tag tag .. post for no reason

Oh, did I say I don't do tag-posts? But then, there are exceptions, especially when ordered by agentyne in her post which was followed by a tweet as well ! Though, let me warn you, this one has too many points .. way too many!

Notation: £=yes, $=maybe

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink $$ [bought everyone I 'know' a drink] :P

02. Swam in the actual sea [I should learn swimming properly, first!]

03. Climbed a mountain ££ [in Scotland .. even blogged about it, I think]

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive [should first learn how to drive :D]

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said "I love you" and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Water-skiied

11. Visited Paris ££ [posted about it too]

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise ££ [those times at IIIT]

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa/Qutub Minar $$ [been to the Pisa tower, but didn't have time to walk up :( and at QutubMinar, walking up wasn't allowed then ]

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables $$ [does coriander count? :D]

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars ££ [quite often when I was young and we used to experience all night power-cuts :D]

20. Changed a baby's diaper [and don't want to, either !!]

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower ££

23. Gotten drunk on champagne $$ [the drinks included copious champagne, but didn't solely consist of it :P]

24. Given more than you can afford to charity ££ [but then, I won that amount as a prize, in a hard fought competition by the way, so was okay :) ]

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope ££ [wasn't mine]

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight [what does this even mean? fight with food or fight over food? :P]

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger ££ [no story there, didn't succeed :P]

30. Had a snowball fight ££

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse ££ [aah, those young "inquisitivish" days]

34. Ridden a roller coaster ££

35. Hit a sixer that won the game [just wish I did]

36. Danced like a fool and didn't care who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment ££ [often often :D]

39. Had two hard drives for your computer ££ [of course .. what's 7 years education in computers for, anyway? :P]

40. Can name all 27 states ££ [always can .. rock at Geography .. Su will testify :P]

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk ££ [quite a fun activity it is :D]

42. Had amazing friends ££ [what do u mean, "had" !!]

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country ££ [refer to some similar point above to understand more details :P]

44. Watched whales $$ [tiger sharks should also count right?]

45. Stolen a sign/damaged public property

46. Backpacked in Europe ££ [do you actually need proof? :P]

47. Taken a road-trip ££ [in europe, of course]

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving [would have said yes, had this been 'gliding' :P]

51. Visited Kashmir

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love ££

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them ££ [it still counts, even if it was during a conference right?]

54. Visited Japan ££ [ofcourse :D, first trip abroad ever :D]

55. Tried to make a buffalo move when it sat down in front of your car [rofl]

56. Alphabetized your CDs [I dont have CDs !!]

57. Pretended to be a superhero [why to pretend? :P]

58. Played 'Antakshari' in a public place and sung really loudly without caring about the onlookers.

59. Lounged around in bed all day ££ [more times than I would admit :D]

60. Played gully cricket ££

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain ££

65. Gone to a drive-in theatre

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites ££ [how much ancient? but am sure I have visited places ancient enough :P]

70. Taken a martial arts class ££ [for a few months in school; all I learnt was the colour ranking of the belts :D ]

71. Played a video game for more than 6 hours straight ££

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie [no because they didn't select me, said I looked too young :P .. am not lying! it's true !!]

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days [am sure I would die, I have no food reserves in my body anyway!]

77. Made chapatis from scratch ££ [yes yes]

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. White water rafted

82. Been on a television news program as an "expert" $$ [well, I was interviewed by TV crews regarding my 'sci-fi' achievements and did appear on TV, though not in a panel or something! ]

83. Gotten flowers for no reason [never got flowers even when there were reasons! :P]

84. Performed on stage ££ [quite a few times, once I even had a 'double role' since a person playing another character failed to turn up and I knew all the dialogues/scenes since it was my script anyway .. ahh those school days :D]

85. Been to all states in India [this is a toughie!]

86. Recorded your own music $$ [a single song counts? without instruments? only lyrics and tune!]

87. Eaten shark and preferred roadside 'bandi' food [would always prefer bandi food compared to any sharks anywhere!]

88. Kissed on the first date

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house $$ [it's just a plot of land and well, I did pay for most of it ! :P]

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship [I guess small ferries don't count :(]

94. Spoken more than one language fluently ££ [some wouldn't agree about my fluency but then, they are just too finicky]

95. Performed in the National Day Parade in New Delhi/your city

96. Raised children

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Passed out cold ££ [quite a few times, a weak fainting child I was!!]

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country ££ [Austria is exotic enough!!]

100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over ££ [well, moved to another country and started a phd .. am sure that counts!]

101. Walked the Howrah bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car - with the windows open - and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication $$ [will school and IIIT magazines count? :P]

106. Lost over 10 kgs $$ [lost 7kgs in 2 months :P not that I wanted to!]

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback [flashback? what's that? I need clarification!]

