Me in 2009

Thanks to Suicide Hotline and Enigmatic Rantings, I landed on
Final week of 2009 @ Sunday Stealing

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Tattoo

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Not really.

3. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve?
with friends.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes

5. What countries did you visit?
Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, UK, Switzerland, India, etc…

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
hmm..Probably relocation.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
3rd weekend of July..spent lovely weekend in Bangalore with a friend.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Backpacking for 8+months.. I did.. yes finally I did. Few things are so amazing in life that we dont have words to describe what just happened. that is 2009 for me.. 

9. What was your biggest failure?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
my DSLR Camera & Pair of rings for parents on Dad’s 60th birthday.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Travel, phonecalls, investments,..

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?
MJ’s songs for obvious reasons and for very different personal reasons..
Citizen Cope Son’s Gonna Rise
(Telugu) Anand – Nuvvena
(Hindi) Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?
calls

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?
eating

16. What was your favourite TV program?
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.

18. What was the best book you read?
House of Stairs, Life of Pi,

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Tracy Chapman, Thirteen Sense, Regina Spektor, Ayo,…and more.

20. What was your favorite film of this year?
District 9, Hangover,..

21. What did you do on your birthday?
home party with friend celebrating me becoming wiser

22. What kept you sane?
Optimism

23. Who did you miss?
will always miss the friend who lost during the year.

24. Who was the best new person you met?
many of them..folks from Alicante needs specially mentioning.

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Do as little as possible, and that unwillingly, for it is better to receive a slight reprimand than to perform an arduous task. The corollary to this is that an awful lot of life’s problems solve themselves if you leave them be.;)

May this new year bring many opportunities to your way,
to explore every joy of life &
may your resolutions for the days ahead stay firm,
turning all your dreams into reality
and all your efforts into great achievements.
Happy New Year to you & your loved ones.

Never a year like 2009 (american news summarized)

Adiós 2009, Year that was..

As I remember, reflect & readthru 2009 from the edge of it– I see my wealth continues its up trend, no major health issues, my job is Ok not great but anyway nothing so worst to complain but this year made its mark with few emotional scars. Even with my optimistic nature, I have to say objectively this year isn’t all that I hoped for.

Personally, 2008 is the year with so much news about marriage, new born,.. but largely news of 2009 has been about breakups, divorces, separations, death. But in the Mist of confusions, complications, hardships, sorrows, net weight gain(+3kg.;()..I had made some cherishing memories & experiences which will last forever.

My trend of traveling to few corners of earth and stepping into few uncharted experiences continued in 2009.

when I readthru some of my blogs, even as early in march’2009 I have seen this year to be more confusing.
https://myalteregospeaks.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/thats-what-happened/

Its been the year, of moving from old to new. I mean orkut to facebook..;)
I had a tattoo..;) had to be high point..;)
https://myalteregospeaks.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/tattooed/

my Travel adventure continues– had to be one of highlight of the year…. south west France road-trip, trip to Nordic countries, etc..
https://myalteregospeaks.wordpress.com/tag/travel/

Luck had its way in linking me up with few interesting people and also broking those links. sometime just breaking the soft-link but sometime even the hard-link(out of touch). Nevertheless, those souls added interesting colour to my life.
Thanks to all those & big sorry to some of those, if my action caused any hurtful feeling. Although I dont regret much of it, my Intention was never to hurt anyone. Its probably the act of destiny (so don’t blame me)).
And my lasting tribute to my grandma & lovely friend who passed away this year. My world was made better because of their presence and had many many joyfully moments with them. May your soul rest in peace and I am sure you would be my guard angle.
https://myalteregospeaks.wordpress.com/tag/Journal/

I would like to believe that I have become more wiser. apart from people who I shared my conversations and time with, its also thanks to TEDtalks, speeches, books, documentaries, etc..
https://myalteregospeaks.wordpress.com/tag/defined/

And network of blogger had increased to new heights. I made remote connections to folks across the global and I had opportunities to meet few of them in person. for those who I haven’t met yet, I am coming soon..life is long and world is small.
Thanks to you all ladies & gentlemen for being here and for making my world bigger & better.

Wish you all Happy 2010 & beyond.

Song for the mood.

