Hot Blog Posts of 2009!

Usually at the end of the year, I write a post listing five to six of my favorite posts that I've written over the past year.  This year, however, has been such a full and exciting year for me, I have to list more!  So take some time to re-read some of these, or read them for the first time.  They are really quite entertaining.

1. Movie Review: Star Trek - A movie I didn't think I'd enjoy, but really did!

2. Happy Birthday to Me! - A letter that my grandfather wrote me on the day I was born.

3. Culture Shock, episode 3 - This still makes me laugh.

4. Book Review: The Wind in the Willows - A book I thought I'd enjoy, but didn't.

5. Charminar - A post full of videos to give you a taste of one of the biggest tourist attractions in Hyderabad.

6. Conversation at Charminar - This just strokes my ego.

7. Feel Free to Stare - Another that just makes me laugh.

8. Happy Birthday, America! - Things I don't want to take for granted again!

9. Culture Shock, final episode? - More things to get used to in India.

10. My Dent - Scary experience, but funny story!

11. it's getting longer... - Continuation of my short story.

it's getting longer...

This is a continuation of a short story written on this blog over two years ago. The girl had lived by herself for so long it was a hard adjustment once he had moved in.  His lifestyle was so foreign to her, but she accepted him because she had loved him and longed for him since that fatal day. He had been on his own for so long, it was a hard adjustment for him living there.  Her home was so distant from any other home that it made him feel lonely, even with her around.  He loved the company of others, even if he was conning them in the process.  But he couldn't leave her, now that they had found each other.  It had to be a miracle, the way their paths had crossed.  He had believed her dead, that he was all alone in the world, never knowing that family was just around the corner. But there had been more than family around the corner.  It had occurred to him that she must be very wealthy, but did not know it.  Now he stood to gain from finding her and being an heir himself.  He knew he had to stay with her, because she would fall apart again if he left.  But the longer he stayed, the more the sadness overtook him.  He became morose and depressed even as she laughed and chattered all day long.  She had even taken to visiting the town and talking with strangers, something she had never done before.  He knew he was the reason for her happiness, but he continued to feel the urge to leave. One day he decided to wander around the forest, and, telling her he'd be back by nightfall, he left to explore.  He fully intended to keep his word, because he cared for her more everyday, despite his misery.  He walked for miles, away from the town's border.  He knew if he went back to that town, he would not be welcome.  He hadn't stolen from the villagers, per se, but he had made some promises he had never intended to keep. On and on he walked, away from her and the town.  He didn't know what he expected to find, but soon he came across her house.  No, it couldn't be her house, but it looked very similar.  It was set in a large clearing and the evening sun shone on the leaves in just such a way to make it look like a painting.  His heart beat fast in his chest at the thought of meeting new people.  Perhaps even bringing her to meet them, too.  He quickened his pace to the front door and nearly pounded it down in his excitement.  But there was no answer.  He waited, much longer than is customary to wait in these situations, pounding over and over.  The sun was setting and he knew he should be getting back, which exasperated him.  He had to know who lived here; it was a matter of his own sanity!  So he grabbed the handle and pushed. It was unlocked, as he knew it would be.  People who lived this far from the village never locked their doors.  She never did because there were no other people around to keep out!  His first step inside, he glanced inside and nearly fainted.  There she was, happy as ever, smiling at him as if he had been expected.  He looked around, confused.  This was not the house he had left that morning.  He had been walking away from her, away from the house, away from town.  He had not circled back, he knew it.  Besides that, though the house was similar, it was not the same.  It was slightly larger and had different furnishings. She watched him gaze around the room.  His confusion amused her.  She didn't want to but she knew she must explain.  So it was with a heavy heart that she told him what she had done with the money.  She was letting him go, releasing him from his duties to her.  She knew what it meant for her life and though she was saddened, she cared for him more.  He had to leave for his sanity and just knowing he would occasionally come back to this house, his house, gave her some sanity, too. He loved her more than ever in that moment.  His heart ached to leave her, but her solution seemed best.  He had forgotten her inner depths that had realized what he was going through at her expense.  He left minutes later, knowing he would be back, promising he would be back.  But he would not come back alone.  He had a mission, and he would fulfill it before returning here, before returning to her.

