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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Be afraid...very afraid.

On May Day today, Confounded-Lady turns one.
The last one year has been a whole lot of fun
But there's a LOT more where this came from (Mayday indeed :P )
Dum-di-dum dum, Dum-di-dum dum.





Saturday, April 26, 2008

My Not-so-secret affair with Typos

Geek and I recently came to a conclusion that there are 3 types of typos in this world.

1. The Typo-typo (TT)
2. The Word-typo (WT)
3. The Smiley-typo (ST)

I would have stopped with this customarily (yeah right) but since you're still in this page reading this...this.......and oh yes, this too............. I will elaborate with a few FAQs.

I) Typo-typo
1) err... sorry, but what is a Typo-typo?
Oh, simple. This one is the spelling typo, the quintessential typo everyone commits. The 'o' instead of the 'i', the 'e' instead of an 'r'... they're very very common in IM especially if you type sooper fast like me.

2) Ok...So?
So...your chat transcript would look like this:

Friend1: So how are you feeling these days? Recovering from that nasty allergy?
Me: No. I'm feeling very colon-pope these days
Friend1: (silent)
Me: Chs....I meant colon-pipe
(Silence....A few seconds later)
Me: Cha...I meant cha
(A moment later)
Friend1: Are you done? *straight face*

3) So how should I feel after committing a typo-typo?
Relax...its not like you've killed the US president (if you did, can we hire you?)
If I were you, I'd just ignore this typo and pretend like it never happened. No need to cover up with the 'cha', 'oops', '* 'n all.
Its a waste of time.

4) So what do I do, really?
Nothing, don't bother with anything. Your partner/friend/girlfriend/not-so-girlfriend/foe/boss(ouch) is going to figure out what you were trying to say anyway.
So chill.

5) Peace. Can we go ahead with the next typo then?
Yes we can.

II) Word-Typo (WT)
1) Word-typo va? What the hell is that?
This one is the most abominable of all typos.
Its when you type the wrong word instead of the one you were planning on typing. Its a very painful typo to endure..particularly when you're the one committing it. A few of these in your IM transcript, you can be instantly declared as the I'm-trying-to talk-Englees-but-its-blowing-up-royally-on-my-face king of the community.

2) Come on...how on earth would you type the wrong word while IM'ing?
Sometimes when you think really fast and your fingers try to compete with the speed of your thought process, you end up typing words that 'sound' like the ones that actually ought to be there. And as Murphy would have it (in some way or the other), the word you've put down will have absolutely no relation whatsoever with the one you intended on putting down.

3) Eh? Double Eh??
For instance you'd end up typing an 'after' instead of a 'have to' because these two happen to sound quite similar.

So instead of typing I 'have to' stop at Mylapore on my way there,
You'd end up typing I 'after' stop at Mylapore on my way there

Not very enjoyable I tell you.

3) Christ! Do people actually commit such typos? Do you ?
Do I?
God, that is all I do on IM these days.
I don't know how or why but of late my chat transcripts are full of WTs...is it probably because I'm thinking faster these days than usual?

See, this is one of the reasons why I'd rather not IM someone I wish to keep in good spirits. I prefer the telephone if I'm yet to impress you.

4) God! :O This sounds like a malicious typo. How does it feel?
If you instantly identify your WT, you'd sometimes not even feel like going back and correcting it for fear of answering the embarrassing question 'Huh...how on earth did you put that word there?'
However, its a totally different story if you don't identify the WT at all.
I'm at total shame when I think of the WTs I've committed and NOT identified till very recently..because of which I hesitate to go back and read some old enjoyable transcripts with some good friends.

This following instance is the most nefarious of the lot.
Note: The word 'you' is a WT instead of the word 'to'

KindFriend: We have these wonderful music sessions every weekend. You could join us if you want to :-)
Me: Oh wow...I'd love you
(few seconds pause)

KindFriend(terribly confused) : err..sure..whatever.

Not a pretty scene no?

5) Ouch, yes. I see what you mean, So what do I do to obviate such WTs? I'd like to keep my friends you know :P
Yes, yes, I understand perfectly... the only way out, is reading what you've typed and THEN pushing the Enter button.
I won't be doing that though. Too much of a waste of time. :P

6) Ok, and the last typo?

III) The Smiley-typo
1) Let me guess...its by putting the wrong smiley?
Well yes, you got it.
But its not too harmful or anything to your reputation. So you can just put the right smiley following the wrong one.

2) You *actually* make smiley-typos 'n all? Christ!
Its not my fault. *all defensive now*
Sometimes different IM clients use different character combinations for their smileys.
For instance, :-x is the angry smiley in Orkut.
While :-x is the 'falling in love smiley' in Yahoo!

3) *yawn*...so?
So, I wouldn't exactly be conveying what I wanted to in Yahoo! if I said:

Me: God, you're so infuriating I could throw my bookshelf on you
":-x"

4) Ah, I get the picture. So what do I do to not make a Smiley-typo?
Just remember which client your using. Simple.

