Sunday, August 13, 2006
Albatross -Fleetwood Mac
Also if you haven’t already…. listen to Albatross by Fleetwood Mac, I cant seem to find it online to post ..but it’s a really cool guitar composition …..My current favorite!!!
Of Airports and Stupid Questions...
I was really glad that I didn’t have to fly the past couple of days( the queues in the airports last December , with all the shoe taking off, and screening ..it was all a bit bugging , small price to pay though for supporting the war against terrorism .and of course coming out alive at the end of a flight!!! Cuts on my duty free window shopping/shopping time but whatever! I remember the days when a security check was a five minute swipe with a wand ). Anyway back to my point, I was glad I wasn’t on a plane but my roommate was via Dubai via London to Alabama ..Via Bush Country (Texas)..Anyways she made it . though she had to part with cosmetics that she carried in hand baggage ( which really kind off sucks , especially if you haven’t even used them yet and have spent a lot on them!) so she arrived safe and sound , but she said she might not travel via Dubai again. I asked her why ..Because Emirates is one of the best airlines in the world. It was good she said but somehow she didn’t like Dubai airport, English/Arabic messages, Arab security guys…. And with all the stuff in the news these past days, she felt sorry but yeah she was a bit prejudiced.. Well needless to say I was a bit shocked.Though i am happy she chose to travel Emirates in the first place ………….. Dubai Duty Free, Arabic, Arab security people.. that’s home for me man, and just yesterday I met someone else who was going to India, and very promptly said yea she was paying a bit extra ,but wanted to avoid stopping over in the Gulf…and yes lots of other people have said the same thing( I just mention my roomie because she might not take me mentioning her viewpoint as a personal attack!!).
I don’t like this one bit, neither does my mom or dad or sister , when you say something against Dubai or Arabs or Muslims I take it personally!!! And frankly doesn’t make too much sense … I don’t think people stopped traveling to India when Kargill was happening and it was the country involved!!!… Iraq, Israel, Lebanon ..they are no where near Bahrain or Doha or Abu Dhabi….
Oh well, I just feel everyone else is losing something by not wanting to Fly Buy Dubai!!!!
Anyway what George Bush is saying doesn’t help much :
From Here
( sidenote ..i don’t have a problem with Iranians either… I’m not too sure about their regime, but the people are pretty cool!!)
I don’t like this one bit, neither does my mom or dad or sister , when you say something against Dubai or Arabs or Muslims I take it personally!!! And frankly doesn’t make too much sense … I don’t think people stopped traveling to India when Kargill was happening and it was the country involved!!!… Iraq, Israel, Lebanon ..they are no where near Bahrain or Doha or Abu Dhabi….
Oh well, I just feel everyone else is losing something by not wanting to Fly Buy Dubai!!!!
Anyway what George Bush is saying doesn’t help much :
08.11.2006
Can I Ask A Dumb Question? What's An Islamic Fascist?
James Boyce
"The Islamo-fascists are fighting us on an asymmetrical, global battlefield that spans from Baghdad to Pakistan to Indonesia to the streets of London. To retreat from any battlefront where we are engaged with this enemy is foolish and reckless."--Wade Zirkle, Veterans For Freedom, a Republican-led 527, August 11, 2006.
"The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." President George Bush, August 11, 2006
"In World War II we fought Nazism and Japanese imperialism. Today, we are fighting against Islamic fascism," Senator Rick Santorum, Republican Senator, July 20, 2006
Islamic Fascism. I have never heard the phrase and I evidently didn't get the memo from the RNC detailing its use (the DNC sends out memos on Together, America Can Do Better - the RNC plays a different game.) I envision millions of good Republicans out there nodding their heads in agreement - after all, can you imagine a world run by Islamic Fascists? Hitler dressed like Osama? Can you goosestep in those robes he wears? Frankly, we can hardly afford to find out. If we don't fight these here Islamic Fascists over there, well, you know the rest. But before we fight an phrase that doesn't exist or apparently make any sense, I decided to take a moment to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
As my first grade teacher used to tell me, if you don't understand a sentence or a word, try breaking it down. First, Islam. Now, Islam is one of the world's oldest and most revered religions. One definition of Islam is a monotheistic religion characterized by the acceptance of the doctrine of submission to God and to Muhammad as the chief and last prophet of God.
So we have one of the world's most popular religions functioning as an adjective creating a new type of Fascism. There was German Fascism, Italian Fascism but I can't find any evidence of there ever being any form of Fascism based upon religion. Furthermore, I have deduced that the reason it is not Fascist Islam is that Islam is an older as a religion than Fascism is as as system of government so Islam goes first. I know it sounds stupid, but it's the best I can do, being a Democrat and all.
Next word, Fascism. Fascism is defined as a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government. Oppressive, dictatorial control.
Put the two together and you have? Well, a system of government oppressively controlled through terror and censorship where the religion is Islam and there's a policy of belligerent nationalism. But Osama Bin Laden does not run a government, the terrorists in Iraq aren't a government, the 9/11 hijackers weren't fascists, so who are the Republicans saying is a threat here?
Sounds to me like we're not fighting terrorists anymore, because it sure sounds to me like we're about to fight Iran.
From Here
( sidenote ..i don’t have a problem with Iranians either… I’m not too sure about their regime, but the people are pretty cool!!)
Saturday, August 12, 2006
30 THINGS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE & SHOULD KNOW BY THE TIME SHE'S 30
Ok I’m anticipating some free time next week…. But not getting my hopes up just yet!!
Anyway was planning on going through my old magazines ( I don’t throw away mags, especially because I end up buying them but never get around to finishing them cover to cover nowadays, the only time I part with them is when I have to move and transport things by flight, I which case there’s only so much I can afford to pay excess baggage for ). So will be reading the likes of Glamour, O Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Readers Digest , Marie Claire, Allure, Self and a few others…and yes they are good reading.
Anyway , got lots of them to go through, plus a scrapbook ( I like scrap booking, usually fill it up with…………….. magazine article cuttings :)) . Found this in my scrap book ,thought I’d post it as I have only a few more years to accomplish all this ;)
From Glamour September 2005
More from the author here.
Anyway was planning on going through my old magazines ( I don’t throw away mags, especially because I end up buying them but never get around to finishing them cover to cover nowadays, the only time I part with them is when I have to move and transport things by flight, I which case there’s only so much I can afford to pay excess baggage for ). So will be reading the likes of Glamour, O Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Readers Digest , Marie Claire, Allure, Self and a few others…and yes they are good reading.
Anyway , got lots of them to go through, plus a scrapbook ( I like scrap booking, usually fill it up with…………….. magazine article cuttings :)) . Found this in my scrap book ,thought I’d post it as I have only a few more years to accomplish all this ;)
From Glamour September 2005
30 THINGS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE & SHOULD KNOW BY THE TIME SHE'S 30
By Pamela Redmond Satran
In the eight years since Glamour first published this list, it has been attributed to Maya Angelou (nope), been posted on countless websites and fridges (thank you very much) and inspired millions of women all over the world (love that). Now, an updated, '05 version for you to clip and keep.
In May of 1997, I wrote this list. I had passed my thirtieth birthday and wanted to tell younger women about the things I really wished I'd had and known by that important milestone. I guess people agreed with what I had to say, because a few years later the list showed up in my e-mail inbox; a friend had forwarded it to me for my reading pleasure, completely unaware that I was the author. After that, every month or two someone would send it to me and I'd immediately hit \"reply all\" and type, \"Hey, that was me! I wrote that for Glamour.\" (After a while, I don't think anyone believed me.) The list became a phenomenon; posted on hundreds of websites, it was attributed to everyone from Jesse Jackson to Maya Angelou to Hillary Clinton. Someone even published it as an anonymously written book. As I read over these lines now, so many of them still seem worth having and knowing—whether you're 30 or 22 or 75. Being a little older and wiser, I've plugged in a few new \"shoulds.\" By all means, add some of your own.
.
BY 30, YOU SHOULD HAVE:
1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come.
2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.
3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.
4. A purse, a suitcase and an umbrella you're not ashamed to be seen carrying.
5. A youth you're content to move beyond.
6. A past juicy enough that you're looking to forward to retelling it in your old age.
7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it.
8. An e-mail address, a voice mailbox and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you.
9. A résume that is not even the slightest bit padded.
10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.
11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra.
12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.
13. The belief that you deserve it.
14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30.
15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship and all those other facets of life that do get better.
BY 30, YOU SHOULD KNOW:
1. How to fall in love without losing yourself.
2. How you feel about having kids.
3. How to quit a job, break up with a man and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.
4. When to try harder and when to walk away.
5. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn't like to happen next.
6. The names of: the secretary of state, your great-grandmother and the best tailor in town.
7. How to live alone, even if you don't like to.
8. How to take control of your own birthday.
9. That you can't change the length of your calves, the width of your hips or the nature of your parents.
10. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over.
