Nishi is an Indian American who works as a lawyer in New York City practicing personal injury and insurance defense litigation. She is also a writer and singer/songwriter who writes and performs her own music. Her greatest dream is to bring her songs to the world and move people with her music. Check out her music & videos at NishiMusic.com.
Nishi is passionate about foreign policy, international affairs and human rights and is the Chair of the Lawyers' Committee of ECPAT-USA, helping to end the trafficking and exploitation of children.
When she's not busy working, writing, pursuing music and humanitarian efforts, you can find Nishi gazing up at the stars or attending archaeological lectures (she's an astronomy and archaeology buff) and when all else fails, she relaxes with Japanese anime and manga. An avid shoujo animanga fan and web designer, she's designed many websites to her favorite series.
She also writes fantasy fiction & children's stories. This blog is part of A Dream I Dream . com - Nishi's personal website.
In Oct. 2007, Nishi was engaged to her love of 7 years & they plan to marry May 24, 2008. You are welcome to view engagement photos and visit
the wedding site.
Name: Nishi
Where: New York
Faith: Christian
Sign: Aquarius
CH-S: Fire Dragon
AIM: SelenityHime
ICQ: 21380169
MySpace: Nishi's MySpace
FaceBook: Nishi's Facebook
Email: be83398
The Story Thus Far . . .
In addition to working on her 2nd album, Nishi is also writing and working to publish several illustrated children's series as well as several other fiction and non-fiction projects. Join Nishi @ YahooGroups to be updated on these projects.
Why Hillary: She is a strong, compassionate, and brilliant woman who will make us proud as president. I believe very strongly that she is the most qualified democratic candidate to be president due to her breadth of experience with world leaders, policy, administration and not to mention her years of experience and intelligence as an attorney who knows the legal principles upon which our nation was founded. She is, by far, the best democratic choice to lead our tremendous nation.
Jogging, Martial Arts Kickboxing, Dance - currently middle eastern dance & bellydance, Tennis, Singing (of course ;) and working on my songs, Reading & writing about all the things I am interested and passionate about, watching tv and movies, painting, drawing, astronomy, rollerblading (and trying to get better at it and ice skating!), obsessive anime and manga fan and professional web designing, ancient studies / ancient civilizations, history and archaeology, world mythology, politics and world affairs, international law, human rights, studying many languages (have studied and continue to study spanish, mandarin chinese, japanese and hindi).
Books / Stories
King Arthur and all things Arthurian, Merlin, light and dark; The Crystal Cave, The Dark is Rising series, most anything to do with magic, vampires, werewolves; anything fantasy and romance-like: EMMA, Jane Eyre, Phantom of the Opera, Count of Monte Cristo, The Cask of Amontillado; almost anything Shakespeare wrote; The Harry Potter series; my childhood stories - Sweet Valley High, Twins, Kids, Babysitters Club, Boxcar Children, Bobbsey Twins, RAMONA QUIMBY series; SHERLOCK HOLMES, NANCY DREW; all books dealing with things I love from art, mystery, religion, magic, mythical creatures such as "DA VINCI CODE" and "Interview with the Vampire"
Movies
Emma, Contact, Ever After, Farenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Legally Blonde 2, Princess Diaries, Sweet Home Alabama, Matrix: Reloaded, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Staw Wars: Episode II, TOMBRAIDER I & II
All-time TV Shows
Three's Company, The Nanny, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, FRIENDS, Relic Hunter, Buffy, Xena, Clarissa Explains it All, OUT OF THIS WORLD, Wings, Mad About You, Simpsons, Married with Children, Carol Burnette Show, Anamorphs, Punky Brewster, Smurfs, Rainbow Brite, and the list could go on forever ;)
Musicals
Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, WICKED
Favorite Drinks
In the summer: starbucks' iced caramel macchaito - decaf and nonfat; lychee, boba/bubble tea/pearl milk tea; thai iced tea; lipton lemon and raspberry iced tea
In the winter: hot chocolate and starbucks' white chocolate mocha non-fat
Fave Alcoholic Drinks
Margaritas, amaretto sours, singapore slings, rum & coke and white wine - pinot
Music to relax to:
The slow version of the sailormoon theme song, the theme for Phantom of the Opera, the theme by Mono from Great Expectations and theme from Romeo and Juliet....so many more.....I can't live w/o music.....
A Fan Of:
I'm more a Democrat so I'm a fan of Bill & Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, Margaret Thatcher, Lee Iaccoca
Movie Actresses
Drew Barrymore
Kirsten Dunst
Kate Hudson
Nicole Kidman
Demi Moore
Gwyneth Paltrow
Julia Roberts
Reese Witherspoon
Renee Zellweger
Movie Actors
George Clooney
Johnny Depp
Matthew Goode
Tom Hanks
Ashton Kutcher
Brad Pitt
Keanu Reeves
Adam Sandler
Robin Williams
Magazines etc.:
Vogue
Cosmopolitan
Shape
Glamour
Bazaar
Fitness
Allure
Elle
Marie Claire
Archaeology
Mysteries
Foreign Affairs Journals
The Economist
Discover
Astronomy
Sky & Telescope
National Geographic
New York Times
Commondreams.org
In Style
US Weekly
PEOPLE
Reminders:
Salons in NY to try:
Buff Spa at Bergdorf Goodman: 754 5th Ave $$$
Tiffany Nails: 903 Madison $$
Soho Sanctuary: 119 Mercer $$
Maximus Spa - Massage: 15 Mercer $$
Just Calm Down: 32 W. 22nd $$ - get grape gatsby with Essie Bordeaux polish
Ajune Spa: 1294 Third Ave $$
Frederic Fekkai: 15 E. 57th - Mandarin Supreme Pedicure $$
my friend Chelsea and I went to the Monique Lhullier Bridal Registry show at Macy's tonight after work and we had so much fun! We sipped Pelligrino and got free gifts (these Noritake bowls) and nibbled on o'dourves of shrimp cocktails, chocolates, candies cakes, and delicious guacamole dip on baked chips. I hadn't hung out with Chelsea since last time I attended Mandarin language classes at the chinese school in Chinatown last October and we had so much catching up to do. We stayed in the city late until quarter past 10 p.m. and I just made the train back up to Westchester. Felt good to really talk and open up with a good friend after so long. Made plans to meet up for Sunday brunch in 2 weeks in Chinatown :)
My feet ache from walking all day in my 4" purple-maroon suede boots today - I think I'll go for a pedicure tomorrow and, like, three foot massages ;)
I ran out of my Burberry London perfume recently and scoped out Macy's Burberry counter but they were having no promotions and were really trying to sell the new Brit scent; it's nice but London is my favorite perfume of Burberry's - too expensive though to purchase now when I'm saving all my money for wedding expenses - seriously, I haven't shopped for myself in like a year. I miss shopping. I miss being able to buy Burberry perfume. But I will reallllllly love being a bride on my wedding day - so it evens out :) Some sacrifices are worth it :)
I'm off to bed. SarahBeth don't worry about the RSVP but do let me know as soon as possible - let's talk this weekend? I'll call you! :) Marcia I loved reading your message :) did you find out the name of the documentary? Lady aww I know how you feel about the cold and awaiting Spring. What did you do for Easter? *BIG HUGS* Azure Kaze Happy Easter to you too! I loved the anime easter greeting you posted :) Hope you're feeling better :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Happy Easter :)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
11:35 p.m.
I'm getting the performance bug again. Sang System of a Down's Roulette tonight and remembered how much I loved this song. Want to perform it again, acoustically though this time, instead of with a full band as I did last time.
Today was Easter and I wound up staying up until 2 a.m. last night reviewing the photos from the photo shoot yesterday. You can imagine what happened when my mom knocked on my door this morning 'Nishi are you getting up to go to church?' 'Nooooooo' I moaned sleepily and went right back to sleep. Oh mum and pop groused MUCHO when they got back from church, mum was like 'are you my child who I baptized? are you a Christian' LOLLLLLL :D It was so funny :) I don't think I've ever missed Easter Sunday services. Mek was mad because I wasn't a "solidarity sister" with her because she'd gone to sleep at midnight ;) Was all good because by the time they came home I had washed all the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and put on coffee.
The pictures from the shoot, by the way, are absolutely GORGEOUS! I am having a tough time narrowing down which images I want to use throughout the CD and which I want to use to create new layouts for NishiMusic.com and for my MySpace.com - Music Artist Nishi page. I'll have to make a final decision Monday night so Sam can begin work on polishing the images and sending me the finals.
Spent the rest of the afternoon together as a family watching TV, and a special History Channel movie Mekha brought home for us to watch on "Doomsday." This evolved into a fascinating intellectual discussion between all 6 of us family members :) Mil made easter cookies, mum made duck curry, and I washed dishes :D Also jogged 6.4 miles in the beautiful sunny 42 degree weather. Was a very wonderful Easter :)
Painted my nails 'Cherry Truffle' tonight (it's a verrrryyy dark purple) and am getting ready for bed now. Hope ya'll had a wonderful Easter. God bless everyone!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
back from photo shoot
Saturday, March 22, 2008
11:58 p.m.
had the best time at the photo shoot today. Headed down for the 3 p.m. shoot and it didn't end until after 9 p.m.! A professional make up artist at the studio did my make up and it came out GORGEOUS. My photographer is Sam Khan of Image Works NYC and he is PHENOMENAL! His eye and attention to detail are fantastic and he's so sweet and comfortable to be around - loved him! Mekha kept me company and she even helped with the wind shots helping the fan hit the red scarf I brought as a prop - it created what I believe will be the images I use for my CD cover. By the time the shoot was over, Mek and I were starving so I took her to Tick-Tock Diner over on 34th & 8th and we feasted on grilled panini sandwiches and soup before catching the train back up home. We have to get up early at 5 a.m. now to get ready for Easter service at church - we have early sunrise services at 6 a.m. and it isn't over until something like 10/10:30 a.m. - ugh. I want to sleep in. I probably won't get into bed tonight until at least a quarter past midnight. Running on less than 4.5 hours of sleep is never good - agh well.
I'm so happy about the photos - they came out SO gorgeously! Sam burned me a CD of the best shots (122 images!) which I'm going to review to select the best images which he will then photoshop and polish and send back to me so I can edit and create my CD cover. Once that's done, I'll post the pictures. He even took a 'photographer' shot in which he had Mek take a picture of him taking a picture of me. He's an awesome photographer and I can't rave about him enough.
Ok I'm off to bed for the gosh darn early rising. Sleep well everyone and Happy Easter! :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
adreamidream.com
Saturday, March 22, 2008
10:06 a.m.
want to announce that I've moved my personal page to its own domain A Dream I Dream . com - stayed up late Thursday night until 2 a.m. Friday morning fixing the html and trying to update the site - I find that I want to leave a lot of it unchanged - it's been that way for years - those writings, those feelings, and I find that every time I re-read them, I feel what i did back then, newly inspired, re-strengthened...my own words have the power to lift me.
Have a photo shoot today at 3 p.m. in the city. Just woke up about half an hour ago - went to bed super early last night like around 8 p.m. to make up for staying up late the night before... after over 12 hours of sleep, I feel well rested :)
Jogged 5 miles yesterday after coming home early from work - felt good to get the cool spring air in my lungs - the birds are back chirping up a storm though it was still quite chilly out. My trusty old cell phone I've had since 2004 or 2005 finally broke yesterday when I dropped it for the gazillionth time. I was nervous that the 300 contact numbers within it might not be able to be transferred over but luckily the guys at Sprint were able to do the job :) Mek gave me her beautiful black fancy Sprint phone she no longer uses so that I wouldn't have to buy a new expensive phone.
I need to pick out my dresses and outfits today for the shoot, go for a morning run, shower and do my make up and then head into the city. Do you know I phoned my bridal salon to, again, check on the status of my dress and the owner told me that it still hadn't come and to call on Tuesday? My wedding is literally 2 months away and I haven't gone for a fitting yet. I'm not worried though. You'd think I'd be, but nope - I know my dress will be there and that it will be fitted perfectly in time for the wedding. Otherwise, I don't pay the balance. Simple as that.
I have bigger worries in my heart and head. That said, let me begin my day. *HUGS* to all and Lydia why get an RSS feed? For news or for my own general updates? I had thought of getting one but wasn't sure if I had to host it on my own domain or had to know any programming code.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
11:35 p.m.
oh my gosh, coming up with the concept for my photo shoot on Saturday is so hard. All I could tell the photographer was 'bold colors' like reds and golds and that my 2nd album would be predominantly dance tracks. Should be fun :) Mek is coming with me to the city for it.
Nith and Mek came home tonight for Holy Thursday - I don't get Good Friday off this year but we get out early at 1pm! :) I'm going to see if I can go to the studio in Brooklyn and work with my producer on the album since I won't have any other time this weekend. Staying up late tonight to call Rick in India.....he phoned me while I was on the train this morning - he was at the airport on his way to Chennai and then to Kerala.....we celebrate Easter this weekend, Mil comes home to join us on Saturday (or Friday night?) and mum is going to make duck curry with piddy on Sunday! :) YUM!
I am half-way through the last book in Libba Bray's The Sweet Far Thing (part of the Gemma Doyle trilogy). Such a good series - it captivates me with its world, so beautifully written I can picture it amazingly. The book inspires me to continue writing my own works.
The girls have gone to bed and I'm reading my book....don't feel sleepy thought I should...probably the dark chocolate I ate tonight for dessert....have a great night my friends!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
08:52 p.m.
my darling called again this morning - made me so happy :) He tried to reach me on my morning commute on the train but I set my phone on vibrate and within my coat pocket, I couldn't tell it was "ringing." I thought he wouldn't try again, having missed me, but he did - much to my joy! :) He was on some autorickshaw and all I could hear was the roar of the engine and the sounds of the dirt streets his driver was traversing. Here and there, phrases in hindi traveled through the phone - Rick speaks hindi but not fluently - he's now picking it up rapidly. I'm wearing one of his old shirts now to sleep in tonight.
It was a very rainy day today....I think I'm coming down with a cold - my nose is all stuffed and I feel tired and lethargic. So I treated myself to a facial tonight after work at a spa I used to frequent. Got an "enzyme exfoliating" one with a soothing mask - the extractions are somewhat painful but they're worth it when you come out with clean pores and glowing skin. The key is to not touch your skin after a facial and to simply wipe your skin gently with a cotton pad soaked in toner when you get home (I use L'Oreal Nutri-Pure Soothing Toner).
Think I'll make some dinner and head to sleep early tonight. *HUGS* to all.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
10:23 p.m.
Saw the movie Penelope tonight and I loved it. It made me laugh, brought tears to my eyes, and made me feel absolutely wonderful in my heart and very, very happy. Talk about your feel good movie. It stars Christina Ricci, James Mcavoy and Reese Witherspoon, who also helped produce it. It is the story of Penelope - a young girl who had the misfortune to inherit the family curse - a pig nose - and her quest to be loved for who she is, as she is - and somehow break the curse.
Beautifully written, well acted, funny, charming, unique and definitely one of those rare movies I will actually buy when it comes out on DVD.
Debating whether to go see Step Up with friends from work after work tomorrow - it looks cute but wasn't something I had to see in the theater and even told my sister no when she asked cause I thought it was lame at first ;) But after watching a trailer, it actually looks pretty fun.
Too tired to think after staying up so late last night and only sleeping 5 hours....must sleep tonight. Off to bed. *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Monday, March 17, 2008
11:03 p.m.
rick called this morning from India - saw this strange 919 number on my cell and thought it was someone from the music industry or some wedding-related vendor. When I heard his voice, I was too hesitant to even believe it was him at first! :) It'd been so long since I heard him like that....he sounded . . . . beautiful . . . *sigh* I miss him.
