moonstruck

Go Green!

2007-01-14T03:19:00.000-08:00

Pocket-size solar power

Here is another one!

2006-12-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Which of the X-Men Are You?

2006-12-04T05:08:00.000-08:00

This is what I got...How cool is that???

You Are Storm

Exotic and powerful, Storm descended from a line of African priestesses.
Emotions can effect your powers, but you are generally serene.

Powers: controlling weather, creating winds that lift you into flight, generating lightning

Click here to find out!

Animal Instincts

2005-07-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

The Southeast Asian / Indian Ocean Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka on the 26th of December 2004 killed over 30,000 people. But all the wild animals in the Yala National Park survived. http://animalplanet.co.uk/tsunamianimal/feature3.shtml - A prime example of how animals used their instincts to survive disasters.

If animals possess this special gift, so should humans, right? After all, we are also a bunch of animals. Then, why aren't we as sensitive to these instincts as other animals? Do we have it and not know how to use it? Do we posses in-built survival instincts and unconsciously overrule them? Have you ever felt that uneasy feeling before a disaster strike, like something is wrong, but you just can’t figure out what it is?...those feelings that you just can’t link to anything logical? Are we brought-up in a way that makes our conscious mind be strong enough to suppress the gift of instincts? Can we learn how to identify the signs and make use of them?

Me want a Lightsaber!!!

2005-06-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

Yes I watched Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Despite the fact that Anakin Skywalker (l8er Darth Vader) is absolute eye-candy, I still love Yoda.

The Jedi Master “Say the important stuff first and the rest later” Yoda.

I have a question: When Yoda meets Darth Sidious after the attack on the Jedi, Darth Sidious tells Yoda that Anakin has become more powerful than both of them. In a subsequent scene, Obi-Wan Kenobi kicks Anakin’s gluteus maximus. Does that make him the best Jedi in episode III?

Me want a Lightsaber!

Gift Ideas for Rochi’s B’day:
Star wars episodes 1,2,3,4,5,6 on DVD.
A LIGHTSABER

expensive replica : http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=1636;category_id=315

less expensive: http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=1629;category_id=315;pcid1=;pcid2=

20’s crisis – Me gone tipsy

2005-06-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

What is it about hitting the two X that is so confusing? It just gets so damn confusing. For the early parts of your 20’s you actually don’t have much to think about coz you will be busy with your first degree. Life is focused and calculated. Project deadlines, office work (if you are already working), and exams are the things you have to think about on a daily basis. The goal is to get good grades. Social life is a necessity but is often sacrificed in the name of tomorrow’s exam or project deadline. And then everything comes to an end. You will be happy for a while. Relieved actually. But then one Saturday morning you wake up without having to run to your computer to finish an assignment or crawl over to your book shelf to grab a book that you are supposed to read before the class which is starting in another two hours. You have absolutely nothing to do. Life sets in. The “hmmmm’s” fill up your head. You sit down and think about the little framework you lived in for the last 10-15 years. Things have changed. But where do you fit in? Are you officially a “grown-up”? If you goof off…will people think that you are mentally challenged? Does it make sense to change your way of life? What do you really want to do with your life? What will make you happy? The realization of the fact that you really don’t know what the hell you want, will leave you feeling lost and a wee bit nauseous. Ok…how about this for a bite! Get a tattoo, pierce your belly button and highlight your hair in red! Ya that should do it. Oh oh oh!…pierce four more holes in your ear! And then what? OK…get ready for your masters…read all those books and articles you didn’t have time to read…ya that makes sense…You’ve got to get married and spawn more seeds of your insanity! So many things to do…so little time. You question yourself…”did I do everything I wanted to so far?” and the answer is…Yep!…That felt good…No regrets…No past moments in your life you want to go back and fix. That’s a good sign. So let’s look forward…You are standing on a junction and the road ahead just split into hundreds of little roads right before your very eyes…Damn!…silence sets in again…you are back at square one…………………

Inner dudette interrupts: Arghh just shut up. You like it when things get complicated…It’s “interesting”…so knock yourself out…Do whatever you want…Go wild!...don’t waste a single minute of your life…! Ahh…what would you do without me?

Carpentry!