11. What you would and wouldn't do for money or love.
12. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for very long.
13. Who you can trust, who you can't and why you shouldn't take it personally.
14. Not to apologize for something that isn't your fault.
15. Why they say life begins at 30.
More from the author here.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Of Survivors and Bugs....
When the moon shall have faded out from the sky, and the sun shall shine at noonday a dull cherry red, and the seas shall be frozen over, and the icecap shall have crept downward to the equator from either pole . . . when all the cities shall have long been dead and crumbled into dust, and all life shall be on the last verge of extinction on this globe; then, on a bit of lichen, growing on the bald rocks beside the eternal snows of Panama, shall be seated a tiny insect, preening its antennae in the glow of the worn-out sun, the sole survivor of animal life on this our earth -- a melancholy bug.
- - - William Jacob Holland "The Moth Book" 1903
Some more Wisdom...
Long one …but worth the read( i hope!!!)…………………………..
From Extreme Bartending!!!
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you But in your dreams whatever they be Dream a little dream of me.
-- The Mamas and The Papas
Dans les forets noir je vais les soirs, les belles etoiles sont au-dessus, je pense que dans leur lumineres, je voir les yeu des ceux qui m'aiment (In dark forests I go by night, the beautiful stars are up above, I think that in their lights, I see the eyes of those who love me.)
-- Tanith Less
Everytime she sneezes I believe it's love.
-- The Counting Crows
You said that this is crazy, you're half a world away. And I'm sittin' there and I'm thinkin' but I didn't know what to say. So I said something I can't touch, I always want way too much anyway.
-- The Goo Goo Dolls
It is a good idea to be ambitious, to have goals, to want to be good at what you do, but it is a terrible mistake to let drive and ambition get in the way of treating people with kindness and decency. The point is not that they will then be nice to you. It is that you will feel better about yourself.
-- Robert Solow
I traveled half a world to forget her, but all I did was miss her.
-- Rulian F. E.
People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.
-- Saint Augustine
Dare to be naive.
-- R. Buckminster Fuller
There are many ways to love someone. Sometimes we want love so much, we're not too choosy about who we love. Other times, we make love such a pure and noble thing, no poor human can ever meet our vision. But for the most part, love is a recognition, an opportunity to say, "There is something about you I cherish." It doesn't entail marriage, or even physical love. There's love of parents, love of city or nation, love of life, and love of people. All different, all love.
-- Raymond E. Feist
When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates the waking state from the dream. How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?
-- René Descartes
Once you start to romanticize something, it's usually over.
-- Prof. John von der Heide
I dream of no rules I dream of following no one I dream of flying I dream of freedom I dream of proving you wrong I dream of not being a doctor I dream that my dream never dies
-- Nike
Marriage. Don't be pressured into it. Is the fear of loneliness really greater than the fear of bondage?
-- Sumiko Tan
Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun.
-- Matt Groening
Two are born to cross their paths, their lives, their hearts. If by chance, one turns away, they are they forever lost.
-- Michael Timmins
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they may lead.
-- Louisa May Alcott
It is always a sad thing to understand those who were once obscured by the mystery and intangibility of the thoughtlessly loved.
-- Howard Spring
The best thing you ever did for me was to help me take life less seriously. It's only life after all.
-- Indigo Girls
The cure for anything is salt-water - sweat, tears or the sea.
-- Isak Dinesea
Hey, I've got a great compliment for you. I might be the only person on the face of the earth that knows you're the greatest woman on earth. I may be the only one who appreciates how you are in every single thing that you do; and how you are with Spencer, Spence, and in every single thought that you have and how you say what you mean and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good. I think most people miss that about you. I watch them, how they can watch you bring their food and clear their tables and never get that they just met the greatest woman alive. The fact that I get it, makes me feel good, about me.
-- Jack Nicholson
A man never knows how to say goodbye; a woman never knows when to say it.
-- Helen Rowland
Do you love me?' I asked him, seemingly out of the blue but in my own mind the question had been rolling off my lips for some time. He just looked at me with his head cocked to one side as if to say 'what on earth do you mean?'. I persisted 'Do you love me? It's a simple question Michael.' He paused, took a deep breath drawing words into his mouth. 'I do, yes. I love you Nathalie.' I think in any other mindset I would have ran into his arms and told him that he'd made me the happiest woman in the world, but it's a funny thing when the delusion wears off and you see someone in their truth for the first time... I was hardened, he was lying, nobody was wrong or right at this point and no matter how many 'I love you's would leave our lips, we had reached our end.
-- Elizabeth Barrett
If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.
-- Flavia Weedn
Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life to deal with, and love shouldn't be one of them.
-- Frankie
Maybe part of loving is learning to let go.
-- Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold)
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
-- Edgar Allan Poe
You've been in love with someone for a decade - someone who barely knows you're alive. You've done everything, tried everything to make this person see that you're a valuable, estimable person, and that your love is worth something. Then one day you open the paper and glance at the Personals column, and there you see that your loved one has placed an ad... seeking someone worthwhile to love and be loved by.
-- Daniel Quinn
Love is when two people who care for each other get confused.
-- Bob Schneider
To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be.
-- Anna Louise Strong
Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies Hoping for the best But expecting the worst Are you gonna drop the bomb or not? . . . It's so hard to get old without a cause I don't want to perish like fading horse Youth's like diamonds in the sun And diamonds are forever So many adventures couldn't happen today So many songs we forgot to play So many dreams swinging out of the blue We'll let them come true
-- Alphaville
So many years come and gone And yet the memory is strong One word we never could learn Good-bye True love is frozen in time I'll be your champion and you'll be mine I will remember you
-- Amy Grant
Well, there ain't no luck in these loaded dice But baby if you give me just one more try We can pack up our old dreams and our old lives We'll find a place where the sun still shines
-- Bon Jovi
Oh - once in your life you find someone Who will turn your world around Bring you up when you're feelin' down Ya - nothin' could change what you mean to me Oh there's lots that I could say But just hold me now Cause our love will light the way
-- Bryan Adams
The sweetest song is silence that I've never heard Funny how your feet in dreams never touch the earth In a wood full of princes, freedom is a kiss But the prince hides his face From dreams in the mist.These dreams go on when I close my eyes Every second of the night I live another life These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away
-- Heart
Dreams last so long Even after you're gone I know you love me And soon you will see You were meant for me And I was meant for youGo about my business, I'm doing fine Besides, what would I say if I had you on the line Same old story, not much to say Hearts are broken every dayI'm half alive but I feel mostly dead I try to tell myself it'll be all right I just shouldn't think anymore tonight
-- Jewel
This is my heart bleeding before you This is me down on my knees These foolish games are tearing me apart And your thoughtless words are breaking my heartExcuse me, think I've mistaken you for somebody else Somebody who gave a damn Somebody more like myself
-- Jewel
Oh Jesse, paint you pictures, 'bout how it's gonna be. By now I should know better, your dreams are never free. But tell me all about, our little trailer by the sea. Oh Jesse, you can always sell any dream to me.
-- Joshua Kadison
And all the roads we have to walk are winding And all the lights that lead us there are blinding There are many things that I would like to say to you But I don't know how
-- Oasis
...and like a fool who will never see the truth I keep thinking something's gonna changeThere's a danger in loving somebody too much And it's sad when you know it's your heart they can't touch There's a reason why people don't stay who they are Baby sometimes love's just ain't enough
-- Patty Smyth and Don Henley
Let's all meet up in the year 2000 Won't it be strange what we're all fully grown? Be there 2 o'clock by the fountain down the road I never knew that you'd get married I would be living down here on my own On that damp and lonely Thursday years ago
-- Pulp
I wonder why I feel so high Though I am not above the sorrow Heavy hearted Till you call my name And it sounds like church bells Or the whistle of a train On a summer evening I'll run to meet you Barefoot barely breathing
-- Sophie B. Hawkins
And then the bullhorn crackles, And the captain tackles, With the problems and the how's and why's And he can see no reasons Cos there are no reasons What reason do you need to die?Tell me why I don't like Mondays Tell me why I don't like Mondays Tell me why I don't like Mondays I wanna shoo-oo-oo-oo - oo - oot The whole day down.
-- The Boomtown Rats
Who's gonna pick you up when you fall? Who's gonna hang it up when you call? Who's gonna pay attention to your dreams? Who's gonna plug your ears when you scream?You can't go on think nothing's wrong Who's gonna drive you home tonight?
-- The Cars
The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.
-- Elizabeth Taylor
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what's right.
-- Isaac Asimov
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
-- Isaac Newton
A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-- Martin Luther King
My spelling is wobbly. It's good spelling but it wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.
