Yogagraphy - not easy

Having promised pictures of the new me, we tried to do a little photo shoot in the evening. The little one finally managed to give me a cold yesterday. This morning for the first time in 65 days daddy Narayanan felt "sick". There was cold and a sore throat, a lost voice, balls of phelgm and no sense of smell or taste.

Then again, when you are in a room set to 105 F and 40% humidity, a body temperature of a 100 F is < 105 F. Using such supreme logic, went on to do Bikram Yoga today (with MIL of course), much against the overall family recommendation for me to stay home.

Well, 90 minutes and a lot of sweat later, the voice was back, the throat was open and the sense of taste and smell were back. Rested the rest of the afternoon and now feel tired but looks like I have beat the virus.

Trying to setup the camera and lights to take pictures (with Jr. doing the focus on self timer shots) proved to be very difficult.

Did take pictures with Jr. and the little one as test subjects. All I wanted was for them to go stand where my head was going to be in the photos. They did more than that and imitated yoga poses...

Kids are a lot more flexible than adults. They could pull this off so easily. The little one lost her balance and made a funny face, but it was hilarious watching her try to balance on one leg!

Will need some assistance from San or BB to make my next attempt to get pictures of the improved me..

Till then, you just have to take my word for it!

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iPad Watchers - opposite of weight watchers

Common scene in our house captured for a photo school assignment.

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Sharing

Came home yesterday to find the kids watching videos in different rooms. A closer look revealed that they were watching the "same" program. Arthur which plays on PBS was being watched through Youtube on a laptop in the living room and an ipad in the family room.

Why this madness I asked the kids.

"She doesn't want to share!" came the reply in unison from two different rooms.

"But you are watching the same episode! Couldn't you put the ipad on the table and watch?" said an exasperated daddy and the response was

"she smells" from one kid and "she keeps tilting the ipad towards her" said the other one..

whatever be the reasons, have successfully raised two kids who will not be carpooling when they reach driving age.

Not happy with this.

Have to do something to teach them to share, not waste electricity and more importantly teach them to tolerate each other.

The iPad will have to disappear for a few days!

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Genetics

Me to Little one : did you comb your hair?

Little One: YES !!

Me : Then why is your hair standing out like a porcupine or hedgehog?

LO : Grandma combed it and it is still like this

Me to Jr. : Did grandma really comb it?

Jr. : Yes daddy.

LO : I am your daughter. My hair looks like yours. What can I do?!

The way she shrugged her shoulders and explained how all her defects can be traced to one source.... "me" was priceless!

If she does something good or has a physical trait that is good, she will claim credit for it and if she doesn't mom and grandma will quickly fill in. If she does anything wrong or has rat ears, porcupine hair, wrinkly skin after she gets out of the swimming pool, etc. etc.

well, it is genetic inheritance from daddy!

Gave her a big hug and kiss for saying "I am your daughter" with that mischief in her eye.

What else is one to do with a witty five year old?

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Expectations

Expectation 1:

We were on a plane back from Dallas to San Jose..

Little One: How long is this flight?

Jr. : 4 hours (right daddy?)

Me : yes. it is almost 4 hours.

Little One: FOUR HOURS ?!

Me : yes.

Little One : If we have to sit in the same seat for 4 hours, we should at least have our own TV! There is no TV on this plane. What am I supposed to do for 4 hours? It is not night. I cannot sleep either! This is not fair!

Me to San : Ellam Neram di! (closest translation is "this is all a sign of the times") 5 year old girl has an expectation of fairness for a 4 hour flight.

Expectation 2:

We are at a friends place and I am showing them a picture of the Black Mamba which was posted in Bigstockphoto. Daddy Narayanan is trying to make some money from Photography to pay for his 70-200 zoom lens.

San : These days he takes photos only of animals, flowers, insects..

MIL : and takes portraits of the kids. We don't show up in photos any more

Me : Come on now! You guys never come pose during the day. You always show up when I am tired or after dark. I get great photos when there is daylight.

MIL and San : We need more photos of us!

So to meet this expectation there is going to be a Saree party at our place with a photo session.. all lady friends of wife/ MIL who need new Facebook profile photos are to be invited. Yours truly is building a small studio made of white foam walls and white LED lights.. a home made light box setup. Let us see how this shapes up!

Expectation 3:

We are looking at tickets to India. A narrow time window when kids do not have school, when parents are in a frame of mind and are in better health to see the kids, when work can allow a break. So usually the ticket prices don't factor into this equation.

We watched prices go from 1380 to 1700 in 7 days and we are talking cheapest tickets. Why? Libya, Egypt crisis causing Oil prices to go up.

Why would a few days of unrest in a few countries affect oil prices for summer? What is happening is a drop in the bucket compared to fuel consumption over time. So, obviously someone is using these events to make money and is price gouging.

Decided not to wait anymore. What if the prices go to 2000 a ticket? So we got tickets now. Then realized that we have a passport that is expired.

Me to San: Why can't we mail it in?

San : I would love to but if the kid is <15 you have to go with both parents and stand in line!

Expectation 4:

We went to the San Jose Post office Passport section at 10 in the morning. (we went to Mountain View office and it was closed. so by the time we went to San Jose we were an hour late). Our token was 876. they were serving 796 when we got the token. It was moving at 7 numbers per hour. No, not kidding. 7 numbers per hour.

It is noon and they are attending to 811 and the lady announces "we are closed now, but if you have a token we will serve you as long as you are here when we call your number"

So we wait and wait and wait. Some folks who thought they could go out, have lunch and come back in time missed their slots.

My expectation was that the ladies at the counter tell the people who did not wait that they did miss their turn to give the benefit to folks like us who sat there with starving kids to get their chance. They DID ! They actually told folks who showed up after missing their numbers that they have to come back another day.

We finally got our turn at 2:45 and came out just before 3PM. The little one was totally dehydrated and complained of knee pain. Once in five years we go through this ordeal.

They should make this less painful and have more people to serve on Saturdays. How many people have the luxury of taking half a day off (both parents) with today's work pressure ?

The blogging has taken a backseat as have many other things. Have had a change of jobs within the company last week and that meant more time at work.

Planning to get a fresh start on the health front by joining a Yoga class at 5:30 AM. Time will tell if this will last or join the list of failed attempts to stick to a health routine.

Well, the expectations continue.

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