The Recap

This year I have been slow about everything. I will blame it on the drive, once again. I barely find time to do anything else. Even spend time with the family is now going on, on the basis of appointment system. In between all this chaos, I am trying to work in some work out and that is going nowhere either. But then, I will not complain, 2012 was full of surprises. I have changed jobs, learning a lot and my daughter turned 5 and life goes on...And here is a recap like I have been doing all the previous years:


January 2012: We started off partying and welcoming 2012 in San Francisco with family and close friends. A trip to the Golden Gate on the perfectly clear and sunny day was very welcome and ending it at a coffee shop watching the waves hit the rocks was perfect.

In an attempt to loose some weight, I went for an early morning boot-camp, and in the process of doing something I am normally not capable of I tore my LCL. I think my body warned me but I did not listen to it.

February: India beckoned and we went away for a month. There was a wedding filled with his family and then small trips to Goa, Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai completed the rest of the trip which went into March. I thought I was getting off the brace and almost stopped using it until I realized that I had not healed yet towards the end of the trip. Came back with a swollen knee...too much fun is also not good sometimes...I guess...

March: We got back in time to celebrate my birthday and then a family trip to Houston where we went to Brazos Bend State Park and spent time with the Aligators...Also March saw me switching over from Iphone to Samsung and buying my favorite toy an Ipad to replace the void of not owning an Apple product. Oh and BTW turned a year older.

April: Was in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm, sitting and waiting it out in the stair case while tornadoes went past us...and it was also the time when I got re-addicted to my Korean Dramas! Oh and there was also the trip to Austin with family living on the lake for three days and lazing away supremely.

May: The big change. Took a break from work. It was relaxing, therapeutic and could not have come at a better time...summer! Babs and I got to spend so much time together doing new things. I knew that this break was short lived and tried to pack as many things into it as possible.

June: One of the worst months in the year but a lesson learnt. Kids deal with adversities way better than adults...Babs broke her hand while doing a harmless jump from a harmless place in a harmless mall play area...I cried. I freaked out. She said she did not care and went on with life. I panicked. I created scene!

July: I do not remember anything fun. All I can think of is trying to keep Babs with a broken arm busy and making up things to do with a child with one hand in a cast.

August: I worked through July and August at this interior design firm. It was one of the best experiences I will carry with me.

September: A trip to the family before I started my new driving job...brothers and parents and all the kids under one roof. It was chaotic but so much fun like only family can be. And more Korean was being learnt in the household. I started my 100 mile a day drive this month!

October: Parents came! Babs birthday! Hubs birthday! It was all so fun and so busy. October sets off the busy time of the year with every weekend all the way to the end of the year being booked. We also squeezed in a Cowboys game among everything. A first time visit to the amazing Cowboy Stadium in Arlington.

November: We went to a Kansas State Home game. Thanks to our K-State friends. It was the best game experience ever! It even trumped the Cowboys game. Being with fellow K-staters, screaming and cheering for your team cannot be compared to sitting and sulking at the Cowboys game. Plus we won! what a night. Thanks M and V. November also marked the last time G's bro and family would drive up to visit us. They moved out of the country to a funner place but that only made all of us super sadder!

December: There were parties to go to. Gifts to buy and wrap. Games to be played. Plum cake to be consumed. Cakes and cookies of different size and shape to be made and eaten. New coffee shops (Korean of course) to be explored. The winter snow on Christmas Day was priceless. No wonder that it is the most wonderful time of the year.

And that brings us to now...a year during which I hope to blog more. Write more. Spend time with my friends more. And keep in touch with all family as much as I can. I have to stop complaining and start living!

Love and Enjoy
ART

Things I Say

Will now get either said back to me or repeated whether I am around or not. I keep learning and re-learning this lesson but never remember to follow it through...

The other day we (as in Babs and I) were stuck at a light. It is one of those lights that take for ever to turn green. I could have turned right but then I decided to go straight and we were stuck. For Babs, the time it took for the light to turn green was equal to how soon she would get her weekly frozen yogurt. Suddenly from behind she yells,

"Chal bey! Poora din rukhna hai kya yahan. Kitna time letha hai ye dakkan red light. (Move it you, do you want to take the whole day? How long will this annoying red light take.)"

I realized that I had passed on my road rage issues to my daughter. And of course you cannot blame me either. I drive 110 miles a day...the least I can do is scream my guts out when I get stuck anywhere on the road.

A Conversation with Babs to remember

Babs: Do you know what a crush is?
Me: Ya, like a squeezed fruit juice? They call that a crush in India.
Babs: No, not that one. There is another type.
Me: Oh, you mean like crushing you when I give you a tight hug? (me playing innocent."
Babs: No mom, like when someone has a crush on someone, it means they like them.
Me: Really? How old are you?

Ya, my daughter is growing old faster than I want her too. I want her classmates to slow down so she would and we could all slow down this growing old process...

But the stuff she throws at me...if only I could write them all down.

Merry Christmas
ART

I Can Hear My Heart Crying!

Not long ago, approximately five years ago, I gave up on the married-yet-single life. G and I became parents to Babs. I remember feeling left out when my friends went partying and we stayed home nurturing our little cuddly-puddly. And soon, it did not make a big difference at all. Now I look back at the time and I really do not feel like I have missed much and this past weekend it was attested.