108. Piloted an airplane $$ [engine-less plane aka glider counts right? and also that I had the instructor sitting just behind me, doesnt matter?]

109. Touched a stingray

110. Broken someone's heart [now now, why would I do that?]

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a TV game show [not that lucky]

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol $$ [to shoot balloons? :D]

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse $$ [it was less of a ride and more of a stroll :P]

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Spent the night at a railway station $$ [airports count as well I guess!!]

122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period ££ [very often, very very often :D]

123. Spent the better part of your life outside India $$ [define "better part"]

124. Visited all 7 continents [one of my to-do things in life :D]

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi ££ [in Tokyo and absolutely hated it!!]

128. Had your picture in the newspaper ££ [on one ocassion, most of the local newspapers had my picture :D]

129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school [ as a reunion? :P]

131. Parasailed

132. Touched a cockroach ££ [it touched me!!]

133. Eaten fried ice cream ££ [didn't like the coconut covering though]

134. Read 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' [tried and failed miserably]

135. Selected one 'important' author who you missed in school, and read $$ [missed most authors in school anyway :P]

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions [used to go when I used to be in Hyd!]

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language ££ [it is not so hard! Japan taught me that :P]

139. Been elected to public office $$ [this is too long and controversial to talk about here :P]

140. Written your own computer language [that would be crazy]

141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream ££ [yes yes I did]

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care [what is that?]

143. Built your own PC from parts $$ [I chose the parts but someone else put them together :P]

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you [me and art? rofl ! ]

145. Had a booth at a street fair $$ [fairs in schools also count? :P]

146. Dyed your hair

147. been a dj

148. Shaved your head $$[I love my hair, but my hair was shaved when I was 3 or something, not with my consent though ]

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone's life [no, but my life has been saved often :D]

whoa .. managed to finish this epic-tag post .. so, am i also supposed to tag someone now? baah, no one really blogs much anymore ... sad state of affairs!

tag post after a long time !

thanks to AG/CC, one of the few who actually gets me to do tag posts ... here we go:

10 things I miss in my life (in no particular order)

= being able to disappear, yet have company
= not having to wear shoes every time I step outside
= Indianised chinese food, hyderabadi food, the yummy breakfast of dosa, idly vada .. you get the point!
= being surrounded by friends, every hour, every day
= seeing only familiar faces all over the campus, being recognised by everyone.
= the 18 hours sleep days at home
= hot awesome vadas every time I go home in the mornings
= a head that is without a constant blabbering voice inside it
= the incessant urge to read books, newspapers .. everything
= pure simple ecstasy, for no reason

10 things I want to achieve in a decade from now:

= learn to drive and then an awesome convertible and long drives
= to have dabbled in various professions successfully
= visit Antartica
= a wonderful companion (achieve? :-s)
= a book of fiction
= learning to not do the "run away from people and then feel lonely" routine
= look strong enough that people finally stop asking me to eat and eat
= have a farm house to go to, whenever I feel like escaping the madness
= Be busy enough for long periods of time, so that I am finally forced to start making schedules
= do atleast one impossible thing

while it was very easy to come up with the things I miss, it took me a lot of time, to cobble up 10 things I want to do in the next 10 years. Not so surprising, considering that I am not the future-plan-making type.
And I tag:

sreejith
pati
obelix
kunal
persephone

Stupid Tag post and other random observations

I am not particularly fond of tag posts. Yet Sumanth tagged me despite knowing this. But since he keeps linking to my blog in every other post of his .. guess I shall have to humour him. So here we go (I shall try making it as nonsensical as possible)-

1. A living person I would like to meet - I dont really like meeting people, be they living, dead or in coma. But, if I am forced to meet someone, I would rather meet someone who doesnt want to meet me. Since then, I wont be the only one to suffer and the meeting would most certainly be short :P.

2. A dead person I would like to meet - I can reiterate the above. But on second thoughts, I would like to meet any dead person. Yeah anyone as long as he/she is dead. Because I could then find answers to the age old questions about the existence of ghosts, souls, heaven, hell, god and what not!! (my inquisitive research mind seems to be acting up again!)

3. An event in the history I would like to change - The creation of blogs and specifically the idea of tag-posts. Think of all the time that people would spend productively had there been no blogs acting as a means to procrastinate work.

4. An event in the history I would like to witness - the birth of life, universe and everything ... well wouldnt that be the start of history itself? whatever.

5. A movie I would like to witness without being a part of - None! I have chanced upon some film-shootings from the balcony of my home a few times and believe me, there arent more boring things to watch in this world. Perhaps watching a snail sleep would pip it to the post of most boring event.

