Uh-oh! Kate's migrating...

So I had an email from my friend Kate, Ms. Cuteness herself, this morning :) It reads as follows:

"hello family. hello friends. as some of you know i've been living in the new englands for the last 2 years having sent my wagon east after my dawning years on the west coast. and i've learned something about this place kept mystery to many a westerner. it's ef'n cold in the winter! so, i'm leaving for south america. and that's that.

i fly into buenos aires on the 15th of december 2008 and will return to boston to continue my mechanics at the end of march 2009, leaving from lima, peru. this will be a bicycle journey embarked upon by myself and 3 babes of urban destruction. i will be the main support for mechanical life while another is an old hat at south american exploration and a keen navigator, a rouge student with legs of fortitude, and a muscle bound rugby trick gone nurse. a planeteer like quadrant of might, thundercats of adventure, power rangers of good timery. there is also interest by others to join us in legs of the trip which is encouraged though we can not guarantee stays and equipment for guests.

we are still in the budding of routing and contacting and looking for any and all help in stays and suggestions for this trip. if you have advice or know of a kind home for us along the way, please help. especially if you know anyone who has done bicycling in these areas. i talked to an agrentina that has and she informed me that it seemed like i was routing myself through the desert in the summertime. "oh, no." i said. "it's fine." she grinned.

also, and the main point of this email, i'm looking for a subleter for my room in jamiaca plain, a boston providence of large green spaces, large cuban influence, large art and activism encouragement, and a larger gay community. quit the happening spot. my room is large and beautiful with its mostly windows and rent is around $450 plus utilities and shared food. i live with artists, film makers, teachers, farmers, social workers, activists all in a big house with a roof garden and an ornery ex new orleaners cat and oldest resident of the house named alice. if you know of anyone who would like to sublet this space from me please give them my contact as soon as possible. it would be between november through march, though i can extend this a little on the ends if need be.

ok, you little whale biscuits. thank you for everything and if not sooner i will see you on the otherside.
-kate"

A simple life

Yesterday, on my way to the office, I breakfasted at the Country Kitchen in Weymouth. Usually I order either eggs, sausage and toast or steak, eggs and toast. Yesterday I got cheese omelette. I don't like mixing cheese with other foods. So I don't know why I ordered that. But it did remind me of some happenings back in 10th grade.

Going back in time...back in time...back in time...

"So what happened?", asked my 10th grade Computer Science teacher with a genuinely concerned look on his face. The fact that the prettiest girl from 10th grade was standing next to him holding some exam papers for his review wasn't helping. She wasn't simply a looker. She was also top of her class.

"I think....I didn't prepare...well", I replied shyly. That was followed by a quick furtive look at the girl. In hindsight, I realize that I had been sweating it out for no reason. She had been so innocent, so sweet that she probably didn't even know how to mock or think lowly of others. Anyway, only a few weeks earlier, at the beginning of the school year, my Dad had introduced himself as a professional software programmer to my teacher. So my teacher was, I guess, curious as to how the son of a programming guru ended up taking only 20 points out of a 100 and in a monthly exam too. But first I must explain how school exams were structured in those...wonder years. Or rather, I will lay it down for ya.


Click for a bigger picture.

Monthly exams were somehow easier because they only covered content taught since the last exam period ended. So, for instance, the 2nd Monthly exams only covered the curriculum taught after the Quarterly exams. While this was the case with a subject like English, History or Geography, it was trickier with the sciences especially Mathematics. A theorem that you learnt at the beginning of school year more than likely was needed to solve a problem during the 3rd Monthly exams even if that problem had been taught only in the context of a recent topic.

So how did all that relate to the pretty bad 20/100 in Computer Science?

See in 10th grade, we only had, if I remember right, one class a week on Computer Science. And the 20/100 happened during the 1st Monthly exams when the software programs were at their most basic. We were essentially performing additions and subtractions. And the pretty girl had been recruited by my teacher to review and score the exam papers because he had figured out that she, a 16 year old, was so good. So more than my low score, it was the study in contrast between me and her that rankled but only for a short while. I will write a bit more about this girl in another post...but all this brings me to the reason why I wrote this post: I just couldn't be bothered with taking exams (or anything else for that matter) seriously.

When other students would sweat, pore over books and consult with each other right before exam time, I would be sitting relaxed and gazing out the window...at the swaying trees outside, at a couple of crows in earnest conversation on a power line, at a workman frantically gulping down water after an hour of hard labor on the hot street...and wondering if that water somehow tasted any better to him. And during an exam, I would more often than not just wing it. While the learned types would ask for more paper to tackle the extra credit questions, I would already be walking out of the exam hall.

Coming back to the present...back to the present...back to the present...

Come to think of it, I still cannot be bothered with taking a lot of things seriously today. This past Sunday, I was relaxing in a little cottage in Eastham when my folks called and said that they were coming down to discuss "very important matters" with me. It was a damp, rainy day. While I waited for them to arrive, I was standing by the cottage door watching the rain drizzle through the trees in the yard outside. And I observed this little chipmunk scrambling between the potted plants and bushes looking for food in a desperate bid to beat yet another New England winter. When it found something to eat, it seemed to forget the world around it as it focused on getting that food down, blissfully oblivious of my presence just beyond the glass of that storm door. Suddenly I felt like that kid in school from a time long gone by.

You are probably asking yourself, "So how did that cheese omelette in Weymouth remind him of 10th grade in Madurai?!?!".

Good call. When I figure that out, I will post again here...

Seriously though, that breakfast didn't remind me of that simpler life. Something else that frustrated me this past Sunday did. But I thought the cheese omelette would make a great start.

New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae)

If this wonderful aster hasn't already started to bloom, it will start doing so soon! It will continue to bloom into early Fall.

The Rowes Wharf Bar (A brief bar review)

The Rowes Wharf bar, in the Boston Harbor hotel, has the best selection of Scotches in town! I discovered Glenfarclas here, a brand that I find is as good as my favorite: Jack Daniels. On those days, I feel like putting on a suit and relax over a Whiskey, I go here. Its a 10 minute walk from my house and is right on one of the docks at Rowes Wharf. What more can I say? The ambience and atmosphere simply suit my own tastes.

Memorable Scenes

Picture of the times

I've pretty much figured out that this is how I appear to women on first dates...Woof!