General

They say a righteous man falls seven times but rises up again. I don’t know about being righteous, but I sure have had falls, hopefully this is the seventh, in which I finally get to find me. The pieces of the life are coming together again, I’ve resolved my long standing ‘fight’ with my sister, I got great feedback on my first three months in a new role, I’ve made two great friends in my new city and I’ve started running thrice a week :) I have a lot to be thankful for, this is a new journey (hopefully). Welcome aboard.

Despite what the preponderance of mid-life crises and suicides around the 30 year age bracket would suggest, 30’s the new cool - and that for a variety of reasons. For starters, people take you serious by default. In your teens they know you’ll faff around, in your twenties they’ll assume you’re growing and the occasional gaffe can be excused. In your 30’s they actually believe you know what you are about until you goof. Ain’t that uber-cool? You get pimped for free. Depending on how far gone you are on the continuum, every one want to match make you. The best friend from University wants to hook you up with a niece, your cousins want to hitch you with friends and all that ish. Downside is it generally tends to rub you the wrong way - but hey who cares? They’re concerned.. That’s why! All the unmarried chics from earlier on for whom you had crushes suddenly see you as a serious option especially if you have made good on the success your geekery promised as a precocious teenager. Chances are you’re so clueless around women that you do not have a baby mama in the background, which seems to be a huge plus these days.. Chances are you have a strand of gray hair here and there - and true to type if you wear glasses, you actually look cool (gasp). You, the sore-thumb-sticking-out-almost-worwor-bloke, suddenly has the desirable features of respectability. Last but not the least, you actually have ten more years to play the fool - after all a fool at forty is a fool forever, but not before :)

You know you need help - from mindlessly watching TV - when TV ads start getting to you. In my defense, these two have to be up there with the worst ads I’ve ever seen! Enjoy.. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_-9QFvhQWo] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXiJBp7HK5o] I guess they work by catching one’s attention, even if only by irritating one..

A fascinating history of peeing…. Apparently Mahatma Ghandi drank it regularly… http://www.neatorama.com/2010/04/08/bizarre-facts-about-pee/#more-30566

The association of married and pregnant women holds its meetings twice a week. I don’t have a problem with that, except for the minor fact that they unfailingly decide to set up camp across the room from my pod at work. No, my character has not being impugned in any way - I am neither responsible, nor even remotely implicated, but their choice of venue riles me… The topics covered are varied, but time after time they settle on being pregnant and being hot…… They can be excused - the oldest of them is twenty-six and they’re all first timers.. looking to work as long as possible before they hit the motherhood trail…. For the hour they meet, all we get to hear is trimesters, weight gain, gym routines for pregnant women… and a whole slew of designers I’ve never heard of… ...

I have a theory…. The world would be a much better place if everybody smoked and drank together.. This is a finding that cuts across age, race and location… I have found it true - based on anecdotal evidence mind you. I have not quite acquired the cross gender data yet… but I suspect it still holds true…. The proof? The way people’s eyes light up when they share a smoke…You can almost feel the electricity of bonding as they exhale in unison.. The smoke from their nostrils blending into an upward swirl… especially if it is a shared stick… Or more.. The sense of fully belonging when beer bottles lose their contents… Men are never more equal than before the bottle… Stories of hurt, of pain overcome and of success unlimited are swapped with reckless abandon under the inebriation the lager induces…. I suspect people would trust their smoke buddies more than their priest..and given the news continuously breaking, I wouldn’t begrudge them the lager… ...

My Mother is my mother - so in theory, I should send her a gift for Mother’s Day - that’s a given, even if its only an extra long phone call :) What worries me though - and this is all altruistic - is where the wives, the sister who is now a mother, the aunts and the girlfriends fit. The wife, or official girlfriend is a critical case in point; they are not your mother, and they usually do not have children who are old enough to get them gifts for the day - but they do have the influence and ability to make the day horrible for one…. ...

A bride should be five years younger than her groom, should come from the same cultural background, and be the more intelligent of the pair if couples are to have a successful marriage, scientists have announced. Apparently the critical difference in intelligence is 27%… leading to a 20% increase in the probability of a good marriage. Perhaps eHarmony can include these critical findings in their much vaunted Compatibility algorithm. I have already included them in my spreadsheet! ...

Once bitten you’re smitten. I underestimated just how much this space means to me. I’ll be back.

The cold March weather is back, and that with a vengeance. I spoke too soon when I declared summer was here. Temperatures dipped to as low as 3 degrees centigrade today. Taking into account the high winds that accompanied the weather change, it must have felt like it was sub zero at some stage. My friend O and I practically shivered as we tried to grab lunch today. I hear snow even fell in the outskirts of town! More cold weather is forecast for the rest of the week into the weekend.. God help us o.. I’m sooo over the weather! ...