Remarks...

Today is the 13th day since my surgery. Also, we are a day removed from the just concluded Circuit Assembly. And 3 days into the new year! Time for some reflections over these past few days...

~ Had a very wonderful, encouraging assembly. Will not say any more and spoil the surprise for those who haven't had it yet. Not gonna ruin it for you!

~ The worst part of "recovering from" a 'simple' nose surgery is that other than a slight swelling, I look normal.

Since I'm starting to feel better, I'm a lot more cheerful and happier. This causes me to seem normal, yet am under strict orders not to do anything which would cause my heart to beat faster or pump much blood. Or have high blood pressure. Or engage in strenuous (my definition of that word differs from the doctor's) activity. Being an active person, I just HAVE TO play, run, jump, dance, bicycle, and other things. Also, since I am a regular pioneer the hours are suffering. But, I knew this would happen and took care of the hour requirement. Sadly, can not do anything about my physical condition. On the bright side, I'm much better than many others.

In totally unrelated news, I and Sakina have come to the conclusion that "Yoda died to become Steve Jobs". While I do not believe in reincarnation, or the soul surviving death, it is a hilarious conclusion to arrive at. How did we figure that out? Please don't ask. But, if you really want to, check here.

And, I finally saw 'Kites' 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani' and 'Dabangg'. Unimpressed with all of them.

Finally, this year I'll probably blog a lot more than before. So, keeping checking, update your RSS feed or see this on FB notes.

Much better now...

All right! This inflog (info-blog) is to all those of you who were anxious for me. Worried about me and cared. The three of you.. hahah!

Based on my past two posts, you have seen how I have had surgery and the after math. This one has much better news. This past Sunday (it's Thursday now),  I had the packing removed. This gave me the first glimpses of my life ahead. With TWO OPEN NOSTRILS! Beautiful.
Of course, the ensuing swelling and crust, clots, and other stuff too gross to think about while blogging are still in the nose, and it won't be completely reopened for another month. However, this is much better than before. Way better. Infinitely better. Yes, Sakina, I said infinity. Though I mean it only metaphysically. Everyone knows infinity doesn't exist. It's a word invented by mere mortals to explains things their puny brains can't comprehend. Things like how I  still manage to be single! It even baffles me at times. But you need to check with my bff about that first..
Ok, I'm digressing. Back to my nose. It's much better now. Only problem I still have are a lingering headache, and lack of sleep unless I take the pain pills. But, I'm not gonna have them. Don't wanna get hooked on them. I'm too addicted to life to get addicted to anything else!
Oh, and yesterday was the first time I drove after the surgery. Less than a week later. That too in the storm that ravaged this area. Felt absolutely wonderful!

And, tomorrow is the SPS (Special Pioneer Session), and then this weekend we have the Circuit Assembly. What a way to end the year, and kickstart the new. Just plain beautiful! [Take that, you people from Garden Lakes who got to go a week before us]

So, LIFE IS GOOD, and in the end, I'd like to share the song currently in my head: Happy Ending from the movie Tees Maar Khan.

Till later...

Post Surgery...

A huge thank you for all your wishes, cards, calls, text messages, wall posts, tweets, and all other form of communicating your love and regards for me!
The surgery went fine, and I was back home the same day. The nose is totally packed and blocked up to prevent bleeding which is not fun. Breathing with mouth for 4 days makes it pretty dry! This blog might be devoid of my humor and wit since I'm still pretty out of it with the pain meds and antibiotics.
But, yes, I'm fine; and the packing should come off by Monday. Then I can breathe normal again, though it'll be a long while before I can join sports...

Life is GOOD!

Surgery

It's (again) been a long time since I have blogged. You must have every idea of how busy I am with life. And now that I'm finished with college and actually looking for a job... Well, let's great straight to the point of this post: This may just be the last post I ever type. Second last actually. More on that shortly...

As a few of my friends and most of those who follow (and interact) with me on twitter know, I will be undergoing surgery tomorrow afternoon 2pm local time (AZ time). This will be to correct my Deviated Nasal Septum (DNS). The procedure is about 45 mins and recovery will take an hour. Following that, I should be back home in time for dinner. Which will be good, because I'm supposed to not eat or drink (not even water) after 5am. As if I will wake at 4:30am to partake of food!
Why the surgery you may ask? Well, when I was about 5 yrs old, I fell from a swing on my face. That deviated the bone and blocked off my entire left nostril. I had surgery once when I was 6. But, the bone grew back (I guess that's what bones do). So I would need surgery every 2/3 years or wait till I past the growth period. When you are 6 and have surgery, trust me, you try to avoid it if you can! So, I decided to wait.. and wait.. and wait. In the meantime, obviously I was suffering. Since I wasn't getting enough oxygen, I was never good at sports or won any hold-your-breath-underwater-in-the-pool competitions. Also, I needed to have my mouth open all the time so that led to many respiratory diseases and worse, bad breath. Always needed listerine with me. Not that it did me much good
Well, now I'm almost 21 and the doctors feel that while I may still grow (mentally), my physical growth is quite far enough to allow a 'final' surgery which will fix this problem. Which bring to the reason of this post: To let you know about me and my surgery.

