Gaurav's Blog

This can usually be found on Twitter.

You can go ahead and start with the dirty jokes whenever.

Labels: condoms, india

This post was posted by Unknown at 8:15 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

(Network died in the middle; thank you Blogger 'Recover post'!)

To begin with, my favourite geek joke ever.

Then there's another not-too-bad geek filk.

To complete the geekiness, here's an article on the history of BSD Unix.

Enough geekiness; a friend of mine has a really nice post on funny signs. A long lasting JALEBE SMILE!, indeed!

Another friend has a post on She's A Rainbow, 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy), and Wrapping Paper.

A website on British food terminology.

An interactive way to learn Go (the game)

I am slowly getting addicted to Google Reader as expected. Sigh.

And - last and bestest! - the infinite cat project!

Labels: links, more links, more more links

This post was posted by Unknown at 12:47 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

Have you seen the Google holiday doodles? Very cute, if a little odd - why are kangaroos donning winter wear? It's summer in Australia! Still, very cute.

Not got much to say, so I'll just make it quick: I'm feeling so much better today than yesterday that the whole world seems somewhat better, etc., but that's a sobering reminder of just how bad yesterday really was. Hopefully, I'll have a nice walk later home, and even if I didn't really get anything done today at all today, atleast I'll have a nice feeling of having a day of being "okay" and "myself" and so on. Still, you never know what tomorrow will bring, do you?

Oh, and incidently, I just found a page about the "Jungle Train" I'm thinking of taking once the rain situation in Malaysia eases up somewhat.

Labels: getting better

This post was posted by Unknown at 7:29 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

Google Zeitgeist's out. Matt will be glad to know he was the second most searched for 'where is ...' phrase last year (the most? 'where is togo'. Hmm.)

What I like most about getting up at 12 after going to sleep at 10 is ... err, is 'nothing at all' an option? Seriously, what a pain. I wish I could just stay asleep all the way to the morning like most people. Now it's going to take me hours to get back into a 'sleep' state of mind.

Another head-ache fuelled wasted day of lying around and groaning. I guess the fact that it was Sunday helps a little, as I could lie around and groan in the comfort of my own home, but seriously.

I hope that blood test comes through soon, and I hope it friggin' says something. Otherwise, we could be in for a rough January.

Labels: just another lazy sunday, migraines, sleepy

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Then again, obviously, it makes no sense running off in an attempt to 'discover the world, explore the planet, etc. etc.' if I'm going to come back a little poorer, a lot wiser, and no less unhappy than before. So while travelling for travel's sake is all very nice and all, attacking the roots of my problem is probably a better idea in general.

Oh, and congratulations to Blogger on coming out of Beta! Looking forward to all the new stuff hopefully coming up in the next few months with a more streamlined system underlying everything.

Labels: i need to get out of here but no hurry, last

This post was posted by Unknown at 12:13 am | 0 comments | Post a Comment

Today was an averagish to goodish day, but the night's becoming a bit of a bummer. Dunno why, my mood just sinks at the thought of sleep. Perhaps it's a sign I need to clean up my room? Sigh. The thought of going to bed and waiting for sleep, tossing and turning, reading and thinking, is really bringing me down right about now. And - I dunno - somehow I feel like just letting myself go, just being really sad for a while and seeing how that works out. But knowing me, somehow, I just don't think I will.

Otherwise, things are fine, or at any rate fine-ish, if a little - okay, very - boring. It's very wake-up-go-to-work-come-home-chill-out-and-sleep. That's hardly enough to keep a soul going, is it? Atleast I managed to walk back today (and yesterday, heh).

So: need to do more this weekend, or sometime soon, or something. Hah. Maybe I should go get a Malaysian visa just in case ... !

In (vaguely) good news - I have a fascinating idea for a story which this blog post is unfortunately too narrow to contain.

