Gamer Mom

My Kid's Super Power

2013-10-04T04:03:00.000-07:00

Over the last few years my kid developed a fascination for dinosaurs, after watching Jurassic Park. So we bought him a bushel load of dinosaur books.What I recently discovered was he could name all the 200 dinosaurs in this book. He can name each and every Dino just by looking at the picture. It's kinda like his superpower. Dun know what to do about this talent though. Which makes you wonder, if you had a superpower, what would you like it to be? Do post some suggestions. Should be interesting.

Tribute to Uday Shankar

2012-12-14T03:51:00.000-08:00

My first brush with Uday Shankar was while watching a black and white piece on Doordarshan called “Kalpana”(imagination) with my grandmother in law. The short film was mesmerizing in its use of light and shade and dance movements. The next piece was on the “Industrial revolution”, also a very interesting choreography. After that I became a regular lurker at all of the performances by the Shankar family. His legacy is still being carried out by his wife (Amala Shankar), daughter (Mamata Shankar) and his daughter in law (Tanusree Shankar).

Tanusree Shankar Dance Recital

2012-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

We went to a scintillating dance performance by the famous Tanusree Shankar Dance Academy. Needless to say it took our breath away. The lighting, the music and the choreography were beautifully executed. They performed a piece called “The Child”, which was stunning and inspiring. You can check out some of Tanusree Shankar Dance Academy performances on youtube, though the videos don’t really do justice to the actual impact of a live performance.

Lord of the Rings

2012-11-23T04:54:00.000-08:00

This one’s a quote of a poem. …

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

Epilator

2012-09-22T01:41:00.002-07:00

I finally found this chin hair epilator, Epitravel by Morphy Richards. It’s superb, easy to use and fast. It’s great for the sensitive skin on the face and jaw. I nicked myself a couple of times initially, but once I got the hang of it, it was silky smooth. I would definitely recommend this product. Other than that I have a Braun Silk Epil for the arms and legs, and have been using that for nearly 15 years. Saves a lot trips to the Salon not to mention the money saved.

You can check it out at : http://www.morphyrichardsindia.com/pc-127-20-personal-care.aspx

Teacher’s Day

2012-09-22T01:39:00.001-07:00

These notes were passed out to the kids in school, where they had to write why they loved their teacher (teacher’s day). My son wrote “I love my teacher because she is beautiful”. Needless to say it made it to the notice board.

Diets, social networking and flu

2012-09-22T01:37:00.003-07:00

I have lost a few kilos, on this new diet. Don’t know whether it’ll stay off though. Viral’s gone viral in my house. My son caught it first passed it on to my hubby who passed it on to me. So I now have a frog in my throat. Old friends suddenly surfaced this week, cheers to social networking sites.

Hair Dye

2012-09-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a semi permanent organic hair dye for quite some time now. Henna leaves an ugly orange tint, though it is least harmful. I have tried many other dyes like Loreal etc. But it caused a lot of hair fall and needed frequent touch ups because it looked really weird, half black and half grey. I read somewhere hair shouldn’t be dyed more than once in 6 months otherwise the hair strands become really wispy and break off. I would really appreciate advice on this.

Mists of Pandaria

2012-09-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

It’s Teachers’ Day, so sent my son off with flowers and chocolates for his Ma’am. I finally downloaded the latest Mists of Pandaria patch 5.0. It took 3 whole days. But was worth the wait. So far I was playing Cataclysm. Am stuck inside the Ragefire Chasm. I have to complete 2 quests in there. On another note I, wait for it, finally got that puppy.

FYI, Check out some cool websites at: http://disqus.com/. They are amazing. Check out the Showcase section.

Spas, puppies and Warcraft

2012-08-29T02:51:00.004-07:00

Well long time no see. I have dreaming about a having a pup for a long time. Aren’t those just adorable? Been thinking of a makeover too. Your messy angled bob hairdo, facial, mani-pedi, the works. A spa sounds great too. Luxuriating in a Jacuzzi, long massages and long naps. Been playing a lot of Warcraft. My druid finally leveled off to level 15, and can teleport to Moonglade, got the bear form, which doesn’t seem very useful. Finished all my Razormane quests.

Public speaking

2012-08-12T23:50:00.001-07:00

Public speaking is an art form, popularised by the likes of Martin Luther and John F. Kennedy. Before that people assumed it was a form of public torture for the public as well as the speaker.

