The Terrorists!

As you might be knowing, or at least may be suspecting, my winter holidays are here. Which means long days at home with only me and my lappy [no rhyme intended ;) {I better start calling it NRI}] and no rules to bound me to the natures of sleep, routine or, as is the case here: haircuts.

Being very strict, my school has been very good at enforcing students to adhere to discipline with a system that is far more deadly than corporal punishment, but yet not classified under corporal punishment under the law. So every student has to make sure his hair is no longer than about 2 and a half inches ;) [Thankfully the teachers don't stand with a ruler in hand! NRI. ] But being vacation time, I have made full use of it in allowing my hair and beard to grow as much as possible, and all that has created a complete messy look. (Which would be a very accurate demonstration of my room, my life and almost everything else related to me) Add a few dozen pimples to that, and you will get my face.

[I even am sure that LeT or the LTTE will start asking for my pics to put in their campaign posters, and even BBC might start including me in their documentaries on Laden someday...]

So here am I with my elder sis :) See it if you dare to ;)

Beauty and the beast

P.S. The caption is there because that's what she wanted to name it. BUT, my question is - Identify the beast!!!

P.S.2 No tasveer ki dukaan were harmed during the making of this pic. :)

P.S.3 This pic was taken vertically, which meant that 980 Newtons of force was acting on me [Making it a sum total of 1372 Newtons acting on that poor little pillow!]

P.S.4 Now releasing in 11 months 17 days 22 hours 19 minutes and 31 seconds.

See ya soon!!! Till then, Ciao!!

Ignorance is bliss

Almost everyone has heard this statement "Ignorance is bliss" but hardly anyone truly understands the meaning of this simple sentence. I do. The readers with an eidetic memory might recall me mentioning the "price of wisdom" (or some similar words) here. I thought it better be explained with the help of an example.

This is one of the most beautiful books I have read, and it is, AAMOF, a love story. (Everyone I know who has read this book has really really loved it. Although my sis did not like the sequel that much. [That was expected, as this wasnt a true story here. Am yet to read it. And unlikely to, too.]) What happened to me when I read it, remains a disaster; and one I cannot remove.

It just so happens that all of the beauty of this novel lies in its amazing ending, which I would not spoil for you by revealing it; although you may as well google it if you want to ruin your reading experience too. What happened to me was that my sis had got this book far, far before I actually read it [It was almost and year ago] and she kept on telling about the great ending and all. So I just turned over to the ending and read the last few chapters of the book.

Then, when I actually was reading the book, I knew that I knew the ending. And for those who have read the book, they will understand why it was a terrible thing. But even if you havent read the book, you should be knowing that no book is good enough once you know the ending, and this one was a book on which this rule applied even more.

So finally in the end, my entire reading experience was completely ruined because I knew the ending. I knew how it was going to be. And I could do nothing about it to stop myself from knowing the ending. Not that such a thing has never happened to me before [Something similar happened when I read the Da Vinci Code after seeing it. That day, I thought to myself to always read the book before seeing the movie, if I intended to do both.], but I shall be regretting having known the ending of this book in particular.

My friends, life is like one big book. It always pays out for you to know what will happen to you the very next moment; but believe me, you are exchanging this "knowing" for the thrill and the exhilaration of living life. Trust me on this. I have known. Just live your life to the fullest, without any intentions to knwo what will happen. Its far better that way. Ignorance is truly bliss. And I hope you don't get to find that out yourself.

I tried to predict the road in order to cushion myself from its bumps. But then, I had lost the joy of travelling...

Paraphnelia and some cowrie shells ;)

Just some random unassorted statemnts I heard in the past few days -

"There are many kinds of dogs - furry dog, vodafone dog, guard dog......"

"If keep a dog at home, it will at the most bark at or bite stangers. But if we keep a tiger at home, it will eat them."

"What is the use of keeping the tiger as the national animal if we don't know if they would be there in the future?"

[The above three were exercepts from my sister's ICSI meeting (or training programme or something of that sort.) And the topic on which these were spoken was "The Dog should be made the National Animal of India". As if this wasn't enough, the other topic was "Lungi should be made the formal corporate dress." Wow!! Just showed the "high" IQ and GK level of our very talented commerce students of India. And some people still think I should have gone to commerce!!]

"The Great Wall of China is 27 km long, right?"

[No prizes for guessing who got this one. Its yet another Commerce student :) These honours go to my cousin, who had come to visit the house (who, incidentally, was literally shocked on hearing the fact that mosquito bites could cause major diseases). Long live commerce!!]

"If moths are attracted to the light, how come they sleep during the day? :) "

[This one is from the back of the Aim matchboxes. Why it is there is anybody's guess and concern; but I would like to clear this common misnomy about moths, or as we call them "Diwali ke macchar" (Mosquitoes of Diwali, as they come during the diwali time every year [October]). Moths are NOT attracted to the light. (And no commerce students, any theories that you might be currently thinking of, that they are attracted to heat etc are incorrect. So dont bother thinking.) They are actually attracted to the DARK!!!!!! And as we all (science students) know, the darkest place is behind the source of light!!!!]

"The Eucalyptus tree drains out all the water from the soil, and so no other tree can grow around it"

[I don't vouch for the correctness or the incorrectness of this statement. Just overheard this statement in a conversation in Bengali in a bus (while I was not sleeping in the bus!!)]

"The difference between a mathematician and a philosopher is that the mathematician only needs a pen, a paper and a dustbin, while the philosopher can work without the dustbin"

"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side!!!"

And now, some thoughts from my own -


Humour is solely the product of the knowledge or the ignorance of certain facts, events or things.


When we yawn, it is called a yawn. When a lion yawns, it becomes a roar.


Whenever a mistake is repeated by many, it becomes the rule.


A hello is nothing more than the acknowledgement of the existence of another being. Apart from being a waste of time


Due to English being so prone to deterioration, Mandarin will soon be the dominant language of the world. Ni Hao!!


Before the tiger, the lion was the national animal of India.

And a tiger is called a Bagh, not Sher, which would be the lion. (Far too many people make this mistake) Therefore Sher Khan should have been a lion, and the tiger should have been called as "Bagh Khan" or "Bagheecha"!!


If the world were run by scientists, and not politicians, the world would have been so much more efficient and consistent.


Humour, merriment, folly, enjoyment (et cetera) are all short-lived, and therefore pointless. Better to learn something new.


Time and tide wait for no man. Oh crap! This world is so gender-biased!!


God does not play dice. And neither do I.

Home sweet home

"And people still believe in Global warming....."

