Chaya

Monday morning: I drifted awake on the tail end of a dream. I think the moment just before I opened my eyes, I had been (in my dream) repeating, "Chaya, Chaya, Chaya ..." (No, not the 'Chaiyya chaiyya' song.)

The Chaya in my dream had been a beautiful, dark-haired woman.

In my dream, I was (I think) on my first day at a job—either as a receptionist or assistant to a doctor who didn't/hadn't (yet) turn up at work—and I was handling all the patients/clients who came to the office, wanting to see the doctor. Prior to going into the office, I seemed to be walking around with a friend (Jen, I think?) which gave me the opportunity to look around. The setting was natural and calming; think: ivy-covered stone walls and muted gurgling of man-made waterfalls.

In the doctor's office, I wasn't in a panic and the patients/clients weren't pushy or angry. They seemed content to be rescheduled and, in a more or less orderly manner, asked for their (new) appointments.

Chaya was one of them. I apologetically explained that the doctor wasn't in (yet) and asked whether she would like a new appointment, perhaps later that same day. She said she would like to be registered for the earliest possible opening but could I please give her a call as soon as the doctor came in. I promised I would. She wrote down a long-ish string of number and left her name.

I think maybe that was when I started waking up, repeating her name and staring at her phone number.

Anyway, it was an unusual name so last night I decided to look up its meaning. I pronounced her name 'chah-yah' (the Hindi way) which was what I was more familiar with; however, I'd just finished The Mathematician's Shiva on Sunday night so I'm kinda leaning towards the Hebrew meaning (however differently it is pronounced).

Does that dream mean anything? Hm.

Guilty Reads

• Jonathan Kellerman—The Golem of Hollywood
• Jonathan Kellerman—The Golem of Paris
• Stuart Rojstaczer—The Mathematician's Shiva

(Yeah, strange coincidence of reading back-to-back books with a Jewish theme. This is why I have a feeling that the Chaya in my dream isn't Indian but Middle Eastern/Jewish.)

Next Project

I'm itching to do more cutting—more specifically, Yule cards—but I've also been thinking of the updating that Rach's family tree cutting needs with the new addition to her family. Because I'm adamant that I don't draw anything (there're just too many steps, what with sketching and endless re-sketching—I often tear and crumple paper with my furious erasing—then scanning and adjusting/tracing, before I can even print and cut), I took days to find the right vectors to edit and paste together.

Anyway, after trying unsuccessfully to work on an actual tree cutting, I ended up pasting together something from a couple of Art Nouveau vectors I found online:

This looks like it could very well be a viable piece with both positive and negative cuts. The only criteria Rach gave me were that it be A3 and portrait (so she can re-use the frame she bought for the previous cutting).

Time to buy paper and get this printed out ...

I would like to do a series of small-ish Yule cards decorated with himmelis and/or with piercings (like the card I made for Jen) ... unfortunately I don't have anyone to give the cards to. I don't think I want to mail those cards—the himmelis will make the cards bulky and maybe slightly fragile.

Guilty reads:

• Christopher Moore—Fool
• Peter Mayle—The Marseille Caper
• Jonathan Kellerman—Motive

Nothing

The ornare card ended up being completely ruined after the spray paint job because of a small malfunction, so I just crumpled it up and threw it away. I think the next time I make such a card, I'll draw the design out by hand on graph paper—which will help keep my perforations more or less uniform in distance too (not that it really matters).

And then this straw thing just didn't turn out as I thought it would ... sigh.

I'd envisioned a bowl. This isn't even remotely bowl-like. And it's kinda flimsy. Worse: it looks like a fucking tortoise. I'mma try to salvage this, maybe turn it into a hanging thing as Emily suggested.

Guilty reads:

• Christopher Moore—A Dirty Job (I really, really, wholehearted-fuckingly dig this book. I don't think I laughed so much whilst reading, especially at Mrs Ling's stereotypically Chinese idiosyncrasies. I lmfao-ed at the "duck in pants" dish!)
• Christopher Moore—Secondhand Souls
• Jonathan Kellerman—Compulsion
• Jonathan Kellerman—Guilt
• Jonathan Kellerman—Killer
• Carl Hiaasen—Star Island
• Peter Mayle—The Vintage Caper

I also re-read Tom Holt's Who's Afraid of Beowulf. This and Expecting Someone Taller are prolly my two favorite titles by Holt although I think I enjoyed them more when I was doing Old Norse and Old English classes (I'm also re-reading Grailblazers but it's only okay). Still trying to finish reading Meadowland ... sigh.

