Dreaming about Akola

I came back from college on friday at around 6. I had finished my prints by 2:30 and then submitted my portfolio for re-evaluation. While I was printing the appeal letter, I ran into Jake and Laura. Jake came and talked to me for a while. I was feeling so relieved after I dropped off the portfolio! I wasn't very hungry, but I figured I was going to have to eat sooner or later. So went to Harveys, got poutine from Rajat and ate it outside with Franzi. It was beautiful, sunny and warm today. And even Andrew came outside, talked to us for a bit, then left as he had to get back to work. The weather's gonna be like that for two more days, then it's going to rain and get cooler again.. so they say. As I was walking back home, I ran into katie and we talked along the way.

This has become so common. Me running into at least 4 people I know on my way to and back from school. More than one of who are close/old friends. I feel sad realizing that I might have to go away from here. Let's just say, having even a little time on my hands while my brain isn't occupied with something, does not always lead to a very pleasant result.

whoops! I already lost my train of thought here. So, before I get distracted again, Let's proceed with the real topic. After I got back, I was feeling kinda sleepy. I thought I'd make up for the only 4 hours of sleep I got last night. I just crashed on the bed and dozed off. And I had another dream about me being in Akola. This time, I was with a different bunch of people. One of whom was Jayant; my school buddy who I recently ran into after about 3 years when I was vacationing in India this summer.

It was dark, probably late at night, and we were at a restaurant or cafe having food, just hanging out. When one of them suggests we go drinking. And then we are all having a conversation about what 'bars' we could go to in Akola! LOL. I can imagine what my face would be like if that happened to me for real. I am just trying to imagine what a pub or bar would look like and what the people there will be like. I get a chill down my spine; that's how creepy the image in my head is. haha!

In the dream though, I believe I voted for getting some drinks and heading back home. Anyways. I am sure I was enjoying being among friends rather than family. The last dream about me being in Akola with family and ...

I sure am going to miss these adventures

Mickey Mak:

14:00:35

So this is new adventure for you. Are you gonna miss Canada?

yash gupta:

14:00:52

I was talking to friends about coming back to canada for christmas.

yash gupta:

14:00:55

:)

yash gupta:

14:01:18

I didn't tell you about the adventures we had out in the snowstorm!

yash gupta:

14:01:25

or did I?

Mickey Mak:

14:01:36

I don't think so

yash gupta:

14:03:29

okay, let me introduce the characters...

yash gupta:

14:04:21

one indonesian guy by the name Doni leemrijse. you can call him Donnie.

yash gupta:

14:04:38

and skinny Indian dude called Yash.

Mickey Mak:

14:04:40

lol

Mickey Mak:

14:04:49

SUPER LOL

yash gupta:

14:05:41

they are good friends, they help each other out, play squash together, go to BK, etc.

yash gupta:

14:06:53

so one friday evening, Doni calls up Yash and goes, "Hey, let's go to Toronto. I want to go to bestbuy to purchase an Xbox 360 and a HDTV."

yash gupta:

14:07:25

Yash says, "No man, there's a snowstorm outside."

yash gupta:

14:08:16

Doni says, "we just have to get in the bus, take the go train to Union, walk through the PATH to eaton center, get the stuff, and come back. No snow, No cold."

yash gupta:

14:08:29

"I'm not so sure about it." Yash says.

yash gupta:

14:08:52

Doni convinces him anyways.

yash gupta:

14:09:25

but a little while later, he calls Yash and goes, "Hey, I checked on the website, there are no more Xboxes in Toronto!"

yash gupta:

14:09:36

you see, it was almost christmas time.

Mickey Mak:

14:10:21

lol

yash gupta:

14:10:24

"New plan!" he proposes.. "We take the 24 bus to missisauga and get it from the bestbuy on Winston Churchill. They have it in stock there!"

yash gupta:

14:12:19

Yash still not convinced, Doni bribes him with Sushi. "we can go to bestbuy, then eat sushi at the buffet restaurant. I'll pay for both of us." Yash unwittingly agrees. (no way he could resist Sushi!) They get dressed in their warmest winter attire and take the 24 bus, get to winston churchill, and begin their march towards bestbuy.

yash gupta:

14:13:48

As we knock our shoes on the mats inside best buy to get the snow off our shoes, I notice my jeans cuff has frozen stiff!

yash gupta:

14:14:05

well, it was a little amusing.

Mickey Mak:

14:14:35

lol

yash gupta:

14:14:47

Doni as usual, takes forever to decide whether he wants to buy the xbox arcade or 'ultimate' or whatever it was.

yash gupta:

14:14:56

arcade vs ultimate

yash gupta:

14:15:15

using his iphone to compare and contrast the features/drawbacks..

yash gupta:

14:15:56

then he considers if he can stretch his budget to get a large LCD display...

yash gupta:

14:16:25

and after about an hour and a half or so.. as the weather has worsened..

yash gupta:

14:17:05

he finalizes his purchasse, and we walk out. Fuck that Xbox was heavy!

yash gupta:

14:17:15

and the box of the TV awkwardly wide!

yash gupta:

14:18:15

The distance from the bestbuy to the sushi restaurant, seemed 10 times as long while walking in knee deep snow with these boxes in our hands while dressed to look like pilsbury doughboy and Michellin tyre man!

yash gupta:

14:18:52

they stumble, pause, switch, many times over

Mickey Mak:

14:19:15

lol

yash gupta:

14:20:15

constantly motivating each other. "Come on man, it's only less than a hundred thousand centimeters more!

yash gupta:

14:21:17

Realizing Doni was much slower, and Yash was more succeptible to the cold, he walked fast, walked ahead and got to the sushi restaurant first

Mickey Mak:

14:21:19

lol

yash gupta:

14:21:47

he put the tv down, and remembered the promise he made to his friend, "I'll be back for you!"

yash gupta:

14:22:23

Yash took few deep breaths, wiped his nose and walked out oh so bravely!

yash gupta:

14:22:43

Reached Doni, and offered help. They had both almost made it!

yash gupta:

14:23:07

The walk of misery was over, and a warm soup and some delicious sushi awaited them

Mickey Mak:

14:23:16

lol

yash gupta:

14:25:34

After eating their reward feast, they decided they will need the help of a majestic and heavy metal contraption capable of pushing forward through all this snow at great speed, driven by an Immigrant who most probably speaks broken english, while we both sit comfortably in the magically heated interior of the beast.