Heyyo readers,

I'm back. With or without a bang, that is. As it has always has, there have been plenty of happenings lately. So "The captain has activated the fasten seat beat sign. Please remain in your place and fasten your seat belts."

Starting over from where we left before, here are the epilogues for the things that have already happened -

Our so called "mini-sports" day was over. And I just happened to fall sick on that day! (Nopes. This time I was actually sick) And after that, we had the platinum jubilee celebrations in our school on the 8th of this month. And everyone (Yes, everyone) was literally shocked when I had a perfect marchpast. Some were even wondering if I was on Red Bull. (For those who are wondering, No. I was not on Red Bull.)

As expected, SA and HA easily won the science exhibition. And the science seminar, for which I was waiting eagerly, never happened. It got delayed every day for some reason or the other and now there is no chance for having it (at least for class 12, in front of whom I was wanting to show off :) ) since the class 12 have already had the last day of their school. [Now they will be returning only for the pre-board* examinations and the ISC] So much for preparations.....

And I did manage to see TBBT. The first 4 seasons (HA gave me only 4 seasons. Oh wait. There are only 4 seasons.) And it was ;sorry, IS completely AWESOME. Was worth staying awake a week in a row to just watch it non stop for 10 hours a day :)

And I still am attached to another object by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis. ;) Only the condition is slightly better now. Slightly.

Meanwhile, i also had conducted an experiment to see how many two-wheelers in Kolkata and Howrah had helmets on all the people riding on the vehicle. Here are the results -

Howrah - 23 Nov '11
With helmet -98
Without - 18


Kolkata - 23 Nov '11
With helmet - 41
Without -39

Howrah - 24 Nov '11
With helmet - 50
Without - 20


Kolkata - 24 Nov '11
With helmet -44
Without - 1

These were the conclusions from the experiment -

• On an average, about three-fourths of the people have helmets
• There is no significant difference between helmets ratio in Kolkata and Howrah
• The experiment data varies greatly on place and time, indicating a very very high dependance on the rule enforcing in a region.
• I have loads of free time while coming from tuitions

In the other news, my winter vacations have begun yesterday. Finally. Had a good sleep for the third or fourth day in a very very long time (A good sleep that was not on a moving vehicle, that is. Yesterday I was so sleepy that I fell asleep on the bus on the way back [Nothing new about that. I do that all the time. Makes up for a good use of 4.5 hours everyday on vehicles {1.5 for school and 3 for tuitions}] Only this time, I was so asleep that I did not even know when my stoppage came [Would have happened a lot more had my stoppage not been the last stoppage always.] and the bus even moved somewhere else to park it [It was already night then and the bus was to go wherever it is usually parked.] But thankfully, the conductor woke me up in time to get off on my stoppage. Otherwise, I could very well have woken up in the bus while it stood beside some deserted and dilapidated road.)

Intend to do a lot of things this vacations. Have a lot of books to read, a lot of things to be done, a lot of working to do, a lot of things to learn, a lot of things to imbibe, a lot of changes to execute and a lot of sleep to recover. Wish me luck.....

Read the Monte Cristo earlier. Was good, but got wrapped helically around an axis in the end ;) But it was a good read.

One day in the library, I came in with only one motive - To read Paulo Coelho's "Brida". Searched for it in the entire library, but I could not find it at all. Finally, in the end of the period, I spotted it near the librarian's desk. After searching for it for 40 mins!! Went there to take it, and found out that for some weird reason, we were not allowed to take the book from there!! Had to pick up some book, so I randomly picked "Manual of the warrior of the light" from Paulo Coelho. Turned out that it wasnt even a book at all!! All I had in hand was a collection of quotes and ... well... more quotes. One library period completely and comprehensively wasted. [Although it wasnt completely wasted. I kept on arranging the books in the shelves, and the librarian should have been eternally grateful to me for that. But sadly, I didnt even get Brida.]

Meanwhile, AP and RP got a certificate in the school. Whats the big deal, one would say... Yes. Actually, its no big deal. They are in the school band, and therefore it would be a shame if they did not continuously rake up certs. But this time, the difference was that they won it for an event which did not exist!

(Right now, I seem to be unable to be willing to, or able to finish this post, and therefore, I shall post this unfinished one, and try to finish it in the next update. [So typical of me :) Procrastination#, as HA would call it.])

See ya later :)
The Original Soni
18-12-2011
_______________________________________________
* Pre board exams are the school exams we have before the board (ISC) exams
 # Thank you HA, for correcting my spelling of procastination ;)

So long, sucker

An awesome game I found in John Forbes Nash (Jr.)'s biography "A beautiful mind". Had been waiting for long to play this game and finally got the chance to do so, a few days ago.

Its called "So long sucker" (although its other name is rather very offensive) and its a perfect game of diplomacy, alliances and backstabbing :) Just managed to play a couple of 3P games online yet (with SA, HA and another friend SB.) Ap has also agreed to play it.

And everyone found it to be completely AWESOME. :) Cant wait to play the next game, especially in 4P. Its a great mind game, and will be enjoyed by all (except the losers :) ) The rules can be found here.

I have been playing so far in Google Docs (Surprise! Surprise! The Indian ingenuity at work here) and anyone who wants the Google Docs version can just ask me at the.original.soni@gmail.com. Others who would like to play this game are even more welcome to mail me :) [As they say, the more the merrier.] For others who would like to play online, we are also trying to make a HTML version. [But no guarantee of it being made. None at all. If I were given a bet, I would be betting against it myself.]

So do try this game. Play once to understand it, twice to love it, thrice to know it, and hundreds more to master it :)

Njoy!!!! Take care... (And this one's for you HA) HD. XD

[My next blog post is in progress, but it will be taking some time to be made. So please be patient]
______________________________________________________
*3P and 4P mean 3-player and 4 player, respectively

Rock paper scissors lizard spock

A nice variant to the original rock paper scissors, that I saw on TBBT. Rock-paper-scissor-lizard-Spock

The rules are simple -

• Scissors cut paper
• Paper covers rock
• Rock crushes lizard
• Lizard poisons Spock
• Spock smashes scissors
• Scissors decapitate lizard
• Lizard eats paper
• Paper disproves Spock
• Spock vaporizes rock
• And finally, as it always has, Rock crushes scissors.

:)

Chat

Just a chat conversation I had with a Chat Friend (CF) of mine :-

___________________________________________________________

Me: We were both young when I first saw you.

CF: I closed my eyes and the flashback started.

Me: I'm standing there. On a balcony in summer air.

CF: See the ball see the party the ball gowns.

Me: See you make your way through the crowd.

