Little bit if zis and zat

A typhoon has besieged Shanghai and if one were to stand outside merely breathing in the wind, they'd be blown away for sure.
I opened my windows to see what this was all about and was hit by a gale so mercilessly sharp my face won't be forgetting it anytime soon.

--
Gboard on iPad sucks.

--
I've gotta be more productive tomorrow
--
Should I sleep or should I read some?
--

Hearts galore..

GITS

Didn't thnk I'd write about this but here it is

Watched ghost in the shell live action movie, one wth Scarlett Johansen and it didn't totally suck.

There were somethings I really liked about the movie, specifically the interpretation of that world in live action. It was spectacular, and the graphics were totally rad.
The entire world has been visualized pretty spot on and it was a treat for eyes.

This was the kind of movie that was meant to serve as a sort of base for sequels (if they ever happen) and that's where it actually faltered.
If one hasn't read any manga or watched ghost in the shell anime, one would get totally lost while watching the movie, in fact it wouldn't even be interesting to someone with no background information ahout GITS universe.

This movie deals with a lot of back story, as to how Batou got the eyes and major Kusanagi came to be calledby that name, also how did sector 9 become what it is as we see..

A lot of roles were whitewashed as I have already ranted earlier and scarlet Johansen wasn't a good kusanagi neither a totally unbearable one, for the simple reason that she didn't stand out and didn't do a deplorable job either, because only Maj.Motoko Kusanagi can be her and no one else and she exists in drawings alone.

Had this movie not dealt with any of this and been something of an action fantasy movie without much initial character explanation only to be unfolded with progressing movie it still would have worked, much like Marvels and Dc's but we'll who's to say.

I didn't hate the movie and I didn't love it except for some aspects of the movie. One time watch for sure.

Green to the gills

Here goes nothing!
I'm making Thai green curry from scratch.
The preparations for this have been on for a while.
Every time I'd see kaffir like leaves being sold I'd buy them and store in the freezer, ditto for lemon grass and slowly but surely built up a stash of goodies I'd needed to make this and today yes today I finally found galangal in the market and boy am I going to make some green as the greenest forest Thai curry..
It'll be vegetarian of course, but what can you do?

But still..green curry!! Yum.

Monday pump and shoo

Ah Monday, what can I say except why on earth did you come back?

After almost a week (technically 9 days) of absolute zero workout Monday was dedicated to HIIT. I'm almost of a mind to make mondays a HIIT thing now.
Ugh, My body said yes but my mind said no and I was straining my every will to get into my workout clothes and get on the mat and start punishing myself with a mini amazon of sweat and sore aches.

One things I am of mind is to include more of Vinyas yoga in my workouts, probably as cool down workouts and even to fill in those gaps between days when I'm not exercising.
I think a bit of flexibility flow won't do me any harm, and I love how breathing patterns in my workout routines have started affecting me.

It's strange but during my previous workout years when I used to do a lot of aerobics and pole dance workouts I'd never thought I'd ever do any bit of yoga, but now as I type this I realize how much my thoughts have changed in terms of my own understanding of my body and its nourishment.

The learning to regulate breathing patterns according to exercise and exhale and inhale during certain motions really not only helps up the stamina but endurance as well..and to think it's something just as simple as breathing for heaven's sake.

But coming back to Monday and all its excruciatingly banal connotations I have a few chores on hand.
My house needs some repairs that I cannot undertake, specifically something to do with the central water heating and gas unit. It's leaking hot water and wetting the entire floor of my balcony creating a sort of icky mess that doesn't let me clean the damn balcony floors and it's annoying me.

Li'l things that make up a day and what not, and oh I didn't get the time to draw a single line today.
I want to continue with the art bit for a few more days until the pages in my book are finished and so is the 'Heroes Die' audiobbok.

soon..

Some pics

Today today and now yesterday

Instagram has been showing me the same damn recommendations with very few changes for the past few days and it's tiring me. Same drawings, people, pics, memes. Bleh.

Almost midnight and I'm just about ready to hit the bed, but not before confessing that I overate and overate to the point of feeling guilty.. though that's nothing new considering how every Saturday I make confessions to the same sin.

Ah, tomorrow will begin with a much needed visit to the vegetable market and let's see how it will unfold then.

I didn't get any time to do any reading or drawing or listening.

I want to bitch some about the dinner I had today and how it was so very minimally above average for the the kind of lavish fine dining the restaurant made itself to be and how I'd like to have eaten a better meal for something so expensive.
It's like this that if I'd eaten this for half the cost I'd have liked it a lot more, just that when you pay such exorbitant amounts one expects something a little other worldly in terms of food. I mean it was really nice but overpriced for the kind of tastes it offered. I could almost buy a unicorn steak for that amount..alas, those are probably rare and found only in Michelin.

I'd do a complete discourse on how foods are affected by the country they're eaten in but I've not the zeal.

Saw a man today who carried nothing on his person, save a phone and an umbrella tucked in his back pocket.
Don't know what's so funny about it, but when I saw him this evening I burst out laughing, for no apparent reason except that he was carrying nothing besides.

Night it is then..

Hearts.

Selfie

Sharp wings to cut through a throat, my darling

The thing about makeup is to not look made up.

Bedtime perusals

It's not funny I have the hunger pangs at this time of night and I feel like eating a babka.
Why? I don't know!

I mean it's crazy to have such a particular craving to eat something so specific.

--
Saturday again! That means I won't be anywhere near my desk tomorrow.
Tasks and chores and a bit of outing..
Have to get the air conditioning fixed and maybe I'll make a recipe tomorrow and click some pictures.
I mean it's summers and that means ice creams and it's been a while since I made any.
When I say ice creams I mean non dairy of course :(

I had decided that this entire month I'll be doing watercolours alone and I did, except that I started this audiobook 'heroes die' and I'm almost 1/3rd in and now if I pause it here I might go mad with anticipation.
Caine is trying to escape with a couple prisoners and it's frenzied as all hell.
I can't leave them at this point when they've finally found themselves out of that shithole (literally)..which means I have to finish this audiobook before I do anything else. I guess a week at most with some more drawings and then it's all about writing next month.

Ugh, almost midnight and that means I gotta sleep.
I had a poem inside of me somewhere but now it's gone.
My head is a bubbling pot of one too many activities overloading.
Need to find a it of zen and maybe I'll begin work it next Monday.
Not maybe but for sure.
It's been a week and I've had a bit of resting..and now for a bit of sleeping.

Kisses

Night terms

My nighttime companion by default.
Such are nights when it's up to meows instead of moans to keep loneliness at bay.

Life and other such maladies.
Sigh..

Oddities

Ok I've just been sent an invitation for entering Mrs. India and I'm wondering what on earth??

I don't need that validation or do I?
Nope!
I'd rather put my drawings on instagram.
Yeah!

Dragons

Here done two dragonflies.
It took me over two hours to do this detailing in the watercolour and my neck is in a fix

What else now? A couple more things perhaps..

The thing about Murakami

and I'm talking about Haruki Murakami not Ryu is that his stories are to me a bit bland.

