Halloween Teaser

Here is the main piece of my costume...my puff paint masterpiece:

Diwali

What a busy month! Phew! So behind with blogging! I've actually had some kind of life with the career fair, my grandparents coming from England, Ojas trips, Diwali, Garbas, etc.  On top of all that, I still have my Halloween Orlando trip next weekend! Yay!

Diwali was pretty eventful this year.  First there was the garba, then last week there the Gujurati Samaj Diwali.  It was nice to have my grandparents in town.  They're from England so they don't come here often.  The last time they were here was four and a half years ago...when things were really bad.  I think it was hard for them to come to our house and not see their son there.  They still are having a good time here though...so that makes me happy.

Last weekend was the Indian Association Diwali.  This one was a little weird for me.  Until a few years ago, I used to be in the show every year.  I used to (and still do) love dancing...especially when there's a group of us involved and it's an energetic song.  Things were a little backwards this year.  My mom took my place on stage while I took her place in the audience.  I played my role at proud mom so well that I took like 29823 pictures of my mom and none of Ojas and me.  Yes...Ojas came to Diwali.  He's such a cooperative boy.  :)

The dance was from a movie that pretty much ripped the story of She's the Man (starring Amanda Bynes). With that in mind, the dance had 12 women in it. Half of them were girls...and half were girls dressed as boys. My mom was a girl and my masi was a "guy". She had taken off her turban and fake mustache.

 

Hehe. These ladies are so much fun. They all call themselves the "Divas". Oh boy.

 

I have a video of the dance but still need to upload it. It'll be here soon :)

Halloween Excitement + Song of the Day

October is finally in the air!  NOW it feels like Halloween season.  Is it just me or do things look and sound different when it's cooler outside?  Could be just me.  Either way, it's refreshing.

I'm looking forward to Halloween this year.  My plans involve going up to Orlando, meeting some friends, watching the Gator game, then going out on the town.   I think I'm going to stick with my plans of dressing like M.I.A.  She's one of my favorite artists...and she's brown.  Perfect.

I've never been one to spend too much money on Halloween costumes.  No offense to anyone but I just don't see the point of paying $60 for a tiny piece of cloth that supposed to make me look like some kind of sexy something.  I usually like to put together things I have and maybe add a few accessories.  Things I've been in the past were a flapper, Esmeralda, Cleopatra, and a construction worker (ok so maybe I really copped out on that last one).  Those work, right?

Since I'm talking about Halloween, I would like to say how excited I am that ABC Family will once again be rerunning Hocus Pocus this year.  It is the best Halloween movie...ever.  I love the part where Sarah Jessica Parker lures all the children with her witch song. Bette Midler sings "I Put a Spell on You" in the movie.  That is why it's today's song of the day...except in true Screamin' Jay Hawkins style.  His version is, afterall, the most Halloweeny.

Oh Happy Day!

Let me just start off by saying that what I feel today can best be said by Michael Buble.  Take it away, Mike!



I went to Gainesville Monday night in preparation for a career fair on Tuesday morning.  The first great thing about my little trip was that I was able to see some of my favorite people:

It's too bad that Matt ruined this picture because I can usually only hold a serious smile for one picture...

  See what I mean?

I think Kevin has the same problem.

Angela, Britt, and I out on Tuesday night...oh how I miss these girls!

While I was in town, Kiki let me crash at her place.  Thanks Kiki! Here she is with the awesome skateboard table she made:

 

So how did the career fair go?  It went great!  I went into it not expecting much.  I've done a lot of applying in the last 6 months and haven't gotten anywhere...so can you blame me?  As soon as I spoke to the first company, I could tell something was different.  Everyone had a different tone...a happier, more positive tone.  Instead of hearing the usual "wow...this really was not a good time to graduate", I was told that things are starting to look up.  I guess it doesn't hurt that I am willing to start work tomorrow in any part of the country.

I ended up with three interviews. THREE.  And again, one of them is with Disney and we all know that's like my dream job (literally...I've had dreams).  I'm not going to get too hopeful.  I know I haven't gotten a job yet but just the fact that people called me back, that I moved on to the next step makes me feel so much better.  I feel like my confidence has been boosted and I have hope again!

