The Liebster!

Well well well, another award and this time nominated twice!

First by The Dream Dinosaur Girl
Andre - She writes and paints her dreams.
She will blog about your dreams too. So if you ever have a weird dream, you know whom to contact :)

Second by The Regular Guy NYC
Phil - He rants about his life in New York City.
If you ever want to visit New York, you have to visit his blog first!

The rules
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.
3. Choose people and link them in your post.
4. Go tell them!

Andre's Questions for me

1. What is the best moment of the day?

    The moment when you realize that you still have 10 more minutes to snooze before waking up.

     

2. Imagine you have 15 minutes to pack and leave to any place you want. Where would that be?

    Friend's place

3. Is there something you don't allow yourself?

    To hurt my near and dear ones

4. Your first memory as a child.

     Playing on a swing

5. Who is your favorite celebrity?

     Jesus Christ

6. Your favorite object.
     Phone

7. Something you wish you had more time for.
    Sleep

8. What is the worst movie you've ever seen?
     Along came Polly

9. A song that brings you memories, and why.
    Something Stupid- Frank Sinatra. Cos it brings back memories :)

10. Is there any skill you wish you had?
      Wish I could Sing

11. And of course...I had to ask this: do you remember your dreams after you wake up?
      Sometimes Yes. Most of the times No.

Phil's questions for me

1. What scares you the most?
    Hypnagogic Hallucinations

2. If you could be any famous person, living or dead, who would it be and why?

    The Misanthropic Bitch. Would love to see the world through her eyes.

3. If you could switch bodies with one of your friends who would it be and why?
    A geek friend. To live the life of a geek.

4. If you could be any insect, what would you be and why?
    Brevisana brevis. Small yet so LOUD! (reminds me of me)

5. What is your favorite movie of all time?
    Ice Age!

6. If you were allowed to only eat one meal for the rest of your life what would it be?
    Chicken!!

7. If you could go back in time what would you change or do?
    Stop the dodos from going extinct. Heck, the world needs some dodos!

8. If you had to pick one famous person of the same sex to have a man or girl crush on, who would it be and  
    why?
    he he he.. Am way too hetero, buddy!

9. Would you take a bullet for someone, and if yes, who would it be?
     No.

10. If you could be an athlete in the Olympics what sport would it be?
      ha ha ha, athlete and me? ha ha ha

11. What celebrity do you despise the most and why?
      Steve Jobs. Cos I think the idealization of him as a technologist is a fallacy.

11 Random things about me.

1. I love to watch the rain.
2. As a kid, I was dead scared of lightning and thunder. I still am.
3. The first thing I always do with a pencil is trace the mickey mouse and say "Hi, I am Nina Gray and you are watching Disney Channel!!"
4. I hate dogs. Yes I do. (OK now, please stop giving me the looks.)
5. I never knew I could write. Pssst..my husband still does not know.
6. I am a morning person ( as long as morning starts at around 11ish)
7. I always type a slash(/) first instead of an eroteme(?).
8. I get weird dreams when I eat noodles for dinner. Check it out here
9. I once was lost but now am found :)
10. I enjoy reading chick lits
11. I hate sports. Any kind.

My nominations for Liebster Award

• BillyJoMary Drei at 3 Heads In The Clouds
• Kate at Kate at Home
• Manz at Life as a Caterpillar
• Jemary Mallabo at Literary Criticism
• Aunt Mary at Easy Way (A Blog For Children)

Congratulations all of you and here are my questions for you :)

1. If you had to change the order of alphabets, what would it be?
2. What is the square root of 21345578?
3. Have you done anything lately that you are proud of?
4. What is the best prank you have ever pulled?
5. Have you ever seen a ghost?
6. Are you happy? If yes, why? if no, why not?
7. When did you last lie?
8. What is the most important thing in your life?
9. If you were invisible for one day, what would you do?
10. what did you do last night?
11. How many I(s) do you find in the '11 Random things about me' above?

TaaaaXi!

It was one of those December evenings in New York, way back in 2005.
At around 5 pm, we three friends decided that we were badly in need of a microwave oven, given that the only oven the unit possessed was actually 'possessed' (Yeah, It seemed to have a mind of its own.) It sometimes worked and sometimes dint (OK, mostly it din't).

As all of us were in a great mood for a walk, we decided to walk it up to the store to buy the oven. We reached there, found our perfect oven, paid for it and were deciding to leave.
It was just about then that the snowing started. The guy who sold us the oven tried to call a taxi for us but in vain.
At first we thought we would walk it up. But three ladies holding an oven in the freezing December snow of New York? After much deliberation, we decided against it.
The store guy finally suggested that it may be a good idea to stand by the door of the store and flag down any passing taxi.

So we three ladies walked to the door of the store and stood there in despair waiting for at least one taxi to pass by.
No such luck.
The light snow slowly started turning into a blizzard and it was getting pretty dark too.
Then like God send, we saw a taxi slowly passing round the end of the road.
Jumping with joy, all of us started screaming and waving trying to get his attention (we were not just about to lose what would have been the only resort to taking us home).
After much screaming, the guy finally noticed us.
He immediately revved up the car and started speeding towards us (ok, now, we were desperate to reach home, but he dint have to rush like there was no tomorrow!)
He braked the car, opened the door and shouted "whats wrong, Ladies?"