Mickey Mak:

14:26:09

lol

Mickey Mak:

14:26:14

exploiter!

yash gupta:

14:26:31

so they called a cab. Which would seem was the easy part.. but the wait on hold was getting more excruciating with each passing second!

yash gupta:

14:26:49

both tried different companies with their respecive cellphones.

yash gupta:

14:27:10

and when finally we got through, it was like god had answered our prayers

yash gupta:

14:27:17

...if there was a god at all!

yash gupta:

14:27:57

because the cab was here, and we had to walk out in the cold hell, carrying the boxes to the cab as it couldn't come any closer to the door because of the snow.

yash gupta:

14:28:53

and again, we were relieved.. though only momentarily! because after the cab got us to sheridan college, we had to drag our asses all the way to the res, and into Doni's room!

yash gupta:

14:29:22

did I mention i was christmas, and the res was as busy as a graveyard at midnight?

Mickey Mak:

14:29:52

What!

Mickey Mak:

14:29:59

lol

yash gupta:

14:30:21

Yash actually dragged the tv box on the floor with the last bit of energy he had.

yash gupta:

14:31:17

and then, when it was time to open the boxes and install it, suddenly, they were as ecited and refreshed as kids on chistmas morning!

yash gupta:

14:31:28

such a happy moment!

yash gupta:

14:31:35

RUINED!

yash gupta:

14:31:51

by the traitor who said "Yash you can't be here in the res man."

yash gupta:

14:32:01

"FUCK!"

yash gupta:

14:32:13

the end.

yash gupta:

14:32:37

gotta go now.

My pencil is the longest

It’s such a great feeling when you realize something for yourself rather than having someone else tell you about it. Don’t you agree?

An old example I can give is, when I was about 6, and I realized I could ride a bike, I went up to my parents and told them I can ride a bicycle. That felt so much better than all those other times someone else was trying to teach me how to ride a bike and probably went, “This is how you do it. There! you can now ride a bicycle!” Right now, all I can think is, “Shut up! You know nothing! I’ll tell you when I can ride a cycle.” Because I feel that’s so true. The time Arjun bhaiya tried to teach me how to ride a cycle in Akola, sure I rode my little cycle without training wheels for a few minutes, maybe an hour or two at the most. But I went back to the training wheels like a day later.

This time, my epiphany occurred when I was working on my portfolio between 12-3 am on 2nd March. I had sweaty palms like I always do when I am under stress. I had to keep a scrap piece of paper under my palm and the paper I was drawing on so I don’t end up wrinkling or smudging it. Even if I had to hold it down with my other hand, I had to make sure to keep my fingers dry or it would end up wetting the paper, sticking my fingers to the paper and all that crap. This wasn’t the least of my problems. At all the places where the paper had gotten wet from my palms, I couldn’t get the lines really dark.

Just when you think you know where this is going.. haha.. Have you ever seen a pencil only one inch long? I have. Maybe even less than 1 inch. In my school, up until 4th grade, before we were allowed to use a fountain pen instead of a pencil, we would run through boxes of them very fast. It was not just due to the writing, dropping, breaking and sharpening but also loosing. Yeah, I was a very careless absent minded little boy. :) The ones that I didn’t loose, I would stop using after they got shorter beyond a particular point. SO short that they didn’t rest on the fleshy part of the hand between the thumb and the forefinger. One, I found that very uncomfortable for extended periods of writing. And two, okay, this is making me laugh, because we would always want to be the one with the longest pencil. (Do you get the subliminal context here? ;) This is an instinct that I think men are born with.)

Wait, I digress. The short pencils that I discarded, would end up in mom’s storage. One by one, She would use these pencils for writing her grocery lists, recipes, etc. sharpening them and still using them till they were really, really tiny! She has always been very resourceful like that. And I sometimes end up feeling bad I am not the same way.

Well, while the other instinct stayed, I stopped caring about long pencils for some reason. Maybe I wasn’t using them enough to notice this. Or I just wasn’t using them in a way that would prompt me to think how short pencils are a big NO-NO. (I remember Pranav telling me about this when I was back in India this summer.) Situation: Sweaty palms, smooth glossy coating on the pencil that just get 10 times more slippery when wet and pencil too short to rest on my fleshy part (anyone know what it is called?) I was down to my last two blue pencils. Both having been sharpened, dropped, and re-sharpened a multitude of times. (Damn why are these col-erase pencils so fucking delicate?)

I decided I couldn’t work like this and I just HAD to get a new pencil, and a pencil holder/extender for times like this when the pencil suddenly got too short to hold comfortably. At about 5 am, I decided to throw in the towel(paper?pencil?) for the night and get some sleep. Wake up when the bookstore re-opens and buy the darn pencil extender. Even if it was going to cost me 6 dollars! I knew I won’t regret it. That night, I used my short pencil to finish my portfolio. I haven’t sharpened it after the last time it broke. I am just wondering if I should leave it like that forever or use it down to one inch?

Blogpress- another iPod touch app

You guys are probably wondering why I am so obsessed with trying out new blogging applications for my iPod touch. Well, I wrote a blog post last night on the iPod touch using the shitty application LifeCast. And it didn't publish that and I lost everything.

That didn't happen in the good old days of blogging from my nokia E60.




-- Post From My iPhone

Another Oakville Transit Adventure

Previously, on this blog... We had just left Fernanda's apartment, and gotten into the elevator. Doni started making weird faces... Upon inquiring, he told me that his stomach is feeling a little upset. He wanted to go back up and take a dump. Which would mean we'd end up missing our bus. I convinced him to hold it back and 'power through it'. And suddenly I realized that left my ipod touch on the dining table. So we go back up again.

I enter the apartment again, saying hi to everybody there, only 4 other friends of Fernanda's who drove here. Unfortunately they only had room for one more so they couldn't have given us a ride. Yeah, they've never even heard of the concept of sitting on somebody's lap to stuff more than 5 people in a car. That's something only us Indians do. Actually, no wait.. The other day, when we were returning from Renata's house after a party, Scott drove us to the college and we were kinda piled up on top of one another just like back in India. Anyways, coming back to the point, Doni didn't go to the bathroom and we got down again.

After walking a few hundred meters from the apartment, Doni slowed down again. I realized he wasn't doing so well, so I offered to go back. But he said it keeps going on and off.. so maybe he'll be fine if we just caught the bus back asap. As we're walking over the bridge, we spotted a bus going past us.. We went Fuck no! And I started flailing my hands to try and signal the driver to stop. Honestly, I wasn't hoping for a miracle, but a miracle is what we got. The bus driver slowed down and we started running to the other side of the road to catch the bus.

