I didn't say that: October 2022

Rice-eggs and maseura lunch, midnight candle burning for homework, missing Halloween party, I start missing Seattle [Mon 31]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Had fried eggs and rice with maseura for lunch.

Did my assignment very last moment after the class, which is why I couldn't attend the Halloween celebrations, the rest of the family went trick and treating around the town but there was nothing but studying to do.

The fact that I'd spent so many weekend nights not doing anything, including the fun ones like Halloween reminded me I was out in the boonies and I started missing seattle seriously!

Return trip to NoVa, the most amazing WaWa vegetarian lunch, home in the afternoon and relax [Sun 30]

We left early in the morning back to NoVa. In the rush of packing everything up I completely forgot the tihar gifts. Pretty uneventful trip, on the way back we mostly spent talking about our future plans and me buying a house and/or property in Virginia.

On the way we stopped at WaWa and I ordered to most wonderful reasonably-priced sandwich, it was really really yummy man I wish I'd discovered Wawa earlier, it was seriously so good.

Got home pretty decently early, and we chilled, relaxed, ate something I don't remember. And that was our day!

Virginia Beach broadway walk, mediocre leaping lizard lunch, trip to the weed store, dal-bhat-tarkari dinner, weed that doesn't affect one [Sat 29]

In the morning we went to the fun part of Virginia beach... the broadway and walked along it. So windy, but very much fun. And many, many elderly out-of-season folks who were having tonnes of fun. I seriously considered off-season vacationing, but forgot about it because it doesn't sound like a good idea to get on a beach while it's snowing and windy outside.

Also the roads there looked lot like Chitwan's or Tarai's, it was really nice.

We drove over to Leaping Lizard for brunch. I've written about leaping lizard on this blog, but in short it was extremely disappointing. That's it, really, so freakin' disappointing. Nice ambience though, the outsides.

Then we went to the weed store, they sell delta-8, I tried getting in they asked for my ID, so I walked out and waited for DD and SD.

For dinner we had dal-bhat-tarkari. And then tried smoking that new weed. It was alright, it hit me more than the other times, but not much. Very mediocre, not impressed at all hah.

Yummy leftover lunch, veggie-noodles for dinner, bikeride and failure, walk on the beach, playing with the cat, latenight tokes [Fri 28]

Had the leftover from the bhaitika day, and as usual it was so much better than original!

DD and I went for a walk to the beach and a bikeride, the bikeride plan failed miserably because her chain broke apart, something I'd never seen before in years of riding bikes. SO we walked back the bikes and went to the beach. Apparently in the summer the weather is incredible and it's very crowded, but when we were there it was cold and windy, we couldn't stay there very long.

In the evening we lot the fireplace fire, and I played with the cat, taking adorable pics of him in front of the fire. And again we made an attempt to get high by smoking a bunch, but again it didn't hit a lot, but we talked until wee hours of night outside in the balcony.

Bhaitika! Yummy desserts, great but rushed lunch, drive to the Asian store, momomaking, I wrap so well, decent veggie momo, toking things up [Thu 27]

It was bhaitika but none of us had taken the day off, so putting on the tika was rushed and hard to co-ordinate. Either way, we put the tika on each other, ED and myself, and she gave me lots of dried fruits desserts and snacks, all of which I forgot in Virginia beach because we were in a rush to leave on Sunday. Regardless, we had yummy desserts, bought ones and the ones that DD had made, yuuum I really really need to learn the desserts she made.

Lunch was amazing, so many veggies, but kinda' rushed.

In the afternoon, SD and I drove to the Asian store, talked about consciousness, death and meditation. We got the supplies for momo-making. In the evening we made veggie momo and chicken momo, and I made really good momos, real quick, the most competitive momo-making of my life.

The veggie momo was pretty decent, tasted more like samosa than anything else, but I didn't mind.

In the evening we smoked up some old leaves they had, the leaves were very much gone, didn't get high.

TJ Maxx and Walmart trip, jaulo lunch, tacobell dinner and everybody else eats at chik-file, 4-hour drive to Virginia beach [Wed 26]

During the day we went to Walmart and then to TJ Maxx because ED wanted this some kind of cleaning sponge or liquid, but we didn't find it.

For lunch we had jaaulo.

Left for Virginia beach after finishing all of our jobs. We stopped by tacobell to get my order, and then drove over to chik-fil-e where I ate my meal and the rest of the family got their burgers and drinks. Niece ate a lot of burger patties and TD and AD ended up eating the buns mostly because she's a very picky eater.

We got to Virginia beach in 3 hours and 40 mins, way quicker than anybody expected because the gang had done the trip in upto 8 hours.

I slept on the couch outside, and late at night the kitty cat came to sleep right next to me, it was adorable!

Chickpea-naan and onion lunch, extra spicy buldak noodles gets me burning [Tue 25]

Had the chickpea tarkari and naan from the previous night for lunch, with some chopped raw onions.

In the evening we hung out with the Nepali neighbor. I had, for dinner, the spicy buldak noodle with a lot of chilli peppers added. So hot, so spicy, burned me twice. But I enjoyed it, my stamina was increasing. And this time around I didn't even have violent, hot diarrhea, which is a win in my book.

Last-minute assignment and class, laxmi puja!, jaulo-kimchi lunch, puja, so much sweets, chickpea and naan for dinner [Mon 24]

Was doing assignment after work, celebrated laxmi puja in the evening. We did puja, put on tikas, and I missed all the fireworks because I was busy studying as the rest of the house went out and appreciated the very loud fireworks. SO much fun and all of it missed because I was doing my assignment and then attending class.

For lunch we had jaulo and kimchi, dinner was chickpea veggie and naan, ED makes chickpea without potatoes and doesn't let it go mush, something I gotta pay attention to, and not smoosh any of it either.

Ate so many Indian sweets too, yum yum yum!

Noodles for lunch, pasta dinner, massive cookies for deserts daylong [Sun 23]

Not many memories or records from this day, unfortunately, except that we had noodles for lunch s leftovers from the day before, and had pasta for dinner.

ED made cookies in muffin pans which meant they were massive (and because she changed the timing and recipe a little bit, they were crumbly), and I ate 'em all day long, far far too much!

Old country farm trip, cream cheese yucky muffins, lots of child fun, drive to the winery and fancy realizations, thukpa dinner [Sat 22]

In the morning we went to Old Country Farm, which is one of those large areas that's a pretend-farm for kids, where they have token animals and a bunch of farmyard activities. Not much for me to do, but my niece eventually had a lot of fun. The cream cheese muffins were the nastiest, grossest ones I've ever had. The corn maze was alright though. Mostly families with children. There was a group of people in their twenties with cute women though, so that was something to look forward to.

After the farm we went to the winery next to it, on top of the mountain, it reminded me of good old Nepal vacation times. Rich people things. Everybody got drinks -- I got alcohol-free -- and we stayed out in the sun, then sat on the grass as we watched a pretty terrible country single mess up many classic country songs.

In the evening AD made Nepali style thukpa, after getting the noodles at the Indian store all by himself, it was yummy!

Costco is such a great deal

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Went to Costco with AS(y) yesterday, and bought so many things I didn't expect to. Like a dozen high-quality croissants for six bucks, drink mixes, high-quality oils etc etc, and of course, I knew it's an amazing deal and all of that, but often it can be a third(!) the price of comparable items at places like whole foods etcetera, and at a better quality too! All you need to do is make sure you don't spoil the goods by the use of the products because they can come in massive weights! But AS and I decided to split the items we get, so that's going to be easier to manage, if you got costco goods with a shopping group this is literally, likely, the best deal in the entire goddamn world for a large number of products!

On: Teaching a young child

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

While in Virginia I taught my niece so many Nepali words, children's songs and the Nepali way of life, besides the usual 'what is this thing' and how to do things etcetera. Small problems arose when it turned out that she was in that precise part of life where they get rebellious for the first time, so she'd give me the wrong answers to the questions I asked, despite clearly knowing the answers, just to test what would happen if she didn't follow the script. On one hand that's a great sign of her psychological development -- it means she's curious about the world, a little bit rebellious at least, and explores the consequences of her actions etcetera. On the other hand, it can be frustrating because for a lot of things you really really don't want to get your patience tested because you want to do other things than be on top of a child all the time, and sometimes that's not possible. Alas. Still, it's such a great experience teaching young children the ways of the world, so rewarding.

My building's facade got repainted!

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

This is exciting news because the facade of my building was, until the last week, the most disgusting yellow you can think of, the sort that was popular in the 80's latest, I remember this shade in a hotel in Darjeeling the hotel was called hotel Kundu and we thought it was gross mostly because of the color of the walls. And that was what my building looked like.

