Of raindrops and old techno music

Whenever I have one of these big stories stuck in my head (aka something I'd like to put in a proper post about, but am either lazy or busy or both, or neither even) I tend to stop posting other things as they happen. No great drama, I assure you, it's all mostly of the "Ooh! I went cycling again!" or "Woah! It's still sunny at 9pm." variety. Well it is, and yes, I did, not respectively.

Anyhow, it's the more random things, purple sails, for instance, that I feel bad about not posting. Also bizarreness of Chinese fortune telling, which, I assure you, appears to be entirely different from the bizarreness of Indian fortune telling. At least in my experience.

For a variety of reasons I've been walking around a bit more than cycling, and even cooking some. (Heh, I slipped that last one in all cool and quietly but really, I'm doing somersaults inside. Cooking, as in the proper food from scratch cooking, for me is what would qualify as being a B I G D E A L. :P)

Latest in a long series of realizations: I should not have started reading the already-published issues of Sandman: Overture till all of them were out. I just shouldn't have.

On the other hand, Guardians of the Galaxy was totally awesome :). Caught it on 3D last night, and couldn't stop laughing :D. If only all films were this much fun. Oh well.

In the mean time it's been pouring buckets. So much rain, that I was reminded of monsoon back in Asansol. Which is saying something. Looks like summer's over, and it's left behind a wet and limp sort of autumn. Wonder what winter's going to be like.

Currently: glad to be a car owner :P
Listening to: Darude - Feel the beat

Shadows under water

Quiet time has been hard to come by, somehow. Even with no unwanted thoughts crowding in my head, problems to solve, worries to sort out and file away for later, there seems to be a weird white noise. Suffocating any thought I actually want to nurture.

So I've taken the other way out, just keep on going, getting outside the discomfort of my mind and drowning the noise, most recently, somewhat literally. I've taken up swimming again. The swimming laps to rack up distance kinda swimming. The kind that leaves you aching happily and stinking of chlorine after. And needing goggles to avoid going temporarily blind. After a gap of twelve odd years.

Yep, time flies. And it'll keep flying. And take away whatever snow there is left with it :(. This has to have been one of the shortest winters here in forever. Will I manage another proper week of snowboarding? That we will have to wait and see.

In the last month or so, since the fantastic Tromsø trip, I made a little trip down to Cyprus. No, not fun, all work. Stayed on a boat for the first time in over a year and realized I've gotten properly comfortable in my life, such as it is. Imagine that. Three quarters of a year, and close to a decade of conditioning all gone straight out the window.

I did manage to do a little bit of reading, most entertaining and fascinating of which, by some distance, was The Colour of Magic! For someone who's into fantasy and insanity as much as I am, it would surprise some to know that I'd never read anything by Terry Pratchett before, save Good Omens. But having started, I intend to carry on.

Time, as always though, is in short supply. And to be honest I'd like nothing better than to sort of just disappear for a bit. Land up somewhere I've never been. Hmm. Go diving maybe, just the thought of floating suspended under a mountain of water seems calming, somehow. But since that's unlikely to happen, for now working up to swimming 2km in a 25m pool will have to do.

Currently: de-chlorinated, but still aching happily
Listening to: Martin Halla - Illuminate the sky

Time out

I've been looking forward to this quite a bit actually! Life has turned a bit overly high maintenance of late. Too many things that need doing, need keeping track of, need thinking about or thinking through. You see where I'm going. And that's where a vacation comes in handy :).

Unfortunately, with an office job, a vacation never quite is that clean break from work that time off is on rotation. But at least you get to plan it with more or less some degree of freedom.

I get the feeling when I get back home in a week's time, summer would well and truly be over and the little preview of late autumn weather we're had the last couple of days will be rather more pervasive. But, in the meanwhile, it's time for some fun! And maybe catch up on some reading while I'm at it!

