What do you do when you feel low? I have noticed that I stay home & watch movies.

Having a bad day? ... sit on the couch all day, eat junk and watch whatever movie you have. Listen to music that will help intensify what you feel, Decline all invitations...Ah, be a loser in short. Sucks eh?

Instead, I should just go to the gym or something. I sometimes even go shopping and come back without buying anything. I guess it is better than going on a spree and regretting later.

No, I am not particularly feeling *low* at the moment, but irritable enough to crib & whine.

I got back from Bloomington today. I carried two small bags with me to Bloomington with the intention of checking in one & carrying the other with me. However, before entering the aircraft the officials claimed to have a full flight & so checked in what was to be my cabin baggage.

So I reached Indianapolis airport with just a purse. Yeah, both my bags didnt arrive :-(

(If you are wondering what the big deal is, you don't know my history with travel & bag loss)

So no gloves, hat, maps, directions, ... and the weather was just perfect. Snow, rain, ice :- all but the sun decided to welcome me in Bloomington.

On my way back to Seattle, I got both my bags, flight was on time etc. Too smooth & simple to be true? Yes, a friend who was supposed to give me a ride form the airport didn't show up & didnt answer his phone.

I am beginning to believe that I may be jinxed with respect to flight journeys.

On the bright side, both my missing bags were delivered on the same day to Bloomington, my vacation was fabulous (I just kept wishing I had made the trip earlier, sigh!) and I did get back home 3 hours after landing in Seattle. Oh and its a sunny day here.

I am in Bloomington from Friday - Monday(Feb 22-25). Going after almost an year, I am actually excited. I hope the weather forecast is right and it is not snowing or raining.

Nothing much on the agenda except meet friends from school & take it easy. And give Rosh a hard time

I thought I had a clear notion of what curry meant before I left India. Now I am not sure. However, I do know that curry wrt thai, malysian, Indonesian & chinese food is different from curry wrt Indian food. I often wondered what curry powder that Indian stores sell is. I thought it was powdered curry leaves, until I picked one packet. The powder was yellowish orange in color and the leaves are green in color. Also the powder didn’t smell anything like curry leaves. It didn’t smell like any masala (spice) I had known. Then I thought curry powder was probably people’s notion of spices that go in an Indian dish [so does that mean dish == curry?]… so would that be like garam masala? Though ofcourse not all Indian dishes have garam masala. It is all very confusing.

While we are at it, I also want to point out that nan, roti, chicken curry & paneer are only a subset of Indian food. Back in India, every state has its own cuisine, dessert etc where some things overlap with some neighboring states and others are completely distinct. Kerala food for example is mainly rice based, a lot of dishes are cooked in coconut oil, curry leaves & coconut are ingredients in most dishes. I am yet to find a restaurant in Seattle area that serves Kerala style food. The closest we get to Kerala food is idlis, dosas & vadas. Which probably is more Tamilian than malayali. (I Think)

The last time I had Kerala food with my non-Indian friends, they were amazed & said they had never seen & eaten any “Indian food” like it. Many of my Indian friends back in Kerala were surprised with they were served “dal-baati-choorma” or even carrot halwa. Not to mention mom’s hurt feelings when one of them asked if the halwa was chutney (chammanthi).

And on that note, I need to get back to cooking my chicken err … curry.

I finally bought tickets to Bloomington. The idea of visiting Bloomington has been brewing for a while, and now I am going back finally. I miss several small things about Bloomington - esp being in downtown. I guess if I was living in seattle downtown, I wouldn't miss it as much. I miss biking & walking to a lot of places, I miss the small town feel & I miss wearing trackpants. But given a choice between living in Bloomington and here, I would pick here anytime :)

I am in Bloomington during the last but one week of February. I am going to freeze but driving in snow is a lot better experience in Indiana as opposed to Seattle area.

Next weekend some of us girls are driving to portland. It is supposed to be a book club retreat which reminds me I haven't read the book yet. Initially we were going to take a train & I was all excited about going on a train for the first time in US. However some girls wanted the comfort of being in a car and avoiding walks....sniff...and so a car it is.

I also may be driving to Vancouver for a weekend trip sometime this month. I am liking this. I am thinking of getting a GPS though that would mean the end of some adventure :). In my case I think it will also save time & increase potential places to go to.

