Current status

I am excited!! Reason: I was tagged for the first time, by cute little Poo. Even more exciting is the fact that this is a brand new tag that she created herself. I love novelty!

So here it goes:

Reading: Journals, journals and more journals :( Blogs are my only non-work read these days. Sitting on my table to be read next are 'Unaccustomed earth' by Jhumpa Lahiri, 'The Idiot' by Fyodor Doetoevsky and 'The Day of the Jackal' by Frederick Forsyth. Guess they have to wait till August :(

Finished reading: Haven't read a real book since Feb. Squeezed in 'One night at the call center' by Chetan Bhagat few weeks ago though. Didn't like it at all.

Listening to: 'Viva la vida' by Coldplay.

Wearing: Nah, you don't need to know that :p

Watching: All the shows I watched got over last week. Right now the movie 'Save the last dance' is playing on TV. Have seen it a dozen times. So not really watching. Just looking at Sean Patrick Thomas and Julia Stiles and their smooth moves :) Planning to watch 'Sex and the city' movie as soon as I can find some girls to go with.

Thinking: Too tired to think. Effect of a late afternoon 2 hour long brainstorming(!!!) session with the adviser :(

Loving: The lovely weather. Hope it stays for some time.

Hating: Everyone who is going home or any other vacation for summer.

Missing: Being around people. Seems like I talk to people through phone or net more these days!

Wishing: That I wake up to find that it is August. All work gets magically done while I was sleeping and the only thing I have to think about is how will I look in the graduation gown :)

Hoping: To move to California in few months!

Craving: UDF's 'Black raspberry choco chip' ice cream. I will surely miss this one thing when I leave Ohio.

Ok, that was fun.

If you are still reading, then surely you liked it too. So, now you are tagged to do this too :D

Correlation

He had me at 'Hello'

Ok it's past 10 p.m. in Pacific time zone and so now I can express my happiness for David C. without spoiling anyone's suspense.

I have been rooting (and yes also voting) for him since he sang 'Hello' on Week 3 of American Idol. I think very highly of David A. too, specially his flawless voice, but he is just too cute and sugary for my taste. Rough and tough rock star with a sensitive side..ah that works for me better. And that is what Mr. Cook is :)

Congrats David Cook!

I feel rewarded

Two of my students from Spring semester found me on Facebook.
One of them said he misses my class every Tuesday! He also said that he enjoyed learning the things I taught in the second half of the semester and regrets that he didn't take serious interest from the beginning of the semester.

I feel I have achieved one of my teaching missions today: making a student (that too a non-major student) interested in learning the subject.
They usually are only interested in completing the course as a degree requirement. Some of them are also interested in the grades sometimes :)

To tell or not to?

Me and some of my friends are in a big dilemma. All of us think that one of our friends is with a wrong guy and her decision to marry him is the biggest mistake of her life. But none of us know how to or even whether to tell her.

I have heard it from couple of elderly people that they did not comment on their children's choice of partner in spite of having a bad feeling (which eventually proved to be true) because "everyone has to learn from their own mistakes".

But then I'm thinking if we see a loved one walking blindly towards a speeding car, we scream and warn them because we do not want them to get hurt.

Is it only physical injury about which we can warn against, but we have to let them suffer and learn when it comes to emotional injury?

If you think that a loved one is choosing a wrong life partner, do you/will you tell them?
If your friends tell you that you are choosing a wrong life partner, will you appreciate that?

How important are brand names?

My friend N and I have these long 'nonsense' conversations every now and then. Last night during one such session, she offered me to take her boyfriend because it seemed like I have more things in common with T than she has.

Of course I said "No thanks" and to that she said "You are saying no to an ex-IITian!!! Poor T, he will be crushed."

Now I can understand if T feels crushed because a girl said no to a 'nice guy' like him but what's with the brand names? How does getting a degree from a good school makes someone irresistible as a companion?

I know a good education can mean that there are better chances of having financial security and intelligent conversations, but my personal experience says that a great professional resume is no guarantee of a great human being. And I know a few 'famous school' graduates who liked 'Welcome' more than 'Taare Zameen Par'. So there goes the intellectual conversation.

I hope N didn't say 'yes' to T because of the IIT tag!

"What you don't have you don't need it now"

I wish I could be that optimistic, but I am totally unable to make myself feel so today.
I desperately need two things that I don't have now: a successful experiment and a job offer.
When will that beautiful day come?