I do not mean this is any other mean way, nor as offensive critique because he's such a celebrated author and a wonderful writer but everyone doesn't have the same kind of taste buds and to my taste buds he comes across as a bit flavourless.

I was recommended his books by my dad and was given a book of short stories 'The elephant vanishes' and almost three stories in I knew this wasn't my carafe of wine, cuz I can read all sorts and have a rather varying palette in terms of reading or listening to books, but somehow this just didn't seem to go anywhere with me.

Not that it was too subtle or open ended, I've read books far daintier in terms of subtlety (Yasunari Kawabata) being one of the greatest among such authors, in fact he is pretty much unparalleled, it's just that the tones of the book that some called Kafka like didn't resonate as anything Kafkaesque nor brilliant story telling.

It felt a bit tedious, unstimulating even, and it's not that each book has to be a certain tsunami causing mad fun, but his writings didn't as much create a ripple in my waters.

Now this is simply my perspective because my dad and others who've read him love his works and in fact keep suggesting other books once they know I don't like his writings, and that they are even a bit perplexed and wonder what's wrong with me as to like something like Pamuk but not Murakami.

Of course those are two completely different authors and comparisons can't be made, it's just a question of tastes.

Murakami's works seemed a bit insipid because they are something like a long, boring description of a very uneventful incident and even if it's something eventful the story telling waters it down to a yawn..for me that is.

I don't know about existentialism seeping from his work, because it's a topic open for interpretation, something that can be absorbed from any sort of writing that you like, or maybe just that his abstractions do not fit into my jigsaw collage.

If you want to give Murakami a try, maybe a short story to gauge if it sits pretty on your palette before committing to a book proper.

Brunched

There are times when only pasta would do, that too in a salad. How I love cold pasta salads and paired with my cold brew red tea it tastes another level of hearty and nourishing.
A vegan brunch affair but by no means meagre.

Dreams must be crazy

I really must stop reading right before going to sleep, it messes up my dreams.
It's my usually practise to stay up propped against pillows reading something, anything and because the past few months I've been reading 'Malazan' books, so that's what I read in bed before sleeping these days..and now that I'm on the fourth book 'House of Chains' , reading about 'Karsa Orlong' all night long I had weirdly fragmented dreams about him that is Karsa asking me for minimalism tips?
What on earth? I mean I'm not even minimalistic and why on earth would he bother with minimalism?
And why am I asked this specific question?
This dream stayed with me because when I woke up to let the cat out, around 3:00am that vision of him standing against a white wall talking of wardrobe declutter was fresh in my mind and throughout the couple minutes that it took me to feed the cat and open the door to let him out I kept wondering confused as to what on earth?

Say one thing about dreams say they're madly eccentric about gluing cross wirings from different thoughts of consciousness floating about in different streams of time lines.

I mean I don't even know.

Action time movie works

I've never been much of a fan of any LOTR air Hobbit movie, simply because I haven't read any of those books and I don't intend to anytime soon, but having said that I've watched all these movies in theatres too, b cause they're visually spectacular and they have some of the most well edited astounding fight scenes.
The orcs Vs whatever scenes towards the climax of these movies especially the final hobbit movie was indeed well made.
These are technological marvels, to think all these action scenes gapping in front of a green scene and of course the make up team that spends hours upon hours layering the actors with latex and plasters and make ups and prosthetics do a relentlessly kickass job of going that extra mile to make everything look out the world—speaking of which I'm looking forward to this movie called 'shape of water' directed by Guillermo Del Toro about how Abe Sapien started off on this planet.

Also I'm mighty disappointed that the new planet of apes didn't make it to Chinese screens because of obvious reasons and that I'll have to watch this movie on television.

In fact I'll just check for any new fun releases that I can watch this weekend.
--
If they make a live action Robotech I might garrotte somebody

Home tips

To me nothing say home like flowers.
It's an instant mood upliftment, a source of brightness, a pop of colour and bringing nature inside the house immediately makes you feel better.
And it's not just flowers, often times I find branches with leaves and other fallen greens outside that I like to collect and stick in a vase, and my vases are mostly made of jam jars, perfume bottles, wine bottles, instant coffee jars and what not and especially these days when the heat beats down on you like a whip you need something, anything that'll make you feel better, and nothing makes that happen like nature..fresh flowers or fallen twigs..they liven up a house and renew energies that seem to be slacking in a corner in the humidity.

Now now and then some

Where did these week go indeed?
It's Friday tomorrow and just one week back last Friday evening I'd left for the mountains. It feels like a moment ago if that.
Aren't days longer in summer? Shouldn't these memories already be distant? Doesn't heat make things expand and so should expand these instances that took place over 100 hours ago and yet..

I did a bit of meal planning this week to keep away from grumbling too much in the mornings from preparing lunch but that only means that I sweated an extra hour in the kitchen at nights.

All this weekly planning sounds brisk and efficient but it's a matter of doing something earlier than that very moment, more like preparatory planning and it doesn't take away from waking up in the morning.

I need to get a repairman to fix the air conditioning in the living room which is where I like to spend my evenings and mornings and that has turned into a virtual impossibility this summer.
I don't feel very Hygge without my living room time and that's not how I like to live.

Can you believe it it's almost 9:00pm and I haven't dined yet.
I mean it's already two hours past my usual meal time and I don't feel hungry..perhaps I should eat something before it gets too late.

Dinner is a spicy beans curry, steamed broccoli salad and rice+chapati.

Soon..

Drawing deets

A dragonfly I did today. Though I intended to finish two this one took a lot of time in getting the detailing and colouring to dry just right.
Will finish the second one tomorrow.

I'll do a couple more scenic drawings or landscapes before embarking on writing next month.

hell yeah

"Their resentment stings my flesh nearly as much as -oh say the pittering raindrops of a summer shower"
-Caine

burn baby burn 

Go to hell

I'm stuffing a big wad of 'why' in a punching bag and going medieval on it. Imma punch the life out of that bag until my knuckles are sore, until that 'why' is obliterated, until I can hear muffled screams of anguished beseech seeping out with a thick red streak of blood, until there are no more why's left to question that why oh why is there a live action movie of the phenomenal 'Death Note' on netflix???

Why? just why? I mean why?

Ruin all that's good and turn it into slop. Studio executives making this movie have committed heresy. It's five kinds of blasphemous and if there's a cult that assassinates heartless studios from creating live action movies of awesome manga then direct me the cult doors, I shall bring my glock!

There isn't enough stabilized rage within me to form coherent sentences about the number of things they've done wrong, starting with making it. 

Was it not happily existing as a manga and a fantastical anime that it had to be ruined on Netflix doors with whitewashed characters. I mean Japanese movie industry has already done a number on it and what was left of the savaged remains are now plucked at mercilessly with obnoxious distaste turning into a foul fest of festering revulsion. 

I don't know where to start and I won't because then I wouldn't stop.

Is there any reason why netflix feels the need to bring this extraordinarily complex philosophical manga to the masses? 

Can't a few good things remain in their niche, only to be explored by patrons of the abstract.

Why is there a need to dumb it down and condense it to fit an idiot box format for the consumption of those who're not initiated into the rites of all that is manga and anime?

Netflix doesn't need this and neither does the audience especially those who know and love the real thing.

