Tuesday, September 27, 2005

funny ... but that's life!

A few ground rules:
  • Inside every small problem is a large problem struggling to get out
  • Whenever a system becomes completely defined, someone discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it beyond recognition
  • You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom
  • The only things that start on time are those that you're late for
  • Spend sufficient time confirming the need and the need will disappear
  • Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment
  • A little ignorance can go a long way
  • Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence
  • The shortest distance between two points has to be still under construction
  • If at first you don't succeed, read the manual
  • It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious
  • The legibility of a copy is inversely proportional to its importance
  • Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups

Monday, September 26, 2005

Some of my fav music videos

In no particular order...

1) A-Ha : Take on me
2) Dirty Vegas : Days go by
3) Alanis Morisette : So pure
4) Janet Jackson : Runaway
5) MLTR : That's why
6) Fatboy Slim : Weapon of choice (which features Christopher Walken)

Shall update the list as and when I think of more.
Lots of music videos available here for viewing :)

Saturday, September 17, 2005

FRIENDS – a Theme

Just finished reading “Five point someone”. Don’t know what happens to me when I read a book like this or watch a movie like DCH, that it triggers in me unexplainable feelings.
What exactly does the word friend mean? Where on earth (or in some cases even outside) do these people come from? With no warning whatsoever, they pop into your life. You have something in common with them and BANG they become an intricate part of your very being.
All of a sudden, you have someone whom you can actually speak to, someone to share your views with, your feelings, your thoughts, joyous moments, funny tidbits, crazy ideas, smart ass comments….
Yeah, they’re also there for you when you want to vent out your concerns, inhibitions, miseries and pain.
Want to share intimate secrets?? Yeah… they’re right there with all eager ears and comforting arms to embrace you.
A mail, a message, a phone call … that’s all it takes to put a big smile on your face and a bigger one in your heart!
Before this, you didn’t even have a clue that such a person existed; now you cannot imagine a life without them being a part of it.
One tiny word of affection is enough to assure you that are there…. and that they truly care.

Blessed are those who have friends like the one’s I do :)

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Space Explosion ???

How many kilometers make a light year? (isn't 12.6 billion light years too far off ?)
How did they manage to calculate when the Big Bang occurred ?? (isn't 13.7 billion years a teeny weeny bit in the past)
News reports say that the farthest explosion to date occurred on Sep 04 and the scientists were able to detect it only after a couple of days.
Why?? ... because the light from the explosion took so long to reach the Earth.
How amazingly weird...read on!

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Sweet Innocence

Once a week, I take classes to teach kids to play the keyboard. There are two groups – 1 very small kids in 1st, 2nd standards and then the other group which has kids from 4th to even college. This weekend, the 2nd group was practising to play a tune we'd learnt to play the previous week, while I was teaching the younger ones to play the Happy Birthday tune.
I first taught Sriram to play it, when we reached the 3rd line I sang Happy birthday dear Sriram… to which he grinned and learned to play it.
Next was Indraneel… I used his name in the song when I taught him and lastly there was Sai Lakshmi to whom I sang Happy Birthday dear Sai.
I asked them all to play one it at a time while the other two watched to see if they were playing it right. Sriram got stuck at the 3rd line so I asked Indraneel to teach him the third line… All this happened while I was listening to the other group play what they had practised.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise from the little ones. What’s happening I ask them to which Indraneel replied… “Miss… this boy doesn’t know how to play his name…he keeps playing my name in the third line, teach him how to play his name”.
To which Sriram sai "Miss...iseent eet thee same note?"
I just couldn’t help but smile and tell him “only the words change for each one of you, the notes stay the same no matter who plays it!” To which Indraneel nodded his head and they resumed playing the tune… I still am not sure if what I said made any sense to him :)

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Rose at 87

I received this message as a forwarded mail from my friend. Lots for us to learn from it :

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.
- You have to laugh and find humor every day.
- You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!
- There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing; you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.
- Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.
One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

* Remember, Growing Older Is Mandatory. Growing Up Is Optional.
* We make a Living by what we get; We make a Life by what we give.
* God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.