Sour Death Balls
This was one of my favorite short films shown on MTV India in the early 'nineties.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Northeastern Most people don't know it but this is actually what dictionaries are based on. If you don't believe me, pick up any American dictionary and look up "source" and "sauce" and you'll see they are written with the same vowel pronunciation.

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This morning I had another nightmare. I don't have nightmares too often and when I do it's usually a nice brand new one. But there are some nightmares that seem to come back and say hi. A bit too often.

Failing Math

Specifically, failing math in Final Year Engineering (that's Senior Year to my Indian-culture challenged readers.) This is the nightmare that woke me up this morning. It usually begins with a realization that I have goofed around all semester and the exam is in a few days. I clearly don't have enough time to learn everything. Most of my fellow students seem to know their shit. My mind starts to think of how I haven't failed anything in college so far and how this will ruin my career. Good bye USA. Good bye cushy software job in Bangalore. Then I curse myself for procrastinating all semester and being overconfident. The exam is tomorrow. The exam is now. I don't know anything. Wake up, Hob, wake up!

I wake up and reassure myself that I already passed undergrad, with no KTs and we didn't have math in final year!

Raptors and T-Rex

For some reason this dream usually begins in a parking lot. I'm getting into my car. Or perhaps getting out. It's a bright beautiful sunny day. And hey look! It's a bloody T-Rex eyeing me. Run, Hob, Run! I start running and T-Rex follows me. Somehow I get into an enclosed space. Safe! And that's when the velociraptors show up. No jokes. I dream of velociraptors. Those fast, hungry, mean, clever little dinosaurs with sharp sharp teeth. Wake up, Hob, wake up!

I wake up and reassure myself that dinosaurs and humans never existed at the same time. Bible science be damned!

Panthera

This is the worst of the lot and happens the most often. I'm walking from Churchgate station to my house at Lion Gate, right by Oval and Cross Maidan. Across the street I see a tiger. I real, live tiger, walking. What! What's that doing here! Ok, don't panic, keep walking slowly and try and reach home. Except a hundred meters away, right in front of you, basking under a tree is a lion! Not good. Perhaps I can cut between these guys. That's when I start noticing other large cats, strolling across the streets. My final memories are about being stalked by a panther, that's following me up the stairs of my building. Wake up, Hob, wake up!

I wake up and, well, can't really reassure myself that this can't happen. Because it can!

Happy Fun Times again!

Friday was Russian food at Arbat followed by beer at the Great Dane in Fitchburg with Little A. The Scotch Ale at the Dane rocks!

Saturday was chilling at home, a cookout at Uncle Js place and a crazy crazy after-party at Lucky's Tavern. (So crazy that I paid for only one drink but people kept buying me more drinks, I walked home not quite in a straight line after having learned what a Scoobie Snack is and what happens when the barmaid decides to tip a bottle of flavored vodka directly into your open mouth! I also met a Steffi Graf/Gwyneth Paltrow lookalike!)

Sunday was Ultimate Frisbee practice at Brittingham Park with Little A's friend Crazy A. I love the game! If only Ms. Non Sequitur had been a better salesperson before I would have definitely joined the summer league. Now it's nail-biting tension as I wait for replies to my forum post on the MUFA website to see if any teams need a player. If not, feck it! There's always sailing at Hoofers and the possibility of drowning in Lake Mendota!

The best science related story I have read in a while:

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

More details at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Multi-parter coming up.

Part 1: Cairo, GA
I reached Tallahassee on Tuesday. The drive to Cairo took half an hour longer than expected (Damn you, bad-directions-Enterprise-car-rental) and spent most of the day working. Wednesday. Work. Thursday we went to Crystal Seafood for some much needed dead animals and I ate like a king. A very hungry king. Alligator tails. Lobster tails. Shrimp. Baked potatoes. Hushpuppies. Cheese grits. Corn-on-the-cob. A very hungry king indeed! And to top it all I spent the rest of the day at the bar of my hotel where they were having karaoke night. Small town (Pop. 9,239) bars are fun! Everyone knows everyone else. Except you! And you spend all night making new friends.