Fuck you NETFLIX!

 

Sandwiches

I do not like my sandwiches without the crust, always with the crust no matter how irregular and that's the crust of the matter.
Crustless sandwiches are lacking in backbone and I do not like that.
In fact if I could help it id have all crust on the lower part of my bread which is why I love the first piece of bread that comes in sliced packet
breads.

There's no reason for this post except that I'm going to be making a simple sandwich for breakfast and this information needs to go or there.

Night rouge

Nighttime and I make love to a void, crushing beneath its weight calling its name, hoping it's you..
At the precipice of orgasmic abyss that I feel compelled to be sucked into only a wish remains, twinkling in a dying dim..of dreams to be paralysed in sleep with your face on mine.
An icy vine that is a breath, yours is it? Crawling down my lungs, holding my heart and feeling it drain off blood to bring some colour to pale cheeks that turn into a ghostly white in my absence, is it? Darling!
Threaded into bare arms that should be yours, entwined into shadows that stay throughout the night, smudged into skin inked like a tattoo..slowly seeping inside until a scar remains that fades to a memory and you my lovely host realise not how possessions grow.

Arghhhh

There are days I swear I'm able to channel the powers of Yuka Kinoshita and then there are days when I feel the pangs of anorexia.
This heat will kill me I know it.
After cooking up a dinner proper I came out without a face since that had melted into my shoes.
I keep a roll of wet wipes in the kitchen because every two minutes I'm leaking like a faucet and I tell you heat doesn't go down well with me.
I lose appetite and there's that murderous rage which gnaws inside of me hellbent on killing something human.

Baked

Wholewheat herb focaccia for easier packed lunches and delicious carbs.

Flutter

Here then. A moth! Done.
This transparent layering is so fun..

Drawing deets

Trying a transparent layering technique while listening to Caine going to overworld.

Not that I meant it - morning rites

This morning will go down in the annals of my history as the most unscheduled morning ever, because it's 11:21 as I write this and I'm still in bed.
Not least because I didn't want to step out of my bedroom into the living room which is hotter than my sexts (of course not..My sexts are smouldering, but even so) and the air conditioning is still not repaired and that means I've to make a reminder visitation to the administrative building.

This day began bright and early around 5:45 when I tried to weasel my way out of cooking lunch and fixing breakfast but you gotta deal with vegetarian problems and make a mental note of looking for a good strychnine product at the chemists pretty soon.
Once done I repaired to the bedroom because just fifteen minutes in the kitchen had me imitating a wax candle inside a volcano.
Ah, the wondrously air conditioned room that made me feel like I've just stepped into a refrigerator from a furnace and the ever welcoming bed that beseeched me to lie in it again even though it was almost 7:00am and I tried to fend off the blasphmic lure with every unwilling fibre of my body (half hearted at best) but then the cat came into the picture whom I'd just fed and he strode over to my bed and meowed in that soft purr that indicates his wish to be petted and there I was tucked in sheets with the cat asleep next to me, the cool breeze caressing my burnt skin like a soft balm and it wasn't until 8:30 that I woke up.

Stepping out of the room was another folly and to heat some water in a kettle, slice a lemon and run back to my chill bedroom was for me the work of a moment. It felt like what the good denizens of Pompeii might have gone through and I had no intention of turning into ashes.

Sitting in bed, propped up against fluff pillows and drinking tea are among the most underrated pleasures of life..I don't know why I haven't been doing this more often..Don't answer that, I know. If I did it more often I'd always find myself in this situation of still being in bed till around 11:35 (that's the time now)

I haven't worked out and don't intend to this week. Sometimes you just gotta let your body relax and this is my rejuvenation week, also it's so hot, workout will feel like a torture, and I've no intention to fatigue my body needlessly.

Contemplating a quick shower and hood meal and still unwilling to get out of bed. I mean the cat is still asleep curled into a fluff ball and I'm contemplating shower.

Mornings I tell you..Sometimes they're kinda surprising.

Chatter on chat chat

Right, so dinner didn't go as planned..

What happened was that people lost their favorite pair of gym shorts which called for a quick visit to the nearby decathlon which meant that dinner would probably be had in those premises, which eventually turned out into a gut busting Thai dinner paired with some mandatory shopping for household items that were nearing their demise from a superstore, so basically everything I'd thought about cooking pasta went haywire, not that I'm complaining.

It was hot, nay, blistering and to cover those few km's from casa moi to the shopping center a bicycling excursion felt more befitting and to say that I was a fountain pouring forth sweaty condensation would be a statement most appropriate because my oh my, the night was humid and warm and an absolute torture on a cycle..but this is how we roll into a death wish of suicidal inferno (apparently) 

All said and done, I'm now in the recesses of cat fur and cooling air conditioning, waiting for my lungs to freeze over in this chill, so I can reduce temperatures to an even 26° and relax into the night. 

--

I'm having a bad thumb day. Looks like I pulled onto a cuticle while listening to 'acts of caine' because that story is five kind of bizarre and it's picking pace. 

My drawings took not more than an hour each and I didn't get to spend enough time in that universe, a flaw I wish to rectify in the next few days. 

The narration of the audiobook is point on given the kind of suppresed rage that the protagonist is suffering from. 

I forget the name of the narrator but his voice lends a certain je ne sais quoi  to the entire vibe and universe of this book; I'd say this is the weirdest genre I'm reading or I've read ever. With elements of science fiction and fantasy and I'm guessing a whole lot of violence (yay)..But hang on. I was talking of my thumb. Right. My thumb which suffered under my teeth as I pulled a cuticle really hard making it bleed and now it's hurting. 

In each life some rain must fall they say.

--

I think I'll do some more scenic watercolour drawings. 

I like how they can be manipulated, and the mixing of colours is another level of fun. 

Thoughts on meals

I began with high hopes for dinner this morning when I soaked beans and planned a menu of the things I'd like to cook, and right now as din din times draws to a close I'm stove fly of the kind that I should cook some pasta and not just any Pasta but an aglio olio pasta, the easiest dish out there.
It's too hot and I'm in no mood to creep any close to the kitchen right now.
I've no intention of slaving over the stove making curry, kneading flour to make chapatis and chop veggies..right now I want nothing save a cup of hot chocolate. Why?
There's no logical reasoning to this question but I just feel like something I wouldn't normally do on a Tuesday.

How about it then? A cup of hot chocolate one that averages 150calories? Right then..I'll work out tomorrow. Of course I will. A lovely HIIT routine, but today it's about hot chocolate and garlic pasta.
Comfort zone, I come to you.

Drawing updates

⊽

Say one thing about this heart, say it beats for you alone. 

Downloads

There was but one seed and one seed alone that helped download the remainder of 'acts of caine' audiobook which is now safely tucked away in the completed folder which I shall listen to today as I go about my drawings..
Many thanks

Minimalism fads

Here's a bit of rant on minimalism or rather minimalism that has been appropriated into a norm.

Whitewashing:
Have you noticed how all minimalist homes or videos of minimalists are almost always stark white. From their walls to bedspreads to even furniture. It's almost all in tones of white with a bit of grey and it makes you think that you house with off coloured walls is probably the most cluttered space in the world.
It's not. Minimalism is not about white walls and white furniture. You can have red walls and green sofas and still be minimalist.