I was SO HAPPY! The bus driver greeted us nicely, we boarded the bus and saw that there was absolutely nobody else in the bus except for us. I told him what happened with us earlier that day. Then we told him where we needed to go, and he said he'll directly take us there. AWESOME! We got a cab ride for the price of a bus ticket.I was really amazed by what that bus driver did for us. I thanked him and wished him merry christmas as I got down in front of rabbas. 

We started walking and Doni wasn't feeling too great. So I offered him to come to my apartment to use the bathroom as it was closer. "And if you are going through the woods and feel like taking a dump, you can just do it like they used to do it in the old days. LOL." 

I did end up going to that Christmas Party

I really enjoy using the 24 inch iMacs in the college. Somehow, the workflow is much faster on these. I go through my reading much faster on these, I get down to the stuff I really want to do, and rarely get distracted or interrupted. However, one thing I refrain from doing in the college is updating my blog. Because I don't want other people to eavesdrop on my writing.

But today, I can totally do that because I am the only one sitting in the huge learning commons room. Since the college is not officially open today, there aren't even any staff members or people who work at the ITSC. I came to the college with the intent of playing squash but found out the gymnasium is closed as well. Tough luck huh? Anyways, I guess it's a good thing and I can catch up on bringing you guys up to speed on what's been going on.

Firstly, I should mention that I did end up going to the party I mentioned in my previous blog post. After I wrote that, I sat down and watched some more American dad. four hours later, I was hungry and wasn't feeling like cooking. I thought Doni had already left but no, he called me up from the bus stop to ask me again if I really wanted to go. And I finally said yes. I left my apartment wearing the same sweater and light hoodie. Big mistake. Because the wind outside had really picked up and it started feeling much cooler than 4 hours earlier.

We had to change two busses. But the second bus did not show up in time because the driver had gotten sick and somebody else had to substitute for him. And while we were waiting at the go station, another tragedy struck! The wine bottle fell and broke as the polybag that doni was playing with ripped open from the bottom. Doni put forth his theory that tragedies strike in threes. And I remembered the sunday where nothing went right. 

Once on the bus, Doni realized that he wanted to remind me to bring my camera with me. Damn! Even I didn't remember that. But I suppose it was a good thing, in case it started to rain again. Downtown Oakville, we got off the bus and started walking to her apartment. None of us had been to her house before, so Doni used his iPhone to look up google maps and figure out the way. The wind was unbearable. I didn't even have my gloves with me. Stupid!

But once we got to her place, everything was amazing. The view out the window of her apartment was simply amazing. Another slap on the back of my head for not bringing the camera. The crackers with tuna salad on them were delicious. But I didn't particularly like the chicken. Spring rolls were good tho and there were lots of drinks. No alcohol in case you were wondering. I had some eggnog and lemonade and pepsi. Damn this is making me hungry! There was some chocolate with Brandy in it. I remember having something like that... a chocolate with liqueur in it at Ameya's place in pune back in 11th or 12th grade. I don't think I ever talked much about those years of my life with anybody...

We couldn't stay for long as we had to catch the last bus back. So Fernanda put the dessert in a box for us that we took home with us. But even the return trip wasn't without it's own adventure. Maybe I'll post that in a mini-blog after this. And that will be the happy ending of this Christmas party. yeah, if you want to read the happy ending, leave a comment or remind me if I forget.

Oakville Transit sucks and यश गुप्ता is a Grinch

Or maybe you'd call me a Scrooge for not having enough Christmas spirit. I do not really hate Christmas. Until a few hours ago, I was feeling really cheery but right now, the christmas spirit can go fuck itself. Let's rewind.

I was in my room quietly reading my emails, one of which was a feed of this article. He's a comedian who writes hilarious posts and they always make me laugh. Then I switched to watching the Christmas special of American Dad 'The Most Adequate Christmas Ever'. Then Doni messaged me to ask if I wanted to go shopping. I did need some food so I said "okay, I'll go".

I got ready and went outside, only wearing my light hoodie since it was only 5 degrees today. The pleasant weather got me perked up. However, the weather forecast said it was going to rain later. And that's exactly what happened. We walked to the Superstore from McDonalds in the rain. At the checkout, I said the last nicest thing I was going to say to anybody all day. 'Thanks and Merry christmas'.

Doni was picking up some wine for Fernanda's Party. (Fernanda's a Brazillian friend of Renata.) I hadn't heard about it since it was announced on facebook, and I had decided I won't be on IM or any social networking sites for next couple of days.. He asked me if I was going, and I said "I wasn't even invited." Probably because I haven't added Fernanda to my friends list on facebook. He said I could go with him but I couldn't care less. I realized I didn't want to do anything this Christmas. Nick had invited me to his place in Toronto too, his parents were gonna be there, and probably gonna have a nice christmas dinner, but I didn't want to go. Lets just say it's because of the rain.

I was listening to the song 'The beginning is the end is the beginning' by Smashing Pumpkins.

Pushing the cart through the rain water and melting snow I reached the bus stop. The three of us were waiting in there for bus number 29. It comes, passes us by, stope in front of the sign that says 29 and drops off two people and runs away just as we were walking towards it. How the hell can they do that?! I was furious. I called up the Oakville Transit number to leave a complaint against the bus driver. He could have waited for just 30 more seconds for us to get there from the shelter we were standing under to protect ourselves from the rain. I wasn't liking this at all! My jacket was totally wet, and I could feel it two layers under.

Finally, we caught the #20 bus. On the way, Doni started a conversation about the bus going round and round (He was watching the blue dot on his iphone in google maps) and I bluntly replied, "well, yeah. Can't you tell I'm pissed?" to which he said, "you look in a very nice mood."
"I'm going to assume that was sarcasm" I said and put my earphones back in my ears. Even after we got off, he asked if I was going to come, and I said I'm not sure about it. He said to let him know in about half an hour and I just texted him saying that I'm not going. I'll probably not be doing anything tomorrow either. And I'm fine with that. Because I'm angry. Angry at...well.. the weather, the bus driver, the guy at the Superstore(oh, didn't I mention he put my apples in with Doni's stuff?) I want my freaking APPLES!