All I can do right now is pray, cross my fingers, my toes...whatever I need to do so that I can get this!

Update from the Ville

In Gainesville for career fair...got two interviews. 

One of them is with DISNEY! Could this actually happen?!?!?!

AHHHHHHH!!!

Priya and Mom go to Venetian Bay

Today was one of those days when I  felt like too much of my time is spent just lazying about my house.   I woke up at 11, went to the couch, then suddenly the words of a famous candlestick popped into my head:

"Life is so unnerving
For a servant who's not serving
He's not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful...
Suddenly those good old days are gone
Ten years we've been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!
Most days we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat and lazy
You walked in and oops-a-daisy!"

Ok so maybe I'm not an enslaved servant in an enchanted castle, but I need purpose once in a while...to do something fulfilling, even if it's just getting out of the house.  That's when my mom and I decided we would get out and go somewhere just to hang out.

After going to school for architecture and construction, I came back to Naples 6 months ago and realized that there's really not much innovation going on here.  Naples was designed to look like parts of Italy.  In fact, the county code requires that new buildings have Mediterranean influence.  Yeeeeah.  Although I'm not too pleased that every building looks the same, there are parts of Naples that are really pretty.  For our outing today, my mom and I went to Venetian Bay  and spent time window shopping and taking pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about an hour, we were done.  It was way too hot outside.  This is October, right?  It's supposed to be below 97 degrees outside, right?  It was nothing that a nice cold Chili's Mojito Rita couldn't take care of :)

A Beatles Tribute + Song of the Day

I was really bad about posting this week. I guess I was in a pretty bad mood for the last few days. But today is Saturday, I booked my ticket to DC, and I even got a POSITIVE response for a job. I'm not gonna jinx the last one though...just need to be patient.

Anyways, I've been more successful with finding things to do in Naples. It's simple really...just hang out more with the awesome friends I've got here. In Naples, this usually involves going to the movies, or the beach, or bowling, or to Ale House. But occasionally there's something new to do.

The other night Holly, Tim, Brett and I went to a Beatles tribute at Germain Arena. We didn't really know what to expect. The tickets were cheap and we all love the Beatles, so we figured we'd give it a shot.

Although the format of the tribute was kinda cheesy (mostly due to the monologues of a Beatles roadie), the concert parts were really good! The cover band even managed to look like the members of the Beatles.  They played all the great songs and dressed up for each era/song.

Here's "John"

It was cool how they synced (is that the right word?) old videos with the song being played.

"We all live in a yellow submarine...a yellow submarine"

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club

This was the ending medley where they showed different album covers.  It was pretty sweet.

At the end of the show, Pete Best came out and played with the band.  He was the original drummer for what was then known as "The Beat Brothers".  He recorded their first song with them and then got replaced with Ringo.

It was a fun night.  I think Brett summed it up best when he said "This is probably the closest we're gonna get to seeing the Beatles."  Ain't that the truth.

Why not make this post a "Song of the Day"?  Here's one of my favorite Beatles songs.

Argh!

I'm sorry, blog and blog readers. You are about to become a victim of my frustration. I'll try not to do this often...

2009, why are you sucking so much?

First...I have been looking forward DC especially since I had a voucher for a free round trip ticket. Turns out that a guy named Dinesh, an Indian...one of my "brothers", used the voucher for a trip to Las Vegas. That means I can't use the voucher anymore. Seriously? I have no money. I really can't afford a $300 ticket but I promised myself and my friends that I was going for New Years so I'm going, dang it. After speaking to 5 people in my usual nice voice, things have taken a turn for the worse. I just wrote an angry hate email to the customer service department at US Airways. Plenty of people get things by being mean. I hate to do this but...I JUST LOST A FREE TICKET!

Also...I hate my job. More than that I hate that I'm not getting paid well at all. There are other people doing what I do for $10 more an hour. I hate that I work so much and yet two weeks worth of pay can be spent just like that. How many freakin jobs can I apply to before I actually get one? I'm trying to be patient but when's I haven't seen any kind of sign of hope what else am I supposed to do?

