Hey, guys. Thanks for increasing the numbers of subscribers on this blog, this blog, and this blog. :)
Just wanted to pop in telling those of you who still haven't updated their subscription lists, that my new posts will no longer appear here.
Don't miss a single one of them; subscribe to the new feed here. Or head out to the actual blog first—I've been told the colours and look are really good. Let's see if I can make you agree!
This Blog has Moved! [ANN]
50 posts and 70 comments later, this blog has permanently moved to NotSoOutstanding.blogspot.com. The reasons why I did this are:
- URL: I realized that a-glorious-gift was not easy to remember. This one's better.
- I ain't so outstanding: Exactly. I want my posts to be received as coming from someone average, someone just wishing to exhibit their thoughts and not give out any gyan.
- Change: Exactly again. I needed a new look, a new identity, and here it is!
All the old posts will be here and on the new blog. I couldn't move the IntenseDebate comments, which is why I'm saving the posts here too. From now on, all new posts will go directly to NSO (:D).
Please update your subscriptions/bookmarks/memory. :)
[RSS subscription link]
Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.
P.S. Some issues still have to be worked on. Pardon me if you have to face any ugliness over at NotSoOutstanding.blogspot.com.
- URL: I realized that a-glorious-gift was not easy to remember. This one's better.
- I ain't so outstanding: Exactly. I want my posts to be received as coming from someone average, someone just wishing to exhibit their thoughts and not give out any gyan.
- Change: Exactly again. I needed a new look, a new identity, and here it is!
All the old posts will be here and on the new blog. I couldn't move the IntenseDebate comments, which is why I'm saving the posts here too. From now on, all new posts will go directly to NSO (:D).
Please update your subscriptions/bookmarks/memory. :)
[RSS subscription link]
Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.
P.S. Some issues still have to be worked on. Pardon me if you have to face any ugliness over at NotSoOutstanding.blogspot.com.
My Favourite Wallpaper
A couple of weeks back I changed it, not because I was as usual bored, but because of the feeling it's not very "me" to stick to the same image for so long... But within a day I was back to this one. It's so beautifully intriguing that I never get tired of looking at it—in fact I find myself staring at this picture for minutes at a stretch and admiring the beauty.
Never tried finding out whether it's real; don't remember where I downloaded it... Who cares. It's about the beauty. The simplicity. Which this has in abundance.
Power Blogging
...requires:
...as I've learnt... and not yet implemented.
1. Regular commenting on other blogs and saying something well beyond "Great post!".
2. Regular posting. Duh!
3. Regular guest posting—on your blog by others and by you on other people's blogs.
...as I've learnt... and not yet implemented.
Muse Quiz (Diwaan-i-aam)
This Thursday (9/9) I conducted a quiz to introduce Muse, a the society for readers, writers and lovers of words. The quiz was conducted as part of the event "Diwaan-i-aam", an event (which rocked) intended to showcase the fun activities of the Literary Society, in the open.
Nostalgia—OB Presentation
Back in the day we had a course called Organisational Behaviour/Organizational Behavior. (A course that has been life-altering. :))
Going through my Google Docs, I found a document that was the text of my presentation as part of the tutorial for the course. It was about a fifteen-minute speech on "Experiment". The starting idea comes from one of the best books ever: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I also read quite a few blog posts from around the blogosphere for inspiration; thanks to all those writers.
Let's see if you think it's an interesting read.
P.S. "ICE Age" is the term our tutorial teacher used for the current times of Information, Communication and Entertainment.
Brain Map Sharing (Random Thoughts 2)
All right; time for another post of that kind. Randomer this time, I guess.
- Jujus café, for now, is just the kind of place that will be my regular hangout. Finally a place that seems to welcome people who are okay with being alone sometimes. ;) For now even the crowd that's there (as I've noticed in my two days in a row) isn't the usual staring kind. How cool is that!
It's just the perfect place for thinking over a cup of coffee, or brainstorming, which was very successful today.
- I couldn't get the official tweet button to work for me. Keeps pointing to the blog rather than the post. And used from within Reader, points to reader.google.com. Not fair. I know, of course, the fault is mine.
- Typing is so much fun! So is Twitter.
- I just suggested "geek dudette" as a sort of title for myself. Makes me laugh somehow. And here's THE link again. It'll tell you I'm not a nerd, but a geek; the dudette part is for you to decide.
- I just suggested "geek dudette" as a sort of title for myself. Makes me laugh somehow. And here's THE link again. It'll tell you I'm not a nerd, but a geek; the dudette part is for you to decide.