Now it's a shade of grey. On one hand it looks more 'modern' and contemporary. On the other, literally every other building on the block and the block after and the one after ad inifnitum looks the same, and guys things are getting boring as shizz.

I'm addicted to doritos hah

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

As I get to the 50th post for the day (yes, true, unfortunately this is what one must do), the quality of the posts will go down. This is about how I'm absolutely addicted to Doritos and if there's a packet in the house, not a day goes without me eating a couple of handfuls every few hours until it's completely done. It's so bad, my understanding is it was engineered to be this way? When I was at ED's she would just bring these large party-sizes in a kitchen cupboard, three days later I'd have eaten through the entirety of it, one handful at a time. Shameful, shame shame, I should know better, gotta do better, but. I can't. help iiit. Guess this is what addiction is.

Reflections on what I should have done in my Boston stay

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I wrote in the previous post about how awesome it's to live in the heart of the city and how living away from it can be a significantly different, often disappointing experience.

When I was in Boston, I was talking to my coworkers about my regrets from time in Boston, the decade that was spent there. Most of it was spent out in the relative boonies of Medford, and things were...fine, but man, in recent days there's been a reconsideration of how things might have been different if I'd not been in such an immigrant money-saving mode, and instead decided to splurge a little bit and be in the middle of all the action.

First, I'd have lived with just one roommate, which would have been fine. Second, all the bars and restros would have been so close, going out would have been more frequent and considering i'd recently gotten out of college, I imagine there'd have been a lot more of catchups with college friends. And maybe made new friends too. If not that, at least gotten into new hobbies, seen the allies and corners from a whole new perspective, understood the locals better, and the people who lived there.

But then Covid would have come, fucked everything forever, and I'd probably have hated my life and wondered what life would have been life if I'd not effing wasted all that money on nonsense and just lived in the relative boonies like all my friends and saved all the money, probably. Because as much as I might hate it, I'm a rather boring person who's into boring things and for sure I'd not have made the most of living in the heart of the city.

Like right now, it's the 19th, AS(y) just told me they're going to Barboza and invited me, and I said I'd be going to bed in 10, which is true, but so boring. Uhh. I'll always be myself no matter what, eh?

Farm tour with the family

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

During my VA stay, we went to a farm, it's mostly meant as a playground for young kids and their families. Lots of animals, playthings etcetera. Fun for parents and the kids, but not so much for the adult who tags along. Not much to do except look at other people having fun.

We went to a nearby winery and that was a whole lotta fun, maaan I missed going to nice resorts and wineries etcetera in Kathmandu, it gave me that vibes. Which again reminded me that I've never quite been wealthy or gone to resorts and had the sort of lifestyle we had every so often -- once a year or so -- in Kathmandu. Oh how fun it would be to do all those things, but here, with lots of resources and the logistics of the entire world at your disposal!

Dude, of course I want to be rich, if only to repeat the same old lifestyle!

Living in downtown, of any city, rocks!

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

This is an appreciation for Seattle, as has been happening quite frequently in my real life and this blog, but also a step back from that. I don't know for sure if it's living in Seattle that's made my quality of life so great, or living right in the smack middle of things, between great parks and restaurants and clubs and surrounded by friends and retail that's heightened my experience of living in a modern first-world city.

To be fair, Seattle does have a wild choice of living in the midst of everything: the water bodies, the large parks, the great availability of grocery stores, and any other amenity one might want. Sometimes I wonder if this experience would have reflected similarly if I'd stayed in Boston. Where would I go for shopping? What about friends, because they all lived so far away in the boonies! And would I get depressed because there was no place for quiet contemplation and walks?

Regardless, man, I effing love living in the heart of the city, and have come to the understanding that doing anything else will give you a VERY different experience of a city.

The trains have finally made it to my old neighborhood

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Back in Boston, went to Medford and met PK etc. Finally saw the Green Line go all the way to our old neighborhood and that was surreal, to see something that had been promised for so long that we'd stopped believing it entirely, happen finally. I will not claim to foresee the changes it'll bring around there, the economics or the sociological impact of the green line extension to the area, but man, the area is not going to be the Medford I'd lived all those years in.

Which is good, for the area, but another stake in our relationship...the town and me, it's not the same, it'll have become something else entirely.

Boston endings: the old gang isn't around anymore

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

In the previous post I wrote about what a great time I had at the Dashain party in Boston, and met up PK's friends and that group. That was fun exciting and all, but it also felt, the entire trip I mean, like the end of an era. My old group is no more, and I didn't meet anybody else there, because everybody's either moved elsewhere or out to the 'burbs.

Which means there's none of our older folks from way back there anymore, it's not about the people anymore when I go, it's about the town and man I did stay there for long but never really fell in love with the city. It wasn't the city's fault, I did stay at the most boring and 'up-and-coming' town/suburb of the city, didn't see the glitz and glam of the good ole' beantown. There's no lostlove between us.

I hate to admit this, but I don't know when I might go to Boston anymore, if ever. Definitely not on my own dime anymore, for sure.

The dashain party in Boston

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Attended PK's and I's dashain party in Boston, it was on the very evening that I landed! It was so great, saw all of the old gang (of PK's friends and I) and also SS who as one's talked about in the past, is always interesting and exciting, and a bunch of new people. One of ND's friend was really funny and I had one hella time teasing them.

The night went on for a bit too long and I crashed on their couch, continuing an old tradition.

It was gangbusters, super duper successful, just wish I'd had the opportunity or the time to follow up on the folks present in the party.

Review: The actual beach at Virginia Beach

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Virginia Beach is a great tourist town. Places to bike, jog, chill on the beach, and even swim in the summers. It's one of those tiny fun places where people go to across state lines.

It's pretty great, not unlike a lot of similar towns, there's nothing remarkable about it. Only thing that disappointed me was the rash, shameless, boring commercialization -- the capitalism is not what bothers me, it's the boring architecture, the uninspired urban planning, and really strange downtown. At least delta-8 and 'related products' (heh heh heh) were legal, though maaan I didn't get high at all, 'twas a bit of a bummer.

Review: DD's Semolina-flour cake

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

DD brought her semolina cake, a middle eastern dessert that she'd recently learnt to make, to NoVa for Dashain, and later we had more when we went down to Virgina Beach for Bhaitika.

So. So. So. Good! I often don't think about making a dessert when I eat one, because I realize it's going to be lots of work and besides who's got the appetite to eat all of that, not good for you yadda yadda yadda, but man do I want to make that dessert! It's very popular in Lebanon apparently.

Again, so.very.good. Yuuummm.

Review: Leaping Lizard Cafe in Virginia Beach

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

We went to this cafe when we were at Virginia Beach. The land is very nice, lots to explore, children will love it!

The service is extremely slow, as it seems perhaps they don't hire outsiders and keep it strictly family-run? And also the food is like...just alright, I kept thinking how much of a better meal I could have made for myself given all the ingredients. So.much.goddamn.mayo. in my mushroom sandwich, though it ws possibly the best food of the lot, compared to what everybody *had* to eat.

Go there for the ambience, not for the food or service.

Review: Setting up wifi plugs at somebody's place

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I spent a night and a day at PN's place setting up their wifi plugs since they were out of town and needed to set a 'vacation schedule' for room lights to scare away potential thieves and robbers. P had apparently tried setting those up at the very last moment but given up due to the complexity.

On one hand I was a bit high, but on the other hand, there was no goddamn reason it should have taken three plus hours, and no real sensible reason that I should have had to change the DNS settings on my cellphone to get those goddamn plugs working. If your product needs a software engineer to get it working, maaan it's definitely not targeted at the mass market.

Either way, P sent me an embarrassing amount of money for my cab fare and meals and the like and I was shy about that at first, but later accepted it because it did feel like I was like working working when the damn plugs were being setup and yeah okay I got paid for my labor, whatever. Because I wouldn't have volunteered to do it otherwise!

Do not recommend!

Review: PN's homegrown tomatoes

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I spent a night at PN's house setting up their wifi plugs -- it was hellish and I'll write about that in the following post -- but before I left their place to go back to ED's, I picked about a pound-and-half of their summer tomatoes. The vines had withered away but the tiny tomatoes were red as wine and heavy with the juices, ready to burst their yummy goodness into the world.

AD made achaar out of those tomatoes two days later.

And goddamn, that achaar was the best fucking achaar of tomatoes I've had in recent memory. It made me realized all the tomato achaar I've ever made in the US uses tomatoes as a filler, as a texture basically, and doesn't bring it out at all because the toms here don't taste like anything. Unlike those ridiculously yummy little suckers.

