Caught The Ick

I came home sick Friday evening. I never do that. Although, truth be told, my physical condition and the prospects of making it through the day were both uncertain when I woke up on Saturday. I planned the things I would do this weekend – finally meet a blogger friend, make it to my ex boyfriend’s birthday party and try my best to relax just a tad in the meanwhile.

Saturday night, my body finally broke down and I ended up spending two excruciating days in bed. I had massive chest congestion and a soaring fever. I've been popping medication like Anna Nicole Smith all week. And today I finally feel better. Except for some strange explanation, I can't hear out of my right ear. I'm sorta hopeful that goes away in a little while.

Other than that, nothing earth-shattering occurred. Just a thread of slightly crappy moments which, held collectively, made a pretty unlikable past few days. And I felt like shit. The puzzling illness that's going around smacked me. I realized it when I was speaking and couldn't hear myself. So, that blows.

Yet, it's not awful.

I've got to head back to bed now and get all the rest I can in order to make it into work tomorrow and I'm not exactly looking forward to it. But what helps is the knowledge that I'm not in it alone, that my folks are around to take care of me and also, its payday tomorrow as well as the start to a very nice weekend.

On a side note, make sure to sit down when you first listen to “Waking in the dark” by Polish Indie rock band ‘Hatifnats’. Like a prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box, this track offers up its own little surprise. While most Hatifnats’ music tends to be quite dark – and this track doesn’t break that pattern – there are pieces of vividness interposed with passionate liveliness. Maybe the band will finally get the attention it deserves. Maybe not. But if you like excellent, radical, bold music, ‘Waking in the dark’ should most certainly be on you list of new releases to pick up. This track was my first introduction to their music and I was wowed by them. They are certainly worth checking out!
(Taken at a friend's place. A traditional Naga basket adorned with monkey skulls)

If it’s at all relevant to the place in which you live, don't forget to turn the clocks back on the 31st! And happy Halloween in advance. Remember, you're supposed to fright the crap out of yourselves with terrifying movies. I don't want to be the only one not able to sleep that night!

Have you ever had one of those moments in which you're sure your life will end? You know the kind when there's-no-possible-way-that-I-didn't-breathe-my-last kind of moment. I have one that I was, for some reason, thinking about yesterday.

When I was at the capital one day, we were stuck in traffic at one side of the mountain. And if you’ve ever seen these roads in Kohima, you’ll know that they are too narrow for two cars to travel beside each other. So while I was sitting in my sis’ Gypsy waiting for the cars to move my twin announces that there are rocks falling. We thought it was a joke until I saw a few more boulders rumbling down the side of the hill. Luckily, our driver didn’t wait to make sure if it was true and quite skillfully overtook the car in front of us, damaging it only slightly. Needless to say the boulders didn’t do much damage. We managed to bail before it would have made contact. A few scratches to the vehicle was much better than the alternative.

The landslide almost killed me. But it didn't, and I guess that's the important thing. And the fact that every so often - on the odd occasion - you stumble upon the absolute perfect getaway. I mean, just right that you have to punch yourself to make sure that what's happening is genuine, that it isn't some kind of cruel reverie that makes reality pale in comparison. This was just such a trip. Two weeks. Yes, I was off - as in not working - for a whopping two weeks. And now I'm back at work. I'm sad. But I guess the holiday couldn't go on eternally. For one thing, I'd be poor and I have the feeling I wouldn't like living off my parents’ money. I don't think they’d understand my need to update the wardrobe every other week.
Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Amos Lee’s, third and most recent full length album “Last Days at the Lodge” contains a track titled "What's Been Going On". You can check out the track below this post. He has a lot of hype to live up to; especially after being named one of Rolling Stone's “Top 10 Artists to Watch”. This track does the talking for him.

This whole getting back to work after a vacation is exhausting! Let's see. Where did I leave off...?

This time it was to the villages Kisama and Tupema for some ethnic Angami food (a tribe that lives in large numbers at the capital, Kohima) and the Mr. Big show at Dimapur. The food? Good. The show? Excellent.

We saw them after nearly 6 hours of waiting at the venue and, while loud, it was amazing. Yes, I'm very well aware that most of B’lore had already witnessed the band on 10th but still - amazing. After a long tiring night and turning down an invitation to make to the band’s after party, my friends and I headed back home and passed out.

There was more shopping, more walking and a couple of visits to one of my favorite places in the capital - Dream Cafe. For those of you scratching your heads – it’s a café… at the top of the hill. You can actually get yourself one of those special seats in the café, which overlook the entire valley. It’s a fantastic place - they advertise new bands, old bands, mostly local.

