I have often wondered, why people in general seem so happy that it is a Friday. The most obvious answer is, the weekend is here. This leaves us time to take a break from whatever we are doing and enjoy other activities. We plan to meet up with friends, go sample a new restaurant, catch up on our chores, cook something special or just relax.
For me personally, I start Friday with the feeling that, ok couple of more hours to finish whatever I need to do and then I m done! What a wonderful feeling to start a day. When I was working, I usually leave all the catching up and follow up jobs for Friday. I keep the meetings short, sort through the week's work and then make plans for the coming week. Honestly, writing this down, I m impressed myself. But I realize now that keeping things orderly comes naturally to me. This might be the one good gene passed on from my mother to me. And to my husband, this is his constant pain. My desire to arrange and plan and meticulously details things. Ok I m not going to drift now; lets discuss my (un?)attractive qualities some other time.
Like I was saying, all this planning and looking back gives me a lot of satisfaction. I feel there is nothing pending for the next day on my plate. This in turn makes me more relaxed, makes me start thinking of fun things to do, like crash at somebody's house for a nice chat, enjoy a good meal and lately do something outdoors. Also I get to spend time with Sathiq, watching a good movie or talking about our friends and family or something we both like. And lately I have been a regular at the mosque for the Friday namaaz. This is one thing I have come to enjoy a lot. I like the feeling of joining a lot of strangers, standing shoulder to shoulder and worshiping. I enjoy the piece and quiet and general feeling of belonging. Well the point is each of us have our own reasons to enjoy the weekend.
But then, why does Friday make it better than a Saturday? And I think it is because, we homosapiens in general, love the feeling that there is something around the corner, than actually having it. Like Shakespear said "Anticipation is better than prize" in Hamlet. You know that you have all these plans and at that point, the possibility in your mind is, I m going to enjoy doing this. When you actually do it, whether it lives upto your expectation is pure chance. I personally like what Keats had to say on the subject " Heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter...."
Bottom line - Fridays are the best!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
I can bake too!
After multiple attempts baking ready-to-bake cake mixes, I finally worked up my courage to attempt the Moist Honey Cake recipe (from scratch) which my friend, Nisha had put up on her blog - http://mykitchenantics.blogspot.com/2010/03/oh-honey-honey.html
Inspite of all my attempts to botch it ( I was so engrossed in using my new measuring cups that I passed over the rest of the metric system- forgot to convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit and ended up broiling the cake for a good 40 min. i was completely clueless when the fork i inserted came out cleanly since the cake was still in liquid state. finally caught on and then hiked up the temp n had the cake made in a total of 1:20 min),...ok let me continue; inspite of my (innocent) attempts to botch it, the cake came out so well, that I m eternally indebted to Nisha for the rest of my life. U see, the look on Sathiq's face after he tasted it was something I had never seen before ;)
to celebrate, i treated myself to Julie and Julia, a wonderful finale to my great day. I ended up identifying so much with Julia during the movie which i think marks a great movie. u see i m also in my late twenties, in and out of work, so caught up in trying to figure out what i want to do in life. All the while totally forgetting to appreciate the loving, constant surety in my life, my husband. so yesterday marked a change in my usual life pattern, where i made it all about appreciating sathiq. and to be honest, i found out i like giving a lot more than taking :)
i m not sure how long i will be in this state of mind. given what i know of myself, i will lapse into my self-centered, patronizing, demanding way of mind more often than not. But at least i will do a self-introspection often to see if i m taking the time to enjoy my life, the way it is.
Inspite of all my attempts to botch it ( I was so engrossed in using my new measuring cups that I passed over the rest of the metric system- forgot to convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit and ended up broiling the cake for a good 40 min. i was completely clueless when the fork i inserted came out cleanly since the cake was still in liquid state. finally caught on and then hiked up the temp n had the cake made in a total of 1:20 min),...ok let me continue; inspite of my (innocent) attempts to botch it, the cake came out so well, that I m eternally indebted to Nisha for the rest of my life. U see, the look on Sathiq's face after he tasted it was something I had never seen before ;)
to celebrate, i treated myself to Julie and Julia, a wonderful finale to my great day. I ended up identifying so much with Julia during the movie which i think marks a great movie. u see i m also in my late twenties, in and out of work, so caught up in trying to figure out what i want to do in life. All the while totally forgetting to appreciate the loving, constant surety in my life, my husband. so yesterday marked a change in my usual life pattern, where i made it all about appreciating sathiq. and to be honest, i found out i like giving a lot more than taking :)
i m not sure how long i will be in this state of mind. given what i know of myself, i will lapse into my self-centered, patronizing, demanding way of mind more often than not. But at least i will do a self-introspection often to see if i m taking the time to enjoy my life, the way it is.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Can it get any worse?
