

Morning was spent at my desk once again, getting up only to visit the loo, get two cups of coffee and breakfast ofcourse. Scatter in a few chats with mom & dad. At 2pm we had a quick lunch and I had an orange after that. By 3pm I took a quick nap, having retired to my bed and trying to watch more Instagram reels, managing a nap for over an hour and some minutes. At 5 15 pm I got up for our evening coffee and snack. Dinner was Subway sandwich and cookies for me while my parents had KFC and we all had 7up to drink. I’m watching football on my laptop and will most likely go to bed by 11.

Why would someone be lucky to have you in their life?

Well I am a very sweet person. I am nice, loving, loyal, approachable and friendly and if I can do something to help you without inconveniencing myself, I will do what I can. I am a shoulder to cry on, I am a joke sharing machine. I won’t do anything to harm you unless you harm me or someone I care about. And even if you have an issue with another friend of mine, I will try and give you the benefit of the doubt.

I have been friends and continue to be friends with two people who can’t stand each other. They have me in common as a friend and I won’t change or stop being friends with the other. I do not like playing favourites, as they are friends. They are both good people but they just don’t seem to gel with each other and they rub each other the wrong way but I stick by each. I ain’t choosing among them and it works out for us.

I am a repository of dad jokes, bad jokes and dirty jokes. I love science fiction with a passion unlike most people. I am a great storyteller. I can sing with the correct lyrics to 100s of songs. I am entertainment personified. I am a hoot! And you will love me!

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Things are back to the current norm of me working full time back at home. In December I was told that I would have to go to the office and train a new team of 10 associates along with a team manager who are joining our process. We also had the new lead for quality also joining via Webex. I adjusted it with my manager to work from the office for a day or two and then come back home for the remainder of the 2 week training period. Once that was done, then for the 2 week on the job training, I would come back to the office and spend the next 2 weeks supporting them.

However that changed – I came for 2 days and then had issues with my leg and hence I got to stay back home. I supported them remotely and it went fine is what I believe. The two weeks were tiring to be honest, though for some reason it would go a bit quiet from 8pm till about almost log out time which was 9:30 pm. Anyways, that ended this Friday and after letting the team know that I would be still supporting them for another week but that they had certain targets that they had to work towards, we ended the training.

So now, it’s back to the regular routine, except that I will continue to support then new folks for a week more and beyond if needed. I want them to be able to hit their main targets as soon as possible and then we can relax a little bit. We have a changing of the guard at the management level and hence, we need things to be streamlined so that there is less scrutiny and pressure for us.

What is a “normal” life experience you feel like you missed out on?

Quite a few actually. I know somewhere early on in my life the gauntlet was thrown on the ground and the fault is no ones but mine. Maybe some bad luck or something along with it, but mainly the fault is no one else’s but mine. I am solely to blame for me missing out on what I can say are life experiences that one should expect in their lifetime. From the point of view of a guy ofcourse.

I missed out on a lot of things. Getting married and enjoying the life of a married man, with a woman who is my partner in life. Yes I have been in love, been intimate with a woman a few times, with 3 women in total but they are all gone long back. I haven’t been with a woman in a very long, long time – in over 20 years – and I am 48 years old now. I had hoped that I would be married by the time I was 30 and lived in a different house or an apartment with my wife.

And that we’d get a dog or two and maybe a couple of cats. And live the life of a married couple. Maybe have a couple of kids. I’d love to have a daughter and raise the girl and watch her grow from a cute little angel kid to a woman. I’d love to be able to do that! I missed out on all that. Instead I have the life that I have, such as it is.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

These are the three fictional science fiction futures that I have dreamed about and made up in my mind. And this is not anything very recent, except for the first time which was due to Covid. I have been thinking about stuff like this since back when I was a teenager. I remember telling the story of my imaginations to friends back in the early 2000s. So anyway, I am trying to write down some of these but which future would you prefer?

1. This is during the height of Covid-19 and lockdowns. During this period, we get reports that NASA has shared images of millions of large objects moving towards the earth. When they come close enough, it turns out to be what we think are alien space crafts. Huge spaceships the size of New York City. But they aren’t aliens as it turns out to be, they are us or our descendants. Futuristic humans come to us from 3000-5000 years in the future. They left earth a long time ago and settled on a few distant planets. Their technologies advanced so much but now their growth is stunted, they don’t grow old or die and since their numbers are limited, they come to our present and offer to take as many humans as possible, hopefully all of us, so we can live a life in luxury, not worry about illness or death or hunger, everything at our finger tips. Our families and pets live safely and we also get to travel the universe with our advanced descendants.