TV Shows I'm Watching

At the risk of getting the judgmental eye-roll from my father, I would like to share what TV shows that I'm currently watching.  I am really only doing this because I feel the need to post on my blog, but also because I have 82 Google docs and have found that they make excellent blog fodder.  Here are some examples if you don't believe me: my journal from India, books I've read, and my essay on To Kill a Mockingbird.  And that's just to name a few!  So here's my list of TV shows I'm currently watching, taken straight out of my Google doc of the same name (and please don't ask why I keep a doc of them).

Monday: How I Met Your Mother (lost some of its fun, IMO) Dancing with the Stars (believe it or not, my grandmother got me hooked this season!)

Tuesday: NCIS (highest rated show on TV and sooo good!) NCIS: Los Angeles (highest rated new show on TV, and it's pretty good!)

Lost (finally caught up!) more Dancing with the Stars (I fast-forward through most of it, just to see the results)

Wednesday: The New Adventures of Old Christine (gotten pretty stupid, might quit watching) Hank (if you read my Twitter, you know where I stand with this) Cougar Town (not nearly as funny as it claims to be) The Middle (very funny, especially for a new show) Modern Family (funniest new show, Ryan even watches it with me)

Thursday: The Office (still got it) 30 Rock (same) Community (very funny new show, yay, Joel McHale!) Parks and Recreation (I still find it funny, but it's Ryan's least favorite on Thursdays) Survivor (always takes some time to get into it, but always ends up being enjoyable) The Mentalist (one I watch with my parents, good crime/drama show!)

Friday:

Monk (last season! looking forward to solving Trudy's murder) Ugly Betty (just started and still seems good) Numb3rs (another I watch with my parents, interesting but not my favorite crime/drama)

Saturday:

Saturday Night Live (eh)

Sunday: Desperate Housewives (it's actually a very funny show)

We bought a house!

I am not going to tell you where or what it looks like because of all you stalkers and perverts out there.  And if there's one thing I've learned from my mom about the internet, it's that it is full of perverts.  So if I know you and love you, you will be getting an email with our address once we move in. As you know, I found searching for a house stressful.  But I am learning that it is nothing to actually buying a house.  And I can only assume buying a house is nothing compared to owning and maintaining a house!  Why are we putting ourselves through this?!  I shouldn't mislead you, though.  I am more excited than nervous.

I'll keep you updated!

Fruit Tarts

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This morning I made Fruit Tarts for a luncheon my mom is putting on.  They came out beautifully (and so yummy!), thanks to The Pioneer Woman's recipe!

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P.S. This post is going under the categories "truffles" and "unsweetened".  Now you may think that these words don't apply to the above dessert, but if you read the definitions of my categories, all your confusion will be gone!

House Hunting is Hard.

My last several weeks have been all consumed with the house hunt.  It has been tiring and endless.  Although, if we weren't on a deadline, I might actually enjoy myself.  But we are on a deadline so I'm just stressed.  And what do I do when I'm stressed?  I eat.  And what do I eat?  Chocolate.  And what was the original point of this blog?  The answer is here, but you should already know it!  And so, to accomplish the original point of this blog, here I am writing a post on my frustrations instead of grabbing some M&Ms (which I'll probably do afterward anyway). The first house we put a bid on, we were very hopeful.  It had been on the market for a while, was very beautiful, and was actually in our price range!  But we soon discovered the owners had been somewhat dishonest.  They had already accepted a bid and signed all the contracts a week or so earlier!  And yet the listing was still active.  This, as I have now learned, is a no-no in the real estate game.

