Yeah, I know there's a good two months left before 2007, but I've been reflecting lately on how the year's been going so far.
And the verdict is... it sucks. This might have been the worst year ever for me. Sure, the year has had its moments, but, overall, not so great. Not that anything exceptionally bad happened, but nothing great or remarkable happened either. And that makes it worse. Each year should see some amount of change or growth or development of some sort, and I didn't grow or develop or learn anything this year. I'm in the same place I was a year ago, and have essentially the same group of people surrounding me.
What makes the year even worse is seeing everyone around me growing and changing. Some of them have gotten new cars, others new jobs, others still new relationships (or further strengthened existing relationships). The ones who are still at their same jobs (from a year ago) are getting massive raises/promotions, while I'm still making basically the same amount of money and have the same responsibilities.
It's your own fault, Sumeet, you're thinking. You need to get out there and change things yourself, and stop waiting for the world to accommodate you and for everything to fall into your lap. Well, that's really easy to say but much harder to do. And I have tried. The first half of the year looked promising, and I honestly believed I'd be somewhere else right now: if not physically, at least emotionally.
But you know what they say. There's nothing more American than false hope.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
oops
My boss (well, actually my boss' boss) asked me to stop yelling at her today.
I know, right? Shy little Sumeet, raising his voice? Yeah, that'll never happen. I always do exactly what I'm told, without questioning authority. She was probably just being sarcastic.
I know, right? Shy little Sumeet, raising his voice? Yeah, that'll never happen. I always do exactly what I'm told, without questioning authority. She was probably just being sarcastic.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Death
Just some passing thoughts on the oh-so-popular blog topic of death:
* I'm surprised I'm still around. I never imagined that I'd be alive at 24. Not that I've had a crazy lifestyle of drugs and alcohol or anything (quite the contrary). It's just that as I went through school, they never prepared me for life after college, so I never knew what to expect. And since I couldn't imagine it, I just assumed my life would somehow be over.
* There won't be more than 10-15 people at my funeral. A few co-workers, a couple of friends, and some family. Most of the people I know only pretend to like me, and since I'll be dead, they won't feel any obligation to continue faking it. Oh, and whenever I do die, it'll probably take about a week before anyone notices. And then when people are notified, it'll take a day or two for co-workers/friends to get over it and about a month for my family. After that, I'll be completely forgotten. Sumeet who?
* I'm surprised I'm still around. I never imagined that I'd be alive at 24. Not that I've had a crazy lifestyle of drugs and alcohol or anything (quite the contrary). It's just that as I went through school, they never prepared me for life after college, so I never knew what to expect. And since I couldn't imagine it, I just assumed my life would somehow be over.
* There won't be more than 10-15 people at my funeral. A few co-workers, a couple of friends, and some family. Most of the people I know only pretend to like me, and since I'll be dead, they won't feel any obligation to continue faking it. Oh, and whenever I do die, it'll probably take about a week before anyone notices. And then when people are notified, it'll take a day or two for co-workers/friends to get over it and about a month for my family. After that, I'll be completely forgotten. Sumeet who?
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Musing
As you may have gleaned from previous posts, I know/care more about pop culture than I do about computers.
I'm fairly confident that if we had a pop culture-off at work, I would demolish everyone (which I realize isn't saying a whole lot, considering I work at a software company).
If you asked me how much RAM my computer at home had, I'd have to look at the sticker on the front, but if you asked me Britney's birthday (Dec 2, 1981) or the theme of the next installment of the Simple Life (Paris and Nicole are camp counselors), well I'd know that off the top of my head.
I'm fairly confident that if we had a pop culture-off at work, I would demolish everyone (which I realize isn't saying a whole lot, considering I work at a software company).
If you asked me how much RAM my computer at home had, I'd have to look at the sticker on the front, but if you asked me Britney's birthday (Dec 2, 1981) or the theme of the next installment of the Simple Life (Paris and Nicole are camp counselors), well I'd know that off the top of my head.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
VM recap - Season 3, Episode 2
Last night's episode was pretty good. Much better than the season premiere. I was worried that the show may have lost its edge, but last night proved me wrong.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much character development in this episode though, one of the reasons I like the show so much. It was one of the few episodes in the entire series that could "stand-alone." Someone could watch this episode without ever seeing any VM beforehand and understand everything. Good for newcomers, but not so good for longtime fans who like the interactions between characters.