Labels: bored, dull, i need to get out of here now, tired, travel

This post was posted by Unknown at 11:52 pm | 1 comments | Post a Comment

It was bad, then it was good - the last ten minutes were amazing, what with finally making it home, getting out of the rain, walking up to this bakery soaking, asking a pretty girl for a Shepherd's Pie, walking back out into the rain (which in the last ten minutes had gone from 'strong' to 'pouring cats, dogs, and other small mammals'), waiting at the crossing for the lights to change (there was enough traffic that I wouldn't've wanted to risk walking across in the rain), waiting, waiting, and then realising that the woman on the other side of the road hadn't pushed the crossing button. Push it, lights change almost immediately, cross, walk up to the house with my rainjacket feeling like it's been soaked all the way through (all this with my little phone still playing 'Charlie No. 3' for all it's worth, yay Whitlams! Yay Motorola!), stand outside for ten long seconds getting the door opened, and then - finally - home! Safe! Dry!

Then, of course, the fun really starts, what with taking all my wet stuff off (including my pants ... ), walking in and changing, going back out and wiping up, putting my clothes into the washing machine, and turning on the water heater. Now I have to go back down, put my clothes out, bring the clothes already out, in, and then take the nice hot shower to which I feel so entitled, before going to sleep early and forgetting that today happened at all.

And I'm still lonely. Blech.

Labels: lonely, rain, rainy day

This post was posted by Unknown at 8:28 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

... when a day starts off so badly, that it is bound to end up turning out not so bad at all, only to completely crash out in the final bits.

Sigh. I need some time by myself to just sit quietly and listen to good music or something. Too much sociality is bad for my soul.

Labels: antisocial, unhappy

This post was posted by Unknown at 11:31 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

In good spirits today. Don't really know why, but I'm not complaining! Did very little, and looking forward to maybe stuffing my face at Burger King's. Blood/urine/faeces tests come back on Thursday, and if they're clean, I'm going to go look for a dietician - I mean, even if I'm 'just' eating wrong or something, something's wrong, and I'd like to get it sorted out. Like today. I had the non-stress version of my 'problem' - woke up at ten or eight or something, went back to sleep, then woke up at twelve after a vivid dream. So: it wasn't a nightmare, and I woke up feeling really nice and relaxed, which is new for me the last couple of weeks. So that's good.

Other than that, typical laid back lazy Sunday. Trying to get my insurance issues sorted out, while at the same time looking into investment etc. Also, I need to get to the Kingston service centre and ask them why I can't format my brand new memory card. Note how how everybody's working hours is 'Mon-Fri 9am-6pm'! Well, whatddya know, that's my working hours too! Does everybody just take a coupla hours off in the afternoons to go get their insurance/investment/etc. issues sorted out, or hope that their particular firm does Saturday mornings too, or what? Hmpf.

Back to work tomorrow. Looking forward to it - not so much because of my own work (which isn't all that bad!), but because this means I get to run around doing the insurance, memory card, and all the other little things. Little things! Such brilliantnesses. Also, this week we figure out who's coming on board for UROPS. Good times.

Labels: fine, happy, just another lazy sunday

This post was posted by Unknown at 8:04 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

Nice - Blogger remembers that I prefer to "Edit HTML", and sticks me into the correct mode automatically!

I'm happy. There's way too many loose strands hanging around - grad school, friendships, life decisions, medical tests, work, love, life, Spanish, et, et, et cetera. But I suppose having too much is much better than having too little.

I would still desperately prefer working in Singapore for a while. Partially, I'm just not ready for the ego-pummelling of applying all over only to be told that they only consider Honours students, or that my publication record is inadequately sparkling, or whatever. Not to mention that while I can still find tons of stuff interesting (evolution, for instance; did I really get through college and only study it in two modules?), I can't really see myself doing anything with it afterwards. I mean, can I really see myself going into full-fledged academia? If not, what would be the point of studying a bit more about evolution? It's an awful lot of money, and with my grades, that sort of money will end up mostly coming from my folks. I can't help but think it'd be a much better of that money to sit and collect interest, wait a bit while I can really give things a try and see what works out for me.

