Mind Power

Back with another post in less than a week!!! WOW amazing! ;)

I think I am starting to develop a phased insomnia (insomnia that occurs in phases). One of the major reasons for this is thinking lots and lots and lots about anything and everything. I am sure there are many others out there who have the same problem, where the clock strikes 'night'(as night time differs greatly person to person) and there brain starts whizzing and wurring working over time thinking about a chain of thoughts linked but starting from A and ending at Z.

In one of these thinking sessions of mine (otherwise known as night/sleeping time) I had a revelation. To find out more read below:

All of these ideas are my own and have absolutely no scientific backing to them, but the possibility of there being scientific evidence to this is very high!

Thoughts are divided up into three categories: out-load thoughts, in-loud thoughts and silent thoughts. What the ...... are these do you ask?

• Out Loud Thoughts - Are thoughts that occur and are blurted out immediately as soon as they are said. Somewhat like Jim Carey in 'Liar Liar', its thoughts you may not intend to openly say but you somehow do end up saying them. Usually the cause of "I wish I had thought before I spoke," moments!


• In Loud Thoughts - These are thoughts which really punch out the sleep at night and keep you awake for hours on end. Do you ever hear voices in your head even if it is your own? Then this is definitely an in-loud thought! This can be compared to the movie 'What Women Want' but the thoughts that Mel Gibson hears would actually be the thoughts that the other person is thinking in-loud!


• Silent Thoughts - These are thoughts you often don't even realise you have had. Sub-conscious thoughts and the like, fall into this category. More often than not you realise much much later that you have had these thoughts. Memories of certain events can also be considered silent thoughts. You never realise that you have taken in the information until much later, when you are ready to call it a memory!

So after categorising the thoughts I was thinking more. Then I was wondering whether the in-loud (in the mind) thoughts can in fact be easily translated into the out-loud thoughts? It should in theory be really simple as more often than not you can actually hear yourself thinking and speaking in your head without speaking out loud e.g when studying, saying prayers etc. The only major difference between the in and out thoughts must be the translation from just thoughts to sound.

So I guess it should only be a matter of time for people to simulate something which works just like us and translates at least the in-loud thoughts to the out-loud thoughts! I have no idea what is needed, perhaps a mouth, a tongue, a working neurosystem etc etc... But all that needs to be done is to retrieve the voice from in the head to out the head, perhaps a mind speaker or something of the sort! Eureka... I think I may be on to something, also I have the sneaking suspicion someone else may also be onto the same thing much before and with much more scientific evidence behind it. So to conclude I say I can and can't wait for this to happen!

Silence and Back!

Hey all,

Here I am once again back after some silence! Its been a busy few months and now time has come for things to calm down and give me some extra things to do things I love such as blogging!! YAY!!!

In light of being back I thought I would share a song that my sister and I composed and put together just for a bit of fun! We were meant to read text as a voice over and decided to put it into a song instead. Listen and leave your comments. Also try to guess which one is my voice! Hahahaha!!!

The music requires QuicTime plugin and also it may take some time to load. Please be patient and have fun listening! LOL!

Innocence

Vyaas' comment to Sir Richard Branson, in reply to his post entitled Business Stripped Bare.

#

Vyaas Rajan - September 30th, 2008

Hi, I am 9 years old. I find you very inspiring. If you would like to see some ways of blogging and catching lots of viewers, then you can view my blog at Vyaasr.blogspot.com. I’ll give you one tip though, for getting lots of viewers. If you have a friend who is currently into blogging, then ask them to maybe, ask some or all of their viewers to visit your blog. Making a blog just takes a few minutes. I’m sure you will get lots of hits, fans and viewers! And also, if you get the most viewers on your blog, you could get a Guinness World Record! Right now I’m up for the record of most viewers for the youngest blogger.


How cute and what innocence, giving Richard Branson advice for driving traffic to his blog. Kid's say the cutest things!

