Personalized Plates

(Picture Source: Christopher Paul's upcycled plates)

Use dishwasher and food safe paint and your imagination to give dollar store dishes an instant wow factor. And they make great personalized gifts too!

How to keep the house smelling good

(Picture Source:http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7697147_make-smell-good-cinnamon-sticks.html)

Warming a pan of water on the stove with cinnamon and a dash of vanilla extract makes a rich autumnal scent that wafts through the house- without actually having to bake!

Forgetfulness

Image source: http://www.audiblox2000.com/forgetfulness.htm

Why is it that i keep forgetting things? Am I really that busy? ( I know the answer to THAT one, at least :)) I can't remember where I left my pen, my water-bottle, the latest book I'm reading, my mobile phone, and generally what I'm supposed to do. Though I manage to stumble upon most of the things I'm lookin for, I always seem to forget what I'm supposed to do. I actually need a timer-alarm to take my medicines on time, endless check-lists to organise my work for the day/next few days to get some work done. Thinkin about what I've got to do and what I've missed keeps me pre-occupied most of the day. Is this the reason I'm labelled absent-minded 'professor'? :/ Not to mention the evil www which keeps me glued to my networking/gaming sites and mailboxes giving credence to the 'absent-minded' part of my make-up as I'm always thinking about the number of people I've iced, Mafia jobs to complete, gold coins, vampires and harvests.

I've not even begun talking about the number of birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions I've missed. From wishing people one day later to a few days to weeks, I've only gone progressively worse and see no change in the trend in the immediate future. The one good thing about this, I have been able to add a lot of variety to the sheepish 'belated birthday wishes' expression. You wouldn't believe how many ways one can do that :P One can also say it in a variety of sing-song voices to spice up the lame 'last but not the least' birthday greeting.

But, how do you differentiate between forgetfulness vis-a-vis a carelessness? Is it just the thin line between forgetting and then being remorseful against forgetting and not giving damn? How much forgetfulness is too much? I, for one, will never know and hope that I can, as always, get away with it :P

Adventure Sports and Management

Did you know that sports like white water rafting, night treks and cave exploration are actually lessons in management? I did not. I signed up for a two-day adventure camp at the undergrad college I was attending.

The place was an overnight journey by ......you'll never guess, bus! Fourteen hours and forty broken backs later we stood on solid ground meeting our instructers. After the initial pleasentaries were over, we were given exactly ten minutes to dump our luggages in our cottages (which I shared with three others), wash up and leave for rafting. This event was to take place a few kilometers away. We reached the place by jeeps, which are apparently a few of the vehicles which can be driven through the jungle. Once there, we waited for the rest of the jeeps to show up and they were followed by huge open trailers carrying blown-up rafts. You can imagine the thrill. We were given our safety instructions, helmets, life-vests and split into groups, each with an instructer.

Ours was an East Indian (or he could be a Nepali) called Kim.

We got into the raft, about eight of us and were pushed in by the instructers. The first half an hour saw us religiously practising the moves Kim showed us. He taught us how to hold an oar, turn the raft around and how to get ourselves unstuck if the raft happens to get stuck on a bunch of rocks!

The route we followed was ajudged a grade III. The first dip at Eddie's Beard brought a whole lot of squeals. We learnt to follow Kim's swift commands. After an hour, he stopped at a calm stretch of the river and told us we could jump in and have some fun. It was three hours of pure bliss for me, a non-swimmer, who has never been in a water body bigger than a baby pool. I found that I could jump into a river twenty feet deep, float, rescue people thrice as heavy as me in the rescue drill and row like I was born for it.

Management Lessons:
1. When you restrict yourself, you are restricting yourself a joy. (Fearing large water bodies because I can't swim is keeping me away from lots of 'joys'. But, Im glad I found one.)
2. If orders are obeyed seriously, one is safe. (Following commands is of utmost importance in river rafting.)
3. A common danger bonds people.
4. Value of team work. (Even one guy rowing in the opposite direction sorta upsets the boat!)
5. If you look forward to something, you will not feel tired. ( The fourteen hour bus journey?? And this is why we were not even given breakfast!)
6. Team work brings much better results. ( Even an enthusiastic rafter like me could not have done it alone!)