Christmas tree? Decorating? Christmas tunes? I think it's just that I'm way too paranoid to decorate the house without losing my mind. Should the lights go around near the trunk of the tree or on the branches? And if they go on the branches, how do you hide the wires? Should I start placing them from the bottom to the top or the other way around? All doubts that I feel must be cleared before carrying out the decorating journey. When they become difficult to find, I get all bothered and say things like 'Merry depressing Christmas' and 'this is so not worth the effort put in' or 'if those three wise men were so friggin intelligent, why don't we get them on a friggin time machine and transport them to our present to figure out a better way of doing this'. And bothered stuff like that. Well, you get it.

But there are some things that are pretty high on my list of Top 10 Things I Love About The Season.

10. Food. There is seriously a lot of excellent food and M.E.A.T around the holidays.

9. Gifts. Yeah, I'm that superficial.

8. Christmas Carols. I'm a sucker for Christmas Carols – the originals as well as the new stuff.

7. Chocolates. A division of point 10, yes, but there's so much it ought to have a group of its own.

6. Santa. No matter how creepy he is a little tiny part of me still believes in him.

5. Christmas movies. I love those.

4. The cold. Usually we get lucky, this year not so much.

3. Time Off.

2. The Holiday Spirit.

1. Family. It doesn't get any better than family.

‘My Grown-up Christmas List’. Any version of it chokes me up and I sincerely love it. It's truly magical and wonderful and worth inviting into your home for a couple of minutes.

I think I love this song (version by Amy Grant)
because I was introduced to it by my parents when I was in school and it was played year after year. It was tradition then and I guess I'm trying to carry on that tradition now. But most importantly, these are the things that mean Christmas to me.

Warning! Here Be Gushing!

I am so in love with the city lately. Sometimes I want to high five B’lore, and other times I want to roll my eyes and ignore it, but these past few days I wanted to kiss it, nice and sweet, open mouth but no tongue. Maybe a little tongue.

Company’s on a week long shutdown and word on the street is there’s going to be a party…Beer barrel and deep-fried chicken and boy oh boy, there are few things I like more than drinking with friends. Also: Mimi, a good friend of mine from Nagaland is coming down for the hols. OH MY GOD COULD WE POSSIBLY CRAM A FEW MORE AWESOME THINGS INTO ONE WEEK!! We might be taking a small trip too, and I fully expect there to be plenty of meat waiting for us all three meals, loud laughter scaring tourists away, and ye soft Christmas specials on the telly. God bless the Holidays.

So, I have a crush on this guy, and it must be pretty awful, because being around him converts me into a super mean eighteen year old. I don’t know what happens; I’m traditionally a sort of rude flirter, but this is way off the light.

I’ve noticed that I do this thing with people I like, where at first I fret that they don’t like me, and I really fixate over it for a moment before realizing, that I shouldn’t give myself away. And then it’s ignoring him whenever he passes me by or looks at me.

I think it arises from the urge to hide behind a wall whenever I see him coming, and if I can’t, I just say or do the meanest thing that pops into my head, in this case, the ignoring thing. The look that would probably say something as mean as – ‘Did your parents give you away when you were an infant because they didn’t want you?’

But oh man, apparently I do.

I like the classics, the over-played holiday favorites that, to me, symbolizes the Christmas spirit. While I'll take any of the famous crooners over some boy band rendition of a holiday favorite any day, this American Idol contestant belting out Christmas tunes shouldn't suck any of the holiday spirit out of Christmas. Granted, he sounds like a kid (cos well, he kinda is), there's an implied sweetness punctuating ever song. But still, good stuff.

And who doesn't like a little something new to shake up the ol’ tunes? I'm a big fan. The one I’ll be playing tonight is ‘Pat-A-Pan’ by David Archuleta, which sounds astoundingly cool.

I am wondering about the condition of the blogosphere these days. Is it quiet around here lately? I think it's the holidays and people are getting busy with the Christmas season and that’s why it seems a little dead here in the blog world. I know the number of visitors is down this week. Did I maybe do something to piss someone off? Do I smell?

To that end (comment whore that I am), leave a comment. Lurkers delurk. Commenters comment. Perhaps you have a question about something (anything). Ask. Need to tell me my ass looks good? Please do.