Golden Olden Words

My mum's very wise words at 3:15 AM:

"Youth is fleeting, but immaturity lasts a lifetime!"

"Brevity is the soul of wit, variety is the soul of git!"
[Git is a British slang, basically meaning dumb]

I rest my case . . .

Math Genius in Me!

Studying triggered an old memory of mine. When I was about 6/7 or so I remember I was just learning about the word Algebra. I absolutely love Maths and its one of my favourite subject till date (probably because I am not doing it anymore).

We were at our family friend's place for Thyagaraja Aradhana practice with my mum. The practice for the songs I was singing finished so I decided to go and talk to the Anna(who at that stage was in 3rd year Engineering). I went to his room and this is how the events unfolded.

He was sitting and doing his Maths. Me being me who loves Maths went and asked him whether I can try doing it as well. He said sure and gave me his book. I looked at the sums they all had a's and b's and squares and fancy fancy symbols. I luckily knew what the symbols meant (as it had just primitive addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols) and told him. Don't worry I can easily solve it. Just tell me what 'a' and 'b' are. He had a hearty laugh and told me, "If only I knew!"

Another Random Question

"Scientists have told us that it takes 41 muscles to frown and 17 to smile"

From the picture above it seems obvious that frowning takes up a lot of effort and hence suggesting that more muscles are used.

So here's my question: When it comes to exercise you have to excercise and use your muscles to keep fit, firm and fabulous! Does that not mean if you frown more you will have a more youthful appearance with less fine lines and wrinkles? I however have noticed that people who smile more actually seem to age gracefully. So how does this work? Is this theory in any way correct?

Is this because you are conserving energy when you smile? How does this work!

Chocolate Theory!

Who in the world does not love chocolates? I have found a way to optimise the taste of already decadent chocolate!!! This probably is a fact chocolatiers have known for ages but anyway I am not sure so I am writing it down as my theory.

The taste of chocolate is better when it is in 2 different ways:

• In a round ball or basic spherical shape - The theory to go with this is because it fits the contours of your mouth perfectly and just melts in your mouth. Also the ball revolves in your mouth and melts evenly onto your tongue, letting all the tastebuds have a heavenly treat!

• In flake form as shown below like the popular cadbury flake. - The theory to go with this is that the pieces are thin even if they are packed together. They easily break apart and the individual flakes break apart into your mouth and just melt away!

Send me your comments and let me know if you try the different options and whether you prefer these to the usual blocks of chocolates.

Proud to be a Cousin!

My cousins have started blogging once again. They are the youngest in our moderately sized "typical" Indian family. I am soo very very proud to be their cousin. These two are young yet the quality of their blogs is fantastic. Not only that but they also make sure they find time to update their blog despite their busy schedules and thousands of other extra-curricular activities. Trust me these kids are definitely always very very busy! So let me give you an introduction about the two of them.

I am not just raving about them because I am their cousin, but because these two are two of the most well-rounded people I know! If someone were to write their resume I am sure that it would be much more impressive than many grown ups I know! I am going to try to write a short summary about them and their blogs so here goes!

Sri --> 13 year old gorgeous girl, gorgeous singer, gorgeous dancer, extremely creative, extremely excellent golfer, netballer, tennis player and extremely smart! Her blogs you can read and you will find a girl who is innocent yet at the same time very mature. She understand things beyond her age and strives for excellence in all the areas possible. One quality she has always had that made her mature beyond her age is that she has been able to understand what others feel and often help then out in their situations. One example she made a boy with a disability who did not talk to teachers and other students talk to her and confide in her. Her blogs show the innocence of a child, yet glimpses of the immense maturity which sets her apart from everyone else! If you want to remember how it was to be a child and live the adventures from a childs perspective read her blogs.

