Addiction thy name is...(Part one)

COFFEE!

Top 10 me-reasons to drink cofee:-

1. "I just woke up. I need coffee"
2. I want coffee.
3. I love coffee
4. "Blah. Let's get coffee."
5. "Hmmm....? Let's get coffee"
6. "I need to relax. Let's get coffee"
7. "I need to wake up. Let's get coffee"
8. "I need to sleep. Let's get coffee"
9. "Coffee!! You can sleep when you're dead"
10. Just cos.

Java!
-Mocha King

The joy of nightouts

Over 6 years of college + grad school life as a Computer Engineer/Scientist....you get used to being nocturnal. The sights and sounds of computers, oscilloscopes, bread boards, chip testers, wires, resistors, caps, LEDs, soldering irons etc....bring you comfort on a seemingly endless road punctuated by deadlines, projects, presentations and demos.

The most memorable of these experiences are the late night lab sessions. Bunches of geeks/dorks/nerds/me-types hunched over PCs and other random equipment....trying to get our logics to work. Hitting keyboards, jabbing at the screens, shaking our heads in frustration, nervous laughter and desperate deliberation. It's all there. How is this fun again? It just is. It's part of the geekhood experience. These are the times you get to bond with your teammates and learn truckloads. Welcome respites come in the form of trips to the vending machines and water coolers., animated sleep-deprived conversations with other fellow tortured souls, and the (passive-smoking) smoke breaks.

Then in the end it's all worth it when we get our programs to work or our boards to behave properly. That's when you look back at the infinite sleepless nights and say..."hey...that was fun".

Byte that chip,
$amrita$

Bhai...

Happy Birthday!!!! :-)

Let the records state that as of today...till 6th august...you are officially THREE years older than me :P :) hehehe.

But...love ya... ;-)

-K

A little slice of heaven

Love it, or hate it, you've gotta admit that New York City is the one place where you get hit by the feeling that you are part of something much much bigger than just yourself. It's a well oiled corporation...running smoothly from dawn till dusk ...which really merge together cos the city apparently never sleeps.

Where is all this going? Nowhere in particular. I'm too swamped at school to write a well thought out blog entry. heh. Right now, I'm just reminiscing from last night.

After a long frustrating day, all I really wanted to do was meet some friends, and sit outside in the amazing weather ...listening to music. Wish, and ye shall receive!! :-) After doing dinner round 1 at the Mamoun's falafel place (An amazing sandwhich for just 2$!!!!) ...we sauntered into Washington Square Park where I can always trust to find live music. Sure enough, hunched into a corner was a group of eclectic jazz musicians playing anything from blues to rock to good old jazz. What a voice the singer had...he tore up the night literally....

Staring up at the beautifully lit up Arch, sipping iced tea, tapping my feet to jazz, flanked by my friends....that's when it hit me again for the hundredth time...."I'm a part of something sooo much bigger than myself"

A little slice of heaven right there at the end of a frustrating day/week.

Ate mais tarde
!Amrita

Another month

As another month of 2006 winds down, I'm precariously close to graduation. Which means that I have about 2-3 weeks of school life left...and then I dunno when I'll be back. Jeez. 6 years have flown by. And I still remember August 2nd 2000 as clear as it was yesterday. Everything else is a big hazy blob punctuated by memories :-)

Hmm....moving on....I finally watched "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset". amazing, incredible....i LOVED both of them. So simple...but so captivating. Such movies give you hope....so me likey!

Some random thoughts from yesterday:
~"You need to find peace within yourself to be able to love others" - from Before Sunrise
~"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" - Henry Ward Beecher
~"I'm still giddy from Saturday night" - Me :P

Songs from yesterday:
~"Dilruba" by Niyaz
~"Indus Valley" by Karsh Kale
~"Letting Go" by Karsh Kale
~"Milan" by Karsh Kale
~Album "You could have it so much better" by Franz Ferdinand (thanks Ito-Frito)
~Albums "October", "Pop" by U2

Part time mom, Full time friend

Her name is Lalitha. Its her birthday today. She is the one that our universe revolves around. By 'our', I mean Andy, dad and me. She's the first friend I had. She's the source of my love for life, my enthusiasm and my craziness :-)

"Happy Birthday Mommyyyyy"

For everything you are to us and all that you've given us, we love you.

~Your three monkeys

Land of Nod

The Land of Nod eludes me...
...but all's justified by the "dedication to having fun"....

