5 posts tagged “india”

I played Cricket!

Yep, I played pick-up Cricket and it. was. awesome. I went to Baltimore to see Sylvie and Jeff because Sylvie's family was here visiting from India. I hadn't seen them since I left their home on January 1, so I was extremely excited to be able to see them again :) I had a blast seeing Auntie Ji and Uncle Ji, and of course the beautiful Suheir :) We watched bollywood film videos (which were extremely racy and entirely unsettling for me, lol), played Cricket and got in some serious Wii action. I actually woke up sore on Sunday, and I'm not sure if it was from playing Cricket, playing Cricket in 2 and a half inch wedge espadrilles, or playing hardcore Wii... I would have come prepared in sneakers, but I had no idea that we were going to be playing Cricket. But man, was it fun! Here's some photographic evidence, just in case you don't believe me, hee hee!

At bat

An action shot...

Playing some mean Wii tennis

Wii! I'm gonna take you on!

I realize its been almost a month since I last posted, which is a long time. But when I got to my hometown, my family had me running a marathon through the holidays until I left for India - which of course, I didn't entirely mind since I love my family. But I was really looking forward to fixing the sleep deprivation problem. Oh well, tis life. So anyway, I didn't get to post while I was home. And now that I am posting, I'm not going to say much about India on here because the post would be as long as an epic novel. All I'm going to say is that India was absolutely amazing. I had an incredible time - Incredible India, as they say - and I can't wait to go back. It was fantastic. If you want to know more, pick my brain, and I'll tell you all about it. Just not on here ;)

Anywho, so I got back to Michigan on Monday and started classes and all that jazz on Tuesday. Things are going well. I think I'm really going to enjoy this semester. Its going to be a lot more fun than last semester, and a lot more relaxed in a lot of ways. So anyway, today was the first day of my internship at the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. The people all seem really wonderful, and the place is absolutely amazing. I was kicking myself for not getting to see it before today, but I think I'm actually glad I didn't see it before because it made my experience today that much more enjoyable. I haven't actually been told specifically what my projects are going to be for the semester, but I know I'm going to have 3 bigger ones, and then as many smaller ones as time allows. I'll be doing some sort of curatorial project with a photographic collection (or something along those lines), an Access Services project where I'll be spending a good amount of time in the Reading Room and I think doing some reference and stuff (yay!!), and a processing project, which I'm also looking forward to because I don't believe that I can be an archivist without hands-on knowledge of how to process a collection.

I got the grand tour of everything today - well, everything except Greenfield Village because its closed until April - and its freezing outside. I did get to see the museum finally. Its pretty incredible. I had been told about the locomotive in the museum, and how big it was, but I was NOT prepared for it when I walked into the building. I don't think I have ever felt that small before. Really. I'm no stranger to trains, but this one truly blew me away. I can't even describe to you how big it was, but I CAN say that when it was in use, it certainly wasn't trekking all over the place. I doubt that ordinary tracks would be able to support it, and I can't even imagine a tressel or bridge strong enough to support even half of its weight. My mentor said that it was primarily used in Kentucky, in coal mining, so it wasn't making excursions all over the place, but it was still doing some mighty haulin'.

I got to spent a decent amount of time in the museum. I was there on the grand tour as I'll call it, in the morning, and then I was there in the afternoon because Dan Rather was there. Yes, I'm talking about THAT Dan Rather. And I don't care how old he is, I had a moment when I walked past him. I was like "OMG, that's Dan Rather!!!" He was there doing an interview with the president of Ford Motor Co. (I believe...) because of the Detroit Auto Show. Mr. Rather didn't show up until about 4, and then he wanted a tour of the museum before he began his interview. He was so engrossed in the interview that when he finished with it, he was a little behind schedule and didn't get to meet and greet anybody. Which kinda sucked. But I did get to see him in action, conducting the interview, which was very cool. Yes, I am a dork, and I don't care. :)

So my first day was pretty great. For various other reasons as well. I have a new e-mail address for the Henry Ford, but I'm not sure how to access it to check it, so I'm not handing it out yet. I also have a phone and voicemail (which I haven't set up yet, so you're not getting the number ;) But I have a very nice little cubicle area. I wouldn't exactly say cubicle because its more spacious and not nearly as closed in. And its very bright. And its my workspace. My first cubicle ever! Woo hoo!!! Wow, I AM a nerd. But I'm ok with it. :)