Her blog can be found at www.bubbleysri.blogspot.com

Vyaas --> 9 year old almost typical boy, extremely cheeky and smart boy, he loves and excels in any sport he plays, he has excellent rhythmic sense and also extreme creativity. When anyone meets this boy they can see the sparkle in his eye and immediately identify that he is different from the rest. His knowledge has stunned many, the words he uses are words that even adults cannot understand. His sporting skills have been acknowledged and appreciated by several experience sports professionals from the age of 1, believe it or not! Though he has a typical guy exterior, he is actually a very soft and sensitive person which not many people realise unless they really know him. Go and read his blogs if you want to know interesting facts about science or just to have a mighty laugh!

His blog can be found at www.vyaasr.blogspot.com

I am sure these kids will continue to entertain us with their awesome blogs for many more years to come! Please visit their blogs and comment to encourage them. I feel so privileged to have these two talented people as my cousins! You have to absolutely read both of their latest posts absolutely cute and adorable! Definitely a great read. :)

The New Way to Shop

Right now there are a few ways to shop which everybody knows they are as follows:

• Normal shopping -> You go into a shop and buy things.
• Window shopping -> You check out the goods usual through the window without buying anything
• Internet shopping -> You browse the products online and buy.

I have come up with a new way of shopping. This serves many purposes. The benefits of this mode of shopping are as follows:

• You save money
• You can do it from the comfort of your home
• It helps develop self control
• It helps develop market research skills

OK now I think you all must have started to wonder what on earth I am on about. So here is the new way of shopping. ***Drum roll*** introducing the all new concept of "catalogue shopping"!!!

You must all be saying what on earth is she on about?!? Well we all get some sort of catalogue every week and people living in Australia, unless they specifically state they don't want to receive catalogues, receive loads and loads of catalogues every week.

Where and how and why did I develop this concept you ask? Well there are many factors influencing my choice to catalogue shop.

1. It has been pouring and I have been terribly busy and thus not able to go out to do normal shopping.
2. We have been receiving loads of catalogues and all of them are glammed up with colourful pictures and plenty of discounts.
3. Every girl loves to shop and get a good discount.
4. Everyone wants their value for money and looking through catalogues gives the option of bargain hunting, through comparison and hence enabling you to find the best deals.

So there you go folks. Start your catalogue shopping. You can get the best deals, you can do it from the comfort of your home and you know exactly what you are going to find if and when you go to the store. Also it makes you wiser when buying things and really brings out the true bargain hunter in you! Also folks remember to recycle the catalogues, I know its hard to part with the catalogues but don't worry you know a whole heap are just around the corner!

Announcement!!!!!!!!!

Guess what guess what?!?!

My babies are back! YAY!!! Yippee!!! For all those of you who have no idea what I am on about.. Here goes...

Firstly who are my babies? My cousins...

They are back where? On the blog-o-sphere. YAY!!!

Cool, how do I get to their blogs you ask?

This is how:

• 
  
  Sri can be found at http://bubbleysri.blogspot.com/

and

• 
  
  Vyaas can be found at http://vyaasr.blogspot.com/

Please read their old blog posts and encourage them on their new posts by commenting! The next generation is back again! Hmmm lol I sound like a very very old lady... ;-)

Question

Hey all,
After a while of not having time to blog I am here with a really very random post. I have a question which I would like answered. So here goes:

How come when you go to bed you need your thick clothes as well as your thick blanket, whereas when you are up you do not need your blanket but just your thick clothes?

• Is it because the temperature drops more at night?
• Is it because you need to be warmer to fall asleep? (Although I must say the difference is apparent as soon as you go into bed & not necessarily when you are trying to sleep)
• Or is it something else?

Share your thoughts with me...

Recipe for Free Food!!!

This title would have surely got the attention of many. For those who stay in a hostel in India and want good food here's the recipe.

Serves: 4

Ingredients
4 slik sarees
Jasmine Flowers
Blouse to match saree
Jewellery
You and three others

Preparation
1) Gather three of your closest friends.
2) Provide them each with a saree or if they want and have their own silk saree they can use their own.
3) Each person should find a matching blouse for the saree.
4) Deck up with a light drizzle of jewellery and a dollop of jasmine flowers.
5) Turn a couple of times in front of the mirror until you are satisfied you look good.
6) Head to the nearest wedding hall with a wedding and enjoy!