5) Ok, thank you. That was indeed very enlightening. You're the best blogger in the world and I love you. Are you done?
Yes. I am done, thank you very much.
But sometimes its really worth committing a typo you know. Any typo.
Geek and I have laughed our guts out for hours looking at the typos we make.

Try it yourself.
The more preposterous the typo, the harder you laugh and the harder you fall off your chair

Happy typ(o)ing.
Till then, its Confoundud-baby saying 'wood-dye' to all of 'yoi'. :-x
:D

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

...Oh, here comes another one (with that Rachel Green accent)

Wolfkid and Preets had tagged me like a gazillion years ago.
I think I slept through all that time..and its just dawned on me that these tag posts seem to be so so 'in' these days...and that I'd better be 'it' before I'm 'out'.
You didnt get 'that' did you?
No probs, neither did I.

I am now konjum romba senti today as I've been listening to Pibarae rAma rasam in rAg Ahir Bhairavi the whole day. This song has it in it to make you all silent, reminiscent, mushy..and perhaps bit more 'blue' if you miss someone you really..well, miss.
Its really a must listen.
If you're (still) interested in listening to this song after the 'yellow' description I've given you, don't hesitate to dial toll free: I-WANT-TO-BE-BLUE(er)-AND-MISS-MY-GIRLFRIEND
Kidding, mail me..I'll send it to you with pleasure. (This should be interesting)

OK- you might want to give it a try even though you pretend you don't miss xg.

Enough awready. Tag. Yes.


1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
...Laga Chunari Mein Daag.
And I liked it. hmph.

2. What book are you reading?
The Mahabharatha by Rajaji. Started it at least 5 times within these 3 years.
I'm finishing it else I'm...well, I'm finishing it.

3. Favorite board game?
Scrabble. I used to make words up and try and win when I was a kid. No its not cheating *straight face*
'Zittle' was the adjective used for small/baby animals according to Yours Pretentiously when she was 7 years old :P

4. Favorite magazine?
India Today.

5. Favorite smells?
SambarANi on washed hair :)

6. Favorite sounds?
My mom yelling my name :D

7. Worst feeling in the world?
Regret having said something..or even worse, having not said something to someone.

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
Christ..have I overslept.

9. Favorite fast food place?
TCS Chaat counter, Velacheri Madras. But not without the gang. *sigh!*

10. Future child’s name?
I am so not telling you. Don't want anyone to steal my lil Emma :D

11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?"
I'd spend it all on charity and World Peace.
Crown please?

12. Do you drive fast?
Depends on what fast is for you. No, really.

13. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Nope. Simple.

14. Storms - cool or scary?
Sexy

15. What was your first car?
Car a? Naana? Yeah right.

16. Favorite drink?
Orange Juice

17. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?
..become a doctor.
Confounded, yeah yeah,

18. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
I don't eat broccoli.

19. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
I'm fine with the way it is thank you very much.

20. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Madras and Bahrain.

21. Favorite sports to watch?
I cannot watch cricket even if it were the last thing to be screened before the end of the world. I'm fine with anything else.

22. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
Preets-I've known her ever since I was old enough to say Peepee and Dolly. She's family. I love family.
Wolfkid- Hey, thambee. You're okay kid :)

23. What’s under your bed?
A lot of ..space..? :-/

24. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
Tosh! I'm not being born again in this pot-hole....I'm getting moksha. Oh yeah!

25. Morning person, or night owl?
Depends :D

26. Over easy, or sunny side up?
What was that again please...?

27. Favorite place to relax?
Home and 'Home' :D

28. Favorite pie?
Apple from McDonalds.

29. Favorite ice cream flavor?
Pista.

30. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond:
I think I'm the last one to do this tag in my circuit. That should answer your koshchin.

I dedicate the space occupied by this post along with all the mirth I was most likely to have experienced doing this, to the taggers. BEE happy, always.
And the rest of you non-taggers....well, you BEE happy too, with a lot of yellow and orange (and a bit of black too) in your lives.

Till then, let the all pervading confoundedness lead your way from darkness to light.
Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi:

CL

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Ok, lets see..

1. Got up quite early this morning -before my dad actually (which is inhumanly early) and almost killed him with the heart-attack he got, on seeing me roam about the house in the wee hours of the morning.
*2 Aapee points (I think)

2.Told amma I'll take care of 'all' the cooking 'today' while she can rest for the whole day.
She wasn't particularly amused.
See thats why Ekadasis are extra special.
*1 Aapee point (*smug look*)

3. Banged my toe against the same door I banged it against the day before.
"Ooooowwwwch" doesn't seem to be strong enough a word.
*2 Not-so-Aapee points

4. Made call to India and spoke to friend for 30 minutes. Me the happy. >:D<
*2 Aapee points

5. Realised that I do have some matter to blog on after all, but am too lazy to blog.
Shame shame Confounded-Dame.
*3 Not-so-Aapee points

6. Learnt a new song in rAgam ShadvidamArgini. She has such a beautiful scale..and *such* a beautiful name.
Me the sooper happy.
*3 Aapee points

7. Almost deleted mail from Mr.Fiance thinking it was spam :O
Note to self: Must get used to important mails in mailbox for a change
*5 Not-so-Aapee points

So that leaves me with.... Net 2 Not-so-Aapee points today :O

*colon-pipe*

Think I should blog more often and not bang my toe against the door over two days consecutively.
Or..perhaps make more ISD calls to buds in India and petrify my dad more frequently in the mornings? :-/

I don't know. You do the math.
I'll do the honours.

