This week has been awfully great for some reason. I have been happy, like really happy for the most part and for no obvious reason. And this is abnormal, thats what my roomie told me just today: "Its strange to see you so happy". So what does that mean ? Am I generally an unhappy person or is it just that I set high expectations for myself or may be I get easily frustrated with the meaningless arbitrary arguments that every day life demands, especially off me!
The week also flew by much faster:
Monday: Went to see the eye doctor at Sharp Memorial, who tried to rip me off despite having quoted a free consultation when I made the appointment. I argued myself out of his charges but all along I kept thinking how businessy the 45 year old eye doctor was. He sounded more like a cheezy car salesman and less like a respectful M.D. eye surgeon. Worked late at the office on the damn forecast. Learnt about Danny's cool romantic escapades over the weekend. His story is kinda funny like the Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston movie "Along Came Polly". Saw "Crossing Jordan" on the TV and fell asleep. Tired, quiet and at peace with myself.
Tuesday: Again worked late at the office, this time I was preparing collages for the Diversity Event to be held this week at the office. Have to find some thing to keep me enthused, don't I? Surprisingly still not frustrated or mad at my job despite coming late from work. Watched the new family style "Amazing Race" on TV. Enjoyable series for yet another year. Saw a new legal show "Close to Home" that touched my heart. The plot rotates around an aggressive and passionate female lawyer who pursues cases that occur close to her home, in her neighborhood. The show last night was about a crazy guy who kept his wife and 2 kids locked in their house for 2 continuous years. The house being located in a nice and posh locality made it all the more difficult for the ADA to make her case against him. The fervor with which I watch these legal shows always maked me wonder whethet I should consider a career in law! Later in the night provided free girl advice to roomie#1. Thereafter, roomie#2 arrived with another problem. Her purse had either been stolen or was lost at some hep bar. We had to go through her motions of procrastination, card and phone cancellations et al; nothing it was any trouble. It just made the night long and tiresome.
Wednesday: Got up late and smoothly jazzed through work. Remarkable story of the day: The boss is throwing a birthday party with his new wife for her 17 year old dog! Doesn't that just crack you up? Ended up working late giving final touches to my great posters/collages on Indian culture and festivals. Dropped roomie#2 at the airport in time (Key Accomplishment!) but got lost on the way back home (Wrong Exit!). Had dinner with roomie#1 over mild banter and some cheezy karoake girlie tunes courtesy him. Watched my favorite TV show Over * There. I realized I like it so much because the plot is realistic which makes the show very credible. Looked aimlessly for jobs while blogging. Still happy and content with life....This is awesome....
Cons of the week so far:
- Carried gym bag for 3 straight days. Workouts: Zero. Jogs: Zero.
- Job Search and Enquiries: Zero
- Misc things to do: Infinite. Accomplished: None
Life is Good. Simple and Subtle. This week has been bright despite all else!
The World is Changing
From fathers feeding crack to their babies to changing social perceptions about successful careers a lot seems to be changing these days....The world is our "karma bhoomi" (meaning battlefield or land of actions in Hindi, the Indian national language) - the one chance to make a difference in peoples' lives by means of our actions.......
While Americans today regard firefighters, doctors, nurses, military and police officers and teachers as successful professionals with prestigious careers much of the world is still worshipping high paying occupations like stock and real estate brokers, lawyers, bankers, executives and journalists. This change of heart in the American economy by far the most consumerist and materialistic is a clear signal that people don’t necessarily equate high incomes with success.
In terms of perceived prestige, important but lower-paying jobs like teachers ($43,000 median salary per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) and police officers ($45,000) solidly trumped business executives ($140,000), lawyers ($95,000) and stockbrokers ($69,000) -- jobs typically associated with wealth.
This study is interesting to me because a well educated friend of mine who was also a marine chuckled at my respect for military professionals. According to him, most civilians deem it stupid for an intelligent and smart young graduate to drop successful business career tracks in order to serve one's country. Per me military professionals worldwide should always be praised and applauded for the pain and sacrifices they endure in order to maintain peace and harmony across national boundaries. Working for meager salaries with a contingent clause of losing their lives or limbs at any time during active war fare is definitely not an easy life; not one that should be mocked in any case. Except of course the black sheep who bring disgrace to the armed forces and should be aptly criticized and punished for violating human rights by committing heinous war crimes.
Two excellent eye-opening new shows around the military are on TV this season:
My personal favorite is OVER * THERE which is on FX every Wednesday at 10 pm PST and is a very realistic kind of military drama about the lives of young soldiers stationed in IRAQ. This series is gripping, can be sad and touching at times but definitely brings out in the open various issues that civilians like me hardly take a moment to think about.
Equally powerful but more macho-dramatized and political in nature is the series E-Ring, which is on NBC Wednesday at 9 pm PST. From rescue missions in Afghanistan to spy projects in Algiers the series delves around the information E-Ring involving decision-making politics with the Pentagon, CIA and the Chief of Staff being the key stakeholders.