2005-04-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

New Year holidays! After sitting and watching 7 movies till my hindquarters went numb, I decided to do something different for a change. And so I started “Spring Cleaning” my room. Years and years of tutorials, notes and books with scribbles of screwed-up faces, electrocuted cats and butterflies were stacked up everywhere…On shelves, tables, the PC, the shoe-rack, under the bed…anywhere I could find even a wee bit of space. It was time to clean up before my humble dwelling reached 100% hazardous to human health.

I started picking out the things I don’t need and H helped me decide. It was not an easy task. I still wanted to keep my old magazines. After hours of arguing, I gave up and H won. I decided to keep only the books. Then I realized, that I have run out of shelf space.

Hmmm… said me… Let’s build a book-rack!!! For some reason my mother’s face fell, probably ‘coz she knew that I’d make a mess out of the entire house trying to build a book rack and she will have to clean up after me.

I went around the house searching for raw materials for my project. I found a hammer, nails, wood, black paint, a measuring tape and a pencil. But the wood I found was not strong enough. It was time to get creative. I found an extra towel-rack in the store-room. After a bit of cutting and chopping, it made a perfect skeleton for a bookrack. It took 3 hours of hard labor. Working with stone-age equipment was not an easy task. Subsequent to numerous cuts and bruises, H and I finished my brand-new bookrack, which I later painted in black…the "invisible" color. It looked handsome, rugged and mysterious and a wee bit too wide. In other words it was not all that pretty.

Rochana's new passion: Carpentry. Now I am on a roll. Going to buy new equipment and lumber to make more goodies. Shelves, shelves and more shelves!!! My house will be called “The house of Shelves” like “The House of Wax”…errr…that’s a horror flick right?

Just another passing day of my life

2004-12-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

It was supposed to be one of those special days in a persons’ life… one of those “once in a life time” things… That’s what I was told. Yet my feelings are best described as ambivalent and colorless. I expected my inner person to feel much more than this and she completely failed me all throughout the day.

Was it the heat, the heavy over-sized attire, hours of staying up on my feet and at times being de-hydrated that deprived me of those so-called wonderful feelings?

By the time it got to the real thing, I was just too damn tired and had to force myself to savor the moment. When the moment of ultimate glory arrived, I was not excited at all. Instead I found my eyes wandering around in search for something that would trigger those happy feelings. Then there they were... beyond the bright, flashing lights…Her teary eyes and his smiling face… filled with love. Hmmm…I said to myself… as I felt a cool breeze go through my tired body….This must be it. And that is what I will remember of that special day. The two happy faces I saw in the crowd. Yep, it sure was worth it. As I walked away from all the excitement I was back to my idiosyncratic-self.

P:S: Tip of the day…never wear the graduation cap too tight no matter how wobbly it is…you never know when you’ll have to take it off during the ceremony. Hmmm… on second thoughts... just wear it the way you want... it just might give you something to smile to yourself about every time you remember your graduation day.

Belly button on strike!

2004-11-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

You appreciate your hands, fingers, arms, legs, etc. because they help you live your life on a daily basis. Ask yourself...do you really give a damn about your belly button??? One of the most significant biological mechanisms that helped you live “once upon a time”?... Natures' way of connecting you and your mommy so that you get fed without having to brush your teeth after every meal during the first 9 months of your life? As far as I was concerned it was just a relic that was left in the middle of my stomach. It adds no functionality to my existence anymore. However, I often fancied the idea of decorating it with a sharp piercing object in the shape of a bar-bell with a butterfly or a flower attached to it. That will add some value to my stomach at least. Other than that...it never crossed my mind for ages...until the day before yesterday…I realized that I have managed to successfully piss off my belly button. After all it did for me...I had absolutely no regard for it. If I were my belly button I would be furious with myself. So, it decided to go on a strike (not as if it was doing anything in the first place)...It decided to subject me to pain...not exactly pain....more like a constant feeling of discomfort in the middle of my stomach... It decided to get infected with I-don't-know-what. My fingernails seem to keep a low profile about the whole thing probably coz they helped it go on strike. Ultimately, I had to give into their evil plan. It was just too much to take. What did I do to deserve such malice??? I didn't go to work that day. "Enough already!!!" I said to my belly button. "I know you are in the middle of my stomach... And I have thought about you on and off when I get the urge to pierce you with a belly ring... Do you think that all those belly buttons out there in the world get so much of attention???...Nooo...! Unlike you...they are satisfied with their lives in the middle of stomachs...but nooooo...not you....you have to go and get yourself infected just to get some attention...FINE!!...attention you shall get...!". So I went to the good-old Doctor. I said..."Doctor, I was quite feverish yesterday"..."Baaah! take a Panadol." said he. Alrighty...

