Day 129

Day 128

Day 127

Day 126 Visited Kapoor Furnishing

Day 125 OMG SL won the T20 World Cup

Day 124 A day spent on looking for upholstery

As I didn't like the standard fabric used in the sofa that we ordered, the manufacturer has kindly agreed to let me have my own choice of fabric.  Based in his recommendations we went and checked our what's available at Raigama textiles and Royal Drapers. Unfortunately there was nothing that caught my eye and we finally checked Raux Brothers which I knew to be on the high end of the pricing spectrum. Just as I expected, they had a wide and beautiful choice of materials but were too pricey and as they have to get them down from Australia, they take time too. 

So we couldn't  really finalize things today but I gathered some insight about upholstery shopping in Sri Lanka :). 

Day 123. Started reading Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

The search is over! I finally found the book that I have been wanting to read for a very long time. Even though 'Rebecca' by Daphne is a popular novel that is generally available in bookstores, her other books are quite hard to get hold of.  However, these days her entire collection of books are available at Sarasavi bookshop and I bought copies of Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek. I hope to read them over the next few weeks whenever time permits. I am so excited! 

Day 122

Day 121 Embarked on a Diet Program

I do not believe in diets, not at all. But over the last few months I learnt it the hard way, that no matter how much you work out, you are what you eat!  Also, I have been uncharacteristically obsessed with my weight in the past few weeks. I was checking out my weight obsessively and compulsively about 3 times a day! Perhaps this was fueled by the fact that I have extra time at hand. Any how I decided to take action today and started on a diet. The plan is to have a cup of tea and cereal only for breakfast and a very small portion of rice with a bigger portion of vegetables for lunch. So today I started the day with one of my favorites- marks and spencer porridge. 

Day 120 Watched Coffee with Karan and Jimmy Kimmel Live

I quite enjoy this talk show conducted by karan Johar and thought I will watch an episode on youtube today as its been a while since I last saw it. I watched the interview of Anil Kapoor and his daughter Sonam kapoor and it was quite an amusing episode. I know almost all the bollywood stars (at least that's what I thought) but I never knew Sonam Kapoor existed! So it was good get to know her and I thought she is quite pretty and sounded a little blonde but in a sweet way.

I also saw an interview of Kim Kardhashian today on youtube. It was an appearance she had made on Jimmy Kimmel's talk show early this year. 

She of course sounded insufferably and painfully blonde that I did not watch the entire episode. Maybe I will some other time- after all she is one of the highest earning celebrities in the world, I am sure she has something to offer.  

So briefly speaking I had a day of many blonde moments but I am happy to be catching up on the celebrity gossip! (Since when??) 

Day 119 Ordered a new Sofa for the House

31st March 2014

As it is the new year season, we thought we'll make a little change to our home and thought of getting a new sofa. We placed an order today but decided to select the fabric ourselves rather than resorting to the one standard one which doesn't coordinate we'll with our home interiors. So I will be checking out fabrics over the next week. 

Day 118 Watched Oscars 2014

Today after many years I actually watched the Oscars. Of course part of the reason was because Ellen DeGeneres was the host and she is one of my favorite talk show hosts. I thought she was extremely hilarious on some occasions but I am not sure if she made some people uncomfortable with her jokes. Nevertheless I loved watching her. It was good to see '12 years a slave' win many awards including best picture, best supporting actress etc. Though I have no clue about Mathew McConaughey's performance in Dallas Buyers Club as I have not even seen the movie trailer, I am guessing he must have been great as he won the best actor and hence I am considering watching the movie. It is officially on my to-do-list now. 

By the way, I watched Ellen's opening speech at least 4 times and I could watch it again. You are the funniest person ever Ellen! :)

Day 117 Celebrated Earth Hour

Day 116 watched the movie Blue Jasmine

I was inspired to watch this movie particularly because Cate Blanchatte won the best actress award for her performance in this movie at the Oscars 2014. The movie and the storyline did not really meet expectations but Cate's performance was certainly spectacular. She portrays with 

Day 115 A few hours of T20 cricket again

I must say I was pretty sad with the outcome if this match, particularly because the SL team put up a spectacular performance and got a very formidable looking score on board. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough as England won! Who ever thought that the silly English team could beat us! They,in fact got off to a pretty bad start with some extremely clumsy fielding which included many dropped catches. However, Hales and Morgan batted with a lot of confidence, playing their shots with exquisite timing. And as a result, the English team (whom I thought never win matches, at least not anything important) ended up with a victory. :(

But watching the match was worth it at least because of Mahela's delectable batting innings. 