A story to tell for every bruise

There was this thing that Pranav and I made up when we were in alibag.. It was kinda based on the movie Hancock. It went as follows: By ourselves, we are safe from and impervious to any kind of physical harm or damage. But... whenever Pranav and I get together, we become susceptible and very vulnerable to all kinds of cuts, bruises, scratches or any other kind of injury.

There was this period of over 3 months since I had landed in Canada during which I was pretty much unharmed. I played squash, never seriously injured myself. I walked on icy sidewalks like crazy and never fell. But this week, it all changed... I guess after I talked to Pranav on the phone the other day..

First, I had, what I would call my worst squash accident yet. I was running towards the wall to hit the ball and my shoe which is always very slippery, got stuck on something, and instead of sliding to a stop, I was swung hard against the wall. And I wasn't even able to break the impact with my hands, so I hurt my cheek bone and my elbow. My glasses almost broke as they flung off my face. I was lucky to not get a black eye that day.

The next was last night when I was going over to Rajat's house. I had safely crossed 99% of the route from my apartment to his basement. But right before the stairs, there was a patch of slippery ice which I didn't see in the dark. I slipped and fell on the cold snow, my fall broken by my right hand which was holding a bag of chips and the rice I had cooked. I stood up and proceeded down the stairs to his room. And once I was inside, I realize that blood is dripping down my right hand. I wasn't wearing any gloves and my hand was so cold, and numb, I didn't feel a thing...

That's what made me write this entry. I look back at all the times I would go do some crazy thing because of Pranav and end up getting hurt. Same for him, I would egge him on to do something (which was his idea in the first place) resulting in.. what else? a disaster. But a pretty fun disaster at that. Because at the end of it, both of us would have another new story to tell.

Tonights Dream

Last nights dream has to be one of the top 5 really... well, 'interesting' dreams I've had. It begs a lot of questions. And I can't stop thinking how or why I would subconsciously think of such a thing.

I had talked to Pranav before I went to bed feeling like I had just jumped into the rabbit hole. I mean I was doing just fine not talking to him for almost 4 months. And my system was all clean. But i thought because I was clean, I could go ahead and take one more hit without getting addicted once again.

Sorry.. Deviated a little from the topic. In the dream, I was back in India. What looked like a really small and rural place. Could be Seoni or akola. So, apparently, I'm studying business or economics and I need tutoring for a math subject.. maybe economics. Damn.. Could I have been trying out for C.A.?

So anyways, I am out in the town looking for a tutor. Not going around asking people on the street, "will you tutor me?" haha. I seem to have someone's address in my head. And I navigate small 'gallis' (narrow roads) to reach a house. Made it seem like I had been here before. Hmm when was the last time someone got lost in a dream? Everyone always seems to get where they're going.

I ask the lady in the house about the tutor. She says no or denies. But suddenly the guy I've been looking for appears from behind, slowly coming into the brighter part of the room where I can see his face. He looks very familiar. He kinda looked like my 9th standard math tuition teacher in Akola, Khan sir.

He agreed to teach me. We had regular sessions, and I seemed to be keeping up. Which is just to say that I'm not a complete retard.

My dream was interrupted by the alarm going off. I have the debate in about 15 minutes so I run to the college constantly thinking about the dream so I don't forget it.



Geolocate this post

Posted with LifeCast

Ice Skating Part 1

On December 5th, while I was chatting with Abhinav, he said, "your tweets always do give an impression of you having a lot more fun there" And I started thinking about it. Its just because there are a lot more people following me on twitter, and because its a more active place, that I refrain from posting my dark sad little feelings. This blog however, is more like my secluded, lonely world. It's quiet in here, can you hear the echo?

But well, yesterday, I decided this could change. So here is an entry about the awesome fun I had in Toronto on Saturday.

Natansh had asked me to go to Toronto with him as he wanted to do some shopping. Earlier I wasn't so gung-ho about it. I was worried about the cold weather in Toronto. But I talked to Donnie about maybe catching a movie in Toronto and I decided that I'll go anyways. So I showered, and just as I was putting on my clothes, I got a call from Donnie saying that he was already on the bus and that I had missed it. I hurried and ran out the apartment without drying or combing my hair. I realized that the same bus passes by from behind my apartment after it leaves sheridan college. So I called up Natansh and told him to be there ASAP. Fortunately, this time, he made it.

We met up with Donnie on the bus and went to Toronto together. On the Go train, Natansh was constantly dozing off to sleep. I told Donnie we could quietly move from those seats to the seats on the top floor. And when Natansh wakes up, he'll be surprised to find us gone. As soon as I was walking away, Donnie accidentally woke him up.. or maybe Natansh just woke up by himself. But the whole prank was ruined. It still made for a good laugh. In Toronto, Donnie left for his friend's place to pick up his letter. We decided to walk through the underground PATH. I believe this was my 4th time going through there, and still I was as lost as could be! To make matters worse, a part of it was closed for renovation/repairs of an escalator. In the end, we ended up walking to the Eaton center in the cold.

I took some photos along the way using Natansh's phone. I transferred them to my phone, and tweeted them when I got a wifi connection at the Apple store. The mall was really crowded. Which is not entirely unexpected or surprising thanks to it being a weekend and christmas just 2 weeks away. All that I had seen in hollywood movies about the Christmas shopping season, was proved right. People had gone crazy buying stuff. How could the economy be in a slump with all this money exchanging hands?!

Shopping with Natansh was fun. specially since I could totally egg him on to buy stuff, and he would do it. He wasn't worried about money at all. At Aeropostale, there was this white t-shirt that I would have liked to buy for myself. But Natansh liked it too, and he picked it for himself so I can't buy that t-shirt for myself too. Because then if we both end up wearing the same t-shirt to college on the same day.. we'll be the butt of all kinds of jokes. And with his purchase, he got a teddy bear free. I should have snapped a picture of that too.. but I was looking out for Donnie. He came to Eaton center to meet up with us.

We went to the Apple store, I wanted to check if they had the in-ear headphones in stock. But they weren't available in store yet so I was a little disappointed. Natansh has been thinking of buying an Apple notebook and he was wondering which model he should go for. So I showed him the difference between the MacBook and MacBook Pro models. Donnie wanted to go to Futureshop too, so we headed out that way.

On the street, there was a performer who was dressed as a cowboy and had face paint applied to make him look like a dummy. He stood absolutely still in -17 degree temperature, only moving suddenly at random intervals. There was a Huge crowd gathered there. Firstly, he had me fooled.. I was wondering why are there so many people watching a cowboy mannequin. But as I looked on, he suddenly moved and that's when it hit me. I took a picture of him with Natansh's phone camera.