Yummm.

Review: The Cheese Dosa from the Indian place in NoVa

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Couple of days before I left VA, I took ED, AD and the niece to an Indian restaurant whose name I can't remember and there's no way I can search for it. I ordered the mirchi bajji which I've just written was awful in an earlier post, as appetizer, and the cheese dosa.

The cheese dosa was yum, it smelled very very strongly of ghee, but ohhh ma they went all-in with the cheese. So goddamn heavy, so very heavy much. Loved it though!

If I wasn't leaving very early in the morning next morning for Seattle, I'd have had an excellent time finishing it, it tickled all my senses!

Review: Mirchi Bajji

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I saw this item "Mirchi bajji" which was deep fried peppers, at a grocery store and wanted to get it, but ED suggested it wouldn't be a good idea. We went to an Indian restaurant where I ordered this precise item as appetizer, expecting a jalepeno popper of sorts and oh man how wrong I was! Mostly the chickpea flour, no texture and very limited flavor, one imagines this is one of those 'acquired taste' foods....if you need to acquire taste in eating bland and unpleasantly spicy food with so much spongy batter. Ugh. What a waste.

Re-review: Spice Walla on Capitol Hill

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I went to Spice Walla once again early this week, returning from my walk, got the tofu katti roll and ughhh I hope they make their other rolls better because it was dry and not particularly tasty or well-spiced. If you're thinking about the food item you're eating, wondering why you ever decided to eat it and literally anything else would have been a better option, even something you could have made at home, that probably means you don't like to food? Yeah, that was me!

Review: Kevin Hart's I Can't Make This Up

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Read most of the Kevin Hart autobiography, ghost-written but clearly admitted within the prose itself. It's a hella great read, really funny, Hart's voice comes through the words and you can hear him on the page. He's honest about his family situation, and the rough journey he took to get where he his right now. So much more respect for the man after reading the book, and also props to both him and the ghost writer for such great piece of writing. Would definitely read it again, for the funny bits and the intersting bits.

Review: Steve Martin's Born Standing Up

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I read Steve Martin's Born Standing Up in my flight from VA to Boston. Finished it right as I got into my friend's apartment too. Couple of observations.

Steve Martin is a freakin' genius, no way around that. The writing was alright and rather stilted and old-fashioned. And one will absolutely not learn anything, anything at all about comedy or performance from the book because he was so far above the clouds from anything else. A god among women, no comparison.

The book's alright. It's quick read and I didn't mind, I wouldn't reread unless I was VERY bored.

My comedy career may not go the way I hoped

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

My plan for the comedy career was to go open-mic with my comedy class friends, turns out none of them are as into it as they thought they might be. So there's only one guy -- who was already an open-micer who's doing it seriously still. Maybe I'm not meant to be a standup comedian or be any good at it. I could put a lot of heart and mind into it but if there's not an atom of funny in me, isn't it just working against the laws of nature?

Engineering leadership classes going well

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Engineering course that I'm taking with the local university started in late September, and it's gone pretty well. I've gotten good grades in the past assignments, the lectures that I attend online can get boring but I am learning something and have a really good sense of what they teach in MBA courses -- it's a corporate finance class. I can see how this certification would be incredibly good for my career and personal growth. Looking forward to doing more fun things.

Changes at work: new manager

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

As I might have written at some point in the past, I was to get a new manager because my old manager was super smart and driven and responsible and he finally got a promotion he should have gotten years ago. I was worried about how the new managerial situation might work out, but turns out that maybe since he's trying to make a name for himself, is new at all of it and maybe not as driven and smart and you know shit-together person, could be a better manager than my extremely competent otherwise manager!

Treading with great care, but with optimism!

I just hope he doesn't have a lot to complain about my Nepal stay!

Things getting serious at work

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

New team came in, the new hires are all super talented and driven and know what they want from me, and it's way more fun to work with a fully-coalesced team with a unified mission and direction and instructions form the management. Instead of being a sailor of one boat sailing between small islands. Hope this means even more exciting interesting things are up ahead in the future!

In the end this one thing is what I care for in a partner

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Emotional stability. Alright give me two: the second will be clear communication. That's all that matters. I mean obviously you need a bazillion other factors of compatibility on what you want out of life, out of each other etcetera, but that'll be all figured out early on in the partnership if they're good at communicating. And if they're an emotionally stable person, they won't vacillate between what they want and don't want every freakin' moment, and you can count on them to be your anchor so you may...uh sail the seas, as in, give you stability and the comfort of taking risks.

That is all.

I'll be looking to date seriously in Kathmandu

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

When I'm in Kathmandu, I'll be looking to date seriously. I've been pretty stuck up on the 'no long distance relationship, ever' because of past experience but considering the limited options I find myself with and the other circumstances I'd rather compromise on that preference than many others one might have to make instead. I'd rather make a less-than-ideal compromise on my own terms now than a much worse compromise on other people's terms later when the situation is stacked against me, hah!

I have one degree of separation with the British Prime Minister!

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

SO the current British PM, Rishi Sunak is the brother in law of the guy I worked with very closely in my previous company, not only will he likely still remember my name, but probably have a good impression of me, considering the conversations we had together, deep philosophical and religious conversations, he called them 'serious' by the way. Hmmm maybe I can get a job in the government, a cushy position with those posh bastards?

Between the last time I wrote seriously and now, there's been 3(!) British Prime Ministers!

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I wrote seriously on this blog in late September, right before I left for VA in early October. Boris Johnson was the British PM then. Between then and now, BoJo gave way to that lady whose name I don't remember anymore, and then to Rishi Sunak. It's wild, British politics has gotten so interesting in recent times, and not in a good way.

Another November has come by, another Novel goes unwritten

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Alas! Another novel that went unwritten this year, it's Nov 19 as I write this and yeah I'm not prepared, I don't have the time (because still 'covering up' for the gone months in this friiggin blog and also what do I even write! One thing I do have is the energy, I feel so fresh when I get up, having gotten enough sleep, and if only I reused the time I spend on random websites, I'll be able to bang two novels a month out. Shitty as they may be, they're still novels. But how likely is that, really?

Is this the end of my dreams and aspirations, and my compromise into mediocrity?

I don't want to admit defeat yet. This is not ego, it's grit!

It's becoming clearer I'm not a good writer but I shall persevere

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

The only serious writing I've done is on this blog, and as a pretty voracious reader in a former life I can tell if this is the sort of writing that's going to translate to works of fiction, that work would be boring, rather b&w and unreadable. And also do I even have the drive?

SB's sister Sb, who's also a friend of my sister's is taking writing way way wayyy more seriously, she's gotten several screenwriting projects out and is seriously working on a novel currently. And i bet a thousand bucks any of that is way better than all the things I've produced in the entirety of my writing career. And she's unable to get writing fellowships. Which means I'm just a writing loser.

but I knew that.

My winning factor here is the perseverance. To keep going at it despite how unlikely it seems that I'll ever get better at it.

The fight goes on.

I should consider reducing my potato intake

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Back in VA, ED was teasing me about how I do potatoes for all my dishes. It's true, I do love me some taters, and they are nutritionally speaking quite kick-ass, but it did feel like my nutrition was not diverse enough, and my palate and cooking habits were quite boring. I gotta improve, if that improves doing 'taters in all the various ways, I'll do that, otherwise maybe the taters gotta go down for a bit!

This is the most hydrated I've been in my entire effing life

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I've been drinking so much tea and warm water to keep myself warm, three four five cups of the massive teacup (almost a pot at this point) everyday. It means I gotta piss every fifteen minutes, but it's yummy, hydration is great for you they say and you know what the culture, just the concept of peacefully drinking tea is something I want to internalize. Tea-drinking boring bozo who lives with a boring hardworking partner in a place where they work their land is the sort of vision I have for my future, so this lines up perfectly!

My cooking skills are improving, one dish at a time

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I've been trying to make new things, including Tortang Tatong and jaaaulo, among other dishes, some of them inspired by ED in VA, and yeah my repertoire is growing generally, and eventually I'll be able to think of an easy and yummy delicacy to cook while looking at any fridge and groceries in it, without having to do the same boring routine I've done in the recent years.

Exciting culinary journey ahead!

Cryptocurrencies going down exactly according to my prediction

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Man what a month it's been! First crypto goes down then Musk repeatedly bashes his fourty-four fucking billions against the public wall and destroys it!

But a few people I follow online, like patrick mckenzie are predicting cryptocurrency is in a way worse situation than they thought it would be at this stage of the scam, and maan it feels so good to be right and vindicated!

