As has been the tradition on this blog, I wish myself a very happy birthday!!

It wouldn’t be entirely right to say that the last year was tough. Its just that whenever I think that I am finally living in the real world, things get a little more real and I feel lost.

In the last one year, I went through a lot of ups and downs and found myself looking for answers to a lot of questions but most importantly I learnt a lot of things about myself. That I am just a normal human who’s just as likely to falter and fall as the next person. That I will have to go through things that I once thought would never happen to me. Well, self awareness is always good! Plus, I did have my share of fun too.

There are few things that I plan to do in the coming year. Some changes that I hope to bring to my life. I’ll let this blog be the witness of how much I actually achieve.

As is common knowledge, I am a man with a mission. There’s always something I’m working on. I started my new mission of digitalizing all the old photos lying around the house as soon as I got home. Now, old photos can bring back a lot of memories. Especially yearly class photos from school. These photos helped me recall the names of so many people who I had completely forgotten or so I thought.

But one photo from kindergarten had in it my first crush if we don’t count Sridevi. What? Don’t you judge me! She was a superstar and I was a little kid! Anyways, I don’t even remember the name of my first crush now (Was it Rakshita?) but I do remember that I used to like her and wanted her to sit next to me in the classroom. And one day, my class teacher made her sit next to me which resulted in her crying a lot because she wanted to sit next to her friend. This totally saddened me but not for long. We were 5 after all! We became friends the same day and I don’t remember how long we stayed friends. The next year I moved to a different part of the city and started attending a different school.

Coming back to the present, there’s a new dry fruits store opening this week in Lucknow and its curiously titled “Hey Keshav Its Yours” (Keshav is a guy’s name, in case you didn’t know) .  I have no clue what the name means. Let me know if you do.

I don’t have anything major to write about so I decided to do something I think I’m good at. Make smalltalk! Its fun. It can lead to new friendships and is a handy tool for boredom avoidance. But it can be tough if the other person doesn’t respond. I’m hoping all you readers wouldn’t act like that.

So what better way to start it than talking about the weather! For the past two weeks now, Bangalore has been really wet. And the rain has amazing timing. It starts to rain every time I decide to go out. But I still don’t let the rain ruin my plans.

Also, I have noticed that I am mostly happier when I am alone compared to when I am with people. Not with all people but some of them. Does that mean something? Apart from the fact that I am more fun than those people.

In other unrelated news, I have a doubt in my mind. I wonder if my blog personality runs a risk of coming across as a mimbo. Fortunately, I don’t have any such fears in real life. So what do all of you think?

Update: I think I inadvertently became an accomplice to a suicide yesterday. I was on my my way home when I noticed a cockroach crossing the road. And before I could do anything, it got smashed under the front wheel. Now, this may seem like an accident but think about it. Why does a cockroach need to cross the road? It doesn’t! Which is why I think it was a suicide attempt. And well-timed too! I just hope that the police doesn’t investigate the case.

On my last visit back home, I was told that I had gained some weight which was surprising because I had already joined the gym and I thought it was working for me. After hearing lots of similar comments, I decided to take matters into hand, went through lots of websites related to health & diet and came up with my own plan of eating healthy and staying fit. And thus began “Mission Hotness”! It was essentially a 2 month plan (which ends August 31) that required me to live under a new fitness regime – eating 6 balanced meals in a day, staying away from fatty food and of course, working out, exercising and walking. I followed the plan religiously and even though the mission is yet to end, I already have biceps and triceps just about visible to the naked eye, I can see the emergence of a v shaped torso, my waist has already gone down a size and I have lost around 1kg. I am ecstatic and want everyone to know that such plans do work!! This achievement did cause its own problems though. All my regular fitted jeans became loose and the loose ones became useless. I had to buy two new pairs of jeans in a hurry!! But thats all part of the game. I’m going to continue following the plan for now and hopefully, I’ll be in perfect shape soon!

I bought my second cellphone more than two years ago. I had just started regular blogging back then and I wrote this post about it. I had promised myself that I will use the new phone for 2 years and then buy a new phone. I kept my promise and two weeks ago, I bought a shiny new HTC Touch. Its been called an iPhone killer by few sections of the media but that doesn’t really matter to me. What I like is that its tiny (its codename was elf!), sleek, sexy and most of all a windows mobile phone which lets you do everything with just a finger. Honestly, I don’t have to use the stylus at all!

The morning bus to work hates me. I have to fight with the window for 2-5 mins to get it to open. And because it always loses to me, it decided to get back at me couple of days ago by spewing its venom on me. Sure, it was intelligent enough to disguise it as muddy, rain water but I know what it really was. If I had an open wound, I could have poisoned! But it isn’t the only evil bus I have to deal with. The new evening bus is the most sadistic bus ever. Its so uncomfortable that one can never sleep even for a second in it. And I have to spend close to 2 hours in it. It has made my life miserable. Its hard to resist the temptation of setting it on fire. And if you are wondering why I am writing about buses all of a sudden, I spend 3 hours in these buses everyday! What else do you expect?

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.