message in a bottle (02.2003 - 09.2008)

This is my fourth attempt to make a post since last evening. The first time, I started to write about “The Benefits of Dating a Geek,” but my thoughts trailed and I found myself writing about a videogame I am playing. Ctrl + A, Delete.

Second time around, I started to write about how having no friends at work makes me spend most of my time in front of the workstation. But then I found myself writing about how I play the videogame sitting at my desk, shoulders arched, head bent, volume muted. Ctrl + A, Delete.

Then I began listing things (besides work) that I do while I am in my cubical. And when I reached the list item gaming, I found myself detailing its awesomeness. Ctrl + A, Delete.

I have a feeling I want to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. You reckon?

So because I cannot help myself, I will write about my awesome gaming experience. But because you may not be interested in reading it, I will put it behind a cut.
 

It was almost like being back to school – three days of the week that just went by. Great part was that I was enjoying the training. Maybe if I pick up a subject that I really enjoy, I could go back to school for a while. It would be nice. And I think I can afford it, especially now that I have a husband who can pay the bills. Okay, that was a cheap shot but so what?!

So, do you know of Victor Frankl? I did not until I attended last week’s training. I still do not know a lot about him but I know a small something which is enough for me to think of him as a hero. While Frankl was in Nazi concentration camp, he discovered that the choice is always yours to make. When Nazi made him undergo humiliating and inhuman experiments, he decided to choose his reaction to those actions. He survived them and maintained his sanity all through. This made me thing if those moments when I feel awful because getting tickets to a certain movie is not in my control or when I am unable to plan a vacation due to circumstances out of my control. I have been living with the belief that I am a product of my circumstances, which is untrue. I am a product of my choices.

So while we are on the subject of heroes and idols, I realize that I want to become like Celine from Before Sunset. Yes, I know she is a fictional character. Yes, I also know that she is pretty confused and slightly depressed, but hey, I never said I want to be her – I want to be like her. I get to choose what I like and what I don’t like even in my fictional idol, right?

This reminds me that it has been ages since I talked about movies and books on this journal. Strange! There was a time, not so long back, when all I talked about here used to be movies and books. And food. Food was usually accompanied by tempting pictures. Let me correct my folly and talk about my favorite reads from last few days.

I just finished reading Bone - a grand comic book with amazing art in black and white, a brilliant story and fascinating characters. Written by Jeff Smith, it is a story of adorable creature called Fone Bone, Bone being the species of cuteness with huge noses. Fone Bone and his magnificent adventure that introduces him to princess and queen of the lost city, makes him friends with huge red dragons, tiny leaf-like bugs, hairy baby monster, and makes him fight a war against locusts, huge army of veiled humans called stick eaters, big hairy rat-monsters, a humongous mountain lion, and lots of other weird fellows.

Another beautiful graphic novel I recently finished was The Absolute Sandman – Volume 1. Written by the charming Neil Gaiman, this is a collection of 20 stories about Sandman – the lord of the dreamland. This is what can be classified as dark fantasy that blends age-old myths with the modern day life. It is one of those hard-to-put-down collections with splendid art and vivacious use of colors. I found myself glued to it for weeks though because the beautiful hardcover ensures that I cannot carry it with me. You sit down on your comfy yellow beanbag and read this book, turning each page with care. It is a collector’s item – most definitely.

In between the fat comic books like Bone and Sandman, I picked a couple of issues of Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Scott is a twenty-something boy living in Canada with a gay roommate. Since he is between jobs and broke, he shares everything that his roommate has, including the bed. He begins with dating a high-school girl but soon moves on to a mysterious chick with seven evil ex-boyfriends. His life is crazy, Scott’s. And reading about it, awesome fun. The life story of Scott comes in four issues and sadly, I have only three. Issue one, two, and four. You nice soul living in the US, do you not feel like hunting for the third issue in your local bookstores and mailing it to me? Yes, yes? Oh, thank you so much. =)

As a kid, Cinderella used to be my favorite fairytale, besides the three little piggies of course. I even dressed up as Cinderella for a fancy dress competition once. I have read and watched various versions of the tale; some with three balls, some with birds as her friends, some with gold slippers and so on. However, today I am going to retell the tale of Cinderella – from the point of view of the youngest step-sister.

( Some girls have all the luck )

Let’s talk of the world that never was,
Of fairies, elves, brownies, and dwarves.
Where zest is the normal way of life,
For the sprite, the hobbit, and his wife.

The blue stream sparkles through this land,
And on its side, pines, elms, and maples stand.
Blue birds hum on top of chestnuts and cherry,
Underneath which the brownies make merry.

Drink of wines both red and white,
Is shared in the spirit oh so bright.
Pixies dance while hobbits hum,
High they are on cookies and rum.

The fairies wake up at the crack of dawn,
To smell lilacs and lilies in the lawn.
They walk with steps ever so light,
On dew drops that collect all through the night.

The creatures laugh and live together,
With sisters, uncles, aunts and mother.
They drink coffee in day and wine at night,
Never do they get into a fight.

Of happy endings and pixie dust,
This tale is a fiction, if know you must.
Nonetheless if you desire, you understand,
All of this happens in the neverland.

~anupma