Thank you

Today I sat through the first day of the Marriage Preparation Course which is mandatory to be married in the Roman Catholic Church of India - In it, the things I learned today among others was the anatomy and physiology of male/female, the updated version of the Rhythm Method and esteem issues. Considering the juggler and I are 'Evolved' human beings - the course covered ground we already knew or had passed in the beginning of our relationship - making it truly a trying experience for the 2 of us and that was just the first day!

Since the juggler also made a 'mistake' in his 'youth' , we have also done a circle of marriage tribunal law, submitting documents from birth certicates to affidavits regarding practice of catholicism and children we might have and sending 4 witnesses to talk about the mistake, all so we can get married in the church.

I'm still not sure if this process is going to be worth it, but I promised myself I would do everything from my end to ensure it happens, the rest I leave in the hands of God and apparently, his chosen ones!

Through all this, I would like to say an immense 'Thank you' to the juggler for his stoicism in the face of what must be complete insanity to someone who has not been brought up in a demanding religion! To me, its just something you take for granted, that you need to earn your right to things but not-so for others. I appreciate the complete and utter committment he has made evident in this crazy rigmarole and love him much for it even if the 3 things he loves most about me are actually about him!

Feb+March 2010

I had the gall to ask the charade why she was posting in bullet points while blogging about her vacation only to realise that when I eventually sit myself down to write, I end up doing a recap post in bullet points or a to-do list in the same! I cannot seem to bring myself to end the cycle - the way I look at it, if I cannot use the blog to express my feelings/thoughts (about personal issues), it serves me well as a snapshot of my life at the time. When I read previous entries, It recaptures for me the person who I was at the time and if I cannot write that, let it at least remind me of things that I accomplished and also the things I let slide!

Some of the big things in this year have happened - Friend's wedding in Goa  (ref pic above) and the BIG event at the end of the year is my own! 

However in between are little bits of joy as well - in 2 weeks time, I will doing a road trip with my parents and the FANCY! I know I know, HUGE risk but the way I look at it, they are stuck with each other, the same way I'm stuck with them, they may as well learn now how to get along in confined spaces! so essentially, A and I are taking the train to Jodhpur - my parents are going there for a course reunion (Airforce/Maruth for those interested). From there, we will drive to Jaisalmer (my last posting as an AF brat), Mt.Abu, (never been) Baroda (to see the fam), Daman(also never been). Now, I love road trips - having been twice from Bombay to Ooty and also year before last to Bijapur! I find travelling through the countryside exhilerating and edifying.....cannot say the same of the Fancy who has never been on one and cannot seem to fathom why one should be on one! since he claims I'm the only one he can holiday with - the other person being tied down with wife and baby, he has grudgingly agreed to try it out this once! I'm crossing my fingers for it to work out - the more new things he learns to like, the easier travelling will get once we are married!

I've realised people are not kidding when they say the more things you have in common, the better it is! I love being my own person but when you have to come from opposite directions, the middle is that much further away!

Things to do - done list!

What I've been doing the last couple of weeks feeling like a busy busy girl:

• Trying to catch up on reading and not really succeeding
• Gone for the Juggler's niece's Godbharai to Baroda where I might complain, have not eaten Gujurati food - rest was nice
• Said Goodbye to 2 girl friends with massive staggered farewells including trips to Goa, clubbing and the finale - bar crawl last saturday.
• Went for a wedding peripheral exhibition with the other bride to be
• Started watching Season 6 of 'Two and a Half Men'
• Spending girlie nights at the partyhouse [read house of juggler's best friends]
• Started Homeopathy and reasonably pleased with the results
• Discovered yummy cupcakes at Sante
• Had extreme period pain and gotten up twice at 4am with it[Please remember this blog is also for posterity so im allowed to mention random details of my life!!]
• Not watched any movie worth talking about majorly - liked 'Kaminey' but that's it
• Realised the minimum number of people I need to call for the wedding is 125!
• Loving the music of 'Wake Up Sid!' espescially Kya Karoon?
• rediscovered a love for Indian chinese food - Mr.Chow's Zindabad!

Little things make my life!

Dilemma - Help needed!

***DECISION MADE*** going to Turtle bay.


Ok as I posted earlier, I was supposed to go to Turtlebay on the May 1st weekend. However this has become option 1:Let me note the approximate costs:
Tickets: Rs.6260
Ticket forfeited by Juggler: Rs.2050
Stay: Rs.5000
Food + Drink: Rs. 4000 minimum
Shopping: Optional but accounting for Rs.700 minimum
Total: Rs.18000
Benefits:

• New location
• Friends
• Beach
• Good food
• Sea + Ocean activities
• Loads of alcohol

Option II: The juggler is going to HKG on the 4th - my birthday is on the 8th.
Fly in on the 7th and come back on the 11th.
Ticket: Rs.25000
Stay: Free
Food + Drink: Free
Shopping: Optional but taking Rs.5000 just in case
Total: Rs.30000
Benefits:

• SAMARA
• the Juggler for the birthday and in Hong Kong at the same time
• Good food
• Excellent shopping

Help with the decision making!! please feel free to let me know what you would do!