Working on designing a new "family tree"-type paper cutting for Rach but I'm all out of inspiration ... -_-

Sigh

Yesterday was the Diwali public holiday. The only Hindi movie screening on the free-to-view channel was fucking Chennai Express. Why the shitty show I don't have a clue, but I guess a movie like That Girl in Yellow Boots or Ugly isn't exactly something that will liven the holiday mood.

Tried out a himmeli orb (well, I made two, actually) while streaming Gone Girl:

I'd not read Gone Girl but the movie I couldn't finish nor did I want to. Visually, the movie looked great, but the characters and story—big fucking ugh. I found the movie to have zero incentive for me to continue or finish watching: I dislike both major characters and don't give a fuck as to whether revenge was had or they reconciled and had a happily ever after.

Anyway, books I finished in the last week or so:

• Bad Monkey
• Mystery
• Victims
• Sandman Slim:
  [note to self] Not sure whether to pursue this series or not. This book came as a if-you-like-[book A]-you'll-like-[book C] recommendation, [book A] being the Cabal brothers series. While I adore Johannes (and Holt) Cabal, James Stark isn't a character I feel much for either way. Sure, the book's throwaway one-liners gave me a number of amused snorts along the way, but I had to push myself to continue reading, almost right until the take-down at Club Avila when it got kinda exciting.

The himmeli orb has 20 facets (if I counted correctly), which makes it a regular icosahedron—I think. With no internal spokes, the structure is less stable than I like. Maybe I'll try stellated polyhedra next ... or something in a larger scale.

Mini Projects

As soon as I decided on wearable himmelis, I started making a butterfly one (cribbing from a design I found on Etsy) which is definitely not wearable.

Completed this one on Friday ... and it doesn't look much like a butterfly because I eyeballed the different lengths required based on the design. Ah well.

Also, I finally finished the first of my Islamic pattern cuttings yesterday:

I don't quite know what to do with this—mount it? Make it into something of a lampshade? What??? I gotta try to give this away to a friend so it's gotta be made into something.

I've also been on a bit of guilty-reading binge. I borrowed a bunch of books last Wednesday and the Wednesday before last after my blood test and a doctor consultation (re: blood test results; I'mma stop my thyroid pills now that my TSH and other crap have leveled out) and have been steadily going through them.

Guilty reads so far:

• The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden
• Explosive Eighteen
• Notorious Nineteen
• Takedown Twenty
• The Outsourcer's Apprentice
• The Woman Who Died A Lot
• Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute

Gotta say, I absolutely adore the Thursday Next and Johannes Cabal series! It used to be Tom Holt was my favorite (because of books like Who's Afraid of Beowulf and Expecting Someone Taller) but Jasper Fforde is now my new hero. And Jonathan L. Howard—hoo boy, I love me more of the brothers Cabal!

Read(s) & Flicks of the Month: February

Read(s):

• The Brothers Cabal

Flicks:

• Dil Kabaddi
• Special 26
• Daawat-e-Ishq
• Happy Endings
• I Saw the Devil
• Shaadi Ke Side Effects
• Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster
• Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
• I Am
• Boss
• Barah Aana
• Sadda Adda
• Raajneeti
• hootha Hi Sahi
• Mithya
• Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani
• Love Aaj Kal
• The Film Emotional Atyachar
• Om Shanti Om
• Fido
• Zombieland
• Dasvidnya

I have to start reading more (and the reading group articles don't count) — maybe I'll start by finishing the Cabal series. LOL, werebadgers, indeed!

Reads & Flicks of the Month: January

Sadly, just finished one book (a short one, really) which I started last December or even before: The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan.

Flicks of the month:

• Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
• Salaam-e-Ishq
• Badmaa$h Company
• Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana
• Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi?
• Ishqiya
• Dedh Ishqiya
• Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
• Jodi Breaker
• Finding Fanny
• Cheeni Kum
• Straight
• 7 Khoon Maaf
• Fashion
• Student of the Year
• Chennai Express
• Fatso!
• Teri Meri Kahani
• Kahaani
• Mardaani
• Main Tera Hero
• Nautanki Saala
• (Kick — actually, I fast-forwarded a lot because I was watching this for Nawazuddin Siddiqui)

I also watched the AIB Roast — I waited for it the entire day then watched it way past my bed time even though it was a work day the next day. I laughed a lot; I also thought a lot of the jokes were going for the lowest common denominator, but that's not actually offensive. The fact that K.Jo joined in on the gay jokes about himself raised my opinion of him — this I blame on AIB. I'm just really sorry they got into trouble for making people laugh and raising money for charity.

