Friday - 27th Nov

What a wonderful day. Rainy in bits. Breakfast with Penguin and the Viking (or is it the Thug? I'm losing track of the blog names!) followed by home cooked lunch at my place.

Followed by DVD viewing of Chupke Chupke.

Followed by a 4 -5 km run, the most sustained and break free run so far.

And then an ideally light dinner and ice cream with friends.

And freezing plan for cycling by the beach with D tomorrow.

And did I mention this was a 3 day weekend, so we had the day OFF in Singapore?

So here's to 2 more days of utter pfaff :)

Monday to Saturday - House hunting news

Another consolidated topic is house hunting. Admittedly, the search outcome has not been ideal so far, but honestly I've seen some houses P and I really like and one of the 4 waitlisted options must work out over the next 1 week. If not, then we have a clear back up in place.

Yay again!!!

Monday to Thursday

I know this is cheating, but I have consolidated points to list.

Over last 2 weeks following the corp athlete program, have kept to following rituals unfailingly:
1) Running 4 km once every 2 days
2) Eating something every 2-3 hours and avoiding junk at bad times of the day.

Yes I am obsessed with good health and being in shape, but I love that I'm able to consistently move in that direction and stay committed to the cause. So yay!

Sunday - Nov 22

Chilled out day which followed a brilliant Saturday of interesting company and food.

Also finally broke the egg curse - i.e ate self made scrambled egg without subsequent tummy upset (which has been the norm for some 10 years now).

Saturday

Woohoo. The day started with some good news. And my very kind boss is currently lugging P's guitar here to Singapore across the Atlantic. So yay to that.

I shall run this evening. Shall. Shall. Shall.

Friday Happy post

Main Talli, main talli, main talli ho gayi.

It's been just about a year or more since drinking was indulged in. So this was indeed, a brilliant Friday.

Also, you know, it's Friday. So. Yay!

Week so far

Has been far from happy to be honest.

It does feel (naively so, one might tell me) like this is the most stressed I've ever been all my life. Also A's very straightforward observation of "you look terrible" (ref the growing dark circles and generally pallid complexion) delivered to my face today could've plunged me into deeper gloom had I not had other more preoccupying matters on the mind. Imagine.

But I AM glad to report that I've begun to run 4 km once every 2 days after the corp athlete training. Also ensuring I keep up my glucose levels with snacks between meals. One apple every day and 1-2 glasses of milk/ yogurt drinks. The endorphins help pep me up even on really low days. And I promise to keep up this routine no matter what.

So there's my sad little update for the week. Sorry if I've depressed the crap out of someone who came here to read something happy :S

Sunday

Actually saw house number 2 and 3 today. V came along for one of them and helped the veto process.

I have to admit, the optimism from the Saturday post isn't misplaced at all. Each house so far has been better than before.

Also this week has got to be fab. Reasons cannot be disclosed in a public domain. Pls to blindly trust for now. In case of keen interest, email and I shall let you know.

Saturday

Got started on house hunting. Finally. The 1st few houses can be depressing and confusing, but having a friend come along helps in the absence of a husband type person to bounce ideas off.

The Penguin accompanied me on Saturday and got me out of the dingy disaster that was termed a 2BHK before one could say "Shazaamm" (or before I could burst into tears).

But it has started. Which means it has to end. And well, at that.

Don't ask me. I find it tough to explain this weird optimism myself. Touch wood.

Friday Happy post

Apart from the innate Fridayness that Friday brought along, I worked from home on a beautiful rainy day and got all of my pending work sorted out. A friend came home for lunch and we happily stuffed faces with home made food and conversation. The Penguin made aloo parathas for dinner which were polished off with the raita I made.


Even before all of the above happened, the day arrived with this inexplicable feeling of brilliance which lasted all day long. And deprived as I often am of brilliance, I shall be the last to wonder how and why.

Fridays --> Happiness.

Hence proven.

Thurs happy post

My 1st big project for the year was kickstarted with a group presentation I'd been slogging over for a bit. Went off much better than expected.

There was the minor matter of my pressing the 'end call' button instead of 'unmute' when I was posed with a question by the super boss. Career limiting move notwithstanding, the otherwise staid conf call broke out into laughter when I got back into the call in a nervous rush and confessed to the group my clear lack of technological prowess. Entertained people across 5 time zones in the process.

If that's not a happy day, I don't know what is.

Wednesday happy post

Went to this training at work called the corporate athlete program. Very inspired to live life in a way that does more justice to my health and relationships with people. Happy day despite work overdose in evening due to all day training.

Tues happy post

So we threw this sepprise party for D, V's girl.

