I’m a Gemini

That’s my sun sign. But why am I saying this? 'Cos that’s the prompt for this week’s scribble at Sunday Scribblings.

I remember a friend saying “If you have one Gemini friend, you have at least five of them.” But oh, exercise care, ‘cos having five of them around isn’t really a boon. Born under a high-voltage energetic sign, it usually takes me very little time to get accustomed and adapted to people, places, and culture. Although the last part is a load of crap and can’t be proved, plainly because I haven’t experienced many different cultures myself. See? That also proves another point about us fickle Gemini’s – we can lie very easily! :-/

I absolutely hate monotony! You let me travel to work by train one day, by car the next, and by bus the day after, I’d be glad to. I’d rather create a schedule today, document some facts tomorrow, and play crossword the day after. But you can’t tie me down with one thing. I want to be e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! :D That’s probably why I’m not able to last in one job for a long time. We’re great “talkers” though, love to read and love to be in the communication business. That would explain my constant need to blog perhaps.

We’re cheap people and mostly expect favors to be returned. Sometimes, I’m guilty of that myself! :-/

When I asked a friend about the negatives of the sign, he said
“Unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable. There's my contribution!
Marriage...?? nah.. ain’t their style. Can never ever decide, always asks others to make a big decision, takes love as a game, fascinated about the idea of having multiple partners (good or bad??).”

Quite strangely, I’ve not been able to deny any of them. Of course I’m unpredictable; sometimes I wouldn’t know how I would react to a situation at any given time myself. All normal day-to-day functions would seem like a new challenge to me and I’ll end up trying to do it a different way everyday (and sometimes end up developing a headache. Can I blame the sign?). Phew! I guess that is the greatest mystery of the Twins! You never know when the other one would take over.

I could go on and on. But let’s stop it at that and find out about you. What sign are you? What are your traits? Are you big enough to spill out your negatives as well? ;-)

Picture courtesy: Google Images

Magic carpet

Yep I need one of those. Why? Makes life a lot easier and a lot more fun. :)

1. Flying! Just think about it. I can fly whenever I feel like, to wherever I want.


2. No fuel expenses.


3. Parking? What’s that? I’ll fold it up and stuff it in my bag.


4. Can you imagine how much traffic I can avoid? In fact, I can cover the 22 kms to and from work in a matter of minutes!


5. No pollution. I’ll be doing my little to save the dying environment.


6. I’ll probably find the man in my dreams (just P.R.O.B.A.B.L.Y). :D I know I’m treading on thin ice, but remember how Aladdin found Jasmine?


7. I can forget about all the Spicejet, Air Deccan, and Air Sahara offers. Who wants them anyway?


8. I can go visit all my blogger friends and probably give them a ride or two in my magic carpet (if they’re good to me). ;-)


9. Low maintenance! It’s even lower than maintaining a bicycle.


10. Free rides to everyone! :)

See? The more I think about it, the more I want to own a flying carpet!

Of course I dance in front of the mirror!

A friend gasped in sheer astonishment when I told her one of my traits which she considered inappropriate or unethical. Well, maybe inappropriate in a work environment.

Nevertheless, here are some really stupid things I end up doing impulsively. At least the ones that I can remember right away:

1. When I walk on the road that doesn’t have a pedestrian pavement, I inadvertently move further and further toward the left as I walk along, for fear of being knocked down by a truck motorcycle.


2. If I doze off with a book in my hand, my fingers would involuntarily clutch the edges of the book so as to mark the page I am reading. I know what you’re thinking. Use a bookmark? But I said “doze-off”, didn’t I? So what good is a bookmark by my bedside?!?


3. I save the best food for the last. Don’t get what I’m saying? Think about the last time you saved that black forest cake, or a last potato chip for the end of the meal? Yep, I do that too!


4. After I kill the engine in my car, I continue to press my foot on the brake while I’m digging into my bag, or taking things out before I get out of the vehicle. I don’t know why I do it, but I know quite a lot of women who do the same thing.


5. And oh, if you didn’t know already, of course I talk (smile, laugh, giggle) to myself. Hell, I dance in front of the mirror. And don’t you tell me that you don’t. I know quiet well that you do too. :)

Anything unique (or uniquely stupid) that you do in front of the mirror? Or anything just plain stupid that you do? :)

Bookmarks

As much as books are important to me
So are these
For they really help me trace my words
Where I leave them astray
Made of leather
Painted in bright hues
They will stay with me forever
My friend and companion it has been
Bookmarks they are
I’m thankful to my Brother-in-law for his thoughtful gifts from Durban

>/||

A weekend of audio and video. Here are some pictures from the PodWorks unconference at Chennai.

Conference Venue: Tidel Park, Chennai

PodWorks @ TIdel Park, Chennai

A session is on.

The works!

The attendees.


Podcasting is all about money. Sunil Nair, CEO of Nautanki.tv talks about the much needed Vitamin M and how to monetize your podcasts.


A session on Adobe Premier, by far the most interesting session for me. Video editing didn't sound this simple to me earlier.


