Month: October 2019

Sheffield United 1 Arsenal 0

- Roshan

Sheffield United claimed a stunning win over Arsenal to move into the top half of the Premier League. Lys Mousset marked his first start for the Blades with the decisive goal in the first half, turning in Jack O’Connell’s knockdown from close range. Arsenal’s £72m signing Nicolas Pepe had earlier skewed a golden chance wide from six yards. Granit Xhaka forced Dean Henderson into an excellent save but the Blades closed the game out superbly for a famous win. The victory was Sheffield United’s biggest result since their return to the Premier League as they moved up to ninth, four points clear of the relegation zone.

Defeat for Arsenal, meanwhile, means they missed the chance to move back into the top four. They are fifth, two points behind Chelsea in fourth. Sheffield United have certainly shown plenty of grit on their return to the Premier League and have been particularly impressive in not rolling over to sides in the top six. They battled from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Chelsea in August before pushing Liverpool close at the end of last month, only to be undone by a single goal from a mistake by Henderson. Against Arsenal they again took the game to their opponents from the outset. David McGoldrick’s technical ability combined with Mousset’s pace posed a troubling front line for the Arsenal defence.

Chris Wilder had challenged his new-look forward line to give the Blades the cutting edge they have lacked this season and Mousset did just that, making the most of being unmarked inside the box to sweep home. From then on, it was all about the Sheffield United defence. The hosts, incredibly, have not lost a league game when leading at half-time since 2014 and they managed the remainder of the game superbly, with their back three of O’Connell, Chris Basham and John Egan forming a formidable barrier.

Finding A Different Set Of Internal Priorities

- Roshan

Much of our lives will be dictated and directed by the ideas we hold to be true, the values we keep, and also the influences we experience. For example, if we are in a negative social atmosphere, friends with people who drink too much and make excuses, odds are we can get into those habits too, never evolving, always being stagnant. It’s important to find a different set of alternative priorities from time to time, or perhaps to update your current ones and adjust them to your current life situation.

As we age we learn and grow, and we discard the bad ideas of the past. That is, this is what you should be doing, despite how difficult it can be. In the following words, we hope to help bolster you with confidence to this end, potentially helping you overcome your prejudices and consider just what values you may wish to live by. We hope that by using the following techniques you can become inspired, break past your own falsely held impressions, and begin to open your mind:

Your Highest Truth

What is your highest truth? Many people suppress theirs, hoping to find something personally restorative in other distracting activities. Perhaps you’d love to start writing a novel but you spend each night in front of the latest Netflix show. Maybe you wish you were kinder to people but feel that putting yourself out there is not wanted, and so fail to do so. You know what your main want is. You’re thinking of it now. Why can’t you take a minor step towards it? Doing so could restore you to health.

Good In The World

Finding what is good in the world and exploring that can help you become much more focused on a possibility, which needs optimistic exposure to get going in the first place. For example, an association for peace and education could potentially help you gain a clearer understanding of the interests and ideals you may wish to hold, and to see just what possibilities of common good can be focused on when you take the time to understand. Too often we fall into pessimism, but it’s these examples that can help us apply ourselves in a more forthright manner.

Withdraw From The Negative

If you find that you are surrounded by people who are defeatist and continually worried about their external environment, you may find this energy being sapped from you. Withdraw from the negative, from judgement, from pessimism, from a lack of action and a lack of care. Even starting to care about something simple is a defiant act, and it can help you become much more textured and positive in your thinking. Even if this starts with looking after yourself well, moving forward can be so much easier and will lessen your dread to a significant degree. This is important for everyone to experience.

With this advice, we hope you can find a more thorough and promising set of internal priorities. It’s never too late to try.

Creating Peace and Calm In Your Life

- Roshan

We all want a life that is filled with peace, calm and happiness. And in reality that is all in our own hands. To bring peace and calm into your life, you need to really focus on what you want and how you can make it work. Which parts of your lifestyle are the ones that you want to change? Think about it for a while before making changes. In the meantime, here are some tips to help you.