-- Winnie The Pooh ( A.A. Milne )
The wonderful thing about tiggers, is that tiggers are wonderful things. They're tops are made out of rubber, they're bottoms are made out of spring. They're bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, flouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. The wonderful thing about tiggers, is that I'm the only one :)
-- Tigger ( A.A. Milne )
It's not easy being green :)
-- Kermit the frog
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
-- Think Different
Life is both sad and solemn. We are let into a wonderful world, we meet one another here, greet each other - and wander together for a brief moment. Then we lose each other and disappear as suddenly and unreasonably as we arrived.
-unknown
One man scorned and covered with scars still strive with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world will be better for this.
-Unknown
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound.
-Unknown
There are mysteries about our love. Things that neither one of us may ever understand because love is an emotion without limit and understanding. We know we love each other but we could never explain completely as WHY we love each other. Love is not a clock. You simply cannot take it apart just to see what makes it tick, and even if you could, you probably could never get it back together again.
-Unknown
Natasha, to love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But, then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love, to be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy, therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness, I hope you're getting this down.
-- Woody Allen
From Extreme Bartending!!!
Twenty Something
This is really good ,.... Chandrala’s words of wisdom...
Twenty something
Whoever said adolescent age is the most difficult stage growing up dint live beyond twenty. Althrough teenage years you are forgiven for dreaming, forgiven for making mistakes and most of all forgiven for taking life as light as it can be. Enter twenty something and all of a sudden, your world goes out of whack.
Where do I begin with the problems. If you are a girl you become the focal point of a huge group of relatives who never even considered that you were alive a year ago, think they can write your destiny by finding alliance for you. If you thought you will run away from it and focus on career there is another huge spiral of confusion of what do you want to accomplish in life engulfing you. Not to mention the never-ending search for the Mr Right who appears to never cross your roads in shining armor. To add some spice to all this suddenly the gully kids start calling you aunty which sort of echoes in your head a thousand times. Mini skirts become thing of the past and some stupid college rules even ban jeans and all of a sudden people, start telling you , you look good in a saree. Freaked out and confused you find console being with other twenty something commiserates. In all this one thing nobody seems to care about is you career and job which surely enough finds your way when you are not looking for it. Starting at the junior most level and for the first time dealing with politics , deadline and bosses.
Though twenty something is soo nerve racking, it is the first time you really learn something substantial in life. You learn that tall dark and handsome are good traits of a jockey model and kind hearted, honest and positive thinking guy is whom you want and the person who can make you laugh no matter what is better than any fantasy prince in shining armor. You begin to value life and for the first time going at a high speed in kinetic Honda doesn’t thrill anymore and safety takes precedence. You begin to think of your parents as someone who took a lot of effort into building your destiny and no more as people who objected to everything you did. You suddenly loose competition with your younger brother and sister willingly. You look at the mirror and search for who you are rather than search for pimples in your face. For the first time you stop for a bit and look back at life rather than worry about the future. When you look back you find so many memories of stupid and naïve things you did and in a flash you smile at it. A history, a life time, past and present tense they all seem to merge and the future looks brighter than it ever was. The uncertainity still in place but a feeling that you have been in those thorny roads before. Twenty years seem like centuries and you try hard to remember how you were when you were little. Yup thats how old you are…Twenty something and decades to come.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Thoughts for today:
Hotmail sucks , especially the Live Beta Version ,wasn’t hotmail the first email provider, apart from the previous storage limits ( result of which I’ve in the years before had to delete precious emails , just because I didn’t have anywhere to store it ) and difficulty in mass forwarding it now takes forever to load ..I wish my primary email account was different , but I’m used to it now. Wouldn't have ever thought I’d use gmail as much as I do now….
I should have more patience and learn to empathize …. I seem to think everyone thinks/behaves /acts the way I do ….. Empathy rocks!!! Where can I learn how to give some???
This is pretty obvious …but notice how the trees are so different here than back home??? Sometimes it’s just amazing to think how far we’ve come just by comparing flora and fauna…
From my Hare Krsna classes I’ve realized that Hinduism is pretty out there and far out…yes there are a finite number of souls in the earth at a given point of time … yes they are reborn… and yes parallel universes exist… Talking about ISKON, this article isn’t too surprising …..was popular when i was in undergrad ..is popular now as well!!!
I should have more patience and learn to empathize …. I seem to think everyone thinks/behaves /acts the way I do ….. Empathy rocks!!! Where can I learn how to give some???
This is pretty obvious …but notice how the trees are so different here than back home??? Sometimes it’s just amazing to think how far we’ve come just by comparing flora and fauna…
From my Hare Krsna classes I’ve realized that Hinduism is pretty out there and far out…yes there are a finite number of souls in the earth at a given point of time … yes they are reborn… and yes parallel universes exist… Talking about ISKON, this article isn’t too surprising …..was popular when i was in undergrad ..is popular now as well!!!
What's playing on my Sandisk ;)
Seems kinda topical…
The End Of Innocence
by Don Henley
Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly
But I know a place where we can go
That's still untouched by men
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all the details
Since daddy had to lie
But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds toll by
And the tall grass waze in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
Who knows how long this will last
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
The deluded world of Airconditioning
Because it’s waaay too hot this summer, and Pacific Islanders are scared there home countries wont exist after a few years…………..We had a bad hurricane season last year, imagine a world without the ice caps??? No snowy coke ads…No “March of the Penguins “ :(
Don't waste ...just because you can!!!!.
From Slate:
Don't waste ...just because you can!!!!.
From Slate:
human nature
A/C D.C.
The deluded world of air conditioning.
By William Saletan
Posted Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, at 8:15 AM ET
Have you heard the news? Scientists have found a planet that can support life. Its atmosphere is too hot for year-round habitation, its gases impede breathing, and surface conditions are sometimes fatal. But by constructing a network of sealed facilities, tunnels, and vehicles, humans could survive on this planet for decades and perhaps even centuries.
The planet is called Earth.
If you've seen this planet lately, you know what's going on: temperature records shattering, scores of Americans dead. By summer's end, the toll will be in the hundreds. It's not as bad as 2003, when a heat wave killed 30,000 people in Europe. But according to global-warming forecasts, within 40 years, every other summer will be like that one.
Thank goodness for air conditioning. To keep old folks alive, cities from Washington to Los Angeles are opening artificially cooled buildings to the public. Meanwhile, people are lining up to buy window units. According to the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, shipments of air conditioners and heat pumps have tripled over the last three decades. The percentage of single-family homes built with central air has gone from 36 to 87. The percentage of cars built with air conditioning has risen from 61 to 98. In 1970, only 42 percent of occupied mobile homes had it. By 2003, that percentage had more than doubled.
It's a heartwarming—or, more precisely, a heart-cooling—story. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. Air conditioning takes indoor heat and pushes it outdoors. To do this, it uses energy, which increases production of greenhouse gases, which warm the atmosphere. From a cooling standpoint, the first transaction is a wash, and the second is a loss. We're cooking our planet to refrigerate the diminishing part that's still habitable.
All over the country, power consumption is breaking records, and air conditioning is a huge reason why. We use about one-sixth of our electricity to cool ourselves. That's more than the total electricity consumption of India, a country whose population exceeds 1 billion. To get the electricity, we burn oil and coal. We also run air conditioners in our cars, which reduces urban fuel efficiency by up to four miles per gallon, at an annual cost of 7 billion gallons of gasoline.
More burning of oil and coal means more greenhouse gases. Based on government data, Stan Cox, a scientist at the Land Institute, calculates that air-conditioning the average U.S. home requires 3,400 pounds of carbon-dioxide production per year. The effects of this are particularly bad at night. Over the last five summers, very high minimum daily temperatures—those that score in the top 10 percent historically—have been far more widespread in this country than during any other five-year period. This is what's killing people. Outdoor air used to cool at night, allowing us to recover from the day's heat. Now it doesn't. To fuel our own air conditioning, we're destroying nature's.
The hotter it gets, the more energy we burn. In 1981, only one in three American households with central air used it all summer long. By 1997, more than half did. Countries once cooled by outdoor air now cool themselves. In Britain, 75 percent of new cars have air conditioning. In Canada, energy consumption for residential cooling has doubled in 10 years, and half the homes now have central or window units. Kuujjuaq, an Eskimo village 1,000 miles north of Montreal, just bought 10 air conditioners. According to the mayor, it's been getting hot lately.
Instead of fixing the outdoors, we're trying to escape it. On every street in my neighborhood, people have torn down ordinary homes and put up giant air-conditioned boxes that extend as far as possible toward the property line. They've lost yards and windows, but that's the whole idea. Outdoor space is too hard to control, so we're replacing it with indoor space. From 1991 to 2005, the median lot size of single-family homes sold in the United States shrank by 9 percent, but the median indoor square footage increased by 18 percent. If you can't stand the heat, go hide in your kitchen.
