Season of TV shows blown out of cloud... for good • The Register

Bit off the usual path. I try to keep my entries sterile of technical blurbs as they tend to inundate most of my time. But this article was worth mentioning. Something for everyone to keep in mind when looking at 'cloud' solutions.

Not so long ago I had a similar experience when the VPS (Virtual Private Server) provider I subscribe to experienced a malicious attack on their server cluster resulting in massive data loss. Fortunately the server I run is a staging\test environment and did not have any active projects past what I would like to refer to as Stage 1 (install and fiddle). It would have been disastrous had I put in some time and brought it to Stage 2 (Beta release + active use)

Season of TV shows blown out of cloud... for good • The Register

Man on the Sheppard platform

As usual on my evening commute, I had my nose buried in a book, lost to the world, while waiting for the Sheppard train. In my peripheral vision I noticed a man approach me with a note in-hand. Years of navigating through droves of panhandlers and street urchins have developed an instinctive, doctrined reflex that sprung into action and curtly dismissed the man before he he encroached my personal space. I felt my head nod ever so lightly and in a fraction of a second the action was complete. The reasoning part of the brain arrived at the scene of the crime like so many TV shows a few moments too late and immediately radioed for backup, Guilt. Guilt arrives instantly and boy does it do a really throrough job. I was ashamed. What if this man was impaired and just wanted directions ? What if he was mentally challenged and wanted some help to get back home ? The note might have been given by his caregivers to use incase he was lost. Guilt, like a good defence lawyer, takes you apart at the seams and questions your sanity. I flipped the book closed and looked around for the man. I could probably walk up and find out what he wanted to know. The terminal was filling up with the evening commuter crowd and the man had disappeared.

I combed through the crowd while the train pulled in to the terminal and the sea of people rapidly moved in to filled it up. I was still at the platform, when the doors chimed and closed. I walked back to the bench to where I was sitting, annoyed at myself, one for not finding the man, the other for missing the train. As I watched the compartments slowly roll by, filled with tired bodies on their way back home, I saw a man get up from his seat and approach a fellow passenger with a note in hand. Last I saw before the scene passed out of view was the passenger handing the man a Loonie*....

* Loonie: The Canadian 1 dollar coin (commonly called Loonie) is a gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a well-known Canadian bird, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

All for want of a shiny new toy...

Once the feet began to ache it dawned on me that I had now become one of those people who you see in the news waiting forever in a line to pick up a shiny, new, over priced, over-hyped, under performing fashion accessory that's apparently a must have in this day and age.

That's right the iPad 2 launched today in Canada and I am in line to pick one up. I will bite my tongue, swallow my pride, steel up and stand with the black turtle-neck clad devotees, bear with their snooty talk while guzzling their Venti cafe-whatchaminghtcallits. All this while blue t-shirt clad drones buzz around giving advice, controlling crowds and handing out little cards with little fruit logos on it. Let's just hope I don't see anyone I know walking about in this mall

Armistice Journals - IV - Mandal Dilemma

Some more from the Armistice series. Mandal,our dorm-mate, kept kept dropping in about something or the other ever so often one day. Ich and MT took it upon themselves to get back at him by mounting a counter-annoy tactic, which worked really well and he ended up storming out of the room yelling explicits in several languages and us laughing till our stomaches ached . I then proceed to my trusty, battered, blue writing desk that was precariously balanced on 1.5 textbooks on one leg and writing out a short piece. This is the draft and the final copy. No edits have been made. I was rather pleased with it. Can't say the same about Mandal. :-)

I hope he is doing well. The last time I spoke to him was in the summer of '03. He had just moved to Navi Bombay and I was in India for a short visit.

There was this guy called Mandal

Who once went after a vicious vandal.

The vandal he had kidnapped an actor

And getting him back was the deciding factor.

The bandit, he hid in the jungle

And the whole operation Mandal did Bungle.

Mandal, he, never did find the actor

Instead, stayed home and bought a tractor.

Drove it around for his friends to see

What a smart chap he be.

Then one day she rode to town

A southern belle in a long flowing gown.

As she walked across the square

Everone at her did stare.

She looked around and smiled knowing

The interest on her the people were showing.

Then our hero rode to town

Stopped at the sight of the one in the gown.

Crazy did he go right then

And serenaded her for the next days 10!

She finally agreed to seal the matter,

but, for tying the knot

he was to get rid of the tractor!