And then again....
COFFEEEEE!!! You can sleep when you're dead!

Right?
-Amuuuuuu

My first baseball game

Didnt that sound like the title of a baby's photo album..."My first birthday party" or something like that...LOL!

Anyway...moving on to the topic at hand. The KC Royals were drowned by the NY Yankees this afternoon while 54000 Yankee fans cheered on. And yes, there were about 300 non-yankee supporters who were picked on, torn apart etc. Yes, there were fights. Verbal and physical. You can imagine the rest.

So being that this was my first baseball game ever and that I'd never really visited Yankee stadium before...I was excited. The day was PERFECT...the sun was shining...there was a cool breeze...and my buddy Han gave us free tickets!! Ha! So five of us from school...gave into the guilty pleasure of escaping school on a Thursday afternoon to go bask in the sun and drink beer (in my case it was Gatorade...cos i'm off alcohol for a few weeks...dont ask why). Game was great. And at one point of time, the ground crew actually danced to YMCA....which was hilaarious! (Ito...you would have cracked up chica)

An afternoon well spent....more pics here...

Sophia, Han and Me at the stadium...


















The view from our seats...(no, it wasnt slanted :P)

I'm pissed!!

1. My favorite and oldest pair of jeans tore....well...ok...it's time to let go....but...hmpphhhhffff
2. I couldn't see Karsh Kale or Indian Ocean perform cos of classes....
3. Paul Oakenfold is not performing this weekend....going to Philly instead...WTF??!!!
4. I was woken up in the morning (after sleeping for 2-3 hours only) by the maintenance guy....about fixing my window blinds. I hadnt filed a complaint about it....so the only way he could have found out is by peeping in through the fire exit. Blooody perv.
5. My project partner is a jerk!

C'est fini!
-amrita

Networking made easy

XHTML Friends Network (XFN) is an interesting new protocol out there. It basically aids us in linking our (web-site-available) friends on the web via HTML itself. So it's a nice way to create your own network and keep track of how the web is coming together.

How is this done? Nothing fancy to be done really...just add a "rel" tag in the "a href" and choose from a set of attributes to assign to the link. The link here is the link to your friend/contact's webpage or blog. (by the way, did you know that blogs and blogrolls are the fastest growing are of the web?...neither did I...but Wiki says so)

For example, consider my blog roll...let's look at a link......
a href="/http://www.xanga.com/nivea12" rel="friend met"

The "rel" attributes are not imaginary. They are listed here: XFN Getting Started

View my network here: http://rubhub.com/main/site/?105648

I think this is cool. Eventually we'll be able to see how well connected the web really is.

That's it for now. Back to the regularly scheduled broadcast...
-Amrita

Mother Nature is on crack!

How else do you explain 70 degrees over the weekend and snowfall today?

Serves me right to be audacious enough to pack away my snow jacket! Ha!

It's all good though. I totally enjoyed the ginormous snow flakes today....

Randomness rocks! :-) Right Ito?

Baila!
~Amrita

Dance like this

Wyclef belts out...
"Baila en la calle de noche
Baila en la calle de dia"

Literally translates to ... (thanks Alicia)
"Dance in the streets at night
Dance in the streets by day"

And that's exactly what I did.

Created this amazing setlist last night with a lot of the songs from the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (My all time favorite movie for those who dont know). There is something about Cuban and other Latin American music. There is a raw passion in the beats and rythms....for Dance, Love and Life. Not to mention the sensuality factor. Oh so much ...

So it's a cool afternoon and i'm going about my business on the streets of nyc...with my new playlist smoothly flowing out of the iPod...and I cant help but break out into subtle moves...the beats just swept me away. And of course there is a stupid smile plastered on my face... ;)

Then Yerba Beuna took over with "Guajira"...
"Guajira
I love you too much"

Standing at a traffic light...head bobbing, shoulders and hips swaying slightly...it's all I could do to not start moving my arms as well and make a complete fool out of myself. But I was having soooo much fun!!!!! :-) Most of the dancing was going on inside my head thankfully... :)

So...yeah...nice dancy day :D

Tchau, Ate mai tarde,
~Amrita

A conversation with a psychic

Do you believe in extra sensory perception? Or that the lines on your hand decide your destiny? Or whether there is such a thing as destiny?

I admit, I am a skeptic.