Muskiboy is destroying twitter and his fake billions and I'm loving it!

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

These weeks have been incredible for me! Muskiboi has been destroying his 44billion acquisition, going out of his way to be mean awful vengeful and really a terrible businessman ceo and a human being all-around, and taking his company down with his public image. He's a despicable human being, but maaan this is some gold-tier entertaining shit, as long as he's losing money. Asshole deserves to go broke!

Riverfood plans in Nepal

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

More on all of these later, as I think more.

Sipi is river mussels, poor Nepalis eat them after 'hunting' them in the rivers. Ghongi is clams/escargot, it's an important part of Tharu cuisine. Paha is river frogs, villagers catch them and roast those in fire as food.

I think they should be commercially farmed and become a part for Nepali cuisine.

My plan is to work towards that!

My plans for Nepal

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I will be in Nepal for between two and six months in two months, and I've already started planning it. It's going to be a workcation, with weeks in between I'll be taking off for travel and trekking trips with family. I also want to go to small towncenters across the country and live in lodges as I walk, exploring the towns during the day, to get to know the country better. I realized recently I don't know my country so well.

Also, I want to get my own apartment and live there for a while, buut yeaaah, one can dream, unlikely it'll happen but still something to look forward to!

Travel update: I'll be going to Nepal soon again

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I realize that as I write this, it's only been a week since I returned from Virginia, but the plan to fly to Nepal with ED -- first to VA and then onto Kathmandu -- has already been finalized! My travel documents will be coming this week, and we'll get the tickets soon after.

The plan is to be in Nepal for two to four, possibly upto six months. I'll divide my plans into multiple posts because I have hundreds of posts to go, sorry folks!

Embarassing disclaimer: I freaking love the city of Seattle

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

It's been almost a year and a half since I moved to Seattle, and I have an embarrassing admission to make, a repetition for some of you. I freaking love love love this city. I love my afternoon/evening walks, I love the group of friends, the ragtag group as it maybe that I hang, the nature, the bodies of water, and pretty much everything else, it's awesome, I've found some interesting and exciting hobbies too, one can hardly have a better time here! Only sad point is it'd be great to be with somebody else, and that's one single thing this city seems to be lacking: a conducive environment to form stable, traditional, boring loving caring relationships. It is rather pathetic being a trad in this town.

Seattle is an awful place to be a single person

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

So few options to date, and nobody wants to take it steady for the longer term, everybody just wants to hookup and get done with it. And also where are the nice fun interesting people who I would find in Boston, sure I wasn't dating dating them, but I got to hang out with them and found myself in the company of the sorts of people I'd like to spend the rest of my life with. In Seattle sometime it feels everybody is miserable and ready to get out of the city as quick as they can, which is rather sad because I freakin' love the city.

Peep Show has replaced the background viewing and listneing The Office for me

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Exactly what the title says. I believe it's because the title song of the office is quite loud and annoying and there's some genuinely shitty things that happen to good people on the office. Awful things happen way more regularly to more people on Peep Show, but everybody is awful and really there's nothing good about them, you feel okay hate-pitying them. It's really reassuring. I'm lovin' it!

Maaan, my airplant died, and so did my spider plant

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

The plant set I'd bought from Amazon included five different pothos varietals and an airplant and a spider plant. It's pity the spider plant and airplant both died, mostly beyond my control. Wondering as I write this if it would be worth reaching out to the vendor and see if they're willing to send out another shipping to replace those plants!

Pothos plant goals for the apartment

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I have eight pothos plant in the apartment -- three that I brought in from Virginia and five that I got from Amazon. The five are all of different varietals. Soon, which means in a year or so, I will have green creepers running all over my minimalist apartment. Yet another reason to not leave this place until I settle down.

Salts I have in my apartment

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

1. Morton table salt (iodized)

2. Asian hand-collected sea salt flake non-iodized

3. QFC brand kosher salt

4. Himalayan pink salt (Pakistan)

5. Himalayan rock salt, black (Nepal)

Oils I have in my apartment

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

1. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2. Regular olive oil
3. Vegetable oil
4. Grapeseed oil
5. Mustard oil
6. Toasted sesame oil
7. butter

I'm in a rush, just give me something

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Maaaan, I'm under a bit of a pressure, all of it self imposed obviously, to get 'caught-up' with the posts here, and that's a little rough. Plus I need to get my 2 hours of walking, novel writing, walk, and everything else, and I'm a bit scared that something might get caught under the carpet. Plus my bedroom in still a dump. Alas, what has become of me.

I'm no writer people, gods please give me the strength to get my life straight, to work on my projects, and go after my interests. And also not feel bad about literally making no money and being all single and pathetic in this sad little town.

Top five of my favourite food items I make

Methi jaaulo I made the other day
Eggplant
Chinese-Indian cheesey roti snacks
Dal, all that rich goodness
Chickpea tarkari with spinach

Top ten Nepali cities I want to visit

Dharan
Dhankuta
Itahari
Okhaldhunga
Damak/Damauli?
Beni
Sandikharka
Chainpur
Surkhet
Besisahar

Top five things I want to do if I get a big raise

Buy a nice modern kindle
Get a robot vacuum/mop with LIDAR
Get a really fancy smartwatch with esim and a tiny ebook reader I can carry and read anyone like it's a cellphone
A home server so I can store all my books etc
My freedom, so I can be 'independently wealthy' and not go to work again

Top ten historical characters I'd want to meet

All those people right before the royal massacre to make sure that the public version of the story is probably the real version.
Alexander the Great
Genghis Khan
Bunch of old native American philosophers
Laxmi Prasad Devkota
Leonardo (of Vinci, the famous one, no not the turtle from NYC)
Bhanubhakta, to make sure he was as real as claimed
Bunch of kings from South Asian subcontinent
Marco Polo
King Mandev

Top ten plants I want to grow when I have my own place

Tomato, various
Chilli pepper, various
Avocado tree
Apple tree, grafted with various other branches
Potatoes
Cilantro and other herbs
Mango tree
Pumpkin and other winter gourds
Watermelon
Strawberries

Fruits I have in the apartment right now

Orange
Apple
Pomelo
Haluwabed/persimmon
Peach
Grapes
Tomatoes (yea they're fruits!)
Cucumber (them too!)
blackberries
Banana

Ten yet another things, because alas I'm running out of ideas

Cerave, because the ads told me to
"Bear trap", which is just a bear-trap keyring
Massive shopping trip before going to Nepal
Long international trips
lawyers
Stupid billionaires
cute federal court employee working for federal judges who you hung out with back in the day, who you didn't acknowledge because you were too embarrassed, so stupid
chilli-pepper related snacks
Lotte market
"wendover productions"

Ten more things

Getting high on weed
Cats
Sweet latinas
Socks, thick woolen ones
Silken shirts
Intercaste weddings
Doctors. So many doctors
People who don't have their shit together, even though by this time they really really should have, considering everything they've gone thru by now geeez
That guy who had his gas cover open for two hours
Vacationing during thanksgiving

Ten things

L-tryopham
L-theanine
tea, so much tea
lovely cool walks
faux meats
air fryer
pressure cooker
brown rice
people pretending they didn't flirt with you 24/7 for three weeks
Bhaktapur

Sunday Farmer's market

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Outside the station
At the Hill on the Capitol
There's a market cute
Kinda' expensive,
They look hella cute
Tasty and organic
Oh the tomay-toes!
The winter gourds
and the fruits and mushrooms!
There's a few stalls for the foods
Right next to the fountain
at the park.
Not a lot of folks,
It's winter months
The crowds are thinning
Those still around
Are the elderly yokes.
I look, I see
I check out the 'taytoes.
The vendor tells me
All the sour ones
Are long gone.
Nothing for me
This time around,
I walk back
Across the park
Pack into my
Home ground.

How do I start business?

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Go to the Google
Or to the tubes
Of the You
And search in quick
How do I
Start a business?

What make money lots,
Or what is easy to do
How do I sell
And have a great marketing too?
Who do I talk to
And where do I go
Where are the suppliers
And how to get in touch with you?
Can you give me
An idea so good
I can turn it into
A business too easy to be true
How can I do everything
Without hiring a soul or true
Can I get subsidies
Or the grants from the big man
What is logistics
And what is the distribution channel?

So many things
All those considerations
When all you wanted
Was for money to work.

Why do we even care?

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

You are so hawa,
I think
And never tell her
Because
What is the point
This is a cause
That has been
Long lost.
It would have been nice
For people to have
Discovered themselves
And their desires
A long time ago
But when they're
Faffing about
Stumbling and confused
And it's far too late
TO even consider
A future together
Because they don't
Want to think
Through the options
Not yet anyway, they say
To which I should respond
But won't,
No thanks babe, I'm good
You're great
But I'm just
Not that
Into you.