..wow.. look at the length of this post. I don't think anyone will even read this.. if someone does, and wants to read the rest of my really fun weekend in Toronto, ask me. Till then..

Me playing with vicky?

I have a test tomorrow in philosophy class. I haven't even reviewed any of my notes yet. But I am already too tired and sleepy to bother.I've put on some music on my laptop and just want to update my blog.

This morning, I dreamt that I was back in Akola.. I think. Because I don't really remember any surroundings or environment, objects I interacted with. Only thing that stood out and that I remember is that Vicky and Arjun my nephews were with me. I was playing with them. I don't know what this is supposed to signify or indicate. I didn't even have time to ponder over it as I had to get ready to go to the college. Manish needed his newsprint pad. I got showered, and had a glass of chocolate milk and a banana. Put a muffin in a box and took it to college.

Printmaking class was really interesting and also equally tiring today. I was on my feet for about 4 hours! But I got some really good prints I am really happy with. I think I will put them up soon. Also, the process this class was really interesting since we dealt with color. I wish I had my camera to take pictures of all the activity going on around. It was really a sight to see.

It's harsh's birthday on 4th december, so I wished him at about 8:30 IST. Aso talked to Suraj for a bit. He told me some really funny incident that happened with Harsh. I don't know if I'm at a liberty to disclose that so I guess I will just end this post for now. I will get some shut eye. In the next post, I might add more about what happened today.

Anoher weekend post

Just one blog post ago, I had blogged about my weekend. And its already time for my second weekend post. Just goes to remind me how infrequently I blog these days. But with the addition of a new follower, Archana, I hope I get more motivation to blog regularly.

Well, this weekend, I planned to go watch the movie, Bolt. It stars John Travolta, Mylie Cyrus, Susie Esman and Mark Walton. If you haven't already seen the trailer, (Like certain friends from India who haven't even heard about the movie before..) go check them out. My favorite characters from the movie, are Bolt, (obviously) and Rhino. The part where Bolt is a little pup is one of my favorite parts of the movie.

But wait, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. How I actually got around to watch the movie is also a story in itself. Donnie and I had talked about the idea of going to watch the movie on Saturday. But when I called him up on Saturday, by the time we made up our mind and the plan was laid out, it was already too late. you see, we also wanted to have sushi but if we had food first, then movie, we'd not get a bus back. Okaville Transit stops running early on the weekends. So we decided to do it sunday afternoon.

I was feeling pretty tired that day, so I fell asleep after talking to Donnie. I woke up at about 11 pm. I sent a text message to Natansh telling him that we're going to go watch the movie. He said he'll come. I spent next few hours tidying things around the house, killing time with my ipod touch. And at 2:30 am, went back to bed. Sunday, I woke up early enough. Internet was still not working. So I decided to shower, and make myself something to eat. Nicole's mom was in the house, cleaning up the kitchen. I kept my cutting an apple act as mess-less as I could. Even then, the bitch had to come yell at me 'clean up your apple after you're done, yash' And as usual, I just ignored her. I say all these things about her, but its actually kinda nice having her as a roommate for certain reasons.

I called up Sumit and then sujata as I was having my banana, apple in strawberry yoghurt. Good thing I had something to eat at home because we ended up missing our bus and had to wait for nother hour for the next bus. And I would have gotten really hungry by the time we got to the sushi restaurant. Sushi was delicious as always. We got to try out some new dishes. Like Salmon rose. It looked so beautiful. Orange salmon wrapped around the filling in the shape of a rose bud. I wish I could have snapped a picture. And this time, I made sure we tipped so that they don't spit in our food the next time we go.

We got to the theater just in time to comfortably buy our theater-snacks and find ourselves good seats. While the theater showed promos of movies I'd already seen trailers for on the apple.com/trailers site, I played with my ipod touch. There's this really cool game called tangram pro which involves placing/arranging triangular shapes to form a particular pattern shown on your screen. I'm sure you've played that kind of puzzles when you were little. Indeed I put it away as soon as the movie started. Just like a good citizen must. :P

After the movie, we walked back to the bus stop, in freezing rain. We could hear little ice droplets hitting the ground, the cars in the parking lot, etc. and making a really unusual and loud noise. It felt like -9 outside and to make matters worse, I wasn't wearing my gloves. And since we had gotten wet, the Strong wind made it much, much worse. Waiting for the bus was an ordeal in itself. But I was super glad to be back home again!

Friday classes

In today's (21st november) Painting class, we critiqued the 20 paintings project. This is like the 3rd critique we've done this semester. The students were asked to lay down their paintings on the floor and present them to the students. A set of questionnaire was written on the blackboard.

• Which is your first one?
• Point out your most recent one.
• How long did each take you?
• Which one did you find most difficult?
• Which one were you most interested in?

This was going to make talking about the paintings a little easier. I thought it was a valid starting point.

We went through a bunch of people, among whom were some who had completed their paintings just the night before. That's when David Joron realized he should have told us to hand in 5 every week instead of leaving all for the last day. LOL. Even though Mark hadn't finished all 20, there were some I really liked. These lemon paintings for instance.. I asked mark if it was ok for me to use it here, and he said yes. So these photos are property of Mark Finnigan. (Just to save my ass)

Just before we were about to talk about my paintings, it was break time. Sigh.. anyway. Just then, David Joron comes up to me and says, "I'm honoured to be quoted on your blog." This took me by surprise, although it shouldn't have, because such stuff has happened in the past. But not regarding any teacher as far as I remember. So, he said he was googling his name because he wanted to see if people are talking about his show, and he stumbled across my blog. God! I had totally forgotten about his show! My previous teacher Sybil was also in that show. Oh well, I was too swamped with stuff to do this week.

Ahem.. so, when we talked about my paintings, I think I talked a great deal and was taking up much more time than anyone else. But I was happy to get all the feedback I was getting. Specially when its about work I think I didn't do well with. Like my chair painting. I said it was a disappointment, but the teacher said it was well done. I like to delve deeper into why I was so disappointed with it now, when I know there was a point when I liked that painting... I had done that painting a couple of weeks ago. And I remember how the chair looked in front of me. I was really struggling with trying to get the right colors for the reflection because again, the room wasn't very well lit. So I guess when I finished it, I felt a sense of achievement and felt happy with it. But later, when I had done some more advanced stuff and improved, I didn't think that painting was any good..weird?