Day 114 Watched the movie- 12 years a slave

Day 113 Filled out the tax declaration forms for the year

25th March 2014

Day 112 Got a new case for the Phone

24 March 2014.                                              

  I created my first eBay account a few days ago and purchased a case for my iPhone. The case was delivered today and I am happy with the quality of the product, speed of delivery and the reasonable price! 

Day 111 Watched the intelligence squared debate on BBC

The intelligence squared debate is nothing new but I think this is the first time I watched it. The motion was 'Hands that rock the cradle can rock the boardroom'. There were some interesting points raised about how women can actually "have it all" and that it is all down to outsourcing insignificant tasks. Apparently women want to get everything perfect for their family, such as cook the perfect meal every time instead of resorting to take-away food whenever needed. 

 A participant pointed out how sometimes women who are mothers, don't give enough credit to themselves for all the good work they do and instead feel guilty for either not spending enough time with the kids or not doing something right for the family.

 It was interesting to find out that even women in western countries can't seem to stop beating themselves up for not being "the  perfect mom".

All this left me with that sinking feeling of realization that kids are not just " bundles of joy" but "bundles of massive responsibility".  Well, I suppose nothing in life is easy! 

Anyway, the intelligence squared debate is a really good program that I would recommend anyone to watch. 

Day 110 Watched the T20 World Cup- first match

Today was the T20 World Cup 2014 opening and the first match was between Sri Lanka and South Africa. I was, once upon a time, a big big fan of the Sri Lankan cricket team but for a very long time I have not seen any matches. It was refreshing to watch Sri Lanka playing so well and walking away with a great win in an extremely tight match where the victory was sealed only in the final over. In fact, the odds were actually stacked against Sri Lanka. 

There are so many new faces in the SL team and not surprisingly I didn't even know who the captain was until I watched the game! My favorites are still Sangakkara, Mahela and Malinga. I think I am in love with cricket again and hope the team would continue the perfect winning streak that they have been maintaining during the recent past!

Pools

• Group 1
 
• Group 2

Rank	Team	M	W	L	Pts	RR
1	Sri Lanka	2	2	0	4	+3.225
2	New Zealand	2	1	1	2	+0.276
3	South Africa	2	1	1	2	-0.075
4	England	1	0	0	0	-0.250
5	Netherlands	1	0	1	0	-1.688

Day 109 Organized my files containing important documents

21st March 2014

Today I spent some time making my life a tad more organized. There were various important and not so important documents lying around on tables, inside wardrobes, drawers etc and I have been putting off the filing for sometime. So today I just got down to doing just that. I realized that I have over 12 files when I actually don't even need half of it. Anyway, things are all in one place now and I am feeling very organized! 

Day 108 Went to McDonalds at Racecourse

This was my first visit to the renovated racecourse building. On many occasions I have thought the building looks very magnificent and nice at night and have wanted to pay a visit. So finally off I went with rads to McDonald's at Racecourse. Since we sat inside the restaurant there was nothing new to observe and we both had the happy meal. It was, however, a special lunch since it was just before Rads birthday! As always we had a great time catching up on the gossip but as it was more rushed than our usual luncheons we hardly had the time to talk about the blog. That is for next time.

Day 107 Ate Lindt Dark Chocolates with Cherry and Almond

I have declared eating chocolates as a first only a few days ago but this one has cherry and almond and it is dark chocolate. Hence I thought I could just about qualify this as a first for today. Eating chocolates in moderate quantities is supposedly good for you and it also elevates my mood noticeably. There goes my justification for over-mentioning chocolate as a first! 

Day 106 watched Barney

Day 105 Zumba Songs

Day 104 Made Potato Wedges

This is a super easy snack to make and perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
 I started off with the good intentions of making a dip as well to go along with the Potato wedges but ended up not making the dip and instead had it with Philadelphia cream cheese which turned out to be an acceptable substitute- at least for me it did! ;-)

Recipe from BBC Good Food

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Cut each potato into eight wedges, then cook in boiling salted water for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix the butter and spice with a little seasoning. Drain the potatoes, then add to the bowl and shake. Transfer to two baking sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally, until crisp and browned. Serve hot, with the dip.

Day 103 First visit to sky lounge-Kingsbury

This has been on my to-do list for sometime now and I am glad I finally got a chance to check out the place. It is quite a nice place with the only noticeable drawback being the fact it is way too crowded and you feel it more since the place is not that big but there are lots of tables and hence the congested look and feel. The staff was friendly and helpful and the location is great. I would certainly like to visit again as I couldn't quite grasp the view and the surroundings as I was bit blown away with so many people around, so much so that I could not even capture an appropriate picture for the blog.

