Month: June 2015
Ink Stains & Bob
You have 20 minutes to write a post that includes the words mailbox, bluejay, plate, syrup, and ink. And one more detail⌠the story must include a dog named Bob
So…..I woke up that morning, at around the same time and did my daily routine. It was a Saturday so no office to go to and I had the whole weekend ahead of me to do what I wanted. So I lazed around the house, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, making breakfast and taking a long shower. I wasn’t really interested in doing anything more strenuous than finding a place to have dinner or thinking about what shows or movies to watch.
At 1pm, I was dressed and planning to go out when I saw a bluejay land on my mailbox as if it was trying to alert me that I had an urgent mail waiting for me to read. I called out to the little birdie and walked up to the mailbox and opened it, to find a flyer inviting me to try out a new store that makes maple syrup and sells them in these large jars. Hmm, I like syrup so why not? I drove over to the store, on my way to have lunch, and bought 2 large jars of the maple syrup and then drove over to my favourite bbq restaurant and ordered a plate of ribs with a few side items. Having enjoyed my lunch I decided to walk over to the nearby pier and take in the breeze and walk off my lunch.
As a few minutes passed I noticed this young lady who was walking her dog, a Bloodhound, and as she came nearer to me I noticed a small ink stain on her blouse. Without thinking I looked at her and pointed to her chest – bad idea! She was initially shocked and almost hit me with her purse and her dog started barking at me. I managed to stop her and let her know that the ink stain is what I was pointing out to and she was embarrassed and apologized for her hasty reaction. She then introduced herself to me and said that her name was Marianne. And that her dog’s name was Bob.
Nice to meet you Marianne. And you too Bob! Who was peeing on my shoe at that very moment!
Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com
The Preferred Way To Shop
I love online shopping. I find it so much more convenient – other than the fact that you have to wait anything between 3 to 15 days depending on where your purchase order is being shipped from to get to you – than regular shopping. The last weekend I went to Men’s Studio to buy a couple of shirts and a wallet and the place was filled with noisy kids, vawling babies, tired looking older people, loud mouthed folks and running children. I don’t want that!
Now ofcourse for someone who is overweight like I am, I never shop for clothes online as I prefer to try it out first before buying it. But yeah I do buy my underwear online! It’s so much fun buying undershirt and your briefs/boxers online and getting them delivered to you via postal or courier! So I do that via Jabong on Myntra. I also buy a ring or two, computer accessories like a USB mouse or external hard drive online. EBay, Snapdeal and Flipkart being the options for those type of purchases.
Ofcourse I am building my Star Trek ships collections so I rely on eBay for that as Amazon charges you duty taxes as well. Both options are the international ones and not their Indian wings. Lots of other stuff too that you can buy online and have fun doing so. I have to stop myself from going overboard as it is so easy to get carried away, especially since I got a credit card but I am controlling my spending.
Food Review # 38
For my 38th food review, cousin Sujith & I went to Pizza Hut. It was just awesome – we had a fruit Sangria, Go Italia Pasta (pasta tossed in olive oil & Parmesan cheese, bell peppers, zucchini, ham, garlic & baby corn) and their Pepperoni & cheese pizza – abetter than any pizza I’ve had from them earlier. Funny how the pizza served at their restaurant tastes so much more better than the ones I’ve had from home delivery.
On An Even Keel
We all have things we need to do to keep an even keel â blogging, exercising, reading, cooking. Whatâs yours?
Blogging really is my outlet for keeping me on an even keel. It is my outlet – to let out creativeness and frustration equally. Now I, in no way, consider my writing to be excellent (I do have my shining moments once in a while, though) but for me it is a way to get thoughts onto a canvas if you will. Writing it out helps me to focus on a few things and it’s an outlet for me. Cause there are some things that you can’t discuss with people unless they think like you or even understand the things that you care about as much as you do or even know the stuff that you want to write about.