Mandal next day went to the market

Exchanged the tractor for a Luna and a Locket.

Smiling he rode the luna to her gate,

Checked his watch to see if he was late.

Just then a Porche stopped by.

Mandal wondered 'Who's this guy?'

The horn sounded twice and the door flung open

Out she ran, and there stood Mandal hopin'

She looked at him and waved him farewell

Jumped into the car and left him

High, Dry and Unwell.............

13 Rules of Indoor Cricket

While in our first year we had several distractions that kept us from achieving the success that our family had envisioned for us. One of the chief distraction was cricket. Ever since the cricket scandals of '96-'97 I have had an advent dislike for the game and was never an avid cricket fan. But something in my short post secondary exile and the lack of other more appealing stimuli, gyrated me towards a variant of the sport.

In the first few months we were subjected to several occasions of hazing and this had limited our movements to the confines to our hostel rooms after classes. I must admit my fellow roommate in crime and myself used to get ourselves intentionally picked up for these sessions several times just for the sole purpose of scamming a free coffee and snacks after their silly antics. Most of the tasks they assigned us to do were trivial and in some cases fun. But it was the consolation coffee and snacks we looked forward to every other evening. Subsequent they did catch on to our scam and we paid the price for it. But I digress.

My friends in the designated 'mallu' room on the ground floor devised a very clever variation of indoor-cricket to wile away the spare time We had between dinner and lights off. I was quite happy to be left alone with my school work or good book, I was drawn to the intricacies of this improv game that appeared to occupy more and more of my friends time. Eventually I joined in one evening and the next thing I knew was that it was the eve of the exams, we were wrapping up the tournament at 4 in the morning and was scaling up the school wall to sneak out to the telephone booth for a drink and ice-cream.

Th games were all held in room #9 (the mallu room) and the rules were crafted by the way items were positioned in the room, the beds, suitcases and other objects were part of the obstacle course that determined the way the game played out.

So here is a cheer to Shynu, Vinu, Gireesh (lungi), Gireesh (ich), Dhiraj, Ballsgopal and others who partook in this insane game that was probably responsible for a grade or two drop in our final marks.

Rules of Indoor Cricket

Venue: Junior Boy's Hostel rm#12

GVIT,

1. Two teams max 5 a side.
2. Bowling - under-arm only. Ball must bounce once before reaching batsman
3. Ball should not bounce over waist height. Should a ball be thrown and it bounces over set limit, 1 run is awarded to batting team.
4. Wicket-keeper must be behind batsman at all times. Knees on bed. It is illegal to stand on bed.
5. It is illegal for wicket-keeper to step in front of batsman or block his shot.
6. Boundaries are the established 3 walls the batsman is facing.
7. Ball must bounce before touching the wall to be awarded 4 runs.
8. Should the ball not touch or bounce off ground, bed or suitcase, the batsman is out. No direct shots to the wall are allowed. All direct shots result in the Batsman being out.
9. Bowler must be seated in a chair opposite to batsman at a distance of at least 17 feet.
10. Standard ball is a regular tennis ball bound with electrical tape evenly wound around the ball.
11. Vinu's bucket is the Wicket.
12. If a match runs for more than 2 hours, players are mandated to break for drinks and refreshments for an hour.
13. Match can be interrupted only under the below circumstances:

• Warden's surprise visit to hostel
• Seniors roll call for ragging sessions
• Trip to Stadium, interrupted by senior or staff intervention.

Please note that some of the finer details escapes me. Please feel free to drop me a line to update the details.

Armistice Journals - III - The blue Swatch I never wore

I have always had a watch for special occasions or times in my life. The first ever watch, the one that shared my time in highschool, the first 'slightly higher pricy' watch i bought after i joined engineering etc.. In all these different wonderful pieces that counts the minutes that pass us by, there was one particular piece that I've never really worn for too long. Back in '99, i was visiting my folks in Dubai and ended up helping out a friend of my dad's with some computer issue. The gentlemen were nice enough to gift me a blue Swatch Irony series piece. It was a very heavy piece and I loved it! After wearing it for the first day, I realized that my wrist actually began to ache.

