Emmie

So I have a new gadget to play with. One that took a long-ish time in coming and has travelled some distance and nationalities to reach me. Super tech nation Japan sends me a Creative MuVo2 FM with citizen Hosomi (Sunshine). All those adjectives, as you might already have guessed are more for convincing myself that Creative is better than i-pod than a real belief.
I have christened the tiny sexy black-with-white-borders player 'Emmie', after its family name - MP3. (Also in honour of its atya - aunt - Urja).
Of course, it took me some time to figure out how to upload songs on it using the organiser provided by Creative - even after the struggle I ended up uploading them the traditional, time-tested way- "Cut-Copy-Paste". I am not THAT much of a techie yet, I guess. But who cares, the songs are there, the player is there and I can listen to digital music on the move! I can also pretend to be this cool, hip Asian chic (yes, i can hear the derisive laughter through my new Creative earphones) who is swaying to the latest jhankaar beats.
Any suggestions for good songs to upload are more than welcome and shall be carefully filtered...so what if I have 5 gb worth of space, I don't want crowding around.
Ok, gotta go. Looking forward to the ride back home in Emmie's company!
p.s.: I would like to thank Rui, who has been the most amazing courier ever, my parents, friends, dog, cat, potted plant, cracked tile and Creative for believing me to be worthy of this Emmie. Love you guys (joyful sob escapes).

Flickr

Click on any of the photos below to go to my Flickr photostream.... unbelievable conceited, I know, but there are some good photos there. take a dekko, if you please!

Over the moon!

Over the moon!
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

Man, moon and machine in gorgeous harmony

Three Stooges

Three Stooges
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. .... wish the others were here as well! Miss you, guys!

Boscombe Pier

Boscombe Pier
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

Irresistable. Sparkling blue waters and a spotless sky to match.

Babies' Day Out

Babies' Day Out
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

Reviving the child within, Vaibhav and I race against time.... and dripping ice cream. Vaibhav, if you observe, lost the battle.

The (Hindu) Trinity

The (Hindu) Trinity
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

When your powers combine, I am Captain Planet!

Foam Bath

Foam Bath
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

Hmmmm... the new Liril girl. New foam bath with (Dead) Sea minerals.

Gulliver

Gulliver
Originally uploaded by Aartee.

Lilliputian me - Gulliver Vaibhav in Arun's 'ingenious' creativity. Arun decided to be creative with the 'appareil photo' and came up with this. And almost right afterwards, almost soaked the appareil, Vaibhav's camera. Ah, the absent mindedness of artists!

Post Dissertation Activity

So what am I upto now-a-days? As a friend's MSN status aptly describes..... 'Serious Vegetation'. But that won't be the entire truth. In fact, there has been some hectic activity. And if you bother to look at past posts, you'll come to the conclusion that I should go from amateur to pro status in moving house. I moved last Saturday. Into what now strikes me as, well, a smallish place (arun and vaibhav take note). It looked quite decent in size to me......until my worldy belongings dwarfed it. I now feel like an employee of the luggage store section at Victoria station. Of course, things are a wee bit (Arun note the use of the word 'wee') better now that we've moved 45239870 packets and 34592383 cartons around, a bit like a Sudoku puzzle trying to get the right combination. Oh whatever, am kinda getting used to it, even liking it now.

This move saw a couple of members from the old accomodation arrangement slip off. Sunshine (oh the times we had!) is back in the Land of the Rising Sun (where is the sunshine in her life, she moans). Vaibhav decided he had had enough of us, and got another house. Can't blame him, though. Am sure he stepped into his new place, took a deep breath and said, 'Freedom, to be... azaadi, dil ki!' But he's not as lucky as he would imagine. Our house is just a hop, skip and jump away. That jump part is probably more for a kangaroo, but whatever.

Diary of Aarti, frank - I

Aug 26: Last post on blog, eternity till D-day.
Aug 26- Sept 2: Garbled rushed days of activity, pot noodles, machine tea and fortifying Lucozade.
Sept 2: Green Day. No, not St.Patrick's -II. More like St.Envious. 3 friends from other courses are done with their projects. B$£%% B(£$*£@
Sept 3 - 5: Frantic writing, morale boosting of self, day dreaming in slow motion with fuzzy pictures and dreamy music ...... I walk into the administrator's office with two gleaming copies of perfectly typed and bound research. And yet, ye Gods of yore are smiling down upon me.....I am on schedule!! Did you know that 18000 words can at the same time be too much and too little?
Sept 6: Formatting takes the life out of me......or at least about 16 hours of it!
Sept 7: B(l)inding rush.... shell out money for two shiny black copies with gold lettering to prove that I am indeed worthy post-graduate material. Almost there, can smell freedom and yet, taste fear...it's out of my hands now!
Sept 8: Restful bliss. Chat. Books and coffee at Borders and Starbucks. Pamper obsession for stationery.
Sept 9.....D Day: It's that fuzzy dream again.. only it's not a dream anymore. I am really walking into the administrator's office. I am really handing in two copies of three months' worth hard work, sweat (uhhhh, not really, in cool Bournemouth), dark-circled eyes, pasty skin, patchy sleep and a constantly uptight state of mind. And she really does give me a receipt that says ' Received on 9th Sept 2005, Masters Dissertation from Aarti Pande'.

Is it over, is it really over? Has one year really gone by, whizzed past, melted away? Why don't I feel like celebrating yet?