b'day yesterday

I found out that four other people share the same b'day as me! One of them in fact, has born on the same day as I was and shares the same star! My friends surprised me last night by bringing in cake and some card. that was nice....

The rest of the day went off normally.

Procrastination

I think procrastination leads to a downward spiral of not accomplishing anything. The more you procrasinate, the more you keep thinking about the ones that you've procrastinated and that preoccupies your brain and prevents it from paying attention to other important things, which in turn get delayed. I read this book called Stumbling on Happiness and that says that the brain tends to keep thinking about something that's left unfinished - this can both lead to happiness and sadness. It is upto us to exploit this nature of the brain. It's a great book, BTW.

Me and my ideas

can't believe I've had ideas that other companies have come out with products representing them almost exactly! Firstly, I have had the same cell phone for the last five years (more than five, actually) and I've been looking at all the generations of cell phones without ever getting any interest. Somewhere in the middle, I got an ipod and loved it so much. I have always wanted a device that can combine the ipod and a phone together, with nothing but a display in it, that is touch sensitive. And guess what, Apple has come up with precisely such a thing. I have visited a blog that had all the potential designs of the iphone, based on fans' prediction on how it would look. They all looked great and sweet, but none of them seem to have thought of my idea and much to my disbelief, Apple seems to have made it happen!

The other notable thing - I have always wanted to replicate our house in 3-D model in a software and design the interiors myself and exchange opinions with my family through emails. It has been very difficult to suggest nice interior changes with me living here and my family living in chennai. I come back from my vacation and much to my delight and disbelief, I find this software called "Sketch up" from Google! IT IS A FREE 3-D MODELLING SOFTWARE. Can you believe it? Furthermore, it is just sooo easy to create any 3d design you want using that software. Interior designers have a great tool now.

One more major disappointment - I wanted to shoot a song in just one take, without changing scenes. I really dreamt about this one...but alas, somebody else is doing it before me, in the movie called Auto (Oram Po). I don't know what the hell is happening here.

I've learnt one thing - an idea that's not used today is an idea that's useless tomorrow :)

New Year 2007

I had gone to santa barbara, malibu temple, lake cachuma and solvang on dec 30, 31 with a couple of friends. it was a relaxing trip and we mostly spent time taking pictures and eating unhealthy foods.

My absence

well I was in India from Nov 20th to Dec 16th. That means I left LAX on Nov 18th and reached back on Dec 17th. That was my longest vacation to India/Chennai in quite some time. I wonder why I call it an India trip at all, 'cause frankly I don't know much apart from how Chennai looks. I wanted to go to Bangalore, but that didn't happen. The main mission to accomplish was to prepare for my father's 60th bday celebrations and that went very well. Apart from that we did quite a lot of shopping - mostly clothes for us and the visiting family members and friends. Clothes are expensive. I bought a couple of nice shoes as well. I am back alone 'cause my wife wanted to stay back for some more months. That's about it.

the weekend so far

the weekend will come to an end soon. I had to do many things to prepare for our trip to India soon. I recorded about 28 songs from my keyboard. People back home have been asking me to do so. We watched a couple of movies. Borat is #1 this weekend too! that's amazing. We just came back from a "world of opera" concert held in San Diego Symphony Hall. Didn't know that Irwin Jacobs has pledged to donate $100 million to the Copland Symphony foundation. That's a nice gesture ;)

Got something

got something that's really needed on Nov 7th ;)

Nacho Libre, etc

I watched many movies in the weekend - nacho libre, MI3, Motorcycle Dairies, Borat ;) I liked all of them very much. Borat is definitely one of the funniest movies. It's also easily the grossest one I have seen. You can easily take offense to it and easily laugh too. Nacho Libre was exactly like Napoleon Dynamite, not nearly as funny. I really liked the title music. It was very apt. MI3 was an edge of the seat thriller. Very well done. I really liked Motorcycle Dairies until the 2nd half, where it gets philosophical, etc.

Problems with Air India

AI cancelled the flight from Singapore to Chennai because of bad weather in Chennai. Here's the good part - apparenly, a flight from Chennai is supposed to fly to Singapore first so that it can bring the passengers from there and that's the flight that wasn't able to take off!???? How do you like that?

