Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had ! time
To call and say,”Hi”
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift….
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

We are leaving work today at 3.00pm

What I wonder now is what time will I actually reach home.

I’m sure my internet at home is not working, so I may post feedback tomorrow…

Not only was the internet down, but also the electricity in the area was turned off.

We left and I was able to get a nice picture of the skyline outside our campus as you can see on the right. (Hint: Can be used as wallpaper)

The journey home was quick because there was absolutely no traffic on the roads. BEST buses had stopped plying and most people were at home.

Had to walk home through flowing water from Seepz.

Having no electricity at home can make it extremely boring! We did get electicity back by 6pm. An uneventful and boring evening.

I did get down to loading music onto my sexy iPOD 30gb I now have something to do when the electricity next gos.

The situation today is equally bad. It has been pouring right since morning and I am sure the situation today is going to be just as bad, if not worse.

Also there is no news of us leaving today, so I take it we will be off at normal time. A long journey home?

Well, I’m exhausted!

It’s been a week and once again I haven’t had the time to blog. Last Saturday, the 4th was a rather eventful day. Something that will remain in my memory for a long long time. And I won’t mention why

In the evening had the “Fiesta Night” in church. The legendary band Crimson Rage were called to play. The only reason I went was because I heard that they mainly play ballroom music. They didn’t give me reason to complain.

The music was simply fabulous. Unfortunately only till 10.30. Food was horrid, but then you can’t expect much for 150 bucks, can you?

Took a walk with Anjali (who was my date for the dance) after the dance before saying good night.

Sunday was devoted to the love of my life. Yes, you are right my darling Flame. Had neglected her for quite a while and made sure I made up in full

Got the bike serviced locally (I was totally fed up of Sai Service) and the guy did a fabulous job. Got the bike diesel washed, polished and also got the seat cover changed and laminated (the pic is before I did that).

This took up pretty much the most of the day. Went for the wedding mass in the evening and then went out with Austin, Grenda, Anjali and her cousins and some friends to Bandra. Went to Adi’s near Mt. Carmel’s for kababs. It’s a small joint but good stuff.
Dropped Anjali home after this and went to bed in preparation for a long week ahead.

The long week was long indeed. Couldn’t make it for choir practice or prayer meeting. Took an off on Wednesday, was able to go home early on Thursday and stayed past 8pm on Friday!

Went with Melody to watch Fun with Dick and Jane. Visited the Pizza Hut in Lokhandwala before the movie for a quick pizza. And I finally found someone who eats more pizza than me! :O

Reach home at 2am and was so zonked that I actually thought I would fall asleep on the bike! I-)

Woke up around 8am as usual. Anjali came over in the morning for a while and after she went I fell asleep again. Slept for more than four hours. And finally got down to blog.

No clue on what I will be doing tomorrow. I really need get up and go out !

Following my last post, have finally gotten down to posting the events of the last week (actually ten days).

Began the week with a heavy work schedule. Worked late on 23, 24 and 25 of Jan and as a result missed choir practice and the prayer meeting!

No complains because at the end of it the panel I was working on (along with others) was successfully dispatched on 25th evening.

26th Jan is Republic Day was a much needed holiday. Spent a good part of the morning at home and later in the afternoon met up with Madam C after a long long time!

Headed off to Fun Republic to catch the afternoon show of the movie. Realized how important it is to carry money. Had a close situation at Pizza Hut last time, but this time took the cake.

Bought the tickets using my card as usual. Fun Republic is one expensive theatre!

With less time on our hands, we decided to eat at the food court at Fun. Settled on having a fried rice, a gravy dish and lolipops and so happily walked up to the counter and told him we want this. Next I ask him if he takes a card and he proclaims, “Sorry Sir, only Cash!”
Now, I’m a little worried, because I wasn’t able to withdrawn cash before meeting Madam C. Looked into my wallet to find a measly 80 bucks. Total bill approximately 250.

