Pre-Holiday Update Time

It's been a long day. I purposely woke up early to make it to work earlier than usual, but that sort of went bust. Because today was our corporate Christmas party I put extra effort into how I looked and that just ate up time like whoa. So it looked like I wouldn't get to work early, just on time as usual. But then I realized that I was surrounded by morons on the road. Honestly, fate must have been out to get me this morning, because things were slower and wackier than usual. I haven't heard myself cuss out people like I did today in a long time.

Despite the insanity I arrived at work in a spectacularly good mood. I have a feeling that it had to do with the fact that I was all dressed up in corporate styles and wearing some nice coordinated jewellery. Shallow, yes. But if it makes me feel so confident and cheerful, who the hell cares? Also, I smelled fantastic. Like the sample of Delicious by DKNY my mom gave me :)

The drive back from the office to my place was even more insane than the drive in. I swear, the Toronto maniacs were out to get me! I made it to the restaurant where they were having the Christmas party 15 minutes late and it was already supremo packed. There were tons and tons of people, mingling and drinking wine. Of course, because I know barely anyone at the corporate office, I once again set myself up to sit with people I had never met before. I ended up sitting with a bunch of people from Finanace, a girl from VC and another lady who is dating one of my safety contacts. A few of them were really friendly and I had a good time. My glass of white wine made things interesting as well. The food was Italian and different to what I'm used to: raw salmon with persimmons and fennel, ricotta gnocci with eggplant, apricot and chestnut stuffed chicken with a mushroom sauce, assorted cookies and custard tarts, and a delicious latte to end it off. There was a segment during the dinner when everyone could nomminate a charity of their choice and enter it in a draw for a chance at a $1000 donantion. I love my company! Although I'm still disappointed that my charity (Canadian Diabetes Association) wasn't picked :P At the end I had time to catch up with the few people I know at corporate and have a good time with them. All in all, a highly enjoyable event!

After the party I decided that since I was downtown and not tied down by my car, I'd take the subway to Eaton's Center. Not for Christmas shopping, but just because I hadn't been there in a while. I ended up running into one of my former classmates, Patricia, from my first year at Ryerson. We chatted for a while and I was fairly aware of the fact that I was still rather buzzed from my wine ;) Then while I was walking by Indigo I saw my next door neighbour from first year residence at Queen's, Katherine! It was surreal. She looked really good, and mentioned that she had seen a bunch of our mutual Queen's friends yesterday too. Even though I didn't buy anything, it was well worth going down that way.

So now I am taking it easy. Waltzing around the mall for an hour and a half in my corporate-bitch boots was not fun for my feet, and now I'm limping around. I'm sure I'll be fine in a few hours. I'm gonna take it easy and watch House MD tonight :)

It's That Time Of Year Again

I'm finally starting to look forward to Christmas holidays now. They're so close I can taste them. And they taste like gingerbread and candycanes. In less than two weeks I will be relaxing at my parents' house. Yay!

For the past week I was travelling around the east coast on business. It was tiring and fun at the same time. However, the madness is by no means over. Tomorrow there is this massive simulation I'm taking part in as a controller/observer, and I have to head down to the conference site tonight and do a pre-event prep with my teammates and the event leaders. I'm so very nervous, because I don't know much on the specifics on the team I'll be observing. Sometimes I wish I was already with the company for 5 years and didn't feel like such an uber-n00b all the time ;)

Oh man, I just can't wait to take a break from it all!

Parde Ke Peechhe

I'll admit that when I'm not living at home I completely lose touch with the world of Bollywood. I lose track of all the upcoming movies, soon to be released soundtracks, juicy gossip, and the like. It's only when I go back home that I'm get back in the loop, mostly thanks to my sister.

That being said, I took the initiative and looked into a few of the recently released soundtracks. I found the movie Bluffmaster: lame title, wicked music! It's hard to explain what makes the music so good. There's a strange and subtle fusion of the new music style with old Bollywood music cliches found way back from the 40s to the 60s. It's very catchy. I can't stop listening to the songs :) And I still have no idea what the movie is about. Something about Abhishek Bachchan being a ghetto gooda? LOL, I have no idea. All I know is that I'm getting mad Bunty Aur Babli vibes.