Variation: This recipe is for females although I am sure with Veshti (or nowadays pants and a shirt) and minus the flowers the males can fit into any wedding just as well.

Ok now what inspired this post you ask? This Aunty we know was telling us that every friday the hostel food used to be bad. She was in college after getting married so once she got married she took 4 silk sarees to her college and some jewellery. So every thursday night (when the food at the hostel was terrible) they used to deck up in a silk saree, jesmine flowers and some gold jewellery and attend any wedding they could find. Of course Indian Weddings being Indian Weddings (where anyone is allowed to come, everyone is invited and particularly no one knows who was exactly invited) they were always given the royal treatment when they entered the weddings and ushered immediately to the food (Aaaahh..Don't you just love Indian hospitality? Simbly great!). So there you go the best way of avoiding bad food and getting great food.

"Auto" Handling

This post of mine is inspired by Priya's most recent blog post, 'Me and Chennai autos'. Well here it comes my story about 'Me and Chennai's autos'. Before I start narrating my story, I highly advice you all try it. When it comes to autos and bargaining, I bargain hard. I know their main aim is to rip me off! I have been known to get on the nerves of many auto whallas. The most notorious of all the nungambakkam ones! Surely though the feeling is mutual, they must think I am as notorious as they seem to me. Ask my sister she will second it! ;-)

Scenario 1
· Point of Departure: Move n Pick, Nungambakkam
· Final Destination: Kakkani Towers, Nungambakkam
· Price Suggested by Auto Whalla: 40 rupees
· Price brought down through bargaining: 30 rupees
· Priced suggested by me: 15 rupees
· Estimated Time by Auto: Less than 5 minutes
· Time taken to walk: 5 mins
· Weather: Bright and Sunny

Scenario 2
· Point of Departure: KNK Rd, Nungambakkam
· Final Destination: Thirumalai Pillai Rd, TNagar
· Price Suggested by Auto Whalla: 55 rupees
· Price brought down through bargaining: 35 rupees
· Priced suggested by me: 25 rupees
· Estimated Time by Auto: 15 minutes if not less
· Time taken to walk: 20 mins
· Weather: Bright and Sunny

Ok well now that the scenes are set, you must be with me in saying... WOW some of those Auto Whallas are ridiculous and also in saying WOW your (as in ME (PreethZzZ)) bargaining is ridiculous!

Scenario 1
This was pretty straight forward. We wanted to get from the point of departure to the point of destination. The only problem being that we didn't know where exactly the point of destination was. So we decided to ask an Auto Whalla and use an Auto to get there. So here's what happened.

Me: ***Hailed an Auto***
Auto Whalla (AW): Where do you want to go? (Ofcourse this was in thamizh)
Me: Kakkani Towers, Nungambakkam
AW: Where is that?
Me: I don't know anything apart from that its in Nungambakkam.
AW: (Sees the opportunity for ripping me off as I don't know where it is) Ok ok, Kakkani Towersaa. I know where that is. 40 rupees.
Me: Whaaaaaattttt.... 40 rupees?!?!?! It is within Nungambakkam surely and I am sure it is on the main road. So that should be about 5-10 minutes maximum.
AW: Hmmmm Ok so you tell me a price.
ME: 15 rupees
AW: No chance give me 35 rupees, the base charge is 15 rupees.
ME: Hmmm 20 rupees and not a bit more. This will be the same as you driving around to find another customer.
Sis: ***Whispers to me*** Oi Preeth lets get away from here, before he decides to harm you.. Go easy dude...
Me: ***Ignores SIS*** What is your final price?
AW: 30 rupees
Me: No cha..........
AW: ***Drives off with a super speed, I am sure Narayan Karthikeyen couldn't compete with his speed***
Me: ......nce.....
Sis: Phew at least he didn't beat us up. I am happy for that much at least!