Parents have left

I dropped them off at LAX last night. After quite a few phone calls that were exchanged between Air India and myself, they finally managed to put them on a singapore airlines flight. Time flies - their visit now seems very short. I am not sure if I managed to please them and make their trip entirely pleasant 'cause I was too busy. I did my best though - couldn't have done any better ;) They will reach India on Friday. Another four weeks or so and we'll be gone too.

Stuff I've been thinking about

My mind knows. It knows that I should stop doing a lot of things I do now. I haven't been able to live the moment for quite some time now. There are all these thoughts. I somehow need to create value with all my talents. I just don't know how. I have been thinking very hard about this questions for a very long time now and I have no answer at all. What my mind says is that I am losing my present with this anxiety, but I am unable to take charge now. My mind says that start on something and the fog will clear from there, but I am somehow not able to proceed with full speed now. I need energy. I have to take charge. How can one create value from interest in music, interest in photography, films and a deep knowledge and appreciation for science? Particularly, what will I do with the professional experience that I have gathered? What do people do in general? Do they just go with the flow, complaining all the time? Or do they just go with the flow happily, hoping for the good stuff to happen whenever it is destined to happen? What do the rest of the men do? Seriously.

Education. It is something I truely value. Be it in any field. It is a process in which you learn quite a bit. The life after education is when you seldom use all of your knowledge. That's the sad part. May be I should have become a professor, but let me not go in that direction. I have this constant urge to learn something. Anytime not spent learning is considered a waste. Anytime that is not spent pursuing your passion is also a big waste. I am tempted to think that this phase will pass. I want to be optimistic. But the clock doesn't wait for anyone. It keeps ticking.

I have a lot of ideas. Tons of them. My nature, call it stupid, tells me that I want to execute all my ideas when my mind knows that one of them itself can take a lifetime to accomplish. Who planted all these ideas in me? Is it so that I'll definitely do something about it? Aren't there any clear people in the world? What do they all do and how did they arrive there? I do see a lot of content people, who don't seem to give a damn about their future. I envy them in one sense. I feel like I have come too far from being like that. My thinking and contemplating mind never stops. It just never stops.

I need to start exercising vigorously again. I have been rather dull. All work and no play makes me a dull boy. I realized that I was quite happy and energetic when I had a strict gym schedule - 3 times a week. It was quite amazing. Amazing to the extent that it was not meant to last. I had this thing going on for four years in a row. I somehow had the motivation, regardless of where I lived, to keep going to the gym and do my one hour thing there. How the hell did that end? I can't possibly explain 'cause I don't know.

I am interested in entrepreneurship. I can't take finance or investment banking. Consulting - may be, but I am getting old for that. I can't put in so many hours per week and see my time being spent away from music, photography. I need those two in my life. Can I take music courses in the undergrad/grad level somewhere? I can already tell you that my mind would want to take photography courses as well. How about film school? Do I stand a chance at all? What am I missing here? Is this the so called mid-life crisis. I really hope not, because I can see things getting far worse.

I thought I would vent the steam out a little. I took a career test from www.livecareer.com. You should take it too. It takes about 20 minutes to answer the 100 questions or so they have on the site, for which there are no right or wrong answers. I know about these tests. You need to be completely honest in order to get a fair evaluation of your interests and your skills, talent, etc. Apparently, I am the most interested in Arts, Science and Writing. The former two I can understand, but I don't know where writing came from. It's a means of being creative...so I guess I can include that. I am also not very assertive or persuasive apparently. I remember earlier I had flunked an entrepreneur test that I found in Guy Kawasaki's website. Don't know where I am headed, to be brutally honest.

The only thing right now that can make me totally happy is a reasonably clear short term future, say 2 years. Education is an option or working hard and learning new things is another. In either of these, I don't see music standing much of a chance. Photography is solely restricted to when I am travelling, but I want to do a lot more. God bless.

Laterz.