I was once witness to a mesmerising performance by a speaker on stage. The speaker broke into uncontrollable giggles, with the result that he proceeded to complete the entire speech in a constant state of high rapture. It left the audience completely befuddled as to what was going on and as the speaker tried to control himself, he could only manage to stumble off the stage muttering incoherently.

A much more succesful technique I suppose would be to fix the audience with a glassy stare and to ignore them completely. Then to proceed through the speech with the unrelenting ardour of a army general, proceeding through enemy lines, giving no quarter, no matter what, mowing down resistance.

A third, highly succesful technique, to be used when avoiding questions at question hour in Parliament, is to close your eyes, in effect to signal to the audience to do the same, and then to pause for infinite lengths of time between each syllable until everyone has forgotten what the question was.

In all cases it cannot be denied that speaking in public is like singing in the bathroom, where everybody is glad they don't have to listen to you.

Great Movies

2012-08-12T03:43:00.000-07:00

**My favorite Hindi movies of last year were**

Kahaani

I loved Vidya Balan clothes. Bob Biswas was scary.

Dabangg

It had some funny stunts, I suppose.

Zindagi na Milegi Dobara

What I liked about ZNMD was the jokes. Though it might have come off as silly
to some.

Delhi Belly

I liked DB, though the jokes seemed a little toilet humor in parts.

Among the English films

Avatar (2009)

I found Avatar to be a visual treat.

Inception (2010).

Though by the time I left the theatre my head was reeling with keeping up
with so many dreams.

Rango

One of my absolute favorites’ is Rango an animated lizard with voice over by
Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp just gets better and better, doesn't he? Which
brings me to the question why is he so popular with the ladies?

Well there are many more good movies out there, not mentioned here. Do tell which were your favourite movies ??

Check out some cool movies at: http://www.filmhill.com/

Olympics

2012-08-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

It is an unfortunate state of affairs when India with a population of 1.22 billion could only manage 4 medals. Whereas Ethiopia with a population of .08 billion won 6 medals, Kenya with a population of .04 billion successfully won 8 medals, along with Jamaica (population .002 billion) with 10 medals. In fact most of the Indian participants seem to come from impoverished backgrounds and can barely make ends meet. There is no infrastructure in place to promote and support sports in India. It is sad that a country which used to be the world champions in Hockey got thrashed by South Africa (2-3) to finish last at the London Olympics 2012 hockey competitions.

Barbie

2012-08-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

I have always had a fascination for Barbie since childhood, since they were not available in India then. But my son is all into cars. But being the angel that he is, he promised to buy me my own Barbie 2 storey house. I just love her hair and clothes. All those life like furniture, beds and kitchen appliances and her wardrobe. Oh my god. Just thinking of it makes me drool. Hair that can be combed and styled in different ways, and changing clothes like a fashion model. And an actual real bed to sleep in. I guess my childhood was incomplete without having at least 1 Barbie.

Anyone out there with a Barbie fascination?

More Web 2.0

2012-08-07T02:37:00.000-07:00

In Web Design it is imperative to stay abreast of the latest styles and color palettes. So research, research, research. After that practice, practice, practice. The more you design, the easier it gets. Use good clean images. Images with dramatic angles and colors. Arrange your color distribution around it. Use gradients and bright colors wisely to draw attention to the main topics. Try to present the text in an interesting manner. 3D effects look glossy and rich use them for buttons and to highlight salient points. Use interesting animations wisely and brush up on your javascript skills. Javascript files should be as small and simple as possible. Using pages and pages of JavaScript causes conflicts, especially if there are Body onLoad() functions. Use Flash animations and slideshow to animate your websites.

FYI, Check out some cool websites at: http://disqus.com/. They are amazing. Check out the Showcase section.

How my mobile took over my life

2012-08-07T02:33:00.000-07:00

I wake up to the radio on my mobile every day. Zip off to the office, where I fire up my PC to check my daily mail and getting cracking at the pile of work. Then on my way home, it’s the iPhone. It’s amazing what all an iPhone can do. From checking mails to surfing to music, games, youtube, you name it. I guess it’s the same with smart phones, iPads and Blackberrys. At home my trusty old bulky PC has been replaced by my suave Lenovo laptop. Then it's Facebook time. I do feel like a dinosaur now, back in 2006 I didn’t even know what Orkut was. Though I loved Gtalk and yahoo messenger.

