Clutter

Yesterday, was feeling really blue.

Hence, decided to clear my apartment of clutter.

Made 2 trips to the garbage disposal area taking down 3 crate - boxes of Coke, 1 crate of beer bottles, the kitchen garbage and the bathroom garbage.

Strangely enough, cleaning out this mess gave my mind and heart a positive turn. I watched a movie 'Aankhein' starring Govinda and Chunky Pandey and then cooked!

I am a real slob when it comes to the weekends. All I do on weekends is flop on the bed, eat countless chocolates, drink endless cans of coke, munch on potato chips and smoke cigarettes. I neither brush my teeth, nor take a bath. In short, I am the picture of sloppishness. I shirk cooking and cleaning and going out and behave like the infamous Count Dracula of Transylvania staying out of sunlight :)

This weekend, decluttering my house kinda decluttered my mind. I know this is not incentive enough to keep me away from the weekend-sloppy schedule. But, I just might give it another try on another weekend. Not in the near future though!!

Weather Woes

Weather has been dull and dreary for the past week. Everyday, I was being pelted with rain on my to the office from the parking lot.
The day before yesterday, I was almost being swept into the Guadalupe river - the wind was so 'dang' strong. I felt like Mary Poppins with my umbrella. The latter is now officially casualty and is residing in S's luggage on the way back to India :)
Today, the sun decided to take a peek at the world below. The hills looked marvellous in the morning. See the speck of snow winking from between the 2 concrete behemoths. [Picture courtesy S]. The wind was very playful - making the clouds move here and there. The hills looked buish grey and green in patches. I became very nostalgic. This is just like the hill stations in India.
In no mood to work. Feeling sleepy and ready to hit the bed. Blame it on the weather :(

Lessons learned at office

I was just thinking to myself 'What makes you love your job?'
As I started to look back, several pointers struck me as important. I am writing these in my blog to save for posterity.
1. Always try to join a project during or close to startup. In this way, you will get most of the opportunites with time and will also have an upper hand over the others, both technically and functionally.
Real life scenario: I have been observing A quite closely since I came here. He is a hot shot now - apparently performing technical miracles every other day. As for myself, I happen to be the most easily disposable resource out here.
Two years back, things were very different. When I started off in my first project in this organization, I was one of the earliest few in the project. This gave me a good grasp of the technicality, a little of the functionality and almost all of the loopholes. A joined at a much later stage. He was originally a tester who got involved in our project as a configuration manager. He used to fix bugs here and there at times.
So, did that really make me the coder - hero that people thought me to be?
Or is A the new developer - messiah?
None.
It all boils down to who has been in the project for how long - provided one is sincere and hard-working.
2. Never be friends with the people who report to you. A friendly boss is good - but a boss who is a friend is not good at all. Maintain a distance with your team members. This is going to earn you respect. Also, appraising the team members gets really subjective once you get to know them personally. Have friends in office. Just make sure they are not in your team.
Real life scenario: In my second project with the firm, I was leading a team of 4. This was a classic case of 1 and 2. My team members were in the project from long back. To sink my teeth into the code, I got friendly with them. By the time, I got a hang of the project they were all over me.
3. Never dress sloppy at work. This can entirely ruin your image that you might have created over years.
Real life scenario: I am a sloppy dresser myself. And I have realized that people don't take you seriously if you are a sloppy dresser.

Comfort Food

With hubby gone back to Kolkata, I did a lot of shopping for myself. Retail therapy works for me, everytime.
Also, I have stocked up on my favourite comfort foods. I bought myself 2 packs of Lays Original potato crisps, a big bag of Hershey's Kisses and 4 crates of Coca Cola!
Each day, after work I sit in the favourite corner of my soft fluffy bed - propped up by two super-mushy pillows and dig into junk food. It fills me with a sense of well-being. Feels like everything is right in the world. I shut my ears from the diet-junkies and their theory on the 'sugar-rush'. All that sugar makes me feel happy. And that is all that matters right now.
Yesterday, I needed a little more incentive. So, I baked myself a potato. It was my first attempt. And it turned out great. Talk of beginner's luck!
One comfort food that I have discovered after having come to the States is Coffee flavoured ice cream from Trader Joe's. I have a tubful in the fridge :)
Looking forward to killing the dull rainy days by just curling up with my laptop and my stash of comfort food.

Time flies

Hubby was here for the past 28 days. He has reached Kolkata today.

And I am struggling to come back to reality.

I have been not able to sleep at all for the past 2 nights. Hence blogging. It helps relieve my mind.

Work is a mess with my laptop being re-imaged and the desktop monitor turning pink :)

But it sure felt better to be back with my female colleagues M senior, M junior and S.

Right now back to desk after lunch and infernally bored.

It will be difficult to make the days pass now.

I had gotten used to hubby being around. Life was revolving around him. Now, it's all empty again.

I cried a river the day he started off for Kolkata.

I have to keep my mind occupied at all times. Otherwise, my old friend - depression is going to get the better of me.

I will keep blogging regularly. I will also take up the cat cross-stitch project. If I am industrious enough, I might get somebody take it back to India before I reach.

How I long for the long, lazy days spent in India. Everyday was filled with fun. Life is generally difficult, what with the public transport, the humid weather, family-related obligations etc. - but the time spent with my best friend - my hubby - really outweighs it all.

I get nostalgic when I recall the days spent window shopping in Gariahat. I would go from shop to shop enthusiastically while hubby trudged along reluctantly. And when he used to hit the movie halls, I followed behind with a wry face. Right now, when I am faced with living out over 5 months without him - I get jealous of the uneventful afternoons spent reading books in the winter sun. Back when I was home, we used to fight as to who was the lazy one who passed away the day doing nothing. Thinking back, even those do-nothing days prick me.

When would I go home? Lets hope the work goes as planned and I can get back after 5 months as scheduled.