Day 514:19th Feb, 2011

Since quite some days, there was this one tab that I hadn't managed to close. It was a youtube video, part 1 of a 6 part series. Finally saw it out today. Came to know about this solo adventurer called Mike Horn and the amazing challenges that he has conquered - covering the equator, travelling the entire length of the Amazon, going around the Arctic circle, etc.

Had missed out on donating blood the last time around, wasn't going to miss it again. Felt good. Got quite a bit to eat as well :P

Skipped gym to instead settle for some Bridge. Mr. Tiwari was leaving for his hometown and hence the request had to be honoured. Didn't play too well though, probably the lack of practice :( . Went to the mess for dinner; found it to be so bad I settled for a glass of milkshake instead. A little more form filling after that - today was a short one from this paint company. Squeezing answers in a small box with a small font was fun :-P , even wrote a couple of new incidents!

And magically, it's 2.40 now. I just don't seem to have a clue on what I do to make time pass by this way! Do I need to get checked for a multiple personality disorder? :P

Day 502:7th Feb, 2011

Woke up early, had breakfast! Then started getting bothered about the FRA project which was due, in 5 hours :-| . Went to the rooms of two of my group members; both were sleeping :-| . Man, term 6 is special! Anyways, one of them told me he had seen "a little" of what's to be done, and that he would come up with "something". Pretty risky terms in that statement, but I was helpless as I anyways had to attend my LD class where again our final presentation was due. That went OK. 

Immediately after my LD class, I contacted my group mates. As guessed, we were still close to have done nothing. Got an AMR guy to do "some regression" on "some data" and get "some result". Meanwhile, I even had to go to our prof to get our presentation scheduled, since we had already missed our alloted time. The good thing is profs are cooperative, definitely so in term 6 :-) . He agreed to see our ppt without any fuss, and having seen our ppt, very calmly declared the lack of effort, but fortunately he gave us another deadline to make improvements :-) 

The good part was in the small time gap between negotiating with the prof and waiting for my group to come, I managed to jump in and have some gulab jamun and Kwality ice-cream for this company's ppt which I didn't even attend. But as you sow, so you reap. The ppt that I was stipulated to attend - for the same company's IT division - didn't have attendance taken. To add salt to the wound, the next ppt which I skipped for my gym session, had attendance :-(

But God's generous. Good ending to the day :-) . Pizza for dinner - KungFu Panda's treat for his General Management PPO! And then lots of (re)Beginner's Luck at bridge! Naice!

Day 352: 28th Aug, 2010

Sorry for the delayed post. Yesterday night the net conked off abruptly for a few hours.

Can't help but rave about what a brilliant course Team Building is! :D . What else can you say when you can coolly play Bridge for 3 hours, and directly go give your paper! And me being me, even managed to finish the exam and submit the paper in an hour. (Sadly (?), I don't have much globe-ing skills.)

Restarted HIMYM! (Why do such things happen ONLY during exams?!) Had reached some place in season 5, continued from there on. Saw a few more episodes; it's watchable ONLY because of Barney now :D . Oh, and Robin ;-) . I thought I'll finish off with Season 5 (that's the end, right?), par mere saath dhoka ho gaya! Turned out episode 22 which I downloaded didn't have the sound working properly :( . And as I said, no net - so this is put off for tomorrow.

Day 337: 13th Aug, 2010

One super nice thing that I have done is I got a White Board fitted in my room. Am finding it nice to track schedules, and follow up on things/targets/hobbies. Somehow, it also gives a nice 'feel' to the room.

Had gone to the city with Vanki for some INDEX work. Had to rush back again for some other INDEX work! Saw one of the worst traffic jams of Lucknow today :-S ..some rally I guess.

It is actually quite satisfying when you pursue something and take it to a higher level. Went to play Bridge at the Lucknow Bridge Club today, along with Tiwari, Ghate & Kunja. It was a completely different experience playing in that sort of a 'professional' setup. Of course, I must also acknowledge the help, courtesy and support that the members have extended to us to help us develop an interest in the game - they keep giving us tips during the bidding and after the game play; and even waive the entry fees for us :)

Had dinner at this place called Indian Coffee House. I don't know how I missed even seeing this place! Went on to watch Peepli [Live] at PVR. Really nice movie - a superb satire based on the farmer suicides issue - highly recommended!

Super late to sleep even today :-| . I have no idea how the clock has suddenly struck 5.35 am :-| . Realised it only when the darkness totally escaped from the sky! And the weirdest part is that I am not sleepy at all. Anyways, will put myself to sleep, else will doze off the whole of tomorrow - and that I definitely don't want!

Day 329: 4th Aug, 2010

I was quite proud of myself and also a little surprised when I first managed to wake up at 6.something. Shamefully though, I just didn't manage to wake myself enough and ended up missing the 8.15 Int Fin class! Later on heard, the prof was really curious to see the new celebrity of the class - Pachpan! :D 

Have had about 3-4 sessions of Bridge by now, but I haven't improved my awareness levels as much as I should have. Especially considering that's the essence of Bridge. Desperately need to internalize the bare minimum act of keeping count!

A slight improvement in my swimming record - did 4 laps continuously! But I think I must start setting higher targets. In fact I'll do it right now - 10 laps at a stretch, by mid September!

In the midst of this all, continuing the infinite coupling - reading Atlas Shrugged and watching LOTR. And btw, the latter seems to be a more painful indulgence!

Day 327: 2nd Aug, 2010

One of those typical days.

Was pretty tired yesterday, so happened to doze off comparatively early. Woke up today at 6. Stop alarm. Then at 7. Stop alarm. Then at 8. Stop alarm. Then at 9.30 - Get alarmed about missing the lecture and RUSH for it! Missed breakfast :-(

A very interesting incident happened in the Strat Man class - I suddenly saw the usually docile Tiwari furiously scribbling away and making notes in a book :-O . I was super amazed, and wanted to ask him about his actions, in a manner as if he had broken some unspoken brotherly code. I forgot about it at the end of the lecture. I only had to wait for another hour though - when I went to play Bridge in the evening, I realised he was jotting down relevant stuff!

To give company to the infinite book (Atlas Shrugged), I have also started watching the infinite movie (LOTR 2 - The Twin Towers). There seems to be no concept of 'finite' for these two things!

Day 325: 31st Jul, 2010

For the last few weeks now, mess food = Aloo. In a fresh bout of creative sarcasm, one of my friends came up with this ALOO exclusive menu, inviting a horde of 'Likes' on social networks :D .
Click on the pic for a larger view.

Today also marks the start of another activity I have wanted to learn and pursue - Bridge! Tiwari knows a bit of how to play; so we have formed a small group of interested people and started playing. Just realised how interesting the game is, it's not just "fun", but you need to be really mentally alert while playing it.