Scenario 2
Here's where the real fun started. Also might I add because of my previous experience with the Nungambakkam Auto Whallas (NAW) I decided to always bargain hard when it comes to Autos. Also I follow my Thatha's policy of bargaining hard if they are unreasonable and if they are just and reasonable at the beginning to give them a reward for their sincerity. So once again from the point of departure to the point of destination here's what happened.

Generic Script
Me: ***Hails an Auto***
NAW: Where do you want to go?
Me: TP Rd, T.Nagar
NAW: States the price.
Me: 25 rupees
NAW: No chance
Me: Ok tell me how much
NAW: ***States their price***
Me: ***States my bargained price***
NAW: ***States a slightly lower price*** (Still not good enough for me)
Me: ***Walk onwards***
[Several NAW stop by, but some see from far and don't bother even stopping and just drive past]

So this is what happened. I had changed my price from 25 to 30 by the end of it. One NAW had actually offered 30 but I had refused it (this was because I wanted to see how low they would go). Funnily enough as we walked closer to our destination the prices just became higher. So what did we do you ask? We just ended up walking the entire way back home! It served many purposes: Exercise, Money Saving and seeing how just the Auto drivers were! LOL! Fun fun times... I suggest you all try it someday. Oh and for the records out of the 30 auto drivers (no exaggerations) only 2 were reasonable.

Parenting Lessons from the Pros

Are you a parent or going to be a parent in the future? Or just someone that is bored and has nothing better to do? If so then definitely watch these videos for insights into motherhood, fatherhood and games to teach your children. Also thrown in the end are tips for children to make sure they get their way. The videos are by pros who really know what they do! ;-) Must watch videos. Pass these on to your friends as well.

Fatherhood Tips & Tricks


Motherhood - How to behave like a proper mother


Games for "Kids"



Childhood Tips

Clinical Trials

First let me say I am not expert on clinical trials and far from it. In fact this post is not anything about clinical trials. It is a comparison of life with clinical trials. It just came to me as a random thought so here I am blogging about it.

Clinical trials are consisted of several experiments and you never know how they are going to turn out. You have an aim and a hypothesis and often expect and want to recieve the results which support the hypothesis. However you know there is an element of risk involved and need to take into consideration all the variables.

Life is very similar to this. You take risks and never know how they are going to turn out. Not only risks, but decisions (which have an element of risk involved). The decisions can be compared to the experiments and life the clinical trials. You never know if you are ever going to achieve your goal or find out the meaning, but you keep experimenting to find what works best.

Some examples:

• Cosmetics used by women (Women generally have many many cosmetics and beauty products, because they are always trying to find the best one which suits them)
• Food, you try to find the food you like and which doesn't give you allergic reactions until you are satisfied with what you eat.
• Clothing, the way you dress you constantly experiment with different styles until you find the one you are comfortable with.
• Minor or major decisions, you take the risk and make a decision not knowing what the outcome will be, aim at something, having a hypothesis as to what may happen and hopefully getting the results you wanted.

Certain choices you make or decisions you take are very important and play a major part. To an extent you have to experiment and step out of your comfort if indeed you have not found the thing that makes you most comfortable or happy. You can never be certain of anything so you make a lot of assumptions and presumptions (hypothesis) and it can more than easily be that they are incorrect. However these assumptions and presumptions come from evidence you have accumulated through previous experiments or from common knowledge. Know your variables and the possibilities.

Moral of the blabbering: Be careful and try to make the most well-educated decisions and don't be afraid to experiment, ther may be failures but success is sure to follow as everything teaches you a lesson. Expect the unexpected!

Kids!

Kids are hilarious... Read the stories below and have a great laugh!

Story 1
There is a kid who is always the first to be associated with the words such as dumb, stupid, dull, etc etc. Lets call her Kid A. In the school the kids always play a Maths game where you have rounds and the answers to basic arithmetic have to be given. Kid A never won any rounds, let alone the first and easiest round. Therefore the whole class sympathized with Kid A and always felt bad for her (mind you Kid A never felt bad about it).