One of my biggest plus points in this dept. is that fact that, despite screwing up my way through college, I somehow managed to find myself with almost exactly the kind of job I'd thought I'd wanted to do when I was a kid - I'm entirely in charge of all programming, design, everything to do with this program other than features, and I take part in designing the some of the features as well. This is huge for me - in most of the industry, you are a part of a much larger team working on something truely gigantinormous, like Blogger or Google or Microsoft Word. I work completely alone - all the blame, all the laurels, mine all mine. It's also the kind of job that changes every day: one day I'll be figuring out why some low-level part of the program is working so slowly and how I can make it faster; on the next, I'll be figuring out which user interface metaphor might best represent a certain set of data, while on the third, I'll be getting feedback from users - real, live users - of my programs and trying to figure out how I can make it better for them. So it's a whole lot of fun because the area in which I work is so broad, because my end-users aren't some abstraction far, far away, but actual friends of mine who work in the next room, and because the work I do isn't your typical castle-on-a-cloud of programming, but good ol' fashioned how-to-make-a-machine-do-your-work-for-you. Which is always fun.

On the other hand, I suppose (sigh) that my folks and friends are right. I will want to go to graduate school eventually, if just for the experience. When it happens, I'd love it to be on my own money, or atleast on some kind of loan or scholarship or something, just so that if I crash and burn - again - atleast I won't feel guilty about wasting my parent's money while I'm at it. And what that means is that I've got to keep an eye on what kind of things I need to build up on - publications, like this one :), references, that sort of thing.

So: the big question is, 2008, 2009, or 2010? I'd love to wait until 2009 - my bond will be up, I'd have accumulated a little money for myself, and I'll have worked for three years, in different jobs, so I'll have a better idea of what I might want to do. And I'll actually have another reference - I've only really got one at this point of time, so. I can rustle up a couple of others, but I'd like a couple of really solid I've-worked-with-this-guy-and-he's-the-goods type references. And besides, there's a lot I still need to figure out in Singapore, with my health, my lifestyle, heck - just life.

So what's my position at present? I don't have one. The last few days I've been in a hey-yeah-maybe-I-will-apply state of mind, but after seeing what grad schools need (note how prominently "2nd upper honours will be fine, but err, yeah, 2nd lower also can" figures. And me without honours at all!), and then I hit the work again, and re-realised just how fun that was, too. And I really, really like living in Singapore - which I highlight to point out that if, say, MoE refuses to defer my bond, I will work off the options first. Sorry. I really do want to live here for a while, eventually, or whatever.

Or whatever. Really. The world is going to stay largely the same out there, however hard I try or struggle or whatever. Let's see how it goes. It's still extremely worrisome or whatever. I wish my parents would just get off my back about this for the next three years or whatever. I'll figure this out, yes, okay, fine, alright. Thanks for the advice, really, but please, before I explode, just back off. It's not so much to ask for.

Labels: future, gradschool, happy

This post was posted by Unknown at 2:05 am | 3 comments | Post a Comment

Finally switched over to Blogger Beta. Hmmm. This thing is going to need some personalization, but you can tell that the underlying code is cleaner, which is nice. Blogger had a nice rough-and-tumble feel to it, but it'll be nice to go 'fixed' (a nice thing to say about something still in beta, but blech).

The Evolutionary Biology website is getting hammered by spam today. Odd. Some of the spam is pretty weird, too - one guy seems to be trying to get people to find out about an exotic new website called 'http://www.google.com'; another asks if I "know anywhere about UFO activity" [sic], and to please e-mail the person if I do. The others are pretty standard 'I really like your website! Here's mine ...' type stories.

As good a time as any to pimp Spamusement, one of my favourite cartoon websites around. Give 'em a shot.

Now to see if that promise from Blogger Beta about not screwing up my website layout is worth anything ...

Labels: blogger, spam, spamusement

This post was posted by Unknown at 10:51 am | 0 comments | Post a Comment

could be better. Yes, I know, I know: lots of interesting things happening, Kaberi just flew into town (only just barely managed to be there at the airport in time to receive her ... thankfully, getting through immigration took just enough time for me to get to the terminal!). And Li Ling's wedding was today, which was fun; and the wedding dinner is tomorrow, which might be funner. And I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off work, so at the very least I get some much needed R-and-R, and at best, I have a fun time in the city.

'cept my health is really starting to worry me, things aren't going all that great, neither in answering the Bigger Questions (what should I do with my life, where do i want to end up, should i stay, what is my duty, what is the point, et. c.), nor in answering the smaller questions (what should i do after this job, will i ever be in a relationship, why amn't i happy, etc.)

Ah, life.