[To see what exactly the surgery is like, these are two links. Viewer discretion is advised since it involves surgical scenes with blood. Link 1, Link 2]

Now, back to the first paragraph of this post. This may be my last post. While I fully expect to recover and keep on living forever happily with um-you-do-not-know-her-name-and-neither-do-I there are always dangers when in the OT. People have gone in for routine procedures and not woken up. While those are anomalies and I don't expect it to happen, you can never be sure. So in case, I don't make it out of there, this is my last blog post. There's another post which will go live (visible to the public) on Friday night which covers my history, regrets, and secrets. Though you will not read it, since I will be back home and delete that post before it goes live!
To those who are reading this as a Facebook note (yes this blog is being imported to Facebook / this note has been imported from my blog) please do take an opportunity to read my blog in it's entirety. Please do not flood my wall with posts wishing me well. Do take the time to write a nice message and and inbox it to me! Or msg me if you have my number.

On this last note, I sign off...
"Vita progressu. Amori viam. In Domino confido" Yes. That is my motto and will be on our family coat-of-arms after I recover

Long hiatus...

Wow!!!! It's been over 3 months since I last blogged. That's 94 days. A quarter of a year. Really horrible and bad of me :(
Well, I've been very busy of late. Pioneer School, Assembly Construction, Assembly, Circuit Overseer visit and so on.... Life of a regular pioneer and a college student doesn't allow you much time to engage in blogging.
Of course, I'm going to try and make amends for it! Let's try it now...

NY trip

I had promised to write a blog about our NY trip, which I haven't done yet. Life has been very, very busy to me the past couple weeks. Now, I have finally found the time. So, here I go:
It's been a long held wish of mine to visit Brooklyn, New York. Mainly, because the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses was located there. And having read the 'jv' book (if you don't know what it is, just type it in your WT library search), one just sees how the modern-day history of Jah's people is connected to that area. Also, NYC is one of the greatest places in the world. After all some 800 languages are spoken there! And of course, there are a lot of Indians there. Many young Indian ladies. Hopefully one of them plays cricket...
Ok, getting back to topic. Basically a vacation to NY was a must before dying to me. So, finally we (my parents and me) planned our trip to the wonderful Empire State. Here's a short description of the trip:

June 7th > Flew from PHX to ALB. Due to the time zone difference, we just had dinner and hit the sack. Of course, when you are waking up at 5am the next day, it always helps to sleep soon!
June 8th > Left at 6am for Niagara Falls. I drove part of the way. Some people in the vehicle were terrified at the though of a 20 yr old driving! It was fun, though. The Falls were wonderful! I almost burst into poetry seeing such beauty! We stayed there overnight.
June 9th > Spent some more time at the Niagara and then drove back to the Albany residence of the friends we stayed with. On the drive back, they were either too tired or satisfied with my driving that ALL, repeat ALL, slept at some point or another while I drove back. Needles, to say, I did not sleep!
June 10th > Left at 5:30am for NYC. Bethel: Here we come! Before entering city limits, I was playing "Empire State of Mind" over the car speakers from the iPod (the clean version of the song). Toured Bethel after we finally found a parking spot. Lunched there. Our plans to visit the Statue of Liberty were cut short by a sudden NY rain, which it turns out is quite common! We then journeyed to another family's place in Long Island. On the way, we passed by Jackson Heights, where a lot of Indians reside. Sadly, I didn't see any gal playing cricket...
June 11th > Took the LIRR from Long Island to Penn Station. Then we toured NY on a tour bus (double-decker, open roof). Went to the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Times Square and other main attractions in the city.
June 12th > Went to the Long Island Beach. Then the drive to the airport and we were back home!

The entire trip was fun! Have many interesting anecdotes and stories, which I shall not bore you with. I'm posting the link and slideshow to the web-album on picasaweb. If you are reading this on FB notes, please visit the original blog to see the slideshow.

Now, I'm back to the normal day-to-day life...

Past month

It's been over a month since my last blog post. Many have asked me if I have forgotten how to blog. Me, forget how to blog? NO WAY! I have been quite busy over the past month so it was hard to blog. Now, I have a breather for a few hours so I can blog.
Since my last blog, my college semester ended. Got an 'A' in the classes, and will finish the Linux degree by next semester (Dec 2010). Hopefully, I can get a job in that field! We went to the convention, got our new releases and have devoured them already. Don't worry, I shall not give any spoilers out!
We'll be visiting New York next week. Albany, NYC, and Long Island mainly. Hopefully I will have fun. Lot's of fun. Maybe I'll find an Indian girl who likes cricket... (now wouldn't that be nice). But, knowing my sad state of affairs, probably won't!
And, for those asking me.. NO, I am not in a relationship! Why in the world would I be in one? Life is so much fun without being tied down. Going out on weekday evenings, playing tennis with friends, watching as much as sports as I want. That will all be gone! NO WAY!


This was the current state of affairs in the life of me. Patrick Pradip Mondal. Also known as, राज (नाम तो सुना होगा)

iPad? Absolutely!