Currently: packed! :D
Listening to: Ellie Goulding - Burn

Leftovers

Things are beginning to fall into place somewhat. And while I seem to continue to lose track of the too many things that need doing at any given time, I'm beginning to develop a knack of remembering more or less in time ;).

When I think about it, the last couple of months have disappeared in a hurry. The only bits of snow in evidence now are the stray patches on distant peaks, and midsummer is fast approaching. I'm having to worry less about finding a place and more about what to put in it...

Stray thoughts, rather like the tiny splinter that had been putting slow leaks in my bike tyre, prick the otherwise mostly peaceful run of things. Rather as I'd suspected, letting go isn't just in the deciding to move on. Bits and pieces come floating back from time to time, like so much flotsam rising from a sunken boat.

I've started reading again though. But not the Wheel of Time. Somehow I couldn't seem to muster the patience for it just now. And in hopes of reading the original untranslated versions some time in the near future, started with Jo Nesbø. Fast paced mystery thrillers seem to be more suited to current circumstances, somehow :).

Currently: gearing up for another five days of alarms and deadlines
Listening to: Aerosmith - Sunshine

Battles in the clouds

It seems to be the same story each time, the wide range of excuses that appear when I haven't been running in a while and want to start. With the weather getting sunnier and warmer though, I decided I'd have to give it a go on Saturday. It wasn't too bad, given the three month gap. But there's a fair way to go before I quit feeling like a beached whale after running for a half hour :(.

The other thing I need to start is reading. But somehow, there never seems to be enough time in the day to do all the things that I want to do. Old story I suppose. Oh well, at least I've started taking photos of random things again, at least partly thanks to Instagram :).

I recently read someone describing how the most stunning thing they have ever seen is a sunrise or sunset at sea. Instantly brought back a ton of memories and images. That's one of the things I really will miss. Kinda like I missed weekends while I was at sea :). I guess I'll get over it.

Currently: sleepy
Listening to: The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Maria

Odds and ends

Old habits die hard. Sometimes the same seems to hold true for old troubles. It's been another interminable wait for, wait for it, a visa! Now I might be mistaken, but this should be the last one I need to worry about getting for the immediate foreseeable future. So what happens? My paperwork goes on an unscheduled holiday to Kuala Lumpur for a few weeks...

Anyhow, looks like I'm finally headed to Norway sometime in the coming week. And by the looks of it, winter's still very much holding its own up there. Maybe I'll get that one weekend of snowboarding yet! Not that I'll mind a little drop in temperature too terribly. It's been getting pretty hot in Cal these last few weeks.

In the mean time, I've been keeping myself entertained, no, not by yelling at visa handling agents. Well, not all the time anyway. But with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. And thus far, it has proved a fairly fulfilling read! But then again, I'm only closing in on the end of the fourth book, there's a long way to go :).

I must say, I find the relatively straightforward progression and the many characters that don't die all of a sudden but continue mostly unharmed from book to book, a huge relief. Plus, it took me a while, but finally I wizened up to the clues in the symbols at the start of each chapter :). It's quite the grand fantastic mystery. If only there weren't all of fourteen books (including the prequel, which was pretty awesome, I thought).

However, I seem to have forgotten entirely about that other awesome book I read on my way back from South Africa. Robert A. Heinlein's Have Space Suit - Will Travel! Ever since that dedication in To Say Nothing of the Dog, I'd been meaning to read it. And once I finally got to it, it was totally worth the anticipation. (Although in retrospect, I'm not entirely sure that dedication said much about this book. I suppose I just thought the name was too awesome :D.)

I loved the suddenness of it all :). The weirdest things just sort of happen as you read along, and somehow, they seem to be the most natural thing! All things considered, it came as a little bit of a surprise exactly how long ago the book had been written. Then again, I suppose some things don't really change all that much over time.

I haven't really been taking photos lately. I suppose I should get over this thing about waiting for something to happen 'worth taking photographs of'. In the mean time, a few roads from the past year...

