Meoooow!!

I have been MIA. I see Dora and Ender have kept this blog going on and it's time for some comeback blogs from Garfield. So here I am...

I read Dora's Winding Roads post and it made me think of my time this year. I remember when I was in undergraduate and my friends & I took this trip from MI to PA and on the way you pass through OH. The road was straight. So straight that it was very boring. Yep, that's how I almost feel like this year has been for me. Nothing special. Very status quo. Very boring. Very OH drive through moment. 

I am not complaining about the straight road. I know, we all want things we don't have. I like how Dora has had so many changes. Change to me is always a sign of hope, of new beginnings. Recently, Stewie & his bride moved to a new place and we got talking about what a PITA it is to move places. At that point I realized, while it is stressful, I have always enjoyed moving. I love moving to a new apartment or condo. The smell of freshly cleaned carpets and highly bleached toilets is just enough to get me to believe that the bad is behind and only the good lies ahead.

Huh. I just realized may be this weekend I should bleach the toilets and see if I have a new spark within. 

Yawn! Snooze time. 

Winding roads

Wow- this year has been quite interesting for me. All the transformations I started putting into motion about a year ago are finally materializing and I am simultaneously excited and nervous. Everything around me is changing. I moved to a new place. It is really cool and literally down the street from Ender. The sad part is I haven't visited with Ender yet. Totally terrible! Anyways- I am also starting a new job next week. The whole job change has me feeling very nostalgic. I have been with my current company for almost ten years. I can only equate my emotions to that of a high-school student when they are gearing up to leave home to go to college. It's that knowledge that there's a whole new world out there and that you are standing on the threshold of the rest of your life. But that doesn't stop the giant knot in the pit of your stomach from growing bigger every minute of every hour. I remember this feeling from a long time ago. Lots of deja vu. 

My life has been at quite a stand still for a long time now. Maybe for the last three years. I knew it was time to shake things up a little. Initiate change. And watch what happens. Well- according to chaos theory, this will lead to widely divergent results even without any random events. Since life is not a deterministic system to begin with, I am sure random events are not a conditional parameter. I am excited to see how the road will unwind now.

Dora Out! Woof!

Just a fun read

Today I went to see Garfield's favourite mechanic, Slavok. So far he has been my favourite too, but for very different reasons. So far he took care of my car just fine. Otherwise, he is not so funny with me.

Well, the blog is not about the mechanic, it is about how things turned out. I asked my dad to come to the mechanic shop, so he can give me a ride to go some where while my car gets fixed up. He had to drive all the way from South Austin to Pflugerville, that is like going from Austin to Temple TX...almost! I told my dad I need the headlight to be fixed (since the indicator has been on) and general checkup since I'll be on the road soon for a long drive. I like my car to be in good condition before I go on long distance trips. I'm afraid of big repairs. Also, my car's mileage is near 105K, so I was damn sure there were gazillion problems with it and I remember the dealer in the past always pointed to all those gazillion problems. So I told my dad, I hope the bill won't come out too expensive, I'll be happy if it is within $500. My dad was bit puzzled since I said it is a headlight problem and that shouldn't come out too expensive. I guess my trust in the car is less and my knowledge in cars is even more less. I called Slavok around noon to check he has done anything, he said he just started looking at it and he'll call me back to let me know the estimate. I get a call back in half hour and he tells me it is ready to be picked up! Faster than I thought but still I was ready to hear a list of things he has done and needs to be done. I go to him and he says you can take the car and I ask how much to pay and he says nothing. Just a headlight fix. I was pleasantly surprised and asked him few more questions for sake of future repairs. Once I walked out with my dad, my dad goes, "So Srujana, now that we have an extra $500 cash, what shall we do with it??" I'm not sure if you guys see the joke, but my dad was being sarcastic and making fun of me. I cracked up!!
Moral of the story, he had to pay for the gas and I paid nothing!

Yours,
Ender

Take a step back

Dear Friends,

Tonight I was praying to God that please let this one thing go smooth so I can be happy. I was feeling anxious in my head and in my heart. Then I said, wait a minute, why I'm trying to control something so much and putting all or part of my happiness for this one thing? Why is it so important for certain things to happen in certain way? As soon as I realized that, the weight that was making my heart feel heavy and the queasy feeling I was experiencing in my stomach, suddenly went away. It was as simple as that!

