Good Bye 2007, Welcome 2008

Time to learn a different A B C...

Well, since Ricky said he tags anyone who loves him, how could I let this pass? So here it is:

A - Available? - Nope!
B - Best Friend - D - met her at my engg college and she now stays just 1/2 hr away!
C - Cake or pie - Cake for sure! I don't like the sweet n sour taste in pies.
D - Drink of choice - Red Wine/Martinis.
E - Essential thing used everyday - Has to be toothbrush and toothpaste.
F - Favorite Color - As my (nick) name suggests, I love all colors, but if I have to choose one, it has to be Blue.
G - Gummi bears or worms - Bears - I hate any type of worms - even if in the form of candy.
H - Hometown - Gangtok.
I - Indulgence - Tiramisu...yummm.
J - January or February - January, since you have a whole year to look forward to.
K - Kids and names - None.
L - Life is incomplete without - V (you all must have guessed it already :P).
M - Marriage Date - May 2008 (date not fixed yet).
N - Number of siblings - 1 elder n wiser brother.
O - Oranges or apples - Oranges - from my grandma's garden.
P - Phobias or fears - Snakes.
Q - Quote - Where there is love there is life - Mohandas K. Gandhi.
R - Reason to smile - Life and its bright colors.
S - Season - Summer - coz it brings bright and sunny days and lots of trips and travelling.
T - Tag three people - Anyone who is interested - but I would like to read Moonie's take on this.
U - Unknown fact about me - When a small kid, I once flicked a hair pin (which was quite ugly btw) from a store and later showed it proudly to my mom. She scolded me so bad and I had to beg her not to take me back to the store to return the pin to the owner and promise never to steal again.
V - Vegetable you don't like - Had I been doing this tag when I was a kid, the list would have extended for pages. But now, I have become a achaa bachaa, so Pumpkin is the only vegetable I really dont like.
W - Worst habit - Laziness.
X - X-rays you have had - All of my wisdom teeth and a CAT scan.
Y - Your favorite food - Momos.
Z - Zodiac - The bull - Taurus.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

My blood donation experience

The company that I work for coordinates Red Cross blood drives five times a year. The last time they had set up a blood drive, I had signed up to give blood only to find out later that I was ineligible since its been less than a year that I had visited India.

This time, I knew I was eligible so I signed up for it again. The only time that I had given blood before was back in college in India. I asked a colleague of mine if he was up to it and he readily agreed. So on Friday we both went to the blood mobile located nearby. Since he hadn't have his dinner the night before, we decided to go after lunch.

All went well and we both gave about a pint of blood each. Mine got over first and I was sipping orange juice and waiting for my friend. Suddenly there was some commotion and I saw the staff hurriedly making ice packs and placing them over my friend's forehead. Only then did I remember that my friend, a devout person, had completed a month long fast just two days ago. I got a little bit worried but they reassured me that this is normal for a first time donor and that he will be alright.

Sure enough, in a few minutes, he was sitting besides me sipping orange juice and munching cookies. To make light of the matter, I related to him my first experience as a donor and how I felt alright and was ridiculing people scaring me off that I'd feel giddy and faint. But the minute I had stood up to attend classes, the whole world spun and I had fallen down - and I had blacked out for a minute. As I was joking about this incident, I saw my friend sway and collapse, right on cue! I hurriedly notified the staff and they shouted his name. His eyes opened but it had a far away look and he was not registering a single word of what we were telling him. We tried on, me calling out to him in Hindi and he gradually regained consciousness. All the while I was bending down over him and I myself started feeling giddy. The nurse took hold of me and made me sit for a while.

After a few minutes, my friend called out to me to ask me to call up friends to drop us back to our office. I stood over him and as I was telling him not to worry, the world started spinning. I almost collapsed but the nurse managed to make me lie down and she placed ice packs on me too....brrr! Later on, my friend told me that it was good I collapsed(!!) coz he was feeling a bit embarrased that being a guy he was lying down and me a girl was feeling perfectly fine! The staff thought that we were husband and wife and she told me how natural it is to feel giddy when you see a loved one collapse and that they have seen many couples do the same. They were so excited to see us collapse - silly first time donor couple - that I didn't have the heart to correct them.

My friend had a good 30 mins rest and he felt rejuvenated and strong enough to drive back to our office which was just a mile away. That one mile drive had never felt so long as I was worried he might pass out again! I had never seen anyone faint right before my eyes so I was feeling a bit worried. Plus he had turned awfully pale and I was feeling guilty all the while that it was me who got him into it in the first place. Luckily we reached back safe. He decided to let a colleague with whom he car-pools to drive back home. I also called V over to pick me up and left my car in the office parking lot for the night.

According to the American Red Cross, I can give blood again in February 08, 2008. I hope they organize a blood drive then too so that I can participate again. I wonder what adventure I'll encounter the next time!

Here I am!

Sorry friends, for keeping away for so long. Lets just say that I took a "short" break and hopefully I will be more regular. Thanks for coming back regularly and pushing me on to update. So, here I am! In the last few months of my absence, nothing much has happened - I am still enjoying my life with V and doing the things that I always do. Here are some highlights:

Travel:
I made two major trips, one to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. Had a amazing time in both the places, lost quite a fortune in gambling and have made up my mind to revisit Vegas, since there's still so much more to see. I managed to catch the Cirque Du Soleil's "O" which is such an incredible show that I have no words to describe it. I also watched a typical Vegas show-girls show called Jubilee.

My other trip was to Vermont and New Hampshire to catch the fall colors. Both the places are beautiful and we managed to see some picturesque locales during our drive through the country. We are hoping to make another trip there later this winter for a fun ski adventure.

Books:
Since my last update, I have joined my local community library which I infrequently visit. Also, in my office, they have started this "book table" concept where people leave books they don't need at a table and book-hungry people like me can borrow them. This way I have got to read some pretty interesting and not-so-interesting books.

Having heard so much of Ayn Rand, I finally got myself to read We, the Living. I found it to be sad and depressing which was what I had expected. I then ventured on to Atlas Shrugged which I am currently reading. But the book is so huge and slow-paced, I am getting bored to complete it (as it is, I am not much into philosophy). Though not my policy to leave any book/movie unfinished, I think I might have to.

Movies:
As always, I have been watching a lot of movies. The latest one I saw was The Golden Compass this Friday. It is the first of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Found the movie beautifully made and the story interesting, so have decided to read the trilogy before the second part is made.

The worst movie I've seen is no doubt Saawariya. Couldn't have squandered my $10 in a worse way.

Hobbies:
My Wii addiction has died down quite a bit. I had started playing The Legend of Zelda when V was away for almost a month and was I doing pretty good in it. But then I got stuck in finding one clue and its been put away ever since.

V and our friends have found a new way to spend our weekends and my! are we addicted!! A friend introduced us to poker and since then we have spent at least one night every weekend playing poker. We normally start playing after dinner on Friday or Saturday at like 11 o'clock or so and continue till 7 or 8 in the morning. Initially we were a group of 7 and gradually we have introduced the game to more and more friends with the latest addition being last Saturday. We don't play with money though, just with chips. We figured, since we are having so much fun, why play with money?

Etc:
The holiday fever has taken over us too and we've been doing a lot of deal hunting and shopping. We have even put up a Christmas tree in our home. We got an artificial pre-lit tree and decorated it with tree decorations. This is all in preparation for a visit from our dear friends and their darling 3 year old daughter. Decorating the tree was fun and it looks pretty besides our fireplace. Once we have all the gifts wrapped and placed underneath, I'll take a picture and post it here.

Thats it for now. It feels good to be back! Wish you all a very wonderful and happy holidays!