Currently: blah
Listening to: Lifehouse - Nobody listen

Snow creeping down mountain-sides

So I went ahead and made the plan. Now let's see how everything works out. It's a good plan, in that the details are entirely absent :D. Well, not entirely, but absent enough to let things happen. Or so one hopes.

But there's still a whole week till the break starts, and this trip seems to have been going on forever :-<. What is it with last trips on a boat? (I am beginning to sound like a broken record here, I know, but that's kinda the thing :(.)

So yeah, another boat. Apparently. As usual, my future is a bit like sailing in low visibility :). Can't ever see too far ahead. But you can be sure things are going to show up along the way. Mostly, quite suddenly. Oh well. Isn't always a bad thing. Only like... well, I was going to say a lot of the time, but that's just 'cos I'm tired and can't see an easy way out of this next week till crew change I guess :).

Bergen is back to doing what it does best, revelling in chilling rain that freezes the bone and transforms everything into something of a haze of wet numbness. I guess the days of sunshine weren't really going to last. I regret the fact that I didn't take any sunrise photos. There were a few good ones. But not in a while.

Right. Things to look forward to, yet another last minute trip, hopefully a nice car. Two weeks of fall coloured roads. Not all bad then. Too bad that's a whole six-and-a-half days away.

Currently: tired
Listening to: Sixpence None The Richer - A million parachutes

Arriving somewhere, but not here

Just when the weather's really beginning to get quite nice... It's actually cool most of the time. A little damp, but that can be forgiven. But now I'm all set to leave. With less than a week to go for the beginning of Durga Pujo too! Oh well, I guess my Pujo celebrations will consist mainly of shivering on the Pride's back deck.

Unfortunately, once I leave home, it'll also be bye bye personal computing equipment. Well, operational equipment anyway. After four years of getting dragged around all over, the laptop's finally given up. Not even a whimper of a response :(. On the up-side, this might be a good time to give up on laptops altogether! Hmm, given the USB situation on most substitutes, that's not likely. Still, who knows.

Good thing I got the Kindle when I did. Looks like it'll more or less be my only source of entertainment for a little while. Not that I'm short on reading material :) Bartimaeus is entertaining as expected, and while I thought two chapters a week would be a bit annoyingly slow for the Gaiman re-read, thus far that has not been the case. Every Wednesday I keep getting surprised exactly how many things I seem to have missed on my first read of American Gods. I wonder if all Gaiman's books are that way.

Right, flight-mode beckons. Time to get ready. Ready to disappear into the loneliness in the midst of hundreds. Let's hope this time there's less drama than the last transit.

Currently: leaving
Listening to: UNKLE - Lonely soul

I'll cut you into little pieces

Yes, one of these days. I think this was in some music video at some point. Metallica, was it? Or some guitar solo that I can't place right this moment. I of course, can't help but feel that way right now.

You ever find yourself levitating? Just beyond proper sanity. Oh so close though. But just beyond.

Scottish bars and goodbyes. Not a combination I'm used to, I must say.

Another day another surreal experience. With bits and pieces of stark blue clarity thrown in. I'm floating. I like it that way. Some people like their bubbles bigger. I don't. Well, I do, but I'm scared witless when it comes to trying.

There are two bags to pack right now. Let's see what goes wrong now.

Currently: high as a kite
Listening to: Alexi Murdoch - All my days

Surprises, nice and otherwise

Oh! Here's a fun fact! Somehow in the seemingly brief span of four months I've managed to render myself quite incredibly, stupefyingly unfit!! Now, to the discerning observer this might not come as any surprise, seeing how I've been less than indulgent in any activity that could even vaguely contribute to maintaining fitness. Still!

I suppose there's a couple of things I've skipped over since my last post. I wasn't on the boat for long, but the two weeks on there went by in a blur! I am beginning to truly detest port calls. All over again, seeing how nothing in these last seven years has given me much reason to feel otherwise. Except for the extremely rare gem such as Malta last year. Anyway, I left the Pride rather battered and bruised.