Hello....it's september

It's the 9th month this year and I have not idea what all happened. there's just one thing that happened this year - work. I have not been really socializing in the last several months. I have almost forgot how it is to be normal. The more extraordinary I think I want to be, the more abnormal my life is becoming. May be I should just try to be ordinary. I think I have a window of opportunity here that I shouldn't miss. I don't know what exactly the opportunity is. I feel like I should learn more - may be I'll get that if I do an MBA or go to film school. We saw "Vettayadu Vilayadu" in the theatre this weekend and I really liked it. Kamal has given a pretty good subdued performance. The story was good. The best thing was the cinematography! They have really set a standard and it is hard for me to imagine what they would have done to get New York the way they have! Lots of things to learn. I need total peace at this point. Can't go on like this forever. Clock is ticking.

3rd anniversary

of our wedding is today! time has flown so fast that it is difficult to grasp the reality. My parents are here....that's what is special about this anniversary. Otherwise, I would have planned some nice trip or the other. Last year we went to Hawaii and the previous year we had gone to Alaska. But nothing much this year. I guess I will just go around the area here.....

SPQ

This online quiz supposedly tells you whether you can be a good student at B-school or not!

Peter Pan (21-30 SPQ)

Annoyance Level: Medium

You are not quite ready to face the adult world, so school has become your sanctuary. Some might call you a professional student. Perhaps you have collected a few graduate degrees already, or you just wanted to relive your undergraduate days, when you felt life was a party.

Making friends comes easy, and your classmates probably think that you're a lot of fun. But many of them can't afford to go out every night. One of your redeeming qualities is your charisma, but even that can backfire, warns Jon Pinder, associate professor at Wake Forest University.

Robert Hogan, a PhD in psychology and president of Hogan Assessment Systems in Tulsa, Okla., warns that B-school will probably disappoint the Peter Pans. "It's dreary turning in papers," he says. "It's not the world [you] remembered."

If you're willing to get serious and seek direction, you might still be able to get your money's worth at B-school. Putting down the beer and picking up a book would be a good start.

This is what I got out the quiz the second time I took it:

Annoyance Level: Low

You fit in well at B-school and know how to balance work and personal life. You are often the unsung hero of your group projects because you know how to get the best out of your classmates, many of whom are your true friends. B-school is a chance for you to lay the foundation for a career that will make you happy. Even though you had to make sacrifices to go back to school, you wouldn't have it any other way.

Tolerating those who are less laid-back and confident can be a challenge for Ms./Mr. MBA. But you just have to keep in mind that diverse personalities contribute to creating the right class chemistry.

There's always room for improvement even if you are well-liked and getting the most you can out of your B-school experience. You might consider reaching out to a wallflower in your class or a first-year student in need of a mentor. Helping others, after all, will turn Ms./Mr. MBA from average to above average.

8th anniversary

Today (Aug 10th) is my 8th anniversary of setting foot on the U.S. soil! It's equivalent to finishing two B.Techs - 8 years ;) time indeed flies by so fast. I never thought past the year 2000 in my life, but it has been already 6 years since Y2K went by. On Aug 10th 2000, we also had a minor episode on the freeway when going to the bay area - the car in which we were going basically lost control and spun on the freeway before coming to a complete halt on the emergency shoulder!

Parents

arrived yesterday (aug 3rd) safely. They brought tons of stuff with them and we're struggling to accommodate everything in our house ;) Lots of stuff to do this weekend. Laterz.

Happybirthday

a lot of people in madras take this for one term. they ask "is today your happy birthday" and I want to say "yeah, today is my birthday alright, but I don't know if I am happy or not, particularly after you asked this question". you keep hearing "when is your happy birthday".....I don't know whether they really want to know which birthday we are finally going to be happy or if they are indicating that I have not been happy enough on all my other birthdays!

Final 500!

I got my $500 deductible from the insurance finally, more than 3 months after the accident happened. They sent me a letter with the cheque and a note saying that this closes the case. They are so glad to be done, but I have been a good customer and have patiently waited for the money. And life goes on, with the new car with already 3500 miles on it!

Desserts!