Seven years ago, when my wife and I moved into our house, we built a garden and patio in the back yard. Now, overcome by heat and mosquitoes, we're thinking of replacing them with something a bit more climate-controlled. We still want to look at nature. We just don't want to feel it. And for better or worse, we'll probably succeed. Two months ago, we saw Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Walking out of the air-conditioned theater, we agonized over what we could do to fight global warming. The conversation ended when we realized that our most useful contribution would be to cancel the renovation. Wrapping ourselves in a climate-controlled bubble can't make global warming less true. But in the short run, it can make it a lot less inconvenient.
That's the problem in Washington today. Policymakers aren't facing global warming, because they aren't feeling it. They gave themselves air conditioning in the 1920s and '30s, long before the public got it. White House meetings and congressional hearings on climate change are doomed hours beforehand, when the thermostats are set. One minute, you're watching video of people sweltering in New Orleans. The next minute, you're watching senators dispute the significance of greenhouse gases. Don't ask whether these people are living on the same planet. In effect, they aren't.
When outdoor heat leaks into the Washington bubble, like crime into a white neighborhood, officials treat it as a faux pas. Three weeks ago, House Majority Leader John Boehner told reporters in a Capitol press gallery, "It'd be nice if they could get you a little more air conditioning up here." This week, President Bush's spokesman, Tony Snow, assured White House correspondents that their briefing room would soon be renovated. "Gathering from the temperature in this room at this moment, I think everybody agrees that it's probably about time to have a new and updated air conditioning and heating system," he joked. But maybe the air conditioning system we need to fix is the one outdoors. And maybe we won't face that truth till it becomes more inconvenient.
Chuck Palahniuk quotes
“The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die. but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.
“Your heart is my piñata.”
"Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day. This is all practice. None of this matters. We're just warming up.”
"Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.”
"'I want out of the labels. I don't want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that's not on the map. A real adventure.'
A spinx. A mystery. A blank. Unknown. Undefined."”
“Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn’t see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love.
Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will.
At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.”
“Every woman is just a different kind of problem.”
“If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?”
Changing Attitudes...
I find this article relevant..or maybe it’s just the generation gap!!!!! I guess it's not bad that some kids can afford the luxuries in life....as long as they don't become spoilt brats!!!
Attitude Earthquake hits India.
India is currently experiencing a 'shinrinjui' of its own. A whole new generation which has not experienced a world without satellite TV, SMS and shopping malls is now entering the workforce. Those born around 1980 and who are around 25 today still have some memory of the pre-liberalisation India. Those born post 1985 have none at all.
Attitude Earthquake hits India.
What should Yohanna do???? Like she even needs to ask!!!!
Tagged : Personal( actually is this personal???!! well i'm kinda ambivalent about this so dont mind spilling the beans.... hopefully this will be read by people who "i hope" dont beleive marriage is the be all end all of everything...)
For all the Yohanna’s out there ………………………………
OK… this is verrry verrry fast starting to look like shaadi.blog………….but absolute last one I promise…..
Yohanna is a girl, 25 years of age , most of her peers and those younger are married or committed ( she is verrry happy for all of them btw!!!) , Yohanna has no significant relationship to tell her parents and play the love marriage angle ……………. Yohanna has a younger sister who is not much younger to her, and her sister’s friends have also started getting married …. Yohanna’s parents are worried her sell by date is fast approaching, that compounded by the fact that she’s too tall and doesn’t look like Aishwarya Rai ….. Yohanna going by past experience knows that she isn’t the most intelligent person when it comes to the love scene ,and having graduated from undergrad and school “singly” ( the places where you typically get love marriaged ) , she doesn’t at all believe things are going to be any different later.
Before Yohanna used to think 24 was a good time to get married ..now she thinks more like 35 or never……….. she loves her parents and they love her , but she risks being called selfish by everyone else, she doesn’t have too many hopes from arranged marriages and doesn’t get the point where she has to interact with the guy previously “flirt??”” ,she wasn’t allowed to do that before!!!! Now her whole family is telling her to!!
She wouldn’t mind if it meant the guy would commit or something , but the guy is in fact scoping …. So its more like the guy gets to flirt a lot before committing , is she wrong to think this is a bit unfair … anyway whatever…Yohanna has a massive headache.
Does she tell her parents to leave her be and not think about her marriage, she’s busy getting to know herself and living the single life , she is also wondering about her “soulmate” (well not really ), going by her luck she never will find him, but the thought of giving up on Mr S , just so that the first person , whose background seems good ( because lots of other aunties were trying for their daughters ( so what makes you think Yohanna’s going to get lucky”?) and isn’t taking dowry ( what a catch!!!) I really admire the guys civic sense but you know , Yohanna cant get married just because of that!!!!!
So should Yohanna tell her mom “Mummy , you know why don’t you just stop looking ; I don’t believe in arranged marriage, I’m debating marriage even!!! right now..i think I’m kinda happy the way I am … I think I need to see if my soulmate is out there…no I haven’t found him , he probably doesn’t exist …”
And because we’re in America…… Yohanna is STRAIGHT !!!!
What should Yohanna do????? Anonymous comments welcome!!! It’s ok Yohanna won’t curse you if you tell her to go in for the arranged marriage, she’ll probably have to go in for it anyway!!!
For all the Yohanna’s out there ………………………………
OK… this is verrry verrry fast starting to look like shaadi.blog………….but absolute last one I promise…..
Yohanna is a girl, 25 years of age , most of her peers and those younger are married or committed ( she is verrry happy for all of them btw!!!) , Yohanna has no significant relationship to tell her parents and play the love marriage angle ……………. Yohanna has a younger sister who is not much younger to her, and her sister’s friends have also started getting married …. Yohanna’s parents are worried her sell by date is fast approaching, that compounded by the fact that she’s too tall and doesn’t look like Aishwarya Rai ….. Yohanna going by past experience knows that she isn’t the most intelligent person when it comes to the love scene ,and having graduated from undergrad and school “singly” ( the places where you typically get love marriaged ) , she doesn’t at all believe things are going to be any different later.
Before Yohanna used to think 24 was a good time to get married ..now she thinks more like 35 or never……….. she loves her parents and they love her , but she risks being called selfish by everyone else, she doesn’t have too many hopes from arranged marriages and doesn’t get the point where she has to interact with the guy previously “flirt??”” ,she wasn’t allowed to do that before!!!! Now her whole family is telling her to!!
She wouldn’t mind if it meant the guy would commit or something , but the guy is in fact scoping …. So its more like the guy gets to flirt a lot before committing , is she wrong to think this is a bit unfair … anyway whatever…Yohanna has a massive headache.
Does she tell her parents to leave her be and not think about her marriage, she’s busy getting to know herself and living the single life , she is also wondering about her “soulmate” (well not really ), going by her luck she never will find him, but the thought of giving up on Mr S , just so that the first person , whose background seems good ( because lots of other aunties were trying for their daughters ( so what makes you think Yohanna’s going to get lucky”?) and isn’t taking dowry ( what a catch!!!) I really admire the guys civic sense but you know , Yohanna cant get married just because of that!!!!!
So should Yohanna tell her mom “Mummy , you know why don’t you just stop looking ; I don’t believe in arranged marriage, I’m debating marriage even!!! right now..i think I’m kinda happy the way I am … I think I need to see if my soulmate is out there…no I haven’t found him , he probably doesn’t exist …”
And because we’re in America…… Yohanna is STRAIGHT !!!!
What should Yohanna do????? Anonymous comments welcome!!! It’s ok Yohanna won’t curse you if you tell her to go in for the arranged marriage, she’ll probably have to go in for it anyway!!!
The Single Life
From this months Glamour :
A some what feel good article for us singletons :
While I think there is scope for more happiness… I can relate with the author, also from todays NYT ,the “sad” situation of marriages in America
Facing Middle Age with no degree and no wife
A some what feel good article for us singletons :
Hear me out : Rebecca Traister
I am happier as a single person than I ever was in a relationship . Of course that’s because my previous relationships weren’t’ t right for me .
And that’s the point all of us have to recognize : You can be happier on your own than in a mediocre partnership you maintain just for the sake of being with someone .
My grandmother ,even my mother would have been nowhere near as free to enjoy the years of eating out and working and sleeping late and getting to know my self that I’ve enjoyed ……These single women have the freedom to make their own plans without consulting anyone . The ability to make our own choices allows us to discover who we are and what we want for ourselves . Not to mention whom we love. We have the time and room in our lives to cultivate rich relationships with friends ,colleagues and parents. And when we do partner up ,we’ll come to those partnerships with years of self sufficiency under our belts. We’ll bring more money ,professional experience,social confidence –in short ,more power- to our relationships than we would have had we married young.
