Sat, 22nd Dec '07, 9:45 pm::
We went indoor skydiving in Orlando today! Basically, it's a vertical wind tunnel where anyone can fly. I don't want to jump out of a plane anytime soon but I want to go back and do this over and over. Arthur and I both bought 10 minutes of flight time each and got a complete DVD of our sessions, along with tons of photos. This was definitely one of the awesomest experiences I've ever had.
Fri, 21st Dec '07, 11:55 pm::
Arthur and I just got back from GameWorks in Tampa. I am the undefeated champion of Skee ball! Oh and air hockey too. Other than that I pretty much got my ass kicked at every video game we played from Star Wars to Indy 500 racing.
Earlier today we chilled at the beach for a couple of hours. It was a little chilly because of the breeze but it's way warmer than his home in New Jersey. I'm off to sleep now and here's hoping tomorrow's fun too.
Thu, 20th Dec '07, 3:30 pm::
I received this email two days ago: "Dear Chirag, Greetings from the University of Tampa! I am writing to congratulate you on your admission for the 2008 Fall Term..." Looks like I got into the Masters of Science in Innovation Management program, classes start August 2008.
My friend Arthur (from New Jersey) is here to visit me for Christmas vacations. I have a nasty cough again and doubt that I can do much crazy outdoors stuff. Regardless, it's gonna be a kickass break from the 14 hour work days I've been putting in for the last three weeks.
Sat, 15th Dec '07, 12:55 pm::
People have out-of-body experiences. Hallucinogenics and spirits give you out-of-mind experiences. I just had an out-of-place experience. As I stood in the parking lot at Toyota, waiting for my car to get the 35,000 mile service, a feeling of unanticipated displacement overtook me. The weather felt like Mumbai whilst the brightness compelled me to believe I was in the snow covered mountains of Utah. The couple from Lebanon bickering over auto-parts expenses reminded me of Premchand's tales from the heart of rural India while the tattooed Asian guy in a tow-truck resembled a frame from a Jet Li flick. I was there, inside my mind and body, but I wasn't sure where "there" was.
Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up late last night; certainly this is due to my uneven sleep schedule. I walked inside the waiting room hoping for the feeling to subside. Instead, I started to notice obvious things to such a detached extent that they became peculiarities to be mused over. An elderly couple exchanged a few words among themselves and the only thing that I could think of was "We used to be two separate individuals minding our own business. One day we decided to hang around each other more often. It felt good so we signed official documents to make sure we hang around each other even more. Now we consult with each other about every single thing regardless of its long-term impact and importance. Sometimes we wish we had picked someone else to hang around with but too bad we signed those documents."
A service rep. walked up to an amusingly rotund woman to let her know that her car was ready for pick-up. He commented that her screaming little boy was so well-behaved. All I heard was "This is the path I have chosen in life. I end up here on a Saturday, telling morbidly corpulent women that their noisy rascals are anything but. Why? Because if I don't get three more A+ service check marks on my customer satisfaction survey forms this month then I will have to find another place to carry on this shtick. I should have been a boat captain."
The voice on the speakers announced "Mr. Mayta, your car is ready." B+ on the pronunciation. I picked up my car and left.
Wed, 5th Dec '07, 12:30 am::
I've been working a lot lately; crunch time before the new database system at work goes live on Jan 2nd 2008. Nothing too interesting going on these days, unless you fancy wireless 802.11b barcode scanners. My brain is pretty much on a single track during most of the day and I'm spending my evenings watching House M.D.. The weather's nice here and that pretty much sums up the highlight of my month so far.
Sat, 1st Dec '07, 12:10 am::
I feel guilty that I love videos a lot more than written words, audio recordings, or static pictures. It seems like a vulgar form of communication and too easy to absorb. I don't mean I like movies more than books or music - those are types of content and some books are better than movies while some movies are better than books. I mean I'm partial to the medium of communication conveyed by moving pictures synchronized with an audio track, more than anything else.