2.  We advance so much that our technology allows us to build spaceships the size of a city – easily accommodate about a million humans with many animals in these ships. You get to stay in units like apartments with your extended family and pets. So your family in an apartment, next to your your cousins, uncles and aunts etc etc. You also get common rooms to lounge, play games, have large lunches and dinners, watch movies so you get to spend so much time with your families during the 3 to 4 years that it takes to reach the new earth like planets & moons we have identified to be our new homes. In these city ships, you can also go and visit our friends and other people, everything is taken care of for us, easy access to food and drinks, kind of like replicators, and over all time slows down for us so we don’t grow old. After the 3 to 4 years it takes to get to the new planets, the homes are quickly built for us so families can settle in and relax. You work for bettering yourself and the rest of humanity and also explore the galaxy in ships. No problems for us in terms of health or food or thirst.

3. It is 4000-5000 years from now and we are all born on distant planets and moons. Humanity is very powerful and advanced and travel the galaxy and have a fleet of spaceships like Starfleet. We are friendly with some aliens and fight evil aliens but we have special shields or forcefields that protect us from harm so we do a lot of policing. Due to this forcefield, which we also have generated around our planets and moons, we have stunted growth and hence do not grow old and die but stay at a particular age. Traveling the galaxy for fun is so easy as long as we obey some basic rules. Or you can stay back home on the planets and do whatever you want and have peace knowing that you and your fellow humans are safe and as are your pets and we never know hunger, thirst or illness.

What is something you wish you did when you were younger?

Lots of things. I wish I had learned how to drive and taken my license. I wish I had picked up a couple of languages that I wish I knew how to speak like French…..and Klingon! I have always wanted to learn these two languages. But I never even tried to go and attend some classes for any of these. Another thing that I wanted to learn and really regret not doing so is learning to play an instrument. Especially the guitar!

I have always wanted to be able to play lead guitar. Ever since I got hooked onto rock music, where ofcourse guitar is almost always front and center, back in 1986 I have wanted to be able to play like a maestro. I did go for some classes but I hated my teacher and quit after a few months. I wish I had stuck with it, or joined another music center and learned under a different teacher. Maybe I could have become really good at it.

Also I wish I could have worked more on my education when I was younger and do things a whole lot better. Maybe I could have migrated out of India and moved to Canada. That has been my biggest dream and I wish I could have done that. I hate having had to have lived here for all these years.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

If you found a suitcase full of money in the middle of the street, what would you do?

Once a long time ago, I was travelling in a bus and found a small bag with a whole lot of money. When I used to travel via the local city buses, I used to always go and sit in the very last seats, which is basically a row that goes the entire inner width of the bus. Usually a lot of people avoid it unless the other seats are taken so I usually find it free unless the bus has a lot of passengers. So on this particular day I was going about town and I got into this buss and found this bag.

I remember checking to see if anyone was coming back to get it but the bus was only a quarter full and the last few seats were bare. I opened the bag and found the owner’s id card and some documents and close to Rs. 1 lakh! It was just under it but I don’t remember the full amount. I took the bag with me and got down at my stop and got some errands done. Once that was done in the area I was, I checked the address on the id card and saw that it was about 20 minutes away from where I was. So I took an auto and went there and asked for the owner.

I then handed him the bag with the money and told him that I found it in the bus. He and his family were so thankful – apparently he had taken the money out from the bank recently for some of the arrangements of his eldest daughter’s wedding and he and his family were frantic about the loss of the money. They had already called the police who were checking with the bus operators to see if they found it. I was happy that I could help him and refused the reward of (I think he offered to gift me Rs.10000) as my family was well off at the time and I thought my parents would be proud of me but not if I accepted the monetary reward. I had a quick coffee at their house before I said that I had to leave.

Fast forward to today and I might not do the same. I would probably keep the money and use it slowly and have the guilt in my mind but not as big a guilt to not use it. Times have changed and I guess so have I. Might not have been for the better but it is what it is!

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

If you could switch careers, what would you do? Why?

If I could make a change of careers right now I would choose to be a writer and ofcourse get paid lots and lots for it. I would love to have that as my passion and my livelihood that makes me a ton of money. I could stay in and write for a few hours a day or maybe take my devices and go and sit in a cafe for a few hours and relax there, drink some expensive coffee and write at a relaxed pace. This is the life!

I actually could work from a cafe on certain days if I wanted to as long as I don’t have to use public wifi and instead brought along a dongle for connectivity. I have a few colleagues who actually use one of these devices for work and they like the flexibility that it provides so they can work anywhere as long as they take their laptop with them. The purpose of getting away from the office or, in case of work from homers, from home and chillaxing with a cold one while getting some work done is awesome. As a writer, it would be easy to have this done.

Just a laptop and dongle or you can just bring in a bluetooth keyboard and your tab or phone and type away while you get a frappe or a latte and enjoy them with a sandwich or muffin. Take a pause in between and look at the fellow patrons, see the cars passing by, nod at the staff busy taking orders and making the coffee with a smile etc etc.

When on a vacation, do you prefer to lounge and relax, or go out and explore?