Work Is Teh Suck Right Now

My desk at work is pretty big. Sometimes I think I should just give it a shot and hide it like George from Seinfeld did. No one would be the wiser, I would think. Lord knows work can be so mind-numbingly boring sometimes that the need to sleep nearly takes over.

My boss wants me doing a tour of the east in a few weeks. I'd be travelling from Fredricton to the barren nowheres of Newfoundland all within the span of a week. Travelling is fun and all but sometimes all I crave is a more routine kind of life... wake up, take the subway downtown, run around doing work at an office all day, meet up with friends for dinner and drinks, maybe go shopping, head home for some good TV and a nice warm shower, then go to sleep. Day in, day out, that wouldn't be a bad deal.

I've been struggling with figuring out where I stand financially. Most of my money had been squirreled away for safekeeping/investment purposes, and every two weeks I manage to spend more than my disposable income allows for. I always feel like I'm on a tight budget, even though I do end up spending money on gratuitous items every now and then. My parents tell me to go ahead and take money out of my savings accounts and investment funds if I want to, but I can't help but feel that would be the beginning of the end. Once I start, I'd never be able to stop, and I'd be left with nothing for the future. Wow, don't I sound like the responsibility-minded adult? ;)

Another Long Night

Ow. I went out for lunch today (my boss was treating a bunch of us before our meeting) and seriously burned my tongue on some fries. I knew I would regret it later as I ate the fries, but they just tasted so good that I couldn't stop!

I went out for dinner with my friend Andrea from undergrad. We haven't seen each other in ages. It was awesome catching up with her. We discovered that we both had a hankering to go speed-dating for kicks, so we agreed to each do some research and then pick a good one downtown for fun times :)

The heat has been cranked up and I am nice and toasty in here. It's a shame that I can't just sleep the cold days away. Winter sucks.

Leftover Tornado Nights

I had a good weekend. Went home to enjoy some crazy Christmas shopping (What? Already?! Aiiieee!) as well as good food. I also got my flu shot, which is making my left arm very sore. But it's okay, I'll survive ;)

I've decided I ought to start keeping track of my money again. I sorta fell off the wagon when I went to Moncton for business. My routine just got really thrown off course, that's all. Of course, with Christmas and birthdays coming up it won't be easy to keep the money spent at a low level. Also, I've decided that I need to get the perfume Delicious by DKNY. It would be perfect for my "winter" scent. I already have Island Kiss by Escada as my fruity, candy-like "summer" scent. They would compliment each other perfectly :)

Hooray, I finally broke through 2000 songs on my iPod! Go me.

This Is Me

Here is my outfit from last night. I was, like, the only one in an evil demonish costume! There was a strange excess of fairies and cowboys that none of us could explain. It was fun though. I met some interesting people. Witnessed some crazy connections being made. One random cowboy guy happened to know people who went to Father Austin. I was so surprised! It's not everyday that someone in the Toronto crowd knows about the suburbs.

The chicks who were hosting the party were awesome as well. The one girl who was friends with my friend Akbar had been to India before, and so I got a chance to play the Hum Tum soundtrack during the party! Sweet! The other roommate was so nice. A little odd, but she's an actress, so it was to be expected ;)

Who knows if I will see those people again? Ah well, at least I enjoyed myself.

Let The Good Times Roll!

I am currently waiting for my friend Akbar to show up so we can get ready for mad Halloween action tonight. I've bought the alcohol, he's bought the candy, all we need to do is apply our make-up and we're set! I am going as 'the devil's advocate'; I've got my pinstripe business suit on, and a set of devil horns, forked tail and pitchfork to complete the ensemble. Then all I need to do is make myself look pasty and undead-ish... et voila! I will post pictures after the fun is over :)

The dance tunes are blaring, because I feel like getting down and grooving. Life is good.

Tomorrow it is off to see some friends from work and watch scary movies. And possibly cook for our office potluck lunch on Monday. Who knows? Hope this doesn't fall through. Lord knows with the luck I have.

