good tidings on a monday..

As impossible as it sounds - i mean, how can mondays ever go well for me - i got this mail from my pm telling me my salary has been hiked! Of course, i was expecting it one of these days but hell, not on a monday. Ummm, until i get the hard copy i cannot make out anything - i don't even know exactly how much i earn now! But it does seem like a substantial increase. Good. A few more years and i should be done with this 9-6 existence.

Am i happy about it? i don't know - maybe my bank balance will grow fatter faster but what is there to it? i have a strange relation with money. i am never too worried about it, i hardly keep track of where it goes. i don't have a head for managing money, it seems. The only time i care about it is at the end of the financial year, when i need to submit my investments for tax rebate. That, apparently, is the only time i even bother about my financial well-being. i should become more money wise and start making some smart investments. But ultimately, does it matter at the end of it all? After all, it is only money.

the 10k saga...

i decided that i would break my sunday solitude and go for the 10k practice. We started off quite ok, but after 10 minutes, my stomach started paining. i thought maybe my heart had been displaced from its place and was maybe resting on my intestines or something! So we decided we would walk. And we did. It took us about 1 hr 45 minutes. At least, now we know we can complete the whole course even if we are the last to complete it. What relief!!

i decided i would like to practise driving and so i spent about 30 minutes driving round and round the parking lot. Was awfully delighted to get the speed over 20!! i think i would be a rash driver - the kind who would plow over people. Which explains why i want to drive trucks - the bigger the better! From where did i get all these sadistic traits? Must be some gene from a long forgotten black sheep of an ancestor that decided to pop up its head in me!

"Grow old along with me
the best is yet to be"
---Robert Browning

So true, so true. i still have so much more love in me left, i think..

i did a survey among my colleagues (which is one of my fave pastimes in office) how long they would like to live - my colleagues have gotten used to my crazy ways. And the answer was around 60-70. i think we are a generation wary of all the things old age is gonna bring with it - arthritis, heart problems, memory loss etc etc..i think i want to live upto 60. Till i still have my teeth and hair intact. And my libido too!! :)

orange and pineapple muffin

Muffin for a puffin (what does that mean???!). i baked muffins today. Orange and pineapple muffins. They turned out real good, as good as those ready-to-bake stuff they sell. i am confused now - should i become a chef/ranna massi or a candlemaker? Or just remain a bitchy SSE!

The muffin recipe (courtesy joyofbaking.com):

2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 cup melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 lb crushed pineapple (drained)

Mix the flour and baking soda. Blend the butter, sugar till fluffy. Add the egg and blend again. Add the sour cream and orange zest. Add the flour and make sure it is well incorporated. Fold in the pineapple. Grease the muffin pan. i used butter.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Fill the muffin cups. Do not fill it to the brim as the muffins would puff up.




Bake for about 20 minutes. You know it is done when a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. While the muffins are still warm, glaze it with orange glaze (mix 1/3 cup orange juice with 1/2 cup sugar). And presto, you have muffins for the puffins!!

bitchy friday...

The last two days have been bitchy to me. So i bitched right back. Thursday started off with someone from another group complaining i had not turned over the code that was due for friday! What the f***. i got real pissed off so i wrote a scathing mail saying they had no right to complain as long as i got everything done by friday. Hell, i have never missed a deadline ever. And everyone in my group supported me.

It was just not a good day for the group. We had so many "bad" incidents - it seemed like all the other groups were out to get us. A jinxed day. We were supposed to go for the 10K practice but we decided to forego it - you never know, with that kind of bad luck dogging us, i might have gotten run over by a bicycle and died! i came back home, watched Jeopardy, was delighted to get so many answers right. i was making candles and i got everything wrong. The mold sealer did not work and i had wax leading out from the molds. i just got so disgusted that i left everything halfway.

Wait, the day even got better. Somebody called me up to tell me one of the juniors was sick and could i go check on her? How could i have refused even though i was not too fond of her? So i rummaged through the medicines he had packed for me and went to play doctor. Stayed there till 11 in the night and i had not even eaten!

Today was no better. i released my code and was thinking i could search for some nice recipes. But wham, my lead told me i had to do an emergency fix and release it today! So i coded, tested and managed to wrap everything in about an hour. Boy, do i love myself!

i rewarded myself with a bitching session with the clients - we bitched about this new guy who has this attitude problem. He has a knack of doing just the wrong thing and putting his foot in his mouth. i am a real good one when it comes to bitching - i encourage people, keep the bitching going on--more like a bitching moderator.

We went to buy some stuffs from the asian store. And we met T-da just coming out. So we stood there and yakked on for about 2 hours-we bitched about that guy again, about other guys and went on and on. i am turning out to be an old hen. And inducing everyone else around me to be so...As i told S, hell, i am beginning to turn into a girl!!

waxy life...

Have been slogging my butt off to make the deadline. No books, no blogging. But i am off the hook now. Till the next deadline, that is. But hey, ain't complaining. i get paid for this. As long as the dough flows, baby, i am game for hard work.

i have turned to my candles again - got myself some dyes and mold sealer from ebay. i actually got an order for my candles - my first! Wowie, am i faltered. One of my colleagues asked me to make about a hundred candles to sell during the durga puja celebration over here. But since i have just about a month left here, i had to turn down the order. It is a nice thought to know i have an alternative career should i ever get sick of coding and trouble shooting. My friends have been goading me to sell my candles on ebay. But i have to work out the profitability factor before i join the bandwagon of ebay-ers.

Here are some of my new creations-



Ever the over-confident bitch, i have not gone for the 10K practice. Would do me good if i were to quit halfway - that would just do enough to bring my confidence level a notch down.

Just a month left. i sure will miss this bed, this room. i am beginning to love solitude - not that i ever hated it before. i could live like this for ever - books, a fast wireless connection, candles and TV. What more do i need? Can't think of anything.

Sex and the city is my fave thing on TV now - well, after NCIS, Law and Order and CSI. Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw is so real. After the Salonis , Banis and Mamtas of Indian television, it is a refreshing change. i made a discovery while channel surfing - movies with "strong adult content"!! Since i am an adult, i decided i could watch without getting morally corrupted (actually, there is no more scope for corruption - i am already saturated!). But boy, after half an hour i got actually bored of it!! god, am i on my way to sainthood? Well, at least half an hour away!!