And Madam C had another 100 bucks on her. Still short of 70. Took a smart decision and chucked all three dishes and asked for just a Triple Schezwan Fried rice. 80 bucks. Well, needed the remaining 90 bucks for popcorn and coke later. Left the theatre with just 10 bucks in my wallet. Headed off with Madam C to Bandra and immediately walked into the first ATM there and withdrew some cash!

Anyway, the movie was good. Had expected it to be the second part of the original I watched a few years back. So was a bit disappointed to find it to be the same with a bit more special effects (?)

Dropped Madam C home and had time to kill so went over to Melody‘s place to do some design work.

After this went to Mt. Carmel’s for the Celebrate Jesus Gospel Concert.

Never go with expectations. I went and was disappointed. It turned out to be mainly Gospel Rock. I’m not a great fan of Gospel Rock and so came away a bit disappointed. Met up with Cloreisha, Andrew and Josemund. Madam C was also there, volunteering as usual and so was all over the place!

Can’t say all of it was bad because I did enjoy quite a few of the songs / hymns being sung. But, I am not going for the follow up concert on 4th. Can say more, but I don’t want to criticise it further.
Did end up going to bed rather late (have to stop this!).

Didn’t work late on 27th. Made it a point to leave by 6.15pm itself, since I knew I would be working on both Saturday and Sunday.

Had to make it to work by 9am on Saturday morning but woke up only at 9.15am! Reached work by 11 and was there till nearly 5pm. My colleague is off to Calcutta on leave and so had to take over what he is doing.
Spent the rest of Saturday at home itself.

Spent Sunday morning on some sitework and then went to work in the afternoon.
Had a fruitful 3.5 hours and work where we squashed quite a few bugs

Left by 6 and after a quick stopover at home went to church for the community get-together.

Anjali was supposed to have been present. Well she was nowhere to be found and only turned up for dinner. Talk about priorities! X(

Anyway, the get-together was fun. Made sure that I volunteered so that I wouldn’t have to participate
Also saw one of the biggest Passing the Parcel games ever with over 100 participants and five parcels :O

This week has been rather tiresome. Have spent almost all of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday squashing bugs that refuse to get squashed!

Managed to find out the problems. Solutions coming soon

Yesterday was “Let’s be Friends” night at Wellingdon. Anjali had invited me for it and since besides her family other common friends were also there and cause my new craze is dancing, I decided to go along.

After a really tiring day at work, where we left only at 6.30 and really really very horrible traffic on the way home resulted in me reaching only past 8.30pm. Got ready and left immediately and made it to Santa Cruz in under 25min in heavy traffic!

Had been informed that it would end by 10pm so wasn’t expecting to get much. However, the program took place in the hall upstairs and so was able to continue well past 12am!

Danced quite a bit as usual and played a few games (many of which were senseless). Met up with Anjali’s cousin Andre who is down from Canada.

Have plans to go out in the evening as well. Let’s see if they materialize.

Was so zonked this morning that I just switched off the alarm and went to bed. Mom woke me up around 7.10am and I had to get ready in 15minutes

There has been a major water problem in my area for the past few days. Got reports of a rasta-roko yesterday resulting in temporary supply. However, people are getting rather irritated by the whole deal. Sometimes, I think our municipality sucks!! But isn’t that the case all over X(

So how was your Christmas?

Mine was fabulous!

Hadn’t gone for midnight mass so began Christmas day with the 9.30am Mass. The church was pretty much empty because I guess most had gone the previous night. Ended up doing the Prayer of the Faithful.
Had planned on wearing my coat but thought I would be overdressed. When I got there saw many in coats. I am sure if I wore the coat, no one else would have done the same?

Spent a good deal of the day at home, but for sometime when I visited the saloon in a desperate quest to look even more handsome than I already am (I know that I am really really vain!)

Dressed up in my new maroon shirt and Anjali and I left together by rick to Bandra. Got stuck in such horrible traffic that it was really very irritating. Thankfully I know all the roads on the way to Bandra and was able to bypass a good section of the traffic.

Reached there way before the others and so just walked up and down the road waiting for them to come!

