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Last Week…What the F***?
I feel like when I was younger, a child, it was much easier to see right and wrong. The world was black and white with no grays. And heavens forbid, were there any grays, the adults always had a definite answer. Being kind, no matter to whom, was right. Respecting people, no matter who it was, was right. Helping people was right. Bullying people, hurting people, was wrong. Taking advantage of people was wrong. And killing people, was definitely wrong. Condolences don’t seem enough for the events that transpired in New Zealand. And yet, that is all I can offer to the families of the victims and the Kiwis. Scammers…
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Bambi
I was stuck on highway traffic some time back while driving out to brunch with a few friends. It was an odd time to experience the traffic. I thought an accident would have been the likely cause. It was. Three police cars, one ambulance and a fire truck encompassed the accident scene. I suppose the ambulance was giving medical attention to the person(s) involved. The airbags had gone off, and I saw at least one person responding to the medic as they questioned and took care of him. A bloody nose, but overall, he seemed fine. The deer was in far worse shape. It lay on the side of the…
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A Day Of Appreciation…and Violence
Happy Valentine to you. I am not much for a believer in Valentine. It’s a marketing strategy employed by the consumer industry to peak sales for cards and bouquets of roses, breadsticks and bacon roses. You shouldn’t have to rely on one day to remind you to be appreciative of the special person(s) in your life. It’s easier said than done. It’s easy to take for granted someone whose presence is your life is constant. Like every other year, I did nothing special for Valentine. I bought a box of chocolates on sale for myself. I sent out a few texts and gave a few hugs to family and friends…
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New Year Greetings
Happy New Year to all! Already a month into the new year and it’s been a rough but fulfilling start. After withstanding the South Asian heat waves, I figured I might try to bring some of the sunshine back with me. But the universe had other plans. The winter storm currently plaguing the Northeast accompanied me instead. My heartfelt apologies to everyone. The physical toll of travel and the emotional turmoil of being with family are not easily overcome. The last thing I want to do is be at work. I didn’t want to leave my family; I am still homesick. It was a month of no responsibilities, and of…
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A Reflection of 2018
After surviving through NaNoWriMo, I find the task of writing being sent to the back burner. It is something that I was and am fired up for. Yet, as I navigate back through ‘normal’ life, I am painfully reminded that NaNoWriMo was the exception. The task of balancing writing with the rest of my life still remains, and will be the real test in 2019. Looking back, 2018 has been the turning point in my life. It started in panic. I was thirty, and not where I imagined I would be when I was thirty. I was dissatisfied with my job, not feeling challenged. I had always envisioned a job…
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And It Begins
The past two months have been an interesting experience. So much has happened in all aspects of my life, it’s difficult to find a starting point. I am sure they will eventually find a way to the pages of this blog. I will start by talking about my most recent, life-altering experience: the 2018 NaNoWriMo. I heard of NaNoWriMo exactly two years ago through a friend. We decided in jest we would give it a shot. I wrote 2000 words before giving up. This year was different. I won’t lie. Michelle at The Green Study played a big hand in my participation this year. It was a possibility I toyed with…
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That’s for you, Chuck!
The above is the exciting visual representation of the story I am about to tell you. It takes place on a car ride. My best friend (driving the car) and I were having an exciting discussion on Inception, the movie we had watched the night before, a week after its release. The person at the back had been for the most part silently listening. For the purposes of this story, I will call this person Mr. Chuck. One of our favorite things to do after we experienced a particularly engaging book or movie, was to inspect the world-building, note down the rules and come up with a series of what-if scenarios. The process often led to new rules and…
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Losing Good Leaders
Around two weeks ago, the world saw the loss of Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General. I remember Kofi Annan as the man who famously said he “would not leave Kenya until peace is found” and mediated peace talks during the 2007-08 Kenyan post-election crisis. I also remember him as the person who I confused with Morgan Freeman. Freeman played God (Bruce Almighty); Annan was hailed as a savior for rescuing a nation from the deep recesses of violence. Both are pretty high bars if you ask me and fairly easy to confuse, all other similarities apart. Photo Courtesy: EntertainmentGH.com The same week also saw to the loss of one…
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The Limits of Endurance
A couple of weeks ago, I was really looking forward to the art fair week in Ann Arbor. Streets had been closed and parking was near impossible in downtown Ann Arbor. All of my dance classes for that week had been cancelled. I received a minor injury in my left elbow and right wrist, owing to which I had decided to take the week off from climbing at Planet Rock. Just for that week, I came home straight from work. I went to bed at 7 or 8 or 9 pm and got 9-11 hours of sleep everyday. It was glorious. I am not really in a position to complain about how exhausting life…
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Will Tech take over the work force?
I created this cartoon doodle for a friend writing a book on AI recently. Artificial intelligence is definitely a hot topic and its applications have been so varied that we hardly notice its development. It got me thinking on where we thought tech would be 20 years ago vs. where it is now vs. where it might be 20 years from now. I found this rabbit hole hilarious. Stay tuned for more doodles!