Wooden:
Just like white walls, everything that is remotely decorative is wooden scraped to a shabby chic perfection.
Brown toned woodsy coloured tiny accessories that uplift the house to make it look pretty in minimalist homes that make you wonder if you should throw away your stainless steels or plastics or those colourful coasters that adorn your table.

Contrasts:
its white, it's brown and then there's the mandatory green of the plants.
Your house isn't minimalist of there isn't a beautiful green little plant potted in a (yeah that's right) a white vase.

Vegan:
are you even minimalist if you aren't vegan? Chances are that you're not.

Minimalism isn't about any of that. It's about a way of life that is differently perceived by all.
For some living out of a suitcase is minimalism, for some a stroke of paint on a canvas is minimalism, for some having sparse furniture for a larger space is minimalism, for some just a bit of declutter is minimalism.
Find your minimalism and live in it only if you want, or be a minimalist in maximalism..it's entirely up to you.
White walls are not necessary..

flaming kisses

Is that fully downloaded acts of caine from 'audiobookbay' too?
I mean could there be anymore hearts??

moments and seeders

Riding a T-rex and waxing Jurassic Park references.. I mean come on, my heart is bursting with love.

also 'acts of caine' audiobook is stuck at 92% and I'm almost at the end of this Dresden audiobook.

whaa?

Listening to Dresden Files 'dead beat' and I've just reached the point where Harry rides a giant T-rex skeleton that's been brought to life by his sorcery.

I mean what the what the.. 

construction jingle

say one thing about zen, say nothing ruins it more than construction noises..
especially ones happening next to your house.

As I'd earlier mentioned I've new immediate neighbours, ones that have great visions about their new place and have engaged the help of a good many construction workers to assault the pre existing frame into something of a wonder (as I'm told)
This includes a whole lot of breaking, fixing, tearing, joining and goodly much of roaring; as everything that is construction makes a great lot of din and we're talking urban in house structuring where the entire villa is being given a rephrasing or rather reframing of sorts.

Ghastly fumes emanating from open doors that were a byproduct of some drilling procedure lined the entire doorway and broken pieces of woods and chipped tiles littered the path. These are of course remissible follies ones that accompany such projects but the downside to this is that the cat has let himself get lost someplace downstairs in the heat and doesn't wish to be present nor be seen in such an environment, not just because there are one too many faces hanging about the whole place that he doesn't recognize and cats are usually shy creatures.

Of course he has other ways to getting into the house, mainly from the balcony but he's just not in the mood to be anywhere near the house.
I took my aching calves almost half a dozen times to scout the entire downstairs area calling out his name while I harboured on my person his favourite snacks, but except looking like a lunatic doing a bit of vagrant jiggle in the heat there was nothing much forthcoming from the feline darling, and so I have now given up keeping the balcony doors ajar lined with his food.

I do hope this work next doors gets done with soon..

On a Monday

So here I am.
Sitting in the living room. Drinking warm lemon water. Fending off the heat because the air conditioner in this room's broken and I'm expecting/hoping help would arrive.

Woke up early to fix breakfast, cook lunch and realised with a the most unsurprising shock that my calves are a ton each. Walking is probably the most painful chore today, I mean putting just even that much amount of pressure on calves so as to enable walking is joyous pain.
Comes with climbing so many freaking thousand stairs.
I mean almost 30 kms in two days worth of hiking and climbing is not fun on the legs especially calves and stairs are a bit merciless..let's be real.

Work out? No amigo, no workout shall be done today. In fact I'm going to relax in another room with the ac on full blast and do a bit of drawing.

Let's talk a bit about Shanghai heat wave. It's the worst summer in past 45 years and one can feel it. The temperatures will blow up to an even 40° today and what is that if not hellfire hot?
Compounded with the humidity that is.

I'd been wondering why I didn't feel as uncomfortable with this weather last year and the answer was simple that I didn't spend the summers here. My summers last year were spent back home with my folks where this time around the weather needs a thicker blanket cuz it's pretty cool out there what with the monsoons and what not.

Right now the air blowing from the fan doesn't feel entirely comforting. You can feel it's warmth touching your exposed skin surface and it does little to evaporate dewing sweat.

There's little intelligence in stepping out and with the sunburns I've accumulated this weekend I'd best stay home.

Right! On to tea because I didn't have it this morning because I was unwilling to step out of the bedroom and now my morning is sort of late but without tea it's never morning for me.

Mountain selfie

In the best of spirits despite the clear mountain sunshine and heat..the prospect of climbing up and down a good lot of stairs and paths. Today includes a 12 km hike and a certain death.

Mornings

There's something to be said about a day that starts with climbing a couple thousand stairs.
I mean you could be the fittest person on the planet and yet climbing stairs after a while can become oh so tiring.

Morning then night

If I see another stair

More from mountains

The spirit of mountains

Talk of enthusiasm..people have set up camps so they can catch a sunrise. Now that is dedication.

After having trekked almost 15kms, climbing up and down over 15,000 odd stairs the only dedication I'm left with is making for my hotel room for a warm shower, cuz no tent is gonna give me the luxury of an attached bathroom.

Mountainside

Wings

Love the colour scheme.

Destined

Finally at the hotel.
Say one thing about me, say I'm ready to drop dead like a fly..there are so many gigantic moths here I think I'll fall in love..and they're creepy to boot cuz I actually heard them making sounds. Gasps!! Haha.

Food on go

Cuz I know nothing about going without food on a trip..and this wholewheat base pizza is big on nourishing and fuelling..if a bit on the heavy side because why not!
It's easy to pack once sliced of course and works so well when it's cold..in fact better when it's cold.

Plans

Yes it's a Friday, yes it's sweltering and yes I'm packing..for ze mountains.
A sort of hill station If you please known as 'yellow mountains' or 'Huangshan' and indeed there'll be hiking, trekking and walking a plenty.
That's why I'm getting my gear on..complete with hiking boots too.

Hopefully it won't be as mad humid up there, cuz if it is, I ain't leaving my hotel room.

Weather forecast promises a sort of pleasant weather minus the rains, but since when did these forecasts ever tap into this universe's soul?

Tonight we drive a good whole lot..

Soon..

No, this one's better. Rosy2

This photo is definitively better than last.
I added another wash and tweaked a few tones to give it a more 3D effect.
Does it look any different?
It does after the final and last wash though..if you look at the centre of the leaf a bit carefully you'd notice..perhaps :)

Rosy

So here it is. A mint leaf and a rose leaf..and that it folks for today at least.

RIP

You try so hard and got so far..in the end it doesn't even matter.. :(

Creativity comes in many forms

And just like that my day is made..

Reads

And tonight..

»

That which for us is inevitable we learn to call it beautiful.

Sounds

The most annoying sound in the world is most definitely that from a kitchen chimney.
Often times even after the foods done getting cooked you forget to tune it on and the noise stays as a fixture in the background when you suddenly realise that your ears have begun to bleed.
The solitude, the absolute zen moment of tranquil bush that tends to wash over once the chimney is turned off..
Ah..I can actually hear my thoughts now.