This post was posted by Unknown at 1:40 am | 5 comments | Post a Comment

I just read about the Malaysian Jungle Line (Gemas-Khota Bahru, train #92). Maybe I'll use this to kick off my must-travel-more New Years' resolution? It sounds just exactly like the kind of holiday that (a) even I can't screw up that badly, (b) will let me just go out and do stuff without all that excessive planning, and (c) might be fun enough that I'll want to repeat it. Good combination.

Today was horribly boring, but with a major code overhaul in progress, what do you expect? And even an overhaul can have nice bits. Well, exciting. Well, not absolutely boring bits.

I need more exciting things in my life. And with two days off next week, three things to do between Saturday and Sunday, and more potentially getting lined up soon ahead, I hope I can finish everything I need to tomorrow so's to have a great time next week!

(A great time, even. Sigh. I haven't had one of those in ages!)

This post was posted by Unknown at 1:47 am | 2 comments | Post a Comment

Wow. Google just might be as cool as everybody says.

This post was posted by Unknown at 2:56 pm | 0 comments | Post a Comment

Well - who'da thunk it'd get that far? Yes, I know, not much in the Grand Scheme of Things, but for me, it's a milestone. I've been blogging on this blog (at this URL, even!) since March 2004. And in line with my be-all-introspective-and-shit mode, I get tagged and everything. So here goes ...

I tag everybody who visits my blog (which shouldn't be many). If your blog isn't listed in the list on the sidebar, leave me a URL in the comment so I can find it!

LAYER ONE: some basic info.
Name: Gaurav Vaidya. Drop the "Vaidya" if you know me, add "Girish" in between if you're going by my passport. Don't drop the "Gaurav", whatever you do, I don't like that.
Birth date: Feb 29, 1984
Birthplace: Dr. Char's Hospital, Wadala, Bombay, India
Current Location: Sunset Way, Clementi, Singapore
Eye Color: brown
Hair Color: black, turning gray (and white)
Height: err ... 5'11", I think?
Righty or Lefty: dexter, not sinister

LAYER TWO: some additional background
Your heritage: Coastal Maharashtrian, by birth and so on. Cosmopoliton. Geek. Somewhere in between.
The shoes you wore today: badminton shoes (or were those tennis?)! (they've got nice shoes, and they're all white and pretty and stuff. Plus, they're pretty comfy, which is all I really ask from my shoes anyway)
Your weaknesses: Weaknesses? I assume 'real nastinesses' are coming up later ... I'm disorganised, unpunctual, anti-establishment, anti-authority, and have a bad habit of making up new words by mixing up old ones. I used to get overly attached to things, but I'm trying to work around that now. I talk too much, mostly about things I don't really know much about, and I tend to go on and on. My mood can range from needing people around to hating the thought of having people around, and I generally don't hide it much (or very well). While I'll listen to advice and file it away for future use, I'll generally not follow it right away, but go my own way instead, which tends to piss off the people who advise me. I used to have problems falling through with something (i.e. pulling it through to completion), but I think I'm getting better at this, too. I'll be impulsive when I ought to think through things, and I'll be caught in dilemmas when I ought to just pick and option and go with it. I like feeling in control, and feeling like I'm superior to others, and - in a few areas I'm actually proud of myself in - to rub it in, which must piss people off, too. I'm very judgemental about people, and if I dislike someone, I'll go out of my way to avoid them, which is probably pretty unfair. I also ought to exercise more.
Your fears: as near as I can tell, my biggest fear is being left out of the loop, of being ignored and passed on by. I also hate getting into fights I can't win. I don't like to lose, but I guess that's too common to count.
Your perfect pizza: the best I've ever had was this enormous thin-crust Hawaiian which lasted three days in our minifridge at the Hotel Banjara and Lake Resort in Hyderabad, India. I think it's the first "proper" pizza I had, and the first time I ate cold pizza a day or two after (cold pizza is one of the Essential Food Groups of the programming geek). Right now, my favourite flavour seem to be the spicy ones: the Singapore Special, the Tandoori Chicken, that sort of thing. But something I'll go back to capsicum-tomato-and-cheese for that special at-home feel.
Goal(s): Right now? Finishing Pam (Pam is ... well, I'll explain later, but it is a part of the Folsom Prison thing I've been posting about lately). Keeping up with work at lab. Trying to get off my rear end more - going out about town, exploring places, taking more photographs, meeting more people, doing more things, learning more about things I wouldn't otherwise know about. One of my major goals for next year is to travel more, just around Malaysia if I have to, further afield if possible. My goal - in the sense of a concrete something I'd like to achieve - is to have some means to survive after June 2007 which will keep me happy, healthy, well-fed, allow me to save up money for the future, but at the same time let me do work I enjoy, go to work in shorts, and be able to take time off whenever I need. Or want. That would really be something.

