This post is not connected to any self-help nonsense. Nor am I interested in medical or psychylogical issues and their treatment. One could make sexual associations and under usual circumstances I would be okay with it. But not now. Now I'm just stressed. Not with physical exertion but with dealing with a thousand passive aggresive tiger moms with pta stripes whose idea of fun is to pick apart other people's ideas. For fun. I wonder what they do when they are mad.
Power does make a lot of people feel better about themselves. And to some extent, we all enjoy a taste of power when we look back at our youth and feel happy about how far we've come. The genealogy of power is fun to read about, and power plays are certainly amusing to observe at a distance. But being in the thick of it is just awful. Especially if you're like me who likes to see smiles all around and never mind the world going to pot.
Not gonna happen, you say? I need to wake up and smell the daisies, you say? Maybe I will. Then I will give those daisies a big fat smile for being so darn cheerful.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Life/ Furniture
If you have lived in student housing you know what the room looks like: university issued twin bed with metal frame, sofa bed in a matte brown or some other unbearably drab color, vinyl tiles on the floor and kitchen counter.
Move up to the newly employed singles scene where monochrome rules in black sofa and white or animal print rug. Stainless steel (new) shiny appliances add a bright note. A few well placed knickknacks on low tables speak of a well traveled resident. Books placed strategically scream 'this is an intelligent person who wants you to know they read'. And of course, a large screen TV.
Then comes the family. The white rug is replaced with one in neutral colors, preferably with a pattern of some sort to hide the stains. The knickknacks are replaced with boxes of tissues, always within quick grasp. Crayon doodles on walls mark the creative genius growing up in the household. Plastic covers on antique wooden tables, locks on toilets and drawers, a swing or a high chair where the wine rack used to be.
Finally, as the locks come off and rooms get divvied up, a well used recliner is placed next to the natuzzi sofa. Look closely and you'll see that the recliner is placed directly facing the TV. Almost as if the person sitting on is o a desert island. Look closer and you'll see the dents in the sofa next to it. Where others used to sit and argue over the remote. Arguments that have now ceased. Seats that lie open.
Move up to the newly employed singles scene where monochrome rules in black sofa and white or animal print rug. Stainless steel (new) shiny appliances add a bright note. A few well placed knickknacks on low tables speak of a well traveled resident. Books placed strategically scream 'this is an intelligent person who wants you to know they read'. And of course, a large screen TV.
Then comes the family. The white rug is replaced with one in neutral colors, preferably with a pattern of some sort to hide the stains. The knickknacks are replaced with boxes of tissues, always within quick grasp. Crayon doodles on walls mark the creative genius growing up in the household. Plastic covers on antique wooden tables, locks on toilets and drawers, a swing or a high chair where the wine rack used to be.
Finally, as the locks come off and rooms get divvied up, a well used recliner is placed next to the natuzzi sofa. Look closely and you'll see that the recliner is placed directly facing the TV. Almost as if the person sitting on is o a desert island. Look closer and you'll see the dents in the sofa next to it. Where others used to sit and argue over the remote. Arguments that have now ceased. Seats that lie open.
Forty, Flirty and the Hottie
This year I will turn forty. I didn't notice my twentieth and the thirtieth barely notched a raised eyebrow. But this approaching birthday and all the jokes, stereotypes and baggage that it brings is giving me the pre-menopausal equivalent of hot flashes.
So what's the big deal about forty anyway? It's not the beginning of life regardless of what diehard optimists might claim. It is not the end, 'coz believe me, the way medical research is going, we are going to be extending this long miserable yet exciting experience called life by many decades. So why are my panties in such a bunch? Is it because for the first time I am looking back at what I have done and how much I managed to leave undone? Promises I made to myself that have been kept and those that have been cast aside with some self-placating excuse? Is it the fact that even if I starve for a whole day, and I mean real starving, without a morsel of food, I still don't look model thin the day after, like I used to in my 20's?
Dickens would have liked that previous sentence. Whatever. The point is, I have been feeling real blue. Restless. As if fun and excitement and real accomplishment is passing me by and I'm just twiddling my thumbs. So I pick up after the kids, yell "dinner time" or "breakfast" at different hours of the day and wonder, is this all there is?
Dear reader, if your mind is wandering in the midst of all this self-pity, fear not. I'm about to tell you the flirty and hottie part. As you know, we were in Miami on vacation and I crashed the set of a tv series. After hanging around like a teenage groupie, I managed to get a photo with the handsome lead character, played by a true hollywood hottie.
I pride myself on looking for substance, not the glitter of outer beauty. But damme if I wasn't all flushed from a close encounter with the hottie kind. Of course, all that hormone activity probably killed my brain cells. Because after the photo, all I could think of saying to this actor was "did you know there's a really good restaurant right behind your set"? So much for oratorial brilliance. He's going to remember me forever.
So there's my story. Still forty, hopefully a hottie though rather rusty with the flirty part. How do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice ;-)
So what's the big deal about forty anyway? It's not the beginning of life regardless of what diehard optimists might claim. It is not the end, 'coz believe me, the way medical research is going, we are going to be extending this long miserable yet exciting experience called life by many decades. So why are my panties in such a bunch? Is it because for the first time I am looking back at what I have done and how much I managed to leave undone? Promises I made to myself that have been kept and those that have been cast aside with some self-placating excuse? Is it the fact that even if I starve for a whole day, and I mean real starving, without a morsel of food, I still don't look model thin the day after, like I used to in my 20's?
Dickens would have liked that previous sentence. Whatever. The point is, I have been feeling real blue. Restless. As if fun and excitement and real accomplishment is passing me by and I'm just twiddling my thumbs. So I pick up after the kids, yell "dinner time" or "breakfast" at different hours of the day and wonder, is this all there is?