I'm staying up late tonight because he said the best time to call him (when he can have reception and talk) is at 10 a.m. his time which is 12:30 a.m. here....ugh, I guess I can let sleep go for tonight ;) It's tough with him volunteering in India, but I love him very much. The conversations are too short and not meaningful enough...leaves my heart aching and wanting more....it's so hard...but God I love him.
To help me stay up, I'm reading last September's issue of VOGUE - it had the most interesting articles on Sienna Miller and Julie & Luke Janklow's Greenwich Village home here in the city and articles on the daughters of rich families who were not getting into trouble with the law or being drunken socialites, but working hard to be independent women making their own way in the world. Inspirational.
VOGUE is always one of my fave magazines to peruse - the fashions and photos in there are always inspiring and the articles are well written, entertaining and informative. It never fails to whisk me away to a fabulous world I can only imagine with the help of its pages.
Spent lunchtime today walking 3.5 miles to the Village and back....my favorite street is Bleeker and I love just exploring the neighborhood - so many shops and restaurants and cafes - it's totally my kind of neighborhood....I remember the first time I started working over on the westside and going for a walk at lunch - it was 4 years ago - I went down 8th Avenue and turned onto the tree lined quiet of Greenwich Avenue and, within 10 minutes, wound up on Greenwich and 6th Avenues and saw Barnes & Noble in front of me and the city open before me....I was just....captivated....this was the New York City I wanted to live in.....a mix of quiet townhouses on tree-lined streets just minutes from the hustle and bustle of city life....
When I'm down there, I'm always reminded of what my true purpose is - to create and make my dreams a reality. One can only work 9-5 for so long before the hunger for something more significant becomes overpowering.
The moon's out tonight...gorgeous white....I'm reading the last book by Libba Bray in the Gemma Doyle trilogy that was begun with A Great & Terrible Beauty, continued in Rebel Angels and now finished in the The Sweet Far Thing - the magical story of Gemma Doyle, a powerful sorceress who can open the realms and use its magic...the book is based at an all-girls academy in Britain where Gemma is sent to after seeing her mother die in India in a vision and learning that her mother was involved in something called The Order - there's love, coming of age, magic, friendship - a bit of everything - it's absolutely wonderful for anyone who loves romantic magical fantasy fiction with strong heroines.
It's almost 12:30 a.m. now as I finish this entry...time to call my sweetheart. Sweet dreams & good night all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
awesome recording session at the studio
Sunday, March 16, 2008
10:16 p.m.
headed to Brooklyn today and had a really, REALLY fabulous recording and music session. Laid down 3 new tracks for the wedding CD - we have 8 so far - and I was even able to work with the keyboard and play some of the piano music for my main wedding song. :) Was in the studio for almost 6 hours but was well worth it.
2 of my sisters came home this weekend (all 3 will come next weekend for Easter) and I had fun hanging out with them yesterday - Mek, Mil and I stayed up late talking and laughing about childhood memories and how I once (ok more than once) got them to clean the bathrooms by paying them a quarter and they thought they made out so rich! hahahaha :D
My dad and I met with the Indian DJ we're going to hire for my wedding - he plays FABULOUS music and even does music production and CD replication and will be able to do my CDs for me! :) Weather was gorgeous this weekend - ran 6 miles yesterday! Good thing too because I just had a humongous dinner right now of rice, morih curry, cauliflower, cabbage and mushrooms, and had dessert of a vanilla cupcake and a large mug of hot chocolate filled to the brim with skim milk - I overate way too much - ugh - my stomach feels like it's going to explode.
Watching 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians" - swear the show is so cute and funny and I didn't know the brother Rob was dating the Cheetah Girl, Adrianne - they are SO adorable. I'm watching Kim Kardashian eat a chocolate frosting covered cake and thinking I would love some too, yes, even after I ate this huge dinner. Ah, being a woman - just great. ;) - we've got hormones surging & diving and we get moody, irritable and want to stuff our faces for about a week every month ;) hahahaha :) I believe in not depriving yourself of foods you really love and want but in making sure you balance that out by exercising consistently and eating healthier at other times. I know I'll be jogging almost every day this week after work and eat very healthy M-F so it's ok if I overindulge a little now and then - what's the point in living if you can't enjoy yourself now and then!? :) If we knew we were going to die next week - I don't think we're really care about that extra chocolate cake - LIVE people and enjoy what we have in this short time we are given on this planet (of course, that said, please do so within reason - you're not REALLY gonna die next week so try to eat and exercise such that you live for at least the next 20 years ok? ok! :))
The weekend's coming to an end and I still don't feel I got enough accomplished. I didn't write anything and I still have some wedding stuff to iron out. Gotta get it done this week cause next Saturday I have a photo shoot in the city and next Sunday is Easter - family day! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great start to your week! Sweet dreams!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
smiling again
Friday, March 14, 2008
9:36 p.m.
things are so much better. What a difference a couple days make. All feels right with the world again. :)
Important insights I re-gained: the importance of honest communication and of authenticity; of not rushing to get offended or being too sensitive; to always try to be kind and gentle and good in how you deal with others and to ask for it in return in a good way; to understand where the other is coming from, even if you disagree vehemently; to stand up for yourself and your beliefs, even if everyone in the world disagrees with you and to not be beaten down by the disagreement - to acknowledge the disagreement and move on. Life is too short to get caught up in differences of opinions or values.
People are people. There will always be someone who disagrees with how you see things, and, being human, they will tell you so! :) However, it is up to you how to take it. You can take it personally and go on the attack or on the defensive, or you can say 'oh is that how you feel. Well I'm sorry that we disagree' and move on. Again, life is too short to waste on disagreements, plus it ruins friendship and camaraderie.
Oh and one more thing, always acknowledge when you don't know, when you don't understand, and if u need more time to think things over before replying; a rushed response will do much to confuse and will only frustrate you and your questioner when you must later re-explain. Take the time to really formulate your thoughts, to think things through and to be secure in them, and to stand by them unless proven wrong - and to be open to different thoughts and open to being proven wrong. Only a fool thinks he is always right.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
the loss of my fire
Thursday, March 13, 2008
11:14 p.m.
I had forgotten the way I once used to be...has working and being confined to a non-creative career for so many years done this to me? I read over my writings on personal websites tonight...things I had written way back during my last years of college and 1st years of law school - when I was still immersed in creativity 100% and surrounded by academia - and it took seeing my old writings to remind me of the woman I once was and the woman that I imagined myself to be at this point in my life....something upsetting happened to me at work yesterday - compounded by the fact that I was hormonal and MSing - I don't think I would normally have been as upset as I got had it not been for the hormones but it was actually justified - there was, in fact, something fundamentally wrong with the picture....with me...with what I was doing and how I was being....with what I had allowed to occur...something I lost in myself which I used to hold in abundance...when I was sure of myself...happy with my goals and direction....and not...lost and searching as I have been these past few years......
I used to be so sure of myself...so confident...so not of a mind to care what other people thought, what their opinions were.....when did that change? When I began working? When it became important to have the understanding and acceptance of co-workers? While it is important, I feel in conceding to that, I've lost a part of myself I used be very strong about - a fiery belief in myself and my views that paid no deference to another's.....reading through my old writings, it brought back to me in full the person I once was and I was shocked....shocked at how much had changed in me - the loss of my fire.....I guess this is what happens when you are not being true to yourself and following your true path and your true goals...you start to become only a shadow of yourself....
it is hard to hold on to who you are, your ideals and values and self when things go wrong in your life, when you are dealt set-backs and problems and hurts....these things change you - sometimes for the better...sometimes for worse....in many ways I am still the woman I was but along the way, I lost that powerful belief and conviction in myself I used to have....lost that drive to pursue my goals to no end.....I did not imagine I would be a lawyer for this many years (5) and I feel I have not lived up to my own standards as a lawyer because practicing daily as one is not my true calling in life - though I will always pursue law in the realm of human rights and put my degree to use there - my true calling has always been writing & music....and I am unable to work solely on both because I allowed myself to become mired in financial and life situations which do not allow me to break free....and in so doing, I lost that fiery confident part of myself built on following my true self, my true passions & goals....
and that is the difference between the woman I was yesterday and the woman I used to be....the old me would never have let things happen like that....but then again, the old me displayed my anger and temper and was firm about what was acceptable and not. Being the open and good-natured woman I am, I have always been super-friendly and easily personal and in so being, I drew very little lines around the work and the personal. That was my #1 mistake. Even in life, even with this blog and my websites, I've drawn very few lines to distinguish my identity....I have always been an authentic individual - perhaps to my own detriment. I believe you must always be authentic...but the Bible has a wonderful saying:
Matthew 7:6
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
No one I know are dogs or swines - everyone is truly good-hearted, well-meaning individuals; but, whether they are family, friends, co-workers or strangers, every time you are too authentic - to a point you shouldn't be and share things of a private and personal nature with others, you are inviting them to comment....you can argue your mom, friends, etc. shouldn't be critical or judgmental or whatever, but humans are humans - they naturally react - you cannot help how they will be - you can help what you tell them - you can help yourself. You have no one to blame, but yourself, if you allow others into sensitive areas - no matter how well meaning they may be - and are upset by their suggestions, questions or well-meant criticisms.....perhaps they shouldn't be offering their statements/questions to begin with - but that is where you draw the line - you have the voice to use and when you fail, you bring it upon yourself.
The good thing: I can slowly feel the fire I once had returning.....I prayed long and hard and spent hours thinking about my life situation and where I am going.....things may not have worked out as I dreamed or imagined, but I am the wind that must move my own sails....I must be the change I wish to see in this world and in my own life.....I cannot sit and wait for things to happen....after I get married this May, I will need to change my direction. I will leave law practice, entirely. I will start over doing what I love: writing and singing/recording/songwriting. I may be poor as a result but I will be happy and I will have back the me I was once.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Action Needed: Write to NYS Senators to Pass Childrens' Rights Bill
Sunday, March 9, 2008
01:54 a.m.
It's almost 2 a.m. here early Sunday morning (3 a.m. with Daylight Saving Time starting) and I have been working non-stop all through this Saturday, since 1 p.m., on work for the Lawyers' Committee of ECPAT-USA which I chair. This is the lawyers' committee I started last November to help a worthy organization: ECPAT-USA, a large international organization working to end child prostitution, child pornography and child trafficking.
For those unfamiliar with this, over 12 million people (children & adults) are trafficked world-wide for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Thousands of children are kidnapped or sold into forced sexual slavery, children as young as 4 and 5. The U.S. also has this problem. I am fighting to end this.
Right now, my committee and I are working to pass the Safe Harbor Act in New York State. Under the present state of affairs, when law enforcement finds child-prostitutes, they will jail them instead of treating them as child-victims. Often, the trafficking "pimps" will instruct the young girls to lie and say they are over 16 so they will be charged as adults; then, their "pimp" can bail them out. The children are left with no help from the police or from U.S. laws and are forced back into the same state of affairs.
Under the Safe Harbor law, sexually exploited children will no longer be charged with prostitution; they will be placed under local state supervision and be given short-term safe houses where they will get the counseling and medical care they need which they wouldn't receive in jail. The law also provides for long-term housing - important because many child-victims have no homes to return to - and would provide for outreach programs and training for police officers who regularly deal with cases of child prostitution victims, teaching them about verifying the young victims' ages before processing them.
There are some who oppose passage of the bill, such as prosecutors who say the "charge of prostitution" is necessary and crucial to get these children to testify against their pimps and traffickers. However, children who have been victimized and abused (beaten, raped etc) and forced to sell themselves on the street are often in no condition to face their abusers in court. The Safe Harbor Act is necessary to protect these children. Because the Safe Harbor Act would remove prostitution from the list of crimes a teenager could be charged with as a juvenile, it would make it less likely for a young victim to lie about his or her age to avoid jail.
Please write to Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and to NY state Senator Dale M. Volker. I have uploaded a sample letter (created by MISHI FARUQUEE of the Juvenile Justice Coalition) along with addresses at Safe Harbor Act Letter.
With your help, we can help protect victims here in New York of this horrible crime. ECPAT and my committee and many other organizations are working to end this heinous crime in each and every state here in the United States. If you want to help and do legal research and actions for my committee, simply email me.
It's now almost 2 a.m. and I have been working for nearly 13 hours. I need to sleep. I have to head to Brooklyn tomorrow - I am going to the recording studio to work on production on my wedding CD :) It will feel so immensely wonderful to lose myself in creating music now after all this hard work. :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
12:31 p.m.
It's a beautiful rainy Saturday - it's all gray & dark & dismal and it hasn't stopped raining all morning yet. You'd think I'd hate it but I actually love it. On days like this, I get a lot of work done, a lot of writing....something about the dotted window panes, the sound of the wind and rain being dashed against the house - it's all very.....comforting. Especially after you've had gloriously gorgeous sunny days preceding it.....makes you appreciate everything even more. It hit as high as 60 degrees this past week - I spent lunch hour on Thursday walking down Bleeker Street in the beautiful sun - Greenwich Village is truly my most favorite area of the city. I will live there . . . one day :)
Watched Real Housewives of New York City last night and I'm adding that to my list of guilty pleasure reality shows. It's all about these Manhattan socialite housewives, how they live on the upper east-side of Manhattan and vacation in the Hamptons in the summer....fascinating really. Their world seems to be defined by how much money they have, if they had a hospital wing named after them, or donated to this charity or that etc., etc., and about attaining status through wealth.
There's nothing wrong with any of that - people all live their lives differently based on what is important to them - and I am sure the reality show is choosing to showcase the "superficial" aspects of their lives - that's what viewers tune in to watch - to see the glamour and lavish life of NYC socialites - it may not be what life is trulylike for them. I refrain from judging others, their values and lifestyles. If we were born in their shoes and life situations, we'd probably be just like them. Live and let live, and harm none, is what I say.
I'm also fascinated by Keeping up with the Kardashians, and the VH1 seriesScott Baio is 46 & Pregnant and My Fair Brady starring Christopher Knight from the Brady Bunch and his young wife Adrianne Curry (who is so gorgeous).
Spending this rainy Saturday working on wedding-related matters and research for my Lawyers' Committee of ECPAT-USA - a lot to finish up on both, and after I'm done with those, maybe do some writing and see a movie tonight with my sister, Nithi, who's visiting home this weekend; perhaps Vantage Point.
Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! BIG HUGS to Sarah Beth, Marcia, Azure-Kaze, Miyu-chan, Ramona, Lady and Callie.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
American Idol: Carly Smithson for the girls - all the way!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
9:41 p.m.
My god - she is my favorite - Carly Smithson! Tonight's performance of "I Drove All Night" (which is one of my top all favorite songs) was FANTASTIC!!! She won me over and got a 9.9 in my scorebook. I'm her fan. Simon thought the song wasn't good enough for her, but I disagree - she was PERFECT to sing it!!! If you don't watch American Idol here in the U.S., my gosh you should totally be! My former underdog I was rooting for? Kady Malloy? Disappointment. She did not do well enough tonight at all - she'll be out tomorrow and I'm sorry to see her go - she is spunky and fun though her songs really ARE depressing.
I just finished voting and dude - no busy signals! Are people even voting? The first time I voted all I got were busy signals.
As for me, last night after my late dinner get together with Rick's cousins, as I waited to get on the 9:40 p.m. train home, this song came to me - surprising what will come to you as you stare at closed train doors with 50 other people behind you on a platform at Grand Central.