I guess it makes sense though, since they're starting college, and trying to break out of their old relationships to some extent.
My favorite part of the episode was the prisoner-guard experiment that Logan and Wallace take part in (based on the Stanford Prison Experiment). Interesting tactics on both sides, and I like how the show integrates real-world sociological experiments into the plots. The college setting works perfectly for this.
Veronica goes undercover to figure out if a sorority house is behind the season's first mystery. Hearst must be an ugly school or something (or maybe it's just the ugly sorority), because Kristen Bell is by far the hottest girl in the entire house. They'd be fools not to accept her.
Supposedly, the first mystery is supposed to be solved in the next episode, which is a little strange since there have been very few clues to work with through the first two episodes.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much character development in this episode though, one of the reasons I like the show so much. It was one of the few episodes in the entire series that could "stand-alone." Someone could watch this episode without ever seeing any VM beforehand and understand everything. Good for newcomers, but not so good for longtime fans who like the interactions between characters.
I guess it makes sense though, since they're starting college, and trying to break out of their old relationships to some extent.
My favorite part of the episode was the prisoner-guard experiment that Logan and Wallace take part in (based on the Stanford Prison Experiment). Interesting tactics on both sides, and I like how the show integrates real-world sociological experiments into the plots. The college setting works perfectly for this.
Veronica goes undercover to figure out if a sorority house is behind the season's first mystery. Hearst must be an ugly school or something (or maybe it's just the ugly sorority), because Kristen Bell is by far the hottest girl in the entire house. They'd be fools not to accept her.
Supposedly, the first mystery is supposed to be solved in the next episode, which is a little strange since there have been very few clues to work with through the first two episodes.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
2 nights and 2 effigies
Friday - Went down to the West End to check out the pre-game day revelry and team spirit of Texas and Oklahoma. I never came up to Dallas while at UT, so it was pretty fun to see everyone getting pumped up for their teams. Who knew that OU had such hot girls? I sure didn't. UT still has the hottest girls (as evidenced by the latest Playboy list), but damn. I felt like I was at college again, with all the frat boys and sorority girls running around.
On the way back to the car, I saw a disturbing sight: they were burning Bevo! That's going a bit too far. I realize that OU sucks, and doesn't have its own (recognizable) mascot, but come on. There's a line that you just don't cross. Come up with your own mascot. And while you're at it, come up with your own hand signal (seriously, the horns but just flipping your wrist downward? real creative OU).
Saturday - Watched the UT game with some former co-workers (in HD, no less; makes you feel like you're there in the action). The team is obviously not as good without Vince Young, and we ended up winning due to some mistakes on OU's part, but we still won 28-10 and it's about time we won two in a row (especially since OU took 5 straight before that).
Then, it was off to Texas Stadium. No, no, not for another football game. For the Diwali Mela, of course! The what, you ask? Oh, for those of you not in the know, Diwali is the Indian new year, and mela is the Hindi word for fair.
So basically, there were a bunch of booths set up all around the perimeter of the stadium selling all sorts of goods (like clothes, jewelry, food, etc.). And then, inside the stadium, on the 50-yard line, they had a stage set up and performances all night from "renowned" Indian singers (apparantly the contestants from Indian Idol).
I haven't been in touch with Indian pop culture in a long time, so I didn't recognize any of the performers, and honestly got kinda bored. I'm also not a fan of Indians in large groups, because they're never organized -- the printed program was way off time-wise, and at one point an announcement was made that the Irving Police Department was shutting the place down at 11:15 even though it was supposed to go until midnight -- and don't follow basic social etiquette.
There's never really a line to any of the food booths; it's more of a push-and-shove-your-way-to-the-front idea. This may work if there's fewer people, but when there's 20,000 people in attendance, it's just chaotic.
The only redeeming point of the night was the effigy-burning. It's cool though, since it was the Devil and DESERVED to be burn (unlike Bevo). Much more interesting than I thought it'd be, since they had fireworks in addition to just fire, so there were loud explosions every once in a while. Good stuff.
Well, that's my weekend in a nutshell. Oh yeah, and OU sucks.
On the way back to the car, I saw a disturbing sight: they were burning Bevo! That's going a bit too far. I realize that OU sucks, and doesn't have its own (recognizable) mascot, but come on. There's a line that you just don't cross. Come up with your own mascot. And while you're at it, come up with your own hand signal (seriously, the horns but just flipping your wrist downward? real creative OU).
