I am Back!!

Let the drums roll and the fireworks burst, as Cartic is back, with the "Liebster Blog" award!! And this time around, it's not a witty post or a ten-pointer post, but it's a question-answer post for a change. As one of the budding bloggers, Ashitha, had woke me up from a long slumber with the Liebster award (indeed the first one for me), I am back here again writing a post after two months.

Rules

The Liebster Award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers. Award winners share 11 facts about themselves, answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who tagged them, come up with 11 of their own questions and tag 11 more bloggers with the award.

Thank you Ashitha for the award and most importantly for helping me overcome the writer's block I was facing lately.

I will skip the 11 Facts section as I have already mentioned many a facts about me in an exclusive page on my blog. Hence, it would be redundant to put again some facts here.

Here goes the 11 questions from Ashitha and my responses -

Yet to grow up or Grown up?
Growing up is an ever evolving process. I am still growing up. Meeting new people, gaining new experiences, facing situations, all these would help me keep growing.

Well, that seemed like an answer I would have given in an HR interview. But that's what it is.

Forbidden fruit- is tasty or bitter?
I would say bitter.

Fantasies or Real?
I am a person more into fantasies than reality, indeed, fantasies attributed with sheer weirdness.

Most prized possession?
When it comes to something materialistic, it is the golden beast, my bike!

Others include my blog, books(I consider books as non-materialistic, as what we derive from those is not physical in nature), and loved ones.
 
Person who most influenced the way you are?
Paulo Coelho. Reading around ten books of him should certainly influence anyone. What say??

First thing that attracts you to others?
I think others gotta say this.

Ever been ditched by a girl? 
An unanswered question for me too[Shrugging my shoulders].

If you are writing a book about yourself, what would you like the last lines to be?
"It doesn't end here. All the hell broke loose just now. Wait for the second part!!" :)

Premeditated or Spontaneous?
Premeditated.

If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?
Go around the world. Eat. Drink.

Rate your blog out of 5
This is left to the readers. For me it is always a 5. He he!


11 Random Questions for 11 other bloggers [This must be an easy part for me] -  
I thought I would keep the questions simple. Here goes the questions -

1. What is your blog to you?

2. The most funny incident that had happened in your college days.

3. The last call you made, the last night, before 11PM.

4. Your favorite quote.

5. Who comes to your mind first when you think of 'The Dark Knight Rises', Bane/Batman/Selina Kyle(Anne Hathaway)?

6. Road Fighter/Super Mario/Adventure Islander/Mappy/Lode runner?

7. The book you are currently reading (Or the one last read)

8. What is your cousin's neighbor's daughter's son's pet-name? If you don't know, please call up your cousin, let him/her take the trouble and get the name for you! ;) 

9. First follower of your blog?

10. Believer of Love at first sight?

11. What was the facebook status update done by you that recevied the most number of likes?

I have nominated 11 other deserving bloggers and have informed them on their respective blogs.

The Title!

Well, there goes yet another competition, and me not winning yet again! It is quite hard to digest a no-podium show when you had put your 100% and shown your at most enthusiasm.

It's been quite a long time that I have won some competition (competition here would refer to any contest that would test my creativity and skill, say, forming a collage, painting a face, making a mad ad or a skit). And winning a quiz has been an 'out'standing dream since college! ( I suck when the questions are about the cartoon characters! Who would know the color of Tintin's hair or Uncle Scrooge's bank balance!! That's a question my non-existent eight-year old son would have loved to answer, if he had a chance to watch those old cartoon series, if they were still aired on the TV! )

When I had introspected and checked about what could have possibly gone wrong, I got to know some mistakes I did. I had always put in more-than-required amount of creativity, which would have won me a competition on any given day, if the competition was a debate or an essay-writing contest. But projecting the same creativity/concept on a collage or a face, demanded my presentation skills to the fore and not my communication skills.

The other reason or a flaw is, the way it is judged, or in short, the role of the judges. At times when I get overly out-of-the-box, it would become hard for me to make the judges educated about the concept, owing to the abstractness associated with it.

And with the judges who would always be in a hurry, as they would have some 25-30 teams to be judged, they wouldn't pose many questions to get the concept cleared fully. Then, one would say, why don't you keep that simple? but then, it would be like, your theme is no different than the other participants' themes.

I would want the judges to be patient enough to spend a few minutes with each team, know what the theme is, pose questions if they couldn't comprehend by themselves, and JUDGE it correctly, and not just preside over as a guest.

