Random Haphazardly or Randomly Haphazard

Only one person in the world understands the meaning behind the title. You're a special and lucky person ;)

Cheers to that!

Back to life

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Remember Tea Shop 168 on Queen Street? Since then I hadn't been able to find Bubble Tea that is up to par. I was lucky to find Happy Sushi on Kruisplein in Rotterdam whenever I needed a fix, but the powder mix tea just wasn't the same.

Enter Rockford, Illinois. Cherry Valley Mall. Fusion Juice. The best bubble tea I've had in over a year...random.

Where is Rockford, you ask? Somewhere west of Chicago, south of Madison, WI. The little red star on the map is me :)

The curse of the good catch...

I'm a good catch (a GCGC , in some circles), I'm an awesome girl, I have a great heart.

If one more person tells me that, I will scream.

I'm tired of being a good catch, I'm tired of looking for Mr Right, tired of all the Mr Wrongs and Mr Maybes, tired of the stupid games.

I'm not looking for the one, I've found a couple of those already, instead I'm looking for the one who wants to make it work. Come find me already!

Hush...its just one of those days.

Chi - KAGO

So I'm in Chicago. Its my first time here and the city is much bigger than I expected. I'm going out with Bobby (from J&S's wedding) tonight so I'll get to see some of the sights.

As is often the case, my flight was delayed out of Newark. As I checked in the woman behind the counter gave me a sympathic look and said "your plane hasn't left Chicago yet, its 2.5 hours late". I was not happy so I decided to eat.

Apparently everyone was delayed and the entire TGIFridays was full. I ended up sitting with this really cool guy who is a theatre set designer. As someone who has zero artistic ability and who really loves spreadsheets and numbers, I was absolutely fascinated with his tales of how he got into the business (did you know that NYU has a MFA in design for theatre) and about the different plays he's working on. I felt horribly boring sitting across from him.

There were two girls at the next table on their way to Dallas. While they were waiting one of them pulled out her agenda and started reading from it. She had recorded everything she does, she was saying things like "Saturday the 26th, went to Jen's house, met up with Mark and stopped by Sarah's bbq before going to Bar X", after which they would chat and reminisce before moving on to the next day. They did this forever!! She had recorded EVERYTHING she did, EVERYDAY. It was so strange, I can't imagine waking up each morning and writing the activities from last night. I might try it, it could be fun.

My new haircut

Timed perfectly to arrive just after Valentine's day - addressed to the SINGLE resident:

Dear Single Friend,

Too many people let precious time slip by...just hoping that somehow that special someone will magically appear.

If it hasn't happened for you yet as you go about your daily life ~ at home, work and play ~ now is the time to stop waiting and start looking beyond your own circle of friends and activities for that special person.

Of all the days to come home to this. Today was probably the wrong one.

The Gates, Central Park

The gates3
Originally uploaded by AshaM.

Visit the official website for more info. I'll be completely honest, all this orange really reminded me of the Netherlands. I kept having flashbacks of Queen's Day.

7500 gates at a cost of 21 million dollars. Art? Junk? I'm not sure. Here's what I do know - there were more people in central park than I have ever seen, people were talking about art...ART, we usually talk about business at lunch, today we talked about art. Mission accomplished I guess.

Personally I've always had issues with excess. I don't enjoy thinking about the 21 million dollars that was spent. Just like I don't like thinking about the billions that is spent on arms. Or the 40 million dollar condo with the view of the gates. I couldn't really enjoy the exhibit, as I walked under each gate I felt the weight of the world on me. I don't know why.

I am an idiot

All this time I thought I only had 2 weeks vacation, I even bought an extra couple of days so that I could travel more this year. I had been complaining about North Americans and how little vacation time they (we) are allocated when we start at companies.

I was just filing my new US contract away and it turns out that I get 3 weeks. This makes a huge difference. 15 days!! yay for me. Now what am I going to do with these extra days. Idiot. Read before you sign Asha, read carefully. I better check it to make sure I didn't sign my life away.