Finally got in around 9pm and realized we were early!

Took some pictures of us. Am not going to post all, but here is a good one of Anjali and me.

Well we jived a good two hours at a stretch until we were really exhausted and decided to take a break. Well, I’ve improved. Have progressed from a guy with two left feet to one who could dance to one who can dance with the music!
Havilah sure was shocked to see me jiving well (I won’t boast about my dancing skills).

Here’s another pic of the group when we were well exhausted and sleepy!

We partied on till 4am. Anjali and I missed a good part of the slow music because we were busy sipping down some hot coffee. Needed when your throats are in a mess and its early in the morning!

Got the last slow number because they shut off the music. We headed off home. Had some trouble getting a rick in the morning. But we reached home around 4.45am and since all of us were there did some timepass till 5.30am.

Perfect end to a great Christmas night! One of my best Christmas’ so far

As I mentioned, yesterday was the Goan Association feast.
Expected it to be as good as it has been every year. Well, it could have been better…

I wouldn’t wanna go into the finer details, but the organization could have been better, the snacks less sweeter and the food more plentiful!

Music was “normal”. I was kinda surprised that Clayton was DJing. Did he not like the music or was it preplanned?

Had a decent amount of jive and waltz as a result. Went for the march with Anjali and jived a little until she decided that I need to find another partner, did the needful for me, which I didn’t like. Behaved like a good gentleman. But later picked up the Li’l White Mouse for the rest of the evening.

the Li’l White Mouse and I share a similar distaste for music. We prefer jive and waltz numbers while shy away from the “jingbang”. So just chatted away for the rest of the evening.

Well, we got a compliment from Ian‘s (a friend from school) grandmother, which was really sweet!

Left around 11.30pm, came home and found my dad checking out my music. We always swap music everytime he is down. And this time he bought a few cds and vcds.

Gotta go meet Madam C today after quite some number of weeks. There are just two worthwhile English movies running, viz. Harry Potter (which she doesn’t want to watch) and the Exorcism of Emily Rose (which I wonder if she would want to). Well let’s see…

Have had a really active last four days.

It began with Melody celebrating her birthday on 14th.
After work and a quick stopover for a change at home, I headed off to her place. Was there by 9pm much wondering how late I really would be. Was rather shocked to find that I was infact one of the first :O

Pretty soon folks from the prayer group started trickling in.

Madam C wanted to jive and so Melody kindly obliged her by playing some music. She kicked it off by picking me up to dance. Surprising, since this is the first time that I have jived with Melody. :O (She doesn’t dance with people who don’t know much jive, but still takes credit for teaching me)

Danced quite a bit with Madam C after this as well as another of Melody’s pals.

Jived quite a bit until I was pretty much ready to drop. Was “saved” when Melody decided to start a game. Weird game indeed because I definitely didn’t figure out (as well as many others) the game.

Cut her cake. As expected there was variety. The main birthday cake was a really delicious chocolate cake (yummy)

Had dinner soon after this and amazing desert (lots of it) and then headed back home. Was back by 12.30pm and immediately went to sleep.

Work the next day left me with no option.

The Nokia 6230 has an inbuilt music player for MP3 and AAC files.

The player by default recognizes music in the Music Files folder of your phone, however if you store your music in a folder of your MMC card, you will need to create a playlist in order to play your music. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to create and use your playlist.