Who could've anticipated that good things could be deemed so bad, that there were so many nincompoops in the world?

Anyway, I waited again for 'I Am Offended' yesterday (or was it Wednesday?) and watched it way, way, way past bed time. It's worth it. I think everybody should watch it, regardless of whether or not they know who the folks in the video are; whether or not they are from/in India.

Because, for me, it is ultimately about how we can't have nice things because of selfish and ignorant and insecure assholes who make fucking loud stinks.

I mean, holy shit, nobody's putting a gun up your ass to force you to watch something on YouTube or get gay-married or whatever. Just because you don't want to do it doesn't mean you stop others from doing it, especially if whatever the others are doing isn't murdering, raping, maiming, robbing (etc.) anybody.

ARGH. SO. INFURIATING.

Read (& Flicks) of the Month: December

With all that DVD-watching, it's a wonder at all I can finish reading one book. And that, of course, is even Bollywood-related.

Reads of the month:

• Bollywood: A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema by Tejaswini Ganti. I've also started on 100 Bollywood Films by Rachel Dwyer, and I plan to read it quite thoroughly. (On a side note: OMG I WANT TO BE RACHEL DWYER. I WANT TO WATCH HINDI FILMS AND RESEARCH AND WRITE ABOUT THEM FOR MY JOB!!!) I also started on The Brothers Cabal which I like and must try to finish somehow. In between all those DVDs and streaming flicks.
• Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle
• Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China by Guy Delisle

Flicks of the month:

• The Ghost Writer — I swear I didn't know it was a Polanski flick; wouldn't have even touched it otherwise.
• Maleficent — couldn't finish watching ... -_-
• (500) Days of Summer
• My Name is Khan
• Taare Zameen Par
• Vicky Donor (a rewatch)
• and the DVDs I'd bought ...

Reads (& Flicks) of the Month: November

Sadly, I've only read one book this month — well, not read, maybe viewed: Celluloid.

But I have watched:

• Queen — will buy it soon!
• Chandni Chowk to China — ugh. The only reason I borrowed this was that it was one of the handful of Hindi titles my library carries and I plan to go through all of them (well, except the ones I already own)
• Barton Fink: interesting — and Adrian and Ambrose together!
• Brazil: it's both horrifying and sad. Now waiting for the day the world decides to go the way of Brazil ... I knew the last bit must've been a dream or Sam's imagination but I could help trying to believe he got to live happily ever after with Jill. Damn it Gillian, why couldn't you make the ending more ambiguous?
• Brave — finally ...
• Barfi! — one of the DVDs I bought yesterday!
• Peter Pan (1953) — I'd only ever seen the 1988 animation when I was a kid. Is it me, or did Disney make the relationship dynamics between Tinklebell and Peter, Tinkerbell and Wendy, and Peter and Wendy, a whole lot of weird? And what's with all that sexual jealousy that all the female inhabitants of Neverland have of Wendy? I honesty never saw that sexual jealousy as a child but now it's pretty much in my face.
• Agent Vinod — to reiterate: NO FUCKING NO NO NO NO NO. Just ... NO.
• The City of Lost Children (currently watching)

Rewarded myself for surviving this shit-hole of a month by buying six DVDs yesterday — three (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and Jhankaar Beats) to replace the VCD titles and three 'new' titles (Heyy Babyy — why, girl, why did you buy this?! — Barfi!, and Jolly LLB).

Also managed to catch Revolver Rani yesterday on TV. Oh Kangana and Vir Das look kinda cute together! Also, the people (not the actors) behind Agent Vinod should take a cue from Revolver Rani and fucking learn to come up with scene/contextually suitable songs and how to insert the song-and-dance scenes appropriate so the viewer (well, me) won't go WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS so bloody often.

Read(s) of the Month: October

• Robert Galbraith's The Silkworm — will read again!
• Amanda Grange's Mr Darcy's Diary — yeah ... no. I love Pride and Prejudice but Grange's Darcy falls a little flat for me.
• Yasutaka Tsutsui's Paprika — book on which one of my favorite films is based! I think Atsuko in the film is actually quite different from Atsuko in the book. The book has a lot more details going on in the narrative too. I suspect if I'd read the book without watching the movie, I'd've been quite lost. Satoshi Kon made Paprika really, really awesome. And how much of a genius is Kon? Tony Zhou's fantastic video essay is a great place to start!