Well, after painting, we went to photography where we watched a documentary called 'manufactured landscapes' It's a documentary about a canadian photographer who takes photos of mines and such man made landscapes. I didn't find it too interesting for the first 4-5 minutes. But then the idea gripped me. That's when I decided to do the photoraphy portfolio on pictures from India. Not terribly poor india, not terribly rich and glamorous side of india, regilar middle class stuff I've done, places I've been etc. I took out a bunch of photos from my hometown Akola, Seoni, Pune and Mumbai. I asked people to go through them and help me shortlist 15 photos max. I guess I got a decent response and I will be able to pick out photos much easier.

Baby sock

I don't think any of you are aware of this, probably because I've never talked about it before. But our classrooms, with the kinds of kids that inhabit them are the perfect kind of place for really weird, awkward and funny conversations. One of today's topics happened to be pregnency and babies. I don't know how they got there, but they were talking about The chick who had an operation and became a man, but still got pregnant and was on Oprah.. LOL.

Loren talked about women having a higher resistance to pain, in respect of giving birth. And some other kid made a joke, "I feel bad for the woman who has to bear my child, I have such a huge head!" I laughed at it out loud. I shouldn't have to worry, because I don't want to have kids, right? And thought about yesterday..

Wait, before I tell you what happened on the bus yesterday, I should tell you what happens in How I met your mother Season 4 episode 7 "Not A Father's Day". It's called that because Barney after a recent incident, starts a new holiday for guys who don't want to be dads. But the side story is that Marshall and Lilly want to have a baby but lilly starts having second thoughts. So she invites Ted and Robin over to help make up her mind. Ted is strongly pro baby and Robin hates kids. But after all their argument, Lilly sees a little sock of the neighbour's kid. And goes I WANT a baby. Ridiculous as it may sound, later in that episode, Ted busts Robin with the same sock. And all Robin says is, "Look at it... its so cute!" So a little baby sock can even make people who hate kids like the idea of having a baby.

I promise there's a point and a very good relation to the story. As I was going to the superstore, on the bus, there was a man with his baby in the pram. Since it's really cold outside these days, the baby was tucked in a little baby sleeping bag type thing. And he was looking at me for a while as I walked into the bus. A while later, he got restless and started kicking his legs inside his bag. He pulled out his sock and the dad took it from the baby and put it in his jacket pocket. ahem... how many of you figured out where this story is going?

So, yeah, I for a brief moment thought about me being in that position. As if I'm actually going to have a kid, and I'll be in canada at that age, on a bus, in Oakville... hmmph. How pointless... Isn't it?

Sports Injuries

This Friday, (Umm.. that would be 7th of november. This post has been sitting in he drafts for quite some time!) I was waiting in the learning commons for Sachin and Andrew to go play squash with. But both of them were busy with their class presentation project. And I ran into Donnie, the Indonesian. I would insert a photo here, but its just so hard to get a good photo of him. Anyways, He said he's interested in playing squash. I didn't mind, it would be fun to see how well he could play. And for once it would be nice to play against a weaker opponent.

We went to the squash court and started playing. Donnie was used to playing lawn tennis, so he'd wait for the ball to bounce off the ground first, and would anticipate it to bounce higher. As expected, he'd miss the ball almost all the time. There are some reflexes that one develops after having played a game for long. And expecting the ball to bounce a particular way, sqing or spin a particular way is one of them. That's why, I was kinda glad I hadn't played tennis a lot. I wonder if Suraj would be able to get a hang of squash very easily either.

I think the first injury was on the very first day, Donnie tripped and fell on his knee as he was running to hit the ball. The next day, There was a big red bruise on his knee... Oooh!

Still, Donnie and I kept meeting up for squash more often. Then I think this was thursday the 13th that we were playing squash, and I happened to hit Donnie really haard with the ball. I believe I was the one who served first, and Donnie returned and stopped paying attention to where the ball or I was. And he ended up standing right in front of me. I didn't realize that either, untill I had hit the ball really hard and it smacked against Donnie's Lower back. Damn!

He wasn't angry. It was all part of the game. And there have been so many other incidents like this over time. Once he was running towards the ball, and I didn't have enough time to get out of the way, and he ended up bumping into me so hard that I fell on the ground. This other time, I was running to hit the ball that was very close to the wall, and after returning the ball, hit the wall really hard. I wasn't in a position where I could absorb the impact with my hands, so my right shoulder took most of the force.

Just the other day, I was browsing flickr and stumbled across a squash injury photo. And found out there's a whole group of photos of squash injuries. There's also a broken racquet in there. I hit my racket really hard against the wall and the floor multiple times too. This is something I've learned over time, "You can't be afraid of the wall" Because in squash, many times, the ball is really close to the wall, and if you're scared to take a swing at it, you'll always loose.

Before Hallowen there was..

30st October 2008: Today, I managed to finish one of my paintings for the painting class. It was the relationship painting based around the portrait painting I did as my last project. I did mention that briefly in my blog post here. That was a painting of Pranav standing in a towel, with socks and shoes on. Having a hard time imagining that? Go here. We were at Suju's farmhouse in alibag and all his clothes got wet at the beach. And they didn't dry till the time we were supposed to leave for pune again. So he had to ride in the car without a shirt or pants. We stopped at the nearest store and bought him a pair right there. It was hilarious.

Now, for the second part of the project, I had to take that person I had painted, and do a mind map of words that signify it. And using those words, I had to create a painting that would have some meaning to it.. How or what I feel when I think of him, should influence what the painting's like. Sounds like a really cool project huh? I think so too. I had originally thought this painting could be completely abstract. There's no objectiveness to what a color or shape means to someone. And even when talking about it to maggie, I said, this painting is going to be a bunch of angry black and red paint splatters or maybe depressing colors.

Mind map for painting
Originally uploaded by yashrg

But here, take a look at my word map. I did this in a couple of minutes, and looking at it, Ideas started flowing. I got so pumped up for this painting, I squeezed the paints out, turned on my laptop to look at reference images and got to work. I decided against doing something abstract and thought of meaningful imagery. After the big Landmark Logo and rubik's cube was done, I paused and realized I don't have anything else to put there. I can't remember how long my first stretch was, but I took several breaks in between and was working till the night. Slowly building up and putting in a photo frame with the remains of a torn picture, a phone with his number on it, a dart board.. But really, the juice had run out.