Good-Bye 2008 and Welcome 2009

Wo..2008 has been eventful year. So much had happened. But Ofcourse, most of all this year will be remembered for credit crisis and market crush. Everyone knew ‘What goes up must come down’ but most people thought ‘its not now’. 2008 has thought us many lessons and made us realize what we already knew: Our way of life will evolve, expand & shrink with things we do and with things around us.
Hope we would make good use of this experience in 2009 and beyond.

Personally, it’s been a good year for me.
2008 started with new a job and yet another relocation,
Travelled few far corners of earth,
Stepped onto few uncharted experience,
My investment risk profile has been very high,
I lost few and I gained more,
Hosting Parents and took them around places in Euro-Zone(highlight of my year),
Crossed 3decade of ‘joy-ride’/life with no(almost) regrets,
So I do believe, Iam better-off from the year before.

In 2009 I hope: to be patient, risk control, body(/health) control, newness out of new beginning.

Its time of peaceful prayer,
for love, law, labour, loss & gains.
these are the wishes of the coming reign.

to all those who I pissed off: Iam sorry but I had my reasons.
to all those who pissed me off: you are forgiven, but we won’t be friends anymore.
to all those who gave a helping hand: thank you, I owe to pass-it-forward.
to all those disappointments I caused: never meant to hurt.
to all those who disappointed me: thank you for making me re-evaluate my expectations.
to all those who owe me money: now is always a good time to give it back. 😉

be kind and be fair
be patient and be prepared
be nice and be wise

Back Online… Happy 2008

Even with months break from work… family, friends, zyoptix laser eye surgery, low speed internet connections kept me away from blogs..(excuses)

I never thought, I will make an opportunity to take months break from worklife to spend time with family to revisit past life. Lucky me, without making too much thinking and special considerations, I had option to spend couple of months at home between jobs. This was longest ever break I had since my school days.

Its feel great to revisit old lifestyle,..spending hours-hours in beach just like I used too,.. visitied friends in different cities, took parents to short trip aboard, and I made short trip to new country, reevaluated/re-allocated investment portfolio,.. found decent onine/home delivery DVD rental in chennai, as usual troubled parents & bros,..played lots of chess,.. O yes past couple of months had been (slow-phased but)eventful. ofcourse, Mom’s love translated into 7+kgs and now somehow I have to keep the love and shred the fat.
I still don’t have regular internet yet, might take couple some more time but I hope to be here atleast couple of hours every week(hopefully).

Here’s to the bright New Year and a fond farewell to the old,
To the things that are yet to come and to the memories we hold.

Happy 2008 and beyond…

To divide one’s life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry on its duall wall-existence by the arbitrary timetables we have drawn up in consultations with those permanent commuters, Earth and the Sun. But we, unlike trees need not grow annual rings.

Happy 2007

My heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me “forwards” over the past 12 months.

I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a very prosperous New Year.

Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy.

Thanks for all those who informed me that Bill Gates is giving away his fortune, I am still waiting to receive my share.

Thanks for all those Nigerians and Sumatrans who trusted me enough to ask my help in recovering their $100 million stashed in Swiss banks, in return for a 30% commission.

Because of your concern, I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains and may eat my guts out as well.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave, because it causes cancer.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer eat KFC, because their “chickens” are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer worry about my soul, because at last count, I have 52343214 angels looking out for me in addition to all of you dear friends.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an e-mail to atleast 10 of my friends and make a wish within 10seconds.

I no longer have any savings, because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time)… that will change once I receive the $15,000 that AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

Yes, I want! to thank you so much for looking out for me that I will now return the favor!

If you don’t send this damn post to at least 194120 people in the next 7 minutes, a large flock of pigeons with a wicked case of diarrhea will land on your head at 6:00 PM this afternoon.

Happy 2007

New Year wishes to those who..

To those who love to sleep but always wake up in a good mood,
to those who still kiss when they say hello,
to those who work hard and have even more fun,
to those who rush to work, but don’t honk at the traffic lights ,
to those who arrive late but don’t look for excuses,
to those who switch off the television to make conversation,
to those who are happy when they do twice as much,
to those who wake up early to help a friend,
to those who have the enthusiasm of a child and the thoughts of an adult,
to those who only see black when it is dark,
to those who don’t wait until New year time to start new good habit to be a better human being

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!!!