My friend had called me to go with him to extraordinary desserts, a place somewhere close to downtown san diego that's very famous for its desserts. The previous time I had gone there with one other couple, we had somewhat got lost but eventually found this place. This time, I asked my friend to drive 'cause I was tired. We reached that place, but couldn't locate the actual address. Plus it had too many oneways and crowded streets, that we somehow eventually ended up taking the freeway itself! After that the next exit on the freeway turned out to be another freeway! ;) When we took the first exit on that freeway to make a U turn back onto the freeway, we missed the entrance and took some other surface road. I had to refer to a map after that to get back on 163S. We repeated the process of taking the exit, etc and were determined to find this place now after parking somewhere.

After quite a few rounds, we parked the car on 3rd street and washington. The place seemed rather quiet and run down, but there was some activity on washington street, with the video stores right on the corner. I helped my friend parallel park and just as we got out of the car and locked it, a totally drunk woman lost her balance and fell on the car behind us which set the panic alarm in that car. By this time, my friend had got pretty frustrated with the whole experience. We thought she would gather herself up and move on, but she did so, only to fall right next to our car! Another homeless guy started helping her out, but also started leaning on our car, much to the anxiety of my friend ;) We then decided to call 911 'cause we thought the situation needed some attention. The old drunken lady just couldn't gather herself up and even bore the beatings of the other homeless guy around her. We finally made up our minds to go and locate this place called extraordinary desserts, with the hope that it would cool us down. The address was supposed to be some twentyninetwentynine 5th street and we kept on going on 5th street, but it seemed it would continue forever before we reached this place. After quite sometime, we decided to return back. When we came back to our car, we found that the ambulance had just arrived at the scene and the paramedics were trying to help out the old lady. I told them what I witnessed and the man thanked me. I was almost going to ask him whether he knew the address of this extraordinary desserts, in Larry David style but decided against it. The whole thing seemed funny to me ;)

What and Why - Music

Why do I love music and am so passionate about it? I am even obsessed with good music. Let us see why.

• To me music represents one of the highest forms of creativity exhibited by humans - every music piece is like a new being - a creature and a work of art.
• I am fascinated at the varieties that are possible. I am also amazed at how our ears recognize music as a form of art - how they distinguish music from general noise. They say that even an untrained ear can detect the slightest dissonance.
• Music has given me great joy during my childhood. I used to be able to pick a few tracks from a song and just concentrate on that one track. Ilayaraja is the single most reason why I am interested in music.
• Music has instilled many different feelings in me. To me it is a form of expression - that allows us to express many different subtle feelings very clearly.
• It also amazes me how the same tune can bring about different feelings to different people.
• Music is something that comes from the composer's heart and hence a pure reflection of what he/she "feels" about the situation.
• A lot of math is involved in music scoring or reading - which again appeals to me because I am also scientifically inclined.
• All the ancient composers' works appeal to me a lot. I am amazed at their success at music and more amazed that their tunes are still being played all over the world even after a couple of centuries of their death. They live through their music and they seem to have done something great to mankind.
• If I am able to play a tune on the keyboard, it has a great positive effect on me - I feel more confident and happier. I am able to appreciate the composers' mastery on the subject whenever I try to decompose a song into its individual tracks.
• Just like a picture is worth a thousand words, music is also worth a thousand words. Sometimes music can express something much better than words.
• I am very impressed with Rahman's career progress and his gift for music. He inspired me to learn the keyboard. It is a matter of pride for me that Rahman is so successful worldwide just 'cause of his music.
• It is a means of doing something for mankind - it is a means to relieve their stress and entertain them and in return earning their praise and wishes. It is something that would give great recognition that commensurates with the effort that goes into making music, unlike many other professions.
• It is a means to reach people that you don't know and a means to make them listen to your heart.
• It is a means to be surrounded by positive energy and a means to be in touch with one's true self.
• Music is a form of expressions where there are no rules within a set of rules.
• Music is an art that requires minimal equipment or accessories - voice alone is enough to produce music and amuse anybody in the world.
• Music affects me deeply and instills many different feelings in me and I want to be able to reproduce those feelings with my own self.