New books!

I treated myself on Amazon today -- this is what I bought:
- "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" -- Timothy Ferriss: A book I've had in my head for a long time now.
-"On Becoming Fearless: ...in Love, Work, and Life" -- Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post is a personal idol. I'm motivated by her achievements and aspire to her; I can't wait to get my hands on this book.
- "Simpleology: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want" -- Mark Joyner
This book I honestly have never heard of before but it sounded up my street at this moment in my life and I wanted to get my bill to more than $25 so I can benefit from the free-shipper offer. But, for some reason I don't get that (!!?) and decided to stick with the complete order anyway.

Yes, they are all self-help books I seem to be desperately in need of.

AND DAMN! I THINK I'VE ORDERED THEM ALL HARD COVER! Argh.

How do you get to my blog?

Google Analytics is like a God send for anyone who remotely cares about who comes to read their blog, from where, and what brought them there.

It's interesting to keep up to date with what posts most people are reading on your site, but what's more interesting (and possibly shocking) is to know what readers searched for and landed up finding your blog.

Here are some of the not popular (thank goodness), but truly strange key words that have lead people to my blog:
-Daniel Brühl Naked -- Huh?
- My perm
- 2008 Emails of Abha --- what sick person is trying to look for my emails? Whoever it is, FYI you cannot google people's emails.
- Dubai Hotel Sex -- I wrote a post on Dance Bars of Dubai that is one of my top 5 most read posts, so I guess this search is justified
- Miguel Ruiz De Elvira -- Who is he?
- Abha sexy girl -- Should I be flattered?
- ABCD Indian Girl -- Yeah, that would be me, except I wasn't born in Amreeka
- Ayesha Taka is fat -- Huh?
- Benidorm Boobs -- I wrote a post once about a Marc Anthony concert I went to in Benidorm, and I think I might have mentioned J.Lo's ass; that's the only explanation I can think of for this one!
- Cynicstan -- Hmm.
- Gira Aloo -- hahaha
- Good places to pee -- that's a great post idea, eh?
- Pathan Breakfast -- hahaha I'm sure they land on a post that describes a big breakfast I once had at a Pathan joint in Dubai (Ravi's in Karama)

And that's about all the amusing ones. I'm happy to know that these are the minority searches.

Dealing with the guilt of not having a career path when you vagabond

That's the topic of my latest Vagablogging post. Check it out here.

Unhappy in your relationship?

Over the last few weeks or so, I have been privy to many, MANY conversations about relationship problems (when girls get together, 90% of the time, this is, unfortunately, what we talk about).

The crux of it all has been that people are in relationships that make them unhappy. Boyfriends are dicks and make their girlfriends unhappy; girlfriends are distraught and not living their life because they are too affected by their boyfriends, who are being dicks.

There is just one thing I want to say about this:

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN HAPPINESS.

Yes, people you love have an effect, we are influenced by them. Their animo often becomes ours, and we have good days and bad days. Ups and downs are normal in relationships, people aren't perfect, everyone has issues. But having downs doesn't mean you are an unhappy person. Your temporary mood with a person is distinct (perhaps not exclusive) from whether overall you are happy or not.

Aside from this, if you find yourself unhappy for an extended period of time, honestly, it has NOTHING to do with anyone but yourself. It's YOUR FAULT that you are unhappy, not your boyfriend's. People may treat you badly, or unfairly, but you have the power to fix that, and it may be easier than you realize. You cannot depend on somebody else to make you happy.

So guys, stop blaming others for your misery, get a life, and find a solution so that you can make yourself happy. Life is too short to not be happy.

Quote for the day

"Life is what happens to you while you are busy making plans" - John Lennon.

So ridiculously true.

What if...?

What if all of a sudden you had no money, no house, no nothing and you were on the street. What would you do to earn a living?

This thought often comes to my mind when I see that guitarist in the metro singing La Bamba, or jugglers jumping onto the roads in front of traffic lights, or the old man sitting on the sidewalk trying to sell some poems he has written.

I fell into a moment of neurotic panic when I could think of NOTHING I am capable of doing to earn a buck for bread, should I ever be in that position.