Read(s) of the Month: September (Additions)

Whatever possessed me to do a Read of the Month at the beginning of the month rather than at the end of it? I feel like I've been devouring books these few weeks. In the month of September, I finished:

• Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri series (हिंखोज good read यार!)
• Nick Trout's The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs
• Kathy Reich's Bare Bones.

Looks like I won't be finishing The Anthologist or Jo Nesbø's The Bat. Books too easily put down and not tempting enough to be picked up again.

Read(s) of the Month: September

The more I feel stressed out, the more I read, apparently. Which I guess makes sense because whenever I feel overwhelmed in any way, I look for exits. Books make for great escapes.

Anyway, I'm done with Principles of Design 1 and Digital Design 1. The final project for Digital Design 1 was food boxes/carriers for a food joint. We had to come up with a concept for the food joint and design and make the damn box/carrier. The flip food box had issues, so I made another box (actually I made at least four or five — including the prototype — and only submitted three).

On a term break this Wednesday and next Monday ... thank Goddess for the breather!

Reads of the month:

• Into Darkness by Jonathan Lewis
• Room by Emma Donoghue (finally!) — OMFG I love this book so much I think I'll buy a copy!

I also borrowed I, Lucifer again but prolly won't get around to reading it. I also think I prolly won't finish The Anthologist — when I put it down (for reasons unrelated to the book), I don't feel the need to pick it up ASAP. Also, I'm reading an old Kathy Reichs that I'd missed (so hard to read in chronological order when you have to depend on a library) which is hard to put down, so.

[...]

So the assignment (100% weightage!) for one of my classes is:

To design a packaging for restaurant/café for customers to take away their food. This packaging should feature the unique qualities of the restaurant of their specialty dishes or ingredients.

I found this unique and awesome food packaging and so have (very foolishly) decided to base my assignment around that (because it looks awesome fun to make and I was itching to make my own). Following the video, I actually managed to make it cuz it's really simple!

Other than this little spot of joy, I feel like everything else is a chaotic, crushing mass — work, classes, my eating, my physical condition ... Fuck.

Read(s) of the month (can't remember when I finished reading these, whether it's at the beginning of this month or the end of the last):

• Cat Out of Hell: <3
• The Last Tomorrow: Is he trying to ape Ellroy? Cuz it's a fail fail fail. If not, then I think it's an overly complicated tale with very few sympathetic characters (if there were even any at all). Will not read Jahn again.
• Lost Cat: I cried. Because [spoiler] ... Tibby and Fibby both died =...((

Read of the Month: July

A very fast read this time round (because it was a crime/thriller book): Where Evil Lies.

Promising start, very unsatisfying denouement — almost anticlimatic. Female characters seem to be there only to give blowjobs, fuck male characters, and provide emotional comfort. The author seems obsessed with blowjobs (including a "mouth rape").

Oh well, at least it was a quick read (and didn't piss me off as much as Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth). When I dropped off the book this morning, I thought I should've stuck a Post-it in there to let the person who has reserved the book (yes, there was one — goodness knows why) know it's not worth their time.

On with the next book!

At Last ...

Finally finished the book, so ...

Read of the month: The Little Old Lady who Broke All the Rules. (I do and cannot recommend this book.)

Yay to getting some learning on Illustrator!

Day #10

I nodded off not long after dinner last night — completely knackered. Man, it was only a three-day work week but it was a fucking long one. I think I'm nearly back in the same emotional, physical, and psychological state as I was when I worked in the viper pit. Yes, it's actually very nearly that time.

Or maybe I just need a break?

Two today. Bought a new marker and tested it. Ugh. It bleeds like a Sharpie.

Read of the month: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde.

Day #20

Gave Stretch & Core a miss today cuz the bus was late. LATE. Yeah ... I'd rather miss the whole class than part of the class — wonder what that says about me. The whole cake or nothing at all.

Book read for the month of April: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

So far so good when it comes to my resolution of trying to read at least a (new) book a month — although I did binge on the Thursday Next series earlier in the year. Can't wait to read The Woman Who Died A Lot and can't wait for the next book in the Shades of Gray series to come out!