6. A literary character I would like to meet - Bill Waterson .. yah he is not fictional .. but he is a literary figure nevertheless (comics are literature!!). But if you insist that the character has to be fictional .. then .. Calvin ofcourse! And yeah Cecilia of PhdComics is fine too. Actually on second thoughts, Cecilia is my answer .. not calvin :D.

So, should I inflict this torture on some other souls? Ofcourse! I do have a few people whom I hate right? So Su, you are the one :P. And Halley! I dont care if you have already done this thing earlier, just post something. I seem to be missing your daily dose of inaneness :P or is it inanity?. Better not lose my sanity :D.

Aah .. now that its done .. I can get back to some normal blogging.

Been to southern part of Wales, the previous weekend. Nothing much to write about other than that we learnt how to set up a tent (we had to camp as we got bored of searching for a cheap decent place to stay :D), realising that most of the words in Welsh do not have any vowels in them (they seem to use the english alphabet but seem to only have words like wychlwchllm :P) and that driving on the motorways (M\d where \d stands for an positive integer) is very convenient and a very quick way to get around.

Watched one of my chinese flatmates make a poached egg today. She was using chopsticks to flip it over. They seem to act like extended fingers of her hand. No idea how the chopsticks users are able to control them. I never got the hang of it the few times I tried (at Japan and at Hyderabad)

Last post from room 14@Obh

Nope, this is certainly not a post that would attempt to describe my nonexistant nostalgic feelings.

Exactly 5 months earlier, I wrote this post on things to be done before leaving IIIT. Its time now to evaluate the performance. There were 16 tasks of which 11 were already accomplished by then. So I had the 5 remaining tasks for these 5 months. And I scored 2/5. Yeah way below par. What were the three tough tasks? The only foreign language word that I have been able to learn is 'merci'. So that doesnt count. Never had the occasion or the physique to get into a fight. Had many many ideas on drawing the attention of disco, made a small attempt too but fortunately or unfortunately it didnt work out at all. The easiest sure shot method had too many unfriendly repercussions for me to try :D. So thats that about that.

Why is it that the cable goes poof just seconds before a ronaldinho free kick??
Where has the frog jumping around in the wing just outside my room disappeared to :-?
Why is the coffee shop called 'coffee shop' when jersey, sprite etc loudly proclaim their presence and loads of other things are also available??
Why is every mess in IIIT decent enough in the month of september, bearable in december and horrible in march??
How come that the day when finally the AC in our ug4 lab started working after being a decorative piece on the wall for the whole year, they announce the closure of labs citing the (mis)usage of electricity?
Why is that when a critical post slamming the usage of PS in blogs has created a furore that my post seems to be having them (though not having been marked so).
Why is it that despite having thousands of songs in the pc, i am listening to the same 6 songs since the last 3 days?
Why is it that 'blogspot' absolutely refuses to make itself better??
Why is that despite it becoming obsolete, I continue to persist with blogspot???
Finally, when is the akela musaphir going to narrate his sad memorable incident????

Things to do before leaving IIIT ...

Recently my students login was blocked because some stupid mail was sent from it to students. And that set me thinking ... What are the few things that i ought to do before i become another alumnus of IIIT ? The first one among them i.e getting my login was blocked was already achieved. I consulted with a few friends and here is a partial list that i came up with .. This list is specific to me and should not be taken as a standard by others. :P

* Send spam to students list and get login blocked ... [done]
* Give a press conference ... [done] (done twice :D)
* Drink, drink to the point of unconsciousness ... [waiting] (never even drank till now)
* Have a tiff with a professor ... [done]
* Quarrel with a senior ... [done]
* Have a physical fight with someone ... [waiting] (would i survive?)
* Go on a date with a girl ... [waiting]
* Conduct, invigilate and evaluate exams ... [done] (many many times)
* Go on a foreign tour ... [done]
* Learn a foreign language ... [waiting]
* Be incharge of a fest ... [done] (so what if it was a tech one)
* Represent the institute ... [done] (twice :D)
* Stand in elections ... [done] (twice again! )
* Do something and face the Disco (Disciplinary Comm)... [waiting] (but i should come out unscathed too!)
* Face an interview ... [done]
* Grow my hair long ... [done]

Any suggestions or additions to the list?

Yet yet Another Tag Post ...

And this time the focus is 7. And have been tagged by 2 people - Rao and Khurana. However, this one is quite tougher. Anyways, lets face the challenge ...


