I can ride my bike with no handlebars -- Flobots

There's this song out called 'Handlebars', and its' honestly one of the creepiest/weirdest/funniest songs I have heard in a long time. Its been a while since I've analysed songs playing on the radio. This isnt the video as such, cos "it's not available in (my) country" =p





This song is amazing. It talks about OUR day, THIS day..we're capable of almost everything the guy from Flobots is singing about.

I love this part of the song:
"Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all healed of their lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust"

Totally gets in your head eh?

Mumbai under attack

Horrific start to Thursday. Finally today (Friday) morning I had a chance to go online and read up on what was happening in Mumbai.

It's India's 9/11. In 2006 my friends and I visited Mumbai and we were mostly hanging out around near the Gateway of India, by the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and had our breakfasts at Cafe Leopold..and all these were under attack. That's were the backpackers hang out in Colaba.

Too many things are happening, too much too soon and too close for comfort. Maybe it's just the fact that we're able to get information so quickly and so comprehensively. But so do the bad guys. And wrong information (how do we know it's 'wrong' anyway) is spreading around like wildfire. And its human nature to stereotype: we generalize and then we demand revenge and we get stuck in the same vicious cycle.

We are the new generation, It should end with us.
Side-track " The end is not a question of if, but when"

So when would it? If we all kept an open mind, and accepted our differences and tolerated one another and exacted justice against the individual rather than the community, when would it stop?

Pain and Project Runway

This was an incredibly fast and painful week. Work was at a all-new level, which was cool..but the pain from my growing wisdom tooth was unimaginable.

I couldnt open my jaw wide enough cos of the pain. It didnt help that I could only have soup and open my jaw so much..and so i was bloody cranky..out of hunger! But oh well..had it checked out on Thursday by Dr Vijayan and he took one quick look and said, YUP..you have an infection..great..So he gave me amoxycillin and paracetamol. The painkillers saved my Thursday night..could eat in peace and could work in more peace. Wish means that I dont have to stick with 'oral fluids' as much now..bring on the mutton!

What was more 'fierce' than the blooming toothache was the finale show of Project Runway Season 4, which i FINALLYYY got to watch last night, on Channel 5 (non-cable channel) of all places! (I know there's Youtube.com, but I never got around to watching it that way!)

I knew that Christian Siriano won ages ago, but I loooveeeddddd his reaction!
When Tim Gunn said "You won!! Can you believe it?" and Christian just so coolly remarked "Yessss"..looveee that guy! He's SO camp! I love the self-confidence that designers just ooozee..He totally reminds me of my friend Mahima from New Delhi, i loove her attitude!

Here's his reaction (first time embedding something on my blog, lets hope it works!)

Chippy's got a sweet parking spot

After 6 months of not taking my car out to work (as a result of having resigned from a roving Sales job to move to a desk-bound one), I've gotten Season Parking near my office building. I did enjoy taking public transport for the past few months, and I especially enjoyed the morning bus-ride to work (more like the 20min nap on the bus, followed by an awesome cup of 80cent coffee from the coffeeshop nearby hehe). Going home, not so much, cos I tend to get motion-sick if i cant fall asleep on the bus..that coupled with my hunger, and im quite a cranky-terror monster once I get home. hehe...Sooooo, the season parking at 80dollars looks poised to work out really well for me.

Except for the ERP charges. So I gotta change my schedule a bit, no more 9am to 630pm, more like 745am to 530pm. Will avoid spending $3.50 every day by just changing my work schedule this way (that comes up to $70 a month!), quite a good incentive to get out early,..the LTA sure thought about the road-tax scheme quite well..damnit, no loopholes..Plus, im hoping the traffic situation would be a lot kinder to me in the morning, during my drive to work.

Anyway, thats just as well, cos if I start work first thing in the morning, i'll have a much longer evening to do all my other random stuff. My work-life balance objective is being met inch-by-inch =)

I'm gonna try it out for the next 6 weeks. Let's see!

Life is too short..to get scared by movies

I met Vani and Basti for dinner last and the conversation moved to movies, like Das Experiment and another Bengali film. I avoided contributing to the conversation cos I know that I get way too affected by movies in general.

My brain tends to get fixated over any movie that I watch, and I tend to replay the scenes in my head over and over again.