The good thing was, the port being Bergen, I got to hang out with Bolli a couple of times in the bargain. There was also the fact that we were parked right across the water from the cruise terminal. And guess what? The Queen Mary 2 showed up! Only, I was too busy freezing in the rain to manage a photo. By the time shift was over and I'd thawed sufficiently, she was gone. At least I did get a snap of the MSC Poesia, a slightly smaller version of none other than the truly humongous MSC Fantasia we'd encountered in Malta.

In the middle of the utter chaos that was the trip, I somehow ended up getting myself an overnight train ticket to Asker. This time, I took a sleeper berth and was utterly oblivious to the fascinating views racing past the window. Or maybe it just rained all the way. Asker train station looked much the same as it had when I'd left a year and a half ago, windswept, desolate and wet. Alas, there was no snow this time.

The good thing though, was that my luggage was right where I'd left it! Well, not exactly, the furniture had been re-arranged somewhat. But still, at least they were in the same room :). Of course, it was also great to catch up with some of the old faces still hanging around this part of the world ;).

Despite fears of a washed out weekend, Saturday worked out quite beautifully, with clear blue skies. A friend had recently acquired a couple of bicycles, so we took them out for a spin around the nearby fjords. That was when I got the first hints to the state of my fitness. Fortunately, geared bikes do wonders to cover for you, and the five hour adventure left me feeling quite happy.

Since then though, the weather's been more of the sad dingy greyness and less of the bright golden happiness. I was wondering how I should use the coming two weeks to my advantage, when I rather suddenly noticed the wider than usual midsection. Since it wasn't actually raining, I dragged myself out for a bit of a run. I wasn't exactly expecting miracles, but the ensuing quarter of an hour was ridiculously distressing! In more ways than one. So I suppose I do have something to do with the long hours of daylight for the next few days.

Currently: horrified!
Listening to: Joshua Radin - Road to ride on

I must have left a thousand times...

This is turning out to be a bit of a strange year :-<. Half of it is gone and for the most part I never knew what to expect next. Another break that I expected to last about a week turned into a month. And now I'm headed back to Norway a year and a half after leaving rather abruptly.

And another new boat. Well, new for me anyway. That boat's about as old as I am, I think.

It's been raining a fair bit these last few days. Good thing too, it's been a long, hot and dry summer. I wonder how much it's been raining in Bergen. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Currently: lost in translation
Listening to: Regina Spektor - Small town moon

Cracks in red and orange

I knew when and where I was going, then I didn't. And then I did again. So if you were to look for the tangible remainder of the subtraction of certainty, and the subsequent addition of the same, there isn't much left. Except for that broken tail lamp. Which might have happened anyway...

I finally got around to watching the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I have to say, I wasn't expecting to be impressed in the least. I mean, come on! How could anyone possibly expect to top Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth Salander? Right?! I also wasn't expecting this one to stay quite so close to the storyline, if anything, even more than the Swedish production!

One of the totally awesome things, IMO, was the accent :). I mean, it wasn't in Swedish, (which is a good thing I suppose, seeing how I don't understand it, and I hate subtitles) but at least it kinda sounded like Scandinavians speaking English! Technically it sounded like a Norwegian accent to me, but then I can never tell the difference anyway. So full points for coolness there.

And then there was Rooney Maara's Salander. Damn! Well, put it this way, I am now quite anxiously looking forward to the sequels, whenever they do come out.

Amongst the other newish stuff I watched, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes sequel was, well, mostly okay I guess. I still rate the first one better. Although my judgement might be a bit compromised seeing how he killed off McAdams nice and early :(. (Oops, sorry in case folks haven't seen the movie yet.) Haywire on the other hand, despite all those big names, seemed a bit like all fizzle and no pop to me. The last time an action flick had that many stars, at least there was something of a bang (I mean The Expendables, of course :P).

