for you my amigos...

Today we had a carnival at school as part of the homecoming week..
and i could not enjoy, not because i was worried about the approaching mid-terms or the impending assignments or the looming project submissions..
but because i was missing my friends..
so much that every event i took part in seemed meaningless (yeah sounds filmy :( but true)

the mela trips, the dinner outings, the rock concerts, the shopping sprees, the cook-outs, the gossip sessions, the endless chit-chatting about nothing in general, the movies, the dances, the college fests, the office coffee rooms, the collage competitions, the cubicle decoration, the shootouts (photos) for fun, the birthday surprises, the cake cuttings, the impromptu trips, the treks, badminton days, sudoku solving, the endless debates on moral issues, the parties...
sigh...

i shed a few tears,
thinking about you my dear..
the great times we had,
are a testimony that i was glad..
life turns a mystic hue,
as i wipe off the dew..

I miss you guys itna saara..
hope you all are doing good, wherever you are..

guess an episode or two of 'friends' will cheer me up :)

Milestone

They say one should celebrate life for no reason, because it is the most amazing festival of our lives. (OK no 'they' say this, my crappy brain conjured this up :D)
So as i hit '15 posts' in the month of September, i take this opportunity to raise a toast to amreeka, dell inspiron 1525 and a vella brain, to eat up so much of blogger's unlimited memory space !!!

(all of you gracefully stand up and applause!!!!)
thank you..thank you..

So many posts prove a lot of things in addendum to the above mentioned true-to-my-knowledge facts.
1. I am serious about writing..meaningful or not meaningful..crappy or some gems..
2. the reader count has increased
3. comments have increased..its good to know, people read me..how cool is that?
4. i am at least passionate about something..i mean at my age, its a serious cause of worry, if you don't feel the same drive towards things !?!?

anywho, nowadays, i feel more like this 'When everything comes your way you're in the wrong lane!!'
yeah, in spite of the fact that i don't drive a car, i don't have a job, i don't get to shop till i drop, i don't get to see my friends often (with the distance, 'online' is the place where we meet normally) and most importantly, the biggest woe, i don't have a nice life partner and a small little house looking over the sea!! I still feel like this.
So, is this some atypical syndrome? Or is this the typical 'whiny female' stuff?
Am i the only one? If you feel the same way, then please share, because i will feel better, in a sadistic 'thank god, i have company!' kind of way.
And if you still don't relate with any of this crap, then at least sympathize with me, by suggesting a good neuro-surgeon! I seriously suspect some nerve damage.
Remember its kind to help someone in distress!!

Specially someone who has 3 mid-terms in 2 days. Someone who does not even know a shard of the past few lectures she s been attending. And someone who s not been doing 'oh-so-great!!' in her assignments.

My first mid-terms sure look like a mile-stone (i will have to walk a mile to reach there..hehehe) in the supposedly life defining Master's program.

cheer up,
nightflier

First words!!

Its every parents' dream to hear his/her bundle of joy utter those first magical words in this mortal world! Ranging from 'mama', 'dada' to 'camera' (remember that joke from DCH ??) every word spoken is a new step for the child and a proud moment for the parent. I don't know why proud, because it is something very normal, natural to be able to speak, as a human. May be the feeling that a physical part of you can utter something meaningful (that's debatable) is supposed to swell your innards because of pride and prejudice. May be something more complex, unexplainable, (that's why such a fuss about the first words!!)

Now why i am writing all this ? Does that ring any bell to you ? Good that it does not, that makes your mind less polluted and straight! Be happy for it!! :D
I experienced the vice-versa today.

My mom-dad uttered their first e-words today!! :) :)
yeah, we chatted..thanks to gtalk and my bro !
My symbolic first word to them was a smiley and they replied back with a cursory 'hi'.
I was Impressed, that they are e-savvy now, totally. Wow, what a moment of jubilation for me!
And i understood those enormous feelings behind that 'Hi'!!!
They wanted to tell me that they were happy learning this thing (or may be what a pain it was to locate that 'h' and a slightly diagonal 'i' on the keyboard and actually typing it and then pressing the 'enter' button, just to be able to 'CHAT' with me), and amazed at the power of internet (because to their simple 'hi', i shot back with a 10 line essay on what i was doing, what i ate etc etc)!

But you know what, i am really proud of them. Because they broke their inhibitions and are willing to learn all this just to stay connected with me in every possible way. They are incorporating something very foreign to them in their lifestyle, to be near their headstrong daughter all the time.
Mom Dad i Love U :) sniff..sniff..

I have already started to teach them stuff. The first thing that popped in my mind was how to a photo album. And went ahead with that. It was a blast. I mean when do you get such golden opportunities ? And now my dad has also started reading my blogs and articles @ TechNews!! Fulltoo e savvy he will be in a few days :)
I am also going to teach them to make calls from computer, watch movies online, read news, listen to music, etc etc.
Wow..never thought parenting could be so fun ;)
I just hope I am not a compulsive parent ! :D
And now i also understand (somewhat !!) those unexplained feelings in first para.

Life s strange!
nightflier

More innocence !!

More on childhood fantasies!! My idea of a perfect romantic date as a kid :)
'a whole new world' from alladin !
(lyrics copied from a website and pasted in lavender :D)


I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, princess, now when did
You last let your heart decide?

