Peridot

I’m giving myself a present today, a 16th anniversary gift.

16 years since I started my career or the almost equivalent of the years I spent in school and university.

• 504,921,600 seconds 
• 8,415,360 minutes 
• 140,256 hours 
• 5844 days 
• ~835 weeks 

It is incredible to think of the time that has passed, to be nostalgic for a period in the past 16 years that had potential, prospects. Yet (and despite the not so typical path my life is on) I’m grateful for the opportunities, the knowledge.

The comfort of commuting from home for the first 2 years while I worked for my first employer, the cities I’ve lived in, the people I met, the acquaintances and friends, and for the 13 years. To my second employer and the fact that I always knew it was a stepping stone to something else, more importantly to my client and the strangest 18 month adventure and finally to my third employer and for all that the future holds.

Happy Year 2018

Some days I'm lost in a concrete jungle both literally and figuratively and I would not have it another way!

To you and yours, a very happy 2018.

2015

And it's been a whole two years without a single update on my blog, not surprising but not wholly true either. The copyright has changed every year! and my easter/christmas co-ordinates are up to date.

I'm always excited about the new year, I don't expect magic but it's just the perfect time to put everything in perspective, to journal and start the journey of the next 365 (-4) days.

Here's to a wonderful, peaceful new year with a little less cynicism, a little less judgement, a lot of compassion and a whole lot of faith.

A little reiteration

I'm sure the snippet below needs no introduction or source.

'No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.'

In other news, I'm a certified Godparent now!

Sajjige

The title of this post used to evoke such disdain from us growing up. If ever the answer to the question 'What's for breakfast' turned out to be Sajjige then you knew that day already had the worse possible start. The version that we were used to eating was the one that was slightly sweet, with the dry fruits (cashew nuts, raisins). All things considered, it is one of the simplest breakfast items to make in a jiffy. I don't know what it was about, maybe the lumpy, dry look, the not-wanting a sugar-high in the morning (okay, I completely just made that up, I had no clue what sugar-high was when I hated, yes hated sajjige)

So then, I kinda had a history with Sooji, it represented something that was forced on me (us). Everytime someone ordered Upma (fancier version of the sajjige), it baffled my mind how someone could possibly enjoy a lumpy dish like that. It is only quite recently when I decided to try it out from one of the south Indian restuarants here, that I remembered the pack of sooji (Santa Clara had given it me) and I suddenly decided I wanted to make upma today.

So here goes in picture format.

Yes, tossed in a bit of that beautiful orange bell pepper too.

Ever since I've started cooking for myself, I really, truly appreciate all the cooking my mom has done for us. Without complaining, day-in and day-out, no day offs, no I'm tired of my own cooking so will order takeout days and no eat cereal for dinner days either.

Out of this world

Found the first episode online, so nostalgic.

Sloth

Sloth _n.    Laziness, Indolence

                Slow-moving, arboreal, edentate mammals

                A company of bears

The dictionary provides the above three definitions for sloth and my contemplation for this post is certainly not on mammals or bears so we can focus on the first definition . According to the Catholic Church it is one of the seven cardinal sins although I think sloth has got to be one of the most overlooked sins, if at all it is considered a sin by any of us. And yes I say overlooked because it’s just inconsistent to consider laziness wrong (let’s use ‘wrong’ instead of sin for context). Surely there’s no right about sloth, but is there a wrong and does the word only refer to a glorified version of laziness or is there some spiritual meaning too?

I’m not someone to make New Year’s resolutions, but decided to do the bible a day plan this year and I must say it’s not as easy as I thought it would be, every day I hit catch-up and within the first 29 days, I’m already down by 13 days. At this rate my one year bible plan would take 1.5 years, which is acceptable too I guess! So what’s the correlation between the bible reading plan and sloth you may ask? If I had to justify mindlessly watching every single movie/tv show on Netflix, I would and I’d have a simple explanation every time for why I haven’t been able to take the time out to get the gate chain fixed, you get the picture … don’t you, it’s JUST procrastination.

The bug of procrastination is hidden under layers and layers of tangled lifestyles that to wean it out would mean a complete rewriting of the code, a catharsis and yet I believe remnants of the bug will continue to exist. It may pop up ever so often, but you’ve just got to find the workaround every-time and then I don’t know if the church meant to put procrastination in the list of deadly sins, it doesn’t seem right?

And if this thought seems incomplete, you're absolutely right, it is.

Sit it out or dance

The pattern is the same, when I when look back at a year gone by, it seems to be in varying degrees of overwhelming although at the start of the year I just *knew* that this was going to be THE year! Resolutions aside, I don't have such emotions about 2012 being THE year, so I think that's the first good sign.

2011 was my year for intensifying friendships and a little about making new ones, although the latter seems like a constant struggle as the years go by and also the only year in the past few years that I've stayed put in one place and that is a huge relief. I know that is what I ultimately want, the not-knowing if I can be the maid of honor for a friend's wedding here in April doesn't appeal to me, it never did.

Do you know why heaven has such huge air-conditioning bills? that's because God keeps opening a window when he closes a door, I wouldn't mind a dent in my electric bill if I can open a few windows for myself and when given the choice of sitting it out or dancing, I hope there isn't a moment's hesitation despite my lack of dancing abilities.  

Focus, slow down and think more linear.

Don't look back

Realized something interesting when I was thinking back to the past 6 years I've spent here in the US, of course there's a lot of first and second's and n'ths but this is only related to the parish I've attended on important occasions and who I attended Mass with.

Easter:-
2006 - Prince of Peace, Plano
2007 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2008 - Stanford Memorial Church, Stanford
2009 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2010 - St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Rogers
2011 - Mission Church, Santa Clara
2012 - St. Patrick's Church, San Francisco
2013 - Church of the Resurrection, Sunnyvale
2014 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2015 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco
2016 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco
2017 - http://cathedralphila.org/
2018 - http://cathedralphila.org/
2019 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco
2020 - youtube!

2021 - Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco

2022 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco

Christmas:-
2006 - St. John Vianney Catholic Church, Houston
2007 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2008 - St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Seattle
2009 - St. Stephen Catholic Church, Bentonville
2010 - St. Clare Parish, Santa Clara
2011 - Mission Church, Santa Clara
2012 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2013 - Mission Church, Santa Clara
2014 - St. Patrick's Church, San Francisco
2015 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco
2016 - St. James Catholic Church, Redondo Beach
2017 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2018 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco
2019 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai

2020 - Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco

2021 - St. Dominic's, San Francisco

Chasing Cars

Chasing Cars - May 16, 2006 - Old Shepard Place, Plano, TX