Another aspect, rather the primary reason behind all the long list of failures is - showing a casual attitude! I lack the intensity until am on the floor. And there is zero ground work done most of the times. And once the contest starts, the intensity would shoot up and make me feel that I could have better prepared before the event had kick-started. Well, that should sum up this lessons learnt document! than a blog post and hoping for a better show in the near future!

PS : It is more a page from my diary than a post on my blog, apologies for making you read a little boring post! Welcome June!

PPS: Shouldn't the PS be the first line of this post!!?

Image Courtesy : Google Images

CSK! The Source of Envy!

Albie Morkel hits 28 off an over, (that includes two edges,and also four genuine cricketing shots). If it was any other player from any other team, they say, 'What a player he is!' And about the edges, well, they are part of the game!', just because the team is CSK, they say 'Did you see those edges? That's just sheer luck! '

And when people talk about luck, I get reminded of a quote, 'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity!'  There you go, the opportune moment came in the form of an inexperienced bowler in Virat Kohli, and Albie Morkel was well prepared to cash in on the freebies! And if you call that luck, well I agree on the above premise! But how many would say that, that was a sheer tactical mistake of Vettori!!

CSK picks up seven wickets in the last five overs, there comes a comment 'CSK is riding on luck!', and they lose in the last three balls of the game, then comes another comment 'CSK's luck ran out!'

So what do they mean? A bunch of lucky blokes with no cricketing skills or a team headed by a man who is branded lucky, and who have won three titles just by luck!? Then I would say, you just heard a fantasy story!

And there comes a spectator flashing a placard - 'Tendulkar - God of Cricket, Dhoni- God of Luck', I don't want to say anything more about it, as I have already mentioned about it here.

Well, if CSK is so much riding on luck, they would have preferred playing Casino in Vegas and would be earning millions of dollars just by the so called LUCK, than wilting in the heat of Chennai and playing 20-20 cricket.

With the IPL completing four seasons, people have definitely taken sides, be it on the grounds of cities, regions, players or owners. And with the phenomenal record of CSK, they are certainly the source of envy and hence a lot of criticism! But its utterly ridiculous to brush off someone's competence and winning ability in the name of luck and hence this post!

Well, with three titles in the kitty, we could let go off one this time!! Let's wait and watch what's in store this season, till then, whistle podu!

PS: Yes. This post was intentional!

Image Courtesy: Google Images

How to get over a break-up in seven days?

The ten-pointer posts have become quite a trend these days, at least on my blog! Here goes one after writing 'Why am I single??', exactly a year ago! What a co-incidence! :D

And coming to this post, well, I may not guarantee whether one can get over in seven days, but the title will not merely be an attention grabber, I tried to make complete justice to it. Here I go -

1. If you are the one who would like to spend a few days in solitude, then do this, catch a gaming freak among your friends, get the best of the dvds he has and start playing! The likes of FIFA, Age of Empires is what I recommend, as they really make you feel oblivious of the world around you, yes, your Ex too!

If you feel you can't go get a dvd, just open minesweeper, that'll do! But one thing, you have to play with a mind that would compete and not with the mind that would just play!

2. Turn off the mobile! If you feel that it is quite a big ask. Then keep it on. But go trek a place where a mobile network operator is yet to place his tower!

3. If you are the one who likes to read, then your problem's solution is just a book store away! Hop into a landmark or odyssey, get some works of Paulo Coelho. Start with 'The Zahir'. I need not mention the next book, you will know once you finish reading that.

4. Go the youtube way! Search for the most tragic videos on earth. You feel that what you are facing is no big deal. If not, watch more of those till you get that feel! :D

5. When you are looking for some unrequited love or happiness, try replacing that with some materialistic happiness! Yes, it works! Buy a new gadget, something of a camera, a music player. And for women - shop till 1. Your account hits three digits of balance 2. You reach your credit card limit! And about what to shop? I suppose the shop-aholic woman within you would know.

6. If you are the one who feels 'Love happens just once', please erase it from your head. After all, life is too short to love just one. ;)

7. Take up a hobby. Teach kids. That will make you feel a lot better. Try it. Get addicted to something, to the better things though.

They say, French for seduction, German for Engineering, English for Business, well what my point is, learn a language, that should certainly drive your enthusiasm.

8. Eat!! I mean, don't just eat to endure. Explore the best places for food in your city. Women - Don't worry about the weight you gain in the process, you are just adding up the few kilos you lost during the break-up phase!

9. If some old mushy stuff keeps haunting you, do the 'Jab we met' way. That really gives a feeling of a little triumph at least for quite sometime!

