10 things I think I think

10. I know I stole this title from Peter King at Sports Illustrated - Monday Morning Quarterback. I am not a huge football fan, but I read his articles whenever I can. He is funny and a lot of his writings make sense. And it's not just about the NFL. Most importantly, I can catch up on what happened on the HBO shows on Sundays. Basic Cable in Bettendorf. So you can call this more like a homage to Mr. King.

9. The Indian cricket team is funny. The same team that cannot bat for a day on a fruitcake of a pitch shows enough life to win from non-sensical situations in one dayers. Is it confidence or just luck, I dunno. I remember in the days when we had the best batting line up in the world (Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, Azhar, Jadeja) we couldn't chase to save our lives. Now we have a world record of 15 successful consecutive chases. Though, personally I think we should also give credit to the fielding / bowling sides. In 12 of the last 25 games, they have restricted the opposition to below 250 runs. A couple of occasions the have given between 250 and 260. In a world where a 400+ is not safe, getting team to score at 5 an over or thereabouts is amazing.

Could it also have to do something with the fact that we have not played the Aussies for a while? The ICC knockout tourney is Sept. is gonna be fun.

8. There's no good movie coming out right now. Hindi or English. Call it the lull before the storm. I am waiting for the Da Vinci Code eagerly. Was planning on watching it the day it came out, but I shall be flying back from Detroit that day. So may be the next day. If it is not banned in Bettendorf by then. I know almost certainly that it will be banned in India. So, Bettendorf, IA is my only hope. There's another movie I might be interested in. American Dreamz. The premise sounds interesting. More people voting for the American Idol than for the president. But I think it will be boring. So I am wondering if I should even watch it. Of course, there's Nachos Libre which will be out by the time I am in India, so I might forget. Jack Black, makers of Napoleon Dynamite, July 4th weekend - Should be a wonderful time. I really don't know much of the scene in the Hindi movie world. I hear there's an Aamir Khan movie coming out. Should be good, I guess. Though I am in a Dharam-Sankat. It's a Yash Chopra movie!!! I see all of Aamir's movies, but never watch a Yash Chopra movie, as long as I don't have a gun to my head and have to choose between swimming and watching the movie (I can't swim). So I might have to be creative about this.

7. Comedy Central is slowly changing into the conscience of America. There, I said it. Though I think personally they should separate from Viacom. That's only going to stifle their creativity. But in an age where public image is so important to some, they are going head on to point out the deficiencies in the system. The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Mind of Mencia and South Park. Watch them without fail. They seem to reflect modern day US more than the Today show or the evening News. Much as I hate to say it, I also enjoy the Food Network. Maybe I am getting domesticated!! These are the only two channels I watch without interruption. That and Scrubs on NBC. If you do nothing else, watch Scrubs.

6. I don't miss Los Angeles as much as I though I would. Life in Bettendorf now has a routine attached to it. I have family near by. We speak/chat with the friends in L.A. over IM/phone. That's no different from what it was in L.A. It's just the weekend meetings that are not done any more.

5. I prefer Firefox to IE. My wife prefers IE to Firefox. Is there a way to decide this? I don't know.

4. Isn't it strange that no religion says you should kill your fellow human beings, but all violence is in the name of God? Isn't it also strange that of all the religions in the world, the newest one was started in 622 A.D.? Shouldn't we let our faiths and beliefs adjust to the realities of life in the 21st century? Is it a reflection of our crazy times that most popular of the new religions we can come up with is Scientology? Can't we have a new religion where things are NOT taboo?

3. It takes a long time to come up with 10 things that are on my mind. Is it an indication that I am at peace and don't have too many things bugging me? Or is that I cannot sustain my thoughts long enough to write an article on it?

2. For all the hullaballoo over English taking over from vernacular languages in India, I think the quality of English is getting worse. Try reading the rediff chat boards if you don't know what I mean. This is one of my most pet peeves. There seems to be a universal acceptance of SMS / IM terminology in email. How tough is it to type "you"? Why does one have to write it as "u"? Are we so impersonal now that we can't give you the respect you deserve? When did "come" become "cum"?? Call me old fashioned but "whn cn i cum in ur hse" meant a totally different thing about 5 years ago. How tough is it type a few extra letters and speak whatever language you speak correctly? At least if English is to be our language of choice, let's at least make correct English our language.

1. It is humbling to think that I am a grown up. There are times when I would prefer remaining a kid, but the more I think of it, even 5 years ago, it was unthinkable that I would be paying bills, making plans to buy property of my own. Heck, even what I earn now was totally in the realms of dreamland. The more I think of it, I'd rather live life as a grown up. It has it's downsides, but the journey's been fun. The responsibilities are challenging, but I'd rather not have it any other way.