Dad wins Christmas

Another goofy family Christmas spent sitting around the living room taking turns opening presents, from sincere to goofy gifts and corresponding expressions on everyone's face. Then there was one last gift to mom, addressed "Open Last". I didn't do it, my sister didn't do it, and my didn't didn't do it (or so he claimed). So my mom opens it up and squeals with joy and says "Omigosh! It's the perfect gift!" She went over and gleefully kissed my dad and we found out what it was - a dvd version of their wedding, from 1975 (which was previously on Super 8 film).

It also turns out that this was the first time my mom and dad (and grandmother) had ever seen the video. Apparently the person who took it was a family friend and didn't send it to them until years later, when they no longer had a Super 8 player. So there we sat, watching my mom and dad in their prime and giddily in love, getting married. It was a pretty breathtaking view into the past at my culture. Just even imagining them sitting there, what it must have been like (a full six years before I was born). It certainly gave me a different view on my parents and what they have been through and done up until now. There was something really soothing about seeing my dad do something romantic for my mom like that. Certainly made Christmas a little nicer. :)

Merry Christmas!

There's something very fun about being at home for Christmas - going through family traditions, relaxing and getting away from everything, shopping way too much, wrapping presents. A good reminder of the wonderful family that I've had my entire life. Coming home and hearing the familiar clank and clatter of 5, 10, 15, even 20 year ornaments on the tree always makes me remember :)

I also had the chance to talk more with my grandmother, which is always an en enlightening experience. Here are two quotes:

While talking about my mother and father while they were courting and young - very long distance (from New York to India)

When you have love, there is no fear. (translated from a Hindi proverb)

And after I inquired what my grandmother thought about my aunt, who embraced Judaism from her husband as well as Sikhism (the religion in which she was raised)

Different religions all teach the same morals - speak the truth, honor thy mother and father, etc. The cultures we have additionally are actions - the morals are the important part.

She continues to amaze me every time I talk to her. So many people I know struggle because of their very traditional and often closed minded older members of their families, so it's so wonderful to see my grandmother as one of the most open and caring people I've ever met - primarily concerned for the health and happiness of her family and the people they love. It's those ideas that I love about the holidays. That's what it really means - to me, anyways.

Merry Christmas everyone!

On a lack of originality

Sometimes I certainly feel a little silly having a blog that is becoming nearly half populated with nothing but xkcd comics, but they're just so damn funny and sometimes a little too close to my nerdy real life.



Now this one is funny on its own, but even more so because I've actually had an experience where the line in the last panel was almost verbatim a part of the conversation! How crazy is that? (I happened to be on the receiving end of said line)

I've also gotten into the unfortunate habit that leaves me with a billion little 'thoughts' that I want to blog that live as drafts here. Well, I want to put my thoughts up here more and drafts less, so I've finally completed all the drafts I had so far, and hope to do it less often. Here are the completed posts:

12/06/2007: Floating on a raft with friends
12/03/2007: Sex... and hearing it
12/02/2007: No jalapenos please
11/18/2007: Victory
11/13/2007: Inspiration and dreaming
11/08/2007: Stale wine and morning breath
09/29/2007: A wonderful Coffey wedding
09/25/2007: Stream of consciousness

And now, I absolutely must sleep, because it's way later than I should be up right now. Oyasuminasai! Yoi yume o!

Floating on a raft with friends

There are often times where you're given the opportunity to step back, think about where you are and where you're going and really evaluate what's important. It's easy to think about, to speculate about and even to try and act on and make changes. Probably the easiest thing to do is to appeal to your immediate desires, but that often doesn't lead to the most happiness in the long run. But that may just be me, given how much I derive happiness from my friends, family, and people I care about.

Probably the most interesting and eloquent way I've heard anyone explain their views on what they want to do is strangely simple: "I just want to float down a river on a raft with friends". Elaborated on slightly, he wants to be able to spend time with the people that he cares about, doing things that both him and those people are excited about. That's quite a goal. I think I agree with that sentiment more than I originally realized. I want to be be around the people that I care about, be able to do awesome things with those people that are excited to do those things. There always has to be an aspect of selfishness and questions that pertain to only me, but overall, it's an interesting way to go about things. Simply put, good people create a great environment. So let's do what we can to thrive in it.