I met a psychic on Saturday night. Consciously, I would never ever have approached one or would have very strongly turned away if one approached me. But intense exhaustion and melancholy combined made me give in to her coaxing. Or as my mother cares to explain it: hypnotism. But that's a story for another day. I do acknowledge that psychics have a way to tell when a person is vulnerable and they can definitely read faces really well. So this woman started telling me things about my past and started moving on to the future. Here's a snippet from our conversation...

Psychic: "You have been in a bad relationship before."
Me: Not really.
Psychic: "There is a lot of loneliness in you. You smile, but lot of the time you're sad inside."
Me: Un-hnn...
Psychic: "The loneliness is gonna be there for a long time"
Me: Gee...thanks!
Psychic: "For a nominal fee...of 100$...I can do a searching to find out where the block is"

AHH! SNAP!!!

There it was. The clincher.

This conversation definitely shook me up for a bit. Of course, the woman was after money so she sugar coated the beginning and gradually got me down in the dumps so I would shell the hundred to "remedy" the block in my love life. Good sense prevailed and I got the hell out of there. Then I started questioning the credibility of palm reading or chiromancy. How is it possible that the lines in my hand or the vibrations in my energy dictate my life? Or is it that my stubborn optimism makes me deny whatever I dont like hearing?

Chiromancy or Palmistry has been practiced since the 15th century. It's the concept of telling your future by observing the lines and patterns on your palm. The authority hand for men is right and for women is left. Many years of research later, palmistry cannot still be called a science. Though the patterns in your hand can definitely tell your character, there is no proof that they can predict your future. For example, whether you will be making a million dollars or if you will find the love of your life? So even though there is no credibility associated with this pseudoscience, why do so many people spend their hard earned money on it? What gives palm-readers the authority and encouragement to actually make professions out of it?

Here's my take. At the root of palmistry is a human being's burning need to know the future. What spawns this off? Insecurities, emotions, sadness, the need for hope and faith. Humans always need reassurance, that's just how we are designed. Some of us find it within ourselves (as in, we have our own garages) and others find it elsewhere...friends, spouses, lovers, psychics....etc. In my case, I was being plagued by various questions of life and anyone who could even remotely shed light on the answers was God sent. (Again, a story for another day would be how come I believe in God, but not in destiny and palm reading?) So I could have chosen to believe the psychic or I could have chosen to live my life and learn my own lessons.

I chose life! I dont want to lose my present in anticipation of the future. I'll deal with my future when I face it. But I am not blind to it either. I am aware that every single action of my present will affect my life ahead. So I attempt to infuse it with positivity.

And as Alan Kay said -- "The best way to predict the future is to invent it"

Love & Peace :)
~Amrita Rajagopal

Samba New York // Crobar

Holy shit...what a night?!!!! The occasion was the annual LASA party put together by Columbia Uni's Latin American Student Assoc and School of Intl & Public Affairs.

Awesome live music. Awesome venue (Crobar). Fuckin A+++ DJ!!

I had NEVER seen a Samba performance ever before...I was blown away by the rythms and beats. The troupe was Samba New York. Really really good!! There were two performances through the night and the troupe also jumped in between to spice up the DJ's music. They were a lot of fun. The dancers were really elegant and...man...can they shake their stuff or what?

And Crobar!! Oh Crobar!! Expansive dancing space...very chilled out too. The DJ ROCKED the boat. The music was mostly latin american ...but there was a good bit of house and hip-hop...and....surprisingly...Bhangra too!! I've never been to a club where I danced to EVERY song they played. So A++++ to the DJ and Crobar!! Definitely coming back here....

And so...

Considering that Thursdays and Fridays are the busiest days of the week for me....it was great to take some time out last night. Rads has landed...she'll be here this weekend. Dini is on her way too....meeting her after 1.5 yrs! I have a stack of papers to grade and 2 classes to attend...then weekend begins! Oh...the Coldplay review is almost done...havent had the time to put the finishing touches as i've been busy. I'll probably post it later this weekend.

Ciao
~Amrita

Times are a-changing...

'Cos....
....you hear the sing-song bells of an icecream truck in the evening...
....the steps of Low Library are hard to climb not because of snow or ice...but the hundreds of students lying around basking in the sun...
....you can wear open toed shoes again!...
....you dont wince when the wind hits your face...
....you actually have use for the expensive sunglasses that you convinced yourself you needed to buy....
....the trees are finally sprouting buds...laden with anticipation before they burst into leaves....