:D

Monday, April 7, 2008

That post without a Title

Confounded-lady is back!!
Thunder, lightening, creepy-music and 'bwahahahaha'.

(That was evil-laughter just in case you bothered to read that)

Not that anyone missed me (if you did, for the record, I love you), but contrary to the normal alibis I see these days for not being able to blog; say for instance, lack of time (which is not even remotely my problem these days. grr), not getting the right flow of thought (whatever thats supposed to mean) and the like, I actually did have plenty of intellectually stimulating topics I wanted enlighten my readers on but was in a dilemma as to which one to discuss. No, really..

*straight face*

Ok, I hear you. You can stop laughing now lest you fall of your chair. I'm already being accused of trying to impair every one's vision with the bright shades of my blog. I don't wish to do you any (more) harm.
So enough already.

I thus commence .
I've been tagged by fellow bloggers Busy-writer and Preets.
According to OK's Law of Crapping, Engineers cut to the chace without much useless banter. Under normal circumstances this would be konjum kashtam given the very purpose of this blog, but I seriously do wish to abide by this rule considering that this may tragically be the only testimony to me having endured 4 educative years of Engineering.
The question for us engineers is after all, to BE or not to BE, no?

No??

hmph. I'll just shut-up and get along with the Tag then. :P

Some 10 random points about me which no one knows. I doubt if there are that many actually, so I'll do 6. Peace.

1. :-)
I'd like to think that my obsession over smileys is unparalleled. I very rarely type stuff on the Internet without a smiley at the end. Smileys make me happy. Well, so does chocolate but you don't care do you.
Yahoo! is a beautiful experience altogether. I'm forever in love with Colon-dee, the way it blinks its eyes. :D :P >:D< ;;) these are my favourite smileys, in the same order.

2. My Impeccable Memory
My memory can be bench-marked with Gajini (of Gajjini fame) and you'll find that I indeed am endowed with depressingly pathetic memory skills. I forget names. I forget birthdays. I forget rAgas. I sometimes forget what I was going to enter next while chatting (someone might know what I mean :D )
I personally think its because I think a lot, rapidly. My thought process is very fast and I end up thinking a trillion things within a short span, so there is perhaps just too many to recollect.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Is there anything healthy about a bad memory?

3. Growing up and being paranoid
I just refuse to accept that I'm growing up. I find it terribly agonizing you know. I'd like to stay young forever, 22 would be ideal. These days I find a lot of people calling me akka. Kids in the tempe call me aunty. grr_max. Everyone grows old up, I know.. but I still yearn for for Neverland. :

4. I was called Swetha once upon a time.
Actually, I was called 'sweater' in school. Not that I minded much.
Mommy-dearest gets a brainwave one fine morning in 1990 and decides that I should be called 'Jennifer Lopez' from then on (name changed to protect identity). The rest like they say, is mystery.

5. I leave the house with the I-don't-give-a-damn look.
It really pains my mother so to say. And offlate my 15 year old fashion-queen cousin who happens to live in the same building as me. Divya (name NOT changed to protect identity) was visibly appalled by the orange butterfly clip I wore to her party at Caesar's'. Poor thing. I don't blame her though. I too sometimes think that orange and black just don't go together. :P

6. I am that Bulb-Goddess you always feared .
I don't think this will be a major surprise to people who know me well. I just don't get things instantly-whether they're jokes, witty comments whatever. Even a fast conversation leaves me twiddling my thumb.
Once when I was on a bulbing-high, someone asked if I was feighning my confused state. :P
I said yes and changed the topic. That still cracks me up. :P
I am konjum slow and trust me, I'm not at all proud of it. :

7. I am skeptical of the Internet. Period.
When it comes to making friends or developing a good relationship, I am wary of the Internet. I think the Internet is the most precarious medium and cannot/should not be banked upon. There have been quite a few exceptions off late, but I think they are too good to be true.
The probability of a misunderstanding or baseless assumption is maximum on communication over the Internet. I will perhaps blog more on this. Or maybe, I won't.


There. I could rattle my head and come up with a few more..but I have a feeling I might have lost you somewhere in point#4 itself. So this should very well do for now.

Hope I'd done you girls proud. This space is dedicated to you .
I tag anyone who's facing a writer's block currently.

Take care, and say hi to your mom for me :D

Yours confoun'deadly',
Me.