I remember how upset I had become after watching Trainspotting. It's a fantastic movie, with a brilliant end, no doubt, but there were certain scenes that still haunt me today. The other movie I watched recently was also brilliant, starring Matt Damon, called The Good Sheperd. The scene were they violently throw the girl out of the plane freaked the hell out of me. (She was pregnant)

I'm very selective over what I watch cos of what it does to me for the days/weeks after that. I love comedies/action movies, cos they purely just entertain. Case in point: Starsky and Hutch =D. Life is too short for me to feel sad. If I want to feel sad, I watch the news. There's more reality there that I can handle, and I dont need it to be put into a movie just so that people in show business can get paid. But of course, I do acknowledge that a film is among the best media (after photographs, in my opinion) for the lay person to learn about issues happening in the world, or at least feel interested about the issues.

I spoke to Johannes after dinner and he told me that he had watched 'Das Experiment' on television last Friday...and he immediately said to me 'that movie isnt for you'. =p

I think I picked up something from my Dad. When I was a teen, I'd ask my Dad to come join us for Jurassic Park etc ..and he'd say 'if it's not a comedy, im not joining..life is too short to feel scared or miserable'. I truly feel for what he says now, and I even imbibe it. These days, horror/thriller movies are strictly off my list, sad films I avoid as much as possible..movies about issues I still watch, but anything that tries to show torture etc, I strictly avoid. Life's too short, just watch the BBC if you want your thrills.

Finally....

After a long time, i'll be having one of those chillax Fridays out. Not gonna go home straight after work, NoSireeee..
I'm going to go for TeaJoy, have brought my games. Looking forward for some laughs and talking-talking.

And after that, going to go watch James Bond-Quantum of Solace with Vani and Basti and his housemate. I havent watched a movie in ages!! I have NO idea what this movie is gonna be about, and i dont really care. I just want some popcorn and icecream (no dinner =p) Looking forward to that!

But I'm REALLY looking forward to Jan 15, 2009. heheheee =D

It's Obama!

Funny how the non-American world got sooo caught up with the US Elections, not sparing me! Every morning for the past year, I'd get up to watch World News America (with Matt Frei) on BBC to 'get the latest on what's happening in and around America' ..hehe
My colleagues and I watched Obama give his acceptance speech, while we had our lunch in the office pantry (has a nice flat-screen installed in there). And I was so inspired to do some good in the world..it's been a while since I've felt the feelings that only a good leader can stir within us..

A colleague asked me why I supported Obama (even though i wouldnt get to vote). Maybe cos he's got some connections to Kenya (like me, being born there and lived there for some time in my life)..maybe 'cos he's a minority, who shares the same skin colour as me, maybe 'cos he's lived in Asia and I just feel that he understands the world since he's seen Asia...and then I told my colleague "I'm supporting him for obviously all the wrong reasons, but I vote with my heart" , and she said "yeah i think almost everyone does"..and gosh..i'm really looking forward to travelling to the States now, for some reason =)

the acceptance speech was so touching and inspiring, and when it finally hit me that a dark-skinned family would be in the White House, that was amazing..could this be one of the stronger ending chapters of white subjugation? nooo idea

but it was fun discussing it with Johannes:
Yamini Prakash says: ze black man won!!
Yamini Prakash says: :D
Johannes Ziegler says: yeah i am already getting a minority complex

hehe..johannes (the white guy) can be such a nut as well =p

Che-Che-Chennai!!

I finally got to get out of Singapore!! I visited my family, particularly my grandparents, in Chennai over the long weekend. Saturday to Tuesday. Was awesome and just about enough!

Man i love my grandpa =) This is him on his most favourite chair in the world..very simply called the "easy-chair".
And here's my grandma showing her beautiful set of teeth. I finally told my grandparents about Johannes (main reason i went to india) and they said we looked good together...but of course =p

A whole bunch of us also went to the Golden Temple at Vellore..and dude, it's really GOLDEN! well..gold-plated actually and its really beautiful. 2.5 hours or so from Chennai city and the highways are wonderful to drive on!

I also did my Indian shopping for the next year. Cried as always when I said Bye to my grandpa, but not as bad as i would usually. I'm gonna see him again next year, for suuureee baby