Manu
02-13-2006, 04:03 AM
I've had an amazing weekend. Things are always up and down and I can't quite get back to how the week was or the month on the whole, but the weekend has been amazing. How I feel now, and what I am thinking, and just everything, it leaves me feeling wonderful.
Friday night I got together with Corey and Ira and we got Tito's Tacos and watched the Dallas game. We then headed over to Barney's Beanery for some Debauchery. We met up with Tiffany, her boy, and Alex, who I hadn't seen in forever, even though she lives two streets down from me. We had a good time. I got some nice Belgian Ale (Chimay) and some Gins and we just caught up, hung out. It was Tiffany's celebration for quitting her shitty job, I was just enjoying seeing people I hadn't seen in a long time.
Ira and Corey boned out soon after we got home, around 1:30, and I decided to light up the Hookah with the new tabacco and coals I got. Grape tabacco, it was awesome. Tess came over, she was in West Hollywood and wanted to spend the night. We got comfortable, talked, caught up and went to bed. It was a bit of a rough morning, I got woken up a bit too early and was a tad hung over. I had to do a bunch of work for the IFA website though, so I needed to wake up. Tess was already up doing HW. I took a shower, did some work, Tess did the same, and then we had a great mid aftenroon break. We went for a walk, found ourselves at coffee bean, got some pastries and beverages and just talked and hung out. It was really good, but I had to cut it short, and she needed to do work also. We got back home, packed up and headed out.
I went over to Mark's for a bit. He's been studying and working on projects like a dog, and I hadn't seen him in quite a while, so I wanted to swing by and say hi. I always love seeing Mark. Something about him and his personality, I always feel great about myself and I am always reminded of how important loving and caring friends are. I honestly know that he always is there for me, its awesome. We had a good time, although short, and just talked, hung out, watched a few videos, I then headed to my rents.
I did some more work on the IFA website, took a much needed nap and had dinner with my parents. The past 5 months or so, I've been a ton closer to them, its really good. I left to pickup Tasha and meet Ira for GALACTIC at the House of Blues.
The show was amazing. Their opener had a native american in full gear as their singer and they were great. Galactic was mindblowing though. They are a New Orleans Jazz/Funk band. Their lead is a tenor sax and the guy is just off the hook amazing. I've not seen a room with so much energy at a show in forever. The one thing that approached is the group that was at temple bar on my birthday, but that is such a tiny venue. Literally, this place of 1000, 1400 people was just BUMPING with energy, it was flowing from everyone, the crowd was hanging on every note. This sounds totally exaggerated, but I swear, its not.
I got back home around 3AM after dropping the other kids off at their respective homes and then got to work. I had to bust out customizations on a bulletin board and gallery for IFA in time for a 10AM meeting. Damn, I am good.
I was mad tired this AM, but I had my cup of chai and sat in on the IFA meeting. It was a big one, planning for Archana, our annual fundraiser. My portion of the meeting was small, about 5-10 minutes, but it was good, very productive, good feedback, and I spoke very well, eloquently, and so that they could understand...it was solid.
After the meeting I watched Miami beat Detroit, which was great and then took a shower and headed to Ventura to see Anshul and my sister. My brother in law and his mom were at the office, so it was nice to spend some time with just the two of them. Anshul is adorable. I don't want him to grow up. if I could keep him at this age forever, it'd be amazing. He's so smart. He learns all the time. He's so loving. He's so caring. He's so interested and curious and he's so energetic. Its really an amazing thing to watch a child grow and develop. I am so thankful my sister moved back to California from Michigan...I would have missed all of this. Now, for the rest of his life, I will have been a part of Anshul's growth and development, and our relaitonship will be based on that, its amazing.
