Happy Birthday to me !

Things I did & wish hadnt done them

Here are a few things just off the top of my head, I did in the last week or two and really felt hadnt done them ... This also triggered things which I did NOT do and wish I had done them .. but thats next post .. :) or not ..

1. Put coffee in the microwave for 1.5 minutes this morning... I knew its gonna spill .. but still .. dunno why I did it .. (reminds me of that sardar joke (no offense please) where he sees the same movie 20 times expecting a different ending each time :) )

2. Crossed the yellow signal (it turned red while I was crossing ..) and repented it .. got a ticket for running red light .. *sigh*

3. Shouted at my mom for no reason .. I do this quite a lot of times .. she is just like a friend now .. I take her for granted .. bad thing to do, I know ..

4. Cancelled the Amazon interview .. dont want to talk about this one ...

5. Just for fun took up a challenge to drink 4 mexican martini shakers (4 !, they dont even allow more than 2 per person at Trudys !) with my friends - I did drink 4 but then the end wasnt too good :( I am not into drinking at all anyway but then that night something got into me .. really wish hadnt done that ... I should have known where to draw the line ..

6. Cricket - Slow & short ball outside off stump .. deserved six runs .. pulled it over to the legside ... caught out ... I always do this .. Always get out on the lollypop balls which deserve at least 4 runs ..

7. Went out for dinner for last 4 / 5 consecutive days .. I really want to cook .. but cooking for just one person is sooo boring .. I ended up calling up a few friends and going out everytime ..

8. In the MS interview, during lunch interview with an Indian interviewer, while nodding at one of his comments, at an unconscious moment said "Accha" !! Can you believe it ? I suck man !

The day after tomorrow !

I was chatting with a good friend of mine today and he casually asked me " So whats the plan for tomorrow evening ?" and I was like "dude ! its Monday tomorrow, what special plan can I have on a monday evening ?" ... and then after a second I realized, well, he was talking more in reference to Tuesday ! still dont get it, do you ? Its my 25th birthday on tuesday (March 28) !!! Well, if you had forgotten that (that is only if you knew) or if you didnt know that, dont feel bad .. firstly coz I am reminding you 2 days in advance ! :) and secondly coz even I had forgotten about it myself ...

My friend's question got me thinking. Wow .. 25th birthday ! thats awesome !! I am gonna be 25 in a couple of days !! I am so happy !!! hmm.. wait .. thats no big deal .. to be 25 ? You dont have to do anything to grow up and be 25 ! It just happens !! So what am I so happy about ? about a day which comes every year (& not like once in a lifetime) ? I mean its not like the day when all nine planets are aligned in one line which happens after like once in 1000s of years ... you should be happy if you see that day ! But why am I so happy about this day ?

Dont get me wrong .. I am not sad or depressed in life and I sure do know how to enjoy life.. But I like to be serious/introvert sometimes ... I like, in fact love, all the cake, party, fun stuff (and yes :) the b'day bumps too) but then thats just what we do on a b'day ! Those are the procedures that are attached to this day ... Just for a second, try separating your birthday from all these emotions .. what do you get ? Just another day ? Just another day when a count somewhere is incremented by one (you have to excuse me for being a typical software engineer :) lol ) ! but seriously- what makes you happy on this day apart from the parties that you throw and treats you give & movies you watch ... why celebrate this day ? why not any other day ? I can totally understand when the whole nation celebrates Martin Luther King's b'day or Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's b'day ! They deserve it ... their work speaks for them .. what have I done to deserve a celebration on my b'day ? To all of you reading this blog, I sincerely urge you to think of an answer to this before going ahead and reading what I wrote ... or even if you think that there is no point of thinking all this .. just comment whatever you feel ..

I asked the same question to myself .. First of all, I was wondering, why did I not ask that question to myself on any of the previous birthdays ? I mean I did have 24 of them already right ? ... I guess I have become more matured now ;) .. whatever you may think, I am gonna take that as an answer to that question and move on ... or I will be just surrounded by questions and no answers whatsoever ... Moving on ...

So is it b'coz of where I am ? U know in United States but so are million others .. Is it my education ? I have done Masters but so have thousand others .. Is it my work ? I am working for Microsoft .. big deal ! so are thousands of others ... I kept on thinking and then it struck me .. It is your day but its not exactly your day ! Its not you who celebrates this day ... I mean you are involved, but mostly its others - people around you - people to whom you matter, your presence matters - They wanna tell you that "Hey thanks for sticking around & being there for me " .. so why should you be happy ? You should be happy coz this day will tell you, 'to how many people you really matter !' I am not talking about how many phone calls you get at midnight or during the day ... I am talking about those genuine voices which make your day ! Thats what makes me happy when I think about my b'day ! I like that explanation that I gave to myself ... I think thats what I feel when I call someone up on their b'days !

You agree / disagree / feel this is bullshit or why are we even having this conversation ? Let me know ...

What is your biggest weakness ?

This is probably the most difficult non-technical question you will face in an interview ... "What is your biggest weakness" ... The answer has to sound like a weakness but at the same time should not prove to be a big weakness for the job .. You can not be too honest and start listing your weaknesses but at the same time you can not take this questions lightly and just shrug it off saying I dont have any weakness (remember Aamir Khan in DCH, 'buraiyaan aur mujhme ? kya baat kar rahi ho ?' ) ...

I have seen quite a few monotonous and always used answers like "I work too hard or I am a perfectionist " .. these answers are so not proper these days as interviewers already know them & they have heard them so many times that they just dont want to hear it again .. so its quite a trick .. many sites I found say that you have to state a weakness but then put it positively and it should ultimately come out as your strength ... If you ask me, I dont buy that .. at least not when I am an interviewer and I am asking this question to someone ... You know what I would look for is an honest answer within limits !

Whats the right answer ? I dont know !! I guess it also depends on your own personality, the work environment and the situation and many other things .. When I was preparing for my interviews, I was once asked these couple of questions :

"Whats your biggest strength ? " and then "Whats your biggest weakness ? " .., I swear to god I once even felt answering them like this :

"Whats your biggest strength ?"
"My biggest strength is that I know my weaknesses"

"Whats your biggest weakness ?"
"My biggest weakness is that I dont know my strengths"

what say ? Good enough answer for an advertizing job where they r looking for your creativity :))