MEINE CORNER IN THE BLOG WORLD!

i want to know what is the limit to expect or do we expect nothing at all?! Suddenly, I am wondering if I am so selfish to have asked for the basic things. Today was horribly dull for me, a day i wish hadn't even dawned! Nothing sounded right...There was absolutely no mood to even eat.. Sometimes i wish there was a routine, something to do every single day. Though i have kept myself busy with 2-3 things for a week, sometimes not having anything to do in the morning and waking up just to wonder "what now?" is something i am unable to handle.. i have been told time and again to enjoy this time period but what about it to enjoy? Today I couldn't even bring myself to watch some TV. Just too mad about situation n absolutely despise the helplessness of it. Arrrrghhhhhh! How out of sync can i get!

I got home from a "Boot camp" class last week. I am not sure how many of you have ever been to one, but the experience is refreshing! Firstly we were outdoors in a nice open space near the pool with curious ducks that watched us more than any others! :)The warm ups were to run from one end to another, touch a tree and return! Then we were made into groups of 3. A set does abs, while the others do biceps, yet another group does lunges. All this for a minute and then we rotate! In the end we were asked to go in pairs, do the jumping jack and get back to place at the other end. After stretches, we are all set to head back home.(phew!) The beginning was hard but then you want to keep up with it and while in groups its always more encouraging. It was fun, I felt like a child running in the open ground and was reminded me of Physical training classes at school. I always liked teams, groups and this one specially where it doesn’t matter who you are. You meet a random group, one minu...

I recently learnt from a friend that a planned port in Dhamra (Orissa), will bring about ecological imbalance by killing a very rare species of turtle as it ruins their breeding place forever!!! I believe in what Greenpeace is fighting for, if you share the belief, please support them at this link. Thank you!

So besides the calendar year, is the birth anniversary....hence as I add on to my age tomorrow, here's an attempt to recollect how the past year has gone. -Loads of shopping -Fun with Bangalore and Dubai friends -The WEDDING itself : laughs and tears -Landed in USA -Boredom overwhelms on weekdays -San Francisco visit -17 mile drive -Joined aerobics -Lake Tahoe visit : first ever parasailing,jet skiing -Trip to Las Vegas -Visited Santa Barbara and Solvang -Finally completed my case study -Joined ICC as a volunteer -A California Driver License earned -Trip to Los Angeles and San Diego -New year party at a club ,first ever -Yet another assignment completed -Joined dance classes -Hubby's business trip -A small time course taken up -A new dance class And in the meanwhile -Home sickness -Earned some good friends -Painful paper problems -Potluck dinners -Mixed thoughts about this place -Learnt some decent cooking -Few physical issues -Grasping the local laws -Relocation : its thrill a...

Recently I realised how big a mistake it was to go by a professional and the vibes of the theme, ....the result, an embarrassment. The debate was presented in a lame manner. You know we shouldn't really care which party in the debate you support, as long as you have firm points and facts attached to it. So being on a dependant status, already sucks, especially if you are nurtured to become independent. To add salt to this injury, you have people querying when you would settle with a job , to which i want to say -" I don't make the rules ", but of course I can't, cos I don't want to be rude! Yea, so here you are present a debate as to why can't the spouse work and instead of conveying the spouses as a smart, intelligent individuals- whining weaklings was put across. so if the woman had a car , she wouldn't be stuck at home ( how lame)....but how can a 1 income household possibly maintain 2 cars? Even education is expensive these days, so how much ca...

As weird as it sounds, its true....definitely,the ads will support my thought....i was reading an article the other day on India Currents, where in an overweight lady had rightly pointed out that food is just too accessible these days.... for example ,stores that have nothing related to food, would still have an area for snacks or drinks! A continuity to that thought-provoking article, I noticed how you have to eat or drink more, just to keep away from food! Drink power stuff, don't diet just eat low calorie meals, low calorie sweets, low calorie dips, 0 transfat or baked chips, easy packed food, eat to reduce cholosterol or diabetes and what not! Is all this really helping or just adding on to how much we eat. I miss the simple eating habits...eat well on the breaks and rest your tummy....i feel like we are giving into unwanted eating habits and no wonder we are falling sick more n more! we better learn to fast in between and give our system a break.... Imagine, eating so much, th...

It is a story of how the harsh world crushes the heart of little ones - little ones who have the ability to think bigger than their school books, little ones who stop to stare at nature, little ones slower than their peers because they enjoy the tiniest things- little ones that are misunderstood! So how many of us can really think out of the box? How many of us can use our mind to create? how many of us bother to build our own worlds of imagination from the most boring letters n numbers? World encourages stereotype people- so if you top in school or college you are held is high regard but if you can't get to think out of norms, rules that is okay....you read and read what others have written seldom thinking of writing something new. Here we have the protagonist , a 9 year old boy,Ishaan - filled with joy - joy collected from nature! Ishaan is extremely intelligent I would say more than even his elders at times, cos his imagination is extraordinary. While his brother just works ha...