The next house was a sweet little cape, and as much as I tried to keep my hopes from rising, they did anyway.  But our bid was rejected and we found out later the same day that the owners received another bid and accepted it.

So here we are back at square one and feeling a little jaded.  So why would I possibly enjoy myself if we weren't on a deadline?  Other than the emotional ups-and-downs of the bid war, going into people's houses and examining every nook and cranny is kinda fun!  It's amazing all you can learn about people from digging through their closets!  (No, I don't dig around... I just look...)

Tomorrow we go out looking again.  We are running out of neighboring towns to look in!  But for now, I'm going to grab a handful of M&Ms.

My Dent

I had a massage recently, and the masseuse seemed to be quite uncertain about what I like to call my "dent" in my right thigh.  Usually during massages, I comfort myself with the fact that these people have probably seen all kinds of bodies, so mine can't be much worse than the others.  But I don't think she had ever before come across a mid-thigh dent.  It got me thinking to what caused my dent and what a good story it would make for my blog. Let's begin by saying that 12 years old is too young for a boating license.  So really, I blame the state of Connecticut for imposing this ridiculously lenient law.  But I'm really not complaining.  Aside from the occasional confusion of a masseuse, I rarely ever think of my dent.  And I've had my boating license for 15 years now.

It was a sunny Saturday in mid-summer when my dad, cousin, and I attended the eight-hour long session that was (and still is) necessary to receive a boating license.  Having passed the test at the end, we all were excited to drive my dad's brand-new jet ski down at the beach.  But jet skis need motor oil, and when we realized ours' was nearly out of it, my dad put my cousin in charge (my cousin was a year older and never let me forget it) and left to buy some.

"Well, we have our boating licenses, so let's take this thing for a spin!"  I don't know who made that fateful suggestion, but the other agreed to it!  So my cousin hopped in the driver's seat, and I scooted up behind him and held on for dear life.  He was driving so fast, with quick turns and the occasional 180 degree spin.  I don't know if you've ever been on the back of a jet ski while someone else drove -and rather erratically at that! - but it's scary!  So I closed my eyes to block it out and said nothing.  After all, I could do anything a boy could do!

And then we stopped.

I opened my eyes and saw a huge sail boat motoring towards us.  I don't know if my cousin thought the boat was stopping or if he thought he could beat it, but suddenly he hit the gas and we shot forward.  Unfortunately, the boat didn't stop.  And we didn't beat it.  And that boat sailed right up onto my leg and sent me flying 20 feet off the jet ski.

I swam back to the jet ski.  The owners of the boat reprimanded us, because we had been driving across the channel (a big no-no and something we had learned in our class earlier that day) and asked to see our boating licenses.  We were humiliated and rather scared.  We drove back to the beach, and while my cousin lamented the damage to the jet ski, I ran for my dad.  When he found me, I was sobbing and limping, so of course he thought the worst.  It was probably good for my cousin that he did expect the worst, because when he found my cousin safe and sound and saw the minor damage to the jet ski, he was only relieved.

Nearly my entire leg turned yellow, then black and blue, and swelled to nearly double its size.  But the yellow, black and blue faded and the swelling receded.  And all that was left was a dent.  A dent the size of the bow of a huge sail boat.

Twitter is beating up my blog.

If you actually visit my blog (as opposed to reading it through your reader), you will know that I have started tweeting.  And because of it, my blog has suffered. I really didn't think it would make a difference.  But then I read an article (unfortunately, I cannot find it to link), the gist of which was that Twitter has made short, quick blog posts a thing of the past.  I used to take a small idea, flesh it out a bit, and turn it into a whole blog post!  But now I don't even have to put in all that work to get my idea out there.

For example, one of my Twitter posts yesterday was, "Pet peeve: someone correcting grammar in a library book...when it's in dialog!! Dialog doesn't have to be grammatically correct!!!"  I could have turned this into a whole post about pet peeves or grammar or writing good dialog (which, I flatter myself, I do well).  I probably could have even turned it into a series of posts on pet peeves or grammar or writing good dialog!  For that matter, it could have become a new "Chocolate flavor" on pet peeves, or grammar, or writing good dialog.