If you have known me within the past three and a half years, you probably know of my deep love for anything Apple, and hatred for Microsoft. So, many were surprised as to when I did not mention anything about the launch of the iPad. After all, how could someone with an iMac, iPod touch, almost got a Macbook, and a blackberry not think about the iPad! Well, to be honest, I didn't think the iPad was much of a big deal. Yeah, it's a great device, but come on, who needs a device so big it cannot fit in the pocket, but not big enough to play DVD's or act like a normal notebook. After all, that's why Steve Jobs trashed netbooks. So, I was skeptical about the iPad. BUT THAT ALL CHANGED...
I had to visit the Apple store this past tuesday (April 13th) to get the iMac repaired before the AppleCare warranty expired. I saw the iPad for the first time ever. It was BEAUTIFUL. Love at first sight. I took one glance and swore, "I will have you someday." While I will not go into the details as to why one should buy it or not (Walt Mossberg has done a good enough job here and here as have the some 48,300,000 other articles on the subject), I will say this: My opinion of the iPad has changed since I have seen it. I will buy it. Probably not right away. But when the 2nd generation, 3G model comes out I will get it.

Serious Retrospection...

Over the past week, I have amused myself a lot using Facebook to emotionlessly toy with the emotions of others and with some really silly posts. While they were fun, the fallout is not so amusing. I have  ended up distancing myself from quite a few friends, while others have rather subtly been hurt. I took some time yesterday evening to think about it, and where this was headed. After much realization and soul-searching, I conclude that I need to stop attempting pranks and being so cold-hearted.
So, I, Patrick P. Mondal, hereby renounce all pranking activities and do apologize to anyone for any harm done physically (rarely ever), mentally or emotionally (quite often). Also I will continue to tweet, blog, and post updates on FB; but it will not be of the silly sort, but on a much serious plane. For details regarding my sporting activities and book writing information, please become a fan of my author profile. That's separate from my personal profile. I shall also refrain from sending pointless SMS messages to friends who don't have unlimited message plans and really silly messages to those who do. I so swear.
I know this note will not immediately endear me to those who have been pranked/disappointed/hurt by my recent antics, but I sure do hope my future web and electronic conduct will permit them to forgive me.

Closest FB friends

Since I spend quite a huge part of my life on twitter and FB, I think I should acknowledge the friends I have there who make life fun for me. This blog is a tacit acknowledgement of their efforts. Though, since I am mentioning them, this is not really tacit, is it? Food for thought...
Well lets start with FB since that's my preferred medium of contact with friends. This bog addresses FB. The next one will take care of  twitter.

As of writing this blog, I have 303 FB friends. I know this is much more than double Dunbar's number. But I have my reasons. I have been all over India, and the USA. I have friends in India, USA, New Zealand, UK, Guyana and some other places I don't remember or don't want to mention! When you have moved as much as I have your friend count goes real high. And some of my closest friends don't even have internet access and are not on FB. So please stifle any arguments about my high friend count! Now, it's really hard to keep track of what all 300+ do, say and post on FB. Especially since some of them are active on the internet while I am sound asleep. In this case, I am grateful to be the owner of an iPod Touch. The FB app is amazing. It allows you to add friends to the home screen (inside the app), and thus keep tabs on them. I'm posting screenshots of my app screens and will tell you a bit about them. (Disclaimer: This keeps changing every month or so, so don't think this is final or feel miffed if you are not in this)

Now, the people in this. I just realized that other than my fan profile, all of them are womenfolk. Yup. I'm a big proponent of female liberty, feminism, and whatever else it is called, as all those knowing me well will testify!

Let's start with the last. She is Christina Allesh, who somehow refuses to add me as a FB friend. Why not? I have no idea. Please email her and appeal on my behalf!
Next to her is Jalynn Keltz. She is awesome, cause she is in Guyana, and rides bicycles!
Then is Nilam Patel (from NZ). She's awesome too. In case you ever wanna visit NZ, you know whom to ask. She has a couple of really crazy friends though...
Then comes my muh-boli (word-of-mouth) sister, Shona. She's crazy. Please don't try messing with her. You will regret it for the rest of your life!
Next in the list is Rashmi. We go long back, as far as 7th grade (for her. I was in 9th.) We used to have some fun evenings together when I used to hang out at her place. She probably got bored of me, I bet! She's just done with pioneer school and going to another state to work in the greater need areas (I think).
Then comes Judy. Someone please kill me before I say another word about her, else she will!
Now, I get welcome relief in the form of Anu. We go long back too, though not as much as with Rashmi. She likes to sweet-talk me and make me feel good. Everyone should have a sister like her.
Then you have my FB fan page where the author PPM posts. Please become my fan!
And then finally, we have the best saved for the last. Alison C. No words are enough to describe her so I won't even try! Else, Judy will keep me. Twice! May I just say that other than me, she is the only other soul who knows the code to my secret writing style.

Those were my VVIP (very very irritating people), whose every beat is followed closely by me. You can call it stalking, or keep friends close, or enemies closer!