There used to be a time when no matter what I read or heard never moved me much. Not anymore! I seem to be in a place where most of the things I read affect me. I take in much more now. Even the music I listen to makes more impact now than ever before. I am unsure if this is good or bad but I think I should be more careful about what I read or listen to. I should filter out all the things that are unworthy of my time. Something that caught my attention in particular was this post which lists what really “determines whether someone has crossed from boyhood into manhood”.

During a visit to my hometown last week, I was just looking around and noticed how everything in and around my home, the places nearby and almost everything has a story. Its somehow connected to my life there which I will always remember. In fact, the place has changed a lot. Even my house isn’t the same. It has changed over the years. But I remember everything exactly the way it was when I was a kid. And that’s how it will forever remain etched in my memory.

I just added a new sidebar widget that shows my latest tweet posted on twitter. Its on sidebar 2 which means it will only be displayed on the home page (just below the latest sidenote). This was something I wanted to do last year when I moved to wordpress but for some reason unknown even to me, I just didn’t do it! But its on now so you can read my rants real time (and even follow me if you like the way I do it).

Remember the flying plastic bag scene from “American Beauty”? (No? Well, watch it here.) Some people loved it, some hated it. But the background music used in the scene is just mesmerizing and there’s no doubt about that. The music piece is “Any Other Name” by Thomas Newman and you can listen to the whole piece here.

After months of hard work and procrastination, I have finally managed to move my blog from Blogger to its self-hosted WordPress self. The blog now a new name, a new domain and a completely new look.

Things weren’t too easy in the beginning though especially since I had no knowledge of php. But I slowly learnt the small little things I needed. A big help was the large number of WordPress users who have developed a plugin for everything you might need. Special thanks to Dean J Robinson for this fabulous theme called Redoable. And finally, I would like to thank myself for customizing the theme to suit my needs, working so very hard on the move and most of all, manually migrating most of the images from blogger.

So all the regular readers of my once regularly updated blog are requested to update their bookmarks and blogrolls. Also, (mostly positive) comments and questions on all these changes are welcome. I already am aware of some small bugs but still of you find something then let me know.

And keep visiting!! Expect long regular post(s) really soon!! No! Sooner than that!!

This being my last post of the year, I’ve decided to write a really long one.

• The end of the year also means that shows with the best/worst/top/bottom and everything are on TV. And I like such shows. I especially like the ones done by VH1. They’re almost always funny and entertaining.
• I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much I like the US version of The Office. Oddly enough, I like it more than the original UK version. Speaking of which, I am now hooked to podcasts. Two podcasts that I like the most are Never Not Funny by Jimmy Pardo and The Ricky Gervais Show which stars Ricky Gervais who played the lead in the UK version of The Office. But most laughs on his podcast don’t come from him but from a really out-of-the-world funny guy, Karl Pilkington. He has apparently become a cult figure because of this podcast and I am left to wonder where I was when all of this was happening. Anyways, you all should give these two podcasts a try. You’ll like it.
• Another show that I watch religiously these days is Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother. Well, its a reality show and has people making fools of themselves all day long so of course, I like it. I used to hate Rakhi Sawant before the show but this show changed that and I consider that a big achievement for the show.
• Alright, enough about TV. Lets talk about something else. I don’t really make new year resolutions but I have decided to do few things differently in 2007. I have decided to eat healthier, start exercising regularly to stay fit and maybe even (finally!) join a gym. Lets see how much I actually do next year.
• 2007 would also bring lots of changes for the blog. If things go as planned, the blog would soon move to its new permanent home and its own domain. So wait for it.

Finally, I wish the blog and all my blog readers a very happy new year 2007. See you all next year.

Last Wednesday, after being confined to my home on the bandh day, I swore to myself that I would not stay at home the whole day ever. And I spent the whole of Thursday and Friday very much at home because I was down with viral fever. Oh, the irony of life! But those two days and two long nights were horrible. I constantly ran a fever of 103.5 degrees and hence couldn’t sleep. To make things worse, this was the first time I fell ill since I started living alone and so I had no medicines other than few homeopathic ones from my dad.

On Wednesday night, when the illness started, I employed my mp3 player to help me sleep and it worked for sometime. I was starting to feel really sad about the whole situation cos I was sick and all alone but Frou Frou helped me get over it by singing “There’s beauty in the breakdown” in my ear. And so at 3:15 am, I called up my landlady and asked for medicines.

I am much better now. The motivation for getting better, of course, is that I’m going to Lucknow tomorrow for Diwali. And its been a year since I went home. I last went on last Diwali. The difference this time would be that my parents now have broadband at home so I will keep posting and keep reading other blogs. In fact, I may be able to post more than I do now.

And even though I don’t write too many posts these days, its good to know once in a while that my blog can keep people occupied for hour(s) and even make them come back as is evident in screenshot 1, screenshot 2 and screenshot 3. (The third visit was longer than the screenshot). I think that’s enough reason to feel good about. What do you think?

Update: In a major offence, I forgot to tell you all about my new pictures from my trip to Nagarahole in which I saw crocodiles, elephants, dears, birds, a fox and a will boar. The pictures can be found on flickr, as always.

Update 2 This is a small clip from one of the funniest episodes of Family Guy. Take a look. It’s just too funny!! Watch it, please!

• I wanted a change in my life and given the limited control I actually have on things, I decided to make my life a little more fun by buying a brand new TV, a new DVD player and to top it all, I got digital cable. Basically, few things I wanted for a long time now. The result is that I can now watch Family Guy whenever I want to and I don’t have to worry about bad cable reception.
• I strongly believe that it should be illegal to talk on the cellphone while in the toilet. Seriously, do these people who talk on the phone while on the toilet tell the caller about where they are? And how do they explain the flush sound to the caller? And believe me, the other people in the bathroom don’t need to hear someone in the toilet stalls talking on the phone either. And unless there’s a law against it, people will continue doing it. So it must be made illegal. Now!
• I was a little surprised to see John Mayer’s new album, Continuum, in the new releases section at Planet M last Sunday. I didn’t expect it to be released in India so soon. Needless to say, I bought it. I can completely relate to the opening song, “Waiting on the World to Change”. Take a look at the lyrics. I think most of us would agree with the viewpoint of the song. Its a nice song. And the rest of the album is good too.
• I’ve seen quite a few movies recently but I think I will save my short reviews for the next post. The post frequency has been dropping rather drastically as it is.
• Oh, and this post has been written using Windows Live Writer. Its a great tool. A must for all bloggers.