The day's pretty much been a good one. It started a little earlier than I would have liked, but what can you do. I had a serious sinus headache last night - I couldn't even open my eyes all the way, so I crawled into bed around 7:30. I was out cold before 8, had a few phone calls that I never even heard (I found them this morning when I woke up) and was out for a solid 8 hours. Apparently, I've been spoiling my body with sleep in getting over the jetlag, and my body is now accustomed to 8 hours, and no more. I fell asleep a little before 8 last night, so what time do you think I woke up? Around 4:30. Yep. When I realized how early it was, I laid in bed for awhile, rolling and tossing, but not getting back to sleep. So I stopped fighting it around 5:30 and got up and read for awhile. Then I had a nice little breakfast, and finally around 7:20 started getting ready. I left the apt. around 8:15 and made it to the BFRC half an hour early. But I had my book with me, so I was able to do some reading. I'm reading the Historian and its really good. I started it right before I left Michigan, shortly after I submitted my last paper at the end of last semester. It was so good that I couldn't keep my nose out of it, but I just didn't have the time to read like I thought I would. I carried it to India with me and read it in the airports, on the planes, etc, but just didn't get through it. I had these grand plans for this huge reading list that I was going to get through. *wa wa wa* Wrong answer. lol... So, at least I'll have good reading this semester as a diversion from the textbooks. But I think I'm really going to enjoy the readings that I have for my classes this semester too. I'm really looking forward to it. Anyway, I'm starting to get tired, and I have some things I need to do, and I really want to finish The Historian tonight, so tootles for now :)

Songs of the moment: All from Dhoom 2 - Dhoom Machale, Crazy Kiya Re (remix and original), Dil Laga Na and Touch Me

Favorite Quote from the break: From "A Christmas Story" - Ralphie: "Oh My God, I shot my eye out!" hahahaha...

So last night, I finished writing one of my papers that is due, and I was so proud of myself for getting it done a few days early, and by 11 at night. I decided to treat myself by getting into bed early and reading a little. I started a new book this week. Prakash sent it to me for my birthday, and I have been wanting to read it since. I finally finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the other day, and decided to start reading the book from Prak, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I've just started it and already I can see that its going to be one of those books that will get read every so often. Its rather short, and I think profound is the right word to use. I've been having a lot of A-HA moments about human nature and the way things are... but that's just me. So anyway, I was reading and reading and I realized that it was about 12:30 and I should probably try to get some rest. So I turned the light out and laid there, and laid there, and turned, and laid there. So I said forget it, got up, went back to the living room, turned all the lights on, unpacked my computer and started working on the CSS for my database project. Its really the last part of the project that I care to worry about doing, so I figured, eh why not. If anything's going to put me to sleep, its going to be CSS... WRONG! I was up until almost 3 until I finally forced myself to get to bed and try to sleep. I slept for a few hours, didn't feel rested, but didn't feel unrested. I was pretty alert all morning, didn't find myself fighting to keep my eyelids open or anything... Its bizarre. Its like that song from the early 90s, I think Soul Asylum sang it, or someone like that. "Runaway Train." And at some point in the song they say "so tired that I couldn't even sleep," or something like that. Well, that's how I feel. I haven't slept very much in the past few nights, and its not because I've been staying up late to get work done. My mind is just racing with all the end of semester assignments and I can't slow it down enough to get any rest.

I'm so looking forward to Friday night. I won't be fully done by then, but at least the silly 539 things will all be behind me. We have a lottery for who's going to present in class, and I know in my gut that I'm going to be one of the lucky people selected to present in front of the class. Which I'm ok with, its just stressful knowing that I've got one of the most lowbrow and misguided databases in the entire class. At least that's how I feel, lol. I have a few things to finish up with that tonight, get it all taken care, and then finish editing and adding the bib to my final paper that I finished writing last night. I don't want to put it off until tomorrow, but I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow to get back to writing my huge paper that's due Monday. My goal is to get it done by Saturday night at the latest so that I can spend Sunday packing and getting the apt. in order and get on the road early on Monday morning. I'm so excited to be going home. Thanksgiving was such a tease, and I really didn't get to spend all THAT much time with my family. This time, I'll have more time to just chill out and do whatever, even though I'll be on the other side of the world for 10 days. I won't have to worry about homework or getting this or that done. I'll get to spend good, quality time with them. I'm such a dork, I love my family so much. We're crazy but we certainly put the fun in dysfunctional.