I took with me back to my college. the first person who saw it was MT. he couldn't stop talking about it. Come to think of it, he just summarized everything into one word.. 'Awesome' I remember walking up the stairs to his little room on the upper floor and first disaster occurred; I scratch the pristine face on the concrete wall. Dammit! I didn't wear it around the dorm or college since it would become the prime target for theft, In fact I believe I left the unit in Mahesh's room till he moved into the dorm with us. After a few months, an insult to injury, the unit stopped working altogether. Now since I wasn't willing to take this watch to be repaired locally, I shelved it deep inside one of my suitcases and made a mental note to get it fixed once I go back to Dubai or wherever.

As fate would have it we eventually moved out of India and the Middle East and landed in Canada in '01. The watch remained safe and partially forgotten in an old suitcase. Over the next couple of years and with us moving around the country, it was frequently 'rediscovered' and boxed away. Eventually one day, I dug it up and decided to get that battery replaced. The local store was pretty good with these things and they had the watch running in no time. I was happy and decided to wear it for this party that i had planned to go. On the night of, I get ready, check the time to find that I was quite early and decided to wait till a more appropriate time. I settled in living room with a book, and spent the next half hour or so reading. When i noted the time again, i realized that the hands were not moving. The watch had stopped again! After this second attempt at resurrecting the watch, I gave up and put it back into deep storage where it stayed until I moved back to my condo in the city.

Some of the deep storage boxes followed me and with it, the blue Swatch. During my purge exercise, I came across a few watches I owned over the years, including the Swatch. My lovely wife knew of a place that could replace the batteries and it was very close to where she worked. She took two of them, my brushed metal CK, a watch i bought with my first pay-cheque, and the blue swatch. The next day, she brought them both back, each ticking away and in perfect working condition. I was still a little wary of the blue fellow, so I wore it for the next few days, just to keep an eye on things. It seemed fine! It was ticking along, didn't seem to slow down. That's great! The watch can be finally worn! It had been close to 10 years since I had seen this guy work for more than a day!

I was visiting the folks last weekend and figured I should show them the watch that hadn't been functional for 10 years and if they remembered this specific one. As I was closing the door to my balcony, I felt a great weight slip off my hand, and crash on the floor. F!!

I pick up my poor blue Swatch from the floor, One of the metal links on the watch had sheared right off. I stood there in bewilderment, broken watch in hand, half-in and half-out of the condo with time still ticking on by.

Armistice Journal - II

This was written in a calculus class and I was distracted by this girl with a clanging chain on her hand. Yes she was quite pretty too..

Morose encantations from another relm

Leaves the mind in a cloudy swirl.

Hypnotic, surreal, misty haze,

droning mumble from a distant stage.

Amongst the lot, around? yonder?.. behind?

muted tinkles arouse the mind,

Real amongst the myrad of symbols,

wake from comatic slumber

cutting like a beacon horn,

Benevolent lass sitting beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

RETRIBUTION

One great slip in love's delight

darkened her world, once so bright.

She sighs and picks the pieces,

Of shattered life and darkened faces.

gone further by the day

Burned the bridges along the way.

Her precious bundle to her breast she clutches

Miserable though, proudly she trudges.

Her eyes, they, don't betray a thing

Of things she feels deep within.

People, they stare at this ragged child

Woman by age, a child inside.

Once, once is all she strayed

Broke the rule, Oh! how she paid.

Of the past she needs no more a thought

But for shelter for morrow she sought.

Her life she knew she couldn't end it yet

But fight the challenges that fate now set.

A tiny room in a big city

Not wanting anyone's pity

Looking outside the window she spies

the dark city under the gray black skies.

Now the east turns orange & pink

A motion on the bed brings her back in.

Her baby son, on the covers he lay

Sucking his toe busy at play.

He looked at her with his eyes so blue

infant blue, as the very heaven's hue.

Beside him on the bed she lay

As the city began a brand new day.

---------------------------------

This one is one my personal favs. written in under 2 hours before a mid-term or final exam.

GREENSPRUN

I know of this place called Greensprun

The people there, they, eat their young!

I've seen this with my very own eyes,

I swear to you these aren't tall tales or lies.

The Coopers first time had twins,

One a son, the other a daughter.

The son they turned him to mince,

While the daughter, they took to the slaughter.

Got it cleaned all skin and bone,

While the eyes and tongue to the butcher they loaned!

Tommy Bower loved his brother,

That's why he didn't share him with others.

He kept the fingers, pickled them in oil,

For by now, they were getting the spoil.

Ol' man Turner boiled his grandson

The night when the Lakers had won.

He boiled him long, he boiled him good,

For, once where his teeth were,

Only gums, now stood!

