Thanksgiving!

We are into the month of April now - suppossedly Spring time in the US. Tonight, the weather was miserable. :( I mean it was freezing temperature, with sleet and snow showers!! How wicked!

As I stepped outside to take the dogs for their nightly "pee-time", a chillingly cold gust of wind hit my face! I couldn't breathe for that one second!! It was as cold as winter gets!

I quickly take the dogs back into the house... Ahhh... that first second of "warmth" that you get from the heater feels sooo heavenly... That one second outside in the cold, made me a little pensive.. I thought of people who are out there without a roof under their heads..without warm clothes or even socks on... YES! There are tons of homeless people in the US.. ! How horrible to be out there stranded in the streets without any warmth? Grrr.... I shudder to even think about it!!

I am thankful... extremely thankful to GOD who is out there protecting me... I mean, not having a job seems like such a small, teeny weeny problem compared to not having basic necessities.. :(
I have wonderful people surrounding my life.. my awesome family who keep me going, my wonderful friends, without whom I'd be dead by now and just random people who have come into my life and made such a difference!

Imagine.. this family I live with, know me for about two years and they have been so kind to let me live here.. God bless the Haseltines!

Thanks God for being there and for looking out for me... I do feel blessed tonight!! :)

Funny!

This was a funny incident that happened not so long ago.. It was a regular evening and I was cooking dinner at the Haseltine house.. Olive and Gunner were being their usual cute selves(they are the Haseltine dogs, btw!) The son-in-law had come and we were all chatting him up when he suddenly noticed Olive shivering underneath the table... I mean she was SHAKING in fright!! Becky and I freaked out! More so, because she had been sick the previous week and we had to take to the vet and he had given her medications.. And here she was shivering profusely..

We bent down to her and tried to hold her.. her body was vibrating wildly and we did not know what to do!! I panicked.. Suddenly, the son in law smiled...

"Oh, its the pressure cooker that is scaring the crap outta her"....!!! :)
Indeed it was!! She kept looking at it so fearfully and gave me these scared looks that told me.. " Oh watch out, its a monster that's coming to get me"!!

PRICELESS! I bent down to her and put her away in another room while I turned off the heat in the cooker and put it away before I brought her out...
Poor lil Olive.. thought I should write this down! Funny incident, indeed!!

25 Random Things About MOI!!

Soooo.. last night a good friend of mine got me addicted to this latest game on Facebook where you write 25 random things about yourself... I had loads of fun doing it..You should try it!! :-)

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it is because I want to know more about you. To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on you profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type 25 random things, tag 25 people (in right corner of app) then click publish.

1.I have always been utterly and completely spoilt – parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors and even friends!! I still love getting lots n lots of attention and I am almost 24!

2. I love being with people and I guess it was no surprise to my family that I wanted to get into a profession like Human Resources...I hope to be a succesful in HR..someday... :)

3.I am fiercely patriotic about my country (India)... I love everything that it has to offer... its unique culture(s), languages, FOOD (!), clothes and people.... I want to be able to offer a lot to it in return and be a good citizen!

4.I have a lot of nicknames: “Aishu” at home/family; “Ash” to most of my friends; “Aish” to a few select uncles of mine; "Isu" to my maid, Nirmala; “Aishy” to Esther; and "BLONDIE" to a select few here at Springfield (There I admitted it!!)

5.I am very forgiving!! I can never hold grudges against people... I believe in giving people as many chances as possible. I rarely get mad at people... from what I remember, it’s been about three or four times that I have really lost my temper!!

6.I love luxuries!! Spas, Scented Candles, I Phones, travelling to exotic places, Swanky Cars, Flat Screen TV's... the list goes on...

7.I absolutely love dogs and babies.... and I dream of having LOTS of them in the future! LOL..

8.I am super duper stubborn... Its my way or the highway!! ha ha..

9.I have a crazy addiction to Bath & Body Works – I somehow feel I have all their fragrances memorized, if that makes any sense!! But seriously, I always have a lotion, body splash and a lip balm from their store in my bag!! PS: Wild Honeysuckle is my all time favorite!

10.I adore French – I took classes at Alliance Francaise in India and I can speak, write and read French fluently.... My dream is to visit the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, L’ Arc de Triomphe and take a romantic walk by the river Seine!

