Mighty Mouse or Nimble Pen?

I was reading this article in New York Times which said:

In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.

Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are by far the most prolific texters, sending or receiving 1,742 messages a month, according to Nielsen Mobile. By contrast, 18-to-24-year-olds average 790 messages. A separate study of teenagers with cellphones by Harris Interactive found that 42 percent of them claim that they can write text messages while blindfolded.

Reading this piece of article, I could actually relate myself with it. Somewhere I personally feel that I have become obsessed with technology. My mom used to make me and my brother write greeting cards, and letters to our friends with colourful pens and pencils during our childhood. But today when I think of writing a letter to someone, I instantly think of emails. Till 5^th Grade I used to have poor handwriting and got remarks such as ‘untidy’ and ‘improve your handwriting’. I think all these remarks were hitting somewhere deep inside me and I finally asked my mom to bring me ink pens and cursive writing books so that I could improve my handwriting. Well! I used to practise a page of handwriting diligently and developed beautiful handwriting, which got me compliments over the years. But I guess that phase was short lived in my life or I can say till the time I didn’t buy a laptop. My handwriting actually had a life from being bad to good to beautiful and back to bad now. The beautiful, smooth movement of the once mighty pen, have been overshadowed by the swiftness of the fingers in tapping keys, atleast in my case..

I can boast of a huge collection of stationery that I keep buying from every other place. In fact, my friends bet that I cannot step out of a stationery shop without spending a few bucks on pens, pencils, short notebooks, diaries, and what not. But now when I see, that collection is just adorning my cupboard and room. The screen has completely replaced my writing pad; when I want to use cursive writing, I have a number of fonts to select from; the colour palette in my wordpad has replaced my colourful pens and pencils, the delete button has replaced my love for beautifully shaped erasers and finally my signature is also digitalized now. The only relief that I see amidst all this is that I am still not addicted to reading books online; I was telling someone the other day that I like the feel of paper in my hands and the smell of new books enchants my senses.

Your handwriting shows the basic traits of your personality but during this era when we don’t use the stokes and the curves with our hands ,should graphologists pickup a career called typology? Although I agree that that technology has made our lives simpler in many cases but that feel of joy of writing on a wonderful piece of paper, folding it, putting it in an envelope, applying the stamp and posting it finally can never be replaced by the quick tic tac of the keys.

It’s Party Time

Breaking News– Scratch for the Soul is blog of the day on ‘Fuel My Blog’.

 

Although I have been blogging for just four months but it feels that it’s been ages now that I have been in the process. My special thanks to Kevin and Sylvie for giving me this honour and most of all Michael for recommending my blog. I want to thank my mummy, my papa, my neighbours, their pets, pets’ friends, a bra, a box, a diary… Sniff!! Sniff!! the preist, LOL cats, eggs, rotten tomatoes, and everyone who has been a part of my bags. Sniff!!

 

I have thrown a little party and all of you are invited. Everyone will get plates, forks, knives, and caps.

 

 

And ze cake. Uh oh!! Rush! someone is already eating it.

 

A Tribute To Richard Wright

It is not long that I was introduced to Pink Floyd but since then there hasn’t been a day when I have not played Pink Floyd on my laptop. Listening to David Gilmour’s team is a part of my daily routine now, and it left a patch of sadness in me when I read that Pink Floyd’s keyboardist and co-founder Richard Wright, age 65 , died on 15^th September, 2008 from cancer.

 

Wright, a London native, met bassist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason while at Regent Street School of Architecture, joining their band, which went under names such as the Meggadeaths and Sigma 6. The three musicians formed the Pink Floyd Show with Syd Barrett in 1965, evolving from a pop and R&B cover band into an improvisational, psychedelic outfit. Wright contributed to an easy Jazz piano style to the band, and much a part of the minimalistic style of the band’s arrangements as anyone.

Though not as prolific a songwriter as his bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour, he wrote significant parts of the music for classic albums such as Meddle, The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as for Pink Floyd’s final studio album The Division Bell. My personal favourites as Wright’s greatest compositions are ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ and ‘Us and Them’.  As a band, their 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon remains as their masterpiece, which stayed in the US top 200 for 15 years.

But the band’s relationships deteriorated after the 1979 album, The Wall, and Waters had threatened to withhold the album if Wright refused to quit. After a lengthy legal battle with Waters, Wright joined Gilmour and Mason. The group recorded two Pink Floyd albums and played on more than 100 shows on a Division Bell Tour in 1994, making it the most lucrative tour in the rock history at that time.

Wright also worked on Gilmour’s solo projects, most recently playing on the 2006 album “On an Island” and the world tour and there were continuous speculations about group reforming to tour again but now with Wright’s passing I guess that remains a dream.

As a musician Richard would be missed but his songs will always ‘Echo’ in our ears and would remind us of his great work and contribution to the Rock music.

This video is one of my personal favourites from the band, and one of the greatest contirbutions by Wright- The Great Gig in the Sky.

Are you trying to prove something?

Sometimes I don’t understand to what extent people go to prove themselves or rather make fool out of themselves. I was reading this piece of article on Female First and it really pissed me off.

 

An Italian showgirl and model is offering her virginity for one million Euros.

Twenty year old Raffella Fico – a contestant on the Italian version of TV show ‘Big Brother’ earlier this year – wants the cash to buy a house and pay for acting lessons.

She said: “I can’t wait to see who’s going to pull out the money to have me.”

The starlet is quite comfortable with the arrangement, adding: “If I don’t like him I’ll just have a glass of wine and forget about it.”

I can’t wait to see who’s going to pull out the money to have me.

Raffella has even drafted in her brother to back her claims up. He says: “She’s never had a boyfriend. I swear on my mother’s grave. She’s a devout Catholic and prays to Padre Pio every night.”