While I think there is scope for more happiness… I can relate with the author, also from todays NYT ,the “sad” situation of marriages in America
Facing Middle Age with no degree and no wife
Saturday, August 05, 2006
True Love
I don’t know if this inspired the previous post , or I was inspired to write this one because of my thoughts from the previous…
Well a couple of days ago , I just Googled True Love to see what I could find …as you can very well imagine ..i didn’t’ find a lot of insightful stuff…then I thought I would look it up on Wikipedia ..and apart from having to read the lamest wiki ever ( on the topic of Love ) ..I also found out that there isn’t a Wiki on True Love ( a very elusive entity I guess !!!) Update: It seems a link did get added between today and day before!!!
However,I did find this discussion on EDGE( cool site .check it out!)… Prominent researchers were asked to answer the question “ What do you believe is true ,even though you cannot prove it ?”. It had to be related to their area of research I presume; So David Buss a Psychologist and faculty at the University of Texas, Austin and author of The Evolution of Desire goes on to say this :
I also chanced upon these lines after a long time. I’ve read them before but heard them again at a friends wedding, they just so much struck a chord in me at the time; that I wrote them down and pasted it in the wall of my old apartment. After I changed flats , I think I wasn’t such an idealist and the piece of paper disappeared .Anyway I shall repost these famous lines from the Bible here :
Well a couple of days ago , I just Googled True Love to see what I could find …as you can very well imagine ..i didn’t’ find a lot of insightful stuff…then I thought I would look it up on Wikipedia ..and apart from having to read the lamest wiki ever ( on the topic of Love ) ..I also found out that there isn’t a Wiki on True Love ( a very elusive entity I guess !!!) Update: It seems a link did get added between today and day before!!!
However,I did find this discussion on EDGE( cool site .check it out!)… Prominent researchers were asked to answer the question “ What do you believe is true ,even though you cannot prove it ?”. It had to be related to their area of research I presume; So David Buss a Psychologist and faculty at the University of Texas, Austin and author of The Evolution of Desire goes on to say this :
True love.
I've spent two decades of my professional life studying human mating. In that time, I've documented phenomena ranging from what men and women desire in a mate to the most diabolical forms of sexual treachery. I've discovered the astonishingly creative ways in which men and women deceive and manipulate each other. I've studied mate poachers, obsessed stalkers, sexual predators, and spouse murderers. But throughout this exploration of the dark dimensions of human mating, I've remained unwavering in my belief in true love.
While love is common, true love is rare, and I believe that few people are fortunate enough to experience it. The roads of regular love are well traveled and their markers are well understood by many—the mesmerizing attraction, the ideational obsession, the sexual afterglow, profound self-sacrifice, and the desire to combine DNA. But true love takes its own course through uncharted territory. It knows no fences, has no barriers or boundaries. It's difficult to define, eludes modern measurement, and seems scientifically wooly. But I know true love exists. I just can't prove it.
I also chanced upon these lines after a long time. I’ve read them before but heard them again at a friends wedding, they just so much struck a chord in me at the time; that I wrote them down and pasted it in the wall of my old apartment. After I changed flats , I think I wasn’t such an idealist and the piece of paper disappeared .Anyway I shall repost these famous lines from the Bible here :
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (English-NIV)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Buh Bye
Dear Soulmate,
I’ve decided to throw in the towel . I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and I’ve realized that I have spent a lot of time waiting for you to appear ( I know , I know!!! From what I’ve read you don’t count or measure the things you do for love; if you do it isn’t love ; ….ok yeah whatever!!!).
Believe me I have tried my best these past 25 years to meet you , been thought of as insane by every sane person I meet, held out for as long as I could, fought with my parents, have been thought crazy and difficult by relatives and even traveled the seven seas…
B suggests that maybe we should become Witchy Women and conjure you up using magic… as you are taking your time arriving !!!!But as tempting as that sounds , and as much as I like some instant stuff, I don’t know if instant love would cut it , I think the whole concept of you being you is the eternity ( read never !!) when I finally get to meet you ,B also says you may right now be with someone else ..that’s possible I mean just because we didn’t pair up with the wrong person doesn’t mean that you haven’t .... so I guess you’re taking your time for your own reasons or you missed your flight here or whatever , but the fact is now I think I’d much rather see you in the next life …..
You have been a part of my imaginings since as far as I can remember; I remember when as “enlightened” 14 olds we discussed “boyfriends” and “going around” ..I remember we used to discuss what jerks guys were even at that age…… anyway it got to a point where a friend said “ You know Knights in Shining Armor don’t exist, you’ve got to make do with what’s there” , I still remember that line ,don’t remember the context though… I wish I had listened to my friend then and there …………….
Maybe thoughts of you were exacerbated with me overdosing on Romantic Comedies and Chic Lit , where everything starts happily ever after and ends the same way …. A movie which I think inspired me or permanently ,irrevocably damaged my thoughts was Serendipity , for those who don’t know what it’s about a little summary :
A man and a woman spend an evening together in NYC and realize that they have something special but they part later in the day leaving no contact information with the other person , deciding that if they were really meant to be together destiny would help them .. Well seven years later they lead separate lives, ready to get married to other people , but they keep thinking of this one evening seven years ago , the girl makes a trip back to the city and the rest of the movie follows the acts of fate that bring them together……Well it really was inspiring , but there’s a scene in the movie - the heroine’s best friend runs a new age shop, and dissuades her friend for wasting her life because of a fantasy…. Maybe that is my state of mind now ….
But you know there is always a chance the fantasy might be true..
Since then , i.e the time I first watched the movie ; I’ve learnt that catching the next plane to meet the person of your dreams isn’t going to result in fireworks. or it depends on your definition of fireworks!!!!
Any way Dear Soulmate, at times I have caught glimpses of you. In all reality these glimpses have kept me going, at times I even believed it was you, then crummy stuff happened ..and I realize that maybe like the cliché goes “ it’s because I can appreciate you better, (when I do finally meet you!!!!) ” .
I still for the life of me don’t know what I’m doing in the US, in times of deep gloom and confusion I thought maybe it was a path to lead to you ..But maybe I’m wrong!!!
You might be in Timbuktoo for all I know , and we all know that a person can come from Timbuktoo or anywhere to the US , but not the other way around…..Ok Ok I don’t believe this , I just put this in because some part of me would like to be in India right now ………..
Well , Soulmatey it was a nice trip while it lasted, maybe I could hold out for you longer , there would be nothing better than meeting the only person in the world that was destined to be with me. I think I would know when I meet you , the one I can say “you complete me” to. (OK that was trite !!!! Tom Cruise doesn’t sound that romantic these days!!). But you know I could hold out , I doubt it would be much fun though if I met you when I'm say 90 years old….
So buhbye soulmate…. The bridge across forever for this life probably ends here , I will hold thoughts of you tucked in the recesses of my heart forever ..for the time being I will go back to responding to emails asking about my hobbies , likes and dislikes…. *sigh* and back to the life where the idea of you gets more and more distant…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
I’ve decided to throw in the towel . I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and I’ve realized that I have spent a lot of time waiting for you to appear ( I know , I know!!! From what I’ve read you don’t count or measure the things you do for love; if you do it isn’t love ; ….ok yeah whatever!!!).
Believe me I have tried my best these past 25 years to meet you , been thought of as insane by every sane person I meet, held out for as long as I could, fought with my parents, have been thought crazy and difficult by relatives and even traveled the seven seas…
B suggests that maybe we should become Witchy Women and conjure you up using magic… as you are taking your time arriving !!!!But as tempting as that sounds , and as much as I like some instant stuff, I don’t know if instant love would cut it , I think the whole concept of you being you is the eternity ( read never !!) when I finally get to meet you ,B also says you may right now be with someone else ..that’s possible I mean just because we didn’t pair up with the wrong person doesn’t mean that you haven’t .... so I guess you’re taking your time for your own reasons or you missed your flight here or whatever , but the fact is now I think I’d much rather see you in the next life …..
You have been a part of my imaginings since as far as I can remember; I remember when as “enlightened” 14 olds we discussed “boyfriends” and “going around” ..I remember we used to discuss what jerks guys were even at that age…… anyway it got to a point where a friend said “ You know Knights in Shining Armor don’t exist, you’ve got to make do with what’s there” , I still remember that line ,don’t remember the context though… I wish I had listened to my friend then and there …………….
Maybe thoughts of you were exacerbated with me overdosing on Romantic Comedies and Chic Lit , where everything starts happily ever after and ends the same way …. A movie which I think inspired me or permanently ,irrevocably damaged my thoughts was Serendipity , for those who don’t know what it’s about a little summary :
A man and a woman spend an evening together in NYC and realize that they have something special but they part later in the day leaving no contact information with the other person , deciding that if they were really meant to be together destiny would help them .. Well seven years later they lead separate lives, ready to get married to other people , but they keep thinking of this one evening seven years ago , the girl makes a trip back to the city and the rest of the movie follows the acts of fate that bring them together……Well it really was inspiring , but there’s a scene in the movie - the heroine’s best friend runs a new age shop, and dissuades her friend for wasting her life because of a fantasy…. Maybe that is my state of mind now ….