I am not an explorer or the exploring kind. I would like to relax and lounge and take full advantage of the hotel / home stay and their room service. I want to sleep in and watch a couple of movies or binge a tv series or two. Or read a book!

All the times that I have had a chance to travel before I have gone mostly to people’s houses and/or bars or hotels. Very few times I have gone to just see the sights and sounds. I remember when I temporarily lived in Calicut back in 2002, I would go out almost every day with a few friends and if not to the beach, I would go to see a few places in the city and by evening I would come back to the suburban area where I had rented a room.

The last few times that I have taken a vacation or staycation, I have just taken a nice hotel room, read, slept, watched a bit of tv and then ate the room service that I would order in and ofcourse drink a few beers. The rest and relaxation is what I crave and ofcourse the fact that I can get away from home and have a different set of walls that I can look at.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

If you had to choose between having a personal chef, a housekeeper, or a personal trainer, which would you pick?

So we have a maid/housekeeper who comes in 6 days a week and she cleans the rooms and cooks some of the food we have. However she is very limited in what she can cook and some of the cooking leaves something to be desired. If I could keep her for the cleaning and folding clothes I would like to get a personal chef.

When I say that, it’s mainly for my mother and father and thirdly for myself. I would like to see my mum just relax and not worry about the food preparation and or cleaning of the food. Also making us some different dishes and tastes so we can enjoy variation in our meals. We tend to eat very similar dishes week in week out and I am usually the more culinarily adventurous while my parents tend to be more safe and familiar choices when it comes to food.

So yeah I would prefer to have a personal chef. Also when I have family come to visit me, I can ask for some nice dishes to be prepared and ready to be served when they come in for either lunch or dinner.

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If you suddenly received 1000USD and had to spend it within 30 minutes, how would you spend it? (Cannot be deposited nor invested in the stock market)

Since I only have 30 mins to spend that USD1000, which is Rs. 86,540.53 in the exchange. So if I had that money, I would definitely go to Amazon India and make the purchases that I need. I would definitely go and buy a few things:

• A new laptop. Looking at the laptop choices and prices, I would probably go for a 15in HP Core i5 with 16GB RAM. Let’s see that would be Rs. 52,990.
• Let’s get a new TV. I don’t have a problem with just a 32 inch tv but if there is an offer for a 43 inch tv I will grab that. I see a nice Samsung 108 cm (43 inches) Full HD Smart LED TV for Rs. 24,990 that looks right up my alley. My current tv has some issues, especially the sound and I would love to replace it as it now 6 years old. That would be so cool!
• I would have Rs. 8,560.53 left over. What could I get? A Rs.3495 worth Logitech keyboard and a AULA F2088W Mechanical Gaming Keyboard LED Backlight RGB which is Rs.3699.
• The money left over I would buy groceries and other essentials.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

So I have a new training batch that starts today. I have been working from home from mid-September once we closed out the temporary floor and then a training room that our 45 member process was using at the office. Our process was signed as a work from home process as it is a content moderation type job and there are no customer details or financial transactions or addresses etc that we work on and hence everyone can safely work from home.

Now unfortunately or I should say fortunately for me, due to a scheduling issue, I can only get a training room for my batch of 10 agents and newly promoted Team Manager in the evening slot which is 5:30 pm to 2:30 am. Now with my health issues I don’t want to go to the office in that shift. But I managed to get it agreed that I will go to the office today, set everything up for the 11 folks and get them their new laptops assigned for this process among others (they were internally moved from another process and were using clunky desktops till now). Then I will continue working from home for the rest of the week as the TM will be there to supervise the 10.

Next week another TM will be coming to the office for 3 weeks and I will continue to work from home. This is so that if there is any issue that they face with the client tool, which they will only use from next week, he can help them. Then from the 27th onwards the shift reverts back to a 12:30 pm to 9:30 pm and I and the TM will help the 11 with their on the job training for 2 weeks. Hopefully my stint back in the office will only last for 2 weeks. I am a little apprehensive going back to the office.

If you could pick any view to see from your bedroom window, what would you pick? (e.g. a meadow with cows)

This actually reminds me about how things have changed from when I was younger. When I was younger I would have wanted to see wide streets, cars going left and right, buildings nearby and the skyline of large houses and tall apartment buildings, shops, restaurants, grocery stores and cafes dotted on the streets.

However as I have grown older the image has changes and the wish has changed. Now I wish for a huge, lush green lawn on my backyard with a canopy in one corner and some chairs and a table. Ofcourse I want a barbecue as well and the two dogs that I have had loved in my life and my two cats frolicking in the grass and chasing butterflies. Happy as can be. Outside the fences I can see greenery all around and I see birds chirping in the trees and squirrels and chipmunks looking for nuts.

No noise of vehicles, no people running around, no horns or anything. Total bliss with some animals and nature.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com