The After-Life list

So now that I am clearly not in college anymore, and I clearly don't feel like being in one anymore (not yet at least), there are few things I would like to talk about the after life.
It's been way too long since I made a list, and this is my list for the after life, or some things that I realized (I sorta knew them on paper before) after finishing almost a month at work

• Weekends are sacred. Friday nights and Saturdays are the only two days where you can truly just do anything without wondering about tomorrow so much. You cherish them even more because you get to see your friends rarely, and those are the only two days you really get to see them
• Alarms are your best friend. You can never mess up with them, and I mean NEVER. The more alarms you have, the better it is for your time management skills to improve
• Watching your mouth becomes pivotal. No matter how chill your workplace is, you gotta cut those curse words out, you never know who gets offended and that habit eventually creeps in your personal life (not drastically, but somewhat)
• You make more dentist appointments and now you can afford to more than ever. Work benefits package are the best thing to happen to people in USA. Dentist visits are almost a part of your calendar and accepted very nicely at the work place
• You have new drinking friends. Happy hours exist for a reason and the reason is for all those people who work together and bond outside of the office with the help of alcohol, because nothing brings your guard down like some good ol' alcohol
• Suddenly you can't be in bed till noon on a weekend. Early to rise is your new mantra, even if early to bed doesn't work that well
• You can actually afford to spend $100 bucks on an expensive dinner every once in a while without planning it out way in advance. (This may have some limitations)
• Most of all you realize you are getting old, when people around you talk about getting married and having kids all the time.. sigh

And this is me talking in less than a month. May be after few more, I'll right a whole long essay on why people hate being single when they start working, I hear that one all the time.

So yeah, I have a life now, not much to complain about yet. I am content. That's a lot to have I guess.

I am all grown up :O

It’s hard to stay away from something so close to you even though you don’t seem to have much time for it.

Now, I know I can shut this down, and not rant (primarily because there isn’t much to rant about) and one less thing to maintain, but it’s hard.

So I am here, trying to figure out the best way to keep this going and give it an hour a week or some more. Shouldn’t be that hard, all I need is some time management skills (which I technically should have).

I went into the corporate world thinking I know what comes next owing to three odd internships I had done before. But here’s the catch, you don’t know what it’s like to work full-time till you actually get there.

First and foremost, it is overwhelming and confusing. There is so much you want to accomplish, there is so much you think you know and there is so much you believe is doable, but my friends, it’s a whole different ball game. It is a feeling of a suddenly growing up and being expected to know it all in a certain way, without really knowing it all. No matter how much you study in college, so many things are absolutely and totally new. Every mistake is scary, every step is crucial and every action is noticed.

And on top of all that you are trying to get together your social life, locate your missing friends, balance out the weekdays and the weekends. I am not complaining, because I love my job, but suddenly the importance of weekends is huge in my life, seeing some friends is extremely cheering and being able to manage time between work, work at home and friends is challenging.

I feel lost in a way. I know I don’t want to go back to school, I know I am ready to prove my abilities to corporate America, but I feel oddly old, and forcibly responsible.

Should I end it?

First week of work.

I finally have a life now. I can’t say “yes” to hanging out to people all the time. I wake up before 7 am and go to bed by 1 am.

Who knew?

So anyhoo….

I haven’t been writing much lately. And I have a feeling it’s gonna be like that. Not because I don’t want to, but because I see work being my life now, and I don’t know whether there will be much to ponder here

But hey, I can’t complain, that’s why I always wanted :)

So I have been thinking if I should just stop after over 2 years of blogging. Should I just shut this down?

It seems like a very hard decision. I have ranted so much here, I can’t seem to get myself to just not have this blog attached to my name. It’s almost a person to me… sigh

So I am still debating. To do, or not to do. Should I just end it on a high, or me not writing much, is just a phase?

Sigh!

100 days

More than 100 days ago I was anything but excited about the 100 days that were in front me that combined uncertainty with boredom.

100 some later, all I am is excited about how I am just 3 days away from my dream to kick start.

In a span of 100 days, I have learned to not be a college student and anticipate being a workaholic. I have learned to accept the fact that growing up is inevitable, but ultimately it’s how gracefully and efficiently you deal with it, rather than run from it.

In 100 days I have learnt how so many things and people just leave you when college does. I have learned to be even more stronger, self-time appreciator and a dreamer.

In 100 days I have read about people who made a difference, who created big things out of nothing, all with an idea and some will.

In 100 days I have learned I don’t want to be in college anymore, I want to face the world, and hopefully make some difference.

In 100 days, I have truly graduated.

I don’t know if I want to be a billionaire, but this song right here, speaks my mind. I know it aint coming easy, but who’s scared of the work?