The food was fabulous. But can I tell you how much I ate? Um, no. There aren't sufficient words in the English language to convey how much I devoured. It was painful to get up and walk. But I managed.
Mornings started nice and early (6 a.m) with red tea, heavy brunch and then it’s out on the town at 12. Kohima was chilly and a bit rainy but it always cleared up. We caught an exhibition at the museum. We meandered through the shopping areas that sold knock-off designer items and the busy roads, attempting to make it to the topmost part of the mountain but we got sidetracked. The houses, the people, the little waterfalls...they were all gorgeous. Then the drive back, which helped the sore legs and stops to check out the local fast food joint that created pizzas to perfection.

So, we've walked more miles than god but my work here is not done. I’ve got tons write about and show. More, of course, later...
I'll admit, I haven't listened to much this week. But the past two weeks have seen the release of a near-flawless albums – Battle Studies by John Mayer. Seriously. Flawless. Unless you're a raging gangsta rap fan, I can almost guarantee you'll dig the track 'Who Says'. Give it a listen. You'll like it. This might just be his most mature, well-developed album yet in the catchy department.
Mayer also mentions that this song sounds best between “8pm-3am on Friday and Saturday nights”.

But before hitting play, I have a job for you:
- If you've got a blog, pimp it in the comments, lurkers and non-lurkers alike.
- If you know of a site everyone should be reading - your own or someone else's - open up the comments box and let me and the people who visit this page know about it.

Thank you all for checking in while I was out of town. If I haven't responded to your email, my apologies. I'll have some quality time with my Gmail account tomorrow and the coming weekend! Until then, goodnight from B’lore City.

It is I, Eve.

Step away from the edge, folks! Your lives have meaning again!

Yes, after taking a couple of weeks off to Nagaland, I’m back and very eager to brave the employment storm. Yesterday, I obsessively checked the weather to see if the heavy rains would prevent me from flying out on my 4 p.m. flight. Fortunately the rains stopped for awhile leaving a nice window of decent weather during which I could make my escape. Of course, that didn't prevent me from being stuck inside the plane for more than 3 hours because of an extra stop-over at Hydrebad! But I won't get started on my customer service tirade. The vein in my forehead only smoothed back down to skin level a few hours ago.

As for the reunion with family over there after a year, things couldn't have gone better. Everyone got along beautifully. The trip felt like a proper close to 25 and it's starting to feel like "back to school" time here.

I feel like I have more to share - and I know I'm way behind on posts and music - but my brain is a pulp from a very relaxing holiday and the thought of getting up tomorrow morning to go to the office only makes me want to veg out at home with mum and dad. I'm anxiously counting the minutes until I can go back to bed! Details on the trip coming up very soon. I want to thank Pete for guest blogging while I was away and I did do the whole walk through knee-high grass and I have a shot of the place too.

(It was on my way from the capital to Dimapur.)

When my aunt gave me a CD of an upcoming naga artist called Alo Wanth, with a big grin on her face I just knew it’s going to be impressive. And trust me, impressive it is.

Honestly I’m not sure if there is anything I would change about this song. Let’s see. It’s over four minutes. It’s distinctive. It changes moods and builds up emotions in you that can only be described as exhilarating. It has Alo Wanth dripping his voice all over for good measure. Really, I mean really, is there anything even slightly substandard about this song? For those of you that care you can go ahead and listen to it. Enjoy.

I do not have enough time

Eve is out, wading through knee high grass in a white dress that just about touches her shin head held up high arms stretched out- as if she is trying to capture as much of the moment as she could. Ok that's what I imagine her doing on her hiatus. So, until then you've got me to keep the music playing. Well, I am Peter and i do have a journal (http://shouldifollow.livejournal.com) that i have not updated in what seems like eternity- the reason being "I do not have enough time".

There are a lotta things I do not do these days, like stopping by at the corner for a quick bite at my favorite Samosa Place or walk down the street when it's raining. I do not know why I stopped doing what I loved doing not so long ago. So, I've decided to travel a lot, start a band (this is just wishful thinking) work hard and have enough ways to spend all that i earn (not big on the idea of saving).

Ever since I've heard of this place Bhagsu from a friend of mine I've been wanting to go there. So, Bhagsu is first on my list of go to places in India. Do let me know if you've heard or been to a place in India that I need to add to my list.

We The Living.

A band that believes that the best way to get their music out to the people is by playing live concerts. We the living a melodic, alternative rock band that's been making some wonderful music since April 2007 with songs like Sound of love (http://songza.fm/~d0bajv) and my favorite Best Laid Plans (http://songza.fm/~3ege5b). The words to their songs are anything but put together in a hurry, much thought is put into the words as is to the melody. A song to listen to - is their remarkable cover of Thom Yorke's Black Swan.