But you know there is always a chance the fantasy might be true..
Since then , i.e the time I first watched the movie ; I’ve learnt that catching the next plane to meet the person of your dreams isn’t going to result in fireworks. or it depends on your definition of fireworks!!!!
Any way Dear Soulmate, at times I have caught glimpses of you. In all reality these glimpses have kept me going, at times I even believed it was you, then crummy stuff happened ..and I realize that maybe like the cliché goes “ it’s because I can appreciate you better, (when I do finally meet you!!!!) ” .
I still for the life of me don’t know what I’m doing in the US, in times of deep gloom and confusion I thought maybe it was a path to lead to you ..But maybe I’m wrong!!!
You might be in Timbuktoo for all I know , and we all know that a person can come from Timbuktoo or anywhere to the US , but not the other way around…..Ok Ok I don’t believe this , I just put this in because some part of me would like to be in India right now ………..
Well , Soulmatey it was a nice trip while it lasted, maybe I could hold out for you longer , there would be nothing better than meeting the only person in the world that was destined to be with me. I think I would know when I meet you , the one I can say “you complete me” to. (OK that was trite !!!! Tom Cruise doesn’t sound that romantic these days!!). But you know I could hold out , I doubt it would be much fun though if I met you when I'm say 90 years old….
So buhbye soulmate…. The bridge across forever for this life probably ends here , I will hold thoughts of you tucked in the recesses of my heart forever ..for the time being I will go back to responding to emails asking about my hobbies , likes and dislikes…. *sigh* and back to the life where the idea of you gets more and more distant…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
Friday, August 04, 2006
Yun Hota To Kya Hota??
Based on mother’s recommendation looking forward to watching “Yun Hota to Kya Hota??”!!! Directed by Nasserudin Shah...here's the trailer/teaser
Blogger acting up....
My old template died on me =( ..slowly trying to get things back to normal.. might change a few things ..let see… if anyone cares that is :P
The Diary of an Undomestic Godess
Today was another lunch at the Mexican place. It’s usually that or a sub(sandwich)… I think Mexican is my present most favored cuisine , what with all the mystique of being a famous cuisine that I’d never had the chance of tasting before, to now being something that for me is some what a good substitute for Indian food ( I stopped eating pizza and pasta a long time ago)…
I have progressed a bit though…..from nachos in New Zealand ( Americans there used to say the hostel food was nothing compared to the Mexican food you get in the States ) …who cared though!!! ..having tortilla chips for dinner was yumm!!!… I don’t eat nachos much these days … just pass me the Vegetarian Burrito!!!
But there has been some commonality in this Mexican madness, I’ve just been consuming the types of beans i never particularly liked,ever since I left India; and if you count in the meal-in-a-can bean type things ..it seems to have become kind of a staple food for me …and this from a girl who used to hate Rajma!!! …my mom never cooked Rajma at home, but we were subjected to a horrible Rajma curry every week at my undergrad hostel , not that the curry was bad , but I hated Rajma, and now I eat something similar rather often… the only beans we had at home were Kidney beans ( or black eyed peas as they are known over here) and chick peas….
But I forget.. omigosh string beans…….. they were pretty much a staple at home…how long has it been since I had beans?? ..(i mean beans in the Indian sense…;for me at least!!)…it’s been a really long time!!!! I should probably go make some for myself… it’s too much work though , do you even get string beans in the super market ???… I only buy carrots and cucumbers from the veggie section and prepping the beans ( destringing ??) then cutting them and all those Indian spices…naaah too much work…. I guess it’s my pinto and black beans for some time more …*sigh*.
I’ve never been much of a kitchen person, kind off used to enter only to wash dishes at home… my dad used to try to make me do some work and say things like , “Why don’t you start doing something in the kitchen “ , to which I would pretend I hadn’t heard … we had three good cooks in the family, mom, dad and sis.. they did a pretty good job. I didn’t see any point butting in, later on it got somewhat more frequent “ Why don’t you make me some tea ?", Dad would say. “Oh!! I don’t know how to make tea, I don’t even drink tea , why don’t you make it for yourself Pa?” I would reply ..My dad could very well make tea for himself…. Throughout my growing years he would get up early before everyone else and make tea for himself , and prepare Ovaltine /Bournvita for the rest of us… anyway it would go on “ You should at least know how to make tea!!”, Dad would say . I didn’t see the point, “ Oh c’mon Dad, I don’t drink tea, if people want to drink tea they can make it for themselves!!!" . I could sense a subtle implication that in the future my ability to make tea would be an important part of my skill set , maybe even the most important . I found all this rather stupid , and would get into an argument, I wouldn’t ever win though ,and the 5 -6 times my dad made those tea making suggestions , I had to make tea , its been 3-4 years since I made a cuppa chai , I really don’t remember what I did , but I remember it used to be pretty scary ,it was either too much milk or too much sugar, Dad used to have pretty much whatever I managed to shove down his throat , I usually had to make some for my grandmother or maybe some other person once in a while , which was when I would get comments like “too much milk, too much sugar etc ,etc” and I used to think in my head “ Arrey, why didn’t you make it yourself !!” …
That was pretty much it!!! Making bad tea was the sum of my experience in the kitchen , coming from a long line of family members who could cook, male and female,my dads one regret is that I never learnt to cook, “Why don’t you learn , you should know these things. In the future you’ll understand they’re very important”….
This was a pretty loaded statement, needless to say this was not the way to make an already disinterested me learn to cook… maybe Pops was right…….. he stayed alone for a while as a bachelor ,and I’m experiencing the joys of single living as well, nothing beats a good home cooked meal ( but nothing beats moms cooking ,I’m pretty sure about that, and I don’t have time to brush up cooking skills) .. mom was alright though ,she didn’t force me into the kitchen and would say things like “ I started cooking after I got married”. The point is if I don’t cook now I blame my parents they should have tied me to the kitchen and made me cook, there was no other way I would enter. As a result I had to bear the sympathy of helpful but misguided roommates “ C'mon!!! how can you not cook??? the way to a guys heart is thorugh his stomach, that’s really what they look for!Here start rolling out chapattis” .. “WTF!!!”
I still remember when I first came to the States , I think that’s where I first heard about the concept of cooking turns.. I was pretty amused and was telling my dad about it “You know here room mates actually take turns to cook, and it’s pretty much like everyone has to cook!!!!”, to which he replied that cooking turns happen everywhere not only in the US!!!.. Anyway my poor roommates ….so far, I’ve never taken up cooking turns ,ever!!! … I mumble something to the effect of.. “You know , I’m not really much of a cook, I usually live on apples , carrots and sometimes take away”…. And usually get out of the whole having to cook situation like that…….
Anyway couple of years later after buying cook books online ,and out of sheer boredom i do cook when the stars are favorable and ask my mom for recipes, or actually anyone who seems to be conjuring up special dishes ,( which is probably everyone except me) , ..I’ve kind of realized that cooking isn’t too bad …..
I miss my mom a lot , pretty much every second of everyday, I wish she was here in the US ...I can’t tell you about all the times that I miss her but I can tell you one of the times when I miss her a lot…it’s when I have to clean the bathroom…..I don’t know how this sounds, but other girls agree with me on this, we’ve never had to scrub floors and tubs before ,and when we have to , we remember our mothers and how much they had to scrub floors and walls to keep our homes tidy…we never realized how much work that involved ....till now!!!Mom's must really love us to do all that scrubbing .…..
What bought about this post?? I’m currently doing two wash loads of laundry …. This would shock my parents who are the "do laundry every day/ every other day" types. You know I would too, if I had enough quarters at my disposal every time I wanted to wash my clothes .I hate having to make change , not too many quarter machines here..
Anyway my dad was like why don’t you buy a washing machine; when I told him about how I have to go to the Laundromat and hence finding quarters is the biggest impediment to daily clothes washing.. I think the economics of being a grad student has an effect of on the ownership of an at home washing machine, or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough … but I like fresh smelling clothes… so not being able to do laundry as often as I want to is one thing that really gets me down …. I don’t know how many of you watch Greys Anatomy , but there’s a comment Sandra Oh’s character makes about laundry ..I wont mention it here for fear of putting off readers of this blog forever…I'm not sooo bad , but I could kind off relate to that …
I have work to do this weekend….but I intend to vacuum the house , clean the bathroom , arrange my wardrobe and bookshelf … I usually get into these once in a blue moon cleaning spurts… its all or nothing with me it seems….
Oh well wish me luck…. I got inspired reading a letter in this months issue of Self magazine people were commenting on an article in a previous edition called the “The Joys of being Home Alone” by Curtis Sittenfeld…I want to read the article.. I think a trip to the public library is in the offing…..