Home Sweet Home!

Before I recap the holiday, I am going to recap all that is wrong with me - it seems to me that on a holiday,my body goes on a break as well so I am just like falling to pieces.

• Skin issues - sunburn & hives
• Teeth - mouth ulcer & gum swelling
• Regular allergies - sneezing

So did the doctor's rounds on the way back and im on internal anti histamines and external steroids for the skin, anti biotics for the teeth since I'm having them extracted!! Yay! Now that I have finished bitching, I can go on a bit to the actual holiday which was quite fantastic. I know this because, in spite of all my problems, for the first time in my life, I was not as grateful to be back as normal, I could have stayed on a bit more! Normally, I can't wait to get home and tho I missed the boy and the parents, did not miss the actual house for once and did not need to look out of the window in awe at Bombay when we land and did not breathe a sigh of relief to be home!
To start already, Hong Kong as usual was fantastic - but this is mainly due to the God mother and her daughter. The daughter is a bundle of joy and I swear you want to eat her - I was telling R that she should send her daughter to S for cuteness lessons - this is not to imply that R's kids will not be cute but S is just so cute.....espescially at night, when her hair is not tied up in many little braids and it's her last burst of energy, she just is enchanting!!
Anyways, this time in HKG, I did a little bit of sightseeing other than the markets and shops! I went to the peak, I admit later than I wanted but HKG by night is still a very pretty sight and I also went to Stanley which is like a little seaside fishing village type place -very quaint - it reminded me a bit of Fisherman's wharf in San Fran but since I did that very many years ago, I may be slightly fuzzy in memory! I do remember the yummy clam chowder tho but sorry, I'm talking about a different holiday here! I did do quite a bit of shopping again but mainly hung around the house a lot - playing with Samara and chatting with the girls till late at night about really arbid things that have no impact on anyone's life!
* I have decided to post this coz it's been getting saved for 3 days - I will do Vietnam with pictures later!

So many things - so little time!

I've just going to list all the stuff that has happened...not in exact chronological order!

• I got lasik surgery done on Saturday
• I was no longer blind by Sunday
• To make up for the loss of glasses, I went shopping [bought 2 tops, green & cream and a pair of shoes, pink & brown in the same shoes]
• Went to Club IX on Sunday where the waiters outnumbered us 6:1, I'm serious and I remember those days when one could not get a waiter to serve you for hours
• Revisited Harmony thrice a week and still wasted food
• Finalised weekend plans for Goa with the Manali Gang and Holiday plans with R
• Met A & K at Toto's where I drank a small glass of wine which was equal to the price of a whole pitcher
• for the first time ever, I tried to tell my dad something [I normally let my mom do this job] and he cut me off b4 I began
• I think I made someone write again
• Went to Toto's on Thursday and got my best friend back
• and I defined a new space in my life - semi semi thing thing!!

The thing is the old saying is true - when it rains, it pours! I'm kinda finding it hard to balance my life the way I want it- normally I have the least stress on priorities since I can weigh up everything but in some cases I'm learning, one cannot rely on the past and one needs to look at the future. I hope it gets easier with time since I like the life that I had but I want the life I can see!

Khalid Mohammed....step aside!!

I saw "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" yesterday - like everyone else on the internet I'm going to share my opinion of the movie!! It was by far the most boring book of the series - nothing really happened - and the high light of the movie apparently is Dolores Umbridge so there was really nothing in the book! The book is more like a stop gap - tho if I remember correctly in the 6th one - Voldemort does not make an appearance and it's really a history lesson about Tom Riddle. Anyway was quite happy with the movie since it really kept all the essential elements - it did twist the storyline a bit e.g the person who told on Dumbledore's Army is actually Cho Chang's friend - and she has the word Sneak formed across her face in pustules i think for telling since the document they signed [which they showed in the movie by the way] was charmed!! On the whole I was quite pleased with the whole thing - I suppose was happier since had re read the book early in May so remembered quite a few of the things! but the thing is that in this movie, Daniel Radcliffe according to me is already looking older than his character and HP is going to be 18 in the final one which is a good 4 years away so DR is like going to be like ancient! Another thing is the whole Neville Longbottom twist in the tale which could have been specified since I'm hoping there is something more to that angle in the story since he really has lost a lot to Voldemort as well as HP. Can't wait for "Deathly Hallows" on Saturday coz then the suspense is over - Who/What is RAB??!
I also wanted to know if they going to make Shopaholic movies - now that would be fun!! even if they combine 2-3 books into one - it could be quite entertaining!! [Charade: any thoughts on this one??] Since they are finally making a 'Sex and the city' movie!

The day before that had been for P's birthday - we did dinner in Spice Tree and then went to drink at Vertigo. Did not realise at Spice tree that entire area was P's party so ended up ignoring quite a few people - by mistake! Anyway had nice fun time, met loads of people and made fun of half of them - always a good thing!

Looking forward to this week since cousin and baby arrive finally - going to be seeing baby after February - and the first time entire family [mostly] will be together since baby born!! however work wise.... boss is back after a week's break so will wreak havoc playing catch up since everyone knows - when the cat is away, the mice will play!!