Mark and Jez, sitting and talking?

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Is it not
Suspicious?
That Jez
Jeremy, old J-dawg
Somehow always
Ends up suggesting
Something unusual
With his old pal
Often as a joke
But is it really
When it is
Quite a pattern
That they do
Things that are
Sexual in nature?
Is it curious
That the bored jez
All he wants
To do with
Fusty old mark
When there is
nothing better
To do,
Is to
dare I say
Do him?
Kidding,
But oh really,
as he says?

Jez oh jez
What a dirty old
Dawg you are
You may have
Pulled Jez
But Mark
You can't
For he's given
His heart
To the King
Alan Johnson,
Hah!

Spending time in little towns of Nepal

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

This is an idea,
It is a plan,
It is my hope
To do it
When I'm in Nepal.
To get up
With the sun
And work for hours four.
Then a shower
and lunch, at a place new
talking to the locals
And the children few
Checking the stores around
And the landmarks new
Get to know the business
And the land
The folks, who call it their hometown
Try their foods, and their secrets
And understand
What it is
That drives them
To go from
One day
TO the next.

A week here
Ten days to the next
Maybe two weeks there
and three days after that,
All around
TO the east, and in the west
Until I feel
The country is mine
And the people
I can understand
What clicks them on
And what they dream
How to sell to them

Uniqlo opening in Seattle

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Down in the town
At the heart
Of the city
Of Seattle
Right next to
The famed
Crack-donalds,
As it's gotten
To be called,
There used to be
A large Macy's,
Covering
The entire building.
And then hither
The virus of COVID
And the rampage
Of violence
And common criminals
That enveloped
The second and pine
Until the Macy's
Was no more
Dying, a slow
pathetic, sad,
Death
And for years
It was silent, nothing boring
Until it was time
For the greatest retailer
To come around
And replace good old Macy's
And that's how
We welcomed
The grand old Uniqlo
Three floors and all!
I am excited!

Disturbed by the garbage truck

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

It's four
In the morning
And a loud bang!
Is it,
I wonder
In the building
Somebody shooting
And where do I go
And another one,
Oh no, that's the return fire
And another
And another,
Silence.
Can't be
The gunshots,
This ain't how
The gangsters work.
I'm up now, the sleep is dead
And then the whirring
Of the engine
And the groan
Of the old clanky machine
Ah yes
The good old
Noisy rusty clanky
Garbage truck
Waking up the fucking town
As it goes about
Picking up our trashbags
Everyday around.

Spicy warm tea

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

A warm mug
The largest
You will ever see
Larger than
My pot
Of tea
And in it
Boiling water
Steaming hot
Frothing
White and brown
Honey and ginger
And then
A sip
Ouch
So hot
So warm
So spicy
So comforting
it goes down
my gullet
warming my body
my tummy
and my being
until
I am sweating
The sweater comes off
And I
Think to myself
I gotta warm me
And not the house
This is nice.

Going to Kathmandu

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I am excited,
I tell anyone who will listen,
To go to Kathmandu
And oh, the things
I will want to do!
To look at the mountains
And climb them
To touch the rivers
And float down the rapids
Sleep on the greens
With peanuts and oranges
Looking at old men
In waistcoats and dhaka topis
Man, what a town, I miss it
For the first goddamn time
In my whole life
I miss Kathmandu
And so very excited
To go.

Oh
What
Has
Happened
To me,
How
Have
I
Come
Down
So
Low?

Fresh Seattle air

Even in the rise of winter
This year
Seattle is bright
Frosty and chill there is
Not in a bad way, as one might...
In the walks my head hurts
But the cool air hits my face
And I breathe in
The cold fresh air
And all the pain and stress
Disappears away
My tongue gets thick
My mind is slow
But yet
All I think is
Behold, how wonderful this city is, Lo!
How can one
Ever outdo this mo'?

She's going to Japan, apparently

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Fic.

You are not going to believe what just happened! She told me she was going to Japan. For two years! Out of nowhere, just like that! I wasn't hurt that she was going to go, but it stung that she took so long to let me in. She spent months preparing, applying for the visa and airlines stuff and during all of that, not a peep, didn't think I might be interested to know that she'd be three timezones away in short notice, that we'd barely get to see each other for such a long time. What future is there for us anyway, and she didn't care about any of that dude, none of that, just casually oh by the way I'm going to japan, I don't want to break up but if you want to it's alright, whatever. I don't understand what goes inside her head man, such insanity, I'm quite fed up with the whole situation, don't even know what to do next!

Seattle rain again

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

This year has been disappointingly dry for Seattle. It barely rained in the Summer and the fall was unseasonably dry as well. Oh and we got so much Sun until mid-November, which would be good news otherwise elsewhere, but us Seattle 'oldtimers' miss the rain and the gloom, haah!

Now that it's the 22nd of November, it's raining, finally, feels like I'm in Seattle again!

Three new books in my reading list

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Here's new books on my reading list, already running quite behind on it.

The book on the taboo against knowing who you are
The wisdom of insecurity
Radical acceptance

10 ideas I want to work on in Kathmandu

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

The fresh river/seafood idea, talk to farmers, restauranters, politicians, youtubers, government
The standardizing the ethnic restaurants idea, organize competition for creating cool new menu items, and create templates for each food type at various price levels and skill levels
Kathmandu city government working with school children to fix the garbage situation
Kathmandu city government working with the local businesses to fix the garbage situation
River transport, water transport in Kathmandu, through the bagmati river, for commuting and fun
Same as above, but for night market and commerce, so that vendor can be sent to the river instead of the streets
Fish farming in the river during proper season
Government working with construction companies and homeowners to renovate old newar houses to new style, modern houses in exchange for more indoor area that'll be rented
Ethnic food festival that'll then be converted into restaurant grants etc, with the requirement of having to post everything on youtube
Work with tourism board and aviation ministry to create a 'voluntourism training' program

Brown rice is a tough cookie

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I pressure-cooked brown rice and dal yesterday and the rice didn't actually didn't cook despite pressure cooking for 25 minutes, man it was tough, it didn't cook fully. It was mushy, but still kinda raw. And then there were sticky pieces of rice that were sticking between my teeth. After all that cooking! How do you even handle that gd rice, I don't get it, rough ugh. Brown rice is lucky it's at least healthy, otherwise I don't know who would eat it out of choice, it's not easy to cook, it's not tasty, it doesn't smell good, doesn't have anything else going for itself either.

I'll join a golf club in Kathmandu

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Because I'll be in Kathmandu for a long while and I don't want to miss out on my golf practice, considering joining the Gaucharan Golf Club and going to the golf range daily practicing my shots, possibly even getting a tutor, rubbing shoulders with the hotshots! It'll be fun, nice excuse to be out in the sun during the cold winters, and perfect use of my time: I will be free after 12pm everyday with not much to do, so I can socialize as well as improve my golfing skills!

This holidays season is going to be the slowest it's been in years

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Because it's been less than a week since I returned and I'll be heading out for multiple months in less than two months, I'm not planning on going anywhere for the holidays....it'll be slow thanksgiving, new years and christmas. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, nobody responsible and serious to organize a thanksgiving party. Whatever, I don't mind it, just need to figure out what the plan is, and if I'm going to have to become the responsible adult. Gosh, what a weight that would be, and also how do I manage multiple friend groups who are doing different things?

Anyway, this is going to be a low-key holiday season, nothing exciting, no travels, not much to talk of. Easy peasy. A little sad, but I just have to remember the months and months of fun holidays I'm going to have!

I would definitely enjoy the RV/bus-life a lot, but with another person to go with

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

We went to see ED's RV, man it's so open and sunny and roomy, I freaking love it so much, and they got it for less than 20k too, which is way less than I thought it was going to be. The only price consideration would be for a truck large enough to tow it (they have a Jeep truck to tow it) and I wouldn't even need an apartment! I'd park in public parks, camping spots and cool areas, invite my friends for lunch and dinner, and they could even crash, there's enough place for three people to sleep. I could work right inside the vehicle in scenic spots, go out on walks and hikes after work, and be out and about time later in the day! Man what a trip that would be. Only thing though, it would be rather boring and lonely to do it by myself, I'd need to execute this with somebody else...someone responsible and also eager to explore the world. Dunno how likely I'm to find somebody in that situation, but ahh to be able to fantasize!

I setup nextdns, tailscale is next!

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

This is not a big deal, yet I'm very excited about it.

