back in action

i'm back. after a short disappearance. but I guess its quite apparent now that i'm not so good at this. keeping up with my earlier intentions to write more frequently. here's a quick recap of the last couple of weeks..

had to extend my stay in Houston. but it was a worthwhile. both for work & social. i'll do separate post on my work sometime. on the last 4 months (feels like a lot longer thou) and how i've grown to enjoy what I do so much more. Despite the earlier skeptism, i'm seeing some long-term here.

I had such a good time in SF, thanks to Renu & Daniel who were such terrific hosts. (despite Daniel making me wake up at 7am for a tour around the city!) have to admit thou, Gate bridge at that hour was spectacular. and yes Daniel, u do make a great tour guide. you should start charging! The picnic concert at Stern Grove festival with the kids was cool. oh, i'm just loving the bay city more and more. ..

the last few weeks after that has been up and down the kiasu-land (Singap0re, if you did not already know..) quite tiring. this week is a breather and i'm leaving again on Monday for a week. hopefully the end of this string of visits.. the project is due to go-live mid Oct. (fingers and toes crossed)

my sister's back to uni after her summer vacation. the house feels so quiet and empty without her.. looking forward to seeing her again in January for mum's first year prayers, which by the way will be on 12/Jan. based on the hindu calendar , which not necessarily (or most of the time) fall on the day she passed away. Can't believe 9 months has gone since. what has changed? and what has not?? lets not go there..

then there was Nat's son's bday party, which I dragged my SIL & Shankri along, turned out to be quite an outing. Shankri decided to vomit in the car on our way there. we had to take her up to N's condo and wash her up. the party was almost over by the time we were done. :( It was a pool party with safari theme. turned out very well with the animal shaped balloons & the cake was so cool. Back seat of my car was stuffed with balloons when we left and oh, the car stunk for days after that, thanks to that little monster..

Me and Navee are planning our long overdue north India tour. if everything goes to plan, it'll be an Indian xmas & new year. which also means i'll be missing C & PS's wedding reception in Penang on the 29/12. feel really awful about that. but we have no choice with mum's prayers and Navee's cuz's wedding in Jan. will be attending the KL function thou.

Then just before Xmas, i'm going to *Phuket with Nat, her hubby and his friend. its going to be a busy december, in a fun way.

I've been working from home mostly this week due to the weird working hour communicating with peers in the US & E. Kind of works well with the cricket twenty20 worldcup is going on now. most matches are midnight. dad & bro are pretty much glued to the TV. well not so much my bro who dozes off most of the time. and so am I this time. I like the game, but never had patience for the ODIs, where most of the time i just follow up with the scores. the twenty20 on the other hand takes about 3 hours roughly. much bearable. India's been kicking @ass so far, despite the disappointment they had been in the last worldcup. They are on semifinals midnight today against the Aussies, one of the strongest team. Good luck guys!

S's wedding reception is in *Melaka tom evening. been looking forward to meeting the girls after some time. 8am flight the next day morning is not a good idea, but i didn't have much choice.. waking up after the long evening is going to be fun...