Day 102 Hand picked a Mango

When I walked into the balcony I accidentally noticed this mango which seemed barely ripe. So I picked it and sliced it to discover that it was nicely ripe, orange and yummy! Certainly a first as I don't pick my own mangoes generally! 

Day 101 Checked out a few songs by 1D.

After listening to some songs by the group ‘One Direction’ I decided I like the songs ‘What makes you beautiful’ and ‘One Thing’.   I have heard these songs many times before but strangely I never knew about this music band.  Apparently their other songs like ‘Midnight Memories’ , ‘Story of my Life’  etc are also quite popular but however I did not quite fancy those. 

Day 100 completed 100 days of blogging

Today marks a very special day. 

I feel like I have graduated again but this time I have a BA (Hons) Blogging :) . 

And my real degree seems pale in comparison to this! 

A little over 3 months ago when I started on this journey of 365 days of new things, I honestly didn't have high expectations for it to last for this long. Though the idea was very stimulating from inception, it didn't seem like an easy task to do something new daily and write about it too. On one side there are time constraints and on the other side there is the difficulty of finding new activities for each day. But I seem to have managed quite comfortably to shrug off these challenges and continue blogging for 100 days. Initially it was no easy task but with practice it became a quite enjoyable activity. 

Perhaps the most valuable outcome has been that I live more consciously rather than mindlessly wondering through the journey of life. I have noticed that through blogging you develop an ability to see the best in yourself and give credit for all the small, yet worthy achievements instead of mourning about all the big targets that are long way off.. It's never about the big stuff but it's about the simple steps that you take along the way...It's all about gratitude... It's all about appreciation... Then life is indeed beautiful. 

Cheers to blogging and may I find it in me the will to continue till the end of the year! 

Day 99 Created an Instagram Account and uploaded a couple of pictures

Though I checked the Instagram application online sometime ago I was not able to create an account as my phone's operating system upgrade was not complete. I have a general phobia for software upgrades and upgrading the OS is evermore daunting than a software upgrade. Therefore by default I choose the option 'remind me later' whenever I receive a notification for upgrades. However, I completed this during the weekend and as a result my phone is now instagram compatible. So I went ahead and created a new account today and what's more, I even uploaded 3 pictures that I took during my recent overseas trip. I must say I like this app and would probably keep this account to store pictures of various interesting places I visit.

Day 98 Used the Drawing feature in the LG phone

Today I played with the features of the LG G2 phone, which is one of the latest additions to the smartphone market. It has a great outlook and high end capabilities for the technology lover. But since I am non techie the only thing that caught my attention was the superb image quality. The picture clarity and the colors are awesome. The phone of course is brimming with an endless array of cool features. Nonetheless all I did was draw a tree and how can I not share it here? 

Day 97 Ate M&Ms after a long time.

Day 96 Tried out my new Headphones

I tried out my brand new headphones today and also read a couple of online reviews and information on product features. The model is MDR-XB900. 

[since when do I check model names? ;)]

The product review states that these headphones combine heart-pumping extra bass with soul-shaking clarity! To add to the glamour, they come with a 'smart' multiple fold design, and has a tangle-free serrated cord. Excited yet? They also have elasticized leather covered ear-pads for superior sound isolation. I can certainly vouch for that since the first time I tried it I felt like I was in an underground dungeon with extremely loud sounds coming from above! Admittedly it is great quality but I shall donate it to someone else who can actually appreciate it.

 

Day 95 listened to songs by Kylie Minogue

Breaking away from the familiar territory of 1980s music, today I listened to a few songs by Kylie Minogue. Even though I listen to music while driving and have heard most new tracks I generally have no clue about the artists. So it was good to get to know a famous person from much more recent times. 

Day 94 First time at a Business Class Lounge

I am not sure what this strange connection between Abu Dhabi and unexpected delays is but the delay on my way back gave me a new 'first' to blog about. As I always travel economy class I have not been to the business class waiting lounge but today as a result of a flight delay in Abu Dhabi (which in turn made me miss my connecting flight) I got a heavy dose of business class lounge with a waiting time that lasted for 6 hours!. The ambience in the lounge was quiet and pleasant and there was a buffet style arrangement of sandwiches, patisseries, sweets and plenty of beverages available all through out. It was good to find some quiet place in the extremely rushed Doha Airport and what's more I even found some time for blogging. What more can a wannabe traveller and writer ask for;). 

Day 93 Visited Emirates Palace

Wednesday 5 March

The visit to the Emirates palace was awe inspiring. 

