In the words of...

Finding Mr.Right

Ever since my parents put into motion the whole marriage thing, I have been thinking a lot - a HELL OF A LOT really :) As the daughter of an Indian, I am expected to go through the process of an arranged marriage because it is but natural. I mean my parents had an arranged marriage like their parents and their parent's parents and the ones before them (I hope you get the drift). All of them have had fulfilling happy lives together. However, I come from a generation that believes life would probably be easier if you knew your significant other in advance. This is simply because even if there is no great love, there'd be enough respect and comfort between the two individuals for the relationship to grow. Its funny how almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage.

Anyway I've been seeing a lot of photos (of the prospective groom) and I'm constantly questioning the criteria upon which my decision is to be made. My family is doing a wonderful job with the profile filtering. So all I have to do is see the photo, give my consent to meet the boy, somewhere along the line actually meet him and finally possible get married to him. Now meeting the boy is another story altogether which I'll probably talk about some day.

But what I really getting at is this: How am I to know when I meet THE one (from the various choices my parents give me)? Will there be a thunderbolt and lighting strike or Will the soft strings of a violin play in the background?

Lately I've to the weddings of my friends and it has only gotten me more freaked out :( because some of my list of questions now include: What if my significant other and I cant stand the sight of each other after a few years? What if we change as we grow older and want different things (because a divorce is NOT an option)? Why go through this whole ritual of proclaiming to the world that you are married?

Hmmm.. I guess I'd never know until I get to that point and do meet someone who'll put my fears to rest and who'll love me enough to let me be me (even with my quirks). But Mr.Right, I hope you're out there somewhere and listening to me

Keyboard for Blondes

Blondes traditionally are viewed as the dumbest people around. The beauties with no brains. We have all heard blond jokes but this one take the cake. One of my friends sent me this link and I thought it was HILARIOUS :D Yes! I want it!

http://www.keyboardforblondes.com/keyboard_bigger.html

Disclaimer : I have nothing against blonde women. I hope this one is also taken in good spirits

Young Designer

So after a LONG (but also unbelievably short) 2 years, I've convocated! :) YAY!! Now I am a young designer with all those wonderful ambitions of changing the world and influencing the one I live in. Lovely thoughts :) The whole event was wonderfully done and very unlike other graduation ceremonies that you'd have seen or been a part of. Very quaint and a desi take on the traditional graduation ceremony. Whats more is that I had my mom, dad and my adoring grandmothers cheering for me while I collected the certificate. And not just that, my whole class and my juniors and the seniors and basically anyone who knew me was there :) Thinking about it still gives me the goosebumps. The whole ceremony is one that I believe is a tribute and testimonial to all that we had done and been though during our stay in the institution, both academically and outside of it.

But the damper of the whole convocation was that each graduating student has a panel dedicated to themselves (mini advertising for the young graduate). Traditionally, super juniors (i.e. students who are junior to me by a year) make these panels as a way of understanding practical design and as a way to get to know those who are not immediately senior to them. This year, unfortunately, the administration decided to step in :( We all know what happens in this kind of a situation. Needless to say, our disciplines were deemed unworthy of these panels. Funnily the students were told that since it was optional work and that since they had their plates full with course work, they need not bother too much. So I don't/ didn't have a panel to show off to my family :(

That being said, the institution also publishes a directory/ yearbook of the graduating students. Like the afore mentioned panels, each student has a page about them and their thesis project.  Again here, I didn't get featured except as a footnote at the end of the book. Now this has apparently happened for the first time in the history of the institution. Why this happened? I was told that it was because my jury was held later than the rest of the crowd and that therefore my page didn't make it to the deadline. This was something that was not mentioned ANYWHERE!! Funnily I, just like everyone who got featured, gave in my info the same time that they did. Another prick in my glory bubble :( No permanent record of me except as a footnote. When asked about this bit, I was told to show everyone the website where I had gotten featured. Now how would I be able to show this page next year when all of this will be removed to make way for the new graduating batch!! 

I have half a mind to sue the institution for what it did to me and my friends. Very upsetting to know all this on the day of the convocation. Atleast if I had been told about this earlier, I might have done something about it. Now I cant

Anyway follow this link to find out more about me and my project. I hope you like it as much as I did while working on it :)

http://www.nid.edu/webyd08/StudentProjectDetailNew.php?dis=NMD&_p_=2

In the words of...

Bad mood

Going with the whole theme of bad moods and all that, I've been crabby ever since I fought with one of my friends. Some things have changed and then some more. While its not something I enjoy talking about, I wanna get it out of my systems.. hmmmph! And I'm feeling worse about not having worked more on my calendar. Hopefully I'l be able to put up a couple of drawings in my next post.

mental note : need to make more time

Anyway I found this great site thats talks of annoying relationships when come a momemnt when atleast one partner goes "I love you but.....". I'm sure everyone has gone through this phase in their relationship. The illustrations are good and the buts are even better :) For more, check out the site on http://web.mac.com/olibeale/Iloveyoubut/home.html

In the words of...