today morning i woke up with a bad feeling. things weren't going at the pace i expected it to. i m spending all most the whole day searching and applying for a new job. i just can't understand why it is taking so long. u really have to be in this position to understand how frustrating it is. i remember chatting with sudheesh about this yday. meera (his wife) is also in the same boat it seems. it feels like everyone else in your life has a purpose and you are the only one kind of staying static waiting for everyone else to come back.
today i applied for a decent position via an internet job board. minutes later i get a reply...i m all excited scrolling through it, and....they have sent me something else, which they felt is more suitable for me. o.k. deep breaths i tell myself. its a much much junior position than i was doing and at a much much lower rate. still i brace myself and call the recruiter, only to realize its for the same team that i had worked with 6 months earlier, through one more layer of vendor n a fraction of the earlier rate. This tops my experience as of now!
PS - I hope I don't get many more to beat this :(
today i applied for a decent position via an internet job board. minutes later i get a reply...i m all excited scrolling through it, and....they have sent me something else, which they felt is more suitable for me. o.k. deep breaths i tell myself. its a much much junior position than i was doing and at a much much lower rate. still i brace myself and call the recruiter, only to realize its for the same team that i had worked with 6 months earlier, through one more layer of vendor n a fraction of the earlier rate. This tops my experience as of now!
PS - I hope I don't get many more to beat this :(
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
oh about that therapy
i think i conveniently omitted to disclose the fact, that it took me just one chance to go back to my devious ways again...wen, oh wen am i going to learn my lesson!
six months later and still jobless
its been six months since i quit working to go chase my dream. now in retrospect, i m thinking about my (abrupt?) decision. would i do it again? most probably not, especially considering how dead the job hunt has been so far.
but still, feel that the time off and my trip had its benefits. like my cousin kept asking me, was my dream really something i wanted or did i want it so desperately, bcoz it was the next thing expected of me. honestly, i don't think i scored much in that introspection. but i think, i realized that i was being tad too sorry for myself.
the high point of the trip was the kind of people i met over a span of 2 months. the journey wasnt easy. it was filled with hopes and dreams and desires and ended in happiness for so many and disppointment for some of us. i don't think i have ever felt so powerless. but i had to look around and admire those around me who had it in them to dream again. i m yet to work up the courage to even look down that road again.
also, the time away gave me the time to get away from some of the things i needed to. it was like being in a 6 month long therapy. sort out some things and get past a few. not to mention, the quality time i spent with my grandmother. i m still amazed at how much she changed over a few years. she was a strong lady and still is in some respect. i still remember how much power she had over all of us and was someone nobody dared to be on the wrong side of. age has rewound her to be as helpless as a baby. but when we persevered and gave her time and lot of attention, we had glimpses of the old grandmother. she sang songs she had learned in school, told me stories about her family and in one lucid moment, she even told me not to care a hoot about what people expected from me. i m not sure how much she understood, but i m sure some corner of her mind, where things aren't clouded over yet, she is still looking after me. and thats enough for me.
but still, feel that the time off and my trip had its benefits. like my cousin kept asking me, was my dream really something i wanted or did i want it so desperately, bcoz it was the next thing expected of me. honestly, i don't think i scored much in that introspection. but i think, i realized that i was being tad too sorry for myself.
the high point of the trip was the kind of people i met over a span of 2 months. the journey wasnt easy. it was filled with hopes and dreams and desires and ended in happiness for so many and disppointment for some of us. i don't think i have ever felt so powerless. but i had to look around and admire those around me who had it in them to dream again. i m yet to work up the courage to even look down that road again.
also, the time away gave me the time to get away from some of the things i needed to. it was like being in a 6 month long therapy. sort out some things and get past a few. not to mention, the quality time i spent with my grandmother. i m still amazed at how much she changed over a few years. she was a strong lady and still is in some respect. i still remember how much power she had over all of us and was someone nobody dared to be on the wrong side of. age has rewound her to be as helpless as a baby. but when we persevered and gave her time and lot of attention, we had glimpses of the old grandmother. she sang songs she had learned in school, told me stories about her family and in one lucid moment, she even told me not to care a hoot about what people expected from me. i m not sure how much she understood, but i m sure some corner of her mind, where things aren't clouded over yet, she is still looking after me. and thats enough for me.
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