Right, by the looks of it this will be the last I can afford to laze around all day for a bit. Let's see if I can actually catch the Shwedagon Pagoda in the daylight on my way through Yangon to the boat tomorrow!

Currently: packed, well, when am I not :|
Listening to: Chicane - Santanas

Of cloud castles and houses of cards

How is it that the darkest dark and brightest light can so easily cohabit the same frame? Oh, I know how. I just wish sometimes that they wouldn't, that's all.

It's been a rather strange couple of weeks. Nothing I can quite put a finger on, just this feeling that I might have misplaced something in this while. Some part of me that makes sense of things effortlessly. I think. 

Or it might just be the travelling, and the waiting. The hiding behind the edges of conversations I don't want to have, with people I don't really know. And people who, I suspect, despite their every claim to the contrary, don't really know me.

Once every so often, I have these flashes of unwanted lucidity. A distinct image of myself from some long gone moment, complete with all those hopes, wishes, worries even. Of late the contrast between then and now seems sharper. And I wonder, does it matter, that who we hope to one day become as a wide-eyed (or squinting, or glaring, or whatever) kid and who we do eventually end up growing into should be so at odds? Most days I shake off the thought by blaming the naivety of youth :).

Well, I did finally finish with Notes on a Small Island! But now I find there's not a single encompassing idea I have formed about it. Which is not surprising, seeing how I kept bouncing through other books in between, stopped reading for prolonged periods and otherwise butchered the experience :). Although, I must say, sometimes Bryson seems positively rude! No? He's always good for a few laughs though.

Also, Chicane rocks. More to the point, he continues to...

Currently: uncertain, again
Listening to: Chicane - Thousand mile stare

Rumblings in the dark

This feels like as good a time as any to indulge in a spot of random chatter. It started raining earlier in the evening. Finally, if you ask me! It's been pretty hot since I got here last week, not quite as humid as it gets, but then again, this is barely April.

I'm a big fan of watching the rain, as I may have mentioned. It's fun watching thunderstorms from windows, or doorways. From under an overhang of some sort even. Not so much from under trees :). Night-time tends to mess that up a little. But tonight the city lights went out, and the lightning came out to play! So I figured I'd go up to the terrace and watch!

One good thing with living near the airport is the limit on how tall buildings can be. And whoever built this apartment block hit the limit, or at least got closer than anyone else in the neighbourhood :). The result is a near all-round view of the sky. Tonight, that translated to a pretty awesome display. Gigantic electric forks descending on all sides, throwing brief blinding flashes of brilliance. Some close, some further away. Some hidden behind sheets of clouds that turned momentarily from brooding, inky black into translucent, seething white.

I was wondering if I should maybe get the cam when a stray gust of wind blew a flurry of raindrops around the corner I was hiding behind, right into me, quickly dispelling any misguided attempts at lightning capture. Tell you what though, none of this is quite as impressive as a proper thunderstorm at sea :).

Is it just me, or are there more sirens blaring around town these days? Mostly ambulances, would be my guess. I suppose that's a good thing. In that, sick or hurt people are probably at least getting somewhere.

No, haven't really been reading that much. For some reason, Catching Fire has started off a bit slowly for me. Maybe it's like someone says on the back cover, now that I know the characters a bit, I'm a little more worried about what happens next. Then again, I have been rather busy. What with that visa application. And there were the visits and pujas and such other things that have caused me to inhale altogether way too much holy smoke over the last few days.

Currently: House bound
Listening to: Gotan Project - Whatever Lola wants

Time/travel

My short 2 weeks-and-change break has now turned into a two month vacation! Yes, I'm still, somewhat incredibly, on break. Now you might think that's a good thing, and it is, in the pure lazy aimlessness of it all. But if you are the type to want to do something with the six months a year you get to live your life, the one day's notice at a time thing doesn't really do a whole lot of good.