Ends that kill

Finished reading 'brown recluse' and it's still needling my heart.
Its buoyant writing style was most beguiling and has left my insides feeling a bit unstructured.
What oh what?
I didn't wish to see what came in the end and as I set at my desk, expecting a wicked chuckle for tables to turn, I was rewarded with a grim finish that was lovely.
Something like the helpless beauty of a dying dragonfly.

Hearts..and thanks

also

Oh, before I forget today most definitely on the agenda is reading 'the brown recluse' by Davis Grubb.
Absolutely to-do thing today..

today fast forward

A puffy morning face is usually if not always the result of having too scarce a sleep or intaking too much sodium the night before, excessive drinking, or water retention or just a hormonal bloat but there are also many other factors that contribute to it..not a good look I know and there are many a cures for it.. the best one being get a lot of sleep.

Failing that applying ice or cooling packs to a face works great too, as does drinking a lot of lemon water, though the effects of applying something chilled to a face has immediate benefits.

Sometimes excessive sleep is also a contributory factor which is weird, but it is and if it's the under eyes area that feels hella swollen then simply putting a couple slices of raw potato over your eyes for a few minutes helps a great deal.

If you've some green tea preferably cold, or just brew a bit and add ice, one can saturate a cloth with it and just keep it over the face in a way that the cloth constantly touches your facial skin throughout its application. This helps a great deal too.

Ah, today was my do nothing spa day, which didn't go as planned, because the phone rang with a million important messages just as I was beginning to soak inside of a bath tub. Ah well, another day then.

Right now I'm collecting spices etc and leaving for the neighbours to help with curry and a couple other things.

What else is in my agenda today? nothing much except let's see when we get to it.

Food full circle

Baotza with a sweet sesame filling. Basically a steamed Chinese bread that is usually filled with sweet red bean or even sesame I guess.
My lovely Taiwanese neighbours had made this and when I went over to their house with a dish of chocolate chip cookie gratin they informed me that they'd just finished with making steamed buns which in fact they were about to bring over to my house in the evening.
How lovely..
This tastes like something I'd devour for breakfast. It's that delicious.

And in fact I'm invited to go over tomorrow again to help them make a curry which they want to serve to their guests.
I'd once offered them some chholey without the extreme spicage and so much did they love it that it's a dinner party fare tomorrow.
Hah, food I tell you. It does wonders; bringing people together from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds.

This ancient ritual of exchanging goods as a gesture of goodwill still holds good today, and for that I'm glad.

—•

'Do as I say, not as I do'.. so that you can learn from my mistakes and I can keep making them cuz practising what you preach is a tough nut to crack and boring to boot.

Cookie wishes

My chocolate chip cookie made into a gratin. It might look if, but it's no more than six inches long and three across.
Something of a cookie that's meant to be eaten with a fork right from the dish.
Wonderful for coffee, and this one is for the neighbours.

Ah, what can I say about this cookie? It's crisp on the top and bottom and melting in the middle.
Just the kind of thing you want to relax with on the couch.

Memories of Ice

Nearly a week after having finished 'Memories of Ice' the 3rd book of the 10 part Malazan books by Steven Erikson, I still have difficulty marshalling my thoughts to tell exactly what the book was about.
It was awe-inspiring in the most astronomical sense of the word.
To say that it was ice, with shards of sharp razor like chill edged with searingly painful and apathetically violent moments would be a tad bit tepid way of putting things.
A most complete macrocosm that is actually a journey that one must undertake, sentence after sentence that unfolds into most unthinkable most staggeringly extravagant stain of panoptic blots akin Rorschach test.

Plots inside of plots, sub plots that grip you in a vice, flashbacks of eons past interwoven with present day tapestry, sutured in beautiful grotesque, drawing picturesque realms of such poetic disharmony and chaotic pity that it'd leave your eyes sinking back into your heart to avoid reading anything further to stave off the pain and then back again in their sockets because they've been reined in by invisible threads to each word that flows like liquid ache.

Shocking moments delivered with bulls eye precision that'll have your face contouring like molten wax and realizations throughout the book that might widen your eyes to the point of decreasing hair line.

The writer refuses to hold back onto any emotion putting them on a megaphone of sorts that drain your heart and often fill it with love, longing and lamentations; forcing your head to trace back to all that you remember from 'Deadhouse gates' to realize with a smile and a shiver that all these events are happening simultaneously..the gods' indeed are crazy, bent on wrecking, wracking and full of wrath.
What can I say about the poetic scale of this book? A dismal somberness to each character, elevated with that elegiac backstory told in words so prophetic which only this writer can deliver with an unmitigated swagger that becomes these books.

You'll fall in love, you'll fall in hate and then that humbling moment of tear jerking benevolence when all you'd forgotten of mercy is brought to the forefront and your every emotion of shortsighted malevolence will seem pathetic.

If this is just the third book in the series then what comes next will have to be read with a defibrillator present in the room.

wednesdays I say

Spectacularly dull this day looks, and it's up to me to inject a bit of happiness in it.
Last night I spoke about a cookies and I think either today I'll get onto making it.
I was thinking that perhaps it should be left to a later date so as to enable clicking pictures for the blog, but you know, if it turns out good, then I'll make it again and click pics too.

So many words are underlined red as I type this, and with good reason. My arms are made of gelatine and lifting them up hurts every nerve ending, tissue, muscle and bone. Not that my workout was super intense, I just increased the reps and timings and extending that alone is making me hurt so much.

Ω: i was just feeling my arms and extending them pushed some random buttons on keyboard and I ended up making this omega sign. How did I do it?

to say that I've eaten a monstrous lunch would be a statement most unjust because it was idiotically  heaped up on my plate. Another experiment it was. Oats chilla with sprouted mung, grated carrots, spices and the works. It was filling and now I feel like I should just lie down and count zzz's..of course that never happens.

Perhaps I'll make me some coffee in a while.
and of course the cookies too..

more updates on that soon 

Night a plenty

Night tides that sway me over to the other side of naught.
Saturnine waves atop which I ride, washing over a shore unknown, breaking into inky surf, gasping into a final sleep, one that stays put for a few hours before I wake to toss or bury inside a sheet of foamy sands of fabric soft and a bit of cat.

Night is here and sleep refuses to beckon. Decked up in midnight sensual waiting for an invitation, to be tempted in a thorny grasp of amnesiac nightmares that surely jumble past and time lines..regrets and misfortunes, curses and boons. Subconscious in an asymmetrical loop of cubist pretension. An avant-garde distortion of confused relationships, mismatched friendships, faceless lovers, unseen streets.

Nighttime and the somber self. In a temporary resignation; paused times of repeated déjà boo's, frightened into beliefs that the wheels that churn will never change, no matter how chipped, broken, tainted the bearings. Same repetitions in similar nights, of usual beds, ditto to the dots.

Night again and I seem gone, only to awaken again and again..and again some more. Until there isn't any, until I'm only left grappling for more agains with only a handful few left..until I throw my feeble mind back to those irrational moments when I wanted a change, a different again.

Hearts..