And so I came home with three days of pills and a “neutral cream-based Antibiotic”. I pampered my niggling little belly button that night. The next day, I was advised to stay at home incase if it tries to pull more of its stunts. I took the day off to hang-out with my belly button. We talked about life and everything. It was quite happy with my results. Sam (as I named "him")... told me about his golden days in my mommy's tummy. He was a star then...I could almost feel his pain of rejection. I put myself in his "place"... in the middle of my stomach...just sitting around... doing nothing...nobody noticing me. Finally, I have come to realize that I should be more sensitive to his feelings... talk to him once in a while. He was quite happy at the end of the day. Decided to slowly heal himself.

Now that I have noticed you... I think you're kinda' cute pal...but now I have second thoughts about the belly ring!

Feelings after the presentation...

2004-09-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

(delirium)
10 kilos lighter…
Liberated…
Run… run fast… as fast as I can… hands flapping over my head… screaming…
Jump… as high as I can… through the clouds… into outer-space.
Climb the Everest… get to the top and just jump off…. (crouching tiger, hidden dragon final scene)
Hug all my loved-ones… hug them so tight till they suffocate and tell them how much I love them incase if I forgot to say it within the last couple of years.
Eat… eat bad food… oily, spicy, unhealthy food… and get sick the next day without having to worry about project deadlines.
Yippee!
Looking around for some form of reaction from others… nothing… (sound of crickets)
(reality sets in)
(gasping) uhh… what now?... hmm…
SLEEP…YES!!!… SLEEP for 48 hours at a stretch… go on saline for an uninterrupted SLEEPing experience.
After that…?
What do I do? (lost!!!)
Damn… not again…

The next 12 hours of my life...

2004-09-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

I can't wait till I get myself over the next 12 hours of my life. Right now... what lies beyond it looks faded, dreamy and unreachable. Oh I wish I had a remote-controller gadget so I could just sit back and fast-forward it all... years of oh-so-sweet suffering, ended in the next 12 hours.

Why can’t I play my little song?

After all this time, don’t I deserve a break?! I already have a few years of professional experience and many more to come… Why am I expected to be professional in my last act of…hmmm…FREEDOM?

Whaaaaaay??? Arrrrrrgh.

Unfair! It’s just a little song god-damnit!

Fine! I’ll go with my smiley faces. But I won’t remove the volume controllers from the presentation. In case if “they” get curious and tell me to turn the sounds on.

Oh… I forgot to mention why the next 12 hours are so important… or rather… “nothing I am looking forward to”. My final year project presentation is at 5 p.m. Eeeks, typing it makes my skin crawl!

Going Berserk!

2004-07-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

This is not exactly out of the ordinary, but I went berserk in a very important presentation today. It was good in a way as I got my message through to the audience under immense pressure (I don’t know whether I got any marks for the whole ordeal though). We were rushed to finish up a presentation of an in-course assessment today by the assessors. There were three of us. First it was me…everything was cool and calm…next it was Rif. Hmmm….he took his jolly good time and explained everything…and the next thing I know, the assessors wanted us to fast-forward the whole presentation!!!

Dudes, how are we going to score marks if you dun let us explain what we did????

Booksi, being the “to hell with the world” man, went up there and gave the fastest most unclear presentation he can ever manage to give with cover up lines like “these things and those things”.

Next again it was yours truly. THEY RUSHED ME and demanded quality!!!, so I switched to my super-fast hyper-mode, leaving Dr hitting his head on the desk and Mr. H …well he was just trying to catch up with what I was prattling about. My group-members were absolutely baffled at the sight of my final act. Their reaction afterwards: Uhhh…what the heck happened to you?...

All in all, it went pretty ok. We answered all the questions asked by the assessors at times leaving them in stitches.