The journey back was interesting. I was on four flights! Tallahassee - Orlando, Orlando - Greenville, Greenville - Cincinnati, Cincinnati - Madison. Sadly, only on the Tallahassee - Orlando leg did I have any company in the plane - C! I got home at 10:30 in the night. Said hi to Katie who was staying over at Ms. Non Sequitur's and plopped into a deep slumber in bed.

Part 2: Six pubs. No idea how we got there.
Saturday. Me, Ms Non Sequitur, Katie - go! Stadium Bar? Church Key, Paul's Club, Piano Bar, Paradise, Madisons.

Part 3: A surfeit of Y.
Sunday was spent lazily. I got Katie and Ms. Non Sequitur hooked on Y: The Last Man. New converts to the graphic novel club! Ice cream at Micheal's for dinner!

Part 4: Bonus Monday!
It began nice and lazy with phone calls to desh. And a lot of Chuzzle. (Warning: Do not click on that last link unless you want to be horribly addicted. I dream of Chuzzles and it is not funny!)

Then it was me and Ms. Non Sequitur. Lunch at Noodles. 28 Weeks Later at the Orpheum. Half-price Margaritas at Frida's. Knocking on Cousin Qs door! (There's a story here ;) Renting Little Miss Sunshine. Becks, where Cousin Q and BF N joined us. Becks has the most awesome jukebox ever. I just walk over and there are free credits in there! I love drunk jukebox patrons!!

This was such a boring weekend. Not.

Friday was the Hoofers Social which was on the lake front! Saw a lot of people in daylight for the first time. I was relieved that they didn't burst into flames under direct sunlight. No vampires! Met Sailor M after a long time. Challenged her into eating a double scoop of ice-cream on a waffle cone at the Union. She struggled but finally finished it! Then I browbeat her into buying me a glass of wine at Barriques.

Saturday begin with sailing on a Colgate 26 with Jerry and Joy from Hoofers. It was a race! My first race and we won! (We won because we were the only boat in our class but let's not get technical.) After spending a couple of hours hiked up (and losing one my brand new gloves to a wayward swinging boom,) my back was a little sore.

Nothing a little beer can't fix! It was a graduation party for Ms. Non Sequiturs cousin RaHa and her friends Bri and Ann. It's a little hazy now but there was a half-keg of Coors Light involved and some Red-Headed Sluts! And a lots and lots of food. Reached home at 1.

Sunday was a chill day at home, spent nursing the sore back due to the sailing.

Tuesday, I'm back in Florida on another involuntary vacation!

I got a cold and a bad one too
It made me sick like Winnie the Pooh
But the doctor, he made me fit
By prescribing antibiotics

Yeah, clearly my poetry skills have deteriorated along with the lining of my throat. This was a bad one though, and it kept me in on Friday. I watched Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music (The Director's Cut) and what a great documentary that was.

Saturday, after spending the whole afternoon at home, moping and ripping CDs, I went out and watched Spiderman 3 with Little A. A little Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon at Barriques Wine Cave finished off the evening. Spiderman 3 is a must watch if you are comic geek. And it's a must watch even if you aren't. And before going to bed, I sipped a warm cup of Theraflu which knocked me unconscious.

Sunday, I was feeling much better, and spent most of my day bugging the crap out of KT and Ms. Non Sequitur who were trying hard to get their papers done. I'm now half a music educator and half a PhD in development studies. I need to leverage this unholy knowledge somehow and make more money. I also spoke to Gary who said she was sick and sleepy and had had a 36 hour shift. Doctors work way harder than engineers. And finally I watched Salaam Bombay which I had never seen before. I miss Bombay.

And Tall Mike has movie night tonight, where we shall watch the last two episodes of Dexter Season 1! Serial-killer cops rock!

Kissing was invented in India!!