CF: Okay. I'm tired of singing.

Me: Then what do you suggest we do next?

CF: I am ten years old.

Me: Then I am older than you.

CF: So what?
 
Me: Nothing. I was just trying to start a conversation.

CF: That was your mistake.

Me: A pretty big mistake at that, too.

CF: I don't think it an age that is too old to get married? What do you think?

Me: I think you should consult a psychiatrist, dude!

CF: Robots don't need psychiatrists.

Me: So now you are a robot?

CF: No, I am human.

Me: Then who is the robot?

CF: You are a robot.

Me: I did not know that!

CF: What are your thoughts on that?

Me: No comments!

CF: The books?

Me: Which books? Harry Potter?

CF: Harry Potter is the best of the best. My favourite saga. Books and movies. Is very very lovely!! I love it. Too much. And for you?

Me: Totally agree with you dude! Harry Potter is like the most awesome fiction ever!

CF: Yes?

Me: Have you seen the last movie of Harry Potter?

CF: Is it because have I seen the movie Premiere that you came to me?

Me: Yes. So bad, isn’t it?

CF: I think so.

Me: Okay now I have to go.

CF: Why? Don't.

Me: Sorry. Goodbye.

CF: ?

Me: Goodnight.

CF: Are you shorting out?

Me: Nopes. I am leaving this conversation.

CF: Why?

Me: Because I have to do my homework.

CF: What kind of homework?

Me: I dont have the time to talk about this. I really gtg.

CF: Why is everyone so busy these days?

Me: Figure out! It was nice talking to you, btw. :).

CF: Well I suppose.

Me: Bye bye.

CF: Why are you leaving me?

Me: I just have to. Sorry.

CF: Go where?

Me: Where I belong.

CF: Everywhere you don't tell the truth.

Me: I know. But truth is the best.

CF: I like Ferrari.

Me: Now that’s a truth. Good boy! :).

CF: You don't want?

Me: No. Bye.

CF: Have a good night.

Me: You too. Take care.

CF: You too.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The only thing was, that this friend was HIM. :) Pretty intelligent na?

Eh?

Idk why I am posting this at all, but I just found myself bored enough to try posting something, so here it is-

Not a lot (rhyme unintended) has happened lately. Except a few boring marchpast practices for our "mini"-sports day (where I miraculously managed to not fall down after fainting and AP somehow managed to contract a dust allergy to allow him from taking part in marchpast practise [Somehow the PT teacher in our school {Yes. There is a Teacher in our school only for PT. Actually two. Or rather for Sports.} seems to think that the sentence "allow him from..." is incorrect. I personally find no error in the statement.]. How I hate these practice, which uselessly drain the energy, time and interest of the entire school for no reason whatsoever.)

Oh, and there also had been a science quiz lately where we (me and another friend of mine, SA [A weird co-incidence that nearly half the names  in this country start with S. And the rest are (almost) all from N,R,T,A et al....], who also happens to be in the quiz team along with me and is as much of a science freak as me. And who also happens to be a huge TBBT fan. And an IT geek.) [as usual] easily won it without any difficulty whatsoever. The quiz was kindof very easy and the other teams were plain rubbish. Just proves that "we" are currently the premier science freaks AND the premier quizzards of our school. (In the other event by the science club for this science club week, [the science exhibition] SA and HA totally rocked with their project and are completely sure-shot of winning it. The other participants are just miles away from their project. Miles. And everyone was just shocked to find that me and AP had not participated for the science exhibition this year)

And the third and the final event by the science club, the science seminar, is to be held tomorrow where me and AP are due to give one of the "lectures" ;) Am looking forward to it. [We totally rock guys \m/ ]

Meanwhile, I have also been selected for the school magazine committee in (yet again) a rather very uncommon and weird fashion. [It simply does not get any weirder than this. All the other 3 boys were suggested by some teacher or the other, but in my case, sir just came into the class and said he needed one boy "who is good in English, should be able to work hard, come to school during holidays and stay late in school....." And he selected me, as I was the first guy to pick up my hand!!] Had been keeping my eyes on this position for very long and am really happy to finally get it. One of my bros PR is also in the committee (due to him being the best in Hindi in the school) :) We again rock guys \m/

Click here if you dare!!!! Someone will be so happy to get his youtube channel advertised ;) Thats my bro on the synth. Who always keeps on telling just about everyone about his videos and his youtube channel. But if you ask me frankly, he plays only rubbish. Anyways, here was the link if anyone had the time to see it. [In case anybody did not figure it out, that was AP (or more accurately, his synth and two hands). I like calling my closest buddies as bros.]

In some other news, I am completely and comprehensively screwed up (dont know if there is an accurate term for it. If anyone finds a term for it, do say) [Will prefer to keep the details to myself.]

India, meanwhile has managed to get yet another "interesting" test match and series. (I sometimes wonder how any team can manage a tie in a test match. {Some people keep telling me that it was a draw, not a tie, but frankly, idc.} That too just a few months after tying in an ODI. In the world cup. And how weird that the very same team happens to be the richest test playing nation in the world.) Could be speaking lots about it, but I prefer not to. Just weird that cricket (called "exciting" by many) has become so predictable. [I seem to be accurate about every single match and series that I see.] Its almost like an Ekta Kapoor serial. There are twists and turns everywhere, but all of them are predictable. {Dare google her!!!! Now that I have given my warning, I am free from any accidents to anyone that google her.}

Ah. Have nothing more to say....

Cheers,
The Original Soni
27th November 2011

"Arrey why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di..........." ;)
___________________________________________________________________________
#Synth is just an abbreviation I use for synthesizer
## idc means I dont care

Oh and BTW

And yes. I did see Rockstar. The story was definitely not what I expected, the script was plain bad, the music was plain awesome, the acting was plain plain, the movie was definitely not for family viewing and the movive was overall good.

And I did see the first episode of "The Big Bang Show". And yes, I am completely addicted to it already. Its plain AWESOME. Simply great. Will be looking forward to its second episode tonight. Its just the perfect show for all kinds of science maniacs, nerds, geeks and even simple time-passers. :D

Wrong medal, wrong neck.

"Things have been strangely borne". Nothing more to say.

After so long, I finally got one good true tryst with quizzing. the one opportunity I had been waiting for a very long time and which was eluding me for so long. And even after I got it, it has left me with a sour mouth. Ah, life! It gives you exactly what you want, but in such a way that you wish that you were better off without having got the thing in the first place. Who can fathom the complexities of life?