Batteries not included

I have a handful of half written posts trying to explaining how I've been feeling lately. The rejected titles include - "never satisfied" "unanswered" "I didn't realize". I've just feel out of whack. I'm not content with going to work, going out, going to work. I've felt out of balance already. I'm still focusing on the wrong part of the pie. I know whats missing but am worried that once I get it I'll find something wrong with that too. I'm bored, not bored as in unbusy, I'm plenty busy both in and out of the office but bored as in blah. This has nothing to do with my geography and more to do with my psychology.

Those who know me know that this is nothing to worry about, I'm still Asha and am happy and fine. Its this constant pondering that pushes me forward, its far too easy to coast through life here.

I started going to the mandir again today. With the help of a friend, her mom, her mom's friend (thanks Risha!!) and my dad's friend's wife I managed to find a temple about a mile away from my office. 3 minutes from door to door, it doesn't get much easier than that. And another one 10 miles from my house (for the weekends), just knowing I where to go makes me feel grounded.

As Defined by the Home Ministry, Government of India

"Person of Indian origin" means a foreign citizen not being a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries as may be specified by the Central Government from time to time if:

(i) he/she at any time held a Indian passport; or

(ii) he/she or either of his/her parents or grand parents or great grand parents was born in and permanently resident in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 and other territories that became part of India thereafter provided neither was at any time a citizens of any of the aforesaid countries (as referred to above); or

(iii) he/she is a spouse of a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin covered under (i) or (ii) above.

My grandchildren will not officially be people of Indian origin. Maybe not even my kids (ii, above is a bit ambiguous). Why does this bother me? Does it really matter? It must matter somehow. My internal country vs culture debate doesn't know who should win.

When does one's "origin" end? How many generations does it take? The gov't defines it as four generations (great grandparents), but is that where it really ends? Is there a test? Who decides this stuff...

Its my birthday, do you want my number?

Classic line from a classy girl ;)

Its the 6th month anniversary of my birthday today. You didn't call or email (and yes, this time I mean you). You're the reason I even know this day exists. Hmph!

Just me and my boys...

Top 10 reasons why I love my brother

1. He always pulls over when I need to throw up.
2. Classic comments like "can I hit him?"
3. He'll always be older than me
4. He helps me manage my money (or try to)
5. I know that I'm the number one girl in his life
6. He always picks me up at the airport
7. The random detailed questions on msn and then the alien to make me laugh
8. I can allow myself to be totally dependent on him
9. "Stop following me!!"
10. He cooks me dinner
    
    Why I am writing this post:
    Its his 27th birthday today. 27!! All he needs now is a wife. hehe...
    
    Have fun at dinner tonight! Take pictures.

My bed buddy has returned!!

Hippo!!! He's back after his world tour. I can't believe my teddy bear has been to India but I haven't. Thats sad.

Thank you so much Neil for lugging him around!! and Amar for driving him to Neil's house, and even Jason for lying to me and telling me he was too big for Neil's suitcase. I really didn't think he would be joining me anytime soon.

This is the only stupid, girly thing I do. Let me have my moment.

My current obsession

Friendster. Its an addiction. Each time I add a new friend I find someone hidden in their friend list. I keep finding people that I haven't talked to in ages. Make it stop. Approve me if you get a request, add me if I haven't found you yet. Cheers!

Twisted sense of humor

Somehow god blessed me with the idiot gene in a few areas. I amaze myself sometimes (and thats not always a good thing)

But to compensate he gave me the best, most understanding brother in the entire world.

Thank you :)

Nonchalantly melodramatic

I got an email this morning, the first line stated: "man you can be nonchalantly melodramatic". Nonchalantly melodramatic? I'm not sure what to think. I agree that in this case I deserved that label, I have been going out of my way to over-dramatise everything in relation to him. I'm happy, I'm sad, I feel lost, it all makes sense, and it starts all over again.

Its been bugging me all morning, is my drama queen persona in jeopardy? Should I let my logical side win the battle? Is there some validity to being rational?

There I go again..it was just a little comment Asha, get over it.