Now that that's been said, I did go on a bit of a trip last week. I would have gone nuts sitting here any longer for one thing, and for another, the parents were headed out of town and refused to leave me to my own devices given the slightly homicidal turn my mood was beginning to take.

Something on that trip led me to a curious observation regarding the nature of time, or rather, the perception of it. And how denial and acceptance appear to be flip sides of the same coin. The past, once there's a fair bit of it, is hardly a linear affair. It flows in fits and starts. Bends sometimes, morphs into something entirely distinct from real life. Actually, that's probably true most of the time, to a greater or lesser extent. Then there is the need to make peace with it. Everyone feels the need to do so I guess. The difference lies in the degree of success.

Anyway, now I'm back in town again. After failed attempts at Angola and the US Gulf of Mexico, I am now supposed to head down to Myanmar! So I dutifully dropped off the passport at the local Consulate this morning. Who knows, third time might be the charm and I might actually make it to a boat some time soon! I don't think I'll be holding my breath.

Currently: oh well :)
Listening to: Train - Hey, soul sister

Ink blots

There are times when a purge button for the mind would come in real handy. Or so it seems. Unfortunately, it turns out, this is the next best thing I've got. So bear with me. Alternatively, ignore what follows.

A drop of ink in water. Patterns form, for an instant. And then the colour is sucked by the colourlessness that surrounds it. Which reminds me, I have, somewhat recently, come in possession of an ink pen! It was a gift too, one without an occasion. I used to have a couple of bottles of ink at my desk back in school. Of course, when the parents moved, the desk moved... and now serves as this PC desk. Uh huh. One moment.

Right, they're still here. Buried in one of these rather cavernous drawers full of too many things. At times like these I am forced to face the fact that I am a hoarder. Dunno what level. (Apparently there are levels.) Which, incidentally is rather at odds with my usual travel baggage. Anyway, I'm a little afraid to actually open either of the bottles after all this time. Maybe there's nothing left. Either way, what's the point? The hazards of a proper ink pen, while not fresh, haven't all been blotted away from memory just yet.

I hate waiting in general. Well, perhaps hate is too strong a word. Anyhoo, ordinarily I'd deal with it by scheduling. Yes, I'm weird like that. Trouble is, to do that the time-frame needs to be not indeterminate! Point is, now this is beginning to really bug me.

Feeling: well, bugged!
Listening to: Adele - Chasing pavements

Limbo

Watched Inception again last night. Realized that explaining films while watching them is awfully frustrating. It's true for any film I suppose, but some more than others. Also realized that limbo as a free reign to one's imagination in a world of infinite possibility is probably not a particularly accurate representation :).

My expectation of an impending end to fretful waiting was rather premature, it would appear. Not only do I not know the when, but through a twist of fate I no longer even know the where! Of course, not being able to travel to Angola couldn't be considered all bad I suppose.

It is rare for the weather to be particularly chilly in Kolkata. At any time of the year :). So single digit temperatures are quite a treat! Of course, the downside is having to live with the stares from woolly, shawl-smothered, monkey-capped passers-by when venturing outdoors in shorts and a t-shirt...

Currently: still waiting :(
Listening to: Arcade Fire - Ocean of noise

Of hidden suns and Bones

It's been a quiet start to the year. Foggy wet mornings and hazy lazy days :). And lots and lots of waiting. It's been awesome for catching up on some TV watching. Well, without actually watching any TV. I find I haven't got the temperament for watching serials on TV. Can't wait that long between episodes :P.

Intimate acquaintance is best avoided with the Indian bureaucratic system. Unfortunately, it is not always a matter of choice. So, amidst the waiting, there have been short bursts of frantic activity, frustration and a sense of utter helplessness.

All that, however, might be coming to an end. Or not. I still have to get that visa.

Currently: waiting
Listening to: Regina Spektor - Buildings