Of Late

I sometimes work Sundays. I'm a college student and I'm poor. Yeah.
So on Sundays, I come to work directly after church. That means that I'm usually unlike my sloppy peers because I'm wearing my Sunday best.

This Sunday, it was about 10°F (which for you metric junkies is a balmy -12°C ) outside with winds even lower. And about the time that my work got over, my cousin called and told me that he was running late by about an hour. The building would be closed promptly at six. I'd die of hypothermia if I chose to stand out.
My options:
The Mall- I'll have to walk for about 20 minutes which is really not worth it. And I'll end up buying something I don't really need.
The train station and then to my home. As an option it seems quite good. But again, it was a thirty minute walk to home.
It was then that I noticed the fancy restaurant across the street.
Okay, honestly, I didn't think this much. As soon as I hung up. I looked both ways, like my mom always told me to do, and crossed the street.
I just intended to stand in the entrance. So I could see my cousin and not become an overcoat-wearing popsicle. As soon as I entered, this waitress opened this door for me and asked me whether I had a reservation.
"No" I replied honestly
"That's alright", She continued, "Where would you like to be seated?"
"By the window"
"Alright, here we go"
She handed me a fancy napkin rolled over a fork and knife. I took it and thanked her.
About five minutes later, this asian waiter comes up to me and says;
"Good evening sir! Would you like any drinks? Or are you waiting for someone?"
"Yes I'm waiting" I said
"No problem, please ask for Ron whenever you're ready to order."
"Alright"
I called my cousin and told him to call me when he's about five minutes away.
Meanwhile, I sit there, staring at all the couples eating, counting the fancy bulbs on the chandelier, staring at the rich carpet and just plain waiting.
Twenty minutes later, Ron comes up to me again and asks whether I'd like to order anything. I repeat myself and say that I'm waiting for someone.
He gives me a glass of water, unasked. I get a new thing to play with. The condensation on the outside of the glass is fascinating... really.

Finally my phone rings. I answer it and start walking towards the door.
Ideally, I'd have loved if no one saw me leaving. But, well considering Murphy's Law, someone just had to. Ron greeted me and asked whether I was leaving.
"Yes," I said "she stood me up."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"It's all right. It had to happen I guess."
I had to try very hard to maintain the straight face. I cross the road, jump into my cousin's car and burst out laughing.
My cousin looks at me quizzically.
"I had a date" I explain.

An Update...

..on the romance situation.
Again borrowing from xkcd, I found this strip. (If you don't get the humor, 'userdel' is a Linux command to totally delete a user and all the associated files from a computer).
I did something similar today by deleting all the messages and emails and numbers and memorabilia that belonged or in any way reminded me of her.
I had called her yesterday to tell her that I'm totally over her (and also to give her a piece of my mind). But couldn't because just when she said hello, my cousin walked into the room. (I could've just walked out but I was lying, covered in blankets and didn't feel like moving.) Furthermore, she was at some lame party or something, not the ideal situation to be talking of mismatched goals.
Anyway, we hope this is the end. There is of course a non-zero probability that we might meet again (the world is round after all). But discounting that... we hope this is the end.
P.S: Please click on the image to see it clearly.

The trouble with Wikipedia

XKCD is my favorite web-comic of all times. It's funny, ultra-geeky and super-snobbish at the same time. For example, its disclaimer reads as follows:

"Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)."
For example, today's comic was titled "The Trouble with Wikipedia". It is awesome.
Image url:

Colbert nailing Bollywood.

Regular readers may know how much I heart Colbert. If you don't then I'd just say that it I heart Colbert in fangirl-ish proportions. I must admit that the only time I question my sexuality is while watching his shows. Of course except each time I hear Al Pacino's voice, or Dr Cox's rants or see Orlando Bloom half naked ahem, ahem. Enough said.
Recently Colbert started a new section called "We the MEdiator" (sic). Where he picks up celebrity squabbles and decides who should win. I was really delighted when he picked up on Bollywood this past week (Jan 10).

Later that week, he revisits the feud and flips his decision. Still worth a watch.

He has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Which makes it all the more funnier. His perennial serious expression makes me wanna do the unmentionables.

A post, an excuse and a reason.

Yeah, yeah. I know... boo.
I said that I wanted to post every single weekday because that was my new year resolution and I wanted to hit the ground running when the new year started. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that because well... that's what this post is about.
You might remember this girl whom I went to meet three states away, which finally turned into a disaster. We had put the whole relationship thing behind us, basically. We were good friends before, and we could certainly remain good friends in the future, right?
Wrong.
Apparently, I was forgetting one of my own favorite quotes- "Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship -never." (Charles Caleb Colton)
We still talked (not for 3000 minutes anymore, but still), and refused to bring up the 'what-might-have-been'.
A friend suggested that I must stop talking to her. But I really couldn't do that. This girl has been my friend ever since I came to the US. We used to talk for 5 or more hours on average, daily; over the Internet. I had never seen her before, but hell, she knew more about me than many of my closest relatives did. Point is, I really couldn't afford to stop talking with her.
But the relationship is still off limits. And I really didn't want to act like a jerk and bring it back up like all those ex-husbands do. One thing I've learnt from life is that- 'a woman's no is a no'. And also 'trust a woman to be as unpredictable as possible".
So, one night I call her, nothing out of the ordinary. It's just eight, so there was no way in hell she would be sleeping now (it was just not her nature). It turns out, she was sleeping- taking a nap. I decided to hang-up, but she insisted that she was fine and that we could talk.
So, since she was sleeping, and mostly sleepy, I decided to apologize for one thing that I had done right after the relationship had ended. Which, of course brought us to the topic of relationships again .
It was then she said that, she (still) had feelings for me.
"Dude, you're sure you're not making a serious mistake?" I ask
I'm absolutely sure that she's mistaken me for someone else. Because this can't be possible... this same girl has dumped me thrice before. Never giving a reason.
She continues to talk, but I don't understand most of what she's talking about, as she's mumbling. So I told her to think carefully and bade her goodnight.
Next morning, when we talked, she asked whether I had called yesterday. I said yes. Then she asked me what we were talking about, because she couldn't remember a thing. I say, I don't either because you were sleepy and just mumbling on the phone. You might've been cursing me for all I know.
The whole relationship thing never came up again. My theory was right after all.
Then she went on vacation with her brother. She had a lot of fun and we didn't speak that often. I called her on her birthday. Her brother picked up the phone. Her brother hates me, by the way, because I spent 3 days with his sister, alone and unsupervised (and in case you're wondering, no, we didn't do the unmentionables).
The brother and I were coldly civil to each other on the phone. He tells me that he'll tell her to return the call. She doesn't. I call her the next night and she says that her brother suggested that we should stop talking now. I ask her whether it was something she wants to do too. She tries to act all democratic and in turn asks me whether I want to do it. I discern that she does want me to say yes... and so I did.
Now, you'd think that it's easy to stop talking to a person. But this was one person with whom I'd shared so much. Everything reminded me of her.
Snow, coffee, ice-skating (she skates amazingly, I barely plod along), basketball (again, she's the basketball player), math (she). Two of the movies I watched were located in Michigan (where she goes to school). Hell, I'm writing this post in Jdarkroom (to write with the minimum of distractions) which has a color scheme of green and black- her favorite combo (a screenshot ).
So the point is (finally) that I was totally unable to concentrate on anything for the last 2 weeks. Good thing it was also the vacation.

PS: And B Dear, if you ever read this and find something wrong, it's because some details are hazy (you'd call that an improvement.) You still are the most beautiful person I've ever met.