Media Consumption

How are you consuming your media? Youtube? Twitter? Facebook? Are those things serving you? Unless you have spent the time to curate timelines that make you feel good. People that are spreading a positive message. Creative and inspirational people are typically happy people – because they are doing things that they love. Find people and companies that are doing good things like https://www.wopg.org/ or Good News Network.

Possesions

If you are in the habit of buying things that you think you need, but actually you don’t, then you need to break that habit. It is very easy to assume that possesions and what we furnish our homes with will make us happy. But actually, happiness comes from somewhere else. There are people in the world with much less than you have now, and they are happier. If you can see that you make purchases you don’t need to fill an emotional gap, then start adding a timer to your purchases. When you see something that you feel like you must have, add a 30-day timer. After the initial excitement goes, you might just find that you didn’t want it. It will help to break the impulse buying cycle.

Write It Down

If there are areas that you want to change. Then start writing them down. Take a look at them and consider what actions you can take to help. If you want to be in nature more often, for example, then make an effort to go to the woods at least once a week. Make it the non-negotiable activity of the week. If it is travelling to a different country, then write it down and start saving. Take action towards researching your goals.

Gratitude

Although you are in the space of change right now, you should still remember to be grateful for that which you currently have. Be thankful that you have a roof over your head, a bed at night, and people around you that you care about, and who care about you. Losing sight of gratitude can mean we take things for granted.

Slow Down

Start taking more time over the things that you are doing. Yes, the world is in a rush. There are deadlines, alarms, charts, scores and a lot of other things to be taken care of. But by tweaking your daily routine, you can create more time in which you can accomplish tasks. The more time you give yourself, the less rushed, you will feel.

Creating peace can happen when you take actionable steps towards what you want – become a doer.

How Can You Make Your Office More Impressive?

- Roshan

It’s not just our business ideas — and how we put them into practice — that determines how our company is viewed. Those things might have the biggest influence, but they’re not the only things. Everything related to your business will have an impact. Take your office, for example. This is much more than a place where you get your work done. It is a reflection of your business. If you get things right, then your visitors, and not to mention your staff, will view your company positively. If you don’t, then it could have a negative impact. Below, we take a look at a few ways you can improve your company’s offices and make them even more impressive.

Think Branding

It’s important to remember that your office is going to say something about your business. As such, you should ensure that what it’s saying is positive, and really reflects your business. We tend to think of our branding as something that just influences our external communications, packaging, advertising, and so on, but this isn’t the case. Robust branding should exist from the ground up, and that includes your office. If you’re a young and cool startup, then it wouldn’t make any sense to work from an office that’s overly traditional, for example.

Decor Options

When it comes to our offices, we tend to think in large part about the functionality. Of course, it’s important to think about those tables, desks, and chairs that’ll help your staff to work efficiently. However, it’s worth remembering that there’s always space for thinking about decor and design. If you want to give your office the ‘wow factor,’ then look at adding things such as patterned glass, atmospheric lighting, and other decorative features. There was a time when the traditional, bland, grey decor of offices was probably what people wanted to see, but not anymore — now, it’s better to inject a little bit of personality into your office space.

More than Business

The working world is changing. Now, the lines between business and the personal are becoming increasingly blurred. It’s increasingly unacceptable for bosses to view employees as simply machines to do a job; your staff are more than their function. There’s an increasing concern for the overall well-being of employees, and also a shift from the workers of how they see their job. It’s not just a career; it’s an extension of their lifestyle. You can reflect this shift by ensuring there’s space in your office for things more than simply business. Could you add a games room, or a chill-out space, or even a place where workers can socialize together? Adding these touches will show that you’re a forward-thinking company that understands what the world of work needs to be better.

