Another Christmas.....

The holidays are here. This has been an unusually hectic year for me...

We are celebrating Christmas at home - but promptly leaving town after that. It should be a good trip. The tree is decorated, the yard has lighting, there are more desserts in the house than regular food - all is good I guess. Still have a little bit of shopping left, but no a whole lot.

Let's see - I didn't really have a Christmas list this year - I'll settle for a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine. I did ask Ken for a set of scales that approximate not only your weight but the body composition.... Not sure if that was a wise choice!

The kids didn't even have a long expensive list this year. I guess we're all getting older!

In any case - the trip should be fun! Going to LV, AZ, climb a bit - see the new GC overlook - can't wait!

Moving On....

So - notices have been given and it's time to move on.

End of a chapter. I wonder how long before the ichneumon flies set in again?

Patience

I am the most impatient person I know....

Sick of work, can't wait to move on.

IBRA

I have an engineering degree - but I really wanted to be an artist - thanks to some Indian norm for parental expectations. I put on a intelligent face in front of all my American friends and talk highly of India - lest I somehow put down my country of birth.

I communicate with my Indian friends online - but dare not express my real feelings about India - the country I had to get out of in my youth just to breath!

I dare not tell anyone that I do not like India - it's repressive culture - it's "chalta hai" attitude - it's lack of infrastructure despite it's recent riches - it's dirt, corruption, noise, pollution, it's dress codes borrowed from it's occupiers, it's hypocrisies, class structure, bogus Bollywood representations, false pride, and to top it all - it's exploration of Indian born Americans - conveniently "finding" themselves in some Indian cultural utopia of an improbable past....

I am an Indian born repressed American....

Namesake...

From the time I started surfing the web, every now and then, I would do a search for my name.... For a long time I would just find myself - all alone - in the cyber world! Then, there was the reporter who was my namesake. I followed her career from time to time. Then there was the actress - ugh!

However, more recently, I've been finding others - worthy of bearing my name. There is the Fulbright scholar now in med school. Then there is the rad xkcd reading foss supporting geek. How wonderful!

I wonder what they make of me?

Itchy flies...

I've worked for my current job for two years now...Each day is more uninspired than the previous... working on the same old, same old...

It's time to move on.

Anniversary...

15 years of marriage!

This has been a year of anniversaries... 40th birthday, 20th anniversary of graduating from college, and 15th wedding anniversary. Time keeps on ticking...

I wonder what the next 40 years bring...

Numb3rs

I heard Ira Flatow talk about this TV show on CBS called Numbers. A crime show that uses mathematics to solve crime. How cool is that!

So, of course, I ordered season 1 & 2 from Amazon - and watched it with the kids. And it was fun! I absolutely loved it - and so did Kit - and Laal. We discussed, as a family, the P=NP? problem, Schrodinger's uncertainty principle, Bayesian math, Diffy-Helman encryption algorithm, The Monty Hall problem, etc. etc. etc....

Kit is fascinated by the idea of researching a problem for decades....Laal started appreciating the value of Mathematics (and Kit's intellect) a bit more. And I absolutely am addicted to the show.

I found a blog on the show run by a mathematics department - commentary by authors, etc., etc. A whole new world! So cool!

Social Networks and the Decay of Reality...

I started a Recipe blog for myself - to allow me to share my recipes with friends and find them myself easily no matter where I am.

Then, I got invited by a group of climbing buddies to join Multiply. A fellow climber works for the company - and it seems like a perfect place for maintaining a climbing blog. So, I have a climbing blog...

And, when I got back from India, I got an invite to a group on Facebook. So - now I have a facebook account - where I blog on my ties to India.

So - I have just as fractured an online personality as in reality - and maintaining 4 blogs takes up a little more time from reality. Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing...

But the more I think about it - apart from family, travel and climbing, I really have no interest in the real world...I could very easily spend my entire time in virtual reality.

My mother's generation did it by using the Television, mine is the internet - and I see my kids using gaming as the alternate reality. I suppose the 60's generation used drugs for it - so did many other cultures. Some use books - art - science. So, short of the time where we were preoccupied by eating or being eaten, was there ever really any time in history where being immersed into a distraction was not a way of life?

I would seem that the decay of reality is an ancient phenomenon indeed!

Back home...

Back home from our crazy trip. Still recovering from the Jet Lag. It was good to see the kids - and breath clean air and drive in sane traffic with no loud beeps and see clean roads and neighborhoods.

We spent the last day there shopping - Ken got a new statue of Krishna. We did get to spend some time with my uncle and aunt - and then the politics start pouring out. Apparently my brother does not approve of my uncle and aunts. All the reasons he gave us for it appeared to me a bit on the lame side - and he really did not give any reasons for not liking my uncle. It was more about how he thought that my aunts did not behave in what he considered appropriate manner. Seeing as they never cost him a dime, and that my uncle has in the past helped him in many ways - I don't see his point - but that's that.

