two-uh-oh-nine dekko

Just a backward glance to capsule two-uh-oh-nine in my life (self-involved me- i me myself mine... je moi mon ma mes... mera mujhe main... ennakku naan... me mio mi) getting THAT out of my system, here's what the year was like seulement pour moi:

Books I Read in 2009 (off the top off my cuckoo head):
~ Tales from 1001 Arabian Nights
~ The Diamond as Big as the Ritz & Other Stories- F. Scott Fitzgerald
~ Roald Dahl's ultimate treasury (stories, illustrations, poems, excerpts)
~ Ground Beneath Her Feet (Salman Rushdie)
~ Ravan & Eddie- Kiran Nagarkar
~ Potpourri- Ruskin Bond
~ Under the Banyan Tree & Other Stories- R.K. Narayan
~ The Vagina Monologues- Eve Ensler
~ Five Past Midnight in Bhopal

...And then there were some that I'm currently reading (3 books at a time- so one is placed by my bed, one is carried to work and a third is in the living room in case I get bored of the tube... can't handle more than 3 and invariably I focus too much on one as it grips me by the forearm and yanks my yielding whole into the myriad world of life love laughter lust lamentation)... digressing, digressing! Yes, so 3 books that overflowed to 2010:
~Saadat Hassan Manto's Bitter Fruit (heart soul slice of 1940s Indian filmdom- breathtaking, letters to Uncle Sam- wry, witty and hilarious),
~The second is Chowringhee (by my bedside, but somehow I carry Bitter Fruit from bag to bed shamelessly, it's almost done now so orange-covered Chowringhee is where I'll dwell next), and
~The third is Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot (2nd Dostoevsky I'm sinking into!)

Next is what (Samsung's random ad campaign... why would I want to write that... but not allowing myself to mentally delete-format-edit... verbal vomit and you get to read... evil huuaahahaha)... Movies I watched in the past year (mostly everything that released @ DT VK, PVR Select):

~Aloo Chat- surprisingly awesome, we went due to lack of choice bestfriend-crazyluvboy-me, walked out laughing our asses off and recommending it to the rest of the world. Yeah, we're 31% responsible for the word-of-mouth publicity and subsequent success of this low-on-budget, high-on-humor film
~T3- why god why????!!! I asked a logical question during the interval (on the travelling into the past and future and landing back continuum) and my friends shushed me coz "ours is not to reason why, ours is just to watch & die"
~Blue Oranges- Yeah, we thought we'd follow up Aloo Chat with another one of those low budget wonders... only the boy who took us to the movie "liked" it, but I saw him yawn exactly 12 times in the 1st half (I dozed off in the 2nd half)... and I counted the yawns as I was so grateful for him to let us experience this movie marvel, that I couldn't take my eyes off his face (laser beam eyes going thru his cerebrum to determine whether torture-my-friends section was bouncing with joy yet!)
~ The Hangover- Walked in 15mins 36 seconds, thus breaking his golden rule of arrive-3o-mins-before-a-movie-buy-popcorn-n-finish-half-before-you-reach-your-seat... angry glares throughout the movie... secretly saw it a 2nd time and loved it both times :)
~Blue, Ajab Ghajab- sad sad sad, can't tell you how much
~Wake Up Sid, Pocket Mein Rocket- nice nice nice (if I say it three times, it counters the lukewarm effect the word has, ok!)
~Planet Terror (on DVD)- mixed emotions, funny by the end of it, takes awhile to get used to the scum (for me atleast)
~How can I forget Inglourious Basterds- words are not enough... from the poster to the intro scene to the apple schtrudel bit to the drunken German scene to the revenge of the giant face and the last laugh with Brad Pitt... Tarantino is genius and for once he WASN'T celebrating the evil...still managed to get it through without looking preachy/goody!

Misc. Stuff (Very Important Misc. Stuff)
~Bought my car back.... it's mine mine mine all mine (just need the RTO authorities to concur now, but never mind that!)
~Fell head over feet over & over again (never-ending fucking abyss, absolute, amorous abyss)... he'd already won me over in spite of me...
~Lost "friends" a.k.a. they were gone when I turned around to see "what's up?"... scampered away surreptitiously... little rats (I AM allowed to say that now, I KNOW! Trust me, I'm allowed to say that!)
~Found the ones that truly accept me for my madness, my whims, my choices, my happiness! My precious... :)
~Genie's last surgery happened... last attempt to curb the cancer... another tumor and she retires in peace! But for now she's flouncy and excited as ever, will to live is admirable!
~Switched career paths... pays less, keeps me happy more (since disillusionment hasn't set in just yet), it's awesome, as I said, I'm happy
~Started trading & saving: courtesy SuperDad! Shares, markets, demat accounts, articles on buy-sell-hold etc etc.... he's got it all analyzed, I just sit there while he talks and wait for "bottomline- buy it"
~ Became a regular contributor of a women's webzine- Savadati, featured on their "Best of Sa"
~Saw best friend leave the country, we're in touch (not a big fan of keeping in touch, me, but I try coz it's the only way)... miss her more than ever
~All-girls trip to Manali, Rohtang times two, scoring, balcony overlooking the loud-raging-Beas, bonding, marriage-vs-spinsterhood (word exists?)
~Boy(s) trip to Rishikesh, Udaipur-Jaipur (original plan: Udaipur only, got to Jodhpur House so late, no direct bus to Jaipur), "Sohna-hahah-ha", Doon-Masoori, last but not the least, Bombayyyyy (going mad with horns @ Juhu Beach, next time I'm getting alien horrorscope done, losing my Leos virginity, BadeMiya chicken on Marine Drive, parental pressure, kisses from 1st to 11th floor, Sea Link, lighter checks at both airports, love all over again)
~ Bought acrylics, painted... random shades, themes, nothing even remotely nice, but felt good to hold a paintbrush once more... next up, painting my moods away :)
~ Shifted homes... nicer, sexed out terrace, my OWN room (myspace.in)
~ Got a crazy haircut- curly all over, diagonal front bangs super straight, blufer died of shock, concealed it with a grunt and "hmm..so how long does this last?"
~ Goa-secret-pledge *dreamy smile*

Twenty-ten has been here for a week and I already have:
~ Painted some more
~ Attended a typical Delhi rooftop party NYE night
~ Broke my Juhu horns :'(
~ Won two tickets to Sherlock Homes exclusive screening (luck strikes after 23.93 yrs), went with Mommy
~ On my way to paying back SuperDad all that I owe him
~ Wrote an article for a website-startup (cash register ringing in me eyesssiessss)

Ok byebyethanx for now
Wishing for another crazy year and hopefully a giant vacation outside the country (save-save-save-spend-spend-splurge-shop-shop-sleep-savor)