LAYER THREE: we get a little personal.
Your most overused phrase on AIM: There?
Your first waking thought: Depends. If my blood sugar is awwight, I'm generally happy and jumpy and ready to take on the day - and since my room is pretty uncomfy, get the heck out of there, which is nice. If my blood sugar is low, I'll be mopey, irritated, angry, in pain, tired, fatigued, lying there, waiting, hoping to sleep, hoping against hope, but it almost never works out that way, and when it does, that's when the more horrible of my dreams turn up.
Your best physical feature: I have no idea. I probably don't have one.
Your most missed memory: Oh, I know. But I'm not telling you. As a close second: being in love. Okay, fine: number one is thinking someone you love loves you back.

LAYER FOUR:
Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi Twist, Coca Cola, 7-UP when my stomach is wonky.
McDonald's or Burger King: Ugh! BK's, for sure. I dig them Whoppers.
Single or group dates: Haven't really tried either, so how can I say?
Adidas or Nike: Right now, Wilson's (yes, the Badminton company). Can't stand either Nike or Adidas - the latter don't last long enough, the former don't fit my feet well enough. And have you seen them prices?
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: No tea! NO TEA! Although Ice Lemon Tea ain't so bad ...
Chocolate or vanilla: Hmmm. Tough question. Depends on my mood, and the product - I love milk and dark chocolates, but I love vanilla in just about everything else.
Cappuccino or coffee: frappe? I don't really like hot coffees much, somehow, but I'll die (or kill) for a really first-rate frappe.

LAYER FIVE: a quasi-medical questionnaire
Smoke: No. Can't, or won't, whichever. My upper respiratory tract is pretty shit as is, and I wouldn't want to trouble the poor tubes.
Cuss: Yes. Quite a bit, and getting worse. The turning point was two overlapping crushes on two different girls in mid-2005, both of whom cussed like the world was about to end. I'll try to save "fuck!" up for special occasions, but I'm using bastard quite a bit, and just as a throwaway cuss too. No idea why, but I'm not having any problems with it yet, so blech.
Sing: Way too much :). And I have a horrible singing voice, so it's a torment and a shame. But when I've got headphones on, I can't hear myself sing, so what the hey? But yes, otherwise, I'm a huge lyrics fan, and I'll sing a song over and over until I've worked each word out, then save it back for later use. Atleast, in theory. Sometimes, I've just got to sit and learn the song all over again, generally by singing it loud and horribly :p ...
Take a shower everyday: yes (what kind of question is that, honestly?)
Do you think you've been in love?: Yes, I know so. I mean, my definition of love might change in the future, but under the definition I had back in whenever, I was in love. Maybe when you turn 25 you are visited by a daemon in blinding light who reveals the True Meaning of Love to you, but that's not going to change the fact that I thought I was in love.
Want to go to college: Graduated college.
Liked high school: NO. Really. Not at all. My friends were fun, obviously, and teachers have varied dramatically, but for me high school always seemed like a game where the prize was won by memorizing things and regurgitating them for future use later on, where so little of anything you learned had any relevance whatsoever, and where the only real thing you did learn was how to manage extremely complicated political situations involving teachers, principals, administrative staff, socially connected students, socially UNconnected students, and - heck - just about anybody in the near vicinity. Easily the happiest moment in my recent past was when I graduated from college, and realised that working life was just exactly as unlike studies as I'd always assumed it would be. It wasn't just a mirage. The politics vanished (atleast in my present job, and even then, atleast surrounding me. There's still politics, and lots of them, but I'm only as affected as I want to be). The homework - which always struck me as something analogous to doing 'tricks', like performing animals of some sort - vanished. You went to work, you worked, and then you got to come home and do something different until you went to sleep. Work was interesting, exciting and an opportunity to learn things while you worked as hard as you could just to make things happen. Sorry, horribly and completely off-topic, I know, but I've been really wanting to say this for a very long time.
Want to get married: Yeah, sure. But in no particular rush. There's still so very much to do.
Believe in yourself: Huh? I believe I exist, and I believe I am capable of certain things (writing an RSS Feed Reader) and I believe I may be capable of doing other things (starting my own company), and I know there's things I'm not capable of (going running everyday). What more is there?
Get motion sickness: Not significantly. Not yet.
Think you're attractive: Sometimes. But I do have a very strong imagination. Otherwise, not really. But I try not to think about it much.
Think you're a health freak: HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA. Wait, you were serious? No.
Get along with your parent(s): Hmmm. Complicated. Very complicated. I get along with them, but I don't always enjoy their company, and I don't always enjoy their dynamic, although I suppose it works for them, and if they're happy, well. What can I say? I used to wish for something better, but now that I'm pretty far from home, it matters a whole lot less. So I just let them be (in my own way), and they let me be (in their own way), and ... that's that. Althoguh there's still a whole lot more tension than there ought to be, it's getting better, I think.
Like thunderstorms: LOVE thunderstorms. Unless I'm somewhere I could get struck by lighting. Or the thunderstorm is stopping me from doing something I like. Or if I'm feeling low to begin with. Although sometimes it's nice to have something nice and depressing when you're depressed? I don't know, maybe. I don't know.
Play an instrument: No :(. Tried learning a Casio keyboard a century or two ago, and the only thing it did was improve my finger control for computer keyboard typing :P. Tried learning a guitar less than a decade ago, but that too came to naught. Don't suppose I'll ever end up learning anything - it's not in my blood. Beside, with a voice like mine, how would I accompany it?