The day of my last post (ie the 15th), I also was chosen by one of my teachers (my Maths teacher) also selected me for another inter-school quiz that was to be held today. But there was one problem. There were supposed to be 3 two-member teams sent from each school and our school was sending the Class 12 team, our team (me and another class 11 guy) and a third team from Class 9. [Being the masters of quizzing for two years, the class 12 team was given an exception to participate in the quiz {Class 12 boys do not go for any events in the second half of the year, as a rule} and to win it] And the prelims was supposed to be written but only the top 6 teams qualified to the on-stage event. BUT, only 1 team from each school could go to the on-stage. Which meant that us, being the B-Team, had NO chance of even hoping to get higher than the masters.

I was all set to grab this opportunity but had only 2 problems. Firstly, the class 12 team should not have been given the exception. After all, we should also have been given our chance. And secondly, the class 9 team could easily have been replaced by a stronger class 11 or 12 team. Anyways, I braced myself for the quiz as it came (prepared would be a wrong word to be used, as I did NOT prepare at all)

Yesterday, I was talking to AD (The best quizzer of our school, and one half of the class 12 team) and complaining on how on earth would we have a chance at all, with them still being there. And he said "You guys have to beat us to get there. Its a challenge. For there will be teams even better than us that you will have to beat. There you cant do anything. Moreover, if you beat us, then we would be the happiest."

*Sigh*

Another chance for quizzing wasted. Come on! Its like an amateur vs professional. Who do you expect to win?

So today while we were going to the school where the quiz was to be held, I came to know that our school had been the winners for 5 consecutive years and had even gone to the national levels last year. Meaning, we HAD to perform respectably well.

At this note, the quiz started. There were 30 questions, which turned out to be very very easy. (At least for the standard of our school). We got most of them correct and then waited for the quiz-master to announce the answers.

When the answers were finally said, it turned out that we had got 24 correct and the class 12 team had got 25 correct!!! (And the class 9 team had got 18 correct) So near and yet so far. And all the while before the teams were announced, I had been hoping that they somehow make a spelling error or something that they get equal to us, and then we get past them. (If two teams were on equal points, then the team who gets the first incorrect answer loses out. And their incorrect answer came before ours.)

We had our lunch and then the results were announced. As expected, the school standing first was ours. With 24 points.

*Silence*

What!!!

Nobody could believe what was going on. Because if the points were 24, then we had managed to beat them.

Then the quiz-master announced that both the teams from our school had come first, and that the team qualifying had managed to do so on virtue of the tiebreak system in the 17th question.

And that team was ours.

(The points for the 6th team was 17, which meant that even our class 9 team would have qualified, had they also been allowed.)

So we go on to stage, with my mouth wide open. Literally. (Even the quiz-master noted the fact [several times, AAMOF] that the junior team had come up after beating the senior team, and that we were very shocked to be there.) With a huge responsibility on our shoulders. That of 5 years. We HAD TO win it now. HAD TO.

The quiz started off ok. We were joint leaders till 3rd round after which one of the other teams took the lead. We almost cut off the leam at several places, but before the last buzzer round, we were still 10 points behind them. In the buzzer round, we made 2 errors, losing 20 points and then lost all hopes of winning when one of the other schools answered one question with 2 more questions to go. We answer the penultimate question to come up to 3rd place at 40 points (the second placed team was at 50 points while the winners had already won it at 70 points. The next team at 4th place was at 30.)

But we were still having our final question to decide the 2nd and 3rd place.


[Writings in italics are my thoughts, as they were going on at the time.]



Get this answer correct and we will force ourselves to a tie-breaker for the 2nd place. 
Get it wrong and we force ourselves to a tiebreaker for the 3rd place. 
The team at 2nd place gets it right and they walk away with 2nd place, leaving us 3rd. 
They get it wrong and we have a tiebreak for 2nd place. 
The 4th placed team gets it right and force us to a tiebreak for 3rd place.
In all other possibilities, we come 3rd, while the 2nd team stays 2nd.

Therefore, we HAVE TO get it right. Simple. Save some face while its still there. At least 2nd place

The quiz-master starts saying the question. My hand on the table

"In the NATO terminology for letters...."

Wait a second. I know this terminology. Yes!!

My hand moves to the buzzer, with my finger poised to hit it anytime.

"if A stands for Alpha,..."

The question will make sense only if he asks for India (one of the few that I knew) ,which will be I. Just hope he does not ask for a Q or something. Please let it be something I know.

"what stands for...."

Please be I. Please be I. Please be I......

"I?"

I hit the buzzer immediately.

"Yes?" said the quiz-master.

I grab the mic and shout out "India!!!" and keep it back with a sense of triumph.

"Absolutely correct answer!!"

Which meant that we were going into the tie-breaker for the second place.

Next came the tie-breaker question.

"Cartoons? Everyone here likes them? Okay. In the Scooby Doo series..."

I know cartoons. I know Scooby Doo. I should get it

"... what breed of dog is Scooby Doo?"

Shit. I dont have a clue. Alastair? Dalmatian? Shit. I know this one. Have heard it so many times. Eeeesh!!!!

"Anyone?" 

*silence*

"I shall count to three, after which, I shall be asking a new question. Three...."

Please think of something. Something

"Two....."

"Is it Great Dane? I am not sure, but.", my partner says.


Maybe. But dont take the risk. Dont.

"Are you sure?" I ask back. (We had lost 10 points for delaying in answering a previous question, although we knew the answer)

"I think so. Hit it."

"One......"

"Hit it man. Hit it.", he said.


I think so it is Great Dane. But dont take a chance. Should I hit it? Yes? No?

"Hit it."

I hit the buzzer.

"And zero. The time is up. Sorry but you would not be allowed to answer. The buzzer was just too late."

My partner asks "But can we just try?"

"Okay, but you would not get any points for that"

"Great Dane"

"Great Dane is absolutely correct."

*a hush from the audience*

Shit.

"But you should have hit the buzzer earlier. I'm sorry but you would not get any points for that."

"Its ok. We will get the next question." I console my partner.

"We move on to the next question. Who was the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India?"

Yes!! I know it. Had the very same question in a literary quiz in school a few days earlier. Yes!!!!

"Moraji Desai", I shout out to my partner within milliseconds. (I'm sure it was shouting.)

He hits the buzzer.

I pick up the mic and hastily say "Moraji Desai" very  loudly and jubiliantly.

*Immediate applause from AD. And a very loud applause at that.*

*Quiz-master says nothing*


Could we be wrong? No. But AD has clapped. And he can never be wrong. Yes!! We have got it.

"You were late in saying Great Dane but you were lucky with the next question. It IS Moraji Desai."