Her Bday is Thurs this week, so over the weekend I made up this awesome convincing story about how I need a woman's opinion on this house I had to see on Tues evening and could she pls come with me. V gathered her other friends, Penguin found me a legit house near the restaurant I was to drag D to, and she honestly bought all of it. Honestly, she didn't notice it was a surprise until we were literally at the table where the gang was waiting for us! :D


Evil tricks like this run in my blood I think :D


Brilliant Tuesday this has been :-)

Monday Happy post 2!!!

So much happiness. I might faint and fall down from the giddiness of it all. No i'm not being sarcastic.

The cousin with the 3 year old kid visits in December and will likely bunk with me. The flatmate is conveniently out then, so yay to not worrying about disturbing the poor thing.

This is the 2nd time the 3 year old nephew will see me. And I'll be damned if I don't make a lasting impression on him. In no time, everyone will know I'm his favorite aunt.

(I need to ask my mother if this competitive thing runs in our family. Really.)

Monday happy post.

Accomplished something very significant but cannot talk about it until plan goes into action over next 2 days. More to come tomorrow.

For now, *Evil Grin* at being 80% en route to pulling off this brilliant stunt.

Sunday Happy post

Had the most incredible pumpkin cake made by the Penguin's colleague.
Slept without being woken up by delivery man ringing the doorbell or upstairs people drilling holes into their floor at 8.30 am.
Spoke to S for very long, after very long.



Did I mention, I love Sundays?

Saturday Happy post

Learned my 1st ever Punjabi sentence.

"Thwadda naam ki aan?"

(aka what's your name?)


By next weekend I'll learn how to say "Stop beating your brother". Isn't that cool? (albeit useless for a few years at least)

Friday happy post

It's a Friday.

Need I say more?

Good news bytes: Day 2

A very good friend might move to Singapore in a matter of 3-4 months. It's wonderful news not only because I'd have a great friend around the corner, but also because this is something he's wanted for a really long time.

Here's to wishes being granted, and to prayers coming true. :)

Resolutioning...

I've realized this month is going to be crazy personally and professionally. In the spirit of taking charge of my own destiny and all, and to avoid plunging into deep blue depression, here's my plan.

Each day I promise to post about 1 thing that made me happy in the day. As a reader, you do not care, and that's cool. But I need to be able to come back here and NOT see more depressing crap.

Actually, crap is fine, so long as it's happy.

So today is day 1.

My FB status lines have off late reflected the murkiness of my moods. Everyday there's something new teetering on the edge of 'not so great' that suddenly degenerates into 'outright pathetic' and I put up a new angry status on FB.

Now the younger brother is on FB. (The mother, thankfully, is not)

After days of silently observing his sister's angst (anger he's used to, angst is new) he finally posted today on my status saying "dude, your status lines are starting to freak me out. we need to talk"

Like most men in my life, the brother is an inexpressive moron. But while on one hand, I'm feeling stupid at having worried him so, on the other hand, I'm secretly thrilled that something I said elicited a concerned response from him. Turns out after all the years of not being there for him and of barely staying in touch, he does love me after all :)

I'm going to put myself to sleep on that happy note. :)

Good night to you too ...

Rain...

The most incredible part of coming to work these days is sitting by a window. So when the rain starts in a distant corner of the sky visible through the window, you can see the landscape start to gray out. Tall buildings, trees, highways - all gradually blend into the vast gray rainy backdrop until they disappear.

And suddenly, you see drops hit the very window you're at. And you know it's here.

Happiness, I think, is just this.

(Of course, there is the chance that you're home at the very same time, curled up with good music, a book and a cuppa tea in hand. But let's not get carried away, shall we?)

A few years back...

About this time...

1) I took my 1st ever alone vacation out of the country - There's nothing like a solo trip to make you feel like a true grown up. I've travelled alone often, but there's always been someone at the other end I know I'm going to spend time traveling with. This was the 1st time I not only traveled alone, I also went around the place all by myself.

My host would get off work every evening and take me around non touristy places, but most of the bigger stuff was done all alone. I hate growing up and feeling like I have responsibilities most of the time, but I've never felt so grown up in a GOOD way ever before :-)

2) I met P: Apparently every time my parents went around Bombay to invite friends and relatives to our wedding, they'd get asked standard questions like "where's the boy", "where are boy's parents" and so on. Once the whole spread of locations had been laid out for the audience (Girl in Singapore, Boy in the US, Girl's parents in Bombay, Boy's in Madras), the 2nd obvious question would follow in utter shock - "How did this even come about!?!?!".

Wherein my mother would get to explain how her out of control daughter ran off on a solo trip to this country where she met the friend of a friend, and how they got talking and kept in touch over the distance after she came back and so on and so forth.

And how we now have what one could easily term 'ajab prem ki gazab kahaani'. Many thanks are being sent up into the atmosphere today. Many.