I setupu nextdns on my cellphone, it's a dns resolver service with so many customization options as well as hostfile support, and an easily-configurable API! Which means I can control access for all the devices I can setup DNS for now. It's something I've always wanted but had so many issues figuring out before due to...well not knowing what to do. For the longest time I considered setting up my own DNS resolver, that didn't work because it's a lot of time to set it up and it's a 'custom infra' that needs being taken care of, and you need to code for the edge cases. NextDNS already does everything I do, and more, so no complaints here!

The next stage is to setup tailscale. It'll help me setup my own personal vpn, connect to my personal devices despite not being at home, and also export ports from my network to external traffic, while maintaining full control of hardware and networking infra. It'll be exciting times!

Carless in the suburbs feels like being in a prison

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

So towards the end of my Va trip I realized something: it felt like I was in a prison, being unable to go anywhere, do anything, meet friends, or go on fun walking trips, like I was handicapped with not a resource in the world. Shopping by myself was impossible, any sort of entertainment or really anything outside the house. I had zero mobility, completely trapped without the driving by cousin and her family.

Talked to my dad about it yesterday and he agreed, he said he felt the same way too and preferred to live with me for precisely the same reason: the freedom and independence to walk around, shop, go on nice long walks, interact with people etc. without the need of external support, from a person or a car etc.

Ravikant's crypto-success 8

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

The truth, Ravikant knew, was that the country didn't appreciate any honest dealers, they respect the cheats, the corrupt, and the wily. And Ravikant would become one now, he would show them. No country would be able to take his money away, no matter what, no cabal of bankers could block payments, it was untouchable, no matter what. He took a long sip of the tea and opened up his laptop. He checked his bankaccount, making sure he had the available money in cash. He initiated the payments, and pressed enter. He sent a quick message to one of the boys who'd set up the contact. He responded immediately, and in a matter of minutes, his online account was credited with equivalent amount in dollar-equivalent, internationally-accepted assets.

The numbers kept going up and up and up. Ravikant had to stop himself from checking the numbers, because they were so good. The returns were ludicrous. His wealth had doubled in a year, without him so much as touching it.

Ravikant's crypto-success 7

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Why should he alone stay in that old-fashioned straight-edged lane where poverty prevailed if he wasn't going to be rewarded. And this was the first step into his change, his entry into the world of unimaginable wealth. But this scheme, this this technology that he had been hearing about and reading in international media, it was fool-proof. Just the safety of the matter was worth the risk. It was his gold-shitting-gold. He was a free man, finally. He may have been a provincial, but he had made his way out, he was an international bigwig.

And they seemed prescient. And he kept topping it off.

Ravikant's crypto-success 6

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

He had seen them go from nothing to owning big houses and expensive European cars. There was risk of course, but what didn't -- you had to always be mindful some adversary might get you in trouble, but all things considered the reward was worth the risk. The swiss accounts weren't safe anymore anyway, various governments had worked with the swiss leaders to compromise the security and privacy of Switzerland's banks. The fact that he might receive the returns as were being promised was the cream on the top. So. very. simple. The number on his account had a dollar equivalent.

And when you want to take it out, you can get any currency for it. His contract work got shoddier and shoddier as he skimmed more money to put into this international platform.

Ravikant's crypto-success 5

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

But he had seen others do the same thing and make millions. He would put the money into this new technology, no matter what anybody said, yes this did sound like a scam but what did they know they were dull and stupid and money had corrupted their minds. The uber wealthy of the modern world would keep their wealth in these specialized platforms. His time had come, and he would show them all who had made fun of him, called him a village simpleton, to foolish to even be corrupt. Transfer the token online in the platform, and wait for the money to appear (after the fees) into his bank account. He looked up the two exchange rates, and translated the value in Nepali rupees.

What matters is, it will go up, of course it will, it is backed by math. He didn't care, his name as a good contractor was now worthless, he was a very rich man, he couldn't keep track of how much money he had anymore.

Ravikant's crypto-success 4

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

He knew he was being greedy, that there was a possibility of total loss. He was still hungry, he was on the lookout like a wily hungry fox on a hunt for chicken like back in the mountains. The uber-wealthy of the past kept their wealth in secret swiss accounts, the times had moved on. They would soon find out that he was not just wily and technically savvy, but his investments and savings were more protected than any of their assets. And when he needed to cash out, he would just reverse the process. He was already seven percent higher than when he had originally send to them three hours ago.

The numbers will go up and down, don't worry about them, they said to him. He considered withdrawing some of the money to spend, buy a new car, maybe increase his land holdings outside the valley.

I need to partner with marketing companies, farmers, fisheries, restauranters, and tourism industry experts plus professionals

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

TO implement my riverfood idea plus international cuisine idea, I need to partner with marketing companies, encourage them to come up with marketing campaign to sell to hoteliers and restaurateurs, fishers and farmers to get riverfood produced, and tourism experts to market those culinary heritage items abroad. Make a consortium of forward-looking business professionals who can see the big picture. Also potentially you know get international governmental funding with the aim of improving economic situation, and supporting cultural diversity in the country.

Here's two or three solid business ideas in Nepal

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

First, the farming for sipi, paha and ghongi. Second, massive marketing and popularization of seafood/riverfood, locally grown in commercial scale, traditional food. At restaurants and homes, for all to eat. Originally targeted at Nepalis.

Second idea, all of the above, but from a tourist perspective, selling 'riverfood' to tourists from east and southeast asia, who are used to saltwater species, and marketing with the spin of 'freshwater is different'.

Third idea, leveraging Nepal's great cultural and culinary diversity to create hundreds of brands of different ethnic foods, and marketing them as separate cuisine. So Newari food, Thakali food, Tamang food, Gurung food, Tharu food etc. Originally for internal consumption, so the cuisines and their fusions are clearly delineated, such that people can 'choose' a certain kind of cuisine. Market that for domestic consumption, and foreign tourists visiting Nepal.

Fourth idea, same as the third idea, but instead market the culinary diversity internationally, so Nepali cuisine can compete with other ethnic food internationally under different ethnic branding.

I haven't voted in my entire life

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I might have admitted this earlier in this blog, but considering there's federal elections in Nepal ongoing, they recently had the local elections, and I have had aspirations for running in local elections myself, it's time to come clean. I have never voted in an election. The closest I got was in the 2017 cycle when I got my name in the voterlist and got a votercard, but ended up not getting the opportunity to vote. We didn't have elections during the two years I was eligible to vote and still in Nepal, and since then I've never been in the country during the elections. And obviously, they won't make it easy for Nepalis abroad to vote because my god what ridiculous situation that would lead to, right, such destruction, such awfulness! I've never had the opportunity to exercise adult franchise at any point in my life, and looking ahead I might actually never get to vote ever, in any local or national elections.

Sad, very sad, but what can one do. One can only play with the cards one is handed.

Nepali federal elections nd all the independents winning

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Friend KP's father is running, and so are many independents -- the highest number in Nepal's history in fact. It's partly due to the strange decision for the congress and the maoist party to team up in the election, partly due to the fact that the other socialist party is corrupt morally and politically and partly due to the fact that upto this point everybody has been a massive disappointment and people seem to have finally decided that enough is enough and now they want real governance with real leaders who enact real policies and not museum pieces who have no idea about the state of the affairs of the world in general.

There's concerns of a hung parliament resulting from this election -- a wild but not unexpected result considering the last election had 2/3rds majority obtained by the unified communist party which very soon went on to break into a thousand pieces. And yeah, maybe a hung parliament is a potential outcome, but we cannot be held hostage to keep voting for those existing losers!

BALEN BALEN BALEN

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I wrote about my Balen obsession a couple of months ago, and it seems he's still doing well? The people of Kathmandu absolutely adore him, and for no reason apparently: he's cleaned up the city, enforced age-old rule that nobody had the balls to execute through, and generally established the rule-of-law in the capital. Plus, new businesses coming in, more stability so businesses can thrive, and encouragement of traditional practices and languages and culture, I don't mind. Good stuff happening, glad he has not flamed out in ht last six months, of being elected, at this rate nobody would complain about having him as a longer-term mayor of the city. Which means yes, I'm not going to have a great shot at being the city's mayor, but it's alright, I'll find something else to do. He's doing better than I would have, as it is already!

Good luck to our boy Balen!

Ravikant's crypto-success 3

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

And yet, this was too interesting to let go. The riskiest proposition was trusting a group of unknown young men with a sum of money that large, but this was a global scheme, even in America and Korea people had gotten filthy rich by buying into it. Besides, it wasn't them who would be holding the money, he would get entry into this global ledger and could keep track of his wealth in international platforms. Even in the worst scenario, and one would always have to consider those circumstances in a country like Nepal, there was no possibility of his wealth disappearing. No need to launder money, no need to go through stupid steps to transfer wealth across borders. And all he needed was to initiate the transfer!