But no, the lazy side of me enjoys Twitter for its simplicity and 140 character limit.  And so soon after my 3-year bloggiversary (I don't think I coined that word), my blog suffers.  I am committed to post here at least once a month, but for a while, I was posting several times a week!  I'm afraid those days are gone.  Perhaps they will resurface when I am back in a routine, but for now, look for me on Twitter.  Or even just watch this blog for Twitter updates to the right.

Goodbye, Hyderabad

Today is my last day in Hyderabad, India.  And while I am so excited to enter the next stage of my life back in the States, I will certainly miss some things about living here.  So I want to take some time right now and remember some of my favorite things (a la The Sound of Music).

• having my own bathroom (even though Ryan tried to poach it near the end)

• bottled water delivered straight to our door for $2/50 liters.

• days at the spa (for cheap!)

• a wide variety of wonderful restaurants (for cheap!)

• living here was something that made me interesting (am I revealing my inner insecurities?)

• furniture made just how you like it (for relatively cheap!)

• meeting people from all over the world

• learning some Hindi (I hope I can continue learning!)

• feeling like a celebrity (being stared at, people wanting my picture)

• our beautiful, beautiful apartment (something I already miss, as we are staying in a hotel now)

• our sweet driver (pic below with Ryan)

Ryan and Laxman

Of course, there are things I won't miss.  But I prefer to remember the positives (in print, at least!).   So goodbye, Hyderabad!  It has been an amazing experience living here.  I will always hold the city close to my heart.

Happy Anniversary to me...

...and my blog! July marks my three-year anniversary with my blog.  This is quite an accomplishment for me. I start a lot of projects.  Some of them I don't finish. OK, most of them I don't finish. But I've managed to keep this blog going for three years now, and to top it off, I have consistently posted at least once a month for nearly two years now.  So I thought all this deserved a celebratory post.  And here it is.

Yay me!

Happy Birthday, America!

Living abroad has made me appreciate so many things about my home country that I took for granted before (and probably will again).  So today I thought it would be appropriate to list just a few of the things I'm thankful for with regard to my country. I am thankful for personal freedoms, that I can write what I want, even with regard to this country and its politics, that I can practice religion without fear of persecution.  I am thankful for a free market and capitalism, which I truly do believe make everyone better off.  I am thankful for convenience stores, which really are so convenient!  To sell milk, light bulbs, and picture frames all in one store is a marvel!  And I am thankful for diversity.  What a blessing it is to be in one country (or state, or town, for that matter!) and be able to meet people of different backgrounds, cultures, races, and ethnicities.  It is truly an enrichment of our country and our lives.

So Happy Birthday, America!  This is not about politics or patriotism.  This is simply realizing of what I should be thankful and an acknowledgment of that.  I wish you many more birthdays to come.

Short excerpt from the book I'm reading.

"In an act of great tenderness, God visited Elijah in his time of despair [I Kings 19].  What happened next speaks volumes about what style works best when an omnipotent God decides to communicate with tiny human beings:

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

The gentle whisper, Elijah heard.  God had accommodated himself to his prophet in a soft voice almost like silence."

-Philip Yancey Reaching for the Invisible God

Google Reader is so unforgiving.

Every time I write a blog post, I reread it several times (and often make changes) before publishing it.  But it never fails that when I read it in my Reader (yes, I subscribe to my own blog), I find more things that I should have changed!  So I make the changes to the post in the hopes that no one will see my error.  But my hopes are not well-founded because I know that those of you who read this blog regularly, read it in your Reader.  So if you ever see something that's incorrect or improper, perhaps you should check the post on the actual blog site just in case I noticed it too and made the change.  And if I didn't, well, you can just leave it at that.