LAYER SIX: ie, the mini-purity test, tame version (anyone remember that?)
In the past month, have you...
Drank alcohol: Yes. I drank about 50 mls of beer (I really don't like beer, I was just depression drinking, unsuccessfully as it turned out), a coupla liquer ice-creams (the lychee martini ice cream near my house is to die for!), and I think one glass of very so-so Singapore Sling (but only because somebody else was paying). So nothing I really like, unfortunately.
Smoked: no.
Done a drug: no.
Made Out: no :(
Gone on a date: no
Gone to the mall?: yes! Well, I suppose so. It's hard not to accidently walk into one in Singapore, they're all over the place.
Eaten an entire box of Oreos?: not this month. Not since college! That's a good thing, right?
Eaten sushi: not in the last month. Not since mid-2006, and before that, mid-2005.
Been on stage: not in the last month. Not since - gawp! Early 2003. It's been a while.
Been dumped: last month? No. Not since (this is getting boring) mid-2006.
Gone skating: nope. In Singapore? Really?
Made homemade cookies: nope. Wouldn't know how! Eaten homemade cookies, yes.
Gone skinny dipping: no! I should, though! But the water around Singapore is pretty polluted ...
Dyed your hair: no. never. never!
Stolen Anything: Thinks real hard Can't say that I have!

LAYER SEVEN: very bad things that i take little part in
Ever...
Played a game that required removal of clothing: no! Hmmm.
Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: No! Not yet, and hopefully, never. I don't think I'd be a big fan of getting trashed.
Been caught "doing something": I was once caught working, to both mine and everybody else's astonishment! I also caught myself enjoying work several times this week. But nothing worse than that.
Been called a tease: no. Been called an *anything*, almost no. Except maybe 'geek', which is pretty accurate.
Gotten beaten up: nope. I got punched in the eye once, but that was really long ago.
Shoplifted: nope. Alas. Such boring lives we lead.
Changed who you were to fit in: *squints* Probably. Probably many, many times, without really realising it, until I got back to normal and went, golly, what was that all about? But otherwise, no. I always end up as myself - being anyone else is just too much effort for me.