As he had been instructed, Ravikant stopped following the numbers. But what was the point, it was doing all the work, reducing the investment would only decrease his final returns.

Ravikant's crypto-success 2

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Ravikant knew that. SO what if this was a scam, if it was a pyramid scheme, if it was legal in those countries the government of Nepal wouldn't dare touch it, Ravikant was fairly certain the bigwigs themselves had bought into it, so he would just be dipping his snout into a rich pond. Well..by Nepali standards at least. As long s he could get himself and his family away from the country, he would be able to easily transport his life savings and wealth. A quick transfer from the bank, and a corresponding transfer of the money in the platform, and he would be a part of the elite. There was no better investment, no better storage. He was the King.

His only focus was in putting increasing amounts of money into the platform. Anyhow. He started liquidating his other assets and decided to go all-in on the platform.

Ravikant's crypto-success 1

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

You don't get anything for free. Besides, the boys weren't random men out of nowhere, they were sons of some rich men, one of whom was a businessman who had been originally from his village and Ravikant knew the man was a respectable person. That was the best possible gift anyone could have, no questions asked. It was a wonder nobody else had dipped their toes into the technology. Yes, it was his time to make a move, he would buy fully into these new coins. His future was secure, and so was that of his children and their children. He would only keep filling that account, the government would never be able to get close to it. Not only would they never find out, they were technically incapable of doing anything, and even if they somehow figured out what was happening, it was mathematically impossible for them to touch that wealth.

He wanted to be richer and richer, eventually leaving the country, buying some European country's visa, maybe even America, and settling down, and for that he wanted millions of dollars.

Ten things I dislike about Seattle

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

The dating culture, so aggressive and not my style
The lack of diversity in local population, make of that what you will
The traffic and noise outside my apartment
Homelessness situation
Braindead politics of young people
Aggressive, annoying drivers
Crime and general lawlessness in certain parts of the town
The fact that my favourite groceries are closing down
Lack of good/affordable Nepali and Indian food
Difficulty in making new friends

10 things I like about Seattle

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

The weather (yes, really)
My friend and family circle
The place where I live, in the middle of everywhere
The nature, and how all the cool parks are near my place
The surrounding mountains and peaks and seas/oceans
The water bodies inside the city, the two lakes and the puget sound
Food culture
Chill people, though I haven't been able to befriend them
My freedom here
My walks!

Another point in personal growth

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Self-discipline is important, meditation is important, so is reverence for things you to, and submission to your cause. Daily routine is also important. What was missing for me was that I was counting on motivation, but way way more important are consistency and momentum. Momentum, particularly, is something that I was missing. Start way way more things than you think you'll finish, the momentum of doing all those things will make you finish more than you otherwise would have. It's like something I always say: if you want to get something done, give it to the guy who's already got a hundred thing on his plate, etc.

Thinking of attending classes in person

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

I'm considering attending classes in person today, because I haven't done that in the entirety of this person and no matter what anybody says about remote work or remote education or the efficacy of internet education, I cannot get myself to focus on something that's not in-person. Doubly so if I have easy access to the content later, such as recorded video and powerpoint slides. It'll be a nice walk, plus I haven't crossed the bridge on foot in a while. And it'll get me real close to my 10k steps for the day: I've been having real problem getting the requisite step count on Mondays ugh.

Moneymaking matters

Note for future me: I'm writing all of this in mid-November because I feel bad about not writing a thing during my VA trip.

Sometimes I feel bad about the fact that I make ONE THIRD of what people below my level make in other companies. And that's the starting rate, they can go for four times my salary, people several years younger are making four times what I make in total compensation without working extraordinarily more than I do. And sometimes it makes me feel...ugh? Because at that level I'd work for two or three years and be done with the entire work thing, retire to Nepal or a nice place, get a house whatever, chill, do my own thing and actually explore life, you know?

But on the other hand, it's not what I care about, my life in the last twenty years has been about finding peace within myself, and not going after the money. Because it's an unending chase, it's a neverending cycle that rarely if ever ends up in happiness. In fact, there's a very tenuous relationship between higher earnings (at that level) and happiness, though there is a much clearer line between self-satisfaction and confidence and happiness.

Yeah, it feels gross at times, particularly when the Seattle folks (those who do) talk about making money, buying houses, talk facebook amazon google compensations yadda yadda yadda.

And all I tell myself is, I don't care.

I really don't. Probably. Hopefully.

Sag-bhat-tarkari lunch, Purcellville trip, RV maintenance and chilling in vanlife bed, harristeeter trip, domino's for dinner [Fri 21]

For lunch we had sag bhat and tarkari.

Later in the day, after work we drove to Purcellville (pronounced percy-ville), where my family had their TV parked. We went to harristeeter and got chips, and chilled in the RV, napped for a bit and created ruckus generally, while AD winterized the vehicle. Man what a great idea RV-life is.

We picked up Domino's on our way back while we ordered in the car, and had Domino's slice for dinner.

This was also when we seriously started considering RV parking lot as a business idea.

Cabbage beans and rice for lunch, long talk with Australia, yummy macaroni pasta for dinner [Thu 20]

In the morning we had cabbage, beans and rice for lunch.

In the evening we got in touch with ND in a call, for a couple of hours.

AD had made an amazing macaroni pasta with great sauce, I had the most amazing time eating it but she didn't remember eating it at all because she was so busy with the call. She didn't remember any of that, haah that was really funny!

Gedagudi rice for lunch, at the Indian store with Limca, ramen dinner [Wed 19]

This one will be quick.

We had gedagudi and rice for lunch.

In the evening we went to the Indian store. I got limca can there and drank it quick. Also saw the mirchi bajji and wanted to eat it but Ed suggested it wouldn't be a good idea. It'll be relevant in two weeks when I do try it and turns out they're not so good.

For dinner we had ramen.

I take the day off, early morning to Stony ridge, commuter bus to DC, wawa and 7-11 in the cold, all lost, sunbathing in DC, meeting JD, renwick trip, yum teaism lunch, walk to union station, timewasting at union station, long sad ride back to SB, emadatse sandwich dinner [Tue 18]

Took the day off work.

In the morning ED dropped me at Stony Ridge, I waited for 15 minutes for the bus to arrive and got on it. It took us 1 hr 2 minutes to get to DC, but it took a long long time once inside the city.

While I waited for JD to be done with her EU visa interview I wasted time in 7-11 and wawa. And then went into starbucks because i was so freakin' cold and windy and not tolerable at all!

Around 10 JD was done and we sunbathed, sat in the sun right in front of the White House, and went to the Renwick gallery. We spent like 2 hour there -- I thought it was bigger than it was -- and then had lunch at Teaism. It's surprisingly good for the boring old fusty chain that it is!

We walked from there to the Union station over a couple of hours, wasted our time doing windowshopping and chilling, until JD got into her train back to her friend's place.

I waited for solid 25 minutes for the commuter bus back to Stony Brook. The commute traffic was insane, it took forever for us, took me 40 minutes extra than the other way round. This is when I realized daily commute wasn't sustainable for normal people.

For dinner I had emadatse sandwich.

Emadatse-chips sandwich for lunch, starbucks-harristeeter trip, burgers and fries barbecuing outside the last time in the season [Mon 17]

I had made Ema Datse a couple of days ago but nobody liked it very much, so now I was going to have to eat it for the rest of the foreseeable future. So for lunch I had emadatse and potato chips in a sandwich for lunch.

In the afternoon ED and I went on a quick starbucks and harristeeter trip because she was craving starbucks.

In the evening we made dinner outside on the barbecue because the weather was going to be colder, we made burgers and fries and potato chips etcetera, it was lots of fun and yummy. I don't like faux meat to be honest, it tastes too much like faux meat or beef, neither of which I like.

Nice walk around the community, bhat-dal-tarkari-eggs for lunch, rice and tofu curry dinner [Sun 16]

ED and I went out on a nice 2-hour walk around town, my first 10k in VA in...forever.

We had dalbhat-tarkari and fried eggs for lunch, and rice and tofu curry for dinner.

Subway lunch yumyumyum, meeting the neighbors, slow days begin [Sat 15]

We got subway for lunch, it was so freaking good, man I missed the whole thing, yum yum.

In the afternoon I met the neighbors, the Nepali ones, nice people.

The slow days begin, despite being a weekend I wasn't doing anything exciting interesting or even leaving the house. I realize that sounds shockingly like what's happening to me at this exact point but at least I'm writing and obseessed about something.