Natural Touches

We’ve more or less spend all of the time since the industrial revolution trying to put ourselves above nature, only to eventually realize that, in fact, we need as part of our lives. There’s a reason why so many people are deciding to put plants in their homes! And today, there are few offices more impressive than the ones that have integrated the natural world into their plans. Look at adding some natural touches, and you’ll show your visitors that you understand the creative and mood-boosting properties of the natural world. To really stand out from the crowd, you could look at adding an outdoor area, complete with a bike rack, vegetable garden, and seating.

Entranceway Reception

We tend to focus on just the interior of our offices, and that makes sense, since that’s where we’re working all the time. But when someone comes to visit your office, that’s not the first thing they see — it’s the third. As such, it’s worthwhile taking the time to ensure that the first two things they see are positive. The first is the outside area: it should well sign-posted and clean. The second, which is the most important area when it comes to first impressions, is your reception. This should be calm and well-designed and decorated with as much care as the interior of your office.

Bright and Spacious 

Finally, take steps to improve the overall feel and tone of your property. It’s much more impressive to walk into a bright and spacious and clean office, rather than one that is overly dark and dingy. Natural light shining through the windows and illuminating your well-decorated office will always go down well with your visitors.

With these tips, you’ll have an office that delights workers and visitors alike.

Annabelle Comes Home

- Roshan

Annabelle Comes Home is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Gary Dauberman, in his directorial debut, from a script by Dauberman and a story by Dauberman and James Wan, who also acted as producer with Peter Safran. It serves as a sequel to 2014’s Annabelle and 2017’s Annabelle: Creation, and as the seventh installment in the Conjuring Universe franchise. The film stars Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, and Katie Sarife, along with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who reprise their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren.

The movie picks off from 2014’s Annabell, where Ed & Lorraine Warren confiscate the Annabelle doll from nurses Debbie and Camilla, who claim that the doll often performed violent activities in their apartment. During the drive back home, the doll summons spirits to attack Ed, but he narrowly survives. Annabelle is locked in a sacred glass case in the couple’s artifacts room that is blessed by Father Gordon to ensure the evil is contained. Sometime later they leave their young daughter Judy under the charge of teenage Mary Ellen at the house while they travel overnight to investigate another case. Judy sees the spirit of a dead priest at her school Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela arrives uninvited to the Warrens’ home, who is secretly curious about speaking to the dead.

She sneaks into the artifacts room and starts examining them, ultimately trying to contact her late father. She abruptly leaves Annabelle’s glass case unlocked, and the terror begins shortly afterward with the spirit of Bee Mullins unleashed. That night, Annabelle begins releasing other spirits, such as the Ferryman, the Bride, a Feeley Meeley board game, and the Black Shuck. Bob, a teenaged boy who Mary Ellen has a crush on comes to the house and later tries to serenade her but is attacked by the Black Shuck and runs into the backyard. Mary Ellen is tormented by the Ferryman, while Judy is confronted by Annabelle in her bedroom. Daniela had left earlier, but sneaks back to return the artifacts room’s keys. She gets locked inside the room and tormented by various objects, such as a piano and an old television that can predict the near future.

She finds the Mourner’s Bracelet and sees her father twisted into a malevolent spirit. A bloody and screaming Daniela appears on the television screen after having answered a cursed telephone. The real Daniela later unwittingly reaches to answer the telephone, but is interrupted by Judy and Mary Ellen. The priest’s spirit, acting as Judy’s guardian, guides them to the Ferryman. They manage to retrieve the glass case’s key after they are attacked by demonic hands from the Feeley Meeley board game and a possessed Daniela, but struggle to secure the case as the demon of the doll physically attacks them. Daniela recovers when Judy plays Ed’s recorded footage of the Bride’s exorcism, and helps replace the doll. After the case is locked, the disturbances cease as the spirits return to their slumber, and Bob reunites with the trio.

Ed and Lorraine, worst parents ever (leaving their kid in the house with a teenager and the possessed shit) return the next morning and the girls approach them to recount the eventful night. Daniela apologizes to Lorraine, who gives her a comforting message from her father. Later, many friends gather to celebrate Judy’s birthday party.