Being the last day of the year I couldn't resisiting putting up the last post for 2007. The beginning of reviw for this year would be the biggest event of my life - My wedding to cutie. Prior to wedding I had lots of fun with S&V, I had a shopping trip, there was a lot of excitement, I winded up from work in May, completed assignments before travel....June was the big month, July was relocation month and new beginning....we had lots of fun trips - Tahoe, Reno, Vegas, Santa Barbara and also the last one was LA n San Diego. I have made new friends, getting used to the life here, the driving I somehow managed to pass the test, wrote a TOEFL, read many novels,went for a dandia first time ever,got the chance to invite guests home and took up a volunteer job too. In short, quite an eventful year, but the new year would be challenging in terms of getting a job and better grip completely the life here.. Wishing all a Happy 2008 - hope it brings success, joy and peace! :-) Keep smiling ...

To begin with, animated movies have mostly been impressive,specially the Pixar ones are out of this world.The new addition to such creativity is Ratatouille!I guess I am late in viewing this movie, but nevertheless, here's what i want to review this flick as.... The protagonist is Remy ,a young rat, who desires more than a rat's life.He doesn't believe in "stealing" food from garbage, he desires sensible food like the humans...Remy apparently likes humans, learns to read,wants to walk on just 2 legs and manages to watch some TV....it is thru a cookery show where Remy learns about cook Gusteau and earns his inspiration to become a cook! Circumstances take Remy to Paris and to his delight to "Gusteau's Bistro". Remy can't resist to apply his cooking skills on a soup and the credit falls on Linguini, the garbage boy.It soon turns out that they become best of friends, Linguini is promoted to cook and while Linguini is hopeless at cooking, Remy instru...

Big Sur ,Santa Barbara and Solvang were our choices for a 2-day break during Thanksgiving holidays....Beautiful beyond words, you drive along the rocky coastline, the lovely Pacific , roads through mountains- very green adventure this time... We stopped at Carmel and Pfieffer beaches,the popular Rocky and Bixby bridges, many vista points in Big Sur - Freeway1 was just too good! We reached Santa Barbara by evening and by the time we pulled up some energy , it was time for dinner and decided to take a walk by the Stearns Wharf.they have a Flag project there, a sand sculpture had been done, the breeze is very chilly ,but the board walk is great in the day time.State Street is the highlight of the downtown, lit up for Thanksgiving and Christmas, its a pretty sight in the evenings! The following day we visited the Historic museum which is a decent overview of their barbaric forefathers, marine,mammal,plant life besides an astronomy center.We drove to Solvang , known as the Danish capita...

1st Sunday of November, the clocks moved 1 hour backward and the feeling is just great...like you are granted an extra hour and tested as to how you use it! this is the first time i am experiencing a time change and having slept till 10.30 i was guessing this sunday should be as lazy and eventless as usual...but i couldnt contain my excitement when i checked the time and it showed just 9.30, to add to it was the bright sun lighting up the mood , a long due hike was to be put into action ! :-) Mission peak was the nearest one and challenging enough for a first-timer like me. I was impressed by the crowd that hikes, specially kids who were at ease...i found the first half of the climb more challenging, getting used to the slopes- there are just about 4 resting spots in the entire climb and they are great to enjoy the view! Once at the peak, it gives you the "I am on top of the world" feeling...the salt marshlands can clearly be seen in white from that height and a lovely view o...

However sad this might sound, I had to put this thought down my blog....Halloween is today but we got "BOOO-ed" last night itself...it was a mutual feeling among most in San Francisco bay area! Mother Nature was the originator and she brought us an earth quake,a comparitively mild one of 5.6 according to Richter scale ! A little after 8pm, I was still tryin to finish my cooking and suddenly I felt a shake initially thought it was something to do with the above floor and then when it continued, I realised it was a quake ,atleast a tremor....that moment I was panicking, I didnt know if it was right to be inside, run out or look for the keys or take my mobile with me....it was my first ever experience! I must say inspite of the shake I saw , hardly anything was damaged and most of the things were still in place...anyways I managed to step out n speak to my neighbours and since I was alone, they could see the fear in me! one of them started speaking about a similar experience a f...

Its that dark feeling again, the lost,hopeless, the dimming light at the end of the tunnel...when you have worked so hard, when you have tried to do your best, but things still don't really turn out as planned, its the most disheartening state ever. The famous "why me" query bounces back...mind is filled with unanswered thoughts, lost its peace and now so hurt that basic routine things are disturbed , as a result health fails and its like a vicious circle. Life's such a challenge sometimes!

Set between the Redwood Forests of Santa Cruz, lies a mystery spot, where scientific theories of gravity and laws of physics fail to explain, where a permanently tilted home manages to stay on for years together cos of an unknown reason. As you climb up the hill you feel more than gravity pulling you away from the hill, as you enter the home, the force is even more stronger to fight against...its really strange out there! There is a pendulum set inside the house and instead of moving equal directions, you find it swinging more away from the house.You stand straight against the house, but you are tiled - now that can be optical illusion, since you are on a hill and a tilted house...there are points where I appear taller than I am and sometimes shorted than I am. Though we may call it magnetic force of some kind, the guides claim the magnetic compass does not work up there. Mobile phones are dead up there, what seems to be level to the eye, is not really level when you are experimenting....