Also...I miss my friends. Gainesville friends, DC friends. Thank goodness for the friends I have here in Naples. But I still miss everyone I don't get to see.

uggggghhhhhh.

Just so this post ends on a bright note, there are good things that have been happening this year. For one, Ojas is awesome. I have so much fun when he's around. I also like being around my mom...even if she drives me nuts from time to time. We have a lot of fun too.

Oh and I've lost about 10 pounds since summer started. 7 of those have been in the last 2.5 weeks...after I started weight watchers. The bridesmaid dress is looking a lot better.

My day would be a lot better if I could just get the people at US Airways to meet my freakin needs.

Ok I'm done. Thank you.

Late Night Walk

At midnight last night my mom decided she ate too much pasta for dinner and wanted to go for a walk outside.  I was hesitant at first because it I was ready to turn in for the night after seeing the Toy Story double feature with Holly.  Then I realized that this would probably be a good opportunity for me to play around with the "night" settings on my camera. 

The moon and clouds made the sky light up.  It looked like it was only 8 o' clock outside.

While I was trying to get a cool picture of the streetlamp, my mom noted that this was our old dog's favorite place to poop.

There she is.  She was getting annoyed that I was stopping so much.

 

Home.

 

Song of the Day + Work Dancing

My two part time jobs can be a little stressful sometimes.  The drafting job gets to me because I stare at the screen for a straight 4 hours every day (not even 1 min. breaks).  The store gets to me because not many people have been coming to the mall lately so I get bored very easily.

The good thing about both these places is that there is music listening involved (sometimes for the drafting and always at the store).  Recently I've discovered that music helps me calm down/pass the time in two ways. The first is just by listening to it and the second is by dancing around to it.  I think I've only recently realized that I do the latter of the two a lot.  Something in my subconscious gets my toes tapping and then I realize that my butt has been moving around in my seat for the last fifteen minutes...or that I've been dancing behind the counter for a while and the guys across the mall at Finishline are looking at me like I'm a psycho.

So for today's song of the day, I picked a song that quickly became a favorite after I heard it on a Roxy promo CD.  I dare you to listen to this song and not wanna dance.  It's impossible for me...especially when it comes on at Aggro. Then again, maybe other people have more self-control than me :)  Here's Fancy Footwork by Chromeo.


Fancy Footwork Video

Ojas and Priya in Southwest Florida

My boyfriend's back and humm hmm hmm hmm hmmm...Hey now Hey now! My boyfriend's back!

Ok well he was back.  For this visit we wanted to take it easy.  No mountain climbing, no alpine sliding and almost running over small mammels. This time is was all about relaxing around Naples.  Ojas got here Thursday night, so on Friday I decided to take him to Sanibel.  Sanibel is an island that is 12 miles long and 5 miles wide...at the widest point.

And so we were off!  But before we left for the island, we saw this thing on my mailbox.  Isn't it the creepiest looking thing ever? It's pretty cool but it had human like eyes!

The first thing on our mind when we got to Sanibel was food.  I'm pretty sure that the love for food is the strongest bond that Ojas and I have.  See how happy ordering pizza makes him?

There was an observatory tower at the side of the restaurant.  Sadly, it was under inspection by the fire department so we going climb to the top of it. :(

I hadn't been to Sanibel in a long time.  It had been years.  I did remember that everytime my family and I went, we'd rent bikes.  There was one time when we rented a surrey bike and I remembered it being pretty fun.  So that's just what we did this time.

Ojas trying to figure out the pedals...with my purse riding up front.

Switch! My turn to drive.

I got excited when I heard there was a lighthouse and the south end of the island.  Turns out it was probably the ugliest lighthouse ever.  So disappointing...

There was a pretty beach around there, though.

We could see Ft. Myers beach from the island.  That would be our next stop.

We lucked out with rain.  It only started raining after we were in Ft.Myers for a while.  We got some time in to sit under the sun...

eat some ice cream and listen to a shaman music band.

The next day we went to a little water park near my house. No pictures, sorry.  At night we met up with the soon-to-be Szatkowskis.

Ojas and I were VERY dark after our weekend out in the sun.  I think I even got sunburned!