11.I recently took to blogging and find it a great way to vent out my feelings. If you’re interested, let me know... I will send you the link!

12.I am absolutely crazy about Sachin Tendulkar and A R Rahman... For the illiterate, Sachin is the most celebrated Indian Cricketer and Rahman is a super talented, awesome Indian Music Director.. Google 'em!!

13.My biggest fear is death of my loved ones... I fear it so much because I have never experienced it... All the ones that I love are still a part of my life and I guess I would want them to be that way!!

14.I am quite religious. I pray twice a day and I still chant a few prayers that my Mom taught me as a kid!!

15.I am a trained Carnatic music singer (Carnatic Music is a form of Indian Classical Music, popular in South India). I took classes in music for about six years and learnt Western Dance simultaneously for about two years!! I love to sing AND dance!!

16.I love trance... gives me a real high!!

17.I love the beach... My home town Chennai has some of the most awesome beaches and I used to live there most of the weekends!! I miss being by the sea so much!!

18. My comfort food is French Fries from McD’s!

19. I am quite a traveller.. I have visited all the Northern, Southern, Western States of India.. Have seen parts of East India.. not fully though!! I have also travelled to Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and of course quite a few States in the US. Europe would be the ultimate destination! SIGH!

20.I still love watching cartoons and reading Enid Blyton books!! Potter rules too!!

21.I am extremely emotional... every decision of mine is made through my heart and not my head! I cry a lot even in movies that aren’t all that sad.... I just cry very easily!

22.I am totally addicted to Facebook!!

23.I am a HUGS person.... I crave for big bear hugs from all the ones I love!!

24.I hate it when people litter the place..no seriously! I was born on Earth Day, duh! :P

25.I am a very passionate person.... I believe in Sean Jean's saying " Life without passion is unforgivable" !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANJU!

May this year be awesome for you and may all your dreams come true!! I wished we were still together in Chennai... Oh well, I will see you sometime really soon!!

Love you loads and loads!!
Aishu

Too much BAGGAGE!

I found that my bag had become unusually heavy this week and hence decided to clean it out a little bit. I pulled my handbag open and this is what I find :
- The latest book that I am reading – Q &A by Vikas Swarup (thanks to all that Slumdog hype!)
- A bunch of empty CD’s(they have been there for the past two months when I promised a friend to make a couple of Indian songs CD’s)
- My super heavy wallet(No No... not heavy with $$$, but mostly pics of Appa, Amma, my closest friends, Express Card, Macy’s Card, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Wal Mart card, Delta Frequent flyer card, SHRM Member card, Master Cuts card, my school id, Gap gift card, my driver’s license, my fitness class pass)
- My I Phone 3G gift card! (Cannot wait to get my hands on that new phone!!)
- About 20 greeting cards that I got for my graduation!!
- My phone charger
- My car keys
- The new hair brush that I got last week
- A whole bunch of bills that I just wanna hurl out of the window!!
- My compact
- 2 shades of lipstick
- my favorite pink Sephora lipgloss
- kajal(which is something that I cannot live without!!)
- My awesomely fragrant “Warm Vanilla Sugar” hand lotion from Bath & Body Works
- Two new, unused body sprays – Dancing Waters and Cherry Blossom from B&B Works
- Mine and Esther’s flash drives
- An almost finished packet of Stride Chewing Gum
- Two black hair scrunchies
- My graduation photo that just arrived from the mail! J
- A light green top (I always carry an extra top with me if I anticipate long days!)
- A bunch of Kleenex
- Three packets of Car Gels that Tanu and I picked at the mall last nite!!
- My graduation hand book that has my name highlighted!!
- The latest addition: My new COACH change wallet in pink! LOVEE IT!
- My blue camera ( I love taking random pics... of myself and my wonderfully goofy friends!)
- My VAIO charger
- A blue scarf that I always carry thanks to the unpredictable Missouri weather!!
- Two different flavors of Chapstick
- A pair of black, super warm gloves
- My going away present that I got from my internship!!
Phew.... no wonder my shoulders hurt!! Talk about carrying excess baggage!!

Trying Times!