/(\)

That time of the night again when I'm aware of the few possibilities that should have happened but didn't.

Hunger pangs late night

Monstrous this.
It's almost 10pm, and I am hungry and feel the need to make a nice dessert and eat it.

I did eat dinner, over three hours backs and didn't like it. It was a meagre affair of tofu and brown rice, and even as I ate it nourishing as it was, it didn't do anything to fill up the void inside that screamed dense carbs..and now, at this funny hour I have an extreme urge to bake something.

You know if I were back home in India I'd not hesitate baking something at this hour in fact I have so many times done so, because people are awake, activities are happening, music is blaring or tv turned on, fumes of greens and glasses filled with amber; I mean there's a lot more life or liveliness when there are more than two people in the house, compared to that right now it's almost time to repair to bedroom. Huh.

And I'm hungry, in fact I almost persuaded myself to drink some rose tea right now but didn't, because I'd rather have that during evening.

Tomorrow I shall bake a fat chocolate chip cookie as I've been meaning to. In fact I'll make two. One for me and one for my neighbours who've moved to another house but are here still.
Perhaps I'll take it to them during tea time.
Now that'd be awesome.

Minting colours

So here we are.
A by if mint today, took almost four hours for this little thing but it was fun every second of it.. not least because Harry Dreseden's 'dead beat' is at an interesting climax.
I'll do some more tomorrow and then let's see what I'd like to do.. actually I already know, but that's for later..

Da leafy code

Aren't leaves beautiful?
Just this one singular leaf with a hundred different shades of greens in every possible tone.
They aren't easy to decipher and drawing them is indeed strenuous but here I am, trying to decide this mint leaf..

Routines from mornings

Few joys compare to a blissful cup of morning tea which you sip on slowly, while adjusting radio stations, sitting in front of a fan with outstretched legs.
A study in slothful laziness..among the few joys an unrushed morning has to give.
These are the kind of moments some know only on weekends, and I try to live them almost daily, though impossible as it is, snatching a few moments to yourself in the morning to regain, recollect and resuscitate your system is among the more important things in life.
I mean yes the day will be flushed with chores and activities but it's this solitary time in the morning when you can activate your entire self to take on the bludgeons of the day. Clear the cobwebs of the night and day gone by so to say.

Just feeling the touch of sofa fabric under you, inhaling from the almost faint flowers and diffusers, listening to a chorus of cicadas while soothing music plays someplace near you and realising that a new day has dawned, one in which you're still alive, one that must be taken as it approaches.

The importance of soothing music is under appreciated, for heavy music isn't what my ears need at this time. A lilting flute (Pt. Hari Prasad) as I listen now or santoor are my absolute go to music.
I look out for channels wellness and as odd or even off as it might sound, I like listening to Bhakti music in the morning.
No, not the ones besmirched by T-series, but the really old folksy, classical songs sung by lovely voices now dead, mostly adapted from a great shaayri or Bhakti poetry from more than half a century ago, a sort of intermingling them with nuanced sitar and soft tabla or just jugalbandi of these soft melodies by some greats (even recent ones) are just the kinds of early morning music I feel most relaxed in.

Letting slowly ease in, like a hand into a glove that you're required to wear all day, one has to deliberately seek access to an everyday; when on most days we end up barging or even gate-crashing a day, there are times when you give it a break and breeze in gently.

I know for most it's an impossibility but it's always up to us to take out time for ourselves, it's little routines and functions like these that give you an overall sense of well being.

Rage filled mornings as I often go through when cooking breakfast and packing lunches earlier than the risen sun do leave me feeling decapitated and fatigued, and it's all much to easy to talk about letting go of toxic thoughts, but giving five minutes to let your system reboot and restart with a small helping of morning solitude does wonders.

Indeed there's a whole lot of things I need to get doing but there's an upliftment to the day, something like adding baking powder to a cake without which it's flat and hard, something like days without happy mornings.

Sleepy ties night balloon

Nighttime and the clock ticks on. Each second a moment shifting closer to the end of falling sands, a painful indication of the time creeping within reaching grasp of what constitutes as time to sleep, but is it really?
What if I don't want to sleep, what then?
I could read something or surf the internet, or just do nothing and lie back.
Is there such a thing as thinking nothing?
Mind like a blank slate, when there are no images, no thoughts, no words to clutter the streets of your brains?
Is there ever a moment of curfew inside of a head?
If there is then I know not of it.
How could there be absolutely no thoughts?
Isn't meditation something like that? I don't know what it's like to meditate.
The closest I come to meditating is when I'm drawing, that's the one time I can sit in one place for hours together..but that isn't meditation exactly is it? Because the head is flooded with a hundred thoughts and questions and imaginations and that defeats the purpose of meditation? Or no?

The importance of sleeping and the many reasons not to..for starters there isn't any sleep here. There might be in some time, but not now.
But then again there isn't much that this system feels like getting engaged in either.
I was reading but it feels a bit tiresome to do so now, because the head isn't in an enough functioning state. Watching something is too much work for eyes..which leaves with the only available option of sleeping, but ugh..sleeping.. though I've no desire to denigrate an act of such pious necessity that enforces itself often with an unassailable storm of sweet tsunami that obliviates the necessity of anything other but. But sleeping..I've never grown to love it. It's always that time of the night when I'm at my most brooding, most resentful and in the process of recollection of day's deeds, something which can be most disappointing when the day has been in particular littered with a host of uneventful useless activities.

Also that time of the night when I make a mental list of almost everything that needs be done tomorrow, from thinking of meal menus to workout routines to chores and cleanliness routine.
Case in point laundry..double ugh.

I might have started this post with some other thought, and it's taken a turn for the worst.

some more leaves to draw then, and many thanks if those leaves of reddened hue looked almost real.

Tomorrow could be difficult..it's after all Tuesday. That day of the week which I know bears personal grudges against me for some reason..

Hearts ♥️

Watery updates

So I've been experimenting with drawing leaves in watercolour. A bit of botanical drawing so to say, and I like how this one has turned out. Much better than the previous one, more so because I added the dark tones of discolouration in its base wash which made it not so overpowering when I concealed it with layers of darker tones.

I've gone on a leaf plucking rampage and tomorrow I'll begin with drawing some more leaves, and let's see flowers.

This month as I mentioned is dedicated to water colouring the hell out of leaves.

joys

I'm happy to report that 'acts of caine' audiobook is downloaded to 61%. Someone started seeding, all of a sudden. 

Monday sadness

As I foretold, my night was an ugly collage of spliced sleep and roughly sewn dreams that were embedded in chaos. I felt like I were awake while dreaming, and every time I opened my eyes, the dreams tore up sticking like shards in my eyes, gouging at my senses and hurting my peripheral vision, and that I woke up a lot of times last night would be a statement truer than most I make today.

My throat was parched like sandpaper stuck to my gullet, I must've drank almost a litre of water in between sleep and whatever I did behind closed eyes wouldn't ever be quantified as sleep.
Imagine waking up dehydrated, dreams still stuck to your face even though you remember not sleeping enough, but even as your head hit the pillow little tufts of nightmares poofed out of the bedding to dance in front of your eyes.