While not as good as the first two Conjuring movies, it certainly ranks as good as the first two Annabell movies. I like the child actress McKenna Grace from Designated Survivor & her recurring role in Fuller House and she does well here as do the two young actresses who play teenagers but are not teenagers. 7 outta 10!

We Ended Up At The Grand Hotel

- Roshan

Saturday evening and looking for a place to get some beers and good food. Unfortunately due to the elections on Monday, from 5pm it is as dry as a desert. So, to quote veteran rock band Deep Purple “we ended up at the Grand Hotel” and settled for just a nice dinner.

IMG20191019195237

The welcome poppadoms that they serve as complimentary munchies kept us entertained until the starters of spicy chicken wings came out.

IMG20191019200105

Being thirsty we also ordered a couple of cold coffee with ice cream, which was good and delicious though a little too sweet.

IMG20191019200543

Our spicy chicken wings came after a few more minutes. It’s not really wings but we were hungry by then and couldn’t be bothered. We also had tempura prawns (not pictured) along with the wings.

IMG20191019204356

We spent some time deciding what our main courses would be. I was leaning towards pasta or some steak while Sujith was thinking biryani or fried rice with some chicken or beef. We finally settled for American Chopsuey which lacked in flavour. It needed more seasoning.

IMG20191019211908

Finally before the cheques arrived, we asked for New York Cheesecakes. It was a bit too hard but it was quite cheesy and sweet. A very crowded restaurant and a nice ambience with some good food still didn’t uplift our spirits on a “dry” day.

An Unexpected 3 Day Weekend

- Roshan

So I am enjoying an unexpected 3 day weekend at the moment. After a week of 6:30 pm to 3:30 am work shift I got to know yesterday at around 5 pm that we will be given the day off on Monday the 21st of October due to the by elections happening in the state. This means we get a 3 day weekend! Now this was only decided at around 5pm so the announcement was a big surprise.

That means we have a fun time ahead. I must say that I do feel very tired and after I woke up at 11 am I decided not to do anything major other than have a cup of coffee and have a light lunch and then a nap at 2pm. I tried watching some tv but I guess sleep caught up with me. The nap is a good thing. I was planning on meeting my cousin for drinks and some Chinese food this evening but yesterday I asked him to check with Golden Dragon to see if they will serve alcohol on Sunday (since the next day is the election).

By this morning we got to know that both Golden Dragon and our other watering hole, Couchyn, will not be serving drinks tomorrow so we are meeting at 7pm tonight. I would have preferred to have rested again the rest of the day and gone tomorrow afternoon but this is still ok. Sunday and Monday is open for me to do anything and I think I might go on Monday to get a haircut and see about enhancing my laptop’s RAM.

3 Jokes On You

- Roshan

As an airplane is about to crash, a female passenger jumps up frantically and announces, “If I’m going to die, I want to die feeling like a woman.” She removes all her clothing and asks, “Is there someone on this plane who is man enough to make me feel like a woman?” A man stands up, removes his shirt and says, “Here, iron this!”.

=========================

A tough looking group of hairy bikers are riding when they see a girl about to jump off a bridge, so they stop. The leader, a big burly man, gets off his bike and says, “What are you doing?” “I’m going to commit suicide,” she says. While he doesn’t want to appear insensitive, he also doesn’t want to miss an opportunity, so he asks, “Well, before you jump, why don’t you give me a kiss?” She does, and it is a long, deep, lingering kiss. After she’s finished, the tough, hairy biker says, “Wow! That was the best kiss I’ve ever had! That’s a real talent you’re wasting. You could be famous. Why are you committing suicide?” “My parents don’t like me dressing up like a girl…”

=========================

Everyone says the world would be better off if it was run by women. Sure, maybe there wouldn’t be violence and territorial conquests fueled by male testosterone. But instead, we’d have a bunch of jealous countries that aren’t talking to each other.