Theme of the day

2004-07-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Someone once told me the grass is much greener on the other side .
Well, I paid a visit, but it's possible I missed it .
It seemed different, yet exactly the same.
Till further notice, I'm in between.
From where I'm standing, my grass is green

- As Told By Ginger Theme

A walk down the memory lane

2004-07-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 10:30 a.m. (Sat). That’s not much sleep since I went to bed at around 5 in the morning. Did I go partying? I WISH!...I was meddling around with my FYP. Dare I say, it is looking absolutely voluptuous right now. If I pull this off…Dr.M, Mr.R, watch me waltzing around at me demo.

While having my morning doze of caffeine, I was trying to remember the last time I was free of absolutely any burden. Thinking….into mid teens…nothing….thinking a bit more into early teens…zilch….10,9,8,7,6…BREAKS! Yes…I remember now. Before age 6 i.e. before starting formal education I was a free human being. I could do absolutely anything I wanted (except murder) without thinking twice about it because I got away with it even if I screw up. Maximum punishment would be a small whack on the butt from my parents (is that legal?)… Comparing to the crap I get today…it was a dream.

People always say that they realize how good their younger days were only when they grow up. When I wanted to do grown-up stuff like driving my father’s Jeep when I was 5…he said…”all in due time honey…just enjoy being a little girl right now. I will let you drive when you are old enough.” CRAP! I thought. I refused to have my bed-time bottle of milk that night. Take that for a come back! The next day I realized what he meant, when he had to go to Trinco for some office work. (that was and still is not the safest hang out in the country). I knew since then, how important it is to live every day of my life to the fullest thanks to my father (now that sounds like a perfect answer to a beauty pageant Q).

I can remember as far into my past as age 3. Weird? I am not kidding. I was living in a very remote part of the country where they grew sugar cane for a living. Roads were carpeted, wide and almost empty except for the Jeeps that fly-by once in a while. During the harvest seasons you see parades of cane-carts and smell the freshly-cut sugar cane.

Fresh air all around. Plenty of space to play in my garden. Skies were always so clear and bright (except for the rainy season). Sometimes, I get so high on the clear, skies…I run outside the house spread my arms and spin around looking at the blue sky until I get dizzy. (NO, I don’t smoke weed now).

At the end of the day when my father came home after a tired day at work, he used to sit on a garden chair starring at the night sky while my mother prepared dinner. I used to lie on my father’s tummy and watch the stars with him. It was so beautiful. I have never seen so many stars in the sky since then. He showed me a moving satellite for the first time in my life one of those days. I thought that it was totally out of this world (at least out of the world of a 4 year old). As any curious kid would do, I asked him how they travel like that. I still remember the little sketch he drew on the sand with a stick to explain. I thought my father was the smartest man on earth even though I couldn’t quite understand why the satellites were not falling down. I could understand why the stars wouldn’t fall…that was easy…they were pasted in the night sky with super glue. But never could understand the moving objects.

I played with my two friends from the neighborhood all day. We used to catch fish with our bare hands from the puddle of mud at the edge of my backyard (and my back yard alone was about 1 acre…beyond that was the forest). Climb trees, play catch, and everything else except play house. I’ve never done that when I was a kid. Probably why my room is a mess right now. I could never figure out the fun in playing house when you get do it for real when you grow up. Why should we waste time as kids, playing house when we can do something we can’t do when we grow up?

I grew up surrounded by total wilderness. Heck, I even had a little wild-boar as a pet. That was one crazy pet. I have seen peacocks dance in the rain through my parent’s bedroom window. Seeing herds of elephants in the wilderness when I drive around with my parents was just a normal thing. Peacocks, hedge-hogs, deer sightings were like seeing Nissan vehicles on the Colombo roads. I have bathed in rivers…camped with the awesome wild-life officers, hung out with my father’s cool army friends, gone on boat rides in Trinco, almost got killed when our driver reversed the Jeep into the Maduru Oya reservoir with my sister, mother and myself in it. (No we didn’t fall…).

So many things to remember…

This time blogging worked…Getting back to my FYP.

Spaced out!

2004-07-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

It's SATURDAY 3.00 a.m. I am developing symptoms of insomnia. Is my FYP ever going to end? I'm coding my brains out...this better be worth it for all the partying I am missing out on. At least I have Macy Gray screaming "Sexual Revolution" in my ear...

I thought maybe writing a blog would help.....hmmm...it didn't help as much as I thought. Next attempt: Try screaming like Macy.... (the woman has unbelievable vocals)... and if that doesn't work, headbang to Linkin Park.