Yes...times are a-changing :-)

~~Amrita~~

Tipsheet

To get rid of melancholy:
Hit the gym. 1/2 hour on the treadmill with your iPod screaming release....
Oh..and dont forget Quad sets 1 and 2 to keep those knees happy.

~Amrita

Baudot Code

During my music research today, I found this very interesting coding scheme: Baudot Code.

A place where you might have encountered this code before is Coldplay's album cover for X&Y. The cover depicts the phrase "X&Y" in Baudot. The clever kids also managed to sneak in a publicity message for the "Make Trade Fair" campaign in the back of album pamphlet. Yup...the back of the pamphlet depicts "Make Trade Fair" in Baudot :-) Smart.....very smart!! So this also gives us clues to what Chris Martin's hand tattoos really mean.

So here's my Baudot code....


Coming up...concert review for Coldplay's show at Nassau Coliseum on 27th March 2006.

~Amrita

Saturday morning wake up call...

An unexpected 6 am non-crisis phone call...on a Saturday!! When is something like that justified? When it's two of my best friends from Tucson...sitting in my house in Delhi (India!).....with my mom....looking at my baby pictures and threatening to put them online!! I've never laughed so much while being sleepy. Even in that state, all I wanted to do was to fly home and give them all a hug.

Makes me wonder...what would I do without my friends...scary.

Bon week-end!
~Amrita~

Coolshades' survey

Finally getting around to all the surveys and Tags that I needed to address...
This one's by Coolshades from the Zoo.

1. What do you value most in a relationship?
Adventure, Chemistry, Respect...and a sense of humor

2. What is your current status?
If I tell you..i'll have to kill you.

3. If you had to use one word to describe your perfect partner, what would it be?
If I could descibe him in one word....then he's probably not my partner really...du-ude's gotta be much more than just one word...

4. Describe your idyllic partner in detail:
Will let you know when I figure it out.

5. How would you define love with one word?
insanity....but insanity is the new sanity...so it's all good.

6. Insert an extract from your favourite love poem (if you have one):
N/A....not into poetry...now haikus on the other hand...

7. What do you value more, friendship or a perfect relationship?
"Friendship…I hope to marry my best friend one day…" ..quoting Ito O'Krazy...you said it girl.

8. Are you presently in love with someone, and would you care to share whom that person is?
Nah...

9. Do you like anybody (tell us who):
Yeah kinda (my my...arent we nosy)

10. What do they look like?
Refer to 9.

11. What do you like about them?
Refer to 9.

12. Do you know of anybody who likes you?
You do...cos you're reading this blog... :P ...yeah...loads.... :) I'm a Leo...what's not to like?

13. What's the most romantic thing anybody has ever done for you?
Hmmm....wait till i recuperate....the memory itself makes me swoon.

14. Describe your personality when it comes to love:
Too loving? Is there such a word....?

15. How important is sex to you, and in your relationships?
Depends on the relationship.

16. What is the most romantic song you have ever heard?
"She's always a woman" by Billy Joel

17. Do you have a song that reminds you of someone in that way?
”Razorblade” by The Strokes

18. Do you prefer romance or a physical relationship?
Can’t typecast relationships personally. It should be a mixture.

19. Are you into your typical dates or do you prefer to be spontaneous with someone?
Definitely spontaneous!!

20. How romantic are you on a scale of one to ten?
7...i guess

21. How romantic are you feeling currently?
not very…

22. How flirtatious are you?
I don’t know how to…err…yeah… ;)

23. Are you attracted to people of the same sex?
”I’m sorry ladies, women rock and all but No.”….stealing from Ito again…:)

24. Do you believe in the opposites attract concept?
Yeah.

25. Who was the last person you lusted after?
*snickers*

26. What turns you on?
”Ability to laugh ...( the so called "sense of humor")”…like Max said.
Eyes…smiles….dancing…a slight touch…enthusiasm

27. What turns you off?
Disrespect, taking ppl for granted.

28. Share with us your fantasies:
Seriously? …

Music
29. Put a song that best describes your various emotions.
(a). Anger:
(b). Romance/love:
(c): Laughter:
(d). Hatred:
(e). Jealousy:
(f). Day dreaming:
Pass on this one…too many songs…cant possibly filter it out right now.