King Of Candy

- Roshan

M&M peanut – oh man, how things have changed for me and my choice of candy. Snickers was king for such a long time but it hasn’t been the reigning king for a while now. Unofficially M&M Peanuts has taken over as the reigning champion and overall king in my life as far as candy is concerned and overall movie watching snack.

Take a bow M&M peanuts and here is your crown. The kind is dead, Long live the new king. Snickers you too should take a bow and enjoy the applause and the adoration and admiration. But yes, long live the new king.

I now cannot even imagine a weekend at home watching movies without a couple of packets of the awesome chocolate covered peanuts that M&M to enjoy as I watch the film or films. Now that it is Thursday, I need to see if I can buy a couple of packets of the joy giving peanuts by Friday night or Saturday morning.

Quotes From Thomas Paine

- Roshan

United States Founding Father Thomas Paine wasn’t just a political revolutionary but also took a radical approach to religion. Born in England in 1736, Paine, moved to the New World in 1774, thanks in part to Benjamin Franklin. He took part in the American Revolution and even inspired the settlers to declare independence from Britain. His pamphlet “Common Sense” and pamphlet series “The American Crisis” made a case for revolution.

  • I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. [ The Age of Reason]
  • Science is the true theology. [Thomas Paine quoted in Emerson, The Mind on Fire p. 153]
  • . . . to argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead. [The Crisis, quoted in Ingersoll’s Works, Vol. 1, p.127]
  • Priests and conjurors are of the same trade. [ The Age of Reason]
  • One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests. [Thomas Paine quoted in 2000 Years of Disbelief, Famous People with the Courage to Doubt by James Haught]
  • That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not. [The Life and Works of Thomas Paine, Vol. 9 p. 134]
  • Accustom a people to believe that priests or any other class of men can forgive sins, and you will have sins in abundance. [The Theological Works of Thomas Paine, p.207
  • Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange believe that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies. [ The Age of Reason]
  • The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed. [The Theological Works of Thomas Paine]
  • Every phrase and circumstance are marked with the barbarous hand of superstitious torture, and forced into meanings it was impossible they could have. The head of every chapter, and the top of every page, are blazoned with the names of Christ and the Church, that the unwary reader might suck in the error before he began to read. [The Age of Reason, p.131]
  • The declaration which says that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children is contrary to every principle of moral justice. [The Age of Reason]

King Of Indian Roads

- Roshan

Do you remember your first car? Did you give it a name? Tell us about your first car or what it was like when you learned how to drive.

I never bought a car of my own. I don’t even drive. For my personal purposes now I mostly use Uber or Ola or one of other local options. I use that for traveling to and from work and also for going around town, as do a lot of people here as well. With the traffic situation and the lack of proper parking spaces throughout the city, it is the best option unless you have a bike/scooter.

However my family’s first car was an Ambassdor car made from Hindustan Motors, like most families in India at the time. This was the only option for most of India at the time that didn’t break the bank. I think for a while this was the only car for India. The model was in production from 1958 to 2014 with few improvements and changes over its production lifetime. Despite its British origins, the Ambassador is considered as a definitive Indian car and is fondly called the “king of Indian roads”. My family’s car was white.

We didn’t give it a name. But a bunch of us would fit in the car and we went for a lot of rides.

Prompt from 31 DAYS OF OCTOBER WRITING PROMPTS at The SitsGirls

Back To Night Shifts

- Roshan

So I am back to the evening shifts again. I was sort of getting the grove on the morning shifts, waking up at 6 am and getting to work by 8:30 am but most importantly getting off work by 5:30 pm which was awesome. Though in reality I was leaving the office by 6pm and getting home by 7 pm in the fucking traffic which has been killer these past couple of weeks.