1. Firstly, check the firmware of your cellphone. You can do so by entering *#0000#. If you are using the original v3.15 of the firmware you will need to use the Nokia PC Suite 6.2 and below versions. My recommendation is to use the PC Suite that came on the CD with the cellphone. I have Nokia PC Suite v5.8
2. Start up Nokia Audio Manager (NAM). I am assuming your cellphone is connected via your datacable / bluetooth and has been detected by Nokia Connection Manager.
3. In the upper pane of NAM, click Add and add all the songs you want to play on your phone
4. Skip this step if you already have a folder in your MMC Card. In the bottom left pane, right click on your MMC and create a new folder. Let us call it CD1. Select this folder.
5. In the top pane, select all the files. You can do so by clicking on one and then pressing CTRL+A. Click on Transfer Selected to transfer the files to CD1.
6. Once, all the files are done transfering, you will see them in the CD1 folder in the bottom pane. In the top pane delete all the files.
7. From the menu select Edit -> Create new playlist. Give it some name. Let’s call it PL1.
8. Now transfer this blank playlist to your phone, by clicking on Transfer Selected.
9. In the bottom left pane, goto the Playlist folder. You will see PL1.m3u listed in the bottom right pane.
10. Right-click on it and select Add. You will get a new window listing all the music files. Select the files you need to add to your playlist.
11. Disconnect your cable and on your phone goto the Music Player. You can open the tracklist Menu -> Media -> Music player -> Options -> Track list -> Options -> Change track list. Select PL1.m3u and you are ready to listen to your music

Note that you can also transfer files to the MMC using a MMC reader, so you don’t need to use NAM for this.

There are also reports that the phone has a problem listing more than 200 files in a folder or playlist.
Solution: Spread your files in different folders so that you have less than 200 files per folder.

If you get the Invalid track list error, make sure you are using the original software which came with your cell. I experienced the same problem when using Nokia PC Suite 6.41, but it worked with v5.8.
Alternatively, you will need to upgrade the firmware.

Finally, it’s Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Been waiting anxiously for Christmas. Two reasons, one was because of the mass and party and two was to show off my sexy new jacket which Melody gifted me! Picked up two black ties from Big Bazaar, on my way home from work. Didn’t end up buying my black pant, so just used the one I have.

On the downside, I had a feeling my voice was going. It has been slowly deteriorating over the past few days, and last night was the end. Today my voice is hoarse. I can’t talk too much. Much relief to my family

The Mass

Mass was fantastic. U. Conrad was very well complimented for the efforts he took. We began mass with O Holy Night. Carrying laterns in our hands, we walked out singing, with the priests in a procession to take our places. Since, the lights were off, it indeed was a beautiful sight.

Just before the Gloria, we heard the sound of trumpets, and out from the church came our priest with a group of angels (well not real ones, but little children dressed up as them). We followed this with Angels we have heard on High.

For the Psalm, we sang More than a Child. I really love this carol. Have even loaded it on my cell as a ringtone. Makes me sit and close my eyes and pray.

Now for the Homily, which was given by Fr. Felix D’Souza. I had written a while back about a church program conducted by him, which was excellent. Not surprising, the Homily was excellent.

He spoke of a book Who Moved my Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson, which talks about change and how to deal with it. It tells the story of four characters in search of cheese. As they get there, someone moves the cheese. Two of them complain and grumble about this, while the remaing two continue on their journey, in process encountering many troubles and overcoming them.
The point Fr. had to make was that with the coming of our Saviour, a lot in our life will have to change. Give up our lifestyle and accept His. Are we willing to do that?

For Offertory, U. Conrad got a young boy to sing a beautiful hymn titled What can I give Him?. Really cute!

Next on our list was Holy (Presence). This is one of the new ones we have learnt this Christmas and has been appreciated by many.

For Proclamation, Chrisanne started off with Emmanuel and we repeated it.

For Peace, we sang Gift of Gift of Peace. This was also new, and we had a horrible time hitting the starting note. Thankfully, we were able to do so correctly. Of course, I did have to do octave switching, so that I didn’t sound false.

For Communion we took Silent Night (in Konkani), Cradle Song, Hark a Herald and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.

Recessional was Joy to the World, with a difference. Not in the carol, but in our change of appearance, when we put on Santa caps. I have forgotten to mention, that we had on golden stoles, which looked very smart on our suits. Hopefully, I can lay my hands on some pics (though I doubt).

Wished everyone after mass, made a quick stopover at home to drop off the candle A. Anita gave us, followed by a longer stopover at Rhea‘s place, so she could change, before going for for the party at U. Conrad’s place.