I was hoping to go to the Halloween pub night at the college. Sachin had expressed interest at first. So I called Rajat up to know what the latest plan was. And as I had imagined, it was off. Oh well, there's always the party Nicole's throwing at the apartment. And I also had to finish the outdoor painting by looking at the reference image from that day. But I was too tired at the end of the first painting to work on that. I would just have to hand in my incomplete outdoor painting.

Diwali in Canada -Diwali what?

Happy Diwali. Its Tuesday in this part of the world. And by now, the celebrations are over in almost all parts of the world. But for me, there were no celebrations. I have to be home and finish painting. Rajat has a test tomorrow so he isn't up for a party. And my digital painting class ends at 10 pm as it is.

Today I talked to most of my family in India. I also tried calling up Sam and Rahul but couldn't get through. Stupid reliance India calling card! I called up Abhinav and he was pretty surprised to get a phone call. Well, what can I say, I aim to not disappoint. haha. After all that was done, at around noon, I got ready to go to the college. I was going to play some squash today.

I don't know how or why, but today, I had a very nice grip on the racquet. I could control the ball better and hit it pretty much the way I wanted to. I started by doing some solo practice. Hoping some other player would come along so I can play a match. I listened to a podcast called 'squash cast' and followed along with their suggested regime. First, practicing servicing from both the fore(front?)hand and backhand. I tried to get the ball exactly in the service box on the other side 10 times continuously. After that, I stood close to the front wall, and hit the ball on the wall and returned the volley a little stronger, so that I am now moving away from the wall. Then slowly hitting it softer to come closer to the wall. Helps to get good control over the ball.

A little while later, another guy came in and asked me how long I was going to be. You see, the other squash court had some mats placed on the floor so couldn't be used for squash. So I suggested to him that we rotate playing between him, his friend and me, but I guess they decided not to. I practiced for some more time, just playing against myself. Then it was time to head off to the caf. I needed some food now haha.

At the cafeteria, I ran into Rajat again. Franzi was also with him. We had lunch together. Even after having hoped I wouldn't eat any meat, I ended up eating chicken stir fry with noodles. I can't even keep feeling sorry for that. I hope you understand. I couldn't finish my food so I saved it up for later. Rajat told me about the fight they had with atif over the heating in the house. I am so glad I am warm enough to sleep in my underwear in my room. LOL. I told rajat I'd catch up with him later and headed off to the international center.

They had little tealights (small candles) lit up on the front desk so obviously they knew it was Diwali. But a little email to wish the students a happy diwali wouldn't hurt. huh. I picked up my letter for the work permit application and was about to leave. But how could I leave without eating some sweets? I had a slice of white chocolate and almond cake. Which, even after eating half the slice, I thought was vanilla. WTF is wrong with me? That lady must think I'm so dumb!

Anyways, I went to the learning commons, spent some time on the computer and then went to the library, picked up the october issue of the Animation Magazine. And drew IGOR. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out their website. After a while, I lost patience and decided to head to my digital painting classroom. On my way there, I stopped at the 'sizzler' at the connexion where Abhishek works. But he wasn't there today. Damn! there goes my chance of a free burger or drink. LOL.

I was in the classroom about an hour early, so I downloaded the latest episode of Heroes and watched it. Digital painting class today was not at all interesting for me because we were working with the pen tool. I already know how to use the pen tool and have done some pretty cool stuff in vectors. Still, I stuck around and followed through. It was a pretty long and convoluted process in photoshop for doing what could have been done very simply in Illustrator. Meh.

I came back home, made some maggi noodles for myself. Nicole, mandy and bradley were awake and we all got talking. It was fun. Nicole said I could invite my friends to the halloween party she's having in our appartment. Oh, hell yeah I will. It's going to be really fun. Sachin is going to bring the house down! Anyways, I did 3 no wait.. two only...paintings before I got distracted and eventually went to bed.

Finished the painting assignment.

I finally moved to my new place. And while I won't tell you one huge downer about my room, I would just like to go on record saying that I hate these stupid wooden walls! (any guesses on what the pet peeve is?)

Today, right after I showered and got ready to go to college, I felt really exhilarated. I felt I was now confident enough to call up Pranav. But that would have to wait. I was headed off to meet katie. Worse part was, my cellphone was low on battery. I think I figured out what's wrong with it. My phone constantly thinks I have plugged in some attachment to its pop port. And it keeps blinking 'Enhancement not supported'. The light and sound that the alert generates drains the battery much faster.

Anyways, I met up with katie, went and had a slice of pizza for lunch. Then, we played foosball! I'd never played foosball before. It was my first time. And I won the first game! At only 75c per game, we decided to give it another go. This time, Katie won. So the score will have to be settled next time. After that, we hung out in the learning commons for a little while before she had to run for class again. I took some time to rest because my arms were in no condition to paint after he heavy lifting I did moving my suitcases upstairs to my room.

For painting, I decided to just take a friend's photo, view it on my laptop and paint it. I went to the pit, hooked up my laptop and got to work. Montu bhaiya came online for a bit, I talked to him. He doesn't seem annoying anymore. I guess when you are lonely, any company will do.. ;) But even I feel he's much more composed now a days. Gladly, he kept it brief enough. I also took a little break between painting to go for life drawing. The girl next to me was really excellent at drawing. Probably a 3rd or 4th year student. I tried to copy what she was doing. But I failed miserably. How miserably? its upto you to decide.

After the homework piece, I had to work on the painting from last week, before I went home. I wasn't really in a mood to paint last week and was very disappointed with what I came up with. But today, after 'fixing it up' a little, I wasn't feeling too bad about it. Now I could get my much needed sleep and get to class in time tomorrow. I was up till 3 am that night and had missed the morning class. On the way back, I tried calling pranav but he wasn't answering. I was a little disappointed. And to think of it, I wasn't feeling like I'm up for the task anymore. Its hard to explain. I remember the last time I wanted to talk to him, I was on the verge of breaking down. But I couldn't get a hold of him. And I've been holding back ever since.

I made maggi noodles for dinner. Back in my room, I talked to mom and dad. They'll be sending me some money soon. yay! $ca-Ching!$

Sunday Tragedies Part two

Next stop was wal-mart. I didn't really need to buy anything from there. But Sachin and Rajat wanted to get some clothes. There were some winter jackets right in front of the clothes section. I might need to buy a new one this year, but I', just gonna put it off for as long as I can. Rajat piked one up or about 40 dollars and started looking for a pair of trousers. Eventually, I lost track of abhishek and Sachin. After we were all checked out, it was time to head on home. We were gonna go to the Indian grocery store, but cancelled.