I see my future in the ‘Air’

Don’t go by the title, by no means I mean that my future is uncertain. I mean I see it literally being spent in ‘air’ in a plane.

It took me almost 24 hours to get from Portland Airport to the Philadelphia Airport which actually is enough for me to fly to India and not get tired by it.

(Random: Just to make it easy I would like to call airports by the short names, I kinda know most, just saves me some trouble, so basically 24 hours to get from PDX to PHL)

So American Airlines decided the easiest (cheapest really) to fly me back home would be to fly me to SEA from PDX, then DFW from SEA and then finally PHL from DFW.

Here is the thing though, why in the world couldn’t they fly me from PDX to DFW directly. Why? What’s the point? Especially when they kept on asking people to give up their seats for the flight from PDX to SEA. Why? Beyond me.

And then at SEA, the plane miraculously decided to have mechanical issues that made us stand on the runway for more than an hour making most people miss their connections in DFW, and obviously I was one of those people.

Now Dallas may be a good city, but it’s in Texas for God’s sake. Public transportation is non-existent in that place, and for someone like me who can’t drive (even though I was just there to sleep for 10 some hours), a city with no public transportation is on my ‘city never to visit’ list.

Anyhoo…

American Airlines did only one good thing that entire trip. Got me a nice hotel to stay in for the night. I walked into West In, and immediately felt relieved. The anticipation of a comfy bed was very fulfilling at that time.

And then I decided to go eat at the bar which should have been just me and my wine and my salad, but that turned out to be the three of us with some army men. Now, never have I interacted with U.S Army men, I have heard stories and tales, but nothing first hand, and so that kicked off one eventful night.

At 10 pm, I was sure of getting at least 5 hours of sleep, by 3 am I realized that will not happen, and hence my awesome comfy bed, in an awesome hotel was not slept on. What a waste. But, I had an amazing night talking about war stories, and army life. So my night in Dallas, became one of the very good nights of my life.

Who knew??

Basically, the point of this whole tale/rant was how I see my future being spent like this like a nomad. I start work soon, and I know I’ll prolly have a project that will require me to fly a lot, and if I get stuck like this all the time, I’ll end up getting no sleep, and never reaching Philly for more than 24 hours.

Sigh!

My future is in the air.

But hey, who’s complaining! My choice, my life!

Vacation from a Vacation

After over three months of sitting at ‘home’ in Philly, it was time to take a vacation from the super long, not much needed, super lazy, over extended vacation.

So here I am, once again, exactly after a year in Portland.

Weirdly, it doesn’t feel like it’s been a year. The weather is more or less the same, I still remember the roads, the city, the conversations, everything is so fresh in my head that it feels like I was just here yesterday.

Anyhoo…

After 10 hours of flying, running from one delayed flight to another, I am here, relaxing, breathing some Oregon air, and it feels good. The best part is, Seattle is just 5 hours away, and I have a good weekend planned there as well.

How much I needed this. Sigh!

Work starts in 15 days, and week one is in NYC. Who knew??

So officially all I’ll be doing from now onwards so living off a suitcase, I mean I knew that was gonna happen, but am I ready for it.

Sorry I got side tracked.

I don’t think I need to write about Portland. I already did that last year. Just saying that it feels good. Just in case everyone was wondering where I disappeared. My frequency is dropping drastically, I know that.

Not many thoughts it seems.

Side tracked once again… gosh!

Basically I am loving this vacation. That is what I wanted to say.

The End.

Phewww….

I think I deserve to be a New Yorker

I was born and raised in a huge city with a million people around. It wasn’t a party place, but still it was a place which didn’t have trees or open grounds. Everyone was always on a move.

Then I came to Philly.

It is an amazing city, but it’s just too slow for me. Everything closes by 2 am (which is still better by Delhi standards I know) and when School is out, every place just seems so dead. I have been here for 5 years, and it is home, but then there is New York City.

Last night my friends and I just decided to drive down to New York at 9 pm and spend the Saturday night there, and once again I realized more than ever, how badly I need to move there. I know I talked about it before but I guess every time I go there, I can’t stop wishing I lived there.

The city just never sleeps. I don’t know it very well yet. I can’t give anyone directions to get from one place to another. I don’t know the best bars in lower Manhattan or  upper Manhattan. I don’t know where to get best food, best sandwiches. But I do know when you live there, you are never alone.

I met some amazing people over drinks. People who have spent there life doing what I do, just for different companies. For someone like me, who believes networking is the key to success, it was like meeting Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg and trying to build connections. I just walked the streets on my own, not fearing being alone.I just smiled my way through.

I am not a New Yorker, but I think I deserve to be. I am a city person, and more than that, I am a people’s person. New York is where you can easily get lost in a swarm, but it’s a place where you can smile through the worst night and lose yourself with all the million faces around you.

It is a city for singles and dreamers.