As you may know, I often write out my dreams (if I can remember them by the time I get to my computer) so I can reflect on them and remember them for ages. Most of us don’t and dismiss the dreams that we have (even scary or weird or disturbing ones) as soon as we wake up. Now I haven’t jotted down each and every dream that I have had (I must have an active imagination because I do have a lot of dreams and I do have some weird ones) and I don’t wish to forget them. Even the ones that make be feel sad as I read about them later, I still treasure them because it’s my mind reminding me of things that I miss and hold dear to myself.
So blogging is the way to go for me. At times I’ve also “voiced out” my frustration and anger in the form of the words that make up a post. It’s my blog and I should be able to do that. If someone doesn’t like it – too fucking bad! You can choose not to read it or not to come back here anymore. That is your freedom of choice. This is mine. This is my piece of internet property, I pay for it, I maintain it and I demand that I let my thoughts out. It’s not harming anyone.
Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com
Strange Blogger In A Strange Land
Whatâs the strangest place from which youâve posted to your blog? When was the last time you were out and about, and suddenly thought, âI need to write about this!â?
Damn it, I can’t think of strange places that I have ever posted to my blog. Well, not very interesting eh, and I blog a lot. A lot more than most people.
Let’s see now, I have blogged from coffeeshops and restaurants on a laptop as well as on my phone. I have blogged from a train and a bus and while riding in a company cab. I have written a blog from an office computer and an office loo (yes, while on the can and using my phone), while in a hospital waiting room and once from a party. And yes from a bar while having a few drinks.
Not too strange I guess. But I am a strange blogger. What place should I try blogging from next? Any suggestions?
Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com
Things Are Getting Very Wet
Temperatures are dropping as the monsoon is finally here. Although not in full force as we expected it to be. But today has been somewhat pleasant, overcast but not humid and it was a lazy morning that I spent at home. The kind of morning, from 8:30 am till 12 pm that it best spent with lots of black coffee and videos upon videos on Youtube; just cooking vids and travel vids and people being silly. Perhaps a puppy or kitty clip or two.
Now, as I am leaving for the office at 5:15 pm (remember I work a 6:30pm – 3:30am shift) it is raining. And it’s a cool kinda rain which isn’t that heavy but with a cold breeze makes things much cooler. It is making me feel lazy and sleepy and I am glad that I am in the confines of this car and not travelling by bus or bike. With the construction of the metro and the road work going on, the roads will get muddy and messy and create a lot of work for your washing machine.
Sleep will be much better at night as it will no longer be hot, humid and sweaty. Saturday night was so but last night was much better. Monsoon is here!
A Closer Look At The Runabout Model
And here is a closer look at the awesomely well done Runabout model from Eaglemoss. Easily one of their best so far.
I Have No Proper Last Name
How Do You Feel About Your Last Name?
One of the biggest peeves I have is my last name or lack thereof. I have wanted to get my name changed officially to have the last name as Menon, just to avoid having people call me Mr. Krishnan. I hate being called that. That is not my name.
Ok, my given name is Roshan Gopal Krishnan – Gopal being part of my dad’s name (C. Gopalakrishnan) and Krishnan being also my grandfather’s name (Krishnankutty Menon). For reasons beyond me, I was named in this manner (it’s too long of a story to tell you) and I have hated it ever since I turned 15-16. Because I know that I lack a proper last name. Which is a problem in Kerala and some other places, a lot of us have no last names. In Kerala it is common to have a first name & an initial – the initial usually is your dad’s name of your family name (which is not a last name but close enough) and sometimes it’s in front of your first name (for example M. Roshan or Roshan M.).
This is a ridiculous setup because people tend to call you Mr. and last name and if you only have an initial calling you Mr. is a funny situation. But I’d prefer people referring me as Mr. Roshan rather than Mr. Krishnan. So back when I was 15-16 I thought that when I turn 21, I would get my name legally changed to add Menon (which is actually a common name as it refers to your caste) to my name and make things easier on me but – 17 years on after I turned 21 I haven’t changed it! I just couldn’t bring myself to change my name to that of representing a caste, which I do not believe in. But I like the name “Menon” and would prefer that as a surname. People still refer to me by the last name as Krishnan.
Or perhaps I could have been creative and got a unique last name and changed to it legally. Like Bananahammock! Or Crapbag!
