Statistics Shmatistics

From the response of my comments requests, I have gathered that the readership of this blog is as follows:

1. Anonymous readers who read blogs but do not even have an email address. Hmmm... Hmmm...
2. People who I know who wish to remain anonymous - 1 nos.

I seem to have lost readership of the following:
1. Friends and family. Family, I understand - who are in a state of relocation etc. Friends, however, I am mad with. Varsha, where art thou? Oddity? Fickle?
2. Cousins. You know who you are!
3. Blog friends. Hmph! And double Hmph! Traitors! JAP?
4. Assholes who land up looking for "June Maliah Nude Pics".
5. The Sometime BF. If posts can be dragged in arguments, can they not be commented on? Huh? Huh?

I Am Bored - So Entertain Me

I don't know if anyone has got this feeling or not, but I'm slightly bored with work. I don't have any challenging projects right now. Lots of routine work, but nothing that needs brain work and this is the time, I get really, really bored.

So, why don't you great folks out there entertain me?

So, email me, tell me about yourself, tell me why you read this blog, and I promise to email back.

Things That Annoyed Me in 2007

• Seema Goswami thinking that Food porn is Nigella Lawson cooking in a tight seater.
• Seema Goswami's columns in Brunch. Think BTM trying really, REALLY hard.
• The Blue Potato not taking off as well as it should have.
• The caesar salad at the Eden Pavilion (ITC Sonar Bangla) being changed by that new parsi woman chef. No! No! No! Though, now I have a new favourite - Shaun does it even better!
• Having to diet. Since, I have lost 10 kgs, I can't complain, but the unfairness of food = fat still annoys me.
• My friends and family (read cousins) going the american skinny bitch way. Now, I have a lot of thin friends in Europe who are not gaunt or skeletal and they all eat. Unlike, the really thin american women I know.
• The Christie's Art Auction at the Calcutta Club. Really bad art! I really want to know who the poor sods were, who paid a bomb to buy really, bad art!
• The wife of India's most well-known rap star. People, if you ever have the misfortune of bumping into her, run the other way. I pity the chap.
• Oindrilla Dutt at the Christie's auction. I really dislike her for turning every goddamn event in Calcutta a old school reunion and a mashi-dida fest. And her outfits should be outlawed!
• Tollywood and Tollywood actors and actresses. Yes, June Maliah, ACTRESSES!
• Every goddamn club in Calcutta displaying naked chicks as an attraction for diwali, dandiya, christmas and the new year. Is it a wonder that women are molested just about everywhere in India? Considering the fact that clubs are used by a lot of women, should they not have had pictures of naked men to attract me or other women?
• Times of India, EVERY SINGLE DAY. I read it every day to see what idiocy they chose to propagate that day. I have a good mind to post "TOI Idiot news/article of the day" every single day on this blog.
• Singapore taxi drivers. I am amazed, some are as rude as Indian ones and actually refuse rides!
• Taxes. ARGHHHH! I wouldn't mind paying so much, had it not been for the minor fact that I really cannot see where the money goes. There has been zero improvement in everything around me.
• Home improvements. I need to get my flat repainted this year and the thought is sending shivers down my back.
• Procrastination. I really need to get my driving licenses.

How to be a Non-Annoying House Guest 101

• Inform your host about your allergies and schedules atleast a day in advance.
• Inform your host about your date of arrival atleast 3 days in advance.
• Make an effort to eat the food during mealtimes, unless you have serious food allergies. And if you do, please inform the host in advance.
• Try and express interest in your host's life and try not to deride their interests on their faces and often. This specifically applies to old college and school friends, because people change and often develop different interests over the years that you wouldn't know about.
• When your host asks you what you want to do, do not always say, "Whatever!" or "Anything you want to do." It makes your host clueless as to what to plan for you to make you feel comfortable. The same goes for food. If you let your host know what you like, it helps.
• Try and spend quality time with your host, rather than calling up all friends and relatives all the time and regailing them with a minute to minute account of your day.

