Wednesday, October 31, 2007

not so spooky halloween

The clock gets ready to chime 12 and other than a lady with blood dripping from her lips who made her presence felt in the elevator, the feel of Halloween has been missing, not that I am an expert on such feelings!

I decided to stock up candy in anticipation of some kids who would come round the apartment as part of the trick or treating... but that was not to be, lottsa candy for me!

The concept and origin of Halloween is slightly mystifying nonetheless the word itself has its origin from the eve of 'All Hallows', Tomorrow is All Saints day, a day of obligation for us Catholics.

Nov. 1st - Happy Kannada Rajyotsava to all folks from Karnataka.

will probably have to catch up with an episode of X-Files to get a dose of spookiness!

Friday, October 26, 2007

a few distractions

One of my current favorites from the world of ads, is The Jeep ad



and then there's Apple iPod with Feist's 1234 original version on David Letterman's.

This one can be a little addictive! Mika's Grace Kelly



Sunday, October 14, 2007

48 hours

It was my first experience at a parish bazaar here in the US. We stumbled upon it by chance; our intention was to attend mass and while we found the church under lock and key decided to find the reason for the cancellation of the evening mass. Blame it on me for not reading the parish bulletin.

The limited time we spent there, was splendid, as with everything else, there seemed to be no lack of enthusiasm for a church bazaar. As is human nature, follow the crowd and we found ourselves queuing up in front of the funnel cakes stall! Not that we knew anything at all about funnel cakes! If people can wait in a queue while there are many other stalls with no queues, there should be some reason. The cakes were good….didn't resemble a funnel in any way though, the name could be because of the use of a funnel while making the cake, wouldn't even call it a cake...

The stores comprised from regular flea market kind of stuff, to live music, an auction, raffle games, and of course food and drinks. The rains seemed to have been kept at bay just enough for the occasion.

A visit to an art exhibition yesterday featuring Annu Naik and my second visit to SJV in as many days, this seemed like a perfect weekend.

Friday, October 12, 2007

hate 'em love 'em, but you just can't avoid them!

What's the one place that can make you feel crammy one second and elevated the next?

We've all had our fair share of experiences with them, most likely without the sauciness as in the elevators of Seattle Grace and surely not as in the talking elevator of Private Practice.

What makes something as simple as riding an elevator an unnerving experience at times? What about elevator etiquette?

My present office building has six elevators. There can be nothing more frustrating than getting into an empty elevator only to be joined by people who seem to somehow want to get off at every floor before mine (doesn’t leave them with much of a choice, since I have to get off on the topmost floor... well...) and worse still, is when you have stops on 2 and 5 and a guy gets in on 3 to get to 4! Talk about timing...

I usually punch in my floor number and relax, lean against the wall, get lost in my thoughts. Mundane thoughts float in my head…the BOK's I should have got started on last week or the 135$ jacket on a rack at Macy's. Often the thought of crashing has crossed my mind and the fact that there seemed to be no emergency phone and also that my own cellphone provider T-Mobile didn't seem to provide service in the elevators further heightened such thoughts until I realized that there was an alarm. Ah! Well for the day when I can press that little white button!

My behavior is always altered based on that of my elevator mate. I'm not one for socializing in an elevator and will not initiate a conversation, but will participate if engaged. Weather seems like a safe subject but I’ve also had people talk about their kids, about their rising mortgages... If I make eye – contact, I hope I have to only smile! or say hi and often while getting off say ‘have a good day’ or something equally benevolent.

In a crowded elevator, I often am simply just waiting to get off and pretend to be preoccupied, stare at the floor as if it’s going to gobble me any second or keep checking the floor numbers as if I don’t already know which floor I’m on. And during some of those long never –ending rides; I’ve even ended up on the wrong floor a couple of times!

Encounter people carrying on loud conversations and in strange languages? To avoid the crowded elevators is as simple as avoiding the peak hours… easier said than done…

Ever wonder the brains behind the elevator, the erratic wait times? I sometimes press the button and guess which one of the elevators is going to take me for a ride, have a 16% chance of being right everytime! Elevator Algorithm was that in PU or Engg. Mathematics.... can’t for the life of me remember when I came across that!

My previous work place had elevators with mirrors on all the walls, get in and distract myself with my narcissism!

Getting to the bottom is never frustrating, getting to the top is always, as everyone seems to want to do just that.