Now comes Kid B, along with his gang Kid B decides that there must be a solution to the problem and a solution he did find! Kid B told the teacher the plan (yes the teacher was in on the "plan"). So as set up the game started Kid A vs Kid B. The question was what is 5 times 6 to which Kid B purposefully answered 1 and hence the winner was Kid A. A bright smile came on her face as she was told she won and as the whole class errupted into claps and cheers.

Story 2
A kid was asked to write an impromptu 3 minute oral about school. For this the kid wrote about school as if it were a prison. Then the kid was narrating his story to his elders. Then one of the elders said, "do you realise if you had been selected to narrate your oral you would have got into trouble and people don't usually appreciate such honesty?" To this he replied with a sigh I know sort of attitude, "Yeah I know I know, they would want me to say school is heaven and the teachers are angels!"

Don't kids just say the darndest things? Hilarious seriously! I will try to get my hands on the written oral and post it on my blog as well.

Aaaarrrggghhh Facebook!

Facebook totally freaks me out.

Why you ask? Well its because your friends would appear on your list one day and then totally disappear the next. Then when you think they are totally gone, they are back. Today I was using a facebook application to buy friends and then all of a sudden there was a friends name, with no picture. I was rather confused, who was this friend who suddenly appears in my own friends list? Then I clicked on it to find that it was a friend who was back on facebook after almost 50 years. Well alright 5 months would be more accurate, still a long time though.

I agree its a good idea to be able to deactivate and reactivate your account. But perhaps some notification should be sent to your friends to let them know about their disappearing act. I know for one of my friends they wanted to delete a certain person so they looked for them in their list and they weren't there, so obviously the person was not there. Only then did they find out later that this person was using this feature of facebook to stalk this person, ever so secretively! Then luckily when both the parties were online she was able to delete and block this person.

Also another odd thing with these social networking sites. I think of features which would make them better and somehow the next day itself they are there on the sites in full functionality just as I wanted them. ***sigh*** If only my wishes in life would be granted the same way as my wishes for social networking sites.

The Vanishing Act

Hey all,

I know its been almost a decade since I've blogged (ok slight exaggeration there). Did I vanish? Not completely, I'm still here. In the time I've been away so many topics to blog have come into my mind while I am not at the computer and usually just before I am going to sleep. Then next day when I am at the computer I have a billion other stuff to do (another "slight" exaggeration) and the topics completely just disappear. Those things must be in the sub-conscious mind of mine and waiting to be written to just vanish out of my mind and onto the net once and for all.

Yes thats what happens to me. If I write or am asked to talk about something, soon after the topic totally vanishes out of my head. It becomes like I never knew about the topic and have just transferred all of my knowledge about that topic onto others. I promise this is a true story. In high school, chemistry (one of my not so favorite subjects) I knew I understood the subject. That was proven as I used to teach others in the class all the concepts. Yet when it came to tests or exams for some odd reason exactly what I taught my friends would have disappeared out of my head.

However I would know very well that just the other day I had clearly explained every nuance about that particular topic to my friends and in the end they would end up getting full marks in those sections whereas me, half if I was lucky. How is this possible? Beats me! I have not heard of anyone else having this problem and it seems rather bizarre because I know for sure the knowledge used to be there. Perhaps I just suppress it deep deep deep down in my mind, making it too difficult to find when I am under pressure. Can anyone think of any other logical explanations for this? Or has anyone had this happen to them? Bizarre is all I can say!

Latest Dictionary Additions

Bucknor : (n) (adj)

1. Temporary blindness leading to missing out on the obvious.

2. To be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

3. Situations leading to grave judgemental errors.

Usage: I feel bucknored by my boss; Life often throws a bucknor at you.

Benson: (n) (adj)

1. Something that legitimises a severe bucknor.

Usage: First they bucknored me and then they bensoned it! I am toast. Also see bucknor