Shiny Happy People

We are Shiny Happy People today to know that we have two faithful readers. Thank you folks!

Knock! Knock! Anyone There?

It seems as if this blog is no longer read by anyone. Hmmm... Hmmmm.... Hmmmm?

So, if by any miracle of nature, there are any sekrit readers of this blog, do comment. I do know, I have driven away a lot of commentors, but I'm truly curious to know if anyone reads this blog or not.

The No Point Post

This year is for me. ME. MOI. MYSELF. I love making lists but I hate making resolutions, because whoever follows resolutions anyway? My year so far -

• 2008 started very well for me. I met a dear, dear friend after 5 years.
• I lost 10 kgs (as of today) - despite travelling.
• I am going to see my parents settle in their new home. The pater is finally retiring and it will be really nice not to have to decide who to see during holidays. Both my sister and her family and my parents are going to be in the same city. So, it means, I will be seeing more of the neph AND the momma together. My most favourite people in the world.
• I have not smoked for the last 5 years. Yesterday, I smoked a pack of cigs. Just like that. It was bliss, but afterwards I hated, hated, hated the smoke in my hair, the rough taste in my mouth and the papery dry texture of my lips. So, the cigs will NEVER ever be smoked again.
• My medicals all indicated, I'm as healthy as a horse. So, I decided to be hedonistic. See above.
• I have embraced my inner bitch and nastiness. I have never enjoyed myself so much before. See title of post.
• I don't ever want to be saintly. Being saintly is not the same as being good. Being saintly never helped anyone. The last one year, I saw a lot of relationships that I thought were forever, crumble and I realised that being a saint or a doormat does not ensure a forever relationships. (Read - All men are dogs and keeping them on a leash and in their place ensures undying loyalty. However, leaving them wild just makes them bite you. Hard. All ladies who read this, remember this well. )
• Being nicer actually does make people work harder for you. But it still doesnt make them less stupid.
• To my friends who seem to be career students, I have but one piece of advice - despite your gadzillion degrees, you may not start earning gadzillion dollars (unless you chose to be an investment banker, who in my opinion actually just slide their way through and are shitbags, jerks and soulless dementors) in any industry you chose to join. I know it is not fair, but thats the way it actually is.

365 days

2007 was a busy and monumental year for me. 2008, will be busier, as I have a million things on my "To Do" lists, both personally and professionally. Personally, I would only like to remember the good that happened in 2007 and not the bad. To preserve 2007 for posterity, or atleast as long as this blog exists:

1. Losing 8 kgs (about 17 pounds) and maintaining the weight for over a month. My goal for 2008 is another 10 kgs. This will enable me to finally don a swimming suit without dying of shame. I swim now also, but am awfully conscious of my tummy.
2. Passing all exams.
3. Not sabotaging and destroying all my meaningful relationships and learning to forgive and forget in incremental doses.
4. Visiting 1 new country (Cambodia) and many new places and cities (Vancouver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Sorrento, Anacapri, Naples, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Shanghai) and many old haunts (NYC, SG ad infinitum, BKK ad infinitum).
5. Maintaining good fiscal discipline. Baby steps, but getting there. Experiencing the thrill of having my credit limits increased automatically without having to ask. If one travels as much as I do, this really is a godsend.
6. Increasing my collection by 3 paintings. Like I said, baby steps.
7. Having the satisfaction of taking my hobbies a step further. Painting 1 full painting and a yet to be completed tryptich. Working on a film crew. Writing and being published - professionally, but not quite.
8. Meeting powerful women. Nothing makes me happier than this.
9. Making great new friends and preserving the older ones.
10. Learning how to configure my PC completely on my own. Windows XP Media Center, I really hate you.
11. Not losing even one person on my personal crew - maids, drivers, etc.
12. Inspiring 16 people to participate in the Annual Calcutta run. Who said bribery did not work? hehehehehehehe...
13. Meeting lots of family this year, by my standards. Cousins, uncles, aunts.