Off late, I've been kinda moody, snappy and not in the best of my moods! I'm usually sunny natured... always smiling and having fun... I realized that I am going through some of the most trying times of my life..
It seems so weird that I slogged my @$$ off to get my MBA... slogged my butt off to find an internship... and now I am trying super duper hard to get a freakin' job!!!
Being in the US doesn't help right now I guess.. with all this economy talk.. i've been tellin my cousins they might be better off staying in India or trying newer places in Europe or Aussie land!! US is defo. not the place to be in!! A common quote that I keep hearing from my seniors..
"Apply for at least 20 companies/jobs a day and you might hear back from a couple at the end of 2/3 months".... It takes around 30-40 min to complete a job application online.. and then they have all that EEO/AA stuff to answer.. technical problems.. Now we're talking around 1 hour for each application!! SIGH!
The moment I hate the most.... when I get an email saying " We have reviewed ur application..blah blah blah.. your skills are extremely impressive but we selected another candidate..blah blah blah... YA RIGHT!!
I guess everyone of us go through this phase at some point in life.... It lasts for a month for some and 8 months for a few others.... I only hope I get over this phase.. this horrid, "feeling- low", "no work-means-no-money" phase that I am going thru right now...
I miss my wonderful family so much.....my ever-encouraging DADDY, my ever-smiling MOMMY and my wonderful grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts....................Oh I miss them like never before!!
On that note, I dedicate a song to myself : Survivor by Beyonce! :-)
Latta!
ME!

Homecoming.... Fun times!

Ok, so we are in the midst of our Homecoming celebrations on campus this weekend and it made me reminiscent of something that we did last year…
The Indian students Association(ISA) had registered to participate in the “Homecoming Walking entry Parade” last year.. unfortunately, we were not the least bit prepared for it and it was the night before the parade that all of us started brainstorming over what we wanted to do!
The theme for last year was “Wild with Pride”… pretty catchy, I thought… but we were really unsure over what we wanted to do. We had to walk and “do some steps” in front of the crowds standing in the roads… Finally, a bunch of us got together at my place and started coming up with random, “wild” ideas.. suddenly, a good friend of mine spoke up and said that the perfect thing to do would be the “koothu pattu”… in other words, choose a “local” Tamil song and dance for it!! He went to my laptop and started playing the song in the “highest” volume possible and all of a sudden, there was the “effect”… WE WERE GOING WILD… BALLISTIC, IN FACT!!
It was the best feeling… 20 of us dancing around my house and having the time of our lives… Oh, I could give anything to go back to that night… finally, the girls came up with some steps and made sure that the boys were coordinated! (tough task.. but we were getting there!)
The funny thing was the majority of those dancing and having fun there, did not understand a single word of what was being sung! Yet, they were lovin it!
Ok… so we practice for like 5 times and now we are PURRFECCT! We go out to eat, have fun and come back to get a good night’s sleep. Our parade was at 9am and we had to assemble there by 7am..
We woke up dark and early(it was around 6am) and we started getting ready. We were going to wear our ISA tees(that we had specially desgined for the event) and were getting our faces painted as Tigers(the Indian national animal) and a few others in the Missouri State colors of White and Brown. Oh the house was teeming with people at 6 am and it was super noisy…but all in a fun sorta way! Finally, we assembled there by 7 and ISA sponsored us coffee and donuts!! (ya baby.. it was Krispy Kreme!)… one of the guys was to hold the Indian flag in the centre and we had to dance all around him… I never felt so patriotic before… !
When our turn came, we gathered just in front of the judges and started doing our little dance! The entire crowd was cheering for us… imagine this situation… it was 7am, freezing cold and we are dancing to one of the “most local” songs in the roads outside(my parents had a heartattack!) and not a soul understood the meaning of it! It was funny!!
We got a lot of cheers when we finished and we continued doing it for a long time…
And guess what?? WE WON THE FIRST PLACE!! WE GOT $200 FOR DOING IT! And the reason, we were told, is that we were extremely “coordinated” and we fit the theme to a “T”!! WOW! It was a day that will remain etched in memory!!
Well, this years theme is a bit weird though… no clue as to what we’re doing.. but I will keep you posted!!
Later,
ME!
PS. For those of you who are wondering, the song was “Vaadi Vaadi” from the movie “Sachin”!