On a totally different note, Al Qaeda has struck again this time the hit was Bali, Indonesia. Senseless terrorism and the resulting human loss always drives me nuts. Apparently, the 3 simultaneous bombs that went off in busy beach restaurants were suicide bombings that have lent 25 people dead and close to 100 wounded. If only we had a Minority Report kind of situation going on in reality; then we could apprehend the terrorists before they hit and save people from dying!
While modern society is forced to face growing competition, aggressive stress and the pains of global terrorism some sections of the society are easily taking the path of least resistance, an escapist strategy so to speak that is in essence degrading the humane factors of society.....I have 2 examples:
A few months back San Diego news reported a woman who had locked her 7 year old son in the trunk of her car to attend a New Years party with her boyfriend was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, no jail time and no restrictions on her parent rights. This apalled me an extent I can't explain...The judge's remarks were that since the mother was repentant and had admitted that she locked her son only because she could not find a babysitter and really wanted to party on New Years it was in the best interests of the child not to revoke her sole parenting rights. Isn't that amazing ? Most decent people would not even leave any stranger or child locked in a car's trunk for 4 hours leave alone leaving your own kid to die only so you can fulfill your addiction of drinking anf dancing in a party!!!
I just read last night about this even more bizarre incident:
A 13-month-old girl in London swallowed some crack cocaine that her father, a junkie, left lying around. The child was saved from death since the drug was wrapped in clingfilm.
This makes me ponder real hard:
Where is the world heading towards ?
How are social and moral values degrading at the speed of light ?
Whatever happenned to humanity, sympathy and kindness ?
While Americans today regard firefighters, doctors, nurses, military and police officers and teachers as successful professionals with prestigious careers much of the world is still worshipping high paying occupations like stock and real estate brokers, lawyers, bankers, executives and journalists. This change of heart in the American economy by far the most consumerist and materialistic is a clear signal that people don’t necessarily equate high incomes with success.
In terms of perceived prestige, important but lower-paying jobs like teachers ($43,000 median salary per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) and police officers ($45,000) solidly trumped business executives ($140,000), lawyers ($95,000) and stockbrokers ($69,000) -- jobs typically associated with wealth.
This study is interesting to me because a well educated friend of mine who was also a marine chuckled at my respect for military professionals. According to him, most civilians deem it stupid for an intelligent and smart young graduate to drop successful business career tracks in order to serve one's country. Per me military professionals worldwide should always be praised and applauded for the pain and sacrifices they endure in order to maintain peace and harmony across national boundaries. Working for meager salaries with a contingent clause of losing their lives or limbs at any time during active war fare is definitely not an easy life; not one that should be mocked in any case. Except of course the black sheep who bring disgrace to the armed forces and should be aptly criticized and punished for violating human rights by committing heinous war crimes.
Two excellent eye-opening new shows around the military are on TV this season:
My personal favorite is OVER * THERE which is on FX every Wednesday at 10 pm PST and is a very realistic kind of military drama about the lives of young soldiers stationed in IRAQ. This series is gripping, can be sad and touching at times but definitely brings out in the open various issues that civilians like me hardly take a moment to think about.
Equally powerful but more macho-dramatized and political in nature is the series E-Ring, which is on NBC Wednesday at 9 pm PST. From rescue missions in Afghanistan to spy projects in Algiers the series delves around the information E-Ring involving decision-making politics with the Pentagon, CIA and the Chief of Staff being the key stakeholders.
On a totally different note, Al Qaeda has struck again this time the hit was Bali, Indonesia. Senseless terrorism and the resulting human loss always drives me nuts. Apparently, the 3 simultaneous bombs that went off in busy beach restaurants were suicide bombings that have lent 25 people dead and close to 100 wounded. If only we had a Minority Report kind of situation going on in reality; then we could apprehend the terrorists before they hit and save people from dying!
While modern society is forced to face growing competition, aggressive stress and the pains of global terrorism some sections of the society are easily taking the path of least resistance, an escapist strategy so to speak that is in essence degrading the humane factors of society.....I have 2 examples:
A few months back San Diego news reported a woman who had locked her 7 year old son in the trunk of her car to attend a New Years party with her boyfriend was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, no jail time and no restrictions on her parent rights. This apalled me an extent I can't explain...The judge's remarks were that since the mother was repentant and had admitted that she locked her son only because she could not find a babysitter and really wanted to party on New Years it was in the best interests of the child not to revoke her sole parenting rights. Isn't that amazing ? Most decent people would not even leave any stranger or child locked in a car's trunk for 4 hours leave alone leaving your own kid to die only so you can fulfill your addiction of drinking anf dancing in a party!!!
I just read last night about this even more bizarre incident:
A 13-month-old girl in London swallowed some crack cocaine that her father, a junkie, left lying around. The child was saved from death since the drug was wrapped in clingfilm.
This makes me ponder real hard:
Where is the world heading towards ?
How are social and moral values degrading at the speed of light ?
Whatever happenned to humanity, sympathy and kindness ?
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