on sunday night, i broke a drought of sorts - i wore a sari for the first time since maybe around diwali, 1997. it was my cousin's engagement party and it was always going to be a dress-to-the-nines kind of affair, and sari-wearing opportunities are few and far between for me these days. i borrowed one off my mother, and she had to help wrap & pin me up for the evening. it was a soft silk sari with a lot of gold embroidery and sequins sewn on, and it draped just perfectly. i was a little afraid i would come undone at some point in the evening, but much to my own amazement i managed to stay decent all night. saris are excellent for somone with my body shape (ie short and curvy). they cling in all the right places and make you feel quite elegant, even when you're dancing like a madwoman in the midst of a bhangra-crush. all in all, it was an excellent evening. then on monday night at my brother's place, we watched 'the incredibles' on dvd - but in hindi! having nothing but bollywood subtitles to go by, i was expecting a shoddy translation job, but it was the best - they've dubbed it perfectly. the hindi title is 'hum hain lajawab' ('we are incredible'). each individual character's personality came out very clear and strong, which was a pleasant surprise. shah rukh khan and his real-life son aryan voice the father/son characters in the movie, and it works really, really well. so, my tip for the day? if you're hindi and you know it, rent, buy or steal a copy of 'the incredibles' on dvd, select hindi audio, and proceed to be amazed. finally here's a hindi movie that'll make you proud for a change!

the search for employment is finally over - i got me a new job, and started training this week. one of the perks of my new job is that i get free beer! today we went on a brewery tour, so i'm pretty tired (we climbed 200 stairs apparently), and tried a beer called 'carlton black' for the first time - it's rather nice, kinda like a less thicker version of guiness. i never realised CUB made so many beverages - it's now my duty to try as many of them as i can, all in the name of product knowledge... ah, who am i kidding - as if i ever needed an excuse to imbibe.
been waking up mega-early to get to work on time, and actually considering keeping up the pre-seven a.m risings irrespective of whether i need to be anywhere early. lets see if i follow through these good intentions, or if they fall in a pile by the wayside of my life on top of the clothes, shoes, resolve to participate in some sort of physical activity, and speed-read weekend papers. one if these days i hope to be less of a procrastinator and more of a conquistador (courtesy of www.thesaurus.com). meh - whatever. i'm too tired to even pretend.

question: have you ever found yourself thinking 'hmm, i wonder what the cover of shalini's book is going to look like?'
answer: click here to find out

it's all been a little quiet round here i know - i think i'm going into hibernation mode now that the book is finally finished. i'm in one of those homebody phases where i'm happy just to stay home and cook. there's a roast in the oven as i type, and i bought a packet of devil's food cake mix yesterday - look out! actually it might be this website that's doing it to me - cooking for engineers. it's a gem, and there are some really good recipes in there to boot. i like the site owner's logic, too - especially the answer to the 'what do i do with all the egg whites once i've made a batch of creme brulee?' simple - the answer is freeze them in spare icecube trays and when you have enough, thaw and make angel food cake. yumm-o. whilst i have nothing against angel food cake (even though there's a devil in a packet in my pantry), i would personally solve the egg-white-abundance dilemma with nigella's choc chip pavlova (filled instead with unwhipped double cream and topped with mixed berries, but that's just me).
food. rocks.

caught a couple of shows at the comedy festival last night, both by standout local comedians, both very clever and highly satisfying. first up, moosehead award recipient gavin baskerville's 'as seen on tv'. an informative and very funny look behind the scenes of the world of television, something we've all been obsessed with at some point in our lives i'm sure - catch this show if you can. then we went on to see laurence and andy's 'somewhat secret secret society show'. as you would expect from these two, this show is entertaining and informative - they work really well together, and silliness abounds. this show sells out pretty fast so get in there early. other shows on my comfest wishlist (as in i wish my money doesn't run out before the fest is over) -

tanya losanno is a trophy wife, the bedroom philosopher in 'pyjamarama', maria bamford - plan b, damien clarke lays it on thick, adam simmons toy band - eureka!, anthony menchetti - awkward!, josh earls is broke.

that's all i can manage to think of right now, though this list is by no means definitive. either way i will probably get to see these and maybe a few more - the job i applied for today (and i wouldn't mind getting it) has a start date of april the 18th - the day after comfest ends. is that a sign or what?? anyway, i'm off to the shops now to get some food and bath salts - my back is killing me!

ah, i will soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief - desperate housewives is back on tonight after a three-week break. i read something in the paper describing channel seven's deciding to have the break as a 'cardinal sin'. i know i'm a bit fanatical about the show, but i'm not sure i'd go *that* far. sure, i howled and hollered with the best of them when i found out at the end of last ep. that there'd be no more housewifely desperation for three weeks, but i didn't lose any sleep over it. sometimes i wonder how stupid these television types think we (the viewer) are. a primo example of their attitude toward the viewer is advertising. tv ads give me the absolute shits. i reserve special hatered for the ones that i assume come from some eurpoean country and are obviously dubbed over in english. why should i buy your product if you can't be bothered re-shooting your ad for me? why don't you give me a little credit and just subtitle it instead of picking the wrong voiceover artist? why bother at all - why not just leave a static shot of your product on the screen for two minutes and then just get someone, *anyone* to say, 'buy me'? that would be more honest and effective than your crap swedish, girly, re-dubbed, totally irrelevant ad (oh and don't even get me started on the new lynx ad). i know, i know. here i am asking for honesty from advertising, when it's obvious that milla jovovich wears false lashes when pedalling mascara. i will say this though - there is one ad on at the moment that restores my faith in creativity in advertising, and that's bega's 'best cheese sandwich in the world' ad. having read this far you may not be able to tell, but generally i'm all for understatement.
apart from this ongoing discontent, life is good. for more developments on the novel front, visit my other blog.