Speaking of, I leave for India two weeks from today. HOLY CRAP!!! 2 weeks!!! When I bought the ticket back in May it seemed SO FAR away, and even during the semester it felt really far away. I'm really excited about that too... I can't believe I'm going to India! I'm going to see Delhi and Punjab (I know Sylvie and Prakash are both very excited to have me see Punjab, hee hee, you crazy party people ;) and I'm going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. After I had to cancel out on Semester at Sea, I never really thought that I would get another chance to see it. I am SO excited!

Ok, I need to get back to work, even though I feel like I could just keep typing and typing for the rest of the day. I think it helps get the nervous jitters out, the stress jitters, because my fingers are moving so much and so quickly :)

ta-ta

Song of the Day: Gayla Peevey - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

p.s. check out my books and my crazy-huge reading list for the break. Between flights and layovers, I'm going to have LOTS of time for reading :)

...yes, I am a wimp. I did really well as the Dr. was sticking me with the needles. She was really good, really quick and gentle, and she kept me talking the whole time, which was a nice diversion. She had asked me ahead of time if I was one of those people that passed out when I saw needles, and I assured her that I'd never passed out before in my life. However, she got me set up on an exam table and I had to sit there waiting, alone, for about 10 minutes, while she was doing some administrative stuff. Wow, that was nerve wracking. It had been a REALLY LONG time since I had gotten a shot, and I have to admit, I was feeling a little woozy on the table, but once she came in and started talking to me, I calmed a little. Just enough.

So actually getting stuck wasn't that bad, but what really sucked was what happened afterward. Almost immediately, I could feel the soreness in my arms. It sucked. I couldn't even raise my arms above my head because it hurt. So I turned into a whiner. I called my mom, but she didn't answer her phone. Called the boyfriend, he didn't answer. Called Sylvie, who's Indian wedding is the reason I was getting the shots, and nothing. I had no one to whine to. So I just walked across campus by myself, whining in my head. By the time my mom called me back 15 minutes later, I had whined so much in my head that I had exhausted myself. My mom then proceeded to ask me how on earth I had ever gotten a tattoo, and I told her I'd pretty much been wondering the same thing myself. How on earth did I sit for 2 and a half hours while I was repeatedly stabbed by a needle in the same general area? I don't get it...

Anyway, I had dinner, which was hard. I had to try to find something to eat from one of the low shelves in my kitchen, and I was starving! So I ate, and then took a nice big dose of ibuprofen. That seemed to do the trick. I'm still sore, and I'm sure I'm going to be sore for another day or so, but at least I know that the ibuprofen will help, especially if i get another case of the whineys, lol.

Ok, I've procrastinated my homework long enough. I should probably get back to that. Au revoir!

Well not really. I'm only getting 3 shots, but that's enough to make me a little jittery. A month from now I'll be sitting in Heathrow airport, already travel-worn I'm sure, anxiously awaiting another 8 hour flight, this one to Delhi. Which is why I get to be a pincushion today, because when you travel to India, they automatically assume that you're going to be contaminated in various ways, and therefore must stick you before the nasties get the chance to strike. I'm looking forward to it... not. I'm just looking forward to getting them out of the way. I finally got my passport back over the weekend with my pretty little Indian Visa pasted into it. And now I'll have the shots out of the way. The only thing left will be to pack and get to the airport!!!

So my shots today... someone told me I'm going to get a nasty headache from them. Someone else was trying to tell me another horror story, but I basically just closed my ears. I don't want to hear about any adverse side effects, because then I'll get all hypochondriacal (is that even a word?). I'll start to feel the side effects even if they're not really there, so I'd rather not know and just deal with it when they happen. Besides, I was so unproductive over Thanksgiving break that I don't have the option to be affected by any side effects. I have too much work to do.

I'm getting pretty excited about this trip though. I haven't really let myself think too extensively about it because its always been so far in the future. I bought the ticket way back in May.But now its less than a month away, and I know that that month is going to go by so quickly just because I have so much going on. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't been out of the country in almost 2 years (the random trips across the border to Casino Windsor do NOT count) and I haven't had a real vacation is about as much time. So I'm really really really looking forward to just enjoying this trip for all its worth.

Ok, I'm about blogged out for the moment, I'm feeling rather ADD right now... more later!