Quote of the Day
“Guess who I ran into.. JAI RODRIGUEZ… he had a man with a kilt with him.. no idea.”

-Rumman, about her brush with celebrity. In case you’re not aware, he’s one of the guys on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Alright, so I think I’m supposed to automatically include what happened on my birthday, correct? So let’s start with this: it was awesome.

First off, I decided I wanted a Friiiiied Chicken Party. (You gotta say it all Southern for it to be correct btw.) Apsi was wonderful and bought a whole lot of KFC including Zinger Burgers (my favorite in India.. btw did you know that KFC in India is better than KFC in America? Seriously- the chicken is juicier, fresher, and tastes better. Weird.) In America there’s the Zinger Wrap, but it doesn’t do justice. No no, this is perfect because it has full mayonnaise, a slice of cheese, fresh lettuce, and then a sesame seed bun. Awww YEAAH.

Anyway, a bunch of people were here, with a majority of them being people I didn’t know. Basically Jojin’s friend John brought over two of his (girl)friends (fine by me, ahem ahem), and Jojin brought like, 2 or 3 guys (boo). Then there were my friends Eleyah and Serah whom I adore, Vinod, Apsi, and Vinod’s sister Maggie and her husband and kids. So it was a rather incongruous lot… very odd.

After the finger lickin’ good chicken, most of us (except the parents, kids, and Vinod) went out to a new club. The music was so-so, but I danced like it was 1999. I know that I burned off ALL of the Zinger Burger I had eaten, and I didn’t care because I hadn’t danced in at least 8 months, maybe a year. Fine, maybe I’m exaggerating. Either way, we partied hard until 12:00 or so, and then headed home.

Serah and Eleyah spent the night with all of us, and we just sat up talking and making retarded jokes until 2 am or so. Good fun.

So what, I didn’t get my birthday wish of a threesome. But I spent it with people that I cared about, cared about me, and it was great.

Wow. So this Senator in Virginia decided to be ‘funny’ on his campaign trail. Sen George Allen (Republican, duh) decided his humor would be best served by picking on an Indian guy who was recording his speeches.

Basically, the guy (S.R. Sidarth) is a Democrat and volunteers for the opposition party. It’s a common practice lately to have the opposition’s speeches recorded. I suppose it’s to pick up on inconsistencies in candidates speeches later and stuff. But Sen. Allen decided hey, why not, let’s pick on the one non-white in the crowd.

Allen called him ‘macaca’-I have no idea what it means. Allen’s manager at first said it was because Sidarth had a mohawk (ahem ahem… me too) and that was the nickname evolved into ‘macaca’ as time went on. The irony is that I checked out a picture of Sidarth- he has no mohawk. He has long hair.

Check this: “This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent. He’s following us around everywhere. And it’s just great,” Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh.

Sick sick sick. But we (Indians) don’t have enough of a voice yet to derail this guy. So sad. Check the article out if you’re interested.

Quote of the Day
” so i have decided that white people suck”
-Rumman

Of course, her issue was a valid one and has to do with Tony Blair talking about how Muslim women in Britain wearing a veil causes a rift between non-Muslims and Muslims.

So the Opus Kroaking Supernova Encore (concert) was last night and I’m totally exhausted. I have a crapload of stuff to do, and to be honest, I haven’t seen Aparna in almost a week and I miss her. She’s been helping her cousin with her wedding (or as they say in India, marriage), but she got married yesterday and I guess that means I can finally talk to my boo. But I must continue on! I have work for a website that I’m dedicated to finishing today so I can hand it over tomorrow.

On another perhaps more interesting note, I’ll be auditioning for a radio station in November or so. Whaa??? Yep. There’s just a single station in Bangalore that plays “world music” (translation: american) and I think I’d like to audition to be a dj for an hour of hiphop during the week sometime. I know– you’re thinking, “Vinoj? Hip-hop?” Technically, I don’t have street-cred or anything like the real dj’s in America, but for India I think I’ll be fine. And besides I’m not going to have any trouble playing some Eminem or Snoop once in a while. “Now taking your calls– V-Unit!”

Actually that sounds retarded.. help me come up with a better radio name.

Peas.

Quote of the Day
“umm..if i am coming to india…it’ll be to kerala with my parents...they wont let me out of the house for fear that i might die”
-Donna, talking about the typical overprotective Indian parents. Note though that she IS really hot.

Quote of the Day
“arshia > vinoj because i said so.”
-Arshy. Sometimes, logic can be so hard to defeat.

After a tiring week, a wonderful weekend arrived. Tiring because I ran around like a madman trying to get a driving permit which I have yet to receive, tiring because I waited two complete days indoors waiting for a bank to come ‘verify my address’ so that I can be approved for a loan (for the scooter), and tiring because the rest of the time was spent either coding websites or chasing around auto drivers.

Sigh.

But, there is some positive to all of this. I got a good amount of work done. One of them is a church website, and I’ve actually posted it on my own server for now until they have the rest of their information to me. Make sure to check it out by clicking here, and leave a comment below as to your thoughts.

Another site had to be updated extensively, so that will be up soon too– that should be Tuesday or Wednesday at least. But the link is here.

Last, Jojin came to me and asked me to do a poster for a church group he’s part of. Considering he’s my roommate, my cousin, and I like the guy, I said, “Yeah sure.” Their theme for this summer camp for kids is ‘Finding Nemo’. I think they want to equate it to the Jesus Fish and also about how the father searches for the son, and so on. Basically a modern-day prodigal son parable by Jesus. Anyway, there was a bit too much information with the design that they had proposed, so I finished theirs, started from scratch, and came up with another one. If you’re interested you can check them out here and here. (Just a warning, they’re both around 400K.)

So that’s what’s been keeping me busy. Also, I’ve started my own company- The Designs Bakery. I’ll be taking orders (well I’ve already begun I suppose) for websites, print designs, whatever.

And with that, I bid adieu. Until next time.