Friday, November 28, 2008

Satie's Gnossiennes by Reinbert de Leeuw



As with most of my dicoveries in music, thanks to the good folks at NPR's All Songs Considered

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Vanity, thy name is Bill

Thursday night.

"Hey"

"Hey"

"Why are you still up?"

"You think only you have work?"

"Oh ok. Some paper deadline?"

"Yeah some comedy. I told you na. We are making Intel and AMD fight"

"Yeah. But why are you working late?"

"Because our paper is based on wrong assumptions now"

"So you are not going to ACM?"

"Who said that?"

"If you paper is all wrong, then what are going to talk about?"

"We are changing some things before it goes to print. Its all fine"

"I see"

"When do you stop working crazy hours?"

"When you start pulling in money"

"Of course"

"Hey. Are you tired?"

"Not really"

"You worked through the day?"

"Yeah"

"Hmm"

"What's wrong?"

"You look different"

"Nonsense"

"True only"

"You are the one who is tired and seeing things. Go to sleep"

"Alright"

Friday night.

"Dude, today I am not tired. In fact, I didn't do much work. We had meeting and that was it"

"Ok. So?"

"And you still look different"

"Don't be silly"

"What have you done?"

"What could I have done? This is all because of your bad couple of weeks. You are imagining things"

"I am not"

"Right"

This morning. I wake up and walk into living room. See this.



Promptly head back to bedroom.

"You bastard"

Silence.

"Do you want to wake up and shall I get some cold water?"

"What are you shouting early in the morning for? Some of us would like to sleep"

"First of all, I am not shouting"

"If you say so"

"And now, you will wake up from your beauty sleep and explain yourself"

"Come on now, its what? 6 AM?"

"9 actually"

"Liar"

"Prove it"

"What?"

"It is 9 AM. If you think its 6, prove me wrong"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. Just show me it isn't 9"

"You are mad"

"Whatever"

"I am going back to sleep"

"No, you are not"

"Okay man. Where is the stupid clock? Here, look at the time"

"No, you look at it. And tell me the time"

"Whaaat?"

"Tell me what the time is"

"I have no idea what has gotten into you"

"What is the time Bill?"

"Where are my fucking gla...fuck"

"Yeah"

"I can't believe you didn't see it for two whole days"

"Oh, its my fault now"

"Nobody's fault. You were just tired"

"And so you didn't tell me"

"Its not a big deal. Why are you all worked up?"

"I am not worked up. You know bloody well there is only one question I have"

"Insurance"

"How much do they cover?"

"200 quid"

"How much is the fucking thing?"

"Slightly more"

"How much more of my money have you spent now?"

"Not a big deal alright"

"How much?"

"440"

"You are kidding"

"No"

"Frames cost 440 quid nowadays?"

"See, its because you have this 20-20 vision that you don't realise such things. They always cost so much"

"Right"

"Just because you are this lucky person with perfect vision you don't see the issues that we not so lucky people have to go through"

"What was wrong with your old lens?"

"Nothing. It just was like five years since I got them"

"That doesn't mean anything"

"I was slightly bored of them"

"So you went and spent 440 quid of my money"

"Well, it was for you only"

"For me?"

"Yeah, these look all professorial no?"

"They do?"

"I think so"

"And why would I want you to look professorial?"

"You are the one who tells me to get a real job"

"Let me understand this. I tell you to get a real job. So you decide you will look like you have a real job. So you go and spend 400 quid on new frames"

"Perception is reality as you very well know"

"Whose perception?"

"Yours I guess"

"I am not delusional"

"Everyone else's. Don't act so outraged. Everyone noticed it. Everyone except you"

"Of course. It is my fault"

"And as usual, you will blame it on me"

"Right"

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Isn't there a romance in there somewhere?

1 older man
1 younger man / kid
2 lungis (checks, red)
fish (both Bong and Mallu)
fresh toddy

I think there is. BM thinks there isn't and apparently this is the script for some random Bollywood movie called Dostana. Needless to say, I am all insulted here.

What do you think?

Friday, November 07, 2008

Scaring Stable Bill

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm"

"Hello?"

"Yeah"

"You aren't listening"

"No"

"You are always preoccupied"

"Yeah"

"You look all stressed all the time"

"I am"

"You think too much of work"

"I know"

"Not much reading going on"

"No"

"Not even random blogging"

"Yeah"

"You don't tell me any blogosphere gossip"

"Oh thats because I haven't spoken to SB in a while. And anyway, don't read too many blogs nowadays"

"Which is good under normal circumstances. But I am all concerned"

"Why?"

"This is all very unlike you"

"Yeah"

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing"

"Painful people at work?"

"Some. But not a big deal"

"Then what is wrong?"

"I told you. Nothing"

"Things are alright?"

"I guess"

"Dude"

"What?"

"You need to talk more"

"I need to talk more? Right"

"Yeah. You never say anything nowadays"

"Okay"

"Enough. What's going on?"

"I told you na. Nothing"

"This is about your job, isn't it?"

"Maybe"

"Are you going to lose your job?"

"Maybe"

"You serious?"

"Yeah. Who knows in this economy?"

"So what will you do?"

"Will get redundancy"

"That's not too much na"

"This is not America. We are slightly socialist here"

"That's nice. How many months?"

"More than a few"

"Good. Then you have time to find a job"

"Yeah. If I want to"

"If you want to? We need to pay rent"

"I thought about it. Its not such a big deal"

"What does that mean?"

"We can move to Cambridge"

"But then you will have to commute"

"Only if I have a job"

"Oh"

"When did you say your funding was until?"

"Uh. 2012"

"Good"

"Good? I thought you didn't like the fact that funding got extended"

"Who said? I like it that you have a stable job"

"I have a stable job?"

"It is very important in one income households. Stable job is a must"

"But I get paid very little"

"Oh, we will manage. If we are in Cambridge, its not a big deal. No major expenses"

"How long will we be in Cambridge?"

"Until you move out, I guess"

"Why would I move out?"

"I don't know. After 2012, maybe for another post-doc"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your life. Your career. All that jazz"

"I will figure out something"

"You will figure out when?"

"Dunno. Maybe I will go back to school"

"To study what?"

"History or something. Will have to think about it"

"What will you do studying history?"

"Why can't I study history?"

"That's not what I asked. What will you do after that?"

"You tell me. You are the one with the phd"

"Wait, you want to do a phd now?"

"No way. Too much effort. I will just take random classes I think"

"Who will pay for these random classes?"

"Don't worry. We will do all household budget and all. It will be alright"

"Enough alright?"

"You think this is a joke?"

"I am beginning to think it isn't"

"Good"

"What good? This is the scariest thing that ever happened to me"

"And it hasn't even started yet"

"Go away"

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

There's only one place to be tonight...

Chicago.

But instead here I am in dreary London pulling another of those 17-hour days. So silly.