humidity, it hugs you

oh, this whole internship search has been so agonizing! i HATE having to make such major decisions. but perhaps the decision is not so major...

i have decided to go to Delhi for the summer. there, in addition to interning, i can broker a marriage deal and perhaps attend a wedding.

whenever i get ready to go back to india, i get very nervous. some things about india are very difficult-- the perpetual heat rash, lunging monkeys, lingering stomach ailments, etc. but that is all small stuff that is far outweighed by the pluses: mangos, litchis, scooters, chickoo, veg rolls, sleeping on the roof, talking on the bed, chai at daybreak, children everywhere...

oh, this week i had a taste of humidity. it will be 60 degrees (F) warmer in delhi when i land there. when you step out of the airplane, two things hit you in the face-- the thick humidity and overwhelming stench (kind of like a bathroom next to a trash dump). you get used to the smell. the humidity, however, adds another dimension-- suddenly everything is more intimate when it is humid.

as you can see, i have been daydreaming all day. i have pulled out my saris, and unfortunately discovered i have NO salwar suits to wear. will go shopping in delhi.

humidity, it hugs you

oh, this whole internship search has been so agonizing! i HATE having to make such major decisions. but perhaps the decision is not so major...

i have decided to go to Delhi for the summer. there, in addition to interning, i can broker a marriage deal and perhaps attend a wedding.

whenever i get ready to go back to india, i get very nervous. some things about india are very difficult-- the perpetual heat rash, lunging monkeys, lingering stomach ailments, etc. but that is all small stuff that is far outweighed by the pluses: mangos, litchis, scooters, chickoo, veg rolls, sleeping on the roof, talking on the bed, chai at daybreak, children everywhere...

oh, this week i had a taste of humidity. it will be 60 degrees (F) warmer in delhi when i land there. when you step out of the airplane, two things hit you in the face-- the thick humidity and overwhelming stench (kind of like a bathroom next to a trash dump). you get used to the smell. the humidity, however, adds another dimension-- suddenly everything is more intimate when it is humid.

as you can see, i have been daydreaming all day. i have pulled out my saris, and unfortunately discovered i have NO salwar suits to wear. will go shopping in delhi.

you love me, love me not, love me

a certain gov't agency, which shall remain anonymous but is on my hate-list, wants me back after dumping me over email. i want to hang on to my pride and tell them "too little too late," but i am desperate and needy.

went to c'ville AGAIN this weekend. nothing changes too much there, except there is a really cool tea house there filled with typical c'ville aging hippies, lesbians, and young rockers. very fun, and a delightful selection of tea. the interior reminds me of a fairytale because you walk upstairs and there is a huge knotty tree trunk and lots of tibetan, east asian, central asian, middle eastern, north african decor. plus many many hookahs and low-level seating. i want my house to look like this, minus the hookah, etc use (for any concerned potential employer, i do not do drugs and have not since 2001).

the weather is bumming me out. and i have 50 midterms to grade. the prof told me i grade too hard.

Blogs of people I know

There is a trade-off to having people actually read your blog-- you can't really write but so much about them...

Here are 2 blogs of people i know:

Carrie -- carrie and i have 5 things in common. we are both white, female, same age, attend same public policy program, and are born into catholic families. it stops about there becuase she is a northerner, Mac-o-phile, artsy, and politically-saavy. me, i am a southerner, indo-phile, and much better with numbers than with creativity or debate...

Ingrid & Alp -- Ingrid is the little sister of my friend, Walt. Oh, to be riding through foreign countrysides on the back of a 20 year-old motorcycle with my arms around my man and not a care in the world! (hey been there, done that)

If you have a blog you would like me and my ever-expanding readership to know about, please post the link in the comments section.

shenandoah

"all my memories, gather 'round her,
miner's lady. stranger to blue waters.
dark and dusty, painted on the skiy,
misty taste of moonshine,
teardrop in my eye,
take me home..."

went to c'ville over the weekend. i think paul curreri is the new john denver.

this weekend i treated a bubbling skin infection (not my own) with a common household product. can you name the product?

keep Modi out

Hey Bhagwan! I can't believe the State Dept has denied Modi an entry visa! read the article

Who is Modi? He is a real present-day Hitler. He basically was responsible for the train massacres in Gujarat a few years ago. He is reviving communalism (Hindu v. Muslim) in India-- especially in Gujarat.

Is the State Dept trying to make a Muslim-friendly statement by denying Modi entry??? Or are they really concerned about the issue.