(more on kids learning and how amazing it is later, it is mad late, this is way longer than I hoped, and I am tired)
I got home and hung out with my mom a bit and then my dad got home. We all had dinner and talked. We called India and talked to my grandparents. There is some drama with my dad's parents, but I'll post about that later. Its weird, having all this family I never see or talk to, I mean, it was maybe 4 months since i talked to my grandparents last. My Grandpa had this great story for me, about how when he was writing his book (basically his memoirs) I told him he had a sentence wrong in the grammar, so he changed it and how every time he looks at the sentence, he thinks of that day and still wonders if me (at age 8) was right. (I was). It wa sone of those things that instantly connected us again. It was amazing.
After we talked to them, my parents and I talked about news, politics, and then traveling. I had a very good conversation with my Dad. He was strongly encouraging me to go to India in march for 20 days. He said if I don't go to India, I should go visit my friend Priya in Sienna and then somewhere else in Europe. He talked about how I have the world view, how I am internationally traveled and learned, but I don't have the experiences I should, how I need to learn by doing and travel. It was really good. He told me how I've not had a vacation or time for me since I started high school and I just need to do something for myself. It made me feel really good, really validating.
I drove home, listening to some nice music, with the windows down, enjoying the 72 degree 8PM and just was thinking. I was inspired. I was full of energy and love for life. I am not sure the last time I felt like this. I hope I can translate it into something. I went grocery shopping, cleaned, and then decided to smoke some hookah, listen to music, and just talk. I talked to Jody, Ira, Mike, and Alice.
My balcony is like a personal shrine. The hookah, beer bottles, cookies, a candleabra dripping in wax, it was just a perfect moment, with some funk/jazz playing in the background. Maybe you had to be there. And maybe if you were, you wouldn't have felt the same thing. It was just at the moment perfect.
I feel inspired to travel. To read. To write. To make a movie. To document the world. There is so much to see and do, and I want to share it with my friends and family and I want to explore myself and what my limits and boundries are. I just really am starting to feel that blank slate that life...and I am really starting to love it for that.
There's so much more I want to talk about here. My Day with Anshul. Kids, learning and teaching. My talk with Jody. Traveling with Ira, getting a job in India, volunteer work, alice. But it will need to wait. I need to sleep, and until the next time...hopefully this inspiration continues to permeate my soul.
Friday night I got together with Corey and Ira and we got Tito's Tacos and watched the Dallas game. We then headed over to Barney's Beanery for some Debauchery. We met up with Tiffany, her boy, and Alex, who I hadn't seen in forever, even though she lives two streets down from me. We had a good time. I got some nice Belgian Ale (Chimay) and some Gins and we just caught up, hung out. It was Tiffany's celebration for quitting her shitty job, I was just enjoying seeing people I hadn't seen in a long time.
Ira and Corey boned out soon after we got home, around 1:30, and I decided to light up the Hookah with the new tabacco and coals I got. Grape tabacco, it was awesome. Tess came over, she was in West Hollywood and wanted to spend the night. We got comfortable, talked, caught up and went to bed. It was a bit of a rough morning, I got woken up a bit too early and was a tad hung over. I had to do a bunch of work for the IFA website though, so I needed to wake up. Tess was already up doing HW. I took a shower, did some work, Tess did the same, and then we had a great mid aftenroon break. We went for a walk, found ourselves at coffee bean, got some pastries and beverages and just talked and hung out. It was really good, but I had to cut it short, and she needed to do work also. We got back home, packed up and headed out.
I went over to Mark's for a bit. He's been studying and working on projects like a dog, and I hadn't seen him in quite a while, so I wanted to swing by and say hi. I always love seeing Mark. Something about him and his personality, I always feel great about myself and I am always reminded of how important loving and caring friends are. I honestly know that he always is there for me, its awesome. We had a good time, although short, and just talked, hung out, watched a few videos, I then headed to my rents.
I did some more work on the IFA website, took a much needed nap and had dinner with my parents. The past 5 months or so, I've been a ton closer to them, its really good. I left to pickup Tasha and meet Ira for GALACTIC at the House of Blues.