Organizers unwinding

Podworks.in is on!

The PodWorks unconference is on! I must mention that although I walked in a lil late, I don't seem to have missed much. For the last two hours, a lot of talking and interaction has happened. Right now, even as I'm entering this post, Karthik Kannan is giving the 120 200 odd participants a presentation on 'Quick and easy podcasting'. As it seems to me, using ODEO and recording a podcast is child's play. As Karthik was even presenting it, I had my microphone on and recorded a 59 second audio in studio.odeo.com. Ta daa:


powered by ODEO

As you can see, the recording is not so great. The ambiance noise added to it too. But far as I can see, this, and the fact that you can't edit the audio, seems to be the only disadvantage.

Also, with ODEO, the entire thing is over in very minimal time. In this case, 59 seconds + 30 seconds for saving the recording and another minute or two to ramble about it and publish the same on my blog.

PS: Just attending a wiki conference such as this and not being able to do it hands-on is such a BIG disadvantage. Sooo here goes a BIGGER thanks to my cousin M who lent me his laptop for a day.


Addendum (Saturday June 09, 7:59 PM)

The post-lunch sessions included one on the do's and dont'ts of recording for a podcast or taking an interview. Then, a presentation on Integrating a podcast into wordpress/blogger including tips to promote your podcast et al. I had to leave right when Sunil Nair, CEO of Nautanki.tv started giving us some heads-up on how to go about gaining some Vitamin M :-/

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be there for the sessions on video podcasting or vodcast, without having to rush back on some other emergency. More updates and photos to follow.

Stay ... away

The future has a dirty habit of arriving unannounced. – Anonymous

I’d say, the past has a dirty habit of resurfacing unannounced!

Some thoughts stay, and some don’t. Our mind is an amazing storage unit that few of us are able to comprehend. Some things remind us of significant achievements and some others remind us of trivial details, things that we wish we didn’t remember. Things we wish happened a different way, or didn’t happen at all. An erase or undo button would be of much help, wouldn’t it?

Sometimes, the more we try to forget something, its memory snaps itself back deeper and deeper sculpting its way through, making an imprint in our minds; mind over heart or heart over mind being a constant battle!

Is that why they say it’s easier to forgive than to forget?

Podworks.in

I'm attending Podworks, are you?



This is the first 'unconference' that I will be attending. Will keep you posted on any updates through and over the weekend. Meanwhile, if you're in Chennai this weekend, you could try and make it to the unconference that is held at Tidel Park, Taramani. Feel free to go to podworks.in and get a hang of what it is all about.

I'm surely looking forward to the experience!

Your wish will be done

Such an intense music video and so much depth in those lyrics; and we thought the Backstreet Boys were just another teen-attraction, boy band, whatever. Nonetheless, this one's been my all-time favorite.

I hope you enjoy it too :)

Fountain

The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books---a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.

- Albert Einstein

Science and spirituality, or scientific spirituality perhaps; that’s been my mood for what you could call an extended weekend.

After watching four back-to-back movies on Saturday, all starring Hugh Jackman, I’m still reeling from his their effect. It started with X-men, then X 2, and X 3. I was fine until then. ‘Cos until then I was only watching a science fiction. Then came, The Fountain! I’m not even sure if I can explain that movie in just a few words.

Spanning over a 1000 years with three tales running in parallel, the story transports you from the age of Spain in bondage in the 1500’s through the present day, to the 2500’s, in an inexplicably unimaginable way. One man’s journey through time and space (literally space), Hugh Jackman acts in the lead role in all three stories.

In pursuit of love, life, Tom Creo (Hugh Jackman) experiences frustration, pain, suffering, loss, death, re-birth and finally immortality. All three stories get inter-woven toward the end of the screenplay leaving you practically disoriented. At least I was! Well you would be too, if you saw Jackman as a faithful solider trying to free his Queen by fetching the tree of life and delivering Spain from bondage in scene one; in the very next scene, you find him in a state-of-the-art research facility trying to get a medical breakthrough in a drug that would cure his dying wife of cancer, and in the subsequent scene, he’s in a bubble in outer space with a lone dying tree, trying to give life back to it from a nebula somewhere in the 26th century (three different people from different eras of course). See what I’m saying?

Although I didn’t understand much of concept behind the movie itself, I did impulsively put it under my favorite movies list :) Maybe someday I’ll get what he’s saying.

It might sound like a thin plot, but the movie is a little heavy on its viewers, so if you’re the kind that lets the waterworks run on every emotional scene; you should stay away from it. But if you do succeed in understanding the underlying plot of the story, do let me know, because I’m still trying to find an explanation!

Anyway, Sunday was good for me. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End. I heard mixed reviews about the movie before I watched it, maybe because they compared it with the older parts. But I haven’t seen the earlier parts, so I liked it all the same. For what its worth, there was butter popcorn, a soft drink, and Orlando Bloom in front of me. :-D. Sailed the high seas with him for three hours(?) got sea sick [cheesy smile] and had to bunk work on Monday! :)

A roller-coaster weekend you could say! Have a great work week ahead and hugs!