Haven't been back climbing yet. I wonder how I will fare... I am feeling weak already.

The kids were delighted to see us - well Laal more so than Kit. It's good to be back - away from crazy homeland. Can't wait to go climbing again.

In India

Made it!

The visa got delivered to me at the very last minute - about an hour before I had to get to the airport. We made it - through the grueling 26 hour flight - with a bunch of rude Indians that do not know how to keep a bathroom clean.

The airport itself is a big improvement from what I remember of it 8 years ago. My family is the same - they are all very happy to see us - and spend all their time hovering around us - trying to do something for us!

The event was fun - a lot of faces that I had not seen for 20 years... A lot of expanded waists, receding hairlines and double chins. But as crazy as ever. I think the girls faired better than the boys. Ken was mildly amused by the entire thing. There was eighties music (with some 50s, 60s and 70s music thrown in for good measure) as well as bhangra. Ken refused to dance - so there I was - stuck between two worlds again.

Powai has changed quite a bit - and Bombay is more crowded than ever - as if that's even possible. There are more amenities, and more things available. But the quality of life - not so much. But then I guess that depends on your perspective. These guys have a lot of time on their hands - so they hang out and talk a lot. But no climbing here!

Have more things planned for tomorrow... will write again.

Hell yes!

Lost 4 pounds!!!!! All that working out is finally paying off. I have amped up my workouts and have been eating right - and after about a month and a half - it's finally paying off. It's helping with my climbing as well, I think.

I finished Bob (Gordon's 9)- as well as Ek - Ken's first climb. Bloody hard, both of those climbs.

On the negative side, I still have no visa for my trip to India - so this reunion thing may not happen after all! :( Sucks! This is the one time I really wanted to go - and I may not be able to. Figures!

I feel trapped.... Pacing....

Coolness Rising....

I feel cooler already...

Ok - so not quite Beck level yet. But, I decided to go attend my 20 year college re-union - in India - a 5 day trip: 2 day flying and 3 days on the ground. How cool is that? Talk about a jet-set lifestyle! The kids get to stay behind, and me and the Hubby get to run away for a few days. That's coolness count #1.

Coolness count #2 - I cleaned the 5.10 I have been working on for the last two weeks. And I can do it consistently, and beautifully! How cool is that? I have a new strategy for climbing better - and I think it is working. In the past, I would attempt too many climbs - one after the other, and fail or barely finish every one of them. Now, I am concentrating on doing one climb at a time - and polishing it to the point where is absolutely beautiful....

So un-cool....

My life is so... uncool. I never thought that I was going to grow up to be who I am. I work in an office (blah!). I manage people! Me! Oh the horror! How did I end up here?

Ok - so I am listening to Beck - Guero. Now, that guy is cool. Made a very cool career for himself - no matter the cost. Sang on street corners - and still sings. He's got some cool songs to show for his life. What do I have? It's not that I want to be as famous as him or that I think that I am as talented. I really don't care about any of that. I just don't want to be uncool!

I used to be cool at some point in my life - now I'm just freaking responsible. How awful! Practical! Ugh! Decent home, decent family, decent career - how did things go so wrong? Lost in a world of mediocrity.....

I am stuck in an American dream and I can't (or won't?) get out.....

Back to school....

The kids are back at school... Finally!

They seem excited about it for right now. I'll remind them in about 2 weeks - when the complaints start.

Summer has been fun - but went too fast. Looking back - what did I do? Trip to Northern California - and a lot of work....

Still not climbing very well - hovering around 9s and 10s. Still lack strength. I think I've been on the same level for a year....Perhaps I should stick to 9s and finish all of them first...

I've been trying to exercise - increase strength and stamina - and climb as much as I can - but life gets in the way...

Climbing again tonight. Let's see how I do!

40 and exhausted.....

Just got back from our California trip...

Let's see - Berkley, Sonoma Valley, Humboldt Redwood Forests, Fort Bragg, Pacific coast Highway, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Sequoia National Forrest, Yosemite, Napa Valley - did I miss anything? It was an eventful trip - alternatively too cold and too hot... The vistas were beautiful yet uninviting (not like Chile). The wild life was sparse (not like Chile). Ok - so this trip would have been much better if we hadn't driven the Chilean coast last summer....

Yosemite was beautiful - but the climbing was rough. We only climbed two days - both on Knob Hill Area - we stuck to 5.6, 5.7, 5.8s. Only attempted one 5.9 - wasn't bad really - if the granite hadn't been so freaking hot! Got scrapped up a bit. Stayed at Camp 4. Did a painting of the Half Dome.