Quite often we want to control life in certain ways and we put our energy into it. And we get disappointed when it doesn't happen. I guess I have gone through that cycle few times now that I know it. So now I can at least be wise and say, don't expect things in life, rather let it happen. I have read stories of people who have everything in their lives snatched away. I recently read the book Half the Sky about women all around the world. Being a woman myself, it is some ways easier to relate to other women. If I can just imagine myself in their situations, where some horrendous things happened to them, when it is not even their fault and they don't deserve any of it, and these women still have their chin up and surviving, shouldn't I realize I should be happy with just what I have here? I think the moment we define happiness with anything external, we get less happy. But the moment we realize everything is right here, we feel less stressed and more happy. It is such a simple concept and I'm happy to say I'm able to see that clearly. So my point being, I'm not going to pray to God next time asking please help me with this situation, rather may be I'll say something like, give me some more of that wisdom and thank you for taking care of me.

Yours Truly,

Ender

The day of the blackout

Today is a significant milestone in the age of the Internet- the first ever Internet blackout was organized by a couple of the major Web players lead by Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and Yahoo. Facebook had a message from Zuckerberg headlining everybody's news feed for a little while. The blackout is to protest two bills that are currently being reviewed by the US Senate and the US Congress (SOPA and PIPA). Both are being promoted as anti-piracy bills but the tag-on language in them has the potential to infringe on our freedom to obtain information. There are a zillion places where you can get details on why this is creating such an uproar.. that's not what caused me to come back to the-shady-friends after such a long hiatus.

The voice of the worker and the man in the 20th century was heard through unions, protests and voting. For the better part of the last 20 years, it appeared that society had decided to let the loudest, the strongest (read the guys with the biggest guns) and the richest people manipulate the world. Last year (2011) was highlighted by three revolutionary events that said- not so fast big People- we matter too! I am referring to the Arab Spring to fight the big Guns, the Tea Party to fight big Government and the Occupy movements to fight big Banks. The success of all three was credited to a large extent to social media and the Internet making the world truly global. The blackout today is simply an extension of those movements- we will now as a people use the Internet to fight for our right to freedom of speech and information.. I think this is our fight against big Lobbyists and big Influence.. Yes- Hollywood- I am talking about you too. 

I want to appreciate the fact that I am living in a period that will be written about and discussed in history books. I think I'd like to take a moment to let the significance of this day sink in.

Dora.. Out.. Woof!

Another day, another new year

It is the first day of the new year- what better reason to write than just this! I rang in the year with Stewie, Ender and some other friends. We went a little (read: a lot) crazy but that just made me realize how wonderful my friends are that I can really let my inhibitions go when I am around them. The effect of the long night was that most of my first day of the year involved lazing around in the general vicinity of my bed. Here's to hoping for more lazy days like that! The true highlight of the day was a sudden trek in the hill country with Ender and Garfield. It was a beautiful day to be outside and we had so much fun chatting and walking. I also got to meet Garfield's sister and she was pretty cool. All in all, a good start. Happy New Year 2012.

Dora... Out... Woof! 

Life is Beautiful!

2011 has been fairly a good year for me. The year started with Fa and I hanging out at a New Year's party. She always brings excitement in my life and we both felt the comfort that we are not alone and we had each other. So many big milestones have been met this year. I bought a place! Our annual dance recital at Long Center (what more can I ask) turned out great! The big news is I turned 30! I thought it was just a number, but no, I had moments where I wasn't comfortable. But I turned out fine and I’m still fit and maybe little smarter than before:-) I was glad to hear my dance teacher (Anu akka) turned 50 and her dad turned 80. It means this is a perfect year to turn something!J

I had one heart break very early in the year but it feels so unimportant now. I think what keeps me going is that life is beautiful in many ways. I made some great friends this year (Dora and Stewie), some friendships gotten stronger (Garfield). We had a great Halloween party! I explored Japan. India trip was also fruitful. I visited the Sankuratri Foundation (if you are curious, Wiki this) and met the man behind it. I'm posting some pictures from the school. Even career wise, I could say I advanced a little. I got my promotion which was long due and now they are getting me up to doing more complex designs. Even if the company is not in the best shape and my team hasn’t been the best place, I believe I have an opportunity here to grow and I hope the first half of 2012 will teach me something.

Finally I want to thank my three friends here who made this journey (2011) fun and exciting. The holiday season is the right time to reflect back on old memories and know how much we have grown, wiser and hopefully healthier and stronger. As Green Lantern concludes, fear is not a bad thing, you just have to stand up to it. One thing is very clear to me in life now, focus on the right things, that includes moving on from the past and making the right choices, you’ll be given what you want. As Alchemist says, the universe is conspiring to help you get there, you just have to believe in itJ (thanks Garfield).

Yours Truly,
Ender