On a side note, Modi was coming to talk to a bunch of Hotel owners (Gujarati no doubt). These hotel owners don't see a problem with Modi???

ok, saturday morning shock and awe is over.

brok ein Maus

ok, it really is time to junk this PC. this evening as I went to type a policy brief, i found the mouse refusing to move. i tried the old standby-- unplug and replug-- but this was not enough to resucitate the already dead-stiff mouse. i thought "if i had a laptop, i wouldn't be having this problem bc i wouldn't have a mouse..."

i tried to write the brief at my mom's house. my brothers and my grandfather were all there watching american idol on three different tv's and running from room to room to argue about who was good and who sucked. hard to concentrate there.

i'm back at home. Guddu, computer-boy-wonder (read:sarcasm), somehow brought the mouse back to life.

this evening's mantra: outsourcing is good, my mouse is chinese

p.s. blister still is multiplying

permanent visa

today i finally emerged from a 3-day funk. i am bummed about school-- many times this week i have had the thought to give up, have a baby and move to the village. there, life would be very routine-- wake up, have chai, sweep the house, make food, take a nap, make food, eat snacks on the rooftop and gossip, maybe watch some nepali tv or a hindu television epic, eat dinner, go to bed.

tomorrow the semester resumes. except i will be missing class bc guddu (&I???) have an appointment with INS. we're very confused about what we need to bring, and even if i need to be there. better be safe than to have to reschedule! guddu right now is freaking out because he has misplaced our original visa application. this is very typical-- at the 11th hour, try to find sense in a chaos of paperwork and files.

guddu also freaked out last week bc he had a project knowledge test at work. questions were like "what is the fuel capacity on the saturn vue?" "what is included in the sports package?" etc. he lost sleep over this. luckily i am the one in school, not him. otherwise he'd probably have a breakdown.

ok, i am being beckoned to locate the missing INS file.

massive migrating blister spoils workout

part of the initiation of moving into the 30+ mpw club must be blisters. i've had some form or another of the same blister on the arch of my foot since the New Year. it comes and goes, but this time it has come back in a slightly different spot and much much larger. no kickboxing tonight. i've heard people can die from infected blisters, so i am going to lay low tonight...

to continue my rant against gov't internship programs: the Foreign Agriculture Service only had 3 applicants for their summer internship program, so they extended the deadline to March 15th. today i called to get some details about the app package (they want police check, letters of rec, official transcripts, etc etc-- no wonder only 3 people applied). the guy told me they were no longer accepting apps and the email i received was "old and has bene circulating."

i cleaned the house today. a scary amount of dust was collected.

break at last

yay! today i am obligation-free for a few days. respite from constant-constant assignments is soooo nice!

yesterday i drove to DC for an interview at GAO. i left the house at 5:45am, thinking i would arrive ridiculuosly early. when i left the house, it was 55 degrees and pouring rain. a bit after fredericksburg traffic started to stack up, and then it started snowing heavily. i got to my interview about 20 minutes late and full of snow. but, besides that, the interview went pretty well.

today i went to see henry's induction into the National Honour Society. my job there was to handle Granddad, who has dementia. we almost had a crisis when Granddad tried to pee in the school parking lot. how embarrassing that would have been for henry. i'm so glad i am not in high school anymore.

ran 7 miles today. started with the intention to run 4, but then kept going...

8 miles! such thirst!

today i ran 8 miles! i haven't ran that much since the summer of 2000! i ran all the way down to and around Monroe Park outside the Mosque and Cathedral. it was very sunny and windy, but not too cold. the run was not too hard, but as soon as i stopped i was extremely thirsty-- i have never been that thirsty before (even when i abstained from food and water for over 24 hours for the teej fast in ranchi!).

woe to me, for i still have to study for an exam. i am hoping delaying the gratification of spring break will pay off in the form of a good grade on my trade exam.

our neighbor's trash blew all over our yard today. i'm waiting for the wind to again pick it up and carry it to the yard of the neighbor i hate.

Lent: American style

dinnertime on a Lenten Friday, time to sit down to a nice plate of... fish? NO-- the traditional Friday food of Lent is actually cheese pizza. And what exactly is Lent? When explaining Lent, first determine who your audience is-- Western or "not". For those not coming from a western background, Lent is most easily explained in terms of Ramdan-- period of fasting, almsgiving, very happy at the end-- but less strict (in practice at least). For Westerners, Lent is basically the Catholic's 2nd chance at fulfilling New Year's resolutions of weightloss. The main difference is there are serious spiritual consequences if you reneg on your Lenten penance.

effective public management?

“The jobs I’m being asked to do, the five hats that I wear, are too much for this mortal. I’m a little amazed at the workload.” hmmm i've felt like this before...

Gov't Agencies Who Have Screwed Me Over

1. CIA
2. DIA
3. State Dept
4. NGA

and the latest...

5. DHS (INS exempt-- who knew guddu's greencard would be processed SO quick!)
(also exempt-- Carla, and her boyfriend Bill, while your at it. they did not screw me over).

it will be a sad day if I have to add GAO and/or FCS to this list...