Last week a 22-year-old US student, Natalie Dylan, launched an online auction for her virginity on a Californian radio show.

 

The most annoying thing that I found about this article were her brother’s comments. What is he trying to prove by saying that she is a true catholic? I am not a catholic and I am not sure what Bible preaches but one thing that I can say is that no matter which religion you are following, none teaches you to do such bizarre things to make your dreams come true. I sometimes sympathise with the sex workers who have to work even when they don’t want to but there can be many reasons behind choosing the job. I could still understand doing something like this had you had a family to support, you were struggling for your ends to meet and you are left with no other option but this.  Her statements “If I don’t like him I’ll just have a glass of wine and forget about it. I can’t wait to see who’s going to pull out the money to have me. “ definitely doesn’t give me a feeling that she is going through some crisis. Is she a wannabe, who is trying hard to become popular by doing just anything and everything?

 

It pisses me off when people try to do things under the veil of religion. I remember a colleague Asma, who was a Muslim and had a compulsion to wear burkha. She was well versed with the preaching of Holy Koran and used to share them with her friends as well, something good that she was doing. But what got on to my nerves was that she was preaching to others but when it came to her own self she decided not to follow any of the teachings. She taught that a woman should not wear lipstick, should keep herself covered with a stole all the time, should not let her hair open etc. When she herself used to step out of the house, she used to wear full makeup, let her hair open and although she used to wear burkha while stepping out of hostel but that burkha used to go off as soon as she covered a few miles from the place. I could never understand why she was trying to do such things or why people like her try to impose things on others when they themselves don’t want to follow such stuff?

 

I respect people who take their religion seriously and follow it, I am not a religion fanatic but if someone believes in his/her religion, I respect that. I have never been one of those who has criticised any religion or has said things against any body’s religious views or opinions but I hate people who try to hide their black souls behind the veils of their religious views. All I’d say is Grow up! Life is too short to divulge into such stupid things.

 

Sorry for a dark post today but I think I needed to write this down. Coming to the lighter side, Jay from The Depp Effect gave me this award.

 

 

I love her blog except the insects that she loves posting, which gives me good reason to pee in my pants. 😀 She lives in some beautiful part of the world where a lot of greenery still makes your mornings fresh and the twitter of birds still work as a sweet alarm clock. I must not commit this crime by not mentioning that she is a Jhonny Depp Fan. Cheers Jay! 

Image Source

Marbles… My Marbles.

 

7a.m. Wake up! Yawn!! Switch On Lappy Top

 

Check Official site. There are only queries and queries. Have they lost it, they are asking me queries at 7 .15 a.m. in morning? …Procrastinate.

 

7.30 Upload stuff, check website for the unwanted promotions. Delete Delete. Buzz Off!!

 

It’s already 8 a.m Huh!! Get out of bed. Brush, prepare tea, pick lappy top and back to work.

 

Start researching for an article for Donkey Blog. Errrmmm… subscription problem- fix,  Comments not moderated – moderate. Try to add donkey header- no avail. Eeeks!!! It’s 9.30 ! Start researching again.

 

Dammit! It’s time to take bath.

 

11.am. Open Daddy Papersufer. Leave comment. He asking what is the back of a knee called.  Brain Dead! No Answer.  No comment. Fuel.

 

Start researching for Donkey Blog again. Open Drowsey Monkey in another tab. Ohh!! She and Olga are running a competition. Write  a dirty comment. Leave.

 

Errmmm …research and no blogging. Huh!! What is Margaret doing in New York? Oh!! She has added another article. Don’t read till you complete research. Research….

 

It’s already 2 p.m. What? Lunch time. 2p.m.-3.30p.m. lunch.  

 

Back to Lappy Top! Open Official website.  Glace, everything seems alright so far! Ehh!! I had to fave blogs on technorati. Add blogs to technorati. Update profile, no time to add piccyy , check more blogs. Dianne is back from her holiday. Leave comment on her blog.

 

I promised Fracas that I’ll add Fraccers in my Scratch Roll. Add and leave a comment in her Flaunt section.

 

Darn!! I have to write an article now. The research material is there. Let me first check MyBlogLog. Oohh!! There is this Digg Button that I have never used. Update profile, check how to use this silly button. Huh!! Lost it. Freaks!!! It’s 5 p.m.

 

No blogging. Only article. Okay, dedicatedly write an article till 6.15 and upload till 6.30. So far, so good. Tea time

 

7 p.m back to Lappy Top. Check Donkey Blog. No ass has left a comment. Never Mind! It’s just 3 days.  Solve queries on website. I should check what JD is doing. Yeah!! She is was talking about coffee. I love coffee. Leave  a quick comment.

 

Mental note- Check Jay, 70s and Michael before the day ends. Aww!! Rev is sad. Leave hugs for him. (Google Reader is open permanently)

 

Sigh!! Dammitt!! The stats of my blog are not working. Open wordpress forums, search search.

 

Mom (calling)- “Scratchy it’s dinner time. “

Me- “Coming Mom!!”

 

Close Laptop. Dinner and chit chat with family.

 

Back to room by 9.30 Check the stats thingy again. Need to add plugin, add it, looks fine, edit details.  Open FMB, Quick fuel for all.

 

Oh Scratcher’s time. Login to chat…open rest of the websites. Solve queries, add updates.  Chit chat with him for  …eeerrrmm.. 2 hours.. 3 hours. Make more plans. He wants to open another website, which means more work. Keep reading stuff in different tabs while he types. Damn!!

 

Stop chatting, I need to work!  Ummm…1 a.m. ! I think I’ll work tomorrow. Yawn! Good Night!

 

No doubt I have lost my marbles!!