So smile, laugh, and tell the people you love that you love them :)



Backdated post - completed 12/12/07 01:08:00 AM

I'm a dork and proud of it

Amazingly, I haven't posted in a long time - not terribly surprising. The amazing thing is that I have about 10 blog 'drafts' that just haven't actually been detailed. Eventually. Until then, how about an xkcd comic?



That's what I think about all the people I care about who I don't see on a daily basis. I'm much more of a "see you in-person person" than an IM or phone person.

And, just to laugh: Halo 3 cheat codes, as explained by neglected girlfriend

Sex... and hearing it

Ok, so after writing this, I realize it can be read in many ways. As people know me - I've very blunt and open. This is in no way meant to be vulgar, but is simply my genuine thoughts finding their way onto the computer.

Without going into vastly unnecessary details, I stumbled into a situation (entirely accidentally) where I heard one of my friends having sex. This is in the context of a committed relationship by both people, and based off of the brief moments that situations, they are passionate, vigorous and loud. I'm not a pervert who searches for these moments (on the contrary, I'm very happy that they have found that and respect it), it just happened to make me think.

Anyways, the point is that it got me thinking about that kind of sex. The raw, passionate, animalistic kind of sex. The kind of sex that is based off of an emotional bond with so much trust that it becomes a exciting exploration of every part of each others' bodies surrounded with no elements of fear or self-consciousness. Where both people are trembling with sensations so strong it's impossible to vocalize except through the guttural responses their bodies do subconsciously and the occasional uttered word. Where the gentle caress of one's hands against the others' skin gives a memorable persistent stimulation. Where the hours of the night become an endless stream of two sweaty bodies everlastingly connected in desire through their their love and their passion. A night so long that it ends with two people so exhausted, sore and simply comfortable that they can do nothing but fall asleep in each other's arms, content to be there and no where else. That kind of experience amazes me to no end.



I miss that kind of sex.

Backdated post - completed 12/12/07 12:33:00 AM

No jalapenos please

I'm not sure I'm ever going to touch another jalapeno in my natural born life. >_<

The plans seemed innocent enough. Get nice and dressed up and go down to Drew and Jeff's place, do a little cooking and eating, and then go try out Chocolate Secrets, the new chocolate and wine bar that had jazz playing this Saturday. We chatted and sipped on wine while chicken was cooking and I grated cheese, chopped peppers, onions and jalapenos for some homemade fajitas. The rest of the crowd came while cooking and eating and a few of us relaxed and chatted in the living room. My contact was bothering me a little as I chatted with Dennis so I instinctively nudged my tear duct to get my eye to water a little. I felt a little tingle in my eye and realized that some jalapeno juice must have lingered on my hands after I had washed them. It was a tiny irritation, but I decided to walk to the kitchen and splash some water on it.

And then the fireworks started.

In the forty foot walk to the kitchen, the tiny tingle changed to an all out inferno, as I frantically (and blindly) cranked open the ice water to full and attempted to extinguish the fire on my eye. Almost immediately the feeling spread across my face so fast that it felt like someone had a flamethrower inches from my right eye. Next thing I know I'm desperately pawing at my face with my fingertips in an attempt to rip the plastic and freaking coat of napalm that made its home on the surface of my eyeball. The most fun part was that after ripping the devil contact out, the feeling of molten lava all over my face didn't go away. So what was I doing other than soaking my eyeball (yes, it's possible) in a glass of water to try and subside the insane amounts of pain. After about 10 minutes of this insanity and me face down in a glass of tap water, I decide to try and put the (now newly washed) contact back in, only to find that no amount of cleaning solution would take the evil coats of fiery death from it, so putting it back in just started the whole process of feeling like I was being punched in the face by the Human Torch.

I finally decided to forego the damn contact and throw the piece of solid hell I had created away, rendering me half-blind and disoriented for the rest of the night. Turned out to be a fun night full of chocolate, wine, drinks and goofy friends. But here's the kicker - when I finally made it back to my house around 3 am, I got ready to crash and tried to take out the single contact I had in, only to find that somehow, the damn juice from the jalapeno of a thousand suns still managed to persist on my hand!!! And thus started the whole mess all over again...



Die jalapenos, die.

Backdated post - completed 12/11/07 10:39:00 PM