10. The last one. A philosophical note. Treat the phase as a passing shower than as a rampaging river! Oh! Did that sound a little too much! well, can't help it, after all, an ardent fan of Coelho here! ;)

PS: The addition of the 'Why am I single??' link at the beginning was just a shameless endorsement of one of my popular posts of the past! ;)

PPS: Breaking up and getting over is quite common these days. But still, I have seen quite a good number of people around me, who still treats it hard and some feel it as next to impossible! This post is actually targeted at those potential readers! Though the above said points aren't anything new, just because, even eagles need a push!

Image Courtesy : Google Images

Facebook! The End of Conversations!

Facebook is fun to use. However, the usage of it lately has taken several new dimensions, for example, a group of friends meet at a restaurant, the first thing they do is exchange a 'Hi', then a guy, 'IamFBAddictToTheCore' among the group quickly signs on his Facebook account through his mobile and starts typing, 'At the Chocolate Room, with friend1, friend2 and', he stops and asks for the name of the new guy in the group who is the friend of friend2 and searches for him on FB.

He then sends a friend request and gives his mobile to the new friend and asks him to sign in back and accept his request.

Then our friend IamFBAddictToTheCore will login back and posts 'At the Chocolate Room, with friend1, friend2 and friend3! Nyc 2 meet my old buddiezzz aft a lng tym!' (I know FB status update doesn't have any limit of characters. But you know, eating up letters is considered as cool! Even I used to do that when I was new to texting and blogging)

The conversation somehow starts, but our FBAddict is busy replying to the comments he is getting on his status update. What should this be called? Heights of virtual happiness?? Oh yeah! I understand, you are share-ing your happiness right? Freaking Awesome man!


Another one!
"Friend1 is at Hare Krishna Temple, Bangalore with AnotherFriend"  Updated from his Samsung Note, comes an update on my Facebook feed.

OK. That was good to know that these fellows have been to the temple. But was that really needed to update about it right when you are in the queue and jostling with the crowds? I was wondering how he would have managed himself opening his new Samsung Note amidst the push and shove of the crowd, and how he successfully searched for the temple link on FB! An example for heights of FB Addiction!

I am not against his update, but what my point here is, where is the Sanctity? I understand, we are not saints to show some intense levels of reverence to God but we could some how show some micro levels of piety, at least when we are at the temple! Should Zuckerberg and co provide an app which automatically hibernates your facebook account when you are visiting a temple by tracking your mobile GPS? Better not, you would stop visiting the temple if it happens!


Yet another one!
'Congrats babes! And that's called a Cute Couple! You both are really made for each other!', YetToGetMarried commented on JustGotMarried's profile picture (A picture of JustGotMarried and JustGotMarried'sHusband)

Now you would say, 'what's wrong in acknowledging a short note of congratulations? You Psycho blogger!' Well, hold on! I totally agree that you are expressing happiness about your friend's new marital status, but why fake something when the picture really looks something like this -

Even your beloved friend thinks that you are mocking at her! Just a simple note of 'Congratulations' would do right? Anyways, if you really felt that they were a cute people, I am extremely sorry! I am just sick!

PS: I do spend time on Facebook. I do share, rant and at times update some meaningless status messages. But what my point is, follow some usage guidelines. That's it!

Image Courtesy : Google Images

A blogger will know this!

Ten random things about the life of a blogger!

# A movie which was watched solely as a piece of entertainment before, is now a three-hour case-study, where in the blogger within takes some mental notes about the background scores, the direction flaws, the colors and the costumes!

# A photo blogger always gets quicker responses or 'likes' compared to a 'writer' blogger! 

Courtesy - Human Laziness!
  

# When a blogger thinks 'Yes, I need to write about this', 90% of the times he ends up not writing about it! If ever he writes something, its because it just happens!

# A post published on the blog gives a blogger more kick than what a scotch or vodka or a mix of both could give!

# The number of drafts is always 2-3 times more than the number of posts actually published

# A few people who use their laptops for some productive work must necessarily be bloggers!

# Other than FB notifications and messages, the next interest for a blogger would be to look at his blog statistics for the day, and the best part of that is to see some random visitors from countries like Zambia, Mozambique, and yeah Colombia! (And I always thought Colombia is all about drugs,bananas but not blogs!)

# A blogger sometimes faces this too - A thoughtfully written post about a crush, with the best of the adjectives used, and she comes back and says, 'that was too poetic and too verbose to comprehend, couldn't you keep that simple!!?'

# Your fellow rickshaw traveler during your primary schooling, whom you met on FB recently, is not just an old pal, instead he/she is a potential reader of your blog now!

# And finally, what does a blogger do when he is bored?
Some posts of this sort would get published!