Horrible!

Add to that the fact that you never wake up looking as lithe after a night of excessive drinking. Face swollen with alcohol and sodium, an overall bloat and a general feeling of disdain creeping up your spine as you inspect yourself in full daylight in front of a mirror.

Never on Sunday the Greeks say, and so shall I.
Never on Sunday will I ever drink, especially when I'm aware of binging, and still unable to stop.

This is a bad recent development. A half bottle of wine is perhaps not much, but it's not what'd be constituted as normal either, and I don't like drinking nor drink much.
What has come over me?
This is time for retrospection and take strict measures.

I did work out enough to hurt my bones, but that's not enough. It's not right to make unhealthy life choices and atone through workouts.
Gah, I feel bad, and totally regret the last two glasses of that beautiful beautiful wine.

sigh :(

I'm making a note of this and hope to never repeat this idiotic mistake in the near future.

Sunday night regrets

Weekend guilt of having gorged on much too much food, wine and chocolates.
I ate so much that gravitational rules would apply a little differently to me. Seriously I've gotten fat.
I can feel it in my bones, in entire being.
Might break this bed.

If things don't change imma try a bit of intermittent fasting myself.
Though just typing that has made me feel hungry.
God, why do I eat so much on weekends?
It's bloody ridiculous.
Add to that a bottle of beautiful Sauvignon Blanc I drained without a moments thought with cheese and olives and endamame.
Ugh, why??
No I shouldn't do this.
I swear there was a time when even the cat stared at me reproachfully..like what are you even doing?

Ugh it's Monday tomorrow, ugh I've to wake up early and cook stuff, ugh I'll be hungover, ugh I've to work out as well, ugh life..

Tired, sleepy and drunk. I'll be dehydrated as all hell tonight.
Good luck to having a god nights sleep.
Can never sleep well when I drink.
Dunno..

Ah well..night night. Kisses

Stars and stones

Correction from the previous post.
I'm actually in the 8th audiobook 'Dead Beat'

True Recommendations

So I introduced my sis-in-law to Harry Dresden books, which in turn I was introduced to a couple months back by a very reliable source, and while I'm listening to its audiobooks while drawing she's binge reading those babies, and just today she sent me a message saying 'I wish we were wizards like Dresden'..haha it was funny and sweet and nice to know that she'd begin reading them except she hasn't only begun reading them but is in fact on the 8th book, while I'm on the 7th audiobook.
Turns out she's loving it, just as I am..and why not; a recommendation most just, coming from only the most incredibly trustworthy aficionado.

Hearts.

Vegetables medleys in morning notes

I usually don't if I can help it work out on weekends, specifically if I've worked out for at least 3 days during the week which I have, but even so I decided I'd do a bit of abs workout today, but as fate or luck would have it things don't always work out the way you'd expect; so as soon as I'd made up my mind I was asked, nay, persuaded to buy some more vegetables, even though I'd bought plenty during the week and there were still some knocking about in the fridge, but of course, none of them were among anything liked by other 'people', so out we went buying more people friendly veggies, which didn't include gourd, pumpkins, asparagus, endamame (all of which I like) and thusly were spent the early hours of my morning, cursing under my breath as I was, ready to sharpen my knife and bury it deep under an unsuspecting throat.
Now usually a couple hours after waking up, I go into a ravenous mode of monstrous hunger wherein I need to eat something that'd fill me up and keep me from going over the edge and into a hellish place of unwarranted annoyance that I'm wont to when I'm hungry; not a very pleasant person then, and here I was staring at capsicums and picking coriander while I should have been shovelling food inside..but of course these vegetables markets come equipped with small food stalls selling Chinese breakfast foods that can include anything from stuffed dumplings to crispy duck to fried pig entrails to noodles..the options are endless, and I picked up a flat sesame bread the size of Australia, speckled with green onions and sliced with pepper, lightly salted, deliciously crispy, fabulously flavoursome and scrumptious to say the least.
Did I mention it was a semi fried thin flat bread that was all carbs and nothing besides.
To buy one have it cut to smaller pieces and wolf it down like a hunger besieged tapeworm was for me the thing of a moment, and can I just say that I felt like my eyes had opened, that the world had a greener more clearer hue, that for a minute even the humidity ceased bothering me.
Ah, I was a different person then.
Vegetables? Hell yeah I'll buy vegetables. What else you got?

Summer on a Saturday

Oh to my wake up in the morning and walk out of a cool bedroom into a space that feels like a warm vacuum.
Having shut all windows and drawn all blinders the night previous this room has slowly tuned into an oddity overnight.
An unspeakable stuffiness mingled with a leftover smell of turned off air conditioning ( if ever there such a thing, but there is) combined with faint whiffs of rose reed diffuser has rendered this place a sort of diffused stale rose in a forgotten place sort of vibe, one that tended to mess with my head the moment I strode in here.
Opening windows only to be greeted by a summer solar flare of the most oppressively grisly description and a burgeoning sound of cicadas that seemed to gush into the house in a medley of a hundred orchestras gone mad; like a gigantic ball of heat and sounds lurking outside the windows waiting to be let with utmost urgency.
Ah well, is all in now.
The heat, the sounds and at this time in the morning, I sit with my face in the fan, drinking lemon water and letting myself get washed over by that summery feelings which only ever happens when it's summer.

--
Edit: this post didn't make t out until I saw it just how. It's been lying in my unsent items..so really, this was my first post of the day.

So I was out shopping for greens today

Junk diaries

Junk food is something of a complete anomaly in my domus.
It's extraordinary, highly irregular and absolutely out of my nature to order anything from any popular fast food joints and yet tonight, having guzzled a fair amount of Belgian beer I sit contemplating if I should t actually give some Pizza Hut or domino's a whirr.
There's even a Papa John's nearby and I think I do remember eating at Papa John's almost a decade back when it had opened a few outlets back home in India.
But these thoughts are not without a certain shudder and I wonder if I shouldn't call for something to eat from a pizzeria proper, but then again all foods lose their certain charm when not eaten fresh, and thusly a take out of any nature almost always assumes the same hue of bland stuffiness that one associates and often needs from take outs, as they're always (almost) ordered when options are few and hungers are mounting along with laziness that is.
Also, there isn't a dominos or a subway nearby, the former being not particularly popular in China and the latter also not being one of the popular; what really works here is Pizza Hut and mostly because of their sides..so what does a gal do?

I don't know..let's see.

Leafage

I'd picked up this leaf from a sidewalk, and it's turned red as these do and somehow it looked so much prettier than their green forms.
It was rather difficult trying to get a leaf right because it's crazy the number of tones and colourings and even discolouration they go through, and trying to paint it exactly was something of a challenge.
I've a few more leaves that I want to paint, and I think I'd like to get my botanical game strong before I shift to doing things like glasses and more still life.

A jist

I feel like eating a chocolate chip cookie, but something of the size of an elephant.
I kid, it need be as large as a whale at least, cuz damn I'm getting cravings for just biting into a chocolate chip cookie, and the more I say the words chocolate chip in my head the sexier the thought seems.
Maybe I'll make a really large on instead of many small ones?
What do you think?
I've a recipe on my blog for a chocolate chip cookie bars and I'm thinking how about a chocolate chip pie?
Mmm..