As soon as the doors opened I rushed in, got the single seat to myself and whipped out my notebook and started composing the song coming out of my head. It's called 'I Don't Mind' and sounds like a very folk-pop-country kinda song; it's about the inspirational love between this couple well into their old age who still treasure each other. I've been singing it all day and it was only 3/4 done last night but then when I got on the train home this evening after work, I finished it and, I have to say, I'm really proud of it. It's a different style of song then I normally write. I wrote it from the couple's perspective & so that the every day aspects of their life & interactions showed why they treasured each other.
Normally my songs are full of symbols, metaphors and imagery and I write from a 1st person's point of view; while this song contains imagery & metaphors, it's more...."down to earth"...it's very country-like in how it addresses the very *real* aspects of love. In my head, it was Ricky and me I saw...years from now.
A funny thing: twice the girl sitting across from me on the train looked at me weirdly – I think she could hear me singing softly - I had to, it's the only way I can compose ;) LOL! She musta thought I was some nut ;)
Good news: I don't have to have immediate ear surgery - it can wait until after the wedding & after my music recording & albums are done! :) The doctor I went for a 2nd opinion with today said there's no emergency rush - I *do* need surgery to remove the bone and sensitive lining but I can choose to do that whenever. My 1st ear surgeon doctor still recommends ear surgery now rather than later and feels it's necessary because of how tender the lower lining is & believes something is going on there. I just don't think now is the right time with my music albums in the works & a wedding to finish planning....I'll think it over some more before coming to a final decision. I'll see how the ear drops work and if my ear begins to bother me more.
Lastly, the doctor I saw this morning is located down near Union Square and as I walked from his office back up 18th Street, I was struck by that feeling again...the same feeling I used to get as a kid and when I first came to the city as an adult - the overwhelming feeling of limitless promise, possibility and opportunity and.....excitement. Something I hadn't felt in a while.....I was inspired to write so as soon as lunch-time hit at work, I spent a good 45 minutes straight writing my fantasy faerie series. About 20 minutes into writing it, I got tears in my eyes. I was amazed by my own ability to write and the story that was pouring forth from me.
When you think of a fantasy faerie story, you might think it is fluff/light stuff – you might think “oh it’s for children”, but this story - which I have been working on now for almost a year come this April - is no simple children’s story anymore. No, it is an epic tale that spans over 100 years and tells the tales of tragic love stories and triumphant love. I cannot believe I had this in me all along. I wish I had more time to devote to writing – I just want to sit
and write and write until I can write no more . . . this beloved story of mine, which started out as a simple story of a faerie world based on the woods I live by, has blossomed into an intellectual story harboring details on numerous areas of knowledge. I have had to research things so often that you wouldn’t normally have to do for a simple children’s story. I love it. I love being inspired to create and being ABLE to.
Thank you God for giving me these gifts and allowing me to gain such fulfillment and joy from them. Now only if I can truly achieve success with it and devote my life to it.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
11:06 p.m.
sipping caffeine-free herbal chai tea and wrapped in a warm blanket as I check my email....went tonight to meet Ricky's cousins who live in the city - what an absolutely wonderful, warm and inviting family they were! :) I adored them. It was funny how similar Rick and one of his cousins are - mannerisms, viewpoints, preferences, even the hair! :) It was comforting to see similarities and they made me feel at home.
Went to the ear doctor yesterday and the news is I have to have ear surgery - it's scheduled for March 17th. I have a second opinion early tomorrow morning with another doctor in the city. Apparently, I have cartilage or bone or scar tissue from an earlier ear infection from 6th grade - this became inflamed from my recent ear infection and the lining in the lower ear canal - something's wrong with it - the doctor said he has to get in there and remove it, and put in a skin graft, and then fix the hole in my ear drum. All this 2 months before my wedding. Which is why I want the 2nd opinion - perhaps this can wait until after the wedding. I have another appointment with him Monday - he has me on stronger ear drops to lessen the inflammation and I'll ask him all my questions then. If we're going ahead with it, I have an appointment for a physical right afterwards....I really don't want to do ear surgery - how will I finish recording my music? Guess the bulk of it's got to be done this week/weekend and next week if we go fwd.
I'm back to the drawing board on centerpieces because the candelabras I want - turns out they have to be rented for more than 1 day because of the time they will be out of the warehouse + the cost of shipping - totalled up, it'll be just as expensive as flowers. *sigh* I have to find a new one more locally. Sheesh. Just when I thought I was done, I'm not. Don'tcha just love wedding setbacks. ;) I'm sure I'll look back on all of this one day and shake my head and smile and say 'wedding planning - what a hassle that was - but the end result was totally worth it.' Lord I sure hope so.
Marcia LOL!! :) Can I tell you - your message made me laugh out loud at work when I read it :) You'd be a cool stalker to have :) Happy Tuesday & Wednesday to you, too! *HUGS* :) Sarah Beth you, my dear, are one of my most cherished friends. I adore you. You always say just the right things to cheer me up. *BIG HUGS* I'm so glad you liked the invitations! :) I wish I could see your show on Thursday!! I know it will be fantastic! I know you were doing the sword fighting lessons - sugoi!! :) Over my wedding weekend, can you teach me?
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Monday, March 3, 2008
09:39 a.m.
without fail, every day M-F, someone from work checks my blog - every day. In case you're wondering? I'm at home today because I have doctors' appointments all day. I don't know what you think you'll learn by reading this blog - or if you think I don't know - I have trackers on all my websites which record IP addresses and locations of web visitors - even how they searched on google or yahoo to find my blog - you can't believe how many times I saw people searching for "nishi blog" or "nishi rajan" and where they were searching from (often, right here in NY ;)). This is a public journal and I never write anything personal in here - so if you think you'll find something juicy like gossip or details about my personal life? Forget it. I'm not that foolish. Friends and family read this blog - and I've invited them to do so for 8 years - I would never write anything personal. So if you're reading this at work and think you're doing something to spy on me? Think again - I know who you are and I know exactly what times and how often you check - and I even know that there are 3 people who check my blog almost every day ;) Seriously.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
wedding reception centerpiece selected
Sunday, March 2, 2008
01:40 a.m.
tonight, I spent a good 4+ hours going over the budget for the flowers and decoration of the church and reception hall and the proposal I was given by the florists I visited 2 weeks ago. After a lot of research, I got rid of all the expensive floral centerpieces and have opted, instead, to go with candelabras. The theme for my wedding is "Light the Way" because that is the name of the song I wrote for Ricky years ago and which I had long ago planned to sing for him on our wedding day. The use of candelabras over big floral centerpieces fits much better with my theme. I already planned to rent tall church-pew candelabras to decorate the church with and found perfect 5-branch tabletop candelabras from the same rental site to use at the reception hall's dinner tables! :) This is a helluva lot cheaper and MUCH more gorgeous! :) Below is the centerpiece for my wedding - it will be decorated exactly as pictured but probably with fresh lavender & ivory roses & blossoms:
I found the perfect places to order dripless candles from and even silk rose wreaths that are on the candelabra pictured if the quote from the florist is too high for fresh flowers.
I'm so excited now :) My wedding is cost-effective *and* will be as beautiful as I hoped it to be.
#1 rule when planning a wedding: do your research! :) It really pays off.
It's almost 2 a.m now and I have to get some sleep. I planned to go to Brooklyn tomorrow to record again and work on the music production - hopefully my producer friend didn't forget - and I can meet up with him earlier in the afternoon. Good night all! :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
03:29 p.m.
well that was amazing! I had gone out at 2 p.m. to run outside and the weather was ok - sunny/cloudy with an occasional gusty wind - I was sure I could do my 5 mile run before the temperature dropped from 40 into the 30's. So there I was on my 5th mile - marveling how it was almost spring-like weather when it happened - the sky clouded over and it started snowing like crazy - a snow squall is what they call it - came out of nowhere. I picked up my pace and ran at my top speed for the last 1/3 mile back home - my sunglasses were smeared with snow and my warm fleece jacket was getting soaked from the snow but I kept jogging at top pace. Felt AMAZING to have the cold air rush into my lungs and slightly surreal to have the snow come down so fast and heavy.
Now here I am, 20 minutes later, in my room and the sun is shining again and no snow to speak of. So not fair. But boy was that a fun experience :)
Ricky's postcard from Morocco came in the mail today - he'd posted it around February 16th - he wrote it while sitting on a sea wall in the coastal city of Essaouira - an ancient city once known as Mogador. Gorgeous huh?
I'm going to have some lunch and shower and get started on the rest of my day. Spent the morning cleaning and now the afternoon holds lots of wedding details to work out. Glad I ran when I did - I feel good after it :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Friday night :)
Friday, February 29, 2008
09:33 p.m.
I love unwinding on Fridays....I come home and work out for an hour and a half, take a long hot shower, have dinner with my folks while they watch Idea Star Singer on AsiaNet and then I go up to my room with tea and dessert and watch my recorded episode of Regis & Kelly, see if any good shows are on or pop in an anime series. It's actually been a LONG time since I unwinded like this - seems like every Friday for the past few months has been filed with activities and obligations and must-do's. Feels like heaven to sit in my warm plush robe and plush socks all lotioned up with nothing to do but relax because it's Friday night :) Hope ya'll are having a relaxing Friday night and start to your weekend.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
08:32 p.m.
mmm I'm wearing my favorite powder blue zip hoodie sweater and curled up on my bed drinking tea, having a vanilla cupcake and watching American Idol. Mum's soup tonight was delicious and she made the best piece of fried fish. Worked out for an hour and a half tonight after work and I feel healthy :)
I just left this computer to go back to watching American Idol and I swear - this is why we love *LIVE* reality tv!! My gosh the looks on Kady Malloy's and Alaina Whitaker's faces when Ryan Seacrest said Alaina was going home! PRICELESS! Kady had looked like she'd accepted she was going home and was in total shock. The way poor Alaina got all squeaky - it was sooooo 'glued to the tv' real life drama! And that girl had SUCH a beautiful voice and she was so pretty. I loved Kady Malloy though and didn't want her to get kicked off either. Ugh. I really think that girl Amanda should've gone - the one with the blonde/black streaky hair? I didn't like her song - and I agree with Simon - I'm not a fan of the hair or the outfit...the wrong girl went home tonight. I don't care how many times I have to call - next week I'm gonna keep trying to vote and try to help to make sure my faves stay on the air.
Now who is the 4th guy going home.....it's the rocker-guy with the bandana....man the way the camera guys focus in on the waterworks - sheesh.
Anywayz, I'm out for the night. Have a great one folks!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
NishiandRicky.com - Wedding Website up! :)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
08:35 p.m.
Took me 2 nights worth of work but it's finished :) www.nishiandricky.com It's surprising how even a simple website takes time with all of the content and graphics.
SarahBeth *HUGS* I only saw 1 message babe so don't worry :) but thank you!!! :) *big BIG hugs* :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Hatshepsut Lecture
Monday, February 25, 2008
11:46 p.m.
Attended an archaeology lecture tonight on Hatshepsut, the Pharaoh Queen of Egypt. The speaker was Dr. David Moyer - a PhD in Egyptology who teaches widely and is a special correspondent and columnist for the Egyptology journal: KMT. His lecture tonight focused on the known history of Hatshepsut, the monuments and tombs she built, and the possible discovery of her mummy. Dr. Moyer went through I think 100 slides of various photographs of hieroglyphics which told of the divine birth of Hatshepsut, paintings and statues, excavations of the tombs and even pictures of Moyer himself from his younger days within the tombs. It was absolutely fascinating - especially those portions covering the Egyptian god myths. I've actually studied Hatshepsut extensively before as she was one of those historic figures I found inspirational - you should see the Egyptian section of my library - it's devoted to books on Nefertiti and Hatshepsut ;)
I made a point of attending tonight's lecture not only because of my interest in Hatshepsut, but specifically because I organize and lead a New York City Archaeology meet-up group I formed this past November. I love attending archaeology lectures when I can and was surprised there were no amateur archaeology groups in the city so decided to put one together. My group now has 33 members in just 3 months! :) I got to meet a few of the members tonight and they all loved the lecture as much as I did :) Really sweet people. If you're in the NYC area and are an Archaeology enthusiast, join my New York City Archaeology Meet Up Group. I try to organize some type of event every month.
Before tonight's lecture one of my friends and I went to this really cool spot called 'Cafe Lalo' on 83rd Street between Amsterdam and Broadway - they have delicious food - a great place for brunch and their coffee & tea and cake menu is fantastic!! :)
As I walked back from 76th Street tonight to catch the subway back to Grand Central, the walk along the streets made me miss Ricky. It made me think about the last time he and I walked from the upper west side all the way down.....*sigh* it's only been 2.5 weeks since he left the U.S. but goodddddd it feels like forever......I miss my baby. :( He and I haven't spoken on the phone since February 12th...a full 2 weeks....we've never gone that long without speaking on the phone - even when he visited India we talked every other day or two....I pray he's safe and healthy in Morocco right now...he flies back out tomorrow to London I think...it's not so bad when I'm distracted by work, music and my many interests - but it's when my mind isn't occupied....in those quiet moments....that I become fully aware of how much I miss my Ricky....I love him so much.
*sigh* anyway, I'm off to bed. *HUGS* to all! Hope everyone had a wonderful night - see you tomorrow :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
recorded 5 tracks today
Sunday, February 24, 2008
08:21 p.m.
went to Brooklyn this afternoon and recorded vocals for 5 tracks for my wedding CD - they came out so great! :) I go back next Saturday to work on the music production. I *loved* being back in the recording studio and after almost 2 years of performances, my vocals are in the best shape! I'm amazed how much different this recording session was from when I recorded my 1st demo...I'm so much more confident and my voice naturally reaches such great ranges with very little rehearsal required and I was really happy with how I was able to belt songs out like I wasn't able to the first time I recorded 2 years ago. 2 years really made a difference and I can honestly say I am so proud of myself :)
I'm home now watching the Red Carpet Pre-Show of the Oscars! :) I love the Oscars! :D
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
12:54 a.m.
it's almost 1 a.m. here and my sister Mili and I just got in from a night at the movies. We saw this very good flick called 'Definitely, Maybe' starring Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine and Ryan Reynolds (a fantastic actor who Ricky and I saw on the subway here a couple years ago). The movie was *funny* and *good* - so well written and well acted - it kept you guessing and thinking - it also starred Isla Fischer and Rachel Weisz who did such amazing jobs in it. If you love intelligent & funny romantic comedies starring high caliber actors, put 'Definitely, Maybe' high on your movie list.
On the drive back to our home, we took a side street and the second I got home I sent Ricky an email describing it because it was so beautiful - the roads were all cleared from the 8" of snow we'd gotten Friday, so they looked all dark black as if they had been re-paved. But everywhere else, on the trees, the ground - covered with snow - and the moon tonight was full and bright. The effect was like being surrounded by dark black night illuminated by the moon and snow....gorgeous. I wished I could've showed Ricky that - it looked magical.
He wrote me that the sands in the desert are red - I'm sure that was magical! Especially the nights he spent there riding a camel and watching the stars come up. He's in Fez now in Morocco - Fez is famed for its street markets - hope he's picking me up some pretty moroccan dresses! :) He said he mailed me postcards - can't wait to get them!
Spent the day with Mili doing a lot of wedding planning and wedding organization.....I also finished working on NishiandRicky.com - our wedding website - it will be *LIVE* hopefully next week. I should be going to the studio tomorrow to record but my producer friend hasn't gotten back to me about what time. We shall see.