All in all fun was had by all - but I am exhausted!!!

European Barkha....

I heard about this project that The National Geographic Society is funding - the Genographic project.

I had heard about the book by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza - and purchased it when it came out in paperback, and read it. Then here comes Spencer Wells - so of course I have my own theories about human migration and the complexity of Indian population. So - I did it. I got tested. And Guess what? Helena - that's my tribe - the most common tribe of Europe!!!!!! What the kaka-doodoo.

I belong to mitochondrial DNA haplogroup H (dubbed Helena - of daughters of eve fame) - the haplogroup that 40-60% of Europeans belong to. However, the sub group that I belong to is rare and found in western Asia. So - that really crosses out any relations to the Bactrian empire introducing my maternal ancestor during the invasion by Sikander the great, around 326 BC. So when did grandma come to town? The fact that the subgroup is found only in and around Asia leads to my current theory that it did indeed evolve in Asia and spread locally - more like 12000 - 8000 B.C. It then most likely spread into the Indian subcontinent - perhaps later. There is, of course, a lot of evidence on invasions from western Asia over the centuries. My family comes from the north west regions of the Indian subcontinent - what is currently Pakistan - so it is very likely that some of my ancestry is indeed of western Asian origin. However, the migrations most likely predate Sikander or even the proposed Aryan invasion. That, however, is yet to be determined.

Sure beats the European barkha theory.

Time - it's worth MORE than Money

Reading a post on Rockclimbing.com about the Climbing lifestyle, and I found this quote. Brilliant!


Of course, I don't live the climbing lifestyle! By the writer's assessment, I think I do live the corporate lifestyle, despite all my protests. I only aspire to be able to live the climbing lifestyle - I am so not worthy! I spend time frivolously at work - like it means nothing. I think I need a change.

Time is so much more important than money!

Work, Work, Work.....

How I wish I was independently wealthy.....

Vriginia Tech, MIT....

Kit wants to go to MIT....

So I looked up at some statistics - only 13% of people who apply get in. It's harder for a white male (of course). SAT scores will have to hover mostly around 700 in order to get in. Then there are interviews, etc. And if by any chance, he does get in, it will cost him (me) around $40,000 per year.

Then there is the shootings in Virginia Tech yesterday....

I'll never retire!!!

I am in my own hell...

Two graduate level courses, 40+ hours of work a week, 2 nights of climbing a week, Art Club every Sunday, Working on freelance projects on the side...and some light entertaining every once in a while. I am in my own hell!

In the Wheel of Life mandala - the realm of hell is a self created cycle of pain and abuse... and the resolution is the Buddha holding a mirror to the the person to illustrate the cause...

But what if I already know the cause? What if I am so bored with life that filling my days with countless obligations is the only way I see through it? Does the knowledge - "buddhi" truly is a way out of the realm of hell? Or is it only the perception of suffering that changes? What if it has no affect on the life at all? Am I still in hell if I do not suffer? My hell is boredom - so are series of busy rituals the path to salvation?

I wonder.

Resolved!

2007 - and I had no new years resolutions to speak of....

So what is it that I want to do?

Travel - I think I already do a little bit of that - Went to Chile and Ester Island in 2006 as well as several trips within the US.

School - finished an engineering degree in 2006 - thesis remaining for Graduate school which should be complete by the end of 2007.

Work - not going too bad - Got a promotion of sorts during the last year... Freelance is picking up again.

Climbing - beginning to 5.10s this year - not bad for an old lady. Have a couple of trips planned for this year - including Yosemite.

Home - Re-did the Laundry room, painted the Kitchen and the Family Room - new Wine cooler. Need to re-do the Living Room next. All in all pretty good year.

Painting - NONE in 2006!! Haven't really felt very inspired this last year. Perhaps that's what I need.

Relationship, kids - never better! Ken and I are climbing regularly together. I love our motorcycle rides to and from the gym on the weekends. The date night is working out great with the kids.

So - what do I want?

More walks on the beach.....

2007

Another year - Yeah!!!

5 more years before Laal goes to college and 6 more for Kit. Then I can go back to being a bum....

So - what happened in 2006? Let's see... I lost a little bit of weight - Started climbing 5.10s - Finished undergraduate work - Stayed at the same job for over a year - Went to Chile and Easter Island - Painted my kitchen and family room. That's about it. Laal started her periods and Kit started middle school - Ken hiked through the everglades. I got Kevin to start climbing - got to know Sue better - did not paint at all(!!!!) - gosh, I can't even fill a paragraph with the years accomplishments. What a lame year!

Well - here's to hoping that 2007 is better!