Prompt from The Learning Network at The New York Times
When The Moon Kisses The Sea
San Andreas Quake
So…..it’s not the major release blockbuster movie but another movie, with a much smaller budget and with an unknown cast, that has the same theme in it’s storyline. San Andreas Quake is a 2015 small budget release starring directed by John Baumgartner who also wrote the screenplay for this film that stars Jhey Castles, Jason Woods & Grace Van Dien.
Seismologist & scientist, Molly Dunn, is now a professor in a Los Angeles area college. She was discredited when her earlier project about creating a system that predicts earthquakes was a failure. Although teaching students and living with her husband and 18+ step-daughter, she is still working on a new prediction method. To her delight her new model seems to working fine, when she predicts almost to the exact moment (just 60 seconds delayed) a 4.0 quake; she warns the patrons of a campus coffeeshop. However the data she is collecting from several sensors in the region shows that a huge earthquake of 10.0 magnitude is about to hit the Los Angeles area and she tries hard to get the warning out but no one believes her.
Molly is able to convince her smart-Alec student Nick as she shows him the data while they were at the coffeeshop. He also just so happens to be the new boyfriend in Ali’s (Molly’s step-daughter’s) life. Molly warns her husband Hank, who is taking tourists on a helicopter tour and calls Ali at the upscale hotel where she works as a receptionist but the lines go dead as they are talking. Now Molly races to the hotel with Nick in his car and must survive a breaking bridge, a badly done CGI hippo momma that charges at them when their car hits her baby hippo, a desperate woman who pulls a gun on Nick to get the car for her and her young daughter and leaves them having to hoof it to the city. Hank meanwhile loses his chopper when a small plan crashes into it when it is on the ground and his tourist clients pay for a small plane provided he takes them to collect their dog first.
Ali and her co-worker Jackson have to help an elderly couple when the husband suffers a heart attack while stuck in an elevator. A reluctant hotel guest also helps them but they are late in getting to the bus that takes people away from the city. Molly and Nick get to the hotel via a tunnel, where they almost die of suffocation and head to the rooftop where they hope Hank can get to them on time. The elderly woman stays behind as her husband is now dead and the hotel guest is taken away by soldiers. Molly, Ali, Nick & Jackson head to the rooftop but Jackson falls off a broken window and the other 3 make it to the rooftop. At the last minute as the 12.0 earthquake destroys buildings nearby, Hank arrives in a chopper and the 3 make it safely and they take off as the city gets destroyed below them.
Really badly written with too man coincidences and bad acting by most. Jhey Castles looks a lot like Margiska Hargitay while the others barely do a good enough job but the bad CGI cannot save this story. A 3.5 outta 10 (and that is being generous)
Chasing A “Happily Ever After” Dream
âAnd they lived happily ever after.â Think about this line for a few minutes. Are you living happily ever after? If not, what will it take for you to get there?
No I am not, to the first question. Far from it though I must say that it is better than the last 2-3 years. But I have a few things that need to change for me to happy, job / career wise. The money front, yes I am making a lot more and saving a lot more than previously, and hence have more to spend as well. But I think I should be earning a lot more than I am right now and will always be on the lookout for more and that elusive really well paying job.
And along with that much better job and much more better salary I would also need a nice apartment to live in. To call my own, my home and my sanctuary. To have my things setup and be a cozy place to relax in at the end of the day’s work and during the weekends. And how will that home be complete without a loving wife, one who is as crazy about me as I am about her? A soulmate, a companion, a life partner, a best friend for life, a lover and a wife – not 6 of them but all rolled into one. To do things together, watch movies & tv, read books, go out together, cook & eat food together, talk for hours, have silly moments & arguments and make up / make out sessions together.
And to wrap it all up, a dog of our own. Maybe 2. Ok 2 dogs. And maybe 2 cats as well. Yep, I want 4 fur babies as well.
Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com
Unboxing The Runabout Model
Easily one of the best models done in the collection, the Runabout model from Eaglemoss’s The Official Star Trek Starship Collection, is amazingly done with a heck of a lot of detail included. Being a small ship or shuttle in design, Eaglemoss could use a lot more of the details properly in creating a model of this size. Just wonderful to look at. Here are some pics of the Runabout after I unboxed her and mounted her on her stand.
And here is the unboxing video of the Runabout model from Eaglemoss.
The Illuminati
What is the Illuminati? Across the internet, on Twitter / Facebook and several blog posts, people are obsessing about this so called New World Order that is s secretive that even the members of this group, have no clue that they are a member! Really, this is so ridiculous how so many people associate things that they don’t like / understand / agree with to be the workings of the Illuminati. But what is this Illuminati that they speak of?
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, “enlightened”) is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776. The society’s goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life and abuses of state power. “The order of the day,” they wrote in their general statutes, “is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them. The Illuminatiâalong with Freemasonry and other secret societiesâwere outlawed through Edict, by the Bavarian ruler, Charles Theodore, with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790. In the several years following, the group was vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that they continued underground and were responsible for the French Revolution.
The Illuminatiâalong with Freemasonry and other secret societiesâwere outlawed through Edict, by the Bavarian ruler, Charles Theodore, with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790. In the several years following, the group was vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that they continued underground and were responsible for the French Revolution. In subsequent use, “Illuminati” refers to various organisations which claim or are purported to have links to the original Bavarian Illuminati or similar secret societies, though these links are unsubstantiated. They are often alleged to conspire to control world affairs, by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations, in order to gain political power and influence and to establish a New World Order. Central to some of the most widely known and elaborate conspiracy theories, the Illuminati have been depicted as lurking in the shadows and pulling the strings and levers of power in dozens of novels, movies, television shows, comics, video games and music videos.
The Illuminati did not long survive their suppression in Bavaria, and their further mischief and plottings in the work of Barruel and Robison must be considered as the invention of the writers.[3] However, writers such as Mark Dice, David Icke, Texe Marrs, JĂźri Lina and Morgan Gricar have argued that the Bavarian Illuminati have survived, possibly to this day. Many modern conspiracy theories propose that world events are being controlled and manipulated by a secret society calling itself the Illuminati. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that many notable people were or are members of the Illuminati. Presidents of the United States are a common target for such claims. Other theorists contend that a variety of historical events were orchestrated by the Illuminati, from the Battle of Waterloo, the French Revolution and President John F. Kennedy’s assassination to an alleged communist plot to hasten the New World Order by infiltrating the Hollywood film industry. Some conspiracy theorists claim that the Illuminati observe Satanic rituals.
You Are Cordially Invited
I see this often in Facebook posts (with or without photos) of people I know over here. This is a mistake, a hilarious and exasperating situation, but a mistake nonetheless. And most people seem to be oblivious to the fact. People will share pics or posts of a wedding (either theirs or of a close relative or friend) and title it “insert person’s name here”‘ Marriage photos! Photos of the wedding day. Marriage instead of their wedding day.
Now that’s almost ok in a sense but people seem to be confusing the word “marriage” with “wedding” and it’s a pretty common mistake. But it’s so simple to correct. A marriage is a long term relationship between two individuals. A wedding, on the other hand, is the ceremony of getting married.
So ladies & gents you can invite me (and anyone else) to your wedding (or your sister’s wedding, your brother’s wedding, your cousin’s wedding) but please – not your marriage. Well……if you insist!
New 1TB Western Digital External Hard Drive
My new Western Digital 1 TB external hard drive has arrived this afternoon. Look it’s so small and cute looking. It’s about the size of my wallet or just slightly wider than my BlackBerry Q10. Pretty handy & nifty little thing!
So movies & television shows will be going in pretty soon.
Change Of Work Hours
Got a change of scenery after a long gap. Yesterday evening I came home rather early from work as instructed by my superiors. My Shift started at 6:30 pm and at 8 pm I was informed that I could go home at 9:30 pm as I would need to step in to train a batch at 8:30 am tomorrow. I will only be with them for 2 days and will continue with my regular shift from Friday. Therefore, I reached home at 10 pm!
Lies We Tell Ourselves