Easy Reading

2012-08-07T02:30:00.001-07:00

I am presently reading the Litigators by Grisham, its easy reading about 3 bumbling lawyers. One of the last books that I really liked is the Hunger Games. I do like the fantasy genre, especially the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, also the Old Kingdom series. The guy is truly prolific. I have started reading the Secret Seven, Enid Blyton series to my son. He really loves it, other than his Ben Ten aliens and Spiderman and Pumba and Timon and Peter pan.

Check out : http://www.garthnix.com/

What are you and your kids reading??

Best TV Comedies

2012-08-06T04:57:00.000-07:00

Currently my favorite TV comedies are 2 and a Half Men, Simpsons and Big Bang Theory. I used to love Friends and Seinfeld. But those are off the air. 2 and a Half men is a hilarious comedy starring Charlie Sheen and his brother and his nephew, grappling with their different lifestyles. Simpsons is a satyr on the typical American way of life. Big Bang is about 4 physicists putting their own spin on life. Guaranteed a good laugh.

Do tell me about your favorite comedies.

Hospitals

2012-08-02T05:56:00.001-07:00

I was reminiscing about my hospital stay during my baby’s delivery. I was pretty nervous initially about the c-section, which was to be done only with local anesthesia. But as the operation proceeded, I was filled with wonder after I heard my baby wail for the first time. He blew bubbles at all of us and was whisked quickly down to the nursery. I only got a good look at him the next morning, all pink and wrinkly like a prune, dreaming about whatever it is babies dream about. I really enjoyed my stay at Neotia. I guess it finally depends on which hospital you go to.

Do share your experiences with me.

This site provides some comparisons of healthcare services : http://myhealthscore.com/

Music

2012-08-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

Music has been my constant companion since childhood. Started with Elvis (Mom’s choice), Hemanto, Jim Reeves, Dean Martin etc. The love affair continued with Bollywood, QSQT, Roja. AR Rahman stunned everyone with his surreal music for Roja. Hadn’t heard anything quite like it before that. Western music started creeping in with Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, and Springsteen etc. Slowly progressing to Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pink Floyd, Chris Rea, Micheal Jackson, Hootie and the Blowfish, Doors, Santana, Fleetwood Mac. Though Bollywood remains my first love. Presently listening to Gunja sa(wake up sid), Pritam rocks.

Chess for beginners’

2012-08-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

I have started playing Chess of late. The origin of chess is supposedly India. It’s interesting how the most of the play happens in the middle of the board. So it’s a good idea to block the middle with pawns. Castling the king early on in the game is also a good idea, as it throws most attacks off kilter. It’s a good idea to move out all the pieces (bishop, knight) on the king’s side as early as possible and castling. Also it may be advisable to bring out the queen somewhere in the middle of the game and changing attacks from one side of the board to the next. I personally find that attacking with the Queen and the rook, almost always ends up in checkmate. Any thoughts?

Great Paintings

2012-07-31T20:50:00.001-07:00

I always was fascinated with art especially with anatomical sketches. Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Delacroix, Toulouse Lautrec, Rembrandt being some of my favorites. Love abstract stuff by Kandinsky, Mondrian and Franz Marc too. Also love the cartooning style of pop artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein.

Share your pictures here

Clive Cussler

2012-07-30T02:43:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading Inca Gold. Dirk Pitt just gets more and more exciting. Following the devil may care hero on his extraordinary adventures is a truly rollicking experience, with nail biting suspense and action. He is my favorite, second only to Indiana Jones. I especially liked Matthew McConaughey’s rendition of Pitt in Sahara. He fitted the hero to a “T”.

Web 2.0

2012-07-26T02:22:00.001-07:00

Just brushing up on the latest Web 2.0 design guidelines. Lots of white space, light colors and big images, call to actions etc. Updating my xhtml knowledge, seems like html is out for good. Webpages are passé it seems, what with all the mobile apps and social networking sites. Seems I’m always running to catch up.

Check out some cool scripts at : http://www.devscripts.net/
Check out some cool videos and photos at : http://www.stumbleupon.com/
FYI, Check out some cool websites at: http://disqus.com/. They are amazing. Check out the Showcase section.

Taking care of Baby and Business

2012-07-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

Finally got my son to take his afternoon siesta. It seems to me babies really don’t have any in built clocks. My son loves to dawdle and play on, not realizing the clock is ticking endlessly. All time is play time. I really don’t like to ruin his mood by hurrying him and interrupting his play. Finally sat down to day dreaming about starting a small business. Went through whole lot of ideas on the internet about small home businesses for moms on the on internet. Seemed to narrow down to pet keeping and “blogging”. Everything else seemed like too much work.