It was only then that we noticed the flashing lights on the car and the very neatly written 'NYPD' on it.
Blimey.
My friends looked at me with the question "should we make a run for it?". I gave them back a look which said 'Well don't worry, I have it all under control.'
OK, there was nothing to panic.

I slowly walked up to the car, pointed my finger at it, looked at the officer and very confidently (well almost confidently) asked "Taxi?"
(agreed, not the best plan, but at least it was better to look like an idiot than 3 suspicious ladies lurking in the dark on a snowy winter night!)


The officer let out a laugh which sounded like a scream "Taxi??! ha ha ha, ok , hop on, ladies, where should I take you?"
"errr, we also have a microwave oven..."
Officer rolling his eyes, got down, walked into the store, got the microwave oven and dropped us all back home. (See? my plan did work!)

It was worth seeing our other friends' faces when a police officer walked into the unit to drop off our microwave, before rushing off on his duty!
All because we dint know the difference between a taxi and a police car! (But in all fairness to us, it WAS very dark out there!)

P.S. Don't forget to check out the latest at Shoot and Tell

Happy Birthday and Unbirthday too!

Oh yes, its my birthday today! Apart from the usual wishes (oh yes, even Google wished me - check it out!) and gifts, I had nothing interesting to do.
So I was surfing the net (as is my wont, these days) and here are some really interesting facts.


Anybody know what a Birthday Problem is?

In probability theory, the birthday problem or birthday paradox concerns the probability that, in a set of n randomly chosen people, some pair of them will have the same birthday. By the pigeonhole principle, the probability reaches 100% when the number of people reaches 367 (since there are 366 possible birthdays, including February 29). However, 99% probability is reached with just 57 people, and 50% probability with 23 people. These conclusions are based on the assumption that each day of the year (except February 29) is equally probable for a birthday.
The mathematics behind this problem led to a well-known cryptographic attack called the birthday attack, which uses this probabilistic model to reduce the complexity of cracking a hash function.

And the CRYPTIC formula? Well here goes (oh no no, don even bother to ask me what denotes what!)



And all this ONLY to find out if some one in a group shares the same birthday as you! Trust me people, I would just stand up and ask!

And whats an Un-Birthday?

An unbirthday (originally written un-birthday) is an event that can be celebrated on any day that is not the person's birthday. It is a neologism coined by Lewis Carroll in his Through the Looking-Glass, giving rise to "The Unbirthday Song" in the 1951 Disney animated feature film Alice in Wonderland.

Now you have reason to celebrate all 364 days of the year! (365 in case its a Leap Year)
So here's a video wishing a Very Merry Unbirthday To All of You! (yes, you) and to all tea drinkers like me, too!

The Great Fall..

tic-toc, tic-toc,tic-toc, tic-toc

The clock tics away......

clickity-clak, clickity-clak, tooooot....

The seven am train just passed.

Life has come to a standstill. Days merge into weeks and weeks into months. 

One day is not distinguishable from the other. And then the phone rings.

"Hello, Beautiful!"

Those words bring along with it, magic. 

Life becomes beautiful again. 

I flutter around like a butterfly. 

I sing, I dance..

Everything around is colorful.

I cant remember when I last heard the clock or the train.

Everyday seems to be lived to the fullest..

I soar into the sky like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. 

I can see the world below me..

I am flying higher and higher...

I am a helium balloon..

Suddenly I hear the prick..

I am losing control..

I am crashing down...faster and faster..

I can see the cold hard earth fast approaching...

.....THUD!

Reality strikes... Realization dawns...

tic-toc, tic-toc,tic-toc, tic-toc

The clock tics away ....

clickity-clak, clickity-clak, tooooot...

The seven am train just passed.

The Versatile Blogger!

...and the award for The Versatile Blogger goes to...... Nina Gray!
Note to self : Look up the meaning of versatile!

Thank you Epsita! This is truly a motivation to keep going. I am honored!
Epsita is my fellow blogger. You can find her blog at http://epsita.blogspot.com.au/
If her blog does not have you gripped, well I do not know what else will!
Her poems - they speak to you....You see your life in them...

Rules - 

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and include a link to their site.
• Add The Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post.
• Nominate 7 fellow bloggers that you've recently discovered or follow regularly and include a link to their site. 
• Let them know you have nominated them.
• Share 7 random facts about you.

So here are 7 random facts about me

2. As a kid my favorite color was yellow.
2. I am an avid tea drinker.

3. I never expected to receive an award for blogging.
4. I dance when I am all alone at home.
5. I hate to cook.
6. I do not share my secrets even with the best of my friends.
8. I am bad at numbers!

7 bloggers I feel who deserve this award? Here goes (in no particular order)...

1.  MattTheRose ― http://theamericanrose.blogspot.com
              First he makes me laugh and then he makes me think.

              

2.  Kellie @ Delightfully Ludicrous  - http://delightfullyludicrous.blogspot.com.au/
              Delightfully Ludicrous indeed! one hilarious story after another.

3. Freddie Miranda -  http://www.fromatravellersdesk.com
            Reading this blog is on my travel checklist!

4. reNUka - http://iamnotinukraine.blogspot.com

            The analogies! come fall in love with them!

5. GK Adams - http://www.funnylifestories.com/

            I visit here to laugh my head out!

6. Jamie Price -  http://weirdn-wonderful.blogspot.com
           A little weird and a little wonderful

7.Phil HoltBerg - http://blog.theregularguynyc.com

         New York, New York and more New York

Congratulations Everyone! Have a wonderful New Year!

- Happy Nina