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April 22, 2008

Seen that life jacket anyone?

So I vanished for a bit. Actually I don't know if I am back even as I type this. Bluurrggggh would pretty much summarise what's happening here and what's happening in this old head of mine. There is much to write but a) not much time for it and b) not the right frame of mind either. This seems to be the season of life lessons. Rather whatever you did NOT learn in the last 10 years will be forced down your throat in two days kinda thing...

1. Humility: No matter how much of a cannon you think you are, keep your mouth shut and your attitude to yourself. It really does not matter if you WERE right, when it comes to getting reference letters, you never know who you will have to contact after ages. Ditto for that boss you really do not like. You don't have to suck arse, but you don't always have to call a spade a spade. In fact it's better if you don't call the spade anything at all!

2. Patience: I hate that word. You cannot, I repeat, cannot have the world responding to your whims and fancies. Even if said whims and fancies are based on assurances from others - that they will deliver - be prepared that just when things seem to sort themselves out, you might have to really grit your teeth and wait.

3. Waiting: Someone said that the sweetest fruit comes to those who wait. Well, they either lied or they didn't know what they were saying. What if you are not waiting for fruit?

4. Constipation: Will get you when you least expect it to and it has no correlation to hitherto perfect bowel movements.

5. Xerox: Will save the day. Documents have a strange way of disappearing when you most need to find them. Or if mailed, some documents can mysteriously never reach an organisation. Missing documents are second after mysteriously disappearing socks, both pairs were in the washing machine but when take them out for drying, there's one gone missing. You cannot xerox socks, you can xerox documents. Do it.

6. Marriages: Never promise that you will attend a friend's wedding, till as such time you are there holding her hand. There will always be strange things happening that you will have to attend to that will make you miss the wedding. It's also harder attending weddings in the same town as you live in, somehow something always comes up...

7. Hair cuts: It's not just humans who look weird after a new hair cut. Dogs look bloody funny. Golu Dawg had his first hair cut and looks like a cross between Milo from The Mask, a shortish Grey Hound and that neighbourhood mongrel.

8. Plans: Are the single most scary thing we humans could do to destabilise ourselves. We never know if those will work out, but we still make plans. To deal with it, have a contingency plan ready and be prepared that it might not work out either.

9. Introductions: It's far easier writing an introduction for a blog or an opening para for an article than it is when formally introducing yourself.

10. Time: Flies REALLY fast when you REALLY want more of it... You wake up on Sunday and realise that it is Friday for the next week, two months later.

Bluuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

PS: 18-21 April, three days without cigarettes, didn't smoke any. For those who asked, I did say I was going to quit, I did not say when. I am trying, ok? How about giving me some credit for TRYING? No one bloody appreciates me.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

i appreciate you...i quit smoking everyday, too. and especially when i get ulcers (because of the bloody heat and no AC and NO cooler) and then imagine i am getting cancer.
but at least WE ARE TRYING.

and i agree with all the points above, please be a good girl and also add PRESS bloody ctrl+s every 2 minutes while typing something, and even if you forget to breathe, don't forget that. and yes make back ups of stuff on the comp.

and if u r looking for a new job....no i am not hiring unless you want to be my cook...but i mean best of luck and all that.

and do i have to SCREAM loudly or will a flippant gruff tone when i tell you that i missed you

'N'

Anonymous said...

lol :D
You are wearing that life jacket, Eve.I remember broken glass.Fix it fix it.
mwah.

Anonymous said...

Dear N, this is a blog, please dont go "missing" me. Also, the message that accompanied your friend request on Facebook was a bit funny, it didn't read right. I love talking to people, but I would repeat that friendly conversation should not be misunderstood, by men or women. And no, not looking for a job, very happy with mine!

Anonymous said...

First apology for missing you,in the context of your general message, it seems that i'd be 'stalking' you which wouldn't be my intention, so i definitely need to learn articulation.
Second apology, for the message that accompanied the friendship request, i repeat i need to learn articulation for sure. But it was in the context of 7 pokes I recieved from your ID in 5 minutes. I am sure it was a technical error now.
And third apology for the comment yesterday, my foot is in my mouth, I won't even say it was a joke. If you mind, it ceases to be a joke, anyway.

'N'

Anonymous said...

Hey N, chill out. No harm done and speaking out clears the air, so all cool. As for poking, I havent poked you at all!! Bloody Facebook is sending out pokes now?!!!

Anonymous said...

yes and too many. i hate the poking option! will check if i can remove them....

'N'

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Many pats for the 3 day abstinence from cigarettes. Keep it up. My "record" has been 15 days. Beat it for some more hearty congrats :-). Remembered the quote by John Keynes while reading the "Waiting" part: In the long, we are all dead.

And I seem to have done almost every don't written here :-(.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

Here's how I quit smoking. After the first decision and action to quit, if I ever faltered and had a cigarette, I immediately recommitted to quitting, by quitting again from that cigarette. I never took a cigarette I had, as having broken my resolve to quit. In other words i never quit quitting. Of course this doesn't mean I kept smoking as much as I wanted and used recommitting to quitting as an excuse to smoke. I used it as a device not to make one cigarette the decider of quitting or not quitting. I eventually might have faltered once or twice, I don't remember. What I remember is that the urge for the first year was strong. For the second year, light. By the third year the urge was gone.

Today I don't care if somebody smokes or not, it's their choice, they are adults, there are far more important things. But if you are determined to quit, I thought I would do my bit and tell you how I quit.

Anonymous said...

Hello Avijit,
that's a whole lot of quitting! The problem lies with the "determined to quit" bit; the determination wavers. But thanks for sharing that.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been able to quit smoking but i have also started asking myself if i really want this cigarette, sometimes the answer is yes and sometimes, not really...
it has come down to 1 or two from five everyday. yet somedays i don't want even want one...and once or twice i wanted 4 again...
but over all it seems a better situation...
there is no method, just asking that question sometimes helps.
and i also know the day I decide in that BIG way to quit, i ONLY think of smoking so i find it easier not to QUIT but to go the intutive way...but then to each his/her own?

'N'

Anonymous said...

Well yes, that is important, the reason to quit. In my case I asked myself why do I want to quit? Cost benefit analysis. I found that smoking gave me nothing. There was no situation I could handle better with smoking and it did not give me a rush, after the first cigarette, nothing, nada, nyet, so I called it quits. There was nothing it was doing for me.

Anonymous said...

Eve: Was thinking last night about your problem with the 'determined to quit' bit and remembered how I tackled that. For me I was never determined to quit for life, or the next five years or even the next five months. I always told myself, just quit for a week and then worry about next week later. Mostly I would worry about staying off the fag for the day. Or the hour, telling myself don't worry you can smoke after one hour and then deferring it for another hour and so on. And sometimes when the urge was really strong I remember deferring it five seconds at a time, saying to myself that you can have one five seconds later and then again five seconds later. I basically just pissed the hell out of my urge. I was stubborn and full of pride (no way the urge would win against me), in some situations, chanelled the right way, good things.

Anonymous said...

@avijith
You found a positive use for procrastination.
Wonderful!! You turned a vice to a virtue and quit smoking too!!

-Ansela

Anonymous said...

Thank you Ansela. That has been one of the things that I've discovered all of us can do, channelise our natural negativity into a positive direction or outcome.

Beauty and the BEast said...

Lessons of life easily learnt, but taught the hard way round, huh?

Shaapla said...

Good going!