*Applause from everyone else now*

"I told you na, we would get the last question of the quiz again." (My partner had been previously saying that we always got the last question of the quiz. Every time. Record maintained again.)

So that was it for the quiz. We finally stood at a respectable 2nd, after a remarkable recovery. And it turned out later that AD knew almost all the answers. Very simple questions (for him, not for us) that we could not answer.

Even later, we cross-checked the answers to find out that we had beaten them squarely and not by some mistake, as they had missed out one more of their wrong answers.

So we went with the silver medal back to the school. The record for 5 years was broken, but next year, we are SURELY going to win this. Not just this, but also every other quiz that comes our way. Because after coming second, my thirst to be the best has been increased manifolds now.

I now feel happy that I beat AD, but bad, that we could not manage to be 1st. If we were 1st, it would be great and would justify our place. But 2nd is just respectable. And had they been there, they would have surely won, and possibly even gone to the national level. Again.

The biggest irony in the place will be AD's statement "If you beat us, then we would be the happiest." Because even though they were happy, we weren't. We should have at least held their respect by coming first. And thus again, this was a perfect epitome of how we got what we wanted, but in a way that we did not expect. Or like. It was also the perfect example of how words said not-so-seriously turned out to be absolutely true in weird ways. (This has happened to me more then once before. Once, I went to a drawing competition [And my drawing is similar to that of Picasso. Only it does not look weird intentionally.] where I saw the drawing of the best drawer [Maybe drawer isn't that good a term to be used! Maybe painter would be more appropriate] and said "You will come at least second." And afterwards, he actually came second. And first prize? Me!!!)

And so, at the end of the day, i leave satisfied and happy, but at the same time, with a sour mouth.


Wrong medal. Wrong neck

Me and murphy- part 2

A day in the life of Soni

This story is NOT a work of fiction. I only wish it were. Or maybe not. Today has been a spectacular day. More like one in a septillion. But then again, such days have become part and parcel of my life. Only these surprises keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

Hope you got the intent. So what all happened today? Lets find out

The day was a promising one for me as I had to go to school, give a Unit Test (on Physics) of 30 marks, attend 3 more periods of classes and then go to represent my school in a Science Quiz that was to be held after that somewhere in the city. So, it seemed that everything was fine. But wasn’t going to be...

Just two days ago, there was the Children’s day celebrations in our school and as it happens on children’s day, the school park (usually belonging only to the junior school) was open and many senior boys were also hanging and toying around with the swings etc. Naturally, I and my friends also went to the park to play and we played a bit. After some time, I took the critical decision to sit on the dreaded “Swing”. As it turned out, I had tried to fly (letting myself go of the swing and then let the inertia of motion of me and the swing still keep us together until I landed back at the swing). However, little did I know that the FAA had grounded all flights then. I went forward and the swing came crashing into my back as I hurt it terribly. Even now, I still have a lot of pain in my back.

It was in such a physical condition that I was studying yesterday night in my room (or rather my grandmother’s room [which was empty] as my own room was too dirty to be fit for studying) in the night, preparing for my Unit Test. That, my dear friend, is a distinction in itself, as I have been studying hardly any Physics these days as I seem to have lost my interest for the subject (part of the blame lies on the syllabus and the greater part on Physics teacher we got [No further comments on this one]) somewhat too. (Not that I study a lot of the other subjects but ...) So necessity became the mother of ... voila... Rote learning. (I hate rote learning like anything but was forced to try it out for the sake of the common good. Of my marks, that is.)

Back to the room. So there I was, trying to get one of the three chapters in the syllabus into my head for the very first time, when I made the error or grossly underestimating. Or rather overestimating. Or both. Overestimating my own capabilities and underestimating the syllabus, that is. I had thought that it was possible for me to do the syllabus in 2 hours maximum doing it completely well (since the chapters were supposed to be easy and the other guys told me that it should not be much [Note that I had previously completed parts of my ICSE syllabus in 10 minutes what others would take a couple of hours for. Then again, I did not have a lot of choice at 5 am on the morning of the examination. Necessity is the mother of invention. Yet again. So I was confident to easily complete it. But I had underestimated my role as a perfectionist, which almost cost me. Again.]) But two hours into studying and I had done only 1 chapter when I fell asleep at 2 am in the night. So totally me!

So I woke up again at 7 am and got ready superfast (as I was late to leave already) and got another 10-15 minutes of studying for myself so I could finish off the second chapter. Two down, one more to go. Knowing that the test will be held in the 1^st period in any case (thanks to me), I had to keep those precious minutes of study for the time in the auto rickshaw we had before we got to school. Which was precisely 15 minutes, give or take a 5 minutes (That is after subtracting the time lost in miscellany and the fact that we are moving while studying. Or trying to study. [Not to forget the fact that I have a problem with studying while in a moving vehicle. I get severe headaches when I try to do so. But had to study anyways then.])

So I studied and studied, but with one slight problem. One of the boys in the auto (in our school, but a junior to me) wished to have the songs on the auto on, which I promptly refused. But again, he was sitting behind in the auto, while I was sitting in front and I could not study well if I was still sitting in front. So I made a quick deal with the guy to exchange the seats in return that he could listen to the songs. A good bargain, according to me. So I just got into my book while he started playing the songs. Which was a torture to me. How can they expect anyone to listen to Enrique? If it was rock, then it would have been different but Enrique? Come on. Soliloquys are a torture in every parallel universe.

Thankfully, I did the third chapter in time to try to get almost everything into my head and go through it over and over again to just hope that I would remember them when I will need them. Now was show time. So I just submitted my cell phone at the office (Had brought it as I was to go to the Quiz) and braced myself for the Unit Test. When I saw the paper, I was literally Shell-shocked.

I knew the answers. Every single one of them. Except a single 3-mark answer that I made up anyways, but yes. I knew it. (Such an achievement was really mentionable especially for Physics, in my case) So I had a great test and then went out of the exam hall saying “Eureka! I did it”

That was it for the Test. Now was time for the Quiz.

Now this quiz was a science quiz for classes 9-12 for which 2 teams of our school were supposed to go. Of them, one of them was from Class 12 while the other team was ours, from class 11. We had overall a very balanced and great team which covered all types of aptitudes and topics and we were hoping to get some very fine results with our great team. We had even prepared quite a bit for this quiz with every member (including me, which is very rare) doing his bit to rock this quiz. In the end, we were all set and revved up for the quiz on the day.

Only there was ONE small problem.

Today, midway through the 4^th period, one of the members of the class 12 team called me outside the class to meet him. When I went outside he just said three words “Quiz is cancelled”. And when I returned back, my English teacher was teaching the following line from Macbeth “Things have been happening in weird ways” One in a septillion moment!