The Hurbeths ran a store,

What sold best there, were his cans of gore!

He got his supply from the local clinic,

Cans of puree, they seem to mimic!

All this meat had begun to rot their brain,

And from it, they just couldn't refrain!

Their young now dwindled in number,

For the meat greater grew their hunger!

Alan Stalked his pregnant neighbor,

Cut her up, when she was in labor!

Drenched in blood, they saw him eat,

Holding the babe by the feet!

Soon after, a panic ran out,

The strong remained the weak died out!

No bird in that town would sing,

Nor would the sweet smell that flowers usually bring.

Man-eating men, men no longer,

Worse than animals nothing to name them after.

People say they see them still,

On that town, beyond that hill.

I know better, I was there after,

Five were left Doyce,Green,Solly and Dhamer.

The first two ate the third,

Atleast that was the word.

Doyce moved to Alabama and Green to Kentucky,

about Dhamer, I heard that he was caught in Milwaukee.

Armistice Journals - I

While my wife and I are slowly getting into the rhythms of living together and most of the bigger decision wars have slowly come to shaky armistice I've begun to purge a lot of older 'stuff'. Sometime last week, I came across a notebook of mine from college days. The first few pages looked like lecture notes, the rest were stupid silly poems I had written up on people and random things.

While reading through some of them, I realized that I was one mean SOB! I've said some really mean things about people. But you can't let all this go waste now can you ? There was a series I began in college called... 'Pretty Maids All in a Row...' and once published it'll reside for a very long time on the web..and google cache ;-).

Alright folks, this was a long time ago, we were very young and I seemed to have a lot of spare time on my mind. Laugh at it, still mad ? Give me a shout, I promise to show up and you have one free shot (just dont hit the left side of my face!)

PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW:

(i)

shes got a Special-spot that i'll tell u about

touch her there and she'll scream and shout!

this is where it came about

that time when she fell off the pot!

this is the were and how of it...

it happened when she went for a shit,

she finished the job that much i know

now all that wuz left was to clean up the show.

she reached for the soap way up high

she might as well have reached for the sky.

then her stubby legs did give way

all because of an untimely sway..

Into the pot one of them stuck tight

and wouldnt come free without a fight.

out went the call for a trusted aide

in rushed 'Aunty' with a spade

i want u to get my leg out dont u see

pull out my leg..set me free

i have exam that i must take

how can i now my leg break?

'Aunty' now rushed back, now with an axe

but the toilet still would not call a ROMANA PAX.

push and pull came to shove

carrying the olive branch out came the dove

the end of the conflict was plain to see

a white plaster cast had she below her knee.

Oh! My! Oh! Me!...look all yee

tween the pot and the ground many a Slip there can be!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(ii)

Have u ever seen the likes of Bhoon

Who talks funny and walks like a toon!

Her hair tied to a pony tail small

With her six inch heels she stands so tall!

Look at her ambling to class

Walk of a penguin going for mass.

She walks past us and gives the look

For in her books, we are but crooks!

Though she is a sweet girl as such

To us she doesnt talk that much

Maybe the fault is all but ours

By pulling her leg at every hour.

You may think we are but mean

Dont take to heart

For we are all noise and not what we seem!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

(iii)

They say a pictures worth a thousand words,

And about you I'd say, could turn fresh milk to curds!

Drunk are you in that empty vanity,

You think you can drive men out of their sanity!

Oh! how dissolutioned are you my poor girl,

better get out of the dream in which you twirl!

On your face pimples roam free,

Count them One,Two,three!

There was this tale about some frog

who when kissed turned a prince,

I bet you are waiting your turn still!!

Though you think yourself a bomb,

you look old enough to be my MOM!

The intension was not to hurt ma mere,

the object was to compare!

Now I know when they say 'Loves Blind',

When the age diffrence between you two your boyfriend don't seem to mind

Sad am I to break this party,

For your bofriend behind you too calls you 'Aunty'!

I wonder if you can understand all this,

For I know how limited your vocabulary is.

But don't worry and dont despair.

For I have a dictionary for you to spare.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(iv)

Shes one weird chick

The thought of her just makes me sick.

Her face in the morning riuns the day,

And you can be sure ill luck will come your way.

I fail to see what some see in her

Or maybe they just fancy her rear!

She thinks she's of a higher institution

To us she seems like a step back in evolution!

Can't write more,lost my appitite,

Till tonight I won't be able to take another bite.