Day 92 Visit to Marina Mall and Corniche Beach

Day 91 Visit to Dubai by Coach from Abu Dhabi

This was my first visit to the city of endless buildings and skyscrapers. The city showcases wealth and prosperity just like Abu Dhabi. But if you are anything like me and love trees and mountains and waterfalls then this is hardly an oasis for you! However it is a vibrant place full of temptations for shopping enthusiasts and brand lovers. I saw the famous Dubai fountain, spent a few hours in the glamorous Dubai mall which has an artificial waterfall and a lovely aquarium along with many other attractions. I am glad I finally visited this much talked about city even though I had only but a glimpse of it! 

The Burj Khalifa - world's tallest building is a whopping 830m in height. 

Day 90 A Day of Shopping at Mushrif Mall and Al Whada Mall

I spent the whole day on shopping today and bought a couple of jeans, some body butter, make up from Bobbie Brown, shoes, tops etc. As expected shopping is quite expensive in Abu Duabi and I still haven't come across any good deals but hoping for the best! 

Inside Al Whada Mall

Day 89 First day of holiday in Abu Dhabi

Checked in to hotel only around 7 in the night as there were some unexpected delays. The hotel is great and the rooms are super clean and very comfortable. I particularly liked the roof top terrace and the pool side bar. Tomorrow I will get a chance to explore the city a bit. 

Day 88 Gratitude for Friends

There are many days that I spend having heart to heart conversations with friends about everything and nothing. They are a source of encouragement, fun, companionship etc. I have a few special friends - some have been there forever through the ups and downs, some more recent yet seem to know me so well and some who have disappeared and come back but yet the bonds stay strong. 

so today I thought I would dedicate a blog post for the special friends in my life.  They are very few indeed but special alright!  

Day 87 Watched some video lectures

Today I focused on some video lectures which are perfect for a quick revision of important learning outcomes of exam topics. Though this is not adequate at all on its own, it is great when you feel that you are not in the mood for reading lots and lots of complicating theories. Useful learning method that I have not used before and hence an interesting 'first'! 

Day 86 A small disappointment..

After having looked forward for the baking classes for nearly 2 months today I went to the institute to register for the class as requested which is due to start on 1 March. To my disappointment I was informed that the class is full and that I will have to join the next intake. Considering that I emailed them early and asked about the registration process I feel that they should have advised me that the classes get filled up fast and that I need to register early. I was under the impression that registering a couple of days prior to the commencement of classes by making the payment was all that is needed. 

Early bird catches the worm! Nonetheless I am not too upset as I have plenty more things to do to keep myself entertained. 

Day 85 Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking.

 The world frequently associate success with people who have charismatic, sociable, gregarious and sometimes loquacious personalities. Companies seem to be on a relentless pursuit to hire extroverts to positions of leadership. The universities and colleges promote extroversion as a highly sought quality that every person should thrive to achieve.

In brief, the society extolls extroversion.  At least this has been the story for many years but are things about to change? The American 'ideal' just may be on the verge of a paradigm shift. And when Americans change the way they think, we all know that the world follow suit sooner or later.


Following a comment made by Rads on my blog post dated 22nd February I felt like understanding a bit about what it is like to have an introverted personality. What I found online was a rather interesting book review published on 'the guardian' website. Susan Cain seem to have catapulted a silent revolution. Her book- "Quiet: The Power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking" has been well received and seem like an intriguing read. 

 Susan Cain seem to be challenging many rooted beliefs and dispelling myths. Introverts are stereotyped as socially awkward people who hate mingling and networking. To an average observer an introvert may even appear as an unhappy person. There is a common belief that introverts are shy and afraid of company and that they are antisocial. However well known personalities such as Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln and Ghandi are classifieds as introverts.

According to Susan Cain introverts:

- Think in an unusually complex fashion
-Especially  empathic
-Desire peace
-Modest
-Creative
-Gets drained of energy through heavy social interactions and gain energy in solitude and quiet.

Also, very interestingly, according to the author Sophia Dembling who also has written books on introversion, introverts do not fail in public speaking or leadership contexts. In fact they have an upper hand over extroverts because they prepare thoroughly and think things through prior to doing and hence emerge as excellent public speakers.  They lead with quiet confidence.

So if you are an introvert and lived all your life trying to change, or if people have probed you to become more loud and confident, hold your horses!!  Times are changing and tables are turning and you just maybe the next American Ideal of awesomeness!