Our friends and I left our kids with our baby sitter P and wanted to do dinner and a movie. The movie, Life of Pi was fun and then we went to a lounge bar. I had no idea what I was getting into. The place we chose had a live band playing inside a closed space and the mics were on a high. We could not find a place to sit and enjoy the music or eat. Finally the only spot we found was right next to the speaker/woofer. My heart started to cry as it thumped with every beat. I looked at G with a puppy face, "we are not young any more."

Poor friend of mine who was actually enjoying the music was also quickly pried out of her seat and we rushed out to enjoy the air with much lesser noise and I grinned. This was good. Just hanging out with friends, out in the open, thinking about eating and chatting. That is what I wanted to, not sit in a loud room, screaming over the music, and loosing hearing and speech the same night. I am older now than I was before and this is what I like now, and I am happy with it...

with that said, seven years to the day since G and I tied the knot. I still go back to my old Reception and Wedding posts and reminisce the fun times we had. 

Love

ART

Go Cats!

I remember writing before about how I felt about Manhattan, Kansas when I moved there. It is a real small university town and at that time no one there knew how to spell Vegetarian. Anyways, during orientation I signed up for a host family and completely forgot all about it...until one day I got a phone call. It was from JH. JH introduced herself and asked me if we could go out for dinner. She asked me of my dietary requirements (vegetarian at the time) and decided that I would enjoy salads (which I do not). So off we went to Applebees on a Friday evening. She picked me up, treated me for dinner and dropped me back. She was nearing 50 and a widow of the erstwhile assistant coach of K-States prestigious football team, the Wildcats...Bob Hope. She did this once every month. Offered to take me shopping or just to hang out. She was always courteous and polite and very nice giving me ample advice.

During the college football season, she offered to take me and G to a game. I had no idea that we would get prime seats, and an amazing view but unfortunately neither of us followed the game and sat through the ordeal grudgingly in cold. That was the only football game I had been to till 2012. Later on JH got re-married and moved away to Florida to start a new life and I have not heard from her since...that was 10 years ago...

This past Friday a friend and also a K-State alumni, MR called to ask if we would like to go our school game at TCU and he had free tickets...hell yeah! Babs baby sitter was arranged and off we went together...giggling and full of excitement sporting school gear! Because we went late, the only place we found was among the TCU crowd...but we got there and cheered as loud as we could. We rooted for our team with our mascot Willie the Wildcat, and stood on our feet the whole three hours filled with excitement. For once I did not need coke or anything else to boost my energy. The crowd was electric, both K-state supporters and the home team.

We started to win and the home supporters started to leave slowly...and eventually by the end of third quarter we were standing in the first row...we screamed for Willie to hi-fi with us and could not stop cheering as Wildcats finished the game. We were all so proud and inspired to see our 73 year old coach Bill Snyder do his thing and pull our team once ranked the "most hapless team" to be the #1 team in the country...

Then another amazing thing happened, the team ran close to us giving us hi-fi and fist pumps, I got to shake hands with our Heisman trophy contending QB, Collin Klein and then we took tons of pics with Willie who very nicely posed with all of us...and the rest of the walk back to our car we could not stop talking about the fun we had had...the excitement...

This had been better than the Cowboy's game we had gone to earlier this year...we not only lost but got booed by the guest team in our very own arena...how sad could that be...we left half hour before the game ended and so did most Cowboy's fans...

Anyways, the icing on the cake was when Babs asked me and G when we picked her up, "So did you guys have fun? Tell me about it."

I thought she will get sad if I told her we had fun without her but then decided to tell her everything to build the trust, and to our surprise she was not sad or mad but wanted to see the pics and pestered us to tell her everything about the game. She always keeps surprising us...

So Anyways...I will update with some pics soon...until then have a fun fun fun Deepavali/Diwali.

Love
ART

Falsetto!

I am really not a musician. I think can hold a tune and I believe I can sing but nothing that anyone other than me, and my daughter can tolerate. And as my daughter grows up I am slowly loosing my only fan...how sad is life for me. Anyways...when Babs was a baby we seriously indulged in Bollywood night and day but as she got closer to turning 5 she shifted focus to English songs. She knows all the new Pop singers and is in love with singing the songs.

Anyhoo...as we both listen to the songs on the radio I am becoming more aware of the distinction between western and Indian songs. At least for me...

• In Indian songs the women have to sound as squeaky as possible. I remember when the Usalampatti (Gentleman movie) song released everyone criticised the lady voice saying she sounded like a guy, which she definitely did. But that is accepted in the West, the women's voice can range from Adele to the Usalampatti singer and it is fine...as long as you have dinchak beats.
• Men in Indian songs have to sound male. They cannot get away from high pitches by switching over to falsetto, they have to keep it going base...but god does the west like the male falsetto? Have you heard Maroon 5? Beiber? MJ? Anyone and everyone like to sound like a lady at least for 30 seconds...
• This one is digressing...In Indian music videos women love to wear the tight clothes....
  

Random thoughts while driving my 100miles per day...and just wanted to throw it out there...

Thanks

ART