For food she can destroy all cravings,

Just think about the money you'd be saving!

As I think of the extra cash in awe

She struts by, dear 'Parimal-'awww''!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

(v)

Theres this female whos way over her head,

Who basked in glory of what people about her said.

You can see her prancing about,

Trying to rope any guy no matter thin or stout.

She thinks the guys fall under her spell,

While in mosts mind,she's nothing but a bitch from hell!

No matter what i say or write

For her its a compliment all right.

The fault is of some guys,

Who lift her ego up to the skys.

On them,she can put blinkers,

While on some,nothing happens

How much ever she tinkers.

One thing is clear and thats her stamp

To us she ain't nothing but a slutty ol' vamp!

On this slander,we shant take more time,

Oh! what a waste of so much a rhyme!

For those of you who came in late,

And still a face to this dame they can't relate,

Too bad!!...tough luck mate!

This is my post in a very long time

Just showing Jonathan how a blog works. I will probably use this as a catalyst to jump-start my postings.

Where's G ?

That would be the question of the year if you ask most of my colleagues, friends and family. Well folks, I finally tied the knot!

After months and weeks of planning, screaming and yelling, my lovely bride and I got married July 9th, 2010. i don't expect the posts to be similar to Mil's postings (a tleast not any time soon!!) but will try to still keep it independent with a smattering of what the Mrs. thinks or said. I suppose its time to tie both blogs together now...

http://chandnigautam.blogspot.com -> the missing months can be found here :-). The pictures should be posted in the coming days. I'm currently without a pc (yes it is true) and all post-photo editing is currently stalled. Hope to buy a new rig asap and start cranking out some of the long overdue videos and pictures.

Btw. my other best friend got married in May and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding and reception in india. Oh there is a story behind this as well, must write that up in the next posting. I'm going to call it the Journey to gallows. The last man standing goes to the galley in the next few weeks. Times a tickin' and boy have we all grown old fast

wistfully humming... 'im outta time - Oasis'....

California Dreamin'

Highlight of the month.. California! Finally I made it to the West Coast. As my fortune be, it was one of those family trips where you end up meeting scores of old family friends and family. The ones you like and others you'd try to avoid. All in all it was a good trip. I managed to persuade the folks to take a trip to Alcatraz and San Francisco. Surprise isn't the word I'd use to describe when it took over 8 hours to drive from LA to SF.
San Francisco is a dream. I'd go there in a heartbeat. Probably one of the prettiest cities I've seen so far. Then again, I saw very little of it. Was able to squeeze a few pictures off while on this trip. Here is a link to my picasaweb album http://picasaweb.google.ca/gautam7/CaliforniaTrip#

Now, looking out of the window, seeing the snow bellowing from the cold North, I close my eyes, California Dreamin'...... on such a winters day...

Archives

It seems that I have quite a few posts over the last few years that
are still in drafts and in private view form. There might have been a
reason why I didn't publish them at the time, but whatever be the
reason, I can't seem to remember why. I've decided that I should
release one or two every week or so till there are none left.

In advance, if I do end up embarrassing some of my buddies, I do
apologize ahead of time.

till next time.

GJ

Letters

Letter writing is an art form. Many years ago back in middle school a teacher once introduced this art to his pupil. He began with the general structure and the usual salutations. The one thing he emphasized was on how you address the person the letter was intended to. He said the first and biggest mistake was using the phrase 'Dearest'. He said reserve that for just one person. Everone gets either 'Dear','Sir/Madam' etc. It is not to be used for parents and friends either. Another aspect he points out is the sign-off. Classic ones include Sincerly, Respectfully, 'I Remain'... reserve 'Much Love' for someone who you might be friends with but it is an indication of interest or affection and lastly 'Love' only to the one who was addressed 'Dearest'.

Over the years I remember that first class on classic letter writing. The ripples of giggles and winks through the crowd of tweeners. I remember making a mental note regarding the Reserved words.Over the course of the next decade or two, several sweethearts and several heartbreaks, the one thing I always held back were 2 songs and the reserved words. Finally at the turn of the century, I met someone who was to make a huge impact in my life. From the moment I first saw her, there was a sense of familiarity. I knew her from somewhere. It was something elemental. I just know that I knew her from somewhere. We drifted in and out of our respective lives for the next few years, being there when we need someone to listen or talk to. Circumstances and a series coincidences brought us back to a place where we had a choice to make. This time around, we saw each other. We found each other. I knew

Our journey has only just begun and the road ahead lies in shadows. But least we have each other to travel with and with every step we take together, the shadows seem to retreat.