I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic carpet ride

A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I'm way up here
It's crystal clear
That now I'm in a whole new world with you
Now I'm in a whole new world with you

Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky

A whole new world
Don't you dare close your eyes
A hundred thousand things to see
Hold your breath - it gets better
I'm like a shooting star
I've come so far
I can't go back to where I used to be

A whole new world
Every turn a surprise
With new horizons to pursue
Every moment red-letter
I'll chase them anywhere
There's time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you

A whole new world
That's where we'll be
A thrilling chase
A wondrous place
For you and me

I still think sometimes, may be 'my alladin' will come. But if it wasn't for dreams, a chunk of me would have been dead already!! No kidding there.
Time sure changes you. From a dreamy eyed teenager to a srk fanatic, when it comes to romance, one thing that has not changed is this, 'practicality loses meaning' :) And I am thankful that these dreams, about mysterious unknowns make it all worth!!
I am still feeling those goosebumps, i used to get, after watching this song!
Do i love disney or what ? :)

my cartoon character match!!

What do you do when you are bored ?
come on I will give u hints...
1. you have been studying for looooong (1.5 hrs, with my concentration that's long!!)
2. you are an ex-IT professional
3. you have plenty of unread mails in your INBOX (this one stands out, don't disappoint me!!)

well, considering you all did not pay proper attention in your physics classes in school, i give it to you.

YOU CHECK FORWARDS !!!!

I came across this cute forward, when i was shamelessly deleting unread mails (with due respect to the senders, who thoughtfully mail you the same forward a zillion times), as part of my create some space in my unlimited gmail-box drive, which said, 'check your cartoon character match' !!
The over curious kid in me loves doing such stuff, so i answered the stupid quiz to get this result..

I resemble,

Pingu
You are the classic person that everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never want to loose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life is a journey it's funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people then you will be stress-free.

I am happy (not because of the description, my friends know 'what-a-friend' i am :D), because watching Pingu was my favorite pastime in summers. They used to show it on DD only during summers. Aah, childhood.. what a bliss..
So now, new thing on the veryyy long to do list, search for Pingu online !!

If you want that xls drop me a mail with a 100$ cheque !! What, for taking you back to those wonderful childhood days, thats too less a price !! :)

have a great day ahead,
PING-U :D

P.S. Lavender is my favorite color these days !

Career fair

I attended my first career fair, in the land of opportunities.
So the first question anyone pops up is, how was it ??
ermmm...actually, I'm new here..don't actually know how these 'fairs' are supposed to be..so whatever answer i give, people are bent on telling me that how only consultants come to universities, how only good universities get all the good companies, if at all, and blah, blah, blah.. so it leaves a novice like me clueless !!!! (mercy !!!!)

Anyways, still for those who want to know, i think it was a 'fair' job fair, cos i applied to 8 firms for internships (1 out of these was for a PhD don't-gimme-those-sneers-please program!!). And the most amazing thing was i had the choice of applying to firms!! There was no screening process whatsoever.

The structure of the whole extravaganza was like this. All the companies had set up their booths. The institute had a registration process, so as to avoid intruders from other univs. Here we were given a guide sort of booklet, a map of the stalls and some goodies. The registration people also provided ties (the ones if tightened around 'the neck' can cause a lil bit of problem :D) and other stuff, to complete the formal look. I thought that was pretty cool and thoughtful of them. If you did not have time to zero down on your companies of interest, then using that guide one could screen them and save a lot of time and energy. So once you have shortlisted the firms, on the basis of eligibility criteria, like resident status, educational background, education level, time period (full time/part time/inters/co ops) etc., you are ready to roll !!

Next steps were, approaching the booth with cool head and few questions ready. Normally they had enough representives who would receive your queries individually. So people like me could shoot any kind of stupid things from 'oh, can i pick that lip balm?' to 'so you are into power systems, eh?'.
Alrite, jokes apart, it is a really good opportunity to think about your choices and accordingly ask them any damn things. Many times it creates a good impression that 'hmm, so this girl knows what she's doing, so she's smart enough, lets hire her'. I mean this is how a normal employer would think, so try to do some research before you go to such fairs or use your brains. And scene here is a bit different. Firms are looking for engineers from various fields in the real sense. Not just software firms, mind you.
So we had a whole bunch of (ok, 8-9) of core electrical engg firms, same for other concentrations, financial firms, software companies, HR depts, govt agencies. So students from every strata had a chance here.

It surely was a different experience, as the dress code was strictly followed, only your resume would speak for you instead of an aptitude test, and the goodies they distributed.

I went with 10 resume in my file, and came back with a bag full of goodies (highlighters, sticky pads, piggy banks, lip balms, key chains, pencils, pens, diaries, etc. etc. whoosh !!) and the satisfactory smile of dropping 8 resume at meaningful firms. Only 2 have asked me to apply online again, btw.

Paint me happy !!!

I got printed :) :) :)
yippeeee..yooo hooooo...
and now enough !! :D

the details : we have a college weekly newspaper, technews
It comes out every tuesday. So poor me, with no on campus job and so less study load, decided to take the plunge. And sent my first article about the Self Defense workshop i attended to the editorial team. They must have liked it or worst case had very few good articles on the rack (justifies me getting printed :D) for this week. But anyhow, i got printed and that's important !!

I think its like i got printed after 10 yrs (last time was for a school golden jubilee magazine, as an alumnus, most of which was edited by mom :D). Feels GREAT !!!!!
now planning to write every week :) :)
poor readers, here i come !!!!!!!!!

btw, the hard copy has hit the stands, will share the link, once they upload it online :)

cheers,
nightflier