30. Are you in a band - or have you ever been in one?
Yes. U1/2 with Max.

31. What artists inspire you in your everyday life?
Cant think of any “artists” ….I take music as an inspiration…

32. List all your favourite artists and bands:
Dude…I cudnt possibly.

33. Can you play any instruments? If so, what can you play?
Nope

34. If you were to be in a band, what would it be called and what position would you take:
The Name: 42
Positions: Singer, Guitarist, Drummer

35. Who would be your main influences?
Led Zeppelin, U2, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Talvin Singh, Jagjit Singh….err…I don’t wanna explode the genres.

36. If you could have anybody's singing voice, whose would you have?
Norah Jones.

37. What music magazines do you buy?
The Rolling Stone

Favourites
38. Magazine:
The Rolling Stone

39. Books:
Harry Potter series, Da Vinci Code, John Grisham etc.

40: Item of clothing:
PJs

41. Make up product:
Eyeliner

42. Message board:
ha…u2.com

43. Website/s:
everything linked on amritar.com

44. Fruit:
orange, cantaloupe

45. Sweet stuff:
tharatipaal (it’s an Indian sweet)

46. Name/s:
I wanna say it…but I cant say it…I know you understand.

47. Emotion:
Giddiness (ito…I think you and me have too many common answers)

48. Place to be:
Home….figuratively.

49: Town:
New York City

50. Online buddy:
Max, Ito, Sheep, Alicia, Nivi, Noreen…should I continue?

51. Album:
Impossible question.

52. Song:
Impossible question.

53. Jewellery:
One of my many dangly earrings…white stones…3 tiered…very pretty :-)

54: Shampoo:

55. Word:
Perfection

56. Phrase:
”Fuck yeah!”

57. Person to hug:
Mommy, Aishu

58. Sleeping position:
On the side…or on top of Tigs and Bugs…get your dirty minds out of the gutter…Tigs is my dog (stuffed)….and Bugs is my Bugs (again, stuffed)

59. Time of day:
all of it.

60. Alcoholic drink:
I’ll take 2….one for Ito…and another for Max and Ali…can I have 20? Answer: “Screwdriver”

61. Pubs to drink in:
Flute…at Union Square, W at Times Square, Café Wha at The Village, Nacho’s Kitchen at Columbia

62. Colour/s:
Red, Blue, Black, White, Orange…

63. Language:
Hindi and Tamil

64. Swearword:
Fuck! …in all it’s variations and forms

65: Comediens:
Conan O’Brien…and the guys from “whose line is it anyway?”, Russel Peters

66. Superhero:

67. Sexual position:

Refer to 9

68. Shop:
New York & Company.

69. Clothing style:
Bohemian, gypsy,….it’s very Amri

70. Movie genre:
Love them all.

Creativity etc
71. Do you have an online journal/diary?
err….noo…don’t believe in those…

72. If so, link us to it:
I don’t think so.

73. In what ways are you creative?
I find good excuses to not do homework

74. What were your best subjects in school?
Mathematics, Computer Science

75. Do you draw?
Not really.

76. Do you write, (if so, what?):
Yes.

77. Do you sing?
Hell Yeah...do you?

78. How big is your imagination:
You don’t wanna know.

79. What were your favourite games to play as a child?
Jigsaw puzzles

Random
80. How religious are you on a scale of one to ten?
7

81. Are you easily embarrassed?
depends…..but….yeah.

82. When was the last time you cried, and why?
Last month…why? Refer to 9.

83. When was the last time you got upset and why?
Wednesday. Frustration .

84. Insert some of your favourite song lyrics:

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

85. How many big secrets do you have?
Lost count at the 100th one.

86. Do you have friends from other countries?
Yeah.

87. Time finished:
4:25pm

I couldn't resist...

..bought "Confessions on a Dance Floor" by Madonna.

I realized I should cos I'd been playing the songs on repeat mode from various websites. Especially "Isaac". After a point of time, it's really not worth it to face the ads and pop-ups. So my first "album" purchase at iTunes. :-) I'm still new to the software....just a couple of months...so this is a big deal for me.

It's weird how I cant imagine how I survived without my iPod before. I used to carry my CD player around while I was in college. But since I came to New York, that also didnt happen much cos I was already covered in jackets and stuff so it was simply too painful to carry more stuff. So now that I have my sexy little Nano....music to go always! And I'm loving it. The checklist for when I leave the house has one more item now: keys, wallet, phone, iPod. ;-)

I think my next acquisition is going to be something by Robbie Williams.....yup...Euro Dance/Pop is being revived in the house.

Shake it till the moon becomes the sun....
~Amrita~