Day 84 Visited my friend's house and saw her baby girl for the first time

Day 83 Got Caught in a Thunderstorm

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the rain.  But I have never been outside during a thunderstorm because lets face it- common sense spoils it all and you end up running for shelter.
But today was different. Today I got caught in the rain while having the swimming lessons and the coach, hoping that it would end soon continued with the lesson for sometime.  Of course when the rain turned to a thunderstorm he unfortunately led us out of the pool to the spectator seating area of the pool. We sat there for about 20 minutes and witnessed the thunderstorm in all its glory before the class was finally cancelled.

Day 82 Revisiting Toastmasters Program

22 February 2014



I first joined Toastmaster's Club as long ago as 2009 but I am ashamed to say that I delivered only one speech and quit the program subsequently as I could not find the courage to deliver the next speech. I think it was fear of public speaking coupled  with lack of perseverance to write up and practice speeches that made me lose interest. It also requires quite a bit of your time unless of course you are one of the lucky ones who has the flair to simply walk up in front of an audience and deliver a speech without any preparation or hard work!

Today, I took out my old Toastmaster Member  kit which comprises of 2 main manuals - competent communication and competent leadership. I had a browse through these and also sent and email to one of the clubs who got back to me confirming the next date of the meeting.  Though I will not be able to attend their next meeting I will certainly attend the one after that.

The program comprises of two tracks. One is the communication track and the other is the leadership track. The communication track has four levels and one level takes about 5 months to complete, provided that you have the nerve to deliver a speech at every meeting!

At this point in time I can only promise myself that I will try my best as I know only too well, this is really not my cup of tea!  But how can I ignore toastmasters when I am on a career break and on a quest to improve myself daily? 

So here marks the beginning of a long journey, for this is no easy task for the faint-heated like me!   But if i don't try I will never know......

Day 81 Another boring but productive day

Today also I spent a few hours doing more research and doing some writing for my dissertation. From now onwards hopefully this will be a part of my daily routine for the next 3-4 months without any ad hoc changes which will lead me to ignore this task for weeks! 

Day 80 Went to the Library to work together with a friend

Spent a few hours studying in the library with my colleague. This was a good change from the monotonous and failing attempts at reading research articles from home. It turned out to be a productive study session and cleared a few more grey areas- 'few' being the operative term here.

Day 79 More on Holiday Planning.

Wednesday,19th February 2014

Today I continued to browse randomly to gain inspiration for my shopping list. But my one track mind can only seem to focus on jogging shoes, swimsuits, sports bras, goggles and the likewise. :-)

Of course I found out that one of my favorite homeware stores-'Lakeland' has a presence in Abu Dhabi and then I got lost in their website..... so shopping list will have to wait.

Day 78 Some Places to Visit in Abu Dhabi

My impressions about Abu Dhabi and Dubai was that they were simply great shopping destinations where the quality of products are supposedly  of extremely high standards. In many other countries when you purchase electronic goods, clothes etc you can never be entirely sure whether you are paying high prices for counterfeit goods but apparently in Abu Dhabi and Dubai you need not fear at all when purchasing laptops, cameras, phones etc as everything is 'original' and I heard that on the grapevine of course!
However, when I searched for tourist attractions in Abu Dhabi it was surprising and refreshing to see that the country has more to offer  than meets the eye. Maybe it is just good branding and marketing and I will soon find out. So here's what I found today.

1. Corniche Beach

 This is a eight kilometer stretch of manicured waterfronts and landscaped gardens against the backdrop of many skyscrapers and a lovely beach. There are speedboats available and the beach is life-guarded. There are also many cafes/restaurants and shopping areas close by. 

2. Yas Island 

This is known as the island of adventure  and is home to attractions such as the Ferrari world and Waterworld. This a 2500 hectare island which is dedicated to leisure and entertainment.

The Ferrari World is the largest indoor them park in the world and the only one featuring ferrari theme rides. 

Yas Waterworld which has been opened only in 2013 is among the best Water Parks in the world - http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/31/travel/worlds-best-water-parks/ 

Aquaventure Waterpark in Dubai is also on top of the above list.

Day 77 Watched the movie- The Fifth Estate (2013)

The movie is based on the once extremely hot topic of WikiLeaks of which I must confess I knew nothing. So this movie would have been a great opportunity for me to polish up my general awareness but I lost interest half way through the movie and as a result could not figure out the story. However I think Benedict Cumberbatch put up a brilliant performance here and I intend to have another go at watching this movie as I simply dont want to miss something with such an intriguing underlying theme. 

Day 76 Some Inspiration.

My swimming coach occasionally shares valuable information about swimming and fitness with us via email. He also regularly sends inspirational quotes maybe for the sake o keeping in touch and to stop us from giving up before reaching the goal. So I thought today I will post some of those on my blog so that I could read about it an year later when I revisit my journey of reflections.