Azure Kaze I know Ayumi Hamasaki very well, I have almost all her albums on mp3. I love artists who write from their hearts :) Callie I support Hillary :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Friday, February 22, 2008
09:40 a.m.
oh my god it is phenomenally beautiful. snow has been falling here since 2 a.m. last night. When I woke up this morning we had over 3.5" on the ground and it was steadily falling with no end in sight. Unfortunately the roads were a mess and I saw a plow going by only once after 7 a.m. and the snow built up again. My dad and I still haven't shoveled because the snow is falling too heavily and it's just a mess. I called in to work which, surprisingly, did not even have a delayed opening and did not close. This is the first really heavy snowfall of the season and it should have closed. It's not safe to travel in this weather - there've already been many accidents this morning. I'm positive work will let out early today which defeats the purpose because they shouldn't make people commute in bad weather, dismiss early, and then have them commute back in bad weather. Weather forecasters initially said we'd get 3-6" and now they've uped it to 6-10" - in the past 2 hours the snow has built up to 5+ inches outside my home. I'm waiting for my dad to say it's time to shovel - I don't want it to build up too high before we get out there. The snow just keeps falling - so gorgeous - reminds me of winters in college at Binghamton University where it snowed almost all the time. I don't feel good inside about not going to work though - when I called 3 of my colleagues in my department had made it in - one from New Jersey and 2 who take the subway in - I may not feel good about it but I know I made the right decision - in heavy snow like this, it's just not safe to travel. I'll take a day no-pay then risk my dad's and my safety or riding in a cab to the station (a cab, by the way, which may or may not come for hours when cabbies often don't show up to work in weather like this) - and then they'll let us out early and I'll still have a tough time coming home cause pop won't drive in bad weather and there won't BE any cabs. No, forget it. I made the right decision. If I lived in the city and could commute in on the subway, I would. I live north of the city in westchester county - I shouldn't feel bad.
I took pictures of the snow in my backyard but my digital camera isn't capturing how heavy the snow is falling - if you could see how the world outside is just completely white with heavy falling snowflakes everywhere you'd be amazed. I feel like it's falling even heavier now - I can't remember the last time I saw snow fall like this in recent years. I think I'm going to tell papa to have us shovel now - I don't want the sleet this evening to go on top of 6-10" of snow.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
new song: If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
Thursday, February 21, 2008
10:44 p.m.
I was in our office cafeteria today, heating up a really delicious cup of coffee I sometimes buy from Akeem, the coffee-cart guy outside of our building (he makes realllly great coffee). As it sat in the microwave, I walked over to one of the large windows and watched the people miles below, walking, totally unaware of my eyes upon them far above. I think I was feeling melancholy - combination of hormones and I was missing Ricky. As I looked out the window at this partly sunny-cloudy world of New Yorkers miles below me, I started singing the words 'if I ever lose my faith in you' - those words, I know, are the main chorus of some gorgeous song I grew up listening to, but the melody and words I was composing in my head sounded nothing like that song.
Tonight, I finished composing this new song but it bugged me that the words 'if I ever lose my faith in you' were already such famous words and I wanted to know who it was that sung that song the words were in. So I just googled those words and it's STING! You can't get more famous than that (well, maybe Madonna or Michale Jackson). I watched his video now and *whew* it is NOTHING like my song (thank God). I also saw on google that Natalie Cole had a title song like that too and checked it out, but it's just her version of the Sting song - again, doesn't sound like anything I composed - double thank God!
As artists and songwriters, you always have to be careful about protecting your music and lyrics and making sure that you are not knowingly or even unknowingly copying someone else's song. Being a lawyer, I doubly make sure that when I write - anything - that it's original and solely from my mind and not similar to something I may have heard growing up. That could be tough, when you think about it, because all music has - in some way - been borrowed from music before it. It's an artist's job, then, to ensure their material is significantly different and original in origin. I believe, above all, an artist must be true to themselves. It takes purity of heart and spirit to sing meaningful music - it all comes from your soul.
My song is really slow and sad...it's depressing kind of. It's not from my personal point of view at all because the words I composed show a girl (or guy) who is so deeply obsessed in love he/she can imagine nothing beyond the person he/she is in love with; he/she is highly insecure and does not have strength in their own being but has made the object of their love their entire world. The character believes if they are caused to lose faith in their beloved, that their whole world would shatter and their heart would stop. Exaggeration. If I ever met a girl or guy like that in real life I'd probably slap them silly and tell them there's more to life than believing their relationship is the be-all and end-all. I'd probably take them to the most devastated portions of the world and show them how horribly people are being treated (raped, abused, murdered) in places like Kenya. Or show them how children as young as 4 or 5 are being kidnapped, victimized and sexually exploited. Then they would see there are much bigger things out there to care about than the loss of a failed relationship.
I pride myself on never letting anything or anyone consume me with that kind obsessiveness that you lose your own strength of being and objective view of the world in the process; but, I do remember a time in my life when I was so in love with my first love that when he and I broke up, I was so devastated I couldn't imagine how the world could be without us together. However, I'm made of tough stuff and am a strong woman. Obviously, I grew and matured from that experience into the woman I am now - there's nothing like going through the school of hard knocks and love shocks to help you grow up - but I am certain all of us, at one time or another, experienced *something* like these feelings. I think the melancholy mood I was in combined with the cloudy view of New York below me brought the words out and the melody and sad song. As I re-read it now, it really is SAD...good God I hope years from now no one tries to interpret it as something *I* was actually feeling - from my own words right here - that is NOT the case! :)
It's late now - almost midnight and I sat down to write this entry at a quarter to 11.
Watched American Idol tonight - was surprised that Colton was kicked out so early - he was a fantastic singer. The others - well, they just didn't sing their best on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's a competition - when you compete, you have to bring your best every single time. It's sad actually because when I think about singing, it's not a competition to me - it's about singing from your heart and soul what really matters to you - regardless of whether you "win".
Anywayz, I'm off to bed. Supposed to snow 3"-6" now they say. We'll see.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
11:52 p.m.
met with my new photographer for my CD today at lunch - really cool guy named Sam who's spent years as a professional photographer taking photos of actors and models - his entire history was interesting to me and he had some pretty impressive stories. His studio's just 5 blocks and 1 avenue away from where I work. I got a really good feeling from him and I'm looking fwd to working with him.
Haven't heard from Ricky since last Thursday and I'm sad :( I really miss him. He and I have rarely gone 24 hours without talking to each other....plus, last he wrote, he said he was going to the Sahara and I don't even know when he's coming back to Morocco after it. Where ever he is, I hope my darling is safe and healthy and fine. *MWAH* I love you. I wish he'd get back to a computer or phone already - I so badly want to hear his voice.
I should be in bed and asleep right now but I'm feeling kind of down....not about Ricky....just life.....I want so much for things to work out the way I dream...it's not something I can write about here...too personal....something better for me to pray to God about....though I have been praying and I don't know when, if ever, I'll get the answers I seek.
anywayz, I'll go to bed now. *HUGS* to all.
Oh but before I go, wanted to share with you all a fantastic article from today's Science section of the New York Times (I always pick up the Tuesday Times because of the Science section). What People Owe Fish: A Lot - this is an article on how our human body evolved from a fish-like form in water. Scientists have long told us that all life formed in the ocean and that the precursors of human beings were aquatic mammals who left the water and migrated to land and evolved there. This article furthers that information. Highly interesting.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
President's Day Off
Monday, February 18, 2008
11:18 p.m.
what a wonderful President's Day holiday-off I had. I woke up semi-early around 8 a.m. and phoned my friend who is going to be producing my wedding CD and learned that he was too sick today to record so we canceled today's session and re-scheduled for this Saturday. Worked out perfectly because I was thinking to myself what a waste of a Monday it would be to spend 5 hours of travel time round-trip to Brooklyn to record for an hour or two - all because it's a Monday holiday and the trains only run hourly.
Today was *gloriously* WARM - it hit 62 degrees at LEAST and when I went jogging later in the morning, I was sweating so much I wished I hadn't worn my fleece jacket. It had been raining all night and promised to rain throughout the day but the sun broke through several times before clouding over and pouring. I got lucky when I jogged.
Happy that I could spend my Monday off at home, I went downstairs and made breakfast for Papa and mummy - sunny-side up eggs on whole-wheat english muffins garnished with bay leaves, a fruit salad of apples and red seedless grapes and chai tea. We watched Regis & Kelly and read the morning paper. Afterwards, I went upstairs and worked on my wedding registry and at 11:00 a.m. headed outside to jog 5 miles and had an awesome run. The weather was just wonderful and the lake had so many ducks and geese upon it - don't those guys ever head south for the winter?
Came back and stretched and did all my strengthening and toning exercises, hit the shower and when I came out, the sun had broke through the rain clouds and I made myself a spinach salad with blackberries, blueberries, oranges and almonds and got the lounge chair and table from the garage and set them up on the deck outside. I lounged on the deck with my new issue of Allure magazine and my salad lunch and felt like I was enjoying a late-spring day before the wind started picking up and I headed inside. Felt soooooo good to lounge & relax on the deck with a magazine like I had over the summer - can't WAIT for the warm weather to come back!
After papa came home tonight, he, mummy and I went to visit our church's priest who will be conducting my wedding ceremony. Our priest has been our church's official priest for most of its existence and he's seen me grow up since I was 7 or 8 years old - he's like family to us. I didn't want anyone but him to conduct my wedding ceremony and what's great is that his son, who is studying to be a deacon, will also be the deacon at my wedding :) His son is also a friend from childhood so I'm really happy. We worked out the details on the service and rehearsal dinner and everything - was really nice to speak to them and hang out with them at their home.
After we came back home at 8, mum made delicious pumpkin curry for dinner with this 'pyrih' thing in it - tasted SOOOOOO good. We sat and watched Deal or No Deal - papa wants my sisters and I to help him make a video to submit to the show - he really wants to be a contestant and try for the million-dollar prize....my sisters and I are like "oh god, if papa does this we will be so embarrassed" but papa is insisting and says this is what he wants for Father's Day. Ugh. Looks like we're helping pop get on Deal or No Deal this June...
I just finished painting my nails and am waiting for them to dry before I get into bed. Tomorrow at lunch I meet with my new photographer for my album - I don't have any concepts to show him but hopefully I can send him some things later. We'll be doing my album photo shoot sometime in March.
ok people - I hope you all had an awesome weekend and if you're here in the States, had President's Day off and had as nice a day as I did. Good night and sleep tight!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
what a difference a day makes :)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
11:29 p.m.
I feel so much better today :) Back to my normal kick-ass mode ;) Now that I know my correct dress is being ordered and custom fit to my measurements I feel a LOT better. I have my fitting in another 3 weeks and if they don't have my right dress or show even one ounce of disrespect to me then, I'll kill them. Slept in till almost 11 a.m. and had breakfast with mummy and Mekha - omelettes, buttered cinnamon-raisin toast, a banana and chai tea - and read the Sunday paper. Rest of the day was spent putting all my invitations together. I read over my entry from yesterday and had to smile at myself for my PMSy hormonal emotionalness ;) I'm pretty sure now that had this happened to me today or tomorrow I probably would have snapped the owner's face in two. Lucky for her it was yesterday and I was in my hormonal 'deferring' sweet mode. Even laughed when I read about how I wished I had stood up for myself - most friends who read this know that I can be quite stubborn and willful and will not take crap from anyone unless I want to get something out of it or really couldn't care less. I'm actually surprised, myself, by why I wrote. What a difference a day makes, indeed.
It's 11:30 almost here and tomorrow I make my way into Brooklyn to record my wedding CD - and as many songs as I think I can. Looking fwd to this. I should probably just go with 4-5 songs for now. It's President's Day tomorrow - a holiday here - and we have the day off from work.
Sarah Beth thank you for your wonderful message. *BIG HUGS* When I read about your experience it made me feel so much better. Really - thank you. :) I messaged you on IM - I should've tried to call you tonight - agh, maybe I can try tomorrow and we can catch up? I haven't spoken to you over the phone in so long! :) Hana-chan I got your email at gmail *BIG HUGS* I laughed and smiled when I read your wonderful email - your righteous anger cheered me up. Thank you! :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
an almost wedding dress *catastrophe*!!!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
10:16 p.m.
oh. my. god. I practically had an emotional breakdown tonight.
I called the place I ordered my wedding dress from today to ask them about re-scheduling my fitting because I am planning to lose a little weight and don't want to be fitted too early.
When I phoned they could not find me in their system. They could not find my order. Asked me if I could describe what my dress looked like - how could I do that? Strapless? Ivory? Lace? Aren't they all like that? They were supposed to have my dress in *January* which is when the owner told me to first come in for a fitting. January? When my wedding is in May? And they don't have ANY information about me or my dress now in February? Um...ok - raised eyebrows here.
I faxed them my copy of the Order which identified my dress as a 'Bella Linda'. When I phoned back they gave me some explanation that they had mispelled my name as 'Rayan' instead of 'Rajan' - ok, whatever - maybe that's their excuse or an honest mess-up on their part but they're a professional bridal salon that tons of brides go to - they should have things written down correctly - especially my freakin' NAME - but ok, whatever - I'll overlook all this. But then they want me to come in because she wants to re-measure me in case I lost a LOT of weight. I hadn't. But, ok. Fine. When we originally placed the order she said it could always be adjusted no matter if I lost weight - so now I'm thinking they actually LOST/MISPLACED my order and NEVER-ORDERED my dress and only NOW realized it when I phoned to re-schedule the fitting.
I get to the store, they put "the dress" they had purportedly ordered on me and I take one look at myself in the mirror and my face literally *fell* - I was like 'umm...is this really my dress from last August?' I was suspicious from the loss of my name/order. Mekha was like 'yeah chech, I thought this was one of those you tried on - it looks beautiful on you." But I looked at myself again - beautiful, yes, and it did look like the dress I tried on last August - one of them - but, no, this was *not* the dress that made me go 'oh my god, this is the dress!' This looked more like the "close 3rd" of the 3 dresses I had narrowed my choices down to. Had I really chosen this dress? Was my memory faulty? Maybe this was the 'oh my god' dress?
So I tell Mekha and the owner that this might not be my dress - that the wrong one may have been saved as my selection. I tell the owner that "if I remember correctly, the dress was more golden ivory...this is ivory but not golden...and it had a lot more stuff on the front (beading/lace, whatever, I couldn't tell - I'm not a wedding dress professional) and maybe this 'bella linda' wasn't the right dress," I said.
Do you know what the owner said to me? She insisted THAT was the dress: 'that's a bella linda, I know my dresses.' She then told one of the girls who worked there to bring in another dress I had tried on that day back in August and have me try it on until my face didn't look the way it did. Yeah. She actually said that.
However, even after trying that on and comparing, I was still upset and unconvinced that this had been that same dress that brought tears to my eyes. She said the underlay for the dress may have been yellow and the underlay for this was soft ivory so in 2-3 weeks she'd have that dress in with a different underlay and I could come in and get fitted. The yellow underlay would make all the difference with the lace and would show this was the dress I had selected last August. With a lot of trepidation and doubt, I agreed , hoping she was right....
The overall experience was awful. Her manner was so...rude and bitchy...and I was so gracious, kind and sweet - I chose to be nice because, goddammit, this was the wedding dress I had already f'n paid for and it was a non-refundable deposit! I would gain nothing by becoming angry, upset & mean and I know by experience that remaining sweet and kind and respectful - even if you are not being treated so - will bring better results in the long run. Especially here where I couldn't be sure that this wasn't the dress.