The movie was a last minute plan for me last Saturday. Featuring George Clooney, the movie boasts classic acting, good dialogues and lives up to the drama cum thriller theme.... I was initially lost about the plot, cos all I could make out was the protagonist "a fixer" is a success as far as his company is concerned, but his personal traits that lets him down as to what he has become, sometimes reminded by his intelligent son. Broke and unhappy about himself, the man is completely committed to his employer. Once we understand the protagonist, we begin to sympathize with him due to unpleasant situations he goes through, day in and day out. He finally has to deal with one of the best lawyer colleague stuck in a mental trauma,Arthur Edens. This time instead of "fixing" the case,Clayton solves it, thus unwrapping the genuine plead of the unstable but brilliant lawyer. The movie grips your attention as it progresses, this flick is slow but watchable.

I have been occupied with something or the other and didnt really get a chance to blog. Since my hubby's bday was coming up at the start of this month, I wanted to complete stitching a kit. I had begun quite lazily on it, but managed to spend hours together every day and complete it on his birthday. I made some brownies too as a gift, but I somehow wasnt too impressed with the results. I imagined the brownies more softer than it turned out, anyways, since there were no complaints, i guess perfection shud be aimed for the next trial. We had amazing dinner for his bday at a new place called "temptations" at downtown famous for indo-chinese fusion, the food was yum and the gobi manchurian was the best I have had in ages...it was just too good! Besides that I am volunteering at ICC, a fun place and a pleasant lady to work with. My new adventure has been the VTA buses great timings n quite close to my points of stop. I once got a free ride since the bus was empty and I guess I...

"The Brave one" is the story of a common woman ,Erica, in a busy city - successful RJ, soon to be wed , happy girl whose life turns upside down cos of a senseless attack that results in the loss of her fiance. The mental trauma, the new person that she becomes due to this terrible event is the focus of the film.Inspite of the fact that she had lead her entire life in NewYork, she feels threatened at all times. To fight her fear she arms herself and eventually seeks her own revenge. There is total empathy with this character and the movie invokes thoughts of how unsafe socities have now become. Most of the movie is lead by Jodie Foster, who couldn't be better. Dialogues are excellent, specially those of the RJ show focusing on the ever-changing city and the comical ones of detective scenes. The movie has violence to watch out for and tag line was very well kept ...

I am more awake today, I slept so much in the weekend, like i had lost the privilege to sleep! (which is ofcourse nonsense).I have nothing particular to do. I got so mad last week when I wanted to blog about Las Vegas,almost at the end of my post, i lost the whole content! it was so discouraging....anyway coming back to the highlight - yea, we went on a trip to Vegas ,also popularly termed "Sin city" and "Lost wages", i particularly like the latter title.Mornings can be a lot os sight seeing with recreations of populars symbols from all over the world , photographers would probably love it.Some people take it slow in the pool ! It turns into quite a tease in the evening with the long queues at the night clubs and variety of shows.Famous pop artists Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera were in town besides a range of artists in comedy,magic shows strip shows and musicals.This ad i caught on their famous DUECE bus, said even Men love this show! I guess there's a...

That's one of the movies I watched in the weekend, a really good one...Its a brilliant story more like a surprising thriller; wherein you begin to perceive the world from one woman's eyes only to realise that her perception is wrong! Its mainly about two weak women, emotionally weak in different ways.. one mostly alone but alert (Barbara) and the other in a complete family home but mostly aloof (Sheba). Their meeting place is the school they teach in, while Barbara is a year short of retirement and Sheba is new to the school. Sheba commits the mistake of getting involved with a student, maybe just slightly older than her daughter, which becomes Barbara's blackmail chance to get closer to Sheba, pull her away from her world and carry out things in her manner.Not too far from the scandal and the shame Sheba has to go through, she realises that Barbara is no lesser than a "vampire"! The movie is a gripping,emotional drama and with great artists,Judi Dench and Cate B...

Besides the fortnightly adventures, the weekdays are pretty challenging...now when I say challenging, its not like you guys working in office and meeting the pressures/deadlines...my challenge is totally in the opposite direction....its about having loads of time in hand and figuring out what to do when, its about the challenge to become a housewife, I guess. Frankly, once you have worked, given half of your mind outside home, this state is quite demanding according to me. Besides the fact that the surroundings are new and you don't have a friends' circle of your own, the lack of schedule bothers me. Ofcourse, you would say, make a schedule of your own, but what to schedule to clean n cook, what to schedule to read a book or engage in another hobby? well for the positive side, I have started going to gym around the same time everyday and couple of days of the week I have joined a Step Dance and Sculpt class...it happens to be the only true work out for my mind and body and real...