Being able to drink a beer at home after work was also good. I did that twice; once on Wednesday night and then after the shitty day on Friday I just had to come back home and drown my woes in a couple of beers. I only got to leave the office by 8 pm and catch an Ola ride back home. I came in and asked dad and mom if they wanted some chilly chicken since I wanted to order some and drink my beers. Dad had already had dinner as he had gone out for the evening so mom and I ate the chicken and I drank my brewskis.

That is an awesome thing being able to enjoy a beer after you come back home from a tough day at work. I don’t want to drink at 4 am or 4:15 am so I don’t do that after coming home from work during the night shifts. Some people do but I don’t. Anyways, I have the weekend for beers and other drinks.

Giving Back & Contributing

- Roshan

Do you give back to your community by volunteering? Or maybe you have a favorite charity you support in other ways. Tell us what causes are important to you, and why.

No I haven’t. Other than a few blood donations and some charity money funding I haven’t really done anything at all. However I might be doing some pretty soon through the company that I work for. So they have this drive that they are doing by having employees donate their time to conduct some sessions for learning a skill and taking a class on a certain topic for other people.

Like maybe an 8 hour session on Excel skills by staff who are really good at Excel for beginners. Or Word or Powerpoint. Or how to draft and official email. Correcting grammar. General sessions that can help people who haven’t worked in a corporate environment. In a lot of cases the people who are attending these sessions are from below poverty level. In some cases people with disabilities as well.

I am not really comfortable to take sessions for general public but I usually take sessions for employees. This will be similar I suppose. So I hope it goes well and I can take several such sessions if it helps.

Prompt from 31 DAYS OF OCTOBER WRITING PROMPTS at The SitsGirls

My Breakfast Condiment Of Choice

- Roshan

My breakfast is usually non-existent in that since I usually work from a 6:30 pm to 3:30 am shift and wake up past 11:30 am I usually skip breakfast and have lunch by around 12:30 pm after some coffee. But there are other days when I do get to work a regular morning to evening shift or on weekends and I do get to eat and enjoy a breakfast.

Or sometimes I just want a quick sandwich. And I usually just eat toasted bread or chappathis with mayonnaise. I don’t really bother with tomatoes or cucumbers or anything else. No meats. It’s just bread with mayo. Or just chappathi or porotta with mayo. Since I love mayo a lot and depend on it for my meals, and since I am already overweight, I go for eggless mayo. There are many brands that make mayo here and many of them have the eggless variety.

My brand of choice is Sangi’s Kitchen that makes a few ones along with their plain old regular eggless mayo which comes in bigger jars. They have some in tandoori and spicy mixes as well But the one I love is theor roasted garlic and jalapeno mayo which is so delicious. I love that one though I usually just get the regular eggless. There is another brand called FunFoods which I recently tried and they have one with a garlic mix and it’s pretty good too. They call it veg mayo.

Games We Kids Played

- Roshan

What was your favorite game when you were a kid? Do you still play it today?

1)  Cricket was the sport we played the most as kids. I don’t like cricket anymore and I don’t think I played the sport since my late teens. I only followed, watched and played the sport since most of my cousins loved it and this is India after all. But in reality, I cannot stand the sport, I can’t stand most cricket players and I wish it got banned!

2) Football was the next big sport we played as kids. We didn’t have enough space to play it in my grandmother’s place which is where we cousins vacationed but I did play some at school and especially during my early years in Kuwait. In my later school years back here in India I played either defense or defensive midfield.

3) Badminton – we played it a lot. My mom played it a bit too. We usually played doubles with cousins and one year, age 12 in 7th grade my buddy Jimmy and I made it to the finals of the school badminton doubles tournament. We lost because we were not prepared for the finals.

4) Monopoly or Hind Trade which is the Indian version of Monopoly. I have blogged about this before. Loved the game and enjoyed the hours spent with my cousins playing the game.

5) Donkey (cards) which is a fun game to play with your cousins. Many, many evenings spent playing that game.

Prompt from 31 DAYS OF OCTOBER WRITING PROMPTS at The SitsGirls