So I deferred to her "expertise" and even gave the woman a hug and told her 'thank you, I am counting on you.' But inside, I was truly trembling with fear. I was terrified that the dress I had just put on - even with a yellow underlay - was not the dress I had fallen in love with - and was certainly not the dress I wanted to wear on my wedding day - how could I pay all that money and stand there on my wedding day with a dress I was no longer happy with? How could THAT be the dress I had chosen? And this woman was so insistent it was the right dress and I was too scared to say otherwise since I wasn't 100% positive it wasn't!
Mekha and I walked out of the store and Mek promptly said 'I hate her - she was such a bitch. She was so rude. She is a bitch.' I, however, true to my nature, came up with excuses for her behavior - maybe I insulted her by suggesting she had not picked out the right bella linda dress. But Mek was like 'chech, you are being blind to her rudeness and you are just too nice.' She's right.
I started crying. Mek and I went to a coffee shop and I got a soy chai latte and a hot cocoa for mek and cried into tissues - scared about my dress. Mek did her best to cheer me up but I was completely depressed the whole ride home. We got home and I didn't say a word to my parents about the possible dress mishap. If I told them, they would only yell and get mad and stress me out.
Instead, Mek and I went on the computer and decided to try and find a picture of my dress. It was then that I remembered I had written down in my diary that it was a dress by Italian designer Pronovias and recalled that it was the 'IDEAL' dress. Thank GOD I write things down in my diary! We found the dress!!! The owner of that store was completely wrong. You know your dresses? Like hell you do. You do NOT know and botched my damn dress order up and gave me stress when I did not need it. And I 'kow-towed' to you. I could kick myself for being as nice as I had been.
I called the place back and told her now it was an 'Ideal' design dress by Italian designer Pronovias and she did a number check to see if the "numbers had been transposed" and whadya know - she told me 'you're right...it was the Ideal...Ah! Thank goodness you found it! Sorry you had to come in all that way' That's what she said! I felt like saying 'Yeah - no thanks to you bitch for making me feel 2 inches tall and being so rude to me"
But ya know what? I have no one to blame for that but myself. I put up with her shitty behavior to me because all I could think about was ensuring the dress I fell in love with would be there. I had *trusted* that place to have gotten my order right. I should never have trusted them. In fact, Mekha and I found the dress online being sold for $600 LESS than what I am paying for it. That day in August that woman 'sold me' on the dress with her haughty rude behavior and insisting I would never find a dress like that anywhere else for the price she quoted with alterations and a veil thrown in. Alterations and a veil would never amount to nearly $600 in difference! I wish I had known! ARRGHHHHHHH I am SUCH an IDIOTTTTTTTTTT.
I was such a god damn PUSH OVER in front of her. I should've trusted myself more and I shouldn't have put up with her rude behavior. I am so *infuriated* with myself for not giving her a "dose" as my mom says - my mom is QUICK TONGUED - she will give you a good lashing like you wouldn't believe....I wish I had done that tonight but was too scared over my dress to do so. Besides, although I do have a temper and will tell someone off when I have to, I'm more someone who will try to get along with everyone, be harmonious and willfully over-look people's flaws because I believe in focusing on the good in people and getting to the common goal. But in doing so, I find that I *will* choose to put up with less-than perfect treatment unless someone REALLY wrongs me - in which case I let them have it. That's the one thing I sometimes wish I could change about myself - I wish I wouldn't choose to put up with anyone's rudeness or disrespectfulness and wouldn't always overlook those things.
But I *do* believe very little is gained by being rude or mean back. You have to be a skillful negotiator and a shrewdly nice person. If I had yelled at that woman, who knows what would have happened regarding the design and fitting of my dress. I may have had to start the dress search all over again and might have lost all or most of my deposit on the dress. I didn't stand up enough for myself today when I should have but it worked out - I kept the woman's good will even though she has none of mine. Well today I was moody and hormonal because my time of month just ended so my hormones are in that 'dipping low' stage so I'm liable to cry at turns and then erupt into anger the next and just be much more emotional.
Ugh. Right now I really want to strangle and punch and violently break something. hahahahah :) reading back on this entry now made me laugh :)
My supervisor at work is right - I should just elope - all this damn wedding hassle - who needs it! When I think about how much money is being spent on food, decorations, music & entertainment, my dress, invitations and all this stuff - for ONE day people.....
I hope I look back on this entry tomorrow - or monday - or next Saturday - and be a lot more calmer, rational, and less hormonal and laugh at my emotional venting. I really have been looking forward to my wedding and was just finally getting truly excited about being a bride but I feel like so many things are not working out - the bachelorette party to Miami we had been planning - most likely not happening because the flights come back too late on a Sunday night and the hotel/flight package I found on priceline is $471 which is expensive for my sisters. I obviously didn't tell my sisters I was crushed about that because I'm not selfish and I don't believe my sisters should pay that much money and take that much time if they can't afford it - but I really am crushed about it. This is like my ONLY bachelorette party EVER and I just want to enjoy and have the things any other bride should normally get. *sigh*
I really understand now why they say weddings can be so stressful. I pride myself on not being a very stressful person and being a 'go with the flow' and 'don't make a big deal' kind of girl. But this thing with my dress (and probably being all hormonal) seriously made me question why the hell I'm having a wedding - the aggravations that arise make you question whether it's worth it.
I just hope my wedding and everything leading up to it will be as good as I hope and imagine it to be....when I see the wedding salon again for my fitting I will not put up with rude behavior. Maybe I'll take my mom with me. ;)
I cursed a lot in this entry before editing it ;) just shows you how angry I am because I only curse when I'm upset.
Mek and I visited 3 florists' shops today and found some competitive rates - some places sent me back WAY overpriced quotes. Good lord $5,100! NO WAY. Another place was able to get us $1890. And another one I'm waiting on......
I am going to bed early tonight. I need a good long rest after the day I had. Good night folks.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Friday, February 15, 2008
11:17 p.m.
very few things beat the sensational feeling of passing a New York City store window on your way to work and finding a gorgeous dress that makes you do a double take and then racing back to the store after work to see if the dress is still there (because this NYC store you passed is actually a super trendy and very tiny boutique by Bryant Park you've visited before and found amazing dresses which all sell-out like *hot cakes* and if you don't buy what you like the same day you saw it, you won't find it tomorrow) and scoring the dress you coveted in its last size small right off the mannequin!
You cannot imagine how happy I was. It's a gorgeous black-blue flowy dress with long black ties that tie in the back and I feel like an absolute princess in it and it is made by the Los Angeles clothing company Ya Los Angeles and only cost $58! A very small price to pay for a gorgeous dress that makes you feel THIS good! :) ANNNDDDD to get the LAST size small straight from the mannequin!!! Icing on the cake!!! They only had larges left!!!
I won't even mention the store because it's already quite popular among people in the know who walk down that very popular street and I swear there have been millions of times I've seen a gorgeous dress in their store window and gone back later that week only to learn that it sold out or they don't have my size and I should've come in earlier. I was determined not to let that happen again this time.
If I could afford it I'd stop in there every 3 days. Seriously. No joke. The clothes in there are just that pretty & fun and very *now* :)
We got out of work early at 3 p.m. today as normal for our company's wonderful tradition of treating its employees to early dismissal on Fridays before long weekends. I love where I work :) Good people and you get out early for snow and long weekends! :D That's why I was able to rush back and get the last size small from the mannequin ;) WOO HOO! :)
Papa picked me up from the train station and because it was such a warm nice day (we got up to 48-52 for February) and the sun was still out, I decided to run 5 miles around the lake from 4:30 to 5:30. This combined with the 2 miles total I walked to and from work back to Grand Central and I did a really good day of exercise :) Was beautiful to watch the sun set and twilight arrive on a warm winter day in February! :)
Spent the rest of the evening doing laundry, cleaning my room and helping mum wash dishes before reading Vogue and having a delicious dinner of salmon curry, rice and spinach with my folks, a small glass of red wine, and dessert of oranges and boston cream pie-cake. I am stuffed now and hope I didn't cancel out all the exercise benefits ;)
Just got out of a long hot shower and am going to settle in to bed. Mekha came home tonight and she and I are doing the wedding florist hunt tomorrow beginning at 8:30 in the morning! So early but I've got a LOT of florists to hit. She and I stayed up for a bit now gossiping and catching up on each other's lives. :)
This has been a great start to the 3-day weekend :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Happy Valentine's Day
Thursday, February 14, 2008
06:55 p.m.
I'll keep this a short post today - hope everyone who's celebrating Valentine's Day has lots of chocolates, flowers and happiness and much love throughout the rest of the year! Remember, Valentine's Day shouldn't be the only day you tell those you love how much you care about them - it should be something you do every day. :)
"Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart." ~Author Unknown
The one below applies to me and Ricky :)
"Love is missing someone whenever you're apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you're close in heart." ~Kay Knudsen
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
10:49 p.m.
my pen pal in Japan ("e-pal" really ;)) sent me all these gorgeous Japanese songs from anime albums and they are just making my good mood soar! :) Currently playing on my winamp: Itsuka Tokero Namida by the group SAVAGE GENIUS from the anime UTA-KATA (its ending theme song) - you can watch episodes of it on YouTube or CrunchyRoll.com <-- best site to watch anime - simply register for a free account. Here I've posted the 1st part of episode 1 of UTA-KATA - it's a very good anime although the ending is sooooo sad :(
Ricky wrote me from Morocco and his email was so beautiful - my darling is in love with Morocco now - its ancient markets, its spice-coloured rooftop terraces which he had breakfast upon this morning and has made friends with a bunch of fellow backpackers with w hom he had an amazing night and dinner with. I can't wait to go there myself one day.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! :) What're you all doing and how're you celebrating? I responded to all messages in the entries below.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
home early from work because of snow - gonna make it a cocoa & movie night!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
05:12 p.m.
I love this! I love this! It's snowing!! :) We got out early from work because of the snow and my dad was able to pick me up from the train station - he arrived early and even bought coffee to wait for me :) he's the best! here's a shot of our road leading home:
and now I'm sitting in my room watching the snow fall gorgeously. The lake is covered in it....so pretty to see it frozen with snow on top....night is falling and it all looks so gosh darn peaceful :)
Rick called me again today before boarding his plane at London's Heathrow airport to go to Morocco - said he heard what sounded like every language from Japanese to Hindi to Moroccan - he heard the word Shukhra (which means thank you). :)
5:15...I'm going to take advantage of being home early and go downstairs and work out good! :) but lemme just watch the snow fall for a little bit longer....one of my favorite things about winter is when it snows and watching it fall so softly all around while you're warm inside drinking a steaming hot mug of cocoa :) Think I'll do that tonight - cocoa and movie night! :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
cold monday, preparing for valentine's day & etc.
Monday, February 11, 2008
07:16 a.m.
when I sat in front of this computer this morning, first thing I noticed was the temperature displayed on my desktop 'weatherbug' program: 9 degrees.
It is in the single digits outside and promises to be a fiercely cold day with wind gusts up to 30 m.p.h. This is definitely a bundle up in hat, scarves, gloves & mittens and slather on the protective lotions and creams day. Bet the heat will be blasting at work today.
The temperature just dropped to 8 degrees. Good God.
Updated at 11:15 p.m. below
There I was in the middle of my lunch hour at Duane Reade shopping for valentine's cards to mail the members of my usagi and mamoru mailing list (I'm doing a valentine's exchange thing for the members of usagiandmamoru.com) and *MY* valentine phones :)
I was so surprised and so very happy! I kept getting 'unknown ID' calling my cellphone and I never pick those up but after the 3rd one I decided to and it was my love :)
We were like giddy school kids saying 'hiiii, hiiiiii' over and over :) LOL! he told me so much more about the things he's seen in London & Oxford, he says the coffee and tea are like nothing he's ever had before, the food is so delicious (but expensive), that the people there at Oxford are so well dressed and that it's not like in the U.S. in that he has to search hard to find someone who's not dressed well...he and his friend Paul climbed some medieval tower....he went to Hyde Park and the way he described his visit - he just sounded so happy and at peace - something I haven't heard in his voice in ages and I am SO HAPPY FOR HIM!!! :) We talked on my cell for a half hour or so and it totally made me happy - I feel satisfied now...he leaves tomorrow for Morocco! :)
Worked out tonight for 1 hour & 45 minutes doing incline training on the treadmill and then doing toning exercises all over for 45 minutes...I felt so good after that....came upstairs and had a cup of skim milk (helps replace the carbs/protein used in my workout and gives me sustained energy) and went and took a good long hot shower and then came down and enjoyed a dinner of my mom's shrimp curry and fresh sauteed broccoli like only mummy can make taste good and dessert of oranges and blackberries. I treated myself now to a chocolate heart candy I bought at the store.
I'm very content right now. I wrote out the valentine's cards for the UMML members and put 3 chocolate candies apiece in them - the cards look so pretty with their red envelopes....and I just sent my friend Yumi in Japan Roche chocolates from JapanFlorist.com! :) She'll be so surprised to receive valentine's chocolates from her pen pal in New York! :) Valentine's Day can be a really fun holiday if you make it so, I believe :)
Azure Kaze happy belated birthday to you too! :) I always love meeting fellow Aquarians! :) Marcia flip-flops and soft jeans? your weather sounds so nice! >_< so not fairrrrrr and you're just rubbin' it in ain'tcha! :) LOL! :) I stood SHIVERING in my scarf, gloves, hat and coat this morning on the train platform and you were flip-flopping down the street - ugh! I HATE THE COLD. ARGGHHHHH. I know how you feel about crying when you miss a call from your love! When Ricky was in India for 3 weeks 2 years ago, I *SOBBED* when I missed one of his phone calls. LOL! I think I was a bit hormonal from my time of month too ;) Your brother-in-law, meanwhile, sounds like someone I'd like to beat up!! Grrr..he was trampling on your poor heart - the insensitive beefhead! Sina's mom must love you! :) I'm so glad you like the layout!! Took me 2 whole NIGHTS to do this layout - so complicated to get the editing and graphics right and then the layout itself was a pain because I didn't like how I was placing anything. But I'm happy now with how it turned out :) awwwwwwwwww dragging Sina through Sephora sounds so CUUUTTEEEEEEE! He got you make up remover!! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW :) Seriously that is high on the cute scale ;) LOL! :) *HUGS* reading your comment earlier today (before Rick called me at lunch) made me feel so much better. It helps having a friend who's gone through similar things and understands how you feel - thank you for that :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
08:47 a.m.
I was deep in sleep dreaming strange things when the phone in my room rang at 8:18 a.m. this morning. Immediately, I grabbed the phone because I thought it might be Ricky, answered and heard my DAD's voice. Confused, I asked 'Papa?' and he said 'Yeah someone's trying to call the fax line this early.' The phone in my room is one of 2 connected to papa's outgoing business/fax line and he had picked up the other house phone that also connects to the fax. Then, amidst our conversation, I hear 'Nishi' and it's Ricky voice!! :D Papa goes 'oh! ok!' and hangs up quickly :) HAHAHAHA.
Ricky and I proceed to exchange a whole slew of hello's and hi's :) His voice sounded like heaven :) He is loving Oxford, England and is really taken in by the centuries of history it has witnessed. He was in London yesterday and saw Westminister Abbey and attended services there - told me how in AWE he was over the fact that here he was inside this place in which Newton and Darwin and Kings & Queens were buried....he told me about Oxford University - how it's a city of colleges all run by that central administration....