Ok, so another year has passed by and I have decided to note down (or blog) some key events/observations/blah blah, so some day when I am a few hundred years old and have free time I can read this and laugh.

So commenting on my last year’s entry, I think I have touched some things that I wanted to.

I didn’t do all the things in my wish list (Oh wouldn’t things be too simple & hence boring then) though I would have liked to. I am putting the “try sashimi” into the failures bucket. I don’t think punting it to this year’s wishlist will do anything, I am sort of giving up on it … for now. Things that I did but not as much as I intended to include going to the gym, indulging in sports, swimming & traveling. So these will get punted to the next year - 2008

Now moving on to this years list (call it a wish list, set of resolutions or what you will – its all correct)

1. Read books - atleast 1 book a month (want to read all the Smullyan books that Roshan & I have).
2. Go to the gym, start swimming (grrr)
3. Travel & see atleast a few new places within Washington state
4. Learn one new snow sport (already started with snowboarding, but still in the ‘getting frustrated’ state)
5. Keep up with all the girls get togethers, books club retreats, potlucks, blah blah. (No, I am not a feminist, just enjoying girl talk for now)
6. A huge to-buy list – get down to prioritizing & getting them. (List is too long to put up here)
7. Code - Work on at least one pet project outside of work
8. Write letters (yeah what's a list without stretch goals)
9. Cook more often
10. Keep up on the spa visits

Some of my friends who visited me in the past few months in  Bellevue are thoroughly convinced that I am suffering from OCD. Its coz they think my place looks too prim & proper. “Disturbing, … too clean” as they put it. They may be right, but I think I find it difficult to keep it any other way. It just lingers in my head “Oh, it’s a mess … Oh I need to sort it… uggh…” until I get down to tidying it all. I went to Leavenworth during the thanksgiving break where Roshan caught me looking at this book at a book store titled “life is too short to fold your underwear”. I thought it was a funny title…and he said “yes it’s a message, buy it”. I didn’t buy it but am thinking that some things have the effect only if you spend money. Things that come free are not always given their due importance. That goes for my gym membership as well.

Anyways.

Looking back, it’s been a great year. I graduated (yay), took a 3+ month vacation doing absolutely nothing. I got to really spend time with family for the first time after my undergrad. I moved to Bellevue, found a decent roommate who is finicky about cleanliness (Thank you, phew!) and a place close to Bellevue downtown. Oh and found a hindi movie theatre in the area! After 2 years in Bloomington, I know how much this matters to me J. I am enjoying work; I actually look forward to getting to work most days except the really cold, gloomy days when all you want to do is stay in bed.

Here’s wishing everybody a Happy New Year! Let it be the best so far J

I have been busy with work, apartment hunting, car hunting and unpacking my things that arrived from Bloomington. I gave up on the plan for staying alone for a while because of the high rents near the Microsoft campus. So I spent more time finding an apartment where I was mostly certain of finding a suitable roommate. I am now settled and unpacked in a 2 BR condo near Bellevue downtown. Its about 10 min drive to where I work. The only problem with the place is that I cannot bike either way. Its steep and way too tiring for me judging by the look of it. That would mean driving to some bike trail & biking. I wonder if I will do that.

I now have a *real* car, its a volkswagen passat glx. The good thing about it is that its fully loaded, all bells & whistles. Small change from my first car. I knew nothing about cars a month ago, and now I actually know a fair amount. No technical details, but about model/make and such. I learnt that the favorite desi car is Toyota Corolla. Next probably the honda cars. I am already thinking about what my next car will be. I am tempted to get a convertible, it will be fun in the summers. But we'll think about it when we get there. Winter is creeping in and I need to buy some new winter gear. My Bloomington snow jackets etc will probably be of no use here.

I am yet to explore Seattle like a tourist. I am hoping to do it on my own or with other newbies. There are three things that I put on my (stretch) goal list when I moved in.

1. To go to a gym

2. To go to office early & get out early (along 8-5 lines) and

3. To make more women friends.

I have failed in all 3 so far. Well actually, making women friends has probably been a success as in I do hang out with women more than I did ever since high school. That is one flip side of being a part of computer science. As an engineering student, the men:women ratio was very high during my undergrad, same with work life & grad school. And so, during my vacation I sat down and thought about the fun discussions that I have had in the past in women only groups... and I decided that I should do something to ensure that I do not miss out completely on those.