Clever Sex

Lester suggests where we should go for our Thursday night outing. He gets to choose - its only fair since he was let go yesterday :(

He picks Dragonfly, a cool restaurant and lounge with a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, and quite tasty food. We did Rack 'n' Roll last time, and all agree that we need a change from foosball.

The whole crowd is there, Albert, Leo, Nabil, Sruthi, Lester of course, Alok (he actually came this time!), Tawanda (Alok's new colleague), Manju, Bright, and his carpool buddy Sam.

The place is amazing, plush furnishings, gothic motifs, detailed stonework and carved woodwork. The ornate dragonflies hanging from the rich burgundy velvet drapes add a nice touch.

Nabil is into red wine, Sruthi is drinking some sort of plum martini, I'm having a mojito, everyone is consuming a variety of different cocktails and liquors - most of us have seconds and get very happy. The conversation flows freely, but you wouldn't want to take some of it out of context, or it might sound very suspicious. So here goes:

"Nabil is the best blower in CDR."

"I'm having problems with a vibrator - how do I get it working properly?", asks Lester inncocently. "Let's ask the expert, Sruthi!", everyone says in unison.

Nabil stands up and makes yet another announcement: "Leo shares his towel..." (don't even want to think about that one)

"You want it right now?!" demands Bright (whatever could he be talking about?)

"Banging goes with any alcohol!"

Bright gives us his words of wisdom about how gender and intelligence mix:
A smart man plus a smart woman is a great life;
a smart man and a dumb woman is pregnancy;
a dumb man and a smart woman is an affair;
a dumb man and a dumb woman is a marriage.

We all agreed whole-heartedly :)

Half way through, a live light jazz band starts playing swinging music, adding a lot to the atmosphere. A fantastic night out, we all enjoy ourselves immensely.

"Blow out those candles Nabil!" But he surpises us by extinguishing them with one swift wave of his hand.

Bangers and Mash

Rack'n'Roll, a cheesy dive not far from work with an only half-decent bar (no red bull, but at least they have smirnoff ice) and way too many pool tables. Its only redeeming grace being 2 foosball tables. Bright, Manju, Albert and I turn up tonight to find Leo and Lester already there, so we all order a drink and some medium spicy wings, and start playing. After a couple of games Sruthi turns up as well and joins in the fun.

Bright spins the foosball men with raw power, Albert goes for the cunning corner shots, Sruthi sneaks it past the defence, Manju encourages the ball with "yes, yes, yes!" It's been a while for us all, so we take a little while to warm up and get good again.

"Bang that ball!"
"You really get hot and sweaty when you bang it hard!"
"Go on, ram it in fast!"
"Bang it straight into the hole!"
"Everyone is banging now! Woot!"

Man, did we have a good time or what! High fives all around!! :)))



And the dessert afterwards (tiramisu, pistachio gelato, and chocolate mousse) was just icing on the cake :p

Elevator

"Baaaa!"

I carry your heart

In Her Shoes, a wonderfully emotional movie about two sisters, so diametrically opposite, and yet so much the same. Maggie, the wild and crazy one, so spontaneous, thoughtless, and carefree. Rose, straight-laced, responsible, a lawyer, treats herself to one beautiful pair of shoes after the other, but never goes out to show them off.

A story of desperation, of self-esteem, and finally of acceptance. My favorite lines are at the end, a poem by E. E. Cummings:

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Presents Galore

Jake and Charlotte are very happy this year with their presents - amongst other things, they both get digital cameras so they can start their own photo libraries. Nikon Coolpix, Charlotte an L11 (her age), and Jake an L14 (only 3 months early).

Jake is thrilled to get a Nintendo DS, and Charlotte (the animal lover) just jumps for joy when she saw her Schleich stable :)

Charlotte's Dream World

The Golden Compass, a wonderful story of a strange world where everyone's soul is physically manifest as a creature, a bird, a lynx, or any of dozens of different types. A world where the proud ice-bears fight with terrifying power, where fantastical machines and futuristic blimps roam the skies, and where witches fly without broomsticks. A world of stunning beauty. Don't miss it.

The only downer was nobody warned us that it was only part 1 - the movie ends rather abruptly right in the middle of the story. Will have to see part 2 of course.

Colorful Cocks

In India they color baby chicks, by injecting the eggs with dye. It doesn't hurt the chicks, and the kids love it. It lasts for only a couple of weeks, until the new feathers grow out.

So instead of just little cute yellow ones, you have little cute yellow, pink, green, and purple ones. "Chicks?" asks Bright facetiously, "you mean, just the female ones?".

"No, no, not at all" replies Sruthi, 'they color the, what do you call them, um, the cocks as well."

Well, I don't know, but for some reason I just can't get the image of glow-in-the-dark green condoms out of my head. As the founder of that particular company said, "We would like to give the phrase 'rise and shine' a whole new meaning." :-)

Bloody flying lip leaves

Thanksgiving leaves flying through the air
Landing and sticking in Charlotte's hair
Stuffed with turkey stuffing, heading for my hip
Roughplay with Jake, oops, a bloody lip

High School Musical

Charlotte finishes the last of three performances of High School Musical, as part of the 2007 production by Wilton Children's Theater. She has been practicing hard for many weeks, and the last week has been busier than usual. She plays Rachel Ray, one of 5 cooks.

She really puts her heart and soul into this, and it shows in her exuberance and how well she performs. Even though she doesn't have a speaking part (mostly the 8th graders got those), she sings every word of every song with feeling, and dances her feet off. Couldn't be more proud :)

And just like Aladdin 2 years ago, the female lead has a voice like that of an angel, and the male lead can't sing to save his life :p

(click on the pic for a very large version - warning, takes a while to load)

"Did I roll over Flat Ted?"

Looking through some drawers we hadn't checked out in ages, we find Flat Ted, a pure wool teddy bear, designed to be flat so babies could easily sleep with it. Very cuddly and warm. On Jake's zeroth birthday I had bought it for him from the hospital gift shop, to put in the crib. He's 13 now, and of course had grown out of it years ago.

Upon seeing it, he thinks for a moment, and has only one sincere question. "Dad, did Flat Ted come like this, or did I roll over and squash him one day?"

Bee Movie

Charlotte gets a phone call from a boy at school. "Would you like to go and see a movie?"
"Yes, I would love to."

She gets dressed up and is all excited. "Dad, I think this my first date!"

"Not really Charlotte. Just relax and have fun. You're only 11."