LAYER EIGHT: hopes & dreams
Age you hope to be married: Haha! No idea. One rule I've got is that I don't particularly care about this. I could be eighty and single, or forty two and thrice divorced, it's just not that important (well, divorces don't sound like much fun, but I exaggerate to make a point, yes?). Right now, I know I've got a lot to learn about relationships and love and friendship and all that crazy stuff, and I'm prepared to spend the time to learn it all and get it right. So that when I do get married, I can find new and exciting ways to screw things up :p.
Numbers and Names of Children: Haha. No, I don't have one of those. I'd find thinking about hypothetic children kind of creepy. I'd probably hate to have one kid, though: my sister was good fun, even when she wasn't, and I'd hate to deny my sons/daughter/offspring that. Other than that, violent shrugs and pass the gravy.
Describe your Dream Wedding: Am so tempted to just keep Rivka's description: "small, efficient, with family and close friends. Good food." That wouldn't be a very fun Indian wedding, although I probably wouldn't want one of those. Maybe we can compromise? My family and folks can have the big wedding, I'll go off and get married in the afternoon, and then join them for the celebration later?
How do you want to die: "cognitively intact", yes. I had a granduncle of sorts who died, as near as I could tell, lonely, broken, sad, unhappy, and sickly. I'd hate to go like that. I suppose maybe like my grandad - heart attack late one night, and dead by morning. Definitely not like my grandmom. Either grandmom.
Where you want to go to college: Well, I went to NUS. I only applied to three places: NUS, NTU, and St. Joseph's in Bangalore. Two turned me down, so I went to the third. Now, it's not just too late to reconsider it - it's entirely too late to regret it. I could have easily learned the lessons I did somewhere else, but I did learn them here, amongst these people. Besides, I love Singapore. It's so different, and yet so much the same - and yet so completely crazy in a way I've never seen in a city before.
What do you want to be when you grow up: I don't know. Somebody who makes a different is my particular trite response to this, but how? Time will tell. Or, you know, it won't. Who knows? Who cares?
What country would you most like to visit: I don't have one. Really. I love India, and I love Singapore. I'm kinda skeptical of the US, Australia, NZ, UK, etc. etc. Maybe Canada? Maybe Europe? Maybe Russia? Maybe China? Dunno. I do need to travel more. A whole lot more.

LAYER NINE: aren't we through to the chewy center yet?
Number of drugs taken illegally: zero.
Number of people I can trust with my life: *blinks* 4? Really? Wow. Me? Probably nobody. Not even my parents. Well, maybe them - they've got a track record in protecting it thus far, I guess.
Number of CDs that I own: Not enough? Too many? Something like that. I've lot track. I don't download music off the 'net, though, so almost all of my music is off CDs, and I've got atleast 3.7 Gigs of that.
Number of piercings: none
Number of tattoos: none
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: Atleast once (a computer trivia quiz), maybe a couple more times. Nothing big, nothing famous. That was one heck of a quiz, though.
Number of scars on my body: Sigh. Let's see: surgical scar on left ankle, correctional surgery for club foot. Small spot on chest, under left nipple, spilling boiling water on myself. Scar on left elbow, falling backwards through glass table (that was some glass table. I was directly or indirectly responsible for breaking the glass on it three times, once by falling backwards through it). Smallpox immunization on left upper arm. And my personal favourite: quietly fading, barely visible scratches made by my cat, Yoko (who died in January this year) back in 2000/01, while I was on the phone chatting with the second girl I had a major crush on. They've been on for atleast five years now, so - who knows? - maybe they'll stay a little longer.
Number of things in my past that I regret: Who knows? Millions - billions - of little things, one failed word here, one action taken in anger there, one opportunity lost, one shove too far there. People I've lost touch with after grand fights, and those I lost by just not writing in too long. Most of all, things I did out of emotion - anger, fear, jealousy, hatred, fear - which ended up hurting people. I hate hurting people, and I hate feeling responsible for their pain.
Best thing I've ever done: falling in love with the people I did? I dunno. There's so many little things, too, that I got right, or where I was there, or when I was available at 4am to talk to someone, or when I knew where to take someone else so she'd feel better, or when I cheered someone else up, or talked someone else about not worrying about something and just enjoying things while they can. The little things.

Okay, that's it. Let's see you guys fill up your forms now! Hop to it, amigos!

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