What the Independent Life has Given Me

• An odd craving for Maggi two minute noodles at times.
• Sleepless nights at the thought of mounting debts and no way to pay them all on the present salary.
• Sleepless nights at realisation that quitting present job will entail all sorts of complications that would be better avoided if I wait a bit.
• Sleepless nights because of realisation that the longer I wait, the higher the debts will rise.
• High levels of irritation when the parents attempt to enforce their will on me.
• The inability to give a fuck anymore because all I'd really given a fuck about has long since passed.
• A dim hope that could be quashed out at any time of the possibility of life getting better if I just hold on a little longer...
  

Save Up for Yourself Riches on Earth?

My dad is a hoarder. Much as he would not like to admit it, this is what he is. We went to Singapore on a tour, what... 20 years ago? We have piles of Singaporean showpieces rotting away in a wooden crate somewhere waiting for us to display in a showcase in some future home that does not exist yet.

You think that's nothing? Get this.

My dad bought champagne some 15 years ago and kept it locked up 'for a special occasion'. This special occasion occasioned itself last month when my parents' 25th wedding anniversary celebrations happened. When the time for the toast came along, my dad was shaking the bottle away to glory with the help of my cousins, trying to get the damned cork to spray itself out. My sister and I were too busy laughing our asses off to sympathise with him. Man, is our family funny.

He's currently out to paste on our dining room wall, this huge poster of the sunset. Yeah, in the style that died out some ten years ago. Sigh. I don't know whether pity's the right approach or to continue keeping a straight face without and laughing out loud within.

The Party Animal would like to be set free now

I seem to be getting myself into more trouble than usual. The past month with my sister around has proved to be slightly more than a little trying. For one thing I have to cope with the bewildering number of boyfriends she seems to acquire every other day. For another thing, she's acquainting me with a part of Chennai's nightlife I'd rather not see. I don't say I don't like to party, but club-hopping on a daily basis with a random group of people you met just yesterday is not me. Sigh. Now I await her departure from the country so I can conveniently ignore all these newfound troubles and get back to my quiet alcohol, and rock music filled existence.