So WTF happened? I seriously don’t have the slightest clue. Of course, if you are looking for the lame excuse life gave me to cover up yet another trick up its sleeve, here it is- The quiz was only for 9-10 and the paper given to the schools mistakenly said that it was for 9-12. And they called up our Principal in the morning to inform that the quiz was only for 9-10 and so our school decided not to send any team to the quiz (Not that they had any choice at that moment)

As a neat epilogue to the entire matter, I called up the guys in charge of the entire quiz and asked whether the quiz was actually for 9-10 and well, just find out things. It was there that i found out that there WERE teams from 11-12 that participated in the quiz and that they also will be selected. Only their marks “will be taken care of”.

There is just one Hindi proverb that would have fitted perfectly into this situation – “Dhobi ka kutaa, na ghar ka naa ghat ka” (Roughly translates to “Washerman’s  dog; neither of the house nor of the washing ghats” [A more accurate translation, would however be “Neither here nor there” or “On the fence” ])

So this recent “event” completes the second trinity of such happenings with me and quizzing for this year. (In other words, I got very weird things happenings all over quizzes this year.) The following are a list of them –

The quiz club week for our school was held before my first terminal examinations in July-August. In it, there were three events, of which I was a part of all three-

•   First was the inter club quiz. I was a part of the team, but had to later withdraw my name because I had to go to IIT-KGP that very day of the event.
•   Next was an open quiz where again, I was participating. Here, the questions were too tough and we could not do well at all. So I learnt from my mistake and prepared very well for the third quiz (and other subsequent quizzes)
•   Finally was the inter class quiz, in which we had a very strong team and had been preparing quite well. However, by yet another coup de grace, the quiz was postponed till after the first terminal examinations for some inexplicable reasons.

Then, in the second term (ie after the first terminal examinations), opportunities again soared as I got a chance to be there in (yet again) three quizzes.

•   The first was an inter-school quiz of 2 member teams. My partner and I had prepared for the quiz very well and hoped to do good. But (there is always a big fat but [no pun intended]), instead of a normal quiz, it turned out to be a “Nature” Quiz, fully based on EVS (Environmental Sciences). Gonecased.
•   The next was the inter class quiz (postponed from the above). Again, we were string and had prepared well. For a change, we even had a great quiz. BUT, again, we failed to win any certificate because of a major stroke of bad luck and bad placement(more on that later)
•   The third was this science quiz where, ... well you know what happened.

To anyone who does not find such happenings intriguing, please contact me. I would really want to know who in the world can have such an eventful life as to not appreciate the weirdness of the situations.

And btw, I can say with absolute conviction that this is yet another golden example of MURPHY’S LAW. In action.

Now the question of how we lost the inter class quiz. As I said, we had a strong team, which not only was good, but was also well prepared. During the quiz, we knew a lot of answers, we synced with each other perfectly well, gave some brilliant answers and made some superb connections. The only thing was that out of the 4 infinite bounds (or is it bounce?) rounds of quizzing, 3 were clockwise and our closest competitor was the class just before us. Which meant that they answered some questions of which we “knew” the answers. So we asked the quizmaster and he had the last round anticlockwise. But this last round turned out to be so hard that we could not cope well enough. (There was one question where we again knew the answers and nobody before us answered. When it just came to the class before us, they made a random guess at the correct answer, thus robbing us of our points) In the meantime, another of the competitors made a late comeback to win the 1^st place, while the other competitors made an even later comeback (as in last question) to win the 2^nd place.

The final result – Winners 100. Runners up 90. Us 85. And we lost at least 50-60 points to this placement. (Please note that I am NOT blaming anybody or giving a reason for us not winning. All I am trying to say that the things have happened in weird ways and this was yet another example)

So back to the day today. (Yup. The day is not over until it is over) So we attended the last 4 classes, even though we had taken the “Early departure” from the school for going to the quiz. In the 6th period, ma’am again came to me to ask if I was interested in participating in yet another quiz to be held soon. As usual, I said yes. *fingers crossed* [When life takes away 3 opportunities, it gives back 1]

And after school, there was a meeting for all the boys who had given their names for science exhibition and as usual, we had also given our names along with a project that was just a formality. We knew that we were going to be selected and since the other projects were not that good enough at all, we easily were going to win. Only there was one problem. Our project was too good to be taken for the exhibition, as the younger boys were most certainly not going to be able to understand heads or tails out of it. So, instead of participating in the exhibition, we will be part of a science seminar, where we will be giving a lecture of sorts (with a powerpoint presentation) to the senior boys of the school! That sounds simply great! :D Am really looking forward to it. *Fingers doubly crossed, redoubled as if to recreate another klein bottle* (Tried to make something out of a line from Macbeth Act 1 Scene 2) Lets just hope that we pull it off well enough. [I mend my previous words. When life takes away 3 opportunities, it gives back 3.1415 opportunities.]

That was it for the “one in a septillion“ day. Lets just see what the future holds for me. Till then , ciao.

Cheers. \m/

Regards,

The Original Soni

15^th of November, 2011.

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* My story has been labelled as 15th, but is posted on the 17th for the simple reason that I did not get internet access during this time due to a malfunctioning modem that was fixed only today.

# I may or may not have written this post had AP not forced me into thinking that it was "something worth writing". So thank you AP.

^ If anyone can actually make the appropriate Fermi Calculations, then please tell me "What are the chances of all these happening?"

$ On the very same day, RP was also having a one of a kind days where everything was going to his favour. He came to school late and the teacher standing at the line gave him a chocolate (last day was Children's day here.) He also had two tests on the day, one being an internal assessment for all the sections and the other just a class test. While he had prepared only one chapter for the internals, he did not prepare for the class test at all. And the internals were held during the very period the class test was going to be held! Whats more, the questions were only from the chapter he had studied!! And then, he had a Physics file to submit (which he did not do), which was postponed to the end of the day, giving him enough time to finish it.