See, I can do many things, but none well-enough that I would get a dime for it if I did it on the road. And, in case you were wondering, although it would probably be my best bet, I would never, ever, get into prostitution.

After tossing and turning over what I could possibly do to not die of hunger, I came up with two sad, but possible options -- 1) I would dress as an esoteric gypsy and read peoples hands, stars and tarot cards. (I'm Indian, this wouldn't be hard to pull off) 2) I did a massage course YEARS ago, and actually got certified. I remember bits and pieces of how to give a good body massage, I could start with offering neck and foot rubs in the parks, like they do in Thailand.

What would you do?

That time of the month

I find it absolutely vile that we women have to go through drudging bouts of physical pain and emotional vulnerability for a few days EVERY month.

I hate the person that I turn into pre-menstruation. I am numb, neutral-bordering-cold, volatile, and suffer from 'I-hate-the-world' syndrome.

Very few people have the misfortune of seeing me these few days every month. It's awfully difficult but absolutely mandatory not act on your bitchy whims when you are with people who don't know you well; you are fully aware that they will not understand and their friendship means something to you so you have to suck it in, take a deep breath and do whatever else you need to, to assure that they will never see this beastly side of you.

Being far away from people you love is also advisable come this monthly massacre as they are the first ones you lash out at remorselessly. My parents (especially my father) and my brother are those who have really born the brunt of my absolute callous and often violently dramatic behaviour, come this time of the month. They know the symptoms so well that they can distinguish my general intolerance and anger from menstrual intolerance and anger, and have developed the amazing skill of making me laugh when I am at the brink of an emotional explosion. Mum, dad, Anish, how I love you for that. I cannot think of anyone else I can have an outbreak like that with, who will give me a hug rather than delete me from their life.

They are 7000-thousand miles away from me right now, and I'm sure they don't miss these monthly bouts of mine.

I always wondered why men and women couldn't share this time of the month. What did women do to deserve scheduled hormonal imbalance and bleeding from their private parts!? It's so unnecessary and unjust, all so that we can have babies. Shouldn't we be able to choose? If we don't want babies, we should not have to deal with the agitation and suffering of menstruation.

On the plus side, sometimes (actually, very few times) I think that menstruation is a great excuse to justifiably rant, vent, stomp your feet, cry, howl, get it all out and be excused for it because -- oh...she's pre-menstrual.

No. Bad argument. I hate this aspect of being a woman.

Bill Gates at the Consumer Electronics Showcase

I've always liked Bill Gates. Especially after all the work he is doing with his Foundation in India. I didn't realize he had such a great sense of humour though! This video is from his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Showcase currently taking place in Las Vegas, and it's hysterical! I love his super geekiness hehehe; a must watch!

I think my blog is turning blah

Ok, my blog was meant for me to blah carelessly on in the first place, but lately it just seems to be super blah. But, guess what, I have a good excuse for this issue, but no solution.

I have been blogging my brains out on all the different websites that have allowed me to do so. For the last few months or so, I have been averaging 20-25 blog posts across 5 blogs all demanding high-quality, original content. Come time to write my own blog and a blah post happens. The extent of blah might have been noted by my few loyal readers (I love you guys so much!) when I wrote the most scintillating post on Winter Smells.

What on earth was that!? Anyway. I'm going to start posting links to some of my (what I think) better posts on other blogs, and hopefully write more noteworthy stuff here too.

In the mean time, check out two of my latest posts:
Gadling: Dubai Shopping Nightmare 2008
Written Road: Learnings from 2007, Writing Goals for 2008?

Happy Sunday.

Milan street map fly squatter. Huh?

You know how there are some products on the market that make you wonder: what on earth were they thinking!? Well, here's one of them: a plastic fly squatter with the target area designed as the street map of Milan.

Created by award-winning home and dining accessories company Pandora Design, it is also, urrrr, designer! Available in black, blue, green, orange, violet and white, the squatter is priced at US$15.

Other than pure amusement value, perhaps it would be a great gift for entomophobes visiting Milan?

Happy 2008!

My New Year's Eve was supposed to be hot chocolate and movies. Turned out to be quite the contrary ;)

I enjoyed being blonde for a day. (I'm the short-hair blonde, and the girls are my flatmates.)