Saturday - Watched the UT game with some former co-workers (in HD, no less; makes you feel like you're there in the action). The team is obviously not as good without Vince Young, and we ended up winning due to some mistakes on OU's part, but we still won 28-10 and it's about time we won two in a row (especially since OU took 5 straight before that).
Then, it was off to Texas Stadium. No, no, not for another football game. For the Diwali Mela, of course! The what, you ask? Oh, for those of you not in the know, Diwali is the Indian new year, and mela is the Hindi word for fair.
So basically, there were a bunch of booths set up all around the perimeter of the stadium selling all sorts of goods (like clothes, jewelry, food, etc.). And then, inside the stadium, on the 50-yard line, they had a stage set up and performances all night from "renowned" Indian singers (apparantly the contestants from Indian Idol).
I haven't been in touch with Indian pop culture in a long time, so I didn't recognize any of the performers, and honestly got kinda bored. I'm also not a fan of Indians in large groups, because they're never organized -- the printed program was way off time-wise, and at one point an announcement was made that the Irving Police Department was shutting the place down at 11:15 even though it was supposed to go until midnight -- and don't follow basic social etiquette.
There's never really a line to any of the food booths; it's more of a push-and-shove-your-way-to-the-front idea. This may work if there's fewer people, but when there's 20,000 people in attendance, it's just chaotic.
The only redeeming point of the night was the effigy-burning. It's cool though, since it was the Devil and DESERVED to be burn (unlike Bevo). Much more interesting than I thought it'd be, since they had fireworks in addition to just fire, so there were loud explosions every once in a while. Good stuff.
Well, that's my weekend in a nutshell. Oh yeah, and OU sucks.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
?
So I went to this murder mystery dinner last night for a friend's birthday party.
Apparently, these come in two variations: you can either get a mystery-in-a-box and act it out with a group of friends or go to a restaurant and have them essentially put on a show for the guests. Well, this one was of the latter variety.
Most of the people in our group were Indian, so we ended up arriving a little late to the dinner (as a general rule, Indians will arrive about half an hour to an hour later than the scheduled time).
It was cool though. We got to the restaurant just in time for the first murder. It caught me completely off-guard. I was standing there, enjoying my carrots and ranch dressing and all of a sudden a girl bursts out of the door with blood streaming down her mouth.
They tried to set it up so that the actors were intermingled with the guests, but it became pretty obvious like 10 minutes into the dinner who the main actors were, since they were far more polished and suspicious than everyone else.
Overall, it was definitely a different experience, but I think it would have been more fun to do the mystery-in-a-box since everyone could get more involved in the plot. I was lost for most of the night, and my "theory" was based on what everyone else at the table thought. It felt like school again.
And you know what they say. After the party, it's the after-party. And so it was. We went back to the birthday girl's house and chilled at her place, drinking, smoking (the hookah), and (salsa) dancing.
Yeah, so there's two more things that I've decided should go on my list of things-to-do (before I die): learn how to shoot a gun, and learn how to salsa dance. The latter looks easy to learn, and seems pretty free-form.
Apparently, these come in two variations: you can either get a mystery-in-a-box and act it out with a group of friends or go to a restaurant and have them essentially put on a show for the guests. Well, this one was of the latter variety.
Most of the people in our group were Indian, so we ended up arriving a little late to the dinner (as a general rule, Indians will arrive about half an hour to an hour later than the scheduled time).
It was cool though. We got to the restaurant just in time for the first murder. It caught me completely off-guard. I was standing there, enjoying my carrots and ranch dressing and all of a sudden a girl bursts out of the door with blood streaming down her mouth.
They tried to set it up so that the actors were intermingled with the guests, but it became pretty obvious like 10 minutes into the dinner who the main actors were, since they were far more polished and suspicious than everyone else.
Overall, it was definitely a different experience, but I think it would have been more fun to do the mystery-in-a-box since everyone could get more involved in the plot. I was lost for most of the night, and my "theory" was based on what everyone else at the table thought. It felt like school again.
And you know what they say. After the party, it's the after-party. And so it was. We went back to the birthday girl's house and chilled at her place, drinking, smoking (the hookah), and (salsa) dancing.
Yeah, so there's two more things that I've decided should go on my list of things-to-do (before I die): learn how to shoot a gun, and learn how to salsa dance. The latter looks easy to learn, and seems pretty free-form.
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