I have progressed a bit though…..from nachos in New Zealand ( Americans there used to say the hostel food was nothing compared to the Mexican food you get in the States ) …who cared though!!! ..having tortilla chips for dinner was yumm!!!… I don’t eat nachos much these days … just pass me the Vegetarian Burrito!!!
But there has been some commonality in this Mexican madness, I’ve just been consuming the types of beans i never particularly liked,ever since I left India; and if you count in the meal-in-a-can bean type things ..it seems to have become kind of a staple food for me …and this from a girl who used to hate Rajma!!! …my mom never cooked Rajma at home, but we were subjected to a horrible Rajma curry every week at my undergrad hostel , not that the curry was bad , but I hated Rajma, and now I eat something similar rather often… the only beans we had at home were Kidney beans ( or black eyed peas as they are known over here) and chick peas….
But I forget.. omigosh string beans…….. they were pretty much a staple at home…how long has it been since I had beans?? ..(i mean beans in the Indian sense…;for me at least!!)…it’s been a really long time!!!! I should probably go make some for myself… it’s too much work though , do you even get string beans in the super market ???… I only buy carrots and cucumbers from the veggie section and prepping the beans ( destringing ??) then cutting them and all those Indian spices…naaah too much work…. I guess it’s my pinto and black beans for some time more …*sigh*.
I’ve never been much of a kitchen person, kind off used to enter only to wash dishes at home… my dad used to try to make me do some work and say things like , “Why don’t you start doing something in the kitchen “ , to which I would pretend I hadn’t heard … we had three good cooks in the family, mom, dad and sis.. they did a pretty good job. I didn’t see any point butting in, later on it got somewhat more frequent “ Why don’t you make me some tea ?", Dad would say. “Oh!! I don’t know how to make tea, I don’t even drink tea , why don’t you make it for yourself Pa?” I would reply ..My dad could very well make tea for himself…. Throughout my growing years he would get up early before everyone else and make tea for himself , and prepare Ovaltine /Bournvita for the rest of us… anyway it would go on “ You should at least know how to make tea!!”, Dad would say . I didn’t see the point, “ Oh c’mon Dad, I don’t drink tea, if people want to drink tea they can make it for themselves!!!" . I could sense a subtle implication that in the future my ability to make tea would be an important part of my skill set , maybe even the most important . I found all this rather stupid , and would get into an argument, I wouldn’t ever win though ,and the 5 -6 times my dad made those tea making suggestions , I had to make tea , its been 3-4 years since I made a cuppa chai , I really don’t remember what I did , but I remember it used to be pretty scary ,it was either too much milk or too much sugar, Dad used to have pretty much whatever I managed to shove down his throat , I usually had to make some for my grandmother or maybe some other person once in a while , which was when I would get comments like “too much milk, too much sugar etc ,etc” and I used to think in my head “ Arrey, why didn’t you make it yourself !!” …
That was pretty much it!!! Making bad tea was the sum of my experience in the kitchen , coming from a long line of family members who could cook, male and female,my dads one regret is that I never learnt to cook, “Why don’t you learn , you should know these things. In the future you’ll understand they’re very important”….
This was a pretty loaded statement, needless to say this was not the way to make an already disinterested me learn to cook… maybe Pops was right…….. he stayed alone for a while as a bachelor ,and I’m experiencing the joys of single living as well, nothing beats a good home cooked meal ( but nothing beats moms cooking ,I’m pretty sure about that, and I don’t have time to brush up cooking skills) .. mom was alright though ,she didn’t force me into the kitchen and would say things like “ I started cooking after I got married”. The point is if I don’t cook now I blame my parents they should have tied me to the kitchen and made me cook, there was no other way I would enter. As a result I had to bear the sympathy of helpful but misguided roommates “ C'mon!!! how can you not cook??? the way to a guys heart is thorugh his stomach, that’s really what they look for!Here start rolling out chapattis” .. “WTF!!!”
I still remember when I first came to the States , I think that’s where I first heard about the concept of cooking turns.. I was pretty amused and was telling my dad about it “You know here room mates actually take turns to cook, and it’s pretty much like everyone has to cook!!!!”, to which he replied that cooking turns happen everywhere not only in the US!!!.. Anyway my poor roommates ….so far, I’ve never taken up cooking turns ,ever!!! … I mumble something to the effect of.. “You know , I’m not really much of a cook, I usually live on apples , carrots and sometimes take away”…. And usually get out of the whole having to cook situation like that…….
Anyway couple of years later after buying cook books online ,and out of sheer boredom i do cook when the stars are favorable and ask my mom for recipes, or actually anyone who seems to be conjuring up special dishes ,( which is probably everyone except me) , ..I’ve kind of realized that cooking isn’t too bad …..
I miss my mom a lot , pretty much every second of everyday, I wish she was here in the US ...I can’t tell you about all the times that I miss her but I can tell you one of the times when I miss her a lot…it’s when I have to clean the bathroom…..I don’t know how this sounds, but other girls agree with me on this, we’ve never had to scrub floors and tubs before ,and when we have to , we remember our mothers and how much they had to scrub floors and walls to keep our homes tidy…we never realized how much work that involved ....till now!!!Mom's must really love us to do all that scrubbing .…..
What bought about this post?? I’m currently doing two wash loads of laundry …. This would shock my parents who are the "do laundry every day/ every other day" types. You know I would too, if I had enough quarters at my disposal every time I wanted to wash my clothes .I hate having to make change , not too many quarter machines here..
Anyway my dad was like why don’t you buy a washing machine; when I told him about how I have to go to the Laundromat and hence finding quarters is the biggest impediment to daily clothes washing.. I think the economics of being a grad student has an effect of on the ownership of an at home washing machine, or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough … but I like fresh smelling clothes… so not being able to do laundry as often as I want to is one thing that really gets me down …. I don’t know how many of you watch Greys Anatomy , but there’s a comment Sandra Oh’s character makes about laundry ..I wont mention it here for fear of putting off readers of this blog forever…I'm not sooo bad , but I could kind off relate to that …
I have work to do this weekend….but I intend to vacuum the house , clean the bathroom , arrange my wardrobe and bookshelf … I usually get into these once in a blue moon cleaning spurts… its all or nothing with me it seems….
Oh well wish me luck…. I got inspired reading a letter in this months issue of Self magazine people were commenting on an article in a previous edition called the “The Joys of being Home Alone” by Curtis Sittenfeld…I want to read the article.. I think a trip to the public library is in the offing…..
Thursday, August 03, 2006
When reality is stranger than fiction
Tagged : Personal
Did you ever have one of those days? When things just go so wrong , you decide to go home sometime mid day ;so if in fact the sky does fall in your head you’re at least at home when it does….. Today was one of those days....
Sometimes I like to think all our lives are like the movies…..we have our fair share of drama ( think any overblown argument), romance( in our heads anyway), tragedy , adventure ( think trip to another country, think trip to the mall ) … and sometimes we go into TV mode and we get things straight out of a sit-com ………
Yesterday/Today was one of those sitcom days , I was horrified for about a millisecond when the “event" happened then I understood the humor of the universe and shared a small chuckle with it….
I so needed someone to tell it to, IM’ed my cousin who was a bit shocked and sympathized, but she also admitted it was movie fare…. My roommate sympathized….
I miss my other gal pals ….I remember all of us sitting in our undergrad hostel and reliving excruciatingly boring details of our lives over and over again, today’s event was one of the better things we could have spoken about . I’m sure my friends would have found the humor in it, at least they would have four years ago… ..i’m not so sure about now ……………… the number of people who can relate to my daily trials, tribulations and joys and conversely the number of people whose daily lives I can relate to is progressively growing smaller, …………….maybe I should “grow up”. ……………..
Did you ever have one of those days? When things just go so wrong , you decide to go home sometime mid day ;so if in fact the sky does fall in your head you’re at least at home when it does….. Today was one of those days....
Sometimes I like to think all our lives are like the movies…..we have our fair share of drama ( think any overblown argument), romance( in our heads anyway), tragedy , adventure ( think trip to another country, think trip to the mall ) … and sometimes we go into TV mode and we get things straight out of a sit-com ………
Yesterday/Today was one of those sitcom days , I was horrified for about a millisecond when the “event" happened then I understood the humor of the universe and shared a small chuckle with it….
I so needed someone to tell it to, IM’ed my cousin who was a bit shocked and sympathized, but she also admitted it was movie fare…. My roommate sympathized….
I miss my other gal pals ….I remember all of us sitting in our undergrad hostel and reliving excruciatingly boring details of our lives over and over again, today’s event was one of the better things we could have spoken about . I’m sure my friends would have found the humor in it, at least they would have four years ago… ..i’m not so sure about now ……………… the number of people who can relate to my daily trials, tribulations and joys and conversely the number of people whose daily lives I can relate to is progressively growing smaller, …………….maybe I should “grow up”. ……………..