Seven Things I want to do in my life:

1. Travel around the world and maybe beyond 8->
2. Be rich and renowned 8->
3. Start a hugely successful company ...
4. Drive the best convertible around :D
5. Live in a lot of countries (should atleast cover all continents even antartica!)
6. Fund a help organisation and see that it does its work honestly
7. Write a novel ..
8. Maintain a library in my house :D
More than 7? so what? A lot more havent been mentioned for scarcity of space and time

Seven Things I can do:

1. Blog
2. Write about any topic (even if i have no idea about it)
3. Act as if i have understood everything even when i have no idea what was said
4. Survive a day or two without any food
5. Keep chatting and chatting ...
6. Keep secrets .. :D
7. Write computer programs i.e programming .. (almost forgot :D)

Seven Things I say the most:

1. hmm
2. really?
3. chaa
4. crap
5. sucks
6. what rubbish
7. cool
(am not sure about the veracity of these answers .. the people around may know better)

Seven Things I can't do:

1. Not blush when being teased (tried a lot)
2. Play any game well (didnt try that much :D)
3. Stay away from checking mail ever so often
4. Feel comfortable when with new acquaintances
5. See (without my spects i mean)
6. Not use smileys when using the keyboard :D
7. Stay awake in classes (:|

Seven Things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. Intelligence
2. Versatility
3. Taking everything coolly without much ado
4. Simple appearance (lack of make-up, jewellery .. natural beauty ?)
5. Slim Figure :D
6. Ability to keep a conversation going and interesting ...
7. Smile

Seven Celebrity Crushes:

1. Catherine Zeta jones
2. Alizee
3. Kajol
4. Amrita Rao
5. Meg Ryan
6. Liv Tyler
7. Hilary Duff

Seven People I Tag:
Not many left untagged .. and those left untagged probably wont respond.

1. Persephone (prove me wrong :P)
2. Su_cooldude (you would never even read this)
3. Pati (guess u ll do this :P)
4. Optimist
5. Ravi (mareenu ra nuvvu ... resume blogging)
6. Lord
7. Kunal (another tag for u :p)

Yet Another Tag post

Yeah she tagged me again .... and i thought this tagging series was over long back .. Anyways, lets start .. by the way, i m back on home turf now :).

Three names i go by:
rama (i have been named so), mythalez(i named myself so), other names are not for public consumption.

three screen-names:
mythalez ( theres no other mythalez in the world ), mythalez, spacer (i almost forgot!!)

things i like about myself:
- outlook towards life
- coolness :D
- inner confidence


things i don't like about myself:
- hesitancy to speak out (when not among close friends)
- inability to stay awake in classes :D
- my weak body :(

things that scare me:
- getting embarrassed
- others trying to console me for any disappointment
- loosing my spects :D


three things i like in the opposite sex:
- intelligence
- taking everything coolly without much ado
- cute with japanese style haircut (hangover i guess :D)

three essentials:
- Spects!!
- friends or family around
- air, water, food etc etc


three things i want to do badly now:
- sleep (tired and drowsy)
- chat with someone good
- go on a vacation

three careers i'm considering:
- computer science researcher??
- enterpreneur (the spelling's right??)
- some sort of consultant travelling around the world :D

Three places i want to go on vacation:
- Some hill station which is not well-known hence not crowded
- Swiss Alps or even Himalayas
- Paris

Three kids' names i like:
- this is a really stupid question. I refuse to answer it. :D

To do before dying:
- Make sure i enjoyed all pleasures of life.
- Invent a potion that would make me immortal and healthy for ever >:) (elixir??)
- third option is unnecessary

three people to take this quiz:
persephone (as usual)
su_cooldude (alas he is not a regular blogger)
the sage (his views would be interesting :D)

This post took a lot of time and effort ... since my mental faculties have been dulled due to the constant enticement of the soft mattress behind me. And i know i have to blog about the Japan trip ... will blog about it soon, need to get my energies back after two weeks of famished survival.

This tagging business ...

With ref to this post
Am supposed to answer a few questions. So lets start.

1. Total number of films I own on dvd/video:
A. Me!! Owning stuff?? Must be kidding. Btw, i think there are some cds/videos at home, i dont remember of what :D

2. The last film I bought:
A. Refer to the answer above.

3. The last film I watched:
A. Star Wars - Episode 3 - Revenge ... in theatre, Fight Club on pc (couldnt finish due to 'unforseen circumstances'), Mass on Tv (yeah, I survived #:-S)

4. Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:
A. Shrek
    Sixth Sense
    Life is Beautiful
    Forrest Gump
    Dil Chahta hai
    Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (:D oops, this makes it six)

5. Tag five people and have them put this in their blog:
A. Now this is tough. I can tag them, but will they even consider it? Also, can we tag people who are already tagged (though it wont serve any purpose) ?? Anyway, here go the five people -
persephone
my friendly sage
M$ guy
and so on and so forth :D

ps - why is this tag-thing related to movies only ????