Another feather in my cap *smug smile*

tee hee.... its not that big a deal. But I finally managed to give the SAS exam today and passed it too. But the feather in the cap is not my passing the exam, but not having postponed it the gazillionth time. Icing on the cake is the passing part. Sounds silly? Actually you need to be in my shoes to understand what this is all about. I almost postponed it yesterday night again due to last minute panic attack, but fortunately couldn't as the deadline of postponing had passed. Guess even 'He' got bored of this last minute postponing game. I was so proud of myself that I went and spent hubby's cash on two tops. Yes, I have all the reasons to be smug :).

Sarah Palin, may you rot in Animal Hell!

After a long long time I am so charged up to write something! And this has been long due since I have felt this way about this woman for quite sometime now! It is funny how opinions about people change. I was actually pretty excited when I first came to know that Sarah Palin is going to be the VP nominee of  the Republican Party. Obviously, it was due to the fact that there is a possibility of a woman occupying the second highest(if not powerful) position in a country where politics is still considered to be a Man's domain. And the fact that she is very attractive added further zing to the equation since she would be subjected to further scrutiny, or in other words, criticism. But was I in for some rude awakening! She is not only politically challenged even though she is the Governor of a state, not only is she supremely smug for no rhyme or reason, but she is against something that I strongly believe in! This woman is an animal hater! She is a trophy hunter. She single handedly tried to bump polar bears off the endangered species list so that it will make oil drilling easier in the Arctic region. She promoted aerial hunting of natural predators in Alaska so that there wont be any competition for Moose and Caribou, and hunters can carry on with their favorite sport without intrusion! Really???
Read on if you want to know more about this woman and her "animal rights", that is her rights to kill an animal, so to speak:

http://www.travellerspoint.com/forum.cfm?thread=9529

Man! That felt good. I so needed to vent off! Now back to SAS (bleh!).

SAS? Or pain in the ass?

As cheesy as the title sounds, I have nothing against SAS on a personal level. It is just that after having been stuck with exams for a good part of my life (read 26 yrs, approx), I figured it is payback time with a job and perks associated with one. It so figures that my rendezvous with exams has not come to an end...yet. For those who have pretty much no clue about what I am talking about, SAS stands for Statistical Analysis Software programming. Have to give SAS Base programming certification exam to add value to my resume, and hopfully, to clinch me a job. Having postponed taking this exam for so long, I got an epiphany today that reinforced my fear and loath for exams (for the love of God, I need a synonym for this word!) all over again. Well, may be not an epiphany since this is something I have always known. Somehow for me, associating anything with examinations kicks out the fun part totally out of the window! On the other hand, exams motivate me to give my best. But I hate to study from an examination point of you. In short, I am so screwed.

Aaaand, its official. I am rambling, again. Gotta go back and study. And this time around, I am sooo not postponing, so HELP ME GOD!

The God of "skinny" things...

The title says it all, I presume. Yes! I am guilty of being skinny. Guilty as charged. For the good part of my life, I was cursed (trust me, in an Indian society, it is) with being a skinny, gawky, spindly looking kid. I could have been a supermodel in any other society, but nope, not back home. Over the past few years, I have blossomed (heh heh) into a strikingly tall, slim, super-sexy , stunning...alright alright, i take it back! I have grown into a strikingly tall, slim, moderately sexy, moderately stunning (???) woman and loving every bit of it! Though genes have a lot to do with it, trust me, it is not everything. Without even being aware of it, I have actually been following certain rules that have helped me stay on the thinner side of life. This might or might not help some of you, but it sure has helped me :).
1) I stop the moment I am full! Period! The occasions are rare and few when I actually overeat! An easy tip for those who do not know how to do that: On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being starvation central, and 5 being super-sated, stop around a 3, 3 and a half tops! It might need a little practice to question oneself around each level, but eventually you will get a grasp of it.
2) Somehow my attraction for junk food has always been minimal. If choice be given, I gravitate more towards nuts, fruits, and biscuits (mind you, Indian, not the high calorie American cookies).
3) I eat 4-5 times a day in moderate quantities. Not something deliberate, it is just that I cannot possibly eat a lot at one go!
4) Most importantly, I am super-duper, ultra hyperactive! This is my blessing in disguise! I can never ever sit at one place for more than 30 minutes. Though these days, my constant job search and working on my journal paper requires me to sit at one place for longer than I would like, I still give my legs a chance to stretch every now and then.
5) I love to dance! Given a chance, I can start off, with or without music, with or without an audience. It sure does burn off a lot of calories :).
As much as possible, eat home cooked food. Avoid fast-food restaurants at any rate (subway is an exception), and try to eat at least one helping of each of a vegetable and a fruit during each meal. This automatically cuts down the intake of the regular meal, and at the same time provides the much needed nutrients and minerals. Most importantly, work out, and DO NOT GO ON CRASH DIETS! One invariably gains all the lost weight and more when they go back to their regular ways, in fact, faster!
Woe be it, age plays a big factor in weight gain. Though I can safely say I am still thin, my metabolism is not as jiffy fast as it used to be. So currently I am figuring out ways to maintain my weight, so help me God!