After putting away the groceries, we started bringing down my stuff to move to my new apartment. Deciding what to keep and what to take today, was a tough task. I wasn't going to be able to live there as of now, but I would like to move as much of my bigger stuff as possible. I ended up only leaving my bedsheet and blanket and my expensive electronic equipment here. Sachin had a lot of school work to do still helped me move. We loaded up all the stuff in the van and set off.

At 'the Villas' Me and Sachin took the stuff upstairs while Atif waited in the van. The life was so packed with my stuff and Sachin and Nicole it was a sight to remember. And instead of going up, the life first went down! we apologized to the people who were waiting and went upstairs. We quickly unloaded the lift and started running the suitcases to the appartment. The suitcase that I had painted had by now, fully given up. The zipper broke so that it wouldn't close at all from one side. I love all the complements I get from people who say they love the suitcase, but I must throw it away now. So, I was running that suitcase to the apartment, and I stumbled and almost fell.

While running back home, we picked up cans of energy drink because we were going to have a blast tonight. Actually, Sachin wanted to do some research on different energy drinks in the market for his assignment. (Did I mention he's studying marketting?) Back home, we found out that the internet had stopped working. Abhishek had assignments to finish and submit. Rajat ws trying to connect as well but nothing worked. I suggested to try the other open networks that are in range. But Atif would have to get our internet fixed in time. Turns out we had exceeded our monthly bandwidth limit.

For dinner, at first, nobody was feeling like making anything. I said I'd bake my garlic bread and chicken wings. Abhishek said he'd have bagels or something and it all sounded ok. Lazy bums! But I was really feeling like making bhurji. So I told them, I'd do everything, just get me the ingredients! I first put in my garlic bread and chicken fingers in the oven. Started chopping up the tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. in 10 minutes, it was time to take the garlic bread out. I removed the baking tray and couldn't find room on the kitchen counter. So I put it on the table. And suddenly, I realized, there was a plastic table cloth on the table which was getting burned. I quickly lifted it off, but it left a scorched hole in the table cloth!

That was tragedy number... umm.. I lost count. Sachin and I looked at each other and assured there were many more to come. LOL. I, no, WE finished cooking the bhurji, with everyone adding their little contribution to the recipe. (Except Abhishek who was busy studying.. or something) We had a nice hearty dinner together. Then, it was time for the energy drinks and the 'comprehensive' review. We picked a can each. Mine was called rockstar. (pictures coming real soon guys!) And we all went outside the house so that our noise doesn't disturb other people. (well, actually because Rajat wanted a smoke)

It was pretty chilly outside. I started getting really really cold. So we came back in the kitchen after a few minutes and Sachin continued jotting down our opinions. Abhishek was kicking around the football. Another tragedy waiting to happen. He did acidentally kick it on the table or kitchen counter a couple times. But thankfully, nothing broke. Lastly, we all sat down to watch the movie 'wanted.' Sachin decided to make popcorn. He put the packet in the busted microwave in the basement that doesn't rotate the food. We told him to keep it in there until the popping sound stopped. And a few minutes later, we smelt something burning. The popcorn in the center had overcooked and were completely charred! How can anyone burn popcorn?!! LOL.

Ah.. That's about it for this sunday. As the clock struck 12.am it was monday. I hate mondays!

The Sunday Tragedies Part one.

Yesterday was one of the most eventful days I've had in a while! First thing I had scheduled for today was to meet the landlord of my new apartment at 12 pm. I went downstairs and woke Sachin up to ask him to come with me. Sachin told me he was awake till 3 am last night! It was going to be a long walk to the bank and back so I just wanted some company, and he readily agreed. We got ready in a few minutes and were out of the house by 10:45 am. We were talking about all kinds of things just like Thursday night. And I was completely oblivious to the disastrous day I had lurking ahead of me.

At the bank, I first used my international traveller's debit card to withdraw money. Then after counting everything, and putting aside enough for the deposit of the new place, I was about to deposit the rest in my checking account. I had inserted the card in the ATM and while I was still counting the money, the machine started beeping and displayed a message, "do you want to continue with the transaction?" (a) Yes or (b) No, eject the card. I pressed yes, and the machine tells me it has retained the card for security reasons. Fuck! I tried calling up customer support but nobody answered for a long time. Eventually, I gave up.

Sachin and I were both confused and bewildered as to how it happened. But I wasn't really worried. Probably because since I didn't have any money to loose even if someone, somehow did get hold of my card and could find out my pin. Yeah, long shot. I'm just going to call up the bank later and tell them to cancel/block my old card and give me a new one. Right now, though, I had my mind on the one other thing- The crazy landlord Teresa. I also met Nicole for the first time, and as I had heard, she's the bossy intimidating type. The second tragedy, which I overlooked at first, was the fact that Marta hadn't moved out yet. All her stuff was still in the room and I wouldn't be able to completely move in today. I signed the lease and took my copy, carelessly put it in my back pocket, half hanging out and walked back home.

On the way back, after we had crossed the sheridan parking lot, I suddenly stopped as I realized that the lease paper wasn't in my pocket anymore. I started backtracking my steps. I noticed something on the ground a little further and I asked Sachin to go check it out while I ran ahead to scout for it. Luckily, I found the paper in the parking lot in a puddle of water. It was all wet, but had it not been for the water, it would have kept on blowing who knows how far away. Relieved to finally have it in my hands, I walked back to Sachin to tell him to stop looking. But he was already sitting on the side laughing at me. He went, "If you had actually lost it, I would be swearing my head off at you right now."

And just to be safe, he decided to carry the paper back home with him. LOL. Back home, Abhishek and Rajat were awake and we decided to make omlette for...uh, Lunch. Well, Sachin was the one who did most of the cooking. After a yummy lunch, I went upstairs to pack my bags up. The guys were going to go to the superstore and walmart for shopping and asked me to come along. I figured, I might as well. We went to the superstore and I picked up some stuff. At the checkout, my credit card got denied! Now how did this happen? Luckily I had some cash on me so I paid for it. But still bewildered about how this could happen, I walked out to the parking lot.

Continued here, in Sunday Tragedies Part two.