This Is My Message To The World

I made stir-fry today! This might not seem like a big deal, but I am the last person on the world who you would find cooking... much less cutting up boneless, skinless chicken breasts into thin slices. *shudder* I hate the way raw meat feels. So very wrong. Anyway, the stir-fry turned out pretty well. There were a few problems I had with my creation. The noodles and the veggies were a little overcooked, but I can fix that for next time. Also, it was a little sweet, which is the fault of my Kikkoman stir-fry sauce. Damn you, Kikkoman! I trusted you! I should just take my mom's advice and try adding some of that Vietnamese hot sauce. It's got a good flavour.

My brother talked me into downloading Firefox. It's got some pretty cool functions, but it's lacking in other areas as well. I'll probably end up using both Firefox and IE for different uses.

I Am Random, Therefore I Blog

I was asked today by the lovely Radhika if being a grown-up was any better than being a student. As with most things in life, I felt my answer would be best illustrated via interpretive dance a graph. Hence the picture. Click for a closer look at the deep intellectual discussions I have on MSN.

Seriously, it's true. Now that I'm out of school I don't face those dizzying highs and bone crushing lows anymore. Life is a plateau of constancy.

Another Week Coming To An End

I'm so glad it's coming to the end of the week. Really, I shouldn't be so eager for the weekend. I didn't go to work on Monday or Tuesday because I was sick. I've barely been out of the house this week. Somehow, that makes getting up in the morning even harder. Kinda the same way you get used to winter after 6 horrifying weeks of bitter cold and harsh snow.

When I came back from my parents place last weekend, I had the misfortune of witnessing my iPod iMplode. It's was a horrible thing. I had to reformat the bastard. Lost all my playlists, playcounts and ratings. The ratings are the most annoying part. But thank god I still have all my songs on my computer. Thank god for small mercies.

If I don't go shopping this weekend for essentials, I will be doomed. I'm gonna cook up some fabulous Thai dish this weekend. For kicks. Because I live alone and can. Also, I need Halloween decorations for the wee ones who will be coming around in a week. Should be interesting.

My mom is getting hooked on Lost! Hooray! She never was really into X-Files, it was too creepy/scary/gory for her. We've managed to suck her into Star Wars, but that was a family effort, 4 on 1 tag-team, with extra concentrated effort on the part of my brother ;) And as much as she watches The Simpsons she just never gets the humour; it goes right over her head sometimes. Anyway, I plan on bringing my Lost DVD home for Christmas and we can go nuts with it. Yay!

Speaking of Christmas, I wonder how vacations work in the real world? No more 'stay home and laze around from December 21st to January 6th' for me, I'm afraid. Woe. How sad. I wonder if I'll even get to go with my family to India this summer if we do decide to go. Vacations in the corporate world seem like a tenuous thing.

First Post Goodness

Okay. So I'm going to try this again. Having a friends-locked Livejournal isn't very helpful when trying to keep in touch with people.

Why am I awake so early on a Saturday morning? Because I'm getting sick again. Fuckity. I hate these stupid abrupt changes in the weather, they just mess with my system. Also, it's too hot in my house. I misjudged on setting the temperature last night before bed. So here I am, eating oatmeal and blogging. Isn't my life just exciting?

I'm going home to visit my parents today. I wasn't home for Thanksgiving and they really missed me. It's the right thing to do.

Last night I dreamed I was visiting India. At one point I was at this very trendy shopping mall. They had all these really cute clothes, designer stuff, for ridiculous prices like 15 rupees. You can't get anything for 15 rupees in India anymore, much less designer clothing. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little. Rumour has it that we (as in our family) may be going to India next summer? So sez my sister. But maybe it's just her wishful thinking.

What's been going on with me? I just got back from a 2 week stint in Moncton. Business travel, you've got to love it. Life is quiet and easy on the east coast. But I was still glad to be back where the action is ;) Actually, it was odd... there isn't much diversity out in NB, which was one of my reasons I was looking forward to coming back to Toronto. But when I did arrive, all I could think was "Yeah, it's more culturally diverse here... but not as diverse as I thought it would be. There's still a whole lot of caucasian people up in da house. Fo' shizzle!" Heh. I must have mixed up Toronto with Miami or something ;)