Jaulo-kauli lunch, rice-tofu dinner [Fri 14]

First day back from Boston, nothing in my records that shows anything exciting. Except that around this time I'm starting to get bored and lonely.

Jaulo and kauli for lunch, and rice and tofu for dinner.

Hotel checkout, Tatte lunch and desserts, terrible rainfall, three hour uber wait, worst busride of my life, a miracle happens and I find my way into the airplane back to VA, taxi home at night [Thu 13]

Checked out from the hotel early in the morning and went to work.

Got lunch and desserts at tatte, such a long line and to be honest the meal was just alright.

After work I stayed around for a bit because my flight was way later. But because it was raining I figured I'd get out early. I waited thrice for new uber, 25 minutes each. It was so freaking frustrating, it was the worst experience waiting for uber or lyft. I started heading out 4 hours ago and it still didn't workout.

I walked to the nearest busride for the airport, and that didn't workout as well as I hoped, because of the rainfall the bus was one hour late. And even then it was clear we were going to be very very very late to the airport. I was very anxious, confident that there was no way in hell that I'd make my flight, despite having left for five hours before my flight departed.

In any case, thanks to the special pass they gave us during the busride, and that the driver was really good, we finally made it to the terminal, barely before time. I rushed through the line, asked folks to cut through the line which they very kindly did. Got through the security line, and rushed to the gate, and I wasn't even the very last person to board. I was a miracle that I made into the airplane, somehow magically!

Back in VA I took the taxi home and keyed into the place and went to bed.

Okay work lunch, tayto fries, dumpling cafe dinner with coworkers and a big farewell, kinda [Wed 12]

The lunch they served / one I got on the canteen was pretty decent, better than the previous day anyway. I ate lots of the Irish Tayto chips.

In the evening after work I went to Dumpling cafe with my manager and a couple of other managers and principals. It was going to be the last time I was going to be seeing a bunch of my coworkers, so I bid them farewell because they had to rush to the train.

Here's the thing about dumpling cafe, you can barely go wrong with it.

Got back home, packed for my travel back to VA the next day and got all set. I wasn't feeling well and had a whole lotta headache generally.

Mediocre tacos and whole lotta desserts for work lunch, getting to know all coworkers, lotsa meetings, evening outing at King's, beantown Pho dinner, super emoji hang [Tue 11]

For lunch they got us lunch from the company's internal catering agency and maan they were the worst tacos I've ever had in recent memory. But so many desserts, I was full of those goddamn great desserts and cakes, yum yum yum.

All day long I was busy in the meetings, getting to know and planning with the new coworkers and caching up with old ones.

In the evening they took us to King's, the bowling place where I've been to with one of my previous employers, never had too much of a good experience there. It was way too crowded for the space we had, not even enough to talk and just chill. I stayed there until the end, then walked to the hotel, we went to beantown pho and grill for dinner, and super emoji bubble tea place, though where I didn't get anything there.

Trainride to work after almost 3 years!, missed breakfast, collecting old archaological finds of mine, cava lunch, dinner at Yvonne's, Primark and Blaze pizza chill, checked into Park Plaza [Mon 10]

In the morning I packed my belongings and took the train to work, the first trainride to work in almost three years. Met so many of the old coworkers, and new ones! over there and it was such an overwhelming exciting experience. I've written about that quite a lot in recent days, but man I miss working with other human beings sharing the same physical space.

Missed the great breakfast they were supposed to have for us because I went to the wrong location.

During the workday collected all the old belongings I had left in my desk right before departing for VA as the covid lockdowns began in feb 2020. It seems like a totally different era, like a time preserved through Mt. Vesuvius, it was wild. I remember like it was yesterday, the last day of work in our previous office, when I put all my stuff in the locker. Sbk, Pb, Pk, Ss and possibly S were there, and we were drinking, laughing having so much fun. And man, how things have changed! Truth be told, the pandemic probably helped escalate my timeline and opened up the mindlock that was blocking me from moving out of Boston, but ugh maybe things would have been different, because I was already looking for a job in Seattle at that point and interviewing with various teams and companies? Who knows, but it was such, such interesting...feelings and emotions. Ugh. I miss those times, how innocent we were, how grounded the world was!

For lunch I went with coworkers to Cava, and had it at the office. So heavy.

After work I checked into the Park Plaza hotel, somehow the person checking me in had applied to the company of mine. In the evening we went to get dinner at Yvonne's but no drinks and everything kept coming in so quickly it was pretty riddiculous. After a quick meal, wewalked around a bit at Primark, my friend got pizza at Blaze pizza for the next day, and we went back to the hotel

Uber back to I's, avocado toast and egg for lunch, trader joe's walk, chill and hang and long walk with coworker MS, dinner takeout from Grashopper vegan [Sun 9]

In the morning I ubered back to my friend's place, shocked at how much cheaper uber was outside Seattle when a ride doesn't involve the airport.

We had avocado toast and egg for lunch.

I walked to the nearby trader joe's -- or did I take the bus? -- where I waited for a solid 20 minutes after spending a considerable time at the grocer's, and met MS, my coworker from my current place who left it last year to join a new company in the same industry. We spent a couple of hours walking at the riverbank and across to cambridge, talking out families, friends, plans for our future, and coworkers. It was really nice catching up with her, and it's a big in-joke between us how much younger she seems than she really is.

Took the 66 back to I's place where we ordered online at the Grashopper vegan place. I walked there to get it, and we had a solid dinner there, yum yum yum. It was to be our last dinner there and we'd be going to stay at the Boston Park plaza.

All-packed, eggsnacks dropped at airport, comedy book for the flight, uber to I's, we make yummy lunch, bus and train to PK's new place, dashain party with Boston peeps, high and drunk, couch sleeping [Sat 8]

Got all packed, had couple of boiled eggs for snacks in the morning.

Read the famous comic's biography at the airport and on the flight, and on the uber, by the time I got to my friend I's place I was pretty much done.

Had to rush to the restroom by the time I made to my friend's place.

We made yummy lunch of pierogies and a couple of things I don't remember very well.

I took two buses, one to Trader Joe's and another to Somerville from there, to go to PK's new place. It was really nice and I was one of the earlier people.

The party was lotsa fun, we backbited about our own shared roommate, I drank one drink and smoked up. Lots of new friends, I got along with one of N's friends she was so gd funny and she came with her partner from rhode island. I also met NR, SS who apparently isn't in NYC anymore but traveling like a nomad much like myself, a couple of new people and NG's friend who goes to law school there.

In the evening we were talking upto 3 in the morning and I figured it'd be pretty rough to go back to my friend's so late at night, considering I'd have to wake her up, so I just crashed on the couch.

bhat-dal-tortangtalong-achar lunch, more indian matchmaking, salad-and-bread dinner, checkin for Boston flight [Fri 7]

For lunch I had my rice dal achar and my tortang-talong from the previous day. It's a pity I made so much because folks liked it but not enough to eat it for every meals for multiple meals in a row.

We watched more Indian matchmaking during the day.

Dinner was salad and bread.

In the evening I packed up and checked-in for my Boston flight that was to happen early next morning.

Latenight Indian Matchmaking, kauli-tarkari-saag-samosa-roti-bhat-achar lunch, tortang-talong dinner, I try goatmeat [Thu 6]

I was up watching Indian watchmaking until 4 in the morning. DD and I were watching but she fell asleep pretty early on so it was just me. It was the second season of the series. It was pretty wild. I just wish they got new participants or less annoying ones at least.

Since everybody from our party was still around, we had fun and loud laughs all day long.

Lunch was cauli-tarkari-saag-samosa-roti-bhat-achaar, and I made tortang-talong for dinner, which is less than great, because I'd never had it before, and also I think I over-egged it and didn't get the oil hot enough. But I could try making it again and I'm sure it'd do better, gotta do that one of those days!

DASHAIN TIKA DAY! Drive to walmart, I buy dashain giftcards, tika, yummy lunch, charades, chilling with the family and funhaving all day long, oldies music playing and singing all night in basement [Wed 5]

This was the dashain tika day!

In the morning I went to ED to the nearby Walmart and bought a couple of gift cards for the sisters because it was dashain, and I'd rather have given gift card than cash...for some reason I can't fathom!

Put on tika around 11, gave gift to all of them, took hundreds of photos.

Lunch was yummy, so many veggies, and I tried some of the khasi too.

After lunch we played charades, and sang songs as AD played guitar. General chilling and laughing ws done all day long.

In the evening we went down to the basement after niece had slept to play and sing old songs and play with the cat. It's always the oldies songs from the nineties!