I'll be here...writing, calculating and noodling.

Do you ever meet people; have a laid-back dialogue and wonder who it is you met, what kind of people they must be? Not in some romantic kinda way, just out of interest. Perhaps the point is that we all come into contact with so many people on a daily basis and somehow we never really get acquainted with any of them.

When I started blogging a year and a half ago, I'm not sure I would have just had a conversation with someone I didn’t know. I'm sure I would have smiled at someone but after that, I'm pretty sure there would have been silence. And if not, I'd have been wary with what I said, inspecting every word that came out of my mouth, terrified of being me...or too much of me nonetheless. I believe that being open, being me, has allowed me to become more at ease with who I am and what I have to say, in the real world. It’s what I've become aware of over the last year or so. And for that - the moments to share myself and the support I receive - I'm appreciative of.

It’s finally that time of year. Usually the first week of December marks the time to buy Christmas clothes and liberate the holiday decorations from their boxes. This weekend was an exception. We only had time to spread merriment by going through every possible square inch of Brigade road in search of my Christmas attire. And with the cold slowing showing up, it does seem like the holiday season at last.
I didn't have a chance to listen to much at all but I am rather proud of myself that I started playing Christmas music by Frank Sinatra, a collection I had acquired many moons ago. I'm a big fan of Christmas classics. Yup, I like me some old-school too. Let me tell you, they’re definitely worth owning.

And if this doesn't get you into the holiday spirit, nuthin' will. Happy Monday y’all!

I'll admit it. I’m a sucker for the whole Christmas caroling bit complete with a sing-along book. Sometimes, I even leave Christmas music on auto play for the entire day. In fact, my entire house is now specially decorated to ensure that I feel embraced by the Christmas spirit at every moment of the day, what with the ornament-laden tree, green and red knick-knacks, sparkling silver stars, glittered candles, and more. Of course, this only works if I never leave the house.

The weekend started with an office party — this or any type of forced work gatherings — are hardly an assured fun riot. But your absence is duly noted if you choose to stay away from one of these gatherings. If you do miss it you’ll hear stories about how that guy from the other process threw up in his shoe or how some guy and girl were all over each other the entire time. I suppose that that’s the best part about office parties: seeing what everyday co-workers are like outside of the office — and whether they’re going to do something stupid (especially since alcohol’s on the house).I went for the Christmas bash at a club called ‘HINT’ thinking that people might open up in other interesting ways. But I couldn’t find anyone fun and that’s really my fault. Deep down, I’m still that school kid, too shy to participate in anything without an intentional invitation (or copious amounts of alcohol). I was much the same way when I met Ru, Ck and Shreyas. They’d make friends with anyone, and strike up conversations with just about anybody.
I left the party feeling not too sad. The night had all the ingredients for a good time — Christmas, friends, colleagues, alcohol, a buffet and they did work well in combination. In retrospect, it wasn’t a terrible idea to go; I just wasn’t in the mood. I had had a long frenzied day and it has been a long time since I’ve spent Christmas without someone special. My New Year’s resolution: This year I’m going to get used to Singlehood.

Saturday night was at Runa’s and the entire crew was invited.
We were a big, loud crazy bunch singing carols, playing pictionary and trying to get the barbecue started.

Runa's Christmas Tree

A Beautiful Barbecue

Tony at the Grill

I never realized how much I missed Christmas, until I saw my friends unwrap their gifts.

I bring you the song ‘Mary Did you know’ today for a multitude of reasons. The first is that I quite honestly think this track sung by Clay Aiken, is a good seasonal song. There is a sense of December, of cold filled lit nights, of chilly winds, and the miracle of the birth of Christ associated with this season, that permeates every layer of this song. In the vocals and the music there is awe and veneration and the crescendo of the bridge makes you hold your breath. There is Christmas, happiness and goodies and there is even hope, admiration for a beautiful month. Runa, Ruan and I have also sung this track at Christmas concerts; hence it acquires a very special place in our hearts.

Enjoy the weekend my dear readers and keep coming back for more.

And so the countdown begins. Seven more days for Christmas....