'Love will find a way, Darling Pretty
Find a Heaven for you and I.'
-Darling Pretty - Mark Knophler (Golden Heart)

Centaurs

But fix thine eyes beneath: the river of blood
Approaches, in the which all those are steeped,
Who have by violence injured. ' O blind lust!
O foolish wrath! who so dost goad us on
In the brief life, and in the eternal then
Thus miserably o'erwhelm us. I beheld
An ample foss, that in a bow was bent,
As circling all the plain; for so my guide
Had told. Between it and the rampart's base,
On trail ran Centaurs, with keen arrows armed,
As to the chase they on the earth were wont.
- Inferno Canto 12, Dante


As Virgil and Dante descended into the 7th circle of hell, they see a circular river of blood Phlegethon. Murderers, tyrants and others who violently shed the blood of others in life are immersed in it.Centaurs, led by Chiron patrol the river's shores, armed with bows and arrows. they shoot any who attempt to raise his head out of the river.

Centaurs are creatures, half-man, half-horse. In traditional mythology they were skilled warriors,poets,astronomers and physicians. Centaurs nursed and taught heroes of old like Achilles and Hercules. Even though they are romantic symbols in modern storytelling and often portrayed in positive light by classic authors like Ovid and Statius,they are in fact symbols of insane wrath.

Amazing Grace

Something heard .. and noted down... Pardon my lack of posts, other priorities have since taken precedence.

She was Grace,
in name and in essence.
To those she loves,
she exudes strength, life, laughter and light.
To me, also sorrow.
for circumstance had bound her to my best friend,
through whom we met
in the warmth and serenity of her home.
Nothing from the first day I saw her
and no one who has happened to me since
has ever been as frightening
and as confusing.
For no person I have ever known
has ever done more to make me feel
more sure,
more insecure,
more important,
and less significant.

Wonderwall

Can a man ask anymore ? Random lyrics.. random thoughts.. will add more to this post later ..


...said maybe... you gonna be the one that savess me.... and afterall.. you're my wonderwallll..... ..I don't believe that anybody...Feels the way I do, About you now.... ..said maybe... said maybe... maybe. I said maybe....You're gonna be the one who saves me ?...And after all....You're my wonderwall


--

till later

GJ

-------------------------------------------------
"per astera ad astram"

Best Days, Summer Haze

I know I have been absent ever since the knopfler concert back in July and I am truly sorry. Let me fill in the details ( or at least try to ), but first a confession:

This summer has been one of the most amazing four months in my adult life, its possible I might have experienced this state of mind at some point in the past, but it seems so long ago and so far away, the resonants are very faint. It almost seemed as the darkness had finally passed and the demons finally laid to rest. After my trip to Singapore and meeting up with Mahesh, spending time seeing places and things ...art, photography.. I began to remember..
There was a me before all this, there was a time when things were different. There was a world outside Dark City. I remember again. I live once more.

Melodrama aside, Made some significant changes, the major one being moving to my condo permanently. The commute was getting to be a killer and the distance a buzz kill when it comes to party invitations and staying sober all night long so that you can drive back home.

Prominent lunar forces have brought about a sense of calm and purpose in my life. The question is, are these forces temporal or of a permanent nature ?
I suppose their purpose and reasons could be worked out in the following weeks or months. But they demand patience.. should ? could ? may ? shall ?


Summer is coming to an end, and i wasn't able to go rafting this summer, perhaps next year ? I will however do a roadtrip down to the US to Falling Waters. There is a house built by Frank Llyod Wright that I'd like to see. So September is here, the summer is almost over, fall creeps in... and I think of that Killers song 'Change your mind'........

Racey days
Help me through the hopeless haze
But my oh my
Tragic eyes
I can't even recognise myself behind
So if the answer is no
Can I change your mind

PS: Heading for the Oasis concert this weekend. It will be good.

Telegraph road, Telecaster, Knopfler Concert (July 17)

I was 8 and at a Christmas party when I first heard a Dire Straits song. Walk of Life, hit from their album Money of Nothing that was released earlier the same year. One of my dad's friends performed and from what I can recollect, he did a fantastic job at the guitar and the vocals.