Olympics, here we come..err..kinda!

Yep I know! Cynic, pessimist..call me all that you want, but the fact remains that a country with such a humongous population finally won "one" gold! I am not undermining the efforts of our man Abhinav Bhindra, pardon me if you got it all wrong. I am just speculating why a country of a solid billion and some has consistently been emerging a dud when it comes to sports other than, hmm, cricket...maybe? Reasons??? Lets count the ways! India never as a rule encouraged any sport apart from cricket which is one of the foremost reasons behind our less than average performance. No encouragement, no recognition, and a distinct apathy towards other sports spells anathema to even the most motivated. And then, there is always the situation with our politicians and their "more for me" attitude. Desi netas never quit..from their pillaging. I think they just cant help it, poor things. If there is any money channelized towards sports (if there is, that is), most go into their pockets. My least favorite reason being our general lack of pride in our country. We will crib at every lost opportunity at that moment, forget it, get on with our everyday mundanities of life until the next lost opportunity, and so on. For example, look at me. I am cribbing, I feel hurt, but lo and behold, two days from now, I am off with my life leaving all this behind!
Still call me a cynic? More a pragmatist, I would like to believe :).

License holder...me???!

Whoopsieee! After all the struggles, it finally paid off! Got my driver's license last week. After being in this country for almost 8years, this is not exactly one would call a big achievement ,though. In fact, quite a few of you must be snickering right this moment. But do I care? No, siree! I dont! It is my moment to shine, bai-bay :).
I got my license the second attempt around. The first time, I would have passed, except for the critical error: "examiner's intervention". So, technically, it was an instant fail, though the examiner made me take the whole test keeping me under the illusion that I might still make it through. When we finally reached the DMV office, she made me park and started assessing my situation. My heart thumping so hard and my stomach feeling like it might come off my butt any minute, I waited with bated breath to hear those golden words..."You pass". But nope. That was not to be. She gave me a long look and started off with my minor mistakes ( I basically made just 9 mistakes out of the allowed 15, goddamit!). I was kinda spacing out by now. Cant help it. The spacing out bit runs in the family. Anyways, the verdict was, I have to retake the test, euphemistically speaking. My two cents on the critical examiner intervention: highly debatable. From the examiner's point of view, it looked like I was driving too close for comfort to the parked cars on the side, but I could bet a hand and a leg (ok, make that just one hand), I was in full control...err....hmm....kinda.
Whatever. My second test went smoothly except that my examiner felt my steering wheel control was not very impressive. Big deal! And I slowed down bit too much at certain places but then that was to avoid another examiner's intervention. Hell! Anything to pass!
All's well that ends well. I just have one complaint though. My picture on the id. I look like a guy with gender complex :(. Ah well, sometimes, you just cant have the cake and eat it too...

Life..A Salutation!!!

OK! It is official! Am a blogger too! After years of consciously and deliberately avoiding it, here I am, tentatively entering the world that is so new to me but is as old as the old-fold mountains to many others :). But right now, I am at a loss of words. Though i have bravely ventured into the realms of blogging, I do not have the vaguest clue where to begin. For someone who is fairly articulate for the most part, this feels almost alien. But then I am not used to speaking my mind in the form of words AND for the whole world to read! Hmmm...lets see. I am a PhD in Computational Biochemistry who graduated last december with a certain degree of arrogance that inherently comes with holding a doctoral degree, thinking that the world is going to be my oyster. That I was most certain to get any job I want with only the vaguest possible doubt in my mind. Though I am not cocky by nature, there are certain things that definitely make me think I am a cut, even if marginal, above the rest. All that illusion came tumbling down around me when I started my job hunt. Though it definitely lowered my self-esteem, I refuse to let it be broken. Everyday I wake up with a sinking feeling in my heart, but when I sit back and re-assess my life I feel there are so many things that I need to be thankful and feel lucky about. Ahaa! Now I know what the title of this blog is going to be! This blog is my salutation to all those things that, even during my darkest hours, I can look back and feel great about.
1) I lead a very healthy life, barring the yearly (Ok, in my case, it is more of a tri-yearly thing) colds and coughs.
2)I consider myself an above average intelligent person or even goddamn smart (when my confidence blinds me) and thank Him for good genes :)
3) I landed a great guy, got married to him and couldn't wish for anyone better. He is one guy who knows how to handle my quirks and irrationalities, and I love him to death.
4) Great parents ,who, like any other, used to press me to do my best in everything during my growing years, but are my pillar of strength and support.
5) Great friends, but of course. I am not able to be as much in touch with them as I would like, but know they have my back!

So, here is kudos to life! It keeps throwing one curve ball after the other, but only to teach how to tackle them and show there are better things awaiting at the other end of what one presumes to be a raw deal!