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Happy 25th Birthday MTV!!!!
Happy Birthday MTV !!!
You pretty much changed my life…. I never used to listen to music .. then you bought all those cool videos that came along with basic cable .. and effectively bought me somewhat up to speed, (even though I got into the bandwagon a little late )….. you were more music then ,and wow I totally loved those MTV ad’s …they were really cool ….. there wasn’t too much reality TV or cartoons and the VJ’s didn’t hog up the entire show, of course this was MTV Asia , VJ’s have changed , channel names have changed … … you’ve transformed in to one long Hindi movie-trailer show back home in India …. And there’s no way I would know what’s popular out west if I watch you now ……as for right now…I hardly ever watch MTV or MTV 2 , Laguna beach and My Super Sweet Sixteen bore me … I prefer your sister channel VH1…it seems you’re aren’t celebrating your 25th birthday …you’re older than your target audience …but you kind off did define a generation…My generation … Here are some excerpts the wiki for the MTV generation
I love nostaligia …….*sigh*
You pretty much changed my life…. I never used to listen to music .. then you bought all those cool videos that came along with basic cable .. and effectively bought me somewhat up to speed, (even though I got into the bandwagon a little late )….. you were more music then ,and wow I totally loved those MTV ad’s …they were really cool ….. there wasn’t too much reality TV or cartoons and the VJ’s didn’t hog up the entire show, of course this was MTV Asia , VJ’s have changed , channel names have changed … … you’ve transformed in to one long Hindi movie-trailer show back home in India …. And there’s no way I would know what’s popular out west if I watch you now ……as for right now…I hardly ever watch MTV or MTV 2 , Laguna beach and My Super Sweet Sixteen bore me … I prefer your sister channel VH1…it seems you’re aren’t celebrating your 25th birthday …you’re older than your target audience …but you kind off did define a generation…My generation … Here are some excerpts the wiki for the MTV generation
Global factors defining the MTV Generation
Most notable factors relevant to the MTV Generation is the overall nihilistic attitude of the teenagers growing up through the 1990s having been brought up in the 1980s and recently becoming adults of the 3rd millennium, as well as
• The launch of MTV in its early period before its mid-1990s makeover for predominantly pop music, rhythm and blues, hip hop culture and reality television. Also included in the early period of MTV is the creation of Beavis and Butt-Head cartoon. The popular tagline: "I want my MTV"--uttered by Veejays and performers on the network's advertisements and later included in the Dire Straits' Money for Nothing track--reflected the era's fascination with the new medium.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall.
• The First Gulf War.
• The Waco Siege.
• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, with its' vague associations with Bushido, white rap, and surf slang. Interest in some of the Asian martial arts (including, of course, Ninjutsu) temporarily spiked among teenagers in some areas due to the franchise's influence.
• Madonna and Michael Jackson (The Like A Prayer & Dangerous years), as well as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
• The introduction of the Nintendo and Atari gaming systems.
• The premierships of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and the presidency of Ronald Reagan succeeded later by George H. W. Bush.
• The worldwide popularity of The Simpsons.
• The second generation to mostly be influenced through Television (especially Music Television) as the primary medium for information and entertainment (the first being the baby boom generation crossing over to the early Generation X - when TV came into becoming an item in every household during the 1950s) especially from children growing up in the 1980s to their teens in the 1990s.
• The end of the Cold War and break up of the Soviet Union.
• The re-invented Dream Date Barbie doll, G.I. Joe: Action Force and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures.
• Transformers, M.A.S.K., Masters of the Universe and other toyline (franchises) centered around the primary theme of alien/high tech/supernatural combat occurring at large in a disguised form, but also containing strong modernist/morally absolutist themes which have been more recently removed in revised versions of these fictional scenarios.
• The Cabbage Patch Kids and Garbage Pail Kids craze of the late 80s.
• The Neverending Story franchise.
• The acting careers of Macaulay Culkin and Michael J. Fox.
• The release of Nelson Mandela and end of Apartheid in South Africa.
• The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.
• The last generation to appreciate its significance in a changing culture, as most of them can still readily recall now-obsolete items of the pre-digital era such as VHS tapes and audio cassette tapes.
Culture (political and social)
This generation was also the first to experience:
• June 18, 1981, the official date for the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and the 1985 World Health Organization AIDS surveillance case definition.
• 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
• The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall November 9, 1989 and German reunification on October 3, 1990. - One of the two major moments to define the MTV Generation.
The distinct end of Generation X.
• In 1989, Czechoslovakia became a democratic country again through the Velvet revolution. In 1992, the federal parliament decided to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as of January 1, 1993.
• Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster prison, near Cape Town, South Africa February 11, 1990.
• The Gulf War in 1991. - The war that truly defined the MTV Generation, just as the Vietnam War defined Generation X and the Iraq War define Generation Y.
• The fall of the Soviet Union, and beginning of "New World Order" July 1991 marking the end of the Cold War since 1941 between the United States and Soviet Union. - The second of the two most important moments in defining Generation XY.
• November 22, 1992, at just after 9.30 am, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher announced to her cabinet that she would not be a candidate in the second ballot of the vote to determine the leader of the British Conservative Party, thereby bringing her term of office as Prime Minister to an end.
• The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceases to exist. Slovenia and Croatia gain independence January 15, 1992
• Signing of the Maastricht treaty, which founded the European Union February 7, 1992.
• Bill Clinton defeats George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot in the U.S. presidential election, 1992, November 3.
• 1993 confrontation between U.S. federal agents and the Branch Davidians - Siege of Waco.
• Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, is found dead April 8, 1994, in Seattle, Washington. He had apparently committed suicide three days earlier. - A death that marked the MTV Generation as opposed to Jim Morrison for Generation X and Elvis Presley for the baby boomers.
• May 1, 1994, Formula One driver Ayrton Senna is killed during the San Marino Grand Prix.
• The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir on November 4, 1995, after attending a rally promoting the Oslo process at Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (which was renamed to Yitzhak Rabin Square after his death).
• The Dunblane massacre occurring at a primary school in the small town of Dunblane in central Scotland on Wednesday, 13 March 1996.
• September 7, 1996 Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting. This was later followed by the murder of Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. who was shot and killed in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997 - resulting in the end of the Hip hop rivalries between East Coast's Bad Boy Records and the West Coast's Death Row Records.
• The end of British sovereignty over Hong Kong July 1, 1997.
Crossover with beginning of "true" Generation Y:• The international one hit wonder song, Macarena by Los Del Rio became a worldwide summer hit in 1996 until the end of 1997.
• The Yugoslav wars, a series of violent conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia that took place between (1991-2001) - including the Bosnian War.
• Thirty-nine bodies found in Heaven's Gate cult suicide March 26, 1997 - coinciding with the comet Hale-Bopp.
• Diana, Princess of Wales is taken to a hospital after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, August 31, 1997. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 the next morning followed on September 3 by the death of Mother Teresa.
• The Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998, followed by Bill Clinton's impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives.
• The Matrix, a science-fiction / action film with wide cultural influence that was released on March 31st, 1999.
• The premonition of the Y2K problem occurring in 2000 12:00 AM, January 1, New Year's Eve, and resulting fears about the coming 'Millennium'
Technology/Media experienced by the generation
This generation used or witnessed the following technology from their teenage years (born during the 70s) and preteen years (born early 80s):
• Launch of CNN allowing access to world news (1980), and MTV entering a new era with the Music Video culture (1981).
• The development from the 8-bit era with the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System and Atari 7800, into a new 16-bit era: SNES, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and Neo-Geo.
• The Internet from its process into a prolific and developed form (1990s).
• PCs and the Power Macintosh with modern operating systems and GUIs (1990s onwards).
• Sophisticated computer graphics in many video games, animated movies and television shows (mid to late 1990s).
• Cellular phones (1980s and beyond).
• MP3s, file-sharing and Napster before it was shut-down (late 1990s).
• ICQ and other Instant messaging applications that would later follow (early 1990s and onwards).
• VHS tapes, Audio cassettes which would later be replaced by CDs (mid 80s), the Minidisc (mid 1990s), and the CD-R (1994).
The MTV Generation unlike the core Generation Y and core Generation X were caught in the middle of a surge in media and technological advances which would later prevail towards the end of the millennium for Generation Y. Partakers of this generation will recall libraries still using index cards for looking up books, how writing letters and corresponding with pen pals and mail-by-order books/comics were fashionable, as well as communication via telephone landlines, prior to the mobile phone phenomenon of the mid 90s. Also most people partaking within the MTV Generation will remember having personal computers as a child without an internet connection, along with the rise of hip hop musical styles within pop music and fall of rock and roll and metal.
I love nostaligia …….*sigh*