In the background I could hear the noises of Oxford and we switched after 5 minutes to SKYPE and talked there where the connection was crystal clear (and the call free) - told me about lunch in chinatown in London where they too were celebrating the Year of the Rat and about his view of the cobblestone streets and shops and how everything was so expensive.....unfortunately, the call had to end too soon, and I didn't like saying bye to my baby because it's like you don't know when you'll get to talk to each other again - only when a computer connection enables him to....he'll have a mobile phone on him in Morocco but that can get expensive and you want to save the money in case of emergencies. The 'not knowing' is the sucky part but hey, when you DO get that call, it makes it all the more sweeter :)
it's 9 a.m. now and I had planned to go to Chinatown for the Lunar New Year Parade but my friends don't have classes today so they won't be in chinatown and not enough people rsvp'd for my group's outing and, as this is a very windy day where they're predicting snow and rain, I emailed the members and decided it was not a good idea to head out to Chinatown for a small showing of people.
The wind is very strong and it's very cloudy. It's blustery and the winds will get as high as 45 m.p.h.....indeed, the trees outside are shaking pretty forcefully. I'm going to make some coffee, read the paper and sit down and write...my fantasy strories are calling out to me, begging to be worked on :) Think I'll watch some anime today too! :D
I just read my horoscope for Aquarius today. It says:
Aquarius - February 10, 2008: Some vast upheavals in your career could take you by surprise, dear Aquarius, but it's apt to make a very positive difference for you. Your public standing and your income could both skyrocket. Legal papers might be involved in some way. This may be so sudden that it has you in a daze, but try to remain focused and go with the flow. You won't want this opportunity to pass you by.
I laughed when I read that because I was like "yeah right, unless that predicts that someone is going to swoop down and offer me a record deal and be my manager and turn me into an Indian-American pop star ;) *shakes head laughing* :) I love astrology but even I have grown disillusioned over time with its promises of success ;) I believe success is earned and I have worked hard for everything i have obtained thus far in life and I continue to work hard for it. Musical success may come but I want to put in the time and energy necessary to make my songs powerful and beautiful and really move the world with them.
Ok I'm off and - look at that - the sun came out! What gives? :) No complaints here :)
before I go, I want to respond to the messages I have received from you dear friends and readers:
Azure Kaze aww you're such a sweetheart! Thank you for your birthday wishes! And yes Ricky knows how to ice skate and he also sky dives, rock climbs, knows how to use a rifle and other weapons from his time as a sargeant in the singapore army and many other things :) How has your week been? As I recall, you're an Aquarius too - when is your birthday? *HUGS* :) Sarah Beth thank youuuuuuuuuuuu *HUGGGGGGGGGGGG* SB the bachelorette party in Miami may not be going forward - it may be here in New York instead - when we tried to search and book for tickets they were too expensive for the limited time it offered. I or my sisters will email you more info before month's end. *BIG HUGS* how are YOU? How's Pat? Let's talk online soon. Marcia thank you for the birthday wishes!!! :) And I really did enjoy my time with Ricky before he left. How are you and Sina? What's new on your end?
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
non-stop planning
Saturday, February 9, 2008
4:06 p.m.
Updated at 7:07 p.m. below
spent the morning making appointments with local florists - I'll be seeing them next Saturday from 8:30 a.m. through 3 p.m. and then going for my first dress fitting at 5 p.m. Saturday is going to be one crazy long day for me but one of my sisters, Mekha, will be coming with me the whole day so it'll be fun :D I'll treat her to a nice lunch or dinner. At night, she and I are going to see a DJ perform at the Crowne Plaza and evaluate him as a potential DJ for my wedding.
Next weekend is also the invitation weekend - when we write, stuff and seal all the invitations and mail them out. Good God. I'm really getting married! @_@
As for this weekend - I plan to take my anime group to chinatown tomorrow for the Lunar New Year parade and have dim sum for lunch there. I wanna call my friends Chelsea and Luis from Chinese school (where I used to take chinese mandarin classes) and ask them to meet up with me too! :) Haven't seen them since September >_< My anime group is a local Westchester County/Connecticut group I organize Japanese culturual and animanga related events for. The members are all like me - we LOVE Japanese food, culture & anime and manga! :D
It's a little after 4 p.m. now and I am going to help my mom cut some beans for dinner before hitting the treadmill for a 5-6 mile workout. *HUGS* to all!
Updated at 7:07 p.m.
I feel soooooo good right nowwwwww - worked out for an hour and a half and then took a long shower and now I have this Sea Buckthorn & Cucumber with Ester-C® Moisturizing Mask made from Aubrey Organics on my face and my feet are in these pedicure socks because I just put a heck of a lot of lotion all over them. Mmmmmm nothing like Saturday night beauty treatments :)
On my birthday, before we went to dinner, Rick accompanied me to a nail salon on Madison Avenue where I got a manicure and pedicure and, the doll that he is, he sat on the sofa and dutifully read magazines, papers, and text messaged with a semi-glazed look in his eyes for the almost 55 minutes :) The lady who did my manicure was like "good boyfriend" and I was like "I KNOW!!" :D hahahahahahaah :) I miss him. He's still in London right now and he emailed me yesterday morning - he's in love with England - it's exactly out of a story book, he writes, with rolling green hills and castles everywhere, cobblestone streets - it looks magical. I'm so jealous. I'm TOTALLY a castle girl - I'm totally going there this summer.
I'm off to have dinner with the folks and then papa and I are fixing the final budget for the wedding. Woo hooo. Hope it doesn't take too long - I really just wanna veg and watch tv tonight and maybe read some magazines. The new issues of Shape, Bazaar, Glamour and Vogue have all been sitting untouched and they're calling my name....
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Photos of my birthday celebration week & Ricky leaves U.S. for his trip abroad
Thursday, February 7, 2008
06:33 p.m.
It is with mixed feelings I sit here tonight and write this entry. I just got back from JFK Airport 45 minutes ago and just finished speaking with Ricky on the phone. He's on his flight to London, now ready to begin the first of his 3 months' trip abroad. I've been good so far - only cried a few times at JFK - think I'm doing a good job here at home now :) He won't be back until May 12th but then we get married 12 days after that so I have that to look forward to.
We spent today taking photos for our wedding CD. The photos look so beautiful. I've made a layout with one of the photos for this blog. We had wanted to initially use a couple of photographers a friend of mine had recommended but one wanted $300-$500 for simple photos for a wedding CD and another never gave his rate and offered us a Tuesday time slot but never confirmed the time. Instead, I had my mom take pictures of us right here at home downstairs and, surprisingly, the pictures came out lovely.
Yesterday, February 6, was my birthday and to celebrate, Rick and I went to the city and visited all my favorite places. At night, Rick took me out to L'Orange Bleue. My friends Neil and Alexi joined us and we had the most wonderful time! L'Orange Bleue is a Moroccan restaurant on Broome Street here in the city - they're well known for their *live* music & bellydancers. The food was phenomenal and then they turned out all the lights and came out carrying this amazing cake with a huge BLAZING fireworks like thing and presented it to me - was so awesome! So many people wished me happy birthday and when I came home - found one of my sisters, Nithi, had sent me GORGEOUS flowers with the most sweetest card! :) I was really touched - she hadn't even let on when she phoned me at 4 when I was in the city. :) My other 2 sisters, Mek and Mil couldn't come out to dinner - Mek is in CT and Mil was sick and working in Long Island. However, I had celebrated my birthday with my sisters and parents over the weekend anyway so it was all good! :D Mum and I both cut 2 cakes that Mek and Mil got for us and Papa watched waiting to have slices! :) LOL! Rick and I wound up eating so much of those cakes this week.
Tuesday night, Rick and I went to see the New York Rangers play the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden! :) That was part of my gift to him for Valentine's Day. Well, we had awesome seats in section 119 which were SO CLOSE to the ice hockey rink! We showed up early and were having SO much fun, even orders nachos with cheese and a hot dog with everything on it - until these really loud and obnoxious guys sat down next to us - they were cursing left and right and insisted on saying everything at about 9 million decibels loud. I joked to Ricky that after tonight I'd have no good eardrums left ;) I had 'let's go Rangers' stuck in my head the whole night. Those guys wound up almost getting ejected when some other guys around us went to the ushers and complained. Rick and I had the final straw when some loser, who didn't belong in the seats, sat in the row in front of us and began smoking after the 2nd period. Seriously. Some people think they can get away with smoking at Madison Square Garden - when Rick and I left, I let the usher know the seat number of the smoker.
That is EVERYTHING that happened this week (well, almost - one last thing....)
Last night, I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. making Ricky a wooden beaded bracelet containing the hindi characters for protective words like 'health, happiness, protection, safety, good luck' etc. I surprised him with it at breakfast this morning and he loved it. I imbued it with all my love and prayers to keep him safe overseas for the next 3 months. He wore it the whole day and is wearing it now on the plane :)
I don't speak or write Hindi anymore (I spoke it when I was a little girl because I was born in India) but I looked up all the words and wrote them down as best I could :)
I'm sad now that Rick is gone....and I'm running on only 2.5 hours of sleep so I plan to sleep early tonight.
Thank you to everyone who left me wonderful birthday wishes. *BIG HUGS* :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
My birthday begins in 1-2 days
Monday, February 4, 2008
11:49 p.m.
Rick and I are sitting on my bed watching t.v., my parents are sleeping in the next room....it snowed this morning and I ran downstairs to the guest bedroom and woke Ricky up clamoring "It's snowing! It's snowing baby, wake up!" and threw open the window blinds :) he was like 'WOW! It's snowing and on my 1st day of my trip!' :) He sat up smiling and gave me a kiss, looked for about 2 minutes at the snow before pulling the sheets over his head and saying he wanted to sleep more :) LOL! :) I went to the kitchen and put on coffee and watched Regis & Kelly with my mom. Rick is like a little child right now - so full of joy and excitement to begin his trip. We spent a lot of time with mummy today, eating, talking, Rick showed me his entire backpack of things he packed for London, Morocco and India.....I'm going to buy space bags <-- those things are AMAZING to use when you pack - put your clothes inside, seal the bag and suck all the air out and you have a flattened pancake of clothes that fit into your luggage so easily.
Tomorrow (Feb 5th) between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. EST marks the start of my birthday. I was born sometime after midnight or 1 a.m. February 6th in India (New Delhi). Mummy thinks it was either 12:05 a.m., 12:55 a.m., or 1:05 or 1:55 a.m. which means it was between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. here in the states and still February 5th here. So every year my celebration begins on February 5th and ends February 6th night.
Tomorrow, Rick and I are heading into the city to hit our favorite spots and at night, we're going to see the NY Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings play ice-hockey LIVE at Madison Square Garden! :) I'm so excited - I've never seen a live ice-hockey game although I did play floor hockey in gym in high school (and loved it).
For my birthday, Rick's gift to me is ice-skating lessons!! :) He's giving me enough money to purchase 6 weeks of lessons with enough left over to help me get pretty new skates! I'm already looking at gorgeous skates I found at Jackson Softec Figure Skates which, of reviews I read, feel like you're wearing sneakers as you skate - they're perfect for beginners and recreational skaters - great for a beginner like me. The one I'm eyeing is about $80 at OnlineSkateHouse.com.
My biggest wish for my birthday this year is to make musical success. I'll be recording and producing tracks for the next 3 weeks on my wedding CD and then working on my full-length album to be released this summer. I feel that after being in the music scene for a few years and having done my first demo and performed for 2 years, I am going into this next recording session much stronger and better and I am gonna NAIL these next 2 CDs :) *folds my hands and prays to God* :)
Anywayz, it's late now and time for bed. Big day of wedding-related errands to do tomorrow before the Rangers' game at night. *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
The Giants Win the Super Bowl!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
10:42 p.m.
New Yorkers are rejoicing every where! The Giants won the Super Bowl tonight 17-14! It was a CRAZY game there in the 4th quarter and I loved every minute of it! The Super Bowl is a huge championship game of the American sport of football and almost everyone I know was celebrating today with a super bowl party :) You can read all about the game here.
Here at home, it was a celebration of my mom's and my birthdays (mine is this Wednesday and her's was 2 Fridays ago - we're both Aquarius-born). Mek and Mil came home this weekend and brought home cakes for both mum and I - a delicious chocolate cake for me and a fruit and bavarian cream cake for mum - both were SOOO amazingly good.
Though I began this entry before 11 p.m., I am now completing it at 2:13 a.m. I just got back home from picking my fiance, Ricky, up at Douglas McArthur airport in Islip, Long Island. I was all set to go by myself but my dad - who's a very loving and protective father - didn't feel comfortable with having his eldest daughter drive alone late at night all the way to Islip (it's a very long drive) from Westchester. Papa came with me and the drive was all the more enjoyable with my dad along side me :) My dad's the best :) Mummy meanwhile stayed home and made sure Ricky's room was perfect :) My parents are both the best!
Rick arrived per the delayed schedule on South West due to bad weather at Las Vegas (his connecting flight) and the whole way, he and I and papa talked about all sorts of things from Rick's work with FSD to the state of India's business affairs. My darling Ricky will be here with us until Thursday when he leaves the U.S. for his volunteer program. He'll be back in time for our wedding in May. We're going for a photography shoot for our wedding CD this week and I do recording for it beginning next weekend (or perhaps the weekend after when it's President's Day Weekend with more convenient time) :)
Ok it's almosy 2:30 and I need to go to sleep. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning with the ear surgeon doctor. Whoopee. *sarcasm* not looking forward to that. Anywayz, *HUGS* to all! Good night!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Groundhog Day - Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow but the other groundhog didn't! So what's that mean?
According to the news, we're to brace ourselves for more wintry weather. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today which means there will be 6 more weeks of winter.
The articles reports that the groundhog was pulled from his stump by members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, top-hat and tuxedo-wearing businessmen who carry out the tradition.
"Each Feb. 2, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of about 6,100 people some 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh [in the state of Pennsylvania] to celebrate what had essentially been a German superstition."
"The tradition is that if a hibernating animal sees a shadow on Feb. 2 -- the Christian holiday of Candlemas -- winter will last another six weeks."
Howevever, "if no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early. That was the forecast from Gen. Beauregard Lee, Punxsutawney Phil's counterpart, in Lilburn, Georgia. Beau did not see his shadow Saturday morning at the Yellow River Game Ranch. It was the third year in a row the two groundhogs' predictions differed."
LOL! Well duh! They're groundhogs you pulled out from hibernation! It's a silly superstition I think. :)
I spent Groundhog's Day cleaning the house! My parents came back from Florida tonight and I welcomed them home by cooking dinner for them :) Made spaghetti with beef and tomato sauce and mixed vegetables with dessert of apples, oranges and strawberries.
Mili came home too (having picked our folks up from JFK) and tomorrow we're all celebrating my mom's birthday with my birthday (my birthday is this Wednesday, mum's birthday was 9 days ago). Tomorrow is also SuperBowl Sunday! :) And tomorrow night, my Ricky comes to New York to spend 4 days with me before he leaves for his volunteer assignment on Thursday night. I'm going to bed - super tired after all the cleaning and cooking I did today. *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Japanese Night :)
Friday, February 1, 2008
07:24 p.m.
whew! it's like a torrential downpour out there! I just pulled into the garage and raced up the steps to my room feeling exhilirated! I get a little rush when driving on slick wet roads in the pouring rain! It's fun! Of course, I know it can be dangerous so I'm not speeding or anything (though I will make every light that I can!) ;)
I left work a little late tonight in order to run some errands and on the mile walk back to Grand Central, stopped by one of my favorite Japanese bookstores, Book-Off, to see if they had the 1st volumes of some manga I had been reading about and, as luck would have it, they had the 1st volume of Apothecarius Argentum.