- I'm reading The Tipping Point these days. Next up are more bestsellers in the same category. The concept is so brilliant. Might want to study something on these lines later in life.
- Reminds me of the Millennium Trilogy. Three of the best books I've read lately. I hope the English movies are good. They'd better be.
- I want to read Chelsea Handler as well. Probably after I'm done with economics. And I want to read everything by Nora Roberts as well. Birthright was my latest favourite before I read Stieg Larsson/Reg Keeland. Gosh, the world needs more libraries. Not to forget... The Glamour of Grammar.
RSS Zen ;)
Two summers ago, I had started actively following a few tech blogs, through which I learnt about Google Reader. And soon, was in an infinite loop of discovering new blogs and subscribing to them. For months I was on what felt like a learning high, particularly in terms of free software, web apps and some tech news. With time my subscription list began to grow to include personal blogs and blogs about productivity, happiness, simplicity, science, news, apples, oranges and lemons. And obviously, it didn't take time for the process to become counter-productive and give me mini-panic attacks to see upwards of 500 unread items every day.
So, now finally I have almost achieved RSS zen by cutting down the list. Here's what I did:
1. Reduce the number of tech blogs on my list
I had found out about most tech blogs on my list via guest/shared posts on Lifehacker and MakeUseOf and had started following them. Soon, I was mostly just getting the same information from multiple sources. Unproductive. I traced the route back and have now unsubscribed from most tech blogs but these two and a few other favourites.
2. Unsubscribe from blogs that would look good on a list, but weren't getting read
Having realized that some of the blogs on my list weren't actually getting read, I unsubscribed. The names are stuck in my memory well enough to guarantee an occasional visit to the web log itself.
3. Refer to stats for starred items
I use starred items mostly to bookmark posts that I will keep wanting to come back to. Looking at the blogs with the least starred items gave me a good idea of which ones I don't want to follow.
4. Split followed blogs across platforms
Unbelievably for me, I now follow mental_floss only on Twitter. Likewise, TED.com and IBNLive are only on my Facebook pages list. This actually helps, and makes reading more interesting because now I don't have to read all my posts with the same UI.
5. Keep Reader for "forgettable" blogs
I might miss a tweet or Facebook update, but it's hard to just not notice an unread item in Reader, so I've made sure that smaller or low-frequency blogs stay on.
Reader's unread posts counts had become a scary number. With # 4 and 5, that number's smaller, without a change in the amount of information I'm fed.
I have now effectively come down to a few tens of posts everyday, which can be easily navigated through in under an hour, and many more posts get actually read now. :)
(This post was typed in Bend, a text editor worth at least a test drive. For now I'm keeping it for concurrent use with Q10.)
So, now finally I have almost achieved RSS zen by cutting down the list. Here's what I did:
1. Reduce the number of tech blogs on my list
I had found out about most tech blogs on my list via guest/shared posts on Lifehacker and MakeUseOf and had started following them. Soon, I was mostly just getting the same information from multiple sources. Unproductive. I traced the route back and have now unsubscribed from most tech blogs but these two and a few other favourites.
2. Unsubscribe from blogs that would look good on a list, but weren't getting read
Having realized that some of the blogs on my list weren't actually getting read, I unsubscribed. The names are stuck in my memory well enough to guarantee an occasional visit to the web log itself.
3. Refer to stats for starred items
I use starred items mostly to bookmark posts that I will keep wanting to come back to. Looking at the blogs with the least starred items gave me a good idea of which ones I don't want to follow.
4. Split followed blogs across platforms
Unbelievably for me, I now follow mental_floss only on Twitter. Likewise, TED.com and IBNLive are only on my Facebook pages list. This actually helps, and makes reading more interesting because now I don't have to read all my posts with the same UI.
5. Keep Reader for "forgettable" blogs
I might miss a tweet or Facebook update, but it's hard to just not notice an unread item in Reader, so I've made sure that smaller or low-frequency blogs stay on.
Reader's unread posts counts had become a scary number. With # 4 and 5, that number's smaller, without a change in the amount of information I'm fed.
I have now effectively come down to a few tens of posts everyday, which can be easily navigated through in under an hour, and many more posts get actually read now. :)
(This post was typed in Bend, a text editor worth at least a test drive. For now I'm keeping it for concurrent use with Q10.)
Open to New Themes
Hola, people! Just wanted y'all to know that I'd be happy to receive suggestions for a new theme for both this blog and this blog. No plans to change the themes right now, but still open to new and fresh ideas.
