Invictus

William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Sigh...That was supposed to inspire me, but for some reason being the captain of my own immortal soul sounds deeply depressing...

In latest news, all I have been doing in recent days is trying my level best to reach the utter pinnacle of time-wasting. I have bought and read several books, (except my study books, though my "future" depends on that), plowed and planted till my virtual avatar is all out of stamina (Not Farmville!), and managed to tell about 22 years worth of saved up lies within a week.

In the process of lie-telling, I also had about 15 years of saved up adventures. For all those who haven't tried it - please book tickets and randomly go to a city which neither you nor your friends know in the slightest. Keep an entire bus full of travellers wide awake through the night, with tales that make them think your office is filled with bloodthirsty cannibals. Roam around said unknown city without the slightest idea of what is where. Experience "fried ice-cream". Withstand the taunts of everyone else with regard to said ice-cream (I'm sure they were just jealous - any reader who begs to differ, please feel free to comment. You don't have to use your real name, and no one reads this blog anyway!) Visit the sea, and understand why so many people are thoroughly entranced by it. Come away, and have a "holiday hangover" for the rest of the week (grump).

In other news, I found out that the sea really is salty. I would also rather not think about what else is in the sea other than salt.

Aside: I really don't care if the syntax of above raving is all wrong. I have it on good authority that it's alright to do that. See the well reasoned argument below:

A recipe for friendship

How do you distill a year's worth of experiences into words? After much pondering I figure the recipe is as follows:

1. First, one must catch a friend. Said catching requires the following equipment:

• A slice of luck (Getting an interview call at one of the Big 4)
• A spoon of coincidence (Both your interviews being on the same day)
• A dash of surprise (This haughty looking girl actually spoke to me??)

2. Once the friend is caught, bonding with her will release a little essence of friendship. A little silliness (like sneaking cameras into the workplace and taking random photographs in the bistro!) acts as a catalyst in this process.

3. Heat the essence of friendship over a slow flame of togetherness. At this stage, add an additional chunk of luck (being the last batch to go out of town for training, and staying in a 7-star hotel, no less!), and stir in a few pints of the stuff that cheers and inebriates. ;)

4. Your essence of friendship should now have swelled. Leave it to stew in its own juice for a couple of months of idle time. Throw in a few gratings of audit file archiving, and a dash of spice (like displaying your own bitchiness)

5. What you have now is thick friendship. For seasoning, add a few long chats about peacocks, apes and ivory during class hours, and longer chats about life, the universe, and everything during lunches, and even longer chats about ships and shoes and sealing wax and cabbages and kings during a memorable Sunday spent together.

Serve warm with love.The whole to be taken as often as needed, with sips of humourous (and not-so-humourous) lemonade. ;)

The thing about friendship is, you always get by-products from this recipe. What I got is warmth and trust, and pretty much as close to bliss as anything can get. Thanks to a certain friend.

Happy birthday, S.

________________

All I know is, you only make a once-in-a-lifetime friend once in a lifetime.

- The Li'l Rascals