Tags are not effort intensive.

After the partially intentional and utterly unavoidable break of almost a month, she returns to strike the keys and punch the space bar. Only to realize that there is so much pent up that wants to be told. Since no thought can lay singular claim to being first and foremost, preference is being given to an external stimulus which suits the lazy mind perfectly :) Tagged by Mystic Pizza to do the following:
Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like). Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better. Now don’t forget to read the archived posts and leave comments.
Post on family-umm, none! Don't really use this space to talk about them. Hmm. maybe I will. So this will be linked to a post in future. Moving on....
Friend- The inimitable G, with whom I spent 20 glorious days in Europe- it won't have been half as much fun and adventurous, if not for her!
Myself- Well, couple of things here- my quirks and the stuff I can't stand.
My love- Since no mush permeates this space, this and that is what I wrote. I'm just not allowed to be romantic-Honest :P
Stuff I like- Funny experience, A movie that made me think and something I really liked doing.
5 Friends that I'd like to tag: Meravalablog, Sheen, Makdee, Saumil, Journeying through the within.
2 People I interact with, on & off the blog frequency: Mahogany, Footnotes on page 4.
Phew.
Catch you on the other side of the commercial and habitual break called the weekend.

Before & After

Name: Neo

Family Name: Ikea

Color: Dark Brown (mahogany, maybe?)



So.
This is what a bookshelf with two doors looks like.
Complete.
Now we know.

Send me to Rehab

The thing about blogging is that it’s rather addictive- in both active and passive forms.
If you’ve cared to notice, my blogging frequency for this month has surpassed the number of posts I wrote in all of 2006. Earlier the question was umm, should I blog this month? Now, there are times when during a regular day I catch myself framing a sentence for my blog or thinking whether what I just said or did was blog-worthy. Waste of time-not really. Evolution of expression- arguably. Addiction- most definitely.

I like reading a few blogs and sometimes when I over-do it (read 5-6 posts one after the other), it wreaks havoc-I can hear stray phrases and sentences- incoherent little devils that float in my mind-it’s almost as exhausting as having long conversations with people, till your phone battery gives up and as addictive as multiple doses of caffeine! (Would have compared it to smoking-but nah..passive smoking isn’t addictive-esp not when smoke makes me sneeze. A lot.).

I do think I’ll have to trim the habit down a bit because these are not the only things I read. The mainstay still remains the world of books, newspapers and magazines. Those I shall definitely not give up or cut back on. And since my day job teaches me that my basket is finite and that for whatever I put in, something needs to go out- I’m wondering whether my greedy self can give up anything at all.

This year giving up exercise is not an option-fatness makes me banish the thought. Sleep defies all restraint & will power .Shopping is a necessary evil. Cooking-a cathartic timepass. TV is hardly visible behind the nine yard sarees & the 2 cm radius bindis that dominate the screen most of the time. What then do I sacrifice at the altar..who shall be the (blog)ificial lamb?

Aha, I think it will have to be Facebook-the connector to all acquaintances. I think I can save about 15 minutes a day if I don’t respond to any requests, do not take any mindless quizzes and ignore all application requests which ask me if my friends think I’m a hottie; what type of a stuffed animal I am and whether I think I am a bookshelf.
Now…which blog should I read in those 15 mins??

Hello Vice-How Nice (Last Day in Paris-12th Sept)

The last day in the French capital served us some measures of vice and some of virtue-won't really call them equal but well, it was a fairly palatable mix.

Of Sloth & slumber

Because we had the laziest start to a day

Of Sleepless charity

Because I spent a near sleepless night, sneezing but smothering most of my sneezes for fear that I might wake up the other 5 people in the room.

Of Expensive Expression of love

Because we sent postcards to our nears & dears (& later, discovered that we had reached home before they did!)

Of Spectacular views & God's glory

Because we preferred the view of the mortal kingdom (Paris from Sacre Coeur hill top) than the gateway to the heavenly one (the Basilica of the Sacred Heart)

Of gluttony and greed

Because I consumed in excess- the 3 C's I love- coffee, crepe & caramel custard.

Of lust on sale

Because we took the train around Montmartre and went through Pigalle- the red light district of Paris and because I found the openness of the "business" conduct shocking.

Of the prudish image in the mirror

Because I found myself wondering how I'd react to Amsterdam if and when I visit.

Of kindness & kinship

Because the Indian guy who asked us our nationality was not making a pass at us, but rather trying to warn us because his bag got stolen in a bus and he didn't want us meeting a similar fate.

Of moving on , yet not moving away

Because though I left Bercy, Paris in the fall of 2007-I know this is not the last we've seen of each other.

Au Revoir, Paris- Phir Milenge.

Power Of One

M and I added excitement to our lives by welcoming two glass showcases into the living room There’s a bookshelf too- wait till you hear the story on that one….

Just to be clear, this is all Ikea furniture- cheap, functional etc- where you pick up doors, shelves, cabinets etc on your own and wait 2 weeks for them to get delivered. (don’t worry, these facts are relevant to the story).
So, there were these two delivery guys who came and started assembling the showcases. After they finished, they turned their attention to the book shelf- while they were assembling that one, one of them had an a-ha moment and he asked us “where do you want me to put the door”- I found that absurd..surely there was only one place for a door to be put, esp. since we weren’t asking him to plug it any room, but on a bookshelf with had grooves for the door and that sort of a thing.

And then it became clear- they had got only 1 door with them (one door for a twin door book shelf!!) And then he came up with the most hilarious thing I’ve heard in a long time- “Should I put it on the left side or right side”) Who orders a bookshelf with one door?? Apparently M did!!
Ooh M. He assumed that being the door package for the "twin door bookshelf", it would be a set of two- which it wasn't.

With the result, that now I have a one door bookshelf, which looks like a “kaana” pirate, right there in my living room!! I have named him Neo-the One. Why do I say "him"- well, just that I haven't heard of any fair maidens who answer to the call of Neo.
Coming back to Neo- neo, we can’t let it be that way-as much as it amuses us. We did go back to Ikea, where we bought another door, which will arrive in 2 weeks.
Please don’t judge me for naming bookshelves. I’m not psychotic. Just plain bored.

************************************************************************************

All in good fun. Is there any other kind of fun?

Exhibit 1 Good friend D's response to my status message "on a protest march against boredom"

D: ghar pe bhi boredom? why dont u chat with x:P
QQ: oh then that would mean i have to make another entry on my anon blog...won't it?:P
D: ur anon blog link doesnt work
QQ: LOL LOL LOL you dumbass...it wont be an anon blog if i post the link there..would it?
D: :-( haan

Exhibit 2 Random request on Facebook:

ABC sent a request using What does your birth date mean?:ABC wants you to find out what your birth date means.

Hmm. Let me think. It means I was on born on that day. It means that there is proof that there is life on this planet that started on that day. It means that if you let people make useless applications, there's a good chance they'll do just that. It also means that I will twist your neck silly if you send me these random requests again.