Dear reader, if your mind is wandering in the midst of all this self-pity, fear not. I'm about to tell you the flirty and hottie part. As you know, we were in Miami on vacation and I crashed the set of a tv series. After hanging around like a teenage groupie, I managed to get a photo with the handsome lead character, played by a true hollywood hottie.
I pride myself on looking for substance, not the glitter of outer beauty. But damme if I wasn't all flushed from a close encounter with the hottie kind. Of course, all that hormone activity probably killed my brain cells. Because after the photo, all I could think of saying to this actor was "did you know there's a really good restaurant right behind your set"? So much for oratorial brilliance. He's going to remember me forever.
So there's my story. Still forty, hopefully a hottie though rather rusty with the flirty part. How do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice ;-)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Hello 2011!
This has been quite a hiatus. Many changes have happened. In the past six months, I went to India for two months and came back with the realization that I'm significantly different from my mother.
Organized my second International Night at school. Nearly 300 people attended, which might be the entire population of the valley. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but the auditorium was bursting at the seams. And the food disappeared in the blink of an eye. Minus some AV snafus at the start, a pretty good evening. Do I want to do this next year? Hmm..
Phenomenal birthday celebrations organized by my handsome and charming husband Parvez. Three birthday cakes, and never mind the muffin top(s) :-) Yay!
Another Mitra trip to India. This time I organized the trip but didn't actually travel. Again, is this something I want to do every year? Hmmm...
Finally, the best for last: my brush with Hollywood!! While on vacation in Miami, we find out from the hotel bartender that Bones is shooting in Miami and yours truly vows to meet Booth and Brennan. Well, turns out they weren't coming in till the following week (darn it!) but I did meet Hart Hanson. Here's how it went down.
Me (to HH's assistant): Do you think I could say hi to Mr Hanson? I love his show!
HH's Asst: Let me go ask him. (She walks over to where he's sitting, leans over and whispers) There's a lady who wants to say hi to you.
HH: Does she look crazy? (This is probably what he said, I only overheard the crazy part and deduced the rest. Huzzah for years of eavesdropping on whispered conversations in class!)
HH turns to look to where I'm standing, gets up and comes over... I say,
Me: I'm not crazy, you see..
HH: Oh you heard that? (We all laugh a little uncertainly)
Me: I love your show, especially the writing. Great actors too..
HH: Yes, Emily and David are great. They'll be here next week, but I can't tell you where.
Me: Oh that's too bad! We are leaving tomorrow :-(
HH: Where are you from?
Me: Seattle. Any chance you guys will be shooting there?
HH: (Thinks a little)..er, no. I had to think there a little, but no.
Me: Oh well. May I ask, will Brennan and Booth get together at the end? You know, after the elevator scene?
HH: (looks a little startled)
Me: Yea, I like to do research so I read up on the show....I generally don't watch frivolous TV..
HH: (by now he's recovered his poise) Well you know, they started out as a family and that's where they'll be at the end, a family...
Me: Thank you for taking a picture with me, and make more shows!
HH: Smiles and runs to the safety of his chair and monitor. Thank you Hart Hanson, you are not only a genius but also a gentleman!
Up next: Flirting with forty and two minutes with a Hollywood Hottie
Organized my second International Night at school. Nearly 300 people attended, which might be the entire population of the valley. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but the auditorium was bursting at the seams. And the food disappeared in the blink of an eye. Minus some AV snafus at the start, a pretty good evening. Do I want to do this next year? Hmm..
Phenomenal birthday celebrations organized by my handsome and charming husband Parvez. Three birthday cakes, and never mind the muffin top(s) :-) Yay!
Another Mitra trip to India. This time I organized the trip but didn't actually travel. Again, is this something I want to do every year? Hmmm...
Finally, the best for last: my brush with Hollywood!! While on vacation in Miami, we find out from the hotel bartender that Bones is shooting in Miami and yours truly vows to meet Booth and Brennan. Well, turns out they weren't coming in till the following week (darn it!) but I did meet Hart Hanson. Here's how it went down.
Me (to HH's assistant): Do you think I could say hi to Mr Hanson? I love his show!
HH's Asst: Let me go ask him. (She walks over to where he's sitting, leans over and whispers) There's a lady who wants to say hi to you.
HH: Does she look crazy? (This is probably what he said, I only overheard the crazy part and deduced the rest. Huzzah for years of eavesdropping on whispered conversations in class!)
HH turns to look to where I'm standing, gets up and comes over... I say,
Me: I'm not crazy, you see..
HH: Oh you heard that? (We all laugh a little uncertainly)
Me: I love your show, especially the writing. Great actors too..
HH: Yes, Emily and David are great. They'll be here next week, but I can't tell you where.
Me: Oh that's too bad! We are leaving tomorrow :-(
HH: Where are you from?
Me: Seattle. Any chance you guys will be shooting there?
HH: (Thinks a little)..er, no. I had to think there a little, but no.
Me: Oh well. May I ask, will Brennan and Booth get together at the end? You know, after the elevator scene?
HH: (looks a little startled)
Me: Yea, I like to do research so I read up on the show....I generally don't watch frivolous TV..
HH: (by now he's recovered his poise) Well you know, they started out as a family and that's where they'll be at the end, a family...
Me: Thank you for taking a picture with me, and make more shows!
HH: Smiles and runs to the safety of his chair and monitor. Thank you Hart Hanson, you are not only a genius but also a gentleman!
Up next: Flirting with forty and two minutes with a Hollywood Hottie
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