In the words of..

Twittering Romance

As you've probably read from my earlier post, I've only recently started Twittering. I love the challenge of having to say what I think or feel in about 140 characters. I love its design themes and that I can get or make Twitter updates through my phone. And well it got me thinking  about why anyone would wanna put out/share their thoughts and feelings to (possibly) random strangers. It is widely acknowledged that the Internet is a place where people can let go of what they normally are in reality. But what is it about Twitter that makes makes it any different from the status messages one puts on their IM? The reason I ask is because IM status messages provide me almost the same information as updates on Twitter, except for the fact that REALLY BORED people even go on to update me on having to wait for the loo to get free. Even here I'm still clinging on to the people I know. So what is it that makes Twitter tick? Anyone care to enlighten me?

In my still very analogue world, I've been reading a LOT of Mills&Boons romances. I probably have got myself an overdose of it. I've always loved their covers, beautiful women in the arms of equally gorgeous men sharing a romance/passionate kiss. However, I have never thought much about their rosy romance stories, until now. But then again I had never read much of them. Their stories have a lot of imaginative twists and plots and a good measure of "love-making" thrown in. Are these fantasy filled stories a print version of soft porn? Or are they a way for naive belles to learn of marital duties? Or are they wildly raising women's expectations of romance and sex from their partners? My cousins who're faithful followers believe they learn a lot from these books because they tend to talk of businesses etc. Now I cant say very much about that.

Anyway this year, 2008, marks their centenary year :) you could find out more on their website http://www.millsandboon.co.uk. I wish I could've

put in a cover :( In the meantime, I thought this cartoon (from www.cartoonstock.com)was so appropriate for the post and the whole M&B fantasy. I hope you like it too. 

Explorations - Technology and otherwise

Ever since I embraced how completely ignorant I was about Technology and its advancement in leaps and bounds, I have started trying to follow it as much as I can. Thankfully my office is tolerant with ignorant people such as me and infact encourage me to use it as much as I can. So yeah, after a million years of their releases, I have now started using Google Reader, Google Calendar, Mobile Internet and Twitter. Very interesting stuff :)

Also that whole hologram/tomogram that CNN created for the US Elections were amazing! I saw the video and was amazed. Like Amit said, it is going to change web conferencing forever. You can find more about it on the following link. Amazing

 stuff! http://www.labnol.org/internet/video/cnn-hologram-tech

nology-for-web-conferencing/5219/

In my still very analogue world, I have started making exploratory sketches for my annual calendar. This sample one, very inspired by Juri Ueda, is a cat characterization of my aunt and baby cousin who're constantly purring and nuzzling each other. The moon on the top because they'll be coming in the last quarter of the calendar. Still needs to be finalised and finished! AND I still have about 11 more illustrations to do!

Coffee, Bees and Illustrations

:) Today I was looking for illustration inspirations for my annual calendar and I found this one by Juri Ueda, Japanese artist in California :) Loved the detailing and the seeming ease with which these watercolor illustrations come to life..definite digg! You could find more of her work on www.juriueda.com

Also, during my quest for illustration inspiration, I stumbled on these 2 absolutely adorable websites! The first is a website for coffee lovers by Starbucks coffee..why am I in love with this site? It is simple, has cute rollovers and scroll bars and I love that the blackboard never gets completely clean :) On the downside, the site takes unbelievably long to load..check it out on http://www.starbuckscoffeeathome.com/

The second website is one for a social cause - Help the Honey bees. An initiative by the famous Haagen Dazs icecream firm..I love the fresh colors, the whole concept and the hive menu :) Check it out onhttp://helpthehoneybees.com/

Design Vignette

So one of my friends recently joined NYU for further studies and well, he seems to be having a lot of fun. He jus' finished his mid-term project and it seems like a pretty fun thing. Check it out on http://itp.nyu.edu/~gsk240/blog/?p=262

And while you're at it, also check out Design Crush's post abt why men should grow beards :D http://4designerd.blogspot.com/2008/10/10-very-good-reasons-why-you-should.html

More later :) Have a nice day

Dreams of Fluff and Candyfloss

My ma's been all over the place looking to find my "better" half and so far... well, lets jus' say that it hasn't been going too well.

Anyway I may have found someone I wanna take home. Unfortunately it has put me in a spot. The big question is "will they or wont they" and because of this, I've been practicing dialogues that might make this easier. Not to forget the lovely dreams of fluff and candyfloss I've been having, the new job (read internship) and the PMS :) 

So I came upon this Flickr stream. Go through it. You'll know why I put I'm sharing it  http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendaleann/

Design Crush

I was really jus' looking for coffee mug designs when I stumbled onto this one 4designerd.blogspot.com/ 2007/12/cortado-coffe... and absolutely fell in love with it.

So here's to my first blog and post :) I hope you like it here

Welcome to my blog!

smiles and sunshine always,

 the design retard