20 years later, in another life, another city I finally saw Mark Knopfler live at a concert on Thursday. Can't believe I've waited 20 years to see the man play live. It was amazing. He still got the voice, and the signature guitar strokes. This concert was to promote his new album Kill to get Crimson. He started off with a few new ones, followed by the classic Dire Straits tracks like Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing etc. I was really hoping he would play Tunnel of Love or something from his Shangri-La album.

As the notes played out, each song, an ode cried for a lost memory..Remember listening to that album in our empty apartment in Scarborough? Lady Writer, Romeo and Juliet, Tunnel of Love, Brothers in Arms... Darling Pretty (Golden Heart) .. a song for each... minus one. When he started playing Telegraph Road, something flashed through a series of fail-safes put in place carefully over the years.. and the floodgates burst open... the diffused swam into focus, everything was just obvious... nothings that complex. Nothing is ever completly futile. Nothing...


You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and Ill take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
cos Ive run every red light on memory lane
Ive seen desperation explode into flames
And I dont want to see it again. . .
from all of these signs saying sorry but were closed
All the way down the telegraph road...........


EDIT: The pictures of Knopfler were originally taken by a gentleman who was at another one of his shows. These are some amazing pictures, and he has very generously allowed me to use one or two. For more
pictures here is a link to his site

YouTube video of the above song :

Quacks, Hacks and 60's Tracks

For the last couple of days, as a form of therapy I was compiling this document and was to be posted on the blog, however due to circumstances beyond my current realm of influence, it wont be available for a while.

In other news, the other buddy seems to have begun a blog as well. He is currently using a service, what seemed to be very similar to MySpace. Whats annoying about it is the fact that we can't post anonymous comments ( or comments by users without an accounts ), a typical rookie oversight. I also recently reactivated my deviantart account and posted a few pictures from my summer trip. One or two of them got about 54 hits in one single day. A definite improvement from the 32 hits ( in 3 years for previous submissions ) lol.

Health-wise, its on the severe patch right now. Before the nodding and tsk-tsking begins, I've been actually pretty good the last month or so, alcohol comsumption has droppped a whopping 75% and smoking by about 98%.. not too bad I'd say. But its been rather uncomfortable the last couple of days and I think I might have to finally bite the bullet and see the doc. I hate having going to doctors. Specially the ones i dont trust, and no I don't trust the ones out here, well anywhere for that matter. What really shattered my belief in them is when guys / girls I knew from school started getting into Med school after highschool. Now before most of you start to take offense to this, I must state that I am talking about the select few, yes yes you buddy. I know what sort of a hack job you did through school, and how you passed your science courses both in highschool and college, and i would trust your judgement because......... ?

While on the subject of hackjobs, Microsoft has given a release date on windows 7, vista's successor. This one will be a whole post by itself...Now I'm getting irritated ( but that could also be due to the lack of nicotine...). Time to get some green tea and step out to muse and smok... frak.. yeah step out and muse...

PS: As most of my friends know my Beatle-mania here are three quotes of Lennon that kickstarted my day. Each for particular individual I wish I could say upfront:


     -  Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

     - You're just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You've got to get down to your own God in your own   temple. It's all down to  you, mate.

     - You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

John Winston Lennon (1940 - 1980)

Addendum : I was reading through this post later in the day and I really felt bad about the quacks some of my peers turned out to be. This edit is just to emphasize that even though a majority turned into quacks, there are the genuine cases, who I'm sure adhere to the sacred oath and are skilled at the job... I can rattle off a few names off the top of my head.
The Quacks are obvious.

Resonant Echos

I've always enjoyed Edward Norton movies over the years. He is one intense actor, extremely talented and picky on his roles. Right from Fight Club to the new Hulk, Norton always delivers.

One of my favourite movie of all time is one he did called 25th hour. He plays a small-time drug dealer who is busted eventually by the cops. He knows that he has been betrayed by someone and suspects his live-in girlfriend to be the one. He is then asked by the cops to testify against a russian mob he is working for, which he refuses. The result.. him being sent to the worst penetentiary in the state, where he knows he'll be lucky to get out alive.The movie shows how he goes about wrapping up his affairs before serving his seven year sentence and a brief glimse into his childhood and friends, their lives then and where things changed for him and events that led to the present day. Being a Spike Lee movie, it centred around post-911 New York city and the main elements thats unique of NYC.

There is one specific monologue in the movie that struck a cord somewhere when I first saw the movie. It came back to me last night, while driving back home on dark Highway 5 and here it is :