Learning Comes Unexpectedly
Love Happens makes me think of learning coming unexpectedly. I started thinking of this during the last post, but the idea was larger than what would qualify as random. For those of you who don't know, this movie (And no, I'm not advertising.) has some great lessons. The name had made me imagine it as a chick-flick. Maybe it is, but it's more of a learning experience—like a manual for a happier life. Of course there are tons of those, but the difference lies in how the same ideologies are presented. And my web of thoughts forces me to say that that's the precise reason I like "Shivani Didi's" presentation of ideas that aren't necessarily her own. (Another blog post due for weeks now.)
Gosh... I have too much of a hangover from a post that intentionally shows bad writing. Bear with me as I try to correct that. I'll cut through the irrelevant parts and skip to the original point:
We never know what could be a source of knowledge and wisdom for us. Train your brain and senses to always be open to fresh ideas, a new perspective, a wild breakthrough. Be willing to receive... to accept... But of course, all in a positive sense. Mental filters have to be the most active part of the brain—always.
And now I don't know where to go with writing about this idea, so I guess I'll just leave it here. The movie's asking for more attention now too. I'm glad.
P.S. Words learnt from the movie: quidnunc, poppysmic, sesquipedalianist. :)
Gosh... I have too much of a hangover from a post that intentionally shows bad writing. Bear with me as I try to correct that. I'll cut through the irrelevant parts and skip to the original point:
We never know what could be a source of knowledge and wisdom for us. Train your brain and senses to always be open to fresh ideas, a new perspective, a wild breakthrough. Be willing to receive... to accept... But of course, all in a positive sense. Mental filters have to be the most active part of the brain—always.
And now I don't know where to go with writing about this idea, so I guess I'll just leave it here. The movie's asking for more attention now too. I'm glad.
P.S. Words learnt from the movie: quidnunc, poppysmic, sesquipedalianist. :)
Random Thoughts 1
- This is a blog post writing which I have no agenda—no idea what it's going to be about. I'm watching Love Happens simultaneously. It's a bad habit of mine: any movies I watch outside a cinema hall, never get singular attention. In fact mostly I have a plan of what I intend to do while I watch the movie. (During the last one I made a personal dictionary of roots, prefixes and suffixes.) Actually, is it a bad habit after all? I really don't know, and in fact prefer not to judge now.
- It just struck me that it doesn't not make sense to have a random post without planning. I've seen this on another blog actually—a "Random Thoughts" post. Guess I can give that a try too. Should work, considering I keep having weird thoughts that might appreciate a wider audience. By the way, how do I define a blog post that "works"? Hmm...
- This is a strange feeling... The only time I write like this is for my personal diary, and that too only sometimes, when I feel unable to do a writing exercise.
- I'm actually rolling my eyes at the screen right now.
- Now that I've made it this embarrassing, perhaps I'll just throw this away and never publish it. But then again, I will. People have to stretch out and reach out of the comfortable cocoon of the familiar. It's a part of growing.
No, I Don't Miss Wi-fi
For almost two years now, I've been used to living near a laptop, connected to the internet till eternity, with at least a couple of browser windows and some apps dancing around my screen when I press Win + Tab. (Yes, I'm a Windows person. Sigh)
And now suddenly, sitting in a cutely gorgeous house in Chandigarh, having been here for a month and intending to bug Uncle and Auntie for another half (at most), I'm actually relieved that my life is so offline.
I use the internet a few days a week for a few minutes. Well, not really my kinda internet—just blogger, google reader (only to mark all items as read), gmail and a few seconds on facebook.* And you know what? I was seriously, honestly satisfied with that. Now it is purely by choice that I almost avoid going online. Some of you who know me well might be giggling right now, mostly in disbelief. The others would think this is natural, or crazy or anything in between. Whatever it is, I'm totally serious here. There's suddenly so much more time. I still cling to this laptop a lot, but end up doing lots of offline stuff, invariably very productive or happiness-generating activities. I've been reading and writing a lot more than usual lately, and catching up with some movies.
And yes, I am missing out on truckloads of things that I enjoy doing, but those can wait. It's good to be relatively disconnected at times. Wonder if I can ever survive without a cell phone. (Now you must be laughing your heads off. :P)
*Although on my weekends home, it's hard to not go back to the same old routine.
Popcorn Kernels
I like popcorn kernels. Most people think it's time to toss the popcorn bag when the fluffy bits are gone; I think that's when the fun part begins. I love the challenge of having to exercise your teeth hard to extract taste from those hard grains.
Everyday inspiration! :D
Why I Won't Put Ads on my Blogs
I write because I enjoy the writing part of it. And the typing part as well.