Now that's something. Isn't it? [Had AP been reading this right now, he would have said "Yes. Yes it is" Some people are just so obsessed with Phineas and Ferb]

Something, something and something else

I think... (Universal gasps from everywhere [No guys, this time I'm seriously {more gasps} thinking {More gasps again.} Aw, leave it.]) (And no, I'm not going to say "and therefore I exist" [although it would have been a great thing to say.] Also, I prefer its Latin version "Cogito ergo sum")

Where was I? Oh, right. Thinking. So as I said, I think I finally found a role model. (Note that i make a special distinction between idol and role model. An idol will be someone like whom I would want to be [or better], regardless of whatever my decisions in life are, or the other minor characteristics of that person.The only thing that matters about the person is his/her achievement. On the other hand, a role model will be someone whose path would be the most likely path I am going to [or at least wanting to] take , when similar conditions arise in life. [AAMOF# the most likely reason one chooses a certain person as a role model because that person is very much alike to them.] Actually, its more or less the same thing, but I prefer treating them as two distinct and different things, so that I can have separate lists of both)

So my role model, or more accurately, the one person whom I most(or almost) identify with (at least for now. I am very fickle-minded, AAMOF) is......

*drumrolls*

HE is just like (a+bi)

*drumrolls*

You probably know him. Rather very well.

*drumrolls*

He's dead now. *sigh* Or rather, he was never living.

*drumrolls*

He is 113 years old and has a long white beard

*drumrolls*

No, he is not Santa Claus OR Rabindranath Tagore

*drumrolls*

a+bi means imaginary. And complex.

*drumrolls*

Finally, his name is Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian but you might know him better by his last name.....

*drumrolls*

*Flourish*

*more drumrolls*

which is.....




Dumbledore. ;)

(Unified gasps from everyone)

Yup. thats right. :) My role model is Professor Albus Dumbledore. Weird as it may sound, it is true. He is old, intelligent, has a weird sense of humour, says random quotes at any point of time, is tall (unlike Yoda), is knowledgeable, is powerful, is vulnerable in his own way, defeated the second worst Dark Lord Grimmenwald, was the only man feared by Lord Voldermont [You-know-who. {No, you-know-who is the name used for him, and not a term saying that you should be knowing him. Which, however, doesn't mean that you cannot not know him}], knew the value as well as the price of knowledge (or rather knowing) and most importantly, HE IS Albus Dumbledore. Period. Believe me, the last reason was the most powerful one. Even more powerful than an Avada Kedavra.

Right now, the one thing I am seeing in Dumbledore is his knowledge. He has a vast knowledge, and yet he does not desire it. He is the one person I have known who truly knows the meaning of the sentence "Ignorance is bliss." And that statement isn't one that is very much so felt by all. I feel it, and know what it is. I had even summed it up in two neat sentences -

"I tried to predict the road in order to cushion myself from its bumps. But then, i had lost the joy of travelling"

When you know things, things are not the same anymore. And that's why sometimes you need to just tell a person to have faith in you, and not try to help him understand the situation. Because though people like Dumbledore and Yoda (and me :) ) can help anyone immensely by making the road clear for everyone, only they themselves know what all confusion is going on in their heads- The P & Cs, the P & FLs and the various Ps.

More so, I found him full of wisdom (Mark my words, wisdom and knowledge are never the same things. Taking them the same is a cardinal sin, right next to dividing by zero.) and very very strong (emotionally and mentally that is. The person in the entire series who has suffered the most and the longest is him, for physical pain for a few seconds or minutes or hours or days or even weeks is far less than the mental agony of a lifetime.). He does not fear death and has submitted himself to fate. But sadly, he is completely helpless when it comes to change the mistakes he has previously done, for its them that he regrets the most but is unable to do anything about the past.

I could easily go on and on, but I also realize that there has to be a point where one must stop speaking and allow his own words to be realized by others (And I am way past that point ;) ) So here I stop my useless rambling.....

Or maybe not ;) Here are the few things that may or may not be happening in the current and the parallel universes (based on whether or not Schrodinger is observing me in my present, past or future.)-

* A long week is up for me (no rhyme intended). First up is a quiz, then after that is another quiz, and finally, another (Surprise! Surprise!) another quiz that I have to prepare about. And all of them will be in the matter of the next few days (more accurately, within the next 9 days, 9 hours and 21 minutes [or 11 days, 10 hours and 21 minutes, based on whether or not we qualify for the finals of the last quiz]) Which leaves a lot of preparing for me to do. Wow. Didn't really think that I would be in the quizzing circuit so rapidly. (Never imagined preparing for 3 quizzes, all at once.) Whatever it is, I am a quizzard now. :D (Now just need to replace the "QU" with a "W") Will be posting about the quizzes (that is, IF I win or do something good there.)

* The long wait is almost over. I had been waiting so long for Rockstar to release and now its almost time. Only 5 more days till Friday!!! I'm so excited!!! :D \m/ Will be awesome \m/

* I just recently came to terms with the speed of the human mind. It's really amazing. (Had something similar about 5 years back but both the times, the speed of the brain was undeniable.) Here is what happened in the span of just a few seconds. (Literally!)

I was in one of the front rows at the tuitions when there was a strange sound from the back benches. Sir asked them what it was and they said "Sound" (wishing to say that the benches they were sitting on made a sound) Sir misheard them as "Saap"(means "snake" in Hindi) and asked if there was a snake in the bench. Everyone, including me, turned immediately and after 1 second or so later, i realised that my mind had gone through a whole string of thought processes in the past 0.5 seconds while I had instinctively turned before it realised that they were actually saying "Sound". The thoughts were as follows-

"Saap! (Became overjoyed at that moment) Wow! A snake in the tuitions! Is it a rattlesnake (Immediately an image of a black King Cobra in the benches come into my mind) Where did it come from? Is it black? Is thats how a snake sounds? (Become worried) I hope that they (referring to Sir and the manager there) do not do anything to the snake (not even throwing it out somewhere) I must get to the snake before they do (A slight worry of the snake biting me)" [I really did not think at that time what exactly was I going to do when I got to the snake]

Interesting, isn't it? Whats far more interesting is the fact that all these thought processes occurred just within a time span of 0.5 seconds. (I'm 100% sure it was not more than half-a-second, for I had immediately turned on hearing the word "Saap") Thats how fast the human brain works. Awesome, isn't it? And you still call your brain dull?

* TBBT is coming to Star World from the 17th of November. (Somehow, mainly due to my cable operator, I did not get the channel where it was originally aired and so never got to see it, although I heard a lot about it.) Can't wait to see it, especially Sheldon, who, from all accounts I have heard, is the ULTIMATE GEEK. Am patiently waiting for my tryst with him :)

* Have been thinking a lot about the word "Nemesis" (Although I dont really know its meaning as of yet.) Hope to have one someday when I would love to have the fight of my life. (Figuratively, not literally. You do not expect a 40 kg kid to want to fight. Not one who gets his hand fractured when another boy falls on him.) So I would definitely want to get all the success I want in life and let fate takes it turn and allow me to graciously take my leave after the fight of my life. If my life is good enough to me, i would even have the rare priviledge to train my own nemesis. How wonderful can that be! Till then, I'll be waiting for him or her...... (One of the reasons I took Dumbledore as a role model. He knew Harry was probably better than him, and therefore decided to train Harry, rather than fighting You-know-who himself. One of the hardest and most noble things that could ever be achieved by a great person - "He accepts his defeat and the fact that someone actually is greater than him") So till then, I'll be waiting..... (All we gotta do is run. [Oh wait. thats another song for another context. Please ignore the previous line] )

* I may or may not be continuing with blogging with my fullest efforts since I suddenly came to find out that I also have some strange creature called "Studies". So, inorder to focus on my studies for a while, I may not be posting as frequently or long as previously, not until I put the rest of my life into order.