The show was amazing. Their opener had a native american in full gear as their singer and they were great. Galactic was mindblowing though. They are a New Orleans Jazz/Funk band. Their lead is a tenor sax and the guy is just off the hook amazing. I've not seen a room with so much energy at a show in forever. The one thing that approached is the group that was at temple bar on my birthday, but that is such a tiny venue. Literally, this place of 1000, 1400 people was just BUMPING with energy, it was flowing from everyone, the crowd was hanging on every note. This sounds totally exaggerated, but I swear, its not.
I got back home around 3AM after dropping the other kids off at their respective homes and then got to work. I had to bust out customizations on a bulletin board and gallery for IFA in time for a 10AM meeting. Damn, I am good.
I was mad tired this AM, but I had my cup of chai and sat in on the IFA meeting. It was a big one, planning for Archana, our annual fundraiser. My portion of the meeting was small, about 5-10 minutes, but it was good, very productive, good feedback, and I spoke very well, eloquently, and so that they could understand...it was solid.
After the meeting I watched Miami beat Detroit, which was great and then took a shower and headed to Ventura to see Anshul and my sister. My brother in law and his mom were at the office, so it was nice to spend some time with just the two of them. Anshul is adorable. I don't want him to grow up. if I could keep him at this age forever, it'd be amazing. He's so smart. He learns all the time. He's so loving. He's so caring. He's so interested and curious and he's so energetic. Its really an amazing thing to watch a child grow and develop. I am so thankful my sister moved back to California from Michigan...I would have missed all of this. Now, for the rest of his life, I will have been a part of Anshul's growth and development, and our relaitonship will be based on that, its amazing.
(more on kids learning and how amazing it is later, it is mad late, this is way longer than I hoped, and I am tired)
I got home and hung out with my mom a bit and then my dad got home. We all had dinner and talked. We called India and talked to my grandparents. There is some drama with my dad's parents, but I'll post about that later. Its weird, having all this family I never see or talk to, I mean, it was maybe 4 months since i talked to my grandparents last. My Grandpa had this great story for me, about how when he was writing his book (basically his memoirs) I told him he had a sentence wrong in the grammar, so he changed it and how every time he looks at the sentence, he thinks of that day and still wonders if me (at age 8) was right. (I was). It wa sone of those things that instantly connected us again. It was amazing.
After we talked to them, my parents and I talked about news, politics, and then traveling. I had a very good conversation with my Dad. He was strongly encouraging me to go to India in march for 20 days. He said if I don't go to India, I should go visit my friend Priya in Sienna and then somewhere else in Europe. He talked about how I have the world view, how I am internationally traveled and learned, but I don't have the experiences I should, how I need to learn by doing and travel. It was really good. He told me how I've not had a vacation or time for me since I started high school and I just need to do something for myself. It made me feel really good, really validating.
I drove home, listening to some nice music, with the windows down, enjoying the 72 degree 8PM and just was thinking. I was inspired. I was full of energy and love for life. I am not sure the last time I felt like this. I hope I can translate it into something. I went grocery shopping, cleaned, and then decided to smoke some hookah, listen to music, and just talk. I talked to Jody, Ira, Mike, and Alice.
My balcony is like a personal shrine. The hookah, beer bottles, cookies, a candleabra dripping in wax, it was just a perfect moment, with some funk/jazz playing in the background. Maybe you had to be there. And maybe if you were, you wouldn't have felt the same thing. It was just at the moment perfect.
I feel inspired to travel. To read. To write. To make a movie. To document the world. There is so much to see and do, and I want to share it with my friends and family and I want to explore myself and what my limits and boundries are. I just really am starting to feel that blank slate that life...and I am really starting to love it for that.
There's so much more I want to talk about here. My Day with Anshul. Kids, learning and teaching. My talk with Jody. Traveling with Ira, getting a job in India, volunteer work, alice. But it will need to wait. I need to sleep, and until the next time...hopefully this inspiration continues to permeate my soul.