The free earnings would be great, but I wouldn't want to give up the cleanliness of my blogs, sustained by effort and passion, for a few dollars. These blogs started as attempts to let my voice reach people—this simple, honest intention deserves to remain pristine.
And the other thing is that with my writing right now, I don't intend to rake in any moolah; the idea to improve enough before I feel ready to launch my writing into the commercial space.
My Favourite Blogs 2
All right, this post is at least a year late, so no more time-wasting here. (Link to the first post in this series.)
Things that Make Me Happy (Updatable)
In no particular order:
- Rain
- Babies
- Wet grass
- Dew drops
- Good food
- Cheese
- Coffee
- Flowers
- Writing/blogging
- Typing
- Cameras
- thxthxthx.com :)
- Shades of purple
- Being so busy with something, you involuntarily forget about lower-order needs
- Long phone conversations
- Smiling
- RAOKs (directed from or to me)
- Good stationery
- Clean desktops—real and virtual
An Open Letter to Whoever Can Change the Scenario Described
Sir/Madam
I have to clarify right at the outset that, no matter what people might say, I love life at Thapar. Everything about the place—the negatives totally included—make life so much fun and satisfying, and I'm probably blessed with the best people around too.
But anyway, frequently I think of how India's fourth best private engineering college fails to live up to its name in some ways. Rather than using engineering in a way that reflects the education being imparted, the campus is just an ordinarily equipped place. Here is a reality-check:
- We're churning out an exponentially rising number of Computer Science engineers every year, yet there is no official system (that is followed as well) to distribute notes online, and offer video-taped lectures. Even the attendance and testing systems have remained the same over the years while technology grows as warp speed.
The idea is to enhance communication among students and teachers (WebKiosk 2.0), an example of which is Mr. Apurva Bakshi's IPR blog: avbakshi.blogspot.com.
- Electronics and Electrical engineers have not been able to design greener technologies to mow lawns, water plants, power the campus... Not only are we yet to bring out a breakthrough in the existing technologies, despite the generous revenues, even already-available technologies are yet to be put to productive use.
- Despite the high desirability of Civil engineering courses, the real thinktanks have been rather uncivil in not having bettered the walkways, which are sure to ruin a good pair of shoes with the oodles of quicksand during the rainy days.
- Most courses are based on the theoretical aspect of things, and the practical applications only come as a footnote. Unless we realize the manifestations of its concepts, how are we expected to find interest in the course? And what real innovation are we bringing learning exactly what the past generations of engineers have been studying?
- The labs are a wonderful way to waste/utilize time trying to prove the proven. The curriculum overall, and the labs in particular, have no flexibility, and that goes directly against the very idea of engineering.
The list has more than can be recounted, but the general idea is to inject more engineering into a campus like ours.
On the shiny side, however, some of the ongoing research is highly awe-inspiring. The potato-tomato hybrid, and the zapping cars of the mechanical engineers of course do us all proud. Let's try swinging the scales in favour of the delicious side of engineering.
Truly
100806095
Life Lessons from a Theatre Director
If I start it, the story will be use up a million words, so I'll directly skip to the point(s):
Make it fun
Nobody enjoys injecting effort into something that they don't relish. I'd be sorry for you if you were one of the people who are stuck doing something they inherently don't enjoy, but the point is that even in activities we revel in, light moments are always welcome. Create an atmosphere around that is light, humorous and fun.
Acknowledge your role as the team leader...
and make sure that you always give out positive vibes and stay optimistic. Don't let your negative thoughts rub off on the team and get you all down.
Welcome criticism, but know where to draw the line
Be open to ideas from people who might not be authorized or asked to help. Genuinely consider ideas that may turn out to be for the greater good. Nevertheless, know that you'll have to put your foot down at some point and take decisions that not everyone will appreciate. The director may be "only just a director" but in the end it is her call.
You're never too prepared
No matter how far the big day seems, you never have too much time to prepare. Stay focused, do not be delinquent, and work hard.
Trust spontaneity
Preparation sometimes comes in the way of excellence. True, you can never be too prepared, but the line has to drawn somewhere. Put in a sincere effort; and leave the rest to the D-day eustress.
You'll have to surrender control at some point
No matter what, your duty will be over at some stage, where you have to have faith, trust your cast and crew, and God, and hope everything works out well. And guess what--if you've put in an honest effort, it will! Loosen up!
Look for the positives
During the performance, keep track of all the positives. (The goof-ups won't need conscious tracking. :P) And once it's over, congratulate yourself and your team on the good work. When you start working on the next performance, be sure to use the feedback constructively.
Thank you, Lovneet, for being the in/direct source of wisdom.
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