Also 'people' came back home during lunch hours and I've been sulking since.

On a more positive not I finished a leaf drawing and though there are many I've to complete I'm kinda sort of happy with this one.

Will put up the picture soon.

Poison buffet

Standing over a simmering pot of gravy on a stove while my spine begins to drip down into my thighs, and I wonder why am I doing this?

My every sweat gland is on active duty with a mission to dehydrate my very existence by sweating a record breaking nile.
And cooking food while standing in heat laden aura of kitchen whilst every functional stove is diligently blowing iridescent blue flame and cooking pots of vegetables and curries and roti's, while the cook in question is fighting wave after wave of fainting spells that are brought on by steady flowing waterfalls cascading down every part of my body.

I say what?

Every couple minutes I pop out of the kitchen and wipe myself down with a thick towel that I have kept for just this purpose and breathlessly step back into the furnace that is my insolent sacred space or rather sauna of the moment.

Kitchens are unbearable at this time of summer and cooking should be deemed illegal, and knifing spouses should be a pardonable offence in this heat, specifically when they come sauntering from their air conditioned offices and cars and ask 'what's for dinner?' I'll tell you what's for dinner and be glad that your death isn't a part of this menu.
Why am I doing this even?
I can just eat a potato and a piece of toast for dinner then why am I making a full meal?
Shouldn't other people be okay with this arrangement too? Coming back from the gym this should be just enough, and in fact forage for your own food should be the ideal way of dealing with this weather.
Ah, well..this just makes morning lunches easier. I simply pack the leftovers and there you go..to a certain death, cuz one day I am going to buy a bucket full of arsenic.

And showering hasn't helped, cuz five minutes in and I'm simple bejewelled, bedewed.
Air conditioning, come to my rescue, while I make a list of poisons.

Drawing deets

Trying my hands on a new watercolour botanical drawing.
A leaf is the most insane thing one can draw. The tones, god the tones are difficult.
It's about building up layers and giving it a realistic feel and I'm not even half way through.
The rest shall be done tomorrow.

Food thoughts

Made in brunch heaven.
Fried rice with bacon and boiled eggs and lettuce, mushrooms and coriander with a banana and peach soy milk smoothie.

Rocket fancy therapy

That time of the night when I wished I could go exploring the solar system a little more.
Perhaps a small picnic on Ganymede, or sun basking near the Aitken.
A little drive on lightening fast photons to Titan to Phoebe to Europa until finally arriving at a nice little spot on Pandora, whereform I would gaze into the horse head nebula and learn the secrets the gases unravel; know the colours that died to form that celestial fuschia and ochre depth of neon yellows.
How hair-raisingly terrifying, but one has to bear the concomitance of inter stellar universal travels, even ones that are as localized as inner galactic solar system transports.
A microcosm of sorts, ignored, unknown, unbothered, housing a myriad incidental secrets; wonders that care not to be known.
Lie about on satellites, watch them whirr past orbits and maybe if I'm lucky, intercept a signal traveling tirelessly through a wormhole, in binary functions and asymmetrical drawings, from now dead civilizations, long gone since millennia, a billion light years the signal travelled to reach in pristine condition, only to talk about historical happenings.

That time of the night, when time zones are a mere illusion and reality but a tiresome happenstance existing behind a sparkling screen.. in the shadows, in the background..blurring, blurring, gone.
Now it's just the two of us my love. Your eyes treading over and stumbling through each line, catching a whiff in muted caresses of each word I digitally daubed in electronic perfumes.

Kisses

Split me up

I have finally opened my eyes but after a gloom of sudden onslaught of migraine.
It came on all of a sudden and refused to budge until I popped a pill, and shut myself inside a cocoon of miseries.

Why must it be so?
Every two months or so, on a particular day it'll come over me like a scavenger picking at fresh flesh and leave me in an enervate state of exhaustion.
I long for lobotomy at these moments and I know what brought this on, I do.
It's the heat, the humidity and I don't want to say it over and over again but this weather isn't something my system can readily take.
I'm constantly sweating if I don't turn on the air conditioning and I seem to be drinking water the whole damn time.
I look exhausted almost and people wonder what's wrong with me.
It's most dispiriting and I'm thinking that perhaps I should keep the entire house air conditioned at all times.

I mean yeah I try to embrace the weather and open my windows and doors and leave for cross ventilation, but it doesn't help.
It gets hotter and muggier inside the house.
I keep wishing that whatever little flow of air that exists outside will work as a sort of salve to my airy house and bring about a measure of pleasantness except it turns into a sort of 'just doused furnace with a lot of water' weather and then I contemplate whether I should t bar all the windows and draw curtains and blinders until is dark and gloomy within.
Would that help?
Perhaps I'll try it tomorrow, because I just cannot deal with this right now.

Almost every year, I end up traveling back home around this time, and avoid this nonsensical humidity for a good long while..but this year I'm right at the epicentre and doesn't look like I'm budging much.

I hate headaches. I hate them with a vengeance, and off late migraine has been visiting me in the regular almost every couple months when a couple years back it had almost vanished for a good six months.
Ah well, what can you do?
Perhaps I'll see someone who can acupuncture this demon out of me.
Yeah, I mean I'm in China after all.
Sticking pins and needles in my nerve centres will surely help.
I don't mind looking like a pin cushion for a while if it's gonna cure this problematic migraine.

Dinner then!
Palak chholey, mixed veg, rice, roti and salad. A simple affair.
Sigh.

Brunch brigade

Nourishment, sustenance, nutrition, fuel.

Sweat zone

Wednesday's.
HIIT, cardio, Pilates..and a certain death.

Night tick

A stray hand that sometimes seeks to reach out mine at night, to hold on tight as one sleeps while the other stays uncomfortably paralyzed.
Take your hand off dude I'm trying to turn a page, but of course over sleepy ears these requests fail.
A lovely gesture this, one I couldn't care for right now, cuz why? All of a sudden, when I've a bit of time, in the darkness of tonight, to sit down in a cool room near a glowing lamp shedding weak light..I'm after all tousled with the death of the day.
Working, whirling, walking this entire Tuesday.
Clanging between dishes, work, chores and a strained bit of time I keep for myself, if even that isn't stolen away by something of stupid importance..could be domestic, like groceries or laundry that is mostly your clothes, could be a bit of meeting, greeting by work or some other chore.
A phew, puff, huff an exhalation long sigh.
Done for the day, into a chilled room enter right.
Now I shall stare into this screen a bit..read, learn, watch and just idly sit..
And then a snaking hand, that disrupts my lovely reverie.
Ah, love is it?
I'd rather have this affection next week when you buy groceries, or do the dishes, or shine the windows or wipe or clean the house, and that'd be more than enough to show your affectionate clout.
Don't get me wrong for I love hands, holding my arms, bringing me closer except sometimes it's not the time, mostly it's just not you.
And now is the time that I get to do as I wish to do.
Basking in the silvery coolness with night on my side and share a secret laughter my eyes held wide..
So let me be, a hand I do not seek..nor love do I need
this time is just for me.