I read the 1st chapter in the store and instantly fell in love with it. It is the story of Argentum, who was raised from the time he was a baby to be a weapon of poison, slowly fed poison until his body changed and he could kill anyone with his touch. However, he is taken as a young boy to live in the palace of a small kingdom to be the 'food taster' for the child princess there. She befriends him and names him Argentum because he didn't have a name before. One night, she sees him fall sick from her poisoned food and says she doesn't want to see him suffer and sets him free. She tells him his soul is not poisoned and he can do something good with his life - she ensures his freedom and says she will never have a food taster again and will grow to be strong herself. Years later, they meet again when she is in trouble and he saves her life again and it is revealed that on the night she freed him, he swore to become a healer (an apothecary) so he could protect the life of the princess who brought so much joy to the world.
The manga is SOOOOOOOOO good - it's funny and interesting and reminds me a bit of Judal's Vampire Game with the headstrong princess with the great heart of gold. I can't wait to see how the love unfolds for the Princess and her apothecary. I LOVE ARGENTUM!! :D
It was still pouring when I left Book-Off so I decided to stop by next door at my favorite Japanese cafe, Cafe Zaiya, and bought ume onigiri (Japanese sweet plum inside a rice ball wrapped with seaweed) and Ebi Chili Don (a bowl of shrimp covered in chili sauce over rice) and, for dessert, a Dorayaki (a type of cake filled with sweet red bean paste) :D I just heated the Ebi Don up now and took a picture to share on here:
How yummy does that look! I am going to have my Japanese dinner now and watch some anime and celebrate the start of my weekend! I have next week off until Friday because Ricky, my fiance, arrives here Sunday night and stays for 4 days before he leaves next Friday for his volunteer trip for 4 months!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Alice Syndrome & Opposites Attract
Friday, January 25, 2008
08:25 p.m.
I love anime and manga - like crazy! I'm always on the search for a new shoujo title or one I've never heard of before that has all the elements I love: shoujo romance, comedy and lots of Japanese culture in it.
Well, I sometimes read web-manga by artists who aren't published (yet) and 2 of them I recently found are AWESOME. One is called Alice Syndrome by the author Hiromi. Click on the image below to go to the 1st page and when there, click on the purple right-arttow button to keep reading the manga:
The other is a manga by a girl named Christina a.k.a. Natsumi-Chan or perhaps her manga name 'Capo' would be the best way to identify her - she's only 17 but her manga is GOOD! Her style of writing and the way the story moves along is just like the shoujo mangas I love to read!
Her manga is called Opposites Attract. Below is the cover for the 1st Volume - click on the image and you'll be taken to the 1st page of her comic. Read the full 1st chapter and tell me you aren't intrigued!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Back from MLK weekend in L.A.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
7:03 a.m.
The following is a post I wrote while at work this morning and saved to post once I got home. I've included pictures now that I'm home from work.
I'm sitting here at work - just finished my breakfast of egg-white spinach omelettes and whole wheat toast - it's 7 a.m. and I came in this morning at 4:50 a.m. on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles. I debated whether to pay $80 to head home to Westchester and rest until 7 a.m. before catching my regular train but decided that $80 wasn't worth it and I would have to wake up my dad for that, didn't want to do that. Got on the air train and then the Long Island Railroad and decided to try my luck getting into my office. I had forgotten my scanning-Badge-ID which is the only way we can get into our office and after unsuccessfully trying maintenance, went back out, talked to Akeem, the coffee guy, who sells coffee from his cart outside my office (and who gave me a free Daily News), and decided to have breakfast around the corner instead of next door and that was a good choice. As luck would have it, on my way to the corner, I ran into my co-worker Bill on the street - he, surprisingly, was on his way into work this early! Comes in regularly at this time - who knew! I told him how I forgot my ID and he said 'well come on then, let's go in together' :) We were in by 6:30 a.m. and I sit here now munching the red seedless grapes Ricky lovingly washed and packed for me to eat....
I had a wonderful time in L.A. this weekend. I left work at 3 p.m. on Friday (we get out early for long weekends) and left on a 4:40 flight from JetBlue and arrived (late) after 9. Ricky met me at the carousel and surprised me by texting me 'look behind' :) We hugged so hard. He then whisked me away into the warm Los Angeles night and we decided to have a quick dinner at Carney's on Ventura. Carney's is this burger/hot-dog/sandwich etc joint that is inside an actual old train car, of which the seats were removed ages ago. Lemme tell ya - excellent hot dogs and I even had a healthy grilled chicken wrap I loved! Apparently, Jay Leno frequents the Ventura one! :)
We got up early Saturday and after a delicious breakfast Rick made me of eggs with tomatoes and onions and cereal with berries and almonds in it, we headed out for a 3-4 mile walk to Venice Beach - it was AWESOME - saw so many cool homes and shops and restaurants along the way - not to mention all the bikers and boarders - it's such an active place! Once we got to the beach, we climbed up this big sandy dune and rested after walking so far and enjoyed the surf and sand..the ocean was so gorgeous and I loved watching the surf boarders trying to 'catch the waves'....nothing makes me feel as peaceful as being on the beach....
Took those with my camera phone and it just don't do justice to how actually gorgeous it was.
I called home and told mummy how we were at the beach right now and how warm it was - mum told me how frigid cold it was back in NY....Rick and I walked to this large channel and marveled over how *blue* the water was.....we then walked another 4 miles back home where Rick made me the most delicious pastrami sandwhich with these delicious ranch and garlic spreads he buys......Rick's sandwhiches are the BEST. We then napped for the afternoon before waking up and heading out to shop in Santa Monica - Rick needed to buy clothes and more supplies for his trips to London, Morocco and India....We had dinner that night at Cafe Crepe in Santa Monica - really great place and their soy chai latte is delicious! :) I love Santa Monica because of 3rd Street Promenade - there're always street performers and the trees are lit with gold lights....
Sunday we again got up early and headed out for a 4 mile walk to the Santa Monica airport - Rick showed me the plane he had flown while taking flight lessons - he had driven straight over the mountains - so awesome! :) On our way back we saw such beautiful homes all around Venice...I think I love that place.....we had brunch back on Ventura at this place called Marmalade Cafe - we wanted to go there because one of my favorite manga/anime is Marmalade Boy and I used to call Ricky Marmalade Boy because he was like the main character, Yu, in the series and because Rick loves marmalade! :) Good brunch with delicious chai tea. We then set out to Frye's near Burbank/Pasadena which has an alien/UFO theme. Frye's is an electronics store which has everything - kind of like Circuit City but even better and each store has its own theme - the alien one is the best - has an actual UFO crashed into it with aliens all over the place :) We then visited Rick's dad in Pasadena where I gave him my dad's christmas gift to them along with our wedding invitations. After spending time there, Rick and I headed back to his apartment where we got ready to go to Joe's Crab Shack at Redondo Beach to meet up with Rick's friends Mike and Jason and Jason's girlfriend Chelsea who is awesome - she sings as well (R&B/pop) and she acts too and will be in Fox's Paradise Hotel in 2 weeks! :) You meet such interesting people in L.A. Ricky's friends are so sweet and genuine and wonderful - we had a lot of fun eating steamed crabs and dessert at the Crab Shack . Rick and I then went to catch the movie Persepolis - which we LOVED - it's this black and white animated story about the life of this Iranian girl who grew up during the Iranian revolution and her story through the 70's and 80's - it was funny, odd and a very unique look into that world - totally should see the movie.
Monday, our last day in L.A. together, Rick and I got up again early and did another 4 miles or so walk through the other side of the neighborhood admiring all the California homes - I love them all - they're all unique, full of character....Rick enjoys walking with me :) It's like our morning tradition ;) When we got back home, we worked to get Ricky's bed dismantled - he is moving out all his stuff from his apartment this coming weekend - played with his roommate Linda's dogs (Stretch and Tone - they're awesome dogs!) and then met up with his sister, Rena, and her husband Hero. We ate at this cool Persian restaurant (I recommend eating Kaboodeh, grilled chicken, if you ever eat at a persian or lebanese restaurant) and afterwards, went to the Angry Crepe Guy LOL!!! :) He's this Japanese man who runs this very tiny crepe shop in this plaza in West L.A. and he has signs EVERYWHERE telling people how to order, to leave money on the counter, and he will yell at you if you ask stupid questions because you didn't read his signs! He grunts and everything. Oh my god - he was like the "Soup Nazi" of NY featured on Seinfeld. :) Rena was so awesome making sure he didn't get mad and giving him exact change and everything! :) I got the green tea mochi ice cream and red bean paste crepe - that place is WELL WORTH THE VISIT! We then browsed through some Japanese stores (couldn't find any new manga at Asahiya) before heading to Rena's and Hero's lovely apartment - their apartment is decorated with really meaningful things and is warm and cozy - it's beautiful :) It was nice spending time with Rick's friends and family....I miss L.A..... :(
All too soon it was time to head back to Burbank Airport...Rick kept saying 'don't go' and I kept saying 'I don't want to' and 'you don't go in 2 weeks' - he made me his delicious pastrami sandwhich to have for lunch today and packed oranges and grapes for me. I love him so much.
I slept with my eye shade and Ricky's compressible pillow for the 4 hours of the flight...I'm still a little bleary-eyed but the cold NY weather woke me up alright....waiting on the Long Island Railroad platform in january weather will do that to ya! :)
*sigh* I miss Ricky....he'll be here in 2 weeks though before he leaves for 3 months....he's coming for my birthday in February in the 1st week before leaving that first Thursday.....
I'm going to sit here and read the Daily News now before work starts at 9 a.m. - all my co-workers will be arriving soon....
Updated at 10:16 p.m. at night
I'm back home now, hung out with my parents and was using SKYPE to talk to Ricky - we're gearing up for Skype calls internationally but I think using the RELIANCE calling card might be better - cheaper rates...
So sleepy....have court tomorrow in Brooklyn....don't wanna sleep just yet even though I am yawning like crazy - wanna stay up and hang with my folks and talk to Ricky.....the nights go by too fast...
Marcia oh my gosh I can't wait to see pictures!!! Tell me more!! :)
Ok I'm off. See ya'll tomorrow.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Off to Los Angeles for Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend
Thursday, January 17, 2008
11:15 p.m.
Just finished packing and kissed my parents goodnight - am set to go to L.A. for the weekend to be with my Ricky for our last time in L.A. together before he leaves the U.S. in 2 weeks! *sob* 2 weeks! :( To think he'll be gone for 3 months makes me so so so sad :( You'd think being long distance for almost 7 years together would make it ok but we're in constant touch with each other every day: texts, phone calls, regular talks every morning and night and we won't be able to do that for the next 3 months....it's hard enough only seeing each other every other month or so, but take away the regularity of everything else and you get a seriously sad Nishi.....well, I'll keep our wedding in May as my motivation.....
My mom and I hugged extra-hard now....we miss each other wayyyy much when we go away for mini-vacations (me to L.A. and she to Florida). Mum's started doing yoga and she's so cute - she has perfect posture and is using a real yoga mat and everything! I'm proud of her :)
Can't wait to hit the beaches in L.A. and hit my favorite haunts in Little Tokyo.....Rick's promised to take me to all these cool cafes we've talked about before.....think we might drive to Malibu and go hiking up there before enjoying the beach.....it'll be freezing cold here in NY so will be nice to get away! :)
ok I'm off to bed now *HUGS* to all and see you from L.A.! :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Ricky to Volunteer for Foundation for Sustained Development in India
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
11:14 p.m.
It is with immense pride that I announce that my fiance, Ricky, will be volunteering with the Foundation for Sustained Development in Udaipur, India for 9 weeks!
He will be helping to establish micro-finance and micro-economic programs to help communities in developing countries become self-sustaining. These programs allow communities to gain access to micro-credit and business expertise that commercial lenders won't offer. Examples of these are export programs for rural handicrafts, HIV prevention clinics for orphans, water pipelines for villages, developing sustainable forests, small business loans for businesses and housing, etc. In one instance, a volunteer established a rainwater harvesting system for villagers in Udaipur, India with only $791 of grant money! This allowed the village consistent access to water.
Rick was originally supposed to go to Kenya (Mombasa), however, with the recent violence, FSD suspended its program there for now and he was re-assigned to Udaipur, India where there is a heavy need for volunteers with his skills.
I am so proud of him! This is something so dear to his heart and something he always wanted to do but couldn't because of work. Now, he is taking an unpaid leave of absence from work to follow his heart and take on this opportunity! However, the cost of volunteering internationally is significant – training, placement, lodging, host organization grants, field support, airfare and insurance for 9 weeks will cost Rick more than $5,300.
He is trying to meet this expense through fundraising and saving, and desperately needs your help. If you can afford it, your donations will allow Rick to make a difference in the lives of people. If you can afford it, please consider giving at least $100 to this cause. You’ll be pleased to know that, all donations to his FSD Program Fees are 100% tax deductible. Please click on the paypal 'Donate' on his website button to make a donation to the FSD program or on the button below:
My family and many of my uncles all pitched in and contributed on New Year's Day - I was amazed by how generous my uncles were!
I myself just came back from the city 45 minutes ago - stayed late tonight to attend a local meeting of Amnesty International - it was fantastic! A woman named A.J. spoke about the work she does for the International Justice Center and I definitely want to do pro bono work for them - fantastic organization that has been working hard to bring to justice international perpetrators of human rights crimes. I am super tired now. Had a good long and very productive day at work and ready for bed! *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Monday, January 14, 2008
11:00 p.m.
5"-8" - pish, please! - we got barely an inch! Some N'oreaster THAT was! Totally got jipped out of snow. >_< So mad . . .
Had a nice day at work though and afterwards, came home and spent time with mum, hit the treadmill and did incline training again for 3 miles before doing my strengthening/toning exercises. Had delicious dinner of biriyani again followed by a spinach and blackberry salad topped with organic mixed nuts and raisins.
Relaxing now with vanilla chamomile tea before I turn in for bed in another hour.
I want you guys to know about a hot new Indian music site that is launching soon and making a point of featuring Indian artists. It's called Desi Retrofusion and aims to be like the "Rolling Stones" magazine of Indian music. Today I was interviewed over the phone for a feature on the site and this mega-talented woman, Ami Sheth did the interview and asked me fantastic questions about my music career. I'm honoured that the people behind this site loved my music enough to contact me to be featured as an artist! I'm not sure when the interview and all will be up but soon as I know, I'll post it here :)
This weekend I head to Los Angeles but after I come back, I'll be heading back into the studio to record the wedding CD and to record my new album - cannot WAIT to make new music again. I think I'll book a photographer soon too and do a new photo shoot, not to mention schedule photos of Ricky and I for the cover of our wedding CD which will be our wedding favors.
Anywayz, Marcia *HUGS* you were wedding shopping too? For your little brother? No kidding!! How long has he been with his fiance? How is Sina doing?
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Back from Connecticut
Sunday, January 13, 2008
11:52 p.m.