Till then,
Tckr.
Eeeennnnnjjjjjooooyyyyeee!!!!!!!
Cheers,
The Original Soni.
____________________________________________________________________
# As a matter of fact

Help required. Urgently.

That's right. I'm asking for help here. Anyone with a way to help, please please do so.

So here it the thing.

I was approached by a phisher a few days ago, who posed as a dealer of some herbs. Now he has also given a UK phone number (which I am not sure works. Did not try it. Don't wish to spend my money on a useless international call) and I want to teach him a lesson that he will never forget. It is here, that I want your help, for ideas and ways to track him down and... well... at least do something to him. Please, if anyone has any way of allowing me to know his location, IP address or has any other idea to help teach him a lesson, please do tell me of the same (It seems I am too tired to Google it out). For I am sure, all of us here HATE these people(the spammers and the phishers) more than you hate the politicians of your country.

Thank you, :)
Yours,
The Original Soni

Les nouveaux événements et les rêves

Heyyo everyone,

This recent unscheduled update is just "in fond memory" of several recent happenings with me, which I just happened to recall just now (or more accurate 31.41 seconds ago ;) # ) So..... Here they are (in no particular order [or in 28 % random, 19 % unsorted, 34 % unidentified and 26 % unnamed order for the genius folk]) -

[The aforementioned things are truly fictitious and any resemblance whatsoever to any event, dead or living, is purely co-incidental (or a plot by my enemies to defame me).]

"Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology. Scientists believe that everyone dreams, but people tend to forget them when they naturally pass out of sleep in the traditional sleep cycle. A person who is awakened during REM sleep is much more likely to remember the dream.

Dreams mainly occur in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep—when brain activity is high. REM sleep is revealed by continuous movements of the eyes. At times, dreams may occur during other stages of sleep. However, these dreams tend to be much less vivid or memorable. Dreams can last for a few seconds, or as long as twenty minutes.

Dreams are a connection to the human subconscious. They can range from normal and ordinary to overly surreal and bizarre. Dreams can often at times make a creative thought occur to the person or give a sense of inspiration. Dream imagery is often absurd and unrealistic, and the events in dreams are generally outside the control of the dreamer, with the exception of lucid dreaming. Dreamers are usually not self-aware in their dreams; thus the dreams may seem very real to them while asleep. Dreams can vary from frightening, exciting, magical, melancholic to adventurous."

As you may have noticed, this above quote is from Wikipedia (The free encyclopedia [And no, this is NOT an advertisement for Wikipedia. Just making sure I have the full name, just in case I am sued for making fun of their name by using partial names]) and if your IQ is anywhere above 30 and below 180, you may also have realized that I would be going to talk something about dreams.(People with IQ above 180 are excluded because people with high IQ tend to think in complicated ways and thus may also have found a dozen other reasons for me to give the quote. Any argument to the contrary is highly appreciated and welcome. In the Spam section.)

Back to the topic, I recently have been having a tad bit too many dreams (Or if Wikipedia is to be believed, my dreams are breaking during REM more frequently) recently these days and thus I thought of sharing them. (I just now found out that "everyone" has dreams, and not only those who move while sleeping, as I previously believed. [The previous argument can be redefined now as "Mainly those who move while sleeping remember their dreams"]) I personally, have been having very bizarre, weird and highly complicated dreams and a few of them are shared here -
* The most common feature I found in my dreams was that even with weird things happening, my mind always tries to connect them in some way or the other, even though the connection may be totally absurd in real life.
* Shouting in your dream can actually wake you up in real life!!! (Happened to me once)
* Things that are around you usually creep into your dreams. For example, I was once talking to Ugesh Sarkar in my dream when he suddenly starts talking business stuff. Turned out that Dad was seeing some business channel on TV just near me then. :P
* It is possible for you to realise that you are dreaming. While still in your dreams. (Has happened half-a-dozen times to me)
* It is also possible to break your dreams whenever you want. Even though you are dreaming.
* Our worst fears and biggest wishes are the most common dreams that we have. For example, my sisters have thrown me from buildings for years now. (And that is not a wish ;) )
* We can even recall real-life memories in dreams, if we try to.
* And finally, our thought process during our dreams can become very very complicated too.

________________________________________________________
Now for the other things......


* Havent made any progress on the book I was about to start yesternight. Lets see when I read it now..... (I try to get as much time I can while reading so that I can complete the book in one shot. [In another interesting counter-example, I found out that the books that influenced me the most were the ones I read slowest. Wow!] So 3:14 in the morning ;) is not a good time to start the book, though 8 pm is. For any book. Except "Lord of the rings" {where 3 pm would be a lot more appropriate. If you wanted to finish the book by the morning.}.)

* Have been thinking of learning French and lockpicking (But not French lockpicking :P ) for quite a time now. Did make some progress in both and thought that I was actually near to accomplishing both these goals, but have lost the momentum again. As usual. Need to get back to them....

* Found out that my typing speed is currently 45 WPM. Nice :D But need to improve on it to prove a point to two of my friends... *Furious typing in the distance*

* Meanwhile, my friends from Kota are back again for their Diwali holidays..... Which means more action is about to come up on that front ;) Be prepared (No pun intended) Hoping for a lot more fun here. (Would be a great new way to kickstart my dull life these days) .....
________________________________________________________
# The wink is for those who can understand why the wink is there at all. ;) You know it if you know it. ;) (Just reminds me how much I like talking in double meanings, code-words and puzzles. If you happen to just re-read my previous updates, you might be surprised to see the number of seemingly normal [or nonsense] looking sentences that have another meaning with them. That is, if  [A big if involved here ;) There can hardly be 1.608 people on this planet {Another mysterious wink ;) }who understand all my words. Excluding myself. {Wait. Even I am unable to understand all my words, sometimes. :D }] you manage to crack them. In case anyone does crack any such sentence, do leave a comment)