We tend to forget the real meaning of Christmas in the hustle and bustle. So join with me in taking a moment out, from making party plans, running from store to store searching for the right gifts and putting up decorations, to ponder on the significance of this festival. And a question like this–like most questions I ask–can be ably answered with the help of visual aids.

Friends.
History - Off The Record
Gifts to Buy. Phew!
Current State of Affairs
It probably goes without saying, but given that I try to update this page almost every day, I rarely have any idea what I’m going to be writing about until I actually sit down to do it. Tonight, though, things are a little different.
Yes, with Christmas finally upon us soon and the magic of the season in full swing and…since this is my first Christmas here on EC, it’s probably quite apparent to you that I’ve got something of a soft spot for this festival. In fact, I’ve been actually going out of my way to make the next few days as special and Christmassy for my friends and family; which is why I’ve gotten custom-made Christmas hats for my crew. And it’s in the festive spirit that tonight; I’m throwing the spotlight onto what is, without question, my favorite Christmas track of all time. It’s sung by a boy band but it’s the best damn version of ‘O Holy Night’ I’ve ever heard.
Ok, before you listen to this song be warned that is brilliant. Yes it is brilliant and it’s as easy to listen to as it is captivating, but once you start the track you’ll be amazed at how quickly a quarter of an hour slips away. The track has been recorded in a live setting, and its decent quality, but what I find more fascinating is that the band does it in an appropriate straight up a-capella sort of way. Kudos. Another reason for you to click the player below is because I like the song, so just listen to it and agree with me.
If it’s not brilliant enough endorsement for this track I’m willing to bet you hate everything I love.
This track sits undeniably upon the top of the heaps of Christmas music available today and is a must-have for any true Christmas collection. Here it is my friends, enjoy.

Yay! It's officially full holiday season here in B’lore City. The sparkling decorations and lights, the overall feeling of warmth and cheer...well, as silly as it may sound; it makes life feel truly magical at times, despite the huge number of lay-offs that had taken place last week.
There are only ten days until Christmas, and I've done nothing. Well, next to nothing: I haven’t acquired presents for my crew yet- just gift wrapping ideas. The tree is still getting decorated. Helped mom with making a few fruitcakes, but she hasn’t prepared the tons of eatables that she usually makes. Right now, though, December seems just like November, only colder and darker.

I'm aware, readers, that there's a certain redundancy to most of my posting: one more account of work or love, interspersed with pictures, songs and a write-up of a musician. And sometimes I feel like I should give you more, but I have compelling reasons to record a large majority of my life and music history on the blog. For one thing, it's fun to write about, and I remain hopeful that recording my experiences and knowledge in a substantially honest manner keeps me from being too much like some music blog or life blog I read where at first I'm very interested in, but then I see entry after entry with the same clichés, and I start to think that the entries are largely unreal. The main reason that I write so much about my life and music is because my memory for personal detail is never all that great, and I do this by maintaining a searchable record.

Let’s move on to a special holiday episode of All I Want for Christmas:

Dear Mr. Claus,

I have been an exceptionally good girl this year and wanted to tell you what I want for Christmas.

I wanna be rolling in money, celebrated and influential
Step on all my rivals and never do a thing
I wanna be rolling in money, celebrated and influential
So all I have to do for years is sit around and sing.

And while you are at it and if it's not too much trouble, Mr. Claus, I could really use the ability to exhale flames. Not because I want to reduce anyone to ashes. I just think breathing fire would be hot and my friends would love me even more than they do now.

Peace and holiday love,

Eve.

We've officially entered the Christmas season and until the 25th, Christmas music will be played here on EC. I usually take pleasure in the music; until I've listened to so much of it that by the time Christmas morning gets here I'm ready to thump the first person who plays a Christmas song. There are songs that I wished were played more often, like the Drifters version of "White Christmas" - Attention readers- you might just like this. It features Bill Pinkney on lead bass and Clyde McPhatter on tenor. When I played it, it was fun to listen to-- a cappella with that 70’s wap-shoo-wap charm. I’m not very fond of listening to this kind of music, but these guys actually have some ability to harmonize seamlessly. Its slick stuff and I play it often.

So, if you've had it with the oldies then give this a try. Well, that's all I've got for today. Stay tuned, kids.