Had a fabulous time with my 3 sisters in CT this weekend. After arriving and seeing Mek's beautiful studio apartment, we met up with Nith and first on the agenda was the search for bridesmaid dresses! First stop was David's Bridal (which we'd gone to here in Westchester and not found anything good but decided to try again) and this time we got lucky: found a gorgeous tea-length strapless dress I loved and it came in both "lilac" and "victorian lilac." We didn't get the dress yet because we want to continue looking before we finalize the bridesmaids' dress. Afterwards, we hit 2 malls and covered the expanse of both the malls - I think we walked and looked at dresses for something like 4+ hours? Was fun though :) So many things I coveted but I was good - didn't buy ANYTHING! :)
We then returned to Nith's apartment where we had something like a 4 or 5-course home-made dinner which everyone but I contributed towards (hey, I was busy!) but it was wonderful! Nith made her delicious mushrooms and Mek made baked chicken and we had wine, cheese and crackers, Nith's special holiday drink (well, not me because I'm still on antibiotics for my ear infection) and we sat and talked for hours and didn't end up leaving until almost 1 a.m.
Today we met up for breakfast at this cute "mom & pop" restaurant and I had waffles with warm apples and raisins on top and a side of scrambled egg whites. We then hit the shopping trail again and went to one of my fave stores: Christmas Tree Shoppe! :) Didn't buy much 'cept a bag of 50 tea-lights for only $1.69 (such a bargain), a set of gorgeous note-cards because I love stationary, and the best was this gorgeous book-like box made by Hallmark to store your cherished cards (I'm going to put all of Rick's and my special cards and memories in there).
Drive back down was beautiful, Mil and I listened to hindi songs and enjoyed the setting sun. We hung out with the folks before Mil had to go back to L.I. and then I headed downstairs to do incline-training of 4 miles on the treadmill and then did 300 different stomach crunches, 90 different push ups, 80 dips, and finished with 100 different shoulder and upper arm exercises. Whole workout takes about 1.5 hours, including stretching.
Wedding dress here I come! I'm gonna be so buff and slim come May! :)
Spent the night now reading the Sunday paper, having a delicious dinner of biriyani, squash and vegetables and raspberry-leaf tea, and listening to the N'oreaster pounding the house and windows - we're supposed to get 5" - 8" of snow by tomorrow morning. I think this might be the first really serious snow?
The wind is really hitting the house. I love when it snows but if it does snow that 8" they predict and I still have to go to work, I am gonna HATE shoveling it all in the morning. Here's to hoping we can go in late or get the day off!
Sarah Beth LOL! I knowww me too!! :) I'm so glad you're coming to Miami!! :) *BIG HUGS* Azure Kaze I know :) Believe me, I am always careful. Kayla I've been hearing a lot about the Sakura Convention! You should totally buy the costume and cosplay! :) $72.99 is not expensive at all and is actually a reasonable price to pay for a FFX costume! :)
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
09:53 a.m.
i was out of the house by 9:17 a.m. this morning on a beautiful January winter day - the temperature's only 43 degrees which is *warm* for winter! :) Perfect weather to jog in if there's no wind blowing. Did my 2.5 miles around the lake and back. I loved hearing the birds (apparently some nest here all year-round even in winter) and smelling the wood from someone's fireplace.
I noticed, however, when I returned to my house, that a guy in a dark blue SUV/JEEP lightly honked at me after I checked my family's mailbox and walked onto our driveway. I think I recognize that vehicle as belonging to this guy who lives further down the street - think he might be a stalker of sorts. I made the mistake, last summer, of saying hi, as I usually do to neighbors who are outside when I walk or jog by. But this guy was cutting wood outside of his house in the summer heat which I thought was strange so struck up a conversation with him. Big mistake. The dude probably thought I was hitting on him and actually rode over on his bicycle to the lake while I was on a bench doing tricep exercises. I proceeded to tell him immediately I had a boyfriend and was engaged to get married. One time I was jogging in August and it had started to rain and the dude actually "noticed" that I hadn't made it around back by his house so he came in his car and I accepted a ride back to my house in his car because it was pouring.
After that, I avoided even LOOKING at his house when I jogged by and it's been almost 5 months now. Still, I think he may have been the guy in the car who honked lightly as I walked into my driveway - I distinctly heard his car start up when I jogged past his driveway and I know he has a dark blue Keep/SUV. I've already told my Ricky, parents and sisters. I did research on the guy and where he lives. Apparently he works in burglar and alarm protection. He had told me in our first conversation he worked in security. Great. If the dude is actually stalking me, means he already knows his way around alarm systems? I googled his home address and he has it registered as the home address for his "Protection" company. Yeesh.
I don't know if he's really a stalker or just a creepy neighbor or just a very overly friendly neighbor whose behavior comes across as creepy.
Anywayz, new topic. My sister Mil and I are going up to Connecticut today to visit our other 2 sisters Mek and Nith. We're going to go bridesmaid dress shopping! :) I want them to wear lilac colored dresses for my wedding in May. I'm going to get a lot of wedding-related stuff done this weekend! It's a gorgeous mild winter day and I'm going to have fun on the drive up. Feel good after my run. Gonna hit the shower now. *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
I want a Paro
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
08:53 p.m.
The Paro, a robot designed to look like a baby harp seal has been recognized as the "World's Most Therapeutic Robot" by Guinness World Records. Tests involving the elderly have confirmed the robot provides healing effects, including reducing stress and depression levels.
The Paro is 57-cm and covered with soft artificial fur. It reacts to being cuddled and petted and responds to people's actions and words in a range of ways depending on what action they take toward it, such as stroking and talking to it. The 2.7-kg Paro moves its head and flippers, making sounds and mimicking the voice of a baby seal. Therapeutic robot seal a global healer (Source JapanTimes.com)
I want ittttttttt i wantttt itttttt but Ricky says I can't have it - something about it costing ¥350,000 per unit three years ago. Money schmoney what's a few hundred thousand yen anyway in the grand scheme of things? Hmph. I still want it. :)
Am watching the People's Choice Awards on TV now and dude...it is just not as good without the STARS actually LIVE - I wanna see what people wear!!!
Speaking of what people wore, I watched the Critic' Choice Awards last night and practically drooled watching Javier Bardem accept his award - how GORGEOUS is he in this suit????
Apparently, a warm front from the south is to blame for balmy weather we're having in NYC (and not global warming) - it's been warm like this before in 1998. It reached 65 degrees today - when the warm weather returns, it reminds me of all the reasons why I LOVE New York City sooooo much - everything just comes alive - the people, the activities....
Had an appointment with the ear doctor this afternoon and the ear infection is a lot better, still not gone, but better which is good news. The bad news is the doc is worried about possibly something in the middle ear. I have to have CT scan to see how my eardrum is and the scar tissue around it and, if it's bad, might have to have surgery to fix the hole in my eardrum and remove the scar tissue.
I'm following the New Hampshire primaries right now and dude it is CLOSE between Obama and Hillary. I'm glad McCain won - he's someone who would get my vote if I didn't like the democratic candidate - trouble is, I like both Obama and Hillary but my vote was leaning much more towards Hillary.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
I'm in love again . . .
Sunday, January 6, 2008
10:13 p.m.
with the song Apologize by Timbaland featuring One Republic . . . god . . . music is my drug. I seriously cannot imagine my life without music.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
I'm in love . . .
Sunday, January 6, 2008
09:27 p.m.
. . . with Essie's Jazz colored nail polish :)
Just painted my nails and am listening to tonight's radio show on Slooh.com while I snap pictures of globular clusters using Slooh's telescope in the Canary Islands. Tonight's radio program has comet-discoverer David Levy speaking. He's discovered 22 comets, one of which (named after him) collided with Jupiter in the summer of 1994 resulting in the greatest explosion ever witnessed on another world. So far the talk is fascinating and I find the people in the Slooh Chat wise, knowledgeable and very funny! :) I love astronomy :)
now to be careful that I do not mess up my nails . . . and enjoy a glass of milk and a slice of that pineapple cake from yesterday - yum! :D
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
04:19 p.m.
As I jogged around the lake this afternoon, I smelled the delicious smell of burning wood. One of my neighbors is burning wood in their fireplace and it must have been coming out of their chimney. The smell reminds me of India and how my relatives back in the 80's and 90's used to burn the leaves outside into a stone fire pit, to boil a large kettle of water.....nowadays all my relatives in India have great kitchens with gas or electric stoves - kinda miss the old days a little. The smell of burning wood always takes me back to those olden days in India....
Strange that someone should be using their fireplace today - it's not even that cold - it's a balmy 47 degrees and the forecast says temperatures will reach as high as 60 degrees this Tuesday and Wednesday. Feels like spring but the barren trees remind me it's definitely early January and there's still much of winter left.
My sisters have all left now, house feels empty without their noise and chatter. Mummy's sleeping and papa's working in his office and I'm drinking a cup of chai and going to take a long hot shower. My run this afternoon was good: 5 miles in 50 minutes - that's a huge accomplishment for me! When I started running, I was only able to do 13/14-minute miles. To be able to do 10-minute miles now means I've built up the conditioning of my heart and body to run longer and faster! :)
Sarah Beth and Caroline-chan *HUGS* How were your New Years and Christmases? I'm going to head over to both of your blogs this evening and catch up on your lives! Kayla how was working over the holidays? Did you ever get those pictures of Trump or Mark Twain 'robbbing' your gingerbread house up? Would love to see. *HUGS*
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
10:21 a.m.
I am doing my favorite weekend tradition: having coffee with soymilk and reading the paper - not to mention wolfing down a delicious breakfast of a toasted mini-bagel with low-fat natural peanut butter spread upon it, a hard-boiled egg, an orange and servings of blackberries and blueberries. I need my energy for my 5 mile jog in a few hours.
My sisters and I are sitting around the kitchen table with the Sunday Jumble in front of us - we try to unscramble the letters in our heads without writing anything down and wait until each of us gets it before putting the answer down. We're a bit competitive about the Jumbles ;)
It's my Dad's birthday today but we celebrated it last night since Mek and Mil have to leave to go back to their apartments early today. Mil brought home 2 cakes: vanilla with cherry filling and white chocolate frosting and a pineapple cake which was so freakin' delicious!
Last night, for the first time in AGES, I held a LIVE CHAT at UsagiandMamoru.com and met and spoke with so many friends and acquaintances who are fans of UsagiandMamoru.com and members of its mailing lists (the Usagi and Mamoru Mailing List and UsagiandMamoru.com Updates List. It was a reunion chat and reading about how people found each other, became friends or never stopped loving Sailor Moon and UM.com made me so happy!! It was almost like a return to a simpler time in my life when all I did was attend college and law school classes and come back home to work on my anime and manga websites and talk to these fellow fans. A much simpler time.
Anywayz, I'm off to read the Sunday comics, do loads of laundry and take down our christmas tree and do some cleaning and then jog 5 miles. I have a lot of writing to do today and I want to go on Slooh.com tonight. *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Happy New Year 2008!!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
12:07 a.m.
I'm surrounded by my family and ringing in the new year! Rick and I talked on the phone and I feel blessed! :) I'm thankful for all God has brought me in life. Happy New Year 2008 everyone! :D
For those who, like me, love to know more about the origins of the celebrations of holidays and the traditions associated with them, I've found a bunch of information on the New Year's celebrations. Enjoy!
"The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring)."
"The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary."
"The Babylonian new year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison."
"The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun." Source: Wilstar.com
You can learn more about the history and origins of traditions of New Year's at StudyEnglishToday.com.
*HUGS* to all! May this new year bring my dear loved ones and dear friends happiness, love, wealth and prosperity.
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
New Year's Eve
Monday, December 31, 2007
04:27 p.m.
Just got back from my 5 mile jog and am relaxing with some green tea, yogurt and a banana. I can't believe it's New Year's Eve already. These past couple months since my engagement just flew by! I've already been working on my New Year's Resolution: 5 miles of jogging or incline-training on the treadmill every day except Wednesdays and/or Fridays. I believe in getting a head-start, especially given how much I overeat at the holidays, and especially considering I have my wedding dress to fit into in 5 months! This bride is going to be strict and disciplined with her regimen this time - go will power!
Speaking of wedding planning, I still have major things to do: book the florist, photographer and DJ/musicians, build my registry, and gather all the mailing addresses to send invitations out in February/March.
This Friday I am meeting with a new producer to begin work on my new songs and album - he'll be helping to make my wedding CD which I will be recording a few original songs onto.
Ok time for some ab exercises and then hit the shower and get ready for dinner with the fam. *HUGS* to all!
Read the volunteer field logs of my fiance, Ricky, as he spends 3 months volunteering to assist poor communities in India:
RickyInIndia.Blogspot.com
Have you 'Sloohed' yet? If you love astronomy like I do, then you have to try the *LIVE* telescope missions at Slooh.com! Sign up for a free trial and see nebulae & galaxies right on your computer *LIVE*! I'm there most evenings & weekends. Join the Chat!
Since 1998, I have been designing websites. The following are almost every main site I have ever made.
A Dream I Dream
My personal page with pictures of me and everything I love!
TooyaandAya.com
Devoted to Touya/Tooya and Aya of Ayashi no Ceres!
UsagiandMamoru.com My favorite and best couple ever! Sailor Moon's Usagi and Mamoru (Serena and Darien)
MiakaandTamahome.com My tribute to Fushigi Yuugi's main couple who always have my heart, Miaka and Tamahome!
Kare Kano Love
A Miyazwa and Arima ML - discuss everything Kare Kano here!
Favorite Manga and Anime most everything in Ribon and Nakayoshi!
Alice 19th
Anatolia Story a.k.a. Red River
Ayashi no Ceres/Ceres Celestial Legend
Basara
B.B. Explosion
Call Me Princess
Catcher in the Horoscope or ZODIAC P.I.
Crescent Moon
Cyber Idol MINK
Delicious! (Yui Ayumi)
Dream Saga
Fruits Basket
Fushigi Yuugi
Gals / Super Gals!
Hana Kimi
Hot Gimmick
IMADOKI
Instant Teen (Otona Ni Nuts or Just Add Nuts)
Juvenile Orion
Kaikan Phrase or SENSUAL PHRASE
Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne
Kanata Kara a.k.a. From Far Away
Kare Kano
Kodomo no Omocha
Magic Knights Rayearth
Maria (Naoko Takeuchi)
Marmalade Boy
Max Lovely
Mint No Bokura
Miracle Girls
MODEL
More Starlight to Your Heart
Mouryou Kiden
Neck and Neck
One
Ororon
Othello
Otona Ni Nuts 0r INSTANT TEEN - JUST ADD NUTS
(the) Queen's Knight
Psychic Academy
Random Walk
SailorMoon
Saint Tail / St. Tail
Saiyuki
Sweet & Sensitive
Tokyo Mew Mew
Ultra Maniac
Vampire Game
Wild Act
Words I live by:
Man is never so tall as when he kneels before God - never so great as when he humbles himself before God. And the man who kneels to God can stand up to anything. -Louis H. Evans
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt
"All human wisdom is contained in these two words: wait and hope." - The Count of Monte Cristo
"The winds of God are always blowing but it is up to you to set the sails." - UNKNOWN
"The only dream worth having, I told her, is to dream that you will live while you're alive and die only when you're dead. [Which means:] To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget." - Arundhati Roy
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." -
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jogging, Martial Arts Kickboxing, Dance - currently middle eastern dance & bellydance, Tennis, Singing (of course ;) and working on my songs, Reading & writing about all the things I am interested and passionate about, watching tv and movies, painting, drawing, astronomy, rollerblading (and trying to get better at it and ice skating!), obsessive anime and manga fan and professional web designing, ancient studies / ancient civilizations, history and archaeology, world mythology, politics and world affairs, international law, human rights, studying many languages (have studied and continue to study spanish, mandarin chinese, japanese and hindi).
"The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring)."
